Chapter 91
Chapter 91
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Starlight Dwelling in the Sword
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-Sring.
A pleasant ring echoed as the sword slid free from its sheath.
Chilji, barely able to stand, desperately staggered backward and shouted.
“I-I clearly told you, didn’t I? If you kill me…!”
“The formation won’t unravel? You’ll let us leave safely? You’ll release it willingly?”
“Y-Yes! If you let me go, I’ll release it right away…!”
“Do you think I’d believe that? I wouldn’t if I were you, yet you expect me to buy it.”
Chilji fell silent as if at a loss for words, then twisted her face in rage.
“Do you think I’ll just sit here and take it!?”
With a guttural roar, Chilji charged at me.
Her slender, beautiful form warped and twisted in every direction.
-Kieeeek-!
I grimaced at the hideous abomination that could no longer be called human.
“Ugh, what is this…? A tree monster?”
Tree monster.
No better way to describe it.
Its body was covered in bark-like skin everywhere, swelling rapidly in size—a monster in every sense.
Some kind of sorcery? An illusion?
I didn’t know for sure, but one thing was clear: it was my enemy, and I had to take it down.
I stepped forward and charged at Chilji, now transformed into a tree monster.
A single streak of light slicing through the sky slammed into Chilji’s outer shell,
-Kang!
And bounced right off.
“W-What?”
I muttered unconsciously, feeling the numbness in my grip.
This was inside my mind.
A world where everything bent to my will.
I had vividly envisioned my sword strike—Heaven-Piercing Single Flash—slicing through Chilji.
So why hadn’t it?
My sword hadn’t even scratched the shell; it just ricocheted away.
As confusion gripped me over this incomprehensible situation, Chilji’s sharp laughter pierced my ears.
-Kyahahaha-! Is this the power of that lord?! To wield such might inside another’s mind…!
Madness itself—a true cackle of insanity.
A red gleam flashed from between the bark, glaring at me.
-With this power, I’ll shatter your mind and turn you into my puppet-!
“...Hah. Who said I’d let you?”
I gathered my internal energy—or was it my will?—and condensed it at the tip of my blade.
A sword aura, even thinner than the one I’d used in the martial tournament.
Leading with that slender beam of light, I charged at Chilji again.
*
“Hah!”
Namgung Hyun shouted with spirit and thrust his sword at Cheol-u.
He unleashed the stance Sword Shadows Observing the Heavens from the Soaring Firmament Swordless Sword.
But the sword shadows, which should have numbered six, were a mere two.
-Kang!
Even those were effortlessly blocked by Cheol-u’s defense.
Cheol-u bared his teeth in a grin.
“Keuhuhu… Running out of steam, are we?”
Just as Cheol-u said, Namgung Hyun was exhausted.
He had already killed Cheol-u six times by now.
‘What in the world is going on…!’
Namgung Hyun didn’t know the details, but it was all the effect of the Mara Bewitching Illusion Array.
The formation had implanted illusions in him, and unaware of this, Namgung Hyun continued his seventh bout against the Cheol-u he had “killed.”
‘This is dangerous.’
His internal energy and stamina were reaching their limits amid the endless battles.
Continuing like this would guarantee defeat.
“Krhm…!”
“Hah!”
Dae-un and Namgung Seon-u, fighting other Heavenly Light Troops, were in a similar bind.
Realizing that no matter how much they cut down, the enemies rose again unscathed, the two had shifted to passively defending, barely maintaining the status quo.
They were still holding out without serious injuries, at least.
But Namgung Hyun’s real worry was elsewhere.
‘Ice Beauty…!’
He had seen about ten Heavenly Light Troops chasing the fleeing servants.
He knew Ice Beauty’s martial prowess wasn’t low, but her foes were immortals who revived endlessly.
No level of skill mattered against enemies that kept getting back up.
He was thinking it might have been better to have her retreat with them when he spotted the servants fleeing back—and the three women battling Heavenly Light Troops at the rear.
“Ah…!”
Confirming his fiancée’s safety, Namgung Hyun’s face lit up.
“Where are you looking?!”
Cheol-u’s massive blade came swinging at the distracted Namgung Hyun.
Unable to even think of blocking the heavy strike, Namgung Hyun leaped far back.
“Ugh…!”
Exhausted and overwhelmed, he kept retreating.
In the end, he was struck by the blade and sent flying.
-Kwang!
“Keok!”
“Gah!”
Yakbing screamed like a banshee and rushed to Namgung Hyun as he crumpled weakly.
Groaning in pain as she helped him up, Namgung Hyun saw his chest soaked in blood from the direct hit.
Yakbing’s face paled instantly.
To reassure her, Namgung Hyun forced a smile through the agony.
“Ice Beauty, I’m fine. It’s not deep.”
It might seem like bravado, but it wasn’t a lie.
Just before Cheol-u’s blade connected, Heavenly Thunder Protective Divine Art had activated at the last second, averting a fatal wound.
Among countless defensive arts, this one—top five in activation speed—made it possible.
Still, it was a long gash across his upper body, shallower than expected or not.
It restricted his movements inevitably.
Already outnumbered and tasked with protecting helpless servants, the injury to one of their key fighters like Namgung Hyun hit hard.
Surrounded by Heavenly Light Troops with the servants at their backs, the group was trapped.
Cheol-u shouted triumphantly.
“Those rats are done for! Kill them all!”
“Yes!”
At their squad leader’s command, the Heavenly Light Troops surged toward the group.
Namgung Hyun clutched his wound and stepped forward, unleashing Mysterious Heaven Light Gale with all his remaining strength.
“Hah!”
Slower and weaker than usual, but it still felled five advancing Heavenly Light Troops in sprays of blood.
But with that final attack, Namgung Hyun collapsed in total exhaustion.
Legs giving out, he turned to Hwaryeon and asked.
“The Goon young hero…?”
Hwaryeon silently shook her head at his question.
‘If even the young commander doesn’t know, where could the Goon young hero be…?’
Ja-seong, who had gone ahead first, had vanished without a trace.
The answer came from none other than Cheol-u.
“Hah, looking for that guy? Pointless. He’s probably lost his mind to the lady by now.”
“…The lady?”
Hwaryeon’s eyes twitched.
The lady—meaning a woman?
So he was with a woman right now?
Hwaryeon’s expression turned indescribable for a moment.
Seeing it, Cheol-u laughed merrily.
“Kuhaha-! That look—are you his lover or something? Too bad. Soon you’ll die by your lover’s…”
-Kyaaak!
Right then, a piercing shriek echoed through the manor, cutting Cheol-u off.
A horrific wail like a ghost from the underworld made Seol shiver.
Cheol-u’s amused grin vanished, replaced by shock.
“This…!? Move!”
At his urgent command, the Heavenly Light Troops broke formation and retreated.
“Huh…?”
The group stared blankly as the Heavenly Light Troops fled the way they came.
“…What’s going on?”
Hwaryeon snapped to attention at Seol’s dazed mutter.
“Let’s pursue them. The Goon young hero must have done something.”
With those words, Hwaryeon chased after the Heavenly Light Troops.
*
-Shiik!
A streak of light sliced through the bark.
Unlike before, the blade dug deep, and the tree monster—Chilji—screamed.
-Aaak! You damned thing-!
Tree branches whipped toward me like tentacles, but at that speed?
A few sword swings lopped them all off.
I frowned and retreated at the grating scream.
-Uaaaah-!
Chilji roared in fury.
A pitiful sight.
My sword aura had slashed it everywhere; no part was unscathed.
“Tch.”
But I couldn’t help clicking my tongue in dissatisfaction.
We had exchanged hundreds of blows already.
Yet those hundreds of strikes had only peeled away the bark, never reaching the core.
Dragging this out would just wear us both down pointlessly, and I had no time for that.
-Keuh…! I won’t let you go easily…! All you’ll see are your comrades’ corpses!
Sensing my growing impatience, Chilji taunted me through the pain.
The problem was, those words might come true.
I glanced down at the sword in my right hand.
The beam of light at its tip—sword aura.
My strongest power right now, but not enough to fell Chilji.
I needed greater power—the next stage I hadn’t reached yet.
I knew exactly what to call it, what it was.
But could I do it?
I had only just manifested sword aura.
Normally, it’d be a pipe dream.
How could I…?
-Establish your will. Imagine it. Visualize it in your mind.
“…….”
A voice suddenly rang in my head.
The back of my skull tingled.
Realizing my foolish hesitation, I let out a hollow chuckle.
How? It was already decided.
I recalled manifesting sword aura for the first time.
I’d felt anxiety back then too.
The idea that sword aura was mere fiction had tormented me endlessly.
Was it truly impossible?
Would all my efforts be for nothing?
Despite endless doubt, I never stopped. Never broke my will.
And my will brought fiction into reality.
This time would be no different.
My will would summon new power into reality.
“Well, technically my mind.”
Impossible in the real world.
My internal energy would fall short.
But here, in my mind? Possible.
Here, my will was the strongest, inexhaustible source of power.
I closed my eyes gently and recalled it.
The faint light in my heart, dwelling in the sword.
The scene I longed for.
-You…! Ignoring me, are you!?
I ignored the grating voice in my ear.
Focusing solely on the vision.
-Fine, you want to die? I’ll oblige…!
The moment I heard something slicing through the air, I opened my eyes.
Countless branches filled my vision.
Coiling to crush me, they blocked all light.
In the pitch darkness, with no visibility,
Chilji bellowed.
-Die crushed-!
I doubt it.
“Starlight already dwells in my sword.”
I swung the sword in my hand,
-Sruk
And radiant starlight cleaved the darkness.