Purple energy shimmered around the Drunken Demon’s body.
He truly was drunk. Seeing him in that state, one ought to have thought, This is our chance!
Yet no one dared rush at him as he staggered, eyes half-unfocused.
Yes, it was because he was the Drunken Demon.
When the Drunken Demon was well and truly drunk and reeling, how could anyone dare find the nerve to charge him?
Moreover, the languid gaze beneath his half-lowered lids felt even more terrifying than eyes brimming with killing intent.
When the wine bottle in the Drunken Demon’s hand ran dry, he picked up another bottle from the ground. Then he drank again. He drank so much one could not help but wonder if it was truly all right for him to drink like that.
“Ah, I’m drunk.”
The Drunken Demon staggered forward and looked at the Northern Blood Sect Master and the Blood King.
“Why don’t you come down already? My neck hurts from looking up.”
At that, the Blood King sat down. As though he intended to watch this fight comfortably from where he was, he settled into an entirely relaxed posture.
For the Northern Blood Sect Master, this was pressure. Silent pressure that said, I’ll watch from here, so hurry up and go die.
‘Damn it.’
The Northern Blood Sect Master simply could not get a read on this Blood King. Now that Elder Seo of the Ice Palace was dead, he was certain the Northern Blood Sect would be needed if they were to rule the North Sea. And yet this man was trying to use him as a disposable pawn. He seemed more emotional than anyone, yet he had not so much as blinked at the Drunken Demon’s provocation a moment ago.
The Northern Blood Sect Master looked at the smoke rising far off behind them.
‘And on top of that, he’s even summoned his own subordinates.’
Just what is he planning to do? If he made the board this big, there would be no cleaning up afterward.
In any case, now was the time to fight. Offending the capricious Blood King was even more frightening than fighting the Drunken Demon.
And if he joined hands with the Blood King and won, he could fulfill his long-held dream of becoming the greatest force in the North Sea.
“Kill him!”
At the Northern Blood Sect Master’s command, seven martial artists descended below the wall all at once.
Their opponent was the Drunken Demon, so how could they not be afraid? Even so, they pinned their hopes on the fact that there were seven of them.
Sssssst.
The alcoholic qi that blossomed in an instant obscured that hope.
The Drunken Demon’s voice came from within the mist.
“When the mist rises, run west. Then you can live.”
But none of them fled through the path of life the Drunken Demon had opened for them.
They were not ordinary martial artists of the Northern Blood Sect. They were the hands and feet of the Northern Blood Sect Master, men who had spent their lives following the sect master’s orders and committing all manner of evil. Whether in life or death, they were one body.
The alcoholic qi that rose this time was far stronger in drunkenness than before. Just being exposed to the mist for a brief moment was enough for them to begin growing drunk. Even so, trying to expel the alcoholic qi from within the alcoholic qi was a meaningless attempt.
If it had been poison, they could at least have taken an antidote. The most terrifying thing was that because it was not poison, it could not be blocked.
Whoooong!
One martial artist waved his hand, dispersing the alcoholic qi. The mist around his body vanished for a moment, then reappeared.
The instant he waved his hand again.
The Drunken Demon was standing in the place where the alcoholic qi had disappeared.
The startled martial artist thrust out his sword in haste, but it was already too late.
The Drunken Demon’s palm lightly struck the martial artist’s forehead first.
With a thud, the martial artist toppled over.
By the time he fell, the Drunken Demon had already vanished from that spot.
“I told you, if you want to live, run west!”
But instead of running there, they sent sword qi flying toward the place his voice had come from.
Swish! Swiiish! Swish!
Sword qi poured down, but no scream came from the Drunken Demon.
“West is that way. No, is it this way?”
The drunken Drunken Demon’s voice sounded again. This time, one martial artist threw himself in the opposite direction from where the voice had come and thrust out his sword.
‘It’s probably a trick to lure us in!’
It was a choice he had made using his head in his own way, but he could not keep up with a drunken mind.
His sword cut through empty air, and at the same time, as though waiting for him, someone’s arm coiled around his neck from behind.
‘How did he read my thoughts?’
Crack.
With that thought as his last, the martial artist’s neck bone broke, and he collapsed where he stood.
“Ah, I’m drunk.”
Swish! Swish!
Swords flew in from two directions toward that place, but the Drunken Demon was already gone. The Drunken Demon was certainly drunk, but his movements were faster than anyone’s. This was his world, one even the Blood King did not dare rashly leap into.
“All your subordinates are going to die. Are you still not going to step in?”
The Drunken Demon’s voice came from within the mist.
But the Northern Blood Sect Master stood atop the wall and did not move.
‘If I go into that mist without a plan, I’ll die.’
Even here, a little distance away, the smell alone was enough to make him feel drunk.
Inside that mist, his subordinates must truly be drunk. Their bodies and judgment were surely growing sluggish. Even being faster than usual would not have been enough.
Truly, if not for the Blood King, this was an opponent he should never have fought.
He had to find a weakness before all his subordinates were killed, no matter what.
A scream rang out from within the mist. This time too, it was one of his subordinates.
Unable to endure the terror, one martial artist shot upward through the mist. For now, he had chosen to get out of the alcoholic qi first.
Swaaaaaaang!
Something pierced through the mist and flew like a streak of lightning, shattering his jaw.
The dead subordinate would not know what had struck and killed him, but the Northern Blood Sect Master saw it clearly. It was a pebble that had been lying on the ground. In the Drunken Demon’s hands, anything he could grasp became a weapon.
Once more, the sound of a heavy blow burst from within the mist.
Thud!
A martial artist was flung out through the mist and slammed into the wall where the Blood King and the Northern Blood Sect Master stood. He had already died the moment he took that punch to the abdomen.
This time, one martial artist burst out through the western side of the mist. He was truly trying to flee west.
Swiiiiish!
Baaang!
A strand of astral qi flew out and smashed him apart.
The one who sent out that palm strike and killed him was the Northern Blood Sect Master. This fight could not be allowed to become known to the world. He could not permit someone to disobey his order and flee.
The mist scattered left and right, and from the center of the mist, the Drunken Demon appeared. Only the area around where he stood was clear of mist.
The Drunken Demon looked at the Northern Blood Sect Master with drunken eyes.
The emotions contained in that languid gaze were contempt and scorn. The Northern Blood Sect Master hardened his eyes and shouted.
“He died because of you!”
At that moment, the seventh martial artist lowered his head as if in despair and walked toward the Drunken Demon.
“West is not this way.”
The very instant the martial artist lifted his head.
The Drunken Demon hurriedly raised his protective astral qi and crossed both arms to shield his face.
The man had already activated a self-destruction art, his face and body glowing bright red.
Kwaaaang!
The blood energy that poured from his chest engulfed the Drunken Demon. From the impact, the Drunken Demon was hurled backward.
The Drunken Demon rolled across the ground and collapsed. Then the alcoholic qi that had hung thick around the area vanished.
“We’ve taken down the Drunken Demon!”
The Northern Blood Sect Master shouted in delight. The Blood King had not simply driven them into death without reason.
“So this was the arrangement my lord had prepared!”
Although he was displeased that he had not been told beforehand, the fact that he did not have to fight the Drunken Demon was enough for him to endure it.
“Let us go before the Young Cult Leader returns.”
But the Blood King remained seated, staring at the Drunken Demon lying on the ground.
When the Northern Blood Sect Master’s gaze naturally turned that way.
“Uuugh, that hurts.”
Astonishingly, the Drunken Demon was slowly getting to his feet.
The Drunken Demon rubbed his chest and drank wine first. It had exploded abruptly in an unexpected situation, and under ordinary circumstances, he would have been gravely injured.
However, the supreme-grade Heavenly Silkworm Silk wrapped around his body had prevented the blood energy from piercing through him, allowing him to avoid a serious wound.
‘Little brother, I lived thanks to you.’
Geom Mugeuk had saved his life. He really had been so relentless in making him wrap that supreme-grade Heavenly Silkworm Silk around his body.
A peculiar light flashed through the Blood King’s eyes as he looked at the Drunken Demon.
He could not believe the man was this unharmed after taking that attack from so close.
“He’s wearing protective armor.”
The Blood King spoke to the Northern Blood Sect Master with certainty. When the gaze that had been fixed on the Drunken Demon all along turned toward him, the Northern Blood Sect Master understood.
‘He wants me to go out and fight too?’
In the end, it meant that he too should go out and die.
The Blood King’s eyes said this.
‘Will you die here, or die fighting?’
There are moments in life when one suddenly wakes from a dream.
Huh? So that was it? Huh? So that was the kind of person he was? Huh? That was how he thought of me?
That moment when your heart sinks and goosebumps rise over your skin. The moment when you cannot manage your expression and stammer, when your face flushes red with humiliation.
At that moment, the Northern Blood Sect Master was exactly like that. He had thought that, at the very least, he was not such a trivial existence to the Blood King.
But he could tell that the Blood King regarded him the same as the subordinates who had died before him.
“Give me a cup of wine too.”
The Northern Blood Sect Master lightly leaped down below. Even so, the Blood King was more frightening than the Drunken Demon. No matter what, he could not die atop this wall.
The Northern Blood Sect Master slowly walked toward the Drunken Demon. He intended to attempt a surprise attack when he received the wine and drank.
‘There is only one chance.’
If he fought within the alcoholic qi, he would surely lose.
The Drunken Demon spread his arms wide and welcomed him.
“At last, I have a drinking companion. Is sharing a cup of wine together truly this difficult?”
The Northern Blood Sect Master approached the Drunken Demon step by step. Forcing his pounding heart to settle, he aimed for a single instant.
The two of them were now close enough to touch if they reached out.
“There are no cups, so let’s drink straight from the bottle.”
The Drunken Demon was about to offer the entire wine bottle when he suddenly seemed to remember something and asked.
“By the way, Sect Master, are you that afraid of that man?”
It was an unexpected question.
“I respect my lord.”
“What is there to respect about a man who is too afraid of his opponent and pushes his subordinates into the jaws of death first?”
The Northern Blood Sect Master felt bitter. After all, the subordinate being pushed in was himself. He had thought he was not someone who deserved to be treated like this.
“Does that man over there have some weakness of yours?”
The Northern Blood Sect Master did not answer.
A weakness? He had two. The blood art that could swell his blood vessels and kill him, and his own desire to bring down the Northern Sea Ice Palace and stand in its place.
Just which weakness had dragged him all the way here?
“Wouldn’t it be better to join hands with me and fight that bastard? Then even if you died, wouldn’t you have no regrets?”
The moment he said that, a cold sneer formed at the lips of the Blood King sitting on the wall.
“Look at how that man over there is laughing.”
How on earth was he laughing?
The very instant the Northern Blood Sect Master turned back without thinking.
Swish! Stab!
The sound of flesh being torn rang out.
When the Northern Blood Sect Master looked back at the Drunken Demon with a startled face, a bloodied dagger was in the hand that was not holding the wine bottle.
‘What?’
The next moment.
Puaaaak.
Blood spurted from the Northern Blood Sect Master’s neck. The instant he turned to look at the Blood King, the Drunken Demon had ambushed him like lightning and stabbed him in the throat.
The Northern Blood Sect Master had only thought of making a surprise attack himself; he had never imagined that the Drunken Demon would ambush and kill him. All the more so because the Drunken Demon had displayed such extraordinary skill earlier and had fought with such ease.
“I’m sorry. Drunkards’ fights are always ugly.”
The Northern Blood Sect Master wanted to say something in response to the Drunken Demon’s words, but the wound in his neck was too deep.
He clutched his throat, but could not stop the blood flowing out.
The Northern Blood Sect Master collapsed as if crumbling. He died with both eyes wide open, as though aggrieved by this hollow death.
The Drunken Demon crouched down and closed his eyes for him.
He was someone who had to be killed anyway. The Drunken Demon knew everything he had done in the process of searching for those with Extreme Yin Bodies within the Northern Blood Sect. It had only been a question of when to deal with him.
He had sensed that the Northern Blood Sect Master would not betray the Blood King in this fight. He had also sensed that the reason he came asking for wine was to launch a surprise attack.
“There can never be a good end for someone who stands beside a man like that.”
Using the thick scent of blood rising from the Northern Blood Sect Master as his drinking snack, the Drunken Demon drank his wine. Of course, even as he drank, he did not take his eyes off the Blood King for a single moment.
Cold and heat entangled in midair, heat and cold.
The Blood King spoke to the Drunken Demon for the first time.
“And yet beside you, there is not even anyone watching, is there?”
The mockery aimed at Geom Mugeuk did not work on the Drunken Demon.
“He shouldn’t come to a filthy, dangerous place like this.”
Instead, the Drunken Demon went a step further.
“For that, I am truly grateful to you. For keeping the Young Cult Leader from coming here, I mean. He is not someone suited to a place like this, reeking of wine and blood. People like you and me are the ones who should be grabbing each other by the collar and rolling in the dirt.”
The Blood King looked down at the Drunken Demon with a strange gaze.
“You are an odd one.”
“It’s because I’m drunk. No, that’s not it. It’s because you aren’t drunk.”
Rambling incoherently, the Drunken Demon drank again. He drank to what seemed an excessive degree. But the Blood King saw it. The more wine he drank, the more the Drunken Demon’s eyelids drooped, but his pupils shone ever clearer.
The Drunken Demon crooked a finger, beckoning for the Blood King to come down.
At that, the Blood King finally rose from his seat and lightly jumped down.
At last, the Blood King had stepped forward. In that place filled with drunkenness, the Blood King’s blood energy began to swell.
“Blood is thicker than wine.”
The blood energy and alcoholic qi refused to yield even an inch to each other.
“How dare you compare cheap blood to wine?”
As the primal, violent scents of wine and blood mingled, the two energies began to push fiercely against one another.