Chapter 315: Half-Human, Half-Monster (2)

-Roar!

It wasn’t visible only to Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

The energy was so prominently taking shape that even Cheong-ryeong, who was inside the wooden puppet, could see it.

White demon eyes.

Black horns protruding like a deer’s, a fiery red dorsal fin fluttering as if it would burn.

A giant body with scales extending like a snake.

-…Imoogi.

Cheong-ryeong spoke as if it was absurd.

At this, Mok Gyeong-un asked in puzzlement,

-Can you see it?

-I can see it. This is the first time the energy has been so prominently felt despite being inside here.

Cheong-ryeong couldn’t hide his astonishment.

-So Imoogis actually exist.

-I have only heard about Imoogis, but this is the first time seeing one. Among spiritual creatures, dragons can be considered the rarest.

-Indeed. But that is…

-It looks more like a remnant obsession rather than the Imoogi itself.

-Yes.

Mok Gyeong-un nodded in agreement.

Although the energy itself was strong enough to take shape, it was a remnant obsession left in the demonic energy.

How strong must one’s will have been in life for the obsession to materialize to such an extent?

Anyway, judging from the remnant obsession and the surging demonic energy, Lee Gwang’s transformation seemed ominous.

-It doesn’t seem like we should just leave him be.

At Cheong-ryeong’s opinion, Mok Gyeong-un smacked his lips.

‘If I kill him right now, it’ll be done.’

The ominous energy spreading out gave a sense of pressure and wariness, but now, while he was transforming, was the perfect timing to deal with him.

If there was nothing, in particular, to ask, he would have immediately beheaded him.

Right at that moment,

‘The trembling has stopped.’

Lee Gwang, whose entire body was covered in scales, seemed to have completed the transformation as the trembling disappeared.

The explosively surging demonic energy was also gradually stabilizing.

One peculiar thing was that the black sword stabbed into his abdomen was sticking to him as if it had become one with his body.

Then, someone’s voice was heard.

“What in the world is this…”

It was Guyang Sa-oh, the patriarch of the Guyang Clan and the Eight Poison Sect Leader.

He seemed perplexed by the sight of Lee Gwang, who had stabbed a sword into his own abdomen as if committing suicide, transforming into a half-demon form.

Right at that moment,

-Swish!

The transformed Lee Gwang, now half-human and half-monster, raised his head and glared at Guyang Sa-oh with eerie white eyes.

-Shudder!

As his eyes met the white eyes without pupils, Guyang Sa-oh felt a strong sense of threat.

No matter how he looked at it, that was not the Lee Gwang he knew.

At that instant,

-Swish!

‘Huh?’

The half-human, half-monster Lee Gwang disappeared from Guyang Sa-oh’s sight.

Instinctively certain that he was moving at an extremely high speed using lightness skill, Guyang Sa-oh urgently released the Eight Poisons’ toxic energy in all directions.

Poison was like his limbs.

If someone approached and came into contact with the spreading poison, he could immediately grasp their location.

-Swish!

Someone had approached from the right, three steps away.

‘As expected.’

Since his right arm was broken, he naturally guessed that the attacker would target his right side or back.

So Guyang Sa-oh used his left hand to perform one of the absolute techniques of the Toad Poison Art, the Nine Formations Benefitting Formation.

Although the power of the technique was reduced when performed with one hand, befitting his realm as a transformation expert and a poison master, he added swiftness to somehow make up for it.

-Swish swish swish swish swish!

The trajectory of the Nine Formations Benefitting Formation palm strikes drawn by Guyang Sa-oh rushed towards the vital points on the upper body of the detected presence.

However, that someone,

Lee Gwang, who had become half-human and half-monster, lightly leaned his upper body back and avoided the trajectory of the palm strikes.

‘!?’

Guyang Sa-oh couldn’t help but be inwardly surprised that he easily dodged the technique by moving only his upper body.

Strictly speaking, he had considered Lee Gwang’s martial prowess to be similar to or slightly below his own.

But what was going on?

‘Ah ah ah.’

Unlike the bewildered Guyang Sa-oh, Lee Gwang’s white eyes were filled with ecstasy.

Guyang Sa-oh’s absolute technique, which had surpassed the wall, felt slow to him.

Even without using the Scripture of Light Body, he could avoid it just by moving his upper body slightly, and he could perceive every single trajectory.

-Swish! Slash!

Since the flow of the technique was visible, he naturally knew where to attack.

Lee Gwang, who had leaned his head back, thrust his fist into Guyang Sa-oh’s left shoulder with a lightning-fast strike.

-Thud!

“Kuk!”

Guyang Sa-oh’s body twisted in an instant as he was hit in the shoulder.

Not missing that moment, Lee Gwang tried to stab his sharpened nails into his chest.

In response, Guyang Sa-oh spewed out green poison from his mouth, even with his body twisted.

“Puu!”

-Splat!

Lee Gwang hurriedly waved his hand and distanced himself from the spewed green poison.

However, due to the close proximity, the poison touched his arm and some parts of his body.

-Sizzle sizzle sizzle!

The parts of his clothing touched by the poison were directly corroded.

Moreover, not only the touched parts but also the poison spread, causing most of his upper garment to melt away in an instant, showing how virulent the poison was.

With such virulent poison, it was expected to penetrate his body, but,

-Sizzle sizzle sizzle!

The poison gave the feeling of the scales on his skin being burned, but they quickly recovered, and instead, the ominous energy surging from within his body pushed it out.

The rising green haze was proof of that.

“Hahaha!”

Lee Gwang burst into mad laughter, unable to hide his joy.

Although he didn’t know what it was, this energy different from internal energy and his transformed body made even poison ineffective, causing his confidence to rise sharply.

‘It’s the best.’

-Grip!

The ominous energy filling his body was overwhelming his existing internal energy.

No, it was incomparable.

With this power, it felt like he could do anything.

Even if it was the sixth heaven, known as the great sage realm, he felt that he could sufficiently challenge it now.

‘But foolish acts are forbidden.’

Lee Gwang quickly regained his composure.

Although this explosively surging power was tremendous, untrained power was hard to consider completely his own.

Therefore, rather than recklessly charging at Mok Gyeong-un with false bravado just because he gained power, it was better to kill that old man Guyang Sa-oh and bide his time for the future.

-Whoosh!

Lee Gwang, who had made his decision, launched his body to kill Guyang Sa-oh.

If he killed him, he could prevent the information from leaking out.

In an instant, Lee Gwang’s figure reached right in front of Guyang Sa-oh, who was using lightness skill to distance himself.

Lee Gwang tried to slash at Guyang Sa-oh with a strike infused with ominous energy.

‘Die, old…’

Right at that moment,

-Swish!

A blurry shadow blocked the way,

-Smack!

It kicked his arm that was about to strike upward.

Along with it, it spun its body and unleashed consecutive kicks,

-Bam bam!

They flew accurately towards his face.

However, in a split second, Lee Gwang hurriedly raised his left wrist to block them.

-Whoosh!

Even though he blocked them accurately, Lee Gwang’s body was pushed back nearly ten steps.

The wrist that blocked the kicks ached and throbbed.

However, it wasn’t to the extent that he couldn’t endure it.

-Swish!

Lee Gwang lowered his hand and sarcastically raised the corners of his mouth, saying to Mok Gyeong-un,

“It’s not as threatening as before.”

“What is? That kick just now?”

“Yeah. Strangely, I no longer fear you. It means the power gap isn’t as wide as before.”

“Is that so? You’re adapting to the demonic energy faster than I thought.”

“Demonic energy?”

“I’m referring to that power of yours.”

“…”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Lee Gwang couldn’t hide his puzzlement.

Despite his power increasing sharply, Mok Gyeong-un still remained composed.

He even seemed to know what this power given by that person was.

Who the hell was this bastard?

“Phew.”

Lee Gwang let out a small sigh.

Let’s discard useless worries.

Even if the power has become similar, unlike the bastard, he was still in the adaptation stage.

There was nothing more foolish than being drunk on power and recklessly charging at the bastard, thinking he had gained the qualifications to compete with him.

Right now, there was only one goal.

‘Guyang Sa-oh.’

He just needed to kill that old man.

Even if he couldn’t target the Holy Fire Priestess immediately, that old man could become quite troublesome if he blurted out everything he knew about the organization.

So Lee Gwang wracked his brain.

‘Let’s pretend to target his comrades and the Holy Fire Priestess, and then kill that old man Guyang Sa-oh.’

Unlike when he saw them before, they seemed to have a pretty strong bond.

Then, no matter how cold-hearted the bastard was, if his comrades were in danger, he would have no choice but to take his attention off the old man Guyang Sa-oh, even for a moment, to save them.

‘First…’

-Whoosh!

Lee Gwang extended his sword fingers towards Mok Gyeong-un.

Then, a gray exploding sword energy formed from his hand, made of demonic energy, and rushed towards Guyang Sa-oh with a fierce momentum.

-Swooosh!

“You’re being a nuisance.”

-Clang!

In response, Mok Gyeong-un quickly blocked it and deflected it using the profound principle of the Scripture of Transferring True Qi.

Of course, even before that, Lee Gwang had twisted his body and launched himself towards Mok Gyeong-un’s companions who were fighting against some of the remaining masked individuals.

They were quite skilled, but with his current self, it seemed possible to take care of one or two of them and take a hostage before Mok Gyeong-un could catch up to him.

-Swish swish swish!

In the eyes of Lee Gwang, who was moving at an extremely high speed, the sight of the masked individuals and Mok Gyeong-un’s subordinates fighting slowed down significantly.

It was as if the flow of time was different for each of them.

But right at that moment,

-Swish!

A black line appeared in the void in front of him, and something blurrily landed ten steps ahead.

It was none other than,

‘Sickle-slaying Demon?’

The bastard.

Lee Gwang’s eyes trembled.

Thanks to this ominous power, the speed at which he was moving had doubled compared to before.

But how did the bastard get ahead of him?

Moreover, he could see that the bastard’s right hand was holding the Evil Commandment Sword, but in his left hand…

‘!?’

Lee Gwang’s eyes gradually widened.

If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, that was clearly a severed arm.

Due to the intense vibration of the severed arm held in Mok Gyeong-un’s left hand while he was in the flow of high-speed movement, it was difficult to discern whose arm it was.

Right at that moment,

-Slice!

With a feeling of something leaving his body, a burning pain struck his right wrist.

Along with it, as Lee Gwang, who had been running with lightness skill, lost his balance,

-Swooosh!

His body soared into the air due to the airflow formed by the sharp sword energy.

“Ugh!”

-Swish swish swish swish swish swish swish!

As his soaring body rose into the air, the sharp sword energy shredded his entire body.

He had been convinced that his body had become close to indestructible, with scales appearing and even poison being ineffective.

Yet, he could clearly feel the scales being sliced.

And he could also tell that his entire body was drenched in blood in an instant.

-Thud! Splash!

Eventually, Lee Gwang fell to the ground.

Lying on the ground, Lee Gwang’s expression became dazed.

‘This… What in the world…’

Judging from the lack of sensation in his right arm, it seemed that it was indeed his arm.

The searing pain from the sword energy slicing his entire body made his mind hazy.

-Swish swish swish!

-Splash! Splash!

Then, the sound of footsteps crossing the rainwater-soaked ground could be heard.

Lee Gwang struggled to raise his head.

Mok Gyeong-un’s appearance, emitting a ferocious black haze from his entire body as if he had become one with the darkness, truly resembled a demon.

Lee Gwang couldn’t understand at all.

He was certain that there was no longer a significant difference in martial power after exchanging a couple of moves with him.

But what was this now?

“H-how?”

To the perplexed Lee Gwang, Mok Gyeong-un spoke,

“Why are you surprised? I clearly told you earlier that I had used only 3-star power.”

‘!?’

3-star power?

Lee Gwang was momentarily dumbfounded.

So did that mean he had only faced him with about 30% of his full power during their earlier exchange?