Side Story Chapter 23 - One-horn (8)

In fact, as Yeon-woo stated at the beginning, he had no desire to fight with the Martial King. No matter how great the Martial King was, since he had not achieved exuviation and transcendence, he would be no match for Yeon-woo. Moreover, as long as he was ‘subordinated’ to this world and subjected to the restrictions of all entities within a universe, the Martial King could not surpass Yeon-woo.

However, Yeon-woo did not want to see the others see the Martial King being defeated, so Yeon-woo had avoided conflict as much as possible.

‘Still.’ There was one thing that Yeon-woo had overlooked about his own resolve. ‘I’m curious.’

After all, before becoming the Black King, Yeon-woo was a martial artist by trade. Although he learned martial arts to avenge his younger brother, he found the craft fun, so he was able to develop to where he was now. Moreover, after the Martial King was annihilated, Yeon-woo used to play numerous imaginative battles with the Martial King in his mind. As far as he knew, the strongest being in the world of this Tower was the Martial King.

Perhaps that was why a lingering thought stuck in Yeon-woo’s mind. If only his real master had remained alive, if Yeon-woo had a chance to compete with him in martial arts… Yeon-woo would be able to know where he stood in terms of martial arts ability. What would the result have been?

***

“Master.”

Rumble! Yeon-woo lightly waved his hand in the air, then he erected a light pillar that stretched from the ground to the sky. A swarm of lights soared up into the air with a colossal roar, seemingly shattering the space. It was such a dazzling sight that it seemed as if a star had fallen from the sky. However, the Martial King did not so much as bat an eyelid.

At the same time, a strange thing occurred. Two voices could be heard very clearly, despite the many roars that resounded in succession around them. They were probably still able to clearly communicate because the two had reached a point where they were no longer restricted by space.

“Why are you calling me suddenly? What? Are you going to ask me to go easy on you?” Thinking this was nonsense, the Martial King snorted and avoided the pillar of light. He rushed towards Yeon-woo with a single breath. Raising his hand high into the air, the Martial King made a slashing move. However, unlike the simple movement of his hand, the attack was anything but ‘simple’ and ‘light’.

Break Heaven. While chasing after Shaohao Jintian, the Martial King had created his own martial art, the eight Extreme Fists. Break Heaven was the first of the eight fists, and it was imbued within the Martial King’s current attack. Yeon-woo had personally seen the move cut the sun in half in the past.

If he were to be hit by the attack, his head would be split in half.

Sensing danger, Yeon-woo contorted his body to the side to avoid the oncoming attack. However, the word ‘heaven’ in Break Heaven did not simply mean the ‘sky’. It included the physical rules surrounding the space and the providence of the world beyond it. Break Heaven contained the power to cut off all these principles. In fact, beyond the torn space, Yeon-woo could see Idea rapidly disintegrating and cracks spreading in all directions.

‘You’re so good at doing such unspeakable things.’ Yeon-woo was careful and mindful of the attack. He did not take it lightly. If he were to be hit by the attack, he would get hurt. This was because his true body, not just the one that he used to descend to this world, would be affected by the attack. Thus, it was natural that Yeon-woo felt a cool tingle run up his spine. Still, Yeon-woo could not help a smile from forming on his lips.

This…was the true power of the Martial King. It was completely different from the technique that Yeon-woo had seen in his previous battles with the Martial King. The Martial King was doing his best… He was going all out. This meant that he had begun to regard his disciple as an equal.

Such a fact made Yeon-woo very happy. Having run in circles, but finally, he gained the ‘recognition’ he long sought after from his master. It was a very precious personal joy that could be replaced with anything else.

Of course, this did not mean that Yeon-woo would commit the mistake of being swayed by his emotions. He did not want to waste this precious opportunity and he knew very well that, if there was one thing he had neglected, he had not been polite to his master. Therefore, Yeon-woo wanted to show the Martial King the martial arts that he had accumulated so far. He could not draw out all his power, as the Tower would collapse. However, it was possible to extract a singular part of a legend and implement it in the form of an ideology.

[Most of your powers are locked!]

[The legend of the Black King has fallen into a light sleep.]

[Data related to martial arts is loading.]

Boom! Boom! Boom! Whoosh! Yeon-woo and the Martial King exchanged blows at a fast pace. Their attacks and counters were at a speed that could not be followed by an ordinary person’s eyesight. Though they had spent their entire lives practicing martial arts, even the tribe members found it impossible to follow the progression of attacks.

Yeon-woo could not be happier with the pain that rang out every time he bumped into the Martial King’s limbs. His mind had been released. It felt like all the senses that had been dormant since Yeon-woo began to be recognized by the world had been newly awakened.

The Martial King forcibly pulled out every drop of his martial arts prowess. Thanks to this, Yeon-woo was able to clearly see the shape of the Martial King’s martial arts. Yeon-woo was able to peer into the Martial King’s past and observe the latent potential within the Martial King. It was like a lesson for Yeon-woo. The ideas and theories that he had of certain martials art principles were cleared away in an instant.

Bam! Yeon-woo’s movements, which seemed completely different, soon became very similar to that of the Martial King’s. If the Martial King stretched out his hand, Yeon-woo would follow suit and strike with the same attack. If the Martial King kicked with his leg, Yeon-woo would also use his leg in the same way to interrupt the attack. It was as if a mirror had been placed between the two.

At this moment, Yeon-woo was completely engrossed in the martial arts he practiced and the martial arts the Martial King was showing. However, the Martial King felt a little different. Surprisingly, the Martial King continued to smile leisurely even as he was bumping into Yeon-woo with all his might. Not only that, but he also had the wherewithal to joke around. He was not pretending to be strong. This was just the beginning.

Yeon-woo also smiled, expressing utter bliss. “Surely, you don’t think I’d come all the way here and ask you to go easy on me, right?”

“Then?”

“I am speaking for Edora’s sake.”

The Martial King frowned. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“After I get married, master will have cute grandchildren… Wouldn’t it be a bit embarrassing if you greet your grandchildren with a few missing teeth during the holidays?”

“Hmpf!”

Yeon-woo continued to pour out provocation after provocation. The Martial King was not amused. Though Yeon-woo had initially joked around to rile him up, now, it was getting to the point of dragging the Martial King’s entire image down.

“Disciple. Has your bad temper gotten even nastier? Your every word is filled with such poison.”

“Well, I haven’t thought about that. But do you know something?”

“What?”

“Before, there were a lot of things I wanted to say to you, but I suppressed those urges. Now, it’s all just exploding out.”

“So, you feel comfortable enough to speak freely now, huh?”

Whoosh! The Martial King fell silent for a moment. The offensive, which had been continually coming out like water falling from a waterfall, abruptly stopped. Suddenly everything fell silent, as if a mute button had been pressed. Just a moment ago, the loud noises were so great that one would have thought one’s hearing might have been lost forever.

Though it fell quiet, Yeon-woo knew that this was just the calm before the storm. Thus, he mentally prepared for what was to come. Yeon-woo mirrored the Martial King’s next move.

Actually, it was not an exact mirroring. Until now, Yeon-woo had focused on bringing out his own martial art senses from copying the Martial King’s moves, but now, Yeon-woo had reached a level where he now wanted to organize and refine those martial art principles. Thus…he brought out the only martial arts principle that he had created, ‘Eight Extremes of Sword Thunder.’

Crackle! Black and red flames jumped out like sparks from the tip of his index finger. Yeon-woo clenched his fists with only the index and middle fingers open.

This was Finger Sword Art, a method that Yeon-woo had created to replace a sword when there was no sword in his hand. Since Vigrid was the only sword that Yeon-woo found suitable for his hands, Yeon-woo had created this method to replace Vigrid when he did not have it in his possession, as Yeon-woo had no plan to utilize any other sword.

Crackle. The lightning started sparking all over the place. Yeon-woo crossed his arms as he held his finger sword. The world was engulfed in darkness by an explosion of power that was incomparable to what the Monkey King’s exuviate had once shown.

[Using the authority of the super administrator to completely separate the surrounding space from the Tower!]

However, before detonating the sword thunder, Yeon-woo cut off the space where he and the Martial King were fighting from the outside world. He did not want the One-horned Tribe’s village to be damaged.

Rumble!

‘Will master be able to stop this attack?’ Yeon-woo thought that the Martial King would be able to parry the sword thunder strike. The Martial King was a being who led Asgard to destruction, even while he was under the influence of Gaia’s curse. Thus, Yeon-woo was confident that his master would be able to block his attack. As expected…

Boom! Boom! The moment the Martial King stepped on the ground, waves spread out in concentric circles, shaking the surrounding area violently. The sword thunder strikes that were flying towards him disappeared mid-air. While neutralizing the attack, the Martial King had sent out his own crushing attack.

On the surface, the attack looked like a simple stab, but in Yeon-woo’s eyes, the oncoming attack looked like a ferocious beast with its teeth angrily exposed. Yeon-woo was surprised. Although he expected the Martial King to parry the sword thunder strike without much difficulty, his master had done so with utter ease.

Moreover, using the Crushing skill with his left hand, the Martial King seemed to have increased his power by swallowing up the remaining energy left by the first extreme sword thunder strike.

Seeing this, Yeon-woo turned his finger sword in another direction and started his second extreme sword thunder strike. It was an attack equivalent to twice the power of the first extreme. With this attack, Yeon-woo felt confident that Crushing would no longer be a viable counter for the Martial King.

Boom! However, it seemed that Yeon-woo had been mistaken. Even with the second extreme, the power of Crushing did not diminish, let alone the speed, so Yeon-woo was once again surprised. He soon unloaded with third and fourth extreme attacks in succession.

Boom! Boom! Whoosh! Yeon-woo was only able to neutralize Crushing once he threw out the fifth extreme. At that moment, Yeon-woo felt an eerie feeling. Even if most of his powers had been locked, a power level of the fifth extreme was enough to shake Asgard to its foundations, but how was the Martial King able to…? Before Yeon-woo could complete his thoughts…

“If you turn an eye during a fight, you know you’ll get hurt, right?” The Martial King suddenly appeared behind Yeon-woo and smiled coldly.

‘Were my senses fooled?’ Yeon-woo opened his eyes wide and quickly turned his body. His finger sword flared and crackled with lightning. The sixth extreme was enough to collapse an entire stage, nay, it would be able to cause a significant crack on the Tower.

Boom! The Martial King did not avoid the explosion. Rather, he reached out with his hand. He pierced through the lightning without hesitation and grabbed Yeon-woo’s right wrist.

Yeon-woo would be on the losing end of this fight if he had his wrist caught. In order to ward off the Martial King’s hand, Yeon-woo used the blade of his relatively free left hand to stab down on the Martial King’s hand. However, rather than avoid the attack, the Martial King pushed himself closer to Yeon-woo, stubbornly digging into Yeon-woo’s side.

Boom! Boom! In the blink of an eye, the hands and arms of the two people got entangled, as limbs started colliding all over the place. Then, when Yeon-woo detonated another sword thunder strike, the Martial King released all the magic energy in his body at once, creating a self-defense force and repelling Yeon-woo’s offensive attack.

Boom! Rumble! Rumble! Crackle! The flames surrounding the two soared high into the air before swirling around like a tornado and disappearing. It was a true battle, not a spar.

Yeon-woo instantly understood something. ‘Master…is still making progress.’

The Martial King’s attack a moment ago would have overpowered the previous emperor-level Martial King who had driven Asgard to their end many years ago. Though the Martial King was showing signs of struggle, he was still able to repel Yeon-woo’s attack.

How could this be possible? The Martial King in front of Yeon-woo was the Martial King, but he was also not the Martial King. The existence in front of him was an imperfect existence. Nevertheless, the Martial King persevered, and soon, he devised a counterattack.

The counterattack was something Yeon-woo had seen once before. On the twenty-first floor. It was the same attack the Martial King’s copy had used in the ‘Shadow Dojo’. Although the Martial King in the Shadow Dojo was just composed of past data within the Tower’s system, the Martial King copy had exhibited signs of transcending existing restrictions and conditions from its existing data. Such was the case here as well.

At this very moment, the Martial King was getting stronger at a very fast rate. An imperfect being? What did that mean? In the end, he was still the Martial King, the king of martial arts. He was overcoming all the restrictions and limitations that should have been placed on him. He was born with so many talents that he could not possibly have been a mortal, but those innate talents had been forcefully suppressed by an immovable wall, Allforone. The Martial King’s potential was only allowed to explode because he met a stimulant named ‘Yeon-woo’.

Having met a being greater than Allforone, the Martial King was starting to open his eyes. His past common sense and worldview, which had set Allforone as an existence that could not be overcome, collapsed at once, and as he acquired a new perspective, his innate talents were also expanding at an exponential rate.

It was like how Yeon-woo was bringing out his martial art achievements while fighting against the Martial King. The Martial King was expanding his achievements, which had previously been suppressed, while fighting with Yeon-woo. If he had been born in a different world, this would have likely been his true image!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

[Player ‘Nayu’ is changing!]

Escape. Trance. Rising in the world. Reaching one’s top line. Nirvana. All these expressions fit the description for what the Martial King was currently achieving. The Martial King was immersed in a form of trance as he entered a completely different world.

‘That’s why.’ Yeon-woo was able to intuitively realize what position he should take. Originally, the purpose would have been to compete using martial arts, but this only suited the Martial King’s position. If Yeon-woo were to happen to lose, he thought he may truly lose his mind… At least, this was what Yeon-woo thought.

‘Ugh… People with talent. Tsk.’

Some beings lived life overcoming hardship after hardship to acquire what they needed while others were born with a silver spoon, or few, in their mouth. Yeon-woo smiled brightly, spread his hands wide, and covered the Martial King. The eighth extreme of… Rumble.