60 - Murim Login

Episode 60 The Great Elder pondered to himself. "Have I lived too long?" The martial world he remembered didn't operate like this. Joint attacks were considered disgraceful, sneak attacks were condemned, and if a bit of dirt clung to your back, you became a target of ridicule. But now... "Throw dirt! Keep throwing it!" In his eighty years, he had never seen such a thing. What? Throw dirt? Not even the Demon Cultists, who fought with him like sworn enemies decades ago, resorted to such vile and cowardly methods. "Is that fellow truly a martial artist?" What left him even more speechless was the reaction of those underlings. "It's the team leader's order! Throw the dirt!" "Maintain distance! Watch out for the sword energy!" The sight of them following orders without a word made him dizzy. Are these wretched beings what you call martial artists? No, they aren't human. This was an insult to the martial arts and simultaneously a personal affront to the Great Elder, who had dedicated his entire life to the sword. "How dare you..." It was right at that moment that he unsheathed his sword. "You fools!" A furious outcry erupted a split second early. A young man, his face swollen as if stung by something, glared fiercely around him. "What do you think you're doing?" His appearance was ludicrous, but his spirit was commendable. Yes, a martial artist should be like that. 'At least one of them is still sane.' The Great Elder nodded slightly to himself at that moment. "Think dirt will do it? Mix in some stones!" "..." The Great Elder trembled as if struck by lightning. His face was hit by a clod of earth, a humiliation he'd never before experienced in his life, rendering him unable to even swing his sword. Splat! In all his eighty years, it was the most humiliating and defenseless attack he'd ever endured. Through the shower of dirt, he saw a stone mixed in. "Heh, heheheh." The Great Elder, laughing like a madman, suddenly stopped. At the same time. Tsss. Sword energy imbued with the power of an entire life erupted. "Are you prepared?" Jin Taekyung mumbled as he watched the scene unfold. "They shouldn't have mixed in stones..." Before the words were fully out, the Great Elder charged forward like a lion. The panic-stricken group scattered amidst screams. "Disperse! Disperse!" "Keep throwing dirt!" Even amidst the chaos, they didn't forget to keep throwing dirt. Whoosh— A fierce gust blew from the tip of the Great Elder's sword. Sand, dirt, stones, it didn't matter. They shattered and scattered before the overwhelming strength. 'How to deal with that man?' A frontal confrontation? Calling it close combat might sound nice, but attaching a reconnaissance team to the Great Elder would just result in a massacre. Still, I couldn't let those familiar faces face a pointless death. "You bastard!" That one deserved to die for sure. 'Why mix in stones, of all things...' The Great Elder's primary target was Hyuk Moojin. It was only natural since he had launched a bold counterattack. I sighed deeply and swiftly moved towards Hyuk Moojin. Whoosh! I thrust my spear with all my might toward the Great Elder's chest. Simultaneously, the sword energy poised to slash Hyuk Moojin's back changed direction. Whizz. Damn that sword energy. There wasn't even time to check the smoothly sliced spearhead. I grabbed the collar of the terrified Hyuk Moojin. "Run!" But the Great Elder was not one to give up so easily. Whoosh! The side seared with pain alongside the sound of tearing air. Just a graze tore away a chunk of flesh, spraying blood. 'Ugh.' Hurts like hell. But in this situation, even screaming is a luxury. 'I need to buy time.' I shoved Hyuk Moojin aside and turned to face the Great Elder. He raised an eyebrow at my actions. "You?" Only two syllables, but the meaning was clear enough. Do you think you can stop me? That's probably what he meant. Feigning confidence, I replied. "Yeah, me." "Don’t you value your life?" "If I say I do, will you let me live?" "Haha, this punk has a sharp tongue." "Hey old man, can you still get it up?" Tsss. It stood tall. A grand and magnificent sword energy. "...Impressive for your age." The hand gripping the spear was drenched in sweat. 'This feels like my last stunt, betting everything I've got.' I have more secrets than the Great Elder knows. Utilizing inventory attacks and executing skills that unleash multiple times my strength in a single strike, Ilseom (一殲). I've kept it hidden for moments like this. In martial arts, they call this the final trump card. A strategy no one in the martial world, the Great Elder included, would ever anticipate. And to add to that... "Form a surrounding formation." Rustle. Hyuk Moojin and the reconnaissance squad began to encircle him from all sides. A flimsy net to capture a big fish like the Great Elder. But with a sharp harpoon, the fight might still be winnable. "Do you really think this is enough?" "For one old man, it's more than enough." The Great Elder chuckled, seemingly amused. "Bold kid. Needs a good beating to learn." But his wish went unfulfilled, because of the sudden voice that intervened. "Did I hear you wrong? Say that again." A voice cold as ice emerged from thick, plump lips, belonging to a figure as towering as a mountain, with piercing eyes. "You're saying you'll mess with my kid?" Whoosh. Sword energy, like a wildfire raging up the blade, targeted the Great Elder. Jin Wi-kyung appeared like a savior and winked at me. "What do you think? Don't I look cool?" Still the same as ever. * * * A face I hadn't seen in a month. Seeing Jin Wi-kyung's entrance, the tension in my body melted away. I was just relieved, truly relieved. 'Thank goodness you're alive.' Judging by his blood-soaked appearance, Jin Wi-kyung must have endured a fierce battle. His clothes, torn in places, revealed various wounds. But that was enough. Knowing he's alive is what's important. 'I have so much to say, but it'll have to wait.' There’s plenty of time for a reunion after the war is over. Jin Wi-kyung seemed to share the sentiment, his attention turning forward. At the end of our gaze, the Great Elder began to speak slowly. "For you to have come here means..." Jin Wi-kyung's icy voice cut him off. "The Second and Third Elders are dead. The First Elder won't last much longer." This was good news. If Jin Wi-kyung was mentioning it this way, it meant that the elders held significant weight in this war, and the fact that the Great Elder's hands and feet had been cut off was now apparent. "Did the two... pass peacefully?" "Possibly." The Great Elder nodded calmly. "They always said they wanted to die fighting like true martial artists. It's fortunate their wish came true." "They'll be remembered as traitors, not martial artists. All of you will." "History is written by the victors." The Great Elder pointed his sword at us. Even in front of dozens, including Jin Wi-kyung and myself, he stood tall. "Now, let's decide the victor." Jin Wi-kyung seemed like he had something to say but clamped his mouth shut. In the next moment, his booming roar filled the air. "Eliminate the traitors!" Sssh. Ssshhh. The scene of dozens of weapons simultaneously being drawn and aimed at one person was a spectacle to behold. "At your command!" With a thunderous shout, scores of martial artists charged as one mass. Of course, I was no exception. The grip on my spear tightened, and my heart felt like it was about to burst. 'We can win. No, we will win.' There was no formation visible on this battlefield, but we had Jin Wi-kyung, the pinnacle master, and the dozens of martial artists who followed him. 'And I'm here too.' The Great Elder had blindly believed in his own force. He committed all to the frontlines, not even leaving minimal guards, and as a result, his black-armored men were caught by the overwhelming joint attack from the Taiyuan Jin Clan and Hangsan Sword Sect. The Great Elder... would die right here. 'It's over!' However, it didn't take long for my conviction to be shattered to pieces. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Suddenly, dozens of dots were shot out. Cutting through the air, they were faster and stronger than anyone had anticipated. “It's the Finger Flicking Gong!” Jin Wi-kyung shouted. There was no time for me to ponder what this Finger Flicking Gong was. Thud, thud, thud! Clang “Argh!” “Ugh!” Some fell, while others deflected. But those who fell did not rise again. 'Could it be... It was only a brief moment, but I saw it clearly. Tiny dots densely embedded like buckshot near their hearts and faces. 'Stones?' They were close to shrapnel now, but they were undoubtedly stones. Stones that, unable to withstand the Great Elder's power, shattered and shot towards us. 'Is something like that even possible?' It was spine-chilling, but it wasn't over yet. The Great Elder extended his hand towards us. "Disperse!" This time, Jin Wi-kyung and I shouted simultaneously. The martial artists, already on edge, scattered in an instant. We made it this time...!' But relief was short-lived. Whoosh! Instead of Finger Flicking Gong, the Great Elder himself was launched. Delving into the group of martial artists, he rampaged like a beast. Slash, slash, slash. “Grrk.” “Gasp." Each flash of his sword in the darkness claimed yet another life. In the wake of the Great Elder's path, only the silent cries and corpses were left behind. "Great Elder—!" By the time the furious Jin Wi-kyung charged in, the Great Elder had already taken down five. Yet, the pristine face, unstained by a single drop of blood, resembled that of a ghost. "So, you've come?" "How dare you!" "All of you are quite clumsy. Perhaps peace has been too prolonged for you." One undeniable fact remains: the Great Elder is a hero of the Great Martial War. He is stronger and more seasoned than anyone present here. A consummate martial artist honed through countless real battles. Whoosh! Jin Wi-kyung’s sword energy pierced the air. The Great Elder casually evaded it with a mere nod and flicked his fingers. His target was none other than me. Whoosh! I saw nothing. But instinctively, I knew. 'Qi.' That was a literal mass of qi. I rolled to the side without delay. Whump “Ugh.” I should have blocked it with my spear, but it was too unfamiliar an attack to think that far. The cost was an ally dying without a name. I felt disgusted. "Are you a knight-errant? Such a jackass." I spat out the dirt in my mouth. "When you want to live, there's nothing you wouldn't do." “Haha, you've already become quite the martial artist.” Clang! Clang! Clang! What a monster. Even while talking, the Great Elder deflected all of Jin Wi-kyung’s sword energies with ease. Thud! Even then, a martial artist aiming for his back had their head smashed by a fist imbued with power. "You're still twenty years too early." The battle had just begun when, in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, nearly twenty martial artists had turned into cold corpses. “You bastard!” Whoosh! A middle-aged warrior with a familiar face lost his head to the sword energy. “Die!” Bang! A young man, seemingly in his twenties, had his chest caved in and fell to his knees. Genuine people, not NPCs, faces I'd once seen at the Jin Clan of Taiyuan, even shared handshakes with. The realization made me grit my teeth. 'I apologize.' Not because I lacked the power to stop it but because I had used their deaths. Whoosh! Another person fell like a puppet with strings cut, courtesy of the Great Elder's Finger Flicking Gong. Yet, the body, which seemed about to topple backward, stood firm like a tumbler and toppled towards the Great Elder. "Cheap trick!" Boom! Bang! The Great Elder deflected Jin Wi-kyung’s sword with one hand while sending out a force attack towards the collapsing body. And then... 'Now.' I extended my spear from behind the flying corpse where I had hidden. "Ilseom (One Strike)." In the following moment. Boom. A deafening roar ensued.