Chapter 85: Righteous Hero Association-4
Chapter 85: Righteous Hero Association-4
"Hm?"
At the sudden shout, Sa Won-yang paused and looked that way.
Then, from the direction of the main hall, some young bastard came flying in, shouting.
"Demon Commander! The orthodox bastards have invaded! They've—! They've entered the main hall!"
At those words, Sa Won-yang abruptly turned his gaze toward the main hall and saw flames rising in the distance.
If the fire was visible even from here, it must have been a massive blaze.
'A diversion, was it?'
Just as Sa Won-yang's expression grew complicated, the young bastard kept shouting.
"The Strange Immortal! It was the Strange Immortal! The Strange Immortal has come!"
At those words, Sa Won-yang wore a rarely shocked expression.
"What did you say?!"
His narrow eyes had widened enough that his pupils were faintly visible.
The absolute being, the Blue Castle Ghost Immortal? That man who rarely ever stirred from Mount Qingcheng?
But after glancing at Hwa Yeong-bin, Sa Won-yang could soon understand.
Well, if the disciple had come, the master could come as well.
It was then.
The bastard flying toward Sa Won-yang suddenly accelerated sharply.
Paang!
Incredible movement technique.
It was a speed that even made Sa Won-yang slightly startled.
The bastard, who had already closed into close range, unfurled his sword strike in a surprise attack.
"Haaap!"
But Sa Won-yang snorted.
"Hmph!"
From the start, he had been suspicious because an unfamiliar bastard had called him the Demon Commander.
He had only allowed the approach for a moment because talk of the burning main hall and the Strange Immortal had unsettled him.
'A cunning bastard, aren't you. It was a good ambush, but your level is far too low to threaten me.'
But just as he was about to strike at the bastard, a flash of bewilderment suddenly rose in Sa Won-yang's eyes.
The bastard's sword had suddenly split into tens, hundreds of copies, surrounding him.
Even for Sa Won-yang, who had experienced countless illusion swords over the long years, this was one he had never seen before.
"Ho-oh!"
Sa Won-yang was slightly impressed.
But still, it was just an illusion sword.
By spinning his body once like a top and sweeping his hand once, he could scatter all the illusion swords.
Hwaaak!
And then he immediately tried to strike at the bastard.
But in that interval, Sa Won-yang could discover that the bastard had already swiftly fled far away.
"Huh?"
Truly, at least in terms of movement technique alone, he was an extraordinary bastard.
But if he was going to flee like that, why the hell had he ambushed him? Was it just a probing attack?
As Sa Won-yang stared dumbfoundedly at the bastard, he suddenly realized that there was no sword in the bastard's hand.
He immediately turned his head to look at Hwa Yeong-bin.
Then he saw that the black sword that had been in the bastard's hand moments ago was now somehow in Hwa Yeong-bin's hand.
That one strike from earlier was likely meant to deliver the sword to Hwa Yeong-bin.
The bastard shouted toward Hwa Yeong-bin.
"Hwa Daehyeop! Please hold that bastard off until the Strange Immortal arrives!"
At those words, Sa Won-yang's eyebrow twitched.
Hm?
Did that mean the claim that the Strange Immortal was coming wasn't a lie?
Sa Won-yang felt a slight confusion.
Looking at the tricks the bastard had been pulling with his cheap cunning so far, he was almost certain it was a lie, but then again, it didn't seem entirely impossible either.
It was then.
While Sa Won-yang was having such thoughts, Hwa Yeong-bin, holding the new sword, rushed at him.
"Haaap!"
Seeing the sword aura unfurl once more like the sunset glow, Sa Won-yang muttered.
"It won't matter. I'll just kill you all and check."
From Sa Won-yang's hand, the crimson energetic force began to extend clearly once more.
In that instant, Hwa Yeong-bin's sword slashed out at the speed of light.
The ninth form of the Red Sunset Sword Technique.
Sword Severing the Setting Sun.
Shaaak!
The sword aura that had been spreading like the red sunset split in two in a single moment.
It was a cleaving strike as if splitting the setting sun in half—the most concise yet powerful technique of the Red Sunset Sword Technique.
"Hmph!"
But Sa Won-yang's response was merely to place his palm against it.
His hand, which looked just like a real giant's hand due to the impossibly dense energetic force, had lightly covered his upper body.
Sa Won-yang blocked the bastard's sword with one hand, and intended to immediately launch a palm strike with the other.
Because no matter how hard he tried, there was no way energetic force of that level could pierce his own.
But the next instant, Sa Won-yang could do nothing but retreat hastily backward, startled by the chilling pain he felt in his palm.
As he pulled back and looked, his palm had been cut and blood was flowing.
It was an impossible thing.
"How?!"
It was then.
A sound came from behind him.
Pyupyupyut!
Throwing weapons?!
Sa Won-yang immediately spun his body and struck away the flying projectiles with his palm.
Tatatang!
It was that bastard from before.
The bastard had suddenly charged in from behind, thrown the projectiles, and was fading back into the distance again.
"You vermin...!"
At that moment, Hwa Yeong-bin attacked again from behind.
This time it was a thrusting assault like a downpour.
"Haaap!"
At the same time, the bastard who had been retreating also immediately changed direction, then charged in while throwing more projectiles.
Under the attacks surging from front and back like the teeth of a gear—relentless and disorienting—Sa Won-yang could only grind his teeth.
"Grind!"
***
This is working!
I threw my projectiles at the bastard's back and then retreated at breakneck speed.
I had wanted to test my recently improved skills, but everything had its limits, and I absolutely refused against a transcendent peak monster like that.
The underground passage that extended from the main hall's pillar and ran beneath the earth led all the way to the outskirts of the Jeonghyeopbang.
After swiftly moving through there and taking care of the sentries, I left the rescue of the captured women to Bi Sa-yeong and returned here at full speed.
In my heart, I had desperately hoped that Hwa Daehyeop had already escaped.
But in the end, just as my ominous foreboding had predicted, he was left alone, confronting Sa Won-yang.
'Damn it.'
Truly, it was a sight that made the future seem utterly bleak.
To have to fight against a monster like that....
But I soon decided to consider it fortunate.
I didn't know what circumstances had occurred in the middle, but in any case, wasn't the fact that he was facing Sa Won-yang all because of my plan?
If he had died because of that, I couldn't even begin to imagine how I could ever atone for that sin.
So the mere fact that he was still alive was an incredible stroke of fortune.
From now on, my only task was to get him out of here alive and safely.
...Though that was also the most bleak task of all.
"You insolent bastards!"
Sa Won-yang spun his body like a top, fending off Hwa Yeong-bin's attacks and my projectiles.
Titititing!
Then, with an annoyed expression, he looked at me and extended one hand toward me.
Syuhak!
It was a condensed sphere of internal energy.
A sphere hurtling in at tremendous speed.
For a moment, I swallowed hard.
But I, who was already moving rapidly around the bastard's perimeter, could use the Explosive Stride to accelerate sharply and slip slightly off the sphere's trajectory.
Papak!
'This much is nothing!'
Once I easily escaped the trajectory of the sphere that I had thought would have tremendous power, I felt a slight sense of composure.
At this level, it wasn't all that threatening.
But just as I was thinking that, I caught sight of the bastard's lips curving up faintly.
At the same time, I heard Hwa Yeong-bin's urgent telepathic transmission.
- Get away!
Then, suddenly, I remembered.
How Bi Sa-yeong had been caught by Georyeokma before.
In that instant, a powerful explosion erupted.
Kwaaaaang!
Paang!
The sphere I thought I had dodged exploding, and me deploying the Explosive Stride—both happened simultaneously.
"Ughk!"
My body, springing out with the Explosive Stride, was pushed by the blast pressure and accelerated at a terrifying speed.
I had apparently survived by a hair's breadth.
It was then that the surroundings, which had been passing by at immense speed, suddenly felt as if they were mysteriously slowing down.
It was a sensation of speed I had never felt before... and within it, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
'Lee Geon....'
Just then, I abruptly looked toward Sa Won-yang, and the bastard, seemingly convinced he had finished me off, was about to launch his offensive straight at Hwa Yeong-bin.
It was an opportunity.
Drawing a semicircle as I went, I changed direction and silently charged toward the bastard's back.
His exposed back was rapidly expanding in my sight.
'Hup!'
At three jang's distance, I hurled projectiles with all my might.
Toward his left back, where the heart was located.
Shiiiik!
The sight of the projectile flying toward his left back appeared slow.
The time it took for the projectile, launched from three jang away, to reach his back felt as long as one full hour.
I saw him flinch, as if reacting to the sound of the projectile, and then hurriedly twist his body.
Puhuk!
"Kuk!"
It was a failure.
I had hoped it would pierce the left back and skewer the heart, but because he twisted his body, it only lodged in his left shoulder.
"Damn it!"
Swallowing my regret, I immediately threw my body and retreated from the bastard.
If he launched a sphere at close range like before, I had no confidence I could dodge it.
As I retreated, Hwa Yeong-bin, who had almost taken the brunt of the attack, also took advantage of the bastard's hesitation to create some distance.
Then, Sa Won-yang stopped in place and looked at his own shoulder, where the projectile was embedded.
And when he slowly raised his eyes and looked at me, I could feel it vividly.
The flames of fury that filled his eyes, blazing and burning fiercely....
The bastard roared like a demon.
"You mosquito-like bastard!"
And then he swung both hands at me.
Syung! Syuung! Syusyung!
More spheres.
And not just one.
"!"
Four spheres of tremendous speed came flying in succession. And they weren't all in the same direction—they formed a barrage calculated to cover even my anticipated evasions.
"This—!"
Startled, I flung my body at maximum speed.
I even had to use the Explosive Stride twice in a row.
Papang!
Kwakwakwakwaaaang!
Behind me, a massive explosion roared and the blast pressure surged in.
Hwaaak!
It felt like my bones and marrow were turning to ice.
Having narrowly escaped the blast radius, I gritted my teeth, still feeling the aftermath storm pushing against my back.
Then I turned my head again and looked toward the bastard.
I had just barely escaped death, and I was terrified of the bastard, but still, I had to go back.
No matter how scared I was of him, I couldn't leave Hwa Yeong-bin behind and flee.
It was then that my eyes suddenly caught sight of Gyeolhan Satae, lying unconscious with limbs severed, and a sword fallen nearby.
It looked like a fairly decent sword.
"Hm."
Turning my gaze, I saw Hwa Yeong-bin had just attacked Sa Won-yang, only to be blocked and was now in the middle of taking a counterattack.
He had likely lunged in to stop me from hurling the condensed energy sphere at him.
The energy claws extending from Sa Won-yang's fingertips like long blades drove Hwa Yeong-bin back relentlessly.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwa!
"Kkeueup!"
I had to help him, and fast.
I used the Explosive Advance Step to dart behind the bastard.
Then from about four jang away, I hurled throwing weapons and swiftly veered off to the side.
Pyupyupyut!
But the bastard seemed to have grown accustomed to this kind of attack by now.
Judging by how he simply rotated his body to knock the projectiles aside the moment he heard them, he was already pressing Hwa Yeong-bin again.
Titing!
'Damn it.'
It was frustrating.
If only the surroundings had been darker, the throwing weapons would have been a bit more effective.
It was nighttime, but the burning buildings around us illuminated the area brightly.
Pyupyupyut!
I darted away, closed in again, and threw more projectiles for the third time.
The bastard seemed to have decided to pay little attention to my existence, simply swatting the weapons aside and continuing his relentless assault on Hwa Yeong-bin.
He had probably resolved to finish Hwa Yeong-bin off first.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
"Kkeueuup!"
It was a crisis.
Hwa Yeong-bin was on the verge of collapsing.
He was holding on through sheer willpower alone, and I needed a different approach right now.
'Shit, no choice then!'
I closed in again and launched three more throwing weapons.
Pyupyupyut!
The bastard smoothly rotated and deflected them.
Titing!
Up to this point, the process was identical to before.
But the moment he completed his rotation and resumed his offensive against Hwa Yeong-bin, I silently changed direction.
And shot toward him like the wind.
Into a range I had never once entered before now.
Seonwoo Thirteen Swords, Third Form.
Divine Eagle Descending River.
The fallen sword I had picked up from Gyeolhan Satae earlier plunged down toward the bastard's back like a hawk swooping upon the river.
Shiiiik!
That was when it happened.
The bastard, having knocked Hwa Yeong-bin back, turned his body and shouted.
"Caught you!"
His face was split in a bright grin as he spun around.
At the same instant, his crimson hand, now swollen to the size of a giant's, swatted at me.
Pwaaaang!
"?!"
The moment his enormous palm crushed my form, the bastard's gleeful face flickered with sudden confusion.
My form, struck by his blow, had burst apart and scattered like flower petals.
A motion akin to petals scattering in the wind—Heavenly Wind Flower Petals.
At that moment, Hwa Yeong-bin drove in behind the bastard's back.
Thanks to him having just heard my telepathic transmission and made a feigned retreat as well.
"Haaaap!"
Hwa Yeong-bin's all-out strike exploded forth.
A single slash to cleave the setting sun. It was the Red Sunset Sword Technique's Sword Slash Falling Sun.
Shaaaaak!
A thin line spread like a crimson sunset, splitting the flying sword qi apart in a single breath.
"You dare!"
Just as Sa Won-yang was about to defend in desperation, I materialized at his flank and poured every ounce of strength into thrusting my sword.
Sail Sword Technique, First Form.
One Strike, Single Thread.
Shik!
At that, the bastard, now panicked, let out a martial shout.
"Euhaaaaap!"
Hwaaaak!
In an instant, crimson energy burst from his entire body and covered him like a transparent membrane shielding me as well.
It was precisely the technique that Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok had used before.
Aghast, I yelled.
"Protective Strong Qi?!"
My sword, thrusting toward him like a beam of light, sank deep into the crimson energy as if stabbing into a massive hunk of flesh, then bounced back out with tremendous repulsive force.
Hwa Yeong-bin, who had attacked from the opposite side, was also being flung back.
As he was knocked away, he cried out in frustration.
"Damn it all!"
It was deeply regrettable.
We should have finished him this time. A surprise attack like this did not seem likely to work twice.
But as I rapidly retreated, I tried to steady my resolve.
'If you give up, that's the end. I'll create another opening!'
There would surely be another chance.
Wasn't the bastard's expression, after he dispelled the Protective Strong Qi, one of considerable strain?
Just like with the Tamhyeolmugun, it seemed that Protective Strong Qi was a realm that even this bastard could not help but struggle to maintain.
Furthermore...
The bastard erupted in fury at Hwa Yeong-bin, blood streaming down his forearm.
"You wretch! I'll rip you to shreds!"
He had probably been cut by Hwa Yeong-bin's sword strike.
There was something undeniably strange about that.
My One Strike, Single Thread would have been the faster of the two, yet my sword had not even touched the bastard's body. How had Hwa Yeong-bin's sword reached him...?
My gaze suddenly fell upon the sword Hwa Yeong-bin was holding—my sword, Mukrang.
'Could it be because of Mukrang?'
It seemed plausible.
Mukrang itself was a sacred relic harboring tremendous secrets, and its sharpness was such that it could simply slice through Liver Demons, which normally could only be cut by sword qi or sword aura.
So perhaps it had even sliced through the energy aura.
I quickly sent a telepathic transmission to Hwa Yeong-bin.
- Hwa Daehyeop! I believe my sword might be piercing through his energy aura!
At my telepathic message, Hwa Yeong-bin, who was defending against Sa Won-yang's attacks, glanced swiftly at me.
Then he began to swing his sword in response against the swarm of the bastard's grasping claws.
"Haaaap!"
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
I, too, moved swiftly again and hurled throwing weapons.
The bastard's expression was filled with rage, but he was not pressing Hwa Yeong-bin as fiercely as before.
Whether he was wary of my ambushes or his strength was steadily draining, I could not be sure.
But his eyes clearly held the look of someone waiting for an opening.
I threw more projectiles, retreated swiftly, and sent another telepathic message to Hwa Yeong-bin.
My thought was that we had to make a move before the bastard did.
I had just used up the last of my throwing weapons.
'Alright, let's go!'
Paang!
I used the Explosive Advance Step to circle around quickly.
The bastard's eyes shot toward me as if he had been waiting, and in that moment, I unfurled the Heavenly Wind Flower Petals to confound his sight.
"Hap!"
Pseusseusseuk!
My form split like flower petals scattering on the wind, but now the bastard was staring directly at my true body amidst the countless afterimages.
As expected....
Feeling it wasn't enough, I deployed the Illusion Sword Mirror as well.
Chwaaaaak!
On top of my form fracturing into multiple afterimages, dozens and hundreds of phantom swords surrounded the bastard, and finally he seemed to lose track of my position.
"Useless tricks!"
He swung his hand in irritation.
It was a gesture meant to sweep away the illusion swords.
In that instant, I threw a flying dagger with my left hand.
It was a flying dagger attached to a silver thread.
Shiiiik!
"Hmph!"
He simply swung his arm to bat it away.
But my senses, honed to the extreme, guided the silver thread to evade his hand.
Shuuuuk!
The dagger, moving like a fish slicing through a current, slipped just past his arm, and the bastard's attention focused a little more in that direction.
"Mere parlour tricks!"
Ting!
That was when it happened.
I, who had been waiting to create this very moment, unleashed the most formidable attack I could muster right now.
"Haaaap!"
Seonwoo Thirteen Swords, Fourteenth Form.
Jujak Hyeonsin.
From my sword, a vermilion bird composed of pale violet energy aura beat its wings and burst forth.
It was the Jujak Hyeonsin that had failed against Ma Yu-gyeom before.
Piiiii!
The vermilion bird, letting out a cry as if alive, its beak agape, made Sa Won-yang's eyes widen in shock.
"What?!"
But he was merely surprised, not undone.
He immediately swung a giant hand-like surge of energy and swatted at the vermilion bird.
Kwaaaaaang!
The energy forces collided with a colossal explosion.
"Kkeup!"
Despite clashing against the transcendent peak palm force, the vermilion bird did not disperse right away.
Unbelievably, it was entangled with Sa Won-yang's enormous hand for a moment, locked in a contest of strength.
In that instant, Hwa Yeong-bin, who had momentarily drawn back, pounced behind Sa Won-yang.
"Sword Slash Falling Sun!"
Shiiiik!
It was Hwa Yeong-bin's ultimate technique, the only strike that had managed to pierce the energy aura and wound Sa Won-yang.
At that, the bastard's expression turned desperate, and he once again deployed his Protective Strong Qi.
"Euhaaaaap!"
Hwaaaak!
Against the membrane of crimson energy radiating from his entire body, both my Jujak Hyeonsin and Hwa Yeong-bin's attack were futilely dissipating.
Unable to withstand the repulsive force of the Protective Strong Qi, I was hurled backward.
"Kkeueup!"
But even as I was knocked back, I kept my eyes wide open and watched.
I watched Hwa Yeong-bin, who had just feigned the Sword Slash Falling Sun, now unfolding the genuine technique the moment the bastard's Protective Strong Qi was about to vanish.
"Haaaaap!"
The blurry sword qi, spreading like a red sunset, was momentarily splitting apart above and below.
As if he had poured his very last reserves of strength into it, that strike felt as majestic as if it were truly cleaving the setting sun.
Puhwaak!
Having executed the technique, Hwa Yeong-bin stumbled as his legs gave out, all his strength spent.
I, too, was exhausted from deploying Jujak Hyeonsin, and muttered as I struggled to rise.
"Damn it all..."
Where my gaze landed, about a jang away, Sa Won-yang had retreated, with blood gushing from his chest like a spring.
His face was pale, yet he stood there, still unshaken. Hwa Yeong-bin's sword had only cut shallowly because of the bastard's technique of yanking his body backward as if pulled.
A failure.
Even after all this...
Seeing the bastard we couldn't bring down even after giving it everything filled me with profound desolation.
It felt like staring at a wall of iron that would never crumble.
Suddenly, Hwa Yeong-bin's telepathic voice reached my ear.
- Seonwoo Saje. It's time for you to flee. I am now completely drained of stamina and internal energy, and can do nothing more.
I gazed at him with anguished eyes.
Then he spoke again.
- Thank you for fighting this last battle with me. And now, I beg you, be sure to survive and avenge me.
Saying that, he was, for some reason, smiling brightly, as if relieved.
Like a man who was glad to finally be able to die.
It was the most refreshed and unburdened expression I had ever seen on his face.
At that moment, Sa Won-yang screamed, his face twisted like a demon.
"You bastard, I'll tear you apart and kill you!"
Then he lunged at Hwa Yeong-bin like a wild beast.
But Hwa Yeong-bin was looking not at the bastard, but at me.
He threw Mukrang to me with a bright smile.
- Please, on my behalf, be sure to...