Chapter 105
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105
The black water pooling on the cave floor surged, rippling in sync with Hyeon Ra-baek’s fury.
“So-ya!”
Seol-yo stepped in front of So-ya to shield her.
“A demonic beast…?”
Hyeon Ra-baek’s brow furrowed at the sight of a demonic beast rushing to protect a young girl.
Simultaneously, a massive pillar of black water erupted from the floor, slamming Seol-yo against the opposite wall and pinning him there.
K-boom!
“Seol-yo!” So-ya cried out, startled to see him struggling against the wall.
In the meantime, the black water on the ground began to churn and coalesce into crescent-shaped rings. These black hoops flew toward So-ya from all directions.
Swish—!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Swish—!
So-ya quickly raised the White Tiger Sword to parry them. The black rings deflected off the blade, crashing into the cave walls and dissolving back into black water that trickled down to the floor.
Hyeon Ra-baek’s expression hardened. He had not expected her to be able to withstand his power.
“That… is that the White Tiger Divine Sword…?”
Recognizing the pure white blade in So-ya’s hand, his face twisted into a bizarre contortion.
“Why do you have that…? Could you be the Yellow Dragon’s… bride? No, that’s impossible. How could you be?”
He muttered to himself in a confused daze, then suddenly stiffened. He jerked his head to the side and covered his right eye with one hand.
“Ugh, ahhh…”
Hyeon Ra-baek let out a pained groan and staggered before slowly lifting his head toward So-ya. He gradually pulled away the hand covering his eye.
A black pupil, vertically slit like a reptile’s, was revealed. His sharp gaze pierced through So-ya.
“Ugh…”
A chilling, bone-deep sensation washed over her, causing her to instinctively flinch.
“You…!”
Hyeon Ra-baek suddenly lunged at her. When So-ya raised the White Tiger Sword to block him, he grabbed the blade with his bare hands. Ignoring the way the edge sliced into his palms, he glared at her with wide, bloodshot eyes.
“How do you have the Yellow Dragon’s Orb?”
“Ugh, nngh…!”
So-ya pushed back with all her might, but the grip he had on the blade was incredibly powerful.
“It makes no sense. This is impossible. And yet… and yet…”
Hyeon Ra-baek’s grotesquely dilated right eye rolled wildly as he scanned So-ya’s body.
“Yes. It’s not entirely impossible. There is a way. But for the Yellow Dragon to commit such madness? Why? For what purpose…?”
The standoff continued—So-ya straining to push him away while Hyeon Ra-baek rambled like a madman. Suddenly, the White Tiger Sword flashed with light, successfully shoving him back.
Thump—!
Hyeon Ra-baek flew across the cave, slammed into the far wall, and slumped to the ground. So-ya kept her guard up, pointing the tip of her sword toward him.
“…Regardless, what matters is this.”
Hyeon Ra-baek slowly rose to his feet to face her.
“The little guest who broke into my underground palace is clearly not an opponent to be taken lightly.”
A smirk crept onto his face, and his ashen eyes glinted.
“Since the Bride of the Yellow Dragon has graced this palace with her presence, I suppose I must welcome her accordingly.”
Unsure of his intentions, So-ya tightened her grip on the hilt and glared at him. In that moment, the chilling sensation she had felt earlier began to permeate the air…
Flinch.
So-ya was so startled she nearly dropped her sword. Starting from his chest, Hyeon Ra-baek’s skin began to be overtaken by a black, crust-like shell.
—The Ancient Evil…
The White Tiger Mountain Lord let out a heavy sigh.
—That madman is giving his own body to the Evil…
—Little bird!
At the Vermilion Bird Celestial Maiden’s sharp warning, So-ya instinctively dove out of the way.
K-boom—!
An attack flew past her in the blink of an eye. A massive crater formed where she had been standing just a second ago, and black water began to pour into the hole.
“Tsk.”
Hyeon Ra-baek, his face now entirely covered by the black shell, clicked his tongue in disappointment.
The black water swirling in the crater surged into the air, transforming into a massive Imoogi that bared its fangs at So-ya.
Crash—!
A stone pillar inside the cave was instantly pulverized and swallowed into the Imoogi’s maw. So-ya, having barely dodged the strike, pressed her back against the cave wall, gasping for breath.
The Imoogi gave her no respite, charging at her once more. But this time, So-ya was a fraction faster.
Rumble—!
The Imoogi’s body slammed into the wall where So-ya had been standing, shattering into hundreds of small snakes.
Hiss. Hiss—.
The hundreds of tiny serpents swarmed toward So-ya all at once. She swung the White Tiger Sword to fend off the onslaught from all sides, but there were simply too many of them.
‘I can’t keep this up. I have to get away…’
Then, the black shield caught her eye.
Backing away slowly while looking for an opening, So-ya suddenly threw herself behind the black shield. The snakes lunging at her struck the shield and fell to the ground.
Perhaps because of their sheer numbers, or perhaps because they were imbued with the Ancient Evil, a hairline crack appeared on the spiritual body of the Black Tortoise—a substance that no human strength should have been able to break.
She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. The snakes that had fallen to the ground were dissolving back into black water, pooling on the floor.
—You must awaken King Yeom, little bird!
So-ya took a deep breath and placed her hand on the black shield, which was said to be made from the shell of the Black Tortoise. She tried to channel the heart of the Black Tortoise.
A heart that swallows only the living.
The Heart of Destruction.
To be honest, So-ya didn't fully understand what that heart truly was. However, just as she had done before, she tried to awaken the divine beast by any means necessary.
With the desire to stop the man before her.
With the intent to destroy him and protect the world.
‘Hyeon-mu, please… help me stop that man!’
However, the Black Tortoise’s divine object did not respond.
‘Why?’
So-ya’s eyes wavered violently.
‘I want to stop him. Is this not enough?’
Meanwhile, Hyeon Ra-baek’s black water surged upward like a massive tidal wave. Just as the black wave was about to crash down on her—
“So-ya! Look out!”
Having finally broken free from the black water’s restraint, Seol-yo threw himself in front of her. The black wave collapsed over him with a roar.
“Seol-yo!”
His transformation broke, and Seol-yo, now a human boy again, tumbled across the floor. As So-ya rushed toward him, the onslaught suddenly ceased.
It was only for a fleeting moment. Hyeon Ra-baek’s evil-shrouded body flinched, and his attack faltered.
So-ya did not miss that brief opening and launched her counterattack.
“Dragon God!”
At So-ya’s cry, the Blue Dragon’s seeds scattered across the cave floor.
‘I have to stop him somehow. If the Black Tortoise won’t answer, I’ll find another way.’
The Blue Dragon’s seeds absorbed the black water on the floor and began to sprout rapidly.
“Vines…?”
Hyeon Ra-baek snapped back to his senses and looked around, but green vines were already lunging at him. He summoned black water to blast them away, but the vines grown from the Blue Dragon’s seeds only grew longer and thicker the more water they touched, eventually binding his body tight.
“Ugh, nngh… What are you… trying to do…?”
So-ya didn't wait for him to figure it out.
“Mountain Lord!”
At her call, the White Tiger Sword responded, radiating a brilliant white light.
—I must warn you, little bird. My power alone cannot eradicate the Evil.
The essence of the White Tiger’s power was not in annihilating the enemy, but in protecting what is precious. Therefore, that power alone could not destroy the Evil.
However…
“I know. That’s why I’m asking for help.”
Stab—!
So-ya lunged at Hyeon Ra-baek and drove the White Tiger Sword into his chest, where the aura of evil was most concentrated. Specifically, she pierced the spirit core that was seething with pitch-black evil.
“Celestial Maiden! Now!”
The Vermilion Bird’s flames, as if they had been waiting for this moment, began to spread along the blade of the White Tiger Sword.
Whoosh—
Brilliant red flames engulfed the evil.
Screeeeeeeeeeeech—!
Wrapped in the Purification Flame, the evil let out a blood-curdling shriek. A struggle ensued between the flames trying to purify the evil and the evil trying to swallow the flames. Finally, unable to withstand the fire, the evil burst out of Hyeon Ra-baek’s spirit core.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The evil, now a black sphere, bounced off the cave walls in every direction. Then, suddenly…
Fwoosh—
It vanished without a trace. The evil had fled.
And in the place where the evil had been—
“Ugh…”
Hyeon Ra-baek, who had been barely standing, collapsed to the floor.
“Cough… ack…”
With his spirit core shattered after losing the evil, his body began to decay instantly.