Obtaining Heavenly Demon Martial Arts in the Magic Era - Chapter 20

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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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20
Do Hyeon surged forward with every ounce of internal energy, his form flickering through the tunnel in an instant before he reached the far end where battle raged.
‘The speed at which Internal Energy moves through my body—it’s nothing like before.’
There was no time to marvel at the transformation. Anguished screams tore through the corridor from every direction. The floor was strewn with operatives, blood pooling beneath them as they lay motionless. Each bore gruesome, penetrating wounds—limbs and shoulders torn through with sickening precision.
“…These bastards.”
Assassins dispatched by Jang Ki Han. The very killers who’d cornered him in that alley after he’d extracted Kim Seung Yeon from Babylon. The hunters had reached this place to capture him, and now innocent lives lay shattered in their wake. Guilt carved deep into Do Hyeon’s chest—followed swiftly by a roiling, murderous fury directed at Jang Ki Han.
Leaving the wounded behind, he pressed toward the heart of the battle. A metallic tang swept through on the cold underground wind, sharp and coppery. But it wasn’t only blood he smelled. The acrid reek of ozone—seared into the air by high-voltage current—fouled his lungs. The deeper he went, the more the walls and ground bore witness to devastation: bullet holes from Air Bullets riddled the stone like a grotesque honeycomb.
And there, in a pooling mass of blood at the front of the fray, Gwak Cheol lay crumpled. Do Hyeon’s eyes locked onto him. Gwak Cheol’s entire body was charred black, like burnt charcoal. White wisps of smoke coiled upward from his flesh, testament to the magic that had struck him moments before.
Crackle—
Do Hyeon’s gaze met the mage’s as he withdrew his hand from Gwak Cheol’s body, shaking residual electricity from his palm. The man had blunt-cut bangs, obsessively neat, and cold blue eyes that gleamed like glass.
[This is your grave.]
The memory crashed back. That night—this same man, wreathed in Lightning Magic, had come at him with savage fury.
“You…”
The moment the man’s hand withdrew, Gwak Cheol released a thin, rattling groan and collapsed. The Three-Section Staff clattered uselessly across the wet floor. Gwak Cheol’s skin had ruptured in dozens of places from the high-voltage current, exposing raw flesh through the split tissue. His night clothes, reduced to rags, had burned away, some strands fused grotesquely to charred skin and open wounds.
At the very tips of his trembling fingers, Do Hyeon felt a thread—gossamer-thin—of life still clinging.
He was still breathing. Barely.
Just hours ago, this man—towering as a mountain—had pinned Do Hyeon to the floor with nothing but a staff and stern words.
‘Not knowing how to handle even one shred of Internal Energy, and yet calling yourself a Martial Artist.’
His teachings had been rough and unpolished, yet ringed with sincerity. And now that master lay broken on the ground, having thrown himself between Do Hyeon and his hunters. A chill raced down Do Hyeon’s spine—not mere rage, but something colder and deeper. That same hollow, suffocating helplessness that had seized him when he’d stared into his grandfather’s lifeless face gripped him again, coiling around his ankles like chains.
“Target confirmed. Cheon Do Hyeon. Reform ranks and prepare.”
The Leader of the Cleaners spoke with mechanical precision, his eyes fixed on Do Hyeon. Behind him stood two familiar Cleaners: a hulking brute who wielded Barrier Magic, and a scrawny man who commanded Wind Magic.
The larger Cleaner clapped his palms together, beginning an incantation.
Clap—!
With the sound of applause, absolute darkness swallowed the space. Do Hyeon, having faced this before, recognized it instantly: this spell did far more than blind. It was a sophisticated auxiliary magic that distributed damage among all within its bounds. Once the veil concealed their positions completely, Wind Magic bombardment would rain down from a distance.
A lethal combination. Yet Do Hyeon didn’t shrink back—he stepped forward with absolute certainty, just as the darkness was about to consume them entirely.
Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step
Boom—!
The atmosphere within a five-meter radius collapsed like metal pressed under an immense weight.
“Gah!”
“Huh!”
“What is—!”
The Cleaners’ knees buckled simultaneously under the overwhelming physical force, their bodies swaying. Though Do Hyeon’s technique remained unchanged in principle, the fusion of his body—honed to the absolute limit—with perfect execution had doubled both the deployment speed and raw power. The Barrier Mage’s spell twisted violently, failing to manifest.
“Kugh!”
The man let out a single scream, blood spurting from his mouth.
“Ha Jae Woo!”
The Leader cried out in alarm, calling his comrade’s name. But Ha Jae Woo, now crumpled on the ground, couldn’t move.
“Bastard!”
Having neutralized one opponent in a single blow, Do Hyeon gave his enemies no chance to regroup.
Whoosh—
The Heavenly Demon Phantom Step unfurled, and Do Hyeon’s form multiplied exponentially. His martial arts principles, now carved into his very body, produced phantoms of perfect efficiency that filled the corridor. The small Cleaner tried to aim Air Bullets, but the countless afterimages that bloomed before his eyes left him disoriented.
“Gah!”
In the instant the man wasted ammunition on empty air, Do Hyeon was already at his jaw.
Clamp—!
Do Hyeon seized the man’s head in an iron grip and immediately activated the Star Absorption Method at maximum output.
[Star Absorption Method]
Crunch-crack-crack-crack!
“Kuh—kuh-aaaaaah!”
The mage’s Mana—clearly from someone of at least 3 Circles—poured like a waterfall into Do Hyeon’s body.
Unlike Internal Energy refined from nature’s essence, the Mana distilled within a mage’s Circle was sharp as broken glass. The alien energy surged violently into his Dantian. For an ordinary Martial Artist, such violent collision would have torn his meridians to shreds.
But Do Hyeon’s blood vessels, expanded and fortified through Conception Vessel Activation, swallowed that raw Mana as a vast furnace swallows ore, melting it down completely. For the mage, however, the Star Absorption Method was exquisite torture—a sensation like his very soul being carved away. As the heart’s Mana core—his lifeline—was torn from him while still living, his eyes rolled back in absolute terror.
“Hah… heh-heh-heh.”
Do Hyeon’s depleted Internal Energy surged back to full in an instant. Ungathered Mana rose around him like steam, roiling across his skin.
“Release him!”
As two operatives fell in rapid succession, the Leader—now panicked beyond measure—rushed forward.
[Death Touch!]
Haste made his spell unstable, yet the lightning that erupted still carried lethal force. Do Hyeon released the Star Absorption Method without hesitation and backflipped, putting distance between them.
“Park Seung Yoon, stay with me!”
“Unh…”
Park Seung Yoon, now stripped of the very foundation of his Mana, collapsed to the ground. Foam flecked his lips; his condition was pitiful.
Do Hyeon turned to the Leader, now standing alone, and repeated back the words the man had spoken to him.
“Your grave ends here, boy.”
“Do you really think you’ll walk out of this place alive?”
As Leader rolled up his sleeves, the Degraded Mana Stone embedded in his Gauntlet blazed with a brilliant crimson light. In the same instant, his aura transformed into something far more oppressive than before.
“Mana stones brought about a magic revolution. A gift from the heavens themselves. This Degraded Mana Stone can only produce one-tenth of its original power, yet even that makes miracles possible.”
He raised his hand, and a new Spell Formula materialized in the air with blinding speed.
[Water Cannon]
Moisture from the ground converged, forming a massive sphere of water behind him.
“Water magic, too?”
She’d assumed he specialized in Lightning Magic, but his power had already reached the fourth Circle. With the Mana Stone’s aid, he wielded three elemental affinities with perfect freedom—a transcendent state. Do Hyeon sensed instantly that his opponent had become three times more formidable.
Boom! Splash!
High-pressure jets of water raked across where Do Hyeon stood. The ground cracked and splintered where each torrent struck. Do Hyeon burst through the cascading deluge and drove forward at an angle.
[Water Bomb]
Bubbles surged from the earth in an instant’s warning, and Do Hyeon found himself surrounded by enormous droplets.
Snap—!
At the snap of Leader’s fingers, the droplets detonated in unison. In the same breath, he placed his palm flat against the floor and chained a Paralyze spell. High-voltage current, moving at lightning speed, engulfed Do Hyeon through the water left behind by the Water Bomb.
Confident of victory—as he had been when he finished Gwak Cheol—Leader prepared the Death Touch in his right hand and charged forward. Black electrical discharge traced a long arc through the darkness.
‘It’s over.’
Even as he thrust his hand forward with that certainty, there was no warmth in the billowing dust.
“No, how…?!”
Do Hyeon had drawn the explosion’s impact into himself using the Star Absorption Method, and using the dust as a medium, he’d deployed an illusion of such perfection that it deceived the man’s eyes. Creating an opening through a moment’s wit, Do Hyeon materialized like a phantom.
“Where are you?!”
The answer came not from where Leader looked, but from behind him.
“Right here, you bastard!”
Boom——!!
Do Hyeon’s fist drove down like a cannonball, aimed at the back of Leader’s skull. The three layers of defensive Spell Formulas emanating from the Degraded Mana Stone couldn’t withstand Do Hyeon’s overwhelming physical force and shattered in cascade like glass.
Crack! Boom! The entire corridor shook with the thunderous impact as the final barrier ripped apart like tissue paper.

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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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