Chapter 220: Chapter 220

Battle with the Transcendent’s Clone.

‘First, confirm his abilities.’

If the clone’s level had been fixed like that of Harphael’s, then Annihilation would have worked. Unfortunately, Annihilation was only effective when the level difference was 60 or less.

In other words, it wouldn’t apply here.

Jeong-hoon unfolded the Heavenly Step.

At the same moment, the clone mirrored his footwork and charged at Jeong-hoon.

‘Underworld King’s Fist Technique.’

Jeong-hoon threw a punch.

The clone responded by throwing his own punch, and their fists collided.

Thud!

Crack.

Bone met bone, and Jeong-hoon’s fist shattered instantly.

As his bones fractured, his grip loosened.

[Using Advanced Healing.]

Quickly activating Advanced Healing, he treated his wound and followed up by driving his knee into the clone’s abdomen to gain some distance.

‘I’m outclassed in every stat.’

Jeong-hoon quickly assessed the situation and began doping immediately.

[Black Field activates.]

[All stats are boosted by 1.5 times.]

[All stats of monsters within the field’s area decrease by 10%.]

[The target’s level is too high. The stat reduction debuff has been canceled.]

The debuff failed to apply.

Anticipating this, Jeong-hoon remained calm and continued doping.

[All stats increase by 15%.]

[Damage received decreases by 20%.]

[Time limit: 1 hour.]

With the stat-boosting ring.

[‘Poison Attack’ activation rate increases by 12% for 1 hour.]

Since Annihilation wouldn’t work, he applied it to Poison Attack.

[Special ability of the Ruler’s Grip activates.]

[All stats increase by 10%.]

[Attack power and weapon proficiency increase by 10%.]

Ruler’s Grip.

[Special ability of the Headpiece Containing the Divine Beast’s Soul activates.]

[Attack power and defense increase by 40%.]

Headpiece Containing the Divine Beast’s Soul.

[Using Celestial Aura.]

[Attack power and defense increase by 20%.]

[The target’s level is too high. The stat reduction debuff has been canceled.]

[Diamond Body activates.]

Finally, with Celestial Aura and Mukho’s special ability, Diamond Body, active.

With his preparations complete, Jeong-hoon once again unfolded the Heavenly Step.

Once again, the clone mirrored Jeong-hoon’s footwork and charged forward.

When Jeong-hoon threw a punch, the clone responded in kind, clashing fists once more.

Thud!

A strong impact reverberated through Jeong-hoon’s fingers, but this time, his bones remained intact.

Yet, the clone still held the upper hand in power.

‘So, he’s trying to crush me with raw power.’

Jeong-hoon could sense it after just two exchanges.

The clone was using identical footwork and attacks, trying to display the difference in strength.

‘This bastard is definitely not Apostle-level.’

A clone could never draw out 100% of the original’s power.

At most, it could reach around 25-30%.

Yet, for Jeong-hoon to struggle despite being fully doped…this was at least Demon King-level.

“What’s wrong? Think you can’t win?”

The clone sneered.

“Not at all.”

Jeong-hoon slipped his right foot between the clone’s legs and struck his solar plexus with his elbow.

The clone’s body bent slightly and was forced back.

“……!”

A brief expression of surprise crossed the clone’s face.

He had deliberately allowed the strike to gauge Jeong-hoon’s strength, only to find it unexpectedly powerful.

And now, the poison damage followed, slowly eating away at his vitality.

“Letting your guard down could be dangerous, huh?”

This time, Jeong-hoon sneered, offering a word of caution.

“…Let’s get serious.”

The clone’s figure blurred momentarily.

Thud!

Crunch!

In an instant, Jeong-hoon felt a heavy pain in his side.

‘My shield shattered from a single hit.’

He spun, trying to grab the clone by the collar.

But the clone’s movements were a beat quicker.

Thud!

This time, a sharp pain struck him in the back, nearly causing him to lose his balance.

Jeong-hoon quickly regained his footing, reflexively raising his guard.

Thud!

A powerful impact struck his wrist, making it tremble violently.

‘Unbelievable.’

He couldn’t anticipate the clone’s movements at all.

Even his recent block had been purely reflexive.

If he hadn’t blocked it, he’d be feeling a lot more pain right now.

“Oh? How did you block that?”

The clone tilted his head, curious.

“Hey. Mind if I ask you something?”

Jeong-hoon addressed the clone.

Fortunately, the clone gave a slight nod in approval.

“Go ahead.”

“Why is the difficulty so high? It’s just the fourth stage, right?”

“Did you think reaching the Celestial Realm would make things easy?”

“Still, this is going a bit overboard, don’t you think?”

“Kuh-kuh, then you’re free to give up.”

That wasn’t an option.

Jeong-hoon threw another punch.

Even switching to a different weapon would be pointless here.

If even the legendary Underworld King’s Fist Technique can’t get through, then nothing else will either.

So, he had no choice but to confront it with the strongest Underworld King’s Fist Technique.

Thud!

Once again, their fists collided.

Then the clone started to vary his attacks, pressing Jeong-hoon further.

Thud! Thud!

[Aargh! Master! What is that guy?!]

Mukho cried out.

Even with legendary-grade, fully upgraded armor, the pain was no joke.

‘Even after reaching the Celestial Body… it’s still like this.’

Upon ascending to Celestial grade, his Indomitable Body evolved into the Celestial Body.

And yet, the damage was overwhelming enough to render even this Celestial Body nearly helpless.

Thud!

At that moment, as the clone was pounding Jeong-hoon, his torso suddenly folded in half, causing him to lose balance and fall backward.

[Mukho’s special ability has activated.]

Mukho’s special ability.

It allowed for a low chance of reflecting close-range attacks.

[Phew… Thought I was gonna die there.]

“That makes two of us.”

[Using Advanced Healing.]

Jeong-hoon cast Advanced Healing, grinning as he healed himself.

‘I fully upgraded it, so why is the activation rate still so low?’

He almost lost his patience waiting for it to trigger.

“You… you…?!”

The clone stared at Jeong-hoon in shock.

“What’s got you so worked up?”

“…Damn it!”

This time, the clone didn’t rush in so quickly.

He was cautious now, knowing Jeong-hoon might reflect an attack at any moment.

Also, it seemed the clone wasn’t using any special abilities.

‘He probably invested everything into attack power.’

If he could unleash 100% of his performance, he’d be wielding those absurdly high attacks along with his special abilities.

‘In other words, his defense is extremely low.’

He confirmed this when he elbowed him earlier, seeing the clone’s surprised expression despite not channeling any of the Underworld King’s aura.

Jeong-hoon readied his Heavenly Steps.

He threw another punch, and the clone matched him, swinging his fist in response.

‘So he’s trying to crush me purely with attack power.’

The force pressing him back was due to that overwhelming attack power.

“Come on, try to attack.”

Jeong-hoon smirked, taunting him.

“…….”

The clone didn’t respond.

But it was clear he was wary of the reflection ability, hesitating to counterattack.

Feigning a punch toward the clone’s face, Jeong-hoon abruptly pulled back.

It was a perfectly timed move.

Smack!

Suddenly, Jeong-hoon felt a heavy impact on his face, causing him to stagger momentarily.

“You little…”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

A look of shock appeared on the clone’s face.

He realized Jeong-hoon’s intention to use reflection to counterattack.

[Using Advanced Healing.]

What’s more, Jeong-hoon was healing himself with Advanced Healing as soon as he took any damage.

Smack!

At that moment, Jeong-hoon’s fist landed squarely on the clone’s face, causing him to stumble backward.

“You…!”

The clone had clearly seen Jeong-hoon feint by pretending to pull back his fist, only to change direction at the last moment and strike his chin.

It was an awkward move to counter.

Whoosh!

However, seeing it twice made it easier to predict.

When Jeong-hoon pulled his fist back again, the clone quickly withdrew his own fist as well.

“Oh, so you’re not going to hit me anymore?”

Jeong-hoon smirked.

“You’ll never be able to bring me down.”

“Is that so?”

Jeong-hoon’s fist now carried the power of the Myungwang Fist at its fourth level.

He pressed the attack again, throwing punches to keep the clone on the defensive.

But now, the clone was reading his moves. He responded with punches if Jeong-hoon committed to a strike, and immediately withdrew when Jeong-hoon feigned.

This back-and-forth continued until—

[Activating Invisible Fist.]

With the activation of Invisible Fist, the clone’s head snapped to the side.

“Ugh!”

Seizing the opening, Jeong-hoon drove his fist into the clone’s side.

Then, Jeong-hoon’s body doubled over.

“Fine. I’ll kill you before you can use that ability again.”

Whether the clone decided dragging this out was pointless, or if he’d simply lost his temper from the last hit, he began attacking relentlessly.

And this time, the damage was on a whole new level compared to the start.

‘Time to turn things up.’

Jeong-hoon’s eyes gleamed as he pounded away at the clone.

Even without Mukho’s close-range reflection, he still had his Rune of Counterattack.

[Activating Rune of Counterattack.]

Unaware of this, the clone hammered at Jeong-hoon as if he intended to finish him off before any reflection could happen.

But with the rune active, Jeong-hoon took no damage at all.

After 15 seconds—

[You may now return the absorbed attacks.]

Jeong-hoon’s lips curled into a smile.

“It’s over.”

“What…? Guh!”

The clone was struck by the full force of Jeong-hoon’s absorbed attacks from the past 15 seconds.

With a scream, it disintegrated on the spot.

[You have defeated the Transcendent’s Clone.]

“It’s done.”

Jeong-hoon exhaled in relief.

[Wow… You actually took it down?]

‘What a nightmare… What kind of monster was that?’

[That bastard was something else. Ugh, my whole body still aches.]

Mukho and Anima, finally relieved, vented their frustrations about the now-vanquished opponent.

“Good work.”

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Jeong-hoon exited through a portal.

Outside, he was greeted by Harphael, who was staring at him in shock, an exclamation mark blinking above her head.

“N-No way! How did you do that?!”

Harphael yelled, unable to contain herself.

“How? You told me to defeat him, so I did.”

“Impossible! You’re telling me you defeated him?”

“Yes.”

Jeong-hoon replied nonchalantly, and Harphael was on the verge of tearing her hair out in frustration.

Even if it was just a clone, it was at a Demon King level.

That clone ranked above apostles, the beings who made contracts with humans.

With someone like that stepping in, the human should’ve had zero chance of success.

But he actually won?

How could this be real?

“…What are you?”

“A human,” Jeong-hoon replied with a smile.

It was finally time to complete his class advancement quest.

[You have completed the quest.]

[You have successfully Transcended.]

[Advancing to Martial Emperor (Fourth Class).]

[All stats increase by 20%.]

[All skill damage increases by 10%.]

[Achievement unlocked! You have completed ‘Transcendence.’ You receive 50,000 achievement points.]

[The rune slot limit has increased to a maximum of ‘8’.]

[Celestial: You have achieved the Fourth Class. You now qualify to approach the ‘Ultimate Power.’]

The Fourth Class advancement was complete.

Unlike the third class, this advancement brought an explosive increase to all stats and skill damage.

[‘Steadfast Will’ has been upgraded to ‘Celestial’ grade.]

[Skills obtained through ‘Steadfast Will’ have been upgraded in rank.]

Now that Jeong-hoon was a Celestial-grade Martial Emperor, his Steadfast Will had also risen to Celestial level.

As a result, all skills acquired through Steadfast Will were upgraded to Legendary.

And there was more.

[You have gained access to the ‘Martial Emperor’s Domain.’]

The Martial Emperor’s Domain—a place only accessible to those who had achieved the hidden Martial Emperor class.

‘In this domain, I’ll be able to acquire Fourth Class Transcendent skills.’

Unlike the third class, the fourth class offered an opportunity to obtain Transcendent skills.

This was the difference between the third and fourth class advancements.

‘I wonder what I’ll get.’

———-