Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 614

‘Those are the ones.’

Moyong Gun, Hwang Seok-tae, and the Black Blood Unit arrived at a side path in the inner garden leading to the family head’s residence.

And there, Moyong Gun sensed it.

A massive group was approaching at a terrifying speed from the opposite end of the path.

Moyong Gun frowned.

‘It’s more than I imagined.’

It was different from when he vaguely sensed it with his senses. The difference in power that he felt on his skin was immense.

‘At this level…’

There were two transcendent masters and about fifty peak masters.

With that level of power, they had nothing to fear. Moyong Gun himself could handle three or four ordinary transcendent masters, and Hwang Seok-tae’s level of mastery and combat ability were also formidable.

On top of that, they had the Black Blood Unit, which was specialized in defense. Numerically, they were at an advantage.

Nevertheless, Moyong Gun felt an inexplicable unease.

And Hwang Seok-tae felt the same.

‘Family Head Moyong.’

‘You felt it too?’

‘Yes.’

Hwang Seok-tae frowned.

‘This fight might be more difficult than we thought.’

It was the intuition of a leader of an elite frontline unit who fought on the front lines.

Moyong Gun looked at Dang Byeong-chan, the first squad leader of the Black Blood Unit.

‘Prepare yourselves. This will be a difficult fight.’

Dang Byeong-chan didn’t take Moyong Gun’s words lightly.

He spoke to the Black Blood Unit.

‘Everyone, deploy the Black Blood Protective Formation.’

Swish.

They moved silently to the left and right, forming a formation.

It was a quiet but sharp energy. Moyong Gun inwardly nodded.

‘They’re well-trained.’

Their numbers had decreased significantly due to Dang Gwan and Yeon Ho-jeong’s actions, but they still showed the appearance of an elite unit.

Perhaps they were even stronger and more solid than when Dang Sa-beon commanded them. Back then, the Black Blood Unit was practically a suicide squad. That kind of tactic didn’t suit the Black Blood Unit.

‘Still.’

Moyong Gun’s hand touched his sword hilt.

‘It would be best to break their spirit from the start.’

He didn’t know the source of this unease.

An unknown unease could always introduce variables into a battle. Moyong Gun realized that he had to approach this battle with extreme caution.

After a while.

Whoosh!

From an unseen place, he felt that the approaching group had stopped moving.

‘……’

Moyong Gun felt a chill run down his spine.

‘They stopped all at once?’

He couldn’t see them, but he could hear them. He could feel them.

They stopped simultaneously, as if they were one body, without anyone giving a command. There was no feeling of the air vibrating with a telepathic message.

They stopped right there, as if they were one body.

Clack.

Hwang Seok-tae’s hand, holding the Red Dragon Spear, tightened.

Moyong Gun opened his mouth.

‘Prepare for battle.’

Whoooosh.

A cool, damp wind swirled between the two forces that couldn’t see each other.

How much time had passed?

Whoom.

Without the sound of movement, only the sound of air being cut through broke the silence.

Moyong Gun’s eyes flashed.

‘What is that?!’

Over fifty black objects were falling in an arc.

Hwang Seok-tae involuntarily shouted.

‘Fire bombs?!’

Boom!

At the same time, the members of the Black Blood Unit fired something as if they had been waiting for it.

Whoosh!

A semi-transparent net flew through the air. It was the Soul-Snatching Fire Net they had used against Dang Gwan.

Six Soul-Snatching Fire Nets completely enveloped the fifty or so black spheres.

At that moment.

KWA-A-A-A-ANG!

The world turned white.

Along with the sound of the fire bombs exploding, a tremendous shockwave engulfed the group.

Moyong Gun was startled.

‘This is bad!’

In that instant, he realized.

‘It’s not a fire bomb?!’

There was an explosion, but it wasn’t a fire bomb.

The shockwave wasn’t caused by the explosion of gunpowder, but by a shockwave from a pure sonic attack.

It was an object that blocked vision with a white light at the moment of explosion and attacked the ears and brain with a sonic attack that swept through the surroundings.

‘This is absurd!’

At that moment, Moyong Gun felt the enemy’s movements rapidly accelerating.

Moyong Gun shouted.

‘Enemy attack!’

Clang! Flash!

With his sword drawn, he unleashed the Heavenly Thunder Unfeeling Style. [A sword style focused on speed and power, using thunder energy.]

He was using his ultimate technique from the start. The merciless sword thunder, empowered by the power of thunder, moved erratically and poured down on the charging enemies.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Several enemies hit by the sword thunder spat out blood and collapsed on the spot.

Moyong Gun was certain. He had taken the lives of at least five with this sword strike.

But the enemies’ movements were much faster than expected.

Thud! Slash!

‘Ugh!’

‘Cough!’

Short, desperate screams.

It was the sound of the enemies who had bypassed Moyong Gun and Hwang Seok-tae in the front, cutting down the Black Blood Unit in the rear.

Sparks flew from Moyong Gun’s eyes.

‘You bastards!’

At that moment, Hwang Seok-tae shouted.

‘Take care of this place! I’ll go!’

Moyong Gun’s thunder energy was an unparalleled technique, but as powerful as it was, it lacked finesse.

If he had aimed in advance, it would have been different, but if he unleashed it carelessly in the midst of a melee, he could end up harming his own allies. That’s why Hwang Seok-tae shouted that he would go.

Moyong Gun didn’t listen to Hwang Seok-tae.

Flash!

Using thunder energy to directly increase the body’s reaction speed, Moyong Gun’s short-distance movement speed seemed faster than Yeon Ho-jeong’s Blood Wing Sky Dance. [A very fast movement technique.]

In an instant, Moyong Gun moved to the rear of the Black Blood Unit and unleashed the Moyong Family’s ultimate technique, the Universe Eighteen Sword Dissection. [A complex and powerful sword technique.]

Chiriririring!

From the destructive thunder energy, a dignified and delicate sword technique dominated the surroundings.

Several dozen streams of sword energy, combined with the sword wind from the intricate sword moves, pushed back over forty enemies at once.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Boom!

It was a terrifying sword technique.

Within the speed of the quick sword that was swung at an invisible speed, a sword principle that transcended the imagination of ordinary people was embedded, stabbing each targeted enemy with a killing blow.

It was an unparalleled, wide-ranging sword technique. Using the Universe Eighteen Sword Dissection with the thunder energy sword technique, it was a dazzling martial art that added power and speed to the original delicate sword technique.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Under Moyong Gun’s terrifying sword technique, most of the enemies were thrown backward.

Two of them died, and three escaped Moyong Gun’s grasp.

Moyong Gun couldn’t chase after those who escaped.

‘Damn it!’

Trickle.

Blood flowed from Moyong Gun’s nose and mouth.

Using explosive thunder energy, he moved at an incredible speed and pushed back the enemies with a vast amount of internal energy, but the aftereffects were considerable.

He was struggling to move for a moment. When exerting great power, there was always a reaction. Moyong Gun involuntarily staggered.

At that moment, Dang Byeong-chan shouted.

‘Scattered Formation Flight!!’

Swish!

Ignoring the enemies in front of them, hundreds of hidden weapons were poured out towards those who had escaped the formation.

The three escaped enemies, two with yellow masks and one with a red mask, each wielded their weapons.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Boom! Boom!

They deflected most of the thrown hidden weapons, but some of them were poison bombs that exploded upon impact.

The three masked men staggered in the thick poison fog.

Dang Byeong-chan shouted.

‘Rear Overlapping Formation!’

Flap! Flap!

About twenty members of the Black Blood Unit retreated again to form a formation.

It was a fast and precise movement. But the number of members who moved was too small.

‘Damn it!’

Dang Byeong-chan drew on his internal energy and tried to correct the abnormalities in his eyes and ears as much as possible.

‘Is there such an absurd fire bomb?!’

It wasn’t a bomb. It was a deadly object that caused abnormalities in the eyes and ears along with the explosion.

He had never heard of such a fire bomb existing in the world. For martial artists with sensitive senses, it was a weapon that could lead to even more fatal results if they were not prepared in advance.

It was a surprise attack that caught them off guard. Dang Byeong-chan moved directly to the rear overlapping formation and watched the yellow-masked and red-masked men.

‘Attack! Pour everything you have!’

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The relatively unharmed members poured out poison and hidden weapons such as Soul-Snatching Fire Nets, Self-Destructing Needles, and Golden Coin Darts.

Flap! Clang!

The red-masked man was formidable, but the two yellow-masked men were definitely great masters.

Even while exposed to poison, they deflected hidden weapons and dispersed the poison fog with weapon techniques that were close to divine skills. It wasn’t just about the moves. They were true masters with top-notch skills in energy techniques as well.

It was then.

Swoosh!

‘Ugh!’

‘Agh!’

The forty or so enemies who had resumed their activity indiscriminately attacked the Black Blood Unit members.

In that short time, the number of dead members exceeded thirty. Moyong Gun was in a state where offense and defense were difficult, and Hwang Seok-tae was engaged in a close battle with one of the yellow-masked men.

Dang Byeong-chan’s eyes wavered.

‘This can’t be!’

A single surprise attack that caught them off guard.

With that one unexpected attack, the confident Black Blood Unit had lost most of its formation and defensive capabilities.

It was no excuse to say that the enemy’s strange fire bomb was an absurd object. But Dang Byeong-chan felt anger and helplessness at the same time. Wasn’t the Black Blood Unit supposed to be able to block anything, no matter how the enemy attacked?

From the confrontation with Dang Gwan to this place, the surprise attack of the demons.

The Black Blood Unit was being helplessly defeated without showing even half of its reputation.

‘Everyone, get a grip! There are enemies in front of you! You must never let them into the family head’s residence!’

At that moment, a yellow-masked man who had broken through the poison fog raised a heavy horse-slaying sword. [A large, powerful sword.]

Terror washed over Dang Byeong-chan’s face.

‘I can’t block it!’

The yellow-masked man coldly swung down his sword.

* * *

‘Ugh!’

The White Masked Man retreated, covering his face.

Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes flashed.

‘What is it?’

He had momentarily seen the White Masked Man’s face behind the shattered mask.

‘……’

Yeon Ho-jeong frowned.

‘A monster?’

It was too brief to confirm properly. Moreover, the White Masked Man covered his face as if it should never be revealed, even at the cost of his wrist being mangled by the axe.

The opponent’s reaction was so unexpected that he missed the timing to launch a follow-up attack.

Yeon Ho-jeong muttered involuntarily.

‘Did he paint his face with gold or something…’

It was then.

Yeon Ho-jeong’s face hardened.

Whoosh!

A storm of demonic energy erupted from the White Masked Man’s body, whose mask had been shattered.

It was a sudden surge of demonic energy. Before the density, the sheer amount was terrifying. The massive demonic energy created a vortex as it was released, shaking even the core of the formation.

Yeon Ho-jeong had never seen such a massive demonic energy before.

‘What is this?!’

With a hardened face, Yeon Ho-jeong readjusted his two axes.

He remembered. The moments when his intuition kept trying to restrain his follow-up attacks every time he tried to finish him off.

Rumble!

The demonic energy emanating from the White Masked Man’s body was truly uncontrollable.

Flash! Flash!

Various parts of the formation began to collapse, emitting a white light.

It wasn’t that he had broken through it like Yeon Ho-jeong or Dang Gwan. The White Masked Man’s alien demonic energy was causing a storm, destroying the formation itself.

To destroy a mysterious formation that could even separate space with just the power of released energy.

This was not something anyone could do. Even Yeon Ho-jeong, who was on the verge of reaching the Limitless Realm, couldn’t destroy a formation just by releasing his internal energy.

What did that mean?

‘It means that his demonic energy is close to that of the Thirteen Seats of the Heavenly Saints!’

Crack!

The uncontrolled demonic energy finally completely destroyed the Soul-Summoning Formation.

Whoooosh!

Even though the formation had collapsed and the original world had returned, the sky was still dark. No, it seemed dark.

The demonic energy that the White Masked Man was creating seemed to be dyeing the world in darkness.

‘So, you’re finally going to cause trouble.’

Yeon Ho-jeong involuntarily distorted his face.

Whoom! Whoom!

A tremendous reverberation came from his voice. Just listening to it made him feel nauseous and his head throbbed.

‘Death is not frightening… but, well, I didn’t expect my fate to end in a place like this.’

The White Masked Man, covering his face with his hand mangled by the axe, shone his eyes.

‘You, you will die now.’

Flash!

The White Masked Man’s fist pierced Yeon Ho-jeong’s abdomen.