Crazy Woman VS Three Demons – 3

Two enormous bulls locked horns, their heads pressed together in a fierce struggle. Similarly, Namgoong Soyeon’s sword and the Sword Demon’s greatsword clashed, advancing and retreating in a relentless dance.

Their stances remained almost unchanged, yet the force exerted to maintain them was considerable.

“Wow… your strength is still formidable, isn’t it?”

Against the backdrop of grinding metal, Namgoong Soyeon expressed genuine admiration.

The Sword Demon pushed back the encroaching sword.

“Insolent!”

While the two engaged in a battle of strength, Youngma and Kwonma headed towards Inho’s location. Namgoong Soyeon wouldn’t simply stand by and watch.

A crimson aura erupted from her shoulder, taking shape and pursuing Kwonma and Youngma like a hook.

“To materialize Inner Force… truly unbelievable.”

The Sword Demon muttered bitterly, acknowledging the realm of Divine Sword, where even grasping a branch could transform it into a sharp blade.

“Are you finally getting a little scared of me?”

“Not at all. Compared to the Cult Leader, it’s merely crude. What surprises me is that you can reach such a realm through purely unethical means.”

She grinned, revealing her teeth, and the Sword Demon scoffed.

“Hmph, pretending you’re not envious.”

“I pursue strength through the righteous path of training. I am different from you.”

As if pricking a sore spot in her conscience, Namgoong Soyeon ground her teeth, creating an aura shaped like a scorpion’s tail.

“Is that so? Then die.”

The tail shot towards his face.

To evade her attack, he would have to drop his sword and dodge. But the moment he released his sword, Namgoong Soyeon’s blade would cut him down.

Bang!

The Kwon-wind created by Kwonma struck the aura directly, and the condensed Inner Force of Thunder Sword dissipated into the air.

The hook-shaped aura that had been chasing the two disappeared without a trace.

“It’s tough, but… it seems it’s not impossible to eliminate it entirely?”

Kwonma said, loosening his muscles as if providing information to the Sword Demon.

“So it seems.”

When those words were relayed back to Thunder Sword, her face twisted fiercely.

“Is that so? Then try blocking this as well.”

Breaking free from the entangled swords, Namgoong Soyeon leaped back and took a deep breath.

Countless threads emerged from her back like blooming petals.

“Uh…”

Kwonma was speechless at the sight of the densely packed auras, so numerous they were impossible to count. Youngma tensed up.

As the aura transformed from intangible to tangible, eventually forming a massive shadow, the Sword Demon remained silent, gripping his sword even tighter.

The threads intertwined, becoming sharp awls, their points aimed at them.

“Hey… didn’t the Cult Leader do something similar to that before?”

Kwonma nudged Youngma beside him with his elbow.

“Instead of flapping your lips, you should think about dodging.”

Youngma rebuked him.

“It’s coming.”

The Sword Demon’s heavy voice rang out as the awls began to rain down on them relentlessly.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack

Unlike Kwon-wind or Sword Energy, which were fired once, these weapons formed from intertwined auras could be retrieved and re-attacked, making them exceptionally difficult to deal with.

“Ugh, get off me, damn it!”

The serpentine movements pursued them tenaciously.

“Our consumption is significant.”

“Can you buy us a little time?”

As the Sword Demon deflected hundreds of bundles with his sword, he assessed the situation. Youngma reached for her waist.

“Of course.”

The Sword Demon thrust his sword forward, scattering the auras with a gust of Sword Energy.

Youngma darted through the gap in the net-like formation.

A faint silver thread glinted from her waist as she flew.

With one person escaping the net, Namgoong Soyeon had to disperse her auras.

Tracking the movements of three people with her dynamic visual acuity wasn’t difficult, but having one more area to focus on made it harder to manage.

“Keuk!”

Although she possessed Inner Force obtained through massive Energy Absorption, there was a limit to the amount of Inner Force she could wield at once. Using it in this manner would accelerate its consumption twofold.

Suppressing the surging energy within her, she chased Youngma with a portion of her aura.

Youngma was agile. She skillfully weaved between the auras, narrowly avoiding them, and disrupted Namgoong Soyeon’s focus. Meanwhile, the Sword Demon and Kwonma advanced ever so slightly.

‘If this continues, I’ll be pushed back… I’ll be pushed back?’

How many lives had she taken to obtain this power?

And yet, she couldn’t defeat just three people? What had she been doing all this time?

The situation clearly showed her pressuring them, but she couldn’t understand why she felt like she was losing.

“Annoying little rats!”

Now cursing, Namgoong Soyeon fixed her gaze on Youngma, withdrawing some of the aura focused on the Sword Demon and Kwonma and sending it towards Youngma.

It was thanks to Youngma’s constant throwing of hidden weapons that had been grating on her nerves.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Perhaps thinking that she couldn’t capture Youngma with aura alone, Namgoong Soyeon unleashed Sword Energy from her sword.

The attempts grazed her shoulder and waist a few times, but didn’t inflict any fatal wounds.

Instead, her Inner Force was being depleted rapidly.

“Hyung-nim, these auras are getting weaker.”

Kwonma said, punching away the weakened auras.

“I know. But not yet.”

Watching Youngma twist and turn gracefully in the air to evade the pursuit, the Sword Demon moved one step forward.

Youngma, who had been crouching low to the ground like a frog, leaped into the air. The silver thread still glinted behind her.

Reaching a high point in the air, Youngma used the principle of the Weighted Drop to dive towards Thunder Sword’s head.

“Tricky nonsense!”

Thunder Sword, completely forgetting about Kwonma and the Sword Demon, gathered all her aura and shot it into the air. Youngma dodged the attacks with minimal movement.

“Ugh…”

Of course, she couldn’t evade every attack. Her cheek was cut, and flesh was torn from her shoulder, but Youngma didn’t back down.

“Haaaah!”

With a shout, Youngma was about to collide with Namgoong Soyeon, but Thunder Sword twisted her body to avoid it, and Youngma rolled awkwardly on the ground.

“Hahaha, what was that? I thought you were going to do something amazing… Huh?”

Namgoong Soyeon, about to mock Youngma covered in dirt, stopped speaking as she sensed something was amiss.

A silver thread glinted in Youngma’s hand as she lay fallen.

“This is… wire!”

She was using the wire she had used before when they had clashed.

It was too late when she realized it. The objects that Youngma had planted around the area began to fly towards Namgoong Soyeon.

Discarded weapons, stones, tents, trees, rocks, and more…

All sorts of miscellaneous objects flew towards her from all directions.

“Keuk!”

The debris covered her body, temporarily immobilizing her.

Above her head, the Sword Demon, now free from restraint, leaped into the air with his greatsword.

“Noooooooo!!!”

Namgoong Soyeon screamed as she saw the shadow of the descending greatsword, and the Sword Demon didn’t hesitate to cleave her upper body in two.

Thud

The debris that had been covering her was cut by the Sword Demon’s blade and tumbled to the ground, and Namgoong Soyeon’s body, severed from shoulder to leg, collapsed powerlessly.

“I think we got her.”

Kwonma muttered, watching the collapsing body.