I Thought He’d Come Back as a Dragon (5)
The sky was blotted out by a gray haze. Through sand so fine it looked less like grains and more like dust, red plum blossoms burst into bloom.
In an instant, the countless blossoms that erupted seemed like a scarlet cloud.
That red cloud swallowed the sand pouring in thickly through the air and the countless needle-thin projectiles that had been aimed straight at Chung Myung in one gulp.
“Hng!”
Excitement flared in Tang Gun-ak’s eyes.
A monster.
Danhonsa was an extremely fine sand. Which meant that once it had been unleashed, the only way to avoid its poison was to get out of the area.
Once it spread through the air, even a single breath would send it into the lungs, and merely touching it could force the toxin into the body through the skin.
Setting aside whether someone struck by Danhonsa could withstand its poison, there had been almost no way to stop the sand itself. Or rather, there hadn’t been.
But now Chung Myung was driving it all back with sword qi alone, not even palm force. That meant the sword qi blooming like those plum blossoms was being spread perfectly, without the slightest gap.
There was no other way to describe it except to say that, beneath its outward beauty, it was terrifying.
KWA-GAGAGAGAK!
The needles caught in that brilliant sword qi were not merely being deflected; they were being crushed outright. The speed and power of the sword had far surpassed anything the needles could endure.
It was a sword Tang Gun-ak had seen several times before.
But with this single exchange, he understood perfectly. The sameness was only in appearance. The power contained in the sword, its speed, and even its precision—none of it could be compared to the past.
KAK!
The moment the last needle shattered, Chung Myung burst through the forest of plum blossoms and charged at him, a twisted smile on his lips.
KWAAAAAA!
A chill ran down Tang Gun-ak’s spine.
The instant he saw Chung Myung rush forward, he felt the blood in his entire body turn icy, as though he had fallen into a cave of frozen water.
Even though he had experienced it before, he could never grow accustomed to Chung Myung’s killing intent. Every muscle in his body tightened, and his heart began to pound violently.
FWOOSH!
A flying dagger wrapped in terrifying internal energy spun through the air and shot toward Chung Myung. It was an attack meant to blunt that headlong charge, if only for a moment.
But Tang Gun-ak knew.
The devil holding that sword would never move the way his opponent wanted him to. If he struck once, Chung Myung would inevitably move in the direction Tang Gun-ak hated most.
As expected, Chung Myung instead surged forward at even greater speed and hurled himself straight into the line of the dagger’s spin.
Twisting his body in midair, Chung Myung’s Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword rose like a soaring dragon and knocked the flying dagger cleanly upward.
KWAAAAAAANG!
Qi collided with qi, erupting in a fierce explosion.
Yes!
Tang Gun-ak extended his force and retrieved the daggers that had fallen to the ground. And, as though there was no need even to look, he immediately hurled three more Poison-Calling Darts.
The poison-soaked daggers carved out three spiraling currents. The Danhonsa smeared thickly along their edges and hilts scattered in every direction as they spun.
FWOOSH!
The instant Chung Myung’s shape emerged from the storm of qi, the three daggers were already right in front of him.
And in that moment, Tang Gun-ak saw it.
Chung Myung’s sword trembling as it bloomed into plum blossoms.
...
His eyes widened on their own.
In the blink-and-you-miss-it exchange of combat, every movement shattered into slivers of time. Inside that extreme speed, Chung Myung’s sword seemed to move as though it rode upon another time entirely.
The sword appeared absurdly slow, and yet in truth it was nothing of the sort. The time surrounding it was simply far slower than the sword itself.
KWAK!
The blooming plum blossoms were pierced through by Tang Gun-ak’s daggers, as though to prove how ridiculous it was to try to block a dagger with mere petals.
But before the dagger’s majesty had even finished shining after tearing apart those delicate petals, new blossoms were already flying toward it.
The drifting petals clung to the dagger. Layer after layer of plum blossoms pressed in, gently wrapping around it before softly pushing it aside.
What?
Tang Gun-ak’s eyes shot wide open.
WOOOOOOOM!
The dagger, still carrying its immense internal energy, continued to surge without losing even a shred of power, but its direction had already shifted far from Tang Gun-ak’s intention.
The three spirals curved as if they had meant to do so from the beginning, sweeping past Chung Myung’s body.
And as Chung Myung continued to race forward like a shaft of light, the Danhonsa trailing behind the daggers came crashing down on him.
At that moment—
Swish.
Chung Myung’s sword drew a circle in the air.
Though it was a sword stroke, the trajectory carried an unmistakable softness. And then, in the next instant, the sword flashed sideways like a bolt of lightning.
WHOOSH!
Tang Gun-ak saw it clearly.
The Danhonsha rushing in was being pushed aside all at once, as though trying to chase the path cut by the sword.
No matter how much force had been poured into it, dust was still only dust. As the tip of the sword pushed the air aside and hollowed out the space before it, the Danhonsha began to be sucked in like an illusion.
BOOM!
Tang Gun-ak kicked off the ground and leaped backward.
I thought he’d come back as a dragon.
...But this is just a monster.
If Chung Myung had bloomed a mountain of plum blossoms with that sword and blocked his attack, Tang Gun-ak would not have been surprised. If he had unleashed massive internal energy and reduced the daggers to powder, that too would have been within expectations.
But this was not the kind of “growth” Tang Gun-ak had imagined.
Nothing worked.
He had no way of knowing how much power Chung Myung was putting into each strike. But from where Tang Gun-ak stood, it felt as though every attack he launched with his life on the line was being rendered absurdly meaningless by that sword Chung Myung swung as if it were a child’s toy.
Tang Gun-ak’s hands darted into his sleeves like lightning.
Thought must be short; action must be fast.
FWOOSH!
From Tang Gun-ak’s fingertips, Poison Caltrops and Ox-Hair Needles scattered outward. The poisons poured from their vials met the air and instantly vaporized, turning into black toxic smoke that flooded the front.
Not enough!
Only after he had hurled every Death-Capturing Dart hidden deep in his sleeves did Tang Gun-ak’s hand finally touch the daggers.
He did not think these hidden weapons and poisons could truly stop Chung Myung’s charge. Even with his own mouth, as the head of the Tang Family, it was not something he could bring himself to say aloud—but the poisons and concealed weapons were far too powerless to halt the man who had shrugged off even his fully unleashed daggers.
They could only buy a moment.
But if they could buy even a single moment, a span too short even for one blink, then that was enough!
And then, in that instant, all Tang Gun-ak saw was a single line.
Through the wave of poison and hidden weapons that had overturned the front like black raging surf, a vivid red line bloomed like dawn splitting the darkness.
Just as darkness could not fully exist where there was light, the wave of concealed weapons he had created gradually lost its existence before that scarlet line.
Before long, like the sea parting left and right, a clear path opened through the tide of hidden blades.
Even Tang Gun-ak, a man who had stood atop the world, stared blankly at the scene unfolding before him.
He even forgot, for that moment, that he was in the middle of a desperate battle with all his strength.
A sword strike at the pinnacle.
The flashing scarlet line that stole away every gaze—at its end, the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword revealed itself.
Every trick he had used to slow Chung Myung down, even for an instant, had lost all meaning before a single sword strike.
There was no word as weak as “terrifying” that could describe this phenomenon.
If even Tang Gun-ak, who was merely sparring, felt this much pressure, then what in the world had those facing Chung Myung on battlefields—where life and death hung in the balance—felt?
It can’t be blocked...
No matter what he tried, it seemed impossible to stop that charge.
Then...
At that moment, resolve settled into Tang Gun-ak’s eyes.
FWOOSH!
Without even a chance to think, Tang Gun-ak fired four daggers. He sent them with force enough to crush the fingertips that pushed the ends of their handles.
KWAAAAAAAAAA!
The launched daggers wound around the air, wound around qi. Behind two daggers that flew like lightning, two more spinning daggers followed.
“Taaat!”
With a loud shout bursting from Tang Gun-ak’s mouth, four more daggers shot from his fingertips.
Five Thunder Linked Chain.
The Five Thunder Linked Chain, which should originally have been formed with five daggers, was unleashed with only four. To say it was unavoidable because one dagger had not been retrieved yet would have been one thing—but there was still one more dagger remaining in Tang Gun-ak’s hand.
And then—
WOOOOOOOOOM!
The last remaining dagger.
The Poison-Calling Dart resting on Tang Gun-ak’s palm bounced as though it were a living carp. He poured in internal energy beyond the limit it could withstand, and the dagger began moving on its own, as if he had breathed life into it rather than force.
WOOOOOOOOOM!
More!
Tang Gun-ak’s face paled as he drew up even more immense internal energy.
But it still wasn’t enough. This was not enough to stop Chung Myung. It was not enough, not nearly enough, to halt that sword.
“More!”
The thought burst out of his mouth.
Goooooooooo!
The dart that had been bouncing in the air gradually began to still. Hovering three inches above his palm, it trembled with a humming vibration.
More!
KANG! KANG!
Then, the first two daggers he had launched were flung back helplessly, their momentum shattered despite having rushed forward like streaks of light.
The two daggers that followed in a spiraling pattern were likewise incapable of pushing back against the violently swung sword in Chung Myung’s hand.
And the four daggers trailing behind would likely be repelled just as futilely.
WOOOOOOOOOOM!
But it did not matter.
Every one of those attacks existed only for this one move.
WOOOOOOOOOOM!
Blood seeped from between Tang Gun-ak’s lips and ran down his chin.
The strike was not yet complete. And because it was not complete, it was all the more dangerous.
When Tang Gun-ak confirmed that even the dart’s slight tremors were fading away, the fingertip above it quivered faintly.
It was because of a single doubt in his chest.
Can he take it?
Could Chung Myung truly endure this strike?
Was he perhaps doing something that should never be done right now?
I...
Tang Gun-ak tore his gaze from the dart and looked ahead.
What entered his eyes then were Chung Myung’s own, blazing as he charged straight toward him.
...
Tang Gun-ak’s bloodied lips curved into the faintest line.
Of course...
As his hesitation dissolved like fog, firm conviction filled his eyes.
I trust him!
The movement of the Poison-Calling Dart hovering above Tang Gun-ak’s hand came to a complete stop.
“Take this.”
Slowly, he extended his hand forward. The motion was careful, as though he were stroking a tiny child.
Then the Poison-Calling Dart resting above his palm slowly rose into the air.