novelraw Chapter 202 : Severe Punishment (2) RAW
Chapter 202 : Severe Punishment (2) RAW
Chapter 202: Severe Punishment (2)
It was at the moment when the Poison Demon kicked off the ground and tried to charge forward.
Hwaruk!
Hwaaak!
“……!”
Suddenly, jet-black demonic spirits (火靈) resonated in unison in midair and went on a rampage.
At the same time, dozens of sorcerers came rushing breathlessly into the room.
“Hall Master!! Are you all right!!”
“T-that man?!”
The high-ranking sorcerers of Tongcheonbang each gripped high-grade sorcery tools and unleashed their spells.
Having belatedly grasped the situation, they poured their fury toward the Poison Demon.
“Poison Demon, how dare you!!”
“So you were a traitor!”
Suaaah!!
From beneath their feet, characters containing intricate spell formulas shone as if resonating.
‘Hooh?’
At the same moment, a powerful suppressive force spread from the ground on which Yelü Seung stood.
Tongcheonbang’s highest-grade spell formation—the Linked Blood Formation (連血陣)—had been activated.
Standing at the center of the sorcerers’ encirclement, Yelü Seung suddenly ended up like a rat trapped in a jar.
Watching that sight, An Cheongmyeong twisted the corner of his lips.
‘He came looking to step into his own grave. Nothing but gratitude.’
Even as An Cheongmyeong mocked him inwardly—
“Kehehe, it’s a spell worth comparing to the Blood Cult’s handiwork.”
“Good. Only then does it become a proper toy.”
Yelü Seung was smiling like a child who had found an amusing plaything.
At that ridiculous demeanor, An Cheongmyeong frowned.
“Putting on a tough act until the end when you’re caged—it’s disgusting.”
“Well, it’s cozy enough.”
“……Yelü Seung. I’ll thank you for coming on your own to become a sacrifice for a new spell entity.”
An Cheongmyeong’s eyes, brimming with horrific killing intent, were blasted toward Yelü Seung.
“If you wish to die even a little more comfortably, you’d better confess quickly. Why did the Blood Cult betray us and help Tang Sewoon, that bastard?”
“Kuhahahaha!”
“……!!”
But Yelü Seung did not answer.
As if An Cheongmyeong’s words were unbearably funny, he simply clutched his belly and burst into peals of laughter.
At the unmistakable mockery, the light of anger deepened in An Cheongmyeong’s eyes.
“Khhehe, what a vivid imagination—truly vivid.”
“Thanks to you, I had a hearty laugh for once.”
“You bastard—how dare you…!”
“You’re far too dull. Utterly dull. Why would the Blood Cult help my disciple?”
“?!”
So the Poison Demon’s actions were not the Blood Cult’s intent?
An Cheongmyeong, who had been about to pour all his sorcery power into killing the Poison Demon at once, felt a strange light rise in his eyes.
“If it wasn’t the Blood Cult’s will… then are you saying this was truly your own decision?”
“Khhehe, of course.”
“How could a true master leave alone someone trying to harm his own disciple?”
“…No, is this madman serious?”
An Cheongmyeong spat a curse without realizing it.
It was confusion toward an existence he could not possibly understand.
They called him the greatest madman in the Central Plains—and the words were exact.
‘You defy that Blood Demon for such a ridiculous reason?’
An Cheongmyeong had faced the Blood Demon himself before.
On the day he scoffed and refused the abrupt order to submit, the Blood Demon tore apart all of Tongcheonbang’s defensive spell formations and appeared before him.
He did not want to admit it, but that being was an inhuman monster containing the very essence of all aberrations and curses in existence.
A presence he could not even dare to look upon—one possessing horrific malice and absolute power.
And yet Yelü Seung, unlike himself who had quietly accumulated strength beneath the surface, was openly raising a banner of rebellion against such a being.
He could not understand it.
“Did the Blood Demon seem perfect to you?”
“!!”
At that moment, Yelü Seung spoke.
Startled, An Cheongmyeong stared at him again.
Yelü Seung wore a cold sneer.
In that pitch-black eyeball, where nothing could be seen, An Cheongmyeong’s own face was reflected.
“Well, that’s only natural. I was the same.”
“Heh-heh, but if you can’t break free from that—”
“……!”
“That is precisely your limit.”
Kwa-rur.
Around Yelü Seung, as he finished speaking, dense poisonous qi began to spread like a sea of clouds.
“Kgh!”
“K-kuheok!”
The sorcerers of Tongcheonbang covered their noses and mouths as the suffocating poison closed in.
Yet paying no heed to such things, the Poison Demon continued.
“Becoming a Poison Human (毒人) was my dream.”
“……!”
Poison Human.
Even An Cheongmyeong had heard of it—the ultimate realm that those who practiced poison arts could reach at the end.
Then, Yelü Seung turned his unseen eyes toward empty space.
“Heh-heh, thinking back now, it was a pitifully trivial, utterly worthless dream.”
Mockery was mixed into his voice.
But that laughter was not aimed at An Cheongmyeong—it was a lament toward himself.
“When I first faced the Blood Demon, I felt a wall. A wall like a towering mountain I could never cross no matter how long I ran.”
“Keh-keh, once I realized that gap, my balls shriveled right up.”
“But now I know for certain.”
“That bastard is not a ‘god’ either.”
“!!”
At Yelü Seung’s final words, An Cheongmyeong and all the sorcerers of Tongcheonbang flinched in shock.
From the Poison Demon’s entire body, chilling madness flickered as he recited his enlightenment.
“What is a mere Poison Human? There exists a god’s power that can melt the world itself into poison!”
“And my disciple possesses the talent to create that power!”
Suaaah!
Yelü Seung raised one hand.
The poisonous qi flowing at his fingertips was clearly different.
Faced with that pitch-black current like a heavy, sticky nightmare, the sorcerers instinctively raised their sorcery tools in unison.
Amid the skin-prickling tension, An Cheongmyeong asked quietly.
“…If you complete that, will you ultimately take that power for yourself?”
At that question—
Yelü Seung smiled without a sound.
It was a complex, subtle smile, utterly unreadable.
But at this moment, whom he was thinking of was clear.
Tang Sewoon.
“Who knows?”
Yelü Seung tilted his head as he spoke,
then returned to his usual playful expression.
“Heh-heh. Watch closely from the underworld!”
“Just what I’ll do!”
“!!”
Kwa-jik!!
The Poison Demon stomped down with all his might.
With a tremendous cracking sound, the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Kwa-rur-rur!
Kwa-gaga!
A wave of poisonous qi erupted from Yelü Seung’s toes and surged like a tide, sweeping over Tongcheonbang’s sorcerers.
“Ev-evade!!”
“Aaaargh!!”
One sorcerer maintaining the Linked Blood Formation was unable to dodge in time and was completely engulfed by the poisonous wave.
Ssssh!
Splat!
With a pungent smoke and a horrific stench, the upper body of the Spell User melted straight into blood.
The corpse, with only its lower half remaining, collapsed limply onto the ground.
As such, the moment a small gap formed in the Linked Blood Formation.
“Kahaha! Now then—let’s have some real fun!!”
Like a flash of lightning, Yelü Sheng surged forward and pounced on the enemies like a single beast.
“There’s only one of him!”
“Attack him—everyone!!”
The Spell Users also broke free from the confusion and, all at once, swung their Sorcery Tools and hurled talismans.
Shrrrraak!
Kraaash!
Talismans scattered in bizarre patterns embroidered the air, and incomprehensible sigils descended, encircling Yelü Sheng from all sides.
“Heh heh. All noise, nothing more.”
“Every last one of them is beneath me.”
Yelü Sheng turned his head and stretched a hand toward the nearest sorcerer.
Whoosh!
At that instant, countless poisonous insects burst forth from his fingertips, slicing through the air as they beat their wings at terrifying speed.
Slipping between the talismans and sigils, the poisonous insects slipped through.
Slip!
“Ghk—gurggh!”
“Gah!?”
They burrowed straight into the throats of the Heaven-Piercing Sect’s Spell Users.
The sorcerers, panicking as the insects slid down into their bellies, clutched their own necks and retched violently.
Grrrrk!
“……!!”
“?!?!”
A horrific pain, unlike anything they had ever felt in their lives, began to burn through each and every nerve in their bodies.
Then their stomachs churned violently and swelled in an instant.
Just as dreadful images rose in their minds.
“Now then, you are not invited to my banquet.”
“All you riffraff—get lost.”
With Yelü Sheng’s chilling words.
Kwarrrrumble!
Booom!!
With a massive explosion, their bodies detonated outright.
The poisonous insects carrying the Spirit-Medium Qi Thread had exploded simultaneously.
Kwarrrrumble!
Thududud!
The remnants of the Spell Users—who had been human only moments ago—rained down from the sky like drops of blood.
“Kahaha!”
“This is what a real fight looks like!!”
Pabat!
Revealing his satisfaction amid that Blood Rain, Yelü Sheng stamped his step and hurled his body toward the next target.
“B-Block him!!”
“Aaaaargh!!”
“R-Run away!!”
The very few Spell Users whose minds had not collapsed screamed for a counterattack, but most were driven half-mad by the horrific sight and began to flee.
However, Yelü Sheng had no intention of letting even a single one escape alive.
Shra!
From within his empty sleeves, countless reapers revealed themselves.
Whiiing!
Once more, poisonous insects poured out without end.
Boom!
Ba-ba-boom!!
As the poisonous insects exploded in succession, the Heaven-Piercing Sect’s Spell Users were reduced to chunks of flesh and blood.
At that hellscape painted upon the mortal world, An Cheongmyeong’s pupils trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
‘This is… his true strength?’
He did not want to admit it, but the Yelü Sheng before his eyes was crushing the Heaven-Piercing Sect’s top-tier sorcerers in just a few exchanges.
Even he himself could barely manage to block those horrific poisonous insects by drawing out all of his sorcery power.
In the end, in the blink of an eye, only Yelü Sheng and An Cheongmyeong remained within the space.
At that moment, Yelü Sheng turned his head toward him.
“Now then, you’re the only one left.”
“!!”
Yelü Sheng’s terrifying demonic qi surged toward An Cheongmyeong.
‘He’s coming!’
Pabat!
The instant he sensed it, Yelü Sheng was already charging at him like a predator.
An Cheongmyeong snapped the fingers of both hands.
Shrrra-la-rak!
At once, dozens—no, hundreds—of talismans billowed and scattered like waves from over his shoulders.
“Three Souls, Bind as an Army!”
Like fallen leaves scattering through the air, the talismans converged and separated, taking on three distinct forms.
A tiger (虎), a hawk (鷹), and a wolf (狼).
A curse far more powerful than all the spells cast earlier by countless Spell Users combined poured down upon Yelü Sheng.
Shraaaaaaah!
Yet Yelü Sheng merely burst into Maniacal Laughter even as the curse bore down upon him.
“Keh keh, this kind of petty sorcery!”
“I’ll smash it to pieces!”
Yelü Sheng did not retreat even a step and once more raised his empty sleeves.
Whiiing!
Shrrra-la-la!
The innumerable poisonous insects pouring forth traced bizarre curves through the air as they rushed headlong into the curse.
Kwa-dudud!!
Kwaaaang!!
The curse and the Spirit-Medium Qi Thread collided head-on, and the entire space convulsed violently.
The ceiling of the building shattered to pieces, and the ground cracked open like drought-stricken farmland.
Kwarrrrrr!
As the dust settled, the two once again faced each other.
This time, however, the disparity was unmistakable.
“…Kgh.”
Blood gushed from An Cheongmyeong’s right shoulder.
“Kihihi, are you already dropping to your knees?”
“That really kills the mood.”
Yelü Sheng twisted the corner of his lips in an almost leisurely manner.