Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1031

Hang-oh’s eyes widened as if they would tear apart.

‘This can’t be.’

A single explosion.

Just before that explosion, a very faint sound had occurred.

It was similar to the sound of a bowstring being drawn. And what was the identity of the explosion that followed?

‘How?!’

Due to something invisible, the heads of about a dozen of his subordinates had vanished.

They weren’t torn off, nor were they crushed or burst.

They had literally disappeared. Erased from this world by something sharp and with immense pressure.

And that wasn’t all.

Thump! Thump!

Two short, sharp explosions followed in quick succession.

Before their bodies could even react, the unknown attacks had pierced holes through the bodies of seventeen of his subordinates.

Some had their heads gone, while others had massive holes in their chests. Either way, most of them died instantly, and those barely clinging to life had completely lost their ability to fight.

Hang-oh lowered his stance and glared.

‘There!’

He saw a small streak of light from within the bushes.

‘An arrow!!’

Hang-oh instinctively turned his head.

Whoosh! Bang!

Along with the sound of the bowstring being released, an arrow that had grazed Hang-oh’s left earlobe pierced the ground, causing another explosion.

Hang-oh felt a chill run down his spine.

It was archery several times faster than the blasts from the Golden Sand Iron Cannons that fired the Wild Wind Poison Bullets.

It was not human archery. Hang-oh had only survived because he had moved before the bowstring was released; otherwise, his head would have been blown off.

Hang-oh shouted.

“Deploy the fire net!”

Even if they were to die, they would die fulfilling their orders.

However, his subordinates could not press the firing triggers of their Golden Sand Iron Cannons. In an instant, about thirty of their comrades had died, their formation had been disrupted, and the fire net they had formed had collapsed in the midst of their panic.

Boom!

In that brief moment, another explosion was heard.

Seven more subordinates died, spraying blood fountains below the explosion. Because the attack had targeted the end of the horizontal line, a single arrow had caused multiple casualties.

In fact, the very existence of archery that could blow off the heads of a dozen people with a single arrow was shocking. Regardless of formation, their misfortune lay in the fact that a supreme master, whose archery skills rivaled the best in the world, was ambushing them.

Hang-oh shouted again.

“Form the fire net! Just shoot!”

Thwip! Thwip! Bang! Bang!

His subordinates fell, spitting blood.

Fortunately, some had managed to press the firing triggers before falling.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A deafening explosion. It was a different sound from the explosions that pierced through human bodies. About a dozen Wild Wind Poison Bullets flew towards the distant battlefield where the demigods were fighting.

Hang-oh’s eyes widened.

‘No!’

Only two of the Wild Wind Poison Bullets were flying straight. The rest were shot haphazardly, flying into the forest or the cliffs.

Hang-oh quickly raised his own Golden Sand Iron Cannon.

‘I have to, somehow!’

Just as he was about to press the firing trigger.

Boom!

His left side vanished.

Literally, a part of his torso made of flesh had disappeared.

Hang-oh’s body tilted to the left. Since a part of the abdominal and back muscles supporting his torso had disappeared, his weight naturally shifted in that direction.

Still, Hang-oh pressed the firing trigger.

He pressed it with his willpower while his nerves were still alive, before he could even feel the pain.

Bang! Boom!

The fired Wild Wind Poison Bullet flew straight into the middle of the battlefield. At the same time, Hang-oh’s head vanished.

“Damn it!”

Muk Bi cursed as he frantically drew his bow.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

On the cliff that had instantly turned into a sea of blood.

Muk Bi, having annihilated the enemy without leaving a single one alive, quickly turned his head to look at the battlefield.

“Young Master Yeon!”

* * *

The Wild Wind Poison Bullets fell.

Hoyeon Gwang and Gong Yeo used their formless energy to thoroughly bind Yeon Ho-Jeong, preventing him from moving. In the meantime, Gong Yeo even attacked with a bare-handed strike.

No matter how skilled Yeon Ho-Jeong was, he could not escape the area defined by the two.

That was the case with his abilities up to this point.

‘It’s time.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong, whose thought process was faster than anyone else’s, realized that the time had come.

‘It starts from here.’

Whoosh!

In an instant, Yeon Ho-Jeong’s energy exploded exponentially.

Hoyeon Gwang and Gong Yeo’s eyes widened as if they would tear apart. Yeon Ho-Jeong’s energy, which had been in a tense standoff with theirs, had suddenly soared to the sky.

The reason was simple.

Yeon Ho-Jeong had never used any trickery like the Myriad Ascension Energy Technique that Gong Yeo had mentioned.

To be precise, he was using the essence of the Myriad Ascension Energy Technique, but it was not to hide his abilities.

Yeon Ho-Jeong had been constantly deploying the Yellow Dragon Energy, confusing Muk Bi, Gang Ryang, and Jin Yang’s presence. He had been continuously consuming nearly thirty percent of his internal energy, making Hoyeon Gwang and Gong Yeo believe that only he and Bu Seon were present, without them realizing it.

Yeon Ho-Jeong was well aware of the impact his name had.

There would be a group of masters capable of capturing even Seongcheon. But that wouldn’t be the end of it.

It was a scheme to shake even the Martial Alliance and then extract and kill the young master of the Black Dragon Unit. If that was the case, they would have dispatched another force to eliminate as many variables as possible and achieve their goal.

That was Yeon Ho-Jeong’s prediction.

Then, couldn’t they send three or four masters comparable to Seongcheon?

He believed they absolutely couldn’t.

If they were crazy enough to gather that many masters and assign them to a single mission, the fight against the Demonic Cult Leader in his previous life wouldn’t have been so difficult.

The influence of even one Supreme Master was beyond imagination. It was impossible to dispatch many of them.

Moreover, with just Hoyeon Gwang and Gong Yeo, the probability of winning a battle against a master of Seongcheon’s level was very high.

The Demonic Cult’s strategy had no flaws.

However, the reason the result turned out this way was because Yeon Ho-Jeong knew them too well, and furthermore, he had the support of his most reliable companions in a situation where he believed he could break through alone.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Sizzle!

The Wild Wind Poison Bullets that had fallen outside the battlefield emitted a yellowish smoke.

However.

Whoosh!

The Wild Wind Poison Bullet that had been aimed directly at the center of the battlefield was spinning above the heads of the three people.

“Oh.”

Whoosh.

The small iron ball that had slowly descended landed in Yeon Ho-Jeong’s left hand.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes flashed.

‘Did they make this already?’

The Wild Wind Poison Bullet.

It was a poison bullet that the Demonic Cult had not been able to manufacture much of due to the difficulty in procuring the materials.

‘Impressive, Demonic Cult Leader.’

He didn’t know how history had changed, but at least the Demonic Cult Leader was reading the flow of the world and preparing for war in advance.

Yeon Ho-Jeong looked at Hoyeon Gwang.

“……!”

Hoyeon Gwang could not easily attack.

Gong Yeo was the same. Having completely withdrawn the Yellow Dragon Energy that had been separated and unleashed all his power, Yeon Ho-Jeong’s energy boasted a density that surpassed even the Three Supremes of the Divine Immortal Emperor.

‘What is this?’

Hoyeon Gwang’s fingers trembled faintly.

‘Just what is this guy!’

That level of energy was something that only the Cult Leader, except for one other person, could display within the cult.

No, he even thought that Yeon Ho-Jeong’s power might be even greater. It was that overwhelming.

Enough to make it seem like he could ignore all variables and seize victory.

“Do you want to run away?”

“…….”

“Shall I spare you?”

A single question asked with a smirk.

That expression and voice instantly plunged Hoyeon Gwang’s emotions, which had been momentarily crushed by fear, into a state of extreme excitement.

“You bastard!”

Gong Yeo shouted.

“No!”

Whoosh!

Hoyeon Gwang, having gathered all his power, unleashed a swirling yellow energy like the sandstorms of the wasteland with his Giant Dragon Mace.

An attack that even Yeon Ho-Jeong could not ignore. It was a devastating power that could kill even him in one blow if he was careless.

However.

Flash!

The Hidden Dragon Swift Step of the Dragon Form Seven Steps.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had already passed by Hoyeon Gwang, was extending his Mad Dragon Blade diagonally.

Mad Wind Nine Dragon Kill, Soul-Reaping Mad Dragon.

Hoyeon Gwang’s eyes widened.

Thud!

The Giant Dragon Mace, which had been cut diagonally, fell to the ground.

Swoosh!

A large amount of blood gushed out from the wound that had been cut from his right side to his left collarbone.

Clench!

Hoyeon Gwang, gritting his teeth, pulled up the Yin-Yang Demonic Energy.

“Th-this… !”

However.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Small explosions occurred in various parts of the cut wound.

‘…….’

Hoyeon Gwang’s eyes glazed over.

‘This can’t be.’

The exploding internal force penetrated further inside, causing another explosion.

Explosion, explosion, explosion.

The chain of exploding internal force swept through his internal organs and spinal nerves before finally stopping.

‘This is… Yin-Yang Demonic Art?’

The internal force of the Yellow Dragon Energy, which was too similar to the hidden force of the Yin-Yang Demonic Art, and even more persistent.

‘To die so futilely…’

The last memory that flashed through his mind was the face of Hoyeon Jong.

Hoyeon Jong’s appearance, defeated and fleeing, spouting ridiculous excuses, was the very image of a loser, more shameful than death itself.

‘Damn bastard. He didn’t say he was this strong…’

Thud.

Hoyeon Gwang collapsed. He was dead.

Gong Yeo’s eyes trembled.

“Who… what are you?”

“I’m more curious about the mentality of you two who came to kill someone you don’t even know.”

“How did you break through the Yin-Yang Demonic Art, and how did you reach such a level at that age?”

In fact, Gong Yeo believed that they could somehow capture even a master of the Three Supremes level [Three Supremes refers to the three most powerful martial artists].

It was natural. They had two Supreme Masters on their side, and in particular, Hoyeon Gwang’s Yin-Yang Demonic Art was the worst kind of martial art, one that even a superior master would struggle to deal with, gradually suffering fatal injuries.

However, from the beginning, the fight against this monster had not gone as they had planned. Unlike internal energy or momentum, if someone knew how to break through the Yin-Yang Demonic Art, which was the pinnacle of hidden force martial arts, the fight would inevitably become difficult.

Moreover, the Wild Wind Poison Bullets had not flown properly. In particular, her sword technique, which had become an even more deadly killing sword by incorporating the Demonic Cult’s martial arts, was also ineffective.

Yeon Ho-Jeong said in a subdued voice.

“If that guy had been more composed than he was now, the outcome of the fight might have been different, perhaps.”

“…….”

“If you had reached that level with the martial arts of the Bota Temple instead of the Demonic Cult’s, I might have been defeated, perhaps.”

“……!”

Gong Yeo’s eyes wavered.

Yeon Ho-Jeong said in a nonchalant voice.

“It’s not important to reach the Supreme level. You may have boasted about creating a more powerful sword technique, but you have lost the pure white sword essence unique to the Bota Temple. You haven’t become stronger, you’ve just become more impure.”

“……!!”

“Putting wings on a tiger’s back is only a weakness for a four-legged beast that can’t even flap its wings properly, it can never be a boast. Have you not realized that even after reaching that level?”

Bloodshot veins appeared in Gong Yeo’s eyes.

“What do you know! Do you think I wanted to learn this martial art…?!”

Swoosh! Boom!

“Ugh!”

The descending Dragon Binding Chain shattered her collarbone.

It felt like being hit by a long iron rod. The shock that spread throughout her body made it feel like every joint was dislocated.

“I don’t want to hear the foolish ramblings of a loser.”

Gong Yeo shouted.

“My successor will come to kill you!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t spare anyone tainted by the Demonic Cult, so prepare to torment your disciples in the afterlife.”

Boom!

Gong Yeo’s body, struck by the Mad Dragon Blade, was split diagonally.

Swoosh.

Bu Seon, who had approached unnoticed, asked with a slightly weary face.

“Is it over?”

“No. There will be more. If I were to flee, they would have set up a pursuit team to chase and kill me to the end.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong slowly moved his neck.

The cracking sound was chilling.

“I’ll kill that pursuit team too and return. Help me out, Junior Sister.”