Ch.140Chapter 140 – Master (4)

Hellflame, 9th Circle Grand Magic.

A flame comparable to hellfire blazed in Behemdorf’s palm. Though it took the form of fire, it was fundamentally different. In the hands of an archmage capable of controlling mana down to the atomic level, matter decomposed into plasma, and the destabilized particles spread like a plague, ionizing atoms in the surrounding area.

This phenomenon was named Hellflame because it resembled the infernal flames that disintegrate everything. The phenomenon of “annihilation” manifested through magic was released from Behemdorf’s fingertips.

“Hellfire against mine? How amusing.”

As the Emperor extended his hand, streams of blood surrounding him shot out like water cannons, intercepting Behemdorf’s magic. Ordinary blood would have instantly burned away before hellfire, but this torrent of blood swirled and bound the plasma beam like a vortex.

“Kuk!”

The sensation of losing control. Behemdorf recognized the Emperor’s technique. Just as Behemdorf maintained plasma through his remarkable mana control, the Emperor was using blood flow as a medium to interfere with the plasma, attempting to scatter Behemdorf’s mana.

“You didn’t think I spent three hundred years merely playing around, did you?”

Unlike Behemdorf, who was sweating profusely in concentration, the Emperor calmly maintained one hand manipulating the blood flow while swinging his other hand. Following his conductor-like movements, the blood coalesced into sharp spikes and shot forward at lightning speed.

In that moment, Kwak Tae-woo moved. He instantly equipped his armor-type artifact that enhanced physical abilities and pulled out his beloved weapon from subspace.

“Arondight!”

The energy-cutting sword gripped in Kwak Tae-woo’s hand. The blade sliced through the air twice, and the approaching blood spikes lost their power, scattering as ordinary blood.

“Forcibly cutting off blood flow control? What a troublesome artifact.”

Kwak Tae-woo made no reply to the Emperor’s complaint and immediately targeted his heart. The source of magical energy. Due to the aftereffects of the seal, the Emperor’s chest was sunken in, clearly revealing the black, pulsating heart beneath.

‘If I can just burst that…!’

“Your intention is painfully obvious, outsider.”

Clang.

Kwak Tae-woo’s steadily advancing sword suddenly stopped. Not of his own volition. Someone’s blade had intercepted him. The Emperor was busy struggling with Behemdorf, so who could it be?

“Excellent swordsmanship. You had a good master.”

A familiar sword shape. Kwak Tae-woo’s gaze traveled up the blade that had blocked his attack.

“Lord Frederick…! Why are you—!”

“Unlike those useless wretches lying there, he seemed quite useful. So I personally made him my subordinate. Outsider, you deal with him. Until I finish my business with Behemdorf.”

The eyes of Lord Frederick, who once guided Kwak Tae-woo with warm gazes, were now clouded under the Emperor’s control. Transformed into a vampire lord’s servant, Lord Frederick no longer recognized his former disciple and simply swung his sword at his master’s command.

“Shit!”

His swordsmanship remained terrifying even as a vampire. Perhaps because the hasty transformation hadn’t completely eroded his self-awareness, Lord Frederick swung his sword with straightforward precision like a mindless puppet.

Yet the sword techniques honed over decades remained frighteningly sharp even in his unconscious state. Kwak Tae-woo struggled to block his master’s flowing combination attacks.

‘Damn it…! I need to defeat Lord Frederick quickly and help Behemdorf!’

Fortunately, thanks to their past sparring sessions, Kwak Tae-woo could predict and deflect Lord Frederick’s sword patterns. Simultaneously, he recalled what he had learned from his master—how to counter such attacks. And that’s what he did.

From a binding stance where they were testing each other’s strength, Kwak Tae-woo pressed his master’s sword downward from the inside, just as he had been taught. A textbook-perfect counter. The plan was to bind the opponent’s sword downward and then strike at the neck. However, Lord Frederick reacted more nimbly than Kwak Tae-woo anticipated.

‘Huh.’

The moment Kwak Tae-woo’s pressing force reached its critical point, his master suddenly released the tension in his sword. Like a tug-of-war where one side abruptly lets go, the natural result was a loss of balance for the one still exerting force.

Contrary to his intention to pressure Lord Frederick’s sword, Kwak Tae-woo himself lost balance and staggered. The thirty-year veteran Sword Master didn’t miss this opportunity.

A terrifyingly refined sword technique aimed straight for the staggering Kwak Tae-woo’s neck. This was not an attack that could be evaded by ordinary means. Therefore, it required an extraordinary method to avoid it.

From beneath the forward-tilting Kwak Tae-woo, a long staff materialized. An artifact that could freely extend its length, which Kwak Tae-woo had named Ruyi Jingu Bang. Following its master’s will, the staff rapidly extended, pushing Kwak Tae-woo’s body backward.

The sharp sword strike slid along the curved surface of his armor. Even though it was a glancing blow, the armor’s surface was cleanly sliced as if it were tofu.

Kwak Tae-woo had no time to worry about the damage to his artifact. While he was regaining his balance, consecutive sword strikes came rushing in. Kwak Tae-woo heightened his Sword Master senses, entering a black-and-white world where everything slowed down.

A world where objects lost their color and every movement was clearly imprinted in his mind. Along with the entire world, his opponent’s movements also slowed. Yet Kwak Tae-woo remained vigilant. His opponent was also a Sword Master. Lord Frederick’s clouded vision would likely perceive the same world.

‘But it’s fine. Lord Frederick is currently unconscious. His skill level is significantly lower than usual. If I can create an opening somehow…’

He clearly perceived Lord Frederick’s movements, which had become relatively slower than before. A chillingly clean trajectory. In a world where victory is determined by how disciplined and efficient one’s sword movements are, the efficiency honed over thirty years came crashing down on Kwak Tae-woo.

Attempting a direct counter here would result in a counterattack. Kwak Tae-woo positioned his sword at his center and firmly gripped his wrist. Then, slowly but precisely, he moved his sword to place its flat side against the approaching blade of Lord Frederick. Unlike the conventional binding stance where guard or middle sections meet, their blades touched side to side.

Through that contact surface, he sensed his opponent’s intention—which direction the sword would move next, where the attack would come from. Just before the taut force, like a drawn bowstring, was about to be released toward its target, Kwak Tae-woo twisted his wrist sharply.

With the twisted blade, his opponent’s sword path also distorted. The strike aimed at his neck shot off in an unexpected direction. Lord Frederick’s posture, moving with the sword, momentarily lost balance and awkwardly collapsed.

Kwak Tae-woo thrust himself into that wide-open stance. The Sword Master’s response was quick. Abandoning the cumbersome sword, an iron-gauntleted hand came down to crush Kwak Tae-woo.

In response, Kwak Tae-woo summoned another artifact.

‘Dragon’s Roar Dagger.’

An infrasonic blast erupted at close range, paralyzing Lord Frederick. In that brief moment of opportunity when the Sword Master froze, Kwak Tae-woo shoved a vial of holy water into his master’s mouth.

“Mmph! Mmmmph…”

As Lord Frederick consumed the holy water, the fog in his pupils cleared, and he collapsed. Kwak Tae-woo breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Thankfully, the holy water works because his vampirization wasn’t complete. He should regain consciousness soon. But more importantly…’

His moment of joy was brief as Kwak Tae-woo quickly turned his attention to the battle between the Emperor and the Prime Minister. A high-level magical battle was unfolding there, one that Kwak Tae-woo could not easily intervene in.

The combat had evolved beyond the initial contest between Hellflame and blood torrents, changing unpredictably with each passing moment.

The Emperor blocked Behemdorf’s ice shards with a cloak of blood, while Behemdorf defended against blood spikes erupting from the floor with snowflake-shaped barriers.

“Hahaha!! You exceed my expectations, Behemdorf! I acknowledge it! You truly surpass the mages of the old 12 Heroes!”

Intoxicated by the heat of battle after a long time, the Emperor let out a maniacal laugh as he wielded his blood magic. Blood was forcibly extracted from the corpses of the holy knights, creating a blood storm in the room. The blood wind thoroughly soaked Behemdorf’s robe, and each droplet of blood cut like a knife-edge, tearing flesh and creating wounds as it grazed his cheeks.

Behemdorf deployed a spell to counter the storm.

“I command thee, let it be the hour when all things fall into slumber.”

The 9th Circle ice magic, Absolute Zero. The grand magic that forcibly freezes molecular movement poured out from Behemdorf and engulfed the blood storm. The blood streams within the range of the cold rapidly froze and, unable to bear their weight, fell to the ground.

Thus, the blood storm was completely transformed into harmless chunks of ice.

“It seems you’ve exhausted all your blood, Emperor.”

Managing his seething mana, Behemdorf glared at the Emperor. With that last attack, the Emperor had used up all his blood. With the powerful offensive weapon gone, Behemdorf watched the Emperor’s actions with a brighter expression than before.

However, the Emperor took no particular action and simply pointed at Behemdorf’s chest.

“Exhausted all my blood? Then what is that there?”

“What do you… *cough*”

Suddenly, blood spurted from Behemdorf’s mouth. Belatedly realizing his wound, Behemdorf checked it. The blood soaked into his robe had risen like thorns, piercing through his heart.

“I see… from the beginning, the storm was just a distraction…”

“Behemdorf!!”

Kwak Tae-woo quickly pulled out a potion and rushed to him, but it was already too late. Even a single wound was fatal to the Assassination King. Blood gushed like a spring from the wound as Behemdorf touched it. By the time Kwak Tae-woo reached Behemdorf, the Emperor’s blood magic had already extracted all the blood from his body.

“No, no!”

Kwak Tae-woo hurriedly poured the potion between the parched lips, but there was no way the potion could work when the digestive system had already stopped. Kwak Tae-woo’s hands, clutching Behemdorf’s corpse, trembled from the psychological shock.

Behemdorf’s death following Captain Marco’s. Two comrades had lost their lives to the vampire. Trauma rose like nausea. The guilt and helplessness of failing to protect a comrade before his eyes.

The Emperor swallowed Behemdorf’s extracted blood. His heart replenished with blood recovered the depleted magical energy.

“Blood of the highest quality, infused with concentrated mana.”

“Em-per-or!!”

“Ho, outsider. Your killing intent pierces the skin. After witnessing that battle, you still think you can face me? Learn to distinguish between courage and recklessness.”

Kwak Tae-woo pointed Arondight at the Emperor. Blue sword energy blazed above Arondight.

“Well… recklessness is the prerogative of the young.”

It wasn’t recklessness. Even in the midst of his fury, Kwak Tae-woo was calculating his chances. Despite the trauma being recreated, far from despairing and giving up, Kwak Tae-woo burned with fighting spirit against the Emperor. That twisted tenacity born from inferiority, sense of duty, and vengeance was Kwak Tae-woo’s greatest strength.

‘He’s in a weakened state right after being released from the seal, and as Behemdorf said, he’s used up all his blood, his weapon. He’s literally at his most vulnerable… If I retreat now and give him time to recover, the possibility of defeating him would approach zero.’

The Emperor guessed Kwak Tae-woo’s thoughts and burst into laughter.

“You think I can no longer use blood magic? True. As Behemdorf said, I’ve used almost all my blood casting large-scale blood spells.”

The Emperor scattered all his remaining blood into the air. The blood mixed with the atmosphere, forming a thick red mist throughout the room. From behind the mist, the fading silhouette hummed softly.

“But originally, I was not a mage, but an assassin.”