novelraw Chapter 217 : Great Hero Jang (2)
Chapter 217 : Great Hero Jang (2)
Chapter 217: Great Hero Jang (2)
‘It’s over!’
Lee Ga-hang screamed internally. She had hoped Jang Woo-hyun would arrive first, but Yong Jeok-shim was faster.
She tensed her entire body and examined Yong Jeok-shim. Though she was ready to act at any moment, Yong Jeok-shim paid her no mind.
“You have arrived.”
Following Sa Jong-cheon’s lead, all his subordinates bowed their heads toward Yong Jeok-shim.
“The fugitive?”
“Already captured.”
Sa Jong-cheon respectfully pointed to a cube-shaped Dharma Treasure.
“Then what are you doing?”
“There was a minor clash with the Five Elements Cult.”
“A clash?” Yong Jeok-shim repeated, finally turning his gaze to Lee Ga-hang.
Just meeting his eyes made her flinch and take a step back.
‘This is insane.’
Facing Yong Jeok-shim directly, she realized—he was not someone she could handle.
‘If I charge in, I’ll die for sure.’ That was the conclusion she came to.
After a brief glance, Yong Jeok-shim withdrew his gaze. Even in that moment, he had assessed her thoughts and condition.
“We’re leaving.”
Yong Jeok-shim acted as if he had already wrapped up the situation.
Sa Jong-cheon and the subordinates busily moved according to his command. Lee Ga-hang watched and opened her mouth belatedly. That alone took considerable courage.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Even while screaming internally that she was crazy, Lee Ga-hang blocked the Divine Dragon Clan’s warriors. If she let them go now, she felt she would never find Yong Seo-hee again.
“Acting so arbitrarily within the Five Elements Cult’s territory—”
Mid-sentence, Lee Ga-hang summoned her energy and swiftly crossed her arms.
Her sharp instincts screamed—she needed to defend.
The moment she cloaked herself in Protective Energy, a powerful force slammed into her arms.
“Ggh.”
Unable to even scream properly, Lee Ga-hang was flung back.
KWAAANG!
Crashing through an entire building, she finally came to a halt after being embedded in a second one.
“Urgh.”
Rolling across the floor inside the building, she coughed and forced herself to rise, raising her arms once more.
‘Huh?’
But something was off. Her left arm wouldn’t lift.
It wasn’t just broken—her hand and forearm below the elbow had been obliterated in the earlier attack.
‘This is fucking crazy...’
The pain came crashing in belatedly.
Her body trembled. With just one strike, her insides were thoroughly wrecked, and blood surged up her throat.
“Khak, khak.”
She vomited blood and tried to stop the bleeding on her left arm. Though she had transcended humanity through cultivation, and ordinary injuries healed quickly—
Yong Jeok-shim’s overwhelming strength had damaged her to the core. Smoke rose from the wounded area as her internal energy tried to mend it, but the healing wasn’t working.
“Kaah!”
Coughing up more blood, Lee Ga-hang came to a realization.
‘We’re really screwed.’
Fortunately, she had ordered the evacuation of civilians nearby. Otherwise, a catastrophe might’ve occurred within the city.
‘So this is Yong Jeok-shim, one of the Divine Dragon Eight Swords.’
With her current abilities, she couldn’t even touch a representative warrior of the Divine Dragon Clan.
Step.
Yong Jeok-shim walked along the path she had carved as she was flung away.
With every step he took, Lee Ga-hang instinctively retreated. It wasn’t something she could control with willpower—it was pure, primal fear.
“A lowly human says such amusing things.”
With a relaxed demeanor, Yong Jeok-shim looked down at her. There was a height difference, but the gaze he gave wasn’t from a physical vantage point.
It was the look of someone who saw Lee Ga-hang’s very existence as beneath him.
Truly fitting of a warrior from the Divine Dragon Clan, who believed their dragon blood made them vastly superior to other races.
“Go ahead. Say it again.”
“Well... Uh, that is... The Five Elements Cult has its own procedures... Perhaps it would be better to wait just a little?”
Though she couldn’t speak as confidently as before, Lee Ga-hang didn’t back down.
Yong Jeok-shim found her attitude intriguing. Despite the clear gap in strength, she still spoke up. He was curious why.
“Let’s see how long that talk lasts.”
Just as Yong Jeok-shim’s arm began to move again, Lee Ga-hang reacted immediately.
‘I can’t wait to see it.’
Trusting only her instincts, she flung herself away even before the attack properly began.
KWAAANG!
Her instincts were correct—the spot she had just been standing in exploded.
“You dodged that?”
A strange glint flickered in Yong Jeok-shim’s drowsy eyes.
“Amazing.”
As his hand moved again, Lee Ga-hang anticipated the motion with near-prescience. She moved first, yet this time, the strike was too fast—she couldn’t completely avoid it. A sharp force grazed her side.
“Again?”
For the first time, Yong Jeok-shim smiled. His face was like that of a child discovering an amusing toy.
“Interesting.”
‘I’m not having fun, you psycho!’
She hadn’t dodged either attack through skill—it was purely gut instinct. And she didn’t even evade the second one fully.
‘I’m not confident about the third...’
She didn’t know what would happen next. But as if mocking her worry, Yong Jeok-shim prepared his next strike.
“Try dodging this one too.”
His energy shifted—this time was different.
Previously, he had merely flicked his hand. Now, he looked like he intended to use his full power.
“Uh... That is, thinking it over again, I think it’s fine if you just go.”
Lee Ga-hang forced a laugh under the suffocating pressure. No matter how she looked at it, there was no way she could dodge the next one.
“Your actions don’t match your words.”
Yong Jeok-shim pointed to the flaming wings that had spread out from Lee Ga-hang’s back.
“...I have to survive, after all.”
“Then I suppose you’ll have to dodge well again.”
Above Yong Jeok-shim’s hand, a massive dragon claw materialized.
Dragon Blood Reversion Technique.
A unique martial art mastered by the Divine Dragon Clan’s warriors, who had inherited the dragon’s blood.
By tracing back the power within their own bloodline to manifest a dragon’s might, it resembled both sorcery and cultivator’s spell arts.
KWOOOOONG!
Just revealing his true strength made the surrounding air tremble and buildings shake.
Yong Jeok-shim’s horn radiated a faint light, and his pupils stretched vertically like those of a beast.
“Here I come.”
Yong Jeok-shim stepped forward and swung his hand. The dragon’s claw tore through the air.
‘Don’t bother with the commentary, you bastard!’
Lee Ga-hang screamed internally and wrapped herself in her Wings of Flame. Once again, she moved relying on her instincts.
But this time, neither her instincts nor her prediction helped.
A different level of power and speed from before.
BOOM!
The dragon’s claw burst through the flame wings Lee Ga-hang had formed and slashed across her face.
“Ghk!”
She swallowed her scream and clenched her teeth.
Crack.
Through the pain of her cheekbone and one side of her face being torn apart, she took a step forward.
Rather than dodging, she chose to move in.
Though she always seemed to act recklessly, she too had once been a top-ranked martial artist in the Lower Realm. She knew when to retreat and when to advance.
BOOM!
As she performed True Step, wings of flame formed and propelled her forward. Amid the explosion, she thrust her only fist.
Thunk.
‘Damn it!’
What should have been a resounding BOOM! instead gave off a completely different sound.
Lee Ga-hang’s decisive strike was effortlessly caught by Yong Jeok-shim’s hand.
“Impressive for a human.”
His mocking laugh made her grit her teeth once more as she summoned all her strength.
Flames burst outward in all directions. But with just one stomp, Yong Jeok-shim erased everything.
Even though her attacks didn’t land, Lee Ga-hang’s gaze did not die.
Feigning a pullback, she launched a shoulder strike. But this time, Yong Jeok-shim was faster.
BOOM!
He kicked her and followed with another swipe of his hand. The dragon’s claw tore the air—and Lee Ga-hang was within its path.
A shockwave erupted, obliterating everything nearby. Lee Ga-hang crashed through several buildings and was embedded deep inside another.
“Guhhh…”
After two attacks, her body was in ruins. In addition to her left arm, her right leg had vanished.
‘This isn’t going to work…’
There was an insurmountable wall between her and Yong Jeok-shim. She couldn’t even endure, let alone fight.
“GRAAAH.”
Yet still, Lee Ga-hang screamed and forced herself up again.
Her limbs were severed, her insides in tatters. The gap in skill was beyond bridging. But she had no intention of giving up.
She took a deep breath and looked at Yong Jeok-shim, who approached at a leisurely pace.
“Ah…”
A faint scream slipped from her lips as she saw him.
Though he still bore human form, all she could see was a massive dragon. The aura he now emanated was like that of a dragon looking down upon them.
Though her subordinates were nearby, not one of them could move under the oppressive force he radiated. A few had even passed out under the pressure.
‘Isn’t this the moment someone’s supposed to appear and save me? Jang Woo-hyun, you bastard, what the hell are you doing?!’
Cursing Jang Woo-hyun, she balanced herself on one leg.
‘I was insane. I should’ve just left it alone.’
Seeing Yong Jeok-shim draw near, her regret surged.
‘Even if he comes to save me now, what’s the point?’
In the stories she read as a child, someone always came to save the day in moments like this.
Lee Ga-hang believed Jang Woo-hyun would show up somehow. To her, he was the kind of person who could do the impossible like it was nothing.
‘But now it’s too late.’
He might come before she died. But that was the problem.
‘If I survive but end up a cripple, what’s the point?!’
She cursed and cursed Jang Woo-hyun. There was nothing else she could do. All she had left was to curse him.
As her thoughts spiraled pointlessly, she suddenly slapped herself in the face.
‘What the hell are you doing, letting fear take over?!’
Thoughts she’d never normally have—her battered body and Yong Jeok-shim’s overwhelming energy had momentarily broken her mind.
She gritted her teeth and forced herself back to her senses.
Adjusting her posture, she drew on the last of her strength. She had to endure, no matter what.
During that time, Yong Jeok-shim stepped over the broken wall and entered the building.
“Is there nothing left you can do?”
‘God, what an asshole.’
Even his gaze irritated her. It wasn’t how you looked at a person. It was how you looked at something far beneath you, like a bug or an animal.
Perhaps that very gaze was why she had stubbornly tried to stop him.
“Your name?”
“Lee Ga-hang, of the Vermilion Bird Division of the Five Elements Cult.”
“Lee Ga-hang, is it? I shall remember you.”
Like swatting away a bothersome insect, Yong Jeok-shim moved his arm. Lee Ga-hang summoned the last of her energy to cloak herself in Protective Energy—but it couldn’t block even that slight gesture.
Her shield shattered, and her chest was torn open.
Even standing confidently on one leg, she was flung backward.
“Ghhk…”
This time, she couldn’t rise. Blood poured from her mouth and nose. Yet she still mumbled to herself.
“Jang Woo-hyun… you crazy bastard, what are you doing…”
Collapsed in the corner of the building, unable to even lift her head, she kept muttering.
“Everyone’s about to die, what the hell are you doing… This is when you’re supposed to show up already…”
Her severe injuries had driven her half-mad.
“Did you call for help?”
Yong Jeok-shim asked, but of course there was no answer. Mind gone, Lee Ga-hang just continued cursing.
“No matter who comes, nothing changes.”
Because no one could defeat him.
Yong Jeok-shim raised his hand to finish Lee Ga-hang off, but as her muttering faded, he lowered it again. Her life force was steadily fading.
He looked down at her briefly before turning away.
Just as he moved to return to his subordinates—
“…KYAHAHAHAHA!”
Lee Ga-hang, who had been at death’s door, suddenly burst into manic laughter.
Then she stared blankly at the ceiling. Her bizarre behavior caused even Yong Jeok-shim to instinctively look up.
“He’s here!”
“Who’s—?”
Before he could finish, an alien energy surged from above.
Even Yong Jeok-shim sensed something was happening.
“You’re dead, you bastard!”
Lee Ga-hang’s half-shut eyes were suddenly wide and gleaming.
“Has she gone completely mad?”
“Great Hero Jang is invincible! KYAAAHAHAHA!”
Even while coughing up blood, Lee Ga-hang laughed like a lunatic. The sight disgusted Yong Jeok-shim, and he moved to tear her apart.
But the intense energy rising from above stopped him.
KWAANG!
The ceiling shattered, and a massive wave of qi surged downward. Yong Jeok-shim turned to block the energy headed his way.
A woman dropped through the ceiling.
As she threw her fist forward, a beast’s roar rang out, and Yong Jeok-shim was pushed back through the air.
The attack wasn’t meant to injure—it was to knock him outside.
As he corrected his posture midair, Yong Jeok-shim saw a Floating Stronghold behind her. And before it, the woman who had struck him now floated in the sky.
She stood nearly seven feet tall.
With bold features and a confident smile, the woman faced him.
Yong Jeok-shim’s brow furrowed. A powerful martial artist—yet he had no intel on her.
“Who are you?”
“Current member of the Annihilation Squad, Maeng Ye-ju of the Beast King Sect.”
Yong Jeok-shim’s furrowed brow relaxed and his eyebrow arched. The name she had just spoken—he recognized it.
“Maeng Kwon-hogeo of the Beast King Sect?”
Maeng Ye-ju nodded with a face full of confidence.