Light Novel: Volume 16 Episode 19
Manhwa: N/A
Namgung Seol’s eyes were deeper than ever.
The chaotic scenery of the street was reflected in her eyes.
Gwan Musu was on a rampage.
His iron arrows were turning the streets into hell.
“Was it that much?”
Pyo-wol’s martial prowess far exceeded her imagination.
Gwan Musu’s steel bow was truly formidable. However, no matter how powerful the bow was, it was useless if it didn’t hit its target.
With ghost-like agility, Pyo-wol dodged every arrow Gwan Musu fired. Not only that, he maneuvered between the warriors, redirecting Gwan Musu’s attacks towards them.
The unexpected attack left many dead or injured.
The anger of the martial artists, who had been harmed directly or indirectly, turned towards Gwan Musu.
“How could you attack us out of the blue?!”
“We tried to help you, yet you repay our kindness with betrayal!”
In their rage, they attacked Gwan Musu.
Only then did Gwan Musu regain his senses and shout out.
“No, it’s not like that…!”
He hastily tried to explain himself, but his words fell on deaf ears of the enraged warriors.
After all, their alliance was based solely on mob mentality, without any genuine bond.
There was no mutual faith or trust in one another.
And the one who stoked the flames was none other than Pyo-wol.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Screams erupted among the warriors.
Those who screamed were the ones who had previously berated Pyo-wol without reason.
Swish!
The Soul-Reaping Thread reached out and pierced through a martial artist’s shoulder.
Pyo-wol swung the Soul-Reaping Thread, hurling the impaled martial artist towards the others.
“Keugh!”
“Heuk!”
Three or four other martial artists fell to the ground, struck by the martial artist thrown by Pyo-wol.
A nearby warrior, eyes wide in shock, lunged at Pyo-wol.
“You bastard–!”
Thud!
At that moment, a phantom dagger embedded itself in his shoulder.
The charging warrior stumbled backwards.
Pyo-wol retrieved the phantom dagger from the warrior’s shoulder using the Soul-Reaping Thread.
Nearby warriors swung their weapons at Pyo-wol.
However, none of their weapons even touched Pyo-wol.
Pyo-wol was using Black Lightning.
By channeling and manipulating lightning to his brain and body, he was able to maximize his body’s reaction time, allowing him to think and move several times faster than normal.
Pyo-wol’s eyes quickly swept over the faces of the martial artists.
Then, he saw the face he was looking for.
The moment Pyo-wol’s eyes locked with the person, he tried to scramble away, but Pyo-wol didn’t allow him to.
Swish!
Pyo-wol threw a phantom dagger.
It precisely lodged in the man’s thigh.
“Argh!”
The man screamed and fell to his knees.
Pyo-wol grabbed the man by the nape and threw him forward.
Thud!
He hit the ground hard, his limbs twisting in bizarre directions.
“Hngh!”
The man groaned, his face pressed to the ground.
All his limbs seemed to be broken. He couldn’t move.
Pyo-wol moved on to his next prey.
Whoosh!
At that moment, an arrow shot by Gwan Musu flew towards him. However, without even looking, Pyo-wol effortlessly evaded the arrow.
Thud!
“Euack!”
The arrow struck an unsuspecting warrior in the chest.
With a pitiful scream, the martial artist collapsed.
Pyo-wol took a quick glance behind him.
Gwan Musu’s face, twisted in anguish, came into view.
The bearded old warrior looked as though he was about to shed tears any second, his expression desperate.
At his feet lay several bodies.
They were the martial artists who had charged at him.
They resisted and wouldn’t go down easily, so he fought back, and as a result, all those who approached him met their end.
Gwan Musu’s martial arts were crude and rough. It lacked the finesse required to subdue a person without killing them.
The result was the current bloodbath.
He had killed the warriors to survive, but his conscience was riddled with guilt.
Although he had a short temper that earned him the nickname of the Fervent Flame Hunter, he never committed injustice or took a life in his entire life. Yet now, because of Pyo-wol, he had already killed more than ten innocent people.
Guilt tormented him. Yet, he couldn’t stop now.
Whether for better or worse, he had to subdue Pyo-wol. Only then could he hope for some redemption for the deeds he had committed.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
He released a series of arrows in succession.
The arrows arched in the air.
It was a curved shot.
The arrows weaved through the crowd of warriors, aiming for Pyo-wol’s throat, but once again, Pyo-wol used a nearby warrior as a shield.
Thud!
“Argh!”
Luckily, no one was killed, but the man who was struck by the arrow was on the brink of death.
Gwan Musu swung his great bow and shouted,
“You coward! Fight me honorably! Aren’t you ashamed?!”
However, Pyo-wol didn’t respond.
He didn’t feel the need to.
Honor is a word used by those who have the advantage.
There was no reason for one at a disadvantage to act honorably.
Even if it meant using underhanded tactics, victory had to be seized.
That was how Pyo-wol learned to survive.
He had inadvertently earned a reputation in Jianghu and garnered respect, but in essence, he was still an assassin.
The corners of Pyo-wol’s mouth curved into a thin arc.
He was smiling.
It was as if he had just woken up from a dream and returned to reality.
Zing!
The phantom dagger and Soul-Reaping Thread were drawn simultaneously.
With each motion, someone screamed.
“No!”
Gwan Musu pulled out a straight sword and chased after Pyo-wol.
Whoosh!
The massive straight sword cut through the air menacingly, aiming for Pyo-wol. Yet, Pyo-wol skillfully dodged his attack and struck another martial artist.
“Ah!”
With a scream, the warrior fell.
He didn’t immediately die, but he writhed on the ground like a wounded insect.
As of now, there were more than twenty people who had fallen, all writhing and screaming in agony. But despite the number of people Pyo-wol subdued, he didn’t have as much as a scratch on him.
His face remained pale, and his breathing was still steady. The sight of him caused the warriors to become enraged.
“Ugh!”
“Crazy!”
They knew Pyo-wol was called the Reaper, but they didn’t actually truly understand it. That’s why they got so caught up in the heat of the moment and poured out their criticism towards him.
They had hoped that they might be able to pull down such a formidable figure to their level.
But Pyo-wol’s martial prowess was beyond their imagination.
No matter how many sheep gathered together, it wouldn’t be enough to stop a tiger. So, no matter how much they worked together and pooled their strength, they still would not be able to defeat Pyo-wol.
It was only now that they realized it.
Pyo-wol’s eyes quickly scanned the warriors, then finally, he spotted the one he had been targeting from the beginning.
It was the man who had first thrown a stone at Pyo-wol.
“Hiiic!”
As their eyes locked, the man tried to flee with a terrified expression on his face.
“Crazy!”
Suddenly, the man realized.
All the people that Pyo-wol had taken down were those who had been inciting the others in the crowd.
They were the ones who provoked the crowd in criticizing Pyo-wol, riling them up, and pushing them into aggression.
But now, each and every one of them was injured by Pyo-wol, groaning like wounded animals.
When the man threw the rock at Pyo-wol, it was to trigger and spark the others to attack.
He knew from experience that in such a heated situation, the slightest shock could cause an explosion. So, at that moment, he threw a stone at Pyo-wol, and as he predicted, the crowd’s anger exploded.
Immediately afterward, he hid among the people.
He did this to enjoy the spectacle of the fight he had incited. But before he could fully enjoy it, this situation unfolded.
‘How is this possible?! He remembered all those people in that split second?’
The man was keeping a close eye on the crowd’s reactions, so he knew such a thing was possible for him, but Pyo-wol was on the receiving end of all the criticism.
It was hard to believe that Pyo-wol could identify and remember those responsible for instigating the crowd in such a chaotic situation.
His powers of observation and memory were beyond human.
However, the man’s thoughts were interrupted.
Something sharp wrapped around his ankle.
“Gah!”
The man screamed and collapsed. Then, he felt himself being dragged backward.
‘N-No!’
He desperately tried to claw the ground to prevent himself from being pulled. But despite his efforts, he was helplessly dragged before Pyo-wol’s feet.
“Heuk!”
As he looked up, he saw Pyo-wol’s face looking down at him.
A smile adorned his beautiful face, like that of a woman. The moment he saw that smile, the man wet himself.
He was terrified.
So much so that he couldn’t muster a single thought.
Just witnessing Pyo-wol’s smile was enough for the man to feel the fear of death.
He struggled to move, but it was no use.
Whatever Pyo-wol did, he couldn’t move an inch.
It was then.
“You little rat!”
Gwan Musu finally caught up to Pyo-wol.
Without a second thought, he swung his sword at Pyo-wol.
Whoosh!
The powerful blade, imbued with powerful internal energy, slashed horizontally across Pyo-wol’s waist. However, in a seemingly impossible moment, he disappeared.
What Gwan Musu had slashed was only an illusion.
Pyo-wol had used Demon Shadow Exchange to deceive Gwan Musu’s eyes.
Swoosh!
Pyo-wol silently appeared behind Gwan Musu.
Realizing that what he had cut was merely a mirage, Gwan Musu gritted his teeth and spun around in place.
It was a life-saving technique called Spinning Slash.1
In his hands was a blade with a metal blade chain attached about a yard long.
Whack, whack, whack!
The blade adorned with metal chains ripped through the air.
Its destructive force was so immense that no opponent would dare to approach it. However, even such a technique could not prevent Pyo-wol from closing in.
Powered by Black Lightning, Pyo-wol’s reaction speed exceeded human limits.
Even if Gwan Musu was spinning at an incredible speed, making him almost invisible, Pyo-wol eyes could see the gap in between the spins.
Pyo-wol dived in during one such gap and struck.
Screetch!
“Keurgh!”
With the Spinning Slash broken, Gwan Musu screamed in pain.
The blade in his hand shattered, and the hand holding it was covered in blood.
Pyo-wol chased after Gwan Musu, who was thrown back, at an astonishing speed.
“Damn it!”
Gwan Musu gritted his teeth and tried to pull out the axe from his waist, but before he could, Pyo-wol grabbed his wrist.
Without hesitation, Pyo-wol twisted his wrist.
Crack!
“AHHH!”
Gwan Musu screamed.
His wrist was completely twisted.
Bits of broken bone protruded through his flesh.
The pain was so excruciating that Gwan Musu felt his consciousness slipping away. Yet, Pyo-wol’s assault didn’t end there.
Thud!
A kick infused with internal energy struck Gwan Musu’s abdomen.
Without even being able to scream, Gwan Musu flew and crashed into a wall.
Half the wall crumbled as he smashed into it.
With his twisted wrist and bloodied appearance, he looked truly pitiful.
Fortunately, even in this state, Gwan Musu was still alive.
He was barely breathing.
Click!
Pyo-wol stood in front of the injured Gwan Musu.
With great effort, Gwan Musu managed to lift his head and look up.
He could see Pyo-wol looking down at him.
He looked undisturbed, his breathing steady.
Only a faint blush colored his face.
Pyo-wol stared intently at Gwan Musu.
“Do you still think I killed your friend?”
“……”
Gwan Musu couldn’t answer.
If he opened his mouth, he felt like he would vomit fresh blood.
His insides were in a mess.
Even though he had attacked with all his might, Pyo-wol had inflicted deep injuries on him in an instant.
He believed that even if he couldn’t kill Pyo-wol, his martial arts could at least severely wound him. But his belief shattered, and reality was cruel.
With a smile on his face, Pyo-wol spoke,
“Tell me. Do you still think I need to sneak and ambush your friend to kill him?”
“……”
LUNACAVE
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