Chapter 1624 – 1624. The Plum Blossom Sword Master Reincarnated Into The Baek Family
The pure white temple door opened.
A powerful chill that made my whole body tremble escaped from the door. Glancing at the floor, I saw it was frozen. The inside of the temple was a glacial zone itself. If you breathed out, it would immediately freeze and fall to the ground.
I reflexively checked on Elena. She was shivering slightly. Compared to her incredible illusion magic, her physical abilities weren’t that great. This level of cold could be dangerous for her.
I took off my cloak and put it on Elena. She smiled.
“Thank you. You’re not completely devoid of manners.”
“If it’s not enough, I can give you other clothes.”
“This cloak is enough. It doesn’t seem like an ordinary cloak, though?”
“It’s sturdier than other cloaks.”
The inside of the temple wasn’t as big as I had imagined. The interior was filled with walls and pillars covered in an unknown language. Even though I didn’t know the content, it felt solemn. And the cold continued to flow below my knees.
“Hey. What do the letters on the walls and pillars mean? What’s written there?”
Gargara only turned his head to look at the pillars and walls. Then he shrugged.
“I don’t know either. There are letters that demons use, but these are different. These letters seem to be created directly by the Demon King. He might have created the language itself.”
“Created a language? Is there really a need to go that far?”
“How would I know what’s going on in the head of a demon trying to become a god? Come to think of it, the Demon King was very interested in artistic things. Ah, look over there. That’s a painting the Demon King drew himself.”
What Gargara pointed at was a painting hanging in the corner of the temple. It was a landscape painting of black mountains and a gray sky. I wasn’t particularly interested in art, but I could tell it was well-drawn.
“The Demon King was unique. Usually, demons don’t enjoy things like art.”
“Then what do demons enjoy?”
“It varies from demon to demon. Groma, that demon of explosions, enjoys causing explosions. When I saw him before, he was playing around by detonating demonic beasts.”
“What do you enjoy?”
“I enjoy doing nothing. Hmm. We’ve arrived.”
Gargara, who had stopped, swung his arm at the empty air. The space split open, and a new scene came into view.
In the center was a being with a body made of ice. It must be a demon. Demons often have unique appearances. On either side of this being were demons trapped in ice. Including the ice demon, there were a total of nine demons.
The ice demon opened its mouth.
“Gargara. You are betraying your own kind.”
“Kaisa. Since when have demons had such a strong sense of kinship that they talk about betrayal?”
“So, you’re going to side with humans? Are you going to offer up your own kind to humans and save yourself? Gargara. That human has no intention of letting you live. He’s already preparing to kill you. Can’t you feel the human’s malice?”
Since it seemed like I was already exposed, I openly harbored murderous intent. My hand was on the hilt of the Hwaryeon Bido, waiting for the right moment to draw it.
“Look at this human. Isn’t he more demonic than a demon? If I die at this human’s hands… well, I guess it can’t be helped. Because this human who killed me will kill the Demon King as well.”
“You’ve been consumed by revenge and your mind has gone strange.”
“I’ve been trapped for thousands of years. Even for a demon who enjoys doing nothing… try doing nothing for thousands of years. It wouldn’t be strange to go crazy.”
“I’ll give you one last chance. If you sincerely apologize, the Demon King will forgive you.”
“Kaisa. I made my decision thousands of years ago.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Cold air surged around Kaisa. Gargara moved quickly. He used his power of severance to block the cold head-on.
“You! I’ll block the cold! Quickly deal with Kaisa! Kaisa is trying to release the frozen demons! If all those demons wake up, even you won’t be able to win! Move quickly!”
I drew my sword and stabbed Gargara in the back.
“Don’t order me around.”
“Keuk! Don’t, don’t do something stupid! I’m helping you right now!”
“I never asked for your help. Your role was to guide me. You’ve done your job.”
Before he could use his power to retaliate, I swung my sword upwards. The Hwaryeon Bido split Gargara’s head open. Brain matter fell to the floor and froze solid upon contact with the cold.
“Gargara…. What a foolish end.”
“Kaisa, was it? You’re next.”
“You’re too late. The two of you can’t handle all of us.”
Kaisa spread his hands. Crack! The ice encasing the demons began to crack.
“Now, rise! The Demon King’s enemies are before you! Kill them!”
The ice shattered, and the demons opened their eyes.
And then the demons were trapped in the ice again.
“What…?”
Kaisa was bewildered. I walked towards the nearest demon and swung the Hwaryeon Bido. The demon’s body was split in half along with the ice.
“Rise! The Demon King’s enemies are before you! Hurry!”
Crack, crack, crack!
The ice shattered again.
The demons were still trapped in the ice.
Kaisa, witnessing the impossible scene, involuntarily took a step back.
Lightning Heaven Style (雷天流) Lightning Gang Blade (雷罡刃).
A flash of light. Two more demons were split in half.
“What, what is going on?! Rise! Hurry!”
Kaisa shouted. A storm of cold swept through the area.
The ice broke, and it seemed like the demons were moving, but they were already trapped in the ice again.
It wasn’t like time was being reversed. It was a sense of incongruity, as if time had been cut, the process removed, and only the result inserted.
I took advantage of the gap and killed three demons. Now, all that was left was Kaisa and the two demons on either side.
“Cough.”
Elena coughed. Blood spurted from her mouth and fell to the floor. The blood froze before it even touched the ground.
“Hmm. I’m reaching my limit.”
Elena said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as if nothing was wrong. Her complexion was as pale as a dying person, but there was no fear of death to be found.
“You! It was you…!”
“Did you notice? You’re more oblivious than I thought.”
Flutter, flutter.
Blue butterflies flew gracefully through the space. The butterflies were completely unaffected by the cold.
“I don’t know what tricks you’ve used, but if you weren’t here!”
The cold concentrated on Elena. The cold began to freeze Elena’s legs instantly. Even as she was being trapped in the ice, Elena didn’t panic.
“So, this is what it feels like to be frozen alive. It’s so cold that my head is buzzing.”
I swung the Hwaryeon Bido. I couldn’t just throw away the opportunity Elena had given me.
Clang!
The ice shattered, and the demon died. Two demons remained.
“That’s it! Now you’re the only one left. Without that woman, someone like you is….”
The ice demon closed his mouth. He looked behind me with a horrified expression.
Tap.
Elena walked to my side. There was no sign of illness in her, who had used complete recovery. Her pale face was full of life.
“Yujin. I’ll take care of the ice.”
“Do it.”
I ignored Kaisa and approached the demon trapped in ice. I stabbed the ice with a sword imbued with an aura blade. The ice was quite hard, so it didn’t go in at once. It slowly dug into the ice and pierced the demon’s heart.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Kaisa’s scream echoed through the temple. Kaisa sat on the floor, clutching his head with both hands and struggling.
“Don’t come! Don’t come!!”
The cold that had filled the space disappeared. The ice demon’s body began to melt. The floor was already soaked with water.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The ice demon struggled. He spewed cold air at the empty air.
I approached Elena.
“What did you do?”
“I slightly manipulated their minds when their mental resistance dropped. Unlike the hard ice, their minds were as fragile as glass. Judging by the looks of it, that Demon King guy seems to have weakened their minds. Is it called gaslighting? He messed with their minds to make them easier to use.”
The ice demon, who had been struggling, completely melted into a puddle of water.
“You’ve killed all the demons. Is it over now?”
Elena asked, stretching. I looked at the ceiling. The ceiling was also covered in unknown letters. I didn’t like it.
Thump, thump, thump!
A meteor sword fell from the sky, destroying the temple.
“Now, I have to kill the Demon King.”
The magic stone gate far away came into view.
• • •
Using the magic stone gate, Elena and I escaped the ruined demon realm.
We entered the space where the Demon King and the Yuria were fighting. As soon as I came out, I narrowed my eyes as I grasped the situation. I thought that even if they couldn’t defeat the Demon King, the Yuria would have the advantage. The Demon King, who had lost a large amount of power, wasn’t a big threat.
But the battle situation I saw was different.
The Demon King’s body, Kyle, was lying on the floor with his right arm missing, and a black dragon was flying wildly in the air, fighting the Yuria.
‘That black dragon… could it be Leosio?’
The red dragon Leosio was nowhere to be seen. The black dragon was similar in size and appearance to Leosio.
The black dragon flapped its large wings and flew freely through the sky, which was filled with impure mana.
“Hey! Don’t just stand there, help us!”
Sharnel shouted at me.
Just then, the black dragon inhaled. Yuria tried to block it with shadow chains, but the black dragon flew through the sky, dodging the attack.
Floy was lying on the ground, unconscious. More than half of her armor was broken.
“Lady Priscilla! Please create a barrier!”
“It’s too late! It’s impossible to defend perfectly! Come here! We need to minimize the defense area and focus on defense!”
Yuria was fighting head-on, and Priscilla was protecting her from behind. They were so focused on the battle that they didn’t even notice I had arrived.
I looked at Sharnel. Now that I looked closely, she was bleeding from her ears, nose, and mouth.
“Elena. Help the Yuria.”
“Helping isn’t difficult.”
The black dragon spewed out black breath. Elena used her power, and the breath that was falling down changed direction and shot upwards. The black dragon, hit by the breath, flew through the air as if nothing had happened.
-Damn it. Why did the breath suddenly go up the other way?!
-Leosio! It’s him! He’s back from the demon realm!
“Meteor Sword.”
A giant sword with lightning was created in the sky. I controlled the meteor sword with telekinesis. The black dragon escaped at high speed.
It was useless. The meteor sword chased it to the end and plunged its blade into its back.
-Kuaaaaaaak!
