The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 215

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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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The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 215
Clang—!!
The blade shoots upward into the void. Fragments of sword energy scatter from the ascending weapon.
Crack—!
A cascade of minor lightning erupts. The conjured bolts shatter, illuminating the empty air with brilliant light.
“Ugh!?”
Blood drips from Namgung Cheon’s lips. This was unexpected. What on earth just happened?
‘What is occurring here?’
I reconstruct my movements, isolating every habit that could become a problem.
After that, I erased them and eliminated anything that might become a variable.
‘And yet.’
Within it, I cut away the path?
I was bewildered. What is this? Why is everything unfolding like this?
Moreover,
‘I believed you were a genius.’
Words that Bangseong-yeon spoke while parrying my attack.
Those words pierced deep into my chest.
What could they have meant?
That too, I cannot comprehend. All I can understand now
Whoooosh—!!!
is that moonlight is pouring down upon me.

* * *
I believed.
Without the slightest wavering. As naturally as breathing.
I believed and believed again. And I prayed.
‘Please, let him be a genius.’
The talented young man before me. That monster wreathed in savage thunder and hurling lightning—let him be a genius.
Let him be an extraordinary being possessed of talents I could never hope to reach.
And thus, just as Heuk Taedo had been.
‘Let him be an existence capable of observing and transforming everything he has come to understand.’
I prayed and prayed with such fervent longing.
Whoosh—!!
The blade came flying. I twisted my body upon seeing its trajectory.
Swish—!
It grazed my crown perilously close. The blade’s speed was like lightning itself. And its recovery would be equally swift, no doubt.
Yet even in that instant, an opening must emerge.
I burrowed through and closed into his striking range. The blade was already extended.
Moonlit Sword Path. My awakened eyes beheld Namgung Cheon. Save for the already-extended sword path, I sensed nothing else.
Now was the moment.
Hwaaaah—! Light erupted from my raised blade.
A radiant brilliance that made even the bright day shine brighter.
Azure Moon Sword Dance.
Gwangwol Seomgyeong.
The night sky descended upon my raised blade.
Yarrang.
I unleashed the night upon Namgung Cheon like a descending stroke.
Crack—! Kyaaaah——!!
“Ugh!”
Blood sprayed. The blade tore through his thunder armor and drove him into the dueling arena floor.
Boom—!!
The ground crumbled beneath the blade’s force. Namgung Cheon staggered backward.
Drip, drip.
The thunder armor he wore was torn, and my descending blade had carved a wound across his upper body.
But.
‘It was shallow.’
I frowned with disappointment. The attack had connected, but not cleanly enough.
The blade had not completely severed the thunder armor.
I had succeeded in tearing through the armor by exploiting the opening Wol-an revealed, but.
‘Even so.’
It was not a complete collapse.
The thunder armor was far more resilient than I had imagined.
‘He dodged even through all that.’
Namgung Cheon’s swift judgment prevented all my attacks from landing.
‘Still.’
A monster. To think he could evade even in such circumstances.
Had it been me, I would have already lost and more. Yet Namgung Cheon escaped even in such a fleeting moment.
‘Truly remarkable.’
Astounding. The Central Plains’ finest talents are indeed different.
Even as I realized this.
‘Because of that, it connected.’
Because Namgung Cheon possessed such talent, I seized the opportunity.
“Haa.”
I held back the heat and gazed at Namgung Cheon. He seemed oblivious to his own wounds, his eyes wide with urgency as he stared at me.
-와아아아와아아아—!!!
Roars erupted from the crowd.
“The Protagonist landed a blow!”
“What happened? He was being pushed back just moments ago?”
“Did he create an opening in that instant?”
I created an opening.
At those words, I thought to myself.
‘Half true.’
Half true and half false.
Creating an opening was true, but the other half was merely a miracle I desperately hoped for.
As I said at the beginning.
I simply believed.
‘That you were a genius.’
I believed so desperately that Namgung Cheon was a genius. Because only then would an opportunity arise.
‘I am weaker than Namgung Cheon.’
I acknowledge it. An objective assessment. I could not defeat Namgung Cheon head-on.
He was simply too strong. Whether I fought him or merely observed, I could tell.
‘An absurd human, truly.’
Back then, during what was called the secondary preliminaries. I remember Namgung Cheon fighting the disciples ceaselessly.
It was overwhelming. His destructive power and combat prowess were so fierce that he could not be considered merely another disciple.
The Namgung Clan’s blade—refined and elegant.
But Namgung Cheon was different.
He wielded a far more savage and brutal sword.
I frantically analyzed him from behind.
Which is why I refrained from joining the fight.
‘It was fine not to join anyway.’
I lacked the time to memorize and analyze his movements and characteristics.
So for nearly half a day, I had Namgung Cheon fight while I studied him.
I had gathered information from the Gaebang, but it wasn’t enough. Namgung Cheon possessed far more habits and characteristics than I had anticipated.
A demonic style of combat. While his fundamentals were solid, his fighting method relied somewhat on instinct—which meant, in other words, that he had deeply ingrained habits worth exploiting.
This aspect existed far more prominently in Namgung Cheon than in Heuk Taedo.
‘From the trivial to the countless.’
I calculated Namgung Cheon’s habits and movements, along with the secondary actions they generated.
Countless possibilities—so many I couldn’t dare count them—I etched into my mind.
And when that happens.
‘No matter how much armor he wears, or how much hidden qi he uses to accelerate his movements.’
The habits he possessed would not disappear.
Because Namgung Cheon is Namgung Cheon.
However.
‘Knowing his movements doesn’t guarantee victory.’
Anticipation alone cannot counter everything.
Because Namgung Cheon was truly formidable.
Even wielding Wol-an and employing the Wol-ryeong Sword Path, it was impossible to comprehend and counter his every move.
He was simply too fast and too strong.
‘So I was reduced to merely blocking and deflecting.’
If I blocked properly, my arms would quickly reach their limit. So I deflected instead.
Even deflecting brought exhaustion, so I attempted to regulate my strength somehow.
And so the battle continued.
‘As a result, I’ve reached my limit.’
My body, having endured and endured, had already reached its breaking point.
Slowly, truly dangerous. No matter how much I evaded, blocked, or deflected, I would reach my limit first.
‘And once I can no longer block.’
I lose. I knew it instinctively. If I took even one proper strike from his blade, I would fall.
Though I could see the sword path and the angles of attack, I lacked the experience and martial talent to overcome the gap in cultivation needed to exploit them.
So I made my choice.
‘If I lack martial talent, I must compensate with something else.’
There is nothing beyond reach.
A method always exists—I simply had to find it.
‘Think.’
I thought.
‘Think harder.’
I did so ceaselessly.
And as always, a method emerged.
‘Ironically, I realized it thanks to Dok-ryong.’
From the duel between Dok-ryong and Heuk Taedo, I obtained hope to win this battle.
And by hope, I mean.
‘Namgung Cheon is a genius.’
It was a prerequisite that Namgung Cheon possessed talent no less than Heuk Taedo’s.
There was no way to win this fight unless this condition was met.
And.
‘You were a genius.’
Fortunately, Namgung Cheon was a genius.
Like Heuk Taedo, a genius who seemed to touch the heavens themselves.
As if to prove it.
‘You corrected all of your habits.’
It truly happened in an instant.
Heuk Taedo had immediately overcome his weakness in wrist control and close combat during his fight with Dok-ryong.
Namgung Cheon had done the same.
A monster.
‘Is he even human?’
To change all the habits acquired over a long time and the secondary movements stemming from them?
It makes no sense to me, yet Namgung Cheon accomplished it.
‘Thanks to that, I landed a blow.’
I used this opportunity to successfully attack Namgung Cheon.
The reason this is possible is simple.
‘Changing habits all at once means.’
In other words, it means executing movements with relatively less proficiency.
Openings that weren’t visible before appear then. Of course, I might not be able to see them.
‘Wol-an is different.’
Wol-an. The Moonlight Sword Dance that succeeded in opening the eyes is different.
The Moonlight Sword Dance, which couldn’t exert its full power within Namgung Cheon’s demonic sword path, fortunately found the answer in the changed opening.
A single line of light.
Clearer and more vivid than any other.
Moonlight showed me where I needed to go.
‘Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed.’
I should have finished it with this blow. It’s truly regrettable that I didn’t.
“Huff… huff…”
I steadied my breathing and gripped my sword tightly.
‘There’s no use regretting it.’
If I didn’t succeed completely, I need to find another way.
It will become somewhat bothersome, though.
‘Normally, I would have just conceded around here.’
Part of me wants to just concede and be done with it.
I shouldn’t have missed that opportunity. That was the one golden chance to capture this monster called Namgung Cheon.
“Sigh.”
Since I didn’t, conceding right now would be the right thing to do.
‘Damn it.’
But I didn’t. That cursed Dok-ryong is the problem. Because of him, I’m stubbornly standing here doing this.
At that moment.
[Shall I help you?]
Yoo Cheon-gil suddenly spoke to me.
It was a temptation. An enticement from that grotesque old man with his massive frame.
[If you wish it, I shall aid you.]
“….”
I was tempted. Honestly, if I simply surrendered my body now, everything would be resolved.
I knew that this old man could accomplish things I could not do with my own body.
But.
‘That won’t do.’
I shook my head slightly.
It would have been easier to simply rely on him, yet foolishly, I did not.
‘Stubborn pride, that’s all it is.’
Obstinacy and willfulness.
It was also an attachment—a desire to accomplish something with my own hands.
“…This is…. Hahahaha.”
Namgung Cheon laughed.
“…Protagonist.”
Then he looked at me, his eyes gleaming.
“…You are truly a monster.”
“…What?”
Who was calling whom a monster?
It was absurd.
Here he was, racking his brains over and over trying to overcome me. And he calls me a monster?
‘Who’s the monster here.’
Perhaps Namgung Cheon had understood.
Why he was being attacked. Why I said I trusted Cheon-gil.
He must have discovered the secret behind those words to speak thus.
‘You’re the real monster for grasping the situation from just that.’
I smiled.
And I offered no reply. My mind was already aching from other matters.
In that instant.
“I acknowledge you.”
Crackle-crackle-crackle–!!!
쿠르르르릉—!!!
Thunder descended. It was different from before.
“I dare acknowledge you. I shall blame my own arrogance.”
“…I appreciate that.”
At my words, Namgung Cheon laughed.
Then the thunder armor enveloping his body expanded in size.
The inner binding. What had only wrapped around his left hand now extended to his right hand, enveloping his entire upper body.
As the size expanded, the light intensified.
‘His left hand?’
Namgung Cheon suddenly transferred the sword he held in his right hand to his left.
I wondered why, but quickly understood.
‘He’s injured.’
His right hand had been wounded when I slashed at his upper body earlier. That’s why he switched his grip.
“Hmm.”
Yet he still possessed such power.
No, he hadn’t been using his full strength.
I narrowed my eyes.
The Heuk Taedo transformed once more. The energy enveloping his upper body flowed into the sword.
It wasn’t merely sword force.
It felt as though another sword was layering over the first.
What was that?
[Thunder God’s Sword Descent.]
I listened to Yoo Cheon-gil’s words. It seemed to be the name of this state.
And yet.
A deep, resonant rumble—!!
“…!”
A sudden crushing sensation on my shoulders.
It was the presence radiating from Namgung Cheon. Could this be.
‘The Sovereign Sword Form.’
The supreme technique of the Namgung Clan. A power that maximized presence and crushed opponents with overwhelming pressure.
‘Damn.’
He was serious. Namgung Cheon intended to crush me completely.
So he’d been testing me until now.
“Haaaa….”
I exhaled slowly.
Ah, this looks bad.
How was I supposed to handle someone like this?
There was no time to deliberate.
‘Should I?’
I looked at Yoo Cheon-gil with my eyes.
Yoo Cheon-gil gazed at me quietly, then nodded.
[Yes, give it a try.]
He granted permission with a grin.
A sharp sensation.
That smile brought a headache. It was the aftereffect of the Moonlit Sword Path. I couldn’t maintain it much longer. I was already at my limit, and I’d never sustained it this long before.
But.
‘This is how it’s meant to be used.’
I must maintain the Wol-ryeong Sword Path to access what lies within.
Just as that man wielded his seasonal technique, I too have cultivated something of my own.
‘I didn’t emerge from the Abandoned Pavilion with merely open eyes.’
Clang.
I drew my blade.
Whoooosh.
I channeled my energy forward. Then, the Gwangwol Seomgyeong clinging to the sword began to transform.
콰가가가가각—!!!!
The softly glowing light trembled violently.
[Now, show this arrogant descendant of the Namgung Clan.]
As I concentrated, Yoo Cheon-gil spoke.
[No matter how much thunder fills the heavens,]
The Gwangwol Seomgyeong, which had been thrashing so wildly, soon grew calm.
And then.
[the moon always rises above it.]
파아아아아아아아아아—!!!!
An overwhelming radiance flickered across the world.

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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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