Chapter 147: So-yu VS Cheong-yeon-2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 147: So-yu VS Cheong-yeon-2
The two women stared at each other without taking any particular stance.
"Is In-ho... okay?"
The blue-haired woman asked the question while looking at the woman radiating a murderous aura before her.
Perhaps it was because the question felt so absurd, but the black-haired woman let out a hollow laugh.
"Why are you asking that?"
So-yu suppressed the urge to lung at Cheong-yeon immediately.
"Cheong-yeon, there was definitely an easier way."
Even though it was a match where deadly moves were restricted, it wasn't as if Cheong-yeon could only have suppressed In-ho with the technique she used the day before yesterday.
In fact, Cheong-yeon could have subdued In-ho much more easily. For instance, if she had simply taken his back and struck his neck with the edge of her hand, he would have been knocked unconscious.
But Cheong-yeon hadn't done that.
Instead, she had hit In-ho at point-blank range with a technique that could be called the very essence of the Ice Wheel Art.
So-yu ground her teeth as she recalled the image of her disciple, shivering uncontrollably even while unconscious from the hypothermia.
"I'm sorry."
At So-yu’s growl, Cheong-yeon averted her gaze and offered an apology.
"...But you know as well as I do. It was unavoidable."
When Cheong-yeon looked back at So-yu and spoke, So-yu faltered for a moment.
"Right, unavoidable."
Namgung So-yu muttered self-mockingly.
"Still... no matter if it was a sparring match, I cannot forgive the fact that you harmed a disciple of the Flame Wheel Art."
Cheong-yeon watched her with a sullen expression before raising her hand and asking, "So-yu, are you... angry because your disciple was hurt? Or are you angry because a disciple of the Flame Wheel Art was hurt?"
"What?"
So-yu hesitated at the unexpected question.
Even as So-yu’s composure wavered, Cheong-yeon continued.
"If you're angry because a disciple of the Flame Wheel Art was hurt... then I have no choice but to take In-ho away from you."
"What? Take him away?"
So-yu flared up at Cheong-yeon’s provocative words.
"How? By what means?"
"By whatever means necessary."
"Why? Why are you showing interest in someone who has nothing to do with you?"
"Now, get ready!"
The referee’s voice rang out across the arena.
"The Ice Wheel Art was created to help people. Therefore, it is only natural to save someone who doesn't even realize they are standing in the jaws of death."
The phrase 'jaws of death' echoed in So-yu’s ears.
Namgung So-yu took her stance.
"You’d better take responsibility for those words. I’m quite furious right now."
"Do you think I'll go down easily?"
"Your master was the same, and so were you. The Ice Wheel Art has never once defeated the Flame Wheel Art."
Hazy waves of heat began to shimmer and rise from Namgung So-yu’s shoulders.
"My master told me that if you only dwell on the records of the past, you can never grow."
Cheong-yeon followed suit and took her stance.
The spirits of the two young experts clashed in midair without yielding an inch.
Even before the match began, the energy surging from them made the very atmosphere vibrate.
"Then! Begin!!"
At the referee’s signal, So-yu and Cheong-yeon poured out the internal energy stored in their dantians without reservation.
The first move came from the Flame Wheel Art.
As So-yu stomped her foot hard, flames erupted around her.
The fire gradually expanded its territory, spreading across the arena. Behind So-yu, a wall of fire had already been erected, so hot that an ordinary person wouldn't even be able to approach it.
At this rate, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the entire arena would be engulfed in flames.
However, Cheong-yeon did not back down.
Starting from her shadow cast by the sun, the same brutal cold that had frozen In-ho rapidly covered the floor.
A thin layer of frost spread behind Cheong-yeon, eventually replaced by thick ice.
There was only one neutral zone left in the arena filled with fire and ice.
The front line where the two energies collided, directly between So-yu and Cheong-yeon.
As the heat and cold mixed, the air expanded abnormally.
Wind continued to gather from the spectator stands toward the arena.
With her hair fluttering in the wind, Namgung So-yu stomped her foot once more.
With a massive explosion, her body shot forward like an arrow.
With a short shout, So-yu thrust her fist toward Cheong-yeon.
Naturally, her fist was shrouded in deep crimson flames.
Cheong-yeon pulled her right foot back and clawed at the air with her left hand.
Ice particles created from her hand rapidly coalesced, forming a smooth sheet of ice.
With the ice sheet between them, Cheong-yeon and So-yu faced off.
"With a mere sheet of ice!!"
One might have expected her to slow down before the ice, but So-yu instead stomped again, increasing her speed.
The moment her fist touched the ice, the cold surged up, threatening to freeze her hand, but the heat she radiated instantly pierced through and shattered the ice sheet.
"Tch!"
Cheong-yeon’s body, which should have been on the other side of the ice, had already vanished. So-yu clicked her tongue and turned her head.
Cheong-yeon was sliding across the ice, widening the distance.
Before she knew it, Cheong-yeon was circling behind So-yu; wherever she passed, So-yu’s flames vanished, replaced by the ice she created.
So-yu took a breath and stomped. This time, flames flared up where the ice had been.
It was a situation like a game of Othello, each devouring the other's territory.
So-yu bent her legs and then sprang, soaring into the air.
An explosion occurred at her feet in midair, propelling her straight down toward Cheong-yeon.
Cheong-yeon moved her legs to dodge, but she flinched as her path was momentarily blocked by the fireballs So-yu emitted as she fell.
In that split second.
So-yu’s right arm struck Cheong-yeon directly. Unable to form an ice barrier in time, Cheong-yeon crossed her arms in an 'X' to block the attack.
Sizzle—
Along with the smell of something burning, Cheong-yeon was sent flying backward.
"Waaaaaaaah!!!"
Cheers erupted from the stands, shaking the surroundings.
Though she could have looked around at the praise directed entirely at her, So-yu’s eyes remained fixed solely on Cheong-yeon.
"Ugh...."
Cheong-yeon, having performed emergency treatment on her glowing red arms with ice, scrambled to her feet.
"...Get up."
So-yu waited for Cheong-yeon to regain her stance.
"Ice Mirror."
As Cheong-yeon reached out her hand, thin barriers of ice began to fall from the sky.
So-yu started smashing the randomly falling ice walls, but as their numbers grew, she gave up on blocking and put some distance between herself and Cheong-yeon.
Before long, layers of ice barriers were erected around Cheong-yeon.
Surrounded by the ice walls, Cheong-yeon overlapped with the image of a general holding out in an impregnable fortress.
"With just that!"
Flames flared at So-yu’s legs, and she lunged forward again.
Leaping briefly into the air, So-yu spun her body and delivered a kick to the ice barrier.
CRACK-BOOM!
The sound of something massive collapsing rang out.
Starting from the point where So-yu’s kick landed, the ice barrier began to shatter into pieces.
The kick continued to break through the barriers, and soon she was approaching Cheong-yeon without losing any speed.
The barriers left to break before the kick reached Cheong-yeon were...
Only two.
Bang!
So-yu’s foot, having destroyed another barrier, came to a dead stop before the final one.
"!!!!"
The water that had melted and flowed down her leg rapidly froze, pinning So-yu’s leg in place.
Even though her leg was shrouded in flames, the cold began to travel up her leg and into her body.
"Got... you."
As if she hadn't fully recovered from the previous damage, Cheong-yeon muttered with difficulty.
"Waaaaaaaah!!!"
This time, the cheers were for Cheong-yeon.
Everyone marveled at her wisdom in blocking the aggressive Flame Wheel Art attack with such a mysterious stratagem.
The roar of the crowd echoed in the two women's ears.
"Do you hear that?"
So-yu gestured toward the spectator stands with her chin.
"......"
Cheong-yeon panted heavily as she looked at Namgung So-yu.
"They seem to think you actually blocked me."
With a smirk, Namgung So-yu ignited flames on her other leg.
Using the leg fixed in ice as a pivot, she unleashed a kick.
CRACK! CR-CR-CRACK!!!
As So-yu’s front kick connected, Cheong-yeon’s fortress, which had seemed so solid, began to crumble.
Simultaneously, So-yu’s trapped leg was freed, and she did not miss the opportunity.
Pulling her recovered leg back, So-yu pressed her palms together.
The gesture resembled a hand motion from a variety show that had been loved in Korea for a long time.
Whoooooosh—
She took a deep breath.
Flames began to flicker at the point where her palms met.
Through the fragments of the collapsing ice barriers, Namgung So-yu thrust her palms forward.
Cheong-yeon tried to weave the surrounding ice walls to divert the path of the strike, but it was not enough to stop that bull-like charge.
Boom!
The first impact.
Her palms slammed into Cheong-yeon’s abdomen.
And then.
Fwoosh!
The second impact overwhelmed Cheong-yeon.
So-yu’s internal energy exploded from her palms, sending Cheong-yeon flying.
Blown clear out of the arena, Cheong-yeon crashed straight into the spectator stands.