Sreung.
I drew my sword.
The reaction was immediate.
"B-rank, support me from behind! Aim for the A-rank, S-rank, and those two bastards in the back!"
The Golden Wolf King shouted this as he drew his own sword. Behind him followed a dozen or so rogues who looked to be first-rate martial artists. In their hands, each held a Thunderbolt Pearl of different make, though similar in form.
As a Harmony Realm martial artist himself, he must know it well. That no matter how many Transcendent Peak experts there were, none of them could break through my Protective Qi and bring me down.
So he intended to use gunpowder weapons to hold me back instead.
I spoke up as the remaining rogues circled wide to target Tang So-wol and the Twin Ghost Sword.
"Twin Ghost Sword."
"Yes."
As if she had been waiting for this, she pulled a small bead from her bosom and placed it in her mouth.
A high-grade Blood Poison Wine. With this, Tang So-wol would be free to unleash her poison art to her heart's content.
The opponents were five or six Transcendent Peak martial artists, plus dozens of Peak Realm fighters.
No matter how close Tang So-wol and the Twin Ghost Sword were to the apex of Transcendent Peak, this was a dangerous level. But.
"Do not worry."
With nothing left to hold her back, explosive poison energy burst from Tang So-wol's body.
From within the purple poison mist that blanketed the entire area, only her voice came through.
"I'll finish first and come help you, young hero Cheon."
"That's something to look forward to."
I let out a hollow laugh, kicked off the ground, and shot out through the Poison Mist.
"Hahaha! Arrogant brat! Have you forgotten where you are?!"
The Golden Wolf King, gripping his sword just the same, charged to within arm's reach and settled into his stance.
Legs spread wide, waist twisted to its limit. A posture that could deliver tremendous power—but one that left equally tremendous openings.
A technique that is difficult to dodge given the speed at which both sides closed in, but easy to counterattack.
The problem, however, is what comes after the counter, because Jin Cheon-roe is flying in from behind a beat late.
I don't know the power of Jin Cheon-roe's attack, but it doesn't seem likely to pierce my Protective Qi.
Still, the fact that he brought it knowing he'd be fighting me suggests that even if it can't break through my Protective Qi, it might be enough to knock my stance off balance from the impact.
If I can't finish off the Golden Wolf King in one blow, I'll be the one who suffers.
If it were just him alone, it might be different, but with this kind of pincer attack, it's bound to get quite troublesome.
"Go on then! Try cutting me down with that precious sword of yours!"
The Golden Wolf King shouted with a voice full of confidence.
That Aura. That voice. Even the bluish gleam of the Sword Force.
Everything was closing in on my death with every passing moment, but…
I ignored it all.
I turned my eyes away from the sword that shot toward my waist with a murderous Aura, and shut my ears to the voice brimming with delight.
Instead, I swung my sword at the empty air beside me, where nothing was. And then—
KWAANG!
Sparks of Aura scattered through the seemingly empty space, and a sensation of something being pushed back traveled through my hand.
"What?! How did you know?! Surely Not… could they have…"
"Bringing out the Demonic Cult's formation before me. You've got some nerve."
That's right. This formation was separate from the one that kept the events of the estate from leaking outside—it was a formation meant to conceal one's presence and deceive the senses of one's opponents.
It was the reason the Demonic Cultists, lacking in both numbers and average martial prowess compared to the Righteous-Unorthodox Alliance, could hold their ground. A formation built purely for deception.
…And it was also a formation whose method of breaking had become widely known through the cooperation of Sama Yuryeon and the Jegal family.
Since the directions in which one could conceal one's energy were limited, focusing on those spots meant one would never be caught off guard.
What's more, I was currently in a situation where I could see the flow of energy with my own eyes thanks to the Heavenly Eye.
I could go beyond merely knowing roughly where they were—I could know exactly where they were.
"I've got more questions to ask before I kill you now. Let me say this in advance—answer well, and I'll kill you painlessly."
"So this is what those Demonic Cult bastards do… well, it doesn't matter now."
I was about to tense my body, wondering what on earth they were planning.
Then, suddenly, several Thunder Bombs began falling from the air. Even with the Heavenly Eye active, I couldn't sense any sign of them beforehand.
"Tsk. I suppose that's only natural."
The Heavenly Eye lets me see energy with my own eyes. That's how I'd been able to pinpoint the Golden Wolf King's location, even when he was hidden by the formation's power.
But Thunder Bombs are gunpowder weapons, with no energy mixed into them at all.
Of course, since everything in the world carries at least a trace of energy, Thunder Bombs would be no different… but out in the open, maybe—inside a formation already saturated with twisted energy, noticing them would be all but impossible.
I let out a bitter laugh at the fact that the Thunder Bombs might actually be more dangerous than the Golden Wolf King, and swiftly swung my sword.
Swoosh.
A fierce sword strike cutting through the air cleaves through most of the Thunder Bombs in an instant.
Just as I raise my sword again to finish off the few remaining ones—
The Golden Wolf King, noticing my moment of hesitation, seizes the opening and thrusts his sword forward.
"This is getting troublesome."
I twist my waist, sharply altering the path of my sword.
The blade, which had been about to surge violently through the very space around it, gathers that sharp edge back into itself, condensing it within the sword.
Now carrying ample energy, the sword meets the Golden Wolf King's strike without a moment's delay.
Kaga-gak!
With a sound of something being ground away, this time both I and the Golden Wolf King were pushed back simultaneously.
Up to this point, it was fine. After all, we had achieved a draw.
However, there was one difference between me and that bastard… and that was the fact that right in front of my nose, a few Heaven-Shaking Thunders remained, their fuses having just completely burned down.
Kwaaaaang!!
As expected, the explosion of the Heaven-Shaking Thunder couldn't pierce through my Protective Qi. And contrary to my expectations, the impact wasn't enough to break my stance.
It was just louder than I had thought it would be.
With three or four of them exploding at such close range, it was enough to momentarily deafen my ears.
The absence of a sense. Even if it was hearing, which I relied on relatively little, the gap was bound to show.
My keenly honed senses wavered for an instant, and because of that, I failed to react in time as the Golden Wolf King charged in once more.
"Die…!"
"Tch."
I could see it clearly through the Heaven-Sight. The Aura, laden with immense energy, extending toward my neck by the shortest path.
I instantly concentrated my Protective Qi around my neck and shifted my stance.
Thud!
With a dull impact, my swollen Protective Qi shattered. I barely managed to deflect it, but a slight heat lingered on the back of my neck.
I narrowed my eyes at the sensation of a single drop of blood flowing from the wound drawn like a thin line.
So this is the martial art of the Golden Wolf King.
As a Martial Artist who has reached the Harmony Realm, his depth is not lacking, yet neither does it feel specialized in any particular area.
It is not like the sword of the Namgung Clan, which seeks to take the first step toward the infinite within the ordinary.
Truly, simply—not bad, but not good either… that kind of middling martial art.
But the story changes if one maintains a mediocre-but-competent level in every aspect.
Footwork. Stealth. Swift sword. Formation usage. Psychological warfare. Understanding of the True Thunder, and so on.
In every area, the Golden Wolf King showed achievements that, while not outstanding, were quite remarkable.
A mindset that believes money can accomplish anything. A life as a mercenary who will latch onto anything if it proves useful.
I can roughly guess what enlightenment he gained at the end of that path.
He must have sought to become a jack-of-all-trades, competent in everything.
Indeed, for the Golden Wolf King, who could mobilize as many means as he had money, it was a fitting enlightenment.
But I know.
There are opponents that mere competence cannot overcome.
And I, too, have gradually set one foot into that very domain.
What the Heavenly Eye sees is, after all, only the flow of qi, so I cannot see the expression of the Golden Wolf King hidden behind the formation.
But I didn't need to see it to know. I knew that he was grinning right now, already flowing into his next technique.
So I, too, curled the corners of my mouth into a smirk and tightened my grip on the sword.
"I've seen enough."
As I focused my mind, my Aura naturally compressed, shrinking down to the size of the sword itself.
A technique that, for a single instant, had pierced even the Protective Qi of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art — a skill whose Power yielded to no one. The White Sword.
But it didn't end there. The sword etched into my mind's eye overlaid itself onto reality, a translucent shimmer layering over the blade now dyed white.
As if sensing something was wrong, the Golden Wolf King's movements quickened… but it was already too late.
Because I had clearly seen what I needed to cut.
The Golden Wolf King's sword still aimed at both my neck and heart at once. But I focused a little further behind it.
I concentrated on that flow—the energy filling this space ceaselessly swaying, overlapping, and receding in endless repetition.
And so, at the moment the two flows and the single sword interlocked.
"Hup!"
I swallowed my breath and unleashed all the strength and internal energy in my body in a single instant.
KWA-RUNG!
A thunderclap erupted from somewhere deep within my body.
Perhaps because my concentration had been pushed to its limit, everything moved in slow motion—and only my sword swung at its true speed.
Thunderclap Sword.
Just as lightning strikes first and thunder follows behind it, this was an extreme swift sword swung half a step ahead of the thunderclap that had just erupted.
White lightning surging up from the ground traced a clean single line through the air. And everything it touched was cut clean through.
"Kuhuk?!"
The Golden Wolf King, whose sword had clearly been wrapped in Aura, vomited blood as his blade was sliced apart.
At the same time, the two formations that had been covering the surroundings began to collapse.
A refreshing yet strange sensation, as if a blanket had been peeled off layer by layer.
Within the now even clearer vision, the flow of energy and its physical form began to merge into one.
In an instant, the two formations connected to him shattered, and the Golden Wolf King's body began to stagger, his insides churned by a shock his Aura could not withstand.
The startled mercenaries hurled the Thunder Fire Pearls they had just lit, and even threw spears and bows rarely seen in the martial world, but…
"How pathetic."
The killing intent that burst out from me froze their bodies, and more than that, they couldn't even breathe properly, rolling on the ground.
Naturally, whether it was the Thunder Fire Pearls or other weapons, their trajectories twisted wildly and passed far away from me.
In severe cases, some even dropped the Thunder Fire Pearls at their own feet.
I had intended to swing my sword once more to cleanly deal with them if necessary, but it seemed there was no need.
The first-rate mercenaries, their bodies frozen by the killing intent, couldn't move even knowing that the Thunder Fire Pearls were about to explode at their feet.
I ignored the others and quickly closed the distance with my footwork toward the Golden Wolf King, who was barely managing to steady his stance.
KWA-RUNG!
My body accelerated with the same thunderous roar as before. Whether he hadn't expected me to arrive in a single step, the Golden Wolf King's eyes went wide with shock as my foot slammed into his abdomen.
PWOOK!
"…!"
He flew backward without even managing a scream. As he crashed into the wall behind him, the massive building couldn't withstand the impact and began to collapse.
It just had to be the building where they stored their weapons collection, didn't it.
High-quality weapons, the kind that would fetch a fortune at the very least, came raining down on top of the Golden Wolf King's head.
"Not yet! This isn't over yet!"
The Golden Wolf King, spitting blood as he forced himself to his feet, grabbed whatever weapon his hand touched and swung it with fierce, desperate Aura, as if burning through his last embers.
I spoke to him in a calm tone.
"No. This is where you end."
I squeezed out the last of my internal energy and Intent, once again swinging my sword with everything I had.
CRASH!
A heavy saber that was clearly no ordinary weapon was cut clean through, along with its Aura.
"Y-you damn bastard!"
This time, too, he swung whatever weapon came to hand.
A long spear, swung with clean, flawless form, with not a single wasted motion. But—
CRASH!
It shattered against the Thunder Sword, unable to withstand it.
"Stop!"
CRASH!
A sickle-like odd-shaped weapon was smashed to pieces.
"I was planning to leave the Central Plains once this business was done anyway! I'll back off quietly, so just stop now…"
CRASH!
A greatsword as massive as a human body slid apart from the middle.
"You monster!"
CRASH!
The ink-black sword, made of black iron like my own, shattered into countless pieces, scattering fragments all around.
There were no more weapons left to grab.
"P-please, my life! Just spare my life! How much would it take?!"
CRASH!
The half-destroyed armory, along with the golden mansions lined up behind it, all split in two and collapsed along with the remaining weapons.
Beneath the slanted sky, a low voice spoke.
"So? How much is your life worth?"
"Everything I own! I'll give you everything I own! Every last bit of it, I swear!"
The man, whose arms dangled limply from the repeated shocks, cried out desperately. But—
"Far from enough."
THUNK!
He drove his sword into the Golden Wolf King's heart before the man could even put up a proper fight.
"All I had to do was kill him and take it."
"…!"
A sound like air escaping leaked from the Golden Wolf King's wide-open mouth.
But in the end, he couldn't leave behind a proper word, and his breath slowly came to a stop.
I'd made a mistake. I'd planned to question him about his ties to the Demonic Cult before killing him, but as I swung my sword, I ended up killing him before I even realized it.
Letting out a long sigh, I quietly watched the Golden Wolf King's final moments.
It was then that my tension eased, and my senses, slightly dulled, caught a hint of dissonance at their very edge—something that prickled at my back.
CLANG!
Only after barely blocking the sword that had been swung without the slightest trace of presence did I manage to speak.
"I have no idea what situation this is supposed to be."
There stood a familiar figure in black robes.
But it was someone I should never have been able to see again.