Reincarnation of the Blood Demon - Chapter 25

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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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Blood Demon Reincarnation
Chapter 25
Swift Resolution
A boy speaking of death with a brilliant smile on his face.
In that instant, a chill crawled up Heuk Seo’s forearm and spread across his lower back.
‘This bastard is completely insane.’
The look in the boy’s eyes was so unsettling it left him speechless.
In all his years rolling through Nok-rim, he’d never seen eyes like that.
“Please, please, Master! Save us!”
“Aaaahhh!”
His men screamed in terror while the Blood Cult members surged forward like a tide.
‘Damn it, where is that resolver? Come on…!’
As Heuk Seo’s heart burned waiting for salvation, it happened.
Boom!
A massive silhouette bearing an axe landed with a heavy impact, sending dust billowing into the air.
“What in the hell are these?”
The man clicked his tongue in disbelief and spoke.
Despite witnessing such carnage, there was not a trace of intimidation in his bearing.
His arrival was so striking that the battlefield fell instantly silent.
“The resolver has arrived!”
“We’re saved!”
The Nok-rim bandits who recognized him cried out with jubilation, while the faces of the Jeok Un-dan members darkened with sudden wariness.
Ma Hyeol-jin squinted and muttered under his breath.
“Daeryeok-bu? Why is such a master from Heukya Castle here…!”
Daeryeok-bu was a renowned expert of the Sapha, wielding a distinctive axe technique born of tremendous physical strength.
Having reached the Jeol-jeong stage, he was a respected senior figure even within Heukya Castle, the headquarters of the Black Way.
Daeryeok-bu twisted his rough face into a grin.
“I’m from Nok-rim, you see.”
The Nok-rim Gamsuk branch was a strategic point of interest for the organization, situated as it was between the Blood Cult and the Allied Factions.
Because of this, Daeryeok-bu, who had connections with the council leader from his Nok-rim days, had been dispatched in the capacity of a resolver.
‘At that level, he’s easily comparable to an elder of any major faction.’
He was far higher in rank than any of the Jeok Un-dan leaders.
But the enemies were not Daeryeok-bu alone.
Similarly, three men in black vaulted over the fence and descended into the courtyard.
“Getting entangled with the Blood Cult would be troublesome.”
The foremost of the three warriors, a man in a bamboo hat, muttered with cold indifference despite his words.
Though his exact identity was unclear, the aura emanating from him left no doubt that he was far from ordinary.
Heuk Seo’s heart leaped with relief, and the corners of his mouth rose.
‘The Seonseo Samrang—thank goodness they weren’t too late!’
The Seonseo Samrang.
True to their fearsome reputation, they were assassins who had wreaked havoc across the Seonseo region, masters of the Hapgyeok-sul.
They had even killed a Huashan School master in an ambush, and when all three came together, they could stand against experts of a higher rank.
These three were not sent by the organization but were private mercenaries hired by Heuk Seo himself.
Despite having hired them, they usually shirked their duties with laziness, but fortunately they seemed to have sensed the crisis and arrived in time.
At that moment, Il-rang, the leader of the Seonseo Samrang, spoke to Heuk Seo.
“The payment will be sufficient, yes?”
“…What? I already paid the advance…”
Heuk Seo furrowed his brow in response, but Il-rang twisted his lips in a sneer.
“If the Blood Cult is the opponent, the terms naturally change. Take it or leave it.”
With those words, the Seonseo Samrang looked ready to withdraw at any moment. Heuk Seo answered in alarm.
“Damn it, fine! I’ll pay whatever you ask—just kill them all!”
“You should have said so from the start.”
Il-rang let out a cold laugh and nodded curtly.
“Get ready.”
Shring.
At Il-rang’s command, I-rang and Sam-rang immediately drew their blades.
Boom!
At the same moment, Daeryeok-bu’s massive axe struck the ground with a thunderous impact, raising clouds of earth.
“Fighting alongside the Blood Cult leaves an unpleasant taste.”
And yet, despite these words, Daeryeok-bu showed no sign of retreat either.
Neither Daeryeok-bu nor the Seonseo Samrang feared the Blood Cult’s dark reputation. How could they, when they themselves were men of considerable wickedness?
A new master had entered the field, and the atmosphere of battle tilted once more.
‘At this point, they all have to die.’
Once the die was cast, there could be no undoing it.
If even one survivor reached the Blood Cult with word of this, the consequences would be beyond reckoning.
‘Kill them all, and that person will be able to smooth things over.’
Over a hundred cultists dead was undoubtedly a grave matter, but surely someone of that stature could manage it somehow.
After all, he too was a power within the Blood Cult.
And even if he couldn’t……
‘Either way, the end is death.’
That was why he had no choice but to gamble. There was nowhere left to retreat.
‘But what in the heavens is that boy?’
So young, yet commanding those rough Blood Cult warriors with such ease.
He sensed this must be someone of great consequence, but there was nothing to be done about it now.
As these newly arrived masters pressed their advantage, and Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju and the other Jeok Un-dan experts steeled their expressions to meet them, it was then——
“Stand back.”
Jeok Un-hui, who had been observing all along, spoke softly.
“……!”
Cheon Ryu Hoe-ju started in surprise, but quickly bowed and withdrew with respect.
“I accept your command.”
“……?”
Daeryeok-bu and the Seonseo Samrang, who had not witnessed Jeok Un-hui’s earlier exploits, furrowed their brows.
“What kind of brat is this…….”
Yet even as he spoke those words, Daeryeok-bu did not underestimate Jeok Un-hui.
His instincts told him this was no ordinary opponent.
Still, he did not feel obliged to show excessive caution. From an objective standpoint, the advantage remained firmly on their side.
“Well, it seems this young fool has made a poor choice for himself.”
Thus four masters of the Sapha stood encircling Jeok Un-hui alone.
These were the decisive trump card the cult leader had alluded to earlier.
Nok-rim was indeed a faction with considerable depth.
Though individual strength might pale in comparison, rising through the hierarchy would rival even the Nine Great Schools and One Righteous Way.
There was good reason why it held one of the Ten Deviant Gates.
But Jeok Un-hui, as expected, paid such things no mind.
“This should be interesting.”
He smiled faintly and drew upon his inner force.
That very instant——
Crack-crack-crack——!
The Nok-rim disciple held limply in Jeok Un-hui’s grasp withered like a dead branch in autumn.
“——Khgh.”
The Nok-rim disciple breathed his last with only that small death rattle, yet he was not the end.
Four more corpses like his lay scattered at Jeok Un-hui’s feet.
The Hyupseong Dae-beop unleashed in succession.
Such a grotesque spectacle froze the faces of all who watched, friend and foe alike.
“Haaah…….”
Jeok Un-hui closed his eyes quietly, paying no heed to the enemies before him.
A far greater crisis was unfolding within his own body.
Grrrm-grrrm——!
Deep in his dantian, a vicious wave of force erupted and surged through him.
It was of a different magnitude than before. A dizzying rush of euphoria swept across his entire frame, and his hair stood on end.
Small wonder. Though the Nok-rim disciples’ cultivation was relatively shallow, he had consumed the life force of five strong men.
Rrrrgh-rrrrgh——
The energy coursing through his entire body immediately flowed toward the Sugyeol-eum Simpo-gyeong.
Starting from the chest, down the inner side of the arms, and finally arriving at his palms——
“It reminds me of old times.”
A sinister aura blossomed upon Jeok Un-hui’s blade.
Crackle-crackle-crackle——!
A dark crimson energy, slick and viscous as blood itself.
Utterly dreadful and alien. Merely beholding it conjured thoughts of death.
“Geom-gi……?”
“No, that is…….”
Daeryeok-bu and Il-rang’s brows furrowed in unison.
‘…… What in blazes.’
A sight he’d never witnessed in all his years rolling through the Sapha.
Not unlike the first time he’d faced Jeok Un-hui, but far worse.
‘This one…… is dangerous.’
A seasoned warrior’s instinct screamed alarm bells.
It was as though his very nerves were begging him not to act rashly.
“So there are four of you. Shall we begin?”
The initial composure had vanished from all their faces, replaced by rigid tension.
At that, Jeok Un-hui took a step forward.
“You bastard——!”
Overcome by an indefinable dread, Sam-rang, the youngest of the Seonseo Samrang, convulsed and swung his blade.
As the weakest among them, his defensive reflex had triggered before conscious thought could intervene.
Of course, it was hardly the right choice.
“Wait!”
Il-rang shouted in urgency, but the blades were already hurtling toward each other.
Screeeech——
Jeok Un-hui’s blade, wreathed in blood-red aura, cleaved Sam-rang’s longsword as easily as tofu.
——Splurt!
And carved straight through his chest beyond.
“W-what……?”
A black line etched across the front of Sam-rang’s martial robe.
Unable to feel pain, Sam-rang panicked and reached for the wound.
Kaboom!
The blood essence radiating from the line tore his upper body to shreds.
Sam-rang’s corpse, torso obliterated, stood motionless for a moment before his remaining half collapsed.
Thud.
This was the secret technique of the First Blood Demon—now lost to time.
The Macheon Hyeol-hae-gyeol.
Even as shock gripped them all,
Jeok Un-hui’s eyes blazed as he counted.
“Three left.”
The bewildering speed of the first death barely registered before
“You son of a bitch——!!”
the enraged Il-rang and I-rang charged at him together as Sam-rang’s corpse lay transformed into a ghastly ruin.
Shriiiing!
Blades slashed down at Jeok Un-hui from both sides.
Normally, with Sam-rang’s addition, they would have attacked from three directions—left, center, right—but even two made for a formidable combination.
Jeok Un-hui twisted his waist with an almost grotesque contortion to evade.
Whoooosh!
Immediately after, Daeryeok-bu’s axe came hurtling with terrifying force.
“……!”
Jeok Un-hui sprang his waist upright with astounding elasticity, then drove a step straight into Daeryeok-bu’s guard instead.
“You——!”
Claaaang——!
His blade then emerged in a natural thrust, fang-like and sharp.
Daeryeok-bu barely blocked it with his axe haft and slid backward, leaving a long furrow in the ground.
‘What manner of strength is this……!’
Strength that seemed impossible from a youth. Even Daeryeok-bu, who prided himself on raw power, found it overwhelming.
And his dynamic vision, reflexes, and overall physical prowess were equally beyond comprehension.
‘This cannot be real……?’
Daeryeok-bu didn’t know it, but this was the effect of the Macheon Hyeol-hae-gyeol.
The supernatural gift dwelling in that peerless blood technique was pouring an impossible strength into Jeok Un-hui.
Yet as with all things in this world, there could be no gift without cost.
Drip.
A thread of blackened blood trickled from beneath Jeok Un-hui’s nose.
His wide-open eyes were wholly stained red, every capillary burst.
The price of deploying extreme Ma-gong through an unripe boy’s frame.
And yet.
‘I can bear it.’
His entire body screamed in agony, yet it did not shatter.
The blessed flesh endured through sheer force of will.
Of course, such endurance came with its own crushing price—
‘But that’s fine.’
The precise, electric sting of it only sharpened his focus, drawing him deeper into the rhythm of combat.
Jeok Un-hui chose to embrace this thought.
True, if he dragged this out much longer, his body would come apart in earnest.
But the moment he’d forced the Hyupseong Dae-beop into service, expecting his flesh to remain whole was pure folly.
There was only one path forward.
‘Fast and decisive.’
The Hyeol-gi coiling around Jeok Un-hui’s blade deepened, releasing a sharp, metallic scent.
‘He’s getting stronger still—?’
Daeryeok-bu’s grip tightened without thought.
His teeth clenched. Cold sweat traced down his spine.
What seized him in that instant was pure, animal terror.
A common man would have crumpled in fear, but Daeryeok-bu was not common.
“Don’t mock me—!”
Unwilling even to acknowledge the tremor of panic that had touched him, he hurled himself toward Jeok Un-hui instead.
“Stay dead this time!”
At a speed that seemed impossible for such a massive frame, Daeryeok-bu’s body closed the distance in a blur.
Crack!
The twin forearms gripping the axe swelled, doubling in girth in an instant.
Across the rough surface of the blade, a deep jade luminescence rippled like heat-haze.
This was the strongest strike he could muster.
The Daeryeok-bu Law—his secret technique.
Shattered Stone.
The axe, brutally powerful beyond measure, came down without the slightest hesitation.
Crash—!!
The thin boy stood directly in its path, about to be split in two.
A grin of pure triumph bloomed across Daeryeok-bu’s face.
‘It’s over.’
And then, as their eyes met—
“—?”
The smile vanished in an instant. Something was wrong.
‘Wait.’
Daeryeok-bu had never been one for deep thought—he solved problems with brute strength alone.
It had always worked. It had never failed.
‘What’s with that kid’s eyes—?’
When he met that cold, unmoved stare—a gaze that betrayed no fear, no reaction at all—
—he knew. Something had gone terribly wrong.
A memory surfaced unbidden.
—I do not doubt your strength, but do not rely solely on instinct.
The words of his commander from Nok-rim, who had sent him on this mission.
Those words—
‘Why am I thinking of this now—?’
Boom!
The heavy axe collided with the thin longsword.
And the result—
Crack!
The axe and the thick, trunk-like body wielding it were cleaved clean in two.

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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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