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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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“Kiiiik! Insolent human!”
The second-in-command, his already hideous face contorted, shrieked at the sight of me.
“I’ll rip out your Gujaok while you’re still alive!”
“Oh yeah? Try it, asshole! I’ll rip yours out first!”
“Keeek?! How can a human rip out a Gujaok?!”
He’s questioning that now?
“How can I rip it out? I’ll rip it out real good!”
How should I kill this bastard so the tale is told well?
Demons are different from martial artists. Unlike martial artists who wield weapons and use martial arts, demons fight using only Yogi and their physical abilities.
Their extending arms were a prime example. Kappas especially enjoy these long-range attacks. Then let’s exploit that.
“Keeek!”
The second-in-command took his stance. I’d seen it many times; it was the posture he took before launching his arm. Just as I was timing it—
Swoooosh!
His arm shot out towards me in a straight line.
Fast, but a predictable trajectory.
In martial arts terms, it was a third-rate attack, fixated on a single, straightforward movement with no variation. Thinking of it that way, this rubbery Kappa arm looked like a third-rate martial artist’s basic thrust.
Then there’s no reason I can’t counter it!
Just as I learned.
Calmly, I ran forward, raising my sword diagonally to strike. My blade deflected the incoming Kappa arm. Of course, I wasn’t going to stop there.
“Hah!”
I twisted the upward-deflected sword so the blade faced forward. Continuing my run, the blade embedded itself in the creature’s forearm, slicing through its flesh.
My tactic of forcing damage instead of simply dodging worked.
“Kiiiiiik!”
“How’s it taste?!”
As the second-in-command howled in pain, I closed the distance.
I’ll cut you down right here!
“You dare injure my aaarm! Die, humaaan!”
But even a rotten tooth can still bite. This bastard was still a Kappa second-in-command. Groaning in pain, he tried to attack me with his other arm.
However—
Swish!
This bastard… true to Demon nature, his physical abilities were incredible! That webbed hand was undoubtedly packed with power.
“Hup!”
Reflexively, I swung my sword down, slashing the arm that was about to strike me.
Thwack!
But I couldn’t sever it. The blow was stopped by bone, no, by tough hide. I only managed to inflict a surface wound, failing to reach the bone.
“Kikikik! Useless! You can’t harm my scales with that!”
“This crazy…! How tough is it?!”
“Just hand over the Gujaok and the women!”
The extended Kappa arm retracted. Blood flowed freely, but the creature, unfazed, clenched its fist to punch me.
The angle was awkward for using my sword.
“Like hell!”
I swung my arm as well, using my vambraces to block his punch.
Crack!
My teeth clenched in pain as my vambraces met his fist. As expected of a Demon, his natural strength was immense. I could never win in a fistfight against this thing.
Just as I thought that—
Grab!
He seized my shoulder with his other hand.
“Damn it…!”
I couldn’t even dodge that!
“Diiiie!”
The second-in-command opened his massive beak wide, lifting his jaws to bite off my head.
If I got caught in that, my head would split like a watermelon.
I absolutely had to dodge.
“Heek!”
Snap!
I jerked my head to the side, and he bit at air. The sound alone told me how powerful that bite would have been, but I’d dodged it.
I seized the opportunity, turning my one-handed grip on the sword sideways to made contact with his flesh, then—
Saw, saw!
I sawed with all my might, inflicting as much damage as possible!
“Kiyaaaaaak!”
He let go, clearly in pain.
“You son of a bitch! Trying to bite me! Where’d you learn such nasty habits?!”
“Humaaaan!”
The moment he released me, I executed a Naryeotagon, rolling on the ground and springing back to my feet. The second-in-command, enraged, tried to grab me again, but—
I had scooped up a handful of dirt during my roll.
Fwoosh!
I flung it like a whip, and the dirt landed squarely in his large eyes.
Scooping up dirt during a Naryeotagon and throwing it—it’s the essence of righteous martial arts: the Sand Blast. In classic Muhyup terms, it’s called Tosa Gwakran.
“Kik! My eyes!”
While the second-in-command writhed in agony with dirt in his eyes,
“Kaaaaaaaaaa!”
I roared, lunging at him. I swung my sword. To unleash the most powerful sword technique I knew, the Daeryu Sword Technique, and to tear him to shreds!
Swish!
A fierce sword strike.
Crackle!
Purple energy crackled from my blade.
Maintaining my momentum, I slashed at the cowering sub-boss.
Slash!
Despite the purple energy, I couldn’t cut through to his bones. But his hide split open, gushing blood. The purple energy had amplified the power of my sword.
“Dieeeee!”
Of course, the Daeryu Sword Technique doesn’t stop at a single strike. Strike after strike. I relentlessly slashed at the dazed second-in-command, covering him in blood.
“Kik! Kiiiik!”
His flesh tore, blood spraying from all over his body. His dull-colored hide became stained crimson. If I kept filleting him like this, he would surely fall.
Just as I was about to further mutilate him, he suddenly turned and fled.
Clang!
My sword struck his hard shell.
“This bastard? Trying to run?! Hahaha! Run all you want, you cowardly Demon!”
“Humaaaan!”
But then—
Brace!
The fleeing creature suddenly slammed on the brakes, lowering his stance, and in a single, explosive moment—
Whoosh!
He launched himself like a rocket, hurtling towards me like a speeding car.
That’s right. Using his shell as a shield, and his elastic legs like springs, he had propelled himself at me.
A crazy, Demon traffic accident.
Getting hit by that would mean serious injury, at the very least.
Swish!
The large shell hurtled towards me.
Dodge?
Impossible.
He was too fast.
Rumble.
So, the only thing I could do now—
Grip.
Was attack.
Blaaaze.
The moment I decided, purple energy rapidly converged on my sword. No, it was more like an explosion. The energy overflowed like a bursting dam, creating a torrent. I felt a gale erupting from my blade as—
I unleashed my best strike against the incoming shell.
“Demon-fury-slaaaaaaaaaash!!!”
An unholy, violet aura overflowed from my sword.
Kiiiiiiiiyaaaaaak!
The sound of my sword cutting through the air was like the shriek of a vengeful ghost. Accompanied by that terrifying sound, my blade left an ominous, dark trail.
The instant the blade collided with the shell—
KABOOM!
A wicked explosion erupted as my sword pierced through the shell.
“Gik!”
That was the second-in-command’s last word. My unstoppable blade cleaved him in two. The foolish second-in-command, attempting his Demon traffic accident, was bisected and sailed past me.
Thud!
The severed body parts hit the ground.
“Huff, huff!”
My breath came in ragged gasps.
I knelt on one knee, trying to calm my racing heart. I’d done it. I had used Demon Fury Slash again, the same technique I used to kill the bandit leader.
I almost cried out in triumph, but the battle wasn’t over yet. The other two were still fighting.
“Guys!”
Just as I called out—
“Haaaaah!”
I finally took in the surrounding scene.
Crack!
Just then, Serin sliced the Kappa boss into four pieces with her sword. The corpse, dismembered even more cleanly than the second-in-command I’d killed, collapsed.
And not only that—
“Die!”
Whoosh!
Ha-yeong had also incinerated all the remaining Kappas. Flames roared around us, and not a single Kappa remained standing. They had all been reduced to charcoal.
The battle was over.
In the short time it took me to fight the second-in-command.
“Did we win?!”
“Yes. We won.”
“Yeah! It’s over!”
Serin sheathed her sword, and Ha-yeong slung her Seokjang over her shoulder.
Situation resolved.
“Woo-hoo! We won!”
I defeated a Kappa second-in-command with my own hands!
I won a one-on-one duel to the death!
“Well done, Geun-hyeop. To defeat such a Demon all by yourself… your skills are improving rapidly.”
“Did you see that?! Did you see me kill it?!”
I shouted excitedly, then immediately regretted it. Serin had been too busy fighting the boss, who was stronger than the second-in-command, to have seen me.
“Yes. Of course, I saw it.”
“Wh-what? You saw? But your fight…?”
“I fought the boss while keeping an eye on you. That’s why I couldn’t finish it quickly, but I unleashed Salcho the moment you defeated the second-in-command.”
“Oh!”
The boss looked pretty strong, but to finish it off in an instant while keeping an eye on me…
As expected of a peak master.
“You fought very well, Geun-hyeop. The way you applied what you’ve learned was truly excellent. You’ve been training diligently. I’m proud of you. Truly.”
Serin praised me with a gentle smile. My shoulders puffed up with pride at receiving such praise from my master.
“Haha! I’ve been working hard! I’m glad it showed! I wanted you to see it!”
“I saw it. And… yes. That purple energy. And the way it exploded at the end. I saw it all.”
“You saw everything. Yeah, that’s what I wanted to show you.”
That was my achievement.
An attack utilizing my ominous power.
“It was certainly different from typical martial arts.”
Serin’s expression turned serious.
“And the energy I felt in that moment…”
“It was similar to Yogi(Demonic energy).”
Ha-yeong approached, finishing Serin’s sentence.
“I was watching too. The purple energy started to gather, and then you exploded it for incredible power. Look at this. The Kappa second-in-command’s shell is cleanly split in two. Even his internal organs are ruptured.”
As she said, the corpse was in a gruesome state.
“That’s tremendous power for your level.”
“Indeed. To split a Kappa’s shell so cleanly… In terms of sheer destructive power, it’s already at the level of a first-rate martial artist.”
First-rate martial artist!
My jaw dropped, and Serin and Ha-yeong looked at me with serious expressions.
“But this is different. It seems to be on a different path… different from the martial arts practiced by typical martial artists. Is it a power derived from your constitution, after all?”
“That’s highly likely. He absorbs demon cores and makes it his own power, and then releases it in his own way. It’s a different method from how ordinary martial artists generate sword energy.”
“Truly remarkable… It certainly seems different from sword energy.”
The two women’s analysis.
One was a peak master, and the other a Taoist. From their perspectives, the Demon Fury Slash I’d just used seemed to be a very unusual martial art.
“Wait! Then, could it be…!”
I realized something important.
“Could the Demon Fury Slash I just used be considered my own unique martial art?!”
That’s it!
If the Demon Fury Slash I just used looked unusual even to a martial artist and a Taoist, it was something completely new.
Then this is my own unique martial art!
“Unique martial art? Ah, yes. Now that I think about it, that’s right. Since only you can use such a technique, it would be considered a unique martial art.”
Serin acknowledged it!
“Then I’m the grandmaster of this art!”
Grandmaster!
The founder and greatest teacher of a martial art!
I had created a unique martial art through my constitution, used it in actual combat, and achieved victory. That’s more than enough qualification to be a grandmaster!
“D-don’t say things like ‘grandmaster’… Geun-hyeop! Even if I praise you, you mustn’t become arrogant!”
“Hahaha! He’s calling himself a grandmaster! Just leave him be! It’s funny! Don’t rain on his parade when he’s enjoying himself!”
“A master isn’t someone who just coddles their student! Sometimes you have to throw cold water on them!”
Even though I said it, it was bullshit.
But I wanted to enjoy this joy for now.
“But now is not the time for that. Everyone worked hard. We’ll analyze this in detail after we conclude this matter.”
“Conclude?”
Ah.
“Yeah, yeah. We’re not done yet. First, I want to check the Kappa corpses. There should be a core… and I’ll check that cave over there. That’s where the captured woman is.”
We had to collect the core and rescue the woman.
“Got it. We’ll do that.”
“Geun-hyeop, I will go with Calamitous Fire Hibiscus to rescue the woman.”
“Alright, be safe.”
I immediately started searching the Kappa boss’s corpse. The one Serin had quartered. I hoped the Core wasn’t also in four pieces. What if it’s like shards of a Shikon Jewel? I’d collapse and cry if that were the case.
So, I was a bit worried, but—
“Found it!”
I found the core in the upper torso!
And it was a deep green!
“I found the core!”
Now I can level up!
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