NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1036
<1036 – Master of Darkness (14)>
In the Western world, it was said that all dragons, except for Principal Omoshiroi, either died or vanished during the war of the gods. After that, Seonhwang ascended to the throne as the ruler of the Empire.
That Seonhwang designated Principal Omoshiroi as an immortal who must be eliminated for the true freedom and liberation of humanity, just like the gods.
Dragons, therefore, symbolize fear and are considered a bane to mankind.
“Dragons? You mean that Principal Omoshiroi creature?”
“… This is madness.”
“Heh, I want to go home. It’s dangerous outside the coffin.”
Ziang, Sing, and Sadi of the academy personally experienced the terror of the weekly events caused by Principal Omoshiroi every week.
And the difficulty of those events was set to ‘Second Year’ standards.
Aside from the shared disaster phase where all grades must respond simultaneously, the difficulty of the weekly events increases as the year progresses.
The Death Field disaster they experienced before the vacation was a uniquely challenging event.
If the upperclassmen fail to defeat the weekly event, it results in a catastrophe that all students across all grades at the academy must bear.
If they are unable to stop the weekly events at this level, the danger will spread throughout the Middle Realm.
It’s only natural for the world to fall into chaos.
But there’s another dragon that compares to Principal Omoshiroi?
Ziang, feeling too gloomy, considered quitting being an assassin and just lounging around in a nice hotel in some random city for the rest of his life.
Sing was regretting coming to the Eastern Empire for the first time.
Sadi thought about lying down in the cozy coffin of the catacombs when they returned to the academy, maybe for a millennium or so.
The shocking fact that a harsh race had doubled in number was overwhelming.
At least, a small mercy was that the opponents the academy trio had to face weren’t the dragon-class Heavenly Sovereign, but rather swordsmen urgently entering the palace.
“The Heavenly Sovereign has assumed a stance for ascension! Hurry and enter the palace. The Four Heavenly Sword Clan must not let this opportunity slip!”
“The Four Heavenly Sword Clan is… the enemy of Sister Sia?”
“Yeah, the day we’ve long awaited has finally come. If they show up willingly, that only makes it better.”
Sing’s sword emitted a chilling sound.
“I won’t allow a single one of them to escape this place alive.”
“Remarkable spirit, just like a dagger-wielding assassin. However, it’s your life that’s truly being threatened here.”
The Eastern Swordsman Sing possessed both a swift blade and the temperament of a killer, not only due to his past but also because of the influence of the Four Heavenly Swordsmanship that formed the basis of his combat style.
Two swordsmen charged in directly towards him with their swords drawn.
Sing extended his blade, a step ahead of the sword aiming for his vital point.
Craack!
The heads of the two swordsmen dropped in one swift cut.
One of the captains from the Four Heavenly Sword Clan blew a whistle and led four members to charge in two steps late.
Setting his underlings up as cannon fodder, he was clearly intent on going for the heart of the matter.
Sing showed no fear despite their numerical disadvantage.
His accumulated experience and skills were simply too high.
Clang!
The sound of sword clashing echoed as their swords met.
Following the lead sword, three more swords cut through the air, trying to poke into Sing’s openings.
However, they had not anticipated that Sing would swing his sword with a force that would tangle one of the attackers with his ally, while he would use the scabbard to shatter the sword of the other assailant.
When his scabbard, infused with tremendous power, struck, one of the swords crumbled like a fragile agreement.
As the sword blade ricocheted and grazed his face, the swordsman became stiff involuntarily.
With unyielding precision, Sing’s sword struck down the necks of the two bodyguards in a flash.
Whoosh!
Hearing a whistle from Ziang to signal danger, Sing took a half step back.
Thwack!
A sword pierced through the back of a corpse, emerging out the other side.
It was the captain’s foul play trailing behind his crew.
Sing struck the corpse’s torso to prevent him from recovering his sword, throwing off the captain’s balance.
It was inevitable that the captain, unable to retrieve the sword embedded in the body, would meet his end with his comrade.
In an instant, three allies were slain, and the remaining duo, terrified, followed suit and met the same fate.
“You… your skills are impressive, but your swordsmanship is even more so. That sword of yours—it belongs to our Four Heavenly Sword Clan, doesn’t it? Where did you learn to steal our technique?”
“Such things are not important. What’s important is that you owe me a debt to repay.”
With a cold expression, Sing faced down the twenty swordsmen now drawing their blades.
Five men per group.
Among them, a commander with the distinctive blade-marked eyes glared at Sing with a hollow look.
“You resemble him. Those same eyes belong to the little fiend Sing from the Four Heavenly Sword Clan who left the Eastern Region years ago.”
“…”
“You learned Sing’s swordsmanship, didn’t you? Are you attempting to take revenge? If you think boasting about your fate gives you an edge, you’re mistaken. What you’ve learned is the ‘male version of the Four Heavenly Swordsmanship’. You, as a woman, will never be able to fully realize its true intent.”
While controlling my weight to minimize it, I maximized the required muscles for swift actions, without losing power.
Only with a perfectly balanced mix of strength and speed can one unfold the 초식 of flowery sword dance.
The infamous swordsmen of the Four Heavenly Sword Clan surrounded Sing, preparing their defenses.
This was a formation aimed at utterly obliterating one target.
As Ziang and Sadi attempted to interject, Sing shook his head.
“Trust in the teachings of the Ghost Warlord and the acknowledgment of the Sword Saint. I can handle this alone.”
Revenge is more important than life.
However, revenge that can be achieved without dying is even sweeter.
Ziang noticed that Sing wasn’t even contemplating death.
Sadi, peering into his heart, knew even better.
Sing was resolved to take his revenge.
He would show the clan, who had abandoned him and his younger sister, how insignificant and pathetic their swordsmanship truly was.
“Let’s go!”
With the signal, the swordsmen charged.
Unlike the previous reckless assault, their movements were adept in controlling speed.
With a relaxed rhythm of breathing and swordlines, deviations were allowed, making it possible to respond to Sing’s sudden attacks.
They slashed at multiple directions, unable to block with just one person’s hand, as the enemy’s blood painted a trail like petals blooming.
The 초식 of the flower dance is a gruesome attack that violates one person and flowers with their blood.
Once they arranged their defenses, survival was impossible.
Until today, that was the case.
“The 초식 of the flowery sword dance is not about many facing one, but rather one facing many. If each sword cannot share the flow of energy, it becomes an exception.”
Sing’s sword diverged into hundreds of sword paths with one swing.
━━━
<Sing - Four Heavenly Swordsmanship>
<Flowery Sword Dance>
━━━
The Four Heavenly Sword Clan is known for its assassination expertise.
At times, they face a strong enemy together, but when many try to tackle one, there must be an opening.
If they move with one heart and mind without someone accepting a sacrifice, their swords will become elongated.
To blur hesitation, the cruelty of violating sacrifices and the dreadful execution style of blooming flowers with blood is something Sing painfully understands.
It was also how he escaped the grip of the clan in his youth—by bravely pushing through the hesitation of those who formed the formations.
“Graaah!”
“Grrr!”
“A monster…”
The difference between the group’s formation and a solo formation was stark.
Sing’s divergent sword paths were not afraid of being exchanged for his life.
When one path ran out of power, two paths seized the opportunity.
If those two paths were blocked, three paths would follow.
Those forming the defense could not do the same.
One hesitated, pulling back and putting himself in jeopardy.
The two meant to protect him hesitated and conserved their energy, leading one to die and two to be endangered.
Even the three meant to protect the two became too focused on survival.
One of their formations was instantaneously dismantled by twenty swords.
“You…!”
The leader was different.
He easily brushed aside the currents of force created by the diverging sword strikes and received the encroaching offenses with quick, short blocks.
Indeed, he was a masterful expert capable of dividing one skill into many.
An equal contender.
But there was a distinction beyond the barrier.
While the commander’s sword crumbled under Sing’s malevolent strikes, Sing’s sword flickered like a phantom beyond the disintegrating defenses, slicing through flesh.
━━━
<Sing - Four Heavenly Swordsmanship>
<Ghostly Pursuit Sword Technique>
━━━
The member of the Ghost Warlord, operating like roses fully blooming in spring, employed Sing’s hybrid technique that fused traditional swordsmanship beyond the collapsing energy.
“This… is our clan’s technique. But the conclusion is completely different! How could a child like Sing, a mere runaway, exceed the heights of seven hundred years of history…?”
“Indeed. The swordsmanship you brazenly brag about has come to an end here. The wind may have no shape, but it always carries a blade at its end.”
“Excellent insight…”
Lines of blood appeared across the body of the blinded leader.
And after his body disintegrated, Sing’s sword focused on the captain beyond the leader.
“Captain. Next is your turn.”
“Sorry to interrupt your fun, but I’ve got bad news. Just like the other wizards turned to the clan one by one, ‘that thing’ also has wizards supporting it. And the remaining wizard is right over there.”
Sadi pointed to the Eastern Dragon, the Heavenly Sovereign, wrestling with Oknodie in the skies above.
Even a clan captain, under the command of an ordinary wizard, was fearsome, but the Four Heavenly Sword Clan’s captain was the very first wizard of the Alliance of Necromancers and the talon of the Eastern Dragon, the Heavenly Sovereign.
Without a doubt, he would possess strength beyond that of a human.
Sing felt no fear.
After all, he had grown robustly under the teachings of Oknodie, a being of power beyond humanity.