Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 361 – Sacred Orb (3)

The technique of focusing all his strength into a single point was, for Mok Gyeong-un, a method that surpassed his own realm and physical limitations.

As such, when forcibly halting this concentrated power, the backlash would inevitably affect himself.

-Crack! Crackle!

The sound of muscles tearing and ripping throughout his body echoed.

It was loud enough for even the blade user a few steps away to hear.

The blade user, who had been momentarily amazed at the halting of the sword draw, soon curved his lips into a sinister smile.

Stopping this one sword strike was indeed an excellent judgment.

‘But it was also a foolish choice.’

Thanks to enduring that tremendous backlash, not only was he in pain, but it would be difficult for him to move right now.

In a battle between martial artists of nearly equal skill, this was a fatal miscalculation.

-Whoosh!

The blade user moved.

As someone whose entire body’s muscles had developed to maximize any movement, he could achieve ultra-high-speed movement with just basic body techniques.

-Swish!

The blade user’s form scattered and instantly reached Mok Gyeong-un’s front.

He unleashed his sword technique towards Mok Gyeong-un’s vital points.

‘Second form, Sword Extreme Form Control!’

There was no need to even use fire energy.

A situation where he could finish it with just sword techniques…

-Whoosh!

At that moment.

Mok Gyeong-un threw his body backward.

Seeing this, a strange light flickered in the blade user’s eyes.

‘He moved?’

Most of his muscles should have been torn, yet he endured the pain and forced himself to move?

It was an admirable level of endurance, enough to make one’s tongue click in amazement.

He must have also sustained internal injuries, making it difficult to utilize his inner energy. It was impressive that he could show such movement in this state.

But the world of combat is cold.

No matter how admirable or worthy of respect an opponent might be, he had to die.

-Swish! Whoosh!

The blade user changed his sword technique, altering the trajectory to catch up with Mok Gyeong-un as he threw his body backward.

It wasn’t something he could avoid just by dodging anyway.

Unless he had superhuman regenerative abilities like himself, who had absorbed the essence of spiritual beasts, his body wouldn’t recover just by briefly avoiding attacks.

‘Just give up already.’

The trajectories of the blade user’s sword techniques aimed to slice off Mok Gyeong-un’s arms.

At that moment.

-Hisssss!

The skin below Mok Gyeong-un’s head, which had been glowing red and emitting steam due to blood flow, suddenly began to turn black, with veins bulging prominently.

This was the Evil Blood Shifting Technique.

But it didn’t end there.

-Crack! Crack!

In this state of Evil Blood Shifting, the muscles near Mok Gyeong-un’s joints swelled, filling in the torn areas.

-Clang clang clang clang clang!

Along with this, Mok Gyeong-un unleashed a sword-drawing technique of the Demonic Sword Art, blocking the blade user’s changed technique.

The blade user was dumbfounded.

What kind of technique is this?

He displayed some bizarre techniques, gathering his power into a single point and then filling in the aftermath of stopping it.

-Flutter flutter flutter!

Whatever techniques they were, his strength had returned to a comparable level.

Thinking it was only temporary, the blade user unleashed a series of other sword techniques to subdue Mok Gyeong-un.

-Clang clang clang clang clang!

In an instant, the two exchanged about 10 forms.

Despite this, Mok Gyeong-un didn’t give an inch and received his sword techniques.

When the blade user used techniques that exceeded the normal range of joint movement, Mok Gyeong-un countered with completely different sword-drawing techniques using both hands.

Thus, no openings were created.

-Whoosh!

Realizing this wouldn’t work, the blade user infused his sword techniques with fire energy to push Mok Gyeong-un back forcefully, but in response, Mok Gyeong-un raised cold energy, creating a situation similar to before.

The surroundings became hazy with steam.

-Clang clang clang clang clang clang!

As visibility decreased and they had to rely on sound and energy sense to judge movements, the blade user’s eyes grew complex.

How many techniques has he mastered to be able to endure like this?

It was impressive enough that he was still holding out when his energy should be depleting over time, but he was also filling in his deficiencies with these strange techniques he had learned.

-Grr!

He prided himself on having perfected the ultimate essence of sword techniques, compensating for all the weaknesses while competing with the brilliant genius known as the Sword Demon.

Moreover, hadn’t he surpassed human limits in inner energy by obtaining two spiritual beast cores?

Yet why was he maintaining this stalemate?

‘…Is this the beginning?’

As much as he hated to admit it, he was truly a naturally gifted martial talent of unprecedented caliber.

There was a reason he was called a legend.

-Clang clang clang clang clang!

They had already exchanged over 40 forms, yet he showed not even the slightest opening, making the blade user want to genuinely express his admiration.

But he hadn’t come all this way just to admire and compete.

His ultimate goal was to take his life.

‘I wanted to defeat him purely through martial skill, but I guess that was just my own desire.’

-Thud!

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un’s magic sword Evil Commandment Sword pierced the blade user’s abdomen.

‘This is?’

In an instant, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

Even with the steam obscuring vision and weakening concentration, that last sword strike wasn’t something this man should have fallen for.

Right then.

-Grab!

‘!?’

The blade user grabbed the sword embedded in him.

Then,

-Slash!

Mok Gyeong-un instantly let go of Evil Commandment Sword’s hilt and tried to avoid it using the Clear Manifest Water Leaping Step, but his shoulder was still cut.

‘So this was it?’

As his shoulder was sliced, Mok Gyeong-un realized.

As the stalemate continued and he became more accustomed to the sword techniques, the blade user had switched to an extreme strategy.

That strategy was to unleash techniques aiming for mutual destruction with every move.

By attacking with the intent of dying together, it naturally became possible to sacrifice flesh to gain bone.

‘…So you’ve resorted to this.’

Mok Gyeong-un had anticipated this strategy to some extent.

It was a rational choice.

Even he would have employed such a strategy to face an equal or stronger opponent if he had such tremendous regenerative abilities that could regrow severed limbs.

‘Now I need to create distance.’

If they fought at close range, he would continue to use techniques of mutual destruction.

For someone like himself without superhuman regeneration, this approach would only put him at a disadvantage.

Just as Mok Gyeong-un was about to create distance,

-Clang!

The blade user pulled out the magic sword Evil Commandment Sword embedded in his abdomen and threw it away, uttering incomprehensible words.

“Steam is moisture. Do you know what has a good affinity with moisture?”

‘!?’

At that very moment.

-Crackle crackle crackle crackle!

Suddenly, the hazy surroundings full of steam were enveloped in blue lightning.

It was the lightning energy emitted by the blade user.

As the space filled with steam was dyed with lightning, the entire area became like a thundercloud.

-Zap! Zap!

In the space instantly filled with lightning, Mok Gyeong-un was electrocuted.

It wasn’t something he could avoid.

He tried to protect his entire body with demonic energy to disperse the lightning energy, but he couldn’t do anything about the muscle stiffening caused by the continuous lightning.

As his movements slowed down at that moment,

“It’s over!”

-Whoosh!

The blade user unleashed his Extreme Swift Killing Blade to behead Mok Gyeong-un.

Unlike the electrocuted and stiffened Mok Gyeong-un, the blade user’s blade, moving freely and even faster in the lightning, was truly the epitome of extreme swiftness.

-Slash!

It was an all too fatal strike.

Facing the extremely swift blade aiming for his neck, Mok Gyeong-un instantly sensed death.

‘I can’t avoid it.’

No matter how much he struggled, this was something he couldn’t do anything about in his current state.

The moment he realized this, time seemed to slow down.

It was truly bizarre.

-Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

To think that the extremely swift blade would appear so slow when he thought he was going to die.

They say humans see their entire life flash before their eyes before death.

It might be a process of looking back on the years they’ve lived.

However, for Mok Gyeong-un, who didn’t place much significance on the years he had lived, death was just an end.

Because he thought it was just an end,

‘Is this as far as I go?’

As he was about to accept this, suddenly,

-Mortal.

A single existence flashed through Mok Gyeong-un’s mind.

It was none other than Cheong-ryeong.

‘!?’

Why?

Why did she come to mind right before death?

Not his grandfather, not regret for not fully completing his revenge, why did her voice and face come to mind?

In that instant, Mok Gyeong-un wondered.

Her face came to mind so naturally, and he even felt a strange emotion of wanting to see her just one more time.

This was a first in his life.

As the feeling of wanting to see her grew stronger, a different emotion from acceptance arose in Mok Gyeong-un’s mind.

‘Not yet.’

It was the feeling that he had to live to see her.

But how could he survive this moment?

His body was stiff from the lightning, and the extremely swift blade was just a hair’s breadth away from his neck.

Was there really a way to escape from a situation like this?

As he was filled with doubt, suddenly,

[Everything depends on how you think about it. In the end, it’s all about your will to do it.]

The words that being had said in his mental image suddenly came to mind.

At that moment, on the border between life and death, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes came alive and his senses became extremely sharp.

-Thud!

“Ugh!”

At that moment, a death cry burst from the blade user’s mouth.

The blade user’s eyes shook wildly.

For good reason, as he was just about to behead him, but something sharp had pierced right through his heart in the middle of his chest.

‘Wh-what is this…’

It was clearly a sword, seemingly non-existent yet existing.

The blade user looked down.

There, a sharp blade was forming the shape of a sword without any medium, and this was…

“Invi…Invinsible Sword?”

There was no doubt.

Beyond the stage of becoming one with the sword, where even energy forms a sword.

It was the realm of the Invinsible Sword.

The blade user staggered with an unbelieving expression.

How could he, who had taken two spiritual beast cores and surpassed wall after wall to reach the realm of oneness with the blade, not yet reach this supreme realm…

-Shudder!

For a moment, the blade user’s expression froze.

It was because he met Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes looking at him.

The emotion he felt the moment he saw those eyes was singular.

‘Death.’

Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes were depicting only his death.

Sensing this, the blade user’s mind was filled with fear and terror.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un’s form, free from the lightning, moved.

At this, the blade user’s hand, staggering from having his heart pierced by the formless sword, reached for the pouch at his waist.

‘I, I must escape…’

-Slash!

At that moment, a black line appeared and passed through the blade user.

-Thud!

Mok Gyeong-un appeared at the end of the black line, exhaling rough breaths.

“Haa… Haa…”

-Thump!

Then, the staggering blade user behind him fell to his knees on the ground.

At that sound, Mok Gyeong-un slowly turned his head.

There was the blade user, with a hole larger than a fist in the back of his head, through which the opposite side was clearly visible.