Chapter 53: Clash of Supremacy

– Simultaneous Siege

Every martial artist eventually encounters the wall of limits.
No matter how diligently one works, there is a gap that cannot be overcome.
Martial artists call this the first wall the “wall of internal energy.”

• How can one call themselves a martial artist if they cannot wield power that surpasses the limits of the body?

However, internal energy is not omnipotent.
Even if one gains superhuman destructive power or speed,
there are still limits that are hard to surpass.
Martial artists call this the second wall the “wall of steel.”

• How can one call themselves a martial artist if they cannot even cut through a soldier’s armor to protect their body?

Such discourses stemmed from the historical shift in the era when the principle of non-aggression between the government and martial artists was broken.

During those tumultuous times, soldiers wearing armor openly attacked martial artists who did not possess the official martial artist seal issued by the emperor,

even wiping out entire martial factions.
In response, martial artists sought methods to cut through armor, not by attacking the body but by attacking from the outside.

• Surround the energy externally. Strengthen the cutting power of the sword, and there will be nothing it cannot cut.
  Thus, the phenomenon known as “sword energy” was born in the martial world.
  Martial artists who wielded sword energy could cut through even things that were once thought impossible to cut,
  re-establishing the principle of non-aggression between the martial world and the imperial authority.

Kaaang!

And now,
following the principles that led to the arrival of the non-aggression doctrine,
a strike filled with energy both inside and outside the sword, the product of surpassing the “wall of steel,”
bounced off without breaking through the defensive stance of the Ogre General.

• “Ah!”
• “This doesn’t break through?”
• “MK2, it’s time to deploy! Die, Silent Swordsman!!”
• “Trying to kill the original just to use MK2, huh? Hahaha.”
• “But seriously, I’m going to die!”
• “If the damage doesn’t land, you can’t kill, right?”

The viewers were unable to contain their anxiety.

It was a fight that appeared overwhelmingly disadvantageous.

Yet, only two people—

the Silent Swordsman who wielded the sword,

and the Ogre General who received the sword—

understood the unseen exchange hidden in the earlier stalemate.

‘It’s definitely been worn down.’

‘If it breaks through even once, the alarm will go off!’

The energy completely filled within the sword

could change the sword’s properties depending on its usage.
Hae Eung Eung’s technique, the “Breaking Technique,”

was designed to break and scatter, forcing the opponent to exhaust and deplete their energy.

The collision of the sword’s trajectory with the opponent’s defensive area forcibly disrupted the aura of the Ogre General,
breaking through the shield layer by layer.

‘Oh no. I’ve been outwitted by a human. It’s too late to change my stance!’
‘An opportunity like this won’t come again.’

Normally, the battle would have been resolved by leveraging the vast physical strength enhancement effects given by the blessings of bloodline,

using pure physical force to break through the defense or researching the Ogre General’s techniques to find weaknesses and neutralize their effects.

This battle, however, was not one that the Silent Swordsman or the viewers realized they had already lost.

Just like the executioner at the mound of corpses,

this was a forced defeat event.

For an initial player, overcoming this would be impossible.

Only after accumulating enough experience and stats would one start a new game,

seeking revenge for the past defeat.

‘There’s no way I can lose.’
The Silent Swordsman, a martial artist who returned from the martial world,

acknowledged that the return to the martial world was not just a game but another reality where natural spirits existed.

He vowed to prepare for a future revenge battle, refusing to compromise, drop his sword, or give up.

‘If I don’t win this fight, everyone who believes in me and follows me will die.’

The bastard prince, covered in blood, clung desperately to the Ogre Queen.

The Boogeyman, extending his arm more fiercely than ever, joined the fray.

The Wendigo, blocking the door alone and preventing the invasion of the monsters.

The great enemy generals and their legacy were pierced through by the advice of Maganon, who offered wisdom at the right time.

All these comrades, who had crossed countless battle lines together over the past three days,

would now become cold corpses, spilling a handful of blood.

Such a tragedy.

Such an end.

The cruel reality of being the sole survivor had already been experienced.

‘No matter how many layers of shields they place, it doesn’t matter.’

‘No matter how thick the barrier of aura, it doesn’t matter.’

I will strike faster and deeper than that.

Once.

Twice.

Four times. Ten times.

Before the ever-increasing speed of the sword, the Ogre General belatedly realized his mistake.

‘It wasn’t the sword. It was that human’s ability!’

The power forged by the full use of skill and effort.

The natural spirit, which had been bound by aura, was torn apart and purified back into its original form.

The unnatural power of the monsters, their very nemesis, had been undone.

‘No. A human like this cannot be allowed to exist in this world!’

If overwhelmed by pure strength,

perhaps the Ogre General would have truly acknowledged the overpowering force.

If defeated by a monster,

he might have recognized the power of the monster’s master, the wielder of its tremendous legacy.

But this was different.

If this human survives today,

it would mean that all the monsters in every world be it the demon realm or the human world would lose their source of power.

With the power of aura fundamental to the history of the monsters and the core of their legacy being undone and deconstructed,

how could any monster survive in its wake?

Kwaaang!

As Hae Eung Eung’s sword shattered the massive armor of the bear-shaped monster,

the control over its body was lost, and the story mode activated.

4.

[Story Mode]

Starting from the first phase, the basic monster form,

it then progressed to the second phase, the advanced effects of the beast-type legacy, known as Monsterization,

and now, even the third phase, which corresponds to the impenetrable defensive stance known as Rockification, had been shattered.

Normally, by now, the outcome of the expedition would have been decided,

but the Ogre General’s momentum felt different.

[I’ve heard of this. Human bloodlines are weak and cannot compare to the strength of monsters, but humans from special bloodlines possess powers comparable to those of monsters.]

[Humans who deny aura and monsters have developed their own powers of suppression and destruction over long years.]

[To think the successor of that legacy would be right in front of me.]
In the tutorial field, inheriting the will of the Executioner,

crossing through the Bloodless Blades and melting Great Woodlands,

she built the Executioner’s legacy herself.

Her cruel, blood-stained obsession with eradicating all half-monsters and demons

had reached a level where it could be called a power of the extraordinary,

enough to slay countless enemies.
The Ogre General’s hidden fourth phase,

the Hidden Pattern, was about to be unleashed.

[As one who claims to be the strongest in the demon realm, finding a descendant of the Executioner, a nemesis to all monsters, how could I spare myself?]

[You are more than enough for a human who claims to be the strongest of the human realm. For awakening the blood that had been dormant for so long, I must thank you.]

[Behold the power of Landslide Bigtro, one of the Five Great Generals of the Demon War!!]
Just as a bear stores energy during hibernation,

he had been stockpiling his enormous aura for the coming war.

Now, using it all at once,

he burned it in real time,

enveloped in blue foreign energy,
unleashing an overwhelming force of aura.

Before his final phase even began,

the chat room was in chaos.

• Didn’t they just mention the power of suppression?
• Wait, didn’t he not learn any skills?
• How is the suppression power already out?
• Isn’t that supposed to be the ultimate skill you learn at the very end of the skill tree??
• He didn’t even visit the Sage’s Temple! How does he have no skills?? Is this possible??
  The powers of suppression and destruction.
  Even experienced players would typically unlock such a bloodline blessing at the very end of a game, near its climax.
  Yet, the Silent Swordsman
  had acquired it in only the fourth field.
  ‘It feels nostalgic.’
  The one who had sparked a serious debate on whether the strategy route for the Half-Monster Song should be completely re-established
  was, unfazed by the chat room, lost in his own reminiscences.
  Destruction. The beginning of this power was the Mountain Poison used by the master of the Palm Sect.
  A poison that disrupts internal energy, known as Mountain Poison.
  This poison, created by the Palm Sect of Sicheondang,
  was a forbidden item of the martial world, developed and used by another martial expert after Hae Eung Eung was exiled from the Central Plains.
  It had a notorious history in the martial world.

“Are you planning on seeking revenge? Dreaming big for a pitiful runaway, aren’t you? Back to the Central Plains, huh—”

“But if you can endure this poison and still withstand my curse, I’ll teach you a technique that could be of great help to you. Do you dare to challenge it?”

The Emperor’s personal physician, who had stolen only the method of making Mountain Poison while turning Dang Hwayeon into a forbidden weapon, had made this offer.

[The principles of suppression, which activate the effects of Mountain Poison, were all passed down.]

[And finally, I have one last request. I ask that you avenge the Emperor’s personal physician and vile traitor, Baek Okshin, in the name of Dang Hwayeon.]

Having inherited the legacy of Dang Hwayeon,

the one who had once brought down the imperial palace now found herself in the monster realm,

battling the fiercest demon there was.

“The revenge was successful in the martial world, but the waiting and the hardship were too long.”

This time, it’s different.

She inherited all the experiences she had gained before and began the new game with strength.

“Let’s see who’s stronger, Demon.”

Your legacy and my inheritance.

Which of us has committed the deepest acts of slaughter?

• “Sis, I’m gonna die… the shockwave really is going to kill me for real!!”
• “Breaking News: Less than a hundred viewers left for the Sensory Link broadcast.”
• “The Massacre Swordsman kills all Sensory Link viewers”
  0.6% of the elites are allowed the Silent Swordsman first-person top-tier experience.
• “Breaking News: Upgraded to top 0.53% ranking!”
• “I lasted 3 seconds before getting hit by the Ogre General’s aura, my consciousness was wiped out, and the sensory link got forcibly cut off. LOL.”
• “You too? I lasted 1.5 seconds. LOL.”
• “Who are the 60 that actually survived?”
• “I don’t know, but it’s now down to 54!”
• “Why does it keep dropping the number of survivors in real-time? LOL”
  Out of 15,000 viewers, less than 1% of the elite few
  are experiencing this battle through first-person sensory link.

[Player Mode]
The strongest demon in the demon realm and the strongest human in the human realm.
The two powers of supremacy clashed.