Swish—
In the forest shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
At its very center, a group of human figures arranged in formation was moving quietly yet swiftly.
“Halt.”
At that moment, the figure at the very front raised one hand along with a low voice.
The personnel at the rear, who had been moving in perfect order, halted their movements simultaneously without a single inch of error.
“······.”
In the midnight forest where peace and gloom coexisted.
Wind brushed through the gaps between densely grown trees, causing bushes and leaves to rustle wildly.
Within that noise flowing calmly amid the enveloping silence—
“···Prepare for battle.”
That voice put a period to the forest’s tranquility.
Shiiing— Clang!
The moment his words ended, as they all drew their weapons at once, a storm-before-the-calm tension began to envelop the entire space.
Not a single person harbored doubts at the sudden order.
The commander who had given the order was someone who had proven his abilities long ago, and to them, unconditional obedience was a part of daily life engraved as deeply as brainwashing.
And sure enough.
“Huh? Well now, found out already?”
Just as the group finished their battle preparations, a carefree voice that did not match the sharp, tension-filled atmosphere flowed in from behind.
“As expected, things don’t go according to plan? Sneaking around really doesn’t suit me at all! Kahahaha!”
In the darkness, a stranger slowly revealed himself between the dense trees.
Even while receiving the vigilance of everyone present upon his single body, the hulking barbarian warrior burst into a hearty laugh.
With a relaxed attitude as if he had come out for a stroll, as though he didn’t care how they reacted.
“···Special-grade. Lift all restrictions on the Cheongangsi.”
However, those facing him could not possibly regard that sight as amusing.
No, rather than underestimating him, they couldn’t even tear their fixed gazes away from him.
Rustle— Crunch—
The hulking man approached, stepping calmly on the ground without a hint of tension or anxiety.
From his entire body, a ferocious aura rose in puffs— a savage momentum that screamed if you looked away for even a moment, he would rush in and bite through your throat, causing their instincts to shriek continuously.
“But there seem to be fewer than I thought?”
As the suffocating tension heightened, the giant— Halli— who had been sauntering closer like a beast about to hunt, tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brow.
His odd eyes, bearing a bizarre glint, slowly swept across the surroundings.
The number of the group was roughly fifty.
They were all experts of at least the Peak realm, and if one included the jiangshi crawling out from the coffins some carried on their backs, their overall strength could certainly be called formidable but...
It was quite different from the number he had anticipated.
And more importantly.
“···I don’t see the one I was looking for either. Tsk, when did they divert her somewhere else?”
The fact was that among them, not even the tip of a nose was visible of Zhuge Huimei, the target he sought.
She wasn’t inside any of those coffins containing the jiangshi either.
He had been uncertain when sensing from afar, but at this distance, there was no way they could deceive his senses, right?
‘That was the case even when synthesizing various pieces of information, and there hadn’t been any traces of them splitting into multiple groups while tracking them here.’
Then he soon realized he had been thinking about the matter too optimistically.
He had been able to track them because they were a large group, utilizing the inevitable traces left behind.
Then, if a very small number of experts specializing in stealth had taken her and broken off to another place midway...
“Keh! This has become a hassle. It would’ve been convenient if I could just finish it this time.”
Halli scratched the back of his head with an expression of disgust.
No matter how great the Demonic Cult’s forces were, dispersing strength in such a chaotic world where one never knew what crisis might approach from where was an inefficient gamble.
Besides, the Zhuge Family they had raided was specialized in base defense using formations and was hardly in a situation where they had decent experts, were they?
He had thought that since there was no way they knew Halli was in pursuit, they wouldn’t have bothered to split their forces when they had already put considerable distance between them.
“Well, what’s done is done.”
Halli, who had been talking to himself alone in the still rigid atmosphere, smacked his lips and shook his head.
He had missed his target, but he couldn’t say this was a completely wasted trip.
Right before his eyes, those who could serve as clues were sprawled out in abundance.
“Still, you know. I’m human too, so I can’t help but be a little upset, right?”
Contrary to his light tone, an overwhelming momentum that made one’s body tingle exploded outward.
It didn’t matter whether they talked obediently or held their integrity to the end.
If he cleanly beat them up and rummaged inside their skulls, something was bound to come out.
“So, understand if I’m a bit rough? Kahahaha!”
Crack— Pop!
As he burst into a crazed laugh, a bizarre sound of twisting bones accompanied the instantaneous swelling of his muscular frame.
That phenomenon was a sight that no one could call human.
“···A demon! Deploy the Cheongangsi! The Bloodslaughter Ghost Demon Unit is to use the Cheonyo Geumswoe Formation...!”
The commander, who had considerable experience in anti-demon warfare, hurriedly issued orders before freezing mid-sentence.
His pupils, trained to maintain composure in all matters through near-brainwashing discipline, trembled as his gaze gradually rose upward.
Following the face of the opponent who already boasted a towering height of eight cheok but was now growing steadily, soaring past twenty cheok (6m).
“Kuhah! Then let’s see some skills, shall we?”
It wasn’t simply that his size had grown; a giant completely transcending human form looked down below and smiled bloodthirstily.
A predator’s appearance with the traits of demons from the Ganghwan Realm manifesting everywhere on his body, unlike before.
***
“How did things come to this...?”
The Chief Strategist of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s external operations, Military Advisor Cheon Ki Ma Seon, Yayeol Hwan.
No, now that the heavens had changed, he should be called the former Military Advisor. He had been facing the greatest crisis of his not-so-short life recently.
“Hehehe, this is truly absurd. To think that the Cult Leader... the Heavenly Demon who should have reached the Divine Transcendence Realm before long would pass away like that.”
A hollow laugh escaped his lips as he sat in a cave where a few lanterns barely pushed back some of the darkness.
The calculations had surely been perfect.
He had already completely grasped the composition and strength of those participating in the Martial Alliance’s meeting, and had even invested forces to the point of excess to ensure the job was done properly...
“The Mad Demon, the Mad Demon, you say...? I had made preparations beforehand to limit the possibility of him becoming a variable, but to think those two would join hands and break into Shaolin Temple.”
That Mad Demon... no, the existence of the freak now called the Divine Mad Demon had been the decisive factor in the failure at Shaolin Temple.
If that bastard hadn’t intervened, he could have cleanly wiped out everyone there, including the Divine Monk and the Sword Saint.
The corpses resulting from that would have been reborn as jiangshi for the Cult, and the Cult Leader wouldn’t have acted separately while returning to the main force.
‘The one who calls himself the King of Demons. Covering the heavens with darkness upon his appearance, using high-level sorcery never seen or heard before, the Lord of Death who commanded an army of black jiangshi wielding martial arts freely...’
Moreover, the existence called the Demon King who appeared right after was nothing short of a catastrophic disaster that shook the very foundation of the plan.
In truth, the failure at Shaolin Temple wasn’t that big of a problem.
Although he would have had to modify the operation somewhat as predictions went awry, the main goal had been to secure the Children of the Dragon in the first place, had it not?
“But now that the Cult Leader himself has fallen, the operation is meaningless. Hehehe... who knew that I would be holding a funeral right after breaking ground. Who could have known it would be my own grave.”
The Heavenly Demon’s death was beyond doubt.
The first piece of evidence presented by the Demon King when he began seizing control of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was none other than his corpse.
There was not a single high-ranking executive at the main mountain stupid enough to be unable to determine its authenticity.
‘This time, that has turned into a bad omen.’
The miserable end of a leader who boasted absolute authority backed by overwhelming martial power.
The resulting fear greatly influenced his subordinates in their decision to switch sides.
Thanks to that, the Demon King’s full-scale purge, which began as he rapidly seized control of the Cult, started sooner than expected.
It was around that time that contact with the Tongcheon Pavilion Lord, who had been secretly passing information to the Military Advisor while pretending to cooperate with that side, was cut off.
‘A pity. I wish I had more information. With all lines cut to prevent backtracking, it’s not easy to make contact elsewhere either.’
He clicked his tongue lightly and furrowed his brows.
Then he turned his gaze to the corner and quietly observed those situated within a specially crafted formation.
‘Children of the Dragon...’
They were the objective that had been the beginning and end of this operation, and the number additionally secured this time was seven in total.
It was truly an achievement that could be called the fruit of intelligence activities spanning a long period.
Originally, they would have been sent to the main mountain—the greatest dragon vein they possessed—as soon as they were recovered to prepare the ritual, but since that place was already occupied, he had no choice but to change his plans.
How could he hand over these highest-grade offerings, secured through such hardship, to that so-called Demon King on a silver platter?
“But... strange. Those two are different from the other Children of the Dragon.”
As he quietly observed them, a strange gleam formed in his eyes.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was a force renowned not only in martial arts but also in sorcery, and Military Advisor Yayeol Hwan was a person with profound knowledge in this field, to the extent that he had personally presided over the Cult Leader’s sacrificial rituals all this time.
Would such a man fail to recognize it?
The traces of that alien power faintly remaining in the bodies of the lively young man and woman, unlike the other Children of the Dragon who were groaning.
‘They were definitely the daughter of the Zhuge Family and the bloodline of the Imperial Family.’
His eyes flashed sharply as if piercing through something hidden.
That was unmistakably the aura of an outer realm, not of this world.
Had he not seen it flow from the Cult Leader’s body immediately after the ritual ended several times already?
‘Of course, the nature itself is quite different. I shall need to observe carefully from now on.’
Slowly scanning his surroundings and taking in the poor cave environment at a glance, he looked again at those inside the formation.
Since the Cult Leader had passed away anyway, the rituals performed until now were meaningless.
Then, if he were to use all seven of them for himself instead...
“...First, I must prepare an altar. Even if it can’t match the main mountain, a dragon vein as large as possible would be ideal. A usable place nearby...”
The lantern illuminating the darkness flickered, and his shadow reflected in it wriggled bizarrely.
As if he were not a human, but an otherworldly being.
***
A beast’s head, an upper body covered in thick fur, and long, sharp claws extended outward.
A beast-type demon jiangshi in a form similar to a werewolf charged forward.
[Kwaaaa—!]
That body, having already lost its life and knowing no pain, charged at a speed exceeding its limits, opened its powerful jaws wide, and bit down fiercely with sharp fangs on something that had entered its mouth.
Crack! Crunch!
But from its mouth came no sound of tearing flesh; only the noise of something hard being crushed.
“Kuhaha! This works great! I didn’t know it would be this good! As expected, you gotta try everything yourself!”
Swhish— Kwaang!
[Kkekekek!]
Halli swung the demon jiangshi hanging by its teeth from his forearm like a whip and slammed it into the ground, bursting into a mad laugh.
Both his forearms were covered in pitch-black carapace in the shape of a turtle’s shell, rather than the dark-red dragon scales he usually favored.
‘In pure defense, this is far superior. It lacks flexibility and elasticity, making it unsuitable to cover the entire body, but it’s enough to wrap around certain parts and use as both weapon and shield.’
This was the shell of the Black Tortoise he had only heard of in legends.
One of the inner pills obtained not long ago through Hans, who had thoroughly looted the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—the factor of the Black Tortoise.
Truthfully, he had obtained it some time ago, but had not used it in the fight with the steward because he wasn’t yet accustomed to it.
How could he recklessly pull out an untested weapon against an opponent of that caliber?
In that sense, the current situation was the optimal real-world testing opportunity to utilize this new weapon.
“It’s regenerating again...! Keuk, this monster!”
“If it’s not an attack at the level of gangqi, we can’t even wound it, and even that recovers this quickly?”
“Avoid that black carapace! The rebound force will damage us more!”
The violence stemming from an overwhelming physique surpassing six meters.
It discriminated against neither jiangshi nor human— it showed no distinction in opponents.
“Kuhk!”
“Kk!”
Unable to withstand it, demonic cultists began to collapse one by one, and the number of those opposing Halli rapidly decreased.
Moreover, what he intended to make use of this time was not merely his physical transformation.
“...The number of effective strikes is gradually decreasing.”
“He’s growing? Even more, right here?”
Not only the power of his body, which was his main force and very reason for existence, but also the newly acquired technique was gradually becoming more proficient.
‘To think Halli would benefit from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art before Hugo. As expected, a renowned divine art is truly different.’
Recently, the essence of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art obtained from researching the Heavenly Demon’s corpse had been considerably helpful in operating the Mad Emperor Heart Formula.
Perhaps it was possible because both shared the commonality of using rough and powerful energy.
As it was refined once more through real combat, he was soon able to reap the long-awaited fruit.
《The subject has gained enlightenment through repeated training. Acquires the skill 「Mad Emperor Heart Formula (Revised)」.》
The synergy between overwhelming physical abilities that could only be called transcendental and the technique that allowed him to use them most efficiently.
Before that synergy, it did not take long for the one holding out until the very end to crumble.