Chapter 764: Fellow Disciples

Toward me.

The swords moving on their own came rushing in.

‘Sword control.’

From the outside, the phenomenon looked similar to the [Assistant Chefs] I controlled.

But the power contained within it was not.

It was an attack that not even I, let alone the [Assistant Chefs], could block.

‘I thought they were nothing but scraps left behind after being digested by Mirinae.......’

In truth, none of the power those souls had possessed when they were ‘stars’ should have remained.

That was why I had looked down on them.

That was why I had underestimated them.

It had been an absurd misconception.

‘The fact that they were souls digested by Mirinae did not mean they had become weak.’

They, too, were Mirinae in the end.

Whatever their souls had been in their previous lives.

They now inhabited the same body as the Master of the martial hall...... and were beings that shared his memories and identity as well.

‘The same applied to his enlightenment.’

Contained within those swords were principles and enlightenment of martial arts at a level I could not even begin to comprehend.

The very essence of martial arts...... which the man who had once been the Master of the martial hall had honed over the course of his entire life until it reached transcendence.

The blades were flying toward me.

But as I watched them, there was nothing I could do except let out a hollow laugh.

‘Even in perfect condition, they would have been difficult to block.’

I had trained in martial arts in my own way as well.

But now, with most of my mental strength allocated to [Soul Cooking].

I could not muster even the slightest confidence that I would be able to endure against those blades.

And yet, the moment I canceled the soul cooking.

All my efforts would become meaningless.

And so.

I thought I had no choice but to look at those blades with a bitter smile.......

At that exact moment.

CLANG!

“......?”

The blades.

Were knocked away by something.

Naturally, it was not my doing.

“Why are you.”

The ones who had knocked those blades away.

Perhaps because they had run here as fiercely as possible, their clothes were fluttering.

And along with them, their tails were fluttering as well.

“Here.”

The disciples of the martial hall.

The ones who should have been fighting outside.

***

Four martial artists.

They fought against the two martial arts instructors who stood in their way.

They were opponents who could not even be compared in terms of their original martial skill.

No matter how much their physical abilities had declined, their enlightenment in martial arts had not vanished along with them.

Their martial arts were not so shallow that they could lose to a senior sister who had once been a scholar and their young youngest junior disciple.

On top of that, they were at a numerical disadvantage.

Even in a fight between ordinary people who had never learned martial arts, numbers were absolute.

And these were people who had specialized in combat techniques.

Having twice the manpower did not simply mean that their strength had doubled.

They were people capable of using that advantage three or four times more effectively.

That was why.

The four martial artists believed this battle would be settled quickly.

......However.

‘Why?’

The dog-eared man.

Gyeonsul thought as he swung his greatsword.

‘Why is this fight still continuing?’

For some reason.

The battle was dragging on far longer than they had expected.

As Gyeonsul frowned.

“Hwan, you bastard.......”

The figure wielding a staff while throwing out his arms and fists.

Shin Jong spoke with a hollow laugh.

He was someone who practiced both unarmed martial arts and staff techniques.

He had often taught Seohwan, who also wielded a staff, in their Master’s place.

Because of that, there was something he noticed before anyone else.

“You’ve grown.”

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

Only after hearing those words.

Did the other three look at Seohwan as well.

‘Had the youngest...... grown that much?’

Seohwan had been the youngest disciple of the martial hall.

The image of Seohwan as a child was still vivid in their memories.

But his current appearance was quite different from the one they remembered.

He had grown taller.

And he had far more muscle than before.

The Seohwan they knew had been a boy, but the person before them now was a fully grown young man.

‘......Growth.’

Even after opening their eyes, they had remained rooted inside the martial hall, doing nothing.

But while they spent their time standing still.

Seohwan and Miho had fought alongside the Legion outside.

While they remained at the same level they had reached in the past.

Those two had continued to grow.

“But......!”

“There should only be a difference of a little over a year. How could you possibly.”

However.

That year had not been an ordinary year.

It was enough time for ordinary people to be reborn as warriors.

Enough time for those who had screamed and wept when the apocalypse came to become capable of risking their own lives and swinging weapons by their own will.

The density of a single year in this world could not even be compared to a year in peaceful times.

“Even so!”

Shin Jong swung his staff.

BAM! and.

Seohwan’s body was flung away.

“It does not change the fact that this remains a foolish act.”

“Huff.......”

“You haven’t forgotten who carried you on his back and raised you, have you? Did you really think you could close that gap in a mere year?”

Seohwan and Miho had only managed to endure because they had focused solely on preventing the others from entering the mansion.

The two of them did not hold the advantage in the battle.

Anyone could see that the injuries carved into their bodies were far more numerous.

“This is a battle you are destined to lose in the end. Why did you do something so foolish?”

“A battle I am destined to lose.......”

At those words.

Seohwan gripped his weapon again and spoke.

“I do not know what you and the senior sisters saw.”

Seohwan knew nothing about Mirinae.

Nor did he fully understand their despair.

“Are you and the senior sisters not wishing for Master’s death?”

However, from the conversation they had shared before this battle began.

He had been able to roughly infer what was happening.

“......Yes.”

At Seohwan’s words.

Miyang answered with a bitter expression.

“But Hwan. This is not what you think it is. What we want is for Master to come to an end as himself...... We only want him to remain the person we knew, at least in his final moments.”

“.......”

“As Master’s disciples...... we should be allowed to wish for at least that much at the end. Shouldn’t we......?”

“I understand what you mean as well, Senior Sister.”

They, too, must have had their own reasons.

Had Miho not said that she understood that part as well?

“......Even so, given the choice.”

And yet, the reason Seohwan had swung his weapon at them alongside Miho.......

Was not actually anything particularly profound.

“Wouldn’t it be better for Master to live as himself rather than die as himself?”

“What......!”

“What you and the senior sisters chose is ultimately nothing more than the lesser evil.”

The lesser evil was better than the worst.

“Well. Perhaps it might even be called the second-best option.”

And the second-best option was better than the lesser evil.

However.

“I...... saw a certain greedy man.”

He had spent an intensely dense year serving in the Legion.

And during that time, he recalled the person their Legion Commander had shown himself to be.

“A greedy man who pursued the best possible outcome to an unreasonable degree, no matter the circumstances.”

Whether dying as their Master was the second-best choice or merely the lesser evil did not matter.

What he wanted was the best.

For his Master to continue living as their Master.

“Why can’t you understand that such a thing is impossible! This is not something that can be changed simply because we make an effort......!”

“I know. That must be what you thought, and why you settled for remaining here.”

“What......?”

They had probably attempted something as well.

And after those attempts, they had realized it was impossible and fallen into despair.

That was why they had ended up remaining in the martial hall, waiting for death.

“This may sound a little disrespectful.......”

The problem was that final part.

Seohwan scratched his head as he spoke.

“Doesn’t saying something is impossible even with effort only have meaning if you keep making that effort?”

They had given up on trying anything further.

They had become trapped in the belief that it was impossible anyway.

“How dare you......!”

The enraged four.

Swung their weapons even harder.

However.

CLANG!

Their weapons were knocked away.

At that moment.

‘Just now......?’

The four martial artists felt some kind of change in the impact.

“You decided change was impossible, gave up, and stopped growing! If Master had seen you, he would have scolded you harshly!”

Seohwan and Miho.

They knew the two had grown considerably more skilled.

But...... that was not all.

CLANG, CLANG!

Weapons collided with weapons.

And with every new wound carved into one another’s bodies.

‘Even now......!’

Their movements grew sharper and sharper.

Even in the middle of this very battle.

[You have gained enlightenment through extreme combat!]

[You have gained experience.]

[Your level has increased!]

[Lv.56 Martial Artist -> Lv.57 Martial Artist]

[Martial Arts Level 69 -> 70]

[Your enlightenment regarding martial arts has broken through a new barrier!]

[Lv.59 Martial Scholar -> Lv.60 Martial Scholar]

[Your enlightenment regarding martial studies has broken through a new barrier!]

Unlike the four who remained frozen in place.

The two martial arts instructors were growing at a tremendous pace.

They had seen the humans of this land.

In only a few years.

They had faced seemingly impossible situations countless times.

‘And overcame them all.’

To resist an apocalypse they seemed incapable of surviving.

They had chosen to continue growing and moving forward, even if doing so meant risking their lives.

As a result, they had become completely unrecognizable compared to what they had been only a few years ago.

“......To be honest. Some of the soldiers receiving my instruction have now reached a point where even I struggle to face them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They are soldiers taught by me, but their example was still worth following. So I decided to do the same.”

Never give up.

Continue growing without end, while searching for a better path.

“This battle is exactly that.”

Rather than choosing the lesser evil and settling for the belief that no other answer existed.

They would search for a better path by any means possible.

That was what the two of them had learned from the soldiers of this land.

“......Kgh.”

As they watched the two growing stronger in real time.

The four felt their own fighting spirits beginning to be overwhelmed.

They, too.

Knew in their hearts that they had chosen stagnation for themselves.

If Master had been watching.

They knew he would have said that those two, who had chosen to move forward, were more right than they were, who had abandoned everything in order to turn their eyes away from the pain.

“......Then what do you expect us to do?”

They spoke with frustrated expressions.

“If there is a better path, we would choose it as well.”

“But the path you and Senior Sister...... and that Legion Commander chose is not a better path. Freeing Master as he is now is neither the lesser evil, the second-best option, nor the best...... It is quite literally the worst possible choice!”

At those words.

Seohwan and Miho spoke with certainty.

“We have experienced the Legion Commander.”

“There is no way the Legion Commander’s actions will simply end as the worst possible choice. There must be something more that we do not know. We have to trust the Legion Commander.”

At those words from the two of them.

The four martial artists answered with expressions of disbelief.

“How are we supposed to trust that man!”

“.......”

Yes.

That was the problem.

Seohwan and Miho had experienced Shin Youngjun.

They had faith that his actions would not simply end in the worst possible outcome.

‘But they have not.’

While fighting the two martial arts instructors.

The four martial artists had begun to wonder whether they might have been wrong to choose stagnation and give up on everything.

“Yes, perhaps we were wrong.”

However.

“But...... that does not mean the Legion Commander is right!”

“He, too, may simply be another wrong answer.......”

“If that is the case, then choosing the lesser evil now may be the best possible choice.”

Seohwan and Miho had faith that the Legion Commander would make the right choice.

But the others had not yet had enough time to develop that kind of faith.

That was why they wanted to stop the Legion Commander, who had taken an action that could become the worst possible choice.

‘......The Legion Commander must have had another plan.’

‘But he did not explain that part to us.’

Seohwan and Miho also had no way of knowing what other plan he might have had.

That was why.

‘With only my strength and Senior Sister’s.......’

‘This is as far as we can go.’

This conversation could only continue in parallel.......

‘At a time like this.......’

‘If only Master were here.’

The beastkin on both sides thought the same thing.

At that moment.

FWAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

“......!”

A gigantic energy exploded from inside the mansion.

***

“This energy is.”

The energy that burst out from inside the mansion as if exploding.

Those who felt it shouted in shock.

“Master...... no.”

“That evil dragon, Mirinae’s......!”

The power of their Master...... Mirinae, which Woojin should have been suppressing.

It had leaked out.

‘The seal has been broken?’

‘Junior Sister Sarin failed to stop that man......!’

‘Woojin, what happened to Woojin......!’

The evil energy that poured out ignored them and moved on.

Before long, it headed toward the disciples’ quarters.

‘Eldest Senior Brother......!’

The moment they thought of the existence that should be there.

Shock appeared in their eyes.

“So it has come to this in the end......!”

If the energy that leaked from the seal had done what they thought it had done in that brief moment.

Then the conclusion of this situation was already as good as decided.

‘The worst.’

The very thing they had feared so much.

A worst-case scenario so terrible that even the lesser evil would have been preferable had come to pass.

“Is this what Senior Sister wanted!”

“Seohwan, what you did in the end.......”

Just as they thought that.......

Srrrk.......

‘......?’

Suddenly.

There was an energy approaching them.

An energy flowing out from inside that mansion.

Compared to the energy that had just burst out like an explosion, it was incredibly weak.

That other energy could at least perform miracles close to omnipotence within this space.

But this energy was so small that it seemed incapable of exerting even the slightest physical force.

However.

‘The fact that it came from inside there.......’

It was so weak.

That normally.

It would have been impossible for it to squeeze its way through that seal.

However.

Even such a small energy could follow behind if the enormous energy that had gone first had opened a hole.

{I told you so many times to get along with your fellow disciples.}

......Before that hole closed.

It was possible to follow behind and come out as well.

{You truly are children who refuse to listen until the very end.}