Ch.169Feeding Trough

An invisible, undetectable force. Though the constantly operating Sunforce absorbed most of the impact, it wasn’t something that could be ignored.

*Swoosh*

It happened the moment Seyeorin landed on the ground. As the man’s figure disappeared, Seyeorin reacted immediately.

‘Upper right.’

She dodged and attempted a counterattack. Her body bent low, avoiding a straight punch. *Thud!* With the impact, Seyeorin’s body was pushed back once more.

‘He clearly aimed for the right. But the impact came from the opposite direction…’

*Whoosh!*

The man’s figure disappeared again. Reacting quickly, Seyeorin swung her sword. As the invisible blade swept through the air, the man reappeared, and simultaneously, his chest split open with a crack.

Red blood sprayed upward. However, Seyeorin’s expression wasn’t good. Despite the deep wound the opponent had suffered, his facial expression hadn’t changed at all. The man’s attacks continued without pause.

In a brief moment, Seyeorin and the man’s bodies became entangled in chaotic movement. Seyeorin’s feet moved forward quickly, stomping the ground forcefully and releasing mana. A massive shockwave momentarily pushed back the man’s body.

Seyeorin extended her fist, wrapped in wind energy, toward the empty air.

*Boom!*

Force collided with force. The resulting energy wave tore through the surroundings. Seyeorin’s eyes flashed. At the moment of collision, she had glimpsed something transparent.

Though only a blurry outline was revealed, it clearly had a human form.

‘Either there are two of them, or he’s hiding his true body…’

She could gauge the position only at the moment of collision. If that was the case, she needed to keep pressing the attack. That way, the opponent wouldn’t be able to hide his position.

The moment she made her decision, she moved. Seyeorin’s body had long surpassed the reaction speed of an ordinary person. As her will arose, her entire body responded immediately, and the explosively welling mana compensated for her lacking muscles, adding formidable power.

*Crack!*

It happened as Seyeorin’s body rotated. The thousand blades scattered around her all aimed at once, then swirled again like a storm. This time, it wasn’t just an attack using the Formless Flying Sword technique.

She dove directly into the storm.

*Whoosh!*

The cloak on Seyeorin’s back fluttered violently. The Formless Flying Sword technique becomes more powerful the closer the caster is. Even though it wasn’t the original martial art in its pure form, the principle remained the same. As Seyeorin stood nearby, the thousand swords resonated, emitting the roar of a dragon.

For Seyeorin, swords were another world. Through the memories contained within them, she recognized places completely different from here and expanded her scope of thought. The same applied even to swords without memories.

Someday, memories would be engraved in those thousand blades. Seyeorin’s legs stepped on a small world. Everything scattered around was both a path to advance and a weapon.

*Crash!*

With each collision, strain accumulated on Seyeorin’s wrists. Even with a body enhanced by mana, basic capabilities couldn’t be ignored. It was a body that couldn’t grow. No matter how powerfully it was enhanced with mana, its basic durability was inevitably lacking.

After successive collisions, the sword flew out of Seyeorin’s hand. But she didn’t mind. Another sword was always waiting right beside her.

Her small hand grabbed a floating sword nearby and swung it. Ordinary iron swords couldn’t handle Seyeorin’s mana. One swing, and a blade broke. This situation repeated continuously.

Then suddenly.

Seyeorin’s gaze fixed on the shattered pieces of the sword scattering around. The finely broken fragments fluttered here and there in the wind or in the energy waves that burst forth. Seyeorin thought that the way they moved with the swirling wind was just like the Formless Flying Sword technique she was using.

‘It’s no different.’

Why hadn’t she thought of it before?

As Seyeorin’s hand moved gently, the sword fragments scattering in the wind began to respond. Slowly but surely, the fragments, shimmering with Seyeorin’s mana, formed a single cluster.

It looked like a galaxy shining with starlight.

The Formless Flying Sword technique that Seyeorin had received was nothing more than a basic principle. Without a master to guide her direction, she had been using the technique based on her own unique interpretation.

Now was no different.

In martial arts, there is no correct answer. Go where your heart leads. If you believe it’s right, rewards will come.

*Crash!*

Another collision followed. But Seyeorin didn’t budge at all. This was because the starlight fragments surrounding her body had formed a barrier.

The Formless Flying Sword technique is fundamentally more focused on attack than defense. Though the destination was different, the roots were the same. Seyeorin’s right eyebrow furrowed deeply.

The starlight fragments forming the barrier shot out in straight lines.

*Clang-clang-clang!*

The force in each individual fragment wasn’t strong. It was about overwhelming numbers and attack frequency, pushing and wearing down the opponent.

As countless starlight fragments pushed back the opponent, Seyeorin reached out and grasped Muramasa. The transparent blade momentarily revealed itself as it absorbed mana.

*Slash!*

As the long slash cut through the air, all thousand swords flying around Seyeorin shattered at once. Without a fixed form, they gained freedom in movement.

Formless Flying Sword Technique

Thousand Sword Bloom

Starlight flying in from all directions covered the front. In a world turning white, all that could be heard was the sound of sword fragments interlocking.

After a brief moment, the starlight covering the surroundings parted to the sides. The man revealed inside was in a miserable state. As if unable to believe what had happened to him, he stared with wide eyes and a blank expression.

“Ah, th-this…”

His voice, which had disappeared, returned at that moment. With a thud, the man’s figure collapsed. He barely managed to kneel, looking up at Seyeorin and the countless starlight beyond her.

“Your name?”

Seyeorin asked, swinging her sword. The rune characters imbued with the starlight’s mana activated simultaneously. The sword fragments filling the surroundings all disappeared at once.

“Name…”

A helpless smile began to form at the corners of the man’s mouth. Then he said:

“This is ridiculous… There’s no retry option for this, is there?”

“Is that all for your last words?”

“How about a one-coin chance?”

“…”

“If I just had a little more time, I could have returned to the original world…”

At that moment, the man’s hand reached out toward the empty air. It was just a simple movement of his hand. No mysterious force or hostility toward Seyeorin could be felt.

That’s why her reaction was delayed. Feeling a strange foreboding, Seyeorin swung her sword a beat late, cutting off the man’s head.

The severed head rolled on the ground as the man’s figure completely collapsed. Simultaneously, the captains of each order who had been trapped in a special space appeared.

It was an entrance accompanied by a terrible smell of blood. Everyone who appeared was in a miserable state. The blood flowing down had soaked their clothes, making it impossible to guess their original color, and most had pale faces.

“Where is this?”

“Don’t lower your guard. The enemy’s still…”

“Seyeorin?”

The captains, belatedly grasping the situation, retrieved their weapons and surveyed their surroundings. Then, discovering the corpse rolling at Seyeorin’s feet, they approached.

Their staggering appearance suggested they might collapse at any moment.

“Seyeorin. Is the situation over?”

Seyeorin didn’t answer Kanok’s question. Silently, she looked up at the sky. Despite having eliminated the culprit behind this incident, the golden threads were still moving toward one place.

“Not yet…”

“Not yet?”

“You mean there’s someone else?”

Seyeorin began to walk. Slowly, yet quickly. Then, Seyeorin’s legs stomped the ground. Her figure shot forward in a straight line, flying toward the end of the ravine.

Behind her, the other captains quickly followed. They were severely wounded. Few could match Seyeorin’s speed. Most momentarily accelerated, but as blood burst from their wounds, they slowed down.

Thus, when the distance between Seyeorin and the other captains had considerably widened:

Seyeorin encountered a massive being at the end of the ravine. It was a familiar form. After all, it was the creature that the Void Lord had briefly controlled.

“This is…”

“A dragon? How could that be…”

“Is it fake? I don’t sense any vitality…”

The captains who arrived late each offered their impressions upon facing the massive dragon’s body.

At that moment.

Suddenly, the dormant dragon opened its eyes. The numerous scales that had been dull in color became vivid, and life returned to the empty eyes. As the skeletal wings spread, a membrane grew on them.

Seyeorin’s gaze turned upward from the dragon. The countless threads extending from the sky were connected to this artificially created, fake dragon.