59
Chapter 59: Steep Cliff
"Hahahaha!"
Were they waiting for that moment?
Finally, Water Shadow and Transformed Shadow arrived there with loud laughter.
Transformed Shadow's current appearance, which was clean unlike one who had been through fierce battle, was Silver Naked Lecher Paga Blood, precisely Gray Shadow.
He laughed even more loudly and mocked Tang O.
"Hahaha. Tang Great Hero. You seemed to flee so hard your tail might fall off, yet you could only come this far?"
"Who are you?"
Tang O didn't know he was precisely Do Heo-ok. Even the Heavenly Demon Castle members couldn't recognize he wasn't Paga Blood, so it was impossible for Tang O to distinguish his transformation either.
Transformed Shadow laughed once more and said.
"Since you'll soon receive King Yama's reception anyway, why is such a thing so important? Hahaha."
"You bastard!"
Tang O was indignant at Transformed Shadow's mockery, but didn't rashly step forward. No matter how hot-tempered he was, he knew well what the current situation was like.
At that, Transformed Shadow stretched his lips thinly, then shouted loudly once more.
"Come out! Hurry and come out to show that rat-like appearance! Let's see the face of what kind of great rat you are!"
Now the direction Transformed Shadow's gaze turned wasn't toward where Tang O and the other survivors were. It was toward the water bandits occupying one corner of the cliff on the other side from them.
Only then could Dong Bong-su understand why they had made such an unreasonable move—slaughtering allies.
'They were looking for me.'
Well, it was inevitable.
When the Namgung Family was turned upside down by the light from leveling up, would they be any different? They too must have definitely been paying attention, and since they couldn't identify that identity despite several encirclement attacks, they must have used even this final method.
The corners of Dong Bong-su's eyes curved lightly.
It was interesting. There had been interesting things several times since coming here, but never as fun as this time.
Critical moments and a continuous series of such situations.
Layer upon layer of mountains—that itself stimulated Dong Bong-su's interest endlessly. Added to that, even the extremely 'human' tactic of backstabbing him.
Indeed, this New Murim Online was definitely a game just for him.
Dong Bong-su grasped the Novice's Sword in his hand without anyone knowing.
"Don't want to come out? Then I'll personally smash that excellent head of yours and check."
When there was no answer from the water bandits' side, Transformed Shadow stepped forward.
Dong Bong-su had already figured out he was Do Heo-ok. Just as when he transformed into Do Heo-ok, a mistake that wasn't a mistake was visible at least to Dong Bong-su. Do Heo-ok still didn't know that sometimes being too perfect wasn't complete.
And.
That this mountaintop also wasn't a perfect cliff's edge either.
Sssshhh…
Precisely when Transformed Shadow took one more step toward the water bandits.
Dong Bong-su's sword moved soundlessly. At the same time, the water bandits who had been guarding against Transformed Shadow in front of him all lost their necks at once. Because Dong Bong-su was closest to the cliff, the water bandits all had their backs to him. So there was absolutely no way to block him.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Over ten water bandits' heads fell on the summit of Seonjoong Mountain.
Right at that moment!
Flash!
The Holy light that had swept through the Namgung Family before once again covered the summit of Seonjoong Mountain.
At the sudden flash, Transformed Shadow stopped advancing and hastily retreated backward. That was because there might be powerful energy like that of Solar Divine Art carried in the light.
So he even unfolded Body Protection Rigid Energy in haste, but his such effort was futile. The flash just passed by warmly like spring sunlight. He would have thought it was a bundle of rigid energy, but it was merely light emitted as Dong Bong-su leveled up, so it was inevitable.
Even so, since it was certain the light was powerful enough to make it difficult to open one's eyes, Transformed Shadow continued to be on guard while watching where the light poured out.
The moment light burst forth, Tang O also stood blocking Tang Hwa's front while extremely tense.
To him too, the radiance at the moment of level-up didn't seem ordinary. However, after he too realized no energy was carried in the light, he just watched that direction quietly.
He carefully put down Namgung Hye who had been tucked under his side behind himself while raising his physical senses to the maximum. If things went wrong, she could fall below the precipice, but he judged it was better to put her down as safely as possible now rather than holding her.
On the other hand, Water Shadow was startled by the occurrence of an unexpected event and went back down the path he had climbed. The light Dong Bong-su poured out was that surprising and sudden.
Still, at least these three were the only people who responded appropriately to that situation. The rest couldn't grasp at all how the situation in the arena was unfolding or what they should do.
What the remaining water bandits, Heavenly Demon Castle members, and survivors knew was just that one of the water bandits suddenly beheaded other water bandits, and then unexpectedly intense light burst from his body. They had only confirmed that with their two eyes.
Whoooooosh—
An untimely silence came to the unsettled summit of Seonjoong Mountain. At that, only the sound of the powerful wind at the summit lightly drummed people's ears. However, unlike closing their mouths, everyone's gazes were watching one place as if they had made a promise.
Precisely the origin of the flash—Dong Bong-su.
Though afterglow of light was still spreading from where he had been standing, it wasn't to the degree that visibility couldn't be secured at all. Moreover, since it was broad daylight, sunlight was slowly swallowing the flash.
A moment later.
Finally, even that afterglow completely disappeared.
But.
What disappeared wasn't just the light.
"He's gone..."
Someone muttered.
His words filled the gap in the silence and stuck in people's ears instead of the wind. Everyone who heard it agreed with those words, and they had no choice.
Dong Bong-su, and the water bandits killed by him, all disappeared together with the light at once. Only the empty cliff's edge remained alone, abundantly filling people's vision, but nothing existed there anymore. Just that state with no one there, as if it had been that way from the beginning.
However, among these, three people—Transformed Shadow, Water Shadow, and Tang O—saw faintly how Dong Bong-su disappeared. Though the light was extremely intense, they witnessed a faint shadow moving quickly within it.
The shadow they saw definitely jumped below the cliff. However, what was strange was the fact that even the other water bandits' corpses disappeared without a trace. They just... just disappeared like that, as someone's muttering moments ago.
For a brief time, the three's thoughts about it diverged, but ultimately unified into one. They thought the water bandits' corpses had evaporated without a trace due to powerful Yang Rigidity Energy.
Though that flash might have felt warm where they were standing, close up there it would have been hot like volcanic lava, or perhaps like being beside the sun floating in the sky. They couldn't think differently. The element of a game wasn't included at all in their common sense.
However, even so, one big question remained.
Why did that person jump into the precipice? With such great martial power, why did he give up so easily without even trying to fight?
It was a question that commonly arose in the three's heads.
Transformed Shadow felt regret because of that, Tang O felt futility because of that, and Water Shadow felt relief because of that. Though they were different emotions, they all didn't doubt Dong Bong-su's death. No matter what master, if they fell below the tall steep cliff, they couldn't avoid death. They die the moment they touch the bottom of the dark abyss. They must. That was also their common sense.
Though they didn't say it to each other like that, once again they reached consensus.
However, there's always such a thing as exceptions in the world and existences that destroy common sense.
Isn't that why the world is interesting and worth living?
***
Thud, thud, thud…
The strong updraft blowing along the cliff made his robe hem flutter, and the cold mountain wind brushed his face.
Certainly Dong Bong-su was falling. However, he was falling in an aspect completely different from what Transformed Shadow and others expected. He was definitely descending toward the ground, but wasn't falling as fast as fully receiving gravitational acceleration.
The reason was.
Thud, thud, thud…
It was related to this sound periodically echoing in midair now.
Thud.
As always, Dong Bong-su strongly extended one fist and both feet downward simultaneously.
At the same time, one corpse popped out from his other hand that wasn't doing anything. Of course, it was by Inventory Divine Arts.
The corpse completely crushed with a dull sound.
KABOOM!
With an explosion sound, the corpse naturally fell down below even faster, and Dong Bong-su's accelerating speed decreased by the amount of impact the corpse received.
It was a simple physics law that could be calculated with just mass and velocity, and the law of action and reaction, conservation of momentum, was being applied precisely even in midair of this cliff.
Thud, thud, thud… Boom...
Various dull sounds ring periodically along the cliff face.
That was because Dong Bong-su repeatedly performed the same action as before at regular intervals.
If the interval was too long, his body accelerated too much making it difficult to control his limbs, and if too frequent, the corpses and objects in inventory might run out before even reaching the ground.
Dong Bong-su proceeded with the work carefully, as 'calculated' earlier. His composure was still maintained even in midair.
'I've come down five hundred meters now. The remaining distance is about one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred meters.'
Thud, thud, thud… Boom...