1019 - Childhood Friend of the Zenith

**Chapter 1019 - The Best Under Heaven's Childhood Friend** Ssshwiiik--!! Thud-!! After soaring through the air for quite some time, my body finally hit the ground. I landed on a rock, flicking off the dirt from my shoulders briefly. Then, as I rubbed my nape, I shouted in frustration. "What the hell was that for?!" I shook my arm free and spoke to the Heavenly Demon. After getting fully prepared for a fight, and now yanking me away like this? "You didn’t even get involved in the fight. What's your deal?" Why interfere now? Heavenly Demon replied to my query. "There was someone." "What...?" I narrowed my gaze. Someone was there? "Where?" "Nearby." "…You don't mean that bull guy, do you?" "Nope. Something else. A bird." "A bird?" A bird, and not the bull? I pondered at her words. 'Was there something?' No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn't feel any presence. Besides the leader, no other presence was noticeable. 'Did she sense something?' In that moment, the Heavenly Demon claimed to have felt another presence besides the leader's. Was that why she dragged me away? '...Is she for real?' I was skeptical. Especially since I didn't feel it myself. "....." Observing the Heavenly Demon staring at me silently, I couldn't think of anything further to say. Perhaps it was due to our time spent together until now. I had the faint thought that maybe she didn't act without reason. '...Damn it.' This isn't right. Forming unnecessary trust in the Heavenly Demon wasn't in my best interest. But then, reflecting on past events, she had never done anything to harm me. In fact, she had been more helpful than harmful. And that's precisely why. The subconscious trust I was beginning to develop for the Heavenly Demon. '...Get a grip.' I shook my head to clear away such thoughts. I needed to unravel this, just in case. 'You never know.' If I allowed this trust to build, who knows what she might attempt in the future. I couldn't let my guard down. However. '...For this incident.' I'm inclined to think that the Heavenly Demon didn't act without cause. And I had heard a reason. 'There's something more. Something subtle enough that I failed to notice it.' What could it be? 'You mentioned a bird, right.' Not the bull, but a bird. I pondered over the significance of her words. 'A bird...' What could it mean? As I wrestled with the thought, an unrelated idea crossed my mind. "Hey." "Yes?" "But you're fast, aren't you?" "....." Upon my words, Heavenly Demon paused, taken aback. The speed she displayed when she snatched me in mid-air was... "You seemed almost on par with me." Before leaving the sect for Maeryeong Mountain, I'd tested her speed, and by comparison, it was notably slower back then. "But now you're not. Right?" It seemed she was twice as fast now. Almost comparable to me, with only a slight difference. She might be slightly slower, but not enough to compromise our movements if we moved together. "....." Avoiding my gaze, Heavenly Demon turned her eyes. "What's up with you? Did you do that on purpose?" "...No." "Don't give me that. Look me in the eye." "....." Without moving her head, she glanced at me from the corner of her eye. This brat? "Ah... I'm hungry. I need to eat." With that, she started walking away from me. "Stop with the food nonsense. Are you going to talk properly or not?" After carrying her for seven days and nights, now she's suddenly saying she could have been faster? "Hey! Get back here!" I shouted as I approached, but the Heavenly Demon swiftly walked away, keeping her distance. * * * After much quarreling, some time passed. The night retreated, making way for the day in the sky. I remained in Maeryeong Mountain, carefully observing my surroundings. Meanwhile, I replayed the battle with the leader in my head, assessing the situation. 'I made a troublesome opponent.' Even as a fellow general, the leader felt both similar and different compared to Yusa. 'His movements were still wild and instinctual, but...' The methods were different. As anticipated, he voraciously charged, leveraging his immortality as an advantage. 'And his situational awareness was fast.' He didn't recklessly charge without thought; I noticed how efficiently he positioned himself. Contrary to his appearance, he wasn't just a simpleton. 'A bothersome one.' A simple-minded foe would have been easier. Unfortunately, the leader was not. And his strength? '...It's overwhelmingly strong.' He held tremendous power. A single mistake could have resulted in my demise. 'In that case.' The strategy needed was to outmaneuver and land effective strikes against this relentless foe. 'Fortunately, my skills are effective.' Using them, facing him shouldn't pose much difficulty. 'I just wish I could have observed more clearly.' It's a pity I didn't get to analyze more aspects. 'I believe my skills will work.' Given my first-hand experience with immortality, I had a sense of it. Just as Yusa would regenerate a severed arm or heal wounds swiftly. 'The speed and quality differ.' The leader's recovery was incomparable. His abdomen healed in the blink of an eye; that image was still vivid in my mind. 'Do you think my martial arts will counter that?' Though I hadn’t attempted, I had faith they could. 'And.' The final appearance he revealed. 'When everything turned red.' Was it transferring heat, or was it the sight of his once-black skin and fur turning crimson? 'When that happened, his presence vanished.' What effect did it have? Leaving the battle prematurely left me without an answer. The issue remained. 'The perception of that creature.' The creature's gaze, pinpointing my location even when I've made my presence almost nonexistent, was unnerving. 'I can't chalk this up to just intuition.' There was a different feeling about it. It seemed off to think it simply sensed me through innate intuition. 'There's something more.' There was a secret behind how it could sense things. Whether that provided it any advantage in battle was unclear. 'Moreover, observing its reactions.' It didn’t find me because it sensed the aura I emitted. Initially, that’s what I presumed. But what the leader said had made me realize otherwise. 'It just knew.' From the moment I set foot in Maeryeong Mountain, the leader was aware of my presence. ‘How is such a feat possible?’ Was its perception so vast and clear? Surely, it can't be just that. ‘While Yusa had good instincts, this was fundamentally different.’ It went beyond good intuition. ‘Could it be, even if I ran, it would know my location?’ In the worst-case scenario, just the fact of being in Maeryeong allowed it to pinpoint my aura. And if that's the case... ‘It means escaping is purposeless.’ With my objectives lying within Maeryeong Mountain, being aware of my every move would complicate matters. 'I'd have to focus on eliminating the leader.' I clicked my tongue in irritation. I had gathered much information, but the situation had grown complicated. ‘This place has been strange from the start.’ On such wide and high terrain, there wasn't a single life force to be felt. How could this be rational? ‘Even in a dead tree, life emerges.’ Even insects live in a lifeless trunk. After all, even ruins provide shelter for beasts. There’s hardly any situation where life completely vanishes. Yet, here... ‘Why not?’ Why doesn't Maeryeong Mountain have any presence? The unsettling discomfort prickled at the back of my neck. Dig deeper. There’s something I need to uncover in this situation. My instincts urged me persistently. Poke. Poke. The sensation was so vivid, it felt as though I was genuinely being prodded. Poke. Poke. No, wait. I really was being poked? "What are you doing?" I turned and glared at the Heavenly Demon. The poking sensation was indeed her doing. “There's plenty on my mind. Why are you making a fuss?” “There.” “What.” The Heavenly Demon, unfazed by my agitation, pointed somewhere with her hand. It was still just the towering rock formations surrounding us. The setting was indistinguishable from anywhere else. Why point if there’s nothing there? Puzzled, I squinted at the Heavenly Demon and asked. “What’s there?” “Someone is.” “No, what do you mean someone is there... Oh? What did you say?” Someone is there? I widened my eyes at her words, immediately focusing internally. I intended to use my senses to probe, but this time I didn’t extend them too widely. The leader might react if I did. Carefully, cautiously, I expanded my aura in the direction she pointed. Gradually, the tendrils of my energy began to extend far beyond. And at the end of that reach. “…Huh?” I truly sensed something. At this realization, I exhaled sharply. “What the hell is this now.” Up until the evening, I had felt nothing, but now it was different. I sensed presences. Life forces, to be exact. Moreover, “There are a lot of them?” Not just one or two, but a considerable number of presences were detected.