Chapter 149: Bloodsucking Demon Tiger-2
Chapter 149: Bloodsucking Demon Tiger-2
Cheonghong Ssanggeom?
He was a bizarre monster with a strange nickname he had never heard of before, and though he was called Twin Swords, he stood alone, carrying just a single blade.
But no one could question that strangeness.
It was because he had flown in at such tremendous speed and instantly melted into the ranks of the Blood Cult warriors.
And in the next moment, the cultists were sent flying as if exploding.
Puhwaaak!
"Kuaaak!"
"Uwaaaak!"
The monster was now racing through the Blood Cultists with ghostlike movements, as if striding through an empty field.
As he dashed at terrifying speed, the cultists around him were flung aside, spraying blood.
It looked as if a passage made of blood was forming behind him.
At this, one of the peak-level demon heads who had been killing the warriors of the Seonwoo clan rushed at him urgently, swinging his broadsword.
"You bastard!"
Buaaaang!
It was a fierce, powerful strike that seemed capable of splitting even a boulder.
But even as that mighty blow came flying, the monster did not slow his speed in the slightest.
He simply moved softly like the wind, slipping lightly past the side of the incoming blade.
Shyaaak!
Puhak!
And after he passed, the demon head's neck spouted blood as it soared high into the sky.
Even if he was only at the initial stage, a peak-level master had been too absurdly struck down and killed after just a single exchange of blows.
"!"
At this, the smile vanished from No Jo-song's face.
It was because the scene he had just witnessed was truly a nonsensical situation.
No master avoided an opponent's weapon with only a paper-thin margin like that.
Unless one had multiple lives, that was. That kind of action, where a single miscalculation of a split second could mean instant death, was practically suicidal.
So there was only one reason he could do such a thing.
No Jo-song spat the words out as if chewing them.
"Madman!"
He was clearly mad.
Or perhaps he possessed an ability to perfectly see and react to his opponent's movements, but No Jo-song could not believe that this fellow was a master of such a degree that he could completely grasp a peak-level master's movements and react with only a paper-thin margin.
No Jo-song now swung his Tiger Claw Hand at the monster charging toward him like the wind.
"Die, you madman!"
Buaaaang!
Just as No Jo-song's beastlike strike was about to crash into the monster, the charging figure suddenly bent at a right angle.
It was a movement that seemed to ignore inertia, an incomprehensible motion that instead accelerated sharply as its direction changed.
Paaang!
"!"
The horrified No Jo-song's gaze belatedly chased after him.
And then he could realize just who the monster's target was.
"Danger...!"
Shyaaak!
But the situation was already too late, and No Jo-song could not finish his sentence.
***
Jegal Seoyul had been in the midst of a desperate struggle against a demon head wielding twin blades.
His martial prowess was similar to her own, yet somehow she was being pushed back more and more.
It was because the pressure of her first real battle and the opponent's greedy eyes were making Jegal Seoyul gradually shrink inward.
It was pathetic.
Though she had faced countless duels, fighting a life-or-death real battle was so different.
"Haaap!"
She let out a martial shout, trying to somehow collect herself.
But the sight of her uncle being pushed to the side as if he might collapse at any moment made it difficult for her heart to settle.
Jegal Ji-yong was one of the greatest masters of the Jegal family that she knew.
Yet that uncle of hers was being toyed with like a mere child.
It was final.
Now it seemed there was no hope left at all.
'Is this... is this how I die?'
It was when her eyes filled with such despair.
Shyaaak!
A streak of light flickered past behind the demon head who had been cackling and about to swing his twin blades at her.
"?!"
At first, it happened so instantaneously that she wondered if she had seen wrongly.
But the next moment, she could confirm she had not seen wrongly.
It was because the laughing demon head suddenly spouted blood from the back of his neck and collapsed.
Puhwaak!
Thud!
She stared blankly at the corpse of the demon head that had collapsed before her eyes, spraying blood.
It was too bewildering.
And when she raised her head, she discovered the blue-robed monster with a pale face standing with his arms crossed, looking at her.
It wasn't just her.
Her uncle, the Bloodsucking Demon Tiger No Jo-song, and the two demon heads guarding the rear were all staring at him with eyes filled with shock.
The monster spoke to her with an arrogant face.
"If your life was saved, shouldn't you go and help the other warriors? How long are you going to stand there spacing out?"
"Huh? Yes? Ah, yes!"
Jegal Seoyul, who had quickly snapped back to her senses, hurriedly ran toward the warriors still engaged in fierce combat.
But as she ran, she suddenly halted her steps at a thought that surfaced in her mind and had to turn back to look at him.
It was unmistakably a face she was seeing for the first time and a voice she was hearing for the first time, yet somehow his eyes and build felt familiar.
'Could it be?'
The monster, still with his arms crossed, was now speaking toward Jegal Ji-yong.
"I saved you, and you're just as dazed! Is this a trait of your clan or what?!"
At that, Jegal Ji-yong, who had quickly come to his senses, asked back in bewilderment.
"Pardon? Ah, wha, what...?"
"If you don't have the ability to fight that bastard, shouldn't you at least take charge and deal with those ones?!"
Jegal Ji-yong could immediately understand that the 'those ones' he spoke of referred to the demon heads guarding the rear.
Apparently, that monster intended to face No Jo-song head-on.
For Jegal Ji-yong, there was absolutely no reason to refuse.
He hurriedly clasped his fists and answered.
"Understood, daehyeop! Then!"
Jegal Ji-yong immediately charged at the demon heads in the rear.
"You bastards!"
Syuhwaaak!
The Bloodsucking Demon Tiger No Jo-song paid absolutely no heed to the fact that Jegal Ji-yong, whom he had been fighting, was moving elsewhere.
His beastlike eyes were focused solely on the monster.
At that, the monster cracked his neck and smiled faintly, speaking to him.
"Now, shall we begin?"
***
I cracked my neck and roused my fighting spirit once more.
I knew well that this was originally a fight I couldn't take on.
The bastard was currently on the verge of reaching the transcendent peak, whereas my martial prowess had yet to breach the eighty-year wall of internal energy.
Though I had fought and won quite often against opponents a level above me, fighting a master two levels above was definitely crossing the line.
It was probably a suicidal act, perfectly suitable for dying a gruesome death.
Of course, that was assuming I hadn't learned the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
I grinned fiercely and told him.
"Now, shall we begin?"
And then I immediately activated the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance, First Form.
Flying Moon.
In an instant, the world flipped.
A dreamlike sensation, as if a veil of dreams had been draped over the world that was reality just moments before.
Within it, I stood once more as an omnipotent being.
At that moment, No Jo-song charged at me first.
His momentum was threatening, like a fierce tiger pouncing.
But I smiled faintly and flicked my finger.
Snap!
Then I could see the charging bastard's speed momentarily slow to a snail's crawl.
The trajectory of the Tiger Claw Hand he was swinging at me was vividly entering my eyes.
If I wanted to, I could probably evade his attack with a paper-thin margin again, just as I had done to the other bastard earlier.
But I didn't.
Instead, I chose the path of raising my sword and thrusting.
Sail Sword Technique, First Form.
One Strike Four Suns.
Syuhwak!
Even in the slowed world, a sword strike of a speed that existed in a different dimension from everything else shot toward the charging bastard's wrist.
Then I could see his eyes slowly bulging wide in shock.
'Now, shall we start by stripping off an arm?'
That was what I had thought, but as expected, a master on the verge of the transcendent peak was no easy opponent.
Even in that pressing situation, he had succeeded in slightly altering the trajectory of his swinging arm and narrowly evading my sword strike.
Seuuuuk!
My sword grazed past, slowly splitting open the bastard's forearm.
When the droplets of blood floating up from there were drifting in the air, I forcefully stomped the ground and changed my direction of movement.
I felt a cracking force on my ankle, knee, and pelvis.
Crunch!
But I gritted my teeth, overcame that inertia, and succeeded in changing my movement direction.
And turning my body, I could switch the direction of the sword that was executing One Strike Four Suns and slash out to the side.
***
Shyaaak!
Puhwaak!
"Kughk!"
No Jo-song, his side deeply cut, retreated senselessly.
He utterly could not come to his senses against the opponent's onslaught.
The monster's movements were too incomprehensible.
He would thrust his sword aiming for the attacking wrist, and when that was narrowly avoided, with an impossible movement, he switched the lightninglike thrust directly into a slash.
It was a movement too different from the common sense he had known until now.
It was as if he had broken free of the world's laws.
Syuhak!
The monster was approaching again like a ghost, thrusting his sword.
"How dare you!"
Though it was practically a lightninglike sword strike, No Jo-song infused his Tiger Claw Hand with energetic force and struck it away.
Bwuung!
No, he thought he had struck it away.
If only the bastard's sword hadn't suddenly changed its path at the very last moment.
Syuhak!
A sword strike that had evaded his Tiger Claw Hand, supple as a living snake, was thrusting toward his chest.
Now it seemed he absolutely could not block it.
The horrified No Jo-song exerted all his power with desperate effort.
"Hup!"
Hwaaak!
Then, just before his chest was pierced through, energetic force erupted from all over No Jo-song's body.
It was crude, but it was unmistakably protective strong qi.
Twung!
Seonwoo Jin's sword strike, which had been on the verge of piercing his chest, lightly touched No Jo-song's chest and then bounced back.
He had succeeded in blocking it with protective strong qi.
It was an immensely fortunate thing.
Having narrowly overcome the crisis, No Jo-song could finally let out a sigh of relief.
He had consumed too much internal energy all at once, but still, not being dead was something.
It was then.
The eyes of the monster, who had stepped back a pace from the repelling force of the protective strong qi, suddenly sharpened.
Unlike earlier when he had seemed drowsy as if drunk, his eyes were now focused, like a hawk eyeing its prey.
And the monster's sword thrust toward No Jo-song once more.
Shweeik!
Tung!
But No Jo-song, who had been momentarily bewildered by the monster's sharpened demeanor, could not help but frown the moment he saw the lightninglike thrusting sword bounce off his protective strong qi once again.
'What? What is he doing?'
It was clearly a sword strike that was even faster than before, one that would have been threatening enough if he had aimed for an opening.
Yet to deliberately attack the protective strong qi with such a sword strike.
And that wasn't the end of it.
"Huuuuh."
Now he was taking a deep breath and settling back into a stance to thrust his sword again.
It seemed he meant not to give up until he somehow pierced through the protective strong qi.
'Is he really a madman?'
No Jo-song was dumbfounded by the bastard's reckless actions.
But there was no need to stop it.
'Fine, just try coming again once more!'
No Jo-song once again concentrated his power into both arms.
He planned to maintain his protective strong qi only until this next attempt, and the moment the bastard failed this attack, immediately launch a counteroffensive.
'Die, you madman!'
At that moment, the monster's sword thrust in like lightning again.
No Jo-song could not have known, but that sight was a sword strike almost identical to the form of someone in Seonwoo Jin's memories.
Puuuk!
"Kuheok!"
No Jo-song, who had been spreading his arms wide to strike down the bastard, felt a searing pain in his chest and his strength drained away completely.
"Thi... this can't be..."
The bastard's sword had pierced through No Jo-song's chest.
In the end, it had pierced through his protective strong qi and touched his chest.
It was an insane, impossible thing.
Thud!
No Jo-song, stabbed through and forced to kneel on the spot, muttered with a face full of bitter resentment.
"No. To die... to die like this... I... I should have gone to the Seonwoo family..."
And with that, he soon breathed his last.
It was an utterly futile death for the infamous demon who delighted in blood, the Bloodsucking Demon Tiger No Jo-song.
Seonwoo Jin let out a deep breath.
He could feel that the thrust he had repeated tens of thousands of times had finally broken through the wall.
It should have been natural to feel excited, but he had no time for that as he was thinking about something else.
The final words No Jo-song muttered just before dying.
It was because he had realized what that meant.
Seonwoo Jin first turned his gaze elsewhere.
Then he could see Jegal Ji-yong pressing the two demon heads at the initial stage of the peak.
It seemed the fight would likely be decided soon.
The battle of the ordinary warriors was the same.
On the Blood Cult warriors' side, they had been annihilated once by Seonwoo Jin earlier, and now there were no peak-level masters remaining, whereas on the Gaeyang Gate and Seonwoo family warriors' side, the peak-level master Jegal Seoyul had now joined the fight.
And though they probably hadn't noticed, Jeok Ma-hyeok and Gyeon-jung were also supporting them from the shadows.
The reason Seonwoo Seong was still alive, despite being the enemy's primary target, was also thanks to them.
Seonwoo Jin sent telepathic transmissions to Jeok Ma-hyeok and Gyeon-jung respectively.
- I will go to the Seonwoo family first. Follow when you finish things up here.
Interpreting the last words of the dead No Jo-song, it seemed that enemies had also gone toward the Seonwoo family.
Paaang!
Seonwoo Jin deployed his Explosive Advance Step, and his figure shot out like an arrow.
It was in the direction of the Seonwoo family.
At this, Jegal Seoyul, who had been slaughtering the Blood Cult warriors, suddenly turned her gaze toward his figure flying into the sky.
Her eyes, as she looked at him, appeared deeply troubled.