Ch.179Sky

Bang-! Boom-boom-!

The air vibrated in succession. It was because a control battle using the same martial arts technique continued in the invisible void. This was the moment when the tense standoff finally broke. As the Master of Ten Thousand Swords’ eyebrows twitched dramatically, the ten thousand swords that had stopped began to move again.

‘This should be enough.’

Se-erin thought. There was no need to control all ten thousand swords. She would take only those that approached her vicinity and use them as a wall. Some of the swords that had been rushing forward like waves changed direction and began to oppose the others.

Clang-!

When giving ground, she would be at a disadvantage. Se-erin took deep, rough breaths and dashed forward. The waves of ten thousand swords swept toward her repeatedly to block her movement, but the swords she had redirected blocked all such attacks.

Of course, Se-erin’s control over the Formless Flying Sword technique wasn’t perfect. She stopped mid-run and locked eyes with the Master of Ten Thousand Swords in the empty air. Each time this happened, the swords controlled by both Se-erin and the Master shook violently.

Even in this situation, the Master’s attacks continued. The sweeping wave of swords took the form of a dragon and engulfed Se-erin. Her small figure was pushed back greatly, rising into the air, where she caught one of the flying swords and stood upon it.

Pushed back, blocked, deflected, advanced.

The closer Se-erin got to the Master of Ten Thousand Swords, the more wounds appeared on her body. Just as the distance between them had become quite close, suddenly, the Master, who had been standing with his arms folded, reached out and grasped the empty air.

At the same time, Se-erin’s sense of danger rang alarm bells. It was a sensation like every hair on her body standing on end. Without breaking her running posture, Se-erin released a blast of wind energy toward the ground.

Boom-!

As her small body rotated, the ground that received the massive impact erupted upward. Soil, rocks, and broken tree roots cluttered her vision.

Immediately after that.

Swoosh-

An invisible slash flew right past Se-erin’s cheek, leaving a large mark on the ground. There wasn’t even a sound. This was the absolute trump card that the Master of Ten Thousand Swords had shown earlier when fighting Hayato.

‘The Formless Sword…’

Crack-

Clearly, the slash sent by the Master hadn’t touched Se-erin’s body. However, her small cheek split open with faint blood flowing from it, and the Flame Dragon Sword she had been holding shattered and rolled on the ground. If it had gone just a bit more to the side, her head would have been split open.

Feeling cold sweat running down her back, Se-erin immediately leapt out from the pile of dirt. Thud-thud- Through the falling dirt from the sky, swords flew at her from all directions. But they lacked the previous sharpness.

The Master’s breathing had become irregular. It was natural. The Formless Sword was a technique containing the essence of all martial arts the Master possessed. This meant it consumed an enormous amount of mental and internal energy, and to deploy the Formless Flying Sword technique with the same power as before, he needed at least a few breaths of rest.

Tap-

If he built a massive wall using the ten thousand swords, the Master could have taken sufficient rest. But he didn’t back down. He stretched out his hand toward the approaching Se-erin.

The moment one sword was drawn into his hand, Se-erin and the Master collided.

Clang-!

With each exchange of offense and defense, the postures of the two changed rapidly.

The Wall-Demon Sword, Four-One Sword Method, Moon Maiden Sword, Taiji Sword, Ocean of Death Scripture. Fragments of numerous sword techniques appeared and disappeared. He was the Master of Ten Thousand Swords who had learned ten thousand sword techniques. Because Se-erin had absorbed the Master’s memories, their swordsmanship was considerably similar.

Clang-!

At some point, Se-erin’s sword began to anticipate the trajectory of the Master’s sword. The small girl’s head burned hot. This was because the vast amount of memories passing through in a short moment was taking a tremendous toll.

Nevertheless, she didn’t stop moving. Blood vessels bulged on her face, and blood spurted violently from her wounds due to the increased pressure.

Her mind grew hazy, but her body’s sensations remained clear. A feeling both strange and familiar. It was like walking through a dream. This was definitely not a good phenomenon. She was losing herself as numerous memories mixed together.

The more she drew on the Master’s memories and incorporated them into new sword movements, the worse this phenomenon became.

A massive shockwave shook the air. Both were growing tired. The Master’s sword had lost its previous speed, and Se-erin’s sword had lost its precision.

Even as she was losing herself, Se-erin didn’t let go of her burning anger. At this point, it was unclear even to herself why she was angry at the Master of Ten Thousand Swords.

The ground beneath her feet couldn’t hold and collapsed. Se-erin’s sword swung widely as if skimming the ground and struck upward into the air.

Clang-!

In that moment, the Master’s upper body was wide open. As the ground he stood on collapsed, Se-erin’s move had knocked away his sword.

He had held ten thousand swords in his mind. Thus earning the title Master of Ten Thousand Swords. In his mental image, the ten thousand swords standing in battle formation could cut anything he wished to cut, so the Master forged the ten thousand swords into one.

This was called the Formless Sword.

Swoosh-

Se-erin’s hand stretched toward the empty air. It was an empty space with nothing there. Yet a clear sensation was felt at her fingertips. A phantom sword that originally didn’t exist revealed itself to the world.

It was a technique that contained all the martial arts she knew in a single move. Therefore, the sword Se-erin summoned had to be different from the Master’s Formless Sword.

Whooosh-!

Cold blizzard and hot flames swirled over the transparent blade. When these two conflicting energies finally flashed with starlight.

Se-erin swung her hand.

There was no sound. Even the sensation of cutting wasn’t clear. From top to bottom, a simple swing. The moment the star-shining sword tip touched the ground.

The sky split apart.

In the dark night sky, a massive crack appeared beyond it. Through the shimmering, colorful haze, sparkling starlight poured down toward Se-erin.

Thud-

The Master’s body collapsed. The once-strong middle-aged man knelt on the cold snow with powerless movements. The ten thousand swords that had covered the area simultaneously lost control and began to fall toward the ground.

Just as the ten thousand swords were about to plunge into the ground. Woong-! A magnificent wave of mana spread out and enveloped the ten thousand swords, stopping their fall.

“You’ve completely inherited my martial arts…”

The Master of Ten Thousand Swords slowly opened his mouth. His mind, approaching death, naturally pushed away the demonic thoughts that had clouded his head. Clarity returned to his turbid eyes, and his unfocused gaze steadily looked at only one person.

“The voice of heaven has been silenced. The great hole that was open to the outside world has been filled… Se-erin. If the reason for the Blue Wing’s existence disappears… what do you plan to do?”

“Blue Wing…”

Her mind isn’t sound. The Master laughed softly. As his weak laughter slowly subsided, his body began to age rapidly.

His black hair turned white, and his skin shriveled like a dried-up old tree.

The Master’s gaze looked up at the sky. A life that should have been cut off had merely been fortunate enough to continue. His own impending death seemed not much different from the state of this world. Feeling a strange sense of kinship, the Master closed his eyes.

“A quiet end isn’t so bad after all…”

The surroundings settled into silence. The starlight shining from the sky was beginning to fade. Suddenly, the snow pile stirred, and from within it, a blood-covered Theo crawled out.

“Huh, huff… huff…”

Theo’s gaze quickly scanned the surroundings. The numerous swords floating in the air, Se-erin standing alone, and the corpse of an old man lying at her feet. He had grasped the situation.

Theo immediately ran to Se-erin.

“Se-erin!”

Thud-

The small girl’s body collapsed right there.

***

The only person who could move properly was Theo. He carried Se-erin and Flora on his back and descended from the snow-covered mountain. All three were seriously injured, so they needed a suitable space to rest.

The place chosen was a small cave. Theo laid the two down in the cave and had to move busily.

Although his physical condition was a mess, gathering firewood wasn’t a big problem since he could use mana. The problem was food. This was a mountain where fierce battles had taken place. Large and small wild animals had already fled, leaving no suitable prey behind.

To find food, it seemed necessary to travel a greater distance.

‘But…’

He was worried about his two unconscious friends. In the end, Theo sat down at the cave entrance and stuck his sword in front of it. He intended to wait until at least one of them regained consciousness.

Rustle-

Theo’s hand rummaged through his pocket. What came out with a small thud from the tiny pocket were three small pieces of jerky. This was all the food he had.