The Heavenly Demon Tests Them (7)
“I never said you had to beat me.”
I had never once entertained the thought that they could defeat me. The same went for any expectation that they might pose a real threat. If I had truly wanted a life-or-death struggle, I wouldn’t be standing here—I would have gone and picked fights with the Three Lords or the various sect leaders instead.
“Just show me your best effort while facing me. That’s all.”
A person’s true limits only reveal themselves when pushed to the extreme. In other words, I was offering to become that very limit for them.
“You all seem rather reluctant, so I’ll give you one clear condition. I will face you without moving my feet. Your goal is to force me to take even a single step.”
The moment those words left my lips, the eyes of every applicant changed. So they really are martial artists after all. The mere mention of fighting without me taking a single step had turned their gazes fierce.
“The teams will be decided by lottery. Harin?”
“Yes!”
Harin, who had been waiting on one side of the training ground, hurried over with a paper box and stood beside me.
“Everyone, form a line.”
Draw your team assignment from the box.
The Heavenly Demon will face each team without moving her feet.
Objective: Force her to take even one step.
Park Yeon, who had died during the brawl beneath Hakigi Pavilion but caught Hwaryeong’s eye and earned a spot in the next test, swallowed hard as he looked at the people lining up. There wasn’t a single weakling among them. No matter where he looked, everyone was either strong or even stronger. Even though Park Yeon proudly considered himself a top-tier player within Hwaryong Muin, here he could only shrink back.
Can I really show something better than these people and pass?
He simply couldn’t be sure. That was why he desperately prayed to be placed in a team made up of only the weak. He believed it would be far more realistic to go all-out in a weak team than to be thrown into a strong one and forced to fight monsters. Especially that one team—the one currently bickering right in front of the Heavenly Demon, the one with Naseol and Siyugeom. He absolutely did not want to end up there.
“Naseol-nim! You said you’d get revenge, right?!”
“It’s better for one of us to die than both of us, isn’t it?”
“What?!”
“Can you two please calm down? The test is still in progress, you know?”
Naseol, whose pure specs placed her among the top fingers in Hwaryong Muin, and Siyugeom, who had become an executive in the player Murim Alliance through pure martial skill. Park Yeon had zero confidence that he could display better martial prowess than either of them. That team was literally a death squad.
“Murim Choegang-nim, you can head over to that noisy group over there.”
“...Really? You’re not doing this because I called you ahjumma, right?”
“I don’t joke about things like this, so hurry up and go.”
And then Han Min-jun, the representative of the Hwasan players, got dragged into that death squad as well.
No. Not that team. If I end up there, I won’t even reach Hwaryeong-nim—I’ll get crushed by those monsters first.
Perhaps his desperate prayer to avoid that group had been answered. Right before Park Yeon’s turn to draw, one of the two remaining empty spots in Naseol’s team was filled. Only one spot left in that cursed group. And there were still over a dozen papers left in the box. The odds of him ending up in Naseol’s team looked infinitesimally small.
“Park Yeon-nim, do you realize your hands are shaking?”
“...Are they?”
“You really want to avoid that team, don’t you?”
Harin, holding the lottery box, gestured with her eyes toward the area where the Heavenly Demon stood. Thanks to Han Min-jun joining them, the commotion over there had only grown louder.
“Of course I do. Getting put in there is basically an instant elimination.”
“There’s no way you’d draw that team out of all these papers, right? Just relax and pick one.”
“You think so?”
Encouraged by Harin’s words, Park Yeon reached into the box and drew a slip of paper. The characters written on it read…
Park Yeon closed his eyes, opened them again, folded the paper, and unfolded it once more. Reality refused to change. The god of probability had spoken to him clearly: there was no need to calculate fine percentages. The world only offered two choices—yes or no.
*
“Now that the teams have been decided, you will have one hour to discuss strategy. Do your best to come up with the optimal plan.”
Thankfully—or perhaps not—Naseol and Siyugeom only growled at each other without actually coming to blows. Neither seemed to want to fail the test just yet. Even so, the atmosphere remained icy cold. The five people gathered in one spot simply eyed each other warily, and no one spoke first.
In that heavy silence reminiscent of students trying to avoid becoming group leader for a group project, the first to speak was Han Min-jun. As the representative of Hwasan, he had plenty of experience leading people. He simply couldn’t endure this kind of atmosphere without stepping up.
“Since we all roughly know each other already, let’s skip the introductions and get straight to the point.”
Everyone nodded at Han Min-jun’s words. The people present here had frequently stood on the front lines. Whether as enemies or allies, they had fought far too many times not to at least remember each other’s faces.
“To put it bluntly, I believe we should completely discard the idea of beating Hwaryeong-nim. Do you all agree?”
Park Yeon nodded in agreement with Han Min-jun’s statement. How could anyone defeat the person who had sent that monstrous former Hwasan sect leader flying while only in First-class? The other Hwasan players seemed to think the same and nodded readily, but Siyugeom cut in.
“You’re all giving up that easily?”
“Siyugeom-nim, have you not watched Hwaryeong-nim’s videos?”
“I have. I know she’s absurdly strong. But everyone here is strong too, aren’t they? If all five of us coordinate an attack, there might be at least a small chance—”
“Siyugeom-nim. Last time, more than a dozen Hwasan players tried coordinating an attack against Hwaryeong-nim, you know?”
It had technically been framed as a spar, but the Hwasan players’ mindset had been anything but casual. Even if they had started lightly, after being sent rolling across the floor several times by Hwaryeong, the now thoroughly poisoned Hwasan disciples had attacked her with everything they had.
“They didn’t succeed even once.”
The result had been a complete rout. The coordinated attacks that the Hwasan players practiced endlessly and honed in real combat had failed to touch Hwaryeong at all.
“So do you really think five people whose coordination isn’t even synced, throwing together a last-minute strategy, will change the outcome?”
At a loss for words, Siyugeom turned his gaze toward Naseol as if asking for her opinion. However, Naseol’s attention wasn’t here at all. From the very beginning, she had been staring somewhere else. Her entire focus was locked onto the Heavenly Demon in the distance, who was currently stroking Baru in her fox form.
Siyugeom frowned at the sight, then slapped Naseol on the back with his palm.
“Hwaak!”
“Pay attention. We’re making a strategy here.”
Naseol turned her head with a pout that clearly said ‘couldn’t you have just used words?’ only to meet the gazes of the other four staring at her. She tilted her head in confusion.
“What were we talking about again?”
“Whether it’s possible to beat Hwaryeong.”
“Hwaryeong-nim.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s Hwaryeong-nim.”
The slightly sloppy tone she usually had was gone. Naseol’s voice had become razor sharp. Siyugeom, flustered, rubbed his neck and corrected himself.
“We were discussing whether it’s possible to defeat Hwaryeong-nim.”
The moment Siyugeom added the honorific, Naseol’s expression softened again. Watching the change from the side, Park Yeon felt a chill run down his spine. Anyone would feel the same watching someone who had looked ready to bite their head off just moments ago suddenly break into a bright, sunny smile.
“We can’t win. How could people like us possibly defeat Hwaryeong-nim?”
“Is it really that hopeless?”
“Even if we ignore her time in Apis, she received recognition from the Sword Immortal during the tutorial, and she’s the one who defeated the previous Hwasan sect leader while he was buffed by the Blood Cult’s sorcery in a First-class body. And that’s not even all of it.”
What Naseol listed were pure, unexaggerated facts. And she had only mentioned the big ones. The list of accomplishments in her memory was far longer.
“I understand. So it’s impossible.”
Siyugeom cut off Naseol, who had been excitedly trying to explain further. Naseol’s face stiffened, but this time Siyugeom didn’t bother reacting.
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“We just need to make her move her feet. Let’s aim for that.”
“That’s all?”
“What do you mean ‘that’s all’? Most people can’t even manage that much. I’m not even sure if we can pull it off.”
Siyugeom, who had only watched a few of the Heavenly Demon’s famous videos, found it hard to understand why the other four were nodding in agreement, but he chose not to press the issue.
“For now, let’s list out the facts. The martial arts that Hwaryeong-nim uses—”
“Would it be alright if I explain about Hwaryeong-nim?”
Naseol interrupted Han Min-jun’s suggestion to assess the situation before building a strategy.
“Go ahead.”
“I believe it’s impossible to pin down the martial arts Hwaryeong-nim uses. Just counting the different ones she has displayed so far, there are already dozens. It would be best to abandon any idea of countering her through compatibility.”
When devising a strategy against a martial artist, the basics usually involved targeting the weaknesses in the techniques they used. However, that premise became meaningless when the opponent was the Heavenly Demon. With dozens of different martial arts shown on her streams alone, the concept of compatibility simply didn’t exist for her.
“Her reflexes are so absurdly good that looking for openings is nearly impossible. She also has a deep understanding of strategy and tactics, so any clumsy plan will just get read. And her Qi Sense is overwhelmingly powerful, so hidden daggers would be useless too.”
“But her body is still only First-class, right? What if we force her to waste her internal energy?”
“You think that’ll work? Don’t forget she defeated the previous Hwasan sect leader even in a First-class body.”
After that, the group brought up various potential weaknesses, but the conclusion was always the same. Hwaryeong had no weaknesses. There were no gaps to exploit, so they were forced into a head-on battle of pure skill.
Park Yeon thought that if the Heavenly Demon were a raid boss in a game, that game would be doomed to fail. Normal raid bosses might look perfect, but they always had clear weaknesses or strategies that allowed players to defeat them with enough time. But this raid boss called Hwaryeong had no strategy. The only way to win was to purely possess greater skill than her.
“We’re screwed.”
After a long meeting that ended with the conclusion that there was no solution, the mood sank heavily. Strangely, however, Naseol looked almost happy. It was as if she took pride in the fact that Hwaryeong was so incredible.
“Who is first? Come forward.”
At some point an hour had passed, and the Heavenly Demon now stood in the center of the Hwasan training ground. The moment she called for the first team, one group of players flinched. They trudged forward like condemned prisoners and took their positions opposite her.
“Have you prepared a strategy?”
“More or less.”
“I look forward to it. Come.”
The first team consisted entirely of Hwasan players. They were so familiar with each other that they didn’t even need to worry about coordination. The strategy they chose was simple: all of them charging at once.
The moment the Heavenly Demon gave the signal to begin, they deployed a Hwasan formation. Five people becoming one to launch a unified assault. Five sword techniques executed simultaneously with zero margin for error—it looked as though they were trying to force their opponent to bleed.
“Crazy.”
Yet the Heavenly Demon handled the pouring sword strikes with ridiculous ease. She had merely flicked her left hand lightly, and the Hwasan formation was already broken. The way she moved her body the instant before the swords even reached their intended positions made one wonder if she could see the future.
“I said this last time as well, but you have a habit of getting impatient when your attacks don’t land. Calm yourself.”
“Oh. You’ve improved quite a bit at moving your feet. Continue training like this.”
“You there—I don’t think I’ve seen you before. You have a habit of putting too much strength in your hand when swinging your sword. Fix that first.”
The Heavenly Demon was so relaxed that while facing all five Hwasan disciples, she gave each of them individual advice. The more she did so, the fiercer their attacks became, but she never once lost her composure.
About twenty minutes later, the Hwasan players’ concentration finally began to waver. Holes started appearing in their once-tight coordination, and the gears of their formation began to grind. The Heavenly Demon watched quietly for a moment, then finally launched her first attack.
The back of her hand brushed against one Hwasan player’s chin. It looked like nothing more than a light touch, but the result it brought was anything but light. The Hwasan player collapsed forward on the spot.
One strike. It was a single strike.
The situation was no different for the other Hwasan players. Not a single one lasted more than two moves under her assault. Every one of them crumbled after failing to withstand a single, perfectly timed strike aimed at their exact opening.
After dealing with the first group of applicants, the Heavenly Demon looked down at the fallen figures with a slightly regretful gaze before speaking.
“Next.”
The faces of those who had become the second team were now etched with clear tension.