“Where are those filthy things with their cheap tricks!!”
Hyeon Woo-seok, after dodging a sudden falling stone, bellowed as if saying he couldn’t dodge again and unleashed his skill.
[Heaven and Earth Six Paths Sword]
As he spat out the grandiose name of his technique, Hyeon Woo-seok’s sword drew an afterimage.
Then, small sword energies whipped around like a storm in all directions.
My minions, who had walked into that horrifying wave of swords, were torn apart like paper and scattered everywhere.
‘This… That kind of technique is cheating!’
I silently screamed as I burrowed into the ground.
But at that moment.
As my minions were being cut down and blood splattered, creating a dense blood mist, ‘Gori’ zoomed through the net of sword energies.
“Gori, go!”
Swoosh─!
“What?!”
I don’t know how Gori, with its two wings severed, managed to fly towards Hyeon Woo-seok, but it accurately clawed at the tip of Hyeon Woo-seok’s right earlobe and then rolled on the ground multiple times.
“Beeeee…!”
The body-less ‘Gori’ shook Hyeon Woo-seok’s earlobe as if to convey that it had completed its mission.
I could sense it clearly, and though I wanted to pat the commendable Gori immediately,
Whoosh-!
Hyeon Woo-seok’s quick thrust created a fist-sized hole in Gori’s body, leaving no room for anything else.
“Ugh…! How dare you let a worm’s attack touch my body!!”
He reacted as if a terrifying virus had touched him, retrieving a wet wipe from the spatial pocket and repeatedly wiping his ear.
Despite his crumpled expression, the crowd was ecstatic.
“Whoa! That swordsmanship he learned from the grandmaster months ago!”
“Incredible… It gives the illusion that the world is covered solely in swords.”
While the Ilseom side cheered, our side made a half-hearted response.
“Ah, not much. Even Hae-yoon could probably block that skill.”
“Missing one bat shows that there’s a gap in the skill. There’s no need to worry…”
But from my perspective, that technique was incredibly useful, and the destructive power was extraordinary.
‘…It is impressive, but why use a knife to catch a chicken?’
If I thought about it that way, it was proof that the ‘Gori’ squad was that much of a threat.
I had already been burrowing into the ground for my next move during the time Gori had bought me.
After using a big technique, there were inevitably openings.
He had clearly let down his guard about me.
I burst out from where he stood and activated my skill.
[Chain of Flame]
“!!”
– He popped up from underground?!
– What the!!
The people couldn’t hide their astonishment seeing me suddenly emerge from the ground amidst the blood mist.
Hyeon Woo-seok instinctively counterattacked just as I was about to bind him.
[Tunnel Destroyer Lv.Max]
– Increases defense by 250 when targeting an enemy outside the tunnel.
It was an unexpected attack, and since my defense had massively shot up due to the skill,
I came out with only a slight decrease in health.
I then jabbed him with [Thunderhorn].
Crackle─!
“Ugh…!”
Despite feeling some pain from the flames for a moment, Hyeon Woo-seok managed to stretch out his arms and easily shattered the chains.
The lightning bolts pouring down mixed with the flames showed he could withstand everything barehanded; by the look on his face, it seemed to barely sting him.
Was it because of [Lightning Step] that his elemental resistance was high? [Thunderhorn] didn’t seem effective.
‘His physical training is sure enough. But soon, it’ll be checkmate!’
Thinking he’d soon break free from restraint, I once again executed my movement skill to close the distance and, in front of me, swung my great sword down flat.
Clang──!
‘Of course you’ll block this too.’
After slashing through all my minions, Hyeon Woo-seok lightly blocked my attack, which pierced through the openings; but that was within my expectations.
Crack-
Did he feel it?
That as he blocked my attack, there was a minute crack in his sword?
‘I won’t break immediately, but repairing that will take some effort, you jerk.’
The skill [Void Slash] was very effective, even in this exchange.
“You, a worm-like skeleton… how dare you toy with the great Ilseom with such crude swordsmanship?!”
“Clap, clap, clap.”
Hyeon Joong-gil would likely never know that this swordsmanship was taught by an unparalleled master.
Crack, crack, crack-!
For a moment, when our swords met, we realized the power struggle was lasting longer than expected.
“Ugh…! This is absurd. I’m wasting time with this trash- Ugh…!!”
Hyeon Woo-seok was following the formula of previous villains who talked too much.
I hoped he wouldn’t become a villain, and I immediately launched my next attack.
‘While you’re flapping your gums, eat this!’
The setups I had in place were prepared in close proximity for this attack.
[Special Strong Acid]
[Skeleton Bomb]
“Ugh?!”
Hundreds of [Skeleton Bombs] detonated at close range.
Five of them were special bombs made from ogre bones.
Boom—!
A tremendous shockwave occurred, seemingly shaking the entire sparring ground.
The impact was so great that many spectators were pushed back a considerable distance.
‘This is it-‘
Now getting used to slicing through space, I flowed into my next move.
[Void Slash] Flame Cut
Recalling all the grueling training I had undergone, I poured everything into a single swing as I brought it down towards him.
─────
Scrape─!
As my full-force swing passed by, within the smoke of the explosion, I clearly saw how he blocked my attack.
‘Fundamentally, the gear and artifact are decent, but the skill activated by embedding the sword into the ground was surprising.’
The skill activated at the moment the bomb detonated.
It seemed as if the area around Hyeon Woo-seok had vanished into another dimension.
Naturally, he wasn’t supposed to have taken any damage, and soon Hyeon Woo-seok calmly emerged from the smoke.
While his shoulder had slightly melted from the strong acid he spat out before using the skill, at a glance, he seemed uninjured.
‘No, there was definitely some sensation there.’
I could tell with a near-certain feeling that the slash I attempted just as the bomb exploded had undoubtedly hit him.
“Hahaha- Is this acid on my shoulder? It must be something I noticed while sparring with Hyeon. So you can spit it out as fast as a bullet? You truly are an infuriating monster.”
‘You shouldn’t be that angry.’
As I turned off the skill, a small droplet of blood began to form on Hyeon Woo-seok’s right cheek as he walked closer with a smirk.
“……”
Hyeon Woo-seok muttered in disbelief while wiping the blood that flowed down his cheek with his finger.
“…? Huh? W-what’s this? How is it possible…?”
Today had many things he couldn’t comprehend.
He was utilizing a skill that separates him from any attack, so how could the crude slash of a skeleton reach him?
Swoosh─
“Ugh?!”
The droplet of blood that had formed elongated from Hyeon Woo-seok’s left cheek to above his eyebrow, turning red.
Soon, blood gushed from the deep cut, coloring Hyeon Woo-seok’s face crimson.
Splash────
“Argh!! Aghhh!”
Hyeon Woo-seok staggered, squinting one eye after getting hit by my blade.
‘Got him! Indeed, the sensation doesn’t lie!’
– A Flame Mark is inscribed.
– Temporarily tracks the location of the marked enemy.
‘If I hit him with [Flame Explosion], it would be a permanent tracking mark; but with just one, this is the limit, huh?’
I instinctively understood that the mark had a tracking function but it felt insufficient with only one.
‘How temporary is it?’
As I pondered while pulling back, Hyeon Woo-seok was still muttering something.
‘Something feels odd.’
I felt a slight sense of discomfort, wondering what I missed.
“Cutting the space…?”
Hyeon Woo-seok seemed more urgent about understanding the phenomenon than about maintaining balance.
“You cut the space…?”
It was a realm he hadn’t yet reached. He realized something was wrong but didn’t want to accept it.
That skeleton in front of him was undoubtedly different from other monsters.
The fact that it executed attacks strangely similar to the swordsmanship of Ilseom was infuriating.
Furthermore, it was irritating how that unknown sense of vitality radiated from it as if it were alive despite being dead.
If it were a monster that was dead yet alive, if it were an existence that reversed the rules of the world,
Could its swordsmanship also descend inversely?
‘That’s nonsense! Have you gone mad!’
Shaking his head violently to clear his thoughts, he whispered as he looked at the skeleton’s shoulder.
“Is it because it’s a monster… It takes a long time to separate.”
“Clap…?”
‘Separate?’
Just then, I sensed something was off.
“Huh?! My arm?!”
Thud—
On both arms, the weight gradually lightened until both fell to the ground, rolling around.
“Crap! When did I cut those?! Could it be, just at that moment I was slicing? Did I just get countered?!”
Even with my senses spread wide, if my mind got distracted by something else, there exists a very brief moment I couldn’t sense. It seemed that was when he severed my arms.
It was astonishing.
Wasn’t this only possible in hand-to-hand combat?
Stagger—
I lost my arms.
To be precise, my right arm was completely severed at the shoulder, and my left arm was cut off until the elbow.
In the moment I lost my balance and nearly collapsed, I barely managed to steady myself.
– Il-wol!!
– Oh no…! I can’t continue the battle in this state!
– Judge! Stop, stop!
– The judge already fled.
– Huh…?
Despite putting me in a battle-disabled state, Hyeon Woo-seok approached me with a dissatisfied expression.
Yeon-hee hurriedly shouted at me, trying to dispel the summon, but I shook my head.
I somehow felt that entering the Dark Space to recover and then coming back wouldn’t be what the system wanted.
It was a conviction close to instinct that I had endured after experiencing his will several times.
‘It has to end cleanly. One-on-one… I started this contest. Whether I die or survive, I will finish it.’
Fwoosh—
I could see a Flame Mark appearing on Hyeon Woo-seok’s shoulder. My objectives were already accomplished.
My body was genuinely in tatters.
I had poured all my magic power into the final slash; my remaining magic power was pitifully low.
With that state, engaging in normal combat was difficult.
Yet I felt a twinge of pity for myself as I searched for a tiny spark to move forward.
Surely, let’s aim to stack just one more mark.
I stood up, clutching the great sword that had fallen to the ground in my mouth.
I moved the thorns that were on my body to my arms, roughly shaping them.
Suddenly, an arm resembling a massive fang began to form.
– Wow… That’s a real monster.
– Did it just make an arm?
– Although it isn’t detailed enough to form a hand…
– That’s more frightening. I absolutely don’t want to fight something like that.
‘Flattering me too much.’
I trudged forward.
“Huh- huff- You bastard of a monster, I’ll tear you apart. And of course, after that…”
‘After that? Has this crazy guy crossed the line?’
Hyeon Woo-seok appeared to have completely lost his sanity.
I caught a glimpse of his left eye that had been injured by my attack slowly opening.
‘Didn’t I take his eye?’
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