Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: The First True Skill
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For the first time since encountering skills across both the murim world and reality, Yong-un had witnessed something truly unprecedented.
According to his own understanding of the world, what he'd just seen was utterly impossible.
Barum's blue claws were otherworldly.
The demonic energy Yong-un had unleashed was sliced clean through by those claws without even clashing, breaking free of his will and scattering into nothingness.
Qi, when condensed and given form, ceased to be some invisible force.
It transformed into a tangible weapon brimming with devastating cutting power and raw strength.
Yet even Yong-un's demonic energy had wilted and vanished before Barum's blue claws.
As if it had never existed in the first place.
"Jackal!"
Barum spat some incomprehensible word and charged at Yong-un, transformed into a rage-fueled monster.
Untiring, he poured every ounce of strength into his body, swinging those blue claws wildly with murderous intent.
Clang!
Just as Yong-un experimentally scattered some more energy...
Barum's eyes bulged wide in shock.
For the first time, his blue claws—capable of nullifying all qi—had collided with a fresh surge of energy from Yong-un.
"So even this won't work, huh."
With his Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi having been severed, Yong-un drew forth the violet energy he'd used right before slaying the Blade Demon.
It was a power the demons themselves had likely never beheld.
After all, it was an energy born solely from Yong-un's unique experiences, unknown to any other warrior.
"...?!"
As Barum failed to hide his astonishment, Yong-un withdrew the violet energy he'd unleashed.
Seizing that brief opening, Barum turned tail and fled without a backward glance.
Yong-un nearly gave chase—the creature's threatening aura demanded it—but held back.
"Sovereign."
Mu-hee emerged from the shadows.
"Myung-un has awakened."
"Let's go."
Yong-un glanced briefly in the direction Barum had vanished, then disappeared from the spot.
As Myung-un stirred, the Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi slumbering within him began to surge.
It was a contrived situation born of a shortcut to escape Jeong Myeong-hwan's schemes ahead of schedule.
The ploy Yong-un had used on Myung-un was straightforward.
He'd erected walls around the Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi filling Myung-un's dantian, then created tiny cracks to let minute amounts seep into his body.
For a fleeting moment, while the walls held, Myung-un could control that trickle of energy—shortening the six-month timeline to an absurd single month.
But the cracks formed alongside the awakening triggered a rampage from the long-sealed qi.
"Guh... guh... ugh."
The outburst of the imprisoned Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi was fiercer than before.
All the walls around his dantian crumbled, and the condensed energy began corroding Myung-un from the inside out.
This was why Yong-un had gone to such lengths to pull Myung-un from the military.
"Get a grip!"
At Yong-un's shout, life flickered back into Myung-un's eyes, which had rolled back to show only the whites.
Starting from Yong-un's palm on his back, the surging qi began to gradually subside.
"Ugh!"
Sensing it, Myung-un bit down hard enough to draw blood and started circulating the Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi through the Minor Heavenly Circuit, just as Yong-un had instructed.
The defiant energy slowly bent to his will.
The sweat soaking his body began to cool.
His pain-twisted face gradually softened into calm.
Seated in the lotus position, Myung-un waged his second battle against the Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi.
"Whew."
Yong-un slowly lifted his hand from Myung-un's back.
"Now it's a race against time."
No telling how long it would take.
Since it wasn't a power he'd forged himself, it was bound to be a grueling process.
And if he let his guard down even briefly, the qi could rampage anew at any moment.
"Sovereign..."
While Myung-su stood guard, focused on Myung-un, he spoke up with worry in his voice.
'Why go to such extremes...?'
A small question formed in Myung-su's mind.
But he couldn't voice it.
He understood Yong-un's feelings for his family all too well.
All Myung-su could do in this moment was protect Yong-un and Myung-un.
"From now on, the Dragon Army Corps will stand guard."
Night had already given way to morning sun.
"Has time passed this quickly already?"
"It's like a war zone in there." Sword Tiger clicked his tongue, eyeing the sweltering room inside Harmony Valley.
"One worry down, at least."
Yong-un answered Sword Tiger's question.
"He's awakened? Forgive me—I didn't realize."
Sword Tiger dropped to one knee, admitting his oversight.
But Yong-un shook his head and rose from his seat.
"It's fine."
Standing, he gazed down at Myung-un, now locked in battle with the Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi.
"He'll have it worse than me."
Neither Sword Tiger nor Myung-su could find words to say.
Nothing they uttered would help in this situation.
Seeing their guilt-ridden faces, Yong-un offered a faint smile.
"You're wondering why I'm doing this."
Sword Tiger and Myung-su looked up.
Yong-un spread his hand and stared at his palm.
"Myung-un is my one and only little brother. And a hunter. As his big brother, I can help him reach his goals... but I can't force that hellish training on him."
The phrase "hellish training" deepened Sword Tiger and Myung-su's confusion.
Myung-un and the family knew what kind of life Yong-un had lived in the murim world.
But Sword Tiger, Myung-su, and the others didn't.
They had no inkling of the efforts Yong-un had made or the agonies he'd endured to reach his current power.
'Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi.'
The deep crimson-black energy acknowledged only after Yong-un vanished.
No one knew better than him the training required to attain it.
That's why he'd chosen this painful path.
'Because he's family.'
Skipping the torment and endurance of full training, accepting only the transient pain of assimilation.
'Of course, neither I nor Myung-un can move in the meantime.'
Yong-un's thoughts were interrupted by Myung-un's groan.
"Guuh."
The Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi threatened to rampage again.
"Focus!"
Yong-un's hand returned to Myung-un's back.
But unlike before, he only needed to quell the surge. Glancing at Sword Tiger and Myung-su, he spoke.
"I've given Myung-un my energy."
"...?!"
Sword Tiger and Myung-su's eyes widened.
Yong-un's energy.
As his subordinates, they knew exactly what it was and the power it held.
"As you see, I have to focus on helping my brother control it."
Whoosh.
Myung-un's contorted expression eased back to normal.
The rampage halted, and the Crimson Heavenly Demonic Qi slowly circulated from his dantian throughout his body.
Lifting his hand, Yong-un addressed Sword Tiger and Myung-su, still kneeling.
"So while I'm here, you two need to handle things."
They nodded with resolute expressions.
"The Special Hunter Platoon—led by their chief, Bafer, hiding behind the alias Lieutenant Park Il-du. Demon Cry. You have to stop whatever they're doing."
"Yes, Master."
The demonized hunters from the lab came to mind.
With them came nightmares from Demonus.
Grip.
But only for a moment.
Sword Tiger and Myung-su shouted toward Yong-un with firm resolve.
"Don't worry."
"We'll handle it."
Nearly a month had passed since then.
In that time, the Dragon Army Corps and Soul-Annihilating Specters had grown strong enough to confront Demonus's horrors.
"I trust you."
Through Myung-un, Yong-un had shed the deep-seated doubts lurking in his heart.
True growth via the perfected manuals Yong-un had passed down.
"Yes!"
Now was the time to prove it.
What Yong-un thought would be a simple clash with Jeong Myeong-hwan had revealed a far more insidious war, shrouded in layers of deception.
Processing Jeong Myeong-hwan had strained relations with them—but destroying the lab last night and killing their squad members had made it irreparably hostile.
There was no escaping enmity now.
Sword Tiger, Myung-su, and Mu-hee exchanged glances as they exited Harmony Valley.
Before leaving, they discussed the intel extracted via the soul-enslavement spell Yong-un—the leader of their forces—had bestowed upon them.
"Demon Cry, right?"
Mu-hee's question kicked off the brief meeting.
"Yeah. He said Demonus belongs to them too."
"In a way, it was an unavoidable war."
Sword Tiger and Myung-su had felt the full terror of their demonization powers firsthand.
Hunters enhanced by skills and demonization weren't something even Dragon Army leader Sword Tiger or Soul-Annihilating Specters' First Specter Myung-su could take lightly.
"We have two options."
Myung-su laid them out.
"Hold out until the Sovereign can move."
Buy time until Yong-un—the core of their power, their very strength—could act.
"Is that the only way?"
Mu-hee nodded with a sigh.
But she didn't know the second path Myung-su meant.
"Or finish it all before he has to."
Prove their growth by dismantling them before the Sovereign stirred.
Smirk.
Sword Tiger grinned at Myung-su's words.
Myung-su chuckled softly in response.
"You find this funny?"
Mu-hee, however, did not.
She scowled at their levity amid the gravity.
Sword Tiger glanced at her, then said to Myung-su,
"Is she really Fourth Specter? How's she so clueless?"
"Huh?"
Mu-hee twitched an eyebrow at Sword Tiger eyeing her like she was the odd one.
Myung-su kept his faint smile.
"Fourth Specter couldn't train with the updated manual—she was busy fully integrating Night Killer Guild."
"Updated manual...?"
Mu-hee's face darkened.
Myung-su placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Master revised it. More precisely, added a few key elements to the existing one."
Additions to the manual?
Mu-hee, who had seen it upon becoming Fourth Specter, found her doubts unquelled—only deepened.
Myung-su smiled gently at her expression.
"And those additions completely transformed the manuals we trained with."
Smirk.
"Into something incomparably stronger."
Myung-su and Sword Tiger exchanged knowing grins.
That must have been when it happened.
The Demonus nightmares that once haunted Mu-hee—but had vanished clean from the current Dragon Army Corps and Soul-Annihilating Specters.
"Huh?"
Sword Tiger spoke to her bewildered face.
"The Dragon Army Corps will protect Master."
"What does that mean?"
Ignoring her curiosity, Myung-su turned to Sword Tiger.
"Then Soul-Annihilating Specters will scout and eliminate Demon Cry."
"First Specter!"
Mu-hee fumed.
"That's why Master made us. I'll go prepare."
Sword Tiger ignored her too, heading out to rally the Dragon Army Corps.
Left with furious Mu-hee—shoulders hunched like horns—Myung-su placed hands on them.
"No matter how much I explain, you won't get it. Not without seeing it yourself."
He pushed gently.
Mu-hee followed his lead.
"I'll show you, Fourth Specter."
Like a snowball set rolling by Jeong Myeong-hwan.
The darkness and doubt dredged up from Yong-un's depths by Myung-un had forged the current situation.
Forces once powerless without their driving force, Yong-un...
Had evolved into ones that could seek and execute their duties independently.
"N-No way..."
As a result, Myung-su—from Night Killer Guild, the only Soul-Annihilating Specter relying solely on the manual—had become a monster beyond Mu-hee's comprehension.
A massive boulder at the center of the Soul-Annihilating Specters' hall bore long sword scars.
The empty space around it, yet before Mu-hee's eyes, slashes continuously etched the rock as if ghosts were assaulting it.
As the top spirit sorceress, Mu-hee could sense auras beyond mere mana.
She even possessed eyes that glimpsed the future, however briefly.
Yet even unleashing everything, she couldn't detect First Specter Myung-su carving those scars.
'A perfect assassin from legend.'
A mythic killer who could strike without presence or form had been born.
But only for a moment.
Swish.
Myung-su materialized before the boulder like ink spreading, breathing heavily.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Catching his breath, drenched in sweat, he approached Mu-hee.
Shrugging ruefully, he said,
"As you see, training's still lacking—it's not perfect yet. But worlds apart from before."
One minute or so of formless, traceless assault.
Afterward, exhaustion left him barely able to move.
A legendary assassin's prowess from imagination alone, but with a fatal flaw.
Not long since the manual's update, so he shared his regret with her.
But Mu-hee's reaction defied his expectations.
"C-Crazy. And this isn't perfect?!"
Her eyes wide, mouth agape.
Admiration had bloomed into ecstasy.
So what if just one minute?
A path to becoming a legendary assassin from myth lay right here.
"Takes max effort for even a minute. It's only been a short while since training started, but with time, it'll last longer."
"You're the luckiest bastard alive."
"Huh?"
Mu-hee clasped her hands, cheeks flushing.
Unlike Myung-su, who braced for disappointment, she radiated pure bliss.
"Best decision ever following the Sovereign. Seriously... insane."
To Mu-hee, one minute was irrelevant.
As Night Killer Guild's top spirit sorceress her whole life, she'd beheld assassination's pinnacle—what did duration matter?
That it was possible, that a method existed—that was everything.
"Word is, we're not the only ones who got updates. Dragon Army Corps, Unwoo Guild—all revised by Master. That's why we're taking on Demon Cry."
"Of course! We can do it!"
Myung-su awkward at her 180-degree shift.
Seeing is believing, as they say.
From anger and doubt to fanatic faith in an instant.
"Soul-Annihilating Specters scout and eliminate, right?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Leave scouting to me. I'll deploy Night Killer Guild."
True to form as Fourth Specter, Mu-hee immediately summoned her spirit sorcerers to begin hunting Demon Cry.
Jeong Myeong-hwan's snowball: Demon Cry.
Myung-un's snowball: the manuals left, trusting his subordinates.
Two massive, transformed snowballs hurtled toward collision.
"Found them."
Demon Cry's leader Bafer withdrew his scrying gaze and rose.
"We block them."
The Dragon Army Corps formed up around Harmony Valley, where Myung-un and Yong-un secluded themselves.
"I'll report any movements right away."
Mu-hee mobilized Night Killer Guild assassins nationwide for the search.
"Move the instant we find them."
And finally, the Soul-Annihilating Specters, prepped to deploy from their hall at any moment.
No one could predict the outcome of this shadowy organization's clash.
War loomed on the stage of Korea's underworld.