Chapter 258: Pursuit-3
Chapter 258: Pursuit-3
Watching that sight, Jin Tae-do smiled bitterly.
'He struggled quite a bit, but now it's over...!'
But that was the moment.
Pook!
Just when Ja Seong-jin-in's sword lightly pierced through the bastard's back and came out through his chest, the bastard's form suddenly blurred.
"!"
It was when Jin Tae-do's eyes widened at that sight.
Ja Seong-jin-in looked behind Jin Tae-do's head with startled eyes and shouted.
"Sect Leader Jin!"
In that instant, Jin Tae-do could realize it.
What he had been looking at was that bastard's afterimage, and the bastard had somehow already slipped behind him.
He couldn't understand it, but Seonwoo Jin had deployed the Heavenly Wind Flower Petals.
"!"
When he whipped his head around in shock, the sight of Seonwoo Jin flying toward the Swaying Bridge like a dart entered his vision.
A horrified Jin Tae-do shouted.
"No!"
***
'Done!'
As I ran toward the Swaying Bridge, having passed Jin Tae-do, I let out a cheer in my heart.
I had aimed for the gap created by his assumption that I was Inparang and would therefore only use the Southern Cross Sword, and it had succeeded brilliantly.
No matter how much of one of the Thirty-Six Stars in the World he was, it was still difficult for him to respond to Emptiness is Form and Heavenly Wind Flower Petals, which he was encountering for the first time.
'In the worst case, even if that didn't work, I figured my movement arts would manage somehow — that was the gamble, and I'm glad it worked out.'
Now the Swaying Bridge was right before my eyes. Ahead, Jin Sojeo had already carried Ma Yu-gyeom and Myo A-ran across more than half of the thirty-zhang-long Swaying Bridge.
She was probably squeezing out her last bit of strength.
'Good.'
The situation wasn't bad now.
With Jin Tae-do and the Six Harmony Swordsmen's movement arts, they would never be able to catch up to me, and if I crossed the bridge first and cut it down, this would all be over.
If they tried to follow onto the bridge, I could even send them plummeting down into the thousand-zhang abyss below.
'If things go like that, it'd be the best possible outcome.'
But it was while I was thinking those thoughts.
Suddenly, the sound of Jin Tae-do's martial shout rang out from behind.
"Haaap!"
And something spine-chilling was felt at my back.
Something was flying at a terrifying speed.
Shwiiiiiik!
'Ugh?!'
Even without turning around to look, I felt like I knew what it was.
The bastard had shot sword qi rings at me.
Precisely five sword qi rings were hurtling toward my back.
'Damn it!'
While gauging the positions of the sword qi rings with my Mind's Eye, I frantically deployed the Heavenly Wind Divine Art.
At that, my form scattered like dizzyingly flowing wind, weaving through and avoiding the sword qi rings.
Chunks of blue-glowing energetic force were grazing past my sides.
Shwaaak!
I had to realize that the situation wasn't over yet.
When he realized he couldn't catch up, the bastard had started launching sword qi rings.
And these five sword qi rings were not the end of it.
Shwaaaaaak!
Shwaaaaaak!
Sword qi rings were flying at my back again.
This time, a staggering ten of them.
'This bastard! Ten sword qi rings all at once!'
Truly, his internal energy was immense.
I deployed the Heavenly Wind Divine Art again, swaying like the wind, and managed to avoid them.
But after dodging them, I realized immediately.
The target of his sword qi rings had not been just me.
The sword qi rings that had passed me by were shooting toward the pillar of the Swaying Bridge that I saw ahead.
The pillar to which the bridge's ropes were tied.
My gaze, watching that, went dim with horror.
Kwaaaaaang!
"Damn it!"
One pillar, struck directly by several sword qi rings, shattered into countless fragments and scattered.
At that, the sight of the Swaying Bridge, one side of its ropes severed, heaving like a great wave and tilting to one side filled my eyes.
And that wave of the tilting Swaying Bridge was surging toward Jin Sojeo, who had not yet finished crossing.
At that rate, Jin Sojeo was in danger.
I shouted urgently.
"Jin Sojeo! Jump!"
At that, Jin Sojeo immediately leapt desperately toward Hwangam Peak.
She too had mastered the Mind's Eye, so she must have grasped the situation without turning around.
I clenched my fist.
'As expected of Jin Sojeo!'
Her form, having jumped with all her might, was finally seen landing atop Hwangam Peak beyond the Swaying Bridge.
She looked completely drained of strength, rolling on the ground the moment she landed, but she was safe nonetheless.
'Good!'
Jin Sojeo was now safe.
So the only problem left was me.
Shwaaaaaak!
Shwaaaaaak!
Once more, the sword qi rings grazing past me were colliding against the one remaining pillar.
Kwaaaaaang!
The pillar shattering into fragments played out slowly before my eyes.
The bridge had finally been completely severed.
The bridge that had been hanging on by a single rope was completely broken, and the sight of it falling below the cliff entered my vision.
From behind, Jin Tae-do's laughter rang out.
"Uh-hah-hah-hah-hah! The bridge is cut, so now...!"
It was when he was laughing and shouting like that.
I gritted my teeth and, maintaining the same running speed, leapt toward the falling bridge.
"Haap!"
Hwaak!
From behind, Jin Tae-do's astonished voice was heard.
"What the?!"
On the opposite side atop Hwangam Peak, Jin Sojeo, lying on the ground and watching me, also screamed in shock.
"Gongja!"
They were fully justified in reacting that way.
The position of the fallen bridge had already receded more than four zhang away, and me leaping toward that bridge must have looked exactly like suicide.
In truth, with the dizzyingly distant ground visible below, the feeling of jumping toward the plummeting Swaying Bridge wasn't very different from that.
It was electrifying.
'But!'
My movement arts did not disappoint me, as expected.
The next moment, the bridge, falling powerlessly, drew right up before my eyes.
In an instant, I had crossed a distance of four zhang and reached the bridge.
And the moment my foot touched the falling bridge, I deployed the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
The third form of the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
Gazing Moon activated.
Hwaaaaak!
In that instant, the flow of time slowed.
At that, the falling bridge looked as if it had frozen in place.
Without hesitation, I stepped onto that frozen bridge and began sprinting upward.
Within the slowed time, only I was moving at proper speed.
Da-da-da-da-da-da!
That was the moment.
Jin Tae-do let out an enraged scream.
"Youuuuu basaaaaard!"
Simultaneously, more than ten sword qi rings that he had shot out flew toward me and the bridge again.
Shwaaaaaaaaak!
Even within the slowed world, the bastard's sword qi rings were plenty fast.
I gritted my teeth, watched my back with my Mind's Eye, and twisted my body this way and that.
Sasa-sak!
At that, the few sword qi rings that had targeted me could be avoided without much difficulty.
But the sword qi rings that targeted the bridge were beyond my control.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
The opposite end of the bridge, the part I had yet to cross, was hit by his sword qi rings and erupted.
The other side of the bridge had now been completely severed as well.
In that moment, seeing the far side of the bridge falling, I immediately hurled my body forward.
"Haap!"
Pa-bak!
There was still about seven or eight zhang left to Hwangam Peak, but I had no choice now.
There was nothing to do but trust my movement arts.
It was when my body slowly rose into the void within the slowed time.
Suddenly, I could grasp that Jin Tae-do had predicted this situation.
Because the sword qi rings he had continuously launched were flying straight at me, now that I had taken to the air.
Shwaaaaaaaaak!
Six sword qi rings were hurtling toward my back as I flew forward.
In a situation with no foothold to dodge, it felt like my back would be blown wide open if I kept going.
But with my extreme concentration, I wasn't flustered in the slightest.
Rather, I took a deep breath and focused my internal energy.
"Hooop!"
In that instant, my body, which I had curled up into a ball, spun once in a full rotation before stretching out fully.
Then, just before the sword qi rings slammed into me, my foot kicked off the void and soared upward.
Pa-bat!
It was only a slight ascent, but that much was enough to avoid the sword qi rings.
It was just once, but I had succeeded in Void Step — the technique of treading on air and leaping higher.
'Success!'
Beneath me, as I cheered inwardly, the sword qi rings the bastard had launched streaked past at terrifying speed.
Shwaaaaaaak!
Shwaaaaaaak!
Glancing back, I saw Jin Tae-do staring at me with a completely dumbfounded expression.
He must never have imagined I could even perform Void Step.
Seeing his twisted face felt incredibly refreshing.
'That said, though...'
Even though I had dodged the bastard's attack once, my situation wasn't that great either.
Thanks to having jumped upward to avoid the sword qi rings, I had lost the momentum to cross over to Hwangam Peak.
The speed of my ascending body was slowly dwindling, coming to a halt in place.
What would happen next was all too obvious without even watching.
That was the moment.
From behind, several more sword qi rings that Jin Tae-do had launched swept in again.
Shwaaaaaaak!
'I knew it!'
With my entire spirit focused, I kicked off the void once more.
Because I had anticipated he would attack, I had held back from moving earlier.
Pa-bak!
My body, having kicked off the void, dodged his sword qi rings and advanced slightly forward.
The remaining distance to Hwangam Peak was now about four zhang.
'Just a little more!'
That was when his voice was heard.
"I won't let you get away!"
Shwaaaaaaak!
Sword qi rings kept flying in relentlessly.
Completely focused on my Mind's Eye, as if performing a tightrope act, I trod on the void, dodged them, and began advancing forward, bit by bit.
The remaining distance to Hwangam Peak was now three zhang.
My feeling right now was exactly like walking a tightrope on the edge of a cliff.
Both the sword qi rings I was detecting and dodging with my Mind's Eye, and the internal energy rapidly depleting from performing Void Step for the first time, felt like just a slight misstep would end everything right there.
That was when a monstrous roar suddenly rang out from behind.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
It was Jin Tae-do.
The bastard, now beyond fury, had let out a roar of rage.
Simultaneously, an enormous number of sword qi rings were sensed hurtling toward me.
He must have drawn up his last reserves of strength as well.
'The count is roughly thirty. Thirty, you say?!'
It was a ridiculous number.
To think he could fire off that many sword qi rings, which drain so much internal energy.
Sending out that quantity of sword qi rings must certainly have been a strain even for him.
So it probably meant that if I just dodged this, the bastard's attacks would be over.
'But...'
The range of the sweeping sword qi rings was too wide.
They were flying in as if forming a wall of projectiles, filling every conceivable space I could move into.
Shwaaaaaaaaak!
'Damn, what do I do?'
When I glanced back, I saw the sword qi rings completely packing the space as they flew, and beyond them, Jin Tae-do's face, pale and yet grinning savagely.
He seemed certain that this time, there was nothing I could do.
I gritted my teeth.
It was infuriating, but that was the truth.
This time, I was truly at a loss.
'Damn it! How do I...!'
It was when I, finding no other way, was thinking of turning back and swinging my sword.
At that instant, a voice was heard from the opposite side this time.
"Seonu Gongja!"
It was Jin Sojeo's voice.
At the same time, something was flying from her toward me.
Shwaaaaaaak!
'That is?!'
Turning my head, I was able to confirm its identity.
It was a wooden staff.
She had thrown her own wooden staff in my direction.
For a single moment, I felt a rapture as if a rope had been lowered from heaven.
"Thank you, Sojeo!"
I ran up the flying wooden staff and launched myself high upward.
Ta-da-dak! Pa-bak!
The next instant, the thirty-odd sword qi rings swept past beneath me.
Shwaaaaaaaaak!
I clenched my fist.
I had succeeded in dodging all of the sword qi rings.
From behind, Jin Tae-do's wretched voice was echoing forth.
"Noooooo!"
That voice told the story of the present situation.
It meant the pursuit was now over.
At last, I had shaken the bastard off.
Having kicked off the wooden staff and surged upward, I ultimately landed stably atop Hwangam Peak.
Tak!
The firm sensation felt beneath my feet couldn't have been more welcome.
First, I flashed a bright smile at Jin Sojeo, then turned back around to look at Jin Tae-do.
At that, his completely distorted expression entered my vision.
I flashed him a grin.
It was the leisurely smile that only a victor could wear.