Chapter 363
Chapter 363
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 363
Chapter Title: Ending the Tenacious Grudge
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Soo-hyuk felt his heart pounding.
It was a different feeling from when he had encountered Jin Do-ha at the Murim Alliance. Back then, it hadn't been time to kill Jin Do-ha, and he hadn't seemed interested in fighting.
But now was different.
"Not like you."
The three people's expressions darkened as Soo-hyuk stepped out from the bushes.
Only Jin Do-ha remained unperturbed. He stayed perfectly calm even with Soo-hyuk right in front of him.
He didn't look like someone caught fleeing at all.
"Didn't expect you to run."
"Couldn't take on both you and the Dark King."
In Blue Eyes, the one Murim players feared next to Lee Soo-hyuk was Ye-ryeong. No matter how skilled Jin Do-ha was, he couldn't detect her stealth while clashing with Soo-hyuk.
"You and I have come all this way."
"Wasn't it meant to be?"
"Probably. We've gone too far to turn back."
As the two conversed, the three, led by Namgung Ga-hwi, shifted their positions slightly. They were securing even a minor advantage for the fight to come.
Soo-hyuk noticed their movements but kept his focus solely on Jin Do-ha.
"There was a time... when I respected you."
The first time he'd met Jin Do-ha was when he was the Murim Alliance Leader.
"So you're Lee Soo-hyuk."
"You know me?"
"Of course. You've been quite the inspiration lately."
As the newly appointed Alliance Leader, his face had been much brighter than now. Whether that was truly the case or just how Soo-hyuk had seen him then, he couldn't say.
Once the connection through Jin Do-ha formed, Blue Eyes and Murim grew closer. They challenged Guardians together and enjoyed friendly rivalries in guild wars.
One day, Jin Do-ha visited under the moonlight, suggesting they share a drink.
That day, too, Soo-hyuk had been hunting and practicing control over lightning.
As he poured the brought liquor, Jin Do-ha asked,
"Do you feel anxious too?"
Soo-hyuk knew what anxiety he meant without explanation.
"It's getting worse."
"What form does your anxiety take?"
"Sometimes I imagine everyone dying because I didn't give my all."
"You think that inevitable day will bring us harm."
Players who reached a certain level all harbored their own anxieties, great and small. The greater their potential, the larger and more varied those anxieties became.
"What about you, sir?"
"Everything turning to bubbles. All I've built, vanishing like this liquor slipping down my throat—becoming nothing."
Even he, who seemed as serene as the sky, had his anxieties.
"Still, I'm going to overcome this anxiety. I can't let something intangible devour me. Not with all these people depending on me."
He, who had likened his anxiety to liquor, refilled his cup.
After downing several in a row, he revealed why he'd come under the moonlit night.
"Impertinent as it is, may I ask one favor?"
"Of course, sir."
"If this anxiety drives me down the wrong path someday, stop me then. Keep me from becoming a monster."
Perhaps that was one of Jin Do-ha's anxieties too.
The fear of being chased by it and straying someday.
Back then, Soo-hyuk hadn't fully understood Jin Do-ha's anxiety. He had been young and far less mature than now.
So he answered easily.
"I'll do my best."
Jin Do-ha showed relief for the first time at that response.
In Soo-hyuk's eyes, the Jin Do-ha from back then overlapped with the current one. Before he knew it, he stood there, sword drawn, having become the very monster before him.
Do my best?
No way.
'I'd completely forgotten.'
Soo-hyuk smiled bitterly. The memory surfacing now meant he'd truly forgotten it entirely.
He'd dismissed it as drunken midnight chatter. What weight did words spoken over drinks carry? Even if sincere, what did it have to do with him?
The price of such complacency was hell.
The anxiety that everyone might die because he hadn't given his all.
He'd raced ceaselessly to forget that fear, yet he'd completely overlooked one man and one promise.
That "all" should have included preventing the Jin Do-ha before him from becoming a monster.
"I understand. Even I think it was cowardly."
Jin Do-ha accepted Soo-hyuk's contempt.
He'd once felt genuine shame too.
But the long years had justified his choice.
"What other choice was there to catch you? And even if I could, how great would the sacrifice be?"
"You're missing something important."
Soo-hyuk's voice heated up.
"Why did it have to be that way? What was the reason? Why stab me in the back? Why with that guy...?"
"Hah!"
In that moment, Baek Hwa-kyung's greatsword, seizing the opening, swung toward Soo-hyuk's head.
Wild Wind Blade.
Sword energy like a raging storm swept over him. Seeing Soo-hyuk not turn, Baek Hwa-kyung inwardly cheered.
'Got him!'
It was perfect enough for such a cheer. Indeed, his strike tore Soo-hyuk's body to shreds.
Then, a doubt arose.
This easy? Really taking down Lee Soo-hyuk just like that?
One of Murim's top three swordsmen, he trusted instinct over eyes, and it had always served him well.
Crackle-.
Whoosh, clang-!
The body sliced by Wild Wind Blade scattered into lightning. Linking the technique, his follow-up swing toward the rear saved his life.
"Lord Baek!"
Seo Geum-ryong charged next.
His weapon was the iron staff known as Thousand Gold Staff. The techniques unleashed with it, forged from a thousand catties of gold, boasted monstrous power.
Thousand Gold Hammer Collapse.
The iron staff, laden with immense force, crashed down on Soo-hyuk's head. Boom! Unlike Baek Hwa-kyung, Seo Geum-ryong's strike landed true.
He was confident it could split a mountain. He inwardly rejoiced.
Just like Baek Hwa-kyung moments ago.
Drip-.
A single trickle of blood ran from Soo-hyuk's head. Just one.
A simultaneous doubt in his mind.
'This should've exploded?'
Taking Thousand Gold Hammer Collapse to the head with Thousand Gold Staff and surviving?
Soo-hyuk ignored Seo Geum-ryong. Instead, he twisted his sword, disrupting Baek Hwa-kyung's balance where their blades met.
As Baek Hwa-kyung's greatsword wavered, whoosh.
Soo-hyuk tossed the sword in his hand upward. Baek Hwa-kyung's eyes, fixed on it, reflexively followed.
Thud, thud-.
Soo-hyuk's freed hands seized both men's throats.
"You two were there that day too."
Flash-!
Crrrackle-!
Dark lightning scorched their bodies. Throats crushed, they couldn't even scream as electricity burned through them.
Not enough, apparently—Soo-hyuk tightened his grip. Crack, crunch. The sound of breaking bones drowned in the crackling.
Releasing them, Soo-hyuk caught the falling sword. Thus, two of Murim Alliance's Ten Great Masters died in an instant.
"Only the two who value their lives remain."
Soo-hyuk wiped the blood trickling from his head. Then he murmured lowly.
"Cowards."
"And you—fearless because you've lost it once before?"
This time, Namgung Ga-hwi stepped forward.
Perhaps because the previous two died too easily, he was tense facing the unavoidable battle.
Of course, he had his own confidence.
"Your stamina isn't infinite either. Isn't that your only weakness?"
Lee Soo-hyuk's sole weakness in his prime.
Stamina.
Lightning consumed mana and stamina alike. The saying that only the Heavenly Demon and lightning could rival Lee Soo-hyuk wasn't for nothing.
Before arriving, he'd fought fiercely at the Murim Alliance. Overwhelming multiple rankers and high-rankers meant he'd pushed his output.
Yet even mentioning his weakness didn't draw Soo-hyuk's attention.
"Why are you here?"
"What do you mean?"
"I want to kill you, sure. But you're the Alliance Leader's father. Why stand there?"
"The Leader's that disobedient wench. Cheon should have been the one."
Namgung Cheon. Namgung Ga-hwi's son and Namgung Clan's young lord.
Apparently, in his eyes, the late-born son had taken root.
"That damned girl got greedy and took the Leader's seat. Climbs to that petty position and disrespects her father."
"That your grievance? Then why not take it up with the guy beside you? Why didn't you put your son in the Leader's seat? Eyes that blind?"
Someone with that courage wouldn't be standing here now.
"Want me to guess why you didn't? The daughter's easy prey, and Jin Do-ha's blade scares you. Fine sticking a knife in your kid's throat, but not your own gut."
"Shut your mouth!"
Namgung Ga-hwi bellowed. The shout, infused with inner energy, bent the surrounding grass.
A narrow-minded, irascible old man, but he was Namgung Clan's lord. The world's greatest clan's head.
His skill was probably second only to Uncheon-geuk.
"Once that girl dies, Cheon would rise to Leader someday. A mere girl daring to covet the seat!"
Exposed inwardly, his rage made him forget Jin Do-ha behind him—the very one who'd chosen and supported Namgung Hwa-young as next Leader.
As expected, his expression hardened after speaking. Those words could be seen as rebuking Jin Do-ha, depending on interpretation.
"Jin Do-ha scares you, but not me, huh."
"No worries. A few words won't sour me toward you."
Jin Do-ha stood beside Namgung Ga-hwi. At last, he stepped up.
Soo-hyuk had wondered when. Maybe he'd wait until all others died before drawing his sword.
"Think my stamina's drained now?"
Jin Do-ha nodded readily at Soo-hyuk's sneer.
"People often mistake giving one's all for being honorable. In truth, the best way to win can't avoid being cowardly."
And his cowardice had worked. No matter how strong Soo-hyuk was, he couldn't fight that many rankers without tiring.
And Soo-hyuk knew.
That the single Jin Do-ha before him was far trickier than all the Murim players he'd faced combined.
"Let's end our tenacious bad blood here."
Kiiing-.
A sky-blue blade emerged. Azure sword aura rippled along it like the blade itself.
Jin Do-ha didn't hesitate to team with Namgung Ga-hwi. Especially with Namgung Ga-hwi brimming with morale, believing they could take Soo-hyuk together.
But.
"Yeah. Let's end it."
There was something neither knew.
Shooo-.
Soo-hyuk's form faded gradually. He who should shine with lightning melted into the forest shadows.
Soo-hyuk's voice echoed through the dark forest.
- ...You tiresome bastards.