Chapter 154
Chapter 154: Final Battle (1)
Gugu-gu-gu-gugugu.
Like a white stone falling into the pond called the sky and creating ripples, Yin energy spread in all directions from the zenith above Yeon Yeong-ha's head as the starting point.
Gathering clouds.
Commonly used metaphorically when many people gather, but this time real clouds were gathering in one place, defying the laws of nature.
Dong Bong-soo raised his head to look at the sky.
"Fascinating."
Perhaps if he had been in that other world, he might never have seen such a thing in his entire life.
Then again, who knows? If science advanced even further and entered the realm of the divine, it might become possible. After all, it was a world where artificial rainfall was possible by shooting condensation nuclei into clouds.
But in that manner, with human power alone making such a thing possible?
He would never have been able to see it.
Just how much energy would one need to freely manipulate to make such a thing possible?
Even for Dong Bong-soo, it was impossible to estimate.
But somehow...
He didn't feel like he would lose.
Though such a thing wasn't possible for him, he too had already become an existence that couldn't exist naturally.
Tap-tap-tap, tap tap
Was it because the clouds were gathering?
Rain began to fall.
Tap.
A raindrop fell on Dong Bong-soo's open eye.
He thought.
'Why on earth would Yeon Yeong-ha, who had no reason, gather rain clouds and make it rain?'
His thoughts didn't last long. He seemed to understand the reason.
Huuuuuuum-!
The surrounding Super True Energy Field heaved violently and repelled the raindrops.
That moment!
The sound of raindrops being repelled grew louder!
From the sound of liquid being repelled to the sound of solid being repelled.
Rain became snow, and snow became complete ice.
"Heheh."
"Heheh."
The laughter of both Dong Bong-soo and Yeon Yeong-ha grew similar.
Both were satisfied.
That their opponent was each other in what might be their life's final battle.
Thud thud thud.
Hail descended indiscriminately.
And part of that hail gathered on Yeon Yeong-ha's body to form ice armor.
Mystical. Her previously fully exposed naked body had been more vivid and transparent, but this side that seemed visible wasn't opaque yet... was therefore more mystical and beautiful.
But more than that.
The hail rushing toward him was more mystical and...
Concerning.
Huuuuuuuuum—!
The hailstones flying toward Dong Bong-soo's surroundings got caught up in the Super True Energy Field and whirled around him. Like asteroids orbiting the sun.
But that orbit gradually shrank.
Meaning Yeon Yeong-ha's domain was gradually expanding.
Dong Bong-soo's eyes became even more ordinary.
And one by one, the planets began to leave their orbits and fall toward Dong Bong-soo.
Ting, ting, ting ting ting...
The number of such instances kept increasing.
Dong Bong-soo moved his sword to deflect them one by one.
However, the more he deflected, the more the number of incoming hailstones increased, and the deflected ones also returned to their original orbits. Naturally, the number of hailstones orbiting around him only increased exponentially.
Dong Bong-soo couldn't see it, but from outside, he was already buried in what could be called a whirlpool? Hill? Mountain? of hail—something that large anyway.
Outside it, Yeon Yeong-ha was calmly waving her hand, dropping hail. Moreover, the bigger problem was that Dong Bong-soo, surrounded by hail, was gradually becoming sealed inside that space.
Temperature basically refers to the average kinetic energy or activity of particles.
When reaching absolute zero at -273.15°C, the universe stops, time stops, entropy reaches zero, and therefore the movement of all particles nearly stops. Except for special cases like helium, it would be fair to say it stops completely.
Naturally, life forms cannot survive under such temperature.
But the temperature of this space, gradually approaching Yeon Yeong-ha's Absolute Extreme Yin Domain, was rapidly converging toward absolute zero.
In other words, it wasn't long before Dong Bong-soo would stop rather than die from being hit by hail. His body, mind, and soul would all soon come to a halt.
Dong Bong-soo's frozen eyes looked at Yeon Yeong-ha through the spinning mountain of ice. She was faintly visible through the hail layer so thick it was impossible to know how many layers there were.
Yeon Yeong-ha also met Dong Bong-soo's indifferent gaze.
Yeon Yeong-ha and the True Extreme Yin Heavenly Calamity Energy hesitated for a moment. But that was only brief; soon a ferocious light rose again in her eyes.
Thump!
She lifted her left foot and stomped it straight down on the ground.
Skree, shree-shree-shreek!
The ground froze beneath the spinning hail and advanced. Then, reaching below Dong Bong-soo's feet, ice crystals materialized and formed ice blade shapes as they shot upward.
Pa-ba-ba-ba-boom—
Below were ice blades; above, front, back, left, and right was ice rain with tremendous energy. The temperature was close to absolute zero.
The [Footwork] he had used as an all-purpose evasion skill until now had a range of only seven meters.
[Footwork Lv.Max Proficiency: 0%]
A mysterious gait devised to efficiently evade enemy attacks.
Upon activation, instantly teleports once in one of four directions: forward, backward, left, or right.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Currently Applied Level: Lv.Max (Player can adjust the level of this skill.)
Movement Distance: 7m
Energy Consumption per Use: 1000 JP
The thickness of the ice rain mass surrounding him had already far exceeded seven meters. Even if it weren't seven meters, he couldn't escape this place with Footwork. Because outside the ice rain mountain, the clouds Yeon Yeong-ha had summoned were still pouring hail. The moment he escaped, hail would fall there again and he would be trapped in the exact same space.
Skreek.
Dong Bong-soo's sole was crushed by the ice sword and his instep was pierced.
He didn't even feel pain. His entire body was already frozen so he couldn't feel properly.
But Dong Bong-soo's thinking didn't stop.
He used the force of being pierced by the ice sword to shoot upward. And simultaneously raised the sword he obtained upon class change, [Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword], pointing it at the ceiling.
Above was a mass of hail chunks spinning at ultra-high speed due to the collision of the Super True Energy Field he had created and the True Extreme Yin Heavenly Calamity Energy, gradually descending downward unable to bear the increasingly accumulating weight.
Naturally, the ceiling and he drew gradually closer.
7m, 6m, 5m...
What should he do?
Was there no choice but to die like this?
There was nothing Dong Bong-soo could do. That's how it looked to anyone.
But Dong Bong-soo had several more trump cards he had newly drawn. He didn't know what kind of hand it was since he hadn't flipped it over yet, but it was definitely a trump card.
That was.
The skill Dong Bong-soo had newly obtained.
The skill of the tester-exclusive second class called Public Enemy of the Martial World that the Murim Online development team had 'sealed' within the game system for testers.
That skill, not inside the online game, nor the reality of that other world either.
Here, in the Martial World, at this very moment!
Was recreated.
Probably none of the Murim Online developers would have expected it.
That the very tester class they had created while giggling and spouting jokes, that they had considered throwing in the trash—and the skill that class possessed—would accomplish such a tremendous feat!
Boom-boom-boom-boom-bang!
An explosion rang out.
And a hole was pierced in the sky.
***
Bang.
Crack!
Soldier Eccentric spat blood-red fresh blood and fell to his knees on the ground.
Unable to withstand the palm force of one of the Eight Desolations Heavenly Slaughter Formation.
He had run around saying the Martial World was small, yet couldn't even handle one Jiangshi and fell to his knees. But that 'mere' one Jiangshi had suddenly grown stronger from a little while ago. Strong enough that it wasn't easy for him to handle.
The bigger problem was that the bastard wasn't just strong but also didn't tire.
"Are you alright?"
"Hehe. Does this look alright to you?"
Pyeong Wi-rang hurriedly approached and supported Soldier Eccentric.
Should one say it was like Soldier Eccentric? Even in this worst situation, he giggled and lightly joked.
"As expected of an Asura True Jiangshi. Much stronger than I thought. Damn it all."
"Asura True Jiangshi..."
Pyeong Wi-rang gripped his sword again and rose from his position. Looking around, most of the Ten Pavilions' elites were already dead. Now fewer than ten remained.
"From the moment I joined the Murim Alliance, I thought such a day would surely come."
"Foolish fellow. A fellow who thinks of the day he'll die before making a name for himself when joining the alliance."
"I thought it would be easier to endure when facing death after failing a mission. Good if successful, and fine if not."
"Hahaha. Interesting fellow. If not for this state, you'd suit being my disciple better than that fellow. That guy might be too much for me to handle after all."
That fellow.
Even without knowing who it was, Pyeong Wi-rang felt good. Even if he died, he had received praise from Soldier Eccentric who had already made a name for himself. Though he felt like he received treatment one step below someone called 'that fellow,' it didn't really matter.
Pyeong Wi-rang raised his sword straight and looked all around at the Jiangshi surrounding them, then shouted boldly.
"Hey! I won't let you take back those words later."
"I won't. Fool."
Just as Pyeong Wi-rang gripped his sword tightly and was about to rush forward.
Boom-boom-boom-boom! Grrrrr, cr-cr-crash!
With a tremendous roar, part of the Cheongsin Mountain cliff behind them collapsed. The rock wall was carved away and a pile of stones poured down, instantly turning dozens of Martial Jiangshi beneath into pulp.
"...!"
"Hahahaha. What did I tell you? Didn't I say we could escape Cheongsin Mountain much faster if we advanced while breaking through here?"
"That's true. Either way, the wall collapsed but we weren't buried."
A thick male voice followed by a delicate woman's voice.
Pyeong Wi-rang raised his head with surprised eyes to look up at the collapsed rock wall.
"Who are they!?"
The rock wall had collapsed and behind it a cave was pierced through. And behind it, countless people were pouring out of the cliff like an ebbing tide.
They were the survivors including Paeng Ho-ryu, Namgung Hye, Hwa Seon-hyang, Hwa Ye-ji and others who had crossed over the rear wall on the Inner Court side and escaped toward the Cheongsin Mountain outskirts.