Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: The Southern War (4)
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#052. The Southern War (4)
The Lord of the Southern Heaven Palace, Chu Cheol-o, the Blood Mountain Lord.
The moniker, earned for creating a mountain of blood through slaughter, suited him well. His gaze sent a shiver down my spine.
‘Oh, hell…’
No matter how I looked at him, he was an opponent I couldn’t even begin to size up.
Worse, wasn’t he all doped up?
As expected.
“If I… knew I’d see you… like this… I would have… come sooner.”
His speech was halting and fragmented, his linguistic abilities severely degraded by whatever he had taken.
With every word he uttered, a malevolent energy flooded the area.
“Ugh.”
Overwhelmed by the pressure, a groan escaped my lips.
The Black Mountain Tigers were no different, grunting as they raised their true energy.
Bukgung Baek looked up at him and asked with his characteristic sneer.
“Why has a warrior who sought the world fallen so low?”
“Do I… look… like I’ve fallen?”
“Severely.”
“That’s… not it. I have overcome the wall… and reached the heavens.”
“Nonsense. How can a martial art that you can’t even control yourself reach the heavens?”
“I’ll… prove it.”
With those words, Chu Cheol-o’s malevolent energy erupted explosively.
Screeeech!
The hundred or so madmen standing between us and him shrieked and charged.
Crack.
The final stage began as Bukgung Baek’s black hand shattered the skull of the man in the lead.
Following Bukgung Baek’s lead, the Black Mountain Tigers and I rushed toward the enemies. Their bloodshot eyes met ours as they drew their weapons.
And then, the clash.
The leader of the Black Mountain Tigers, charging at the forefront, sent his sword flying like a bolt of lightning.
Thwack!
A bold move, throwing his sword.
It pierced right through the chest of a grotesque man across from him, but…
“Kuaargh!”
The man didn’t stop. Instead, he charged forward with even greater madness.
It was an unbelievable sight, but the leader of the Black Mountain Tigers, a veteran of a hundred battles, calmly retrieved his sword and shouted.
“Keep your distance and engage!”
It seemed throwing the sword had been a way to gauge his opponent.
Following his warning, everyone began to fight the enemies with composure.
Clang, clang.
They blocked the incoming blades.
Slash!
Maintaining their distance, they unleashed sword energy, carving through the enemies’ bodies.
However.
“Kieeh!”
The creatures, feeling no pain, only shrieked louder and charged on.
Some even imbued their own severed limbs with energy and swung them as weapons.
If hell existed, this is what it would look like.
“Fuck.”
A curse escaped my lips involuntarily.
But I couldn't just stand by and watch.
A powerful step, infused with the War King Arts, overturned the ground.
Boom, crackle.
I shot forward like lightning and unleashed the full barrage of the War King’s Thirteen Strikes into the chest of the man in front of me.
Crunch.
After nine punches, I succeeded in breaking his sternum.
I had dealt a blow that should have been instantly fatal to any creature in the primate category.
“Khaha!”
But he didn’t die.
Instead, he swung his straight sword from a completely unexpected angle.
“...!”
Swoosh.
I threw my head back to dodge, but a lock of my bangs was sliced off.
My hairstyle ruined in an instant, I quickly used the War King Step to create distance.
‘Is that even possible?’
Looking ahead, I saw the man’s arm dangling loosely from his shattered chest.
It seemed he had dislocated his own shoulder to create the angle for his swing.
I wasn’t the only one experiencing this.
“Gah.”
“Hmph.”
One by one, the Black Mountain Tigers began to sustain injuries from the enemies’ unpredictable attacks and were forced to retreat.
The attacks, born from movements no human could perform, had breached their defenses.
“...Dammit.”
What were we supposed to do?
I suddenly found myself resenting Bukgung Baek for dragging me here.
Swoosh!
The Black Mountain Tiger leader’s sword shot out and severed an enemy’s neck.
Following his lead, the thirty Black Mountain Tigers charged at the enemies once more.
Even though they could lose their lives, there was no fear in their eyes.
In fact, some of them charged forward with broad smiles.
“Come on…”
If you guys are going to move like that, I have to follow.
I immediately unleashed the War King Arts.
Crackle.
A haze-like force shimmered around my body as I executed the War King Step.
I lunged toward the man whose chest I had just crushed.
Swoosh.
He swung his sword, wreathed in a deep red energy.
I didn't block the blade as it came down on my shoulder; I just pushed forward.
Clang.
After all, I had the Dragon Scale Armor and the Protective Robe.
The sword energy pierced the robe and struck the armor.
I felt the shock reverberate through my insides, but…
Crack. Splat.
I succeeded in grabbing the man’s neck and tearing it out.
As soon as I had avenged my severed bangs, I threw a low kick at the legs of the man behind him.
Crack. Snap.
The man, his leg torn clean off, shrieked and thrust a palm strike at my chest.
Again, I didn’t block it.
Thud.
“Cough.”
It was better to take some internal damage and finish them off one by one, as quickly as possible.
Crackle. KABOOM!
The Explosive Death Force, unleashed with all my might, erupted.
It not only blew the man’s body to pieces but also devastated everything within a ten-foot radius.
It was the first time I had used my full power since awakening the War King Arts.
A refreshing feeling washed over me, as if a weight had been lifted.
It felt as if I could fight all day.
Before, I would have lacked the internal energy, but not now.
The wildly rampaging War King Arts was replenishing my energy in real-time.
When I first awakened the War King Arts, Bukgung Baek had said something.
That he had merely given me a push up a single step.
Considering his straightforward nature, he was probably telling the truth.
If so…
‘What would it be like to climb two steps, or three?’
What could I do once I reached the pinnacle, once I reached the state of transcendence?
Heh.
A smile crept onto my face.
Suddenly, I began to enjoy fighting these enemies.
It was the first time I had felt this way since I started learning martial arts.
As if sensing my mood, the War King Arts began to rage even more wildly. I charged toward the enemies once again.
Crackle. Sliiice!
The Ultimate Death Force erupted like lightning, bisecting five of them.
The nearby enemies let out bizarre noises and swung their swords and sabers.
“Kiyat!”
“Krrk.”
Slash. Stab.
Pain shot through my forearm and thigh as they were cut open.
But I wasn't afraid.
On the contrary, my fighting spirit soared.
I grabbed an enemy’s neck with the Three Yang Hand and ripped it clean off.
I stomped on another’s leg, breaking it, then smashed my fist into his head, causing it to explode.
Stab, stab, stab. Slice.
Ignoring the swords and sabers stabbing at me from all directions, I pierced through the heart of the man in front of me.
Splaaash!
Hot blood splattered across my face.
“Phuhaha.”
A laugh escaped my lips.
Looking back, I saw the Black Mountain Tigers following the path I had carved.
They wielded their swords with a mixture of heavy and light, fast and slow movements.
Watching their swordsmanship, a small inspiration struck me.
“Kiyah!”
I turned my head toward the approaching enemies.
Concentrating my force instead of spreading it out, my body felt incredibly heavy.
In that state, I threw a punch.
Thump.
It pierced right through the enemy’s chest.
This time, I spread my force wide.
My body felt as light as a feather.
When I took a War King Step, I felt a speed I had never experienced before.
‘Hehehe, this is great!’
A surge of euphoria washed over me.
I had discovered the potential of the War King Arts.
My attacks were stronger.
My movements were faster.
It didn't matter that the enemies felt no pain.
I just had to kill them in a single blow.
We advanced like this for half an hour.
“Kuaaargh…”
Splat!
The battle against the small fry ended with me crushing the last one’s head.
All that remained was the fight between Bukgung Baek and the Lord of the Southern Heaven Palace.
I just needed to wait for an opportunity to strike the Lord from behind, but…
Thump, thump.
For some reason, the excitement wouldn't subside.
Instead, my killing intent surged, making me want to leap forward at any moment.
“Khhh…”
A sound escaped my throat.
I was just like the madmen who had lost their minds and charged us moments ago.
In that instant, I realized something was wrong.
And it seemed I wasn't the only one who felt it.
Shink.
As I failed to suppress my killing intent, the Black Mountain Tigers instantly created distance.
Then, the low voice of their leader reached me.
[Calm your energy!]
At his advice, I desperately tried to calm the War King Arts.
But.
Crackle. Sizzle.
Perhaps because I'd let the War King Arts grow with a hands-off approach, it refused to listen.
This is why you shouldn't spoil anything.
“Guh…”
Throb.
My force began to rage as if it would explode at any moment.
Seeing my precarious state, the leader's telepathic message came again.
[If you can’t calm it, then unleash it!]
With those words, the Black Mountain Tigers leaped toward the Lord of the Southern Heaven Palace.
I, too, used the War King Step and chased after them.
* * *
Bukgung Baek watched Chu Cheol-o, who was swinging his saber with half his sanity gone.
He wasn't a friend.
They had merely met a few times through their fathers’ acquaintance.
And yet, Bukgung Baek had liked him.
His magnanimous personality and his lofty ambition to place the world at his feet had resonated well with his own manly character.
To think that such a man would now be facing him in this state.
He even felt a tinge of sorrow.
But his own feelings were not what mattered now.
If he couldn't defeat the man before him, he would be the one to die.
A crimson saber aura blazed toward his lower body.
Crrrack.
The insane cutting power tore a gash in the ground nearly six feet long.
Bukgung Baek, having dodged the attack, began to unleash his own protective energy.
He stomped the ground and shot forward with lightning speed.
Crackle.
He thrust out a hand strike with all his might.
But Chu Cheol-o was also one of the foremost masters of the pinnacle realm.
Moreover, he had acquired a malevolent energy through a forbidden art.
The crimson saber aura billowed and struck Bukgung Baek’s hand aura.
BOOM! Fizzle.
A massive shockwave erupted, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Chu Cheol-o’s saber moved again, cutting through the dust cloud.
Swoosh!
A powerful gust of wind kicked up, instantly clearing the dust.
The two men faced each other once more.
Chu Cheol-o smiled, his grin thick with killing intent, as he raised his saber.
Bukgung Baek, showing he would not let his guard down, took a ready stance.
And then.
Their forms shot toward each other.
The red saber aura and the black hand aura crashed against each other, creating a thunderous roar.
Rumble.
Unable to withstand the shockwaves from their clash, the surrounding pavilions collapsed with a great roar.
Lethal strikes, any one of which would send a man to the afterlife if it landed, were unleashed wildly.
And the one who was pushed back in this exchange…
Slaaash!
…was Bukgung Baek.
Although he had nullified his opponent's saber aura, he couldn't block the force behind the blade itself, and he suffered a grievous wound as his lower abdomen was sliced open.
“Cough.”
Bukgung Baek spat blood as he stared ahead.
“Didn’t I… say… I reached… the heavens?”
He could see Chu Cheol-o grinning, his smile dripping with malice.
“Not yet.”
Bukgung Baek gathered his true energy once more.
Despite his severe injury, he had not lost his fighting spirit.
Defeat? It could happen.
Death? He was always prepared for it.
The most frightening thing was to see himself running away.
The two began to clash again.
Before twenty seconds had passed, Bukgung Baek started to be pushed back.
BOOM.
Unable to block the force of the saber aura, he was sent flying backward.
“Ha!”
Chu Cheol-o unleashed his own movement technique to chase after him.
In that moment of mortal danger…
Bukgung Baek saw them.
The Black Mountain Tigers and Jin Mujeon, flying toward them like lightning.
KRA-BOOOOM