Chapter 93 Cheolgwi Appears-3

Chapter 93: Cheolgwi Appears-3

When Cheolgwi first appeared in a past life, the Thirteenth Generation Oh Clan was completely annihilated.

Doksoogwang and his squad members had perished there as well.

The damage didn’t end there.

The members of this squad who had rushed to provide support after receiving the emergency signal also suffered devastating losses.

Despite all that, we had to look back and tell ourselves we were lucky in the end.

Since our Thirteenth Generation included Lady Tang Yueyun, a member of the Tang Clan.

Soon, all the peak masters of the Thirteenth Generation joined forces to confront the Iron Fiend. Yet, even as they did so, the Iron Fiend’s skin remained unscathed. Young Miss Tang threw all the poisons she possessed at it.

It was nothing more than grasping at straws.

But that desperate method ultimately revealed the solution. The way to defeat that terrifying monster, the Iron Fiend.

Before my eyes, the Iron Fiend—that familiar face I had seen in my past life—was rising.

Its viscous red gaze licked at me.

“Seon Woo-jin! Danger! Get back!”

It was Team Leader Han Gyoseong’s cry, tinged with concern.

But he responded with a faint smile directed at him.

“It’s fine, Squad Leader Han.”

At that, Doksoogwang, standing beside him, frowned sharply and shouted.

“Don’t get cocky! Unless you’re a peak master, how could you possibly take on that guy…?!

Doksugwang, who had been shouting, froze in horror, unable to finish his sentence.

That was because a vivid, deep purple sword energy had formed on the blade I had partially drawn.

Seeing a sword aura as vivid as Team Leader Han Gyoseong’s, Doksu-gwang muttered in shock.

“…Peak?”

Doksoogwang could say nothing now.

But Team Leader Han Gyoseong shouted again.

“Even so, you can’t do it alone. Sword energy won’t work on that beast!”

Glaring at Cheolgwi, who was slowly approaching me like a beast, I answered.

“I know. And I never said I’d face him alone.”

At that very moment, Squad Leader Seolpung, Lady Cheongyeon, and Lady Dang landed beside Han Gyoseong.

Thud!

Glancing at that, I immediately charged toward Cheolgwi.

POW!

“Grrrrr!”

Cheolgwi swung his arms like a beast at me as I charged.

Boom!

But my charge was a feint—I leapt straight over the bastard.

Startled, his gaze followed me upward, and at that very moment, Sergeant Seolpung, charging like a meteor from behind me, slammed into his stomach.

POW!

In an instant, his body flew back like a cannonball.

But Seolpung Jo-jang’s charge was faster than the enemy’s recoiling body.

He had already closed the distance on the recoiling Iron Fiend, spinning once in midair to deliver a crushing blow.

POW!

Then, the body of the Iron Fiend, which had been flying backward, plummeted vertically under the tremendous impact.

Above it, the leader of the snowstorm squadron changed direction mid-air as if in a vertical drop, plunging down like a bolt of lightning.

CRASH!

It was a tremendous blow, as if a meteorite had collided.

But the squad leader didn’t stop there.

He unleashed a storm of consecutive strikes, as if determined to drive the fallen Iron Fiend deep into the earth.

The vivid crimson energy enveloping his hands created afterimages like those of a Thousand-Armed Guanyin.

“Wadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadad

Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa

It was a fierce, relentless barrage of strikes that would have pierced through a mountain to the ground below.

Everyone watched the dazzling attack, utterly transfixed.

But even so, the Iron Demon did not die.

As the bastard swung his arm to strike Captain Seolpung, the captain lightly leapt back.

He landed beside me and watched as Cheolgwi staggered to his feet.

Shaking his head, the squad leader said to me.

“Just as you said, he’s incredible.”

“…Yeah. He really is something else.”

While the squad leader’s impression was about the Iron Fiend, mine was about him.

The squad leader’s attack on that formidable Iron Demon hadn’t been completely useless.

The chest of the creature rising to its feet was pitted with deep, caved-in areas.

It seemed the bones inside had been crushed to pieces.

The fierce attack from the Snowstorm Squad Leader had pounded the creature’s body to smithereens.

To shatter an iron demon with bare fists—it was a sight unseen even in a past life.

Gulp.

What on earth had happened while I was gone? How far had Captain Seolpung’s skills advanced? It was utterly beyond comprehension.

Yet, despite that, Iron Demon still moved, scanning the surroundings with bloodshot eyes.

I cleared my throat once and addressed Lady Dang Yeo-eun.

“Miss Tang, as I mentioned earlier, I ask for your assistance.”

Then she looked at me and nodded silently.

Up until now, Team Leader Seolpung had deliberately let things be so that Cheolgwi could experience it.

To show everyone that no matter what, they couldn’t defeat that bastard.

After that, I planned to show everyone how to handle the Iron Fiend in cooperation with Young Master Tang, so it could serve as a standard for future responses…

“…It broke, didn’t it?”

I never imagined it could be reduced to such a rag.

It was truly astonishing.

He looked at Squad Leader Seolpung with a slightly embarrassed expression and said.

“Team Leader, his gaze…”

Then the squad leader nodded once and charged at the enemy again.

Thud!

The enemy growled and swung his arm.

Whoosh!

But this time, the squad leader was the bait.

Team Leader Seolpung swiftly leapt upward to evade, and as the creature’s gaze followed him, I, who had been right behind him, grabbed its arm.

The next instant, the creature’s body soared into the air before crashing back down to the floor.

Thud!

It was the Golden Strike of the Whirlwind Thirteen Strikes, the Sunwoo Clan’s hand-to-hand combat technique.

Pinning the enemy face-down on the ground, I pressed down on one of his arms from behind and shouted.

“Squad Leader! The other arm!”

Then Sergeant Seolpung flew over and pinned the man’s other arm down.

This briefly restrained the man’s body.

What happened next goes without saying.

Dang Yeo-eun, who had launched herself immediately afterward, sprayed a long, straight line of Fire Bone Powder onto the back of his neck and vanished instantly.

We did the same.

“Grrrrrrr!”

The moment we retreated, the iron-clad demon rose, snarling like a wounded beast as it scanned us.

Perhaps because of the memory of being beaten by Captain Seolpung, it didn’t seem likely to charge us easily.

It seemed to be sizing up the situation.

But everyone’s attention wasn’t on the guy who’d unexpectedly shown such cunning—it was on the one behind him.

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

From the back of the neck of the one who had sprinkled the bone-melting powder, a sound like something melting was heard, and white smoke was billowing out.

Han Gyoseong sighed as he spoke.

“Really… it worked.”

I stepped forward slowly and said.

From what I’ve heard, the creature is extremely intelligent but hasn’t fully shed its primal instincts yet. That’s why it still tends to fixate on its first opponent. Its mouth remains a weakness, but it rarely opens it. Meaning it has almost no exposed vulnerabilities. However, contact with Huagol Mountain causes its skin to gradually weaken. So after spraying Huagol Mountain, you have to wait a while. The effect will become more pronounced over time.”

Then, looking at Squad Leader Seolpung, he said.

“Captain, I ask you just one more time.”

Then, nodding his head, Sergeant Seolpung lunged toward Cheolgwi once more.

This too was to draw the bastard’s attention.

As Captain Seolpung soared upward and the creature’s gaze followed, I was already standing behind its back.

Then, gazing at the back of his neck where white smoke was billowing up, I grasped my sword.

I had no intention of using the sword’s energy.

Instead, I recalled the words Mokrang had spoken in my mind.

[Strike the large gap, guide the great opening. Follow what is naturally there. Insert the blade where there is a gap and cut—it is only following what is inherently so.]

And he drew his sword.

A white blade light sliced through the air as lightly as the wind.

For a moment, it felt as if it had cleaved the world itself.

A smooth sensation, as if nothing had caught on the blade.

Moments later, as he slowly sheathed the drawn blade, the iron demon’s neck slid forward slowly.

The creature’s massive body collapsed with a thud a moment later.

***

After the battle ended, the gathered personnel began collecting the bodies of the fallen five squad members and the Iron Fiend.

Despite the victory, the atmosphere in the camp was extremely quiet and somber, as seven out of the eleven members of the O Squad had perished.

Seolpung collected Cheolgwi’s body and touched his flesh.

It felt hard and stiff, like touching whale skin, an unfamiliar sensation.

It was clearly the skin of what had been a human, yet it possessed the strength to withstand martial energy. A hollow laugh escaped him.

At that moment, Squad Leader Han Gyoseong approached Seolpung and spoke.

“You sure beat the crap out of that bastard. I couldn’t even scratch him.”

Seolpung replied with a bitter smile.

“It was pretty useless, wasn’t it? In the end, it was thanks to Hwagol Mountain, just as Seonwoojin said, that we killed the bastard.”

“Hmm, if we’d kept pounding him, I think we could’ve crushed him outright. But now, with my current strength, I doubt I could ever beat him. He’s grown too powerful. Did he gain some kind of divine opportunity during his mission?”

Han Gyoseong’s gaze as he asked this was thick with envy.

A gaze that purely acknowledged the opponent’s strength and held the eagerness to learn something.

To the people of the Thirteenth Generation, who had only ever seen the lazy strongman, it was unfamiliar, but it was also the very essence that had originally earned Han Gyoseong the title of genius.

Seolpung answered with a faint smile.

“I’ve had some enlightenment regarding what the Sword Sage taught me the other day. I’m slow-witted; it took me this long to understand what he meant.”

“Hmm, the Sword Sage. When he returns, I should seek some guidance from him myself.”

While Seolpung and Han Gyoseong were having this conversation, Seonwoojin was picking up the severed head of the iron demon.

And I looked closely at his face.

The Iron Demon’s face, devoid of fiery red eyes, did not appear fierce at all.

Rather, his tightly pursed lips and masculine features gave him the air of a righteous hero.

And Seon Woo-jin was thinking that perhaps that thought might be correct.

That before becoming Iron Demon, the man’s true identity was likely that of a righteous hero.

‘There’s no way he learned martial arts after becoming a mind slave. That top-tier martial prowess must have been his original ability. And if what Old Seok said is true, completing the Iron Demon would have taken quite a long time, so this person probably…’

Seon Woo-jin speculated where this person might have been captured by the Blood Cult.

That location would likely be the first place to investigate.

Where the demons were likely being produced….

As Seon Woo-jin contemplated this while looking at the Iron Demon’s head, Tang Yeo-eun suddenly approached from behind and asked.

“Is that a familiar face?”

Seon Woo-jin, who had already sensed her approaching, smiled faintly and answered naturally.

“No. I was just speculating. Where this person might have come from.”

Then he suddenly asked her.

“Ah, young lady. Might there be someone at the Tang Gate who could analyze the skin of such a creature?”

“Yes, I’ve heard they’re already researching the Gan-gui, Hyo-gui, and Ju-gui.”

“That’s good. Then could I also ask for an analysis of this Iron Demon? How could its skin become like this? And why is it vulnerable to Fire Bone Powder? Is there perhaps another method besides Fire Bone Powder? While we’re at it, it would be even better if we could find out who this person originally was.”

Dang Ye-eun responded with a clear smile at Seon Woo-jin’s words.

It was a bright smile she rarely showed in front of others.

“Of course. The elders back home would actually be pleased.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she added softly.

“I’m relieved you returned safely. I was worried.”

Dang Ye-eun turned away immediately, moving away from Seon Woo-jin.

Though she spoke with her head bowed and turned away immediately, so he couldn’t see her face, Seonwoo Jin could tell her ears had flushed slightly.

Feeling a warm sensation in his chest for some reason, he smiled as he watched her hurry away.

And there were two people watching Seonwoo Jin like that.

One of them was Doksoogwang.

He was glaring at Seonwoojin with burning eyes.

A lowly bastard from a worthless sect, not even one of the major schools. A pig of a bastard who was barely second-rate when he first arrived at the Thirteenth Sect. And a fool who crawled into his sect’s inner circle, idolizing some Seolpung.

That very man had surpassed Doksoogwang himself at some point, and had even appeared as a peak master.

Doksugwang simply could not accept that fact.

That he had slain a demon he himself couldn’t touch.

Above all, that he was now superior to him.

A fiery flame of burning jealousy blazed fiercely in Doksoogwang’s eyes.

And another person watching Seon Woo-jin.

She was none other than Hae Cheong-yeon.

Ever since leaving the Mountain Sword Gate, she had let her hair down to cover her eyes. Now, peering through the hidden strands, she watched Seon Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun expressionlessly.

Seon Woo-jin’s expression while talking to Dang Yeo-eun, and her face flushing red as she moved away from him with an expression completely different from her usual cold demeanor, and Seon Woo-jin smiling at Dang Yeo-eun like that…

Though her own expression gave nothing away, the gaze hidden beneath her hair was churning like a violent wave.

Just like her heart.