The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 276

The book the Sword of the Earth had read in the past was one that recorded the major and minor events that occurred in the Murim.

Within the book were written the names of numerous martial artists who had been involved in the major and minor events of Murim's history.

And the most horrific incident written in that book was the Great Murim Blood Calamity, and the culprit who single-handedly caused that incident, the person at its center, was the Heavenly Killing Star.

There wasn't much explanation about the Heavenly Killing Star written in the book.

However, that was not because the danger level of the Heavenly Killing Star was low, but because the existence of the Heavenly Killing Star was that much of an unknown.

Heavenly Killing Star, a life born on this earth for the sole purpose of killing all living things that breathe.

They were endowed by the heavens with a great talent that could turn a genius into a dunce and an immense killing intent that transcended human cognition, along with the karma to kill all life in this world.

Therefore, they were called not people, but monsters, and their existence was compared to a great fire that burns on the ground and lightning that flashes in the sky.

The Sword of the Earth, parrying Lee Shin's spear that was thrusting toward his heart, recalled the contents he had read in the book in the past.

In the span of a second, weapons clashed countless times.

The Sword of the Earth took all of it in with his two eyes and looked at Lee Shin.

'Fighting while emitting a great killing intent is the same as before.'

But it was different.

Until a moment ago, Lee Shin had been fighting with what could be called an expression.

But at the same time as the whites of his eyes turned black, Lee Shin's face changed to a cool, expressionless one, like a doll that had lost its emotions.

'Is he without emotion?'

To think so, even at this moment, the killing intent Lee Shin was emitting was becoming sharper and growing in size.

It was to the point where it looked as if the existence of Lee Shin had been distorted and the killing intent had been kneaded like clay into a human-like form.

The Sword of the Earth thought as he parried Lee Shin's spear that had thrust at his neck.

'When I first read the part where the Heavenly Killing Star was compared to fire and lightning, I didn't know why, but seeing it in person like this, I understand.'

A flame that burns everything on the ground without discrimination and then disappears by consuming even itself, and lightning that alerts the people below with its presence, reaps life with its power, and then returns to the sky.

They were the existences most similar to the Heavenly Killing Star's reason for being.

As the Sword of the Earth was having such thoughts.

Lee Shin, who had withdrawn his extended spear, judged that it was difficult to take the Sword of the Earth's life right away and this time moved toward the Sword of the Sea who was behind him.

Golden lightning shot up from Lee Shin's extended foot.

The Lightning Wood Flash Steps unfolded, and Lee Shin's form turned into a single streak of lightning.

Watching Lee Shin rush from the Sword of the Earth toward him, the Sword of the Sea frowned and thought.

'What is this? Does he have enough reason to use techniques?'

The Sword of the Sea, seeing Lee Shin's changed appearance, had thought that Lee Shin had lost his reason.

The Sword of the Sea's judgment was correct.

The current Lee Shin had indeed lost his reason.

It was just that losing his reason didn't mean his movements became dull or his use of techniques became loose.

Because what had swallowed Lee Shin's reason now was the pure killing intent to kill the two.

Lee Shin extended his foot toward where the Sword of the Sea was and thrust the spear he had extended backward, forward.

The [Yagong], cloaked in golden lightning, extended, aiming for the Sword of the Sea's heart.

Seeing him, the Sword of the Sea raised his sword and thought.

'I don't know exactly what state this guy is in, but...'

A raging torrent of swords shot out from the tip of the Sword of the Sea's sword, swept the ground, and rushed to cover Lee Shin.

The torrent enveloped Lee Shin along with the spear he had swung, shaking the power within it.

'It seems the annoying tug-of-war is over.'

The Sword of the Sea smiled and swung his sword at the approaching Lee Shin.

The goal was to capture Lee Shin alive, so the Sword of the Sea swung his sword in a direction that would not cause instant death even if Lee Shin was hit by the attack.

The Sword of the Sea's sword was swung, and in response, the streams of water that were drenching the ground and sky rose up.

The streams of water, clumping together and growing in size, turned into huge pillars and, as if shouting that they would catch Lee Shin this time, rushed toward him.

Lee Shin, watching the ferocious water snakes rushing at him with their maws open, stepped on the Flame Leaf Circling Steps.

With that, he dodged the water snakes' attacks a few times, but that was all.

He had become like a cornered rat, and the space he could move in was narrowing; there was no place on the ground for Lee Shin to escape.

Therefore, Lee Shin left the ground and jumped into the air.

Normally, that would have been a suicidal move, unable to dodge the water snakes' attacks.

But now it was different.

Because now, in the air, there existed a huge foothold called the sphere of water.

"Tsk!"

The Sword of the Sea, seeing Lee Shin escape upwards, created another school of sharks from the sphere of water and attacked him.

But Lee Shin used even the ones rushing at him as footholds and moved.

The current Lee Shin was still incapable of walking on air, the Void-Treading Steps.

But he was skilled at walking on water, the Level-Treading Water Steps.

A sound like a drum bursting was heard from the ones that took the impact of Lee Shin's fast movements.

Landing and leaping, just those two things, yet the sharks staggered and swayed from the impact.

Lee Shin, who had been using them as footholds to continuously change direction and accelerate his body, at the moment he thought that acceleration had reached its peak.

Fell from the sky like lightning and swung his spear at the Sword of the Sea.

[Flame-Lightning], created by mixing the two energies of [Flame] and [Lightning].

He swung the spear ki created through it at the Sword of the Sea, after strengthening it once more with the [Yagong]'s [White Moon Fills the Night].

"I can read all of it, you stupid bastard."

But the Sword of the Sea, who had predicted Lee Shin's movements through the impact received by the sphere of water and the school of sharks, parried Lee Shin's attacking spear and swung his sword to launch a counter.

But the moment the Sword of the Sea's sword was about to parry the [Yagong].

Irhegue, who had been quietly holding his breath and watching the situation, changed the [Yagong], which had been a long spear, into a short spear.

At that, the Sword of the Sea's spear naturally cut through the empty air.

'What!'

At that, the Sword of the Sea urgently retrieved his sword and launched a counter, but.

Even that was blocked.

The iron equivalent to the change from a long spear to a short spear, at Irhegue's will, had wrapped around Lee Shin's body like armor and protected him from the Sword of the Sea's attack.

"What...!"

The Sword of the Sea, while flustered by the unexpected movement of the Yagong, quickly moved his aura.

Countless waves created a wall as if to protect the Sword of the Sea and blocked Lee Shin.

Seeing him, Lee Shin looked at him without any change and.

Stepped on the Flame Thunder Dyeing the World Steps with all his might.

At that, a needle-like gap was created between the walls of the wave.

Lee Shin thrust his spear through that gap, pierced the wave, and extended his spear to skewer the Sword of the Sea's body.

But Lee Shin's spear reached the Sword of the Sea and pierced the aura armor created by the Armament, but it failed to create a fatal wound on the Sword of the Sea's body within.

The Sword of the Sea used the brief opening created by the armor to parry Lee Shin's attack.

And he frowned at the stinging pain he felt in his abdomen where Lee Shin's spear had thrust.

And the wave, accepting the Sword of the Sea's mood, moved roughly and raged toward Lee Shin again.

'I'll catch him this time!'

The moment the Sword of the Sea was sure of it and moved his fingertips.

"Where do you think you're going."

The sword swung by the Sword of the Earth scattered the wave that had been swirling around Lee Shin like a vortex.

The Sword of the Earth, having broken through the wave, jumped at Lee Shin and swung his sword to cut off his two legs.

And Lee Shin, seeing the Sword of the Earth rushing at him, calmly changed his target to him.

Lee Shin threw his body into the sword aura that had split from the tip of the Sword of the Earth's sword.

Lee Shin's skin was torn by the sword aura, and his flesh was shredded by it.

As his skin and flesh were torn away, Lee Shin's body was covered in blood.

But the bones and muscles necessary for the attack were not damaged at all.

The Sword of the Earth swung his sword to cut Lee Shin's legs.

Lee Shin, with a calm face, ignored the Sword of the Earth's attack and extended the spear he had been spinning like a windmill.

Seeing that, a flicker of agitation appeared in the Sword of the Earth's eyes.

Because the killing intent to kill the Sword of the Earth, even until the moment his own heart burst, no, rather, even using that, was surging from the tip of Lee Shin's spear.

For a moment, the Sword of the Earth saw his own future with his heart pierced by a spear, and at the same time, his body stiffened slightly.

Grit-

At that, the Sword of the Earth bit his own tongue hard and drove out the fear with pain.

And he thought.

If their blows were to cross, Lee Shin would die or be seriously injured to the point where he couldn't move, and he himself would also suffer quite a serious wound.

'Dammit!'

Therefore, the Sword of the Earth gave up the attack and chose to defend against Lee Shin's sword.

At the same time, the Sword of the Earth clicked his tongue quietly inwardly.

The sight of Lee Shin using even his own life as a means made the Sword of the Earth's spine chill.

But if it were just that, the Sword of the Earth would have chosen to give up the flesh and take the bone.

Because the Sword of the Earth was confident that he would absolutely not die from Lee Shin's attack.

Even if his heart were to burst, the divine power the Sword of the Earth possessed could heal that wound and escape death.

But that was, literally, just the meaning of not dying to Lee Shin.

If he had continued the attack, it was unavoidable that he would have suffered a life-threatening serious injury for a moment.

And if that happened, what awaited the Sword of the Earth was a future worse than death.

"Tsk, what a shame."

The moment the Sword of the Earth was seriously injured, the Sword of the Sea would rush at him with full intent.

'Considering that guy's personality, he'll toy with me a lot before killing me.'

He had no desire to suffer such a humiliation.

The Sword of the Earth pushed back Lee Shin's attack again, and the Sword of the Sea dug into the gap between them.

To establish a meritorious deed, he had to capture Lee Shin.

But to kill the competitor in front of him, he had to make Lee Shin fight the enemy.

'What am I supposed to do?'

In that dilemma, the Sword of the Earth and the Sword of the Sea clashed.

And Lee Shin, for the sole purpose of killing the two, swung his spear between them.

-This is driving me crazy.

Irhegue, who was inside the [Yagong], sighed as he watched the situation.

Although Irhegue, uncharacteristically, was using the [Yagong]'s ability to protect Lee Shin from dying, there was a limit to that.

-Do I have to hope that he comes out miraculously faster than expected?

If Irhegue could move Lee Shin's body, the situation would have been easier.

But to enter a place so filled with killing intent and instantly take complete control of Lee Shin's body was impossible even for Irhegue.

A conflict between egos would inevitably occur, and if they fought to possess the body, a slight opening in the body would be unavoidable.

And in a situation like this, a slight opening meant defeat itself.

-Maintaining the current situation is the best I can do, but... it's still frustrating.

As Irhegue was sighing like that, an unexpected miracle came to him.

Rays of light mixed with the downpour created by the Sword of the Sea and poured down fairly on everyone below the clouds, attacking them all.

"What!"

"Keuk!"

They were flustered by the sudden wide-range bombardment and hastily blocked the rays of light.

At the same time, they raised their heads to see whose attack it was.

What came into their eyes was a white-haired woman standing in the sky with wings of light spread like an angel.

"What the hell has that psycho been up to in the past month."

It was Cheon Yuhwa.

(End of Chapter)