novelraw Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72 : Chapter 72
Chapter 72 Ghost Blood Sect (5)
While the Escort Warriors' attention was focused on Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong, my figure melted hazily into the thick, spreading Demonic Energy.
Subsequently, I brushed past the Escort Warriors and revealed myself in front of the Ghost Blood Sect Leader.
─ Slash!
My dagger, thrust out from the darkness, slashed the shoulder of the Escort Warrior who was blocking the path of the Ghost Blood Sect Leader.
“Uh?”
The Escort Warrior, who hadn't even realized that I had penetrated their line, staggered while clutching his bubbling shoulder with bewildered eyes.
The moment the Escort Warrior made eye contact with me and hurriedly raised his sword, my dagger was embedded in his thigh.
“Aaaah!”
The other Escort Warriors immediately lunged their swords toward me, but my dagger was already fluttering in all directions at a speed that was invisible to the eye.
─ Slash
─ Slice
My dagger began to hack away at the charging Escort Warriors.
The speed at which new wounds appeared was far faster than the speed at which their injuries healed.
My enraged energy constantly flew into the bodies of the Escort Warriors, who were emitting red smoke from their entire beings.
Soon, the Escort Warriors, whose clothes were stained bright red, let out their final screams and collapsed one by one.
Watching the Escort Warriors fall while retreating backward, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader clenched his teeth.
“I certainly made an agreement with the Demonic Cult……! Why on earth are you doing this now? Whose instructions did you receive?”
As I, with a hardened expression, took a step forward, the remaining Escort Warriors hurriedly blocked my path.
─ Slash!
The chests of three Escort Warriors were split open by the wide swing of my dagger.
Watching their comrades collapse after suffering large lacerations from a single strike, the Escort Warriors faltered and retreated.
The difference in level was clear.
Every time I, with my eyes glowing within the dense Demonic Energy, took a step forward, the Escort Warriors retreated in a swarm.
Eventually, a small path was created between the Ghost Blood Sect Leader and me.
Regardless of the Escort Warriors who had lost their will to fight, I slowly approached the Ghost Blood Sect Leader.
“An agreement with the Demonic Cult. I would rather ask you. On whose instructions are you committing such acts?”
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader, who had been wearing a bewildered expression as I asked while slowly approaching, finally spoke.
“Wait. Yes. Come to think of it, you've been asking strange questions as if you knew nothing from the start. Not knowing our relationship means, after all, that you are not under the Blood Demon’s command.”
A look of relief spread across the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's face as he realized I had no connection to the Blood Demon.
“Heh. Yes. That’s it! The Blood Demon had not abandoned us. Kuhahaha! I was nervous for nothing.”
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader straightened his hunched body, drew the sword from his waist, and pointed it at me.
“The dregs of the Demonic Cult who have not obtained the Blood God’s power are destined to be discarded anyway! Even if I eliminate you here, it won't cause any problems in our relationship with the Blood Demon.”
With a smirk, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader began to draw up his energy.
─ Whoosh
My bangs fluttered back from the foul Blood Energy that spread out.
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader, having fully drawn up his energy, smiled at me and then kicked off the ground, charging forward.
─ Whish
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword aimed for me, and I slightly twisted my body to avoid it.
─ Clang!
I raised my left hand and accurately parried the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword, which had been thrust out again at high speed, using my Ink Ring.
Aiming for the opening as the Ghost Blood Sect Leader retracted his sword, the Millennium Silk released from my Ink Ring shot out.
─ Whoosh
To avoid the Millennium Silk that was winding around his lower body, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader leaped into the air.
My dagger then lunged toward his neck.
“Impressive!”
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader, who narrowly parried my dagger with the tip of his blade, took a step back and raised his sword high toward the sky.
“Heh. You certainly have reason to be confident. To think you have this level of skill at your age. However, that is the end of it.”
Blood Energy began to coalesce on the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword as it slowly drew a circle in the air.
Red energy surged from the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword, and in an instant, the rapidly accelerating blade buried itself within the red energy, hiding its form.
As the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword vibrated repeatedly, a thick scent of blood spread into the surroundings.
'This is…… the Blood River Formless Sword?'
The Blood River Formless Sword was a representative sword art of the Blood Cult.
Recalling the characteristics of the Blood Cult's martial arts I had heard from Wi Jeong-cheon in the past, the thick scent of blood that filled the air meant that the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's martial prowess had reached a considerably high level.
If he was able to pass down not only the ritual but also the martial arts properly, it meant the Ghost Blood Sect Leader maintained a deep relationship with the Blood Cult.
There was no need to drag this out any longer.
─ Crackle
As I properly drew up my energy, an eerie sound emanated from my body.
Following the mnemonic of the Reverse Heaven Asura Art, various parts of my body trembled finely as I made my internal energy flow in reverse.
The Blood River Formless Sword of the Ghost Blood Sect Leader, who had sensed that I was drawing up my energy, shot toward me like an arrow.
It was a formless killing sword whose appearance couldn't even be properly seen due to being obscured by Blood Energy, but since I was already familiar with all the Blood Cult's martial arts, I could parry the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword without difficulty.
─ Kwang!
a noise that was hard to believe had come from the collision of swords spread to the surroundings.
Breaking through the massive shockwave, my figure accelerated and shot straight toward the Ghost Blood Sect Leader.
─ Thud!
My fist penetrated between the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's swords and struck him squarely in the abdomen.
“Guh!?”
Struggling to settle his churning stomach after being hit by my strike, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader quickly retreated with a pale face.
─ Kwang!
Pursuing the retreating Ghost Blood Sect Leader, my foot struck his waist, and
─ Crack!
Following that, my elbow slammed down onto the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's shoulder.
Panicked by my attacks that broke through his sword momentum so easily, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader bit his lip.
“What kind of trickery is this!”
Bit his teeth and lunged his sword at me, but I avoided it by a hair's breadth.
I lowered my body and stuck close to the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's chest.
─ Slash
My dagger cut deep into the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's abdomen.
Subsequently, my foot, which gained rotational force from a quick spin, slammed into the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's neck.
─ Crash!
Having been hit by my strike, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader collapsed and writhed on the spot.
“Cough. Cough.”
Bubbling foam arose between the hands of the Ghost Blood Sect Leader as he clutched his abdomen.
Even his shoulder bone, which had been grotesquely twisted after being struck by my elbow earlier, snapped back into place with a thud.
Meanwhile, Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong, who had suppressed all the Escort Warriors and approached my side, watched that spectacle and clicked her tongue.
“The medicine's effect is indeed good but……. It seems like it only brings about the result of getting beaten up even more unnecessarily, since everything ends once you're knocked down by a single hit.”
At Ice Rakshasa’s sarcasm, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader looked up and gnashed his teeth, once again raising his Blood Energy significantly.
“Y-You rat-like bastards!”
Blood Energy, amplified several times more than before, spread out from around the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's body.
Clenching his teeth while drawing up his energy and rising from his spot, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's abdomen no longer showed even a trace of a wound.
“Youuuuu!”
The sword raised by the Ghost Blood Sect Leader began to vibrate rapidly in the air.
Then, the Blood Energy spread in all directions resonated with the vibration of the sword and began to surge like waves.
Entrusting his body to that energy, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's figure shot toward me like a bolt of lightning.
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader, who had certainly consumed the enhanced Blood Immortal Pill, displayed speed and power rivaling that of a martial artist who had reached the Peak Realm, but it was his misfortune that I was his opponent.
To me, who knew the Blood Cult's martial arts in exhaustive detail, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's unrefined sword posed no threat whatsoever.
Easily parrying the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword once again, I wound around his right arm and twisted it as it was.
─ Crack
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader's arm twisted at a bizarre angle.
Subsequently, my dagger, aiming for the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's left arm, was swung in a large arc from the bottom up.
“Aaaah!”
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader screamed at the burning pain rising from where his left arm had been.
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader's left arm, severed by my dagger, flew up into the air and fell to the ground.
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader stared blankly at his own left arm writhing on the ground.
Soon, realizing the situation, he hurriedly headed toward the spot where his left arm had fallen with startled eyes.
Then, with his dangling right arm, he struggled to pick up his left arm and held it against his shoulder.
─ Sizzle
Red smoke rose from the severed left arm.
Then, the left arm began to reattach to the shoulder, and the grotesquely twisted right arm also gradually began to settle into place.
At that sight, Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong shook her head in disbelief.
“That’s an unbelievable effect. If a proper martial artist were to take such medicine……”
“It would become a great threat. The reason why the Central Plains was unable to exert its strength against the Blood Cult's invasion in the past was precisely because of the altar and the capabilities of these Blood Immortal Pills.”
I walked toward the Ghost Blood Sect Leader with a hardened face.
“Y-You……. How can you avoid my sword so easily! This is impossible. It’s impossible!”
Gasping for breath as he struggled to raise his sword, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's pupils wavered here and there.
“Aaaaah!”
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader raised his Blood Energy greatly once more.
Then, a massive Blood Mist filled the surroundings, and swords shining within the Blood Mist began to pour down endlessly like stars filling the sky.
─ Ting
─ Ting, ting, ting
The lights pouring from within the Blood Mist were parried one by one by my dagger.
Between the constantly pouring light and the thick Blood Mist, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's figure suddenly emerged.
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader's sword, filled with red energy, slashed down from above.
“Die!”
─ Kwa-aaa-ng!
The Ghost Blood Sect Leader's body was thrown backward like a kite with a snapped string by the shockwave generated when my dagger collided with his sword.
─ Thud!
“Gah!”
Blood sprayed from the mouth of the Ghost Blood Sect Leader as his back struck the wall.
Having collapsed to the ground, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader struggled to push off the floor and raise his body.
“T-This can’t be. This is impossible……! The sword that the Blood Demon himself passed down……!”
Watching me with a heavily distorted expression, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader let out a loud scream.
“Y-You! You bastard!”
The red energy filled within the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's body healed him.
Raising his sword and standing up, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader's eyes burned red once again.
Letting out a sigh as I approached the Ghost Blood Sect Leader, I suddenly came to a stop.
'They've finally arrived. Those possessing Demonic Energy. They are approaching this way.'
Sensing the energy of three martial artists approaching the pavilion, I expanded my sensory range.
'Blood Energy. They are those who possess not only Demonic Energy but Blood Energy as well.'
When I stopped in place, the Ghost Blood Sect Leader, whose eyes had been darting around, didn't miss the opportunity and leaped toward the ceiling.
─ Kwang!
“You! Your life is forfeit now as well! Kuhahaha!”
Shouting toward me, the energy of the Ghost Blood Sect Leader, who had disappeared to the upper floor through the ceiling, quickly moved away toward the pavilion's entrance.
“The guy who’s just running away sure talks a big game.”
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong looked up at the ceiling through which the Ghost Blood Sect Leader had broken.
“Let’s go. Those possessing Demonic Energy are approaching this place. Since they've taken the bait, let’s capture them all at once.”
I spoke while looking up at the ceiling, and Ice Rakshasa nodded.
Soon, the figures of Ice Rakshasa and me soared toward the hole the Ghost Blood Sect Leader had broken through.