Tons of metal melted, creating a large pool of metal at the port.
However, even in that state, the metal giant rumbled in, trying to get back to its original shape, with its arms and legs flailing out of the pool of metal from time to time before finally melting away.
The heat was overpowering Cactus Bill’s metal-controlling power.
This was the method that Blass taught Dohyuk.
The remaining metal beast charged at Dohyuk. He could guess what Cactus Bill was up to.
‘He’s trying to see how much power I have left.’
Powerful skills required a price. Even if the heat melted the metal, it would require a high price since only a huge difference in power would allow such weakness to take effect. As such, it was certain that Dohyuk would have a limit on how long he could use his power.
‘Good.’
As the beast closed in, Dohyuk faced it directly as he lowered himself and watched.
‘If he has a question…’
He did not dodge. Instead, Dohyuk jumped when the beast came right up to him.
‘I will give him the answer.’
Dohyuk kicked, not to slice it, but just a simple physical strike.
With a clash of metal, the beast’s head was thrown backward as Dohyuk shot past the beast. He wasn’t running. The heat was now melting the entire beast’s head and its front leg so that it could not chase after Dohyuk.
Dohyuk ran forward, then jumped. He jumped at another metal giant. He was very vulnerable at that moment as he had nowhere else to move in the air, but the metal giant twisted, trying to back away from Dohyuk.
“Oh, you’re running now?”
However, Dohyuk was not going to let it go. His body spun in the air, but at that angle, he would not get to the beast or even land on the ground.
Then, his body divided into two. Dohyuk kicked the other Dohyuk toward it, just to push him in the air. The second Dohyuk was thrown towards the metal giant’s face, which he grabbed onto.
And then, Dohyuk slammed it with his knee. The giant smashed his own face with his fist, but Dohyuk had already merged back into one and was gone from its face.
The giant was flung back as he hit his face, and the heat that was melting away the cheek was transferred to the fist.
Dohyuk landed on the ground and took a deep breath. No more metal giants were attacking him. Other than the four that were now melting into the metal pool, all of them had already backed away into the sea. Dohyuk looked up and saw those metal monsters looking at him from the sea.
“Is that it?! You bastard!” Dohyuk roared loudly.
“You think you had the upper hand? And now you’re scared?!” Dohyuk shouted. Actually, Dohyuk himself had expected more from Cactus Bill.
Why?
It was, of course, because he was lonely. He had no one that had experienced the same as him. That’s why he had to rely on it. Even if they had no memories of each other, and there was a chance for them to be different this time around… even then…
“Go to hell, you f*cking monster.”
He never thought it would be this bad.
If Cactus Bill was just a normal beast, it would’ve been better. But he was worse; he was mad. And Dohyuk understood why he became like that. If he faced the same experiences as Cactus Bill… maybe he would have become like that. Even if he had a strong will and the help of his sleeping bag, he would not have withstood it.
Because of that, Dohyuk’s anger wasn’t just toward Bill.
From the sea, two crooked arms came up. It was Bill.
“You are right.”
Without even thinking to shake away the water, Bill spoke as he walked up to Dohyuk.
“I am a beast. I recognize this very well. If I hadn’t changed, I would be terrified of it.”
Before Dohyuk could respond, Bill continued, “But as you know, there are almost no humans in this world. Most have turned, and they will never turn back.”
“Oh, so you’d rather have everyone turn into f*cking beasts, then?” Dohyuk retorted. There was that ‘pride’ that Bill displayed as he spoke when he was trying to turn everyone into beasts.
Bill said that there were no more humans in his group. There were, but he had turned them into beasts.
“So… doing that makes you forget what had been done to you? You really think that?”
“No. It doesn’t go away.” Bill answered. “But I can take it in a different way.”
“…!”
Tragedy was tragedy because it was better to not have happened.
“The world changed, and there is no going back. There is only one answer, to have corruption to become normal. When everyone turns, there will be no problem.”
“You don’t know if there’s another way.”
“You sound like you are trying to take on a challenge again.”
“Again? It’s the first time for me.”
“Not for me.”