Chapter 104 : Chapter 104
Chapter 104. The Eccentric Hero (2)
“I will not decline.”
Dam Jeok-san replied with a coldly settled expression.
Before being a senior of the martial world, the Eccentric Hero Woo Gi-hwan was a stronger existence than himself. Even compared to the Three-Extreme Sword Jang Tae-san, whom he had faced in the Corrupted Land, Woo Gi-hwan was a far superior martial artist.
He was not merely a replacement filling Woo Gi-tae’s vacancy, but a man whose martial prowess and dignity were worthy of the position of Family Head of one of the Five Great Families of the Martial Sovereign Castle.
Because Dam Jeok-san judged the Eccentric Hero thus, he accepted the offer to yield the first move not as arrogance, but as magnanimity.
“I am coming.”
With those words, Dam Jeok-san’s body shot forward like a beam of light. A movement technique of terrifying speed. At the same time, the two swords traced intersecting arcs as they surged toward Woo Gi-hwan’s throat.
From footwork to body movement to swordplay, every motion flowed seamlessly as one.
However—
CLANG!!
Woo Gi-hwan blocked Dam Jeok-san’s swords simply by lightly bringing up his Ink Iron Sword.
“Ghk!”
The shock that twisted his sword path was fiercer than expected. Dam Jeok-san forcefully swallowed the bile surging up his throat and steadied his mind.
They had only exchanged a single probing strike, yet the difference in status carved itself into his bones. Still, rather than dwelling on it, Dam Jeok-san pressed forward.
To think about an unbridgeable gap would only hasten the moment his head fell.
‘Think.’
Not about the gap, but about how to win.
First—
‘Overwhelming him with sheer power has little meaning.’
Perhaps if the battle had already devolved into chaos. But for now, they were still probing each other.
In such a state, pouring vast internal energy into a major technique would not overcome Woo Gi-hwan’s exquisite swordsmanship.
What he had must be refined to the extreme. The sword tip sharpened, the internal energy purified. Only then could the gap between them be narrowed.
That was Dam Jeok-san’s judgment.
He sheathed the Red Cloud Sword with lightning speed and gripped Sky Thunder alone.
A moment later, blue sword qi gathered upon Sky Thunder’s azure blade. That sword qi was instantly compressed, transforming into a semi-transparent form.
DRRRRRRR!
The translucent sword qi spun endlessly, its destructive power amplified like a whirling saw blade.
Dam Jeok-san stepped half a pace forward and swung his sword. The most basic vertical cut.
A strike stripped of excess sword qi and sword path, refined to its essence. Not powerful or flamboyant, but fast and concise.
“Oh?”
A glint of interest appeared in Woo Gi-hwan’s eyes.
He remained standing in place as he received the strike.
Considering that half of swordsmanship lay in footwork, it meant he was concealing half his strength, yet Woo Gi-hwan still looked at ease.
This time, however, he could not immediately deflect the blow. The extremely compressed energy of the Extreme Heaven Strange Sovereign Technique was rotating violently, scraping against his blade.
“So they were not exaggerating when they called you a once-in-a-generation genius.”
In that brief instant, Dam Jeok-san had found the most efficient way to deal with him. An absurd intuition.
Yet talent alone could never reach the seat of the absolute. What Woo Gi-hwan wished to see was not such flashes of brilliance, but the will that ultimately carried one through to the end.
“From here on, I will fight properly.”
As the words fell, Woo Gi-hwan’s body leapt into the air.
BOOM!
The platform shook violently a moment later from the force of his step, but there was no room to pay it any mind.
A powerful slashing strike burst forth from Woo Gi-hwan’s sword. A strike empowered further by the force of descending from midair.
“The Iron Blood Golden Light Swordsmanship.”
Dam Jeok-san murmured in a chewing, evaluative tone as he watched the slash.
It was a sword art he had seen once before. Yet the Iron Blood Golden Light Swordsmanship as displayed by Woo Gi-hwan was on a completely different level from Woo Seo-gwang’s.
Not tenacious, but brisk.
Brisk, yet heavy.
Heavy, yet not sluggish.
A sword that perfectly reflected his nature—one who upheld chivalry even while wandering as a ronin. A strong sword, and at the same time a fast sword.
Meeting it head-on would be foolish.
Therefore—
‘I will meet it head-on.’
Dam Jeok-san’s resolve was firm. If he faced it directly, he would be crushed and shattered nine times out of ten.
Yet if he tried to evade, defeat was certain.
‘If I try to deflect or sidestep it, I will be swept up by the aftermath.’
And even that would surely be within Woo Gi-hwan’s expectations.
A sword that appeared straightforward, yet forced that straightforwardness upon its opponent as well. That was Woo Gi-hwan’s interpretation of the Iron Blood Golden Light Swordsmanship.
WOOOOONG!!
A deep blue radiance settled into Dam Jeok-san’s eyes. A sign that Predator’s Eye had manifested.
Yet now, it had become an eye technique that pierced the principles of all things, beyond merely monsters. The result of Seo Woo-joo’s vast experience properly fused with Dam Jeok-san’s keen insight.
With the eye technique active, Dam Jeok-san observed Woo Gi-hwan with the care of one seeking a dragon’s reverse scale.
And he found it. The reverse scale. Or more precisely, the single sword path capable of running counter to that flow.
Piercing that point was the most ideal outcome. The instant he perceived it, Dam Jeok-san’s body moved.
Judging possibility or impossibility belonged to reason. But what decided the outcome of battles like this was not reason, but instinct and intuition.
Dam Jeok-san thrust his sword straight toward the opening he saw.
KAGAGAGAGAGAK!!
An unpleasant screech, like fingernails scraping against iron, tore at the ears.
In truth, the tip of Dam Jeok-san’s sword was grazing along the body of Woo Gi-hwan’s Ink Iron Sword, scraping upward as it advanced.
However, Woo Gi-hwan did not allow him to continue unchecked.
BOOOOM!!
The internal energy wrapped around Woo Gi-hwan’s blade compressed into a sphere, then exploded outright.
Dam Jeok-san was caught in the blast and hurled backward.
Stagger—
Woo Gi-hwan, too, seemed unable to fully dispel the backlash, his body swaying heavily.
Dam Jeok-san, having neutralized most of the shockwave as he was flung back, quickly regained his footing.
But Woo Gi-hwan, the one who had triggered the explosion, only managed to recover his balance after plunging the Ink Iron Sword deep into the ground.
“Do not tell me… you calculated even this.”
Woo Gi-hwan muttered, unable to hide his bewilderment.
He could not simply allow Dam Jeok-san to climb up along his blade. Whoever this was, he had found a gap in his technique and had truly raised his sword with the intent to cut his neck.
‘Of course, I would not have truly died.’
At his level, one naturally possessed several life-saving ultimate techniques. Still, instinctively, Woo Gi-hwan chose a method that would forcibly throw Dam Jeok-san off.
A method that inflicted recoil upon himself as well. And as if he had been waiting for precisely that—
“I am coming—!”
Dam Jeok-san shouted and charged at him.
At some point, the Red Cloud Sword, which he had sheathed behind his back, was now in his left hand.
The twin swords, imbued with the Extreme Heaven Strange Sovereign Technique and the Prajna Heart Technique, erupted toward Woo Gi-hwan.
He had clearly said that contesting with sheer force was meaningless. But that was only when the opponent was fully composed. He had disrupted Woo Gi-hwan’s balance, if only for a moment.
Now, he could push through with power.
CRACKLE CRACKLE!
The two swords resonated with each other, scattering red and white lightning.
Dam Jeok-san was a swordsman who knew precisely when to press forward and when to withdraw.
And now was clearly the time to advance.
Unique Ultimate Technique
Heterogeneous Resonance Knot
Red White Extreme Smoke Slash
A terrifying technique burst forth from his twin blades.
The surging Heaven-Shattering, Star-Destroying Form and the calming Prajna Heart Technique. These opposing forces burned against one another, calling forth sword smoke filled with immense power.
A technique that had once halted even the fist of the General of the North, Jin Ryeo, for an instant.
“Third Young Master… you were harboring something monstrous.”
Woo Gi-hwan exclaimed in awe as he looked at the red and white smoke engulfing his vision.
Martial arts were ultimately miracles born from mental images.
Only those who had imagined covering the horizon could forge a sword that covered the horizon.
In Woo Gi-hwan’s eyes, the Red White Extreme Smoke Slash was a sword capable of blanketing the horizon and annihilating tens of thousands of troops. That meant Dam Jeok-san’s mental image was that vast.
In this moment, no longer as the man Woo Gi-hwan, but as the Family Head of the Iron Blood Woo Clan, he acknowledged the Third Young Master Dam Jeok-san as a lord worth following. If the clan’s fate had to be entrusted to someone, it would likely be him.
Swallowing those words, Woo Gi-hwan raised his Ink Iron Sword. Recognition was recognition, and a duel was a duel.
No matter how vast or exalted Dam Jeok-san’s mental image was, he was still a junior. As the Family Head of one of the Five Great Families, he could not lose to a junior.
Iron Pole Soul Destruction.
A sword art said to have been created by the first Family Head of the Iron Blood Woo Clan to destroy a monster so cursed that he wished to kill it even at the cost of his own soul.
Among the forms of the Iron Blood Golden Light Swordsmanship, it was one of the most powerful ultimate techniques.
Woo Seo-gwang had used it before as well, but Woo Gi-hwan’s Iron Pole Soul Destruction was fundamentally different.
He did not curse. He did not hate.
With the endlessly light heart of a wandering drifter, or the endlessly heavy heart of a hero, he merely imbued it with razor-sharp killing intent.
CRUNCH CRACK!
The sharpness contained within Woo Gi-hwan’s Iron Pole Soul Destruction tore into the Red White Extreme Smoke Slash. Yet the process was far from smooth.
The blade of the Ink Iron Sword, which had reached the rank of a fine sword, was crushed and melted. Woo Gi-hwan’s clothes were torn, countless fresh wounds were carved into his arms, and blood surged up from his throat.
It felt almost as though he were facing an expert one level above himself.
Dam Jeok-san wore an exhausted expression as he watched Woo Gi-hwan tear through his technique to the very end.
He had clearly targeted the opening before Woo Gi-hwan could fully stabilize his stance.
Otherwise, he would never have bought the time needed to unleash a grand technique like the Red White Extreme Smoke Slash.
Yet even in that delayed situation, Woo Gi-hwan had fired off Iron Pole Soul Destruction without hesitation.
Its power was incomparable to what Woo Seo-gwang had displayed. Moreover, it carried the will that Woo Gi-hwan had forged over long years.
And that will ultimately pierced through the Red White Extreme Smoke Slash Dam Jeok-san had unleashed.
“I am still far from it.”
Dam Jeok-san murmured as he looked at the tip of the Ink Iron Sword that had reached his brow.
“Far, you say…”
Woo Gi-hwan, however, did not seem to agree.
“It was only one step.”
If the sword smoke of the Red White Extreme Smoke Slash had spread just one step wider, he might not have been able to break through it in the end.
That was truly astonishing. The gap between Dam Jeok-san, who had only just set foot upon the true path of the Ultra-Peak, and Woo Gi-hwan, who had already passed maturity and was advancing toward the next horizon, was far greater than it appeared.
Yet Dam Jeok-san had nearly bridged that gap with nothing but improvisation and indomitable will.
“That is enough. Here and now, I, Woo Gi-hwan, Family Head of the Iron Blood Woo Clan, swear.”
He spoke as he dropped to one knee upon the platform.
The platform, once used for wagered duels, was now completely devastated.
That was only natural, having taken direct hits from ultimate techniques unleashed by Ultra-Peak swordsmen.
“If I had not blocked it appropriately, the entire inn would have collapsed.”
Bukgung Wan said as he looked at Woo Gi-hwan kneeling on one knee and Dam Jeok-san gazing down at him.
Bukgung Wan’s expression as he watched them was strangely tinged with regret.
“Third Young Master, I swear my loyalty to you.”
BANG!
The chipped Ink Iron Sword was once more driven into the platform. A vow with no coercive force behind it, yet everyone present understood instinctively.
Woo Gi-hwan would never betray that vow. Not until the moment his breath ceased.
Such was the weight carried by the oath of a hero who had lived his entire life keeping his word.
‘Enviable.’
If someone like that had stood at Bukgung Wan’s side, might life have been more enjoyable than it was now? A faint loneliness surfaced in the eyes of the Ming Cult’s cold Young Cult Leader.
But he knew.
The path Dam Jeok-san would walk would not be any smoother than his own.
If everyone in the world were like Woo Gi-hwan, bloody struggles for power would not exist in the first place.
The Sword Dragon, too, would have to walk a path soaked in blood, comparable to his own.
And at the end of that path, it was impossible to guess whether there would be a glorious throne or a bottomless abyss.
Of course, he could not imagine Dam Jeok-san’s defeat.
‘That is not something one can be certain of.’
The world was, after all, a place filled with chaos.
Still, Bukgung Wan hoped that Dam Jeok-san would survive and ascend to the seat of the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle.
That outcome seemed a bit more entertaining.
As he was thinking that—
[You lost, did you?]
Suddenly, the message from his master, the Heavenly Demon, surfaced in his mind like a tattoo upon his palm.
CRACK—
And as Bukgung Wan saw it, he felt something snap cleanly inside his head.