ML Chapter 30

WHACK.

The moment Jo Pil’s red-hot palm struck my chest, a lava-like heat swept through my insides. My breath stopped and internal energy reversed.

What is this?

With that question, I was sent flying.

Only after colliding and rolling for ten zhang did I finally stop.

“cough“

Blood trickled down my chin.

The occasional unidentified chunks mixed in… fuck. Those are pieces of my internal organs.

He got me good.

Through my blurry vision, I saw Jo Pil walking toward me. His leisurely gait exuded a victor’s composure.

Have to get up.

My hand felt around and gripped the cold spear shaft. Using the spear as a cane, I barely managed to stand when I saw Jo Pil’s frowning eyes.

“To think you’d stand after taking my 7-star Divine Flame Palm^[1]… You’re a troublesome junior indeed.”

WHUMP!

His one-handed^[2] palm struck again.

The power matched its name—Divine Flame Palm.

My upper clothes burned away and skin melted and blistered.

The heat penetrating inside severed my meridians one by one.

“Kuhek.”

Horrific pain assaulted me.

But instead of writhing in pain, I thrust my spear toward Jo Pil’s vital point.

Thunk.

“Like a fighting dog, aren’t you.”

Jo Pil clicked his tongue as he caught the spear shaft.

“You can’t do anything to me at your level.”

“Fuck… you!”

The next moment, I released the captured spear and dove into his embrace. Last chance. Concentrate all internal energy into one point. If I could strike his vital point, I might turn the tide.

But…

The result was devastating.

The consequence of forcibly drawing up internal energy without considering my injuries. I collapsed and trembled like I’d been struck by lightning.

I felt saliva drooling from my mouth.

“Puhah. PUHAHA! Have I ever seen such an idiot!”

Jo Pil burst into laughter as he snapped my spear blade.

“Now what will you do? Hm? Youngest young master of the Taiyuan Jin Family?”

Now I don’t even have a weapon. Despair darkens my vision.

Is this how I die?

In the past seven years, I’d never felt death this close. Me, who’d survived over a thousand battles. I’m dying here?

So meaninglessly?

No. I can’t die like this…

I reached out, but that was all.

“Captain!”

That static-filled cry was the last thing I heard before all light went out.

When I opened my eyes again, it was neither heaven nor hell. I was panting, drenched in sweat. My whole body felt heavy as water-logged cotton.

A dream? Or life flashing before my eyes?

Whatever it was, one thing was certain.

This situation was the past—from seven years ago. The familiar training instructor’s face proved it.

“You, you just…”

The instructor couldn’t continue. At the end of his gaze was a steel training dummy. Made to resemble monsters, it was now closer to scrap metal. Bent and split all over.

“Was that just now a skill?”

My past self answered in an exhausted voice.

“Just stabbing with all my might.”

“Stabbing with all your might?”

“Yes. Just stabbing as hard as I can.”

“Not sure how you can use it, but it came naturally after awakening?”

“Y-yes. That’s right.”

“That’s a skill, you idiot.”

The instructor turned his bewildered expression to the file in his hand.

“Jin Tae-kyung. Twenty years old. Lives in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. F-rank awakened. This is you?”

“Yes. But my full strength… I mean, the skill. It’s good, right?”

“Good, you say?”

The instructor gave a hollow laugh.

“I’ve been at the training center for 15 years and never seen anything like this. This level of destructive power should require at least D-rank.”

“Fuck, I knew it. Instructor, I’m dropping out.”

“What?”

“I want to get re-evaluated. Honestly, I should at least get E-rank with this, right?”

“No, they judged correctly.”

“What?”

“The skill is amazing. Definitely not F-rank level. But…”

The instructor scratched the back of his head.

“You can’t use it.”

“W-why not?”

“Your body can’t keep up. It’s not a skill that F-rank level mana and physical abilities can handle. That’s why you collapse after using it once.”

“But I’m fine!”

“Oh yeah?”

Before I could nod, the instructor’s hand shot out like lightning and tapped my chest. Just a tap. But having exhausted all my strength, I fell flat on my back.

My whole body ached so much I could barely move a finger.

“You’re already pushing beyond your limits. Later on, it won’t end with just aches and pains.”

“…Is there another way?”

“Solid fundamentals and excellent technique. And your own combat sense. If you want to live long, don’t use the skill. Ah. Except in special situations.”

“Special situations?”

The instructor added with a grin.

“Life-or-death situations. That skill might save your life once.”

The next moment, I opened my eyes on the cold snow.

“Captain!”

That final cry I’d heard rang clearly. I felt my thoroughly wrecked body state and sharp pain.

Still alive.

The life-flashing vision had lasted only an instant. Jo Pil was standing within arm’s reach, looking back.

“Such loyalty. Though their skills are pathetic.”

At the end of his gaze were the patrol members rushing forward in a group.

“I’m thinking of tearing them apart. What do you think?”

“…fought stupidly.”

“What?”

“Been fighting… stupidly.”

I mumbled again. Jo Pil bent down with an irritated expression.

“Can’t even speak properly?”

“I’ve been fighting stupidly all this time.”

PFFT!

The moment I’d been waiting for. I spat the blood I’d gathered at his face. My hand, moving half a beat faster, was striking down toward his foot.

Inventory open.

Jo Pil didn’t know. That I was a hunter and martial artist, and a user who could utilize the system!

Equip dagger.

A solid sensation filled my empty hand. As Jo Pil, face covered in blood, hurriedly tried to retreat, the dagger tip had already penetrated his instep.

THUNK.

“Kuk!”

Even a master is human.

When his body froze from the sudden pain, I released the dagger and reached for his ankle.

Equip dagger.

The inventory was filled with weapons from enemies I’d defeated since the tutorial.

Swords, spears, axes, daggers… over twenty blades.

Jo Pil’s subordinates had been walking weapon warehouses.

Slash.

“ARGH!”

Achilles tendon. A scream erupted as I severed his ankle tendon. Taking advantage of his broken stance, I rolled sideways while swinging and stabbing with the dagger. His remaining left leg became a bloody mess too.

Slash. Stab. Stab. STAB STAB!

His mouth gaped with rage and pain.

“ARRRGH! You son of a bitch!”

Though he couldn’t use his legs, Jo Pil was still a master.

Turning like lightning to dodge the dagger, he grabbed and twisted my wrist.

Crack.

“ARGH!”

The attack didn’t end there.

Red-hot palm. Divine Flame Palm.

BOOM.

My chest caved in. Everything went white. The powerful flame qi ravaged my insides.

BOOM.

Strength drained from my body.

Bones cracked in my neck as Jo Pil’s hand gripped it. His chilling voice bored into my ear.

“Now you understand. Who you messed with.”

“…cough“

“When the King of Hell asks, tell him I sent you.”

To me, hanging limp like a corpse, Jo Pil declared with an ecstatic face.

“Die.”

The final Divine Flame Palm shot toward my chest. His red-hot palm contained magma that would devour my life whole.

And finally…

Thunk.

The world stopped. No magma, no heat. Just his scarred, nail-pierced palm touching my chest.

Ripples spread through Jo Pil’s pupils.

“You…”

Strength drained from the hand gripping my neck. As Jo Pil staggered backward, the dagger buried in his danjeon below his navel became visible.

“How, how is this…”

The next moment, blood trickled down Jo Pil’s chin. That was just the beginning.

Blood started flowing from his eyes, nose, and ears too. A waterfall of blood flowing through the seven apertures.

Even the patrol members stopped at that horrific sight. Someone muttered like a groan.

“Qi deviation…” Internal energy is a double-edged sword. I’d waited for the moment Jo Pil raised his internal energy to its peak, then buried the dagger summoned from my inventory into his danjeon.

The result was reversed qi flow. Qi deviation.

“You were definitely unarmed…”

I responded in a tired voice.

“Strange things happen in life.”

“I can’t die like this… this is impossible.”

Jo Pil muttered like a lost soul as he took one step at a time.

Blood pools formed wherever he walked.

“I am Jo Pil. One Strike One Kill Jo Pil. The nineteenth generation inheritor of the Divine Flame Palm. I cannot die to someone like you!”

A chilling demonic aura emanated from Jo Pil as he screamed, covered in blood. Even the patrol members who had rushed in ready to die trembled in fear.

“Then why, to a bastard like you!”

That’s when what seemed like dead embers blazed up.

The change started in Jo Pil’s body.

The flowing blood stopped and blue veins bulged across his entire body. He seemed like someone who felt neither the pain of severed leg tendons nor the qi deviation.

Terrible heat radiated from his breath.

What is this?

Literal resurrection? No. This is Jo Pil’s final struggle.

While everyone screamed in terror, I saw clearly. His hair whitening by the second, skin shriveling.

Right now, he’s… burning his life force.

He means to take me with him at least.

Power gained by throwing away what’s most precious. That power was aimed entirely at me. I instinctively realized I couldn’t dodge.

Can I do it? Can I?

I picked up the fallen spear. The [Sharp Spear] I’d used since the tutorial. With its blade broken, it was now just a pointed iron rod.

I’ll end up like this too soon.

Only one option left.

Even if successful, my life wasn’t guaranteed. But there was no time to hesitate.

“Jin Tae-kyung!”

“Yeah. Let’s end this.”

Me and Jo Pil. Jo Pil and me.

We shot toward each other. The heat radiating from him melted the snow and dried my lips. I took a long breath.

Inhale. Exhale.

The surrounding noise faded away. My heartbeat and breathing sounded like thunder. Thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump-thump.

Heart rate at its peak. Breathing matching like machinery.

I was certain.

Now.

Simultaneously, I awakened the internal energy in my danjeon. In my twisted and broken insides, the only thing remaining was that third internal energy, hard as rock.

The only choice and the final piece to fill my skill.

Run wild as you please.

The awakened internal energy went berserk. It forced its way through damaged meridians and spread throughout my body. I felt distant pain.

But it was soon forgotten in the new power the internal energy brought.

Go!

All muscles in my body tensed tight. All power and internal energy surged through my calves, thighs, waist, and extended arm. Compressed air burst from the broken spear tip.

To match it, Jo Pil extended his Divine Flame Palm.

“DIEEE!”

BOOM.

Snow erupted with the wind.

Through the gently falling snow, Jo Pil’s form was revealed.

From his right arm that had unleashed the Divine Flame Palm, through his shoulder to his side. Half his upper body had evaporated.

“What martial art is this…?” I dropped the spear and answered.

“Stabbing with all my might.”

The next moment, heaven and earth flipped.

Through my dimming vision, I saw Jo Pil’s lifeless head soaring high. Socheon, holding a sword as tall as himself, was crying out loud.