Ch.235Side Story 2: When I Met Him (9)

#02_When I Met Him_9

A one-person spaceship given by Eliya was hidden in camouflage mode on the hillside.

When I turned off the camouflage mode and introduced the spaceship, Grandmother Hyeolbong narrowed her eyes and looked at it suspiciously.

“It’s like a carriage made of metal… without wheels.”

“Just get in. It’s meant for one person, but it should be fine for a quick trip.”

A one-person spaceship doesn’t literally mean only one person can ride it. It’s called that because the cockpit is too small for more than one person to sit in.

Grandmother Hyeolbong looked at me with anxious eyes, and as soon as I sat in the cockpit, I turned on the camouflage mode and slowly headed toward Seonghwa County.

The village named Seonghwa County was established where the Sacred Fire of the Divine Sect once stood, and it was now suffering considerable damage from the sudden appearance of a Main.

Some of the wooden houses were engulfed in flames, and the warriors of the Divine Sect were confronting the Main while trying to protect their disciples.

Most disciples who couldn’t use martial arts or weren’t skilled enough seemed to have escaped, but there were still some who hadn’t managed to get out.

The Divine Sect’s attack unit had formed a defensive line to protect the village for these people.

“Third squad, the left flank is exposed! Fill it immediately!”

“We’re trying!”

Along with the shouts of the attack unit members that could be heard even inside the spaceship, I could see Brother Sunwoo Dan confronting the Main.

KWANG!

Brother Sunwoo Dan attacked the Main with his sword wrapped in a red aura, but the sword bounced off, sending him flying back as well.

The Main stood there unharmed despite an attack that would have cost me my life with a single strike.

Brother Sunwoo Dan was still fine for now, but it was clear he wouldn’t last long if his attacks continued to be ineffective.

“…A master-level counter-force technique!”

Grandmother Hyeolbong exclaimed in shock, shaking my shoulder frantically.

“That’s not an opponent Dan can handle! Aduk, let me down right now, quickly!”

“J-just a moment. Let me gather some weapons first…”

“How do you expect to handle this, Aduk! I’ll take care of it, so you just take the endangered disciples and flee!”

“I can’t do that.”

I was born with my fair share of courage, and I couldn’t just stand by watching my senior martial brother getting beaten like that.

First, I landed the spaceship at a secluded estate that hadn’t been damaged by the Main.

“Grandmother Hyeolbong, just a moment. I have something to give you.”

Grandmother Hyeolbong is also a master far stronger than me. Not giving a weapon to someone like her would be nothing short of wasting our combat potential.

I received various weapons from Eliya, but most were suitable for me to use, and there were hardly any weapons appropriate for Grandmother Hyeolbong.

Since Grandmother Hyeolbong uses a sword like Grandfather Cheonma, it would be good to have a long weapon…

A weapon that can be wielded like a sword but with powerful force…

“Ah!”

I had a good idea.

As soon as the thought occurred to me, I rummaged through the toolbox, and sure enough, it contained exactly what I was thinking of.

At first glance, it looked similar to a grinder used on Earth, but its power was completely different.

An ultra-vibration cutter.

As the name “ultra-vibration” suggests, it’s a tool where the blade vibrates with tremendous oscillating movement.

Particularly, the ultra-vibration cutter in this toolbox was such a high-quality item that it could cut through even the hardest metals.

Of course, since it’s a tool, the original blade attached to it is quite short, but long blades can be easily found anywhere in the Central Plains.

Even in the corner of this secluded estate where I landed, there were several swords that looked to be of good quality.

If I cut off the blades of those swords and replaced the ultra-vibration cutter’s blade with them, it would exert considerable power.

I wondered if giving her one of the intact swords in front of me might be more helpful than the unfamiliar ultra-vibration cutter, but honestly, I was also curious to see Grandmother Hyeolbong fighting with the ultra-vibration cutter.

As I went outside the spaceship, picked up an intact sword, and tried to cut it with the ultra-vibration cutter, Grandmother Hyeolbong was horrified.

“N-no! What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to give you a nice gift, Grandmother.”

“G-gift? More importantly, cutting a good sword that hasn’t even been used… Oh my goodness! Child! Stop that!”

* * *

‘If only I had received the Great Recovery Pill a month earlier…’

Sunwoo Dan, the junior sect leader of the Divine Sect, glared at the Main before him while holding his beloved sword, the Heaven-Following Sword.

TANG, TANG!

Sunwoo Dan attacked the Main’s body, but the sound was nothing like what would come from striking a person’s body with a sword.

It felt like hitting an iron pillar with a crude sword.

Sunwoo Dan, who had been suffering from meridian blockage, had only gotten out of bed less than a month ago.

Cheonma received the Great Recovery Pill from Eliya on the condition that he would teach Dexter external martial arts.

The reason was simple. He wanted to use the Great Recovery Pill as a basis to treat Sunwoo Dan’s meridian blockage.

A month ago, Sunwoo Dan was a sickly genius.

A once-in-a-millennium talent who could easily learn any martial art and even figure out how to counter techniques he had never seen before.

But the meridian blockage had obstructed his blood vessels, the pathways responsible for circulating internal energy.

No matter how strong a master is, if the blood vessels that utilize internal energy are blocked, they cannot use their power.

Not wanting such a rare talent to fall so miserably, Cheonma began searching for traces of a certain person.

The most famous merchant in the Central Plains, with strange rumors that anything he touched turned to gold, yet no one knew his whereabouts—the legendary merchant.

The Golden Merchant.

Cheonma tried to find his whereabouts.

By chance, Cheonma found one of his assistants and declared to the Golden Merchant that he would pay any equivalent price if he could provide the Great Recovery Pill.

The Golden Merchant, that is, Eliya, promised to provide the Great Recovery Pill and made one proposal, and that connection has continued until now.

Knowing this fact, Sunwoo Dan referred to Dexter, who had essentially saved his life, as “martial nephew.”

Thanks to this, Sunwoo Dan had treated his meridian blockage and gotten out of bed, but the problem was that even with the remaining efficacy of the Great Recovery Pill, he couldn’t attain internal energy matching his level.

With consistent training and various medicinal herbs within the Divine Sect, he could have quickly recovered his internal energy, but time was short.

The sect leader, Cheonma, saying he would find the mastermind, left the Main to Sunwoo Dan and leaped into the sky in the direction of the Blood Lotus Sect, using his Sky-Traversing Void Step technique.

Sunwoo Dan swallowed once as he faced the Main, whose body was reddish with a faint red glow in its eyes.

‘If this attack doesn’t work… there’s no way to stop it.’

Sunwoo Dan tried to maintain his composure with a faint smile, but the pain in his side, where he had been attacked by the Main, was getting worse.

The Main revealed its teeth with a strange smile. It had already noticed that Sunwoo Dan was injured by its attack.

‘Damn bastard.’

As Sunwoo Dan, his pride trampled, raised his Heaven-Following Sword and slowly approached the Main with an imperfect Heavenly Overlord Step, at that moment—

PSHUNG! PUEOK!

“KRRRK!”

A white fireball that passed by Sunwoo Dan’s head directly hit the Main’s head.

Unfortunately, it didn’t burn, but the Main, struck by the fireball with physical substance, shook its head violently in confusion. It felt dizzy from the sudden strong impact.

Startled by the white fireball that suddenly passed by his side, Sunwoo Dan shouted:

“A fireball? Is this heretical sorcery?!”

“Huh? Here-what?”

Turning his head at the familiar voice, Sunwoo Dan saw Dexter holding an oddly shaped metal ring.

“Martial nephew!”

“Hmm? Dan doesn’t seem to see me.”

Right beside him was Hyeolbong with a prim expression, and Sunwoo Dan bowed his head slightly.

“I-I didn’t expect martial nephew to come this way, so I was only focused on him.”

“That’s fine. You seem to have an external wound on your side. Do you have any wound-healing medicine?”

“Unfortunately, I came in such a hurry…”

Hyeolbong gave him a sidelong glance and took out some wound-healing medicine she had made herself from her sleeve.

“No matter how urgent, you should know not to make such a mistake more than twice, right?”

“I’ll keep that in mind… Watch out!”

Before Sunwoo Dan could finish his warning, Hyeolbong raised the sword in her hand to defend against the Main’s attack.

Then Dexter aimed the metal ring, the blaster, at the Main’s head.

PSHUNG!

As if determined not to be caught twice, the Main dodged the plasma bullet from the blaster by tilting its head.

In response to the Main’s movement, Hyeolbong’s sword began to make a noise.

KEEENG…!

When an unexpected sound came from the sword Hyeolbong was holding, Sunwoo Dan, though confused, counterattacked the Main.

“M-Matriarch, what exactly is that?”

“It’s something Aduk gave me!”

When the ultra-vibration cutter with a sword attached was gripped in Hyeolbong’s hand, it became no different from a peerless famous sword.

A pale yellow sword aura rose from the ultra-vibration cutter, and the combined attack of Hyeolbong and Sunwoo Dan began.

The two didn’t discuss how to attack, but they naturally started to mercilessly assault the Main as if they had coordinated with each other before.

Sunwoo Dan’s biggest problem was that while he knew the theory of martial arts thoroughly, he found it very difficult to execute them.

In that short time, Sunwoo Dan came up with a trick. With Hyeolbong’s help, he would receive the internal energy he lacked from her, while guiding her sword path in the desired direction with the principles he knew.

This way, they could demonstrate a more powerful combined attack technique.

However, there were still imperfections in Hyeolbong and Sunwoo Dan’s combined technique. A situation where they could fill that gap with just a few minutes of time.

After pondering, Sunwoo Dan called out to Dexter.

“Martial nephew, can you buy us a little more time!”

“Don’t worry! I’m super prepared!”

Dexter had been waiting for Sunwoo Dan to need his help.

Dexter took something out of his martial robe pocket and shouted loudly.

“Everyone close your eyes!”

Dexter removed something from what he was holding and threw it at the Main.

Thinking that what Dexter threw was a hidden weapon or something similar, the Main looked at the object with its peak-level dynamic vision.

The cylindrical object wasn’t threatening at all, and there wasn’t a single sharp part on it.

Thinking it was just a deceptive move, the Main was about to strike the object with its blade when—

The world momentarily turned white. And then there was a piercing ringing in the ears.

PEEEENG!

What Dexter had thrown was a flash grenade.

Sunwoo Dan and Hyeolbong were able to avoid the light from the flash grenade by closing their eyes thanks to Dexter’s warning, but the Main wasn’t so fortunate.

“KRRRRRK!”

While the Main was at a loss, tears streaming from its eyes, Hyeolbong and Sunwoo Dan glanced at it and sensed something approaching.

“Sect Leader!”

“Your Excellency!”

The one descending from the sky, walking step by step through the air, was none other than Cheonma.

Moreover, in Cheonma’s left hand was someone’s severed head.

“When I heard that a Main suddenly attacked Seonghwa County, I thought it was strange. There was a Blood Lotus Sect spy behind this.”

Cheonma handed the head, which had once been a Blood Lotus Sect spy, to Sunwoo Dan and said:

“Are you still performing a combined technique with my wife because of such a creature?”

“I apologize, Sect Leader. Your disciple was foolish and needed help…”

“That’s enough. I didn’t expect much from a disciple who hasn’t fully recovered anyway.”

Yet Cheonma looked at Hyeolbong with warm eyes and said:

“Your sword is quite unusual?”

“It’s a sword Aduk gave me, quite an interesting artifact.”

“That fellow?”

When Cheonma gave Dexter a dubious look, Dexter frowned and said:

“Hey, I’m the one who saved senior martial brother’s life, you know?”

“Hmm. We’ll talk about that later. It’s not good to chat while facing an enemy.”

Cheonma said as he drew his sword from his waist.

“What do you say, my dear? Shall we dance together after so long?”

“Of course. I’d love to.”

At that moment, as the aura of the two changed, Dexter’s eyes widened.

The Main, having regained its senses, took a defensive stance as Cheonma suddenly appeared and attempted a joint attack with Hyeolbong.

Regardless, as if the Main’s actions were meaningless, Hyeolbong’s ultra-vibration cutter and Cheonma’s sword harmonized, instantly forming a grand trajectory.

Both Sunwoo Dan, who had stepped back, and Dexter, holding the blaster, momentarily forgot to speak.

‘Now I understand why Eliya told me to learn external martial arts in the Central Plains.’

In truth, Dexter wasn’t pleased about having to spend a long time on this planet with no TV and few entertainments.

He thought that practicing in a hologram training room with much better weapons would be more helpful for Eliya’s protection.

But his mind changed as soon as he saw Cheonma and Hyeolbong’s combined technique.

Even with his significantly improved dynamic vision, he felt dizzy trying to follow the speed at which the two displayed their martial forms.

‘Are these really movements humans can perform?’

Cheonma was impressive, but equally impressive was Hyeolbong’s attack that matched his movements.

The ultra-vibration cutter wielded by Hyeolbong showed tremendous effect. Compared to Sunwoo Dan, who had managed to inflict only small scratches despite giving his all, Hyeolbong was cruelly leaving large, visible wounds on the Main’s body with each swing.

“Martial nephew, watch carefully.”

“What?”

“This is the swordsmanship displayed by those who have reached the pinnacle of the sword.”

Sunwoo Dan, as if not wanting to miss this moment, kept his gaze fixed on Cheonma and Hyeolbong’s combined technique without looking at Dexter.

The Main, which had barely been held back by Sunwoo Dan and the Divine Sect’s attack unit, was now pitifully injured.

Barely standing on two legs, the Main slowly opened its mouth with a voice that sounded like blood boiling in its throat, addressing Cheonma:

“The heretical… will… kruk, defeat the demonic…”

Hearing the Main’s words, Cheonma snorted once, then imbued his sword with the principles of the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique and said:

“As long as I live, that will never happen.”

And then Cheonma swung his sword through the air.

Like the day Sunwoo Dan first showed his swordsmanship to Dexter, it seemed like a very light swing.

But it was clean without any excess, and there was no sense of threat, momentum, or even killing intent in the sword path.

PAANG!

It wasn’t the sound of swinging a sword, but rather a sound like wind bursting forth.

Following the trajectory of the sword, a formless and colorless sword energy was emitted and flew toward the Main, but it moved at such a speed that neither Dexter nor even Sunwoo Dan could see it.

The formless and colorless sword energy reached the Main.

For a moment, a gentle breeze wafted by.

Sunwoo Dan and Dexter were questioning the small aftermath, which seemed unbelievable for an attack from Cheonma.

The Main’s neck briefly misaligned, and a red line appeared.

“…grrrk.”

The Main’s body and head separated as if sliding apart, and the head rolled on the ground.

Following the head that had left its rightful place and rolled on the ground, the Main’s body also lost strength and collapsed.

It was the anticlimactic end of the Main that had disrupted the Divine Sect’s village, Seonghwa County.

“My disciples, did you see?”

Cheonma looked back with a grin and said:

“This is the Heaven-Breaking Sword.”

There was a reason why Cheonma was called Cheonma.

Sunwoo Dan and Dexter couldn’t say a word.