Chapter 043. The Condition of Loyalty (3)
"Nice to meet you."
The blood-covered man continued speaking with a still light attitude.
A casual attitude that did not match at all with the destructive aura shimmering from his entire body.
That discord made the man's atmosphere even more bizarre.
Dam Jeok-san felt a terrible certainty he had never experienced in his life as he looked at the man.
'I will die.'
He will surely die.
He dies if their eyes meet, he dies if they don't.
He dies if he attacks, he dies if he doesn't.
He dies if he runs away, he dies if he doesn't.
The moment he encountered him, his fate was decided.
As death.
Not a simple death.
Predation.
He will be eaten.
He will be eaten without a trace and become a part of the man.
That horrifying future unfolded vividly in Dam Jeok-san's mind.
'It makes no sense.'
Even the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle, who was closest to being the Number One under Heaven in the current era, had never given Dam Jeok-san such a sense of helplessness and fear. The blood-covered man encroached upon everything with a definite aura of death just by existing.
An extraordinary feat that not even the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle, or anyone else, could imitate.
'But it would be possible for you.'
Dam Jeok-san thought as he looked at the blood-covered man.
His past life.
"Seo Woo-joo."
Because that is the identity of the blood-covered man.
"Yes, it is me. And soon I will be you."
The man spoke, still wearing a gentle smile.
Dam Jeok-san looked at the opponent, suppressing the despair rising once again.
If the real Seo Woo-joo were here, Dam Jeok-san would have suffocated to death just from his presence.
But this place is inside Dam Jeok-san's mental image. The Seo Woo-joo he is seeing now was merely an illusion, not the 'real' one. In the end, it meant he was nothing more than a shadow originating from himself.
Then,
"You……."
Even if the opponent is a transcendent being,
"I will cut you."
I win.
Dam Jeok-san was certain of it.
His sword ran through the void. Wrapped in dark blue flames like the night sky.
The sword strike traverses the world. This is Dam Jeok-san's mental world. Under the sky, his sword is the only one, and it is absolute.
That should have been the case―
Squelch!!
The blood-covered man's left hand pierced through Dam Jeok-san's neck.
It happened without any warning or omen.
No, that's not it.
The man swung his hand blade so fast that Dam Jeok-san couldn't even notice it.
"Keuk……!"
The sound of air escaping flowed from Dam Jeok-san's mouth.
He collapsed helplessly without even uttering a death throe.
'Damn it.'
Consciousness fades along with the burning pain.
He clearly thought he could win.
To think the gap was this big.
Despair appeared on Dam Jeok-san's face.
"The attempt was good."
The man said in a cheerful voice. An innocent smile hung on his face.
As if he was enjoying this situation immensely.
"If you try about 1,000 more times, you might succeed."
With those words, Dam Jeok-san's consciousness went completely dark.
This was his first death.
Flash.
He definitely died.
Dam Jeok-san felt his consciousness waking up and his vision brightening again.
Is even death reversible within the mental image?
Dam Jeok-san marveled slightly.
However, apart from that, his head hurt as if it would break.
It seems it wasn't a resurrection without any cost.
"Come."
The blood-covered man was looking at Dam Jeok-san, still giggling.
He beckoned sloppily.
Dam Jeok-san drew his sword once again.
Crunch!!
This time, he died with his chest caved in by an insincere kick.
Next was a single punch that burst his head, then a finger technique that pierced his heart,
Second, third, fourth…….
Death continues endlessly.
Only after dying ten more times.
Clang―!
Could he block the man's strike.
"Quite good, but still far from enough."
However, the man clicked his tongue briefly and moved his other hand.
Slash!
A sharp hand blade flashed horizontally, and Dam Jeok-san's head rose into the air.
When he had died over thirty times.
Only then did he succeed in counterattacking beyond defense.
"Ho……."
Dam Jeok-san's sword engraved a faint scratch on the man's body.
He thought it wouldn't mean much since he was already covered in blood―
"……There wasn't a single scratch until now?"
Dam Jeok-san blinked and looked at the man.
Among the blood soaking the man's body, none flowed from his own body.
Except for the drops of blood forming on the scratch he left.
Even his clothes didn't show any torn or worn spots.
His skin also showed no wounds except for the area wet with blood.
He wondered why he hadn't noticed it until now.
"It is only natural."
The man said with a ferocious smile like a beast.
"No one in the world can harm me."
"……."
"And no one in the world can stand above me."
A voice somehow lonely and bitter.
Beyond the man's back, a mountain of giant corpses shimmered like an illusion.
And a huge maw opened wide, swallowing all those corpses.
Humans, monsters, and even the world they lived in.
The man devoured all of it.
I alone am honored in heaven and earth.
Dam Jeok-san instinctively recalled the Buddhist scripture said to have been recited by Shakyamuni.
Since only the man remained under heaven.
"You alone must have been noble."
"That is correct."
The man answered without hiding his sorrowful feelings.
By predating even the world, a mere human possessed the same status as the world under heaven.
That is indeed the essence the ability of Predation possesses.
"It's nothing special."
Dam Jeok-san spoke indifferently.
"What……?"
And for the first time, bewilderment settled on the man's face.
"It is something I resolved from the beginning."
From the moment he held the hand of the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle and entered that massive castle.
Dam Jeok-san swore to look down on the world.
He had already known for a long time how absurd and difficult that dream was.
Knowing now that the ability of Predation possessed the power to swallow the world itself changed nothing.
He just moves forward steadfastly. Until the end of the world.
Slash!
Seo Woo-joo's hand blade cut Dam Jeok-san's neck again.
Deaths repeated countless times. Each time, Dam Jeok-san approached Seo Woo-joo little by little.
This is possible because this is inside his mental image. Even Seo Woo-joo showing that world-shaking martial prowess is merely a byproduct created by Dam Jeok-san's consciousness.
If he truly believes in his success, he can cut anyone.
However, truly 'believing' was not as easy as thinking.
Believing something clearly impossible is possible is the realm of a madman.
But since a martial artist is no different from a madman.
Dam Jeok-san used his death as a touchstone to grow his belief over and over.
Dying with his head crushed by a fist, dying with his neck cut by a hand blade, dying with his lungs crushed by a kick, dying, dying, and dying again…….
"Even so, I will surely kill you."
Dam Jeok-san's sword stretches out again. Within the self-assurance firm as Mount Tai, all laws between heaven and earth are distorted and reorganized.
Solely for Dam Jeok-san's sword strike.
Space warps and time stops. Only Dam Jeok-san remains intact within the completely broken world.
And yet.
Whoosh!!
The fist of the blood-covered man, Seo Woo-joo, smashed through all that distortion and rushed toward Dam Jeok-san.
'If it touches, I die.'
No matter how omnipotent Dam Jeok-san was here, that fact did not change.
'Because I believe it.'
In Seo Woo-joo's formidable strength.
But it can be overcome.
After repeating deaths he could no longer even count.
Stepping on his own corpses piled up like a mountain.
Because he came to believe even the facts he could not possibly believe.
The belief bordering on madness,
That he can cut the Predator who swallowed the world under heaven,
"Let's end this now."
Guides Dam Jeok-san.
The sword firmly gripped in his hand and Dam Jeok-san become one.
His figure itself flashes like a sword strike and moves forward.
Unity of Body and Sword.
If it weren't for the mental world, it would be some ultimate state he could only reach after decades of bitter training.
Dam Jeok-san reached that state, if only temporarily.
His figure became a bolt of lightning.
Heaven-Breaking Star-Destroying Style.
Self-Style.
Monkey-Destroying One Flash.
The extreme Fast Sword cuts through the void.
"You've finally gone mad."
The blood-covered man, Seo Woo-joo, muttered with a wide smile.
In his eyes, he saw Dam Jeok-san approaching, becoming a single sword and cutting through the world.
I am you. And you are me.
No one can sincerely believe these simple words.
The reason there was a hole in Dam Jeok-san's mental image was the same.
Even though he knew the fact that Seo Woo-joo was a part of himself, he couldn't truly understand and believe it.
'But if I cut myself…….'
It might be possible.
With that thought as the last.
Slash―!
Dam Jeok-san's sword cut deep into Seo Woo-joo's neck.
His fist, which was crushing the void as it moved forward, stopped abruptly.
The guy's head floats gently in the air.
Before that head could hit the ground.
"You've become somewhat bearable to look at."
Seo Woo-joo's figure turned blurry like fog, and soon…….
Whoosh.
Was absorbed into Dam Jeok-san.
"Ah."
Dam Jeok-san looked at the void with blank eyes.
A single drop of tear flowed down from his eye for an unknown reason.
The loneliness only one left alone under heaven can feel. Dam Jeok-san suddenly realized that he had truly come to understand that.
'Even so, it is merely a very faint fragment.'
Seo Woo-joo is a transcendent being.
For Dam Jeok-san to fully understand and completely digest him, he must reach an equivalent level.
At the very least,
'I must become at least like Master.'
Martial Sovereign Castle Lord level.
Even that is likely just a starting point.
However, Dam Jeok-san laughed instead of being disheartened.
"Haha, interesting."
That the path forward is distantly long means there is that much room left to become stronger.
Soon, the mental world turned into ash from the edges and scattered, then collapsed completely.
Dam Jeok-san was sitting cross-legged in the stone chamber again.
It felt like he spent an eternity repeating deaths.
But the actual time passed was merely an instant.
'It was something I had to resolve once anyway.'
Now that he has come to believe that he is a part of himself, he won't be completely eaten by Seo Woo-joo's ego.
However.
'I won't be able to raise the stage of Predation through expedient means like that time.'
It's a bit regrettable, but it can't be helped.
Dam Jeok-san gathered his thoughts and drew his mental image once again.
The shape of a swordsman cutting down everything blocking his path.
And in that empty space.
The back of a blood-covered man standing alone in solitude shimmered.
WOOWOOWOOWOO!
At the same time, bright light poured out from Dam Jeok-san's body.
The change due to realization was so huge that the Qi between heaven and earth materialized.
A phenomenon one might see at least from masters reaching the Ultra-Peak Realm.
However, Dam Jeok-san was emitting auspicious light from his entire body even though he was still only a Peak master.
A clear anomaly.
It means the mental image Dam Jeok-san draws is that huge and powerful.
'An overly arrogant mental image is difficult to complete.'
Even though Dam Jeok-san intuitively knew that fact, he didn't mind at all.
If he wanted to proceed easily, he would have followed the path from before he lost his dantian.
Even if it is difficult, he takes the path that can reach the end.
That is the mental image forming his foundation.
Therefore, he could not retreat.
The light bright enough to fill the stone chamber slowly converged into Dam Jeok-san's body.
And his Extreme Heaven Strange Sovereign Technique stage reached 4-star.
'This is completely different from before I lost my dantian.'
The 4-star achieved back then and the current 4-star were completely different stages.
Because he had obtained a much more supreme realization.
This is a very positive thing.
It means he can show overwhelming strength compared to others who have reached a similar stage.
That means.
The upper limit to becoming stronger has increased.
The current achievement will truly shine when he goes beyond the Entering Transformation Realm and reaches the stage of the Eight Sovereigns of Murim.
A satisfied smile hung on Dam Jeok-san's lips.
Uncrossing his legs and rising from his seat, he went to the wall of the stone chamber without hesitation.
There, famous treasured swords were hanging in rows.
For an instant, greed shimmered in Dam Jeok-san's eyes.
* * *
At the same time.
"What on earth are you doing, Martial Nephew?"
Shock shimmered in the eyes of Un Wol-hyang, who was standing guard in front of the training room.
Because shockwaves of a level that surprised even her burst out from inside the stone chamber several times.