Murim Login - Chapter 593

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 593
Thud!
A dull impact echoed as my full-force punch slammed into Seok Go-jun’s chest.
Layers of defensive magic shattered instantly, and a section of his impenetrable full-body armor caved inward. Grinding his teeth, he roared with fury.
“Jin Tae-kyung!”
Had he been an ordinary high-tier Hunter or even a master at his peak, that punch alone would have inflicted severe internal injuries and rendered him combat-ineffective.
But Seok Go-jun was different. Whether due to the influence of the demonic stone or something else, even my Internal Heavy Palm technique failed to deal significant damage to him.
‘S-rank Hunter. Perhaps beyond that.’
Regardless of the circumstances, he was already an officially recognized S-rank Hunter.
He had mastered the inner cultivation technique known as the Mana Cultivation Method in the modern world, and had even absorbed the power of an S-rank demonic stone obtainable from Named Monsters—his strength was immense.
“Die!”
Kwaaaah! Crunch!
An aura that had transcended red entirely, now a pure crimson, erupted like a violent explosion.
The shaft of my White Flame Spear trembled under the mountain-like pressure exerted by the colossal aura blade.
‘I’ve never been pushed back this hard in recent memory.’
In this moment, even thirty years of accumulated cultivation and superhuman physical abilities felt insufficient.
Whether it was the effect of fatigue accumulated relentlessly throughout the day, or whether Seok Go-jun had absorbed an astronomical amount of mana, I couldn’t say for certain.
But one thing was undeniable—this fool had gained power that far exceeded my expectations.
Crackle, crackle. Crack!
Under the tremendous pressure bearing down from above, my body and the ground sank together. With my ankles now buried in the earth, Seok Go-jun bared his teeth in a grin.
“Getting a feel for it now? Huh? Does it finally feel like you’re done for?”
A low, sinister laugh escaped him.
Seok Go-jun was genuinely delighted. He was exulting at the thought that he could finally avenge his master.
“Ever since the day my master died, I’ve killed you every single night. I’ve lived waiting for a moment exactly like this.”
I responded while searching for an opening in his stance.
“No wonder I felt reborn every morning. I thought I was just refreshed from dreaming about Jeong Yong dying every night.”
Whoosh!
The moment the crimson aura wavered violently, I wrenched my feet free from their burial and kicked upward.
Bang!
My heel, swung like a flash of light, collided with his shin with a thunderous crack. Seok Go-jun, about to unleash his rage, let out a bitter laugh instead.
“Your last-ditch struggle won’t change anything. Now that it’s come to this, killing you all is child’s play.”
“What?”
In that moment, failing to fully comprehend his words, I blinked—and then Seok Go-jun’s low voice pierced my ears.
“You, that damned Pyeonghwa Guild, and your parents and younger sister waiting at home… Ah, your father’s already dead, isn’t he? Well, it doesn’t matter. Even if he’d lived this long, he’d have followed his son soon enough.”
“…”
“Did it feel good when the world called you a hero? Did you think you’d all be happy together forever? It’s all bullshit. Kim Hwa-jong, that old man, was just the beginning.”
A sticky, repulsive breath wafted out and touched my face. A cackling laugh followed in its wake.
“This time it’s you, next it’s Choi Min-woo. After that, it doesn’t matter—I’ll kill everything connected to you, one by one. I’m thinking of wiping you all out at once with a Monster Wave. What do you think?”
As his voice continued to pour into my ears, I blinked blankly.
What the hell was this bastard saying?
It was a strange sight. The creature before me wore the shape of a human, yet nothing but the barking of a beast poured from its ceaselessly mocking maw.
A monster wearing a human skin stood here.
‘So you’ll kill them? Every single one of my people?’
My stomach churned suddenly.
The existence of Seok Go-jun, who could transform such words from mere threats into reality, filled me with revulsion. And when I imagined them—those who had become indispensable to me—lying dead, my mind went blank.
‘Mother. Ha-yeon. Choi Team Leader. Kkokjeong. Song Song-i. Jin Ho….’
Familiar faces flashed before my eyes one after another. Among them, the grey-haired butler Noh Ji-sa, who had met his end on that snow-covered mountain.
‘He said he’d kill them all. How did I feel about that?’
In the next moment, a calm voice escaped my lips.
“Yes, I understand.”
“What?”
“Try it. Go ahead.”
The moment Seok Go-jun’s smile faded, I drew upon every ounce of strength within my body.
Grrrrk!
The spear, which had been slowly descending under the tremendous pressure, and my bending knees froze in place.
At least in this moment, I forgot exhaustion. Though my muscles still screamed from the lingering effects of the Thousand Blade technique, I forgot even that pain.
Rage, layered upon fatigue and agony, obscured and numbed everything else.
Deep within my body, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and hundreds of vital channels surged with power like molten lava.
A voice as scorching as flame poured from between my parted lips.
“You shouldn’t have said that.”
“…!”
“You shouldn’t have spoken of my people that way.”
I had suspected it. That Seok Go-jun was the kind of creature capable of such things.
But suspecting something and hearing it directly from his own mouth were entirely different matters.
“You’re not even human, you bastard.”
Seok Go-jun is a monster. Whether he was born that way or whether I created him, it no longer mattered.
For him to die was for my people to live. For them to live was for me to live.
Grrrrk!
I wrenched my feet free from the ground where they had been driven deep. My locked knees straightened.
As I poured strength into my waist and arms, the spear shaft, which had been pushed downward by the Aura Blade’s pressure, began to rise against it.
Slowly, inch by inch. But never stopping.
“How are you…!”
The moment Seok Go-jun’s eyes widened, I whispered a command in my mind that no one else could hear.
‘Inventory open. White Flame storage.’
Pop.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
As the cyan-white flames vanished along with the spear, the balance of the fierce struggle shattered, and the crimson aura plunged straight down.
Whoooosh! Crack!
Space split with a terrifying sound, but I was already gone from that place.
Dozens of strands of hair, severed by the blade pressure, scattered over my shoulder, while my fist, already driven deep into Seok Go-jun’s body, blazed with cyan-white flames.
The Flame Extinguishing Divine Fist.
The world slowed. The space distorted under the extreme heat, much like the expression twisting across Seok Go-jun’s face.
“No—”
It was already too late.
I unleashed a punch alongside a response he would never hear.
A whoosh and a deafening crack!
His voice was swallowed by the roar. My fist, burning through the air like a beam of light, slammed into his solar plexus.
I hurled myself forward, chasing after his body as it was launched backward like a cannonball from the tremendous impact.
A sharp whistle cut through the air!
A fierce wind grazed my ear.
In a span of time too brief to even call an instant, I crossed more than thirty feet, overtook Seok Go-jun, and brought my interlaced hands down like a hammer toward him as he rebounded toward where I stood.
A thunderous crash and a sickening crunch!
The blow struck his abdomen. The upper half of his armor, battered by successive impacts, melted away under the searing heat.
Seok Go-jun crashed into the ground, his back shattering the floor, and blood sprayed from his mouth.
A violent gush of blood!
As I moved to drive my fist down into the fallen Seok Go-jun, I was drenched entirely in his blood.
My vision turned crimson. My movements faltered instinctively in that moment, and my keen senses screamed a warning.
Danger!
This was no accident—it was a deliberate phase of his attack.
Realization struck, and I kicked off the ground. A crimson aura extended toward my retreating form.
A sharp whistle and a grinding sound!
Searing pain shot through my side.
Despite moving with maximum speed, the aura erupting from the blade Seok Go-jun had never released was far too vast and immense to evade completely.
Drip. Drip drip.
I staunched the blood pouring from my side while wiping it away.
With my vision cleared, Seok Go-jun had already risen and was charging forward, his helmet cast aside.
A cry filled with unconcealed fury echoed through the devastated corridor.
“You bastard!”
A sharp piercing sound!
A crimson aura burst from the blade’s tip, cutting through the void with a fierce wind.
I retreated in succession, narrowly dodging the attacks, then swiftly scattered both arms.
Along with magic granted only to me.
Inventory open. Summon.
A sharp whistle!
The moment the hilt of a throwing knife materialized in my previously empty palm, it was launched. Multiple streaks of light suddenly flew toward him. Seok Go-jun, now desperate, raised his blade horizontally to block the front.
A sharp metallic clang!
As four throwing knives bounced away and embedded themselves in the walls and ceiling, I channeled my inner force downward through my lower body. Flames ignited from my feet.
Flame Path in One.
A whoosh and a sharp cry!
Crash! Screeeech!
I became a single streak of flame, shooting toward Seok Go-jun. Upon witnessing my charge without a weapon, he unleashed a roar.
“I’ll kill you!”
His eyes had taken on a complete crimson hue. Red light gleamed from the darkness.
In the next instant, an unprecedented aura erupted from his entire body, sweeping across all directions.
Roooaaarrr!
It was a howling tempest, an inescapable fog. Rather than tiring, he unleashed even more powerful energy waves.
Yet I did not halt. I pierced through the turbulent, coarse mana fog and surged forward.
And my opponent beyond the haze did the same.
Shiiing! Shiiing! Shiiing! Shiiing!
An aura blade of absurd proportions—two meters in length—tore through space as it descended.
Each time I twisted my body to narrowly evade the attack, the blade pressure lacerated my flesh in all directions, and blood spilled forth.
But it was fine. As long as I did not fall.
If I could bring down this monster and exact payment for Kim Hwa-jong’s death, protecting those who remained from further threats.
Slash!
In that instant, a burning pain seared across my chest.
My clothes and armor had long since been torn away by the intensity of our clash. Across my exposed skin, a thin line appeared, then flushed crimson.
Gush!
Blood surged from my chest. Though the wound was shallow, the immense energy that seeped through the wound into my body made my vision spin.
I steadied my wavering form and pushed off the ground.
Boom!
At the end of the direction I shot toward like a beam of light, there stood a monster that had abandoned its humanity.
“Jin Tae-kyuuuung!”
Seok Go-jun charged forward with a roar, his sword raised high. The aura blade wreathing his blade had taken on a turbid, blood-red luminescence.
As he drew closer, I felt it—that sticky, repulsive aura.
This could no longer be called Mana.
The world knew by another name the corrupted, ominous energy that stood in opposition to pure Mana.
‘Demonic Power.’
The moment those two characters surfaced in my mind, I understood: I had to unleash every technique I possessed.
Him and me. Me and him.
The distance between us had narrowed to the point where either of us could deliver a killing blow.
I could see the fury crystallized in his eyes, smell the foul stench mingled with his scorching breath.
And….
Seok Go-jun and I extended our arms almost simultaneously.
Whoosh!
In a world slowed to a crawl, the wind split and space was erased.
Across Seok Go-jun’s face, as he drove his blade toward my chest, a faint glimmer of triumph bloomed.
He had won.
That is what his eyes seemed to proclaim.
Unlike me, who fought bare-handed, his blade—wreathed in turbid demonic power—was formidable with extended reach. It was only natural that Seok Go-jun was certain of victory.
But his assumption was wrong.
‘Inventory open. Summon.’
Thought moved faster than light, and the system answered my call without the slightest hesitation.
The Beloved Spear, gleaming pristine white from end to end, materialized in my grip as though it had always been there.
Cyan-white Flame Extinguishing energy layered itself across the transparent blade.
Whoosh!
Superheated air ignited around me as the weapon shot forward.
Though Seok Go-jun’s blade had launched first, mine passed through his murky aura blade as if it were nothing, reaching its target with an impossibly accelerated velocity.
Squelch!
The sickening sound of flesh tearing, followed by the acrid stench of burning skin.
In Seok Go-jun’s wide, bulging eyes—eyes that looked ready to burst from their sockets—I could no longer see any trace of triumph.
Seok Go-jun, his gaze fixed upon the spear that had pierced his chest, his eyes reflecting shock and agony, forced out a strangled voice.
“What… what is this?”
I answered coldly.
“Striking after the opponent commits. You, empowered by a mere Magic Stone, are dead. You wouldn’t understand even if you were reborn.”
All combat and movement possess rhythm and flow.
If you understand your opponent’s movements and can predict them, even a delayed start allows you to arrive faster.
Through my training and experience, I had mastered the subtle art of striking after the opponent commits, while Seok Go-jun only craved greater power.
That difference decided the outcome of this battle.
“Fool. Your dead master should have made you think at least once with that thick skull of yours about why he never recommended a Magic Stone to you sooner.”
“…!”
At the sound of my voice, dripping with rage and contempt, Seok Go-jun’s eyes trembled with resignation.
In that instant, the blade that had fallen helplessly away from me suddenly erupted upward like lightning.
Whoosh!
It happened in a heartbeat.
The murky aura at the blade’s tip, noticeably diminished compared to before, thrust toward my heart.
And microseconds before that, I silently commanded within my mind.
‘Inventory open. Summon.’
Crash!
A concentrated mass of qi with terrifying destructive and cutting power materialized to block the strike.
In Seok Go-jun’s eyes, wide once more, the faint crimson glow of the Fire Dragon Armor was reflected.
“What… what is this?”
“What else, fool? Life insurance.”
The reason I had not summoned the Fire Dragon Armor even after breaking through to the highest floor and sustaining a minor wound to my chest was for a moment exactly like this.
And my prediction proved precisely correct.
“You… who exactly are you?”
I gazed into his eyes, now filled with fear.
The eyes of a human—no, a monster—cornered at the end.
And I drove the spear lodged in Seok Go-jun’s chest deeper.
Crack!

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