Hell's Handbook

Chapter 423

“Stop!” Su Jin blocked their way. He looked at them and found that these three looked vastly different from the last time he saw them. It was as though these creatures had gone through one round of evolution during this short period of time.

The creatures had perfect bodies with perfect muscular formations that contained a strength that was enough to make any owner who was an expert at martial arts feel a chill down their spine. These creatures looked like they were made for close-range hand-to-hand combat.

The creatures immediately charged at Su Jin when they heard his voice. They didn’t care about the fact that something had appeared out of nowhere. They only knew that once they started on their mission, they had to kill anyone in the way, regardless of who they were.

Boom! One of them gave Su Jin a kick. Su Jin did not dodge, because he wanted to know if these creatures were as perfectly strong as their outer appearance made them out to be.

The result was a resounding crack. The arm that Su Jin used to block the kick cracked loudly, then broke!

He couldn’t even remember when was the last time someone managed to break his bones with one attempt. A grim look filled his eyes. These creatures were even stronger than he had imagined.

His arm had been broken, but it immediately healed up within the two seconds he took to retreat. If they were comparing whose body was more perfect, Su Jin didn’t think he would lose to these creatures.

Meanwhile, the three creatures had decided to attack him together. They were all made for close range combat, so when they combined forces, they became an extremely formidable foe. But Su Jin was no pushover either and he was not losing even though he was going up against three attackers. And actually, Su Jin could have used his maniacal power to kill them immediately. But if he did that, he would lose the chance to understand more about these creatures.

The battle went on and on. The four of them left every area they touched in ruins. If Su Jin had not purposely avoided the Moonlight Church, that building would probably have collapsed by now. He had no choice but to use a bit of psychokinesis to form a protective shield around it. Of course, this shield wasn’t enough to stop the rune creatures from destroying it, but at least it was enough to keep it from crumbling from the sheer shockwaves of their fighting. He was counting on the church to send him back to his world, after all.

The four of them continued moving and colliding as they fought. Each time they collided, it sounded like a bomb had gone off and thunderous booms filled the air. Su Jin quickly began to understand these creatures.

Each one of them was excellent at fighting, and their martial arts techniques were just slightly poorer than Chu Yi’s. If it was Chu Yi versus just one of them, Chu Yi would be able to defeat the creature, but would not be able to kill it. If he had to fight two of them, he would be in danger. If he had to fight three of them, he was dead meat.

“This evolution process… Their aim is actually to absorb the special characteristics of the creatures in every world. They’re not here to fight. They’re more like researchers,” thought Su Jin. He could sense that these creatures were a lot more advanced than the last batch he ran into.

At the very least, these three creatures knew what they were doing with every punch and kick they delivered, and they coordinated their attacks very well. Their technique was a lot better than the last time, and Su Jin even felt like they were a little more sentient now. They were no longer as robotic as before.

The rune creatures seemed to be installed with some AI program. They were still not human in nature, but they were a lot smarter than before. Also, Su Jin felt that they were really a lot more like researchers than fighters, because they were absorbing everything that could make them stronger. The creatures he ran into the last time were able to share and duplicate the techniques the creatures had learned individually. Did that mean all the rune creatures could do it?

That thought made Su Jin’s hair all stand on end. If that was the case, then these rune creatures were simply terrifying. A huge number of them were learning at the same time, then they could share the results of their learning. That would be like if one person tried to study English by themselves, they would take a long time to learn it. But these rune creatures just needed each one to learn one word or one grammar rule, and the entire group would be able to speak perfect English after that.

With such a terrifyingly efficient learning ability, these rune creatures were on their way to becoming terrifying beings. But Su Jin was more curious about who in the world created these things. He had previously suspected it was the elder gods, or perhaps the Mad Hatter. But they were now eliminated from his list.

The elder gods were gone, since the Handbook had found them and wiped them out. The Mad Hatter had been killed not too long ago. Of course, there was the possibility that Alice had lied to him, but that would have been a little too difficult. Alice was clearly not someone with great powers. Lying to Su Jin was almost impossible.

With that in mind, Su Jin finally came to a decision. He activated his maniacal power and tore one of the creatures to shreds. The creature that usually had the amazing ability to restore itself instantly collapsed and was not able to heal itself anymore.

The remaining creatures were clearly hesitant to continue their attacks. While they hesitated, Su Jin tore a second creature to shreds. This time, the last creature decided to make a run for it. A hole appeared in front of it, then it leaped in and disappeared.

After it disappeared, Su Jin smiled. As the last creature made its escape, he attached a little maniacal power to it. That way, he would be able to track it down again.

He was about to leave the Challenge when he remembered that even though the old man who lived here was already dead, he had left behind a god level physical body. Su Jin decided to get it before leaving.

He came to the core of the moon. A giant lake stood in the middle and the water was a bright green color. A young boy was swimming in the lake like a fish.

Su Jin was very surprised. This body seemed to have its own consciousness, which meant that the old man did not create a body, but created a person. His plan was to wait until this boy’s body had matured, then remove the boy’s consciousness and replace it with his own.

“He’s still so young,” remarked Su Jin. The boy had swum toward Su Jin and looked up at Su Jin without any trace of fear on his face.

“Come along, little boy. Come with me!” Su Jin eventually decided to take the boy with him. This little boy was like an animal. If Su Jin left him here, the boy would probably just keep swimming in the lake. He might as well take the boy back with him and train him.

This boy already possessed a god level body, so it would be great if the boy could become part of his god army. Compared to trying to recruit people from everywhere, picking up someone who already met the requirements without any work sounded like a better deal.

Su Jin waved a hand and the boy’s characteristics were changed to an item that Su Jin could summon. That way, he would be able to return to the Personal Hell Domain with Su Jin.

After that, Su Jin reached out to the boy and the boy curiously took Su Jin’s hand. Su Jin pulled him out of the water, then waved a hand to provide the boy with clothes. Su Jin made shoes for the boy as well, but for some reason, the boy hated the shoes and absolutely refused to put them on.

There was nothing Su Jin could do about that, so he just gave up trying. Besides, the boy could go without shoes. He had a god level body, so he wouldn’t get hurt even if he didn’t wear shoes.

He brought the boy into the Moonlight Church, and everything went dark immediately after they walked in. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in his Personal Hell Domain. The little boy was standing next to him and looking around curiously.

Su Jin ruffled the little boy’s hair. The boy’s thick, black hair was very soft, and the little boy seemed to like that gesture too, so he kept trying to rub the top of his head against Su Jin’s palm.

“Let me give you a name! From now on, your name is… Su Wen!” Su Jin casually gave the little boy a name. But actually, Wen was actually a nickname that Su Jin had, and now, he was giving it to the little boy.