Chapter 12
Translator: True Detective
Cults of the Ghouls (4)
Marcel Lacrima gave up being human. Whether he was in that state from the beginning, or if he changed due to the bizarre magical ritual just now, is unknown.
However, I merely guessed from the faintly felt aura that he must have been half-deviated from humanity from the start.
But, there wasn't much time to think about him right now. Regardless of what the correct answer was, the fact that the change was dangerous to me spurred me on.
'The number of monsters that appeared is large. The level I feel from each one falls slightly short of the anomalies at the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path, but the problem is the main body, the mage.'
The inner energy boiling in my Dantian poured into all the acupoints of my body, urging my steps to move right away. Because the monsters I had to strike down were slowly multiplying even now.
Scattering its body in a one-to-ten ratio, it creates new monsters in real-time. The speed isn't fast enough to be called an instant, but if ignored, it's enough to swell in a flash.
Furthermore, the mage who is the subject of the magic, Marcel Lacrima, is also a problem. His body, which harbored some sinister aura in addition to a human aura from before, is now completely swallowed by an eerie aura.
'It's squelchy and repulsive, yet insidious and fulfilling.'
While sweeping and analyzing the nature of the aura with my Qi Sense, I retraced my memories. I recalled the magic incantation Marcel Lacrima chanted while using magic a little while ago.
'Mother of Abundance commanding a thousand young, Lord of the Black Forest.'
There is no way to know who that title refers to. I don't know, but at least if I guess by linking it with the incantation that followed, I can roughly figure out the purpose of the magic.
'A door leading to her bosom, a blanket for the young to cover themselves with, and nourishment to eat and drink.'
The identity of those bizarre things seemed to be the children of the being called the Mother of Abundance commanding a thousand young and the Lord of the Black Forest.
'In other words, the purpose of the magical ritual Marcel Lacrima cast is...'
Like the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path, it must have been a magic to open a door to the unique Otherworld where that being resides, to summon those disgusting things that are multiplying before my eyes even now.
Seeing keywords like forest and abundance along with the modifier of commanding a thousand young, it seems that even the monsters bursting and growing among themselves to multiply is a kind of inherent characteristic.
It's a magic that forces curses out of you in many ways.
'First, I should reduce their numbers a bit.'
There are two goals. Eradicating the monsters whose numbers are increasing in real-time like breeding young, along with suppressing the mage, Marcel Lacrima.
Since the situation has flowed to this point, I might have to kill him. I braced my resolve with that thought and let out a short breath.
'I've heard that for this kind of summoning magic, the summons usually disappear if the summoner loses the means to maintain the magic.'
Unlike martial arts, magic isn't my field of expertise, so I was confused.
Because usually, with summoning magic, there are cases where the summon is maintained regardless of the summoner's condition, and cases where the summon is canceled and the summoned creatures disappear if the summoner is neutralized.
I hoped for the latter if possible, but actually, even if it's the latter, there isn't just one or two matters to consider.
'I can't know what the criteria for neutralization are.'
If I had to guess, there are largely three types of summoning magic neutralization.
Incapacitation due to the caster's own fainting or death. Inability to maintain the magical effect due to exhaustion of mana or damage to the spell formula like a magic circle. And neutralization due to fatal damage to the summoned creature. Three types in total.
The problem is that among these, I cannot know what kind of magic Marcel Lacrima's is.
'Ultimately, do I have no choice but to clash with it directly?'
I decided the order along with kicking off the ground. Since I don't see a magic circle or separate facilities, the targets I have to consider are only the mage Marcel Lacrima and the monsters he summoned.
'I can handle all the summoned ones if I just have time. If I take care of them little by little so their numbers don't swell excessively, it's possible to finish them off without difficulty.'
Therefore, the priority is higher for Marcel Lacrima, who I don't know when he'll use another annoying magic.
—Boom!
"Keugh?!"
The moment I made my judgment, I stomped my foot, loading Qi shockwaves into the Joyful Shadow Step. With a roar, the ground where I stepped crushed and cracked, and along with that fissure, the inner energy that seeped into the ground spread to the surroundings.
Inner Qi that spread through the ground like a live wire put in water dug into the bodies of the monsters. It's not enough to bring the army to their knees or burst them to death in a single step, but it's at least enough to make them lose their balance and stumble.
'It's a good miscellaneous technique for dealing with multiple low-level enemies.'
I haven't refined it to the point where it can be called a martial art yet, but it falls into the realm of a somewhat usable miscellaneous technique. Swallowing those thoughts inwardly, I moved forward, attacking and bursting the stumbling monsters one by one.
Because the distance between me and Marcel Lacrima had widened quite a bit while I was keeping my distance, wary of his magic a little while ago.
It's not that I don't have means to attack from a distance at all, but I don't yet have a martial art capable of striking while ignoring this much distance.
'I haven't been able to create martial arts like the Hundred-Step Divine Fist yet. Projecting inner energy far away consumes severe Inner Qi, making it inefficient.'
It's better to approach as quickly as possible and attack directly.
"You definitely seem to have mastered a unique secret martial art, but it won't work anymore!"
Marcel Lacrima, who began to overflow with confidence as much as the aura he felt changed, pulls his arm back with a greasy smile.
It seems he intends to have a fistfight with me head-on. While letting out a chuckle at the reckless judgment, I felt a bit dirty, thinking my martial arts were being looked down upon.
Above all, those words referring to my martial arts as a secret martial art.
'Does he not know the concept of martial arts?'
I don't know what a secret martial art is, but it seemed to be a kind of technique similar to martial arts. Seeing as a mage outstanding enough to wield this kind of magic was confused enough to say that.
'Well, that's not what's important right now.'
Didn't the bastard throw off the annoying robe with his own hands?
His bizarre body, which looks half like a corpse, is full of strange and sinister aura, but ultimately, the utility of an aura varies vastly depending on how it's used.
Recalling the sight of him allowing my palm strike a little while ago, it seemed he didn't know how to engage in proper close combat.
'If such a novice takes my attack head-on, there is no reason to hesitate.'
Even if I don't kill you, I will make you a half-cripple. With that thought, I reached out my hand, imbuing the profound principles of the Internal Family Heavy Hand into my palm strike.
—Pow!
With a fierce sound of tearing the air, my palm and Marcel Lacrima's palm collide. In an instant, a Qi shockwave spreads to the surroundings and a rough wind blows.
"Kugh, it seems you've learned quite a lot of secret martial arts. The weird footsteps too, and the inside of my arm hurts."
"...!"
What happened? As soon as that thought crossed my mind, Marcel Lacrima let out a shout of concentration and stepped forward.
"Ugh!"
As much as his body moved forward, the bastard's fist also moved. Without going against the pushing force, I let out a groan and hurriedly changed my stance.
The reaction is different from expected. This crazy bastard, I don't know how he did it, but he withstood the Internal Family Heavy Hand with his body. He is not an opponent I can just blindly push in with strength and bring down.
'His body is abnormally hard and strong. With a gaunt, corpse-like appearance rotting in places, he is moving muscles that look like twisted wire.'
Moreover, the amount of aura filling that bizarre physical body was far too vast.
A body hard enough not to take major damage from the Internal Family Heavy Hand method was annoying enough, but the aura filling the bastard's body was interfering with my inner energy.
There was a reason he threw off the robe. The moment I clicked my tongue, my body was pushed away by Marcel Lacrima's fist and flew.
"Kuhaha! To lunge at me without fear, you are making a mistake that the guys in my home country would never have made!"
Ignoring the bastard's words echoing loudly in an excited voice, I spun my body like a somersault.
I just made my body light with Movement Skills and widened the distance as if being softly pushed without resisting the bastard's strength.
'If Hardness doesn't work, I just have to use the profound principle of Softness. The problem is that I can't definitely bring that bastard down with just the principle of Softness...'
A smile was hanging on the corners of my mouth as I landed softly. I was inwardly surprised upon realizing that fact, because it wasn't an expression I made because I wanted to.
However, originally, a martial artist is a person who can fully understand their own emotions. Because they take the training of firmly consolidating their mindscape as their foundation, they always face their own mind uprightly.
In that sense, the reason I am smiling right now was extremely simple. In a sense, it was an almost foolish reason.
"...It's fun."
This situation of agonizing over how to strike down the enemy before my eyes is enjoyable. A fight where I can freely unfold my martial arts and clash like this is exciting. It's a joy to unfold the achievements I've built up without worrying about anything.
Up until now, I had no experience using my martial arts with all my might. Fundamentally, it was a power that shouldn't be discovered, and it wasn't a power meant to be used on people.
But perhaps that's why I was always thirsty. Maybe I was feeling a sense of liberation, wanting to unfold my martial arts to my heart's content.
'Freely, without caring about anyone.'
The moment I thought that, an inspiration flashed in my head. A flash called enlightenment struck my mind.
Isn't there a saying to enjoy it if you can't avoid it? There was also a saying that one who smiles when things are tough is top-class. If so, a Peak master who has surpassed even the top-class should be able to enjoy it and smile competently.
'I will not be dragged around anymore.'
Starting with the Forked Path anomalous phenomenon I encountered on Mount Geumjeong, my life changed. Perhaps, it might have started to change from when I first learned of martial arts.
However, I always led the changes in my life caused by martial arts. I created the martial arts I wanted to create, trained the martial arts I wanted as much as I wanted, and raised my realm.
Anomalous phenomena or the Bureau, they are all nothing more than obstacles that arbitrarily intruded into my life. Rather than me hesitating while caring about them, it is right for them to care about me conversely.
After all, while they claim to manage mysteries, incidents like this keep happening.
If they're upset, they should have worked harder.
"Hey, foreigner."
Strength circulated through my body for the first time in a very long while. The excitement heated up to the brim with a joyful mind invigorates and pushes my True Qi.
To go ahead and run wild properly, to not get a headache weighing the aftermath and show off to my heart's content.
Because that bastard is a guy who deserves to die, having devoured countless people, devoured people around me, and even used them to perform evil magic.
"Don't ruin the mood by dying right away, and try to hold out well."
Often in martial arts novels, Sword Qi is cited as the standard for discussing realms. Even I classify rough realms based on Sword Qi.
If one becomes accustomed to using Sword Qi and reaches the realm of a Sword Qi Master who can harm a person with Sword Qi alone, that is Peak. If the martial artist's mindscape becomes a star and dwells in the Sword Qi to achieve Sword Aura, they are a Transcendent Peak martial artist.
Then, isn't there something in between? An ambiguous stage like stepping on the threshold... having surpassed Peak, but not yet treading the threshold of Transcendent Peak.
'I can do it. If it's now, I can create a new martial art.'
It varied depending on the works I read, but usually, the product of that ambiguous stage was called Sword Thread. It is a thin, long thread of True Qi drawn out by compressing Sword Qi.
But Sword Thread is ambiguous. It just has high density and increased length; it is woefully lacking compared to Sword Aura.
It doesn't have a proper use either, so in most martial arts novels, Sword Thread is often just shown in passing to boast about one's realm, or highlighted for its thread-like aspect to be used for wire action.
'Is that truly the limit of Sword Thread?'
No. That can't be possible. Thinking that inwardly, I squeezed out Sword Thread. However, the Sword Thread traveled through the meridians inside my body, not outside.
'Inner energy spread throughout the whole body's meridians, including acupoints and Qi veins, all show movements similar to the flow of fluids like fog and water.'
The difference between a master and a novice is roughly divided by how much inner energy can be outputted at once, and how much inner energy the blood vessels can easily transport.
'If so, what if I operate inner energy in the form of a thread like Sword Thread?'
The True Qi in my body is compressed and stretched out long. The Sword Threads that started forming strand by strand twist and weave together, taking the shape of a single rope like a muscle.
At the same time, I felt the sensation of explosive power crouching down from my entire body. A smile hung on my lips at the sensation of a grandeur surging inside, feeling like it would rise up and explode at any moment.
'This is it.'
It explosively increases the output of inner energy through repeated overlapping via the compression of True Qi.
I load that power into my hand and pull it. I take the stance of a palm technique so I can output it at any time.
"What is that...?!"
True Qi, which used to be clear and blue like the color of water, emits a deep dark blue light and wraps around my hand like armor. A form where hardness is felt rather than a soft flow. Marcel Lacrima, noticing the change, asks while sweating cold sweat.
"What on earth are you trying to do!"
With a boom, the bastard bursts out in anger and throws his body. He rushes toward me hastily with a deeply anxious expression.
However, I calmly reach out my hand. As if saying there's no rush, as if drawing a line that it's a meaningless struggle anyway.
An exceedingly honest and resolute touch approaches him.
"Limit-Transcending Sutra."
At the same time, I answer Marcel Lacrima's question by reciting the name of the martial art just created and born into the world.
"Die!"
Shouting like that, toward the bastard's approaching fist, I blew away his right upper body with the palm I reached out to meet it.
"...Still, it saved me some trouble."
Looking back while feeling the rapidly decreasing presences, the repulsive monsters were dying off one by one, letting out shrieks.
It seemed the summoning magic I was wary of was the kind of magic that loses its effect when the mage who cast it dies.
"Anyway."
The problem was the grimoire, the Cults of the Ghouls, left behind when Marcel Lacrima died.
"...What do I do with this?"
It's dangerous to just leave it like this, but a sigh escaped my mouth at the item that I was also reluctant to take with me.