Chapter 455 - Thank Goodness.
Drip... drip.
Blood trickled down the woman's hand.
The sword strike that had grazed her shoulder was rougher than expected. Because of that, the wound on her left arm was deep.
Though the pain was enough to make her groan, rising to her throat, the woman merely moved her injured arm a few times, wordlessly.
"..."
It hurt, but this much was bearable.
That was the woman's conclusion.
She gripped her sword once more.
Fortunately, it was her left arm that was injured. Since she was right-handed, it wasn't a major problem.
Rumble.
The dark clouds bound to the sky let out a rough roar.
Those clouds were wrapped in crackling lightning energy that prickled just to look at.
Just as the woman was about to unleash another thunder roar and swing her sword.
"...Do you intend to keep going?"
Someone spoke to the woman facing her from the front.
The one who spoke was the descendant of the Sword Venerable called the Little Sword Saint; she was also the woman called the hope of the righteous faction.
At her address, the master of the lightning energy—the Demon Sword Queen—gazed at the Little Sword Saint with an indifferent expression.
"I don't quite understand."
Rumble-!!
As if pushing back the Demon Sword Queen's lightning energy, the aura erupting from the Little Sword Saint's feet began to occupy the surroundings.
"Why did you suddenly make this choice?"
"..."
The Demon Sword Queen gave no answer to the Little Sword Saint's words.
She merely gripped the sword she held and swung it calmly.
Swish-!
Kwaaaaaah-!
Lightning burst from the tip of the sword the Demon Sword Queen swung lightly. Lightning energy branches numbering in the thousands shot toward the Little Sword Saint.
Though each strand was thin and small, one could tell that each contained tremendous power.
"...Hoo."
At this, the Little Sword Saint narrowed her eyes slightly as if tired, then gripped the sword in both hands tightly.
Ziiiiing-!
As a faint vibration spread, golden energy gathered behind the Little Sword Saint's back and transformed into the shapes of swords.
The swords floating in the air soon aimed their tips at the lightning energy streaking toward them.
Paaaaak-!
Scattering energy, they shot toward the incoming lightning energy.
With thousands of strands of lightning energy against a mere few swords, the outcome seemed obvious at a glance.
But the Little Sword Saint's swords, digging through the pouring lightning energy, emitted a faint light amidst the countless currents.
Chwajajajajak-!
They moved at an unbelievable speed and began erasing the lightning energy one by one.
So fast were they that one couldn't even see how the swords were moving.
And.
Swish-!
As their auras clashed in the air, the Little Sword Saint was extending her sword directly toward the Demon Sword Queen.
Before she knew it, the Little Sword Saint had closed in to right before her face and unfolded a dual-sword technique. In response, the Demon Sword Queen also swung her sword.
Kang-! Kang-!
Their dazzling movements harbored respective precision and accuracy.
Every time the swords met, sonic booms burst around them, and they fluttered in the shock of energy shattering and scattering.
That sight was like flower petals dancing in the wind.
However, unlike that beautiful imagery, the energy contained within was savage beyond compare.
Amid the relentless feast of energy bursting forth.
Pik-!
"...!"
Blood spurted from the Demon Sword Queen's left shoulder.
At the same time, her brow furrowed deeply.
The wound had torn open.
The Demon Sword Queen put strength into the sword she held and swung it wide.
Kwagagagak-!
The lightning energy gathered on the blade swelled enormously and annihilated the surroundings in a crescent moon shape according to her movement.
Though her movements became significantly slower because of it, she succeeded in pushing the Little Sword Saint away for a moment.
Tak-!
Having retreated backward as if leaping from the Demon Sword Queen's attack, the Little Sword Saint retrieved the swords floating in the sky and made them circle around her.
"..."
She didn't care about the lightning energy she had been dealing with using the flying sword technique.
Because that energy had already vanished.
Taking advantage of the brief moment of calm, the Little Sword Saint looked toward the front.
Huu-huu.
The Demon Sword Queen was breathing heavily as blood dripped from her.
She looked exhausted at a glance.
"..."
Seeing that, the Little Sword Saint bit her lip, unable to help herself.
Originally, the Demon Sword Queen was not someone who would tire from this level of fighting.
Though her internal energy might not be on par with that 'Demon Lord' or the Heavenly Demon, she was a person who manipulated it with such delicacy and precision.
It made no sense for her to be so exhausted from a single battle.
The reason such a Demon Sword Queen was in that state was none other than this:
'She fought to the point of becoming like that.'
It was a truly simple reason.
Wind brushed the Little Sword Saint's nose.
It was steeped in the scent of blood—not just the Demon Sword Queen's blood.
Behind the Demon Sword Queen, who was catching her breath as if tired, martial artists of the Alliance who had died by her sword could be seen strewn about.
Confirming this, the Little Sword Saint frowned.
"...Did the Demon Lord permit you to act this way?"
At the Little Sword Saint's words, one of the Demon Sword Queen's eyebrows twitched.
"I thought the deal was finished. Can I take this to mean the Demon Lord's will... no, the Demonic Cult's will?"
Had it been two shichen since the Demon Sword Queen launched her solo assault?
The situation had erupted just as they were preparing to return to Hannam.
'The Heavenly Venerable had set up a barrier before leaving.'
In the situation where the Heavenly Venerable had spread a barrier, the Demon Sword Queen nonchalantly cut through it and launched her assault.
It just so happened that the Heavenly Venerable was away at that moment.
The Little Sword Saint herself had also been 'asleep.'
However, even with the representative martial artists absent, the Alliance's current strength was absolutely not weak.
With warriors ranging from the Peak realm at the very least to those who had just reached the Transformation Realm, they were by no means weak.
'And yet, against such people...'
The Demon Sword Queen had not only endured against such people for two shichen, but had killed more than half of them.
As the Little Sword Saint felt strange sentiments at the Demon Sword Queen's level far exceeding expectations.
The Demon Sword Queen finally broke her silence and opened her lips.
"...Where is he...?"
"What...?"
"That person.... where is he...?"
It was a sentence with an unclear subject, but the Little Sword Saint seemed to know who she was looking for.
The moment she realized it, the Little Sword Saint gritted her teeth with a grinding sound.
"Paljeolyeop.... was it. Could it be that you came here looking for him?"
"..."
At the fact that the Demon Sword Queen of the world had come looking for a mere low-level warrior of the Black Flame Squad, the Little Sword Saint spoke with a slightly exhausted appearance.
"...The Demon Sword Queen called the wicked woman of the world. I wonder since when you cherished your person so dearly...."
"It's different."
Just as the Little Sword Saint tried to continue speaking as if she couldn't understand, the Demon Sword Queen cut her off.
"That isn't his name."
"...!"
At the firmly spat-out words, the Little Sword Saint's eyes grew wide. The shock didn't end there.
"...You... know that too...."
At the Demon Sword Queen's following words, the Little Sword Saint's eyes trembled.
"Why... pretend... not to know?"
Rather, the Demon Sword Queen looked as if she couldn't understand such behavior.
For a fleeting instant, the Little Sword Saint seemed unstable as if shaken, but she quickly returned her expression to normal and gripped her sword.
"I don't know what you're talking about.... Whatever the reason, your choice now is wrong."
The den of the enemy camp.
The Demon Sword Queen had entered this far alone, by herself.
The Demon Sword Queen was not the Heavenly Demon.
Therefore, no matter how strong she was, she clearly had limits.
Even when they had exchanged swords just now, when the Demon Sword Queen had swung her lightning energy forcefully to create distance.
The Little Sword Saint could have cut her down with a single slash.
Because there had been that large of an opening.
But she hadn't done so.
Why?
"..."
The reason was something the Little Sword Saint herself didn't know well. She had hesitated without realizing it.
Thanks to that, the Demon Sword Queen was still standing, but such a miracle wouldn't happen again.
Swooooo.
The Little Sword Saint moved the circling flying swords and raised her energy.
"...Do you not intend to draw the Thunder Fang?"
This was what she said while looking at the Demon Sword Queen.
Right now, she wasn't using the Thunder Fang.
She should have gotten it back through the deal, yet the Demon Sword Queen was using an ordinary sword.
Was there any reason to go so far even in a life-and-death situation?
To her, who knew even vaguely how terrifying the Demon Sword Queen was when wielding the Thunder Fang, it was incomprehensible.
Even to such a question from the Little Sword Saint, the Demon Sword Queen didn't answer and merely held her sword silently.
'Why?'
At that sight, only questions deepened.
It was a battle with no chance of victory.
She had wondered if there might be reinforcements, but that didn't seem to be the case either.
If the Heavenly Venerable returned like this, it would truly become a situation with nothing that could be called hope.
And yet.
'Why on earth.'
Why was this woman so unwilling to retreat?
She didn't know.
The Little Sword Saint really couldn't understand anything.
'...Calm down.'
She cooled her complicated head and made her energy tranquil.
As energy spread through her meridians, she felt her emotions calming, but.
Strangely, her heart remained complicated.
'It's a good thing.'
She forced herself to repeat this, killing those thoughts.
If she dealt with the Demon Sword Queen here, it would help in the future.
Thinking so, the Little Sword Saint gripped her sword, but.
For some reason in the Little Sword Saint's mind, she recalled someone who might collapse if the Demon Sword Queen died like this.
That brief thought made her pause, but.
The Little Sword Saint soon advanced, cloaked in sword force.
Pajijijijik-!
At this, lightning energy surged through the Demon Sword Queen's body once more.
However, compared to the lightning energy she had unleashed earlier, it looked infinitely weak.
In contrast, the Little Sword Saint's ten swords contained clear blade energy as strong as at the beginning.
If these two energies clashed, it was all too obvious how the battle would end.
A golden flash burst forth with a sharp momentum and flew in. The several swords also drew arcs in the air and shot toward the Demon Sword Queen.
The vast energy was enough to make one flinch just looking at it, and it affected the entire area as if to never let her escape.
Even seeing such energy, the Demon Sword Queen merely prepared to unfold her sword.
She might die here.
That thought flashed by faintly, but even so, she didn't retreat.
If he had seen such recklessness, he would have been furious, asking if she was crazy.
The Demon Sword Queen couldn't help it.
Including reason and emotion.
Even if she weighed her own life on the scale.
To the Demon Sword Queen, he was more important.
It didn't matter where he was or where he came from.
Lightning energy gathered at one point.
The Little Sword Saint's swords gradually drew closer.
Looking at the size and condensation of energy, it wasn't a state where her current self could confront it.
'...'
If she used the Thunder Fang in her bosom, it might be a different story, but.
She didn't use it.
The reason was simple.
Because permission to use it hadn't been granted.
[...!...!]
Though an angry old man's voice kept piercing her ears.
The Demon Sword Queen didn't pay it any mind.
Kwadeudeudeudeudeuk-!
The Little Sword Saint's energy dug in violently.
At this, the Demon Sword Queen also began to move, loading lightning energy into her blade.
Just before the two sword forces clashed in moments.
The Demon Sword Queen suddenly recalled.
If she were to meet death here at that woman's hands.
What kind of expression would he make?
Would he spit out pointed words, saying she died uselessly for not listening?
Or would he pass it off nonchalantly with his usual indifferent expression?
Even in this situation, if she could hope for just a very slight luxury.
'I wish he would be a little sad.'
The Demon Sword Queen whispered such a wish inwardly.
Kwaaaaaaak-!
Finally, the Demon Sword Queen's lightning energy and the Little Sword Saint's energy collided and began to erupt with vibrations.
"...!"
The moment the energies clashed, the Demon Sword Queen felt it through her body.
That she couldn't overcome this energy with her exhausted body.
That she would collapse unable to endure for long.
Even in such a situation, the Demon Sword Queen looked at the woman beyond the energy.
From the Little Sword Saint's face as she drew out her energy, the Demon Sword Queen could see faint hesitation.
If not for that hesitation, this fight wouldn't have been possible in the first place.
"..."
Gazing at the Little Sword Saint, the Demon Sword Queen's eyes sank subtly.
Was the emotion she felt looking at her now resentment, or perhaps pity?
The Demon Sword Queen couldn't be certain of either.
Kwak-!
Her toes were pushed back by the energy.
Deudeudeudeuk-!
She could see the sword force shattering and scattering.
The wounds gradually tore open.
The Demon Sword Queen felt the end gradually approaching.
At that moment.
-Right now.
An urgent voice transmission suddenly came to the Demon Sword Queen's ears.
It was a boy's voice that hadn't yet fully matured.
It wasn't a voice she was particularly familiar with, but for some reason.
-Draw the sword!
Following that voice, she couldn't help but comply as if possessed.
Just as the lightning energy collapsed and was about to be swept away by the Little Sword Saint's energy.
The Demon Sword Queen reached into her bosom, grabbed something, and pulled it out.
Kurururung! Kwaaaaaah-!
At the same time, a massive lightning bolt shot up to the sky and swept everything away.