Silent Dragon Sea Fire
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique, Third Form: Silent Dragon Sea Fire.
CRRRRAAAACK!
The moment Baek Do-ha gripped his sword and moved inside the Gate, empty air twisted unnaturally and exploded forward.
Every monster that had spilled into Paju had already been dealt with.
Only the Gate itself remained.
A sharp cracking sound rang out.
“Ha… again…”
Do-ha let out a long sigh.
He gave the hilt a slight tilt.
“A sword I paid a hundred million for…”
The blade was already shattered.
This made seven. No matter how carefully he handled them, none lasted a full week.
“Ugh, it’s hot. What are you just standing there for?”
Canteas, who had been gathering monster corpses and mana stones behind him, walked over.
What was he staring at so intently?
“It broke again.”
“Yeah.”
Do-ha gave the hilt a light shake. The cracked blade shattered completely and clattered to the ground in pieces.
He’d bought it because the online reviews all raved about its durability. Of course it still couldn’t withstand his martial arts.
“Did you find a blacksmith?”
Do-ha tossed the useless hilt aside and looked at Canteas.
He’d asked him earlier to look into a skilled blacksmith. With manticore byproducts, they should at least be able to forge a weapon he could use.
“I already reached out here and there—asked about blade length, shape, hardness, everything. Turns out it’s not much different from what you’re using now.”
“That so?”
Then there was no point using the manticore materials. Custom work cost far more; if the result barely differed from off-the-shelf gear, there was no reason to waste money or materials.
“Do you even need a sword, though? You can use sword techniques without one.”
“There’s a huge difference between having a sword and not having one.”
“Then just make a Formless Sword.”
“First, I’m not at the level to create a Formless Sword yet. Second, a Formless Sword isn’t omnipotent. Some techniques hit harder with a real blade than with an intangible one.”
Most people thought a Formless Sword was the ultimate answer. They were wrong. Reaching the realm where you could form one made it look all-powerful, but simply holding a Formless Sword didn’t make you invincible.
The Mount Hua Sect’s Plum Blossom Sword Technique, for instance, produced far greater power with a physical sword than with a Formless one.
“Ha… I miss my weapon.”
“You mean Un-jeop-bi-jang?”
Canteas nodded. He knew that weapon well.
Un-jeop-bi-jang—the signature weapon of Emperor Baek Do-ha. In everyday use it was a magic staff; grip the top and draw, and a sword emerged. The blade was forged from Orichalcum mixed with Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron; everything else was dragon bone. It not only endured Do-ha’s martial arts but let him wield both magic and sword techniques with far greater stability.
“So where is Un-jeop-bi-jang now?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Huh?”
Canteas tilted his head. If the owner himself didn’t know, what then?
They’d already checked the place Do-ha used to live. Un-jeop-bi-jang hadn’t been there.
“You took it with you to the war, right? It wasn’t at the house.”
“I did take it.”
He’d lost it in the Demon Realm. Under the combined assault of four Demon Kings and the Demon God, he’d dropped the sword and never recovered it.
“You lost that…?”
Canteas pressed a hand to his forehead.
Orichalcum, Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, and dragon bone. If that sword ever appeared in the world, people would go to war just to claim it. And he’d lost it—in the Demon Realm, no less.
“Guess you’ll never find it again.”
“No. I’ll find it eventually.”
“What? You said it’s in the Demon Realm. How are you going to find it?”
“Because someday I’ll have to go to the Demon Realm anyway.”
“???”
What was this nonsense… Go to the Demon Realm? Why? Why would he ever go back there?
“Ah, I never told you, did I?”
“…I don’t know what it is, but I already don’t want to hear it.”
“I have to fight the Demon God one more time. The war isn’t over yet.”
Canteas slowly turned his head away.
Fight the Demon God again… No, he must have misheard.
Do-ha seized Canteas’s head and forced it back around.
“Last time he only lost one arm. This time I’ll make sure he stops breathing for good.”
“Are you insane?! You barely survived the last fight with the Demon God and now you want to fight him again?!”
The most dangerous thing in the world was a wounded beast. The Demon God had already taken a serious wound from Do-ha once—not only physical. His pride had been gouged as well.
The Demon God was arrogant, cunning, and looked down on everything beneath him. Just look at the followers of the Demon God Cult; they were carbon copies of his personality. And that same Demon God had been wounded in both body and spirit.
“If you face the Demon God again, you’re dead for real! No—dying cleanly would be a mercy. You think he’ll just leave your soul alone?!”
“He’s going to come kill me anyway. That’s why I left him alive.”
“Left him alive…?”
Canteas, who still didn’t fully know what had happened between Do-ha and the Demon God, tilted his head again.
“Why do you think I lost my power?”
Do-ha told him everything—why his strength had vanished, and how he was still alive.
“…So that lunatic Demon God… kept you alive because he wants to kill you with his own hands?”
“Exactly. In our final clash he took a fatal wound too. He used the last of his power to keep me breathing.”
“If he still had that much power, why not just kill you?”
“He probably wants to crush me with overwhelming force once he’s whole again. Toy with me, humiliate me, the works.”
That was why, even when he should have been recovering, he’d squeezed out every remaining drop of power just to spare Do-ha’s life.
Canteas nodded as if he finally understood.
Because of one mere human, ninety percent of his followers had died, several Demon Kings had fallen, and tens of billions of demons had been wiped out. On top of that, the fight had left a fatal wound on a god’s body. The Demon God’s pride must have been completely shattered. A mortal had denied everything he was.
“He figured your power would drain away like sand and you’d turn into an ordinary human if he let you live.”
“Right. And then he’ll try to kill everyone I care about. I can’t just sit back and watch that happen.”
A faint killing intent leaked from Do-ha. Canteas swallowed hard.
So the wounded beast wasn’t just one…
The man standing in front of him—Baek Do-ha—had become a wounded beast as well.
“That’s why you’ve been hunting monsters like a madman, building your strength.”
“Exactly.”
No one knew when the Demon God would come again. Until then, Do-ha had to keep accumulating power.
“I thought you were just grinding for money.”
“Money doesn’t matter. Once the power piles up, money comes on its own.”
Today alone proved it. He’d killed hundreds of monsters; how many mana stones had that produced? He wasn’t chasing money.
“And you should be happy.”
“About what?”
“You’ll be joining this war too.”
“……?”
What was he talking about? Why would he be joining any war…?
“Why would I…?”
“Last time you told me it was too dangerous to go alone and that we should go together. I left you behind out of stubbornness then. This time we’ll go together.”
“Ah… no, that was just me getting swept up because the other comrades were going…!”
Was he crazy? Fight the Demon God? Even as an 8th-Circle Lich, that only made him strong among mortals. The moment gods got involved, 8th Circle or not, you were just a bug.
“I can maybe handle Demon Kings, but I can’t fight a god!! You crazy emperor!”
“Shut up, you bastard. This time you’re fighting with me.”
“I don’t want to!”
Ignoring Canteas’s pitiful wail completely, Do-ha simply walked on.
Click-click-click-click.
“Ohhh, there he is!”
The reporters crowded at the airport stopped snapping photos and erupted in cheers.
Footsteps approached.
“Ohh…”
As someone walked out, the noisy press fell quiet.
“Hmm. So this is the country called Korea.”
Chinese Hunter, one of the Divine 200, ranked 191st worldwide—Wei Chen removed his sunglasses and smiled at the reporters.
The Association President stepped forward with a polite bow.
“Thank you for coming all this way. I am Kim Hee-jae, President of the Republic of Korea Hunter Association.”
The day before, Wei Chen had suddenly announced a visit to Korea. Kim Hee-jae had pushed every appointment aside and come straight to the airport.
A man who’s never set foot in Korea before… why come out of nowhere?
Keeping his face carefully blank, the Association President tried to read Wei Chen’s intentions.
The Divine 200. The two hundred strongest Hunters on the planet outside the Cheon-oe-cheon. Every one of them was a superstar whose power could erase a city. Some claimed they were nearly equal to the Cheon-oe-cheon; others refused to admit it. Either way, among a global population of billions, the Divine 200 stood alone at the peak.
“Do you plan to keep me standing here forever?”
“My apologies. Please, this way.”
Kim Hee-jae gestured and began guiding him. Most of the Divine 200 knew their own strength and fame; like Wei Chen, their personalities tended to be absolute garbage.
He opened the car door.
“I’ll take you to the hotel.”
“Hmm. If we’re going to ride something like this, teleporting would be better…”
“I’m worried people would swarm just to get a look and spoil your mood, Wei Chen-nim.”
“Wow, our Association President sure knows how to talk pretty. Fine. We’ll go by car.”
Wei Chen smiled and climbed in. The Association President immediately took the seat beside him.
“To the hotel.”
“No.”
“?”
Kim Hee-jae looked at him. Not the hotel? Where else would a first-time visitor want to go?
“To the Doksa Guild.”
“……Excuse me?”
Doksa Guild? That was the guild of SS-rank Hunter Han Se-ah. Had he come all the way to Korea just to meet her?
“Did you not hear me? Did the translation magic wear off?”
“Ah… no. My apologies. To the Doksa Guild, please.”
The car pulled away smoothly.
Why? Why come in person all the way to another country? Did Wei Chen even have any connection to her?
The Association President’s mind spun. If Wei Chen was going there to fight her, he would have to intervene right now. Yet the man’s expression held no killing intent—only amusement.
Haa… I should at least warn the Doksa Guild.
While Wei Chen gazed out the window, Kim Hee-jae carefully sent a text.
The car stopped.
“We’ve arrived.”
“Oh.”
The instant the words left the driver’s mouth, Wei Chen smiled, opened the door, and stepped out.
“So this is her guild.”
He’d flown all the way to this little country just to come here. He’d originally planned to teleport, but crossing national borders by teleport without permission was illegal under international law. Of course a Divine 200 could ignore such rules, but he’d endured the irritating long flight so he could show off in front of her.
“Let’s go inside and—hm?”
Scanning the building from top to bottom, Wei Chen’s eyes met those of someone standing beside the entrance. He tilted his head.
Judging by the gear, the man was a Hunter—so why was he frowning at him like that?
“Wei Chen-nim, allow me to show you—eh?”
The Association President, following right behind, spotted the man locked in a staring contest with Wei Chen and froze.
Why is he here…?
No—more importantly, why was he glaring at Wei Chen with that expression?
Kim Hee-jae swallowed hard as he sensed the strange atmosphere thickening between them.