Chapter 162
Choi Gang-hyeon looked Seo-jin up and down as he appeared in the heart of the barrier and frowned.
“That aside, how did you get in here?”
The area around the totem was currently protected like an iron fortress by Rei’s shamanic barrier.
Unless he dropped from the sky or popped up from the ground, there was no way to appear inside the barrier that stored the totem.
Seo-jin kept tapping at the protective barrier surrounding the totem with black magic while bantering.
“We have a shaman on our side too. Breaking through barriers isn’t difficult.”
Compared to Rei, Nam-gung Rin lacked both experience and mana, but if she leveraged the attacker’s advantage, this much was possible.
After all, creating a small hole in a defensive barrier was easier than guarding against an enemy who could invade anywhere at any time.
Choi Gang-hyeon shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, doesn’t matter to me.”
Whether shamanism or magic, it was all incomprehensible headache-inducing talk anyway.
“But even if you snuck in like a rat, are you confident you can leave in one piece?”
Entering was one thing, but leaving was a different story.
Now that he’d come in, there was no intention of letting him leave peacefully.
Crack—.
He could spare his life considering the bond they’d formed sweating together during training, but he should give up any thought of walking out unscathed.
To Choi Gang-hyeon’s threat, Seo-jin answered as if it were nothing.
“Whether I leave or not depends on my capabilities.”
“Ho, so you’re confident you can defeat me and get outside?”
“I wouldn’t have come in if I wasn’t confident.”
Clang—!
Simultaneously with Seo-jin’s words, the protective magic guarding the totem completely shattered due to Pasa.
Just as Seo-jin was about to grab the totem after breaking the protective magic.
“Can’t let that happen!”
Wooong—.
A powerful blue aura surrounded the totem like a protective barrier, making it float gently.
Soon the totem flew toward Choi Gang-hyeon’s hand as if being sucked in.
He had protected the totem with a curtain of Gang-qi while simultaneously using Void Grasping.
At a glance he seemed like a muscle-bound brute who only knew strength, but contrary to appearances, this was the Gang-qi manipulation ability befitting a genius who had reached the pinnacle of all warriors.
Of course, that didn’t mean Seo-jin would let the totem be snatched from right under his nose.
[Reverse Heaven Divine Art, Second Form. Grasp.]
Swooosh—.
The Reverse Heaven aura shot out from Seo-jin’s hand.
He directly expelled the burden accumulated in his body while destroying the totem’s protective barrier.
Swooooosh—.
The Reverse Heaven aura that sucked in everything.
It caught the totem flying toward Choi Gang-hyeon’s hand, and the totem soon stopped, suspended in midair.
Creak—.
The totem caught between Choi Gang-hyeon’s Gang-qi and the Reverse Heaven aura Seo-jin emitted, being pulled in both directions.
“……!”
Choi Gang-hyeon’s eyes widened at this phenomenon.
‘The power that bastard just used is closer to martial arts than black magic in its qi manipulation.‘
He’d heard he also had knowledge of martial arts, and indeed it was as Lee Seo-mun had said.
No, forget that for now.
Creak—.
If left like this, the totem caught between the two auras might break.
Choi Gang-hyeon gritted his teeth and raised his aura even more.
“Tch.”
In fact, Seo-jin also didn’t want the totem to break, but Choi Gang-hyeon was completely unaware of this.
Thinking he had to protect the totem from Seo-jin, he added force to the Gang-qi curtain surrounding the totem while shouting.
“As if I’d let it break!”
Kwaaang—.
While making the Gang-qi curtain even thicker, Choi Gang-hyeon stomped his foot powerfully.
His intention was to disrupt Seo-jin’s qi manipulation through the shock.
Seo-jin, immediately recognizing that intent, also moved to respond.
[Reverse Heaven Divine Art, Fourth Form. Reign Step.]
Clang—!
The Reverse Heaven wave that burst from Seo-jin’s toes canceled out the shock Choi Gang-hyeon created.
‘He blocks this while in this state?‘
Choi Gang-hyeon’s eyes shot up at that response.
While competing by emitting each other’s aura, even a minor shock could cause tremendous internal damage.
Yet he could emit aura by stomping his foot while matching him equally in this contest.
Although Choi Gang-hyeon belonged to the Martial Combat Faction, he had never lost to anyone when it came to qi manipulation.
‘External Cultivation and Internal Cultivation are ultimately one.‘
Nothing was achieved by obsessing only over physical strength.
That’s why Choi Gang-hyeon hadn’t neglected training in the flow of internal qi and mental methods either.
Even if he fell short of Sword Star or Divine Spear, who aggressively wielded swords and spears imbued with Gang-qi, he was confident he wouldn’t lose to anyone in a simple qi competition like this.
Who would have thought he’d face off evenly with Supernova.
‘Since it’s come to this.‘
Crack—.
He had no choice but to use his fists.
“……”
Seo-jin gulped seeing Choi Gang-hyeon clench his fist tightly.
‘Is he starting in earnest now?‘
He knew well the power of that fist. He’d been hit by it enough times before regression to be sick of it.
‘At my current level, even one hit would require weeks of recuperation.‘
That was literally a biological weapon.
Just as one wouldn’t think of taking and enduring bullets or blades, that too was the kind of thing that absolutely had to be avoided.
So he wouldn’t allow even a single attack.
Half-baked black magic wouldn’t work on that monster.
He’d use Transcending Heaven True Scripture directly.
[Transcending Heaven True Scripture] [God Binding Knot.]
Kwaaaaaa—!
The god-binding chains that surged from beneath Seo-jin’s feet immediately flew toward Choi Gang-hyeon.
“Hmph.”
Choi Gang-hyeon tried to bounce away the flying chains by strongly radiating qi outward from his body, but.
“……!”
Transcending Heaven True Scripture, not ordinary black magic, wasn’t deflected by that degree of repelling force.
The God Binding chains succeeded in wrapping around Choi Gang-hyeon’s body without any particular interference.
Creak—.
The pressure was so strong that his muscular body trembled.
The fact that it possessed enough power and rank to restrict his movement meant it was no ordinary magic.
“Tch.”
While Choi Gang-hyeon clicked his tongue and tore off the chains one by one with his hands.
Seo-jin tried to remove the Gang-qi curtain wrapped around the totem and pocket it.
At that moment.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Paaang—.
Choi Gang-hyeon thrust his fist toward Seo-jin.
Although it wasn’t very powerful since he hadn’t finished tearing off all the chains, there wasn’t a single waver in that strike.
It had no technique name.
He simply thrust his fist powerfully just as he’d always trained.
[Straight Punch.]
Flash—.
A brilliant light along with fist wind burst from his fist tip and engulfed Seo-jin.
“Kuk.”
Seo-jin flew backward, pushed by the explosive wind pressure.
It wasn’t even a direct hit from the fist, just being pushed by the wind pressure, yet even that alone felt like his bones were rattling in all directions.
Following that.
[Foot Stomp.]
Teoreong—.
When Choi Gang-hyeon stomped his foot, powerful aura exploded beneath Seo-jin’s feet and engulfed him.
Pat—.
Seo-jin hurriedly used footwork to dodge the attack, but couldn’t avoid the follow-up attack.
[Hand Clap.]
Chaaak—.
Having torn off more of God Binding Knot at some point, Choi Gang-hyeon clapped powerfully, emitting a powerful shockwave.
The powerful vibration that burst from his two hands and shook everything around.
An intense pain that felt like it might burst his eardrums violently rattled his head.
“Kuk.”
This was a type of attack that dominated space itself, an unavoidable and unblockable strike.
An ordinary mage wouldn’t be able to endure even this level of attack and would lose consciousness.
If Seo-jin hadn’t invested quite a lot of stats in stamina, he too would have fainted, unable to endure it.
Barely pulling himself together, Seo-jin pounded his deafened ears with his hand and gritted his teeth.
‘This bastard.‘
He’d tried to quietly just steal the totem, but it seemed that was no longer possible.
Since it had come to this, let’s see who would regret it more.
[Heaven’s Thunder]
Seo-jin shot lightning toward Choi Gang-hyeon, who hadn’t finished tearing off all of God Binding Knot.
Crackle—!
“Kruk.”
Choi Gang-hyeon gritted his teeth against the powerful lightning striking his entire body.
No matter how much that bastard’s durability had reached the transcendent realm, he’d been hit by Heaven’s Thunder, so it must sting quite a bit.
Seo-jin raised his mana again and emitted Transcending Heaven True Scripture.
[Transcending Heaven True Scripture] [Thunder Cloud Destroys Heaven]
Hwaaak—.
His vision turned white.
Dense thunder clouds formed underground.
According to nature’s providence this could never happen, but under Seo-jin’s guidance, a miracle unfolded in this underground space.
Soon lightning began to rage from the mana particles that filled the small cavern.
Crackle—! Crackle—!
Choi Gang-hyeon instinctively sensed the magic’s danger and spat out curses.
“You crazy bastard! Are you trying to collapse the entire Great Cavity?!”
“If you don’t like it, block it with your body.”
Seo-jin twisted the corner of his mouth.
If there was one advantage to the crazy act of crawling into the heart of enemy territory.
‘The one who has to control their power isn’t me, but the other side.‘
Moreover, they also had to handle all the aftermath.
Since Choi Gang-hyeon was pouring out his aura to firmly protect the totem, Seo-jin cast magic freely without worrying whether the totem might break.
Kwaaaa—!
Soon, the lightning storm that had once turned a deep valley into flatland burst toward Choi Gang-hyeon.
“Krut.”
Choi Gang-hyeon operated his qi cultivation with full power to block the destructive lightning that seemed ready to collapse the cave at any moment.
[Great Polarity Evolution.]
Wooong—.
Yin-yang aura rose behind his back and enveloped the lightning aura striking in all directions.
Thanks to that, Thunder Cloud Destroys Heaven’s power was greatly reduced.
Kugugung—.
The cave shook precariously as if about to collapse, but it didn’t completely cave in.
Cough—.
However, unable to fully receive that power, blood soon trickled down Choi Gang-hyeon’s lips.
Choi Gang-hyeon knelt right there.
Seo-jin took advantage of that gap to grab the totem and flee.
“See you next time then.”
Pat—.
[Y-you cannot… leave.]
At that moment, a voice echoed through Seo-jin’s mind.
It was Rei’s voice, who had been watching Seo-jin and Choi Gang-hyeon’s battle through divine power while supporting the cave with shamanism to prevent its collapse.
Simultaneously with that voice, talismans flew toward Seo-jin.
Pyeong—.
The talismans exploded with smoke, and from within appeared giant foxes that looked like they were made of folded paper.
These were Shikigami, which shamans commanded like summoned creatures.
But when it came to summoned creature battles, Seo-jin was also confident.
“Go, Baduki.”
Pyeong—.
Seo-jin also summoned Baduki to counter the Shikigami.
Grrrr—!
Kyiiing—.
The fox Shikigami’s momentum faltered at Baduki’s skill [Intimidation].
The Shikigami’s rank dropped and their overall level decreased.
Moreover.
‘Baduki’s motif is a dog.‘
Perhaps because it was a wolf form that foxes fear, they didn’t dare resist.
Grrrr—.
While Baduki rampaged, tearing apart and trampling the fox Shikigami.
Pat—.
Seo-jin slid along a tunnel Baduki had dug in advance.
Just as Nam-gung Cheon and Francesca had infiltrated earlier, he’d dug an underground tunnel in advance to secure a retreat route.
Swooooosh—.
Seo-jin moved through the tunnel like riding a water slide, his body wrapped in mana.
‘According to plan.‘
If he safely reached the allied Great Cavity like this, everything would be perfect.
At the end of this tunnel, allies including Nam-gung Cheon would be waiting, so once he regrouped with them, he could easily shake off any pursuit force chasing him.
‘Now only one totem remains—the one Ju Won-jae has.‘
Once he obtained that, this test would also be over.
Just as Seo-jin was returning to headquarters with a light heart.
‘……!’
Kwaaang—!
Something dangerous appeared in Seo-jin’s Future Sight.
The tunnel being crushed. Sharp sword energy rushing toward Seo-jin’s neck along with falling rock debris.
Instinctively sensing the threat of death, Seo-jin hurriedly deployed defensive magic.
[Transcending Heaven True Scripture] [Severance.]
A magic barrier that severed dimensions, wrapping around Seo-jin’s front.
Claaaang—!
Simultaneously, azure sword energy poured onto that barrier causing a tremendous explosion.
Kwaaaa—!
The tunnel passage collapsed due to the explosion’s aftermath.
Seo-jin could no longer advance and was buried in rocks and piles of earth.
‘Damn it, this…‘
Crack—.
Seo-jin manipulated the Wall of Severance to secure space and stood up from his position.
And from beyond that collapsed space.
Step—.
A man revealed himself.
“Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
