Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 45

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#045

 

-Kuung… Kuung… Kuung!

 

The cavern shook with faint vibrations.

 

This was a space located at the far end of the silver mine.

 

This place where all the tunnels converged was a massive cavern so huge that a grown adult would look like an ant.

 

On the creaking wooden plank road made of planks, old handcarts lay toppled over.

 

Between them, underground water flowed forming a small stream, sparkling like a river of mercury from the light reflecting off the silver veins embedded throughout the mine.

 

“Huuuu-.”

 

A deep exhale.

 

Two divided inhales.

 

Five surrounding me.

 

At the front stood the Shield Bearer, a giant of a man.

 

-Clack.

 

The man with the staff removed the leather sheath covering the staff’s end. What emerged was a blade a span in length.

 

The man now aimed his spear at me with clear intent to kill.

 

On the opposite side, the Mace Wielder glared at me.

 

From far away, I could hear the sound of the Archer drawing his bow with a creak, aiming for my heart.

 

Behind me, the Net Catcher with serpent eyes was approaching, holding an iron net. The twelve iron balls attached to the net’s edges clinked against each other with metallic sounds.

 

My eyes quickly assessed the situation.

 

‘Shield in front, spear and mace on both sides, iron chains behind. And a bow from afar.’

 

In an instant.

 

The five closed the distance.

 

I could feel them watching for my movements.

 

I could sense them holding their breath, ready to pounce all at once and sink their teeth in at the slightest opening.

 

Fierce killing intent.

 

Fierce hostility.

 

The precarious air that seemed ready to snap at any moment filled all directions-.

 

-Whoosh!

 

With a bone-chilling sound of cutting air, an arrow flew toward my forehead and the battle began.

 

-Swish!

 

I used my footwork to dodge the arrow that flew to split my forehead.

 

“Where do you think you’re going!”

 

Like plucking the strings of a stringed instrument, dozens of arrows flew with sharp cutting sounds.

 

In coordination, the iron net spread like a spider web behind me.

 

From left and right, the spear and mace simultaneously pressed in with momentum to slice and crush my body.

 

From the front, even Pyo Hojung with his shield charged forward.

 

‘First, the Net Catcher…!’

 

My combat style never stays in one place for more than three breaths.

 

A type that constantly moves, disrupts opponents, and presses the attack.

 

In group battles, this becomes even more necessary.

 

To do that, I had to deal with the net that would block my movement first among the five.

 

-Whiz whiz whoosh!

 

I pulled three silver coins from my chest and shot them at the man holding the iron net.

 

The Net Catcher swung his iron net in panic, but managed to deflect only two silver coins at most.

 

Just as the remaining one was about to split the bastard’s eyeball precisely.

 

-Clang!

 

An arrow flew and pierced through the silver coin, embedding it in the wall.

 

“Don’t think you can do whatever you want!”

 

The Archer’s interference.

 

I frowned at the unexpected obstruction.

 

During the gap created while throwing the silver coins, the spear and mace rushed to crush my head and carve out my heart.

 

[Pasabeolsik Implant, Speed]

 

Enhanced by consuming internal energy, the Pasabeolsik pattern resonated while tinged with blood.

 

My body, based on the Phantom Divine Steps, accelerated like a streak of light and disappeared as if melting into thin air.

 

“…No!”

 

Yuelaowu, who had been struggling to follow my already fast speed, lost track of my movement.

 

In the blink of an eye, I was positioned in front of the Net Catcher.

 

“Damn it-!”

 

I struck upward with my knee against the elbow of his arm holding the net.

 

-Crack.

 

The Net Catcher’s arm bent backward.

 

“Kyaaaah!”

 

“You bastard!”

 

The Mace Wielder swung his mace with all his might.

 

“…!”

 

Slightly dodging it, I grabbed the Net Catcher’s collar and pulled him down into the path of the descending mace. The Net Catcher looked up at himself.

 

The crushing mace filled his pupils completely.

 

“No-!!”

 

-Crash!!!

 

With a dull explosive sound, the Net Catcher’s head burst under the mace.

 

“The, the, the youngest got hit by my mace!”

 

The Mace Wielder screamed in anguish.

 

I snatched the net from the Net Catcher’s hands.

 

I quickly gathered up the iron net and held it, then stepped on the end with my foot and pulled.

 

-Rip rip!

 

The iron balls attached to the net’s ends were torn off all at once. Then I dipped the iron net woven with fine wire into the underground water flowing at my feet, letting it absorb plenty of water.

 

“This bastard dares to use tricks against my brother!”

 

The Mace Wielder lost his reason and charged at me.

 

With a swish sound, my hand disappeared.

 

-Crack!

 

The iron net swung with moisture struck the charging man’s nose precisely.

 

“Guh-?!”

 

-Crash! Bang bang bang!!

 

It was like a wet towel.

 

The fine iron net soaked with water moved between my hands like a water snake, and its end stretched out like a whip, continuously smashing the Mace Wielder’s face.

 

The man’s eyes rolled back as he staggered.

 

“You bastard!”

 

The spearman thrust his spear like lightning from behind me.

 

I leaped sideways to dodge.

 

I flicked up a stone from the ground with my toe.

 

I spread the wet iron net with both hands and caught the stone like a net, wrapping and gathering it.

 

With all that weight, I spun the jaw of the staggering Mace Wielder with all my might.

 

-Crack!!

 

With a spine-chilling sound, the mace wielder’s neck twisted like a spinning top.

 

The mace wielder’s body flailed like a puppet with severed strings.

 

I kicked that body toward the remaining three and somersaulted backward to create distance.

 

The sound of my landing mixed with the thunderous crash of the falling mace and the collapse of the giant man, shaking heaven and earth.

 

-Huu….

 

Only then did I exhale the hot breath I had been holding back.

 

-….

 

In a single clash, two members of Wol Ak O Seong had died instantly.

 

“…What are you doing?”

 

I wrapped the iron net around my fingers, blood and brain matter dripping from them.

 

I beckoned with my finger toward the three remaining frozen members of Wol Ak O Seong.

 

“Come on.”

 

“You… you bastard!!”

 

Screaming, the remaining three attacked.

 

‘What’s left is the archer, shield, and spear…!’

 

-Ping! Piping!

 

I dodged the arrows that tore through my earlobes.

 

‘That’s been annoying from the start. If I can manage it, I need to kill the archer first!’

 

The archer had a slender build and boasted the most agile movements among them.

 

I had been trying to close the distance with him from before, but he seemed to know he would be the first target.

 

“Hah! No matter how you chase me from down there!”

 

The archer was sweating coldly but desperately maintaining distance from me.

 

He would cling to the vertical walls of the hideout like a bat, and whenever I somehow approached through the interference of the shield and spear wielders, he would repeatedly throw arrows with hooks to the opposite wall and move, avoiding me.

 

“Tch…!”

 

And as the price for forcing my approach toward the archer, I had to endure the pouring attacks from the other two, my earlobes and cheeks getting torn.

 

-Clang!

 

Though I had killed two of Wol Ak O Seong in a surprise attack, their skills were certainly not to be underestimated.

 

Especially the archer’s arrows contained internal energy.

 

‘Strange. Are these really just simple assassins?’

 

Though I dodged what I could, each time an arrow struck my body directly, my entire body shook along with the concentrated body protection energy I used to prevent injury.

 

-Bwong!

 

-Kwang!

 

Arrows blocked my movements, spear points rushed to kill me instantly, and the massive iron shield swung through the air, crushing it with its area.

 

Especially the rim of the iron shield was like a guillotine blade – if caught by its downward strike, even if blunt, it would crush like being severed.

 

Of course, even in such relentless consecutive attacks, I could see openings to instantly kill opponents.

 

But.

 

-Piing!

 

Whenever I charged to attack those gaps, the archer’s attacks would break my flow.

 

He seemed to have judged that he couldn’t kill me, so rather than trying to kill me, he focused on restraining me and supporting the other two’s combat.

 

Perfect triangular encirclement.

 

Their combined formation was definitely effective.

 

Moreover, beyond my expectations, the archer was somehow qualitatively more strategic and skilled than the other two.

 

‘It’s not my imagination. Only that archer is on a distinctly different level…!’

 

Where I would normally place my foot, and where my head would be positioned, arrows struck half a beat faster – twice in a row. Clearly only that archer felt like a different level from the other two.

 

If not for that bastard, this fight would have ended long ago.

 

“Press him front and back! What are you doing!”

 

Though Pyo Hojung, the shield-bearing leader of Wol Ak O Seong, gave commands, I could tell.

 

The purity of their formation wasn’t that high.

 

Was that shield bastard’s leadership just a scarecrow act?

 

Was the archer with the best skills the real brain?

 

‘No! Random thoughts for later!’

 

-Pit!

 

-Pibit!

 

In the fierce exchange, I deflected the spear blade with my hand blade and twisted my body.

 

Suddenly, an arrow from behind shattered even my body protection energy and finally pierced through my left shoulder.

 

“Kugh!”

 

My knee buckled from the excruciating pain of torn muscle and bone penetration.

 

And a momentary gap.

 

“Now!”

 

With a thunderous sound shaking the ground, Pyo Hojung’s iron shield struck down at me. I instinctively rolled to dodge, but the shield’s massive area struck my torso.

 

“Kup!”

 

Though I tried to cushion the impact, my body tumbled backward.

 

I pressed my right hand to the ground to stop my flying body.

 

At that moment.

 

“I’ll start by crushing your hand first!”

 

“…!”

 

Above that right hand, Pyo Hojung struck down with his shield with all his might.

 

“…!”

 

Suddenly the world stops.

 

Breathing stops.

 

My right hand.

 

I see the shield striking down toward my right hand.

 

‘No, it can’t be.’

 

I activate body protection energy with all my strength.

 

Simultaneously activating speed technique, I concentrate all my power on pulling out my right hand.

 

Above it, I feel the shield that missed by a hair’s breadth crushing my fingertip as it strikes down-.

 

-Crack.

 

The bamboo forest in heavy rain comes to mind.

 

Bang! A hammer strikes down on my right hand. Blood and flesh splatter. My fingers bend grotesquely. I hear the laughter of eight cult members surrounding me. Sticky oil poured over my entire body. Pure white flames. Being burned alive while still breathing. The agony of fire melting bones. And-.

 

The white masked face that mocked all my pride and effort.

 

“…!!!!!!!”

 

Was it a scream?

 

A cry of anguish?

 

What burst from my mouth was

 

a beast’s howl like the scream of one awakening from a hellish nightmare.

 

-Kwaang!!

 

I kicked the iron shield with all my strength.

 

Pyo Hojung staggered backward as if knocked away.

 

“Good heavens!”

 

He looks at his shield.

 

There were clear footprints imprinted there.

 

“Th-this… can’t be. My iron shield…?!”

 

“Die! You monster bastard!!”

 

With the spearman’s shout, the spear blade shot out like lightning. I spread the iron net like a shield toward it.

 

-Kwadeuk!

 

A portion of the iron net was torn away by the spear blade that shot out in a sweeping motion, scattering sparks in all directions.

 

Breaking through that momentum, the spear blade pierced into my shoulder.

 

-Kwajik!

 

“These bastards…!”

 

My eyes became bloodshot.

 

In that instant, the archer drew his bow repeatedly. Though I tried to dodge, one arrow lodged in my thigh.

 

“These bastards dare…!! Again to me! My hand!!”

 

-Kwajik!

 

I pulled out the spear blade from my shoulder in one go.

 

Blood spurted up like a fountain.

 

“Uh… uhh!”

 

The spearman panicked.

 

I pulled out the arrow lodged in my thigh with my bare hands. Flesh was torn away. I gripped the blood-stained arrow like a dagger.

 

“How dare you touch my hand!!”

 

I threw the damaged iron net sideways like spreading it.

 

It blocked the interference of incoming arrows. I leaped at the spear-wielding bastard like I was pouncing on him.

 

“Ah…!”

 

The spearman panicked.

 

He retreated backward, desperately swinging his spear at me as I charged.

 

“So-something’s different from the hideout guys…!”

 

That wasn’t the execution of orthodox spear techniques. It was just flailing around haphazardly out of fear, simply to create distance.

 

“What are you… what are you! You’re a martial artist! You’re a martial artist, aren’t you?!”

 

The spearman cried out desperately.

 

“If you’re a martial artist, you should at least execute techniques elegantly like that hideout guy, deploy martial formations and such-!”

 

-Kwajik!

 

The arrowhead I swung precisely pierced through the spearman’s forehead, penetrating all the way to the back of his skull, killing him instantly.

 

“This bastard finally…!”

 

The archer on the wall screamed and frantically drew his bowstring.

 

I lifted the instantly dead spearman’s body to block the arrows.

 

I snatched the spear from his dangling arm. I broke the spear in half and threw it like a javelin with all my strength.

 

-Kwaang!!!!

 

The spear precisely pierced through the archer’s abdomen. The archer fixed to the wall writhed like a pinned insect.

 

“Ahhh! My stomach!”

 

“You… you bastard!”

 

Behind me, the last remaining Pyo Hojung screamed in despair.

 

“What are you! Your fighting style is absolutely not that of a martial artist!”

 

Pyo Hojung screamed.

 

“This… this! Even those rough Whitenight bastards from the bottom, even those butcher bastards don’t fight like this-!!”

 

I gripped the broken spear shaft and charged at Pyo Hojung.

 

I frantically struck down at Pyo Hojung holding his shield with the spear shaft enhanced by the golden energy of my body.

 

-Kwaang! Kwang! Kwajijik!

 

The thunderous sound of crushing metal shook the entire dungeon.

 

Pyo Hojung’s stance as he held his shield and endured began to crumble.

 

The shield was being crushed.

 

Along with the warping shield he held, Pyo Hojung’s stance gradually lowered.

 

Soon he knelt down.

 

Pyo Hojung’s arms could no longer withstand the impact and broke.

 

The spear shaft I was striking with finally broke in two.

 

I caught the two broken pieces of spear shaft flying through the air with both hands.

 

I gripped the sharp cross-sections like awls.

 

I exhaled heavily.

 

I looked down at Pyo Hojung who sat collapsed, having dropped his shield from his broken arms.

 

Pyo Hojung muttered.

 

“…N-no… spare me… What do you want. I’ll do anything. So, so…!”

 

“Don’t worry. As payment for making me suffer more than expected.”

 

I gritted my teeth.

 

“I’ll make sure to put all my effort into ensuring that even if Hua Tuo himself came, you absolutely couldn’t be saved.”

 

Pyo Hojung screamed.

 

“Ahhhhh, damn it, someone help-!”

 

-Kwadududu!!

 

The broken spear shafts in both my hands began frantically stabbing into Pyo Hojung’s entire body.

 

“Ahhhhhhh!!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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