Duergsini’s Avatar – (5)

Ritual arts were mystical powers based on the Dao (Path/Principle).

Combat ritual arts for battle.

Spiritual cultivation ritual arts.

Spatial translocation ritual arts for rapid movement, and so on.

Just as the Dao itself defied simple definition, there were innumerable types of ritual arts.

The ritual art Ho-jun was currently employing was a combat ritual art created by the ritualist sage Uchi to counter goblins.

Flap flap flap flap.

Ho-jun unfurled a scroll in mid-air.

The scroll was inscribed with inked characters which escaped from the confines of the scroll and materialized in the outside world, forming a total of twelve crane figures.

With a massive 3-meter brush, Ho-jun wrote a character in the air:

Advance (Jin)

The twelve cranes made of characters then flew towards the yaksha.

Bang!

When one crane collided with the yaksha, the ground shook and sand exploded into the air.

A shockwave overwhelmed the area.

But the yaksha did not simply stand by passively as the cranes assailed it.

It had a total of six arms.

Whoosh.

Whoosh, whoosh.

The yaksha swung its six arms, swatting down six of the cranes.

However, five cranes still remained.

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The five remaining cranes collided with the yaksha.

The yaksha’s spiral, after colliding with Ho-jun’s cranes, seemed notably slower than before.

It was an astonishing sight – the yaksha possessing might that even Miho’s eight-tailed form could not endure was being thoroughly toyed with by Ho-jun’s ritual arts.

The last time he encountered the ‘false goblin’, Ho-jun had been helplessly overwhelmed by its incantations – an embarrassing display unbecoming of the supposed greatest ritualist of the century.

After being saved by Miho from that false goblin, Ho-jun gritted his teeth and resolved:

Never again would he fall prey to some measly goblin.

Never again would he rely on that fox yokai’s aid.

Rather, he would be the one providing assistance.

To make that resolve a reality, over the past month Ho-jun trained relentlessly, cutting back even on sleep.

And a genius’s painstaking efforts birthed a monster.

[Sealing Ritual Art]

The Eight Formations Array

[Enfeebling Ritual Art]

Wrath of the Six Celestial Stem Deities

[Combat Ritual Art]

Ink that Cleaves Mountains and Rivers

Ho-jun simultaneously unleashed three ritual arts.

The Eight Formations Array bound the yaksha’s body.

The Wrath of the Six Celestial Stem Deities temporarily weakened the yaksha’s formidable physicality.

And the Ink that Cleaves Mountains and Rivers severed one of the yaksha’s arms.

Clang!

Clang!

Craaash!

The yaksha broke free from the Eight Formations Array, but was unable to regenerate its lost arm.

The left second arm Ho-jun targeted was responsible for regeneration.

‘So each arm governs a different ability.’

The left first arm nullified spirit energy, evidenced by the strange aura it continuously blasted at the fallen Miho, likely preventing her from properly recovering.

The left third arm nullified ritual arts, used whenever the yaksha broke free from Ho-jun’s ritual arts.

Had Ho-jun not preemptively deployed Uchi’s ‘defensive ritual art against goblins’, all his ritual arts would have been sealed by that left third arm.

That left third arm would be his next target.

The abilities of the right arms remained unconfirmed, only speculative – perhaps nullifying yoki, Martial Force arts, and raw ‘physical might’.

In that short span, Ho-jun had deduced quite a few of the yaksha’s characteristics – something Miho could not do, flustered by her nullified spirit energy.

The yaksha could no longer regenerate, unlike before, allowing Ho-jun to steadily inflict sustained damage.

However, not all things proceeded so simply.

Ho-jun’s spiritual power was draining.

…An inevitable outcome, really.

His opponent was a goblin capable of parting the sea with a single punch.

He had expended ten, no, over twenty times his usual spiritual power just to land effective blows.

Ho-jun yelled:

“If you’ve rested enough, hurry up and get your ass over here to help, you lewd mutt!”

…While his words were brusque, Ho-jun understood better than anyone that it was not so simple.

Miho had yet to recover, due to that left first arm nullifying her spirit energy, preventing regeneration.

He revised his priority target from the third ‘ritual art nullification’ arm to the first ‘spirit energy nullification’ arm.

Initially, Ho-jun had thought this goblin possessed high intelligence, coordinating its six arms with precision.

But he was mistaken – this goblin’s intellect was lower than humans’… no, perhaps even lower than insects’.

For a being of such overwhelming presence, it should have avoided the same ritual art trap once ensnared, yet this idiot goblin kept falling for it repeatedly.

In other words, its arm usage was instinctual rather than intelligent.

This was the very reason Ho-jun could battle this goblin on equal footing.

Interpreted differently, it meant if he unleashed all three ritual arts again, he could sever another arm.

The issue was his depleted spiritual power – he needed to recover some to redeploy the three ritual arts together.

‘Shit, like I have that kind of time!’

Ho-jun fervently prayed to the Six Celestial Stem Deities for that dumb mutt to hurry up and wake.

---

Cough Cough Hack…

I spat out clots of coagulated blood from my throat.

If I didn’t expel the blood, my airway would be obstructed, killing me.

The pain prevented my mind from functioning properly.

Had I been human, I would have gone into shock and died long ago from such excruciating agony.

Well, having a baseball-sized hole punched through one’s abdomen would do that.

Was there any major league pitcher available who could throw a baseball through this hole in my gut?

Cough…

Ah.

No more inane thoughts.

Judging by my fox-like musings amid this situation, my mind seemed intact, thankfully.

The formidable mental fortitude of a fox yokai, no doubt.

With trembling eyes, I surveyed the battlefield.

Ho-jun was faring far better against the yaksha than I had expected, even severing one of its arms.

What a monstrous human.

Despite my nullified spirit energy leaving me only capable of scratching its spiral, he was truly something else.

I didn’t know if he had always been this powerful or if his recent training had elevated his might – I had never witnessed his full capabilities before, never even given the chance.

…Still, my spirit energy remained sealed.

Being removed from combat allowed me to roughly grasp the situation:

The yaksha’s left first arm was sealing my spirit energy.

Therefore, until Ho-jun cut off that arm, I could not utilize spirit energy and thus could not regenerate.

If I retracted my tails to revert to a yokai state, I could regenerate by using my yoki, but herein lay the irony – I had not expended even a drop of my eight tails’ immense spirit energy reserves, so retracting my tails was impossible in this overcharged state.

…I had assessed the enemy’s abilities.

If only I could unleash this overflowing spirit energy, I could definitely kill it.

How vexing, possessing power yet being unable to wield it.

To make matters worse, Ho-jun was reaching his limit.

If he could sever one more arm, he would have done so already.

He seemed to be struggling just to fend off the yaksha’s attacks now.

I had to do it.

I had to get up.

I had to buy time, even at the cost of my life, until Ho-jun could recover his spiritual power.

I, who had declared I would protect humans, was instead being aided by one.

My arrogant pride as a fox yokai refused to accept this fact.

“Ngh… Ugh… Urrrggghhh!”

Mustering every last ounce of strength, I rose from the ground.

What did my wrecked body matter?

If Ho-jun couldn’t sever that arm, it was game over anyway.

The only action my ruined body could take now was to serve as a meat shield – nothing more, nothing less.

Not a foolish act, but the most rational and ideal course of action I could take in this situation.

Pababababababak.

Bleeding profusely, I dashed forward and interposed myself between Ho-jun and the yaksha.

“You, you…!”

Ho-jun was taken aback.

The yaksha, however, remained impassive as ever.

It simply shifted its target from Ho-jun to me.

Was I trying to get myself killed?

…Who knew?

If unlucky, death.

If lucky, perhaps survival.

I closed my eyes.

But this time too, there was no pain.

Not Martial Force arts.

A warmth distinct from spirit energy.

Yi Haneul, radiating a dazzling warmth, had blocked the yaksha’s attack.

And upon seeing my condition, Yi Haneul opened her mouth, voice trembling:

“Really, Miho, you… you are truly my worst friend.”

“A… hack compliment…?”

“It was an insult… sniff“