North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 17

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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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17. The Gaps Between Joints

A deep, rumbling howl—!
A blue shimmer rose from Airak’s entire body.
The Northern Sea Ice Divine Art. Absolute zero cold acquired over thirty years in the extreme darkness—not mere chill, but the breath of death itself, freezing all life’s vitality.
Airak brought his sword down.
From beneath his feet, the cold radiated across the snowy field toward Bingho. No pillars of ice erupted, no blizzard rose. Simply the temperature of the ground Bingho stood upon plummeted.
“…What?”
Bingho’s expression hardened.
His legs felt impossibly heavy. The earth froze because of his own Cold Ground Freezing—that much was inevitable. But this was different. The chill seeping up through his soles was thickening the blood flowing through his calves’ veins.
“Your legs feel heavy, don’t they?”
Airak asked softly.
“Your ice is only cold on the surface. Mine bites to the bone.”
“Don’t spout nonsense!”
Bingho poured Internal Force into his legs, trying to drive back the cold.
“My Cold Ground Freezing can’t be turned against me!”
“Can’t it?”
Airak’s mouth twisted into a smile.
“I simply layered my chill over the cold you created. Ice cleaves to ice, after all.”
Crack—crack—crack!
Bingho’s leg muscles seized rigid.
It was not the ice holding him. The moisture within his own body was freezing solid, binding him from within.
“This… this can’t…!”
“Try moving. If you can.”
Airak gave no quarter.
Boom!
Airak charged forward. The Wanggok Sword sliced through the air like a phantom.
Bingho instinctively raised his arm to block, trusting in skin harder than steel.
Whistle!
But this time it was different. Instead of striking the skin, Airak’s blade found the gaps between the joints.
“Argh!”
Blood erupted from Bingho’s shoulder.
Even steel-hard skin had to yield at the joints—the places that moved could not be rigid.
“Impossible! My skin is perfect Frozen Earth!”
Bingho cried out and fell back.
“Frozen Earth, you said?”
Airak wiped his blade. The blood fell as ice shards.
“True. But earth may freeze while the water flowing beneath it does not.”
“What are you saying!”
“Your body’s joints. That’s not earth—that’s water.”
Whistle! Whistle!
Airak’s sword danced again.
This time behind the knee. A horrible sound of tendons snapping filled the air.
“Screeegh!”
Bingho’s massive frame staggered.
“I… I can’t evade…!”
Bingho gritted his teeth.
His body would not obey. His legs were leaden, his arms sluggish. His Internal Force no longer circulated properly.
“Can you feel it?”
Airak asked coldly.
“The blood in your veins is freezing. Bit by bit.”
“How… how is that… possible…?”
“You achieve it by training in the presence of death.”
Airak’s sword moved again.
This time the inside of the elbow. Bingho tried to defend, but his seized muscles would not respond.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Blood sprayed. Bingho staggered backward, nearly losing his footing.
The wolves watching from behind had their eyes alight.
“Did you see that?”
Harku groaned the words under his breath.
Blood still seeped from the wound in his abdomen, but his eyes never left the fight.
“He’s targeting the joints. No matter how hard the armor, joints can’t withstand everything.”
“That’s not all.”
Taikan spoke through gritted teeth, clutching his shattered ribs.
“That Frozen Earth—his movements are getting slower. The Clan Leader is doing something.”
“What is he doing?”
“No idea. But look at his face. He’s panicked.”
Arko joined in.
“He’s freezing the blood vessels. It’s one of the supreme techniques of the Northern Sea Ice Divine Art. When blood freezes, muscles stiffen. No matter how steel-hard the skin, you can’t stop the body collapsing from within.”
“So it is the Clan Leader after all….”
Garkan nodded, his face smeared with blood.
“Hah! I told you so. The match was decided from the start. The Clan Leader just sometimes draws things out—to confuse us, make us wonder if he’s actually struggling.”
Geukyagwirang, watching from the distant darkness.
His golden eyes twisted.
‘Frozen Earth is losing.’
He couldn’t believe it. His peer, especially one wrapped in armor that no blade could shatter—he had thought only devastating Internal Force strikes to the organs could kill him—and yet Frozen Earth Bingho was being slashed to ribbons, one-sidedly.
‘A monster… is this what a Warrior of the Martial Way truly is?’
Geukyagwirang’s mind calculated swiftly.
Two choices. Either leap in now and attack together with Frozen Earth, or wait for him to die and then strike at the exhausted Airak from behind.
A vile smile spread across Geukyagwirang’s lips.
‘…Forgive me, Frozen Earth. That monster… it seems there’s no winning without a surprise attack. A perfect surprise—one delivered when mind and body are knocked completely off balance…’
He crouched like a weasel, waiting for the most appetizing moment.
“Haah! Hah!”
Bingho gasped, breathing roughly.
His entire body was drenched in blood. Blades had pierced every joint, rendering them useless.
“Why won’t you finish me! You could kill me!”
Bingho roared.
“You’re mocking me!”
“I am killing you. Is there a law that says it must be done in one stroke?”
Airak replied coldly.
“You arrogant bastard!”
Bingho gathered every last scrap of Internal Force remaining in his body. His hands came together, clenched.
Bingho Twin Fists. His final blow, burned from the very flame of his life.
“Overreach and you’ll die with me!”
Bingho roared and charged.
The momentum seemed to split the Snowy Plain itself. Yet Airak stood motionless. He showed no sign of dodging or defending.
“That won’t happen. You alone will go.”
His voice cold and dry. The arrogance of a true master who did not deign to acknowledge his opponent.
Airak’s blade flashed like lightning. Not toward Bingho’s neck. His wrists.
Slice!
A horrifyingly clean cut.
“Wha—?”
Bingho’s eyes widened.
His fists, which had been carving through empty air, lost all force and fell limp into the snow. His wrists had been severed.
“No, no—aaaaaahhh!”
Bingho collapsed to his knees. Blood fountained from both arms. The shock shattered his mind more than pain ever could.
“My hands… my hands….”
Bingho stared down at his forearms in disbelief. Below the wrists there was nothing. The steel skin he had trusted his entire life, the body of Frozen Earth, had been severed so utterly, so easily.
“It’s over.”
Airak approached slowly. His shadow fell across Bingho.
“Any last words?”
Bingho lifted his head, coughing blood. Airak’s gray eyes looked down upon him. Neither pity nor contempt. Only cold indifference.
“…What did Balkar say?”
“That among the Three Frozen Warriors of the Northern Sea, he admitted he was the weakest.”
“Hah… that arrogant fool. Only at death’s door did he learn his place.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m….”
Bingho’s eyes dimmed.
“I thought I was the strongest. All my life. I believed no one in the Northern Sea was stronger than me.”
A laugh tinged with blood spilled from his lips.
“But I was wrong. Meeting you—I learned the truth. We were just frogs in a well.”
“…….”
“Isn’t that a joke? I spent thirty years fighting for the title of strongest in the Northern Sea. Turns out the real strongest was somewhere else.”
Bingho laughed bitterly.
“Geukyagwirang is hiding somewhere over there.”
Bingho gestured toward the darkness with his chin.
“The coward. Once I’m dead, he’ll strike. Watch yourself.”
“I know.”
“…Right. I figured you would.”
Bingho’s head dropped, all strength draining from him.
“Farewell, Frozen Earth.”
Airak’s blade moved—and Bingho’s head fell away.
The massive body toppled forward, scarlet blood spreading across the snowy plain. It was the pathetic end of Bingho, the Third of the Three Frozen Warriors of the Northern Sea.
“Clan Leader! The rat is moving!”
Garkan shouted.
The moment Bingho collapsed, a black shadow erupted from the darkness.
Geukyagwirang. He seized the opening when Airak lowered his guard, that instant of exhaustion after the duel—a surprise assault.
Ghost Wolf Hundred Fangs.
Ten claws, sharper than steel, bore down on Airak’s back with killing force.
“You must be worn out from fighting Frozen Earth!”
But then.
Clang!
Airak didn’t even turn. As if his back bore eyes, he twisted the Wanggok Sword behind him and intercepted Geukyagwirang’s claws with perfect precision.
“I was waiting for you.”
“……!”
Geukyagwirang’s eyes bulged. Blocked? Without even looking?
“Worn out? I was just warming up.”
“That’s a lie. How much Internal Force did you spend fighting Frozen Earth!”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Airak turned slowly to face him.
“Want to find out? Face to face?”
Geukyagwirang’s face twisted.
It was a trap. From the start, he’d shown his back to draw him out. This monster had been monitoring his every movement the entire time he fought Frozen Earth.
“I knew you’d strike the moment Frozen Earth fell. Cowardice is written all over your face.”
“…….”
“If you don’t run, I’ll finish this here.”
Airak’s blade pointed at Geukyagwirang’s throat.
“What’s it going to be? A fair fight? Or running?”
“…….”
“Decide quickly. My patience has limits.”
Geukyagwirang clenched his teeth. There was no chance of victory. With his surprise attack thwarted, a direct confrontation would be suicide.
“…Next time, then.”
“Fine. I’ll be waiting. Hunger will drive you out eventually.”
Poof!
Geukyagwirang’s body scattered like smoke.
Extreme Night Shadow Illusion Technique. He left behind dozens of phantoms, dissolving into the darkness.
“Running? Hey! You coward! Stand and fight!”
Harku’s eyes blazed with fury as he moved to pursue.
“Don’t chase him.”
Airak held him back.
“Why, Clan Leader! A rat like that needs to be skinned….”
“He is a rat. There’s no need to chase.”
“Then we just let him go?”
“Wait. Hunger will bring him out. Then we crush him.”
“Next time, he’ll come more cunningly.”
Taikan spoke with a note of concern.
“No matter. The more cunning they are, the more surely they stumble over their own feet in the end.”
Airak dismissed Geukyagwirang entirely.
Silence reclaimed the Snowy Plain. Wind swept across the corpse of Bingho, draping it gently in fresh snow.
Garkan approached.
“Clan Leader. Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. What about you all?”
“We’re well. We are of the Airak Clan, after all.”
Garkan offered a bitter smile.
“An ordinary man would have died long ago.”
“That bastard knew what he was talking about.”
Airak brushed blood from his leather gloves.
“Sturdy meat shields, he called you?”
……
“He wasn’t wrong. But next time, don’t take blows like that. If you fall like this in the Central Plains, you’ll lose your life.”
“Yes.”
Garkan bowed his head, his expression mingling shame with resolve.
“Let’s go.”
Airak turned toward the south. His companions followed. Two of the Three Frozen Warriors of the Northern Sea lay dead, the third driven to flight. Now no one in the Northern Sea remained to stand against them.
Far ahead, beyond Snow Mountain, the southern sky revealed itself. The Central Plains. Airak’s gaze grew sharp and distant.
‘Not long now.’
Wait. Those who killed Karani. The wolf’s teeth will soon clamp down on your throats.
Five shadows stretched long across the Snowy Plain.
Behind them, a legend of the Northern Sea was being buried in snow.

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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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