CH 243

[Guardian of the Silent Forest]

[Sword King, Sungmuk]

Standing at 190 centimeters tall, Sungmuk was considered tall even by human standards, let alone among the orc species. Moreover, he had a strong physical frame and impressive agility, so he gave off a very different impression than other ordinary orcs.

After brushing away the users, Sungmuk closed his eyes and meditated.

He obtained the title of Sword King after mastering Plum Blossom Swordsmanship, reaching the 12th stage in the technique; however, since then, he had entered a period of stagnation and was unable to develop further.

Of course, relatively speaking, it was already a great achievement that he even reached the 12th stage after just ten years of training. Most practitioners of the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship never even made it to the 10th stage, no matter how much they trained. However, Sungmuk himself didn’t consider this achievement as anything special because he had devoted his entire life, all waking hours and even meditating in his sleep, in developing the technique over the past 10 years.

“… Hmm?”

Sungmuk, who was just about to fall into a deep state of meditation, suddenly opened his eyes.

And when he grabbed his Divine Red Sparrow Sword and circulated internal energy throughout his entire body, the space in front of him shuddered and opened, as if it had been waiting for this moment all along.

Flash!

“Woah! Why is the teleportation so rough? I protected my body with monster power, but I still feel like I’m going to throw up,” Miho complained.

“Oh, really? But Arc doesn’t seem to mind…” Merlin replied.

“It’s not that bad,” Arc commented.

“Ugh. Alright, sorry.”

From the empty space, three users, one man and two women, appeared. Along with the three users was an eagle with red feathers and a cat with blackish-blue fur.

The eagle and cat were Merlin and Arc’s pet respectively. Miho, who previously existed in DIO’s world as an NPC, had been resurrected in the real world, so now, she was re-entering DIO as a user.

“I haven’t seen you in a while… Irregular.”

“Huh? Wait, you knew that about me? Did you know all along?”

“You’re quite famous amongst [us].”

Seeing Sungmuk nodding his head calmly, Merlin took a step forward with a sense of satisfaction.

“Ah, then… I’ve made a good choice. Actually, I came here to…”

Flash!

However, what greeted Merlin was a flash of light and a suffocating fragrance of plum blossoms. Sungmuk had unfolded his attack as if it was natural to do so.

Boom!

Above Merlin’s robe was a text box that read, [Extreme Reinforced EX 18 Layers]. Immediately after Sungmuk launched his attack, layers of defensive barriers appeared and blocked Sungmuk’s plum blossom attack.

The plum blossom attack was powerful enough to tear through 8 defensive barrier layers of Merlin’s robe at once, but the attack wasn’t strong enough to reach and actually affect Merlin’s robe, which left Merlin untouched.

Merlin raised his right hand while his barriers operated, and once he raised his hand, a wave of his magic power emanated from the blue diamond embedded in the back of his hand. The blue diamond was proof that he had reached the 7th Stage, just below Zero Shining, the ultimate stage of the Seven Jewel School of Magic.

“Cry! Thunder!”

Rumble.

“…!”

Along with a heavy roar, a thunderbolt so thick that it could be clearly seen, even in the current daylight, struck down on Sungmuk.

It was an attack with an overwhelming current and voltage, enough to turn even a thousand-year-old tree into a heap of ash at once, but surprisingly, a purple light, which arose from Sungmuk’s body, completely blocked and deflected the thunderbolt attack.

“Ooh. Body Strengthening Self-Defense Technique. And if I’m not mistaken, amongst the Body Strengthening Self-Defense Technique, you’re utilizing Purple Mist Singular Qi.”

Singular Qi was a completely different concept from Strong Qi. It was a result that could only come about in the realm of martial arts through rigorous and constant martial arts research and development, and it only arose when one completed a concept to the limit. In other words, Singular Qi was a power that only existed in the pure martial arts world.

It was an achievement that neared the transcendent realm.

A Grand Master’s Strong Qi was a kind of authority that was obtained when three abilities, [Basic Mana Control], [Absolute Mana Dominance], and [Synchronization with All Things] were completed. This completion gave the Grand Master a form of authority over something.

The Grand Master’s Strong Qi was an ultimate force that interfered not only with all matter that existed in the world, but also with [conceptual] elements, such as time and space.

On the other hand, rather than being a form of authority, Singular Qi was closer to the pinnacle crystallization of martial arts that many practitioners obtained at the end of dozens, hundreds, or even a thousand years of research and training.

Though Singular Qi was considered a lower-level power, incomparable to the mighty power of Strong Qi, which was considered a god’s authority, this lower-level Singular Qi was considered the strongest power within its level, as it possessed exceptional cutting power and other special effects. Singular Qi was definitely not something one could easily ignore.

Singular Qi was a concept like modern computers, nuclear weapons, and rockets, which were created through discoveries from numerous past studies, hypotheses, and experiments and the data that was accrued over time. So even if one wasn’t a great genius, if one went through a training method that had been handed down, and one was at a level to absorb and understand such learnings, one could obtain the concept. Actually, simply being a genius wasn’t enough to acquire this form of concept.

In fact, amongst the newly-entered transcendent beings, if a transcendent being wasn’t originally from a civilization where martial arts had developed, there were many cases where the transcendent being didn’t know about the existence of Singular Qi.

Of course, if one already reached the transcendent realm, Singular Qi, a relatively low-leveled martial art power, would not have much meaning…

Anyway, Sungmuk was using such a power right now.

“Wow, you’re great. In the past, I felt like you were somewhat using it, but it seems like you’ve completely mastered it now. Is it your completed product?”

“Oho. So, you’re now judging me, huh?”

Sungmuk smirked. When he did, the orc species’ unique long fangs showed their menacing appearance.

“Oh, wait. I’m not here to fight you.”

“I’m sorry, but we are beings who exist to fight opponents like you!!”

Sungmuk became one with his sword and rushed like lightning towards Merlin.

The killing intent Sungmuk exuded was thick and heavy, so Merlin couldn’t help but deal with Sungmuk’s attack seriously.

Moreover, in truth, Sungmuk’s internal energy and his swordsmanship skill were beyond the state of transcendence.

“I was going to have Eunhye deal with him for training purposes, but… it seems I’ve made a huge miscalculation.”

A quick look at bit.ly/3iBfjkV will leave you more fulfilled.

Surprisingly, Sungmuk was developing at a faster rate than most users, who received all kinds of assistance from the DIO system.

Of course, now that Sungmuk had recently entered a lull in his development, he’d be blocked by a wall for the foreseeable future, perhaps even being stuck forever at his current level; still, considering that Sungmuk was a monster, his startling growth speed was still surprising for Merlin.

Whoosh!

The Plum Blossom Swordsmanship, which had become so famous that there was no user who didn’t recognize the skill’s name, unfolded in front of Merlin. Countless plum blossom petals swirled around like snowflakes blowing in the wind, and the visual scene was accompanied by a strong scent of plum blossoms, which seemed to suffocate one’s mind and make one feel dizzy.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The individual plum blossom petals seemed exceedingly light and airy, but the power and force contained in each plum blossom petal was strong enough to pierce any modern composite armor and was as heavy as a giant stone.

The +11 Robe of Protection, a reinforced defensive item that was currently up for sale in the Exchange Center for tens of billions of gold, would have lost all its defensive abilities and be rendered useless in an instant after sustaining Sungmuk’s current attack.

“But still…”

Merlin was unconcerned. Even though the attack was so ferocious that a normal user would be torn to pieces at once, Merlin calmly stepped forward and raised his right hand as if he wasn’t going against anything special.

“You need to learn how to hold a conversation with others.”

Ting!

Responding to Merlin’s spirit, the Golden Pill Immortal Technique awakened Merlin’s dantian. Soon, 50 years of internal energy was injected into Merlin’s inner world.

The internal energy of 50 years was amplified to a 100, 200, 400, and then 800 years after it passed through Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

800 years of internal energy.

A whopping 13 cycles and then some… this amount of internal energy, which was being exerted in a single blow, was unheard of for martial artists. Even the self-destruct technique, Explosive Demonic Art, which was used to explode one’s internal energy but take away one’s life, didn’t come close in output.

Rumble!

The space undulated as if a stone was thrown into a calm lake, causing the entire surface to ripple.

Although Merlin’s ultimate hand skill, Irrational Hand Strike, did not have the ability to interfere with space, simple yet overwhelming physical force could affect higher concepts when its destructive power went beyond a certain limit.

“Dang it… ugh… I feel sick inside every time I see this technique. It’s strong enough to break down the entire field and study of martial arts itself.”

Merlin’s pet, Quiet Heaven, who was sitting on Arc’s shoulder armor, grumbled as it braced itself so that it wouldn’t be swept away from the aftershock of Merlin’s attack.

The only reason Quiet Heaven was able to remain calm and cool-headed was because Quiet Heaven had seen Merlin’s amplification attack several times in the past, but Miho’s reaction was a little more intense.

“Oh, my God!! You’re able to release such ridiculous destructive power without any preparation or process… Hey, bird brain… am I hallucinating right now?”

“Hey, wait just a minute! Who are you calling bird brain?”

“Huh? But you’re a bird, so you have a bird brain…”

“!!”

Miho, who was taken aback by the absurd unfolding sight, soon argued with Quiet Heaven. All the while, Arc used magic to collect data.

Arc’s pet, Ellie, who was next to Arc, muttered in disgust.

“I’ve heard many things about Irregulars… Irregular this, Irregular that… but this is just absurd. It’s more than great… it’s terrifying.”

“Merlin has always been like that. He’s always been able to do the unimaginable with ease. He… really is great. Whenever I see things like this, it makes me want to change my baseline cultivation technique.”

However, Arc knew that changing her cultivation technique wouldn’t allow her to do the things that Merlin could do.

For any normal mage, the principles of Golden Pill Immortal Technique, which sought the crystallization of Genuine Qi, couldn’t coexist with the use of magic power, as the metamorphosis of one’s Genuine Qi was considered dangerous for a magic user.

Moreover, even if one practiced No Living World, most practitioners would only be able to create one planet. Even if one trained and achieved to the ultimate degree, the second planet was the limit.

“Ugh…”

Surprisingly, Sungmuk, who faced the mighty hand skill strike head-on, was still alive after the attack.

Merlin’s overwhelming hand strike couldn’t be avoided, so Sungmuk had utilized his Singular Qi and a Plum Blossom Swordsmanship grafting illusion skill to barely sustain himself against the strike.

But, of course, it was impossible for him to avoid any injury.

Both his arms as well as his shoulder blades were smashed in, and his right leg, which had landed on the ground, was also crushed. Actually, there was nothing left below his right knee cap.

The internal energy that had powerfully circulated, like the mighty Yellow River, throughout his entire body instantly evaporated from Merlin’s single strike. This caused Sungmuk’s internal energy, which normally couldn’t be used in [such a way], to be used to muster a defense against Merlin’s hand strike.

If this place had been a martial arts world rather than a virtual one, Sungmuk would have been unable to use internal energy ever again.