Of course, a scenario had already been prepared to some extent for the rescue of the Dragon’s Children thanks to Hugo’s exploits.
While he hadn’t personally touched the finer details for a more realistic production, pre-adjusting the Demonic Cult’s forces they would encounter during the operation was part of that.
But then, out of nowhere, he had received the Dragon God’s gift and his martial power had exploded...
‘Things will be easier than I thought?’
And the result was exactly what was happening now.
“Transformation Realm! It’s the Transformation Realm!”
“Don’t rush in blindly! Prioritize holding out as long as possible!”
The Demonic Cultists blocking the basement passage let out shrieks like screams of death as Hugo, charging at them alone, swiftly swung the sword he held.
He had briefly worried whether he could adapt quickly after his realm had risen so suddenly, but as he used martial arts himself, he could definitely feel that it had been needless worry.
‘...This is incredible.’
The sword in his hand moved as freely as if it were part of his body.
The moment his will formed, the sword was already touching its target.
The realm where weapon and self become one, unity of object and self—Body and Sword as One.
It was an exhilarating sensation, almost intoxicating.
“You idiots! Can’t you even do one thing right and hold the line!”
Then, from among the Demonic Cultists, a giant over two meters tall swaggered forward.
Gripping an enormous spiked mace in each hand—so large they looked ferocious.
‘So you’ve finally come.’
The transcendent-level demon assigned to guard this ritual site.
Originally, with the advantage of home ground and the aid of subordinates, he would have been no small trial for Hugo, who had burdens in tow, but...
‘The situation has changed, so I should change plans too.’
To his current self, that level was nothing more than a formality.
*Kkwa-ak*
—He gripped the sword handle in his hand tightly.
Thanks to the 「Ethereal Body」, his internal energy—which had lost its limits—circulated through his four limbs and hundred bones, awakening his body to its limits, and soon, immense energy was sucked into the sword, beginning to transform into the essence of destruction.
“Sword qi...! Hurry, deploy the defensive formation...!”
Though the opponent had instantly prepared to respond while urging his subordinates, Hugo didn’t care in the slightest.
He merely immersed himself deeper into something dwelling within his inner being.
‘「Celestial Dragon Divine Art」.’
It was the new name of the 「Nameless Art (無名功)」 that had blossomed upon receiving the Dragon God’s touch.
All the martial principles he had learned until then—
not to mention secret arts he hadn’t known before, all intertwined to become the culmination of martial arts in the Ganghwangye.
‘If they block my path, I’ll just smash through them!’
Fast (快) and strong (强), crushing (覇) and suppressing.
*Pajik—!*
Several martial principles combined, and lightning qi surged in his hand.
It immediately traveled along the blade, swirling and transforming into a thunder dragon, growing in size instantly.
*Kureureureung—!*
A dragon of sword qi made of massive lightning bolts enveloped Hugo’s body.
It let out a roar like thunder and shot straight forward, following the tip of the sword aimed ahead.
“Bloc—...!”
“Imp—...!”
Immediately after.
Amidst the deafening roar, screams and other sounds were swept away and vanished.
A destructive strike that wouldn’t have been surprising had the passage collapsed, had this not been a space equipped with special formations.
*Pajik*
—*Pajijik*
—Amidst the scene where sparks like embers continuously flew up, the only being standing on two feet was a transcendent-level expert with his arms crossed, covering his face.
“Kuh... y-you bastard...!”
But his appearance, standing atop the sacrifice of his subordinates, was by no means unharmed.
Skin blackened by lightning qi, smoke rising in puffs from his entire body including his mouth, hair and beard sticking up as if he’d been hit by a bomb.
Yet as expected of a demon, the opponent did not give up resisting despite his considerably battered appearance.
“Kkeug!”
His eyes turned bloodshot red, and his severely damaged body began recovering at a speed beyond common sense.
And as if having lost his reason, his body charged straight at Hugo with nothing but killing intent remaining, swinging the two maces.
“Die!”
Perhaps demonic arts came with side effects that lowered one’s intelligence, for it was not a very wise decision.
‘Well, techniques that raise physical abilities at the cost of losing reason are common enough everywhere.’
Hugo slowly raised his sword.
Soft (柔) transformations (變), absorbing (吸) and redirecting.
The twin maces that seemed capable of crushing boulders, wrapped in forcibly raised imperfect sword qi, slipped against the wave enveloping the sword and lost their direction.
The water dragon’s movement flowing along that sword didn’t stop there.
*Swa-ah*
—A torrent of water majestically flowed and swirled once, following the sword tip that drew a circle.
It soon became a rough tidal wave and swept over the giant whose stance was broken.
“Kkeuk!”
*Thud!*
The giant who had dropped his maces staggered backward, clutching his throat that the water dragon had bitten through.
The moment his attack failed, he had reacted fairly quickly and dodged backward, but that only allowed him to avoid instant death; he couldn’t change his predetermined fate.
Because he had no means to regenerate even with more than half his neck and heart torn out.
The transcendent-level demon staggered with wide eyes and eventually collapsed with a thud.
It was a hollow, futile end unfitting of someone who had been set up as an obstacle.
‘It deviated a bit from expectations, but it’s not bad.’
Hugo scanned the devastated passage once and slowly nodded.
Indeed, a mere transcendent-level expert had felt somewhat inadequate as a trial.
It was only natural that the higher and more rugged the obstacle blocking one’s path, the more the emotion upon overcoming it was multiplied.
If his side’s strength had risen, he simply needed to raise the enemy’s level to match.
“Let’s hurry. Since our escape has already been discovered, there’s no benefit to staying here longer.”
He turned around and addressed those who were quietly following behind.
They had kept their distance and only approached after the battle ended, deliberately averting their eyes from the surrounding carnage as they moved their steps carefully.
“The outside is probably a battlefield... Will we be able to join the Murim Alliance in the middle of that battlefield?”
Jegal Hyemi, who was maintaining relative composure among them, spoke up with a worried voice.
Thanks to her being able to use divine power, even the frail Dragon’s Children could move on their own feet, but even so, they were only slightly below ordinary people’s level.
Crossing a battlefield where such fierce fighting was raging was absolutely impossible at that level.
“Let’s try for now... If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to find another way.”
Hugo slowly nodded and replied to her words.
Even as he did so, one corner of his mind was busily holding a meeting, mobilizing his various personalities to figure out how to modify this scenario efficiently.
Since he had already received the down payment, it was his duty to do his best to satisfy the investor’s needs.
‘Yeah, if you take investment, you’ve got to be worth it.’
Only then could he attract additional investment, and wouldn’t existing customers’ reviews have a good influence on new investors when he went to other markets?
He had no intention of being satisfied with just this level.
Of course, to do that, it was important to successfully conclude this current stage first.
“We’re counting on you, Great Hero. You’re the only one we can trust.”
“...That’s right. We don’t have anything left to lose anyway, so we have no choice but to do something.”
“Still, the Demonic Cultists want to capture us alive without a scratch, so don’t we have a good chance?”
Hugo watched the Dragon’s Children each saying a word as if trying to shake off tension, and shook his head slightly.
The war raging outside was important, but managing these children was no less important.
The reconstruction of the Dragon’s Heart, the ultimate goal of the Ganghwangye scenario.
They were absolutely necessary for that process.
***
*Chaeng*
—*Chaeng—!*
“Kuaak!”
*Kaaaak—!*
*Kwaaaang!*
Amidst the battlefield where all kinds of noise mixed together.
“Heok, heok...”
Rough breaths continuously burst from the mouth of Taecheonggeom Unhak, who was participating in the battle as a member of the Murim Alliance.
Due to the harsh environment called the Demonic Realm, even a brief intense fight soon left him gasping for breath.
He was barely managing thanks to the help of formations and various techniques; if not for that, he would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.
“Huuu.”
Letting out a deep breath like a sigh, he looked down at the jiangshi that lay sprawled on the ground, its functions stopped by his sword, and bit his lips again.
‘...Rest in peace, junior brother.’
The jiangshi’s identity was his junior brother who had studied under the same master.
Just half a year ago, they had parted while avoiding the Demonic Cult’s blades, promising a future reunion.
‘I never thought we’d meet again like this...’
His martial family had been the Kunlun Sect, which had been annihilated and vanished.
It had been the murim’s bulwark closest to the Demonic Cult’s stronghold in Singang, suffering the greatest damage whenever they rampaged.
Before the Imperial Palace massacre occurred, other factions had respected such efforts and provided substantial support, but that had become old news long ago when the world fell into chaos and everyone became preoccupied with their own survival.
It was only natural that the Kunlun Sect, isolated in a remote region, eventually collapsed.
It had been pure coincidence that he, a survivor of Kunlun wandering the rivers and lakes, could be here.
While staying as a guest at a certain family he had formed a small connection with, biding his time, he had heard news that an all-out war would soon be waged against the Demonic Cult.
Having crossed life-and-death boundaries and reached the transcendent realm, he joined the Beijing expedition without hesitation.
To carry on the will Kunlun had tried to protect until the end.
To inform the world that descendants of Kunlun still remained.
Most of all, this opportunity was the best for revenge against the Demonic Cult.
‘...Demonic Cult bastards, what the hell did you do?’
Taecheonggeom ground his teeth, having granted rest to several jiangshi from Kunlun, including the junior brother he had just felled.
These were absolutely not ordinary jiangshi.
As a Kunlun Taoist who had stood at the frontlines against the Demonic Cult, he knew well about the jiangshi they commanded, but the entities deployed in this war possessed something he simply could not understand.
‘They’re enhanced versions of existing jiangshi in every aspect. Physical abilities and resistance to internal energy are stronger, so first-rate or lower probably can’t even leave a scratch. ...And if you go higher than that...’
His gaze turned to one side of the battlefield.
Martial artists of the Transformation Realm, demons, and jiangshi of equal level were fiercely clashing.
‘Sect Leader...’
Included among those Transformation Realm jiangshi was the Kunlun Sect Leader.
Not only that, but who knew how many years they had been collecting the corpses of experts—jiangshi of similar level were nearly double their number!
Therefore, the number of Transformation Realm-level forces was overwhelmingly disadvantageous for the Murim Alliance, but fortunately, the overall situation wasn’t too bad.
And for good reason—the Murim Alliance had the heretical faction-born Profound Realm expert Sura Hyeoljon among them.
‘At this rate... we’ll take heavy losses, but we can win.’
Taecheonggeom’s eyes surveying the battlefield took in the battles unfolding all around.
The Sword Saint locked in a match with the Ghost Sword Demon Lord, Paecheon Dohwang clashing with the Blood Demon jiangshi.
And the Divine Saint and Great General Jeongcheon exchanging fierce offensive attacks with the Heavenly Demon, and...
*Kwaaaang—!*
“Kahahaha! This is really fiery! As expected, it’s fun!”
A madman letting out a refreshing roar despite having a huge hole pierced through his abdomen by the Heavenly Demon’s demonic sword that seemed capable of splitting the sky itself.
‘...Sin Gwangma. If it weren’t for him, we probably couldn’t have come this far.’
As expected, the Heavenly Demon’s majesty was even greater than rumored.
Without Sin Gwangma, at least three, perhaps four Profound Realm experts from their side would have had to step forward to stop him.
If that had happened, the aftermath would have caused other battle lines to collapse instantly, and they would have been annihilated long ago.
This was all thanks to Sin Gwangma displaying the might of an immortal-like existence, not sparing his body and doing the work of two people.
‘What we need to do is create an environment where they can defeat the Heavenly Demon. If we can stabilize the battlefield as much as possible and get more people to join in facing the Heavenly Demon than now...’
Having caught his breath once, Taecheonggeom gripped his sword firmly again and moved his steps toward the battlefield.
He had rested enough, so he intended to burn his body once more and lend a hand against the Demonic Cult.
‘We can do it. If we keep this up, we can do it!’
Hope gradually sprouted within his fiery vengeance.
Elation welled up at the heroes’ steps advancing unwaveringly toward their goal without collapsing even in the hostile environment of the Demonic Realm.
And as if wondering when it was that he had suffered from guilt over abandoning his martial family and fleeing, he felt pride in himself for participating in this great journey.
‘This is the true depth of murim. No matter how dark the night, dawn eventually breaks—’
We shall sweep away the dark clouds shrouding the world with our own hands and seize a bright future.
And so.
The moment he harbored an optimistic heart.
*Kureureureung*
—An anomaly began to occur in the dark clouds covering the sky.
Violet lightning flashed violently through the gaps in the dark clouds, which were emitting ominous sounds.
To the extent that even those focused on the battle before them couldn’t help but take notice.
*Kwagwagwagwang!*
And finally.
From the sky to the ground.
Along with a roar that shook heaven and earth, purple lightning fell here and there across the battlefield.
***
‘I suppose it’s time to up the pace.’
Hans, the being who had hidden himself behind the curtain and was adjusting the battlefield, gave a faint smile.
For now, everything had been proceeding according to plan without any major issues.
This space where a large-scale barrier had been spread was already under his control, and through it, he adjusted the amount of abyssal power supplied to the Heavenly Demon, assisting him so he could perform at an appropriate level.
‘But this is a bit lacking for a climax.’
Hope shouldn’t come this easily.
To unite the divided masses into one, the process of not giving up until the end, even in the face of insurmountable despair and trials, struggling together and achieving victory, is essential.
And for that, something more overwhelming was needed.
Hans looked at the gigantic beings rising one by one where the violet lightning had fallen, and nodded in satisfaction.
*Keuaaaaa—!*
*Kkuuung—!*
House-sized monsters twisted their bodies continuously, asserting their presence with fierce roars.
At that, light of despair began to settle on the faces of the humans who had somehow maintained balance until now.
Qilin, gumiho, dokkaebi, etc....
It was the moment the top-tier monster jiangshi they had painstakingly created revealed themselves.