Chapter 151: Seonwoo Family's Crisis-2
Chapter 151: Seonwoo Family's Crisis-2
Yeomra Hyeolseung Chuk Ho-tak, who had ordered the demon heads to charge, stood at the very front and charged toward So Nan-so himself.
Then he launched the massive crimson wheel in his hand like a lightning bolt.
"Huaaaap!"
Wiiiiiiing!
The crimson wheel spun fiercely as it hurtled toward So Nan-so.
She swung her erhu wide and struck it head-on.
"Taaaat!"
Kwaaaaaaaang!
The crimson energetic forces collided and exploded in the air.
It was as if red flames were bursting outward.
And that became the signal flare for the battle.
Starting with those two, the warriors of the Seonwoo family and the demon heads began to clash ferociously.
"Haaaap!"
"Kkiyah!"
Teoeong!
Chaeng! Chaechaeng!
"Die!"
Puhwaak!
"Keuaaaak!"
Seonwoo Jung and Great Elder Heo Jin-guk each crossed swords with one demon head.
There was a slight difference, but both Seonwoo Jung and Heo Jin-guk were warriors at the initial stage of the peak realm, and the demon heads they faced seemed to be the same.
"Haaaap!"
"Kkiyaaat!"
Chaechaechaeng!
They clashed their energetic forces and exchanged weapons fiercely.
However, since they were opponents of similar skill, it did not look like the outcome would be decided anytime soon.
The same was true for the remaining Seonwoo family warriors who had clashed with the two demon heads.
The Daeju of the Divine Eagle Units and the elders, who were still first-rate warriors, were insufficient to face them, but because the Divine Eagle Unit members were so numerous, they continued to die while still pushing the demon heads back.
The outcome of this fight would probably be determined by whether the demon heads could hold out until all the Divine Eagle Unit members were sacrificed.
While the Seonwoo family forces were unexpectedly putting up a good fight, the place where the balance was tilting fastest, surprisingly, was the Chaos Soul Witch So Nan-so's side, where she was simultaneously facing Yeomra Hyeolseung Chuk Ho-tak and one peak-level demon head.
So Nan-so's specialty was sound attacks.
She was not incapable of direct combat, but it was simply not a field she was as confident in as confusing multiple enemies at range.
On the other hand, Yeomra Hyeolseung Chuk Ho-tak specialized in hurling his wheel from mid-range.
His Blood Wheel Demonic Art, which spun fiercely and attacked its target as if alive, was a secret technique of the Blood Cult that, combined with Chuk Ho-tak's direct close-quarters assault, made the opponent feel as if they were being attacked by two people at once.
"Taaaat!"
Kwaaaaang!
So Nan-so swung her erhu with one hand and deflected the giant wheel that had been bearing down on her once more.
But the impact of the massive Blood Wheel was so strong that her hand was already going numb.
"Ugh!"
To deflect the Blood Wheel with her strength, it would have been better to swing the erhu with both hands rather than one.
But she could not.
Because with her remaining hand, she had to fend off Chuk Ho-tak's claw technique as he charged directly at her.
Swiiiish!
The bow she swung with her left hand became a sword emitting crimson energetic force, carving a dense pattern of red comb-teeth into the air.
But it seemed insufficient to annihilate all of Chuk Ho-tak's Eagle Claw Hand strikes raining down like a meteor shower.
Chuk Ho-tak burst into wild laughter as he swung both hands, driving her back.
"Kuahahahaha!"
Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!
The bow emitting crimson energetic force collided dozens of times with the Eagle Claw Hand, which also emitted crimson hand blades.
But it was like swinging a sword to fend off a downpour of massive hailstones.
There were too many, and each one was too heavy an attack for her strength to handle.
The more the Eagle Claw Hand and her sword clashed, the more she was inevitably pushed back, little by little.
Crunch!
So Nan-so gritted her teeth.
It was grueling, but she swung her bow with desperate force.
"Uwaaaaap!"
Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!
She swung her bow with all her might and was finally able to block all of the crimson hand shadows.
Only after extinguishing the last hand shadow did So Nan-so barely manage to catch her breath.
"Haa!"
But that was her limit.
She had no remaining strength now.
The problem was that her enemy was not just Chuk Ho-tak alone.
The moment she thought she had barely blocked all of the Eagle Claw Hand strikes and let out a breath, the demon head who had been targeting her back seized the opportunity without hesitation and thrust his long spear.
"Kkihaat!"
Syuhaak!
The demon head stabbing at her now was the one with the highest cultivation among those Chuk Ho-tak had brought, having reached eighty years of internal energy.
So Nan-so could not help but feel a chill run down her spine.
"Ugh!"
So Nan-so urgently launched her body upward to evade the demon's spear thrust.
An attack from a bastard she normally would not even consider a match had never been so threatening as it was at this moment.
And the moment she launched herself into the air to evade the spear thrust, the massive Blood Wheel came spinning fiercely from behind once more.
Wiiiiiiing!
"Damn!"
She hastily swung her erhu and struck it again.
Kwaaaaang!
But with an erhu swung in haste, she could not fully nullify the Blood Wheel's force.
So Nan-so's slender body ultimately could not withstand the impact of the Blood Wheel and was inevitably knocked back lightly.
"Khugh!"
Behind her, Chuk Ho-tak charged in again.
The same was true of the long spear that had been watching for an opening at her back.
"Kuahahahaha!"
"Kkiihaa!"
Chuhaaaak!
Swiiiish!
"Ugh!"
So Nan-so spun her body desperately, trying to evade them.
But Chuk Ho-tak's Eagle Claw Hand, which she had not fully dodged, flew toward her body.
Chuhaaaak!
"!"
It was a moment of crisis.
She could evade the long spear, but she could not do the same for the Eagle Claw Hand of Chuk Ho-tak, a master of equal rank.
Jjiiiik!
But So Nan-so, who had urgently thrown her body backward, was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Because the bastard's Eagle Claw Hand, which she had not fully dodged, had only torn the collar of her left sleeve as it passed.
Though her white arm was exposed to the shoulder, it was fortunate just not to be wounded.
It was a moment that made her heart run cold.
It was to the point where she wondered if it was heaven-sent luck.
But So Nan-so, who barely managed to catch her breath and looked at Chuk Ho-tak, soon realized.
It was not that he had failed to wound her; he had deliberately chosen not to.
Chuk Ho-tak was looking at her exposed white arm while holding the torn collar of her clothing, smiling greedily.
In that instant, shame and rage surged up.
"You perverted bastard...!"
So Nan-so understood immediately.
It seemed the bastard intended to toy with her until he killed her.
The heat from a shame she had only felt as a young gisaeng-in-training in childhood shot to the top of her head.
But she could not express it.
Because at that moment, the Blood Wheel came hurtling fiercely at her again.
Wiiiiiiing!
"Khugh!"
Kwaaaaang!
And right after she barely struck away the Blood Wheel, Chuk Ho-tak and the long spear came stabbing at once.
It felt as if an endless wheel was turning.
A wheel that would only stop when she collapsed.
She was growing increasingly exhausted.
***
While So Nan-so was barely holding on, the place where the wheel first came to a stop was, surprisingly, not So Nan-so's side.
It was the side of the ordinary warriors fighting the two demon heads like honeybees rushing at hornets.
Dam Mu-ho, the Daeju of the Fourth Divine Eagle Unit who had stayed with Seonwoo Jin to the end even in his past life, was still a young warrior in his early thirties.
He was also a hot-blooded warrior who despised retreating in battle more than anything.
And the members of his Divine Eagle Unit liked their Daeju and resembled him.
"Uuyaaaaap!"
Unlike the other elders and Daeju, Dam Mu-ho did not spare his own life and was the first to recklessly charge at the peak-level demon head.
But the difference in level was unavoidable, and Dam Mu-ho's sword was blocked far too easily by the demon head's swing.
"Hmph!"
Puhk!
Dam Mu-ho's sword was carved halfway through, like a sword made of wood, by the sword qi the demon head had unleashed.
Fortunately, since he was a first-rate upper-level warrior, his sword carried sword ki; had he been an ordinary warrior, he would surely have been cut in two along with his sword.
But even such a difference in level could not dampen Dam Mu-ho's fighting spirit.
He did not simply let go of the demon head's sword embedded in his own.
Rather, he was straining with all his might to twist it.
"Uuuuaaap!"
The demon head made a dumbfounded expression.
To try to twist only the sword while completely disregarding defense.
If he just let go of the sword and smashed Dam Mu-ho's head, he would die instantly, would he not?
The demon head decided to do exactly that.
He immediately let go of the sword and raised his hand to crush Dam Mu-ho's head.
But it was then.
"Uuyaaaaap!"
"Die!"
"!"
In the end, he could not crush Dam Mu-ho's head.
Because Dam Mu-ho's subordinates had also charged as recklessly as their Daeju.
"Iyyaaaaap!"
"Haaaap!"
At that suicidal charge, the demon head wore a dumbfounded expression even as he struck them first.
"Ha! Arrogant bastards!"
Peopeeong!
"Kheueooeok!"
"Kkeueuugh!"
The result was horrifying.
From the demon head's lightly swung palm strike, one man's head burst open and he died instantly, while the other was struck in the stomach and his back burst open.
But the demon head, who had dealt with them and tried to attack the other charging warriors, was momentarily startled.
Because the warrior whose back had burst open, even as he was dying, was not letting go of his arm.
The warrior, who miraculously was still alive despite his back having burst open, was clinging to his arm by any means with eyes that still gleamed brightly.
It could only be described as fearsome tenacity.
At this, the demon head frowned deeply and struck his head again.
"You clingy bastards!"
Crunch!
No matter how strong his will was, he could not keep holding onto an arm after his head had been shattered.
He became a headless corpse, tumbling helplessly across the ground.
But this was only the beginning.
"Hyaaap!"
"Die!"
While he was using two moves on a single opponent, more warriors were clinging to him tenaciously.
"You parasitic ticks!"
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The demon head swung both hands wildly, striking them down without any presence of mind.
But in his haste, he could not kill them all with a single blow.
And warriors whose breath had not yet stopped clung to him however they could until they died.
Some grabbed him by the collar and hung on, while others even sank their teeth into him and held fast.
The demon head was finally thrown into panic.
"You, you bastards!"
The warriors of the Divine Eagle Unit were hanging off the demon head's body in increasing numbers.
His movements grew more and more difficult.
In his panic and confusion, the demon head hastily crushed the skull of a warrior who had just charged right up to his face.
"You wretch!"
Crunch!
But the moment that warrior's body collapsed, he could not block Dam Mu-ho's strike, which had charged in from directly behind.
The distance was too close, and his sword strike, far faster than the other warriors, was something the demon head could not react to in time.
Stab!
"Keurgh!"
At last, he had succeeded in driving his sword into the demon head's chest.
It was the first decisive result of this battle.
Dam Mu-ho let out a resounding roar toward the heavens.
"Uwaaaaaaah!"
It was the fervent roar of a hot-blooded martial warrior, making the hearts of the Divine Eagle Unit's fighters burn and chilling the very livers of the other demon heads.
***
While Dam Mu-ho killed one demon head and cheers erupted among the ordinary warriors, the balance was crumbling elsewhere as well.
It was on Seonwoo Jung's side.
Seonwoo Jung, the family head of the Seonwoo clan, had been stuck at the initial stage of peak-level for nearly ten years, unable to break through the wall to the next stage.
And that was due more to psychological factors than a lack of effort.
It was because of the burden of having to protect the family alone among the factions of his various wives, and a sense of futility and helplessness at the reality that the family he had protected at so many sacrifices was heading in a direction that was anything but desirable.
But now, that was no longer the case.
Ever since his third son, Seonwoo Jin, the troublesome finger, had grown up splendidly and returned, he had recently attained a sense of psychological stability he had never felt before.
His sword had finally shaken off the weight of burden and futility and was now swinging freely to its heart's content.
"Hyaaap!"
The twelfth form of the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords.
Double Wing Chain Ring.
Swish!
The violet sword shadows became four wings, assailing the demon head in succession.
And those wings fluttered as if alive.
Then, the demon head, his hair disheveled and already driven into a corner, swung his dao convulsively.
"Uwaaaap!"
Swoosh!
He had been floundering in a constant chain of illusion swords and real swords until now.
When he blocked with all his might, it was an illusion sword, and when he tried to ignore it, thinking it was an illusion, it was a real sword.
He had no presence of mind left at all, thanks to the exquisitely combined illusion and real swords.
Seonwoo Jung had been deeply shocked earlier when Seonwoo Jin had demonstrated the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords.
Despite having practiced the sword art his entire life, it was because he had realized he still did not truly understand it.
If the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords he had displayed until now were nothing more than fixed afterimages created by formulaic sword paths, the sword Seonwoo Jin wielded was itself like a living, breathing illusion.
Having gained enlightenment from that, Seonwoo Jung's illusion sword was now writhing ceaselessly, as if it had gained life.
"Hyaaap!"
When the demon head's dao was thrown into confusion by the four wings created by the twelfth form, Double Wing Chain Ring, a sword like a ray of light, linked into the third form, Divine Eagle Descending River, shot toward the demon head's chest.
Shiiik!
"Uwaap!"
The greatly alarmed demon head brought his dao crashing down with all his might toward the thrusting sword.
Bwoooong!
But his dao sliced through empty air in vain.
Because the sword strike that had appeared to be the third form, Divine Eagle Descending River, was actually the fifth form, Form is Emptiness, which substituted a real sword for an illusion sword.
"!"
The demon head's eyes widened in horror as his desperate dao strike cut through empty air.
Seonwoo Jung's quick sword was flying toward his now completely exposed chest once more.
It was the genuine third form strike, Divine Eagle Descending River, plunging down like a hawk targeting its prey.
Stab!
"Keuhk!"
Seonwoo Jung yanked the sword deeply embedded in the demon head's chest with all his strength, splitting the bastard's chest open, and clenched his fist.
Rip!
"Kraaak!"
Because he had realized that he, who had been stuck at the initial stage of peak-level for so long, had finally broken through the wall to the next stage.
"It is done!"
But his joy could not last long.
Because the balance had collapsed at the most critical of the three battlefields—the battlefield of the transcendent peak masters.
***
The Chaos Soul Witch So Nan-so's clothes were already torn to shreds in various places, as if turned to rags.
She was deeply ashamed and furious at her current appearance, with her shoulders and thighs clearly exposed, but there was nothing she could do.
She herself knew well that the very fact she was still alive was fortunate, and that her life already hung on Chuk Ho-tak's hands.
But even that was only true up to a point.
Realizing that two demon heads had been killed by the Seonwoo clan martial artists and the remaining demon heads were on the verge of death, Chuk Ho-tak seemed unwilling to waste any more time.
"Regrettably, the game ends here! Die, So Nan-so!"
Wheeeing!
His massive blood wheel flew fiercely toward So Nan-so.
Chuk Ho-tak was following right behind it.
And although she could not see him, it was obvious that a demon head wielding a long spear was lurking behind her, waiting for an opening.
Grind!
Gritting her teeth, So Nan-so swung her erhu and struck the blood wheel.
Kwaaang!
Then, this time, she used the recoil to leap backward.
Toward the direction of the demon head holding the long spear.
"Ugh!"
Startled by her reaction, so different from before, the demon head tried to hurriedly dodge.
But So Nan-so did not let him escape.
"Where!"
Swoosh!
So Nan-so's bow drew countless crosshatch patterns in the empty air.
And the same happened on the demon head's body.
Blood burst out all at once from the demon head's body, which had been crosshatched all over.
Rip!
"Kuaaaak!"
It was the moment the demon head who had been harassing her like a mosquito was miserably slaughtered.
And at that moment, Chuk Ho-tak charged toward her exposed back.
It was an outcome that had been predetermined the moment she showed him her back.
"Die, you wench!"
Chuk Ho-tak's twin palms were crashing down toward her back with terrifying force.
But So Nan-so had not shown him her back without any plan, either.
In that moment of crisis, So Nan-so gathered all her inner power and released it over her entire body.
Fwoosh!
At that instant, Chuk Ho-tak's twin palms struck her.
Kwa-kwang!
Chuk Ho-tak's twin palms could not reach her.
Because So Nan-so's entire body was covered in a crimson film. It was protective strong qi.
So Nan-so had trusted this protective strong qi and given Chuk Ho-tak her back.
But even though his twin palms were repelled by force, Chuk Ho-tak sneered and continued his assault.
"Heh! You're struggling! Let's see how long you can endure!"
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Chuk Ho-tak began continuously pounding on her protective strong qi while she still had not managed to turn around.
Because he knew all too well how much inner power using protective strong qi consumed.
Protective strong qi was not an invincible shield as commonly known.
Simply forming and maintaining it consumed a tremendous amount of internal energy, and every time it blocked an attack, the consumption of internal energy increased even further. It was truly a method to be used only as a final lifesaving measure.
So the fact that So Nan-so, who was already exhausted, had resorted to protective strong qi was tantamount to giving up any remaining stamina to continue the fight.
"Eeek!"
It was the moment So Nan-so barely managed to turn her body, dispel her protective strong qi, and try to face Chuk Ho-tak.
At that instant, the blood wheel attacked from the side.
Wheeeing!
"Kuk!"
So Nan-so hurriedly swung her erhu again, trying to strike it away.
But she could no longer do so.
Because her inner power consumption had been too great.
Kwaaang!
"Aaaargh!"
In the end, unable to withstand the blood wheel's immense force, So Nan-so was sent flying backward, spewing blood from her mouth.
Her internal energy and stamina had already been depleted beyond their limits.
Then, above her as she tumbled, Chuk Ho-tak's Eagle Claw Hand swooped down like a hawk targeting prey.
Shiiiek!
'It was over....'
So Nan-so despaired.
She no longer had the strength left to block Chuk Ho-tak.
And it was obvious that if So Nan-so herself fell, even if the entire Seonwoo clan combined their strength, they would never be able to defeat the bastard.
In the end, the fight had finished this way.
"Die!"
Swoosh!
It was the very moment Chuk Ho-tak was about to tear out the throat of the just-fallen So Nan-so with his Eagle Claw Hand.
Something was suddenly detected by his senses.
"!"
His senses as a transcendent peak master were warning him.
That something was flying at him from behind.
It seemed likely to be a throwing weapon of incredible speed.
Shiiiek!
"Tch!"
Left with no choice, Chuk Ho-tak spun his body around, intending to strike down that projectile first.
But as he turned his body, he realized.
That what was flying toward him was not a throwing weapon.
"!"
Some young bastard had become a ray of light, flying in and swinging a sword at him.
It was a terrifying movement technique, the likes of which he could swear he had never experienced.
Swoooosh!
Seonwoo Jin had arrived.