Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Imoogi
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Black scales that seemed to devour every bit of light from all directions squeezed in from every side, choking off his breath.
Crimson eyes, horrifying even to behold, stared unblinkingly at the intruder who had entered its domain.
Beneath them, a savage maw bared wicked fangs, ready at any moment to rip its prey to shreds.
The features were so blatantly obvious that it would have been harder not to recognize it.
Baek Hyun instantly realized the identity of this malevolent spirit.
"Damn it, why is there an imoogi here..!!"
Imoogi.
A powerful monstrous being in the stage before a dragon produces a Cintamani and ascends to the heavens.
Normally, imoogi possess superior intellect and restraint, refraining from harming life indiscriminately, and are thus classified as noble spiritual beasts.
But an imoogi that fails to ascend and falls into madness is called a blood dragon or reverse scale, and is classified among the malevolent spirits.
As a being once powerful enough to attempt ascension to dragonhood, its strength rivals that of a typical transcendent martial artist.
It was no opponent he could handle.
'Meeting a malevolent spirit here was the last thing I expected..'
The reason all sorts of threatening and powerful monstrous beings could live on Starpoint Mountain was that the Starpoint Sect half-tolerated their existence.
Though the sect made a living judging the evils of the world, it fundamentally embodied the ways of both Daoism and Buddhism.
Even if monstrous beings that could pose a danger settled near the sect, they viewed it as the natural order and coexisted with them. That was the Starpoint Sect's basic stance.
However, 'malevolent spirits' were a different story.
They were living calamities that craved destruction and slaughter on an instinctual level, chaos itself that disrupted the natural order.
Thus, whenever even the shadow of a malevolent spirit appeared anywhere in Yunnam Province or the wider world, the Starpoint Sect would charge in like a beast starved for a week to exterminate it.
To think such a malevolent spirit remained in the Starpoint Sect's own front yard, Starpoint Mountain...
Had its ascension attempt failed only recently?
Whatever the case, he was merely first-rate; he couldn't face an imoogi.
Forget opportunities—he had to get out of here fast..!!
-Kwarrr rumble!!
'!!'
In that instant, the massive tail that had just pulverized the spot where Baek Hyun had stood now smashed the entrance through which he had entered.
No hesitation whatsoever in blocking his escape.
Though gripped by madness, the imoogi—once endowed with mystical wisdom—immediately saw through the arrogant prey's intentions.
Intelligence far superior to any spiritual beasts he had encountered so far.
Trapped in the same space with a monstrous being overwhelmingly more powerful than himself.
If most people were in this situation, they would instantly succumb to fear or despair and flail about.
But Baek Hyun neither despaired nor panicked in this hopeless scenario.
"Ha.. haha, alright. So that's how you want to play it?"
He simply let out a hollow laugh and drew the real sword he had bought not long ago from his waist.
No matter the overwhelming difference in power, seeing the imoogi treat him as perfect prey...
It irked him.
Just a little.
Very slightly.
'This arrogant serpent bastard... Failed to become a dragon and now vents its rage on the world like some tumor, yet treats me like a scurrying rat?'
His blood boiled.
"Blocking the exit was a bad move, you rotten lizard."
Let's see how long you last before you die.
-Roarrr!!
His extremely refined Solar Energy ignited alongside his surging emotions.
The reason he had dominated PvP as number one among countless veterans.
It wasn't just his innate talent, though that played a part. The biggest reason was something else entirely.
Overwhelming competitive spirit.
A fierce refusal to lose to anyone, spawning superhuman focus and willpower that defied common sense—that was Baek Hyun's greatest weapon.
This competitive spirit only manifested in certain fields and situations, so even he couldn't control or recognize it.
But when Baek Hyun's near-mad competitive spirit activated...
His abilities surged without limit.
-Thud boom!!
Baek Hyun's form shot toward the imoogi at tremendous speed.
The imoogi, not expecting the prey to charge first, hastily swung its tail like a whip to strike him down.
-Zzzzing!!
But Baek Hyun dodged every desperate attack with hawk-like agility, then slashed at the imoogi's body with full force.
He unleashed the Gale Swift Sword, which he had mastered over the past two months, without holding back even the piercing thrust as the finisher.
Sword strikes aimed not to suppress, but to kill.
However.
'As expected, the blade doesn't even nick it.'
The imoogi took no damage from the assault.
Its extremely tough black scales deflected every slash and stab.
To even scratch those scales would require at least sword qi.
As a mere first-rate, he had no means to pierce them.
He had even targeted the eyes—a classic weak point on a scale-armored monster—in his previous attack, but it showed no effect.
Aiming for other scaleless areas like the 'mouth' offered too few openings, and if the beast defended seriously, it was nearly impossible.
Did that mean he had no choice but to become its meal?
Of course not.
If slashes wouldn't work, he just had to smash it with blunt force.
-Click
Baek Hyun regripped the sword by the blade instead of the hilt.
Half-swording.
A Western greatsword technique treating the blade like a club.
Most wuxia swords lacked large crossguards, making them unsuitable for half-swording.
But the custom sword Baek Hyun had commissioned was slightly shorter than a longsword and featured sturdy wrist guards.
Prepared for just such an eventuality.
And on top of that.
-Hummmm..!!
His trump card, held in reserve until now.
The Middle Dantian.
The effects from forming what symbolized a transcendent martial artist were simple: output of internal energy incomparable to before, and boosted physical abilities.
If the Lower Dantian was a warehouse storing fuel, the Middle Dantian was like an engine efficiently using it.
However, Baek Hyun had effectively sealed his Middle Dantian until now.
His current body couldn't withstand its tremendous output.
Even tempered by the Solar Body, his meridians were forged tough, but gaining something normally only available at transcendent level this early...
It would have been stranger if there were no side effects.
Thus, Baek Hyun had been expending considerable mental effort just to suppress the Middle Dantian's output to what his body could endure.
But.
"If I'm dying here anyway, it doesn't matter."
-Kwaaaa!!
A small sun blazed fiercely.
A power normally gained only upon reaching transcendent level.
Sensing something ominous, the imoogi's tail bizarrely twisted its trajectory and lunged at Baek Hyun again.
The prey it thought would die in one hit had shown unexpected movement, so it unleashed a harder-to-dodge attack.
But the next instant.
-Kwaaaang-!!!
The small sun pierced the irregular assaults coming from all directions in a flash and smashed down on the imoogi's head.
No matter how tough the scales, it couldn't negate the impact of a blunt weapon.
The imoogi groaned and writhed from the unanticipated blow.
It saw through the imoogi's attack patterns—utterly alien to humans—and breached them in one go.
Baek Hyun now possessed the ability and supreme focus to accomplish what bordered on the impossible.
'The attack patterns are similar yet different from the game. Can't apply the knowledge directly, but I can use it as reference.'
Based on the imoogi he had faced as a field boss in the game before possession, he predicted trajectories and timings.
Though completely different from fighting humans, grasping the essence made it far easier in some ways.
Accumulate damage on the head like this, and even an imoogi would fall.
-Bang! Kbang!! Kwaaaang-!!
The more he struck, the more frenzied the imoogi became, and he hammered it even harder.
Its massive black body whirled like a giant mixer blade, pulverizing everything around.
An overwhelming torrent of violence filling the vast space.
Dozens of small stone shards flung by the attack's aftermath grazed Baek Hyun's skin.
Even that minor repercussion shredded his clothes to rags and drew trickles of blood from abrasions like sandpaper scrapes.
One tiny mistake, and his limbs would be torn off—a razor-edge crisis.
Yet amid all the pressure, Baek Hyun didn't flinch, breaking through the imoogi's assaults from every direction.
Each split-second survival was a miracle beyond acrobatics.
With nothing but his own abilities, Baek Hyun was producing dozens of such miracles every instant.
But before his abilities reached their limit, his body did.
The moment Baek Hyun approached the imoogi's head again and swung the hilt down.
-Urk
Intense agony erupted, blood gushing from all his orifices.
The price for wielding power beyond his capacity.
In excruciating pain unlike any he'd felt before, his movement stiffened just as he tried to follow through.
-Kee.. kiyaAAAAA-!!!
-Thud boom!!
The imoogi didn't miss the opening; its tail struck Baek Hyun dead-on.
His prior near-divine maneuvers seemed a joke as his body slammed into the wall like a bug swatted by a flyswatter.
The first valid hit he'd taken since possession.
Not from carelessness, but a momentary lapse—the cost was devastating.
"Cough, kehuk.. urk..!"
Baek Hyun, sprawled grotesquely against the wall, assessed his condition.
Bones shattered throughout his body, muscles torn.
The impact had reached his organs, meridians disrupted on the verge of qi deviation.
But before all that.
It hurt. Hurt like hell.
Even combat adrenaline was useless; without the Clear Mind Heart Method, he'd be in shock already.
It hurt. Today's pains had shattered his personal worsts multiple times.
Now it truly sank in.
This wasn't a game—it was reality, with his life on the line.
And before his eyes was a monstrous being at transcendent martial artist level, incomparable to him.
But that wasn't the point right now.
"Ha.. fuck, I could have dodged it."
He had known exactly where and how it would come.
He had read every pattern, and his body had been ready to execute.
That fleeting pain—that paltry pain he should have been prepared for..!!
He had let the attack land pathetically.
Rage boiled up.
At himself for failing to overcome even that brief pain.
At the damned serpent looking down on him with triumphant eyes.
If he'd kept the momentum, he'd be the one looking down now—that made it burn even more.
'Still.. a hit is a hit.'
Excuses and complaints couldn't deny the fact that he'd stupidly taken a valid blow.
So he used that failure as fertilizer.
Engraved this pain deep into his muscles, bones, organs.
He'd taken it once.
"Won't happen twice."
-Kwaaaang!!
Baek Hyun dodged the follow-up attacks and scooped up his snapped, broken blade.
With shattered bones and mangled muscles, he could barely stand without internal energy.
Forcing the Azure Hawk Heart Method through his meat-sack body might let him move somewhat, but executing his prior victory plan was impossible now.
'Guess I have no choice but to gamble.'
The risk was too high to use if possible, but with things like this, he had to play it.
His 'strongest card.'
"Even if I die here..."
I'll take you with me.
Baek Hyun's eyes gleamed with golden light.