Even If I Become a Murderer
Splat!
Drip. Drip.
"Damn it…"
Baek Do-ha, drenched head to toe in blood, furrowed his brow.
If these bastards were going to die, they could at least die cleanly. Instead they thrashed about at the very end.
"Y-You… Baek Do-ha!"
Cheolsangi, an elder of the Blood Cult, glared at Baek Do-ha and trembled.
The man had cut down the Twin Blood Demons in a single breath and was already carving through thousands of Blood Cultists.
"Cheolsangi. Long time no see. How's that one remaining eye treating you? Gotten used to it yet?"
Do-ha looked at Cheolsangi and offered a thin, cold smile.
In the past, every time he struck the Blood Cult, Cheolsangi had fought to the bitter end and thrown himself at him. And every time, Do-ha had taken a piece of the man's body.
The first meeting: the right hand.
The next: the left foot.
The last time: he had plucked out the right eyeball.
"I'll let you off this once, so how about you just leave? Lose another body part and you'll have to step down from that precious elder seat of yours."
"What the hell… what the hell did we ever do to you that you keep coming back to attack us?!"
"What did you do wrong? Wow. You've got some nerve… Have you forgotten everything you bastards have done all this time?"
They slaughtered and used people like livestock, and still had the gall to ask what they had done wrong? He said it so brazenly that for a moment Do-ha was almost speechless.
And after crawling into bed with the Demon God Cult, they still played the victims.
"The Moorim will only be clean once scum like you are all dead."
"Shut your mouth! You murdering bastard!"
"Murderer?"
"That's right! Look at yourself!"
Cheolsangi jabbed a finger at Do-ha.
Covered in crimson blood from head to toe, wearing a grotesque smile. Anyone who happened to pass by would take one look at Baek Do-ha and call him a murderer.
"Most of the Blood Cultists you killed were someone's child, someone's parent, someone's sibling!"
"So what."
"…What?"
When Do-ha answered so flatly, it was Cheolsangi who looked shaken. He had expected the words to rattle the man. Instead Do-ha stood there completely unfazed.
"So what if they were someone's child, parent, or sibling. They're still Blood Cultists. Don't tell me you're about to spout some bullshit about how even enemies have their own sad little stories?"
"…"
"Did I look like some champion of justice? Some hero?"
Shiiing.
Eyes gleaming, Do-ha raised his sword once more.
"You've met me plenty of times, yet you seem to be under a massive delusion… Anyone who stands against me dies. No exceptions. No matter who they are."
Woooooooooom!
As those emotionless words left his mouth, an immense aura began to surge up from Do-ha's body.
"Murderer, huh… Fine. If it means I can kill every last one of you bastards, becoming a murderer wouldn't be so bad."
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique — Twelfth Form
Advancing Calamity Heaven Sword
Shhhhhhhhhhk!
Hundreds of Formless Swords began to take shape in the sky above.
Why am I thinking of those bald monks' saying at a time like this?
If I don't go to hell, who will?
For a moment, the words of the Shaolin Temple monks circled through his mind.
"E-Everyone—don't try to block it! Dodge!!!"
The moment Cheolsangi saw the Advancing Calamity Heaven Sword, he screamed at everyone around him.
The Formless Swords hanging in the air were not something you could block. Try to defend and your body would be punched clean through, or your limbs would simply be sheared off.
"That's right. Keep thrashing. Like the insects you are."
Whoooooosh!
As Do-ha moved, the Formless Swords scattered in every direction and began tearing through the entire Blood Cult.
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique — First Form
Blood Cloud
Hwoook!
Chajajajajajajajak.
BOOOOM!
The moment Blood Cloud unfurled, every enemy and every building along a straight line shattered into hundreds of pieces.
"Ugh… Aaaagh!"
At last Cheolsangi, who had done nothing but bark orders, screamed and fled.
This place held more than Blood Cultists. There were Demon God Cult members here, and Demonic Cult disciples as well. But they were useless. Worse—because they did not know the Blood Cult's formations, they only got in the way. And Baek Do-ha was not a man to miss an opportunity like that.
Damn it! Siege weapons are worthless, and even with the cultists and Demonic Cult bastards here, none of them are worth a damn!
He had thought this time would be different. Unlike the past, he had believed they could finally stand against Baek Do-ha if the man came calling.
He had been wrong.
That thing was not human.
Word had spread that Do-ha had lost his power after fighting the Demon God, and Cheolsangi had thought this was their chance. It was not.
Sssk.
"Hey, Cheolsangi. Don't you feel even a little pity for all the Blood Cultists who died following your orders?"
Ice Rink
Zwaaaang!
Slip!
"Aaagh!"
Crash!
Cheolsangi, fleeing with his back turned, stepped onto the ice sheet that had formed beneath his feet and went down hard. His left foot had been cut off by Baek Do-ha long ago; he wore a prosthetic. With that, keeping his balance was nearly impossible.
"Even a worm like you thrashes to stay alive."
"You bastard…!"
Sssk.
As Do-ha closed in, Cheolsangi shoved a hand into his robes. But Do-ha was faster.
Finger Flick Technique
Thwung!
Whoooooosh!
Thud-thud-thud.
"Wh-What the—?!"
The Finger Flick Technique struck his pressure points, and Cheolsangi's body locked solid.
"What were you trying to pull out in a situation like this?"
Sssk.
Do-ha reached into the pouch inside Cheolsangi's robes.
"What is this."
A pill?
The man had been so frantic to grab it that Do-ha had assumed it was something critical. Instead it was a single crude-looking pill.
"I can feel poison in it…"
The toxic qi was unmistakable. It was poison, no question. But why had he tried to pull it out?
A sweet scent rose from it.
Surely he hadn't planned to offer it and tell Do-ha to eat it?
Tap.
Rustle.
Do-ha tilted his head, then pinched off a fragment of the pill—truly no larger than a grain of ant-eye gunk—and rubbed it lightly between his fingers.
At once—
Fwoooooosh!
A massive plume of smoke erupted from Do-ha's fingertips.
This smoke… poison. Extreme poison, at that.
As he had said, he had taken only a speck. He was not exaggerating—it was smaller than a single grain of rice.
And yet the smoke is pouring out.
Enough to cover roughly fifty meters.
"You people really do have talent. How do you even make something like this?"
It was chemical-weapon grade. A single one of these pills could wipe out an entire area.
"If you used this, every Blood Cultist in the vicinity would die too… Didn't you just tell me they were someone's child, parent, and sibling? You two-faced son of a bitch."
What kind of absurd creature was this? He had spouted righteous nonsense at Do-ha, and the whole time he had been planning to scatter poison.
It was a little late to say it now that so many were already dead, but the truth was simple: dying by Do-ha's hand was the far kinder option. He meant that sincerely. It was the better choice.
From the tiny amount of poison he had absorbed, Do-ha could tell that anyone who breathed this smoke would have their organs twist and slowly melt from the inside. In short, they would die in agony.
And what about him? He simply finished them cleanly.
"This is why I can't stand the hypocrisy you bastards spew."
Squeeze.
Do-ha sighed and seized Cheolsangi by the cheek.
"Our dear Cheolsangi… fighting me must have worn you out, huh? You look exhausted in body and mind. It pains me. Here—eat this and get your strength back."
"W-Wait—!!"
With his cheek clamped, Cheolsangi screamed.
You insane bastard! What kind of nonsense was that?! Exhausted, so eat poison and cheer up?!
Plop.
Do-ha smiled gently, pushed the pill into Cheolsangi's mouth, and sealed it shut with his hand.
"Mmmph!"
The moment the pill touched his tongue, Cheolsangi began to thrash in pure terror.
Squeeze.
"Hey, Cheolsangi. Right now the pill is being protected by my energy. That's why it hasn't dissolved."
Holding the man's head locked in place, Do-ha looked down at him without expression.
"You know my personality. I only ask once. One chance. Where is the Blood Demon."
"Mmmph—mm!"
Sssk.
When Cheolsangi tried to speak, Do-ha released his cheek.
Roll.
"Oh. Looks just like you're sucking on a hard candy."
Gulp.
To speak, Cheolsangi shoved the pill into the side of his cheek—and Do-ha burst out laughing. At those words, Cheolsangi nearly choked on rage.
"Where is the Blood Demon."
"He's inside the Blood Cocoon!"
The Blood Cocoon.
A place bound by a ritual meant for the Blood Demon—an utterly horrific site. They filled a pool with roughly a hundred liters of human blood, then formed a small cocoon within it. The Blood Demon entered that cocoon to raise the stage of his Blood Demon Divine Art.
"So you built that nightmare again, you insect bastards."
Words alone could not convey how terrible the Blood Cocoon truly was. Anyone who saw it with their own eyes suffered nightmares for months afterward. In fact, Jang Gyeong, the Sect Leader of the Wudang Sect, had seen the Blood Cocoon once and then gone an entire week without food, drink, or sleep.
And for good reason. The Blood Cocoon was not made by simply drawing blood into a pool. They called it a blood pool, and most of it was blood, yes—but there was more.
They grind people themselves into the pool.
Do-ha had seen a great many things in his life, but the Blood Cocoon ranked among the very worst.
"This is why I hate you Blood Cult bastards even more than the Demonic Cult."
"…"
"When did he go in?"
If you attacked while he was inside the cocoon, he would not die—but his energy would twist. Timing, of course, was everything. If he had only just entered, or was somewhere in the middle, that was the perfect moment to strike.
"…"
"I told you. One chance."
"N-No—I'm calculating when he went in!"
The moment Do-ha raised his hand, Cheolsangi blurted the words in a panic. He had not been silent out of defiance.
"When."
Sssk.
Still asking about the timing, Do-ha turned his head and looked up at the ruined buildings above.
"You four can wait a moment."
The four Great Protectors who attended the Blood Demon—Blood Emperor, Blood Shadow, Blood Flyer, and Blood Brother. Any one of them alone was said to be a match for an entire sect, and all four were watching Do-ha in silence.
I was waiting for them to attack. What are they just staring at?
He had sensed the four of them approaching long ago. He had expected an assault and had been ready for it. Instead they simply stood there and watched.
"Th-The Great Protectors…"
At the sight of the four, Cheolsangi's body shook violently.
They were watching. Was he really supposed to speak?
"Tell him."
"…Pardon?"
When Blood Emperor—the strongest of the four Great Protectors—spoke, Cheolsangi's face went blank with shock. The man never joked. He never sneered. He always said exactly what he meant. For him to say "tell him" meant he was serious.
"Huh… That's rich."
Do-ha scratched his forehead and turned to look at Blood Emperor.
He had killed every last one of the previous Great Protectors himself. Adding up the time since the Blood Cult had resumed activity and the years Do-ha had been gone, the four standing there could not be older than thirty at most. And yet they were acting like this—because they were certain the four of them could beat him.
Even if they told him where the Blood Demon was and when he had entered the cocoon, they believed they could protect him.