Chapter 186: Instant Thought Severance

Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique.

A single move that fused the martial art a peerless master had polished over a lifetime with madness and exploded it all in one instant.

A peerless master’s life-saving ultimate move, or killing move. In terms of a single strike, there is no martial art stronger than that.

The form of a Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique differed depending on each person’s life and what they had devoted themselves to—what they had gone mad over. That was why even between master and disciple, or between fellow disciples who had learned the same martial art, no two Transcendence-Level Ultimate Techniques in the world were the same.

That was about as much as Kim Muhyuk knew.

I’ve never actually seen one myself either.

Using Transcendence-Level Ultimate Techniques had been banned in the World’s Strongest Sparring Tournament.

If they were allowed, situations where one of the two fighters almost certainly died would happen far too often.

Also, unless it was a fight to the death, peerless masters themselves were extremely reluctant to reveal their Transcendence-Level Ultimate Techniques.

If I can see one in person, it’ll be a huge help in moving on to the next realm.

Kim Muhyuk wanted to experience, even indirectly, the ultimate mysteries of the martial art Sunwoo Jeha was about to unfold. That was part of the reason he had stepped forward to buy time.

“But calling this lucky would be......”

If not for the monster rising in front of him, Kim Muhyuk would have waited for Sunwoo Jeha to complete her Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique with excitement in his heart.

“In the end, in the end, I’m the one who wins! The one who becomes the sect leader of Transcendent Extremity Gate, wins fame as a peerless master, and receives Father’s recognition is me, Moon Seokju......!”

As Moon Seokju regenerated his body, he drifted further and further away from human form.

The tree roots growing from his waist stretched out in dozens of strands and writhed, while both arms swelled several times thicker, each finger growing long and sharp like a spear.

“......He’s been completely devoured.”

Kim Muhyuk clicked his tongue as he looked up at the enemy, who had grown to the height of a two-story house in an instant. It was a horrifying something, a fusion of human and tree.

Sunwoo Jehaaaaa—! I’ll kill you, and I’ll become the sect leader of Transcendent Extremity Gate!

The price of a mere human coveting the power of a Great Anomaly was horrific.

Moon Seokju’s mind had nearly collapsed, leaving only instinct and his greatest rage behind.

Tap!

Kim Muhyuk charged toward the enemy as it stealthily stretched branches toward him. It was to keep Sunwoo Jeha, who remained behind him, from getting caught up in the fight.

“Phantom Dream. Namcheon.”

The two sacred weapons vibrated at the same time, and their spirit bodies smoothly appeared to Kim Muhyuk’s left and right.

You’re going to fight like this again? Master, you might die if you keep doing this......

Reckless. Even if not now, you will pay the price one day.

The two sacred weapons’ worried voices reached him, but Kim Muhyuk forced himself to smile.

“It’s an emergency, so what choice do I have?”

The moment the two sacred weapons’ spirit bodies sighed as if he was hopeless, essence-devouring power and demon-subduing power flowed through both his hands.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Powers that did not mix, like water and oil, collided inside Kim Muhyuk’s body. A fierce backlash erupted, shaking his pressure points as if tearing them apart.

Blood seeped from between Kim Muhyuk’s tightly clenched lips.

“......Still, having done it once before makes this better than last time.”

Kim Muhyuk began coordinating the two energies with the Five Elements Divine Art. The Five Elements energy flowing from his lower abdomen gently brushed over the essence-devouring power and demon-subduing power.

FWOOOOSH!

SHHK-SHHK-SHHHK—!

White radiance and black flame blazed along the blades of the two sacred weapons.

Only then did Moon Seokju, who had been blinded by rage and screaming that he would kill Sunwoo Jeha, begin to guard against Kim Muhyuk.

“Even if it’s mixed with impurities, wood is still wood. So it’ll burn nice and bright like before, won’t it?”

At Kim Muhyuk’s provocation, delivered with a faint smirk, Moon Seokju responded with a savage roar.

Kyaaaaaaak!

An arm stretched like a gigantic whip and fell toward Kim Muhyuk’s head.

BOOOOOOM—!

The floor burst apart as if bombarded.

Kim Muhyuk dodged the attack by a hair’s breadth and swung his two swords in a cross.

SHHK-SHHK-SHHHK—!

He cut away about half of the thick branch, but he could not sever it perfectly the way Sunwoo Jeha had. {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Even that much regenerated quickly.

I can’t rely only on the energy of the two sacred weapons. I need to use the technique for cutting an anomaly that the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader taught me too.

The enemy’s attacks continued.

Whipping branches that destroyed every foothold, thorns fired like javelins from newly grown arms—it was troublesome enough with just that, yet the branches he swung even carried the principles of advanced swordsmanship.

Dodge this, then knock away the next one. Can I block that? Impossible. Deflect it with Phantom Dream and strike it aside with Namcheon. I see a path to life. After that......

Kim Muhyuk’s thoughts accelerated.

His internal injuries deepened in real time and wounds multiplied across his body, but his gaze only grew deeper and became stained with madness. He looked like a martial artist who had fully entered a state of selflessness.

Everything in those passing instants was enlightenment and inspiration to Kim Muhyuk.

A fight to the death against a monster comparable to a peerless master.

His mind, concentrated to the limit, burned white-hot, and his spirit rose to its peak.

At some point, Kim Muhyuk even forgot Sunwoo Jeha’s request to buy her time.

BOOOOOOM!

Kim Muhyuk’s eyes flashed as he dove into the opening created by a large attack. There was no time to hesitate. He charged.

“—I’m going.”

It happened in a flash.

Kim Muhyuk used Moon Seokju’s massive tree body as an axis and climbed him in a spiral. The two sacred weapons scattered sparks.

CRRRRRAAAK!

A moment later, hundreds of wounds carved into the tree opened all at once like blooming petals. It was right after Kim Muhyuk stepped off the monster’s head and landed on the floor.

SPLOOOOSH!

Sticky, transparent sap poured down like a sudden shower.

The monster that had vomited up its lifeblood let out a terrible scream.

Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak!

“Haaah, haaaaah......”

Kim Muhyuk panted roughly. That strike just now had been the best move he could currently unleash.

His hands, numbed for a moment, trembled violently. Even raising his swords was not easy.

Whoooom—!

A furious tree monster’s branch fell over him. It carried enough force to pulverize Kim Muhyuk, who had wounded it, in a single blow.

“Hoooo......”

But Kim Muhyuk did not dodge and slowly steadied his breathing.

Because he could feel a familiar presence approaching from behind.

[God-Slaying Fusion—! Shin Kangheon the Firebird!]

Pyaaaaaak!

Shin Kangheon, hanging from the ankle of Apricot, who had been enlarged by spellcraft, leaped down from midair and struck the monster’s branch.

THUD!

Shin Kangheon was flung away by the recoil and rolled across the floor, but then sprang to his feet, threw off his mask, and looked at Kim Muhyuk.

“Hey! You okay, you lunatic?”

Kim Muhyuk waved his hand weakly to indicate that he was not okay at all.

“......I’m dying, so you fight him for me.”

“Leave it to me! A monster like that will burn to ash in an instant under my flames—keheuk!”

Shin Kangheon was struck by a swinging branch and sent flying, but because his body was so absurdly sturdy, Kim Muhyuk was not particularly worried.

Besides, Shin Kangheon was not the only reinforcement.

Viiiiiiiiing—!

Kim Bokja rode in on an army of termite anomalies spread beneath her like a carpet, ghost fire burning in both eyes. But those eyes were glaring not at the enemy, but at Kim Muhyuk.

“Kim Muhyuk, look at the state of you....... If you sent a rescue signal, you should have run. Why were you having the time of your life fighting?”

When Kim Bokja asked in an eerie voice charged with spellcraft energy, Kim Muhyuk, who had not been frightened even in front of a Great Anomaly, hunched his shoulders for the first time.

“No, I have an explanation for this. The situation left me no choice.”

Even at her crew leader’s aggrieved protest, Kim Bokja only glared sideways at him.

“......Anyway, we’ll see when this is all over and we get back.”

Kim Bokja joined the fight as well. Diagrams created through Pilcheon Style flew like arrows and embedded themselves in the monster, while the termite army began grinding away the tree’s outer bark.

Good thing your comrades came in time.

Now you do not need to overdo it anymore. Right?

Namcheon and Phantom Dream’s spirit bodies looked at each other happily and nodded, then immediately huffed at each other and vanished back into their swords.

Kim Muhyuk’s expression turned bewildered as he saw the two sacred weapons stop adding their energy.

“They’re all so damn worried......”

Stagger.

Kim Muhyuk swayed and barely managed to keep his balance.

He had long since passed his limit.

Every muscle in his body screamed, and his internal injuries were worse than during the fight with the Black Heaven Society’s society leader. Even his head, overheated from accelerating his thoughts, ached as if it would split apart.

“I need to help......”

Perhaps because he had lost too much blood, even his vision was swimming. Even so, Kim Muhyuk struggled to move somehow.

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

His friends were fighting.

They had pushed from the start with everything they had, but before long, they began to be driven back.

“Damn it! This thing regenerates without end!”

“Spellcraft barely works on it either. How the hell were you dealing with this thing alone?”

Pyaaak!

The enraged enemy was still powerful. It had already regenerated all the wounds Kim Muhyuk had inflicted and was rampaging with even greater ferocity.

“Please. Help me just one more time. This time, really......”

Kim Muhyuk called to the unresponsive sacred weapons and staggered forward.

Just as his eyes were about to become stained with madness once again,

“It’s still too early for you.”

A voice he had forgotten came from behind him.

When Kim Muhyuk dazedly looked back, Sunwoo Jeha approached and grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Don’t try to force yourself beyond that line. Desperation might lead you down the demonic path.”

“When will I be able to reach it?”

Sunwoo Jeha walked past Kim Muhyuk and said,

“Tomorrow, or ten years from now. Maybe even right now, but......”

It was a conversation between madmen. Sunwoo Jeha looked at the monster once called Moon Seokju with an utterly quiet gaze.

“Right now, it’s my turn. So watch.”

Sunwoo Jeha held a saber in her right hand and a broken sword with only the hilt remaining in her left.

“My final lesson.”

Into the saber and sword she held in both hands, she poured the principles of martial learning she had realized over her entire life. A low murmur followed.

“......Heaven-Severing Twin Extremes Art.”

Sunwoo Jeha’s own exclusive martial art, created by adding her own essence to the martial arts she had learned from Transcendent Extremity Gate.

Woooooong!

Sword force grew from the left-hand sword that had only its hilt remaining, and the two restored blades once again became one with their master’s will.

Something changed.

Kim Muhyuk shuddered as he watched Sunwoo Jeha’s back.

Because he could feel nothing from her.

It was as quiet as though only the space around her had become a vacuum.

“For the past ten years, I always thought of the same thing.”

If only I had been a little faster.

If only I had ended my seclusion sooner and reached the realm of peerless masters earlier.

She had constantly recalled the moment her master met his end, resenting and regretting the self who had been unable to do anything.

“I was obsessed only with that one thing. That was why I didn’t know.”

Sunwoo Jeha pursued speed more than anyone else.

That was why every martial art she unfolded existed at the extreme of swiftness.

But no matter how fast she swung her saber and sword, she could not cut time that had already passed.

“I was trying to cut something I could never cut.”

It was foolish, but it had taken ten years for her to realize that.

Her guilt toward her master, her anger at herself, her regret over the past.

Lingering attachments even a genius of martial learning had been unable to overcome.

The moment she accepted the things that could not be changed and decided to move forward, that realization transformed into Sunwoo Jeha’s Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique.

“What I needed to cut was something else.”

Instant Thought Severance.

It cut away complicated thoughts in a single instant.

The Strongest in Korea’s Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique appeared in the world for the first time.

Kiiing—!

The moment Kim Muhyuk heard the blade tip cry, Sunwoo Jeha was standing beside the enemy as if she had been there from the beginning.

“......Huh?”

“What the hell?”

As Shin Kangheon and Kim Bokja stared in confusion at Sunwoo Jeha, who had appeared like magic,

“It’s over now.”

She sheathed her saber and sword, then gently brushed her hand down the wooden pillar.

SHHK-SHHK-SHHHK—!

The tree bearing Moon Seokju’s face split into hundreds of pieces and collapsed.