Hell's Handbook

Chapter 287: Help Arrives Late

Su Jin ran quickly, but so did Shen Wu. Within his palace, he moved in flashes, appearing suddenly in his next position. Su Jin guessed that the palace itself was built to support a skill like this.

Su Jin could see that they were coming to the edge of the palace walls, so he wanted to punch right through the invisible wall from earlier on, but Shen Wu put his palms together and walls of ice appeared from nowhere.

Bam! Su Jin threw a punch at the ice wall and it shattered, but the impact was reduced to nothing before it could reach the invisible wall.

“Put me down!” Ye Yun tapped on Su Jin’s head.

“Why?” asked Su Jin.

“Shen Wu’s Spirit Power is useless on me and I can transform myself into mist, so you just need to take care of yourself,” explained Ye Yun.

Su Jin paused and realized that she was right. He put her down and they stood facing Shen Wu together. He said to her, “I’ll stall him, you find a way to get out of here first.”

“No, you can’t stall him by yourself.” She shook her head immediately. She knew Shen Wu’s powers better than him and this was his home ground no less. She didn’t think Su Jin would hold up by himself, even though he was much more formidable than she had initially imagined.

Su Jin wasn’t confident either. Shen Wu was someone that even the Mad Hatter and the rest found difficult to deal with. But the problem was that his full psychokinesis potential had been sealed off. Otherwise, with the new Boning Knife in hand, he might not lose in a head on fight with Shen Wu.

“Like I said before, hand that thing over and I’ll let both of you go!” Shen Wu glared icily at them. Ice formed all around him, making him look like he was very determined.

But Ye Yun shook her head. Su Jin took a deep breath when he saw her reaction. The Protection of the Gods’ effect was going to last for a little over ten minutes. He was supposed to be able to activate this skill only once a day, but Su Jin knew that it was very useful in a battle against Shen Wu, so he begged the Demon Lord to think of a way. In the end, she managed to do something such that he could use this skill twice a day. But he had already used it once earlier and now, he wasn’t left with much time. He had to use these ten odd minutes to deal with Shen Wu somehow.

“Trust me!” Su Jin glanced at Ye Yun.

Ye Yun looked back at him anxiously but Su Jin had already dashed toward Shen Wu. She tried to hold him back but she was too late.

Shen Wu didn’t expect Su Jin to charge toward him. But he guessed that Su Jin’s confidence was in that Spirit Power item that made him immune to his Spirit Power.

So, Shen Wu still felt that Su Jin was foolish to attack him like this. Relying on an item could only protect Su Jin for a while, but not for long.

He saw Su Jin throw a punch at him and reached one hand out to block it. But when Su Jin’s fist hit Shen Wu’s palm, Shen Wu realized it was stronger than he had expected. He quickly tried to use all his strength to defend himself, but he was too late.

Boom! Even without the help of Spirit Power, Su Jin had a deity-level body. Shen Wu flew backward like a cannonball from the impact, causing a row of buildings to fall like dominoes.

“Phew!” Su Jin exhaled, then turned to throw another punch at the invisible wall, successfully shattering it at once.

Ye Yun was utterly floored by how strong Su Jin was. She never imagined that Su Jin could send Shen Wu flying with just one punch. How strong did one have to be to accomplish that?

“How did you become so strong?” asked Ye Yun instinctively.

Su Jin dragged her and started running as he said, “I haven’t been sitting around and waiting to die, you know? You said you were at #113? I’m more than 20 ranks above you!”

Ye Yun had a strange glimmer in her eyes. The last time Shen Wu caught up with her, she was cornered and was ready to give up. But this fellow appeared in front of her and tried to save her. He had failed to save her then, but she was very grateful toward him. She did have feelings for him but she didn’t dare to tell him. Or rather, she was afraid that even if she did, they would both end up regretting it. But after what happened the last time, she knew for sure that she had really fallen for this guy.

But Ye Yun didn’t think that Su Jin would seriously fight his way into Shen Wu’s territory to take her home. Her lips couldn’t help but curl upwards into a smile. This time… even if she couldn’t get away, or even if she ended up dying, she didn’t have to be afraid. She had a reliable companion by her side now, so no matter where they went, as long as he was here, that was good enough for her.

Of course, Su Jin had no idea what was running through Ye Yun’s mind. He was focused solely on taking Ye Yun away from this universe. But just then, a humming noise resounded.

.

Woong! Black beams shot toward him from all directions. His reaction was quick as he turned and twisted to dodge the beams, but two still managed to hit him. One hit his abdomen and the other hit his right thigh.

“Ow…” Cold sweat appeared on Su Jin’s head from the pain. His first reaction was to look for Ye Yun, but thankfully, she had transformed into particles in time and wasn’t hurt.

But Su Jin wasn’t so lucky. The ground around him had turned to ash from the beams and his wound suddenly started bleeding profusely. Those black beams were very much like the Roar of a Demon Lord. They disregarded your level of defense and destroyed whatever it hit.

“Su Jin!” exclaimed Ye Yun as she ran over to support him.

Su Jin told her that he was fine as he stuffed a small leaf from the Tree of Life into his mouth, which quickly stopped his wounds from bleeding. He looked up to see Shen Wu walk toward him from afar.

Shen Wu was severely injured from Su Jin’s punch. He hadn’t become a powerful owner because he had a tough body after all, so not dying from the punch of an owner with god-like strength was already a miracle in itself. That was only because he had designed a magic circle in the palace that reduced most of the damage.

“A god-like body… excellent. I need a body like that, so that my journey will be even smoother once I become a god.” Shen Wu’s body was badly damaged and some of his bones were out of shape. He had avoided a lot of the impact, but that punch had still hit him hard.

Su Jin narrowed his eyes slightly. The Protection of the Gods wasn’t left with a lot of time. Once he lost immunity against the elements, he was going to be powerless to face Shen Wu.

“Seven minutes left, huh.” Su Jin checked how much time he had left. He was badly injured, but he was sure that his body could withstand this amount of damage better than Shen Wu, so he was still at an advantage.

With that in mind, Su Jin launched another attack. But one of his legs was injured, which affected his speed. Meanwhile, Shen Wu raised a finger and the surrounding buildings started shooting those black beams again.

Su Jin couldn’t dodge them in time, so he punched the ground to create a huge hole. He sank below ground level quickly and barely managed to dodge the black beams.

“Damn it!” Cold sweat continued to drip down Su Jin’s face. He finally understood why Shen Wu was so confident. Shen Wu was in his own territory after all. Even the Mad Hatter and the other gods had to be careful here.

“Go on! Within my palace, I can kill you a hundred times or even a thousand times if I liked!” Shen Wu cackled maniacally as he raised another finger. Countless steel claws extended from the buildings around them, grabbing Su Jin from inside the hole he had created and raising him up.

Su Jin tried to fight back, but there were just too many claws. Each time he broke one, another one would come out from the buildings. He couldn’t do anything else but focus on destroying these claws.

Woong! The black beams rose from the buildings again and Shen Wu aimed them at Su Jin, but he didn’t make the beams kill him immediately. Instead, he said to Ye Yun, “Look, I’m not a bloodthirsty person. Hand over what I want and I’ll let go of him as well as yourself. How about that?”

Ye Yun trembled. If she were the one whose life was in danger, she could still stand up against him. But when the one in danger became Su Jin, she couldn’t be so stubborn anymore.

“Don’t give it to him!” Su Jin didn’t know what Shen Wu wanted from Ye Yun, but he knew that since it was something that made Ye Yun rather die than hand it over, it was definitely something that Shen Wu must never obtain.

“I’ll… I’ll give it to you.” Ye Yun looked like all her energy had left her. She looked helplessly at Su Jin and said quietly, “I’m sorry, I’m afraid we’re going to become the world’s biggest sinners.”

A smirk spread across Shen Wu’s lips. There was nothing he wanted that he could not get. As for his promise to Ye Yun… if Su Jin didn’t have this god-like body, he would really have let them go. But now, Su Jin’s body was not worth that much less than what he wanted from Ye Yun.

Ye Yun retrieved a gem that was about the size of an apple from her Handbook. Shen Wu’s eyes immediately lit up greedily as he stretched his arm toward her. “Give it to me!”

Ye Yun reluctantly held it out, but just then, Su Jin suddenly brandished his Boning Knife while still fighting the steel claws.

“Judgment!” Whatever Spirit Power Su Jin had left could only activate this skill once, so he had to use it at the most suitable time.

Shen Wu’s entire body trembled as though he could sense danger. He let out a shriek and retreated quickly, moving out of danger’s way just before Judgment could strike him.

KABOOOOM!

As he watched all the buildings within a few kilometers’ radius turn into ash, Shen Wu showed fear on his face for the first time. He knew that if that attack had hit him, he would have been reduced to ashes as well.

“Damn it!” Su Jin sighed. That was his trump card. He didn’t expect Shen Wu to be able to dodge it completely.

Shen Wu paused to catch his breath and noticed that the glow around Su Jin’s body was slowly fading away. It meant that the item that gave Su Jin immunity had lost its effect.

“Since you’ve been so difficult to deal with, I’ll make sure you suffer for a bit!” Shen Wu activated his Spirit Power and a white frost immediately gathered on Su Jin’s skin.

Su Jin could sense that he was losing heat rapidly, but just before he lost consciousness, the heat returned to his body again.

“What’s going on?” Besides Su Jin, Shen Wu looked equally confused.

“Oho! This power’s not bad!” A second Shen Wu stood behind Ye Yun and waved at the trapped Su Jin with a big smile. “I came to save you in time, didn’t I?”