Chapter 18
The outskirts of Hell Island, somewhere in a deep forest.
CLANG! Kararang!
Every time a weapon sliced through the empty air, a metallic sound that seemed to tear at the eardrums rang out in succession.
—Ghk, keuaaak!
Following that, a wretched scream that gouged at the chest shook the forest.
The lives of young and outstanding prodigies, as flawless as could be, were falling away in droves, like flower petals scattering in the wind.
Hell Island.
In just one day since the Third Trial began, this remote island had become, in the truest sense, hell.
"Damn it!"
Ga Un-seong, the boy who had collapsed where a sea of corpses and blood had spread, clawed at the ground.
"Ugh..."
Though he lacked talent and had remained in the middle-level halls of the Bloodflame Blade Family and White Horse Monastery, he had friends and comrades who shared his purpose.
"We swore we'd survive together... and become Ten Demonic Heirs..."
Instead of waging a bloody battle of kill or be killed, Ga Un-seong and his comrades had hidden in the forest on the outskirts.
But his comrades had been slaughtered to the last by the shadows lurking in the forest.
They were the trainees of the Ultimate Assassin Pavilion.
The Ultimate Assassin Pavilion, also called the Killing Pavilion, was the foremost assassination sect among the Demonic Path Ten Gates.
Moreover, the Killing Arts of the Killing Pavilion were so cruel and grotesquely bizarre that it was said even a child who learned them could easily kill a martial artist.
"To brutally murder people who don't even resist—are you bastards even human?!"
Even at Ga Un-seong's wretched cry, there was no reaction from the forest.
They were probably hiding in the darkness, silently watching him like observing a dying bug.
Because that was generally how assassins were.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."
Tears streamed from his eyes as he gazed at his comrades, who had become cold corpses in a pitiful state.
"To protect me, you all..."
Even in the brutal Ten Demonic Heirs Tournament, there had been loyalty and friendship.
His comrades had struggled to protect Ga Un-seong, the weakest in martial arts, and had been cruelly killed.
Wiping away his tears, he slowly rose to his feet. And at the moment he tried to draw his sword,
Fwip. Puk.
Along with the sound of breaking air, something sharp was driven deep into his left thigh.
"Ugh!"
With a wretched scream, Ga Un-seong tumbled to the ground.
"Ugh..."
Looking at his thigh, he saw a sharp stake carved from wood driven deep into it.
The moment he had drawn his sword, one of the assassins watching from the darkness had thrown a hidden weapon at him.
"Ugh..."
Clenching his teeth, Ga Un-seong looked up at the darkness-drenched forest and shouted.
"I will definitely kill you!"
Puk.
And then he reached out and pressed the stake in his thigh with all his strength.
Rather than bleeding out from a stake lodged shallowly, he had driven it in deep to stop the bleeding.
"Definitely!"
As he looked around, his eyes were a chaotic mix of rage and grudge.
"Even if I have to sell my soul! Even if I become a ghost! I will have my revenge on you!"
Rustle.
With a low sound, pitch-black shadows appeared one by one in front of Ga Un-seong.
Their movements were as silent and stealthy as if they had been there from the beginning. They looked like grim reapers descending with death, but,
"Come on!"
Ga Un-seong, rather with a willing expression, twisted his grip on his sword.
Hwiiiing.
A desolate wind gently sweeps across the outskirts of Hell Island.
A night draped in black darkness. There was a shadow walking with its back to the faintly glowing moon. It was Bu Eun-seol.
Step step.
His expression as he walked through Hell Island, where death was descending moment by moment, was utterly composed and unruffled.
Tuk tuk tuk.
Blood dripped from the iron sword in his hand.
Over the course of three days, Bu Eun-seol had roamed Hell Island and cut down countless people with his iron sword.
"I'm tired."
Bu Eun-seol muttered flatly, looking at the distant sky.
His expression was one that made it impossible to imagine he had just been in a desperate, bloody battle moments ago.
As the brutal slaughter continued, many trainees were losing their minds, but Bu Eun-seol maintained a clear head.
He had lived his life making a profession of looking at dead corpses every day.
After his grandfather, Bu Jan-yang, had died, even the boundary between life and death had blurred for him.
He could not feel that he was alive, yet he had not drawn near to death either.
Bu Eun-seol was simply breathing and moving his body, living day by day, solely to catch the murderer who had harmed his grandfather.
"Still..."
Bu Eun-seol looked down at his right hand, steeped in blood up to the fingernails.
"I have gotten a little stronger."
Since leaving the martial arts academy of the Fire Rain Sword Sect, he had not been pushed back in a head-on contest against anyone.
He had been able to freely adapt the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms and the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, which were said to be unusable in real combat.
As long as he held a sword, he felt as though he could cut off even the Grim Reaper's head.
—I will definitely kill you!
At that moment, a desperate shout rang out from deep within the forest.
It was a cry like the howl of a wounded beast.
The light in Bu Eun-seol's eyes, which had been about to reach for his sword hilt, grew dim.
For he was not so starved for blood as to cut down someone trembling in agony, consumed by vengeance and grief.
"Hm."
As Bu Eun-seol turned away with an expression as if he had heard nothing, another desperate cry reached his ears.
—Even if I must sell my soul, even if I must become a ghost, I will have my revenge on you!
He stopped.
At the tearing howl, Bu Eun-seol's legs halted.
Revenge. A word steeped in desperate resentment and blood burrowed into his mind.
After gazing up at the deep night sky for a moment, he moved his steps toward the inner forest from which the sound had come.
Step, step.
Bu Eun-seol, who had been walking with a steady gait, came to a stop.
"..."
He stared up at the night sky with a vacant gaze,
Boom!
then suddenly slammed his fist into a large tree beside him.
Shhhh.
The tree swayed, and the sound of leaves brushing against leaves could be heard.
At the same time, a faint vibration spread outward in concentric circles. Then Bu Eun-seol's eyes emitted a strange light and expanded greatly.
Using the method he had obtained from the ground, he vibrated the tree to extend the senses of the Way of the Beast.
Whik!
A fierce gleam burst forth from the darkness.
But Bu Eun-seol's body had already retreated three jang beyond it.
Pakpakpak!
At the same time, dozens of stakes carved from wood drove into the spot where he had been standing, one after another.
"Huh?"
As Bu Eun-seol easily evaded the hidden weapons, a startled cry burst from the bushes some ten-odd jang away.
The ambusher, realizing his mistake, quickly tried to flee this place.
Shing.
But a steel sword was already drawn from Bu Eun-seol's waist as he blocked the escape route.
Hiss-hiss.
Swift sword strokes that split the air poured between the bushes.
"Kek."
With a thick groan, a black shadow revealed itself from within the bushes.
The shadow, wearing a mask and a Killing Outfit, trembled as he muttered.
"To evade the hidden weapon technique fired with the method of Ten Thousand Kalpas of Time so easily..."
But the words went no further.
Drip, drip.
Struck by Bu Eun-seol's sword technique, a faint blood line had already been drawn from his shoulder to his waist.
Kung.
The one wearing the Killing Outfit breathed his last on the spot.
"Your method of hiding was wrong."
Bu Eun-seol, muttering lowly, suddenly spun his sword and drove it into the ground beneath his feet like lightning.
Puk.
With a dull sound, blood spurted from the ground like a fountain.
The assassin who had been concealed beneath Bu Eun-seol's feet died instantly, his skull pierced without even a scream.
"You bastard!"
Then, this time from the tree above his head, a shout rang out along with a shower of hidden weapons.
But Bu Eun-seol's Way of the Beast had already sensed the position and even the posture of the ambusher launching the hidden weapons.
Whik.
Easily evading the hidden weapons, Bu Eun-seol leaped into the air and swung his sword at the tree.
Then, with a swishing sound, the masked man in the Killing Outfit came down to the ground with a thud.
"Are you also from the assassins?!"
"Assassins?"
"If you're skilled enough to see through Concealed Form Stealth Walk, you seem to be from a fairly capable Killing Sect lineage."
The masked man tilted his head crookedly and looked at Bu Eun-seol.
"Why didn't you come to the Ultimate Assassin Pavilion?"
'A man trained at the Ultimate Assassin Pavilion.'
Bu Eun-seol, realizing the masked man was a disciple of the Ultimate Assassin Pavilion, narrowed his eyes.
Assassins with weak martial power are inevitably vulnerable in head-on confrontations.
However, the Art of Killing of the Ultimate Assassin Pavilion encompassed not only the Assassin Secret Arts but also orthodox sword techniques and hidden weapon arts, making them formidable even in direct confrontation.
"I know nothing of assassin techniques."
As Bu Eun-seol shook his head, the Masked Man let out a scoff.
"Don't lie. You're telling me you saw through this pavilion's Forbidden Ultimate Concealment Art at a glance, something even masters of the Martial World cannot easily discern?"
The Way of the Beast, an extrasensory perception capable of sensing even the flow of air itself.
It was a martial art that was the natural enemy of assassins who hid in concealed places to attack or launched lightning-quick ambushes.
"None of your concern."
As if uninterested, Bu Eun-seol placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
He intended to gauge his own skill through a direct confrontation with an assassin trained at the Ultimate Assassin Pavilion.
"Wait!"
The Masked Man, who had been staring intently into Bu Eun-seol's coldly frozen eyes, waved both hands.
"There's no need to settle this in a direct fight right now. Let's postpone the battle for later."
Bu Eun-seol's gaze did not waver in the slightest.
As it seemed he might draw his sword like lightning at any moment, the Masked Man's eyes grew urgent.
"There are still countless others remaining on Hell Island. Those of us who have trained in the assassin's discipline have been quietly disposing of everyone who has entered this forest so far."
The eyes within the mask, fixed on Bu Eun-seol, narrowed thinly.
"Since our elimination of the others means your competitors disappear anyway... isn't that a good thing for you as well?"
Even so, the hand gripping the sword hilt did not so much as twitch.
It was no different from displaying a will to kill without fail.
Realizing this, the Masked Man spoke with a venomous glare.
"My comrades are hiding their bodies throughout this forest. There's no need for you to face me..."
But the words did not continue.
Bu Eun-seol's iron sword, drawn like lightning, had thrust toward the Masked Man's throat.
"You bastard!"
The Masked Man, who had not expected him to suddenly unleash a Killing Move, spat out his bewilderment and swiftly deployed his footwork technique.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Even after changing his position a full forty-three times, leaving faint afterimages behind, he could not evade the sword strokes.
"What kind of sword technique is this?"
Instead of answering, Bu Eun-seol switched from the eighth form of the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms, Wind and Cloud Ten Thousand Li, to the twelfth form of the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, Joy Before Me.
He was freely wielding the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms and the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, techniques deemed utterly unusable in real combat.
"Ghk."
With absolutely no way to evade, the Masked Man drew his black sword once more.
Clang!
As the iron sword and black sword clashed, sparks flew and Bu Eun-seol's body staggered slightly.
"Die!"
Spotting an opening, the Masked Man let out a cry of triumph and thrust at the throat and lower abdomen.
Rumble.
At that moment, Bu Eun-seol's iron sword trembled minutely, then produced dozens of sword shadows.
As sword strokes like fully bloomed flowers scattering in the wind unfolded in succession, blood sprayed from the Masked Man's body.
"Ghk."
Having narrowly avoided a fatal wound, the Masked Man retreated in a panic.
"Frightening bastard. You deliberately exposed an opening."
Exposing an opening in the midst of exchanging blades was something only possible for amateurs.
Concluding that he could never defeat Bu Eun-seol in a direct contest of martial arts, the Masked Man backpedaled.
Squeak.
He put his fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle, and from afar came a soft rustling sound.
It was a signal summoning his hidden comrades.
"Hehehe. You refuse the offered wine and insist on drinking the punishment cup—nothing to be done about it."
The Masked Man, having retreated, spoke in an arrogant voice.
"My comrades gathered in the forest will soon converge here."
Feeling the rustling sounds drawing gradually closer, the Masked Man shouted with a confident gleam in his eyes.
"Even if you try to flee, it's useless!"
But Bu Eun-seol merely wore an impassive expression, standing still without the slightest movement.
The Masked Man, who had expected him to hastily escape from this place, widened his eyes at the unexpected situation.
"Why do you... not run?"
"Run?"
Bu Eun-seol asked back with an impassive expression.
"Do you think one who runs can become a Ten Demonic Heir?"
At that instant, it felt as though a pure white light pierced through the Masked Man's mind.
Becoming a Ten Demonic Heir was an opportunity to potentially ascend to the position of foremost master of the Demonic Path.
Would a prodigy of peerless martial arts, one who gazes upon the apex of the Demonic Path, flee from something like this?
"Indeed... one who flees from crisis can never become a Ten Demonic Heir."
Only then could the Masked Man understand.
That the gaunt boy standing before him was a prodigy fully qualified to rise to the position of a Ten Demonic Heir.
And that he himself, along with his comrades hidden in the forest, could never survive this battle.