Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Kugugugugung-!

Li Xun, hit squarely by Dojae’s body slam, slammed into the wall and was pushed backward.

One wall, two walls, three walls…

Breaking through a total of six walls, they arrived at the large room where the patrol guards slept and ate.

BANG-!

“What the hell!”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Ri… Director Li Xun?”

The patrol officers, resting after their shift, were startled by the sudden commotion and pulled their blankets up to their waists.

The entire room was filled with a musty dampness, the smell of men’s sweat, and an inexplicable fishy odor.

There were three men in total.

They scrambled to their feet, disheveled and bedraggled, moving away from Dojae and Li Xun.

“Damn. Filthy bastards…”

Veins bulged prominently on Li Xun’s temples as he covered his nose.

At first, they were caught off guard by Dojae’s charge and pushed back helplessly, but gradually they braced their legs and held their ground. By the time they reached the night duty room, the two were evenly matched in strength.

Li Xun used his remaining arm to counter Dojae’s pushing force, spinning him around and hurling him against the wall.

Then, as he reached toward the gaping hole in the wall, his sword flew like an arrow and landed in Li Xun’s hand.

“Useless scum! After feeding and sheltering trash like you, you can’t even stop one little bastard?”

While Dojae lay embedded in the wall, Li Xun, sword in hand, slowly walked toward the patrolmen.

Then, one of the patrol officers dropped to his knees and began begging desperately.

“Director Li Xun… Please… Please spare my life…”

As one pleaded with a choked voice, pouring out his heartfelt supplication, the remaining two also threw themselves flat on the floor, begging so fervently their palms bled.

But Li Xun had no intention of sparing them.

Already irritated by Dojae, his nerves were frayed to the point of boiling over when he saw the party’s low-level hunters sleeping soundly.

Swish-.

Li Xun smoothed his disheveled hair and approached the patrol members.

One of the officers who had been begging from the start was trembling so violently that the blanket covering his sturdy lower body had slipped down.

Perhaps that sight was poison itself.

Li Xun let out a hollow laugh, as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have.

“You bastards. Die!”

Crunch!

Li Xun stomped right on the head that had been buried in the dirt.

The remaining two patrol officers, who had witnessed the crushing of a human skull right beside them, stared blankly at Li Xun, their faces smeared with sticky fragments of brain matter.

“Ahh… I’m sorry…”

“We made a mistake… Please spare us…”

They lost their minds to terror beyond endurance, begging for their lives, but it was useless before Li Xun, who had already decided to kill them.

Thud-!

CRASH!

The men sent flying by Li Xun’s kicks slammed into the wall with such force it left a deep dent, their lives extinguished.

Swish- swish-.

Li Xun, having wiped his shoe soles on the patrolman’s naked body, turned to look at Dojae.

Dojae emerged from the pit, his eyes flashing blue.

‘What is that look?’

Li Xun brushed back his disheveled hair and observed Dojae.

Emerging from the thickly billowing dust, covered head to toe in rocks, he looked bizarre.

‘Is transforming into a stone form his ability?’

Li Xun watched Dojae, clad in golem armor, warily.

It was the first time he’d seen someone possess the ability to cover their entire body in stone.

Especially for awakened beings possessing such shape-shifting abilities, the difference in appearance before and after transformation was immense.

And as if to prove it, the aura emanating from Dojae felt significantly stronger than before.

If Li Xun couldn’t sense mana, he might have mistaken it for a boss monster appearing.

‘I’d believe it was a completely different person’s aura.’

The ‘qi’ Li Xun spoke of.

Qi is the word Chinese people use when referring to mana.

While Korea and most countries use the term mana, some nations refer to it as chakra or divine power.

The meaning of each word carries the culture and society of that country, so there are slight differences in how this intangible energy is handled.

But fundamentally, it is one energy.

That’s why Li Xun could sense mana emanating from the golem armor radiating from the entire body of the Daoist.

‘So he binds rocks together with qi to use as outer armor.’

Lishun instantly grasped the system behind the golem armor’s operation.

Mana flowed from the heart-shaped center, spreading like a spiderweb to bind the stone fragments together.

Li Xun possessed a skill similar to Dojae’s.

It was called Void Grasp.

It was a skill that emitted mana to move distant objects.

‘I don’t know how great his internal power is, but it’s just a waste of energy.’

Li Xun deemed the golem armor extremely inefficient.

He questioned how effective it was for defense compared to the mana it consumed.

‘I got tense for nothing.’

At first, the sudden explosive surge of mana made him hesitate to attack, but if that mana was only being used to create golem armor, he figured he could lower his guard.

Then, Li Xun gripped the sword hilt firmly and turned the blade toward Dojae.

***

Meanwhile, Dojae was also sizing up his opponent.

Enraged by Rishun’s ruthless killing of a child, Dojae wanted to move to a different location to prevent more innocent people from getting caught up in this.

He succeeded in breaking through several thick walls to relocate, but he hadn’t anticipated the patrol officers’ dormitory appearing.

If he pushed through with Li Xun right then, they too could get caught up and injured.

These thoughts made Dojae hesitate, and in that split second, Rishun grabbed Dojae’s arm and slammed him against the opposite wall.

‘A moment’s hesitation has created another victim.’

Just before being slammed into the wall, Dojae activated his golem armor to minimize the impact.

Thanks to the increased weight and bulk from the golem armor, the wall collapsed completely, sending a cloud of dust billowing up. Yet Dojae suffered almost no damage.

Rising from the spot and pushing through the dust, what he saw was Lee Sun’s brutal act.

Seeing him crush a human head underfoot, even Dojae couldn’t help but feel disgust.

Before Dojae could even move to stop him, he kicked all the men to death.

To that monster, human life was worth less than a flying fly.

‘You vile bastard… Come on!’

Seeing Li Xun point the blade’s edge toward him, Dojae clenched his fist.

And in the instant their eyes met.

Whoosh-.

Puuwaaahh-!

Li Xun’s martial arts unfolded through his hands.

With light footsteps and agile movements, he wielded the long sword, its blade alone measuring 150cm, without hesitation.

Shh-!

Dodging the blade, Dojae drove his fist into Li Xun’s face.

But Li Xun turned his head at the last moment, dodging it just as it seemed to graze him.

He wore a smug expression, as if he could see Dojae’s fist coming.

“Slow as molasses. Hardly even worthy of being called martial arts. More like a child’s fistfight.”

Li Xun watched Dojae’s movements and let his arms hang limply.

Did this mean he didn’t even need to defend against Dojae’s attacks?

Dojae didn’t stop, continuing to launch attacks.

But each time, Li Xun evaded them all with light footwork.

He kept closing in on Li Xun, yet the distance remained unbridgeable.

Clang.

Dojae manipulated the golem’s nerves to forge a long stone sword.

This was to overcome the disadvantage of distance, as he fought unarmed while Li Xun wielded a weapon.

“What is that crude stone sword?”

Despite Li Xun’s taunt, Dojae kept channeling mana into the blade, making it even more solid.

Though briefly, Dojae had learned a little about swords.

Though he lagged behind in both skill and stats, wielding a sword made a huge psychological difference.

Recently, he often overwhelmed opponents with the golem’s sheer power alone, but since becoming a Hunter, he had consistently fought wielding a sword.

Holding the sword like this calmed Dojae’s mind a little.

Clang!

Dojae charged forward to attack Lishun again.

Unlike before, it was speed and power on a reborn level.

His movements were precise as he closed in on his opponent, the sword’s trajectory fluid.

It was no longer the crude attacks that relied solely on brute arm strength to hunt monsters; this was something worthy of being called swordsmanship.

Yet, every single one of Dojae’s attacks was blocked with ease.

He kept aiming for critical points like Li Xun’s neck and heart, but they were blocked with surprising ease.

Though not a decisive blow, Dojae grew visibly tense at how effortlessly the sword was parried.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With astonishing reflexes, Li Xun parried the sword and deflected Dojae’s blade.

In less than a minute, the two exchanged dozens of large and small attacks and parries.

Then, Li Xun let out a deep sigh.

“This is getting ridiculous.”

Blue tendons bulged on the back of Li Xun’s hand.

Then he sliced Dojae’s sword horizontally.

Pabaat-!

As sword and blade collided, intense sparks flew, shattering Dojae’s sword in a single blow.

Despite being a sword reinforced with a massive infusion of mana, it shattered into pieces under the force of Li Xun’s single, powerful strike.

In contrast, Li Xun’s sword remained unscathed, still radiating an aura that seemed capable of cleaving through anything.

‘Was the difference in weapons truly this stark?’

Even steel will show a scratch when it collides with something harder.

That’s why, after every battle at Chilgokdae 3rd Battalion, he always repaired his sword.

Even when slicing through monster flesh and shattering bones, the blade could become dull. Without proper care, rust could set in or it could break.

Dojae created distance from Lishun while repairing his sword.

And he observed his sword.

[Equipment Information]

Name: White Frost Greatsword

Classification: Sword

Description: A curved blade forged from Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. One of China’s Ten Great Weapons and a Treasure Blade. Cuts through ordinary steel like slicing tofu.

Effects: Attack Power +150 / Durability +200 / Regeneration +50

Skill: Frost Lv Max.

‘Attack power surpassing Golem Armor… No wonder it didn’t shatter easily. He possessed a truly formidable weapon…’

The Golem Armor’s defense is currently 130 through leveling and stat adjustments.

However, Li Xun’s sword boasts an attack power 20 points higher.

It’s only natural that the Golem Armor crumbles under Li Xun’s fierce assault.

But he couldn’t just stand there in shock.

Dojae had his own countermeasure prepared.

Whoosh!

Dojae stretched out his arm, hurling sand and clumps of earth at Li Xun to obscure his vision.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he darted into his embrace and thrust his sword in.

Shh-shh-.

Just before Dojae’s sword tip reached him, Rishun twisted his body to dodge.

Dojae didn’t stop after his attack failed. To halt his forward momentum, he stretched out his left leg and spun toward Lishun.

He then twisted his wrist and swung his sword at Li Xun.

Once again, Li Xun dodged Dojae’s sword by twisting his waist.

No, he thought he had dodged it.

Swoosh-!