Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Desperate Stand
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Whoosh! Boom!
Tak Hyeok-dong swung his axe with all his might, cleaving the ruined pillar in a single stroke.
The assailant slipped back momentarily, then charged in the instant Tak Hyeok-dong pulled his axe back.
Tak Hyeok-dong, startled by the swift and bold movement, hurriedly swung his axe again.
Whoosh! Clang!
Tak Hyeok-dong's axe was forced back.
"Hngh!"
He sucked in a breath at the heavy pressure transmitted through his hands.
Ssssh! Ssssh! Ssssh!
Ten blade shadows bloomed in the air.
Dazed by the dazzling display, Tak Hyeok-dong hesitated and retreated.
He guarded his body with his axe, blocking the sword with minimal movements.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang! Boom!
Sparks flew, and thunderous roars echoed. Wounds multiplied across his body, blood trickling down.
His body shook from the assailant's power channeled through the axe blade.
*Damn it?*
His mouth gaped open from the bone-rattling impact.
It felt like being hammered with a mallet, even though it was just a sword striking.
He was avoiding direct clashes, yet his muscles throbbed.
"Urk!"
Blood spurted from his thigh, forcing Tak Hyeok-dong back a step.
The longer they fought, the more his hands tangled, and his wounds grew.
The gap in their martial prowess was painfully clear.
*This fucking bastard, not even out of breath?*
Even as blade strikes poured down like a storm, the opponent showed no sign of fatigue.
In the darkness, the ceaseless blade flashes made it hard to breathe.
Boom! Quack-boom!
"Die, you fucker!"
Whoooosh! Kwaaang!
He swung his axe with every ounce of strength, forcing the assailant to hastily retreat.
But the foe closed the distance again with eerie footwork and lunged once more.
Tak Hyeok-dong kept retreating until his face twisted.
His back hit the wall.
"Damn it all!"
Cornered, there was no escape.
"Brother!"
Jang Woong charged from the side, but a single kick sent him flying five zhang to crash into the opposite wall.
"Cough!"
With the Thunder Dragon Squad Leader and Vice Leader struggling against their assailants, there was no way the squad's speedy youngest could handle his.
Jang Woong had been hopping around like a grasshopper on a hot plate, barely dodging since earlier.
Tak Hyeok-dong leaned against the wall and glared at his opponent.
*Shit.*
No more room to run. He needed a plan.
The moment he sensed he needed a desperate gamble.
He half-dropped his axe and crouched low.
Then charged straight at the assailant like a raging wild boar.
Ignoring the blade light scraping across his back, he slammed his shoulder in.
Thud!
"Grraaagh!"
With a sword embedded in his back, Tak Hyeok-dong clamped onto the assailant's waist.
His muscles bulged!
The strength honed under Namgung Hyeok's brutal training shone through.
His swollen right arm's muscles dug into the assailant's waist.
Crack! Creak!
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
"Graaaaaah!"
"Grraaagh!"
Even as his waist cracked, the assailant thrashed and battered Tak Hyeok-dong's head wildly.
Tak Hyeok-dong ignored it and poured more power into his arms.
Craaaack!
Just as he felt the assailant's waist bending backward unnaturally, a burning pain ignited in his chest.
Squelch!
Tak Hyeok-dong's eyes bulged.
A blade had pierced through the assailant's stomach and stabbed into his chest.
"What the hell..."
Stab your own ally?
He'd hesitate to smear bean paste on a dog he'd raised himself, yet this guy stabbed right through his comrade?
But he couldn't just freeze in shock.
The sword burrowing into his chest intensified the agony.
Whoosh!
Tak Hyeok-dong hurled the assailant away and unleashed Great Power Seven Strikes with his axe.
The axe blade swung ferociously, as if splitting a mountain, smashing down on the assailant lunging at his waist.
Rumble!
With the thunderous roar of Ten Thunders Technique, the axe barely grazed past.
Tak Hyeok-dong's face twisted; he'd thought it had connected.
*Fuck my life!*
The instant the assailant drew a shortsword like a ghost and aimed for his abdomen.
Thud!
"Get away!"
Geon Cheon-hwi suddenly rushed in from somewhere and shoved the assailant aside.
The assailant tumbled across the floor but sprang back up.
Geon Cheon-hwi stood diagonally in front of Tak Hyeok-dong, facing the foe.
Four assailants remained.
Jang Woong rejoined after dodging, but they were still outnumbered.
Geon Cheon-hwi showed tension.
"These mad bastards aren't right in the head."
"...Agreed. Stabbing a comrade without a second thought isn't sane."
"Stick to the wall. I'll take the front, you the middle, Jang Woong support from behind."
The three formed the Three Talents Formation.
Geon Cheon-hwi up front, Tak Hyeok-dong in the middle, Jang Woong at the rear.
Backs to the wall, guarding each other, they glared at the approaching assailants.
These lunatics were strong in martial arts too.
If they all rushed at once, survival wasn't guaranteed.
Tension peaked.
Flash!
The leader watching the situation suddenly leaped out.
His movement speed was immense, hard to track with the eyes.
A sword wreathed in red sword aura targeted Geon Cheon-hwi in an instant.
The arrow-like sword aura traced a bizarre path straight for his nape.
Geon Cheon-hwi startled and hastily raised his sword.
Creeeeang!
"Cuuuugh!"
His grip tore open.
Thwack!
"Urk!"
The blade twisted direction in a flash, piercing his right shoulder and spurting blood.
Unable to even react to the change, Geon Cheon-hwi groaned.
"You bastard!"
Tak Hyeok-dong's axe blazed.
A strike of Great Power Seven Strikes descended ferociously.
Swoooosh, clang!
"...Guh!"
Some immense force hid in the flexible sword; the moment their blades clashed, Tak Hyeok-dong screamed.
Simultaneously, his axe split in half from the sword aura.
The broken axe head spun through the air and embedded in the ceiling.
"Wh-what the?"
An axe forged in Iron Cloud Merchant Guild, torn like paper!
As Tak Hyeok-dong gaped in shock, the leader shoved Geon Cheon-hwi aside and thrust his sword.
Thud!
He leaped away, but couldn't block the sword piercing his thigh.
Jang Woong seized the opening to attack the leader but was sent flying in one exchange.
Cold sweat poured down Geon Cheon-hwi's body.
*Th-this level?*
The skill gap was vast. Even injured and exhausted, could it be this wide?
This surpassed even the demon beast from Silver Phantom Horse Gang.
The swordsmanship seemed familiar, but he had no idea how to counter it.
Boom!
"Guh!"
Geon Cheon-hwi took a chest-collapsing kick from the leader and fell back.
In the gap, his shoulder took another stab.
Blood gushed, pain clouding his mind.
"Haaap!"
Tak Hyeok-dong swung his axe wildly, forcing the leader back a step, and Jang Woong thrust again.
But the leader casually repelled both and retreated.
At the same time, the assailants prowled forward like a wolf pack baring fangs.
Despair darkened Geon Cheon-hwi's vision.
Both arms hung limp, unable to muster strength.
He tremblingly raised his sword, but the leader toyed with him, carving wounds.
Without Tak Hyeok-dong's mad axe swings, his head would've been severed.
A chill of mortal crisis crept up his spine.
The leader stared them down.
Confident he could join anytime and take a head.
Or perhaps waiting for a chance to one-shot them.
*Damn it!*
Being in the enemy's grasp brought fear and shame.
*No improvement at all.*
What changed from the Silver Phantom Horse Gang fight?
Geon Cheon-hwi bit his lower lip hard.
"Maintain the Three Talents!"
He gripped his dazed mind and shouted.
Geon Cheon-hwi blocked attacks from charging assailants on both sides, while Tak Hyeok-dong from behind smashed with power-infused axe strikes.
Kwaang!
With the roar, Jang Woong leaped from the left and thrust his sword.
Geon Cheon-hwi, Tak Hyeok-dong, Jang Woong tangled with the assailants in combat.
Metal clashed from all sides, sparks flew, the fight grew fierce.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
At the entrance, Namgung Hyeok watching the fight clicked his tongue.
*Not gonna make it.*
They held well, but this was the end.
Namgung Hyeok drew the sword at his waist and strolled forward casually.
His form stretched like taffy, closing the distance to the assailants.
The assailants startled at his sudden appearance and reflexively swung.
Namgung Hyeok effortlessly dodged while Soaring Heavens Bright King Art stimulated his dantian.
Inner energy surged through his meridians instantly.
Blue light gleamed in his eyes.
Flaaash!
The Soul-Shaking Fist cloaked in sharp blue energy spun bizarrely into an assailant's jaw.
Kwachik!
Grrrrrind!
With a gruesome sound, the assailant's jaw shattered, bone fragments scattering.
Splurt!
Amid the bursting blood, Namgung Hyeok stepped with Infinite Steps.
Swords thrust from two directions.
Relentless swordsmanship targeting vital acupoints.
Namgung Hyeok's sword arced in a circle, deflecting the two blades aiming for throat and solar plexus.
Then lightning-fast, he plunged into both foes' dantians.
Stab-stab!
The two assailants' pupils quivered.
The despair and terror of a lifetime's inner energy scattering in an instant.
Namgung Hyeok flicked his fingers.
Pop!
The two assailants, pressure points sealed, convulsed and collapsed backward.
As he withdrew his hand, the enemy leader launched himself.
"Hap!"
Red sword aura gathered at the leader's sword tip.
The aura extended a full chi, flicking like a snake's tongue.
Suddenly, it fanned out like a peacock tail, splitting into dozens of bundles flying forth.
Chillingly sharp blades slithered up his vital points like snakes climbing wood.
The glow in Namgung Hyeok's eyes deepened.
And.
Pzzzzzzt!
A bizarre sound like gunpowder igniting.
Lightning coiled around his sword blazed with intense presence, erupting from the tip.
The leader's eyes trembled.
"What?!"
Beyond shock, an unbelievable sight unfolded.
A ridiculously massive sword aura.
Fully a zhang (about 3m) long, it loomed before him.
The sword aura blooming around Namgung Hyeok's blade writhed violently.
Pzzzzzzt!
Namgung Hyeok's sword aura, become a flashing thunder dragon, devoured the leader's sword with its bared fangs.
Kwaaaaaang!
His right hand vanished cleanly, and the leader spewed blood, tumbling forward.
Thud!
Kwa-kwa-kwa-boom.
The Triple Thunder Sword Method's aura tore the floor, leaving five-zhang-deep gashes.
Rustle-rustle!
The assailants Namgung Hyeok had held back finally spewed blood and collapsed, dust and debris falling from the ceiling.
Namgung Hyeok shook his sword and sheathed it.
His brow furrowed slightly.
*Evil faction bastards again.*
Their martial arts, temperament, and actions resembled the unorthodox schools.
No—more precisely, definitely not orthodox.
As Namgung Hyeok eyed the assailants with subtle gaze.
"...Ah."
"Uh, uh."
"......"
In the silence, Geon Cheon-hwi, Tak Hyeok-dong, and Jang Woong stared at Namgung Hyeok with saucer eyes.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
No, the situation shifted before they even grasped what occurred.
They glimpsed Namgung Hyeok's shadow, and suddenly the assailants pressing them were rolling on the ground.
Pitifully mangled.
*...A monster.*
Even that word fell short.
How many mid-tier experts in Anhui Province could block Namgung Hyeok's sword?
Clearly, he far surpassed late-generation disciple level.
The gashes on the floor were brutally immense.
The more they saw, the more astonishing his realm.
Impossible to guess the limits of Namgung Hyeok's skill.
As they gulped dryly.
Namgung Hyeok's head snapped around.
"Keep their pressure points sealed!"
He shouted that and unleashed Blood Wind God in one direction.
Paaang!
Leaving a hazy afterimage, Namgung Hyeok vanished into the space hidden behind the building.
An assailant was fleeing deeper into the ruins.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Namgung Hyeok snatched the fleeing assailant's nape and slammed him into the floor.
Kwaang!
"Guh!"
The assailant crashed through the wooden floor, thrashing, but Namgung Hyeok's iron grip didn't budge.
Namgung Hyeok hammered three Soul-Shaking Fists into the assailant's side.
Kwachik, kwachik, kwachik!
With his right ribs utterly shattered, the assailant gasped and shuddered.
Namgung Hyeok stood and stared ahead impassively.
Signs of presence through a slightly ajar door.
Namgung Hyeok approached and flung it open.
Creak.
Something was inside.
Namgung Hyeok tilted his head.
"Hm?"