Seo Ye-in, wrapped in a brilliant radiance, raised a white-glowing assault rifle and aimed it forward.
A cluster of stars burst from the muzzle.
Whooooooooosh—!
One of the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi reflexively swung its sword.
Just as it had deflected secret needles and magic bullets before, it tried to cut this attack down as well.
But in the next moment—
Whooooooooosh—!
The cluster of stars shattered the blade into fragments and continued onward, completely erasing the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi itself.
All that remained were a few scraps of debris, too mangled to even recognize.
Seo Ye-in immediately aimed at the next Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi and pulled the trigger again. That one too was annihilated without putting up any meaningful resistance.
Without pause, the star clusters poured toward one target after another.
Fwaaaash—!
Watching this unfold, Ghost Demon could no longer hide his shock.
Until now, he had maintained his composure fairly well, but at this point his eyes were wide and his jaw hung open.
“Th-This… how is this even possible…?!”
A massive formation large enough to envelop the entire Dang Clan had been destroyed with a single gesture from Seo Ye-in.
Not only that, but the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi were dropping one after another in a single hit.
An absurdly hollow end for beings worthy of A-rank.
Looks like the compatibility difference is enormous.
Since it seemed closely tied to the power of the Meteor Dragon, there was probably some degree of divine power mixed into it as well.
Though even setting that aside, the raw destructive force alone was overwhelming.
Whooooooooosh—!
Even while Ghost Demon stood there stunned, the number of Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi rapidly dwindled.
At last, he snapped back to his senses and shouted at Blade Demon.
“Get her! We have to kill that woman!”
“You senile old fool! First you tell me to catch this one, then that one. How exactly am I supposed to keep up with your whims?!”
Blade Demon roared back in irritation.
Still, she apparently agreed that Seo Ye-in, with this ultimate technique, posed the greatest threat. Gripping her massive saber, she kicked off the ground to charge forward.
But Dang Gyu-young and Jegal So-so stepped into her path.
Holding their shadow bat and longsword low, they each spoke in unusually cold tones.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Fight us instead. It’s been a while since I’ve been this angry.”
At that, Blade Demon let out a bitter, self-mocking laugh.
“Nothing ever goes the way I want. Fine then….cutting down father and daughter together isn’t so bad either!”
With that, she kicked off the ground and charged forward, colliding head-on with the two of them.
Booooooom—!
Meanwhile, even as the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi and Blood Cult experts were being picked off one after another by the ultimate technique, they ignored everything else and continued rushing solely toward Seo Ye-in.
“Young miss!”
Dudududududu—!
Ahn Jeong-mi and the Hye-seong Group marksmen unleashed volleys of magic bullets and special ammunition, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.
In the end, two Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi managed to break through and thrust a spear and swung a sword at Seo Ye-in.
Swish!
At that moment, I slipped between them, thrusting out the pot and staff at the same time.
Then I activated [Harmonized Flow].
Ting! Ting!
The spearhead was futilely blocked by the pot, while the sword blade stuck fast to the staff.
Seo Ye-in immediately fired into the opening that appeared.
Fwaaaash!
The two Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi were erased, but enemies were still swarming in from every direction.
No matter how broken the pot and Harmonized Flow were, there was no way two hands could hold off ten.
Then we run.
I placed the pot on my head and held out my hand toward Seo Ye-in.
“Sailboat.”
“Sailboat.”
The moment our hands met, I activated Wind Force and kicked off the ground.
As we flew in an arc through the air, Seo Ye-in aimed her rifle downward and pulled the trigger.
Whoooooooosh—!
Clusters of stars rained down wildly.
But the enemies were absurdly persistent. Even while taking direct hits, they desperately used movement techniques to continue chasing us.
At this rate, we’d be surrounded the instant we landed.
Then I’ll just use it again~
I stretched a hand toward the opposite side, and a Destructive Gale tore forward, carving open a path through the air.
Boooooom—!
The moment I activated Sailboat, my body was violently pulled in that direction.
Seo Ye-in scattered another barrage of stars, while the enemies stubbornly continued the pursuit.
Destructive Gale needed time to recharge, so I couldn’t spam it continuously.
Then I’ll just throw her~
Just before landing, I activated Wind Force and hurled Seo Ye-in toward the opposite side.
Once again, stars poured down, and the enemies steadily decreased in number.
Whooooosh!
Apparently completely enraged now, the enemies ignored me entirely and chased only after Seo Ye-in.
And just as they arrived at her landing point, I flashed into existence right there.
I’ve got Blink~
My fist burned with blazing flames.
The moment I thrust it forward, a storm of fire surged toward them.
Whoooooooooooooooosh—!
Although I had amplified it alongside my other skills and traits the moment the battle began, unfortunately it didn’t deal any major damage.
After all, these were elite Blood Cult warriors and Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi. They instantly dodged to either side.
Still, it bought enough time.
As I caught Seo Ye-in, I spoke.
“Ghost?”
“Ghost Dance.”
Swish……
And once again, we shifted to the opposite side.
After making them run around like idiots several times while bombarding them one-sidedly, the Blood Cult’s forces had been drastically reduced.
More than half of the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi had been destroyed in particular.
However, Seo Ye-in also seemed to be reaching her limit after unleashing such overwhelming firepower in such a short period.
Fshhhhhh……
The radiance surrounding her body faded away, and her bleached white hair gradually returned to gray.
Seo Ye-in slumped limply and muttered,
“Ultimate technique… over….”
“You did great.”
At this point, she had already done more than enough.
She looked ready to collapse at any moment, so I carried her onto my back. Seo Ye-in wrapped her arms around my neck and immediately drifted off to sleep.
The Hye-seong Group marksmen then moved into position around us protectively.
Apparently thinking my movements would now be heavily restricted, Ahn Jeong-mi asked,
“Will you be alright?”
“I’ll manage somehow.”
It was troublesome, but not enough to make it impossible.
You could just call it a handicap.
But soon, even that no longer mattered.
At some point, presences had begun filling the surroundings.
Martial artists dressed in dark green robes stood atop every pavilion roof. Among them, I spotted the Dang Il-bi and Dang Han-bi brothers, as well as Uncle Qyu.
They got here fast.
While the Blood Cult’s formation had been active, everyone’s senses had been restricted, making it difficult to determine where battles were taking place.
But the ultimate technique had not only unintentionally shattered the formation, it had also revealed our location with that pillar of light.
As a result, all the experts had quickly converged here.
Ghost Demon seemed to realize this as well. Staring at me and Seo Ye-in, he let out a sigh.
“I can now imagine how the elders and commanders you crossed paths with must have felt.”
“And how are you feeling right now?”
“Regretful. Why did we fail to recognize your threat and deal with you sooner?”
“I heard this somewhere once: no matter how early regret comes, it’s always too late.”
“keke……. True enough. Now it is time to pay the price.”
Meanwhile, the Dang Twin Heroes, the Head of the Council of Elders, and Uncle Qyu took positions at the east, west, south, and north of the battlefield, while the remaining experts filled the remaining directions, sealing off all eight sides.
Dang Il-bi and Dang Han-bi declared in voices as cold as iron.
“How dare you set foot upon our clan grounds and slaughter our kin. We will extract payment down to your very last drop of blood.”
“You bastards first.”
The moment the Twin Heroes finished speaking, overwhelming auras began rising from the bodies of the Dang Clan experts.
An immense pressure descended upon the battlefield.
“Activate the formation.”
And at the Twin Heroes’ command, hidden weapons began pouring down like a storm.
Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish—!
Everywhere except where our group stood was completely engulfed by needles, blades, and shards of steel.
The Blood Cult elites tried knocking away the hidden weapons and using movement arts to evade, but there were simply far too many.
On top of that, the pressure from the formation made movement difficult.
“Ugh.”
“Kghhk!”
One by one, they ultimately collapsed onto the cold ground.
The Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi, however, seemed to endure through their monstrous durability.
They pushed through the barrage of hidden weapons and attempted to counterattack.
As if they had anticipated this, the Twin Heroes and the clan experts waved their hands.
Clatter-clatter-clatter……
Every hidden weapon that had been unleashed so far suddenly rose into the air all at once.
Forming a sea of steel, they surged toward the Jiangshi.
Boom-boom-boomb-boom—!
The monsters could casually deflect ordinary hidden weapons, but no one could withstand hundreds or thousands of them endlessly crashing down.
At first, their bodies merely seemed to erode little by little—
But eventually they were torn apart so completely that their original forms became unrecognizable.
Booooom—!
The situation for the elders was hardly optimistic either.
Blade Demon had already been pushed to the brink by the combined assault of Dang Gyu-young and Jegal So-so, and once the hidden weapons joined in, she finally exposed a fatal opening.
The shadow bat slammed directly into her face.
Boooom—!
Slash!
Her severed right arm dropped heavily to the floor.
That had been Jegal So-so’s work.
Staggering backward, Blade Demon continuously spat curses.
“The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get… that damn Blood Sword Commander bastard….”
Only Ghost Demon remained.
He stared at the tidal wave of steel rushing toward him.
Boom-boom-boom—!
“How tragic….”
Then his wrinkled skin suddenly dried out like a corpse’s, and an immense aura erupted outward.
Whoooooooosh—!
Something formed from a mixture of blood-red aura and ghostly energy.
Soon it took the shape of a gigantic evil spirit and swung its fist into the sea of steel.
“How tragic—!!”
Baaaaaaaaang—!
The Dang Clan experts flinched, and the wave of hidden weapons rippled as though it had lost control.
Ghost Demon waved his hand once more, and the gigantic specter smashed into one of the pavilions this time.
Baaaaaaaaang—!
As several Dang Clan experts stationed there were rendered unable to fight, the hidden weapons began to falter, on the verge of collapsing entirely.
As if seizing that opening, Ghost Demon turned to look this way.
The gigantic figure stretched out its hand.
“At the very least, you bastards must—!”
At that moment, the wave of hidden weapons that had been swaying weakly in the air suddenly came to a complete halt, only to surge forward once more with the same fierce momentum as before, engulfing the gigantic figure.
Boooom—!
Ghost Demon’s eyes widened at the unexpected turn of events.
When he turned his head, at the end of his gaze was—
“Clan Head Dang……!”
The Clan Head stood there with his one remaining hand outstretched.
He had squeezed out the last of his latent strength to support the formation.
Before Ghost Demon could open his mouth to shout anything else, the wave of hidden weapons crashed down upon him.
Boom-boom-boom-boom—!
Watching the scene, Blade Demon let out a faint chuckle.
“That senile old fool, seriously. What? Leave him alone because he’s basically a walking corpse? I told you we should’ve taken his head off.”
Soon, with a look of resignation, she stared at the torrent of hidden weapons rushing toward her.
“Still, to witness such a sight at the very end… So this is the beauty of the Dang Clan’s flower. It is more than worthy as the funeral flower adorning my grave….”
Boom-boom-boom-boom—!
The moment the battle ended, everyone in the area rushed toward Dang Gun-ak.
The fastest among them was Dang Gyu-young.
“Father!”
“Clan Head!”
“Brother!”
Then Dang Eun-bi and everyone with even the slightest knowledge of medicine hurried over as well.
However, their expressions quickly darkened, a sign that his condition was far beyond saving.
At this, Dang Gun-ak slowly waved his one remaining hand as if to say it was enough, then looked directly at Dang Gyu-young.
“My daughter….”
“Yes, Father.”
“I’m sorry for being such an inadequate father all this time. Though I could never express it through words or actions… I truly loved you….”
“Father….”
Tears welled up in Dang Gyu-young’s eyes.
Then Dang Gun-ak spoke a few words to the other family members as well.
“Moon-hyung, thanks to your support, I was able to endure my position as Clan Head. I am truly grateful.”
“Brother…!”
“And I offer my thanks to the Head of the Council as well.”
“Please, don’t say such things, Clan Head.”
Eventually, after going around everyone else, it became my turn.
“Please take good care of my daughter. If it’s you, I can entrust her to your care without worry.”
“Yes. Please keep watching over us from now on as well.”
“Watch over you, you say. Even if it’s only words, I appreciate it, but… as you can see, isn’t it already too late?”
“It does seem I’m a little late. I apologize.”
“Apologize…?”
The Clan Head frowned, as though sensing that something was off.
The atmosphere had been so serious that I just couldn’t find the right timing.
So I simply activated the skill.
[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs’.]
[Activated ‘Enchantment’.]
[‘Retro Recovery’ has been granted to the target.]
[‘Retro Recovery’ has been granted to the target.]
[‘Retro Recovery’ has been granted to the target.]
[‘Retro Re…….]
…….
I practically spammed it nonstop.
As long as someone was within my field of vision and had suffered even the slightest injury, I included them as a target.
For reference, the effect of Retro Recovery was to rewind time and restore health to 100%.
Its cooldown was three days.
Naturally, the Clan Head’s severed arm regenerated completely, and his body became spotless without even a scratch remaining.
The same went for the Dang Clan martial artists.
“…….”
“…….”
They looked at each other in complete bewilderment, glanced around, stared at the Clan Head then looked back at one another again.
Soon, the Clan Head rose to his feet with a reddened face.
“Ahem! ……Let us wrap things up here.”
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