Chapter 33
Chapter 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Greeting
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Baek Hyun swallowed hard, fully feeling the immense pressure emanating from Gungki.
The one who had unleashed that absurd attack just moments ago was undoubtedly that beast.
And the woman sitting calmly beneath it was likely the possessor candidate he suspected.
He had come to block the beast's attack, but if the opponent was suspected to be a possessor, there was no need to fight recklessly.
If she was also a possessor, they could resolve things through conversation.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be..."
"Haa, I didn't want to fight unnecessarily."
This means I have to kill her.
But before he could even speak, the female warrior perched on the tree branch lightly stretched her body and began showing hostility toward Baek Hyun.
That was enough.
For the Gungki in the air to recognize Baek Hyun as an 'enemy.'
-Krraaaahhh-!!!!
As Gungki roared, the surrounding winds began to tremble in fear.
Adding wings to a tiger.
There's an idiom that means making something already strong even stronger, laden with the fear of how powerful a tiger—already a formidable existence—would become if given wings.
And right before his eyes was a being that had realized that near-fantastical premise.
-Thudquaaaaang!!!
Gungki's massive body, infused with terrifying monstrous strength, plummeted toward Baek Hyun at speeds that far surpassed even a pine sparrow.
Baek Hyun, having read the timing of the attack, dodged a step ahead.
-Kwang!! Quagwagwang!!! Kwaang!!!
Gungki chased Baek Hyun's Azure Hawk Seven Forms at tremendous speed, thrusting forward with savage forepaws and fangs.
'What the hell, following my speed with that bulk!?'
Gungki was a newly added Monstrous Being after the remake, so Baek Hyun, encountering it for the first time, couldn't help but be shocked by its nimble movements.
Like a heavyweight boxer moving like a lightweight.
Its attack power was on par with, or even greater than, the Chaos he had fought before, yet Gungki's speed was nearly equal to Baek Hyun's.
Just enduring attacks without countering would be dangerous.
Judging that, Baek Hyun hurriedly tried to initiate a conversation with the girl controlling Gungki.
But before he could open his mouth, the young female warrior joined the fray between Baek Hyun and Gungki.
-Kwaaaang!!!
Her fist, aimed at Baek Hyun, missed and struck a massive tree, shattering what must have been centuries-old ancient wood like a dry twig.
Another specialty of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace: external martial arts that rivaled the world's best.
They secured their own formidable might through powerful external arts, displaying picture-perfect coordinated battles alongside their tamed Monstrous Beings.
"I don't particularly hold any grudge against you. But it's unavoidable... so just die."
With no real killing intent or fervor, wearing an expression that seemed reluctant, her demeanor snapped a thread in a corner of Baek Hyun's heart.
"Ha, what the fuck."
Baek Hyun spat curses and swept back his hair from his forehead.
It wasn't incomprehensible that she kept attacking without considering he might be a possessor.
The problem was... that attitude.
Treating an opponent fighting for their life with zero respect, showing trivial guilt while utterly confident of victory.
It was grating. A little—no, quite a lot.
"...Alright, let's have at it then?"
True to his master's teachings.
In this world of the survival of the fittest, to have a proper conversation with an opponent, one must first prove their strength.
So, it couldn't be helped.
To converse, he had no choice but to demonstrate his power.
Baek Hyun's combative spirit, dormant since the Imoogi encounter, reignited fiercely.
-Krraaaang!!!
Gungki's enormous form lunged at Baek Hyun once more.
The female warrior prepared to continue her joint assault with Gungki at that moment.
-Whoosh
Baek Hyun's figure vanished from their sight in an instant.
No, his presence itself completely disappeared from that spot.
Shoot the Sun Sword Art, 4th Form
Slanting Sun Without Light
Instantly cutting off all internal energy and presence throughout his body.
Then high-speed movement outside the opponent's field of vision, creating the illusion of vanishing from sight—a form specialized for interpersonal combat.
Having escaped Gungki and the woman's sight in one go with Slanting Sun Without Light, Baek Hyun became a flash of light shooting toward the female warrior.
Shoot the Sun Sword Art, 1st Form
Sun First Appears
-Puhook!!!
"Kuhk!?"
The fastest strike from a blind spot beyond her vision.
Baek Hyun's intense sword qi, compressed into a blade, pierced straight through the young female warrior's abdomen.
She panicked briefly from the unexpected ambush direction.
-Kwaak!!
The female warrior immediately grabbed the blade embedded in her abdomen.
Baek Hyun's strike was fatal enough to render most martial artists combat-ineffective instantly.
Yet her astonishing durability left her with some leeway even after taking it head-on.
"You got me good... with one shot?"
But I've won this fight.
-Kuhraaaang!!
The female warrior was certain of victory seeing Gungki bearing down on Baek Hyun's rear.
"What're you talking about."
The Sun, which she thought she had seized, mocked her assumption by asserting its unbroken presence.
Shoot the Sun Sword Art, 5th Form
Slanting Sun Shining Brightly
Overwhelming light and heat exploded outward.
Gungki, charging at Baek Hyun, was repelled by the unimaginable surge of yang energy.
The female warrior's eyes and ears were momentarily disabled, as if hit by a flashbang.
Baek Hyun didn't miss the opening.
-Pububuk!!
Using the profound principles of Azure Hawk Seven Forms, he gained immense propulsion, and kicks instantly struck her jaw and both temples.
No matter how superior one's external arts, a head strike shakes the brain.
And structurally, humans collapse when their brain is shaken.
Being human, she couldn't maintain sanity with her brain violently jolted.
-Kwaak!!
"Kuh!?"
By the time the all-encompassing blaze of light faded, she lay on the ground, throat stomped, helplessly subdued.
From the moment Baek Hyun fought in earnest to her suppression: a mere 3 seconds.
It was closer to a rout than a battle—an overwhelming result.
-Grrr... Kuhung!!
Gungki charged at Baek Hyun to rescue its pained, stomped master.
-Thud
"Better stay put. Unless you want to see your mom hurt."
Faced with Baek Hyun threatening the female warrior by pressing a blade to her mouth, Gungki ultimately abandoned the charge.
Baek Hyun gazed indifferently at it and spoke.
"No matter how much it's one of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, if its master's caught, it's powerless. Isn't moving so carelessly proof you're just baggage?"
'!!'
As if those words were the trigger, venom filled the eyes of the female warrior, who had been wincing in pain and confusion moments ago.
No trace of trivial guilt remained in those eyes.
Reflected in her pupils was solely the resolve to crush the opponent.
"Th... aaa...!!"
Even with her throat crushed, she cried out to Gungki with determined eyes.
Gungki, who had been hesitantly watching them, paused, then began flapping its wings strongly and inhaling deeply.
Very, very strongly.
-Guooooooo...!!!!
Just inhaling uprooted surrounding massive trees by the roots.
All the air in the area was sucked into Gungki's maw, its chest swelling bizarrely.
Baek Hyun intuited it.
This was the attack that had wrecked the formation from afar.
Commanding such an attack while she herself was in range?
"I'll apologize for that last remark."
Definitely not baggage.
________!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The overwhelming shockwave, sufficient to half-destroy the formation from range, detonated right before Baek Hyun's eyes.
An output impossible for a human body, one only a 'Monstrous Being' could unleash.
Everything in the direction of Gungki's maw shattered in an instant.
"Indeed, this is why it's called one of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts."
Having moved to the opposite side of the shockwave just before it hit, Baek Hyun leisurely observed.
The aftermath winds alone made it hard to keep his eyes open.
In a wuxia world with scant gunpowder, it was firepower rivaling strategic weapons—uncomparable.
Yet a lone being unleashed it, so how could frail humans not fear?
And this was with output considerably restrained, at that.
-Plip plop
From the instantly flattened sandy dust emerged the female warrior, reduced to a wretched state.
She must have ordered moderated output since she was in range, but the cost of forcibly breaking free via near-suicide was gruesome.
Her abdominal wound had torn fully open, nearly impossible to staunch; her steel-like durable body was ragged; most of her leather armor had been torn away.
However.
"...I'll admit it. I was definitely acting carelessly. This is a battlefield where lives are on the line... I was the only one not fitting in."
Her eyes burned with an intensity incomparable to before.
-Swipe, kwaak!
She forcibly stanched her abdominal wound with ragged cloth scraps and spoke with blazing eyes.
"Come at me. This time, I'll kill you with resolve to die."
Faced with her murderous expression and flashing eyes, Baek Hyun realized.
Now was the time for a proper conversation with her.
"Harmful Bird, right?"
"...Wh-what?"
That single phrase melted her murderous demeanor instantly.
Gungki, about to slyly smack Baek Hyun's head, grew confused by its master's vanished hostility and hesitated on swinging its paw.
"Your reaction confirms it. That's me, that one. Life and Death Tournament ranking 1. We've met in a few matches. Didn't expect a woman, though."
"W-W-Wait! Hold on..!! You're that... 'Shoot Towards the Sun'!? There's another player besides me..!! No, but then why didn't you say so earlier!!!"
Her previously cold, ruthless attitude seemed a lie as she unleashed a torrent of emotions.
Shock at another possessor's existence, joy at meeting a compatriot in a foreign land, betrayal at being gutted and chin-kicked by one.
And above all, relief at no longer being alone.
In the remote Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, she had endured two years solo without contact with any possessor.
For her, another possessor's presence was more welcome than any gift.
Gungki, having decided to smack Baek Hyun's head, awkwardly licked its raised paw instead.
"You didn't give me a chance to speak. You sicced that scary cat on me right away."
"St-Still..! There were chances to tell me midway! I thought it was a life-or-death fight and took the 'Lion's Roar'!!"
"Well, there were moments to stop... but I figured some show of skill wouldn't hurt. Sparring's the best way to get to know each other, right?"
Recalling her humiliating moments at those words, she stiffly continued.
"...Don't think that was my full power. I was a bit off-guard, and I didn't even use my trump cards."
"How many did you have hidden? I had about four trump cards combined myself."
"……..."
Though denying it out of pride, she knew deep down.
In that brief exchange, she had lost.
Overwhelmingly.
She hadn't understood at first, but reconsidering, it was inevitable.
'I was careless against that monster... Of course I'd get one-shotted.'
She had excelled in PvP with her masterful build using Southern Barbarian Beast Palace summons.
Yet even she topped out at Life and Death Tournament ranking 10.
Single-digit rankings were a battleground for monsters who had mastered their domains.
And the monster among monsters holding the undisputed 1st place was this man.
Though the game turning real changed much, his ghostly instincts and sense wouldn't vanish...
So this overwhelming defeat was understandable.
"Anyway, doesn't seem the right time for chatting, so let's call it here."
"What? Already... leaving?"
"Our side's fighting hard right now. Not the situation to chat leisurely, is it?
Once things settle, let's meet again. Want me to come to you? Or you to me?"
"..I'll come to you."
Thus, the two possessors vowed to meet later and returned to their respective camps.