Chapter 187: I Envied You

When Moon Seokju swallowed the Great Anomaly’s inner core and the Giant Tree Ghost turned into something like a dead, withered tree, the cracks that had formed in the spell barrier began to widen at terrifying speed.

Crack, craaaack......!

The Great Anomaly’s energy rampaged in every direction, thrashing to the very end.

The spellcasters of Mystic Hall, faces strained, stabilized the barrier that looked ready to collapse at any moment.

“The barrier is about to collapse!”

“We cannot hold it any longer! The Giant Tree Ghost is dead now, so there’s no need to force ourselves to maintain it......”

“Cough! Cough!”

Some of the spellcasters maintaining the spell formation had gone pale, blood streaming from their noses and mouths.

However.

“Not... yet.”

At the central axis of the spell formation, Dr. Man, who bore a heavier burden than anyone else, forced his mouth open.

With an expression twisted in pain, he looked up at the Giant Tree Ghost, which had completely stopped moving.

“We must maintain the spell barrier until we confirm that the Giant Tree Ghost has been completely annihilated. If this is one of its tricks......”

The Giant Tree Ghost looked as though it had exhausted all its energy and dried to death, but Dr. Man did not let his guard down.

Beings on the level of a Great Anomaly could freely change the form of their bodies, and there was always the possibility they might revive even after being blown to pieces.

“The Giant Tree Ghost’s energy has certainly weakened greatly, but it has not disappeared completely. If the spell barrier collapses now, it may create an opportunity for it to escape outside.”

“......”

At the Grand Spellcaster’s resolute will, the spellcasters gritted their teeth and nodded.

If the Giant Tree Ghost had not died and slipped outside the broken spell barrier in some form, it could lead to horrific casualties.

If I could, I’d like to go up there myself and confirm the situation, but......

In order to suppress the rampaging energy of the Great Anomaly and prevent the spell barrier from collapsing, Dr. Man could not move recklessly.

Because while the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader cut down the Giant Tree Ghost, his role was to protect this place.

“......Sect leader. Please hurry.”

He also thought of Kim Bokja, who had ridden the swarm of white termites up the Giant Tree Ghost. The moment she received Kim Muhyuk’s rescue signal, his disciple had gone off before he could even stop her.

You must come back safely. I’ll hold on until you return!

SHHK-SHHK-SHHHK—!

The characters of Pilcheon Style that Dr. Man raised whirled up and stuck to the splitting cracks. They barely stitched together and maintained the spell barrier that was cracking and threatening to collapse.

Dr. Man closed his eyes and focused, chanting spells without pause as he waited for the battle to end. Before he knew it, his beard was soaked with blood.

“Khh......!”

The spellcasters of Mystic Hall began dropping one by one, and even Dr. Man, with blood standing out along his neck, felt that he was almost at his limit.

That was when it happened.

“......Hm?”

Dr. Man opened the eyes he had closed and muttered blankly.

“The energy... all disappeared?”

The Giant Tree Ghost’s energy, which had been rampaging in every direction, vanished as though washed clean, and the spell barrier that had been collapsing regained stability.

“Something seems to have changed?”

“The earthquake stopped......”

“Could the sect leader have killed it?”

Murmur, murmur.

The martial artists of Transcendent Extremity Gate, who had been tending to the wounded while keeping watch over their surroundings, also noticed the change. Everyone’s gazes naturally turned toward the top of the dead tree.

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

All kinds of brilliantly colored shapes shot into the sky like fireworks, then began falling like a rain of flowers.

Dr. Man recognized at once that they had been created with Pilcheon Style.

“The Great Anomaly is dead! The Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader defeated it, so you can relax—!”

Kim Bokja’s voice, amplified by spellcraft from high above, rang out powerfully.

At the joyful news that the Transcendent Extremity Gate sect leader had defeated the Great Anomaly, cheers erupted from the ground.

Waaaaaah!

At the news that they had avenged their masters, fellow disciples, and family, the martial artists of Transcendent Extremity Gate raised their weapons and wept.

“Ha ha ha......!”

Dr. Man spread a large umbrella made with Pilcheon Style and burst into a hearty laugh as he watched Kim Bokja descend from the sky.

She looked grimy, proof of how fierce the battle had been, but to him, that sight could not have been more admirable or lovely.

“Thankfully, it seems to have ended well. With this, may your nightmare come to an end as well......”

It was the moment that announced the end of a Great Anomaly hunt in which countless people had taken part.

*****

—Master. I want to learn every martial art and every weapon in Transcendent Extremity Gate.

In the instant the Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique unfolded, Sunwoo Jeha walked through the memories of her childhood.

—Ha ha ha! Jeha, you truly are greedy. Good! When you’re young, that is fine. But eventually, the number will gradually decrease.

—Why?

—No matter how many good clothes you have, the clothes you wear often are already decided, aren’t they? Martial arts and weapons are the same. Only the things that suit you best will remain.

—Everything suits me. Then I can learn all of them, right?

As a teenager, Sunwoo Jeha had been greedier than anyone, and she had mastered a very large number of martial arts and weapons.

At one point, she had carried around so many weapons that she could not possibly wear them all on her body, putting them instead into a fifty-inch suitcase.

Even Han Shinhu, the one person her age who could barely be called a friend, clicked his tongue at the sight.

—Jeha. Isn’t that too many? I’m fine with just one blade.

—I can handle ten at the same time. Can’t you?

Only Han Shinhu would not bristle at those words.

To people who truly could not do it, they would have been a provocation, but to Han Shinhu, they were merely a simple question.

—Mm. I don’t particularly want to. I don’t think doing that would make me a peerless master faster. Wouldn’t it slow you down instead?

A peerless master.

The image of herself she had imagined since childhood. A realm she had thought would naturally come within reach if she worked hard.

—I’ll become a peerless master my own way. Stop nagging me.

—Right. If it’s you, I’m sure you can. Though you’ll be a few years slower than me......

—Obnoxious bastard. Want to die?

Han Shinhu left for overseas, and Sunwoo Jeha remained at Transcendent Extremity Gate.

As the years passed, she let go of the weapons in her hands one by one, until only two blades remained.

Only then did Sunwoo Jeha understand what her master had meant. As annoying as it was, she had no choice but to agree with Han Shinhu.

I became a peerless master.

They were the two people she wanted to tell first.

But her master was dead, and her only friend was far away in another world.

Her chest felt tight.

Suddenly, the world felt as though it had grown narrow.

In that moment, Sunwoo Jeha realized what she wanted to do from now on.

“......She’s not going to pass away standing up, is she?”

“Agh! Stop saying unlucky crap, you bastard!”

Familiar voices came from outside.

Sunwoo Jeha slowly emerged from within herself and opened her eyes.

“You two.”

Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon stood to her left and right.

......Had they been standing guard beside her or something?

Both looked as though it would not have been strange for them to collapse at any moment, yet they had done something so absurd.

“Presumptuous.”

At Sunwoo Jeha’s first word after waking, the two of them, relieved, grinned with their ruined faces.

“You kept your eyes closed, so I was worried.”

“It’s chaos down below. Can you hear them cheering?”

Waaaaaah!

At the tearful cheers of the Transcendent Extremity Gate disciples rising from the ground, Sunwoo Jeha nodded blankly.

“It’s over.”

They had succeeded in annihilating the Giant Tree Ghost, the Great Anomaly that had been Transcendent Extremity Gate’s long-cherished enemy.

Sunwoo Jeha had finished it herself, but she never thought she had done it alone.

The disciples of Transcendent Extremity Gate who trusted and followed her, the spellcasters of Mystic Hall who willingly helped, and Blue Wolves’ performance—without them, it would not have ended with so little damage.

Thank you.

Sunwoo Jeha wanted to say that to the two of them, but strangely, the words would not leave her mouth. Instead, she asked bluntly, as usual.

“Did you see it properly?”

She was asking whether they had watched the Transcendence-Level Ultimate Technique she had unfolded.

Then, like the promising martial arts lunatics they were, both answered with sparkling eyes and poured out their impressions.

“I got chills all over my body. Until just before that, I couldn’t sense any energy from you at all, sect leader. Is that a common trait of the Transcendence-Level Ultimate Techniques used by peerless masters? It seems worth researching......”

“Teacher, that was seriously damn amazing! I didn’t see it from the beginning, so show me again later! You have to!”

At a reaction that did not differ in the slightest from what she had expected, Sunwoo Jeha gave a small laugh.

But only for a moment. Her expression turned bittersweet, and she promised them another time.

“You two go first. I still have a little work left.”

“Yes.”

“Hurry down!”

After Kim Muhyuk and Shin Kangheon went down first.

“......”

Sunwoo Jeha turned and headed toward the place where the remains of the Giant Tree Ghost had been left behind.

There, Moon Seokju had returned to human form and lay collapsed with only part of his upper body remaining.

He looked like nothing but a corpse growing cold.

Sunwoo Jeha crouched in front of him and slapped his cheek without hesitation.

SLAP!

Then Moon Seokju, who had looked dead, opened his eyes with difficulty.

“......Is this hell? I suppose it ended in mutual destruction after all. Considering your nasty personality, that makes sense......”

Sunwoo Jeha stared silently at his face, then slapped his cheeks one after another.

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

The force made his head jerk left and right, and Moon Seokju frowned.

“......Stop. It doesn’t hurt, but it feels deeply unpleasant.”

“I won. Like always, this time was no different.”

At her tone, as though it were the natural result, hatred entered Moon Seokju’s eyes as he asked,

“To the very end...... do you intend to mock me?”

“Moon Seokju. You’ll die soon. The anomaly’s energy is still lingering, so you’re holding on, but at most, you have only a few minutes.”

“Yes. Laugh as much as you want.”

“I wanted to save you, but there was no way.”

“......”

Moon Seokju silently glared at Sunwoo Jeha.

Then, soon, he gave a faint laugh and spoke with a resigned expression.

“That is better, actually. If I somehow survived, I’d have to clean up after you again.”

“I’m going to leave the next sect leader position to Woo Hyunje.”

Another supreme master possessed by Transcendent Extremity Gate.

His martial arts and experience were still lacking, but with time, he was someone capable of fulfilling the sect leader position.

“......Make sure you handle the handover properly before you go. Don’t just dump everything on him half-assed. Do you remember the combination to the secret safe in the sect leader’s office?”

“I’ll break it and install a new one.”

“You bastard. I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully.”

Moon Seokju gave advice to Sunwoo Jeha as though nagging her, and Sunwoo Jeha listened with an irritated expression, nodding along.

It was how the two of them had lived together for twenty years.

He may have been a traitor, but when it came to his devotion to the sect, Moon Seokju was more sincere than anyone.

“......Don’t you have anything to say to me at the end?”

“Master treasured you.”

Seeing Moon Seokju’s increasingly cloudy eyes gleam for a moment, Sunwoo Jeha continued with a sulky expression.

“He only talked to me about martial arts, but with you, he talked about all sorts of little things. What he ate, who he met, whether you were having a hard time—things like that. He never said those things to me.”

“......”

Moon Seokju slowly searched through his memories.

It seemed that really might have been true, and it also seemed like Sunwoo Jeha’s own clumsy attempt at comfort.

“So I envied you.”

“So there was at least one thing I had over you...... is that it?”

“Die thinking whatever you want.”

Moon Seokju chuckled softly and closed his eyes. His final exhale slowly scattered.

The two of them exchanged their last farewells calmly.

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

After looking for a moment at the friend who had breathed his last, Sunwoo Jeha rose from her seat.