Chapter 6

"Lord Goecheon—"

"I know."

He already knew the two companions he had left behind stood no chance against this Demon.

That was precisely why, among the three of them, he—the one with the highest cultivation—had taken Yise with him. His only goal had been to bring the boy even a single step closer to Gwisu.

He simply hadn't expected the others to fall so quickly.

Goecheon gently set Yise down before immediately unleashing his demonic energy.

The sight of the boy's battered body weighed heavily on him, but there was no other choice now.

"Go back. Gather whoever remains in Gwisu and get them to safety as quickly as possible."

There was no time.

The child was exceptionally clever. Saying this much would be enough for him to understand what to do.

Goecheon immediately planted the Golden Iron Staff upright into the ground and formed a hand seal with one hand.

Dogwi Shadow Demon-Hunting Art

Shadow Net Formation

In an instant, shadows were drawn out from the surrounding rocks, trees, and grass.

For a fleeting moment, it felt as though the entire area had become brighter.

Then the countless shadows intertwined into the shape of a gigantic net.

Instead of fleeing immediately, Yise backed away a short distance and watched the battle unfold.

His body could barely remain standing. Even if he ran, he wouldn't get very far.

If Goecheon lost to Aseong Yongma, then no matter how desperately he fled, he would inevitably be caught.

If that was the case...

It would be better to use the final card he had prepared and repay the life he owed with his own.

"Third rule of Demon Hunting. No matter the situation, judge it calmly."

Even so, he forced himself to analyze the situation rationally, just as he had been taught.

"If there's a high chance I'll become a burden, then I should flee as far away as possible."

He would only watch for a single moment.

Yise's eyes gleamed sharply.

The shadows summoned by Goecheon spread out like a net and descended upon Aseong Yongma as though trapping a savage beast.

But the horn on Aseong Yongma's head flashed brilliantly.

The entire shadow net was torn apart.

Dogwi Shadow Demon-Hunting Art

Four-Direction Strike

Four enormous humanoid shadows erupted from beneath the earth.

Their giant hands surrounded Aseong Yongma before crashing down like someone smashing an insect.

Aseong Yongma lightly leaped into the air to evade them and let out a furious roar.

The entire mountain trembled.

Before anyone realized it, Goecheon had already closed the distance.

Gripping the Golden Iron Staff with both hands, he swung it horizontally.

A screech of metal tearing against metal echoed through the air.

The blow had been powerful enough to shatter the Demon's skull—

Yet what shattered instead......was Goecheon's own staff.

Watching only that single exchange, Yise finally realized something.

Inside the Demon's barrier...

Aseong Yongma had treated him as nothing more than an insect.

If it had truly wanted to, it could have crushed him at any moment.

He had simply been so insignificant that the Demon hadn't even considered using its full strength.

That......was how the Demon had viewed him.

"This... is only a Mid-Level Demon... and one at the very bottom of that rank..."

How many stronger Demons existed above it?

The feeling was like standing before an unimaginably towering mountain.

Yise slowly shook his head.

"Surviving the Demon before my eyes isn't even certain. Thinking beyond that is nothing but arrogance."

First things first.

He tore off a strip of his sleeve and wrapped it tightly around his forearm.

Then he slid a dagger beneath the cloth.

Afterward, using Dokkaebi Steps, he gradually erased his presence.

***

"If this drags on, I'll lose."

After exchanging only a few moves with Aseong Yongma, Goecheon reached that conclusion.

Their demonic energy and cultivation were roughly equal.

Yet there was an unmistakable difference in experience and overall caliber.

It was as though the creature had hunted countless members of the Dogwi Clan before.

Every move he made was perfectly anticipated.

Even if it cost him his life...

He would have a better chance by deciding the battle quickly.

After several exchanges, he had identified both his advantages and disadvantages.

He was slower.

His stamina was inferior.

But...

In raw strength and explosive bursts of demonic energy...

He held the advantage.

"Even if I must sacrifice flesh... I'll take its bones."

Goecheon deliberately received Aseong Yongma's lightning-fast horns with his own body.

He wrapped himself in demonic energy to lessen the impact.

It wasn't enough.

The gigantic horns pierced straight through his abdomen and emerged from his back.

"Hngh!"

He inhaled deeply and locked every muscle in his body.

At that same moment—

The jagged broken edge of his shattered Golden Iron Staff descended vertically toward Aseong Yongma's back.

Crunch!

Demonic blood sprayed into the air.

A scream echoed.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Every time Aseong Yongma struggled, its horns ripped through Goecheon's abdomen.

Every time the broken staff came down, the Demon's thick hide was torn apart.

It was a desperate battle bordering on mutual destruction.

A contest to see......which one would reach death first.

Like racing toward the River of the Dead with the finish line already in sight.

"I can kill it...!"

Goecheon shouted inwardly as he forced his fading consciousness to remain awake.

Then—

For just one instant...

He overlooked something emerging from Aseong Yongma's tail.

"You...!"

A snake-shaped spirit beast shot out from its tail like a hidden trump card and bit deeply into Goecheon's shoulder.

"Poison..."

Deadly venom spread through his body in an instant.

Had he been in perfect condition, he never would have allowed such a fatal strike.

But a hidden move......was enough to decide everything.

Both Goecheon and Aseong Yongma realized the battle had reached its end.

Predator and prey alike had become completely absorbed in determining victory.

It was during that single opening—

That something dropped from the trees above.

"Y-You!"

It was Yise.

The human boy who should have already fled back to Gwisu......was now riding on Aseong Yongma's back.

Neither combatant had noticed him.

That alone proved how evenly matched their battle had been.

KIIIIAAAH!

Even Aseong Yongma panicked under the sudden ambush and let out a furious shriek.

"Why didn't you run?! Do you have a death wish?!"

"Hold it still, Lord Goecheon...!"

Only then did Goecheon notice the forearm-length dagger in Yise's hand.

A blue gemstone gleamed from its hilt.

The auspicious aura surrounding it made its identity obvious.

It was one of the treasures stored within the Treasury.

For only a brief moment, Goecheon lamented that the boy he had tried so hard to save had returned.

Then he immediately wrapped one arm around Aseong Yongma's head, pinning it firmly despite the horns piercing his body, while grabbing the snake-tailed appendage with his other hand.

Something about the Demon's frantic struggling felt......strange.

He already knew he wouldn't survive.

One-third of his internal organs had been destroyed.

The venomous snake had bitten directly into an artery.

At the very least......he wanted to create a path for the boy before him to live.

WOOOOOOO—

Aseong Yongma let out a thunderous cry of agony.

Yise tightly gripped the Vein-Severing Blade that had been strapped to his arm beneath the torn sleeve.

Then he thrust it directly into the center of Aseong Yongma's spine.

The one place......that Goecheon had managed to wound.

The single opportunity bought with Goecheon's life.

Although Goecheon was a Dogwi who had thrown away his life to save him...

Even if the man died...

Yise couldn't waste this incomplete opening.

Without hesitation, he slammed the butt of the dagger with the handle of his hand axe.

Like driving a chisel with a hammer.

Another bloodcurdling scream erupted.

This wasn't pain.

It was fear.

The Demon could feel the demonic energy within its body rapidly dispersing.

The Vein-Severing Blade was a weapon designed to sever the flow of demonic energy.

Once embedded directly into a Demon's energy channels, it continuously devoured its demonic energy until the creature became completely powerless.

Growing increasingly frantic, Aseong Yongma thrashed about even more violently.

Summoning every last ounce of strength, Goecheon delivered one final blow to Aseong Yongma's skull.

Without its protective demonic energy...

The head that had been as hard as steel moments ago crumbled like soft tofu beneath the strike.

A mortal wound.

But the price for exhausting his final strength was equally fatal.

Aseong Yongma charged forward, forcing Goecheon away before slashing diagonally through his body with its dragon horns.

Goecheon disappeared from sight without even managing to scream.

At last, Aseong Yongma snorted as though it had finally disposed of an annoying pest before violently shaking its body.

Yet...

The tiny human clinging to its back refused to fall.

Its demonic energy had already been completely drained.

Aseong Yongma repeatedly slammed its body into trees in an attempt to throw him off.

BOOM!

A tree split apart.

Yise coughed up another mouthful of black blood.

Despite being unable to properly use demonic energy...

The Demon's physical strength remained overwhelming.

Yet the Vein-Severing Blade, busy greedily devouring the last traces of demonic energy, remained firmly lodged in place.

And because Yise had tightly bound his arm around it...

He refused to fall as well.

Instead...

He raised his hand axe with his free hand.

Then he hacked into Aseong Yongma's mangled neck.

Thud!

Thud!

Three times.

Four times.

With every strike, the axe bit deeper.

Demonic blood sprayed in every direction.

Realizing the danger, Aseong Yongma lashed out with its tail and pierced straight through Yise's body.

Still...

He didn't stop.

At the end of a struggle where either could have died at any moment...

The first to collapse......was the Demon.

Only then did the Vein-Severing Blade, seemingly satisfied after feeding its fill, withdraw from the corpse.

Aseong Yongma died with its neck severed.

Yise collapsed to one knee, drenched in blood.

Everything below his chest was crimson.

He couldn't even take a single step.

Surviving seemed impossible.

Goecheon had vanished from sight, making rescue equally impossible.

The final thing Yise did......was smash Aseong Yongma's head free with his hand axe and plant it upright into the ground.

Like displaying the severed head of an enemy general.

This......was the second Demon he had hunted.

And it would likely be the last.

His vision blurred.

As his consciousness slowly faded...

He vaguely saw a light descending from the distant sky.

A long-tailed blue flame.

It looked exactly like the Dokkaebi fire from the old folktales adults had told him as a child.

The source of that light......was Mongryeon.

Jumping down from the blue flame, Mongryeon waved a hand and wrapped Yise's body in demonic energy.

Then she glanced at Aseong Yongma's severed head, standing upright after being driven into the ground with the axe.

"Tsk."

The boy's obsession with severed heads was probably a lingering trauma.

After all...

His family's corpses had been devoured by Wadu Seosaeng, leaving only their heads.

"Displaying heads, huh? What, is that your signature style of Demon Hunting? You're weak as hell, yet you've already picked up bad habits trying to look cool."

Yise struggled to speak.

Oddly enough...

From the moment Mongryeon arrived...

The pain vanished.

His body suddenly felt light.

When he spat out what had gathered in his mouth, a mouthful of black blood poured onto the ground.

"In... my robe... one... Medicinal Pill... Lord Goecheon..."

Understanding immediately, Mongryeon searched his robe, took out the pill, and placed it in his mouth.

"Looks like there's a hole in your stomach. I wonder if you'll even be able to digest it."

"Why... save... me..."

"Goecheon is already dead."

"..."

"That fool. If he's a Dogwi, he should act like one. Instead, weaklings hiding inside Gwisu couldn't even run away and still insisted on protecting it. Tsk. Pathetic idiots."

The Medicinal Pill truly lived up to its reputation.

Known as a miraculous elixir capable of curing countless ailments, it immediately stopped the bleeding and began healing his wounds.

"...I'm... sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? It's because those kids weren't taught properly. But you... You carried such a precious elixir all this way, yet you're the one dying? You should've taken it yourself."

"It... wasn't meant... for me."

"What nonsense. They call it an immortal medicine that can even bring back the dead, yet it can't even seal a hole in your body."

She scratched her head vigorously before opening her palm.

"I wonder if it's alright to use Dogwi sorcery on someone who hasn't even awakened spiritual energy."

After hesitating briefly, Mongryeon waved her hand.

The gaping hole through his body slowly began to close.

It was a miraculous sight.

"...Master... you're truly incredible."

"You only figured that out now? It's just a temporary fix, so don't overdo it until the Medicinal Pill fully takes effect. More importantly..."

"...This bastard still isn't dead."

Baring her fangs, Mongryeon approached Aseong Yongma's corpse.

No matter how anyone looked at it, the creature was unmistakably dead.

Yet she merely grinned ferociously while slowly spinning the Golden Iron Staff.

"This bastard killed four of my people, and now he's pretending to be dead."

She inhaled deeply.

Her body swelled like a puffed-up toad.

Stretching out one hand toward Aseong Yongma—

Black energy streamed out of the corpse like flowing water.

It gradually condensed into a sphere...

Then flew back into the Demon's body.

"That's impossible... Its head was completely destroyed."

"It may have fallen to the Qi Condensation Realm now, but in the past this monster reached the Core Formation Realm. As long as traces of its Golden Core remain, simply destroying its body isn't enough. You have to destroy the remnants of the Golden Core itself."

Qi Condensation.

Core Formation.

Yise recalled what he had read in books concerning Cultivators.

The Qi Condensation Realm—the stage where one first learns to control spiritual energy.

The Foundation Establishment Realm—where all impurities are expelled from the body and vast amounts of spiritual energy are accumulated.

The Core Formation Realm—where one forms the Golden Core and truly begins approaching immortality.

The Nascent Soul Realm—where one commands the soul itself, can unleash natural disasters, and possesses a body approaching immortality.

Finally...

The Divine Transformation Realm—the final realm attainable in the mortal world before ascending to the Heavenly Realm as a divine being.

Most Cultivators died in the Qi Condensation Realm.

Even reaching the Core Formation Realm was enough to be recognized as a supreme expert in the mortal world.

If that was the case...

Then Aseong Yongma had truly fallen from the heavens into the abyss.

Mongryeon pulled the Vein-Severing Blade from Aseong Yongma's back.

The severed head that had remained impaled on the axe suddenly let out a shriek and flew back toward its body.

"Tch. I went through all the trouble of cutting it off so nicely, and now it's trying to stick itself back on."

She casually spun her personal weapon—the Golden Iron Staff, the Crimson Ten-Thousand-Pound Staff—before swinging it diagonally downward.

Dogwi Shadow Demon-Hunting Art

Thousand-Pound Strike

It looked like nothing more than a simple swing.

Yet the very earth shook beneath the impact.

When it was over...

Nothing remained except a pulped mass of what had once been the Demon's corpse.