Chapter 85: The Great Demon (5)

༺ The Great Demon (5) ༻

― Bang!

Following the impact, Ya Hyeoljeok found himself pushed back.

“Fuck!”

After managing to stop, Ya Hyeoljeok angrily swung his sword.

― Swoosh!

The sword that had been filled with a ton of Qi released a sword wave towards me.

And I, who the hit had been meant for, dodged it with fluid movements.

A light backstep, and a leap.

Ya Hyeoljeok, meanwhile, continued to relentlessly swing his sword.

The speed of his attacks were not slow due to his muscles and the fact that he was a martial artist who had already reached the peak level,

But even so, Ya Hyeoljeok’s attacks only hit empty space.

And eventually, I once again dug into his stomach with my fist.

“You!!!”

Even with his muscles, my fist dug deep into his stomach...

― Blaze!

And lit it on fire.

“Aghhhhh!”

Ya Hyeoljeok tried to quickly push me away due to the unexpected pain,

But I had already distanced myself from him.

“Huff... Huff...”

Ya Hyeoljeok gasped.

“...You little shit...”

Ya Hyeoljeok seemed like he was in great pain, judging by the fact that he was grabbing onto his belly.

“I heard that you were from Gu, so why involve yourself here?!”

I didn’t respond verbally to Ya Hyeoljeok’s question.

― Blaze-!

My flames were my response, and they surged everywhere as I channeled my destructive flame arts

Ya Hyeoljeok tried to block the flames by swinging his sword, but he couldn’t block all of them.

The flames raged indiscriminately, engulfing the whole area as if it wanted to leave nothing here alive.

And in between those flames, I saw an opening.

I reached my arm out through a gap in the engulfing flames and grabbed Ya Hyeoljeok’s neck.

And then I engulfed my hand in flames, intending to burn his head in it.

But Ya Hyeoljeok reacted quickly and with a burst of qi, broke my hold and created some distance between us.

On creating the gap, Ya Hyeoljeok rubbed his neck with his hand because of the burning sensation he felt.

“Huff... Huff...”

Because I had stayed in the middle of flames for so long, my body was now smoking.

‘...I missed it.’

「Calm down!」

I heard Elder Shin urgently repeating those words in my head. But...

‘I am calm.’

「I can feel how angry you are on the inside, so what do you mean by calm?!」

Weird.

I could’ve sworn that I was still calm.

I was just disappointed.

I could still felt the sensation of his neck in my hand.

I should’ve burned him there,

But it seemed like he had more to offer than I’d thought.

‘Ya Hyeoljeok.’

That was the name of the man warily observing me with a greatsword in hand.

I knew who he was.

He was a man who belonged in one of the armies of the Heavenly Demon, a co-leader to be precise.

A demonic human who had had one of his eyes and his mouth covered with an eye-patch and a mask.

Unlike the growling appearance like he was currently showing, however, in my memories he was a man that seemed like a corpse that simply followed his master’s commands.

He seemed a lot different now to what I remembered.

‘He was from the Black Palace...?’

I had never really cared about the demonic human’s pasts.

Because I’d been busy with my own life and wasn’t interested in others.

I shook my hand.

‘Namgung Bi-Ah...’

When I glanced at the spot Namgung Bi-Ah had been laying at, I saw that she had already ― thankfully ― run away, as I couldn’t see her.

When I’d first got here, I saw Namgung Bi-Ah was on the ground.

And that image had reminded me of the last moments I’d had with the Demonic Sword.

I was forced to remember that memory... the memory of me holding her in my arms, unable to do anything as her last breath slipped away.

And... if I had come just a little later, then I might have had to relive that memory.

― Blaze!!!

As if responding to my emotions, my Qi surged wildly and the blaze that surrounded my body grew larger and fiercer in tandem.

「Kid!」

I took a step towards Ya Hyeoljeok and revolved my destructive flame arts at great speeds.

Strength flowed into my feet as I rushed forward, and my flames blazed indiscriminately following my movements.

The greatsword being swung by Ya Hyeoljeok was fast.

Because he was a peak level martial artist who had properly built up his muscles, he could swing the heavy sword at great speeds.

To match that I increased my speeds by empowering my body with my qi,

And then blocked his vision with flames.

Ya Hyeoljeok continued to swing his sword, thinking that flames wouldn’t be enough to stop him,

But his poor movements with his sword gave me many openings.

And... even if there were no openings, I just had to make some.

A light cut appeared on my body as I moved...Fôllôw new stories at no/v(e)lb/in(.)com

But I could give him that much.

― Thrust-!

“Ughhh!”

― Slam! Slam!

It seemed like they were still battling because the sound of something being smashed didn’t stop.

It wasn’t really all that long, but to Namgung Bi-Ah, it felt like an eternity.

After finally being able to move, she went there and,

“Ugh!”

Namgung Bi-Ah wobbled after perceiving a disgusting smell.

Did this smell come from that giant?

She wondered, because the stench hadn’t been this bad before.

‘...This is too much.’

It was the first time that Namgung Bi-Ah had ever perceived a smell this bad.

The smell was enough to make her nauseous.

― Pow!

Namgung Bi-Ah, limping, finally arrived at the location of the fight.

And the sight she was greeted with on arrival was unbelievable.

She didn’t know what had happened, but the surroundings had been destroyed so badly that it seemed like demons had rampaged in it.

And in the middle of the area, was Gu Yangcheon.

Whilst straddling Ya Hyeoljeok’s chest, Gu Yangcheon could be seen, striking down at him repeatedly with his fists.

― Pow!

With each strike, blood spurted everywhere.

His face had already been destroyed to the point of no return.

‘The... the stench.’

The stench that came from the giant had dissipated a long time ago.

Because a dead person didn’t smell.

But, that meant the stench that filled the area was coming from...

“...N...No!”

Gu Yangcheon stopped his fist after hearing Namgung Bi-Ah’s voice.

He then slowly turned his head and looked at Namgung Bi-Ah.

“...!!!”

When Namgung Bi-Ah and Gu Yangcheon’s eyes met, Namgung Bi-Ah silently screamed.

Because Gu Yangcheon’s eyes had morphed into a haunting purple color.

It was a beautiful color, but Namgung Bi-Ah felt chills appear all over her body the instant she saw them.

Those eyes felt extremely ominous to her.

Gu Yangcheon stared at Namgung Bi-Ah for a moment, and then went back to striking with his fist.

Striking the man that was already dead.

Namgung Bi-Ah, witnessing the sight before her, grabbed both her shaking shoulders to calm herself.

She didn’t know why she was feeling so much fear.

The brutal and violent sound echoed in her ears, and the persistent, sickening stench made her want to puke.

But Namgung Bi-Ah ignored her body that was shaking in fear and trudged towards Gu Yangcheon and grabbed hold of him.

She felt like she needed to.

She grabbed onto arm, but Gu Yangcheon kept trying to hit the giant, as if his mind was broken.

“Please! He’s... already...!”

Did he hear Namgung Bi-Ah?

Gu Yangcheon’s silent fists suddenly paused.

And then he collapsed.

Namgung Bi-Ah quickly hugged Gu Yangcheon’s falling figure with her shaking hands.

“Huff... Huff...”

As if that was the starting point, the disgusting stench slowly started to go away.

And when Namgung Bi-Ah looked at the giant’s destroyed corpse, she had to hold in her vomit.

She couldn’t believe that such a thing had been done by a human’s hands.

Namgung Bi-Ah covered Gu Yangcheon’s hands with her shaky hands.

His hands were covered in blood, but she did it anyways.

Because she felt that if she didn’t do that, she wouldn’t be able to calm down.

After some time, the martial artists of Mount Hua arrived.

* * * *

In the cave of the branch manager of the Black Palace, Baechong was doing his best to calm himself down as he waited for a Ya Hyeoljeok who still hhadnn’t returned.

It wasn’t because he wanted to see him, or that he was worried about him.

‘I have to take the medicine soon...’

Only the branch manager had possession of the medicine that could shut down the seal inside Baechong.

It would soon be the end of the fourth day, and so Baechong was desperate.

The sun would soon set, and if Ya Hyeoljeok didn’t return by then, Baechong knew that he would die.

While anxiously waiting for him, Baechong suddenly felt a presence from the entrance of the cave.

Excited, he immediately ran towards it.

― Step-

The sound of the footfalls was quieter than usual for some reason, but Baechong couldn’t be bothered about that.

Someone came in after the door opened.

“Lord Branch Manag–”

Baechong quickly pulled out his sword.

It wasn’t his branch manager.

‘An old man...?’

It was an old man with a small figure.

The old man slowly looked around the room.

“You... who are you?”

“...It seems like this is the place.”

“I asked who you-”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

Because Baechong suddenly felt his vision shift... all of a sudden, he was looking at the ground.

The head that had been shouting at the old man had been sliced off and was now rolling on the floor.

The old man wasn’t holding a sword.

And yet Baechong had lost his head to the ‘sword’ the old man was holding.

The old man’s name was Wi Hyogun.

The Sword Emperor had come here because of the Celestial Plum Blossom’s request.