Ch.164Episode 33. The Evil Sky Begins to Move (9)

Yeonmuhui dodged the fist flying toward her face and swung her sword.

Swoosh!

‘Tch…! Too shallow.’

The tip of her sword dug into the priest’s chest, but because she had twisted her body in mid-air, she couldn’t cut through completely.

“Ugh…!”

“Huff. Stay still. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to kill you.”

Yeonmuhui said as she landed on the dirt ground. The sensation of stepping on the earth without shoes felt both refreshing and unpleasant.

“RAAAH!”

Yeonmuhui’s brow furrowed slightly at the beast-like howl. As soon as she realized her opponent had lost his reason, she sighed.

“Don’t blame me if you lose a limb.”

Though her breathing was becoming rougher due to the priest’s ferocity, she calmly readjusted her sword.

Thump!

The priest leaped off the ground and lunged at Yeonmuhui violently. Seeing him reach out with his mouth wide open, she swung her sword upward.

“Lotus Style – Flowing Heaven.”

Swoosh!

The sword’s tip dug into the priest’s forearm but failed to sever it completely.

‘Shallow again. He has no reason left, but is he instinctively understanding when he’s about to receive a fatal blow?’

How annoying…

Yeonmuhui observed the priest with narrowed eyes.

The wound on his chest had already stopped bleeding and was healing. His forearm quickly stopped bleeding and healed cleanly as well. Only traces of blood remained.

‘What is this recovery ability? Does he have healing powers like Yujin? If so—’

“Grrrr.”

The priest, now a monster, recognized that Yeonmuhui possessed formidable skills and instinctively became wary. But that wariness didn’t last long.

The pain like needles stabbing his entire body made him feel like he needed to destroy something to calm down.

“RAAAAH!!”

The priest charged again with another howl, and simultaneously, Yeonmuhui raised her sharp red sword aura.

‘—I need to give him no chance to recover.’

“Lotus Style – Red Flower Mist Dance”

Clang! Slash! Slash! Clang! Slash! Clang!

A flurry of attacks and defenses followed, almost too fast for the eye to follow.

Fist and blade collided, creating sparks and spraying blood and flesh everywhere.

“Gahk!”

Boom!

Yeonmuhui stopped her Red Flower Mist Dance midway and jumped backward to avoid the fist coming down on her.

“This bastard…!”

The priest couldn’t perfectly keep up with the consecutive strikes of the Red Flower Mist Dance, but he managed to deflect all potentially fatal attacks with his fists, preserving his life.

‘He’s much faster than I expected. If I hadn’t adapted to Yujin’s speed, I might have been in danger.’

She caught her breath while checking the condition of her blade. Fortunately, the blade wasn’t significantly damaged. After sighing in relief, she resumed her stance and remained vigilant.

‘What kind of hands are those? My sword couldn’t cut through them.’

“Grrrr…”

‘In that case, I have no choice but to deliver one decisive blow.’

Yeonmuhui quickly closed the distance with Lotus Flash, changed her grip, and chained into another skill.

“Lotus Style – Severing Cut.”

Slash!

The priest’s arm was completely severed as he reacted to Yeonmuhui’s approach, and it rolled onto the ground.

“Lotus Style – Severing Cut” was the most basic form of the Lotus Style, but its power was stronger than any other form.

“Got it!”

“GAAAAH!”

The priest, caught off guard by the skill combination, screamed while clutching his arm. Seizing the opportunity, Yeonmuhui twisted her waist greatly and swung her sword.

“Lotus Style – Rotating Wheel.”

Thunk!

The blade dug precisely into his side.

“Hnngh!”

Slash!

The sword embedded in his side cut through flesh, causing black blood to spurt from the wound.

“GAAACK!”

The priest screamed in pain and was bewildered that his arm wasn’t regenerating.

The perfectly severed forearm’s cross-section was affected by the same “space-cutting power” as the Lotus Dragon, rendering it unable to heal.

“Stay still. Or you’ll die.”

Yeonmuhui pointed her sword at the priest who was still trying to move despite spilling his internal organs. Blood continuously gushed from his severed forearm, soaking the dirt ground.

“Grrrr.”

“Mom! Please call the Hero Association. Tell them I’ve subdued a villain.”

Yeonmuhui spoke to Jin Subin while keeping her guard up against the priest. But there was one thing she overlooked.

“RAAAH!”

The priest was in no state to understand her words.

Ignoring his spilling organs and gushing blood, he charged at Yeonmuhui with a howl.

Reflexively, Yeonmuhui stepped back and thrust her sword toward his neck, but she hesitated for a moment at the thought of taking a life for the first time.

Clang—!

And that gave the priest an opening for a counterattack.

‘Damn! I lost my grip—’

Thud!

“Aagh!”

The priest’s extended fist struck her abdomen, crushing her internal organs.

The sudden pain was too much for her to bear as a hero aspirant.

Crash!

Blood gushed from her mouth as she was slammed against the wall.

“Kuhp…!”

“Muhui!!”

Jin Subin trembled as she saw Yeonmuhui pinned against the wall, unable to move.

‘I have to save her. I have to… At this rate, she’ll die…! I can’t let that happen! How…!’

Despite her confusion, she instinctively searched for a weapon. She soon noticed another sword in the bag Yeonmuhui had brought.

“RAAAH!!”

Seeing the priest charging toward Yeonmuhui, Jin Subin hesitated no longer.

She quickly grabbed the sword from the bag and took a stance.

‘Ah… A familiar feeling.’

Jin Subin used a technique she had used countless times during her hero days, one she had hoped never to use again.

“Sword Fire Style… ‘Flash’!!”

She quickly drew the sheathed sword, emitting a red sword aura. The spreading aura flew directly at the priest and struck him.

Boom!

The priest was pushed back by the force of the sword aura, crashing into the gate hard enough to dent it.

“Y-your opponent is here. Come here.”

She took a stance again with the sheathed sword.

Though she felt considerable fear and terror at facing a villain after so long, her expression wasn’t bad.

Rather, she felt relief in this tense situation.

The thought that this time she could protect her child instead of running away.

“RAAAH!”

The priest, having changed targets, charged toward Jin Subin.

Seeing this, Yeonmuhui desperately tried to get up, exerting all her strength.

“Kuhk…!”

However, the throbbing pain in her abdomen made it difficult. She crawled, barely managing to grasp her sword.

“Kup!”

Fresh blood poured from her mouth. Gritting her teeth until they nearly broke, she endured the pain and stood up.

“Huk…! No. Mom…”

Jin Subin swung her sword at the charging priest, but this time the sword aura cut through empty air. Before she could take a defensive stance after missing the attack opportunity, the priest extended his fist.

“Don’t touch my mom!!”

Yeonmuhui shouted and unconsciously activated a skill toward the priest.

“Lotus Style – Lotus Flash.”

* @ *

“You see, Lotus Flash is structurally similar to Lotus Single Flash at first glance.”

“Structurally similar?”

After training, Yujin gave advice to Yeonmuhui, as she only needed to master the final skill of the Lotus Style.

“They’re similar in that you move along a path at high speed. But there’s a clear difference between the two skills.”

“What difference?”

“Lotus Flash lays down numerous sword auras along the path.”

“Does that mean… you can fix sword auras in place?”

Yeonmuhui couldn’t imagine how the Lotus Flash technique worked.

Everyone knew that once a sword aura was released, it couldn’t be fixed in place. Even the Lotus Dragon, an expert on sword auras, couldn’t stop a sword aura once released.

“No. It means your movement is faster than the speed at which the sword aura flies. Like the Red Lotus Flower Flash.”

Like sword auras drawn in the air like flowers, pouring down all at once.

Yujin explained with examples, but Yeonmuhui could only tilt her head in confusion.

“Hmm. So… think of Lotus Flash as a technique created by mixing most of the Lotus Style skills.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Of course, to reach this level, you first need to improve your proficiency in the other Lotus Style techniques.”

“But.”

“Yes?”

“Why do you have to unnecessarily sheathe the sword after using the Lotus Flash technique?”

“That’s because…”

Yujin pretended to think about Yeonmuhui’s question for a moment, then grinned and said.

“Because it looks cool.”

* @ *

Yeonmuhui had somehow already reached the inner part of the room, past the priest and her mother. With her sword half-sheathed.

She let out a small laugh at the sensation of time flowing differently only for her.

“Ah…”

‘Somehow, I think I understand what Yujin meant now.’

Shing. Click!

As she put her sword back in its scabbard,

The indiscriminately released red sword auras all poured down on the priest at once, and his body was torn to pieces as if exploding, killing him instantly.

Looking down at the priest who had fallen lifelessly with his body in pieces, Yeonmuhui said quietly.

“No one touches my mom…”

With those final words, Yeonmuhui collapsed. Jin Subin and the elder hurriedly approached to check her condition.

“Muhui! Muhui!!”

“Oh my, Muhui! What happened…!”

“Call 119 quickly…!”

Yeonmuhui looked up at her mother while gasping for breath. She smiled broadly as she watched Jin Subin urgently try to call an ambulance on her phone.

‘I protected her. This time… I protected her… So don’t run away, Mom…’

Just before her eyes closed, a familiar man entered her darkening vision.

“Yujin!”

“I’m sorry I’m late. I’ll give her a potion first and then move her to the hospital.”

Yujin said as he took out a potion he had received from a Hero Association hero.

“But Yujin, your condition…!”

As Jin Subin pointed out, Yujin’s appearance was far from normal.

His once neatly worn suit was long tattered, and there were electric shock wounds all over his face.

The worst part was his left arm. It was unnaturally swollen and red.

This was a wound from taking Pagoon’s electric shock head-on.

“I’m fine. I’ll recover soon.”

“…Yujin.”

Yeonmuhui murmured, looking up at him. Blood blocking her throat prevented her from speaking loudly.

“Don’t talk.”

Despite Yujin’s words, Yeonmuhui didn’t stop.

“Sheathing…”

“What?”

“It’s… cooler than I thought…?”

“…Isn’t it?”

Yujin gave a hollow laugh looking at Yeonmuhui. It was hardly the thing to say in this situation.

“You did well.”

“Yeah…”

At Yujin’s words, Yeonmuhui was finally able to close her eyes peacefully.