nucmednet Chapter 262 : Invaders (5)
Chapter 262 : Invaders (5)
Chapter 262: Invaders (5)
Cho-su, Seo Ryeom, and Jin Ha-un circled around the city and headed toward the side opposite Jang Woo-hyun.
They settled behind a building far from the tower and began preparing when a powerful surge of energy suddenly swept over them from the opposite direction.
Soon after, screams and sounds of destruction echoed from afar, and the inside of the tower area became chaotic.
“Should we move now?”
“No, wait a little longer.”
Although the commotion continued, cultivators were still patrolling around the tower.
After some more time passed, even the patrols entered the walls surrounding the tower.
Only two guards remained at the entrance.
It seemed Jang Woo-hyun was rampaging so wildly that every cultivator had gathered on that side.
“Now’s the time. Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Hehehe. Demon-Slaying Corps, advance!”
Laughing, Seo Ryeom charged forward.
As he ran, he tore off and discarded the armor covering his body. Since they had already decided to fight, such cumbersome things were no longer necessary.
Seeing that, Jin Ha-un also removed his mask. Cho-su took off his armor as well and pulled out his Dharma Treasures.
“An ene—”
Before the guard at the entrance could even announce the enemy’s arrival, he collapsed.
When it came to speed alone, Seo Ryeom was a martial artist comparable to Jang Woo-hyun.
Before the cultivator could even react, Seo Ryeom severed his neck. The cultivator attempted to shout again even after decapitation, but Seo Ryeom was not kind enough to allow that.
His tail whipped out swiftly, shredding the fallen cultivator’s neck and head into pieces.
After fighting the cultivators of the Corpse-Blood Realm several times, they had learned something.
Even if these beings revived and regenerated, once shredded into fragments like this, they could not move for a while.
“I’ll handle the rest.”
Jin Ha-un arrived immediately after and split the Twin Wings of Blue and Red into two, burning away the fragmented body.
“Alright, next!”
Seo Ryeom sliced apart the door blocking his path and charged inside.
“Who goes there?!”
“What bastard is this?!”
Several cultivators still remained behind instead of heading toward Jang Woo-hyun, but they were no match for Seo Ryeom.
The first words they uttered upon seeing him became their final words.
Three streaks of light flashed by, and only fragmented corpses remained.
But unlike the guards at the entrance, these cultivators had hidden trump cards prepared.
Mouths suddenly formed on their severed body parts.
【We’re under attack!】
Using Spirit Speech, they announced the assault.
Apparently the signal reached the enemy, because the cultivators remaining inside the tower came flooding out.
Watching the approaching enemies, Seo Ryeom raised his weapon.
“So this is around Transformation Stage?”
Seo Ryeom looked at the cultivator at the front and spoke.
“A little disappointing.”
Transformation Stage cultivators were equivalent to martial artists at the Transcendent Realm.
Far too weak to challenge Seo Ryeom.
“How is a Beastkin walking around freely?”
The cultivators panicked upon seeing Seo Ryeom’s disappointed expression.
According to their common sense, a rat Beastkin moving freely inside the city was unimaginable.
But it did not end there.
The moment they saw Cho-su enter behind Seo Ryeom, they went beyond surprise and into outright horror.
“A-a person from the Nation of Mechanical Marvels?”
People who should never exist in the Corpse-Blood Realm were walking around perfectly fine.
Especially someone from the Nation of Mechanical Marvels, a race rarely seen in the Corpse-Blood Realm.
“You bastards…… did you escape?”
“Escape my ass, you sons of bitches.”
Seo Ryeom frowned and stomped the ground.
Jin Ha-un followed immediately behind him.
The swords in both hands and tail moved rapidly, forming a net of Sword Qi across the air that descended upon the cultivators.
“……!”
The Transformation Stage cultivator barely managed to defend himself while retreating, but those weaker than him could not even scream properly before being shredded apart.
“Request reinforcements from the front! Tell them this place is under attack too!”
“Yes!”
The Transformation Stage cultivator shouted orders to the surviving subordinate behind him.
“No reinforcements are coming.”
Seo Ryeom was certain of it.
The situation on the opposite side was probably even worse than this one.
“Still, do your best. You lot aren’t enough for me. The more people who come, the more fun it gets—”
KWAANG!
Before Seo Ryeom could finish speaking, explosions erupted behind him and something launched forward.
Dozens of blades flew through the air and attacked the surviving cultivators.
“Huh? Huh?! Brother Cho! It’s my turn!”
Seo Ryeom finally realized what was happening and called out toward Cho-su.
“Things are urgent! Urgent!”
The only response was a voice filled with panic.
“What do you mean urgent all of a sudden?!”
At Seo Ryeom’s question, Cho-su pulled a Mountain-Breaking Sword from his Inner Robe Artifact and showed it to him.
“This thing won’t last much longer.”
But it looked different from before.
Previously it had merely vibrated.
Now—
Tick! Crack! Creak.
Cracks were slowly spreading across the blade, and tiny fragments were breaking off.
Even without further explanation, Seo Ryeom immediately understood the situation.
“T-that thing’s going to explode?!”
“We’re out of time! Get rid of them quickly! Hurry!”
“Huh?! O-okay, got it! I’ll clear them out fast!”
Barely even nodding properly, Seo Ryeom moved like a madman.
Transformation Stage cultivators could already unleash natural disaster-level power, but faced with the flood of Dharma Treasures and Seo Ryeom’s attacks, they could not keep up and were quickly wiped out.
Naturally, those weaker than them died even faster.
Once no more cultivators appeared, Cho-su began pouring Mountain-Breaking Swords out of his Inner Robe Artifact.
Kuuuuuu—
The pressure emitted by two hundred and fifty Mountain-Breaking Swords was terrifying.
Even Seo Ryeom, a master at the Infinite Realm, became tense.
“……What exactly are we supposed to do with these?”
“We can’t use them. We just throw all of them at the tower and run.”
As he spoke, Cho-su pulled out a white bundle of thread.
Moving his fingers through the air, he unraveled the thread and bound all the Mountain-Breaking Swords together.
Then Cho-su pulled out another Dharma Treasure.
It was a gigantic nail roughly one jang long and about a palm thick.
Ropes unraveled from its sides, and Cho-su handed them toward Jin Ha-un and Seo Ryeom.
“Grab this. We’re getting out of here. Ryeom, get ready to throw the Mountain-Breaking Swords.”
“We’re really not using them? We’re literally just throwing them? Can this even destroy the tower……? No, alright. Let’s go.”
Seeing Cho-su’s urgent expression, Seo Ryeom decided not to think too deeply about it.
One hand gripped the threads binding the Mountain-Breaking Swords together, while the other grabbed the rope Cho-su handed him.
Cho-su activated the massive nail-shaped Dharma Treasure.
Its name was Thousand-Li Flying Eagle Nail.
Though nearly disposable after a single use, it was a transportation-type Dharma Treasure capable of incredible instantaneous speed.
Cho-su had created it after seeing the Ten-Thousand-Li Flying Eagle Talisman Jang Woo-hyun received when they first encountered the power of the True Immortals.
“We’re heading toward Woo-hyun.”
“Let’s go!”
Seo Ryeom swung his arm powerfully and hurled the bundled Mountain-Breaking Swords.
At the same moment, Cho-su activated the Thousand-Li Flying Eagle Nail.
A single flash of light burst forth, and the traces of the three vanished instantly.
Only the two hundred and fifty slowly crumbling Mountain-Breaking Swords remained behind.
---
“Stop him!”
“Block him!”
“We can’t stop him! Run!”
The cultivators screamed desperately.
“Move!”
“You can’t block this! Just get away!”
Jang Woo-hyun charged directly into the cultivators surrounding him.
Everywhere he passed, cultivators were severed or exploded apart.
Neither Dharma Treasures nor bodies trained through Body Refinement Cultivation Techniques could withstand his attacks.
KUUUNG!
The spells pouring down from every direction were all blown away or crushed apart with a single stomp.
“This is impossible…….”
Hong Sa-myeong, one of the Black Shadow Sect’s Refining Void cultivators, could not believe what he was witnessing.
A martial artist from the Central Heavens Realm arriving in the Corpse-Blood Realm already made no sense—
Yet now a single martial artist was ravaging the Black Shadow Sect.
Hundreds of cultivators were present, but none could stop him.
“You bastard!”
At the roar of the other Refining Void cultivator, Gyu-o, the sky darkened as thousands of swords rained downward.
It was a powerful attack even Hong Sa-myeong could not take lightly.
Yet the blades spinning around Jang Woo-hyun effortlessly blocked them all.
Instead, the reflected attacks pierced through nearby Black Shadow Sect cultivators.
‘Where did a monster like this come from?’
And why was he attacking the Black Shadow Sect?
How had he even arrived in the Corpse-Blood Realm?
Countless thoughts flashed through Hong Sa-myeong’s mind as he unleashed his own spell.
The black waves beneath his feet split apart as a gigantic creature emerged.
A shadow demonic beast created through Residual Shadow Yin Soul Knot.
It possessed the head of a wolf and the body of a monkey.
“Kill him.”
The three-jang-tall demonic beast kicked off the ground and opened its jaws wide.
Crimson letters poured from its mouth.
Yin Soul Red Ghost Script.
Each individual character was itself a curse spell.
“GAAAAH!”
“Urk!”
The curses did not distinguish friend from foe.
Even Black Shadow Sect cultivators exposed to the curses screamed in agony.
Watching the crimson letters approaching, Jang Woo-hyun concentrated his Will-Form and swung his sword.
From top to bottom.
A vertical line carved through space.
Slash!
Everything blocking his path was severed.
The crimson curse letters.
Even the distant shadow beast.
The curse scripts vanished entirely, but the beast itself did not die from merely being split apart.
Jang Woo-hyun had never expected to kill it in one strike anyway.
The dozens of blades floating around him suddenly shone brilliantly as immense force poured into them.
Before the shadow beast’s divided body could rejoin, the surroundings exploded with light.
KIEEEEEEK—
The shadow beast struck by dozens of Demon-Eradicating Flashes screamed before disintegrating.
But Jang Woo-hyun did not stop there.
He slashed through the air in a cross pattern.
The attack dividing the sky into four collided against the gigantic descending swords.
KWAAAAAAANG!
The collision between Black Wolf Fang Cross Seal and Gyu-o’s Hundred Ghost Shadow Sword Art unleashed an enormous explosion and shockwave.
The blast was so violent that even Jang Woo-hyun and the two Refining Void cultivators were forced backward.
Nearby cultivators were either obliterated or sent flying by the shockwave alone.
Even while their bodies were being torn apart, the cultivators forced away from the battlefield considered themselves fortunate.
This fight was far beyond their level.
The battlefield still shook from the aftermath of the explosion.
Just as Jang Woo-hyun and the two Refining Void cultivators prepared to clash again—
A flash of light appeared before him.
“Huh?”
“Hyung-nim!”
“Captain, we need to go!”
“Woo-hyun, hurry and grab this!”
“Huh?”
The three who suddenly appeared looked incredibly rushed.
Though confused, Jang Woo-hyun immediately moved to follow them.
Their objective had never been battle.
It was the destruction of the tower.
The fact that his companions appeared here meant they had already completed their mission. There was no further reason to remain.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
But the enemies had no intention of letting them leave.
As Gyu-o raised his power, Jang Woo-hyun stepped forward.
He held Dragon King Scale and Black Wilds Sword simultaneously.
Hong Sa-myeong, who was about to support Gyu-o, suddenly realized Jang Woo-hyun’s aura felt completely different from before.
An ominous feeling crawled up his spine.
‘What is this?’
Hong Sa-myeong immediately gathered surrounding energy and fortified his defenses.
Gyu-o seemed to sense something as well and raised the floating swords around him into a defensive wall.
The moment both finished defending—
Jang Woo-hyun swung both swords at once.
KWAANG!
Almost simultaneously, Gyu-o’s countless swords shattered apart while the shadows surrounding Hong Sa-myeong exploded.
The overwhelming force was on a completely different level from before.
Hong Sa-myeong frowned deeply.
‘Don’t tell me…… he was holding back against us this entire time?’
Jang Woo-hyun had indeed not fought with his full strength.
Because if he defeated Gyu-o and Hong Sa-myeong completely, Baek Jeong-ak himself might appear.
From Jang Woo-hyun’s perspective, it was merely caution.
But from the other side’s perspective, it was humiliation.
Creeeak.
Hong Sa-myeong, who had remained calm until now while observing Jang Woo-hyun, gritted his teeth.
Leaving the enraged man behind, Jang Woo-hyun grabbed the rope Cho-su offered him.
As Cho-su activated the Thousand-Li Flying Eagle Nail, the four vanished in the blink of an eye.
“So you were mocking me this whole time.”
Hong Sa-myeong burned with rage at realizing Jang Woo-hyun had never truly fought him seriously.
“You will never escape!”
In response to his fury, the previously calm sea of shadows surged violently.
The waves expanded outward, extending the domain itself.
The ground within several hundred jang turned pitch black.
“You bastard! I’ll chase you to the ends of the world!”
KWAAAAAAANG!
Just as the furious Hong Sa-myeong roared—
A tremendous explosion erupted behind him, as though responding to his rage.
“……!”
Before anyone could even understand what had happened, the gigantic explosion swallowed Hong Sa-myeong and everything else whole.
---
The Mountain-Breaking Swords detonated, creating a gigantic hemispherical explosion.
The blast had long since consumed the tower and the city and continued growing larger and larger.
The entire world shook so violently it felt as though reality itself were collapsing.
The explosion was far larger than even Cho-su had predicted.
Since the Thousand-Li Flying Eagle Nail moved so absurdly fast, Jang Woo-hyun’s group avoided being caught in the blast.
Entrusting his body to the Flying Eagle Nail, Jang Woo-hyun watched the explosion growing larger in the distance—
Then noticed something strange.
A black shadow moved along the ground.
It seemed to be chasing them.
Its speed rivaled even the Thousand-Li Flying Eagle Nail.
Once the shadow nearly caught up to them, black bubbles began forming atop it.
At that moment—
Jang Woo-hyun released the rope and drew Black Wilds Sword and Dragon King Scale.
“Cho-su! Keep going!”
The bubbles vanished.
A black silhouette appeared instantly and attacked.
Jang Woo-hyun’s swords collided against the figure’s fist.
BOOM!
The strike was heavier than expected, sending Jang Woo-hyun flying backward.
And through the force transmitted into his hands, he recognized the opponent instantly.
‘Baek Jeong-ak!’
One of the Eight Kings.
The Phantom King himself had personally appeared.
Jang Woo-hyun raised Black Wilds Sword and Dragon King Scale while examining his opponent.
And then he realized something.
Like two sides of the same coin, both good news and terrible news had arrived simultaneously.