Chapter 458
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 458
Chapter Title: ...Huh...?
Whoosh.
She dodged the fingertips of the blood corpse.
Her hair whipped through the air.
Ha Seol-ran calmly raised her shield to block the next attack, then thrust her sword in line with her role.
The blade pierced straight through the blood corpse's throat.
She didn't cheer or shout in triumph.
Instead, she calmly retreated back into formation, following the array's movements.
Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven.
The formation formed by the five members excluding Baek Ri-pyeong and Ju Wu-myeong moved organically, slicing down countless corpses.
Baek Ri-pyeong and Ju Wu-myeong.
The two of them were jointly facing a dark iron corpse with the swords they'd drawn.
The dark iron corpse was indeed tough and sturdy, but their combined assault was stronger still.
They were methodically taking it down, one by one.
Wi Ji-gun, who had been fending off the combined attacks of the heaven-destroying corpse, dark blood corpses, and dark iron corpses.
As he watched the relentless attacks flying his way,
a portion of his focus was directed elsewhere.
Right at Ha Seol-ran.
To Wi Ji-gun, her safety was paramount.
After that came his own.
And after that, the safety of everyone else here.
That was why
he remained poised to aid her at any moment.
And because of it,
his power against the foes before him was inevitably diminished.
'Not bad at all.'
Even now,
he was clearly observing and sensing every one of Ha Seol-ran's movements.
The surest way would be to cut down all these bastards in an instant and rush to her side.
But these weren't pushovers.
So Wi Ji-gun,
with his attention split toward Ha Seol-ran, couldn't finish them off in one go.
The moment he fully focused on these fiends to wipe them out—
brief as it might be,
he'd have to avert his gaze from Ha Seol-ran.
And in that single instant,
who knew what might happen.
That was why Wi Ji-gun couldn't do it.
Pulling back briefly to escort her to safety and then returning to sweep them away might even be easier.
But Ha Seol-ran wouldn't want that.
In a life-or-death crisis, her safety would come before her wishes.
But in a situation like this,
Wi Ji-gun wanted to respect his disciple's intentions as much as possible.
Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang! Boom!
A cacophony of harsh, explosive sounds echoed without cease.
Wi Ji-gun's figure, employing the seven forms of the Infinite Freely Eight Severing Sword Wave at just the right moments to block the combined assault of seven corpses and counterattack,
was like an impregnable iron wall that nothing could shatter.
Dongbang Un seemed infuriated by his enemy's display.
He was pouring out ever more powerful palm strikes,
and his expression was gradually changing.
Twisting ferociously, even as a corpse.
"Left!"
At Yeon Ha-min's command, Dan Mok Un-roe's sword flew leftward with ferocious momentum.
Boom!
"Behind you!"
Nak Woo-jin spun around swiftly and raised his shield.
Boom!
The dark iron corpse's blow rang out with a heavy thud.
"Seol-ran!"
Before Yeon Ha-min's shout even finished, Ha Seol-ran moved quickly.
Her senses had already picked up the blood corpse closing in on their side.
Yeon Ha-min was pushing her focus to the brink, eyes bulging as if they might pop out.
The foresight thus unleashed revealed the surrounding corpses.
The current movements of the countless corpses overlaid with their positions moments into the future,
flooding her mind with a torrent of information that felt like it would split her skull.
Yeon Ha-min analyzed it in an instant, issuing precise instructions to her squad mates.
The already strongest Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven
was, thanks to her, rapidly cutting down the surrounding corpses.
Their movements gradually drew the attention of the dark iron and dark blood corpses.
And amid it all, Ha Seol-ran was growing stronger bit by bit.
Experiencing her first group battle relying on her senses,
her abilities were developing incrementally.
'Just a little more.'
She could feel it herself.
"Woo-jin!"
At Yeon Ha-min's cry, Nak Woo-jin's sword swung.
The blood corpse charging at them had its waist sliced clean through.
'Ugh.'
A sharp pain stabbed his chest in that moment.
Nak Woo-jin merely grimaced slightly.
Whenever he entered the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, this strange pain would assail him.
Sometimes from his chest,
sometimes his head.
Inexplicable.
Yet Nak Woo-jin kept his focus razor-sharp, facing the enemy.
Losing concentration in a place like this wasn't just his problem.
It would endanger his comrades too.
"Those guys are fighting amazingly well."
Squad Seven stood out like a crane among chickens, impossible to miss.
Pung Geon muttered in admiration,
"Focus!"
Yu Gwi-gwang snapped at him.
Pung Geon sheepishly channeled internal energy into his sword.
Slash.
Gwan Ha-kyeong's saber felled yet another dark iron corpse.
Squad Seven might stand out, but Black Corps Squad Two was even more impressive.
They roamed specifically hunting down dark iron corpses and cutting them apart.
Since the Fierce Dragon Corps was showing unexpected prowess,
they'd left the blood and poison corpses to them and focused on taking out the dark iron ones they couldn't handle alone.
As for the dark blood corpses?
Five of them were lunging at the pair unleashing impenetrable sword barriers.
And about five remained.
One had already been swiftly dismantled by six Hocheon Corps members' combined assault.
The remaining four were being held off by five Hocheon members.
There might be more dark blood corpses lurking somewhere.
They were on a whole other level from the other corpses, after all.
Though still not as monstrous as the one that had battered the walls.
The battle raged fiercely.
Then, at some point,
Ha Seol-ran's expression changed abruptly.
She'd sensed another massive power approaching, but
while focused on the fight,
that power had multiplied to six.
Just like before.
The approaching force had halted, merged with the new ones, and now charged together.
The current balance of power
would shatter pitifully the moment they arrived.
Just as she moved to warn everyone—
doubt crept in.
The Fierce Dragon Corps' morale was sky-high, indescribable.
They were holding off this sudden ambush of corpse hordes admirably.
Without the practical training against those corpses back at the Dragon Training Pavilion, it would've been impossible.
Now they were accomplishing it with pride.
Even with the Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader and the mysterious master joining in,
they were fending off the monstrous corpses.
At a time like this,
announcing six more monstrous corpses inbound?
Ha Seol-ran couldn't predict the fallout,
so she hesitated.
"Seol-ran!"
Yeon Ha-min's sharp voice pierced her ears then.
Ha Seol-ran startled and hastily raised her shield.
Boom!
A poison corpse's strike.
Slash.
And when had it appeared?
The sword of the Hocheon Corps vice leader
split the poison corpse vertically.
Dam Mu-hyeon glanced at Ha Seol-ran, flashed a grin, and vanished.
"Focus!"
At Yeon Ha-min's shout, Ha Seol-ran nodded and raised her shield again.
In the moment Ha Seol-ran lost focus,
Wi Ji-gun's sword wavered slightly.
And as she escaped danger, it regained its full momentum.
Dongbang Un watched it all clearly.
When the sword shook, where Wi Ji-gun's gaze had turned.
Dongbang Un looked there.
'That wench.'
He grasped it instantly.
His response was simple thereafter.
As two dark blood corpses attacked Wi Ji-gun,
whoosh.
Dongbang Un launched himself immediately.
Toward Ha Seol-ran.
"...Huh...?"
In that instant,
Yeon Ha-min's thoughts froze.
For an unbelievable sight filled her eyes.
Themselves decapitated in unison, Ha Seol-ran's throat seized—
the future after that monster blitzed them appeared so vividly before her.
Her mind blanked, her cry died.
Ha Seol-ran was the same.
With that colossal energy blasting toward her, she could do nothing.
In that moment,
only one person judged and moved.
Wi Ji-gun.
"You bastard!!"
For a mere beastly corpse
to read the worry he'd shown in a split second, pinpoint his weakness, and act on it.
'Careless.'
He berated himself, but that was for later.
Right now, grab that damned corpse bastard.
Wi Ji-gun's internal energy surged through his body like an explosion.
In an instant, his form shot forward.
Light Flash Thousand-Li Step, traversing the minuscule distance.
For the first time since the battle began, he unleashed his full power.
To save Ha Seol-ran.
No time to mind anything else.
Slash.
Then,
a dark blood corpse's swung sword sliced his thigh's hem.
A thin line of blood welled,
but he ignored it.
Wi Ji-gun, streaking like a comet, seized Dongbang Un's back in a flash.
Dongbang Un was now within arm's reach of Squad Seven.
"Wha—what?"
The altered future appeared in Yeon Ha-min's eyes then.
Yet the unchanged truth: they'd fall to the corpse before them now.
But
unlike moments ago when they could do nothing,
this new future had the corpse felling them but missing Ha Seol-ran, only to be struck down by the elder right after.
In that case.
"Fall back at full speed!"
Yeon Ha-min poured all her internal energy into her sword and hurled it at Dongbang Un as she yelled.
She didn't need much time.
Just a fleeting moment.
A thrown sword to buy that respite.
Dongbang Un tilted his head slightly to dodge the sword flying at his face.
No time to even swat it away.
He too had sensed the immense pressure of Wi Ji-gun closing from behind.
He had to seize that wench a split-second sooner.
The incoming sword forced a plan change.
He'd meant to sweep them all aside en route,
but they were retreating,
so he reached solely for the girl.
His eyes
caught the face of the one who'd thrown the sword.
A faint smile on her lips.
Relief.
'What?'
Doubt flickered—
slash.
By the sword dropping from midair,
his arm extending for the girl was severed.
"You damned cur."
Then,
a savage voice in his ears.
Wi Ji-gun, blocking his front.
His sword blazed.
Pure white sword aura ignited, blindingly swift.
Transforming into white flame.
The instant he confirmed it,
Wi Ji-gun's sword moved.
Infinite Freely Eight Severing Sword Wave.
The Eighth Form: Infinite.
As one sword form unfolded,
it engulfed not just Dongbang Un, but the dark blood and dark iron corpses charging behind him.
"Wh-what...?"
He desperately unleashed full-power palm force with his remaining arm,
but futilely,
swallowed by Wi Ji-gun's sword.
White flame swept before Wi Ji-gun.
Rooooar!
A deafening roar inhuman in its ferocity erupted,
and they vanished.
Perfect annihilation, not even dust left.
At that sight,
the battle paused briefly.
For the scene was beyond imagination.
'Impressive...'
Exhausted So Hwi-woong nodded faintly in admiration.
Before him lay two felled dark blood corpses and two dark iron ones.
And even the utterly drained heaven-destroying corpse, Chu Geum-ryeong.
So Hwi-woong recalled a familiar sword form.
The one that had pierced Blood Cult Leader Gae Hong-cheon's heart.
It was a higher realm than Ha Mu-baek's back then, but the same form.
Wi Ji-gun's gaze flicked toward the forest's heart.
Spreading his senses wide once more, he
nodded.
"We need to clean this place up fast."
Wi Ji-gun muttered, glancing at Ha Seol-ran before
lightly swinging his sword.
The Eighth Form: Infinite unfurled again, sweeping and devastating the surroundings.
Dam Mu-hyeon, who had just blocked a dark blood corpse's sword aimed at him, stared in disbelief.
"A monster's master is a monster too, huh..."
As he muttered,
the dark blood corpse before him vanished into Wi Ji-gun's sword.
"M-Master..."
Ha Seol-ran stomped her feet at Wi Ji-gun's display.
Her senses were telling her his current state.
He was pouring out every drop of internal energy within him.
Once that terrifying sword flow ended,
he'd have expended it all.
And then the new monsters charging this way...
Ha Seol-ran, gazing worriedly between her master and the front,
flinched.
"Huh?"
As she let out a small murmur,
Wi Ji-gun's sword surged toward its climax.