Chapter 44
Chapter 44
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Leaving the Murim Alliance
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Stop...!”
The elder of the Zhongnan Sect, roaring in fury, charged at Se Yeong.
He had been about to unleash the Heavenly Thirty-Six Swords when a corpse hurtled toward him, forcing him to twist his body aside to evade it.
The identity of that corpse was a Zhongnan Sect disciple with a gaping hole pierced through his chest.
‘How can someone be so brutally ruthless?’
Huff.
As he dodged the corpse and shifted his stance, a pitch-black iron rod came flying at him from the front.
The elder swallowed a gasp and used his footwork to evade the rod, then swung his sword up toward Se Yeong's armpit.
But before the blade could even touch flesh, the rod abruptly changed direction and speared straight through his throat.
Thud...!
Gurk... Hack...!
Blood erupted from his throat and mouth, his eyes rolled back, and the elder's body convulsed as it crumpled to the ground.
“Elder...!”
“Elder...!”
The Zhongnan Sect disciples who had witnessed the elder's death wailed in grief.
Splat...!
The iron rod pierced the mouth of one howling disciple.
As the disciple's teeth shattered and the back of his skull exploded, his body began to topple—just as Se Yeong grabbed him by the collar and hurled him toward the Emei Sect disciples.
The Emei disciples reflexively reached out to catch the incoming corpse.
Thud...!
In that instant, the iron rod punched through the corpse and straight into an Emei disciple's chest.
“You... you... ruthless bastard.”
To take a living person's life using a corpse as a shield—who in the world could be more savage than that?
The young disciples and clan members stared at Se Yeong with eyes filled with terror.
Boom...!
Se Yeong deflected the Iron Thread Fairy's sword and laughed.
Heh heh heh heh...
It was all wrong.
Everything had gone completely wrong.
Se Yeong's monstrous martial arts were so overwhelming they couldn't even register in his eyes.
‘Damn it. If you slaughter the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families like this, what the hell are we supposed to do now?’
Just moments ago, the Strategist hadn't been able to abandon Se Yeong.
If they had inflicted minor injuries on one or two as a warning and escaped, there might have been a chance to return later.
But now, dozens of disciples and clan members had been brutally slain, and even an elder was dead. It was all over.
Han Se Yeong had now made enemies of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families as a whole.
As despair enveloped the Strategist, a voice suddenly spoke from beside him.
“What a formidable fellow.”
Startled, the Strategist whipped his head around.
There stood the imposing Alliance Leader, gazing down at Se Yeong with cold, piercing eyes.
“When did you arrive?”
“Just now. I figured I had to step in myself before the sacrifices mounted further.”
The Alliance Leader gently gripped the Demon Lord's Sword, which was wailing mournfully.
‘Once it tastes Han Se Yeong's blood, you'll calm down too.’
“You're stepping in personally, Alliance Leader?”
“I have to, don't I? Do you still have lingering attachments to that monster?”
At the Alliance Leader's question, the Strategist turned his gaze back to the battlefield.
Blood sprayed wherever Se Yeong's iron rod struck.
Kraaah...!
Aaagh...!
Hearing their pitiful screams, the Strategist shook his head.
“No.”
Se Yeong had already crossed a river he could never return from.
With that, the Alliance Leader prepared to launch himself from the ramparts.
Hmm...?
But he halted his movement and stared at the dense crowd of spectators in the distance.
It was an incredibly faint presence, yet it made even his hair stand on end.
“......Who are you?”
In all his time roaming the martial world, he'd never felt such an aura before.
“What... do you mean, Alliance Leader?”
The Strategist turned to look at him.
But the Alliance Leader's eyes were wide, fixed intently on the distance.
It was the first time the Strategist had seen him like this.
Didn't he look... tense?
‘The Alliance Leader...? No way...’
Whoosh...
As that doubt arose, the Alliance Leader's form scattered like smoke.
The Strategist hurriedly scanned the battlefield.
But the Alliance Leader was nowhere to be seen.
Splat...!
A Moyong Family clan member's head exploded.
Shing...
And in that moment, the Iron Thread Fairy's sword sliced Se Yeong's body into pieces.
As his afterimage shattered into fragments, her blade cleaved through another space.
Swoosh...
Two clumps of sword energy shot forth as her sword rent the air.
It was Sword Bullet Energy, a technique only those who had stepped into the absolute realm could manifest.
Splat...!
Kraaah...!
The two streams of Sword Bullet Energy passed through Se Yeong's afterimage and tore open a Moyong Family clan member's chest.
The Iron Thread Fairy was undoubtedly one of the top masters in the martial world.
Yet in a battlefield swarming with allies on all sides, unleashing Sword Bullet Energy was nothing more than a flashy display of her skills.
“Wonhyeong-ah...!”
The Moyong Family elder cried out the clan member's name in anguish.
That clan member, slain by the Sword Bullet Energy, had been a master the family had placed great hopes on.
“You bastard! Die!”
Her sword pierced Se Yeong's throat and chest, then severed his limbs.
It was the tenth form of the Cleaving Flash Sword, Wind Erosion.
Boom...!
Sword energy clashed against rod energy, sending shockwaves rippling through the air and distorting space itself.
Blinded by vengeance, she poured every ounce of her inner energy into the strike.
But in a battlefield where life and death hung by split seconds, it was fatal.
Following the Moyong elder, the Iron Thread Fairy's sword unleashed the Tempest Wind Sword Technique.
Boom boom boom...!
The moment Se Yeong parried her blade, the Moyong elder unleashed Wind Erosion once more.
In that instant, Se Yeong's foot pushed off the ground.
“Die...!”
Swoosh...
Wind Erosion tore through Se Yeong's entire body.
Splat...!
The iron rod pierced the elder's side.
Yet he didn't even realize his flank had been impaled.
As he staggered, trying to unleash another sword form, the rod smashed into his head.
Splat...!
His skull burst open, and his sword-wielding body flopped limply backward.
“Oppa...!”
The elder and the Iron Thread Fairy had been as close as blood siblings in their clan.
That was why she had rushed over personally with her clan members the moment she received his letter.
Splat...!
Even amid her screams, Se Yeong's iron rod never ceased its motion.
Kraaah...!
Gurk...!
The battlefield was shrouded in a red mist of spraying and scattering blood.
Of the over 150 warriors, barely 40 remained.
“What are you waiting for? Kill him...!”
The Iron Thread Fairy screamed at the Murim Alliance warriors.
Her bloodshot eyes burned with hatred for Se Yeong and unyielding determination to kill him.
“Crazy bitch...”
Splat...!
After piercing a warrior's head, Se Yeong propelled himself toward the Iron Thread Fairy.
He had to eliminate her before the Murim Alliance warriors could join in.
Boom...!
As the iron rod flew in, the Iron Thread Fairy's sword unleashed a brilliant cascade of sword energy.
‘No choice but to resort to a shallow trick...’
Se Yeong flew backward as if overwhelmed by the impact.
At the same instant, swords from the Moyong Family clan members stabbed into him from all sides.
Clang clang clang...!
He swung the rod to deflect their blades, but the Iron Thread Fairy's sword plunged into his back.
Boom...!
The moment sword energy met rod energy, the rod was repelled, unable to withstand the force.
Ah...
It was but a fleeting instant, yet the Iron Thread Fairy couldn't contain her joy.
For a warrior to lose his weapon meant death.
In the end, this bastard had merely been a sacrificial offering to elevate her fame.
Swoosh...
She thrust her sword toward Se Yeong's throat.
In that moment, a flash of sword light gleamed from Se Yeong's waist, and searing pain shot through her own midsection.
‘How...?’
The Iron Thread Fairy stared at Se Yeong's dissipating afterimage, then looked down at her waist.
Splat...
Her abdomen split open, blood gushed out, and her entrails spilled forth.
“Ah... urk...”
The Iron Thread Fairy raised her head, searching for Se Yeong.
Slash... Slash...
Thud... Thud...
With every flash of sword light, warriors' heads rolled, and limbs were severed.
Aaagh...!
Kreurgh...!
‘The sword... at his waist... I forgot all about it.’
Se Yeong had never displayed any swordsmanship before the people of the martial world.
Because of that, they had all assumed he only practiced rod techniques.
The Iron Thread Fairy collapsed to the ground like a crumbling heap.
Thud...
She tried not to bend her knees, but they buckled on their own; she tried to put strength in her legs, but her body wouldn't obey.
She didn't want to die like this.
Uwaaaah...!
Her desperate refusal to die echoed across the battlefield as a scream.
“Master...!”
“Elder...!”
The surviving Emei Sect disciples and Moyong Family clan members wailed.
“Keep coming.”
Se Yeong raised his sword, dripping blood, toward them.
Yet not a single survivor dared to move first.
Heh heh heh heh...
Se Yeong laughed as he approached the Iron Thread Fairy.
Slash.
With a casual swing, he severed her head without hesitation.
Thud... Roll...
Her head tumbled away, and her body pitched forward.
The survivors squeezed their eyes shut tight.
“Anyone who wants to kill me, come find me anytime.”
Se Yeong raised his sword in warning to them, then turned away.
“Let's go.”
“Hyung-nim. You should get those injuries treated right away.”
As Paeng Se Gi said, Se Yeong was far from unscathed.
His black uniform was torn open, blood flowing from wounds all over.
“Leaving this place comes first.”
Se Yeong was on guard against the Alliance Leader right now.
If he were in charge of the Murim Alliance, he wouldn't let someone who massacred so many warriors just walk away.
“Let's move.”
As Squad Leader Gang took the lead, the squad members dragged their heavy feet forward.
Murim Alliance warriors were at a loss as Se Yeong strode ahead.
“Make way.”
Under Se Yeong's chilling killing intent, they hesitated and fell back.
But they still weren't clearing a path.
Se Yeong raised his iron rod.
As he did, Paeng Se Gi drew his saber too.
“Clear the path!”
At that moment, the Jegal Strategist walked over from the Murim Alliance entrance and issued the order.
The Heavenly Martial Squad members parted to the sides, clearing a way, and the gathered spectators did the same.
With the Alliance's losses already mounting, they had no choice but to let Han Se Yeong go for now.
“My thanks, Strategist.”
Se Yeong bowed his head toward the Strategist and proceeded down the path cleared by the warriors.
Among the warriors lining both sides was Namgung Seok.
“Someday, I'll come for you, Han Se Yeong.”
Namgung Seok had hesitated multiple times, wanting to charge into the battlefield.
But fear of death had kept his body from moving.
Only now did he realize he had been a frog in a well.
“Do as you like.”
Se Yeong brushed off his words lightly.
“Om mani padme hum.”
Yeonggak, walking along, clasped his hands together toward the scattered corpses on all sides and bowed at the waist.
“May you be reborn in paradise...”
In the midst of it all, Sa Sa Un still hadn't decided how to proceed.
‘What should I do? What...?’
The mood suggested he should stick with Se Yeong, but leaving the Murim Alliance was worse than death.
Then, his eyes met those of the surviving warriors.
‘Oh no... shit...’
They radiated killing intent like they wanted to devour him on the spot.
‘I haven't even packed my things...’
All Sa Sa Un had on him now was a single sword and his money pouch.
He wanted to return to his quarters and pack, but if he did, he'd never make it out alive—they'd have his head first.
In the end, he quickened his pace to catch up with the Tenth Squad members.
“I'll... go with you too.”