I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

Chapter 128 : Summit Showdown (3)

It was a battle as if the world was being turned upside down.

Every time the Blood Demon, the master of the Blood Cult, Namgung Honpyeong, the head of the Namgung family, and Cheon Mu-jin, the head of the Martial Academy, clashed, the heavens and the earth shook.

Every time their swords flashed, a peak exploded, and a forest disappeared.

'That's the battle of those who stand at the pinnacle of martial arts.'

The combined attack of two masters who had reached the realm of Transformation was shot at the Blood Demon. But the Blood Demon scattered a mist of blood and lightly deflected it.

Since the Blood Demon had entered the realm of Profound, he was blocking even the combined attack of those two.

If he had the Black Moon Sword, he might have even been able to pressure them.

'The reason he didn't fight with the Black Moon Sword was partly because he was ambushed, but also because he was confident in himself.'

From the Blood Demon's perspective, rather than canceling the grand ritual he had prepared because of an attack, it would have been best to wait for the Black Moon Sword to be strengthened, retrieve it, and then deal with the enemies in one fell swoop.

Of course, as the saying goes, "cherish it too much and it turns to shit," that Black Moon Sword had become Baek Hasin's.

I smirked inwardly. If I had been watching this from a distance, I would have laughed at the Blood Demon's foolishness with a light heart.

But the place I was heading to now was the middle of the battlefield. And it was to lend a hand in that crazy battle.

"What are you doing?!"

Just then, I heard Baek Hasin's urgent voice from the side.

Even he, who had reached the super-peak level, seemed to have not even imagined joining in there.

That was natural. Even as I was running now, the air in the vicinity was tingling from the shockwave caused by the Blood Demon.

But now that the super-grand formation had been released earlier than expected, and especially since I knew the original story, I couldn't just stand by and watch.

Unlike other cases, the reason the Blood Demon had released the super-grand formation so early was because he had judged that there was a point that was advantageous to him.

Otherwise, he would have dragged out the time to the end in the formation area he had created. And when a situation like this came, usually one of the five heads would die.

Especially Cheon Mu-jin. If I lost him here, it would be difficult to clear the game in many ways later, so I had to stop it.

But since I couldn't say that, I decided to just mumble something.

"I'm going to help."

"You're not enough! It's reckless! That's the Blood Demon, one of the three great evils of the central plains!"

Baek Hasin tried to stop me with a trembling voice.

The Blood Demon was a monster who had entered the realm of Profound. He was an absurd being who was blocking the pincer attack of Cheon Mu-jin and Namgung Honpyeong, two of the ten great masters of the orthodox faction, by himself, so it was only natural.

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

With those words, I increased my speed. Because I could feel Namgung Dohyeok and Cheon Ga-seong chasing from behind. If I got caught by them now, I wouldn't be able to join the battlefield.

"Even if you're smart, what are you going to do in this situation?!"

Just then, Baek Hasin drew the Black Moon Sword from the side and threatened me.

"Then I'd rather stop you. I can't just let a friend go to his death."

He then got into a stance while running to swing his sword.

Damn it, until just a moment ago, I was the one stopping him, but now the situation was reversed.

Right now, I had no way to shake off Baek Hasin in close combat. Then, only one thing remained. I pondered for a moment and then carefully opened my mouth.

"Do you know where the Martial Alliance Leader and the others are?"

"What?"

Baek Hasin asked back at the question in a different context. Now that I had opened the floodgates of his thoughts, all that was left was to connect them.

"This is a super-grand formation. The reason the five people, including the Martial Alliance Leader, haven't shown themselves until now is because they've fallen into a trap."

In the original story, the Blood Cult had used the super-grand formation prepared to catch the Martial Alliance Leader, Seo Won-dal, as a trap, and he and the others had fallen into it.

I didn't know specifically what kind of trap it was, and since I was a troublemaker with no credibility, I couldn't warn them in advance, but I knew that they would fall into the trap.

"Then what do you think is the reason the Martial Alliance Leader and the other family heads are not visible now?"

"They're still trapped in the formation?"

"Yes, if they had wanted to, they could have let them all out. But the fact that they didn't means..."

"The inside is going as they want, so the isolated Alliance Leader and family heads are in danger!"

In reality, it was the two people who had come out who were in danger, but I didn't bother to correct Baek Hasin's inference.

"Yes."

What was important now was to join in and turn the tide of the battle for the better.

"I can interpret the formation and release the isolated people."

When I shouted with conviction, a question returned.

"How?"

"There's a formation drawn for a large-scale sorcery in this vicinity. First, we'll destroy that."

In fact, Cheon Mu-jin's death was not just by the hands of the Blood Demon. The role of the Blood Cult's formation masters and sorcerers below was also great.

In the original story, when they formed a grand ritual, the Blood Demon would use it to restrain Cheon Mu-jin and then pierce his heart in one blow.

'To prevent this, I have to destroy the formation core that is spread throughout the eastern mountain of the Blood Mountain where they are fighting.'

"Where are you going?"

Namgung Dohyeok and Cheon Ga-seong, who had caught up, questioned us. I briefly explained the current situation and the plan to them.

"I see. Then can't we just destroy the super-grand formation where the Martial Alliance Leader is?"

"It's not a scale I can handle alone. Above all, it will break on its own. There's no way it can withstand such masters rampaging."

I added, looking at the sky that was still ominously distorted. To maintain this super-grand formation, a blessed energy vein, an astronomical amount of money, and numerous lives were needed.

The reason there was little manpower for a Blood Cult main camp was precisely to maintain that formation. Probably nearly a thousand people were hiding and trying to maintain this super-grand formation.

They had somehow maintained it for the past few days, but they couldn't hold out for long against the masters, including the Martial Alliance Leader.

"Then, as you said, we should clean up the surroundings first."

We split into groups of two and began to move. The members were composed of me and Cheon Ga-seong, and Baek Hasin and Namgung Dohyeok, considering the balance, and then we had them deal with the rocks or personnel at the designated points.

The operation was generally smooth. Since we could predict where the enemy would be, it was simple to deal with them.

No matter how many guards there were, the personnel who had to secretly form a formation over this wide area had no discretion to block the surprise attack of a super-master.

It was the optimal arrangement for a small elite group of masters to defeat them one by one.

Although a formation exerts great power in a limited situation, the reason it is not often used is also because of this. Because it is difficult to make but too easy to break.

I looked at the flashing lightning again. Namgung Honpyeong unleashed the Azure Sky Infinite Sword Art at its peak and burned away the blood mist. In between, Cheon Mu-jin's Demon Subduing Sword Art intervened, showing a sword strike at a bizarre angle and pressuring the Blood Demon.

Then, this time, the space blurred, and the sword blade cut the ground where the Blood Demon was, in its entirety. It was the Emperor Sword Form.

The two of them were taking turns driving the Blood Demon back.

'The situation is not bad.'

I moved to destroy the remaining core of the formation. Because of that, I got a little closer to the battlefield, but I didn't mind.

This was a distance of at least 1 kilometer from the Blood Demon. There was no need to be afraid.

Just as I was thinking that, I felt a creepy sensation as if my whole body was being constricted.

In the distance, the Blood Demon, with pupils as red as blood and black eye sockets, was staring at me. As if he knew who was the cause of this situation.

In an instant, a streak of blood that had formed at his fingertip was shot this way.

In the blink of an eye, the spear of blood was covering my eyes. Just as I was belatedly putting up a shield and trying to dodge to the side from the attack at a tremendous speed that seemed to be several times the speed of sound.

Cheon Ga-seong blocked my path and swung his sword, which was covered in a black powerful qi.

Kwaaaang-!

With an explosive roar that was hard to believe came from the clash of liquid and metal, Cheon Ga-seong was pushed back.

The end of the shield I had formed for defense was shattered by the fragments of blood.

"Thank you."

I retreated with Cheon Ga-seong and expressed my gratitude. It was still gruesome. To think he could attack with that much power from that distance.

It was frightening even though I had only felt the aftermath after Cheon Ga-seong had blocked it. It was at the level of shooting a tank cannon with just a gesture.

But what surprised me more about the Blood Demon was something else.

'That blood art, in some ways, it resembles magic.'

I remembered what Gu Ja-beom had said to me before. That he had thought of the Blood Demon.

As he said, the Blood Demon had a point similar to me.

In the distance, flames soared. The reddish-black flames, kindled from blood, were burning the entire forest.

Meanwhile, the Blood Demon was manipulating the mist of blood to pierce or block the surroundings, showing a form of offense and defense similar to magic.

As someone who has used magic and formations, I know. The home ground advantage for a sorcerer. If they had prepared various sorceries in advance, they could use even more powerful force.

'That's why I got rid of the assisting sorcerers.'

I slipped to the rear and cut down the remaining sorcerers. Thanks to that, the formation that the Blood Cult side was preparing was broken, and in reverse, the Blood Demon began to be pushed back.

Both Namgung Honpyeong and Cheon Mu-jin were among the top of the Transformation. If it was a pincer attack by just the two of them without external intervention, they would at least not lose.

And so, the battle continued until noon. It had already been several days since we had arrived at the Blood Mountain. It was about time for the main force, which had dealt with the remnants, to arrive.

As if on cue, another battle cry was heard from a distance. The appearance of the main force.

No matter how strong the Blood Demon was, he couldn't win against two Transformation masters and thousands of martial artists with just less than a thousand of his subordinates.

Moreover, it was a situation where it was unknown when the super-grand formation would break. The tide had already turned. The Blood Demon, who had finally grasped the situation, belatedly entered the Blood Mountain.

He probably went to look for the Black Moon Sword. However, it seemed he hadn't seen it in Baek Hasin's hand.

Although Baek Hasin had managed his power with his cheat-like talent, since the shape of the sword was not even visible due to the powerful qi, it was perhaps natural that he couldn't identify it from that distance in the middle of a chaotic battle.

Before long, one of the entrances of the Blood Mountain exploded, and a gruesome energy wave echoed in the atmosphere. A rage that was enough to give the illusion that the sky was stained red.

Though there was nothing he could do now.

The Blood Demon drove the two Transformation masters back as if to vent his anger. Then, finally sensing his defeat, he retreated. No, he floated in the air.

And then, for a moment, the Blood Demon glared this way. A creepy pressure bound my whole body. Cheon Ga-seong and I faced him, forgetting even to breathe.

A distance of several kilometers. No matter how strong the Blood Demon was, he couldn't attack with a power that could kill us in one blow from this far.

No, even if he could, Namgung Honpyeong and Cheon Mu-jin wouldn't just stand by before he could complete such an attack.

Soon, the Blood Demon's blood-red pupils turned, and in an instant, he disappeared from the air.

In the distance, the two Transformation masters seemed to be chasing after him, but as with the Blood Fiend, it is difficult to catch a high-level master if they are determined to flee.

As the pressure disappeared, the tension was released. As I naturally let out a deep breath and lifted my head, the sunlight was shining brightly above my head. I looked at the sky where the Blood Demon had disappeared and thought.

'Is he an enemy I must fight someday?'

The Blood Demon was unfathomably strong. To the point that I couldn't even dare to face him. So I had to get stronger. Because he was an enemy I would inevitably have to fight before the final moment.

Wooooooong-!

Just then, an earthquake occurred, and the super-grand formation shattered.

In the distance, I could see the released Seo Won-dal, Zhuge Hohyeon, and the head of the Sichuan Tang family, Tang Je-mun.

Except for Seo Won-dal, each of the family heads was holding the head of two Blood Fiends.

""Waaaaaah!!""

Just then, the war cry of the main force was heard from a distance.

"The authorities always come after everything is over."

I chuckled and lay down on the spot. The Blood Demon's escape, the survival of the key figures, and the takeover of the Blood Mountain due to the joining of the main force.

It was our victory.

'How long has it been since I rested?'

As I was enjoying the long-awaited rest, I felt a gaze from a distance. The head of the Zhuge family, Zhuge Hohyeon, was looking this way.

(End of Chapter)