Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero (3)
After Mok Ingwang joined the battle—the fight continued for a short while longer.
Thanks to that, Ha Seunghun was able to gain a little more real combat experience against a powerful foe, but unfortunately, that time did not last very long.
“Gnnngh! You damned old geezer...”
“Tsk, tsk. I have always told you to maintain your breathing. You refuse to listen and let madness sway you again, and is this not the result? With such a frail body, how will you ever become useful if you remain this dull-witted?”
“How can you compare me, a human, to a yokai’s body...? No, more importantly, is that really something to say to a disciple whose body’s been smashed to pieces... Kuhak!”
“Now, now—your breathing is becoming disordered again, is it not? If only you properly followed this master’s words, you would be able to shake off injuries of that level and rise to your feet. Though it has thinned considerably over the generations, yokai blood certainly flows in your veins as well.”
“Grit... you son of a bitch. One day, I’ll definitely...”
“Hohohot! See there. You can do it if you try, can you not? With recovery of this level, you should be able to stand up soon.”
Mok Ingwang lay sprawled on the ground, twitching, his limbs twisted this way and that, his organs apparently damaged as blood dribbled from his nose and mouth. There was not a single intact part of him; the word “ragged” suited him perfectly.
Standing before him, Ha Seunghun looked at the old man who had one hand clasped behind his back and was stroking his beard, his eyes gleaming.
‘Rakshasa King, one of Geumodo’s leaders. He was a key figure in the faction made up of yokai other than dragonkind, wasn’t he? He’s someone Horus has at least exchanged greetings with...’
However, since Horus’s network was heavily concentrated among the dragons, he had never had a proper private conversation with him.
After all, bearing the name of Yellow Dragon, even if only nominally, meant he had no choice but to stand at the center of the faction led by dragons.
Of course, having weathered difficult times together, the factions were not at odds with one another, but even within the same class, there were bound to be groups one was close to and groups one was merely acquainted with.
Moreover, had Rakshasa King not abstained even from the final war in order to protect Geumodo, which had become an empty mountain without a master?
“Grrrk—grr! Damn it, why...!”
At that moment, his gaze turned toward the rough breathing coming from beside him.
There lay a massive life-form writhing in a ruined state not much different from Mok Ingwang’s, its earlier ferocity, when it had raged like a natural disaster, nowhere to be seen.
“Rakshasa King! Why are you here when you should be in the Illusory Realm? How did you arrive so quickly!”
“Hoho, simply think of it as your bad luck. Well, even if I had not stepped in, it would have been difficult for you to escape Geumodo’s grasp.”
“Don’t make me laugh! If only I had a little more strength, if only I’d had a little more time to devour the dragon’s child and increase my power, I surely...!”
“You are free to think as you wish. Since you will have to remain sealed in the Repentance Cave for the next thousand years or so, you will have plenty of time to think alone.”
“Kuh, no. It can’t end like this!”
Taowu thrashed violently, trying to escape somehow.
His body, slowly beginning to regenerate, twisted in every direction.
But his resistance collapsed in vain the moment the old man opened the stopper of the gourd bottle he had taken from his waist.
“U-uaaaaah——! Nooooo——!”
As if being swallowed by a black hole, the enormous body stretched long and was sucked into the gourd.
The bizarre scream, stretched out in the same way, only came to a complete end after the stopper was closed once more.
‘...Incredible.’
Ha Seunghun inwardly clicked his tongue as he quietly watched the old man, Rakshasa King, calmly fasten the gourd in which Taowu had been sealed back to his waist.
At the very moment he had thought he had truly reached his limit, the old man had intervened and reversed the situation in an instant.
Even though the opponent was clearly also a great yokai, the difference in level was so stark it could be felt at once.
‘Well, he’s one of the leaders in name and reality, so there’s no way he’d be weak. Was sending Mok Ingwang in first part of his training?’
His gaze turned toward the man still lying on the ground, twitching as he spewed curses.
He could tell the moment he looked.
The madness ceaselessly circulating through that body on the brink of life and death was not only repairing the damaged flesh, but rebirthing it into something even more robust.
‘It’s similar to Harley’s method. Though since there’s a difference in the basic foundation, there’s no comparing them in terms of efficiency.’
Moreover, the fact that Mok Ingwang, whose blood only contained a slight trace of yokai, had survived after facing a clearly superior being—a great yokai—head-on would have been no small help in tempering a mind steeped in madness and unable to think normally.
And that would one day become the foundation he needed to cross the wall of the Profound Realm.
‘Of course, I’m not the only one who grew from this fight.’
After taking a light deep breath, he looked within himself.
-Individual Name: Ha Seunghun
-Common Traits: 「Mind Hub」, 「Persona」, 「Great Mind」, 「Insight」, 「Xenoglossy」, 「Subspace Storage」, 「Limit Break」, 「Mimicry」
-Individual Traits: 「Ethereal Spirit Body」, 「Heavenly Dragon Divine Art」, 「Myriad Streams Return to the Origin」, 「Martial Apex」, 「Versatility」, 「Introduction to General Medicine」, 「Field Cooking」, 「General Theory of Formations」, 「Gathering」
-Special Notes: Due to a long-term change in cognition, the individual name has changed from “Hugo” to “Ha Seunghun.” Due to 「Martial Apex」, it has become possible to harmonize the martial principles of different kinds more naturally. Under the influence of the 『Growth Elixir』 and the Dragon God’s blessing, all actions receive an additional growth correction.
Among the various traits he had acquired during his travels through the martial world, a new skill stood out with unmistakable presence: 「Martial Apex」.
He could feel it instinctively.
The moment he became capable of properly handling this would be the moment he crossed the wall of transcendence.
‘It’s a shame I couldn’t cross the wall right away, but it can’t be helped.’
What he had gained from this battle was by no means little.
At the beginning of the fight, he had barely managed to keep himself alive by mustering every ability at his disposal, but by the latter half, he had become able to respond to some extent even to attacks imbued with the powerful demonic energy of a great yokai.
Expecting to reach the Profound Realm from just this one battle would be the mindset of a thief.
Rather, the fact that he now had all the preparations in place to reach transcendence at any time could be called an achievement beyond his expectations.
That meant the “Black Dragon Secret Manual” had played that large a role.
“Sir Ha!”
Just as he was organizing his thoughts.
A fresh floral scent suddenly rushed to his face, and a soft, warm body burrowed into his arms.
“You’re safe! Ah, I’m so glad! Because of me again...!”
Before he could even reply, the petite woman who had flung herself into his embrace looked up at him with tearful eyes.
Perhaps because of how terribly anxious she had been, even though the fight itself had not lasted that long, her body was still trembling faintly.
‘No, perhaps the problem was that too much happened in too short a time.’
Ha Seunghun smiled bitterly and patted her shoulder.
“I told you I’d be fine, didn’t I? Since the dragon’s child was so openly kidnapped right in their front yard, there was no way Geumodo would sit still. It was merely a matter of buying a little time until reinforcements arrived.”
“But... even so, you’re this badly hurt...!”
As she carefully touched Ha Seunghun’s battered body and poured the Dragon God’s divine power into him, her face once again looked on the verge of tears.
Thanks to the regenerative power included in 「Ethereal Spirit Body」, most ordinary wounds had already healed, but just from his torn clothes and the copious bloodstains, she could easily imagine how much pain he must have endured.
“...I’ve ended up indebted to you again.”
After silently looking at the traces of that desperate battle, she whispered softly.
Just like before, and now again, she had been kidnapped simply because she was the “dragon’s child” and freed with his help, so the emotions she felt could only be even greater.
To begin with, if not for him, she would not even have been alive by now.
“Sir Ha, I...”
After biting her lip tightly for a moment, she looked up at him with eyes moist from emotion.
His face was dirty with sweat and dust, but none of that entered her eyes.
Thump— thump—
The fierce beating of her own heart sounded like thunder.
The moment she became aware of it, her face flushed red.
And just as she drew a deep breath and was about to continue speaking.
“Hey, Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero. Then let’s head back soon. Ah! And Master says he wants to talk with you for a bit.”
Having recovered enough to move somewhat, Mok Ingwang limped over and lightly tapped Ha Seunghun on the shoulder.
Perhaps because he felt a sense of kinship after facing a powerful enemy together, or because he had acknowledged Ha Seunghun’s strength, his attitude was noticeably less guarded than at first.
“And you too, child of the Jegal Clan. Since there was that matter at the Mosan Sect this time as well, he says he wants to invite you to Geumodo’s main base in the Illusory Realm outright. Your entire party too.”
The Illusory Realm was a space that existed on the reverse side of this world, so where one entered or exited did not matter much, but by going through the Mosan Sect, which had been designated as the main gate, one could travel in and out more easily.
He added that this was absolutely not a privilege granted to just anyone, then let out a chuckle.
“I’m jealous, real jealous. I only got permission to enter and exit recently myself. Looks like Master thinks quite highly of you.”
“That is an honor. But is your body all right? Shouldn’t you rest a little more...?”
At Ha Seunghun’s concerned words, Mok Ingwang grinned and shrugged.
“Kuhut, this much is nothing. I’m fine, fine.”
“......”
Meanwhile, Jegal Hyemi quietly glared at him, her eyes narrowing slightly at the mood that had been shattered by the sudden intrusion of an interrupter.
Quick-witted as she was, she could immediately grasp the situation just by glancing between the old man far off in the distance, who was shaking his head with a hollow laugh, and Mok Ingwang, who was smiling slyly.
After her lips twitched for a moment, she soon approached him with a bright smile.
“Great Hero Mok, you still seem to be in quite a lot of discomfort, so let me take a look. Dragon arts also possess the power to heal wounds.”
“...Hm? Well, that’d be good for me.”
“You came all this way to help, and seeing you so injured doesn’t sit well with me. Come now, this way.”
“Well, fine. Then let’s give it a tr—ggggrk!”
The divine power that seeped into his body activated his regenerative power to a level dozens of times higher than usual.
Because of that, the cells throughout his body convulsed roughly enough to be visible to the naked eye.
Normally, a process to reduce pain should have been added here as well, but—.
“Ah, if I give up stability and raise efficiency to the maximum, there is a side effect that makes it hurt a little... But, well, for a stalwart man like you, Great Hero, that shouldn’t matter, right? I’ll just go at maximum output all at once.”
“Gnnngh—you, you rotten...”
Having barely been standing with his body in tatters, he eventually collapsed on the spot like a bird struck by a slingshot and trembled.
In exchange, the effect itself was certain.
After all, though his ancestors had only been slightly mixed with yokai blood, his body—which could certainly be called human—began to recover at an abnormal speed.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. That is why I told him to stay quiet. When will that wicked disposition of his ever be fixed?”
Rakshasa King, who had been standing some distance away, clicked his tongue softly and stroked his luxuriant beard.
He looked disapprovingly at his worthless disciple, who had finally foamed at the mouth and fainted.
“Hmm, but if he heals that quickly, training can resume immediately. There will be no need to lower the intensity just because he was injured. Kkeol-kkeol-kkeol!”
Then, with a satisfied smile, he nodded deeply.
For reference.
The Rakshasa (羅刹), one branch of the yokai affiliated with Geumodo, were once even called “evil spirits,” and their temperaments were not particularly good.
***
The situation was not completely over just because Taowu had been safely captured and sealed.
Because of the creature’s sudden reckless action, the Geumodo side had realized that there was much they needed to do.
‘Now that I think about it, this was never an issue that only the humans had to be concerned about from the beginning.’
Harmony was, in the first place, a great undertaking achieved by everyone together.
Now that the first shovel of the world’s reconstruction had only just been lifted, they needed to take measures in advance to prevent another problem from recurring.
‘Horus has quite a strong voice in Geumodo as well. If I use that, I should be able to control the yokai’s actions to some extent.’
At present, most of the surviving yokai belonged to Geumodo, the largest yokai force, but this system would not last very long either.
Among them, there were no few who, like Taowu, had come under the same umbrella because they had no choice if they wanted to survive.
Now that safety had been secured through the annihilation of the Demon Cult, it was practically a foregone conclusion that those who no longer needed to mind others’ reactions would begin acting however they pleased.
‘Everyone is still extremely sensitive right now. If a major incident were to occur at a time like this...’
They had taken various measures to eliminate conflict as much as possible, but nothing in the world was perfect.
If even a minor friction here caused the embers of war to flare up again, the situation would spiral out of control.
‘I can’t just let that happen. I’m already busy enough with all the work I’ll have to do from now on.’
The Ganghwan Realm had finished all its major events and had entered the closing stage.
Since karma was also being steadily harvested in the direction of stabilizing the world, he had no desire to needlessly make matters more troublesome by allowing chaos to grow now.
So Horus, receiving help from the other Five Dragons, devoted himself to reorganizing the system so the world would not become noisy as much as possible, and so the unbridled yokai could not run rampant as they pleased.
Because he was so busy moving about, even when Ha Seunghun’s party was invited to Geumodo and came to visit, he did not particularly show his face.
After all, he was already grasping the situation in real time through the eyes of one of the people involved.
《Specific conditions have been met. The special privilege 「Yellow Dragon’s Orb」 is beginning to react.》
That was why he had no choice but to feel even more bewildered by the phrase that abruptly appeared before his eyes.
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
One day, when the party including the avatar Ha Seunghun and the dragon’s child Jegal Hyemi visited Geumodo.
The special privilege he had completely forgotten about after earning the “Last Yellow Dragon” achievement because he had not known how to use it finally began to reveal its presence.