nucmednet Chapter 263 : Invaders (6)
Chapter 263 : Invaders (6)
Chapter 263: Invaders (6)
A black silhouette that looked as though drenched in ink.
Despite exchanging only a single blow, Jang Woo-hyun could already grasp the opponent’s power.
‘So this is the power of one of the Eight Kings.’
This was on a completely different level from Gyu-o and Hong Sa-myeong, whom he had fought moments earlier.
It was obvious that this being stood in an entirely different realm.
Still, there was one fortunate thing.
‘It’s not the main body.’
The black silhouette before him was not Baek Jeong-ak’s true body.
If it had been the real him using his actual power, Jang Woo-hyun would never have blocked that attack so easily earlier.
But the fact that this was merely a Projection was also unfortunate.
‘He’s stronger than expected.’
In his current state, Jang Woo-hyun could not confidently predict victory.
While Jang Woo-hyun remained tense, the black silhouette’s face began writhing strangely.
The opponent, whose entire body looked covered in black ink, had no discernible features at first.
Crack. Creak.
A human face slowly formed upon the previously spherical black head.
Only the face changed color.
Everything below the neck remained pitch-black.
Short-cropped hair.
Sharp, slanted eyes.
The raised corners of the eyes gave him an overall vicious appearance.
【You’re an interesting one.】
There was no real weight behind the voice.
Though a voice alone did not define a person, it was difficult to believe this belonged to one of the Eight Kings—the absolute rulers of the Corpse-Blood Realm.
It sounded more fitting for some sly third-rate thug from a back alley.
【How is a martial artist from the Central Heavens Realm walking around here perfectly fine?】
Baek Jeong-ak instantly recognized that Jang Woo-hyun did not belong to the Corpse-Blood Realm.
【Hm? Well, would you look at that? So you’re hiding the fact that you’re alive using a Dharma Treasure. This is my first time seeing something like this.】
Like someone who had discovered a fascinating object, Baek Jeong-ak stared at Jang Woo-hyun with gleaming eyes.
【And you’re fairly strong too. That part’s unexpected. At this level, you’re close to those Seventeen Lords fellows. No, no. If you can use this much power in the Corpse-Blood Realm, maybe you’d even qualify as one of the new Seventeen Lords.】
Baek Jeong-ak continued speaking without wiping the smile from his face.
He looked exactly like someone who had found an incredibly valuable item in a marketplace.
For some reason, instead of attacking, he simply kept rambling.
【What brought you to the Corpse-Blood Realm? And where did you get those Dharma Treasures?】
While remaining on guard, Jang Woo-hyun carefully observed Baek Jeong-ak’s condition.
There was no way the man was talking for no reason.
He was surely buying time for something.
【No need to be so tense. I merely wish to talk for a moment.】
Spreading his arms wide, Baek Jeong-ak walked through the air toward him.
Jang Woo-hyun slowly retreated while thinking about how to fight.
‘Not like this.’
His body was not in perfect condition.
With his current strength, he could not defeat even Baek Jeong-ak’s Projection, which was stronger than expected.
Still, there were methods available.
The five items he received after helping the Five-Wheel Guardian God.
‘It said they could create a new domain.’
He did not know how much a domain could alter the surroundings, but now that he had somewhat grasped the principles behind the Infinite Realm and twisting the laws of the world, Jang Woo-hyun believed he could manage if given even a small push.
Even if the Corpse-Blood Realm’s power suppressed him and prevented him from forming a domain, the items granted by the Guardian God contained immense power on their own.
They would still help.
Yet despite that, Jang Woo-hyun hesitated.
If he used the Five-Wheel Guardian God’s items now, fighting Hyeonwol later would become far more difficult.
And there was another reason.
‘Ian will come.’
Jang Woo-hyun trusted the Archmage of the Corpse-Blood Realm.
He did not know what preparations Ian had made or how he traveled, but it surely would not take him long to arrive.
Ian’s power was equivalent to the Infinite Realm for martial artists and the Fusion Stage for cultivators.
Martial artists at the Infinite Realm could use Ground-Shrinking to manipulate space itself.
If so, magicians and cultivators likely possessed movement methods even superior to that.
Martial artists specialized in offense, whereas magicians and cultivators did not.
‘That’s why he found me immediately.’
When Jang Woo-hyun destroyed the necklace before, Ian had appeared almost instantly.
And that time, the contact had been completely unexpected.
Now they had already arranged things in advance.
‘Let’s endure somehow.’
He intended to trust Ian.
And even if this Projection was strong, enduring for a while should still be possible.
【Planning something? Whatever it is, you’d better hurry. We don’t have much time left for conversation. You should’ve spoken while I gave you the chance.】
Jang Woo-hyun’s gaze moved past Baek Jeong-ak toward the rear.
The place where the explosion, which had seemed capable of swallowing the entire world, finally vanished.
Nothing remained there now.
Only black smoke rising from the empty ruins.
Jang Woo-hyun immediately recognized that this had originally been where the city stood.
The black smoke gradually expanded and changed shape in midair.
Watching it, Jang Woo-hyun finally realized why Baek Jeong-ak had been wasting time talking instead of attacking.
‘He’s rebuilding the tower.’
The smoke condensed into black stones.
Multiple stones stacked themselves layer by layer.
Baek Jeong-ak intended to rebuild the destroyed tower and restore the barrier.
Jang Woo-hyun tightened his grip on his sword.
He had originally intended to stall for time, but now his thoughts changed.
If the tower were fully restored, everything he and his companions had done would become meaningless.
Ian would not be able to enter either.
【I said let’s talk, yet you think only of fighting. That’s exactly why I like martial artists.】
Still smiling, Baek Jeong-ak looked at Jang Woo-hyun.
【They’re always so fresh.】
Eyes overflowing with greed swept across Jang Woo-hyun from head to toe.
【It’s been a while since I found such a fine martial artist—】
Baek Jeong-ak abruptly stopped speaking and turned his head.
The smile vanished from his face.
【What is this……?】
Far away.
Another tower suddenly shattered.
Though Jang Woo-hyun did not sense it, a massive wave of energy exploded in the distance.
Baek Jeong-ak frowned and quickly turned his head toward another direction.
Then the final remaining tower collapsed as well.
【…….】
His previously relaxed expression twisted violently.
【You bastard, what have you done?】
His face turning vicious, Baek Jeong-ak moved instantly.
His fist crossed the distance in an instant and slammed toward Jang Woo-hyun.
Unable to dodge completely, Jang Woo-hyun crossed his swords and blocked.
The impact sent him crashing into the ground.
KUUUUUNG!
A massive crater formed where Jang Woo-hyun landed.
Expecting another attack immediately afterward, he raised his swords—
Yet strangely, no follow-up attack came.
Floating in the air, Baek Jeong-ak was not looking at Jang Woo-hyun.
Instead, he scanned the surroundings.
The previously vicious expression on his face now looked like someone witnessing something incomprehensible.
Feeling a strange aura, Jang Woo-hyun also looked around.
Something rolled toward him and stopped at his feet.
‘A skull?’
Tap. Tap.
Tiny skulls no larger than an adult’s fist kept rolling toward his feet.
Their numbers rapidly increased.
He did not know where they came from or how they were being created, but within the brief time it took him to blink a few times, hundreds of skulls had gathered around his feet.
“The King is coming.”
The moment one skull spoke, all the others began speaking as well.
“The King is coming.”
“Bow before the King.”
“Bow.”
“Kneel before Him.”
“Worship Him.”
“Bear witness.”
“Lower your heads.”
As more than hundreds of skulls spoke simultaneously, the surroundings descended into chaos.
The voices continued like a chorus.
The murmuring eventually became a single song.
Watching the bizarre sight, Baek Jeong-ak’s body suddenly trembled once.
Then he quickly turned his head.
───────!!
An indescribable sound erupted from the direction of his gaze, and the sky split apart.
KUUUUUNG!
A tremendous shockwave spread outward.
It was power incomparable to anything the Refining Void cultivators or even Jang Woo-hyun at the Infinite Realm had displayed.
“The King is coming.”
“Our King.”
The skulls began murmuring once more.
【You bastard…… who did you bring here?!】
The previously relaxed Baek Jeong-ak shouted, yet he no longer attacked Jang Woo-hyun.
The martial artist from the Central Heavens Realm no longer mattered.
The towers maintaining the barrier had collapsed instantly.
And now a being even Baek Jeong-ak could not underestimate had arrived.
---
“WAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Archmage Ian.
Just as Jang Woo-hyun expected, he did not arrive late.
As Ian laughed loudly, a gigantic gate made of bones appeared in the sky.
The gate alone stood over ten jang tall.
KUGUGUGUNG!
The gate opened.
And from within it emerged yet another gate.
When the second gate opened, another gate appeared again.
The process repeated endlessly.
In an instant, hundreds of gates floated across the distant sky.
KIIIIIIK—
Every gate slowly opened.
Within the dark spaces beyond the gates, countless blue Ghost Flames flickered.
Baek Jeong-ak’s Projection, which had completely turned its back on Jang Woo-hyun, descended toward the ground.
Standing upon the pitch-black earth, Baek Jeong-ak’s body slowly sank downward.
It looked as though the ground itself was absorbing him.
TUNG!
Watching this, Jang Woo-hyun kicked off the ground.
He had no intention of simply watching the man leave freely after appearing as he pleased.
In a single movement, he reached Baek Jeong-ak’s back and targeted his neck.
CRACK!
Baek Jeong-ak raised an arm and blocked the attack without much difficulty.
Though he lost the arm, he prevented his neck from being severed.
【Was this your plan from the beginning?】
Rather than answering, Jang Woo-hyun swung his sword again.
Already buried up to his knees in the ground, Baek Jeong-ak could no longer properly defend himself.
More wounds spread across his pitch-black body.
【A martial artist from the Central Heavens Realm came to the Corpse-Blood Realm and joined hands with the Skeleton King? Just what the hell are you—】
“You did the same thing.”
【What?】
“You joined hands with Hyeonwol of the Radiant Light Sect. So why can’t I?”
【…….】
The statement was so unexpected that Baek Jeong-ak was momentarily speechless.
【……You expect me to believe you came to the Corpse-Blood Realm just to capture Hyeonwol?】
From Baek Jeong-ak’s perspective, it was absurd.
For a martial artist of the Central Heavens Realm to enter the Corpse-Blood Realm was madness in itself.
KUUUNG! KUNG! KUNG!
While they spoke—
Every gate floating in the sky fully opened.
And from within emerged Ian’s subordinates.
Riders mounted on skeletal horses.
Soldiers barely carrying weapons.
Generals clad in splendid armor riding dead wyverns.
All kinds of forces poured forth.
The one thing they shared was simple.
They were all already dead.
The troops emerging from the gates never stopped.
More and more continued pouring out endlessly.
The sky itself gradually disappeared from view.
Only Ian’s army remained visible.
There were too many to even count.
【Come forth!】
Baek Jeong-ak could no longer afford to remain still.
Nor could he continue fighting Jang Woo-hyun.
At his shout, the shadows on the ground surged upward.
A black vortex formed, and from within it black tentacles emerged, attacking Jang Woo-hyun and forcing him backward.
【I would love to tear you apart right here, but……!】
“WAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Though enraged at Jang Woo-hyun, Baek Jeong-ak could no longer continue fighting after hearing the laughter from afar.
The being laughing there was someone he needed all his power to face.
Retreat was now his only option.
【Hyeonwol! This mess is your doing! Clean it up!】
Another black vortex formed.
Within it appeared a passage capable of transcending space itself.
Baek Jeong-ak quickly vanished into the shadows.
Occupied with blocking the black tentacles, Jang Woo-hyun could not attack this time.
After Baek Jeong-ak’s Projection disappeared—
The shadows covering the ground rapidly withdrew.
Like a stampede of beasts, the black shadows raced toward one direction.
Moments later.
A tremendous power erupted in the distance.
Baek Jeong-ak had gathered back the power he spread throughout the land and raised his true body.
Beneath the sky filled with Ian’s army, shadows surged upward.
The shadows transformed into countless demonic beasts that charged across the heavens.
In response, the eight magicians standing behind Ian began chanting.
Ian’s army filling the sky burst into flames.
Skeletons engulfed in fire formed battle lines and aimed at the enemy.
【Today, here!】
Ian’s Spirit Speech spread across the world.
It was not merely speech.
It was prophecy.
A law imposed upon this land itself.
【The Eight Kings shall become Seven!】
From the earth, shadow demonic beasts surged upward.
From the heavens, a burning army of the dead descended.