Chapter 20
Unexpected Fate (5)
The cold metallic sound rang out as a sword with a sharp blade appeared in the hands of the enemy. It rushed toward Kang Yongwoon, slashing in a diagonal line.
“I’ll slice both your sword and body at once—ah—ah—!”
With the three-step sword technique, you think you’re using a mere beginner’s level of internal energy?!
One sword should be enough.
The sword, along with the body, should be easily sliced apart…
Kaaah—Aah.
“Eh?!”
The apostate’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Kang Yongwoon’s cheap Qinggang sword didn’t cut as expected.
“Why…?”
Could it be?
Is that rookie’s sword somehow like a legendary blade?
No, it can’t be.
It’s clearly just a cheap Qinggang sword.
He sneered.
“…It didn’t cut, right?”
Kang Yongwoon sneered broadly.
Faint.
“This… this…”
The apostate couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and yet the outcome was already decided.
With a firm push, Kang Yongwoon’s sword, which hadn’t been cut, slid straight through, finally grazing the apostate’s side.
[Hahaha. Well done, well done. It wasn’t even a serious sword technique, and you managed to pull that off with just a simple basic stroke.]
[But it’s a pity, kid. You should’ve pierced the heart from the start, but because of that rookie’s sword, the trajectory of your strike was slightly off.]
[You still have room to grow, kid. Your internal energy is still weak enough that even a simple strike like that could be misdirected. Got it?]
[Heh, still, you did well, kid.]
The voice inside his head burst into joyful laughter.
Kang Yongwoon’s lips involuntarily curled up.
“Heh. How’s that?”
Unlike the elders from the heavens, he wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.
“Eventually, you’re the one who… ate it, right?”
“Khuh—!”
It was only then that the apostate realized what had happened, and he began to exude an aura of killing intent, as strong as a storm.
“I will definitely cut off your head…”
He tried to strike at Kang Yongwoon with all his strength, but the opportunity had already passed.
“Haah!”
“Get lost—!”
Feng Yundai Master Banggeuk and First Division Captain Yoo Seongjin blocked Kang Yongwoon’s path with fierce eyes, and launched their own attack.
Kakka—ang. Tada-da—dang.
The clash of swords filled the air.
The noise of metal was deafening.
Sparks scattered like fireworks, and the battle moved further away from Kang Yongwoon.
“Khuh. Damn it—!”
The apostate was being pushed back, seething with frustration.
“What a disgrace…”
His face flushed with embarrassment.
He had never been so humiliated and ashamed.
Meanwhile,
“Kraah!”
“Keugh!”
The number of apostate Hwanryeongsa blocking the Red Dragon King dwindled rapidly. They fell one by one with agonizing screams.
The screams intensified as the bodies of the Hwanryeongsa, torn apart beyond recognition, began to rain down like hail.
It was, indeed, the Red Dragon King.
After repeatedly failing to land a hit, the Hwanryeongsa began to realize something was wrong. With immense internal energy and mental fortitude, the Red Dragon King pierced through the essence of their illusionary techniques.
Perhaps they couldn’t just stand by any longer?
“Khh. Red Dragon King! Are you really not going to save your grandson?”
The apostate who appeared to be their leader stepped forward and shouted in a chilling voice.
The Red Dragon King, with cold eyes, showed no hesitation as he continued his assault.
‘Just wait a little longer, you bastard.’
He wanted to quickly deal with these annoying obstacles blocking his path and rip apart the one he believed to be the root of all this chaos.
‘I’ll tear you apart for sure.’
Flashing.
“Heh. Fine. Do it your way.”
The apostate’s eyes glowed with a cruel light. He forced the Red Dragon King to make a difficult choice.
“Now, your grandson’s life is in your hands, old man. He’s still alive, but who knows? Will he last until the end?”
The apostate’s hand trembled.
Boom!
With a sound that shook the air, a young man, barely twenty years old, floated into the air, blood spurting from his mouth. His body spun like a discarded ragdoll.
“I—I no—oom!”
The Red Dragon King’s eyes went wild with rage.
How dare he lay a hand on his grandson right in front of him?
He wanted to tear the man apart on the spot, but there was no choice.
Boom!
The Red Dragon King immediately left the battlefield. He reached out toward his falling grandson.
“Now—!”
“Haaah!”
The Hwanryeongsa didn’t miss the opportunity.
They immediately blocked his retreat and launched an attack.
Swords and energy beams rained down from all sides.
The scorching tension of molten lava and the cold energy of ice surrounded the Red Dragon King.
Puff-puff-puff!
The Red Dragon King’s dragon armor was torn apart, and thick streams of blood shot out from the holes.
But the Red Dragon King didn’t care at all.
“Damn it—!”
The Grand Prince of the Serpent’s Line.
He could only desperately call out his beloved bloodline’s name, Yeom Gijin.
“Hwanryeongsa! Retreat!”
Had he been waiting for this moment?
The apostate leader gave the order to retreat.
At the same time, he began to perform a new technique. He started disappearing like the wind.
Swish. Swishhh.
The five Hwanryeongsa who had been blocking Je-gal Hye-ryeong and Feng Yundai also withdrew in unison. They exited the battlefield.
It was a speed that even Je-gal Hye-ryeong couldn’t follow.
‘What a persistent bastard.’
Kang Yongwoon frowned as he watched the apostate retreat.
But there was nothing he could do.
The opponent was a high-ranking warrior from the apostates.
He had handled over twenty Hwanryeongsa by himself and saved his grandson. No one here could match him.
Flashing.
‘But you’re different, aren’t you?’
Kang Yongwoon’s gaze shifted toward the apostate warrior surrounded by Feng Yundai.
‘You can’t leave.’
He would capture him alive.
He needed to find out why all this had happened, even if it meant handing him over to Je-gal Hye-ryeong.
But…
‘Ugh, even the person coming to rescue me is messing this up.’
Kang Yongwoon sighed, looking at the battle between Feng Yundai and the apostate warrior.
‘Why do they keep missing?’
It was exactly like the early stages of the battle with the Red Dragon King.
Even though their strategies seemed to target different bloodlines, Banggeuk and Yoo Seongjin’s defense and attacks kept missing their target.
No matter how much they had the advantage in numbers, it was still a tough fight.
The apostate warrior remained relaxed.
He must have thought that he could easily survive this and escape.
‘What the hell is going on…’
Kang Yongwoon’s confusion was met with a voice in his head.
[Tsk, tsk, tsk. Falling for such low-level illusions? Pathetic.]
Ah! Illusions?
‘So, that strange seal on the apostate warrior’s left hand, and the eerie blood light around his eyes?’
It all made sense now.
The reason his internal energy had risen and stayed visible in his eyes, and the energy in his left hand, was all for creating illusions.
‘Wait? Then why did I—?’
Kang Yongwoon tilted his head in confusion.
The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
‘Why could I see right through all of it?’
Not just now.
Even when dozens of Hwanryeongsa distorted the Red Dragon King’s gaze, he had seen clearly where they were targeting him.
—You’re worthy—!
The words from the voice in his head echoed.
‘Sight—! It’s the power of my sight!’
It clicked.
Of course, that didn’t mean Feng Yundai was irrelevant.
He was fine, but they needed his help.
“Left warrior, don’t be surprised. Just follow my instructions. I’ll call you ‘One.’ Right warrior with the mustache, you’re ‘Two!’ Now. It’s time. One, defend the upper-right quadrant. Two, rotate to the lower-left quadrant and strike with the first sword.”
Immediately, he intervened in the battle with Feng Yundai.
He signaled Banggeuk and Yoo Seongjin on where to defend and where to attack.
‘What?’
‘The enemy’s attack is coming straight for my neck.’
Suddenly, One and Two were being called by number. Banggeuk and Yoo Seongjin’s swords slowed down immediately.
‘Defend the upper-right suddenly?’
‘If I rotate to the lower-left, my neck will get sliced!’
Even though the numbers confused them, they realized the enemy was targeting completely different bloodlines than what they expected.
Heh.
The apostate warrior didn’t miss the opening.
Sht. Shht.
“Ck.”
“Heugh.”
They had almost died from an unexpected direction.
Their spines chilled.
Their hair stood on end.
But they also gained a small realization.
‘Kang Cheoksu was right.’
‘Kang Cheoksu saw through their attack trajectory.’
In a split second, when life and death were at stake.
He had already experienced it firsthand, so how could he dismiss Kang Yongwoon’s advice?
‘I’ll do as instructed.’
‘I’ll follow his lead.’
His way of thinking shifted.
“One, defend the upper-left. Two, go frontal. Again, One, break through the third line to the right…”
Without hesitation, they followed Kang Yongwoon’s command.
If he told them to dodge, they dodged without hesitation.
Even if it was a completely unrelated direction to block, they blocked it, slicing through the gaps.
Kakka—Kang.
Tada—dang—!
‘It’s working. Finally, I can clash with his sword.’
‘He’s faltering.’
Banggeuk and Yoo Seongjin’s eyes gleamed.
Unlike the helplessness they felt before, they now felt the recoil of their blades clashing with his.
‘You’re finished.’
‘This vile bastard. I’ll end it now.’
Had it been just a breath?
‘Damn it!’
The apostate warrior, facing off against Feng Yundai, began to contort his face.
‘How the hell does this rookie know my illusions?’
From the beginning, he had assumed the rookie was deceived by the illusions, but now he realized his mistake.
There was no other way for him to pinpoint the flaws in his illusions and attacks with such precision.
“Ck. Hhh. Heugh.”
Now, the apostate warrior was panting.
Bloodshot veins appeared all over his body. He was pushed back helplessly, like a rat caught in a trap.
Flashing.
The apostate’s eyes changed.
He hadn’t followed the retreat order.
He had confirmed that the lawmaker he served was now a distant point in the horizon.
“Aaaah!”
The apostate warrior began his final struggle.
Retreat was impossible now.
Instead of facing humiliation as a captured prisoner, he chose death with whatever few allies he had left.
“Let’s die together—!”
No more illusions.
Now, it was a battle of pure strength. Everything poured into this final attack.
Sht.
A brilliant red glow surrounded the apostate warrior’s body.
His eyes turned bloodshot.
‘Dangerous.’
Kang Yongwoon saw it all.
The thin red threads of internal energy that stretched out from the apostate warrior’s body reached the neck and heart of Banggeuk and Yoo Seongjin.
“One, neck. Two, heart!”
Immediately, he intervened.
Did they feel the urgency in his voice?
Banggeuk, who had been passively defending, leaped forward into the attack.
“Yaaah—hah!”
With a powerful shout, he swung his sword vigorously.
A chilling light gathered at the tip of Banggeuk’s sword as it lengthened.
It was the power of a sword technique master.
No, it condensed further, becoming thinner, like a thread. It reached the level of swordsmanship mastery.
“Haah—ah!”
Yoo Seongjin also opened his Dantian fully.
He squeezed every bit of internal energy he had left and channeled it into his sword. The sharp power of the sword technique shot upward.
Tada—ang. Kakka—ang.
The swords clashed violently, making a fierce noise.
And then,
Sht. Boom.
Banggeuk’s sword pierced through the apostate warrior’s heart.
Yoo Seongjin’s sword cleaved through his waist.
“Kuhh—!”
The apostate warrior collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
‘Damn it.’
Kang Yongwoon’s mind cleared instantly.
‘I should’ve captured him alive.’
Regretful, but it couldn’t be helped.
The apostate warrior’s final attack had been far too vicious.
[Hahaha. Good job, good job. Despite the odds, you both did well.]
The voice of the elders from the heavens was filled with both pride and concern.
[But what about the one who was affected by the apostate’s spell?]
