Chapter 142
Chapter 142: Battle (2)
Only then did Yeon Yeong-ha stop her right hand, which had been controlling the Heavenly Calamity Energy, and raised her left hand.
At that moment!
Her left fingernails peeled off like a snake shedding its skin and stretched out long, then forcefully pushed away Dong Bong-soo's Wanderer's Sword.
KABOOM—!
Bare fingernails clashed with sword. However, the sound wasn't that simple. A tremendous roar rang out as if a heavenly god and demon god had collided.
Fwish—!
"Guh—!"
Unable to withstand the massive impact, Dong Bong-soo flew backward.
In an instant, Yeon Yeong-ha's right hand moved again, and the Heavenly Calamity Energy rose and flew toward him once more. Its appearance was exactly like someone drawing a single horizontal line in the air with a brush filled with ink.
Even while flying backward, Dong Bong-soo swung his sword down toward the pitch-black Heavenly Calamity Energy extending toward him.
Shrrrip—
Again came a sound like long silk fabric being torn.
Dong Bong-soo didn't stop there and fired off Super True Energy Waves to scatter the split Heavenly Calamity Energy in all directions.
Bam-bam-bam-bam—!
Simultaneously, Dong Bong-soo's Wanderer's Sword sliced through the air at tremendous speed. The Sword Wheel was repeatedly applied to the fragmented Heavenly Calamity Energy.
Then the Heavenly Calamity Energy, torn into pieces like shredded paper, drifted down powerlessly onto the ruined Arena.
"Ho, ho-ho-ho-ho. As expected, as expected! Splendid. Yes, yes, you should be at least this good to be like you."
Yeon Yeong-ha couldn't contain her laughter, she was so delighted.
She gestured to gather the Heavenly Calamity Energy again. Following her gesture, the Heavenly Calamity Energy that had scattered over the Arena debris clumped together once more and quickly returned to Yeon Yeong-ha's hand. This happened after crossing dozens of meters.
"That's... impossible..."
"Is such a thing even possible...?"
In the eyes of all spectators, her every action was a marvel. And Dong Bong-soo's ability to counter it was equally wondrous.
The only problem was that this wonder absolutely did not benefit the Murim Alliance.
Their clash continued again.
Boom! Crash! Bang!
Every time the two collided once, heaven and earth shook and all directions trembled.
"Aaahh—!"
"Aaaaahh!"
"Run away—!"
Those with weak internal energy were helplessly blown away by the energy waves generated from their collisions. It was a disaster for the people who had come with excited hearts for the finals of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
Compared to them, even those with very high martial arts had their insides faintly shaken—the aftermath of the fight was tremendous. Their fight was not one between humans.
Divine-Demonic War.
A fight between god and demon. It was exactly that.
Even Hyeoncheon Jinin's hand, which always leisurely stroked his white beard, was trembling finely.
"Heavenly Calamity Demonic Eyes with Heavenly Calamity Energy... And that person who casually cuts through it... Was he truly the reincarnation of Heavenly Demon...!?"
Hyeoncheon Jinin saw clearly. Earlier, Dong Bong-soo's sword cut Eul Ji-chu in half.
Above all, the dazzling light that poured out afterward was unmistakably the legendary Heavenly Demon's Light.
The exchange between the two that followed was nothing less than a recreation of legend.
Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity versus Heavenly Demon.
Heavenly Monster versus Great Evil.
Clack-clack-clack.
His teeth chattered. Fear crept in despite thorough preparation.
The current history of Murim was centered on the Orthodox Faction.
Both the Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity and Heavenly Demon were demonic existences. That's why they were certainly underestimated in oral traditions.
But the realm of those two, which Hyeoncheon Jinin and everyone here now witnessed and felt, was divine.
They were the recreation of history and the return of legend.
They were evil itself that had descended to destroy this Murim.
It was far more terrifying than what he had heard of in legends.
"...Alliance Leader! Please give the order. If we leave those two here like this, the Murim Alliance will be completely devastated. We must have that person lure the Chosen One of the Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity outside the Murim Alliance."
It was Demon Subduing Hall Lord Ja Do-un. He had heard from Hyeoncheon Jinin that the Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity would appear and to prepare for it. That preparation wasn't limited to just him. It applied to all key figures of the Murim Alliance.
Ja Do-un thought Dong Bong-soo was also one of those arranged figures.
He hadn't seen Dong Bong-soo cut down Eul Ji-chu. So he hadn't accurately grasped the situation yet.
How would he know? That this fight wasn't good versus evil, but a desperate struggle of evil versus evil.
Hyeoncheon Jinin spoke through clenched, trembling teeth.
"That won't do. It can't be helped. Just... order everyone to retreat as far back as possible for now."
"What?"
"That person is not an ally."
"...What? Then who on earth is that person?"
"A descendant of Heavenly Demon..."
"...Hea... venly Demon!"
Everyone who had been listening to the conversation between Hyeoncheon Jinin and Ja Do-un was shocked. How could they not be shocked? The appearance of the Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity had already been foreseen, but now suddenly on top of that, a descendant of Heavenly Demon!
Whether they were shocked or not, the fight between Dong Bong-soo and Yeon Yeong-ha developed even more fiercely.
Already within a radius of three hundred meters centered on the two was perfectly devastated, and that range was gradually expanding.
Accordingly, the number of victims swept up in the energy waves was also increasing exponentially.
Since coming to the Central Plains, Dong Bong-soo had never once shown his full power.
That meant he hadn't fully utilized the combination of martial arts and [Skills].
However!
'There may be no tomorrow now.'
Knowing well that he had already failed on 'the previous today,' he drew out all his full strength without a moment's hesitation.
"Grrrrr— Woof-woof!"
One-eyed Giant Wolf Kaiji, with a build the size of a house, revealed itself to the world again.
Dong Bong-soo rode Kaiji and moved like the wind. On its vast back, he sharply swung the Wanderer's Sword.
Pitch-black Extreme Yin Heavenly Calamity Energy constantly rushed in to swallow them both. However, the evolved Man-Wolf Unity was much stronger than before.
Bam—!
Without being pushed back by the Extreme Yin Heavenly Calamity Energy, they broke through and attacked Yeon Yeong-ha.
However, Yeon Yeong-ha poured out even stronger attacks as if mocking them. Her five black left fingernails stretched to about thirty meters in length.
Shrrrip—!
Toward Dong Bong-soo and Kaiji who had broken through the Heavenly Calamity Energy, Yeon Yeong-ha mercilessly swiped down with her left hand. On each of the five fingernails, pitch-black Heavenly Calamity Rigid Energy was viciously condensed.
"..."
Dong Bong-soo's eyes watching that, his brain rapidly turned in an instant, absorbing the surrounding situation. Based on that, his inhuman brain began to grasp the circumstances and find the best solution.
'What's the best way to avoid this? What will Yeon Yeong-ha's next attack be? Is there perhaps a way to attack while dodging?'
In a brief moment, Dong Bong-soo's brain calculated many things.
Fwip.
He vanished.
KRAK-BOOM—!
Long fingernail marks appeared in the space three hundred meters behind Dong Bong-soo. Dozens of people who couldn't dodge in time became minced flesh in an instant.
Whoosh.
Dong Bong-soo and Kaiji appeared behind Yeon Yeong-ha. He had used the skill [Footwork]. According to his calculations, it was the best method.
But!
Thwump—!
Pitch-black Extreme Yin Heavenly Calamity Energy suddenly burst out from Yeon Yeong-ha's back and struck Dong Bong-soo directly.
CLANG-CRASH—!
"Guh!"
"It's certainly a unique technique, but I've already seen it several times! Don't you have something newer and more special?"
Because she had already directly experienced everything on the 'previous today', she responded without any difficulty to Dong Bong-soo's irregular movements and attacks.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The more the clash continued, the more wounds increased on Dong Bong-soo's body. Blood gushed out like a spring through the grotesquely opened wounds.
Kaiji was the same. The terrible malevolent aura condensed in the beast's one eye was gradually weakening.
"Still not enough. Nowhere near enough. You're no different from yesterday at all, are you?"
Slash-slash-clang—!
She delivered another attack as she continued speaking.
"At this level, you'll die again today too. Without mercy. I haven't even played properly yet. Same goes for my minions."
The eyes of Yeon Yeong-ha as she spoke darkened like the deep sea floor where not a speck of light penetrates.
"The real fun starts now, but this level is troublesome, you know."
Yeon Yeong-ha's pitch-black pupils gleamed eerily.
Dong Bong-soo didn't know what he was thinking, but he remained calm as always. Despite being drenched in blood all over, he moved again.
"I'm not done yet either."
The collision between the two, which had been in a brief lull, started again.
***
KABANG—!
Another tremendous explosion echoed. Simultaneously, the ground also shook. This time too, the direction from which the vibration was felt was north, right beyond Cheongsin Mountain.
"As expected, is it the Murim Alliance side..."
Soldier Eccentric muttered.
"Could it really be an earthquake?"
A tall, handsome young man who was calmly deploying Lightness Arts beside him spoke. He was Pyeong Wi-rang, the Pavilion Lord of Moon Soul Pavilion among the Murim Alliance's Ten Pavilions.
Not only him, but over a hundred young people were following behind and to the left and right of Soldier Eccentric. They were the elite of the Ten Pavilions including Moon Soul Pavilion.
KRA-BOOM.
Meanwhile, another explosion followed.
Soldier Eccentric spoke without stopping his feet.
"It's not an earthquake. I've been experiencing this place for nearly sixty years, but I've never experienced an earthquake."
"Then did Thunder Bolt Bombs explode? But for explosions to continue this much, it would mean dozens of Thunder Bolt Bombs exploded in succession..."
"Wrong. That's not it either."
"Then—"
"Move faster. There's definitely been some incident at the Murim Alliance. Perhaps those things have already set foot in the Murim Alliance."
Soldier Eccentric cut off Pyeong Wi-rang's words and increased his speed even more.
He quickly went far ahead. His last words scattered in the wind to the point of being barely audible.
Pyeong Wi-rang tilted his head while also raising his speed further. The others also spurred their Lightness Arts following him. Soldier Eccentric was moving forward so fast that anyone who couldn't keep up would immediately fall behind.
'Just what on earth are those things he mentioned...'