Chapter 378

Chapter 378

Eat The World Tree.

Episode 378: Cornus Subjugation (6)

-Creak, creak.

Intermittent metallic sounds echoed from the wheels scraping the floor.

A single-axle manual bed reached the end of the laboratory.

Following the trail of blood that had dripped from the edge supports onto the floor, one could see a researcher and a woman holding a knife.

“Sansuyu.”

“……”

“This is the last time. Lie down.”

Sansuyu’s face, awakened from the drug, was white and beautiful without a single wound, but there was something about her that made it difficult to describe her as a pulsating human.

Her head drooped lifelessly. Her eyes were unfocused, reflecting no one’s face.

Her irises did not react even when light was shone into them.

Researchers wearing gloves swarmed towards her.

As Sansuyu’s face tilted to the right on the shaking bed, San Hyukwon came into her view.

Ah.

Sansuyu’s dry, closed lips slowly parted.

“Father… why did you kill Jiho?”

“The Purpose is right around the corner, Sansuyu. Don’t bother with trivial things.”

As the blade pierced her abdomen, a clear, straight chest line was revealed.

Tears welled up in Sansuyu’s eyes, perhaps from the pain.

“It’s not trivial. Why… it’s not trivial at all.”

“Sansuyu.”

“Lies… you promised.”

Overflowing tears began to soak the floor beyond the bed.

Her eyes, reacting to her shattered mind, lost their light.

A heart broken beyond repair. She had reached a point where she could no longer judge anything beyond her emotions.

Her abdomen was opened. Blood soaked into the green cloth.

Sansuyu murmured weakly.

“Mother too. Father-”

Her skin and eyes darkened like ink spreading.

Rough carapaces sprouted from both hands.

Sharp, thorn-like branches broke the blades held by the researchers.

“Ugh!”

“Lord…”

“Administer the sedative.”

San Hyukwon replied softly to the researchers’ voices.

Administering the drug in her already over-limit state clearly defined the end.

She would either become a worse invalid or her body would melt and die.

Either way, the Sansuyu they knew would be gone.

However, none of the researchers dared to stop San Hyukwon’s actions.

With the family’s destruction imminent, they didn’t care if they died as long as they achieved the Biwon.

At San Hyukwon’s gesture, Sansuyu’s carapace slowly melted.

Moreover, even her skin.

-BANG!!!!

The ear-splitting ringing occurred then.

Fabrics clung to a man who approached, limping.

Scattered ashes and petals clung to his body, covering his wounds.

His outward-bent arm returned to its place.

His right ear, where the earlobe seemed to have been cut off, quickly regenerated to its original form.

-Whoosh!

Black petals poured down like a rainstorm from behind him.

The petals, dividing as if they had their own consciousness, entered the surrounding computers and chairs, turning the area into a mud bath.

The lights flickered and went out.

Lee Shiheon’s body, refracted by the light, split into three pieces.

“…Found you.”

As soon as one researcher rushed towards him with a sword, Lee Shiheon’s neck twisted towards him.

“Guh, ack! Aaaagh!”

Lee Shiheon’s hand forcefully pressed down on the man’s face.

“Wait, just a moment… aaaagh!”

At the series of gruesome groans, several researchers dropped their blades.

-Clang, clatter.

It was unclear whether the object that fell to the floor was the sword of the man just killed by Lee Shiheon, or the scalpel that had tormented Sansuyu.

The researcher, trembling and trying to escape, stopped moving.

The man’s body, enveloped in dense petals, disappeared as if gnawed by rats.

-Drip, drip.

Black spots followed the oily, sticky black water.

“You…”

“……”

Gray eyes lightly scanned Sansuyu’s complexion.

Lee Shiheon, showing no emotion, prepared to move.

“Move her aside and open her abdomen.”

“But, Lord.”

“Immediately.”

At San Hyukwon’s command, the researchers silently bowed.

Lee Shiheon’s muscles twitched at the sight of them dragging Sansuyu away.

“Ha.”

Lee Shiheon’s white breath clung to the cold skin.

“Meddling in family matters.”

“……”

“Did you come to kill me?”

“I have no interest in your head.”

“Hmm… so you’re the one Seong Jiho contacted. You’re more pathetic than I thought.”

He was agitated. He was more agitated than imagined.

San Hyukwon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

-Thump!

The floor, designed to withstand impacts that even strong hunters would struggle to create, shattered instantly, and Lee Shiheon’s figure vanished.

The chilling murderous intent was felt right behind him.

San Hyukwon’s body tilted, blocking Lee Shiheon’s strike.

【 Black Path · Modification 】

-Crack!

The skin of his wrist, connected to his palm, split, and broken bones pierced his muscles.

Black spots spread across his entire arm.

A power that prevents the opponent from using mana.

‘This is that human’s-’

Cheonma. Baekdo.

The power used by those martial arts people.

He knew he was Baekdo’s disciple, but he had already reached this level.

【 Black Path · Modification · Waterwheel 】

One rotation.

The long, connected black flowers of the Peach Tree formed a uniform band, rotating in a circle following his movements.

His grotesquely bent heel struck San Hyukwon’s arm, and the petals clung to San Hyukwon’s body.

His pushed-away body slammed into the door far away.

-Crash!

The wall shattered, and fragments flew.

San Hyukwon, immediately dispersing the rising dust, replaced his arms with arboreal ones and faced the approaching Lee Shiheon.

The sole of his foot approached his face.

Two rotations.

San Hyukwon’s head was embedded in the wall.

The spots on his body began to increase each time he used martial arts.

The speed and power multiplied with each use.

Like fallen petals slowly flowing in the stream, reflecting the moonlight on the lake.

Lee Shiheon lunged at San Hyukwon with his creaking body, like rusty wooden wheels.

Three rotations.

San Hyukwon grabbed his leg.

“…!”

He didn’t give him time to react.

【 Black Path · Mallet 】

San Hyukwon was forced to release his grip on the leg, due to a kick delivered to his other leg on a slanted angle.

The fierce battle entered a lull.

Lee Shiheon, standing in his place, leaving a trail along the axis, coughed up blood.

“……”

The black spots that covered San Hyukwon’s entire body gradually disappeared, absorbed into his body.

A power that absorbs mana, like Sansuyu’s.

His muscles suddenly swelled, and immense power burst out from his skin.

From the long branches to the smaller ones, bright yellow flowers bloomed symmetrically along the branches that sprouted from his shoulders.

Hunter Association. 10 years ago, provisional 34th ranking.

Cornus Family Head, San Hyukwon.

His pupils dilated, and red pigment settled on the whites of his eyes.

“The eternal will of the family… continues with this.”

“……”

“For eternity-”

The long branches extending from his hand took the form of a sword.

San Hyukwon’s body leaned forward and poured down towards Lee Shiheon.

Stone Jujube, Sichuan Jujube, to Sichuan Mountain Jujube. Including Meat Jujube and Red Jujube Peel.

Sometimes long, sometimes shallow.

Large and shallow wounds were inflicted by the continuous sword techniques.

A hole was pierced in Lee Shiheon’s arm by the shockwave caused by the afterimages.

【 Liberation 】

The surrounding air plummeted to the ground in an instant.

【 Wild Greens Yellow · Spring Golden Flower 】

The floor sank like the surface of a lake. The black Peach Tree flowers slowly faded amidst the changes in space that bubbled up like the green of a swamp.

Yellow paint was applied with each step.

The dark green and yellow mixed, creating an unsettling color that broke the rhythm.

Despite being enclosed, a swirling cold wind blew.

All nearby substances gradually lost their light.

A cracked voice escaped San Hyukwon’s lips.

“Don’t look back, Lee Shiheon. Do you think you can extract Sansuyu intact without facing me?”

“……”

Normally, spatial magic could not be activated.

Because the artifact blurred the coordinates.

However, just moments ago, the coordinates were temporarily released when the electricity and the artifact’s mana were disrupted, allowing only Lee Shiheon, who was inside, to use spatial magic.

Lee Shiheon’s face, who had been watching for an opportunity, was filled with a vicious emotion.

“I will extract and transplant her heart.”

“……”

Lee Shiheon’s eyelids fluttered at San Hyukwon’s provocative taunts.

“It’s fortunate. The experiment almost failed.”

Surprisingly, Sansuyu endured very well.

Half of the experiment on her body was successful, and only the transplant remained.

That alone fulfilled the family’s reason for existence.

Only that.

It was the Cornus family’s destiny, which had to be achieved even if all the accumulated wealth and bloodline were to disappear.

“Immortality will be achieved.”

Surprisingly, San Hyukwon, who had gone through the liberation stage, was close to human form.

Only arboreal carapaces were draped over him like armor in places. His appearance itself was that of a splendid swordsman.

San Hyukwon had also reached the semi-immortal stage.

His red-tinged eyes were filled with madness.

“Beyond the realm. Before the king and Cheonma… those two beings.”

As his voice, filled with longing, carried pressure, Lee Shiheon’s head lowered.

-Crack!

Stone fragments rose from the floor.

As if gravity had disappeared, all objects floated in the air, and only Lee Shiheon and San Hyukwon glared at each other on the swamp.

“Hiss.”

Lee Shiheon, holding his breath, extended both hands. The number of black spots on his face gradually increased, and he entered a state of full readiness.

It was a death match.

Sansuyu’s face flashed past.

I had tried to brace myself for the shock to some extent, but Sansuyu’s incomprehensibly twisted body was too much to bear.

Why did they go so far to achieve the family’s long-cherished wish?

Were such orders really engraved in the bodies of the family members?

-Slice!

Reacting to the speed that was difficult to follow, both arms twitched.

Cut flesh fell to the floor, and a chaotic bloodbath ensued with San Hyukwon’s movements.

Three rotations.

The Black Path’s petals, once defeated by the swamp’s suppression, revived and began to rotate relentlessly.

The ultimate technique of Cheonma Divine Art was the basic form.

Like Baekdo, I had to adapt and apply it in a form that suited me.

The movement of the instep flowed like water.

San Hyukwon’s body tilted along the slowly moving rusty wheel, as if the flow of transparent water was pressing down on the wooden wheel.

The opponent was being pressed down. His fluctuating body was a pestle.

San Hyukwon, lifted into the air and brought down, was slammed into the floor.

‘Four rotations.’

I persistently read his movements. An opponent who could be superior to me in physical ability and judgment.

I read the muscle movements visible on the surface of his clothes in advance and relentlessly aimed at those areas.

-Bang!

San Hyukwon’s face was dented by the shockwave that occurred.

Even though his popped-out eyes rolled on the floor, his face showed no distortion.

-Slice!

His body, bones and muscles alike, was cut off in a moment’s sword strike.

Blood gushed out from his lips, split down the center.

‘Five-’

He wielded increasingly greater and faster power.

A technique that reached the extreme of subtlety.

-Snap!

An ominous sound was heard as the sword grazed.

His head was shattered, and his skull was misaligned.

Grinding his teeth, he forced regeneration and extended his fist forward.

‘-Rotations.’

The green swamp turned red.

Ripples formed in the water with each step.

-Crash!

Both figures collapsed onto the floor simultaneously.

They immediately regenerated and lunged at each other.

A crimson afterimage flashed in their eyes.

‘Stubbornly.’

If there was an opponent stronger than me, it would be in stamina.

San Hyukwon’s body, which absorbed the opponent’s mana, showed no signs of fatigue.

When even the emitted demonic energy was nullified, my grip loosened in a moment of despair.

However, I was confident in my stamina, so I charged without hesitation.

“Kuh…”

I forcefully pushed through the smile that bloomed on Hyukwon’s lips.

‘Read it.’

If I just fought, my flexible body would react to the rest.

I trained for this. I honed my perception.

From the deltoid to the pectoralis major, and the scapular muscles behind it.

The pronator teres and the wrist. Even the slightest movement of the fingers.

If I couldn’t see, I would use mana to discern and read the opponent’s movements in advance.

If I lacked strength, I would use stamina.

If I lacked stamina, I would use sheer will.

My body, spread out and exhausted, and my dantian, on the verge of breaking.

A cluster of bright yellow light emanated from San Hyukwon’s sword.

He was coming.

I burned my body’s demonic energy to an unprecedented degree. When I applied the authority of fortification, something dark red bloomed, viscous and thick.

As the black spots began to run rampant, my skin decayed and rotted.

‘Six rotations.’

The water rippled. The following kick violently pushed San Hyukwon’s body away.

“Kah, haa… hup!”

My mind technique reached its limit. My opponent’s lips parted and whispered to me.

“…Real Jujube Tree.”

An invisible sword strike was coming towards me.

I slowly unfolded the martial art I had been memorizing for a long time.

My entire body was deteriorating at a speed that even the authority of healing could not handle.

“Seven.”

【 Cheonma Divine Art · Black 】

I briefly shed it.

【 Seventh Form Heavenly Peach 】

The resulting resonance blocked my hearing.

The flashing light cluster stole my sight, and the intense spirit made me forget the pain from my twisted limbs.

Following the momentary flash and boom, the explosion incinerated the room.

I moved backward as soon as my body returned, without even looking back at San Hyukwon.

I continued to cough up blood, but I could move.

Wait.

I repaired my severed ankle. I tried to stand up but fell, and then I raised my body again.

My eyes had not yet returned, but a small amount of remaining mana replaced my sight.

I had no intention of seeing this through to the end from the beginning.

In that brief moment, just before San Hyukwon absorbed my mana and moved again.

I kicked down the door with the mana I squeezed out of my body and stormed into the laboratory.

The magic I unleashed with one hand swept through the surroundings.

-Lee… Shiheon!!

An enraged voice was heard.

I ignored it and moved my body.

My business was finished if I took Sansuyu.

With both me and San Hyukwon in a near-dead state, it was a battle where the one who moved first after expending everything would win.