Even If I Die Here, I Won’t Back Down! (5)
A jolt of pain shot through him, as though someone were pressing a brand to his chest.
The Bishop’s face slowly twisted.
He was used to pain. He had lived with it for so long that he had grown numb to it. Even if someone were to slice into his flesh and crush his bones, he would not so much as blink.
But the searing agony burning in his chest now was different from simple physical pain. This was a deeper hurt, one that surged up from somewhere far beneath the surface, something that had been hidden for a very long time.
The Bishop’s bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Chung Myung before him, unmoving.
The Plum Blossom Sword Saint?
It was ridiculous.
To compare that feeble swordsman to the Plum Blossom Sword Saint of all people?
Who was the Plum Blossom Sword Saint?
He was the one universally acknowledged as the greatest enemy of their once-mighty sect.
Bodies of cultists piled into mountains before his sword, and their blood flowed like rivers. He was a demon in human skin, someone so hateful that even grinding his whole body to dust and swallowing him would not be enough.
And yet, because he was so loathsome, they had no choice but to acknowledge him.
It had not been only the previous Bishop. During that great battle, more than half of the Bishops of the cult had died by the Plum Blossom Sword Saint’s sword. They had fallen at the hands of one man and one man alone.
Even the previous Bishop had been a powerhouse incomparable to the one standing here now. It was the Plum Blossom Sword Saint who had cut down that man, then gone on to force the current Bishop, still young, into his hollow title.
And yet…
To think that this pitiful thing could be overlapped with that terrifying man called the Plum Blossom Sword Saint? Unless one had lost his mind, how could such a thought even be possible?
The Bishop ground his teeth.
“You think I won’t let you die easily?”
He glared straight at Chung Myung, who was brimming with killing intent.
It was no different from a pup barking at a tiger. If he had heard such words in the past, he would have simply laughed them off.
But now, for some reason, he could not laugh.
An indescribable chill kept him from it.
Am I… wary of that swordsman?
It was incomprehensible.
Even if he’s from Mount Hua, there’s as much difference between him and the Plum Blossom Sword Saint as there is between heaven and earth. So why…?
At that moment, Chung Myung moved.
Step.
He slowly started walking toward the Bishop, his sword hanging low at his side, his eyes dense with killing intent. The moment the Bishop saw him approach like that, his face contorted horribly.
That posture was exactly the same as the Plum Blossom Sword Saint’s when he had once advanced toward him in the past. It was an eerie sense of déjà vu he had never felt from the other disciples of Mount Hua, yet it kept surfacing whenever he looked at this one.
Another sharp stab of pain twisted through his chest.
“Hk….”
The Bishop clenched his teeth, forcing himself to ignore it.
“How dare you spout nonsense in front of me!”
Shaking off the confusion battering his mind, he unleashed a savage burst of demonic energy.
But then, from behind him, came desperate screams.
“Bishop!”
“It’s too dangerous now! Please preserve your body!”
“You must think of the greater plan!”
At the cultists’ frantic cries, the Bishop’s face twisted so badly it looked almost ruined.
If this had been any other time, if it had even been only a moment ago, he would never have ignored such words.
He would have left the cleanup to the others and returned to the cave. But now he could not.
He did not want to admit it, but in the end, he had no choice but to accept the truth.
This one was dangerous.
That man had to be dealt with personally.
KUUUUNG!
The Bishop slammed a powerful stomp into the ground. Shattered debris exploded upward from the ruined floor.
“Haaah!”
With a roar that sounded like boiling blood, he thrust one hand forward. The rising stone fragments shot toward Chung Myung like a storm of throwing blades.
Seeing the rocks fly at him, Chung Myung curled his lip.
“Cheap tricks.”
After all these years, the Bishops still had not changed. The very idea that a stunt like this might work on him was already absurd.
Chung Myung instead charged straight at the oncoming stone shards.
Fwaaaaah!
His body stretched into a long blur, leaving a lingering afterimage behind him. Then, seizing the tiniest gap between the fragments, he burst through it at terrifying speed.
“You little bastard!”
The Bishop bellowed and released explosive demonic energy from both hands. It was as if abysses leading straight to hell had opened in his palms.
“Dieee!”
The demonic qi pouring from both hands swirled and condensed, then took the shape of a massive beast.
Black Killing Demon Palm, Demon Beast Devouring Blood.
The black beast opened its maw as if roaring and lunged at Chung Myung.
It was a truly terrifying force.
By Chung Myung’s strength alone, blocking that power head-on was nearly impossible.
And yet.
Swish, swish.
At that moment, Chung Myung’s sword, still charging through the stone fragments, drew a slow arc in the air.
It was not fast. Nor was it perfect.
It was merely natural.
Beyond form and style, beyond learning and art, the sword simply reached nature itself.
Swish.
The blade, seeming to hold no force at all, sank into the beast’s head.
And then—
Fwaaaaaaah!
The weak sword, made of nothing but metal, cleanly split the head of the beast that had looked ready to swallow the world.
A ghastly scream tore through the air.
The long, severed force veered past Chung Myung’s side and crashed into the valley behind him.
Kwaaaaang!
Rumble rumble rumble!
The enormous stone valley collapsed in a cascade, and huge boulders slammed into the ground with deafening crashes.
The clash between the two of them had now reached a realm far beyond the comprehension of ordinary men.
Chung Myung, having instantly cut apart the Bishop’s absurdly powerful strike, surged forward with killing intent spilling from his eyes.
His face was utterly expressionless, yet a coldness clung to it all the same.
The Bishop clenched his teeth without realizing it.
The pain was intensifying, beginning in his chest and threatening to rip through his entire body. The demonic energy he had forcibly drawn up was prying open and melting the wound that the Ice Crystal had barely kept frozen shut.
But he did not even have the luxury of tending to the injury.
Chung Myung’s gaze, cold enough to stab through bone, had seized him and refused to let go.
He was clearly just a young pup. In a world that pretended at peace, whatever battles he had experienced should have been no more than child’s play.
So how did this brat have the eyes of a demon who lived and died on the battlefield?
Those eyes were far too familiar.
Facing them, he could no longer suppress the thing surging up in his chest.
“Haaaah!”
With a shout like a scream, the Bishop rushed at Chung Myung while pouring out streams of demonic qi.
“I’ll crush you and kill you!”
Enough demonic energy to shatter a mountain gathered in his palm. His hand, swollen with black power, drove straight toward Chung Myung’s head.
Fwaaaat!
At that instant, Chung Myung’s sword flashed like lightning and struck the inside of the Bishop’s elbow joint.
Kakang!
The corner of the Bishop’s lips twitched.
What a stupid fool.
No matter how quickly he thrust his sword, there was no way such feeble inner power could damage this body.
That was a mistake no one but a greenhorn would make.
Thinking he had overestimated his opponent, the Bishop put even more force into the hand swinging down, intent on smashing Chung Myung’s head once and for all.
But then—
Fwaaaat! Fwaaaat!
Chung Myung’s sword stabbed the same spot at the elbow again, now moving twice as fast as before.
Kakang!
Once! Again! Again!
In the span of a single breath, before the Bishop could even exhale, more than ten sword strikes buried themselves in his elbow.
Ten precise thrusts, all in exactly the same place, with not even the width of a hair separating them.
Then—
Shrrk!
The wound was carved open.
No matter that it was protected by demonic energy, it was still flesh and bone in the end. No body could endure being stabbed over and over like that ten times in a row.
The muscles on the inside of the Bishop’s elbow were cut apart, and his arm twisted sideways as the hand aimed at Chung Myung jerked off course.
The force barely scraped past Chung Myung’s head and slammed into the ground.
KWAAAAAAAAAANG!
A massive explosion erupted, sending shattered rock flying into the air.
Even then, Chung Myung kept pushing inward, deeper and deeper.
By rights, a swordsman should widen the distance to his opponent, while a punch-user should close it.
But Chung Myung ignored all such common sense. Instead, he threw himself right into the Bishop’s embrace and twisted his body rapidly.
Kakang! Kagangagang!
They were in a cramped space where there was not even enough room to draw a proper sword swing.
And yet Chung Myung kept his sword tight against his body, using not his arms but the turning of his whole body to cut. His blade ripped through the Bishop’s flesh again and again.
Thin red lines appeared all over the Bishop’s body.
“You rat bastard!”
The Bishop shouted and brought his fist crashing down.
But before that blow could even land, a cold light flashed in Chung Myung’s eyes.
He slammed the end of the sword hilt against the Bishop’s curling wrist.
Kwaang!
Thanks to that, the hand wrapped in demonic energy shifted slightly to the side, just enough to graze Chung Myung’s body and slice through the air.
Shrrk! Shrrk! Shrrk!
Even in that tiny instant, Chung Myung’s sword kept carving into the Bishop’s body over and over.
There was no need to block an opponent’s attack head-on. No matter how overwhelming the strike, if it never touched you, it was as good as nonexistent.
All he had to do was change its direction just a little. The force of the Bishop’s swings and smashes would do the rest, helping Chung Myung instead of stopping him.
It was the ultimate form of borrowing and redirecting force.
The Bishop’s eyes bulged with bloodshot fury.
“You—!”
At that moment, Chung Myung’s sword stabbed into his chest.
Kakang!
The Bishop flinched, and Chung Myung’s eyes flashed.
Fwaaaat!
The Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword struck his chest again and again, stabbing at it in relentless succession.
The ice covering the Bishop’s chest, which had been so solid in its defense of Chung Myung’s sword, now shook every time it was struck.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
With a scream, the Bishop suddenly spread both hands wide.
At the same moment, a burst of demonic energy exploded from his body and swept violently around him.
Chung Myung was thrown back, coughing blood from his mouth as he was caught in the storm of force, but even then he focused on slashing at the Bishop’s chest.
KWAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
At last, Chung Myung’s body was hurled far backward by the storm of qi.
But.
Whirl.
He flipped his body in midair and landed lightly on the ground.
Blood trickled from between his lips, yet his gaze remained as cold as ever.
Crack.
At the faint, ominous sound that pierced his ears, the Bishop slowly looked down.
A huge crack had formed in the ice that had been tightly encasing his chest.
“…….”
In the brief exchange that had taken place in barely the space of a few breaths, he had suffered this much damage. Cold sweat ran down the Bishop’s back.
Just what in the hell is that thing…?
Of course, he was still weak.
His achievements were negligible, and his inner power, compared to the Bishop’s, was only a handful.
And yet how could someone like that fight like a beast?
Enough to threaten his very life.
“…I acknowledge it.”
He could not even remember the last time those words had left his mouth.
Ten years? Fifty? Or perhaps a hundred?
But even he could not refuse to acknowledge this now.
“You are strong….”
“Shut your damn mouth.”
Chung Myung bared his teeth in clear disgust.
“I’m not some body you get to judge.”
“…….”
The Bishop’s eyes shook violently.
“…At this point, even your arrogance doesn’t annoy me. You really are something.”
“…….”
“But that is all. Just from this brief exchange, you’re already breathing so hard. Do you honestly think you can keep fighting me to the end?”
Chung Myung did not answer.
It was not a wrong statement. His body was already slick with sweat.
If he were struck just once, his body would be crushed.
Keeping full concentration under that kind of pressure was not easy, even for him. Of course, he had landed more attacks, but he had also been forced to expend more strength.
“Weakling. I’ll praise you for this much. But the result won’t change.”
“Weak, huh…”
Chung Myung murmured the words slowly, then gave a snort of laughter.
“Yeah. That part’s true. I am weak.”
Compared to his former self, the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, the Chung Myung of now was undeniably feeble.
But.
“So what the hell about it?”
“What?”
“Sure, I’m weak like you said. But…”
A crooked smile curved Chung Myung’s lips.
“I don’t have to be strong to win. Because I’m not alone.”
Grgrrk.
With the sound of a sword scraping against the ground, someone approached from behind Chung Myung.
“…….”
For the first time since the fight began, the Bishop felt as though his mind were collapsing.
The disciples of Mount Hua, whom he had already considered defeated, were gathering behind Chung Myung.
Even with broken bodies, even while blood ran from their mouths and noses, the light in their eyes had not dimmed.
Their bodies were battered and blackened with bruises, their legs trembling as if they might collapse at any second, but none of that seemed to matter to them.
Those blazing eyes were fixed on the Bishop, burning with unwavering resolve.
Baek Cheon.
Yu I-seol.
Yoon Jong.
Jo Gul.
Dang Soso.
And even Hye Yeon.
Not a single one of them had given up. They had all risen again to stand behind Chung Myung.
Chung Myung never once turned around, yet it was as if he understood everything happening behind him. He bared his teeth and said,
“Listen closely, you ghost from the past.”
“…….”
“This is Mount Hua.”
Chung Myung’s sword spun once in the air before settling back into his hand.
“Open those eyes of yours and watch carefully. Watch how Mount Hua’s plum blossoms bloom!”
The tip of Chung Myung’s sword once again drew a small plum blossom in the air.
A small one. A very small one.
And yet by no means an insignificant one.