Episode 27: The Twelve Styles of Asura (1)
“Shit!”
I quickly rolled backward—literally tumbled across the ground. The massive weapons of the statues, as huge as their bodies, slammed into the floor, sending debris flying with explosive force.
[Are you doing Lazy Donkey Rolls! Use footwork, use footwork!]
Lazy Donkey Rolls. It literally means “the lazy donkey rolls on the ground.” For martial artists, it was a move considered downright humiliating. But I wasn’t a martial artist in the first place.
“How am I supposed to use footwork if you never taught me any?!”
Damn Skybreaker! This bastard never taught me a single step of footwork.
[Blame your own pathetic martial aptitude! What’s the point of teaching you when you wouldn’t be able to use it properly anyway?!]
“Well, sorry for being born useless!”
Sado Hwan—before learning the incomplete Heavenly Demon Divine Art—was a true genius. Left alone, he might have become a master at the Transcendent Peak or even higher. When his soul was freed and sealed into the sword, he could use the Twelve Styles of Asura freely and naturally.
To someone like him, I must seem utterly hopeless. Even if I couldn’t use inner energy, Sado Hwan’s physical body had incredible specs.
I couldn’t break rocks barehanded, but I could at least leave a fist-shaped dent. Even now, I could track the attacks with my eyes and dodge.
But the problem was—the pilot was me. No matter how good the machine, if the pilot was trash, the plane would crash.
It’s not like I had no coordination or was a complete klutz. It’s just that Peak and Transcendent Peak-level martial artists were all prodigies, and compared to them, I was hopelessly below standard.
“Ugh!”
No time for stray thoughts. I was still dodging by rolling on the ground, but the statues were raining attacks down on me again.
Vhuung!
A giant axe swung by, grazing the tip of my nose. The wind pressure nearly tore away my hair. I backpedaled from the incoming spear, only to find a saber sweeping in low from the side.
[The statues are… using Combined Assault Formation?!]
“Tch!”
I leapt off the ground with a push of my legs, rising high—almost eye level with the statues.
At that moment—
Sswaeeek—!
Another statue’s sword sliced horizontally at me, aiming to cleave me in two. If I had Yun Yeopja’s Eight Heavenly Dragon Steps, I might have dodged it, but I had no wings. There was no way to evade it mid-air.
[You stupid fool! Jumping into the air—do you want to be a target?!]
“Idiot, you can fly, remember?!”
[Ah.]
I grabbed hold of Skybreaker. The sword lifted me into the air, taking me outside the range of the attack.
Tap.
I landed back on the ground and snapped at Skybreaker.
“Get your head in the game. You can fly.”
[…]
Anyway, the important part was what I’d learned from those two attacks just now.
“They’ve got a cooldown between attacks.”
[Cooldown?]
“I mean there’s a delay before they can attack again.”
The statues, each wielding different weapons, had a gap of about five seconds after each swing before they could move again. After that, the next round of attacks would begin.
‘Wasn’t this supposed to be an easy ruin?’
Things were gradually deviating from what I knew.
“Or maybe this really is easy… for actual martial artists.”
No time to ponder further. The next wave of attacks had already started.
I ducked to avoid the axe, only for a spear to thrust forward. Spinning like a top, I avoided that too. But then a massive saber came sweeping sideways. I flung myself to the ground, barely dodging it by pressing myself flat.
Then—
[Dodge!]
I shoved the ground with both hands like doing a push-up, sliding backward just in time as a sword stabbed into the spot where my head had been. The hardness of the statues was outrageous. They shattered the cave floor like it was made of clay.
If I fought a hundred times, I’d die a hundred times. I’d die in one hit, while they’d need dozens. An unfair game—except in games, you can respawn.
“If I die here, it might be for real.”
Survival was my only goal. I had to live—no matter what it took.
Even if it meant making up some nonsense to get others to fight in my place, it would increase my odds.
“This isn’t working. I need to retreat.”
[I’d like that too, but... it’s not possible.]
At Skybreaker’s words, I turned around.
Ffwoosh—!
While I’d been too focused on dodging, the way we came—the foggy path—was now blocked by roaring flames. So strong they obscured vision entirely. A wave of heat rushed down my spine.
“That’s an illusion, right?”
[No. It’s real fire.]
Coming from Skybreaker, who perceives things through a third, non-human sense, it must be true. Come to think of it, even if it were an illusion, the pain from burning would still feel real. Either way, going back through those flames was basically suicide.
Damn it. I’d relied too much on Return of the Murim’s information.
“I’ll fly around to buy time. Someone will come in—break the formation or something—and save me.”
I grabbed Skybreaker. I figured if I flew around enough, those statues wouldn’t be able to do anything.
But that idea didn’t last long either.
Ffwoosh—!
The flames, once confined to the entrance, began slowly creeping in. Bit by bit, they advanced deeper into the cave, closing in.
The statues, as if their long-idle bodies were warming up, began to move more swiftly and precisely. Meanwhile, I had no experience flying while hanging from a sword. Skybreaker moved freely, but I flailed like seaweed in the wind.
Worse, they weren’t just planted on the ground swinging—they jumped. The cave ceiling was high, but not high enough. When they jumped, their hands could easily reach the top.
As one of them came hurtling toward me—
“Kh!”
A slash of sword wind caught me and flung me into the cave wall. I crashed to the floor. The shock knocked the air out of me, and the blazing heat made breathing even harder.
I wanted to collapse. But if I did, I’d be dead within five seconds.
[Direct your inner energy to your lungs! It will help you breathe!]
No time to hesitate. I sprang to the side, rolling. Just in time—the statues’ weapons slammed into the wall where I’d just been.
I barely avoided the attack, but my mind was getting fuzzy. From the heat? The pain? Or the growing smoke? I couldn’t tell.
Slaaap!
I slapped myself hard.
“Focus!”
My biggest strength? It wasn’t my acting, or my knowledge of Return of the Murim.
It was willpower.
No matter the hardship or despair, I endured like a weed in the cracks. Bullied for being an orphan, looked down on for being a salesman, mocked for acting—I still pushed forward.
This wasn’t any different.
The flames continued to close in. The statues were now so close they could touch me.
“Think, Kim Dong-yun.”
I repeated to myself. As always, the answer was within.
Crisis triggered focus, and focus led to immersion.
In a heightened state of clarity, I scanned the surroundings.
Then I saw it.
The patterns left behind by the statues’ attacks. Their strikes weren’t hitting me directly—they were pushing me back, as if trying to drive me away from something.
That realization led to another.
The meaning of the statues themselves.
In game terms, a ruin is a dungeon. And statues like these are dungeon guardians. Their purpose is to protect the treasure.
So what happens… if the treasure is taken?
If I claim the treasure, their purpose disappears.
Their attacks weren’t random—they were trying to keep me away from the treasure.
“Skybreaker!”
I shouted to strengthen my resolve.
“I’m breaking through them!”
[That’s suicide!]
“Then dying this way is murder. I’m not dying!”
I stomped the ground hard.
The statues lunged like they were trying to catch a slippery rat.
Until now, I’d only dodged reactively. But dodging alone just pushed me back.
My goal was the altar behind the statues.
To get there—
“Haaah!”
—I had to push through their attacks.
Kwaaang!
I sidestepped a downward axe strike. A spear came next, as if waiting for that opening.
I threw myself forward. Ahead of me stood the saber-wielding and sword-wielding statues side by side.
I didn’t know any real footwork, but I could at least do a forward roll—I’d learned that back in school.
[You insane bastard!]
Skybreaker cursed. Understandably.
I rolled straight between the legs of the saber-wielding statue.
As the roll ended, I threw my whole body forward, arms and legs extending. With Skybreaker’s flying power, I shot forward like Superman.
That’s when—
[Danger! Behind you!]
I turned my head. The saber and sword statues had turned and were pulling back their weapons, preparing to strike.
If I kept going, I could reach the altar—but I’d be exposed to their full force.
A moment of choice.
Decision made.
Draggg—!
I forced my flying body to the ground, skidding and twisting midair, digging a long trench as I turned back.
Through the swirling smoke, I saw the sword and saber crossing into an X-shaped slash.
Dodging that wasn’t possible with a simple move.
[What are you doing?! Get to the altar!]
“Shut up!”
I snapped, bracing my stance. Left foot three steps back. Shift my weight to it. Focus inner energy into both arms.
[No! That stance—! You fool! You don’t even know how to swing a sword properly!]
Too late now. Life or death.
“Huuu…”
I took a breath—and remembered.
Swinging a sword all night long had taught me something.
I was hopeless at martial arts. But I had a gift for acting. When acting, I could perform perfect swordplay.
It wasn’t me swinging the sword.
“I am—”
It was Sado Hwan, the genius of his youth, swinging the sword. I was just playing his role.
“Sado Hwan.”
In that moment, I stopped breathing.
It felt like the entirety of Return of the Murim flashed through my mind—every scene I read, cheered for, and admired.
My body moved ahead of my thoughts.
I stepped forward with my right foot and slashed down with all my might. Before the cut finished, I channeled inner energy into my left hand gripping the pommel for one final burst.
Swish.
No flapping robes. No loud boom. Just the quiet hiss of air being torn by the blade.
Then—
The X-slash of sword and saber—
—was crushed by the stroke of Skybreaker that I had unleashed.
A tremendous wave exploded, filling the cave.
“Kuagh!”
I was blown back by the recoil. But so were the statues. They stumbled, staggered—and finally collapsed.
My head rang from the shock. My breath tasted of blood. In martial arts terms, my insides were in chaos.
The other statues panicked and charged over the fallen ones.
But I laughed.
My hand was already on the altar.
That was my goal—to be flung toward the altar.
“Checkmate, bastards!”
I grabbed the treasure relic resting atop the altar.
And then—
Rumble—!
The charging statues began to disassemble at the joints. As if sliced apart by invisible blades. By the time they reached me, they were already just heaps of rubble.
“Ha… I really thought I was going to die.”
I collapsed to the ground. Nausea surged up, but I held it in—vomiting now felt like it’d just be blood. My whole body ached worse than I’d ever felt in my life. Especially my arms, which had focused the inner energy—they were trembling like aspen leaves.
[You…!]
“What, going to compliment me?”
Skybreaker asked, still stunned.
[How… how did you use the Twelve Styles of Asura?!]
That sword strike—was one of the Twelve Styles of Asura.