Chapter 49

Chapter 49

A droplet of blood formed on the tip of Li Xun’s chin.

It was clearly Dojae’s sword he had dodged, yet a wound about the width of a finger had appeared on his chin.

And he knew the reason instantly.

‘The sword grew longer?’

Dojae’s sword was now a full span longer than before—a little over 20 centimeters.

In that brief instant when Li Xun dodged the sword, its length increased, slicing his jawline.

Had he tilted his head back just a fraction later, it might not have been the tip of his jaw that flew off, but his entire jaw.

“Cheap shot!”

Li Xun shouted angrily as he backed away.

He attacked using a sneaky method, though Li Xun didn’t know where he’d learned it.

Had it been a long-handled weapon like a spear, he would have guarded the distance.

Many fighters used the distance between gripping near the spearhead and gripping the end of the shaft to their advantage.

But Dojae’s sword had no hilt or pommel.

The blade emerged directly from the hand.

I should have recognized it as an extension of the golem armor, but I mistakenly thought it was a separate weapon and armor.

It was a delusion born from a minor prejudice he couldn’t help but hold, being a swordsman himself.

‘To dodge this…’

Dojae swallowed his disappointment as he watched Lee Sun recede into the distance.

It was a method he devised based on his experience facing Kim Hwan-su’s chained swords.

While the twin swords were difficult to counter due to their whip-like movements, reacting to the constantly shifting distance proved even harder.

Freely adjusting the distance while flinging his sword made it difficult to even close in on Kim Hwan-su.

He had actively exploited that very characteristic of the chain sword, extending its length at the decisive moment to strike Li Xun, yet it ended with nothing more than a small wound.

‘I’m losing in speed…’

Had my sword swing been just a fraction faster, I could have dispatched Li Xun.

But his reaction speed was far faster than expected.

Li Xun charged toward Dojae.

Dojae desperately parried his sword.

It shattered and regenerated, shattered again and regenerated.

Merely parrying Li Xun’s furious assault, which had struck a nerve, was already a desperate struggle.

“How dare you wound this body…!”

Mana swirled around Li Xun’s sword.

The air trembled, and dust swirled in its wake.

Li Xun swung his sword, saturated with mana.

Whoosh-!

A brilliant blue mass of mana transformed into a sharp blade and flew toward him.

Immediately, the sword master unfurled the golem’s nerves, creating a stone barrier right before him.

Kwaaang-!

The barrier collided with the mana mass, sparking and producing a deafening noise.

The barrier crumbled to dust.

Dojae quickly restored the barrier to its original state, preparing for the second attack.

“Nonsense!”

Rishun leapt over the barrier, his eyes locking with Dojae’s.

Having expended his golem armor to create the barrier, Dojae’s arms were now bare.

Seeing this, Li Xun sneered and hurled another mass of mana.

Kaboom!

The ground caved in nearly a meter deep.

Dojae rolled his body to evade Li Xun’s attack.

He immediately opened his pocket dimension to replenish the depleted stones.

Dojae leapt off the ground and charged at Li Xun.

Simultaneously, he created three stone balls the size of basketballs and hurled them at Li Xun.

Li Xun sliced the first stone ball flying toward him in a straight line.

He then crushed the second stone ball with his shin and the third with the hilt of his sword.

But the stone balls, formed from the golem’s nerves, began to reform into spheres.

Meanwhile, Dojae drove his fist into Li Xun’s side.

Thud!

Dojai’s fist, which had come within inches of striking, was struck down by Li Xun’s blade.

Then, as naturally as flowing water, the hand that had been holding the opposite sword swung downward from above, slashing Dojae diagonally.

Clang!

Blade and armor collided, erupting in a fierce shower of sparks.

Li Xun’s blade pierced deep into the armor, reaching the body beneath.

Dojai hastily backed away, restoring his armor.

The blade had nearly reached the golem’s heart.

“Annoying.”

Lishun’s sword began to glow blue.

Abundant mana pulsed through his sword.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Li Xun’s sword moved in a horizontal figure-eight pattern, shattering the stone pillars.

Like the barrier moments before, they turned completely to dust, scattering with a soft patter onto the floor.

“Yeeah!”

Li Xun’s next attack followed.

Dozens of mana strands shot forth from his sword.

They shot out like bullets, piercing through the shoulders and thighs of the warrior who hadn’t managed to dodge all of them.

“Guhk.”

The holes pierced by the mana strands were about the size of a ten-won coin, and blood flowed incessantly from around them.

As a last resort, Dojae tightly clenched his golem armor, sealing the holes while applying pressure.

The rough stones digging into his flesh were excruciatingly painful, but with the Rishun charging toward him, he had no time to dwell on the agony.

‘If only I could receive Elatra’s blessing…’

Since the battle with the Red Oak priest, Elatra had given no response.

She kept pestering me when I didn’t need her, but now that I actually need help, she’s ignoring me.

Altain was the same. She called him the adversary, as if he were indispensable, yet now it seemed she didn’t care if Dojae died.

Resolving to confront her next time they met, he pushed himself up from his kneeling position.

“Kuhng.”

Dojai swallowed a groan and pulled a small vial from his pocket.

Even in perfect condition, he was no match for Lishun. Injured, he stood no chance.

‘This is no time to hold back.’

The Elixir, a top-tier potion obtained from a quest reward box, was known to reach godly levels when it came to recovery alone.

A single sip possessed such immense stamina-restoring effects that it could make even a wheezing old man rise and dance.

Click.

Dojae immediately brought the bottle’s opening to his mouth.

But the speed at which Dojae’s arm rose was slower than the speed at which Rishun swung his sword.

Clang!

The mana blast fired by Lishun swept past Dojae’s wrist, shattering the glass bottle.

The golem armor near his arm also shattered, leaving a long gash on Dojae’s wrist.

“Where did you get that potion?!”

Dojae stared blankly at the elixir he’d just wasted.

While his sub-space was still overflowing with other potions, none could match the potion’s effect. Even if he tried to retrieve another, Li Xun wouldn’t let him.

“Let’s just end this.”

Psssh-!

A blue aura surged once more from Lishun’s sword.

Where before it had been a faint glow like a candle flame, now it blazed with an immense light like a raging sun.

Swish-.

Li Xun’s Dao shot skyward.

Sensing danger, the Daoist master backed away, using every stone to build a thicker, ever-thicker barrier.

And then, the explosive energy of Lishun.

Kwagwang-!

The blue energy enveloping the Dao maintained its brilliance without a hint of disruption, cleaving straight through the barrier.

The one-meter-thick barrier, which he had thought would buy him even a moment, was sliced diagonally like tofu and passed right through it, reaching Dojae.

Thud-!

Unable to dodge in time, Dojae was struck directly by the blue mana blade and slammed into the wall.

He knelt, a large wound gouged from his shoulder to his waist.

The shattered golem armor was instantly restored, covering his exposed flesh, but blood poured profusely from the gaping cracks in the stone.

Perhaps because the wound was so large, no matter how hard he pressed, he couldn’t stop the blood gushing out.

“Gurgle.”

Dojae coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The external wounds were bad enough, but the impact of slamming into the wall had broken bones and damaged organs.

It was a miracle he hadn’t lost consciousness.

But the belated waves of pain made him wish fainting had been the better option.

“Damn it, gotta finish this and clean up.”

Lishun approached Dojae with a grimace.

While Dojae’s attacks had left him with minor scrapes, he was more irritated by being covered in dust and stuck in this foul-smelling, unpleasant space.

Li Xun raised his sword to send Dojae away.

And just as he was about to bring it down…

Shashashak-.

“Tsk, struggling to the very end.”

Dojae shed his golem armor, wrapping it around Li Xun’s body.

His HP was nearly depleted from the previous attack, and his MP was down to just 10%.

If he took another hit, his HP clearly wouldn’t hold out.

Doja desperately consumed mana to halt Rishun’s movements.

‘I need to buy time.’

With each strike from Lishun, pieces of the golem armor shattered and fell.

Lying on the ground, Dojae reached out and sent all the golem armor covering him toward Rishun.

Crackle-.

Crackle-.

Li Xun’s left arm slowly began to move.

Once more, his sword is imbued with immense mana.

He must arrive before this attack is launched.

‘Please…’

Thump thump thump thump-.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from far away.

One?

No, two, three, four.

The sound of dozens of footsteps approached.

Thud-!

Golems bursting through the hole Dojae and Lishun had made!

“Cover them!”

Dojae commanded the golems.

The golems immediately began climbing onto Rishun.

With each one that climbed on, Li Xun’s lower body sank lower and lower.

Thud-.

The golems piled up like a tower, forcing Li Xun to kneel.

He then braced himself, pressing both arms against the floor, trying desperately to hold his position.

But the golems didn’t stop, piling up until Li Xun’s body was completely hidden.

‘Young-jin must have understood well.’

The reason Dojae had managed to hold on.

He sensed the golems returning after rescuing the people.

‘I have to get out of here first.’

Dojae stood up, clutching his trembling legs.

He had already lost a considerable amount of blood, and his mana had dropped below 3%.

He was in no condition to fight Lishun.

It was frustrating, but he had no choice but to admit his weakness and flee.

Limping along.

Dragging his injured leg, he made his way through the passageway.

Thanks to the path the golems had cleared upon their return, the way out was easy to find.

How far had he followed the path?

A message appeared before his eyes.

– Golem destroyed.

‘What?’

It had been less than five minutes since I left the patrol officers’ room.

And already, Lishun was trying to escape by destroying the golems.

– Golem destroyed.

– Golem destroyed.

The messages kept popping up one after another.

Dojae began running even faster.

‘The entrance!’

The brightly lit entrance finally came into view.

Just a little further, and he could escape this place.

“I’ll kill you!”

Lishun’s voice echoed.

He closes the distance at incredible speed, chasing after Dojae.

Do-jae didn’t even think to look back, squeezing out his last ounce of strength to take another step.

Now 10 meters to the entrance.

Li Xun’s footsteps grew much closer.

5 meters.

Li Xun was right behind Dojae, his breathing audible.

1 meter.

Li Xun reached out his hand toward Dojae’s shoulder.

And Dojae threw himself forward.

– Quest failed.