Ch.134134. Ways of Mourning

After the battle resumed, Sunhwa never got close to the Master.

‘It’s dangerous to clash directly with that sword.’

Thinking coldly, she wasn’t even permitted to match swords with the Master.

The sharpness of the blade, the Master’s strength, the difference in technique.

In every aspect, she fell short of the Master.

Yet the battle remained viable thanks to her overwhelming reach advantage.

‘The legs.’

Her scabbard gleamed as she drew her sword, aiming for the Master’s ankle.

While the Master blocked the attack, she withdrew her sword and created distance again.

She calmly responded to the Master, continuing her lonely and precarious battle.

The Master, pursuing her, provoked her anxiety.

“Are you alright? Your brother doesn’t seem to have much time left.”

She didn’t answer.

She simply swung her sword, maintaining the same expressionless face she’d worn since the battle began.

‘She’s composed.’

For someone facing the person who cut down her brother, she was unusually calm.

While the Master found this strange, she suddenly spoke.

“Come to think of it, I wanted to be a hero.”

“?”

Momentarily confused by her sudden confession, the Master continued attacking without showing interest.

She maintained her distance from the Master and continued speaking.

“I never wanted to kill people with my sword. I wanted to protect them.”

“At first, I wanted to protect my family. Then, more ambitiously, I wanted to protect Joseon’s peace.”

“But I thought the military was corrupt and far from my ideals. So I decided to become a Sword Circle member. Like a righteous outlaw.”

“I was naive. Looking back now, what I’ve done was closer to being a murderer than a righteous outlaw.”

Unable to listen to her confession any longer, the Master spoke.

“Are you denying your past now?”

“No. I neither deny nor regret it. How many people in the eight provinces of Joseon actually get to pursue their desired path and achieve their ideals?”

“Then why bring this up now?”

“Resolve.”

“?”

“Honestly, I’m scared right now. Scared that I might die by your hand. And scared that Sunwoo might die. But more than that, I felt I needed to tell you directly why I must stop you.”

She, who had been repeatedly sheathing and drawing her sword, now faced the Master without sheathing it again.

Gripping her sword with both hands in a textbook stance, she said,

“I may not be a hero, but can’t I at least pretend to be one in this moment?”

“What are you talking about…”

“And there’s one thing you’re mistaken about.”

“?”

“I didn’t start talking to address you.”

“!!!”

At that moment, the Master turned his head, sensing killing intent rising up his spine.

In that direction, Sunwoo had silently risen, blood pouring from his stomach as he swung his sword toward the Master.

“Hnngh!”

Sunwoo swung his sword with a battle cry, enduring the pain.

In the Master’s slowed perception, Sunwoo’s sword was about to reach him.

Too late to block.

But the Master still had a card to play.

“Nice try.”

The Master offered his right arm to Sunwoo’s approaching sword.

Not a sword, but an arm bristling with metal fragments like a porcupine.

Sunwoo’s sword swung toward the Master’s right wrist and…

Passed right through it.

“!?”

The Master was bewildered.

Instinctively, he turned to assess the situation.

He saw Sunwoo still lying where he had fallen, raising his middle finger toward him, and realized he had been tricked.

‘A phantom!’

Once again, he sensed killing intent from behind.

This time, he didn’t need to see who it belonged to.

But his right arm had already been swung to block Sunwoo’s phantom.

Too late to bring it back for defense, he swung his left-hand sword.

‘Defense is difficult.’

Defending against her sword with his own was not a wise idea.

His sword wasn’t specially reinforced like a yoto, so it would clearly break and be cut.

Therefore, instead of blocking her sword, he chose to cut faster than she could, using his sword’s agility.

The Master quickly composed himself and swung his left-hand sword.

And once again, his strike passed through Sunhwa’s hologram.

‘Damn it!’

Fooled twice.

On the right by Sunwoo’s phantom, on the left by Sunhwa’s.

‘Then where is the real one… Above!’

The Master looked up.

Sunhwa was falling toward him, swinging her sword with enough force to cut his body in half.

‘Damn it!’

The Master hurriedly tried to defend with his left-hand sword.

The sword would break, but at least it would buy time to reposition his right arm.

Seeing the Master’s reaction, Sunhwa smiled triumphantly and twisted her waist slightly.

As she moved aside, the rising morning sun struck the Master’s eyes directly.

After being fooled three times, he felt more admiration than confusion or irritation.

‘When did she grow this much…’

Meanwhile, Sunhwa prepared her drawing technique at a safe distance, wary of any final desperate attack from the Master.

The Master closed his sightless eyes and released his grip on his left-hand sword.

“So revenge is complete…”

Sunhwa bowed slightly to her master who was murmuring quietly, showing respect, and made her scabbard gleam.

“Void Slash.”

Swish.

The Master’s head flew into the air.

Clang.

The Master’s sword fell from his left hand a moment later.

Before his head hit the ground, somehow the Master’s head moved its lips.

“That sword is now yours.”

Sunhwa bowed once more to the head.

After that, the Master’s voice was heard no more.

The morning sun rose.

In the middle of the destroyed shrine.

The expression of the condemned criminal with closed eyes was infinitely peaceful.

*

After beheading the criminal, she hurried back to her brother.

“Sunwoo, are you okay?!”

Sunwoo shook his head weakly.

Instead of answering, he sent Morse code through the signal device linked with her.

[Call an ambulance.]

“I already did.”

She said while examining her brother’s condition.

Fortunately, his arteries, nerves, and internal organs were all intact.

“Only the abdominal wall is torn. You’ll bleed a lot, but you won’t die.”

What kind of reassurance is that?

Sunwoo’s gaze fixed on her as if protesting.

She smiled bitterly and covered the wound with clothing.

Though infection was a concern, she had to contain the spilling intestines first, or he’d be having a one-on-one interview with the Grim Reaper before infection became an issue.

“Just hang on a little longer. Soon…”

At that moment, an urgent signal from Sunwoo arrived on her device.

[Sister, dodge!]

As soon as she heard the warning, she grabbed her brother and rolled to the side.

She barely avoided a sword strike from behind.

A dark afterimage lingered where the sword had passed.

She saw who had swung the sword.

The Master’s headless body was holding a sword, swaying unsteadily.

‘A jiangshi?’

That was all she could think of.

If this were the West, one might think of a dullahan.

But even that didn’t fully explain the Master’s condition.

Crunch.

The black eyes that had sprouted on the Master’s right arm stared at her.

And the lips that had sprouted all over his arm began to speak in chorus, each with a different voice.

[The sun is too bright.]

[Ah, it’s so bright I can’t sleep-!]

What started as an old man’s voice changed to a child’s complaint,

[You all- take up the sword.]

[I-we] [have come] [to this land-]

[Together, we shall become a sword that cuts even gods!!]

Then mixed into indistinguishable voices that shouted almost like wailing.

[The sword!] [The sword!] [The sword!]

[Cut!] [Devour!] [My body!] [Will be consecrated with blood!]

Gradually, the sentences uttered by the right arm began to transcend normal sentences and even human language.

“What is that thing…”

Sunhwa raised her sword in horror.

“What should we call it…”

Sunwoo, who overheard her muttering, answered in Morse code.

[Wriggler]

Laughing slightly, she named the monster “Wriggler.”

She faced the Wriggler and set Sunwoo down a short distance away.

“Sunwoo. Sorry, but can you crawl to a safe place by yourself? People will be here soon.”

Sunwoo nodded with difficulty.

He began to move away from the scene, sweating coldly.

Admiring her brother’s formidable mental strength, she focused on the Wriggler.

‘Void Slash.’

She began with her signature drawing technique.

The Wriggler didn’t seem to inherit the Master’s swordsmanship, as it couldn’t even react before being cut.

But the result was completely different from when she cut the Master.

‘It’s regenerating?’

Unlike the Master, black liquid immediately filled the wound, closing it.

Moreover, the cut wasn’t even that deep.

‘What is this thing?’

She had never seen or faced anything like it.

If she had to guess, it was something one might see in a dungeon, according to what she’d heard from other colleagues.

‘Dungeonization?’

Such a term came to mind, but even that didn’t fully explain the situation.

All she knew was that drawing techniques were useless against this Wriggler.

She picked up the sword the Master had left behind.

‘It’s been a while.’

Originally, her swordsmanship was the same as the Master’s.

A tachi for defense and a katana for offense.

She knew how to use both.

She had only been using a single tachi to handle her family’s magical engravings, but her fundamental swordsmanship was this style.

She faced the Wriggler, recalling the familiar sensation.

Soon, the sword dance between the two began.

The Wriggler’s sword dance was not human at all.

As if actively emphasizing that the right hand was the main body, the torso swayed as if being controlled by the right arm.

Her movements against it were similar to her master’s yet different.

Using the tachi as a shield and the katana as a spear to target vital points was her master’s style.

But her footwork now followed that of a certain young man.

Swish.

Following Amon’s footwork, she realized something.

‘This isn’t footwork designed for fighting people.’

It wasn’t designed for ordinary human combat, but for facing monsters of any form.

She understood what kind of battles he had been fighting.

She adjusted her movements in real-time and cut away at the Wriggler’s flesh.

Each time her sword wounded the Wriggler, black liquid splattered on the ground.

Tentacles sprouted from the splattered liquid, aiming for her ankles.

Though this narrowed her foothold, she didn’t panic and secured space by kicking off pillars.

‘He also climbed trees like a ninja.’

Who would have thought she’d understand his mindset through footwork?

She barely suppressed a laugh that threatened to escape.

But contrary to her calm interior, her situation wasn’t very optimistic.

After all, not a single one of her attacks had landed an effective hit since the battle began.

As this situation continued, she began to grow anxious.

Perhaps because of this, she failed to react to tentacles extending from a pillar.

While her ankle was caught by tentacles, the Wriggler’s right arm extended and swung its sword at her.

‘Damn it.’

She inserted her sword into the path of the Wriggler’s swing.

But no impact was transmitted to her sword.

Clang!

A man in priest’s clothing suddenly intervened, blocking the tachi with his double-edged sword.

After parrying the sword and throwing another to block the Wriggler’s movement, the man in priest’s clothing turned to Sunhwa with a smile.

“Perfect timing, right?”

“You’re a bit late.”

She answered with a smile on her exhausted face.

*

‘Mother of God, what is this?’

When Amon arrived at the shrine, he saw Sunhwa facing off against a swordsman whose right arm had transformed into a black mass.

‘This is truly something I’ve never seen before.’

He hadn’t seen anything like this even in the second part where battles with Outers were the main focus.

‘Judging by the tentacles and black blood, it must be an Outer.’

In terms of variety, they were even more diverse than Goetia’s 72 demons.

It wasn’t particularly strange that they looked different each time.

‘So, that Gamigin guy passed this black excrement to the Master?’

Somehow, he understood why.

Even a demon would feel strange having something like that inside its body.

Amon stopped his thoughts there and put into action what he needed to do.

“You look like you’re in a lot of pain.”

He first approached Sunwoo, who was crawling away from the battlefield.

“Do you need help?”

Sunwoo nodded weakly, sweating coldly.

That was his last action before losing consciousness.

Amon checked in alarm, putting a finger to his nose.

Fortunately, he was still breathing normally.

Relieved, Amon carefully moved him to the aid station, making sure his intestines didn’t spill from his split abdomen.

‘He must have had more than just Implant surgery.’

Perhaps he had undergone gene modification.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for him to still be alive with his abdomen split open.

Amon applauded Sunwoo’s remarkable vitality and returned to Sunhwa.

“Perfect timing, right?”

“You’re a bit late.”

While exchanging such idle talk, she noticed something unusual about the sword stuck in the Wriggler.

“Hey, how did you do that?”

“Why are you acting like you’ve never seen it before?”

“That’s not it. This creature regenerates wounds. But your thrown sword…”

“It’s always been like that. Since long ago… huh?”

Amon finally noticed something strange.

Come to think of it, the false saint replica he first faced was similar.

As if surprised that wounds from him didn’t regenerate,

or rather, surprised that his attacks penetrated without resistance.

‘Could it be…’

A hypothesis formed in Amon’s mind.

He wanted to test this assumption and asked Sunhwa.

“Ms. Sunhwa. Could you do me a favor?”

“Will it help defeat that thing?”

Amon nodded, half-convinced.

She accepted and moved according to Amon’s request.

“I can only give you a few seconds.”

“That’s enough.”

She rushed toward the black Wriggler.

Somehow recognizing her despite having no head, the Wriggler swung its tachi.

Though there was no swordsmanship finesse, just simple swinging, the combination of the terrifyingly sharp blade and brute strength was not to be underestimated.

Until now, Sunhwa had been barely avoiding that sword, but this time she gritted her teeth and blocked the strike.

Crack.

Whether it was the sound of her sword being shaved away or the ground beneath her being dragged was unclear.

One thing was certain: she couldn’t do this twice.

By the time one of her arms was broken and her soles were tattered, she managed to block the Wriggler’s attack.

“Now!”

At her shout, Amon skipped the thanks and approached the black Wriggler.

He inserted his sword into the armpit of the Wriggler’s right arm and slashed upward.

Splash!

The Wriggler was cut without resistance, spraying black liquid.

Though faceless, the Wriggler seemed considerably surprised.

Looking at the severed arm flying through the air, Amon confirmed one fact.

‘I am…’

Meanwhile, the black Wriggler swung its remaining left arm like a water pipe.

Amon didn’t dodge the attack.

An attack made in confusion and blindly wouldn’t reach him anyway.

Amon avoided the left hand and swung his sword once more along a line only visible to him.

With a smooth cutting sound, the left arm fell off.

However, unlike the right arm, this one felt like it was cut with some force at the end.

This gave Amon even more confidence.

The black Wriggler, having lost both arms, began convulsing and spraying black blood everywhere.

Amon cut the tentacles sprouting from the blood and returned to Sunhwa.

“Ms. Sunhwa. Can you swing a sword?”

Sunhwa shook her head.

“Sorry, my arm is like this.”

“This is troublesome…”

“You were cutting just fine without me earlier. Why now?”

“There might be a misunderstanding, but I think you’re better at cutting flesh.”

“What? What do you mean? Eek! Hey! Wait a minute!”

Amon interrupted his explanation and picked her up in a princess carry to avoid danger.

Boom!

Black tentacles struck the spot where they had just been.

The tentacles were extending from the cross-section of the Wriggler that Amon had cut.

“Seriously, how many times is it going to transform?!”

Ignoring her disgust, Amon briefly explained the situation.

“I can only easily cut the parts that you’ve cut. As you can see, the left arm you cut, I could only easily cut the parts where the wound was sealed with black liquid. The uncut flesh parts are strangely solid.”

“What’s the principle behind it?”

“That black liquid is the essence, while bones and flesh are physical.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but I get the gist. I need to attack, right?”

“Yes. So about that…”

Amon explained his strategy while avoiding tentacles.

After the explanation, she grimaced again.

“Are you crazy?”

“Just close your eyes once and do it.”

“Hey! It’s embarrassing!”

“Better than getting hit by tentacles and dipping your feet in the Jordan River!”

“Fine! Fine!”

Reluctantly accepting Amon’s demand, she secured her scabbard as a splint for her broken arm and climbed onto Amon’s back.

Then, with her relatively intact right arm, she drew her tachi,

Slash.

She cut the human part of the black Wriggler.

The wound was quickly repaired with black liquid, but when Amon cut that black liquid, it didn’t regenerate again.

As she continued cutting the Wriggler and Amon cut the black liquid, Amon’s smile deepened.

‘I can see it.’

The essence of that black Wriggler.

The ugly intruder behind it.

‘I can catch it.’

Its true form.

‘I understand.’

My essence.

Until now, he had considered his ability to be something like healing prevention.

When he manifested his eye ability, he vaguely guessed it was a snail’s ability.

But it was neither.

His essence wasn’t a minor ability like healing prevention, and his eyes were a power he originally possessed.

His ability wasn’t as flashy as Sonia’s or as intense as Kathy’s.

Perhaps against humans, it was quite modest.

That’s because his ability was…

‘The ability to directly attack essence.’

In game terms, it’s an ability that ignores special defense and deals fixed damage.

It might sound overpowered at first, but it’s surprisingly not very meaningful against people.

Human flesh gets cut when touched by a sword anyway, and his ability can’t penetrate physical hardness enhanced by implants.

But against entities like the false saint, demons, or black Wrigglers, it’s a different story.

Unlike humans who fight with various techniques and equipment, they fight arrogantly, relying on their characteristics.

They offer their bodies trusting in regeneration, or charge recklessly trusting in their size.

Against such opponents, Amon’s ability was their natural enemy.

‘Because I bring them down to my level.’

Whether demons, Outers, or dungeon bosses.

If they weren’t physically hardened, he was practically their natural enemy.

In a way, it was an ability that treated them like humans.

That was Amon’s ability.

While thinking this, the black Wriggler completely lost its human shell and revealed itself to the world.

[Ng’haa fhtagn hlirgh! Goka, noga, h’ilyaa! Zilth’ur, ymg’ah, fhtagn! Iä! Iä! Ny’ghaa shugg fhtagn!]

The black tentacles shouted something, but Amon ignored it and began his final attack.

“Hold tight.”

After instructing Sunhwa on his back, Amon leaped into the center of the black tentacles.

Climbing the tentacles as if climbing trees, he began to chant.

[Holy, holy, holy.]

[He rules, and the people tremble; He sits enthroned, and the earth shakes.]

[He establishes justice, and righteousness lives]

[Fear and praise, for that is holiness.]

Sunhwa’s translator converted Amon’s Latin.

Normally uninterested in religion, even she had to admit in this moment.

The warm energy filling this space could only be described as a divine miracle.

The black Wriggler, having shed its shell, attacked to stop Amon.

But having lost its physical form and exposed its essence, the tentacles could be cut by Amon without effort.

Finally, the mass of tentacles screamed at Amon.

[Ng’haa fhtagn!]

Though the meaning was unknown, it was certainly not friendly.

Finally, Amon’s magic was completed.

“<Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. Madre.>”

As the incantation ended, stakes fell from the sky.

Humans felt holiness from those stakes, but the black tentacles impaled on them had a different impression.

[kee!!!!]

The Outer thrashed its tentacles in pain.

But chains extending from the stakes fixed those tentacles to the ground, and white cracks began to appear on the surface.

The white cracks soon tore open the earth,

“Amen.”

“Eh? That’s my line.”

With Sunhwa’s final words, stealing Amon’s line, the Outer was sucked below ground.

Boom.

And the earth that swallowed the Outer closed again as if nothing had happened.

Thus, the Gyeongbok Palace attack incident truly came to an end.