Chapter 028. Half-Demon (4)
Half-Demon, Butcher.
The bastard killed the Elder of the Hebei Peng Clan, Severing Shadow Saber, alone and even succeeded in escaping.
The Severing Shadow Saber was a peak master renowned in the Orthodox Murim. So, the Butcher should also be clearly considered a force equivalent to a peak master.
In fact, the power the Butcher possessed was formidable.
The Namgung Clan party, which possessed combat power capable of subduing even a decent peak master, was helplessly pushed back.
However,
Namgung Yeon felt doubtful throughout the fight with the Butcher.
‘It's not the saber technique of a mature peak master.’
She was born as the eldest daughter of the Namgung Clan, called the Number One Sword Family under Heaven, and raised as the successor.
Thus, she had crossed swords not only with prominent peak masters but also with absolute beings who had reached a realm beyond that.
To Namgung Yeon's senses, the Butcher's saber technique was too rough and unstable to be called that of a peak master.
Although the immense demonic energy the bastard wielded offset all such trivial shortcomings―
‘That very point is suspicious.’
How did the Butcher handle such immense demonic energy?
There is a high probability that someone helped him from behind.
Since the Namgung Clan has as many enemies as allies. However, Namgung Yeon could not easily guess the mastermind.
No. Actually, finding the mastermind was something that could be done after surviving this place.
“Let's gather our strength just a little more!”
Encouraging the surviving swordsmen, Namgung Yeon parried the Butcher's straight saber once again.
After the spear imbued with Dam Jeok-san's Extreme Heaven Strange Sovereign Technique fell, the Butcher's regenerative power and demonic energy were somewhat weakened.
Moreover, Namgung Mu-ryong had made the bastard a mess while losing one arm.
‘The Sword Dragon is really coming; we must accumulate as much damage as possible before he joins.’
Namgung Yeon thought, feeling the presences approaching at an incredibly fast speed.
Sword Dragon Dam Jeok-san. She didn't know how he recovered his dantian either.
But it was an undeniable fact that the presence of that man who had unilaterally overwhelmed her was extremely welcome.
Before even one tea-time had passed.
Dam Jeok-san appeared on the scene.
* * *
From the moment he got close enough to the Butcher.
Dam Jeok-san intuitively sensed that his senses were being heightened.
As demonic energy presses down on the surroundings, the predator's instinct becomes sharper. All his nerves came alive, his vision expanded, and blood flow swirled through his whole body like a storm.
Far away, he sees the Butcher pushing back the swordsmen of the Namgung Clan.
If left like that, they will surely be annihilated.
Even if they are lucky enough to succeed in taking down the Butcher, they cannot avoid mutual destruction.
He must hurry.
The moment he made up his mind, Dam Jeok-san exploded the genuine qi that had flowed down to the soles of his feet in an instant.
With a roar, thick dust rises from the ground.
Dam Jeok-san's figure was already moving far ahead.
“What on earth has the Young Master…….”
Black Panther Spear clicked his tongue watching that scene. His gaze briefly touched Gyeong-won. As if asking if he knew anything.
“I am also astonished.”
Gyeong-won answered, shaking his head from side to side.
It's not that he has absolutely no guess.
Because ever since the Young Master regained his dantian, his eyes would turn red whenever he saw beings with demonic energy.
Well, actually, that was the same even before he lost his dantian…… but should he say the feeling has changed?
However, Gyeong-won did not carelessly speak of such guesses.
He was Dam Jeok-san's guard.
Because he was one who protects, not one who judges.
[Take appropriate measures for the Namgung Clan swordsmen as soon as you two arrive.]
Dam Jeok-san left a telepathic message to them as he passed Black Panther Spear and Gyeong-won quickly.
Namgung Yeon, Namgung Mu-ryong, and other masters at the peak realm were in somewhat better condition, but
Among the Azure Palace Sword Squad members, there were critically injured ones who would not last long without immediate treatment.
Having finished the brief instruction, Dam Jeok-san had already reached the place where Namgung Yeon and the Butcher were engaging.
“It's been a while, Namgung Young Family Head.”
Dam Jeok-san greeted her simply, looking at her.
“I have some words I want to share, but let's ask after each other later. Since the situation is urgent for both of us.”
“……Sword Dragon.”
Namgung Yeon called Dam Jeok-san with faintly trembling eyes.
“That alias is nice to hear, but I'm getting a bit tired of it now.”
Dam Jeok-san said, waving his hand lightly.
Sword Dragon is at best an alias attached to a prominent rising star. Staying at just that level cannot push out the Eldest Young Master.
He must become stronger.
‘This will be the first step.’
Dam Jeok-san thought, looking at the Butcher.
Even a journey of a thousand li must begin with a single step. Someday he would have to reach a level where he could compete with his Master, the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle. But now was the time to tear apart and kill the Half-Demon in front of his eyes.
Before he knew it, Dam Jeok-san's sword was wrapped in deep dark blue sword flame.
His sharply honed senses tell him.
That the opponent is equivalent to a peak master.
However, right now, he was terribly broken due to the continuous battles with the Namgung Clan swordsmen.
Moreover, the power of demonic energy is useless in front of Dam Jeok-san.
To Dam Jeok-san, the bastard was nothing more than slightly large prey.
‘……Still a powerful opponent. So I'll have to risk my life.’
If it's to take someone else's life, isn't it natural to risk one's own?
The moment Dam Jeok-san leaped at the bastard without a shred of hesitation.
The Butcher twists his body.
At the same time, the blade flew in, aiming for Dam Jeok-san's head.
A lightning-fast strike.
But Dam Jeok-san faced that straight saber head-on.
Dam Jeok-san's sword shot out, cutting through the sky, keeping the Butcher's straight saber in check and digging into his neck.
The Butcher twisted the trajectory of the straight saber to block that sword.
Finally, the straight saber wrapped in thick demonic energy and Dam Jeok-san's sword collided.
BOOOM—!
A massive shockwave erupted between the two. Power enough to make the pouring rain disappear for a moment.
Dam Jeok-san was pushed back as he was, but he held on until the end. His two legs dug deep into the wet ground.
“……Your strength is ignorantly strong.”
Dam Jeok-san said, wiping the fresh blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
The Butcher's muscles and tendons contain immense demonic energy. Although he neutralized the demonic energy with the ability of Predation, he was no match at all in physical strength.
But instead of retreating and planning a joint attack, Dam Jeok-san took a big step forward.
‘Half-Demon, Butcher. The way to defeat the bastard is definitely within me.’
Dam Jeok-san's two eyes became bloodshot, and his head throbbed as if it would break.
But Dam Jeok-san didn't mind and looked at the Butcher. Only when his eyes ached to the point of being crushed did the Predator's Eye open.
What was reflected in the Predator's Eye was a faint cluster of light.
It was trivial compared to what he saw after defeating Woo Seo-gwang, but it was the best Fighting Path the current Dam Jeok-san could unfold.
The sword holding indigo sword qi sprints following the cluster of light.
CRUNCH!
The Butcher raised his straight saber with movement close to instinct to block his sword strike.
But with an unpleasant metallic sound, Dam Jeok-san's sword pushed the straight saber away and cut the Butcher's flank.
“……?”
Doubt appeared in the Butcher's pitch-black pupils.
It was evident that he absolutely could not understand why his straight saber was pushed back.
“Shoddy swordplay, as expected of trash without roots who used to catch beasts.”
Perhaps reading such an expression, Dam Jeok-san began to sneer at the Butcher.
In reality, it was because sword principles transcending his realm were embedded in Dam Jeok-san's sword, but the Butcher, who had lost his reason, could not judge that.
“I will, kill you!!”
He just screamed in a slurred speech and rushed in.
But that momentum was threatening enough. Because what the bastard harbored was pure malice towards humans. No matter if Dam Jeok-san is a predator, as long as his origin is human, he could not be completely free from that malice.
“Ridiculous.”
But Dam Jeok-san calmly mocked the Butcher's malice.
Seeing him emit such malice, he probably had a quite wretched fate.
Perhaps his entire family was massacred by a vicious human.
But what about it?
No matter what grudge the Butcher holds, once he denied his roots and became a monster by bringing up that pain, he cannot receive sympathy.
Of course, Dam Jeok-san will never be able to understand the Butcher's pain and hatred.
But not being able to understand doesn't mean he can't cut him down.
If he emits hatred, it is enough to answer with greater hatred.
Before he knew it, the momentum of the Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style refined into his Self-Style began to flow from the tip of Dam Jeok-san's sword.
After killing Woo Seo-gwang, he thought he wouldn't be able to reproduce it for a while.
As he was surrounded by suffocatingly thick demonic energy, conversely, his senses came alive keenly, giving him the strength to unfold the Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style once again.
However, it was not easily achieved.
The moment he contained the energy of the Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style in his sword, his joints creaked and his heart meridians ached as if they would snap.
But Dam Jeok-san didn't mind. Right now, he holds the upper hand against the Butcher, but this is also only temporary; if he makes a mistake, his neck might be cut by that straight saber at any moment.
He must see the end when the victory is tilted in his favor. No matter what price he bears.
VROOOOOOM!!
As if responding to that resolution, a dense and deep sword cry flowed from Dam Jeok-san's sword.
“……!”
The sword cry stings the Butcher's ears.
What is contained in the Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style is the will of the First Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle who killed and killed monsters again, banishing them to the ends of the continent.
That is the human resolution responding to the hatred of monsters.
And a move forged containing that.
“It is called Monkey-Destroying One Flash.”
Dam Jeok-san recited the name of the sword originating from a monster.
The Monkey-Destroying One Flash moves forward silently carrying the First Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle's resolution.
Because even sound could not follow the movement of that sword.
* * *
After encountering Dam Jeok-san, the Butcher regained an emotion he thought he had lost for a long time.
That is fear.
Perhaps it was from after he accepted demonic energy and became a Half-Demon, no, maybe after he lost all his family to a third-rate Unorthodox scum.
Since losing what he had to protect, he lived forgetting fear.
Even when killing a ronin and robbing martial arts.
Even when massacring all the third-rate Unorthodox scum's family and finally tearing the bastard apart to death.
Even when slaughtering the Peng Clan Elder, Severing Shadow Saber, after being turned into a Half-Demon by ‘him’.
The Butcher was always in the position of hunting.
Even if he fails in hunting and dies, he was a hunter.
A hunter did not need to fear the prey.
But Dam Jeok-san was somewhat different.
He was terribly weak compared to the Butcher.
Starting from the total amount of qi he possessed, there was an overwhelming difference.
Nevertheless, Dam Jeok-san looked at the Butcher as if looking at prey.
Just like when he was lowly and powerless.
More than anything else, that was scary.
However, the moment the power of the Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style gathered at the tip of Dam Jeok-san's sword, even that fear was diluted.
A will intense enough to crush even a soul that accepted demonic energy was felt from that sword.
The Butcher stood his straight saber upright and prepared for that sword strike.
No matter how terrifying a power the Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style holds, Dam Jeok-san wielding the sword is at best a peak master.
He will not be able to escape that limit.
That was a correct judgment, and at the same time, a terrible misjudgment.
Monkey-Destroying One Flash. That extremely fast sword could not escape Dam Jeok-san's limit, but.
Even while trapped in the limit, it was sufficiently fast and strong.
SLASH―!
The resolution continued from the First Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle cut through the Butcher's thick malice.
“Gaaaaaahk, cough……!”
The Butcher's shoulder blade split wide open, and lumps of blood blackly stained with demonic energy poured from his mouth.
“Now let’s see the end.”
He said, aiming his sword at the Butcher, who had become half-corpse.
However, Dam Jeok-san, who muttered so, was also not in a sound state.
Because he forcibly drew upon the power of the Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style, the bones of his entire body screamed, and his face was pale.
But Dam Jeok-san didn't mind.
The predator's instinct was running wild inside. Telling him to quickly tear that thing apart, kill it, and eat it.
Primal appetite.
But that is not all.
Beyond the appetite was the desire to see the star cluster again. That is, there was a desire for achievement surpassing appetite.
Namgung Yeon, the Young Family Head of the Namgung Clan, was watching all those scenes with an expression half-mixed with ecstasy and despair.
Dam Jeok-san's sword was so beautiful and noble, but.
Because it was located in a sky she could no longer follow.
“It's the first time the name of the Blue Sky that the main house boasts of felt like an illusion.”
She said bitterly, looking at Namgung Mu-ryong.