Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Withered Old Crone
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No mage of equal or higher tier would be surprised, but the opponent was a 5th Tier martial artist.
It wasn’t magic that had conjured the flames. What his foot had traced was sword aura.
It was impossible to burn away the curse afflicting the spirit the withered old crone wielded. And yet, that impossible feat was unfolding right before her eyes.
A 5th Tier martial artist who had mastered sword aura could fully apply the inner energy transformations experienced at the 4th Tier to their aura.
For a swordsman, the basics involved sharpening their sword aura even keener, and depending on the martial art cultivated, they might infuse it with heat or cold.
No heat could be felt in his aura. But that was unmistakably fire. Flames that devoured everything they touched, roaring fiercely.
Look. The red line left by his foot’s trajectory hadn’t faded. Instead, it burned even more vividly than before. The curse that had bound the spirit—it had become kindling to fuel those flames.
‘What kind of martial art is that...?’
The Ludelra Magic Tower had long maintained close ties with the Demonic Cult, so the withered old crone was no stranger to martial arts.
Among the demonic arts infamous for stealing others’ inner energy and making it one’s own, the most renowned was the Star Absorption Technique. A martial artist who had properly mastered it possessed inner energy so profound it overwhelmed others of the same tier, but it was like a bomb that could explode at any moment.
That was the danger of inner energy not accumulated purely.
‘That’s not the Star Absorption Technique.’
It wasn’t stolen—it was devoured. The fiercely burning flames eventually subsided slowly.
She had never seen such a martial art before. What remained after incineration was nothing but black ash, making the art savage and brutal from its very foundation.
‘The flames are just my impression of it; it’s not an extreme yang art. Yet it’s not hot, but no different from fire. How is that possible?’
Impossible with a 5th Tier attribute transformation.
‘Intent...?’
Violence forged from mental imagery and will. A realm only accessible upon reaching the 6th Tier.
Divine arts were what allowed one to transcend tier boundaries. The young cult leader’s Heavenly Demon Divine Art exerted dominance over the surrounding qi precisely because it incorporated such intent, and the Sword Dragon’s sword aura bisecting the withered old crone’s magic was due to the same.
All divine arts fundamentally relied on the use of intent. Those heatless flames were the intent born from his divine art.
In other words, this unknown man had mastered a divine art comparable to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art or Orsia’s Sword Saint Style.
“Who are you?”
The withered old crone spat the words while glaring at Yuri.
“I’ve never heard of scum like you. Where the hell did you crawl out from?”
A question that needed no answer. Yuri didn’t bother pondering a reply and instead recited only the incantation of the Heavenly Principle Annihilating Evil Art in his mind.
I am the fire that carries out heaven’s punishment, the asura that annihilates evil, the apostle that upholds the heavenly principle.
My hands cradle the holy flame, and my feet tread upon demons.
—An incantation he had recited without fail every day for two years.
Whenever he delved deep into meditation to peer within himself, he saw flames blazing. Burning away his will to surpass barriers, reaching the 5th Tier.
Yuri had instinctively realized it.
‘This incantation is incomplete.’
Cultivating solely through the Heavenly Principle Annihilating Evil Art would inevitably lead to a wall. He could probably reach the 6th Tier, but to ascend to the 7th, he would need to remedy the incompleteness in its incantation.
Had it been incomplete from the start? Or had Lorellia deliberately withheld parts of it? He had no way of knowing.
It was indeed a divine art, but at its core, the Heavenly Principle Annihilating Evil Art carried the risk of qi deviation. If one became too immersed, the flames it nurtured would consume even its cultivator, incinerating them to ash.
Perhaps Lorellia had transmitted it incompletely due to that danger. When Yuri reached the 5th Tier, he tentatively concluded as much.
Regardless of the truth, he could reach the 6th Tier with the Heavenly Principle Annihilating Evil Art. To breach the 7th Tier wall, he would either need to complete the incantation himself or seek Lorellia’s teachings.
‘I am fire.’
The incantation looped back to the beginning. He had long understood intent. From the moment he burned his killing intent—his ‘will’—to break through to the 4th Tier, that too was a form of intent. The flames of the Heavenly Principle Annihilating Evil Art corresponded to intent.
The protective sword aura enveloping Yuri’s body wavered. He was still in the sky, and the withered old crone glared up at him.
Her staff twitched slightly. The spirits filling the heavens shrieked as they surged toward Yuri.
Yuri’s foot rose a little higher. Like ascending stairs, his body floated upward another step. As he took that step, his trailing foot naturally rose to waist height.
There were no walls or doors before Yuri now. Yet his foot kicked forward as if such a barrier existed.
Boom!
An explosion erupted. The sword aura concentrated in his foot burst outward, scattering red light. The spirits were momentarily blocked by that glow.
Yuri paused there. Fighting the withered old crone alone would be one thing, but he wasn’t trying to kill her single-handedly here.
The first to leap was the Sword Dragon.
The Sword Dragon, Estor Orsia.
He was stunned in more ways than one. In all his life, no single day had shocked him as many times as today.
‘Without fail.’
The situation was too urgent to spare a glance, but the Sword Dragon thought of the nameless man.
‘I’ll learn his name without fail. And I’ll invite him to the Orsia household without fail.’
There was much to discuss. In truth, it would mostly be the Sword Dragon asking questions one-sidedly, but he resolved himself to that.
First, they had to kill the old witch. —Fwoosh! The sword aura cloaking his blade writhed. As the Sword Dragon swung, the aura detached from the sword like a living thing, shooting high into the sky.
It resembled a golden dragon ascending to the heavens. Indeed, the sword aura took the form of a dragon, opening its maw wide to devour the spirits the withered old crone unleashed.
‘What the hell is that martial art...?’
Even Bi-yeon harbored doubts about Yuri’s identity.
As the young leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, she had been exposed to numerous martial arts before inheriting the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, yet Yuri’s Heavenly Principle Annihilating Evil Art astonished her. Though its origins were unknown, it seemed in no way inferior to the divine arts buried in the cult’s deepest secret vaults.
‘The Sword Dragon’s ally...?’
Bi-yeon set aside her contemplations for the moment and clasped her hands before her chest. Instead of leaping into the sky herself, she concentrated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s sword aura between her palms.
Rumble...! The pitch-black aura swirled into a small sphere. Black Smoke Annihilating Jade Aura. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was hailed as the pinnacle among aura techniques. The condensed sphere left Bi-yeon’s hands and rose into the sky.
The Sword Dragon, who had been continuously unleashing golden dragons, glanced briefly at the ascending Black Smoke Annihilating Jade Aura. He seemed curious about the technique.
Yuri seized the Sword Dragon’s nape. Before the startled Sword Dragon could utter a word, Yuri plummeted downward with him in tow.
The Black Smoke Annihilating Jade Aura detonated. There was no deafening blast. The aura, compressed to its limit, dispersed as black smoke. Dominating the surrounding qi, the smoke spread further, erasing even the spirits under the withered old crone’s control from existence.
The sky darkened as if a vat of ink had been upended. Bi-yeon, glaring at the heavens, clenched her fists.
The smoke exploded silently, emptying the sky.
“Trying to kill me too?!”
The Sword Dragon bellowed upon grasping the situation.
“You should’ve dodged on your own.”
Bi-yeon replied indifferently. They shared the goal of killing the withered old crone and had formed a united front, but perfect coordination between strangers on their first meeting was impossible.
“You...”
As the Sword Dragon opened his mouth to shout again, he flinched. Yuri, still gripping his nape, also stiffened slightly and glared skyward.
The withered old crone had vanished. In her place lingered only thick, grayish mist.
—Thump.
The mist swirled. From the intensifying gray torrent emerged hundreds of thin lines. Yuri felt a chill raise the hairs on his body at the sight of those unidentified lines.
“O God.”
The withered old crone’s voice emanated from within the mist. —Fsssh! She sacrificed souls without restraint, and even poured out her divine power.
“Your lowly servant offers all I have to beseech a miracle. Grant the miracle that will slay these heretics and offer it unto You.”
The prayer reached its mark. The mist writhed, and the hundreds of lines slowly parted.
Thus, hundreds of eyes opened. All gazes looked down upon the ground. No killing intent or hostility, no drooping or upturned emotion—just eyes.
Aaaaaah! The souls melted into the mist cried out in unison. It sounded less like screams of agony and more like shouts of ecstasy. Soon the eyes vanished, and the mist cascaded downward.
The mist transformed into hundreds, thousands of hands. The hands clawed at the air, grasping and flailing wildly as they bore down.
Yuri hurriedly glanced at Ha-ryeong. She had already roughly cleared the grotesque corpses from the corpse arts and retreated to the underground’s edge.
Right beside Ha-ryeong was the exit where the cultists had fled in panic. Yuri stared at her in disbelief, and Ha-ryeong abruptly thrust a fist toward him.
Her thumb stuck up prominently. Deeming one insufficient, she extended the other fist forward, raising that thumb too. Yuri swallowed his words and turned away.
Yuri, Bi-yeon, Sword Dragon. The three leaped in different directions. Bi-yeon ignored the hands as much as possible and lunged toward the withered old crone.
The Sword Dragon swung at the hands. Radiant golden dragons shot out repeatedly, blocking them, but he couldn’t cleave many. The hands, bolstered by the evil god’s miracle, could no longer be sliced easily.
Yuri stayed by the Sword Dragon’s side for now. It was his first encounter with cultists, and ‘divine power’ and miracles were unfamiliar.
‘It’s reinforcing the magic itself. Can it be used differently too?’
Boom! The Sword Dragon’s body was pushed back from the front. He didn’t seem internally injured, but his face twisted in frustration at being repelled by such an attack.
“Watch out!”
The shout was directed at Yuri. Hands the Sword Dragon couldn’t fully block swarmed toward him too. Yuri moved his legs without hesitation.
Thwack-thwack-thwack! His whip-like, flexible kicks intercepted them. Yuri chained kicks continuously, destroying the hands. The Sword Dragon, glancing sidelong at Yuri, swallowed his admiration and focused on his sword. As if in competition, he cleaved through the hands.
They aimed for the withered old crone herself, but closing in was no easy feat. Unlike the hazy spirits before, these ‘hands’ had definite form and overwhelming power.
Their numbers were endless too. No matter how many they destroyed, more kept coming.
His inner energy still had plenty in reserve. But his intent was steadily drying up. Even a divine art that dipped into higher tier realms imposed a heavy burden when transcending one’s own tier with relentless assaults.
Forcibly parting the flailing hands’ defense, he thrust his right hand forward. Unclenching his tightly gripped fist unleashed an explosion of black aura that engulfed the withered old crone.
“Gack!”
A raspy shriek. The withered old crone’s body staggered. Despite detonating aura at close range, the damage was merely her left arm mangled. Sufficient for a serious wound—but she was a Ludelra Magic Tower mage.
“You bitch!”
Her mangled arm regenerated with fresh flesh in an instant, wrinkles spreading across her once-smoother face and hair falling out in clumps. Ludelra mages pursued immortality. They sought to overcome all forms of death through magic.
‘She’s not consuming souls. Doesn’t want to slacken her offense?’
Unlike other Ludelra mages who expended souls or others’ vitality, the withered old crone refrained from further suppressing aging, instead consuming her soul force to regenerate wounds.
‘No, can’t she consume the souls for herself anymore?’
She had offered them. The souls enhanced by the miracle no longer belonged to her. As products of the evil god’s miracle, she could no longer use them.
Bi-yeon’s attacks grew bolder with this certainty. Each time she forced a close-range strike, the withered old crone bellowed in a cracked elder’s voice while unleashing magic.
Bi-yeon hated that voice.
It resembled her own, damaged by fire rage. A grating, rusty, hoarse scrape like nails on metal. Beneath her mask, Bi-yeon ground her teeth.
‘I’ll kill her.’
Two others here sought to kill the withered old crone too. They were fighting together by circumstance, but Bi-yeon refused to yield the killing blow itself.
Her master’s command was absolute. Though not explicitly ordered to kill, it had become as good as divine decree for Bi-yeon.
Her gaze drifted below. The Sword Dragon and the man were handling the hands.
She felt a prickling stare. The Sword Dragon glared murderously, eyes narrowed as if ready to leap and strike the withered old crone himself.
The other man’s gaze was... calm. He was observing. Me? Her? In this place, he was the most insidious and wary figure. Bi-yeon thought—he might even be stronger than the Sword Dragon.
‘This.’
Yuri dragged his foot back.
‘Is about right.’
He’d lost count of how many times he’d swung his legs.
Necessary invention, not meant for teaching, so no elaborate incantation. He could divide the motions into forms, but saw no need.
Still, it was a martial art. He hadn’t named it yet.
‘Kicks tracing red curves... Crimson Blood Stream Kick?’
Too on-the-nose?
‘Name it later.’
He’d mulled it over in his head, refined it in combat.
Now it felt ‘complete.’
A tickle stirred in his chest.
The kick technique worked standalone, but shone brightest combined with Yuri’s other skills.
Slicing and kicking repeatedly, yet the hands’ momentum didn’t wane.
“No end in sight?”
He called out to the Sword Dragon, who glanced back while gnashing his teeth and swinging.
“If I knew, would I half-ass it?”
“I’m trying hard.”
“Use your fists too!”
The Sword Dragon snapped, eyes narrowing.
“Fine.”
Yuri nodded without excuse.
“I’ll hold them. You fall back.”
“What?”
“You look overflowing with inner energy. Gather it all and hit ‘em with one big shot.”
“...Can you hold?”
The Sword Dragon asked, slightly surprised. Yuri raised both hands, clenched into fists, said nothing, and pushed past him.
The Sword Dragon chuckled wryly and gripped his sword with both hands.
Rumble! Vast inner energy surged from his dantian, becoming aura that enveloped the blade. The Sword Dragon focused his mind, forging the aura. The churning golden aura gradually settled into stillness.
Yuri inwardly marveled at the tremendous power building behind him.
He also stifled a laugh.
Over two years in this world, but game knowledge remained crystal clear.
Not just memory—he’d noted it down to avoid confusion later.
Blind reliance on game knowledge was cautioned against in the waiting room, but primary ‘information’ was invaluable regardless.
Especially high-level NPCs’ ‘levels’ were worth referencing.
Excluding the hidden boss evil god, the highest-leveled NPC was the Heavenly Demon at 95.
The Heavenly Demon had been the final boss until hidden bosses were found.
Next was Sword Emperor Albatore Orsia at 90.
In this world, Albatore was positioned opposite the Heavenly Demon as the Martial Emperor, but not in the game. A 5-level gap, for starters.
Level aside, no one in the community ranked the Sword Emperor second to the Heavenly Demon.
Lee Soo-hyuk agreed. If forced to pick second, it was Extreme Point Arsen Lucionel, not the Sword Emperor.
Arsen’s game level was 87, lower than the Sword Emperor. But as in most games, level wasn’t everything.
‘This Sword Emperor prick is total trash?’
That was Lee Soo-hyuk’s thought after first beating him, and community consensus largely matched.
Extreme Point Arsen spammed every kind of magic. Countering one attribute meant nothing against his barrage. Filling limited skill slots and resources with attribute resistance and anti-magic just turned you into a punching bag.
The standard strategy was pattern learning, but his tricky patterns meant one slip was GAME OVER. Unless anti-magic was sky-high, one hit meant death.
The Sword Emperor? High specs, sure. No matter how much health and defense you stacked, a critical normal attack meant instant death.
But unlike Extreme Point, his patterns were straightforward, and the root of Sword Emperor ‘trash’ theory was the glaring counter window in his super move. At first, you dodged blindly and died, but once patterns were familiar, damage windows opened easily.
Even now, the Sword Dragon replicated the game Sword Emperor’s flaws. That super move-like attack packed power, but its preparation left massive openings.
‘Well, I set the stage for him this time, amplifying it... In a real fight, he might not show those weaknesses.’
Honestly, Yuri hoped never to fight the Sword Emperor. Shoving thoughts aside, he advanced.
He looked ahead but saw little. Thrashing motions. Grasping, clawing, striking, seizing... Every hand attack filled his vision.
Hoo.
Inhaling once, he raised both hands.
He ignored the hands’ numbers. Yuri need only concern himself with two.
‘Left hand half-open, slightly forward.’
‘Right hand clenched tight, pulled back a bit.’
Deflect incoming attacks with the left, step forward slightly and punch with the right. Don’t retract the extended fist—open it, turn the palm to sweep aside. Now the left becomes a fist and strikes.
Feet can’t stay still. They enable hand advances. Naturally, Yuri stepped the Floating Wind Cloud Step and unleashed the Scattered Heaven Drifting Cloud Fist.
Chill goosebumps and ecstasy surged together. Feet and hands—no, body and mind perfectly unified. Mind-body oneness? Not a new sensation, but this ‘immersion’ always brought Yuri that eerie thrill.
‘No, not enough.’
He could do better. Even as he mocked his own satisfaction from completing the kick technique earlier. This was far from sufficient. Needed more honing.
‘Still, let’s try.’
Yuri suppressed a budding smile. Hands weren’t just ahead. Flowing like clouds on wind, he’d reached deep into their midst.
Attacks everywhere. Countless hands struck, grabbed, clawed, tore at Yuri. Two hands weren’t enough. Yuri dragged back his stepping leg.
Crack—his leg shot up, raking overhead. Body twisted half-turn following the leg, fist flew. Two arms, two legs. But Yuri’s trajectories weren’t just four. Now he was fast, fluid, mutable.
‘Not enough.’
Unstoppable, seamless, yet insufficient. More was possible.
So he added it. —Crackle! Self-Rotating Thunder Islet Skill’s lightning mixed into his inner energy.
As thunder qi blended into the meridians’ flow, Yuri’s movements shifted again.
Sudden lightning in drifting clouds. Bzzt! Lightning trailed his fist and foot paths, arcing everywhere.
The Sword Dragon watched Yuri’s motions, entranced. Amid those myriad hands, Yuri danced freely, all targeting him exclusively.
The Sword Dragon could handle the hands.
But not like that.
“Haha...!”
Bursting into laughter, he raised his sword high.
Another reason to invite him to the Orsia household.
The Sword Dragon yearned for a bout with that man.
“Dodge!”
At the roared command, Yuri leaped upward instantly. Thrashing hands lunged to grab, but fully committed to escape, he slipped free.
Confirming Yuri airborne, the Sword Dragon swung.
Golden light slashed space, erasing all hands.
“Kaaaaak!”
The mass annihilation struck the withered old crone hard too.
Soul force backlash made her body lurch violently.
‘W-what?’
Her mind reeled. Focused on the persistent young cult leader, her concentration splintered. No, it was impossible from the start. Two 5th Tiers enduring a 6th Tier mage’s miracle-enhanced assaults was unbelievable enough, yet they counterattacked and caused mass dissipation?
‘Radiant Sword...?!’
Glancing below, the withered old crone’s eyes bulged. She saw the brilliant light cloaking the Sword Dragon’s blade. The sword technique symbolizing the Sword Emperor—compressing and heating sword aura to white-hot incandescence. Had the Sword Dragon’s sword reached Radiant Sword realm?
‘Impossible. How could a 5th Tier...?’
—Genius transcends even tier laws.
—Tiers are just averages of that level.
—Withered old crone. The reason you couldn’t breach 7th Tier is simple.
—That’s your limit.
Ten years ago. Vision Spirit’s words haunted her mind.
Hateful.
Without genius-level talent, she wouldn’t have reached 6th Tier.
But higher tiers brought despair from those who’d truly ascended further. For her, Vision Spirit was that existence.
Mediocrity doesn’t alone envy genius. Geniuses envy geniuses too. More so, even—the superior ones.
Inevitably. Living believing yourself a genius, assuming you’d naturally achieve it. Then facing reality: impossible, stagnant, culled, realizing you’re no genius. Despair mediocrity can’t fathom.
‘Hateful.’
Swallowing blood, her eyes fixed on Bi-yeon. The masked young cult leader with the grating hoarse voice approached. Knowing she couldn’t steady herself, coming to finish her.
‘If not for you.’
She could’ve sealed the Sword Dragon and that man, then fled. Without their interference, she could’ve focused and massacred them.
—The young cult leader said Vision Spirit spared you out of laziness.
Those words scraped her killing intent raw.
‘You alone.’
Preparing soul force overload and collapse, the withered old crone glared at Bi-yeon.