Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Preta Path (4)
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The day Gale Blade fully revealed his form and fought for her, Gwiyeong fell in love.
As a colleague, as a friend, and as a man.
Though all these concepts were foreign to her, she felt she had truly found someone who understood her and would stand by her side.
[Gwiyeong, this is too dangerous. We should avoid this fight...]
"Quiet. Just as you tried to save me that day, I'm trying to save you now."
Even with his own enemy before him, Gale Blade was thinking of Gwiyeong.
[But—]
"You were trying to emerge from the weapon through my body again, weren't you? Sorry, but I can't let that happen. I want to be with you. So you just focus on getting your own body back completely."
[...Alright. If that is your wish... Thank you.]
"Save your thanks for after this is all over."
Gwiyeong forced a smile, though she was extremely tense.
'My opponent is the leader of the Hegemony Guild, a man who defeated someone in the Transcendent Realm. I can't win with a direct approach.'
She glanced at the Martial Alliance's Blood Demon hunters who had joined the battle beside her.
Each one was a warrior at the peak of the Transcendent Realm or higher. Seeing that there were even some Superlative Masters mixed in, their forces were not lacking.
Moreover, the woman named Jinseon was a Superlative Master like herself. If they utilized their numerical advantage well, they might just be able to win.
Gwiyeong shouted to the warriors of the Black Ghost Guild and White Serpent Guild waiting behind her.
"The enemy is alone! Do not be afraid!"
"""Yes!"""
Gwiyeong felt a pang of guilt attacking the leader of the Hegemony Guild, who had helped solve her troubles, but seeing him feign ignorance about Gale Blade to the very end solidified her resolve.
She reminded herself that this man was a vile spawn of the Blood Cult who had bought her favor only to use her.
[Let's show them our way. When the two of us are together,]
"We're the strongest."
Gwiyeong grinned and shot a blast of energy from Gale Blade.
The leader of the Hegemony Guild saw the energy blast, smirked, and shouted.
"The ghost's shadow! An attack of this level can't even scratch me!"
Wi-ak swung his scimitar, imbued with blood energy, and Gwiyeong's blast was blocked and scattered.
Just then, Jinseon and the Blood Demon hunters moved in.
"With the Black Ghost Guild Master, we will exterminate the Blood Demon!"
"The enemy is one of the Six Paths Blood Demons! Kill him without giving him a moment to recover!"
-Stab, stab, stab.
The Blood Demon hunters attacked Wi-ak from all sides in a coordinated assault.
Caught by the surprise attack, Wi-ak allowed the blows to land, but he soon spoke, blood trickling from his lips.
"Don't think a few stabs will be enough to take me down! If you don't go all out from the start!"
-Grab.
Wi-ak seized a Blood Demon hunter's head and crushed it.
-Splat!
"You'll be shattered just like this!"
Seeing their comrade's head get crushed, the nearby Blood Demon hunters burned with fury and resolve, attacking even more fiercely.
As the flurry of slashes continued, Jinseon soared into the sky and, with a graceful movement, brought her sword down on Wi-ak.
-Swiiiiiish!
Wi-ak's eyes darted around, assessing all the attacks from every direction. He laughed heartily and launched a counterattack.
-Thud!
He stomped the ground hard, and the powerful vibration sent the surrounding Blood Demon hunters flying into the air.
Taking advantage of the fact that it was difficult to dodge attacks while airborne, Wi-ak imbued his scimitar with an immense amount of blood energy and swept it around him.
-Swishhhhh!
The crimson blood energy drew a full moon.
As a result, the Blood Demon hunters were exposed to the scimitar. They hastily tried to block with their sword auras, but those who had not surpassed the Superlative Realm had their upper and lower bodies severed, erupting in fountains of blood.
-Sploosh!
Excluding the four who were severely injured, half of the remaining six or so Blood Demon hunters were killed in a single strike.
Now, only four remained, including Jinseon.
However, Jinseon's surprise attack from the sky was still in progress.
-Stab.
Wi-ak quickly raised his arm to block Jinseon's diving attack.
The moment the sword pierced his arm, he twisted it to change the blade's path and then thrust his scimitar at Jinseon.
-Woosh.
But true to her training as a warrior from the Hainan Sect, known for its unpredictable and fluid movements, she contorted her entire body to evade the scimitar and met Wi-ak's gaze.
The love and affection of their past as lovers were no more.
They pointed their blades at each other.
"Jinseon! You always drive me mad!"
She formed a wide membrane of internal energy in the air, using it as a foothold to twist her body and escape from Wi-ak.
At that moment, Gwiyeong leaped forward, her Gale Blade imbued with sword ki.
-Squelch!
Wi-ak, his back deeply slashed, laughed loudly despite the pain and shouted.
"I had forgotten about my junior!"
With swords sticking out of his body, he twisted and threw a punch.
Gwiyeong left Gale Blade embedded in him and swiftly pulled back.
Seeing this, Wi-ak snorted and said.
"Ha! To abandon your weapon so easily! How foolish!"
At that moment, crimson plum blossom petals fluttered and appeared before Wi-ak's eyes.
"Plum blossoms...?"
[Who's the foolish one here?]
-Crack!
An instant later, Wi-ak took a solid hit to the jaw from Gale Blade.
"Kuh! What in the...!"
Dazed from the blow to his jaw, Wi-ak immediately swung his scimitar wide in a counterattack.
Gale Blade instantly kicked Wi-ak in the chest, leaped up, and retreated.
By then, crimson plum blossom petals were swirling around Wi-ak's body. Gale Blade raised his index and middle fingers in a hand seal and shouted.
[Go!]
The crimson plum blossom petals heated up and set off a chain of explosions.
-Kaboom!
Afterward, Gale Blade transformed back into a weapon and returned to Gwiyeong's hand.
Due to the spectacular explosion, the Blood Demon hunters and Gwiyeong paused to observe the situation.
Even for one of the Six Paths Blood Demons, it was uncertain if he could emerge unscathed after taking an explosion head-on.
A moment later, from within the black smoke, Wi-ak swung his scimitar wide, clearing the fumes.
There were clear burn marks on his skin, but even those were rapidly healing and disappearing.
"Khahahaha! What an interesting weapon you have! So that's why the leader of the Black Dragon Society wanted it so badly! A person trapped in a weapon!"
He had to admit it.
"Yes! Who else but us would create such a cruel weapon? Not even those bastards from the Demonic Cult would do something so insane! I may not know the details, but the Blood God must have had a hand in this! Khahahaha! What a truly great man he is!"
"Blood Cult, you are a faction that should not exist!"
Wi-ak laughed in response to Gwiyeong's declaration.
"Kukuku, perhaps. If so, prove it with your strength. Claims without power are nothing but illusions!"
Wi-ak ignited a fierce blood energy around his body, cloaking himself in armor shaped like a vicious demon.
"Now! I'm coming with everything I've got!"
Just as he had shown the leader of the Heretic Alliance, he pressed down on the ground with immense power, preparing to charge.
But this time, the sheer force was incomparably more destructive.
-Rumble!
As he kicked off the ground, a tremendous vibration shook the area, and the earth around him cracked.
Wi-ak's first targets were the Blood Demon hunters.
They scrambled to get out of his path, but two of them couldn't dodge in time.
-Splat! Splat!
They couldn't react to his incredible speed, and for that price, their bodies burst like pulp.
Without stopping, Wi-ak charged toward where the heretic martial artists were waiting.
"H-He's coming!"
"Dammit, get out of the way!"
"Aaaargh!"
But he was too fast, and the blood energy armor surrounding him was so large that most of those in his path couldn't escape and were similarly crushed to death.
Horrific sounds echoed one after another.
From the countless corpses he left in his wake, he extracted and absorbed their life force and strength.
Wi-ak's sanity was gradually being consumed by the blood energy.
As if to prove it, reason gradually faded from his eyes, leaving only greed and madness.
"Khahahahaha! I feel like I'm flying! No one can stop me!"
He continued to grind the heretic martial artists to dust, replenishing an enormous amount of life force and strength in a short time.
Watching this, Jinseon shouted with a panicked expression.
"We have to stop him! If we leave him be, he'll recover his stamina in no time!"
Seeing her subordinates die so futilely without contributing anything, Gwiyeong yelled urgently.
"Dammit! Evade! Scatter, now!"
But her shouts were drowned out by the sound of Wi-ak's destructive charge and the screams of the warriors.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
"Dammit, get out of the way! Get the hell out of...!"
-Splat, splat, splat, splat, splat.
Of the well over one hundred heretic martial artists, half were instantly turned into a bloody mess.
Wi-ak panted heavily, his eyes glowing with a red light.
"Kuhuhu, I'm overflowing with power. Even Deva Path and that Blood Wolf Believer, who act all high and mighty by the God's side... I feel like I could beat them all with my own hands right now!"
Gwiyeong and Jinseon could feel it instinctively.
The Blood Demon named Preta Path standing before them now was a completely different being from the Wi-ak who had possessed even a sliver of mercy moments ago.
-Stab, stab, stab, stab.
Just then, the Blood Demon hunters who had been waiting nearby stepped forward and attacked him.
Even the warriors who had been severely injured and could barely move were among them.
They knew that forcing themselves to move could cost them their lives, yet they still launched an attack on Wi-ak.
Since they all wielded ki-infused blades, Wi-ak must have been seriously wounded.
But he only showed a slightly annoyed expression, not seeming to be in any pain.
"You've all been so annoying. You would have lived if you had just taken my woman and quietly retreated! You don't know your place! You worthless human insects! Did you really think you could stand against me?!"
He imbued the surrounding air with blood energy and crushed down.
Instantly suppressed, the Blood Demon hunters coughed up blood but still managed to counterattack.
-Stab, stab, slash, splat.
They repeatedly stabbed and slashed at Wi-ak's legs, doing everything they could to immobilize him.
"Krrgh! What good will this do!"
Just then.
Gwiyeong and Jinseon, who had leaped forward at high speed, pierced Wi-ak's chest from the front and back.
-Stab, stab.
The massive Gale Blade pierced Wi-ak's heart. Jinseon's sharp blade pierced Wi-ak's lung.
His major organs perforated, Wi-ak coughed up blood and laughed.
"Kukuku! The insects are doing everything they can to take one life! But I was promised by God! He would give me the power to grasp everything in this world! So it's useless! I won't stop until I've swallowed everything in this world!"
Suddenly, an enormous amount of blood erupted from his wounds.
Sensing something was wrong, Gwiyeong and Jinseon hastily pulled out their weapons and retreated.
A moment later, the blood that spewed from Wi-ak's body spread rapidly, swallowing the surrounding terrain in a massive hemisphere.
As their surroundings turned dark, Gwiyeong and Jinseon quickly extended their senses to survey the area.
But all they could feel was a dense killing intent and blood energy; Wi-ak's location was not revealed.
At that moment—
-Thud.
Something was hanging in the sky.
-Thud, thud, thud.
Starting with that one, more and more things began to dangle in the sky.
Soon, a black moon wreathed in crimson blood energy rose in the blood-red sky, illuminating the surroundings with an eerie light.
Only then could they see what was hanging in the sky.
It was the corpses of the people devoured by Wi-ak.
Their necks were strung up by ropes made of blood energy.
As Gwiyeong and Jinseon stood in utter shock, Wi-ak's voice came from beyond.
"Welcome."
At the end of their sight was Wi-ak, seated on a throne of blood, flanked by two corpses.
They bore a strange resemblance to Wi-ak, and Jinseon seemed to recognize them.
"Wi-ak, you... those are your parents... Why?"
Wi-ak's eyes were a grotesque fusion of deep emptiness and greed.
"Welcome to my hell."