Chapter 85: The Great Demon (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85: The Great Demon (5)
— Bang!
The force of the impact sent Ya Hyeoljeok stumbling backward.
“Fuck!”
Once he regained his footing, Ya Hyeoljeok swung his sword in a blind rage.
— Swoosh!
A wave of sword energy, dense with qi, shot toward me.
I, the intended target, evaded it with fluid grace—a light step back, followed by a leap.
Ya Hyeoljeok continued to press his assault, his sword swinging relentlessly.
His attacks were far from slow; as a peak-level martial artist with a powerfully built physique, his speed was formidable.
Yet, every one of his strikes met only empty air.
Seizing the opening, I drove my fist deep into his stomach once more.
“You!!!”
Even through his hardened muscles, my punch sank in…
— Blaze!
…and ignited.
“Aghhhhh!”
Blinded by the sudden, searing pain, Ya Hyeoljeok tried to shove me away.
But I was already gone, having put distance between us.
“Huff… Huff…”
Ya Hyeoljeok gasped for air, one hand clutching his scorched abdomen.
“…You little shit…”
His pained grimace made it clear the injury was severe.
“I heard you were from the Gu Clan! Why interfere here?!”
I didn’t bother answering with words.
— Blaze-!
My flames answered for me, erupting outward as I channeled my destructive Gu Flame Wheel Art.
Ya Hyeoljeok swung his greatsword, trying to bat the inferno away, but he couldn’t stop it all.
The fire raged indiscriminately, devouring everything in its path as if determined to leave no life behind.
Within the chaos of the flames, I saw my chance.
My arm shot through a gap in the fire, my hand closing around Ya Hyeoljeok’s throat.
I summoned flames to my palm, intent on incinerating his head where he stood.
But Ya Hyeoljeok reacted with startling speed. A burst of qi erupted from his body, breaking my grip and forcing him back.
As he put space between us, he rubbed at his neck, the skin already blistering from the heat.
“Huff… Huff…”
Having stood so long within my own conflagration, tendrils of smoke now rose from my body.
…I missed.
[Calm down!]
Elder Shin’s voice was urgent in my mind. But…
I am calm.
[I can feel the rage boiling inside you! How is that calm?!]
Strange.
I truly believed I was calm.
I was merely… disappointed.
The sensation of his neck in my grasp was still vivid.
I should have burned him then and there.
It seemed he had more fight in him than I’d anticipated.
Ya Hyeoljeok.
That was the name of the man now watching me warily, his greatsword at the ready.
I knew who he was.
A commander in the Heavenly Demon’s army, a leader in his own right.
A demonic man, one eye hidden behind a patch, his mouth concealed by a mask.
Though he snarled like a beast now, my memories painted a different picture—a corpse-like man who mindlessly followed his master’s orders.
He seemed far different from the man I remembered.
He was from the Black Palace…?
I’d never bothered to learn the pasts of such demonic humans.
I’d been too consumed with my own life to care about others.
I flexed my hand.
Namgung Bi-ah…
A glance toward the spot where she had fallen showed it was empty. She had escaped. Good.
When I first arrived, I’d seen her collapsed on the ground.
That image had violently dragged me back to my final moments with the Demonic Sword—the memory of holding her in my arms, utterly powerless as her life slipped away.
And… if I had been just a little later, I might have been forced to relive that nightmare in truth.
— Blaze!!!
As if answering my emotions, my qi surged wildly. The flames wreathing my body roared higher, growing fiercer and more intense.
[Kid!]
I took a step toward Ya Hyeoljeok, circulating my destructive Gu Flame Wheel Art at a breakneck pace.
Power flooded my legs as I shot forward, my flames blazing a destructive path with every move.
Ya Hyeoljeok’s greatsword was a blur of motion.
As a peak-level martial artist who had honed his body to perfection, he could swing the massive weapon with terrifying speed.
To counter it, I pushed my own speed higher by flooding my body with qi.
Then, I used my flames to obscure his vision.
Ya Hyeoljeok kept swinging, confident that mere fire couldn’t stop him.
But his movements, hampered by the inferno, became sloppy, opening up numerous flaws in his defense.
And… even if there were no openings, I would simply create them.
A shallow cut appeared on my arm as I maneuvered…
A small price to pay.
— Thrust-!
“Ughhh!”
Since his limbs were too thickly muscled to break easily, I focused my attack on a single point.
[Calm… down…]
His sword grazed my robes,
But in doing so, he left his flank exposed. My flaming fist slammed into it.
“Cughh!”
Ya Hyeoljeok staggered heavily, his balance broken.
I didn’t miss the opportunity. A swift kick to his leg sent him stumbling.
With a heavy thud, he crashed down onto one knee.
He tried to shove me back with a free arm, but my next strike was faster.
— Pow!
His thick neck snapped to the side from the impact.
I didn’t relent, striking again immediately.
— Pow!
Two brutal hits later, Ya Hyeoljeok’s eyes burned with a dangerous, feral red light.
In a final, desperate bid for space, he released another wave of qi.
“Y-You!”
— Swooosh!
The force pushed me back.
It caused no real damage, meant only to buy him a moment’s respite.
I brushed the dust from my clothes and fixed my gaze back on him.
…How much longer?
[…]
I was asking about my qi reserves.
Elder Shin didn’t answer.
My reckless expenditure had drained me nearly dry.
* * *
Ya Hyeoljeok climbed back to his feet and spat violently onto the ground.
A tooth, followed by a mouthful of accumulated blood, landed in the dirt.
His pride had been thoroughly trampled. The Great Oni, Ya Hyeoljeok, beaten down by a mere kid.
…What kind of bullshit is this?!
— Grind.
He clenched his jaw so hard the grinding of his teeth was audible.
His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword.
He knew time was short, but more than anything, he wanted the boy in front of him dead. Whatever the cost.
The Immortal Healer? The Namgung girl? None of it mattered anymore.
Ya Hyeoljeok focused his qi into his legs and leaped, charging straight at me.
* * *
As he closed in, I wreathed my body in flames once more.
A sharp pain lanced through my dantian, but I ignored it.
A strange fog seemed to cloud my mind, a sense of disorientation.
But I couldn’t afford to focus on that. I had to break this charging beast first.
I met his sword, aimed at my head, with a concentrated blast of fire.
As his momentum slowed, I struck again, targeting his solar plexus.
The punch landed deep, and I felt the distinct crunch of breaking bone.
Ya Hyeoljeok vomited a torrent of blood.
His massive hands reached for me, but I struck again, shoving him back.
The flames surrounding us grew increasingly wild, more chaotic.
And with them, the pain in my dantian intensified.
This pain… it was similar to what I had felt on my journey to Mount Hua.
Back then, it had been so severe I couldn’t breathe and lost consciousness. Now, I found I could still move my body freely.
What was the difference?
I didn’t know, but I took it as a good sign. Movement was all that mattered right now.
[Hey…]
My eyes widened slightly at the new voice that echoed in my head.
Elder Shin?
For a moment, I thought it was him, breaking his silence.
After all, he was the only one who should have been able to speak to me like this.
[Eat it…]
But it wasn’t Elder Shin.
The voice was strange—both childlike and ancient at the same time.
The moment it spoke, the pain that had been wracking my body vanished completely.
[…Hungry.]
The voice was soft, almost a whisper.
You…
I wanted to ask who it was, but I couldn’t form the thought.
Because…
Everything went black.
* * *
Namgung Bi-ah had hidden herself, leaning heavily against a tree for support.
The energy-draining seal left her barely able to move, one of her arms was broken, and her qi was completely depleted.
But even so…
…I have to go help him…
To Namgung Bi-ah, Gu Yangcheon was undeniably strong.
She had seen him easily defeat her younger brother, and witnessed how he had handled Yung Pung.
She knew he was likely stronger than her. No, she was certain of it.
…But still.
This was different.
The giant reeked of a foul stench and radiated an ominous aura that marked him as a foe far beyond Gu Yangcheon’s level.
They should have waited for reinforcements from Mount Hua.
— Slam! Slam!
The sounds of a brutal battle—of things being smashed—continued to echo through the forest.
It hadn’t actually been that long, but to Namgung Bi-ah, it felt like an eternity.
Finally gathering enough strength to move, she limped toward the noise.
“Ugh!”
A wave of nausea hit her as a truly disgusting smell assaulted her senses.
Was this from the giant? It hadn’t been this overpowering before.
…This is too much.
It was the most revolting stench Namgung Bi-ah had ever encountered, so potent it made her stomach churn.
— Pow!
Limping forward, she finally reached the clearing where the fight was taking place.
The sight that greeted her was unbelievable.
The area looked as though demons had run amok; the surroundings were utterly devastated.
And in the center of the destruction was Gu Yangcheon.
He was straddling Ya Hyeoljeok’s chest, relentlessly pounding the man’s face with his fists.
— Pow!
With every blow, blood sprayed through the air.
The giant’s face was already a ruined, unrecognizable mess.
The… the stench.
The foul odor that had emanated from the giant had faded some time ago.
A dead man smells different.
Which meant the horrific stench now filling the clearing was coming from…
“…N… No!”
At the sound of Namgung Bi-ah’s voice, Gu Yangcheon’s fist froze in mid-air.
He slowly turned his head to look at her.
“…!!
When their eyes met, a silent scream caught in Namgung Bi-ah’s throat.
Gu Yangcheon’s eyes had morphed into a haunting, luminous purple.
It was a beautiful color, but the instant she saw it, a chill of primal terror seized her entire body.
Those eyes felt profoundly, deeply ominous.
He stared at her for a long moment, then turned back and resumed his pounding.
Striking the corpse that was already long dead.
Trembling uncontrollably, Namgung Bi-ah gripped her own shoulders, trying to steady herself.
She didn’t understand why she was so terrified.
The brutal, wet sounds of impact echoed in her ears, and the sickening stench made her want to vomit.
But ignoring her body’s violent shaking, she forced herself to trudge forward. She grabbed hold of Gu Yangcheon’s arm.
She felt she had to.
He tried to pull away, his mind seemingly broken, intent on continuing his grisly work.
“Please! He’s… already…!”
Did her words get through?
Gu Yangcheon’s relentless fists suddenly stilled.
Then, his entire body went limp, and he collapsed.
Namgung Bi-ah quickly caught his falling form with her shaking arms.
“Huff… Huff…”
As if that were a signal, the disgusting stench slowly began to dissipate.
When she looked at the pulverized corpse of the giant, she had to fight back the urge to vomit.
She couldn’t believe such brutality was possible by human hands.
Namgung Bi-ah covered Gu Yangcheon’s blood-soaked hands with her own trembling ones.
She did it anyway.
It felt like the only way she might find some semblance of calm.
Some time later, the martial artists from Mount Hua finally arrived.
* * *
In the cave that served as the Black Palace’s branch headquarters, Baechong was doing his best to remain calm as he waited for Ya Hyeoljeok’s return.
It wasn’t out of concern or any desire to see the man.
I have to take the medicine soon…
Only the branch manager possessed the antidote that could suppress the lethal seal placed inside Baechong.
The end of the fourth day was fast approaching, and Baechong was growing desperate.
The sun would set soon. If Ya Hyeoljeok didn’t return by then, Baechong knew he would die.
As he waited in anxious silence, he suddenly sensed a presence at the cave entrance.
His spirits lifting, he rushed toward it.
— Step-
The footsteps were oddly quiet, but Baechong paid it no mind.
The door opened and a figure entered.
“Lord Branch Manag–”
Baechong’s greeting died in his throat as he instantly drew his sword.
It wasn’t the branch manager.
An old man…?
It was a small, elderly man.
The old man slowly scanned the room with his eyes.
“You… who are you?”
“…It seems this is the place.”
“I asked who you—”
Baechong couldn’t finish his sentence.
His vision suddenly tilted… and he found himself looking at the ground.
The head that had been shouting at the old man was now severed, rolling across the floor.
The old man held no sword.
And yet, Baechong had lost his head to the invisible ‘sword’ the old man wielded.
The old man’s name was Wi Hyogun.
The Sword Venerable had come here on behalf of the Celestial Plum Blossom’s request.