Ubermensch – Chapter 137

Chapter 137

The President and a thousand Murim warriors were walking towards Mars City.

‘What in the world is going on?’

There was no enemy defense. It wasn’t weak, it wasn’t late, it was completely absent.

‘Did something happen on Mars?’

Seowangmo seemed to have placed spies on Mars, but the President had severed contact with them while purging Seowangmo.

‘But it doesn’t matter. All I need to do is fight and win.’

Even if there was a reason they weren’t being stopped here, once they entered Mars City, they would eventually have to fight.

Urban warfare was a typical chaotic battle. And in a chaotic battle, they had the advantage, with the warriors having a higher average level of martial arts. The years they spent in the Forbidden Zone hadn’t been a lie.

“Advance! Whatever their intentions, the further we advance, the more advantageous it is for us!”

That’s when they reached a point where the walls of Mars City were visible.

Thud. Thud…

A single person was approaching them.

His head was twice as tall as others, and his shoulders twice as broad. He was a muscular man, as if needles would break if they were to pierce him.

The lion-headed hammer in his hand was the size of a man, just the head alone.

The President stretched out his hand and halted the advance.

He frowned and opened his mouth.

“Oztalon.”

“President.”

The President stared at Mason with a gaze that combined killing intent, fighting spirit, and calmness.

“I distinctly remember… you promised not to challenge me?”

“I’m not the one coming at you. You’re the one coming at us.”

“Us. You mean you’ve already decided to join hands with the Demonic Cult?”

“Yes.”

The President gave a cold smile.

“I’m glad things are simple.”

“No. It’s not that simple.”

Mason said in a calm voice.

“The Destroyer is coming. The lord of destruction who can collapse this world with a single finger. He’s coming to destroy this world, just as he destroyed mine. The Heavenly Demon Cult and Seo Yeonhee have done everything they could to stop their invasion, but now all that’s left is to abandon this world and escape to another dimension.”

“…”

“There’s no need to fight for the hegemony of this world. This world is going to disappear anyway.”

The President calmly asked.

“Are you finished?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“You have to give me something believable to believe, don’t you?”

“I understand your disbelief.”

Mason made a bitter expression.

“I wish… I wish my story was a lie.”

Mason raised his hammer high.

“If I can’t stop you with words, then I’ll stop you with force!”

“Now you’re talking!”

Respect for the strong!

Fighting was an act more persuasive than any words to the Murim warriors. Discussing right and wrong was tiring and meaningless, but discerning strength and weakness was easy, and determining victory and defeat was meaningful.

As the President was about to step forward, rolling up his sleeves, Ma Useok shook his head and said.

“It’s not your place to fight, President.”

Ma Useok walked out in front of Mason.

The two, who had met as friends and reunited as enemies, glared at each other.

“Oztalon. I believe you.”

“Then why haven’t you withdrawn your fighting spirit?”

“Even so, Seo Yeonhee and the Heavenly Demon Cult must die. So that they don’t repeat the battles of this world in the afterlife.”

“I won’t allow that.”

“Then we shall settle it with martial arts!”

Mason had seen Ma Useok fight before.

He possessed domineering strength and the Body Hardening Technique of ‘Copper Skin and Iron Bones.’

Compared to Mason, he was fast and precise, specialized in fighting humans.

Ma Useok had also seen Mason fight before.

Mason’s fighting techniques themselves were crude. His movements were excessively large, and his defense techniques were lacking. However, Mason possessed overwhelming monstrous strength that transcended all those shortcomings.

‘How should I fight?’

Both men ran simulations in their heads, making their own calculations.

The next moment.

As if they had promised, the two men rushed at each other.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Mason was the first to strike.

With his large and long hammer, he swung with all his might.

The hammer shaft, imbued with unprecedented monstrous strength, bent like a whip, and the hammer head seemed like it would crush even mountains.

Indeed.

Mountains would have crumbled.

If he could just land a hit, even mountains would have been crushed.

“Huuup!”

At that moment, Ma Useok lowered his body, passing under the arc of the hammer.

If you exceed the reach of the hammer, then it’s the reach of the fist!

Ma Useok immediately launched a strike of the ‘Upright Pillar Crushing Fist’ at Mason. A strike that solidified all the joints in his body, accelerating his fist and doubling its destructive power.

It was a strike that Ma Useok was proud to call his ultimate move.

Crack!

Mason’s ribs were crushed by the fist strike.

“Kugh!”

His body was pushed back by the impact of the strike.

But the next moment. Mason suppressed the aftereffects of the impact with his terrifying leg strength and charged forward instead.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Whoosh!

Mason’s hammer missed Ma Useok once again, and Ma Useok once again unleashed the first form of the ‘Upright Pillar Crushing Fist’, striking Mason’s side.

“Ugh…”

Mason wasn’t weak. In fact, in terms of sheer fighting experience, he could be considered a veteran who surpassed the Murim warriors.

The problem was, his enemies had only been monsters.

The destructive attacks that could crush the heads of giant monsters were nothing but obvious and easily avoidable full swings to humans, especially Murim masters.

‘I need to find a way to counter this.’

Mason racked his brain.

He had to adjust his tactics. And to do that, he had to think.

‘I can’t do it with the way I’ve been fighting!’

At that moment, another strike of the ‘Upright Pillar Crushing Fist’ hit Mason’s chest.

Crack!

His ribs were broken by the impact, but in the next instant, the Smart Cells healed all his injuries.

‘A monster among monsters!’

Ma Useok shuddered. Overwhelming strength and transcendent regenerative ability.

Even though his strikes missed, every time the hammer cut through the air, a chill ran down his spine, and Mason’s durability, which remained unscathed after being hit by his ultimate move, the ‘Upright Pillar Crushing Fist’, multiple times, was enough to make him lose his spirit.

‘I can’t drag this fight out.’

It was a fight where one side attacked and the other was relentlessly crushed.

Nevertheless, in the long run, this fight could only be won by Mason.

Ma Useok couldn’t kill Mason even if he struck him ten or twenty times, but if even a single one of Mason’s attacks grazed him, he could die.

But the way out was inside Mason.

Ma Useok charged at Mason again, his ‘Upright Pillar Crushing Fist’ ready.

Closer than the reach of the hammer. The fist’s range was the most advantageous range for Ma Useok. No matter how hard Mason tried to push him into the hammer’s range, Ma Useok, who had mastered lightness skills and footwork, could control the distance.

‘Then…!’

The moment Mason gritted his teeth.

“Uwoooeook!”

Thud!

Mason dropped his hammer and tackled Ma Useok head-on.

“…?!”

If he couldn’t win the range battle, then he would fight at an even closer distance. That was the answer Mason found.

“Tsk!”

Desperate, Ma Useok punched Mason’s back several times.

“Let go of me!”

But Mason’s terrifying arm strength held Ma Useok’s body tightly, without even budging.

“Huuup!”

Mason lifted Ma Useok’s body high.

And the next moment.

Slam!

Ma Useok’s body was slammed to the ground.

“Kuuugh…”

He trembled violently and then fainted.

Mason spat out blood-tinged saliva and picked up his hammer.

“Next.”

The President narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.

Then, Suzuki of the Transportation Workers’ Union stepped in front of Mason, a step ahead of the President.

“Oztalon. This Suzuki will be your next opponent.”

“Come!”

Suzuki was twice as fast as Ma Useok. Dodging Mason’s hammer as if it were nothing, he unleashed three kicks in an instant.

Before the shock of the first blow could subside, the blows came at Mason like waves, one after another.

Wavy Kicks.

If Ma Useok tried to subdue Mason with a single heavy blow, Suzuki aimed for the opposite. He intended to subdue Mason with light but swift consecutive attacks.

Even if they weren’t ultimate moves, each blow landed perfectly. An undeniable amount of damage was accumulating.

Bruises began to appear all over Mason’s body.

If Ma Useok’s attacks were bone-crushing, Suzuki’s were flesh-crushing.

‘I’ll show you the difference in speed!’

The moment Suzuki tried to increase his speed even further.

“…I’m getting used to it.”

Mason’s sharp gaze pierced Suzuki.

“…!”

The moment Suzuki, sensing danger, unleashed another kick.

Grab!

Mason’s hand caught Suzuki’s ankle.

“Your footwork may be faster than mine…”

Mason lifted Suzuki up.

“But my reflexes are faster than yours!”

Thud!

Mason slammed Suzuki to the ground.

Mason dusted off his hands.

At the same time, the bruises that had formed all over his body were instantly healed.

“Next.”

At that moment, the Murim warriors realized.

This wasn’t a battle of one man against a thousand.

It was a warrior against a superhuman.

And it was a battle of martial arts against science!

‘He’s serious… he intends to fight us all!’

The President gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

“Oztalon! I’ll be your opponent…”

At that moment, Venerable Taoist of the Metal Workers’ Union blocked the President’s path.

“You can’t.”

“Ronan-gun.”

Venerable Taoist was a man of few words, but he never spoke nonsense. It was enough to stop the President in his tracks.

“You can’t step forward yet. He’s fighting while taking hits, and as a living being, there will be a limit to his endurance and regenerative abilities.”

Indeed.

If this was a battle of martial arts challenging science, it was also a battle of science challenging martial arts.

Whether Mason would adapt to fighting humans and martial arts first, or whether the damage accumulated by the Murim warriors would bring him down first, was the true battle.

“You must fight him after pushing him to his limits. Leave it to your subordinates.”

The President was a politician, but he was a warrior before that.

He couldn’t possibly like the cowardly suggestion of using a wheel warfare tactic to exhaust their opponent.

But the President was a politician before he was a warrior.

“…Fine.”

He was a man who didn’t confuse what he had to do with what he wanted to do.

“Oztalon! I’ll be your opponent!”

While the President gritted his teeth and held back, the members of the 12 Korean Labor Unions each took turns attacking Mason in their own way.

Mason defeated them all.

However, he had to endure a long beating to find a way to counter them, and his Barbarigen gradually depleted.

Mason’s muscles were also a reservoir of Barbarigen. His once colossal body was gradually shrinking.

It was then that Venerable Taoist, the last leader of the 12 Korean Labor Unions, stepped forward.

“Ronan MacLeod of the Metal Workers’ Union. I will cut you down.”

Mason smiled faintly.

His whole body ached. His Barbarigen was running low, so he had to conserve even the Barbarigen used for pain control.

But… Mason couldn’t help but smile.

He couldn’t help but smile at the joy of seeing someone he had lost again.

‘I can’t lose.’

Even if it meant fighting and defeating that person.

‘To save you, I can never lose to you.’

Mason took a deep breath.

“Come, Venerable Taoist!”