Chapter 277: The Celestial Demon Church (3)

Bang!

Although he seemed excited, Paekak’s timing and speed as he closed the distance were surprisingly cold and calculated.

…Fast!

Jinhyuk narrowly evaded the attack by a hair’s breadth.

Once, then twice.

The dagger brushed past his hair.

Whoosh!

This time, the dagger traced a semicircle, then abruptly shifted to target his thigh.

Rather than inflicting a fatal wound, the goal was to successfully land even one hit.

‘Poison…’

Jinhyuk’s eyes narrowed.

Upon closer inspection, there was a faint trace of a translucent liquid on the pair of daggers.

As expected from Dokgoryong’s disciple, he mainly dealt in poisons.

“You dodge like a slippery eel. How about this?”

[Paekak activates ‘Poisonous Cloud (貝毒雲霧)’!]

At that moment, a greenish cloud appeared, blurring Paekak’s figure.

Whoosh!

Seizing the moment, the dagger swung horizontally.

“…!”

Although Jinhyuk evaded the attack by following its trajectory, his timing was off by about 0.1 seconds compared to earlier.

That was close.

Jinhyuk put a considerable distance between them.

‘A type that affects the senses.’

Since it was in molecular form, its effect would be minimal… but prolonged exposure would be fatal in determining the outcome.

“Hehe. This is called Guise Acid Poison. When mixed with poison, it disrupts the flow of qi and burrows into the dantian, making it quite effective against high-level opponents. Ah, but don’t worry too much. There’s an antidote, so you won’t have to worry about dying.”

“That’s… reassuring to hear, senior.”

Jinhyuk took his stance.

If he were to go easy now, he would just be giving them more chances to test him.

Thus, he needed to crush them decisively.

An overwhelming display of power was the surest way to gain recognition in the Celestial Demon Church.

Dokgoryong, Paekak, and Jasohui…

Roles and situations. The martial arts of each and their countermeasures were analyzed.

Good.

Jinhyuk licked his lips.

He had planned the perfect performance.

At that moment.

Paekak attacked Jinhyuk from behind.

The attack was intended to lure him into a desired position.

However.

Slice!

Surprisingly, Jinhyuk was hit by the first move.

Thin streams of blood splattered on the ground.

“This is… too easy. Is this the level of the Right Protector’s disciple?”

The poison on the blade and the venom entered the wound.

The fight was decided.

Or so he thought.

“H-How… how is he unaffected by my poison?”

Paekak’s pupils trembled.

The opponent who should be foaming at the mouth and collapsing was fine.

He was even smiling, as if nothing had happened.

“It’s not that impressive. The level of this poison is so low, it’s almost embarrassing to call it that. I just detoxified it easily.”

[Unique Ability ‘Thousand Poisons (千毒)’ is activated!]

[Unique Ability ‘Blessing of the Stars’ is activated!]

[Unique Ability ‘Mandala (曼茶羅)’ is enhanced!]

‘Thousand Poisons’ analyzed the type and mixture of the poison.

‘Blessing of the Stars’ performed optimized healing.

And ‘Mandala’ removed impurities from the dantian and protected it, allowing him to handle ordinary poisons without issue.

‘If I didn’t know the type of poison, it could have been troublesome.’

This is why overconfidence is dangerous.

Why reveal such valuable information?

“L-Low level? My poison?”

“Oh, sorry. It might be high-level for someone of your stature, senior. Haha.”

“You…! How dare you belittle the poison personally taught to me by Dokgoryong! Fine. Let’s see how long your confidence lasts.”

A new aura infused Paekak’s daggers.

It was a different blend from what he had used before.

Of course, much deadlier.

“Here I come!”

With a voice filled with murderous intent, Paekak’s form vanished.

But in his heightened state, Paekak failed to notice.

The thin layer of ice forming beneath his feet.

“Huh?”

He managed to close in on Jinhyuk’s side, but the landing spot was excessively slippery.

Paekak’s body staggered.

As expected.

The ice created through ‘Glacial Formation’ played its role perfectly.

‘The angle, speed… and direction.’

Everything was unfolding exactly as Jinhyuk had planned.

He subtly twisted Paekak’s elbow, causing him to drop the dagger. He even controlled the direction it flew.

Thunk!

The misdirected dagger embedded itself into the flesh of another person nearby.

“Huh…?”

Jasohui widened her eyes, staring at the dagger lodged in her shoulder.

She hadn’t anticipated an attack coming from such an angle, let alone the notion of a projectile targeting an observer.

If it were one of the top ten masters, they might have dodged or deflected it. However, Jasohui’s lack of skill only added to the tragedy.

“Wow, senior. No matter how angry you are, you shouldn’t take it out on someone else. Or did you plan to eliminate a competitor under Dokgoryong’s orders?”

To a casual observer, it looked like Paekak had deliberately thrown the dagger at Jasohui.

“W-Wait!”

Paekak tried to explain urgently.

Where do you think you’re going?

Whoom!

A black aura formed around Jinhyuk’s fist.

The fist, enhanced by the ‘Black Heaven Demonic Emperor Art,’ destroyed the dagger and pierced Paekak’s abdomen.

Bam!

“Ugh!”

Paekak’s body bent in a right angle and flew back, crashing into a pillar on the opposite side.

＊＊＊

“Jasohui!”

Sohohyang quickly checked Jasohui’s condition.

Having used a near-fatal poison, she had to act fast to save her.

Meanwhile…

“You bastard!”

Dokgoryong couldn’t contain his rage and shouted.

He realized that Jinhyuk had deliberately orchestrated this situation.

Rumble!

The entire Heavenly Demon Hall echoed with a thunderous roar.

The columns shook from the explosive outburst of energy.

“You will pay for this prank!”

His hand, tinged green up to the wrist, lunged at Jinhyuk.

But just before Dokgoryong’s hand could pierce Jinhyuk…

“You know you started this, right?”

Someone appeared between them.

It was Alice, furious that her contractor was threatened.

Crunch!

Alice intercepted Dokgoryong’s wrist.

Simultaneously, her other hand aimed for Dokgoryong’s throat.

[Blood Lord ‘Golden Circle’ is activated!]

Though her face was hidden by a mask, Alice’s red eyes turned gold.

A type of bloodline magic.

An ability that only manifests in close combat.

“Gasp!”

Feeling the danger, Dokgoryong moved his hands frantically.

Bang! Bang!

In less than a second, an invisible exchange of attacks took place.

Only about five moves were exchanged.

However, Dokgoryong instinctively knew.

This opponent wasn’t inferior to him.

“Who… are you?”

“Surprising. I intended to create a hole in your neck with a single strike.”

Their contrasting tones of conversation intersected.

At that moment.

“Alice.”

Jinhyuk placed a hand on Alice’s shoulder.

“Hm?”

“That’s enough.”

“But he attacked first. He really meant it.”

“Come on. Do you think someone like him would resort to such disgraceful tactics because he lost? This isn’t the orthodox sects where people backstab for fun. There’s no way the great Celestial Demon Church would have such small-minded members.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. Isn’t that right, Master?”

“Hahaha! It seems you’ve won decisively. Yes. This duel was strictly between you and Paekak. No one else can interfere.”

The Black Emperor’s gaze turned to Dokgoryong.

“If you go any further, I won’t stand idly by.”

“…Tch.”

Dokgoryong reluctantly stepped back.

He was furious but had no justification to proceed.

“Now, handle the aftermath. It seems the Celestial Demon won’t be appearing today, so I’ll take my leave. Oh! And I’ll be using the eastern training hall. I’ll be spending some time with my disciple.”

Having said his piece, the Black Emperor turned to leave.

“Thank you for your hard work, seniors. It was entertaining.”

Jinhyuk and Alice followed him out.

＊＊＊

In their wake, a heavy silence fell over the Heavenly Demon Hall.

Even though Paekak had been careless, it wasn’t enough to be defeated so easily.

Everyone thought so…

…except for Dokgoryong, who stared at the shattered pieces of the blade on the ground with a hardened expression.

‘The dagger Paekak used was forged from refined meteorite iron.’

Yet…

It had broken?

‘That old man didn’t pick up a pup; he brought in a tiger cub.’

Ouch!

The woman with the mask was also a formidable master.

The throbbing pain in his wrist was a sensation Dokgoryong hadn’t felt in a long time.

The instincts that had kept him alive in this hellhole were now screaming warnings at full strength.

This was dangerous.

‘I must inform the Left Protector immediately.’

Regardless of the new variables, regardless of the Black Emperor or anyone else’s involvement,

They couldn’t let anything jeopardize the plans they had been meticulously preparing for the past ten years.

＊＊＊

Training is often thought of as pushing oneself to the limit, sweating profusely, and feeling the satisfaction of having grown stronger by the end of the day. You can imagine scenes where one watches the setting sun and sighs with admiration, thinking, ‘I’ve grown so much today.’

The sense of achievement and growth that comes from enduring pain and perseverance.

These typical yet indispensable scenes.

However.

The training Jinhyuk was undergoing was far from such heartwarming and strenuous endeavors.

“Ugh. Huff. Seriously, this is too much, Master.”

Jinhyuk gritted his teeth hard enough to almost break them.

In the second underground prison of the Celestial Demon Church.

For the past seven hours, he had been relentlessly fighting goblins without a moment’s rest, to the point where he was tasting blood in his mouth.

“Bwah!”

“Graah!”

Round, plump goblins swarmed towards him.

They looked rather cute, but at level 80 and operating in groups, they were quite a challenging opponent.

Especially since higher-tier goblins could use magic.

“Oh, come on. Complaining about a mere hundred goblins? There’s still plenty left to do: scooping water from a lake with a teacup, doing handstands while crossing Ten Thousand Peaks ten times, destroying a few branches of the Martial Alliance…”

“That’s practically asking me to die, isn’t it?”

“Hahaha! Would I really try to kill my only disciple? To master the Black Heaven Demonic Emperor Art, you need to build a solid foundation first. All this training will become blood and flesh.”

The Black Emperor laughed heartily, like a kindly old man.

What kind of basic stamina involves fighting non-stop for seven hours…?

It was just like when he first met his master in the Tower of Trials.

Overcoming impossible tasks and surpassing his limits.

Back then, he had vowed never to undergo such torture again, but here he was, breaking that promise once more.

“Contractor! Keep it up. Five more are coming your way.”

Alice sat a short distance away, watching with a bright smile.

“Tweat! Tweat!”

“Looks like your master is struggling. We’re fine, though.”

“It’s comfortably cool, perfect for resting. Feels like a picnic with all the food we brought.”

“Hey, give me some ice too. I want to add it to my lemonade.”

Even Goguma and the spirits had gathered around, munching on snacks and sipping milk, making Jinhyuk’s blood boil with frustration.

“Hm. Seems you’ll be spending the night in the prison. I need to take care of some pending work, so make sure you clear all the goblins on the first floor of the prison by dawn.”

“Uh, Master?”

“What is it? Don’t tell me you’re faking an illness?”

“No, it’s just that for us to climb the Tower, my companions need to get stronger too.”

Jinhyuk glanced at the loafing spirits and Alice.

…Huh?

Everyone’s expressions changed drastically.

They hadn’t expected the trouble to bounce back onto them. Water dripped from Undine’s mouth as she spilled her lemonade in shock.

“Hm.”

The Black Emperor scratched his chin.

“No. No. No.”

“Please. Please, please.”

“Please say no. Quickly!”

Their desperate pleas reached the Black Emperor.

Of course…

He heard them, but…

“Indeed, it’s important to grow with your companions. I understand. But since the number of participants has increased, you must clear all the goblins in the prison.”

“Absolutely, Master. You can count on us.”

“W-Wait…!”

Alice tried to grab the Black Emperor desperately, but it was too late.

The master had already left.

Only his disciple, filled with malevolent intent, remained.

“Now then…”

Jinhyuk flexed his stiff joints.

“Why don’t you spit out those snacks first?”