Chapter 100: Give some space, lad

It was a little absurd, Kai thought, that the first thing he had assessed with his newfound skill was a steering wheel, while the second was a Void Monarch, a being he had once believed to be nothing more than a myth, spoken of in ancient tales.

Yet here he was, standing before the very creature he had once dismissed as fiction, having uncovered both the nature of his opponent and the means by which he could defeat it.

[Object: Eternal Existence

Origin: Embodiment of Pride

Condition: Frustrated, Doubtful

Element: Chaos

Characteristics: Spatial Control, Void Authority, Enhanced Perception, Enhanced Physicality, Chaos Manifestation

Special Skill: Dungeon Summonin]

And just like that, Kai understood what he needed to do.

He had to break its pride.

SLASH!

With the Void Sword in hand, Kai finally understood the true potential of the weapon he wielded. He swung it through the air, slicing through the very fabric of reality that the Monarch had twisted to create its domain.

The Void split apart beneath the force of his strike. Hairline fractures spread across the fabricated space, and the entire domain began to crumble, slowly at first, as though reality itself were struggling to comprehend what had just happened.

"What is happening?" Mei asked, staring around her in utter astonishment.

Morbis and Hannah remained silent, their gazes sweeping across the collapsing surroundings as they desperately tried to make sense of the impossible scene unfolding before them.

Kai heard Mei’s question, but his attention was already elsewhere. He strode toward the car as the sand surrounding it began to tremble and fall away, gradually releasing the protective barrier that had kept the vehicle sealed off from the destruction around it.

As he approached, he could sense the anxiety radiating from Jean and Elara inside. Their fear troubled him, but they were safe, and that was what mattered to him.

"My Lord..." Morbis breathed, his voice barely above a whisper.

Only then did the full extent of what had happened begin to sink in. The scenery around them had been completely obliterated, and the familiar world had returned. The Void that had swallowed them whole, a domain sustained by the very being that had created it, had been destroyed while its master was still alive.

A human had brought down a Void Monarch’s kingdom.

Hannah might have been too stunned to speak, but she never took her eyes off the Monarch.

She needed only a single glance to realize that he was more shocked than anyone else present. His entire kingdom had been torn apart right before his eyes, and the one responsible was a human whose name and identity no one knew here

Her gaze eventually drifted toward Kai, who was now speaking to the people inside the car, an unmistakable look of relief on his face.

Who could say that he was the same person?

The way he spoke to them bore no resemblance to the cold-blooded hunter who had slain a dragon and cleaved an entire Void apart with a single strike. The contrast was so surreal that Hannah found it difficult to reconcile the two images of him in her mind.

"Hunter Hannah!"

A sudden voice called out from her left. She turned to find the Association’s vice-commander approaching with several other hunters following close behind.

"Captain!"

Mei, too, recognized the figures drawing near. Her surviving teammates were finally making their way toward her now that the Void had collapsed, their expressions a mixture of exhaustion, disbelief, and relief.

Within moments, more than two hundred people had gathered at the scene.

And in the middle of all the chaos stood a young boy.

The Monarch.

"Is he the one?" one of the officers asked Hannah, gripping a specialized monster-killing rifle with its safety disengaged and a round chambered.

Hannah nodded before raising her voice to ensure everyone could hear her. "He is the Void Monarch. Do not approach him without caution." She paused, lowering her voice slightly as she added, "Don’t let his appearance fool you."

She had seen firsthand what the creature was capable of, and she had no intention of allowing anyone to underestimate him.

The Monarch, meanwhile, remained perfectly still, his head lowered and his expression hidden from view. He showed no sign of concern despite being surrounded by hundreds of armed hunters.

Then, without warning, someone from the Arden side made a foolish decision.

"TAKE THIS!"

A massive fireball hurtled toward the Monarch.

"Don’t!" Hannah shouted in alarm, but her warning came too late.

The fireball raced toward its target, only to...

Click.

"AHHHHHHH!"

The fireball vanished.

In the next instant, crimson flames erupted around the chanter and the people standing near him, engulfing them in a blazing inferno.

"SHOOT!" someone screamed from the hunters’ side.

Hannah knew it was already too late to stop what was coming.

BRARATATATATATA!

The deafening roar of automatic gunfire thundered across the battlefield as hundreds of rounds tore through the air toward a single target.

The integration of mana stones into modern weaponry had revolutionized firearms. A single trigger pull could unleash more than forty high-caliber rounds in rapid succession, each projectile carrying enough force to threaten even D-rank monsters.

"STOP!"

The battalion commander finally issued the order, nearly half a minute after the shooting began. Something deeply unsettling had caught his attention, something Hannah had realized was coming long before anyone else.

"What..."

"The hell?!"

The hunters stared in disbelief.

Every bullet had stopped in midair.

Not a single round had struck its target. Instead, the projectiles hung suspended before the young man, forming a partial curtain of metal that glinted under the light. It was as though time itself had frozen around him, leaving the Monarch completely untouched.

Daniel finally understood that they might have gravely underestimated the being standing before them.

He immediately raised his voice.

"Hunters, form up!"

Despite their shock and apprehension, the hunters responded to their commander’s orders. They spread into formation, raising their weapons and preparing to engage the Monarch, though none could be certain their attacks would accomplish anything.

Just then...

HONK! HONK!

A car horn blared through the tense silence.

Every head turned toward the sound as a vehicle approached the center of the encirclement, heading straight toward the Monarch as though the driver had no idea what was happening around him.

Adam nearly stumbled where he stood when he caught sight of the man behind the wheel.

Kai.

The Monarch finally moved.

Slowly, he raised his head and fixed his gaze on Kai. Hatred and fury burned in his eyes as he opened his mouth, his voice carrying across the entire area with an unnatural clarity that ensured every person present heard his words.

"I will have my revenge..."

HONK! HONK!

Kai blared the horn again, cutting him off.

For a moment, the Monarch simply stared at the car. Then he let out a derisive snicker.

Snap.

He vanished.

Just like that, a disaster capable of bringing humanity to its knees had been subdued.

And the man responsible was in a hurry to get his daughter to a doctor.

°°°

A/N:- This was the limit of a human body, the SSS-rank. Though Kai couldn’t fully assimilate the powers he showcased what his true potential was.