Chapter 256
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 256
Chapter Title: Mind Master Revealed
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“What... is this...?”
The elder muttered in a dazed expression.
How could the target of the suppression formation possibly wield aura?
The suppression formation, designed to block the use of aura and mana, was undoubtedly active. Yet, he was using aura as if nothing was wrong.
“Curious?”
As if reading the elder’s thoughts, Leon tossed out the question.
“You activated the suppression formation, but I’m perfectly fine?”
“......”
“The formation itself is functioning perfectly. But it doesn’t completely halt the flow of aura to begin with.”
If it did, not just Leon but everyone else in this area should be unable to wield aura.
“In the end, it just creates some interference when the target—like me—circulates aura...”
A blue sword beam ignited at the tip of Leon’s blade.
The elder’s eyes trembled violently.
He had seen it before. That sword beam. Those traits. A realm usable only by the tiniest fraction of master-level powerhouses—those who had gazed at the wall and scaled it.
The realm of the Mind. Commonly called Mind Master in the central continent.
Ah... I see. The suppression formation could affect him to some degree, but it had no further effect.
Realizing this, the elder reflexively shouted.
“Release it!!! Everyone! Even if it costs every last one of our lives, we must kill this man here!!”
If this man lived, Koral could never defeat Barta.
Even at the price of massive sacrifices, he had to be slain here.
The elder rose to his feet and charged at Leon once more, his own sword beam blazing.
No matter how strong the opponent, a martial artist could not bow his head in fear.
“Elder of the Fallen Star Clan! I am Hocheon!! State your name, warrior!”
Toward the staggering man who rose and gripped his sword, Leon smoothly twirled his blade as if turning a hilt.
“Eldest son of House Cascadia. Leon Cascadia.”
“I pay my respects to one who has reached the realm of the Mind!”
Even if he was an enemy he wanted to tear apart, he was a warrior. Unlike the others, Hocheon had forged his own path to master level. Thus, he did not hide his reverence for Leon, who had ascended to such lofty heights.
The elder’s body kicked off the ground without hesitation.
Even knowing victory was impossible, he charged.
Martial artists were fools. The kind who flung themselves like moths toward higher realms, knowing it meant death.
Red lines like threads scattered in all directions.
They were sword trails. Elder Hocheon collapsed, eyes drinking in the sword trails swung at speeds he could not even perceive.
Even in his final breath, his eyes strained to capture those trails fully.
Most of the main forces swarmed Leon, while the rest played tag with Gri vi amid the trees.
And Luna, having left Leon’s side, silently fixed her gaze on the being before her.
“A pitiable creature.”
Alive yet dead. One yet not one.
A horrific weapon born from two parasites fused into a host.
Luna had seen something similar before.
Hwa-ryeong and Cheon-ryeong’s younger brother, Ma-cheon.
But if Ma-cheon was a prototype, this was far more grotesque.
Above all, the most repulsive part was...
“The eastern continent has already been reached.”
A distinctly alien presence bridged the two incompatible parasites.
The power fusing the parasites from the cultists and those crafted by the Sa-cheon Clan. This was undoubtedly the power of Niala, servant of the outer god.
Without hesitation, Luna drew a small vial from her bosom.
The drug the cultists had handed over, claiming it would earn Leon’s trust first.
It was likely a suppressant or killer for the parasites they provided. Even if this thing awoke, she was certain it posed no real threat to Leon, but she had no intention of letting the monster roam free.
The cultists’ words hadn’t been lies, it seemed.
As she sprinkled the drug on the colossal monster bound in massive chains, one of the parasites composing its flesh writhed violently.
It hadn’t moved properly yet, but its body was already crumbling rapidly.
Luna hoped, if possible, that this thing wouldn’t fight Leon.
Honestly, she didn’t welcome anything tied to outer gods anywhere near him.
“Ruined once by an outer god’s hand is enough. Anything more is too cruel.”
She looked up at the sky.
“Lord. The tragedy born of your indifference, your apathy, your ignorance—I, your daughter, will stop it.”
Her tone was stiff and fervent, unlike her usual speech.
“Eve said as much.”
She raised her fist.
Holy power and demonic force gathered simultaneously.
Kuuuung!!! Chararararak!!!
With a heavy rumble, the monster’s eyes snapped open.
Its chains shattered as it thrust a massive hand toward Luna.
But her fist warped space the instant it met the hand, pulverizing the giant’s form in a flash.
The power unleashed from her unsealed state was utterly transformed from before.
“De... Deploy the wheel formation!! Wear him down!! Never engage head-on...”
Shwaaak!!!
With a gruesome sound of rending flesh, seven master-level swordsmen who had darted in for a hit-and-run collapsed, spraying blood.
The wheel formation was a tactic to exhaust superiors through relentless strikes and retreats.
It was quite effective. There were plenty of cases where the weak had felled the strong this way.
But wheel tactics required an appropriate gap in skill.
How could half-baked masters, elevated not by true attainment but through doping, contain one who had reached Mind Master?
“Kwaaaak!!!”
“Huaaaah!!!”
The basis of the tactic was to exploit openings for quick strikes and pulls, but while entering was possible, withdrawing was not.
They dove in deep, convinced their attacks had landed solidly.
But their strikes never reached me. They fell to fatal wounds from my Nameless Sword, One-Horned Flash Slash.
Some even discarded defense for mutual destruction.
Yet even those were shut down in an instant.
A blazing sword beam from one pierced the corpse of a former comrade.
“Stabbing aura blades into their own ally’s body. You ruthless bastards.”
“You... madman?!”
Their eyes held resentment, as if to say you used the corpse as a shield!
The forces meant to aid them were all being rounded up and subdued by Gri vi darting through the forest.
Of course, some realized things had gone terribly wrong and tried to flee.
The problem was the barrier formation over the suppression array, sealing off the outside.
Just as I couldn’t escape, neither could they.
They hadn’t needed to worry anyway. Killing me would let them out easily.
But now, they were trapped with no escape from me.
That was the result.
“Damn it!!!”
Some managed to break through and land hits.
But many attacks, like Elder Hocheon’s, sank in like blades into mud, inflicting no wounds.
Gri vi, the earth spirit.
Having soul-bound with Gri vi, my body was shedding its human limits, elementalizing like a spirit’s.
Though I still needed practice to handle the power fully.
That’s why I let some attacks land, but with intact memory and senses, my body instinctively manifested the strength.
“Mon... monster...”
A terrified man sat trembling on the ground.
No living soul remained around him.
“Da... damn it! Why isn’t that monster moving yet!!”
“Didn’t they say it was fused with a parasite from the cultists?”
“Wha?! How do you know?!”
“The cultists told me everything. Even gave me the drug to destroy it.”
“Damn traitor scum!!”
He raged, venting his fury.
In truth, if the cultists weren’t begging for my help, neutralizing the monster wouldn’t have been so easy.
But with them viewing outer god puppets as the top threat, a temporary truce to eliminate them wasn’t bad—willing or not.
They weren’t the type hoping for the world’s destruction, after all.
Of course, we’d be at each other’s throats afterward.
“More importantly, I have a question.”
I lowered my stance to meet the eyes of the cowering man.
“Who taught you lot to fuse those two parasites?”
The outer god plants seeds in humans, erasing their existence to make puppets.
His minions were undoubtedly scattered across the continent.
“Th... that’s...”
“You know you’re the only one left to answer? If you don’t, I’ll cleanly behead you and ask the next. But right now, that’s not an option.”
I stared straight into his quaking eyes, issuing the warning.
“So spill everything you know. Otherwise, I’ll have to experiment how viciously I can extract info.”
Flay the bones, degrade the soul—pick your poison.
As I approached Luna, who stood silently before the charred colossal corpse, she turned to me.
“How’d it go?”
“The drug worked well. In perfect condition, it would’ve taken several sword masters to handle— that dangerous.”
The monster falling so easily meant the cultists’ drug was exceptionally effective.
They knew that, which is why they handed it over.
I didn’t like it, but a deal was a deal.
“Gri vi.”
At my call, Gri vi, who’d been zipping through the forest, appeared before me instantly.
This entire territory was already her domain.
Distance meant nothing to her here.
“You called, Father?”
“Had fun?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I’ll give you a tasty snack, so shall we head out?”
At my words, curiosity flickered for the first time on Gri vi’s blank face.
“Yeah!”
I stroked her head, and she giggled happily.
Luna then brushed the dirt from her clothes.
“Her hair needs a little trim. Being a spirit, does it grow back?”
“If she likes it, she’ll keep the look.”
At my explanation, Gri vi looked at Luna.
“Hair? Trim? What’s that?”
“I’ll make you pretty.”
“Like Sister?”
Luna smiled faintly and nodded at the question.
“Do it. Gri vi wants hair trimmed.”
Suddenly, I recalled the days in Labyrinthos after contracting with Gri vi.
I’d promised to tidy her long dangling hair and botched it badly with a sharp stone.
Cutting it rat-nibbled-short, she sulked and ignored me for days.
Eventually, I got the hang of it, styling whatever she wanted quickly.