Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: The Tiger's Rampage
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Hwangbo Seongu's eyes widened round.
Gushing blood sprayed across his vision, then splattered down in heavy drops. Strangely, he felt no pain just yet.
Instead, he wondered what this was. A man without marrow. Hwangbo Seongu, born with an overwhelmingly powerful body from the moment of his birth, had never seen so much of his own blood before.
"This......"
Hwangbo Seongu's feet staggered. A flurry of emotions flashed across his dazed face. Bewilderment turned to shock, then rage. His features twisted.
"You damned bitch!"
It wasn't a fatal wound. The attack, executed in the blink of an eye, had pierced into Hwangbo Seongu's chest, but his fully transformed beastman body was incomparably tougher than any human's.
Paeng Yeonhwa's slashing strike tore through flesh and muscle but was stopped by his ribs.
Every movement brought searing pain, but his fury drowned it out. Hwangbo Seongu swung his massive fist wildly.
But Paeng Yeonhwa was nowhere to be seen. A chilling premonition made him jerk his head up.
High in the sky, Paeng Yeonhwa hovered. How had she leaped that high? In the very instant she had slashed him?
"Graaah!"
Hwangbo Seongu let out a thunderous roar, throwing his upper body back.
Crunch!
His fist, scraping the ground as it rocketed upward, prepared to unleash.
Paeng Yeonhwa floated with the blinding sun at her back. Hwangbo Seongu strained his eyes to keep her in sight. His clenched fist locked onto her.
Hwangbo Seongu's fist shot forward,
and Paeng Yeonhwa's claws glinted in the light.
This time, he saw it clearly. The moment the fist reached her, Paeng Yeonhwa's body moved fluidly. Her torso arched back, her hips twisting. The fist extended without pause but missed her entirely.
A sharp sting grazed Hwangbo Seongu's arm. Paeng Yeonhwa flew into his embrace, planting both feet on his chest. Crunch! Her razor-sharp claws dug into his pectorals.
He wanted to grab her with his outstretched arm, but it wouldn't move. In passing, Paeng Yeonhwa's blade had sliced his arm.
"This!"
He raised his unscathed arm.
But Paeng Yeonhwa's strike came faster.
Crunch!
Her descending claws plunged into his left shoulder. Hwangbo Seongu swallowed hard and hurriedly circulated his inner energy. His reinforced muscles and bones blocked her claws from sinking deeper.
Paeng Yeonhwa was right in his face. Her golden eyes gleamed devoid of any humanity. This wasn't the first time he'd seen her transformed into a beastman.
'To this extent......'
She hadn't been this fast before, nor this merciless.
Paeng Yeonhwa's eyes narrowed. Crack! More force pressed into her claws, blocked by bone and muscle. Hwangbo Seongu's heart pounded wildly. Could she really?
'To the end?'
This was no time to hesitate. Hwangbo Seongu's mouth gaped wide.
If he was going to devour her head right there...... But Hwangbo Seongu couldn't bring himself to intend to kill Paeng Yeonhwa. Instead, with his gaping maw, he lunged to bite her arm.
That hesitation created a fatal opening. Paeng Yeonhwa whipped her left arm. The claws on her right hand were gathered into a single long blade, but her left were shorter. They swung faster, with a tighter range.
Slash!
Paeng Yeonhwa's claws raked across Hwangbo Seongu's face. His gaping mouth slammed shut. In that brief instant, her claws had torn his lips.
'I'm dead.'
More than the pain, the brutal reality closed in.
"Seongu!"
A thunderous shout shook the forest. It came from Hwangbo Gwang, who could no longer stand by and watch. He crossed the air in an instant, charging at Paeng Yeonhwa.
Paeng Yeonhwa did not finish slashing Hwangbo Seongu but leaped upward instead.
Thud!
Rapid strikes peppered Paeng Yeonhwa's body. She spun in midair and landed silently on the ground.
Hwangbo Gwang positioned himself between Hwangbo Seongu and Paeng Yeonhwa, assuming a fist technique stance.
Thump!
Hwangbo Seongu, staggering, collapsed to the ground.
"Absolute Life Sword!"
"I know."
Seok Ijin, who had arrived with Hwangbo Gwang, examined Hwangbo Seongu. His condition was wretched.
Chest, right arm, shoulder, and mouth.
No wounds were deep enough to be fatal, but he was losing too much blood.
"Stay put."
Hwangbo Seongu's natural recovery was strong even in human form, but superior in his bear form. Seok Ijin sealed his acupoints to staunch the bleeding.
"Paeng Yeonhwa!"
Hwangbo Gwang bellowed.
"The fight ended long ago! But you!"
Even under his sharp rebuke, Paeng Yeonhwa's expression didn't change. She bared her fangs, emitting a beast's low growl.
Gooseflesh prickled Hwangbo Gwang's skin. His hair felt like it was standing on end.
"Calm your excitement and back off! Drop that form too!"
Hwangbo Gwang's shout didn't reach Paeng Yeonhwa's ears. In her ears echoed the long-ago roar of the Tiger Calamity, and in her nose lingered the scent of Paeng family blood and his musk.
"Paeng Yeonhwa!"
Hwangbo Gwang shouted again.
Paeng Yeonhwa lowered her stance, circling them like a predator stalking prey.
* * *
When Paeng Yeonhwa tore Hwangbo Seongu's mouth and Hwangbo Gwang and Seok Ijin realized the gravity and intervened.
Seo Il said he would fetch a physician and left the scene. Fetching a physician wasn't a lie.
Just a bit delayed.
Before he was Golden Capture Whip Flash Seo Il, he was Thunderbolt of Return Lee Un.
An assassin's trade was killing.
Whether fatal or not required no check—just the sound told him. Hwangbo Seongu wasn't fatally wounded. Proper hemostasis meant no death, no complications.
Paeng Yeonhwa's behavior was blatantly off. She'd desperately hidden it, but Seo Il had sensed her killing intent writhing long before.
Little Tiger Paeng Yeonhwa......
She'd been a docile girl. Hating the prejudiced gazes around her, knowing she couldn't escape them, she'd acted all the more meek.
For such a Paeng Yeonhwa to suddenly act like that. Why? He didn't know the exact reason. But he had suspicions.
'Demonic Cult....... Could it be.'
Rats had infiltrated Sword Grove Mountain. He hadn't confirmed their affiliation, but too radical for Black Death Union.
Relations between unorthodox and orthodox weren't harmonious, but not etched-in-stone enmity. The enemies of the murim—no, the world—were only the Demonic Cult and the Demon King. High chance the rats were Demonic Cult spies.
Tiger Calamity Paeng Yeon-u.
He who'd slaughtered all Paeng family retainers except Paeng Yeonhwa, then evaded the Orthodox Murim Alliance's pursuit.
The last place he'd been sighted was eight years ago in New Frontier. Demonic Cult territory.
'Everyone expected Tiger Calamity joined the Demonic Cult......'
That linked the Demonic Cult to Paeng Yeonhwa. Some scheme had stirred her dangerous blood...... What for? Mere chaos? Heavenly Person Mu Yeonjun was at Repayment Peak, not Sword Grove.
Sword Grove's disturbance couldn't shake Repayment Peak simultaneously. So, targeting Paeng Yeonhwa from the start?
Nothing certain. First, catch the rats. Not easy, of course.
Under Shadow Division's orders, he'd tracked rat traces until today.
He knew rats were in Sword Grove but hadn't hunted. Orders to observe.
But now, killing rats was permitted.
'Hm?'
Seo Il's heightened senses caught something.
Impact sounds from elsewhere, not here.
* * *
"Urk, heh heh!"
An unwelcome laugh.
It soured his already foul mood further. Wi Seongcheon scowled and glanced down at himself.
His outer robe hung in tatters, thinly sliced. He'd thought he'd dodged...... Too shallow.
"Shallow."
The masked man thought the same. He'd thought it a clean cut, but the kid had used bizarre movement to slip the slash's path by a hair.
"Brat. How'd you find me?"
The masked man was genuinely curious. His stealth was perfect, undetectable by this kid. Unless the opponent was Heavenly Person or Dragon Phoenix caliber...... But this kid was neither.
Heavenly Flower Sect Wi Seongcheon.
Didn't know much about him. Knew he'd fought Hwangbo Seongu twice, but hadn't seen the fights.
Lest the instructors notice. And originally, the masked man's target wasn't Wi Seongcheon or Hwangbo Seongu.
But he knew the kid was 'pretty' impressive. The one who'd broken the arm of Dragon Phoenix, Iron Bone Hwangbo Seongu.
But superior martial arts for his age and piercing stealth were different matters.
"Instinct."
Wi Seongcheon glared at the masked man as he spoke.
No lie. He'd truly found him by instinct. No clear certainty. But ignoring to head to Paeng Yeonhwa felt 'off.' He'd felt it before...... Wi Seongcheon clenched his fist.
Three Valleys Mountain was still vivid. His first kill, after all. He might kill again, forget future ones, but never that first at Three Valleys.
Supreme Window.
When that man with the ridiculous moniker shifted his qi abruptly.
When he'd tried to kill Dang Heeran.
Wi Seongcheon sensed the change before Dang Heeran noticed, moved before Seok Ijin.
That time too....... instinct. Something wrong, dangerous intuition. Unfamiliar dissonance. Discomfort. Unease.
Sensing the masked man's stealth was similar. It nagged, so he stopped, headed toward it, reached out. Dodging that slash backward was now.
"......Heh! Heh heh heh!"
The masked man burst into laughter. Honest words, but taken as lies.
"What's the point in watching trash like you?"
The masked man muttered. Yet he glared at Wi Seongcheon, eyes murky and vicious like pooled blood.
"But. I'll watch."
Bad vibe.
Wi Seongcheon dragged his foot back. Not the masked man's subtle killing intent shrinking him.
The initial nagging instinct.
It had escalated beyond unease to bone-chilling dread.
"......Those eyes."
Wi Seongcheon steadied his trembling voice.
"Who's watching through them?"
Something was peering here through those eyes.
Absurd, but Wi Seongcheon thought so. Nothing else explained the feeling.
"Hah."
Surprise flickered in the masked man's eyes.
"If not for this place, I'd have kidnapped you......"
He muttered, lingering regret. Impossible anyway. Kid full of mysteries.
The masked man dragged his foot forward. No kidnapping? Then second best.
Kill.
"You bastard!"
The shout's source wedged between Wi Seongcheon and the masked man.
'Can't kill him.'
Golden Capture Whip Flash Seo Il. Rumors underwhelming, but could buy the kid time to flee. Should kill...... Can't.
Already scouted. Failure's fine.