The Pinnacle of Martial Arts (7)
"Urgh, ughhh! Y-you're too fast! It's way too fast!"
"You can't even handle this much?"
Myeong-yun raced forward at 900 kilometers per hour with Jeok-wol clinging to his back. She was gripping his waist so tightly it seemed sitting in a chair would have been difficult enough for her.
Using the momentum, Myeong-yun rode up the sheer walls of buildings, practically flying toward the location of the Saro Heavenly Lord.
The Saro Heavenly Lord resided on the top floor of Sacheonru—one of the tallest towers in Sleepless City.
"The Saro Heavenly Lord is on the highest floor of Sacheonru, yes?"
"Y-yes! But to reach the top floor, we will have to break through his guards first...?!"
"There is no need for that."
It was obvious that fighting his way up from the bottom floors would be a tedious affair. Even though Sacheonru had come into view, Myeong-yun did not reduce his speed in the slightest.
Realizing what he intended to do, Jeok-wol tightened her grip around his waist and screamed.
"S-stop! Stop right now! Stop, I said!"
"This Seat does not listen to the words of those weaker than This Seat."
The speed of the Myeongwangryong surged even higher. As if declaring that this was nowhere near its limit, the motorcycle surpassed 900 kilometers per hour and reached 1,000.
Just as viewers began wondering how Myeong-yun was even controlling the vehicle, he yanked the handlebars upward sharply. The Myeongwangryong shot into the air.
With Jeok-wol still on his back, Myeong-yun rode straight up the vertical face of Sacheonru.
Riding a motorcycle vertically up the side of a towering skyscraper—it was the kind of scene one would only expect to see in movies or anime. The viewers' excitement reached its peak.
Before long, the Myeongwangryong carrying Jeok-wol and Myeong-yun had nearly reached the summit of Sacheonru. They were high enough to take in the entire neon-soaked nightscape of Sleepless City in a single glance.
The cyberpunk panorama reserved only for those who stood at the city's pinnacle filled their vision. Then Myeong-yun and Jeok-wol crested the top of Sacheonru and soared into the open sky.
After racing vertically up the wall at over 1,000 kilometers per hour, they had reached the lofty night sky. In a world where dawn never came, Myeong-yun crossed through the clouds and shrank the Myeongwangryong down, slipping it into his pocket.
"...!"
Startled by the sudden disappearance of the motorcycle, Jeok-wol clung even more desperately to Myeong-yun's waist.
He gently took her hands and pried them from around his midsection before speaking.
"Do not panic. Open your eyes."
"A-are you suggesting we die together?!"
"Would it not be a waste to die on a night when the moon shines so brightly?"
With those gentle words, Myeong-yun coaxed her eyes open and pointed downward with one finger. They were slowly falling. The tip of his finger indicated a window on the top floor of Sacheonru.
"We will enter through there. Break it."
"...Ugh, understood!"
Even so, Jeok-wol was a supreme expert equipped with a Peak Realm inner power storage unit. She focused her mind, spun once gracefully in midair, and extended her long leg.
With a mechanical click, the prosthetic limb revealed a razor-sharp blade at its tip.
"Oh? You employ leg techniques?"
"Heaven-Rending Asura Kick!"
A supreme leg technique that cleaves the heavens themselves, delivered with a blade-tipped prosthetic limb.
Myeong-yun offered a few light criticisms of her technique before following her down.
Jeok-wol's leg shattered the top-floor window in a spectacular explosion of glass. Her landing left a massive crack across the floor as well.
She retracted the sharp blade back into her prosthetic and let out a long breath, straightening her disheveled clothes and hair.
Myeong-yun descended through the hole in the ceiling right after her and landed lightly.
"So this is the Saro Heavenly Lord's residence."
Myeong-yun looked around. The chamber was both desolate and extravagantly luxurious. Expensive treasures lay scattered everywhere, yet their presence only made the room feel emptier. It was as if the owner had filled the space with objects meant solely for his own pleasure, having long forgotten human warmth.
—Beep—!!
A loud alarm blared. In an instant, armed troops appeared from nowhere and surrounded them. Grim-faced warriors wielding mismatched blades radiated sharp killing intent.
"What audacity brings you here! You—are you not the Demonic Cult's Red Sky Demoness?"
"Do you truly believe This Lady came here of her own free will? It is this person who has business with you filthy, rootless, worthless Sapa scum that aren't even fit to be called trash."
"Even if we are of the Sapa, we are still martial artists. Calling us irredeemable, pedigree-less livestock waste... isn't that a bit too harsh?"
"...?"
The atmosphere among the Sapa warriors surrounding them grew murderous, as though they might charge at any second. Yet none dared to attack.
Before them stood the Red Sky Demoness Jeok-wol—one of the top monsters in the Demonic Cult when it came to pure combat strength. Their inner power storage units and martial arts would be useless against her. All they could do was hold their ground until someone capable of facing her arrived.
"When did the Killing King say he would arrive?"
"We still haven't managed to reach him!"
"Killing King? You mean that old Black Heaven Flying Blade bastard? He will not be coming. His inner power hard drive was destroyed and he lost all his martial arts. There is no way he can come."
"...What are you saying?!"
"This person is the one who did it."
Jeok-wol pointed at Myeong-yun behind her.
"He turned that old man and Namgung Seong into half-cripples. This Lady saw it with her own two eyes."
"Nonsense! How could someone without an inner power hard drive possibly... Wait, is it him?! The one who interfered with the Saro Heavenly Lord's business!"
"Hmm? This Seat interfered with your business? I have no memory of such a thing."
"Did you not kill the Strange Bird of the Heavenly Rending Dragon Technique?!"
Only after reading the chat did Myeong-yun seem to remember. He gave a small nod.
"There was one like that. A fellow who left almost no impression. I was more interested in the large man who stood beside him."
"That would likely be Geowan Yeol-kwon, one of the Saro Heavenly Lord's personal guards. He handles the Lord's dirty work alongside the old man."
"At least he knows his place. In any case, summon the Saro Heavenly Lord."
At Myeong-yun's command, the warrior who appeared to be the guard captain broke into a cold sweat but still pointed his blade at him and shouted.
"The Heavenly Lord has not a single second to spare for trash like you!"
"Can you not at least deliver a message? This Seat has come in person, after all."
Neither the leader of the Demonic Cult nor the Saro Heavenly Lord were easy to meet. It was only natural. Both were high-ranking NPCs deeply involved in the game's main story. The system was designed so that players could only encounter them after a certain amount of in-game time had passed.
Ordinary users would have waited many days before meeting them, but Myeong-yun had only just started playing and was trying to force an audience. This was the result.
"My dear children, it seems the so-called leaders are afraid of This Seat. If they faced a true martial artist, their own incompetence would be exposed... so they hide away like cowards."
No one except the development team knew about this system limitation. Therefore Myeong-yun could not understand why it was so difficult to meet the leaders of the major factions.
Letting out a small sigh, he pondered for a moment before speaking.
"It cannot be helped. This Seat shall have no choice but to fold each of your spines one by one until you reveal where the Saro Heavenly Lord is hiding..."
Myeong-yun was growing tired of simply waiting. He had wandered Sleepless City in search of experts, never imagining that the so-called greatest masters were all severe hikikomori who refused to leave their homes.
When dealing with extreme shut-ins, the only solution was to smash down the house itself.
"Jeok-wol, sweep them all away."
"...Are you ordering This Lady around?"
"This Seat could always start by folding your spine first."
At those words, the hierarchy seemed to finally settle. Jeok-wol quietly lifted the hem of her clothing. From her pale legs, razor-sharp blades emerged, radiating a chilling aura of death.
It was a sight both beautiful and terrifying no matter how many times one saw it.
"This Lady will make you pay the full price for using her however you please."
"Very well. If you wish, This Seat shall teach you new martial arts. Of course, the techniques and inner power storage you currently use will be destroyed."
"...C-could you at least spare the inner power hard drive? It was extremely difficult to obtain and very precious..."
"A demon of This Cult should not rely on such mere tools."
"Tsk...! Here I come! You worthless Sapa scum, witness This Lady's martial arts!"
As she charged toward the Sapa warriors, one viewer typed: