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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Thwack!
The head of a zombie orc exploded.
Thwack!
The head of the zombie orc chieftain, who was charging from the side, also exploded in a friendly manner.
Thwack! Thud!
For the first time, a different noise, rather than the sound of heads exploding, resounded.
“Zombie troll.”
A mid-tier monster famous for its regeneration was the troll.
Even a lower-tier troll could instantly regenerate small sword wounds or stab wounds, and if it were a mid-tier troll, even if a hole was pierced in its belly, it could instantly close it up.
And what about an upper-tier troll?
‘It would even regenerate if its limbs were cut off.’
That was why the troll was a monster known for being troublesome, and why, among the mid-tier monster species, the troll was particularly avoided.
But such a troll had become a zombie.
A creature whose regeneration of a troll and regeneration of a zombie were combined was a creature regarded as a mid-tier undead.
If its head was not split at once, it wouldn’t die easily, and how thick its neck was, made it hard even for decent dealers to cut it.
But even so, the reason why it was regarded as a mid-tier undead was because its weakness was too clear.
‘Flame, and divine power.’
If only those two things could be used, then the regenerative power of a zombie troll would not be a big problem.
Of course, Lee Rowoon had no intention of using flame or divine power.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A zombie troll with a massive body was charging toward Lee Rowoon.
Thud!
Lee Rowan, with a light motion, kicked off the ground and leaped up.
Crash!
The zombie troll’s large fist smashed into the spot where Lee Rowoon had just been, causing a booming sound.
The creature, belatedly not feeling the sensation of its fist connecting, tried to find Lee Rowoon again, but it was too late.
Tap.
A light landing.
The place where Lee Rowan landed was on the zombie troll’s shoulder, and before he knew it, Lee Rowoon’s hand had reached the zombie troll’s head.
‘Blood Demon Absorption.’
He could feel the sticky blood of the creature flowing over his palm.
Kuh-ooh!
In the pain of having its blood sucked, the zombie troll struggled desperately to shake Lee Rowoon off, but it was useless.
Even while the troll was creating chaos, Lee Rowoon did not lose his balance and moved this way and that, not letting go of the hand that was touching the creature’s head.
In the end, the result was inevitable.
Thump!
The zombie troll fell.
Lee Rowoon landed on the ground without a single scratch on his body.
“Hoo.”
The feeling of fullness that he felt throughout his body.
“Have I reached it already?”
A pool of blood was forming beneath Lee Rowan’s feet.
It was the troll’s blood that Lee Rowoon had not been able to absorb, flowing out through the soles of his feet.
The meaning of this phenomenon was simple.
‘The end of red blood.’
It meant that he had to move on to the next stage.
And that was the first goal that Lee Rowoon wanted to achieve in the Abyss.
“Rebirth.”
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The achievement of the Blood Demon Divine Art was originally very fast.
As his teacher, the Martial King, had said.
‘There was a farmer who happened to learn the Blood Demon Divine Art, and less than three years after he learned it, a storm of blood swept through the martial world.’
A demonic art among demonic arts that even an ordinary person with no talent could reach the pinnacle of mastery if they learned it for just three years.
Of course, that farmer’s end was never good.
‘Boom!’
Those without talent can never reach the second stage of the Blood Demon Divine Art.
The accumulated blood and inner energy would eventually break free of control and cause the owner’s body to explode.
That was the kind of demonic art that the Blood Demon Divine Art was.
But even so, such rapid progress was irrational.
It was probably two weeks since entering the Abyss.
There must be a reason why he was already facing the next stage.
‘Monster blood.’
The fact that he could devour the abundant monster blood of the carcass disposal site.
‘A realm that I have already surpassed.’
The fact that Lee Rowoon had already experienced reaching the end of the Blood Demon Divine Art.
‘Talent.’
A talent that could not be compared to some farmer who had accidentally obtained the Blood Demon Divine Art.
His teachers had told him once.
It was when he had asked why he had been chosen as a vessel of chaos.
‘Huh? Isn’t it obvious?’
His teachers’ answer was simple.
‘It’s because you are the vessel of a king.’
The vessel of a king, a being who was capable of becoming the ruler of that world.
That talent could not be quantified, and he was a genius among geniuses who would quickly learn anything he studied.
He couldn’t believe it.
Of course, it wasn’t that his talent, which had reached ranker level and was on the verge of becoming a high ranker, was terrible.
But to become a king, someone that everyone would look up to?
‘That’s because you were already chosen before your awakening.’
‘It’s not often that a vessel of a king is special from birth.’
‘It’s just that you’ve been unlucky since you were born.’
If that talent had bloomed, he would have been more than qualified to become the king of the world.
Well, for that reason, his achievement of the Blood Demon Divine Art was faster than anyone could have imagined.
He had reached the end of red blood in just two weeks.
Now, he was ready to move on to the next stage.
Trickle.
Lee Rowoon gathered the numerous carcasses around him and made a mountain of them.
He also dug into the ground and made the blood flowing from the wounds of the carcasses gather in one place.
‘I’ve cleared all of the undead around me.’
Furthermore, he had set up dozens of traps using the Iron Blood Spheres.
Now, there was only one thing left to do.
Thud.
He sat cross-legged in the pool of blood, which was rising and flowing up to his shins.
“Damn it.”
He cursed even though he hadn’t even started yet.
‘If I go through Rebirth about three times, I’ll be usable.’
Three times?
“I can’t believe I’m going to do this again.”
But there was no choice.
He had to become stronger.
The problem of revenge, and the problem before that.
‘Survival.’
In order to survive in this insane world, power was essential.
With power, he could survive, take revenge, and find his teachers.
So…
“Let’s endure.”
Lee Rowoon closed his eyes.
Whoosh!
Now, the inner energy that filled his blood Dantian was moving according to Lee Rowoon’s will.
‘Reverse Blood.’
He would reverse the flow of the blood and inner energy gathered in the blood Dantian back into the blood vessels.
“Kuh!”
It was an act that defied the laws of nature, and since he was stuffing more things into his blood vessels filled with blood, it was natural for his blood vessels to start bursting.
What he was about to do now was Rebirth, which was like a dream for martial artists.
‘Reforging the bones and shedding the skin.’
It was to be reborn into a body more suitable as a martial artist.
Originally, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
One would accumulate enough inner energy to be suitable for Rebirth and train the body to its limits.
And then, when a great enlightenment came.
Crash!
One would be reborn, like an imugi transforming into a dragon.
But Shin Yeol’s martial art was different from that.
‘Enlightenment? Unnecessary.’
It was simply about crashing, breaking, and creating anew.
Unorthodox Rebirth naturally accompanied side effects.
For example.
“Keuk!”
He had to feel the pain of all his blood vessels being squeezed and bursting, and his bone joints shattering, every single moment.
Whoosh!
As his blood vessels burst, the monster blood in the pool was being absorbed in proportion to the blood that Lee Rowoon was shedding.
Lee Rowoon’s insides were filled with blood due to his blood vessels bursting haphazardly.
‘Damn it!’
Lee Rowoon gritted his teeth and moved on to the next stage.
Crack!
“……!”
Blood permeated his bone joints, and his bones were crushed to an extent that it was inadequate to express it as being fragmented.
Crackle!
That was happening simultaneously in every bone joint of his body.
‘I can’t lose my mind.’
If he were to lose his mind even for a moment, the stray blood would swallow all of his organs and lead him to death.
Crack! Crack! Sizzle!
Now, steam began to spread out from Lee Rowoon’s entire body.
The toxins and impurities that had accumulated throughout his life were being released because they could not withstand the inner energy and blood energy of the Blood Demon Divine Art.
This was only the beginning.
The time that Lee Rowoon had to endure this from now on was at least more than a full day.
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“Haa. Haa.”
He had thought he had experienced all sorts of pain during his hundred years of training with his teachers.
Especially since the Sword King teacher’s training included being stabbed, sliced, and broken by all sorts of weapons, he thought his tolerance for pain would be considerable.
But it was as he thought.
“This is… the worst.”
There was nothing more painful than having his whole body shattered into pieces and having to repair it while maintaining a clear mind.
But in the end, Lee Rowoon did it.
Whoosh!
When Lee Rowoon released his inner energy, the filthily clinging black grime and things like snake skins all flew away.
Lee Rowoon, who revealed himself from within, had changed in many ways.
Lee Rowoon, who had returned to his body as a slave instead of his robust body.
Even while he was growing stronger by absorbing monster blood with the Blood Demon Divine Art, his body was the same as it was when he was a slave.
A body so emaciated that his ribs were clearly visible, hair that had become dry due to not eating properly, and was falling out in patches.
His waist was also hunched over from spending every day bending over for dismantling, and his whole body was covered with spots caused by prolonged exposure to corpse poison.
But above all, the worst thing was the mark drawn on his chest.
The so-called.
‘Slave seal.’
A magical seal that proved a laborer in the carcass disposal site was a slave, and a vicious curse that would activate if they tried to leave the carcass disposal site, causing their body to be shattered into pieces.
It could never be erased without the caster’s permission, and one had to be twice as strong as the caster to avoid the slave seal.
Of course, Lee Rowoon had countless ways to erase it.
He could continuously raise his achievement in the Blood Demon Divine Art to become stronger than the caster and forcibly break it.
‘The magic of the Demon King teacher.’
Or he could nullify the magic seal itself using the essence of demon magic he had learned from his Demon King teacher.
But there was a problem.
‘The caster of the slave seal is that guy.’
He didn’t know how long he would have to spend in this carcass disposal site to become twice as strong as that guy.
Also, the Demon King’s demon magic was close to impossible.
‘The use of demon magic is only possible when you can control darkness.’
But to control darkness, he had to reach at least a certain part of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Therefore, the fastest way.
‘Changing the body.’
Rebirth was the easiest way to get rid of the slave seal.
Now that he had succeeded in Rebirth, Lee Rowan’s appearance had changed in many ways.
Squeeze.
Although his body was not filled with muscles because it had been so emaciated, nutrients had spread throughout his body, making it a rather decent body.
‘The size of the blood Dantian has doubled.’
The amount of inner energy he could possess had doubled.
And above all.
Rip!
The slave seal that had been drawn on his chest had disappeared.
As it was a special Blood Demon Divine Art Rebirth, it changed the composition of his entire body, and the slave seal had been broken.
“Now, the shackles of the Hwasan Guild and that guy are gone.”
That guy would now completely think that he was dead.
And…
“Is it as I expected?”
Lee Rowoon said, touching his long hair.
Hair that had a subtle red glow, like a burgundy wine.
As the base of Rebirth was the blood demon energy of the Blood Demon Divine Art, it was unavoidable.
‘Probably my eyes are red too.’
Well, it wasn’t a big deal.
What was important now was that he had completed Rebirth and had moved on to the next stage of the Blood Demon Divine Art.
And that meant that he could progress even further.
The second thing that Lee Rowoon had to obtain from the Abyss.
At the end of this Abyss….
“Shall I go and find it?”
If he could just obtain that…
He grinned.
Even the second stage of the Blood Demon Divine Art would reach its peak.
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