Chapter 026. Half-Demon (2)
Despair so deep one cannot escape often grows within hope.
The despair of one prepared for death is sublime.
However, the moment hope that one might live appears, a human falls endlessly downwards.
The hope that maybe, just maybe, they can win. That plunged the swordsmen of the Namgung Clan into a quagmire.
The Half-Demon Butcher they encountered. The Elder of the Peng Clan, who was massacred by the Butcher, was an old master called the Severing Shadow Saber. He was a peak master considered one of the best in the Peng Clan even before ascending to the position of Elder. If he massacred that Severing Shadow Saber, it would be difficult to deal with him with their current combat power. They must be prepared for total annihilation.
Namgung Yeon judged so initially.
However, the power contained in the Butcher's saber was much weaker than she expected.
The bastard was brutally strong, but should she say it wasn't to the extent of his known notoriety? To the point where she thought there might be a chance of winning.
‘In the end, it was all just a delusion…….’
Namgung Yeon thought with a face mixed with anger and sorrow.
The true weapon the Butcher possessed was not his fast and ruthless blade. It was the sticky and ominous energy of a monster encroaching on the surroundings. That was the problem.
The monster's energy did more than simply cloud the swordsmen's minds and erode their morale; it caused direct harm. In places encroached by demonic energy, internal energy did not gather well, sword qi corroded, and bodies did not move as thought.
Moreover, in places where wounds were inflicted, pitch-black energy inevitably rose up, causing infection.
Namgung Yeon clenched her molars and fought while encouraging her subordinates.
Swallowing tears of blood, she cut down with her own hands the swordsmen who could not distinguish friend from foe as demonic energy surged into their marrows, and while fighting at the forefront, she urged the survivors to dedicate their lives.
At the end of that heartless fight, she was confident that she had left irreversible damage on the Butcher―
Immediately after dense demonic energy wrapped around the bastard's body, most of the Butcher's injuries healed.
As if the hope of a moment was merely an amusement for deeper despair.
Dark shadows fell on the faces of the Namgung Clan swordsmen.
“Young Family Head, you must choose.”
A white-haired swordsman guarding Namgung Yeon's side spoke.
His name was Namgung Mu-ryong. The Deputy Commander of the Azure Palace Sword Squad and a master who reached the brink of the peak realm.
In fact, the being with the most outstanding skill in this procession. A person attached by the Family Head for the escort and assistance of the Young Family Head.
“……Are you telling me to use the family members as shields and run away?”
Namgung Yeon asked with heavily sinking eyes.
“The Azure Palace Sword Squad members are those prepared to discard their lives to protect the Young Family Head at any time. Speaking like that is an insult to the Sword Squad members!”
Namgung Mu-ryong's words were practically a coercion to survive even alone.
“I know.”
Namgung Yeon answered Namgung Mu-ryong's words in a calm tone.
It would certainly be a rational judgment for her, the Young Family Head, to run away and survive. Since no one here could be more important than the life of the Young Family Head.
“But there will be no running away for me.”
She declared firmly.
“…….”
Although a flustered look was evident on Namgung Mu-ryong's face, Namgung Yeon didn't mind at all.
She recalled the moment she sparred with Dam Jeok-san.
A miserable defeat. She was pushed back so disastrously that there was no other word to describe it.
But she fought until the end. Until she no longer had the strength to lift her sword. With the thought that even if Dam Jeok-san killed her, it couldn't be helped.
Perhaps it was mixed with the selfish desire to cross swords at least once more with a genius who would someday stand at the pinnacle of the era. Because she thought Dam Jeok-san was someone fully capable of putting his name on the position of the next generation's Eight Sovereigns of Murim.
After a fierce contest of over a full one hundred moves, the tip of Dam Jeok-san's sword touched her neck.
― Is this the sword of Namgung? I saw well. You have potential, and good guts too……. You're much better than my Second Senior Brother.
― ……I don't know if that's a compliment or criticism. I am not the only person of talent in Namgung.
― It's a compliment. And aren't you the flag bearer who will lead the next Namgung?
― That is correct. Someday, I will definitely show you again, the sword of the main house.
― Good, I'll look forward to it.
Dam Jeok-san's detestable voice suddenly came to her mind.
She really wanted to show him again. Now, she was in a situation where even that became difficult.
As the time to die approached, idle thoughts floated in her head.
Cutting off such thoughts, Namgung Yeon took a step forward. It is neither childishness nor recklessness. Who would serve as a leader one who abandons their subordinates and runs away? Who would revere as the best a sword that broke before even clashing?
Even to become the legitimate successor of Namgung.
She had no choice but to move towards death.
“Namgung Mu-ryong, assist me.”
A voice containing dignity as cold as frost rebuked Namgung Mu-ryong.
“……Your command.”
He bowed his head politely and stood by her side.
THUD, Namgung Yeon's foot stamps the ground strongly. To the extent that the fierce rain scatters for an instant due to the aftermath. Her figure shot toward the Butcher like a spear.
At the same time, Namgung Yeon's sword, wrapped in sword flame as deep blue as the sky, cuts through the air.
Azure Sky Unhindered.
The sword of the Great Namgung Clan that sings of having no obstacles under the sky.
Namgung Yeon vowed. Even if she shatters into pieces, she will never stop herself.
Under the sky filled with dark clouds, a single sword ran through the world lonely.
But what blocked that sword was a barrier of demonic energy, much blacker and stickier than the dark clouds.
* * *
The sword Namgung Yeon swung with all her heart was blocked by the Butcher.
Because dense demonic energy clouded her mental image and diluted the sword flame.
“Kuhuh…….”
The Butcher let out a murky laugh as if the current situation was very pleasing.
His laughter was ominous and fierce like that of an evil spirit that had just crawled up from the path of demons in the underworld.
He loved the emotion of despair more than anything else.
Because his own life began from despair.
Even in an era where monsters run rampant, what kills humans the most is ultimately humans.
The Butcher thought that was inevitable. Since humans were born unable to live without killing other humans. His father was a butcher who cut and sold pigs. Although they were both swordsmen, there was a difference like heaven and earth between a martial artist and a butcher.
Perhaps because of that, it was a martial artist who killed the Butcher's father.
No, thinking about it now, he was a trivial scum unworthy of being called a martial artist.
Although he belonged to the Unorthodox faction, he was actually the sect leader of a third-rate sect that should be seen as neighborhood thugs.
Claiming he got a stomachache after eating the meat his father cut, the bastard brutally murdered the Butcher's entire family for that crime. Except for himself, who was luckily away that day.
He doesn't even know if that was the real reason.
No, probably not. Just because he was bored, because he wanted to kill. That's probably why he killed.
Intelligent and cruel from a young age, he could understand the insidious desire of the enemy who killed his entire family. And because he could understand, he could not forgive him even more.
Thus, the Butcher also decided to take everything from the bastard.
He attacked and killed a passing ronin.
From his bosom, he picked up a book with breathing exercises and cheap saber techniques written on it.
They were shoddy techniques difficult to even call martial arts. So the ronin must have died by his hands.
But the Butcher had talent. Talent for slaughtering people, not pigs.
He succeeded in butchering his enemy three years after learning martial arts.
It was nothing difficult. Since the bastard was terribly weak.
He subdued and tied up the sect leader bastard, and butchered the bastard's wife and children one by one in front of him. Delicately, as if deboning a pig. At the moment of revenge, a pleasure as if his brain was melting mushily came, but after killing all of the bastard's family and finally ending the bastard's life after cruel torture, unbearable emptiness came.
To quench that bottomless thirst, the Butcher killed everything in sight at random.
From Orthodox and Unorthodox factions, martial artists and civilians, to humans and monsters. He killed everyone without hesitation.
But after gaining a name as a murder demon in the area, he had no choice but to travel through the mountains avoiding humans, and naturally, the days of killing monsters increased.
And the more he killed them, the more demonic energy ate away at the Butcher's mind.
When monsterification was progressing halfway like that.
The Unorthodox Alliance and the Righteous Heaven Alliance issued a kill order on him…….
― Such deep and pure killing intent, you will become quite a useful blade.
‘They’ approached the Butcher.
A few years passed since then.
The Butcher, who was merely a peak master, returned as a Half-Demon who killed an Elder of the Peng Clan alone.
After being completely swallowed by demonic energy, the Butcher lost most of his reason. Only the ugly instinct to feel euphoria watching humans dying in despair remained. Especially, the greater the drop between despair and hope, the more that euphoria doubled. Perhaps because of that, the Butcher chose to kill martial masters rather than ordinary people.
That strange taste was also the result of ‘their’ touch, but the Butcher didn't mind.
He just killed and killed again to soothe his thirst.
This time is the same.
SWISH――!
The Butcher's straight saber creates a storm drawing dizzying trajectories.
The moment the sharp claws hidden in the storm tear apart the sword of Azure Sky Unhindered stretching straight―
“……Ah.”
Despair settled on Namgung Yeon's white and beautiful face.
A precarious look as if she would break at any moment.
Encroached by demonic energy, the Butcher felt euphoria filling his hazy mind.
He wants to see despair overflowing on that face. Finally, he wants to see even despair disappear and the light of life slowly extinguishing.
Aesthetism towards death and despair. That was one conclusion reached by the Butcher swallowed by madness.
But Namgung Yeon did not easily grant his wish.
Once again, the Azure Sky Unhindered Sword cuts through the air.
Just when he thought he would just tear it apart again.
WHOOSH!
A sword strike much fiercer than Namgung Yeon's aimed for the Butcher's neck.
It is Namgung Mu-ryong's Azure Sky Unhindered Sword Technique. His sword, stained with the ups and downs of life and the agony of an old man, was unyielding and heavy.
If Namgung Yeon's sword was domineering because it was fast, Namgung Mu-ryong's sword was domineering because it was heavy.
“It is the Super Heavy Sword.”
Namgung Mu-ryong said to the Butcher in a calm voice. This was not simply Namgung's Azure Sky Unhindered Sword, but a sword containing his wearyingly heavy life.
“…….”
The Butcher rolled his bizarre-looking eyes and twisted his body.
A reaction more agile than expected. The strike of the Azure Sky Unhindered Sword aiming exactly for the neck missed.
CRUNCH!
But Namgung Mu-ryong's sword broke the bastard's collarbone and half-crushed the muscle beneath it. Perhaps because powerful will was contained in the sword, the Butcher also could not regenerate the wound easily like before.
But the Butcher rushed at the two like a Yaksha who knows no pain.
Like that, a dizzying fierce battle unfolded once again.
Whenever the saber and sword clashed, rainwater and stone fragments scattered. The sound of heavy rain was buried by the roar.
Even so, a clue to turning the tables is hardly visible.
SLASH――!
The Butcher's saber was faithfully exterminating the bugs rushing at him. Every time the bastard's straight saber flashed, the swordsmen of the Azure Palace Sword Squad decreased one by one. Even the Butcher's demonic energy was feeding on fear and despair, growing increasingly larger.
They cannot drag on time any longer.
Only by being prepared to die can they kill.
They must settle this.
Deep blue energy of the azure sky hovered in Namgung Yeon's eyes.
She rushed toward the Butcher with all her might.
Black demonic energy devoured the blue sky once again.
A short death throe echoed in the air.
Heavy rain poured endlessly from the dark clouds filling the sky.
* * *
Dam Jeok-san and his party were able to chase the procession of the Namgung Clan without much difficulty.
They had all learned tracking skills in the Martial Sovereign Castle, and the traces of huge wagons that could not be pulled without using war horses were visible all along the mountain path. Even though rain poured like a deluge, those traces remained without being easily erased.
But from some point, those traces were cut off.
The Namgung Clan had moved while erasing traces in preparation for any potential pursuit. It is a natural choice if one considers it natural, as they would be carrying military supplies heading to the Northern Branch of the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Normally, he would have found even faint traces somehow and followed, but the rain was the problem.
Trivial marks were all washed away by the rainwater.
But Dam Jeok-san moved his steps as if possessed, without even looking for traces of the wagons.
“……Did the Young Master perhaps sprinkle Chasing Scent on the Namgung Young Family Head?”
Black Panther Spear asked Gyeong-won with a face full of doubt.
Because the spar between Dam Jeok-san and the Namgung Young Family Head was quite a famous anecdote within the Martial Sovereign Castle.
“……Could that be possible?”
But Gyeong-won shook his head from side to side.
Right now, Dam Jeok-san was not relying on such means. What led him was purely intuition. The most appetizing and intense wave of demonic energy. He was walking as if possessed toward where it was felt.
No, can this be dismissed as mere intuition? It felt as if he could even know how long he had to walk to catch up with that dense demonic energy right now. This is not intuition but sensation. A sensation close to what martial artists commonly call qi sense.
Dam Jeok-san realized the fact that he had truly awakened another sense.
However, for such a realization, Dam Jeok-san's expression was not very bright.
The demonic energy was swelling intensely as time went on. A phenomenon that can never happen naturally.
It was clear that the Half-Demon far away was slaughtering the swordsmen of the Namgung Clan.
They are twisted tribes that feed and fatten on blood, slaughter, fear, and madness.
‘……Didn't she promise to show me the sword of Namgung?’
Dam Jeok-san ruminated on the conversation with Namgung Yeon with a bitter smile.
At that time, he was desperate to accumulate achievements worthy of recognition within the Martial Sovereign Castle.
So although he pushed Namgung Yeon quite roughly, he had no personal ill will toward her. Rather, he inwardly acknowledged the outstanding talent and tenacity she possessed.
‘Although I won…….’
That was because he was too excellent, not because Namgung Yeon was lacking.
Well, anyway, since they decided to meet again, he should at least keep the promise.
Thinking so, Dam Jeok-san increased his speed.
His figure cuts through the rain like a flash of lightning.
‘……Insufficient.’
He clicked his tongue, tsk, and thought.
He cannot increase the speed of his lightness skill any further. The chronically insufficient internal energy is the cause. It can't be helped.
Dam Jeok-san fell into contemplation for a moment.
If he is any later, he will only see a landscape filled with corpses.
Although he doesn't have an obligation to save Namgung Yeon…….
‘Because seeing the corpse of someone I have a connection with makes me feel dirty.’
That much reason was enough to risk his life.
Because Dam Jeok-san vowed to live like this.
“Black Panther Spear, do you do some spear throwing?”