The Black Beast's Secret Weapon
As a sign of apology, specially the secret weapon of the Black Mountain Bandit, and in fact the strongest martial artist in this Gansu region, a Hwagyeong-level warrior who had dominated the area.
Kali.
She looked at the man who had appeared before her eyes and a slight smile with tension began to form at the corner of her mouth.
‘Is it finally a worthy opponent after a long time?’
Her face was ordinary, but if I had to point out a feature, it was a pair of sharp eyes that gave off the feeling of a wolf.
However, apart from his appearance, Kali, who had reached the Hwagyeong realm, could clearly understand at this moment.
The strength of this man was definitely different from that of the girl she had barely tasted just before.
‘The visible skill... even if I estimate it at the minimum, it's at least the upper end of the Peak realm, or perhaps even at the Hwagyeong level like me.’
Of course, it was just the aura of power she felt; she would only know for sure by fighting.
There were limits to discerning the opponent's strength with inner energy, and sometimes it could be weaker or stronger than that.
Anyway, recognizing that the opponent was not one to be underestimated, she looked at the man in front of her and said,
“Who are you? The fight with that girl has just started, but interrupting like this is troublesome.”
“Sorry, but as her older brother, I can't just watch my little sister in danger. As an apology, I'll spare your life this time. How about you obediently run away?”
“...!”
The man smiled at the corner of his mouth and spoke in a casual voice, delivering a harsh story.
Inside him, the excessive ease and confidence that seeped out made Kali's expression harden for a moment.
But then she showed an arrogant smile again and said to the man in front of her,
“Haha, what is this nonsense... Judging by this, you seem to have some skill. I doubt you don't know who I am.”
“Don't know? Well, I'm just a passing bandit anyway, so why bother remembering?”
Her words were met with a calm response filled with the meaning of provocation.
Regarding this,
Kali, who had fought countless martial artists and brought back countless victories, had abandoned the thought of talking a little.
She had faced countless martial artists until now and brought back countless victories.
But from the beginning of today, even after she had seen even a part of her power,
no one had ever looked down on her like this.
Even the guy she had been aiming for over the past few years.
And this fact made her feel a desire to instill the emotion of despair in the arrogant guy in front of her who knew nothing.
“Really? Is that so... Then, remember this clearly on the way to the afterlife. That I cut off your breath.”
With those words, she poured inner energy into the dagger she was holding as if it would explode, and rushed towards the man in front of her.
In an instant,
Her body moved at a speed that seemed invisible, closing the distance to the man like an arrow shot.
Without giving time to defend or even notice the attack,
not like the gap fights between masters that happen in combat,
but a strike filled with power close to full force from the start.
The target was the man's neck,
and the tool was the black dagger she was holding.
Not a simple martial art, but an extremely refined assassination dagger that could turn even a fallen branch on the roadside into a blade that cuts iron.
No matter how refined the martial artist, it was impossible to block this.
And the result was only the man's head falling away with blood splattering, which she was sure of.
So,
while expecting the arrogant face of the guy who had such ease to distort in shock,
she swung the dagger at the man's nape in front of her to make sure he understood how miserable the price was for looking down on her.
The dagger Kali swung would have taken the man's neck as it had done until now, scattering red blood.
But it was supposed to be like that...
“!”
“...”
In the next moment, the scene in front of her eyes.
Kali needed a bit of time to recognize what it was.
A moment, but it felt like an eternity.
And the following emotion was
the extreme shock she had never felt even once in her life.
‘What... what is this?’
If the man in front of her had evaded her attack, she wouldn't have been so surprised.
Since the world was vast and there were many masters, there could be someone who couldn't be killed with a single strike like that guy from the past.
So, if she deflected the attack or moved her body to avoid it, she could understand it as simply that the opponent was stronger than she thought.
However, at this moment.
Clearly visible to her two eyes,
but an unbelievable scene that was impossible to believe.
It was...
the man holding her dagger with only two fingers.
“H-how...?”
“I told you. If you obediently go back, I'll spare your life this time. How about you accept a kindness?”
While holding her dagger, the man was saying the same thing as before...
But at this moment, the words coming to her were completely different in feeling.
Then he bent his fingers and lightly flicked the dagger he was holding.
Then...
“Kwaak!”
An immense shock was felt for a moment.
Kali almost dropped the dagger she was holding and rolled on the floor miserably.
Even though it was not a direct hit but just flicking the dagger with fingers, the heavy sensation was felt.
In this shocking situation,
looking at the man standing in front of her, Kali muttered in a voice filled with extreme fear.
“M-monster...”
“I've heard a lot of stories like that.”
Looking at Kali who was gripped by fear, the man spoke in a light voice as if throwing a pebble on the roadside.
Even in the midst of extreme fear, Kali felt a sense of pride that didn't completely disappear being stimulated.
‘Damn... Don't look down on me! Just blocking one attack...’
Of course, while thinking that, she already knew that her heart was greatly shaken.
For a moment,
she thought of the word "run away" in her mind.
However, despite this emotion, Kali got up from her place and straightened the dagger again.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say she succeeded in straightening it...
“Haaaat!”
In the next moment, she shouted to scold herself and exploded her inner energy again, rushing forward.
At a speed faster than the attack she had evaluated as sufficient full power just before.
Her voice reached, but she moved even faster towards the man in front of her and swung the dagger once more.
This time, the attack location was not the neck but the abdomen.
If the opponent had predicted that she would attack the vital point in a similar way as before, it was a choice to dig into that gap.
But... the instinctive fear that she might face a shocking situation where the attack would be caught again if she aimed at his vital point was greater.
However, ignoring this fact,
Kali concentrated all her inner energy that she could use at the one point at the tip of the dagger as she had done until now.
It was going to pierce through the mountain like that towards the man's abdomen.
‘I can do it! I'm Heuk-su Kali! Soon I'll become the best martial artist in Cheonghae! How can someone like me fall here...!’
While awakening her inner pride to the maximum, she swung the weapon with all her might.
However...
“!”
In the next moment, what Kali saw was...
the dagger she had swung with all her might, caught naturally in the man's hand as if it had been decided from the beginning.
Not once, but twice.
A strike filled with her full power was caught by fingers.
An incredibly miserable scene.
While watching this with her own eyes, Kali's face hardened to the point where she could no longer bear to look.
And.
While looking at her with a calm expression,
the man said to her in a very calm voice,
“What do you want? Even now it's not too late, how about you run away?”
“A... ah...”
It was extremely plain,
but at the same time, it was the man's words that cruelly shattered her last remaining pride.
With that, Kali trembled all over and let go of the hand that was holding the dagger.
And.