Duo: Digesting Demonic Energy
As if teleporting—or using a clone technique—Seowoon vanished the instant the Heavenly Demon's hand pierced through the skin of his back, leaving only his form sitting on the railing.
—Sshlaaak!
With a sharp sound ripping through the air, the Heavenly Demon's hand sliced through the spot where Seowoon had just been.
At the same time, as the Heavenly Demon tilted his head upward, the massive nose of an airplane was plummeting down.
He raised his palm toward the falling plane, and a vast magic circle unfurled around his hand. A dark void opened with a flash of blue light.
The airplane was sucked into the hole and vanished as if swallowed.
—KWA-AANG! KWAKWAKWANG! KWANG!
Soon, not far off, fire erupted into the sky. A thunderous explosion echoed across the surroundings.
The plane that had vanished into the rift from his hand reappeared in an entirely different location and detonated.
"…"
The Heavenly Demon gazed silently at the tip of his finger, unfazed by the massive explosion shaking the city.
A touch of thick blood stained the end of his fingertip.
As the paralysis lifted, Won Yeongshin merged with the Heavenly Demon, silently approaching the man who continued to stare regretfully at his own hand.
Stroking the middle dantian where Won Yeongshin had entered, the man twisted his lips into a smirk.
"You're a fun one."
Never had he imagined that someone could absorb his Won Yeongshin.
The slightly lacking energy of the spirit was instantly replenished through his Baihui point.
"Found you!"
—BOOM!
The Heavenly Demon's brow furrowed as he savored the lingering impression left by his brief encounter with Seowoon.
The man who appeared, shaking the entire building, wore only leather armor that left most of his bulky upper body exposed, as if flaunting it.
With long black hair tied back and a giant axe—far too large to be called a hand axe—held in one hand, the brown-skinned man grinned as he looked at the Heavenly Demon.
It almost gave the illusion that a deep friendship filled his gaze, like he was meeting an old friend.
If not for the murderous auras radiating from both of their bodies, one could easily be fooled.
"You never get tired of showing up, do you, Baatar?"
When they had first met, Baatar had been like some barbarian outcast from that world—despised even by its knights and mages.
All he had was brute strength and blind aggression. In their first game, he was the only one who had swung an axe at the Heavenly Demon without fear.
That courage was memorable enough for the Heavenly Demon to remember his name.
Ever since then, whenever they crossed paths in the game, Baatar would charge in without understanding the situation.
Despite the clear disparity in strength, Baatar would always attack. The Heavenly Demon simply thought him to be an especially dimwitted fool.
Eventually, Baatar disappeared. The Heavenly Demon figured he had either dropped out or their ranks had grown too far apart.
But at some point, the fool reappeared.
Perhaps he had figured out the Heavenly Demon's tendencies—he began encountering the brute every time he played solo.
The dumb oaf who once only had strength had somehow clawed his way up in this world. Now he had skills and came prepared.
And that began to irritate the Heavenly Demon.
No matter how painfully he was killed, no matter how overwhelming the power difference, Baatar would always grin and say, "Next time."
It was as if the word give up didn't exist in the man's brain.
At some point, the Heavenly Demon had stopped confronting him altogether, especially since Baatar always showed up when survival zones were involved.
He had grown oddly fond of the idiot after killing him so many times. Sometimes, he even felt a strange attachment he didn't want to acknowledge.
And yet Baatar still sought him out, always saying the same thing:
"We Sisle don't pick our opponents."
"I've heard that line at least a hundred times."
—WHOOOSH!
A fierce aura surged around Baatar as he smiled with bloodlust.
Then, extending his body, Baatar charged.
—KWAAANG!
The rooftop section where they collided exploded with a roar and collapsed.
***
Meanwhile…
"Gghk!"
—Ting! The Cloak of Stealth cannot fully conceal the wearer's presence.
Along with the alert, a dark, oily aura began to rise near Seowoon's shoulder.
—THUMP!
When it struck the outer wall of the subway tunnel, the entire station rumbled low.
"Ughhh…"
Though he had mostly healed the severed meridians in his waist with a recovery scroll, the burning pain in his blood vessels was unbearable. Seowoon twisted in agony.
When he grabbed his left arm with his right hand, a sound he didn't want to hear came from it.
—Crunch!
He even considered tearing the arm off to end the pain—that's how bad it was.
"That wasn't spiritual energy… it was demonic!"
Seowoon grit his teeth and continued trying to suppress the rampaging demonic energy coursing through his body.
He had never imagined that the essence of Won Yeongshin would be made of demonic energy.
He had made a fatal mistake.
"After reading all those wuxia novels…"
He had heard the name Heavenly Demon and still didn't make the connection. It was his fault.
"Enlightened demon, my ass! Everything returns to origin, huh?!"
Believing that nonsense about a "detached demon" state had been his greatest mistake.
Spiritual energy and demonic energy were as incompatible as water and oil—there was no harmony to be found.
If there was a silver lining, it was that he could suppress his spiritual energy with willpower before it reacted violently to the demonic energy.
Even so, just the demonic energy alone was agonizing. If his spiritual energy had started rampaging too, it would've meant game over—and life over—in both worlds.
Steadying his convulsing body, Seowoon managed to sit in a cross-legged position and tried desperately to calm the surging demonic energy.
For some reason, the demonic energy only circulated to his left side. He tried coaxing it gently, even attempted to forcibly subdue it with his inner energy, but nothing worked.
As the rampaging demonic energy began damaging his meridians, his spiritual energy finally started to stir as well.
"Damn it! I'm really going to die like this…"
If he was going to die anyway, he figured he might as well try to expel the cursed demonic energy before he went.
So, he began deliberately summoning his spiritual energy.
"Damn you, demonic energy! Damn you, Heavenly Demon!"
Inside that small human body, two forces began to rage and clash.
–Boom! Boom! Boom!
It sounded like explosions were going off right inside his ears, and each time, his body twitched and jolted.
As if fighting recklessly without a care, strangely, the pain that had tormented him began to subside, and a bizarre sense of pleasure started to rise.
'Am I going crazy?'
They say if you damage the Baihui point, you lose your mind. As the two energies fought, Seowoon began to wonder if that's what had happened to him.
After clashing again and again, the two forces began to narrow their battlefield down into the middle dantian.
Like water and oil, they didn't mix—but they continued to fight, gradually settling in place. Eventually, the two energies took up positions within the middle dantian, like the pattern of the Taiji symbol.
"Amazing."
At Namsagwang's voice, Seowoon's body dropped to the floor.
–Thud!
As if he had been levitating, Seowoon hit the ground the moment he regained consciousness and quickly sat up, brushing off his backside.
"When did you get here?"
"Three days ago."
Seowoon's eyes widened, staring at Namsagwang in disbelief.
"When I arrived, you were already floating mid-air, looking like some sage about to ascend to immortality. What happened? What kind of miraculous encounter did you have…?"
To Seowoon, it felt like barely 30 minutes to maybe an hour had passed in battle. The idea that several days had gone by was unbelievable.
"More importantly, how long has it been since you met the Heavenly Demon?"
"A week. Don't tell me you've been in that state for a whole week?"
Namsagwang's gaze deepened as he looked at Seowoon nodding blankly like someone who'd lost their soul.
"You seem more stable now, and not much different than before… but I'm dying to know what really happened."
As Namsagwang pressed for answers, Seowoon began explaining what had happened during his absorption of the Heavenly Demon's Primordial Spirit.
"At first, I thought I could absorb it all. But the Heavenly Demon reacted faster than I expected. Unlike the other spirits I'd absorbed before, this one resisted violently. Most of all, the Immortal Qi in my middle dantian blocked any absorption past a certain threshold."
Namsagwang's mouth dropped open. He hadn't expected Seowoon to attempt something so reckless after going ahead on his own.
"I was lucky to get transported nearby and escaped here as fast as I could…"
As Seowoon continued, describing the desperate struggle against demonic energy, Namsagwang's expression turned increasingly grave.
"So, by forming a balance between Immortal Qi and Demonic Qi, you achieved a middle path?"
"If I had to summarize it, yeah."
"What about your stats?"
"Ah!"
Prompted by Namsagwang, Seowoon quickly checked his stats.
–Special Stat: Immortal-Demonic Energy: 300
His Immortal Qi had doubled, now displayed under the new stat name: Immortal-Demonic Energy.
"It's changed to Immortal-Demonic Energy. And the value doubled too."
"Try circulating your internal energy."
At Namsagwang's instruction, Seowoon sat in meditation posture and began.
After a while, he opened his eyes and shook his head.
"No good."
"Strange."
"It's not a bad thing. I mean, my previously insufficient Immortal Qi just doubled."
"A martial artist not understanding what's happening inside their own body isn't exactly a good sign."
Though Seowoon nodded, his expression didn't show any anxiety.
"This system taught me like it was dragging me along. It makes sense that my awareness is a bit behind. I'll catch up eventually. But really, how far were you that it took you three days to get here?"
Frowning, Namsagwang began recounting his past three days.
"The Four Saints of Gangro?"
"Technically, they're my seniors by about 20 years. How was I supposed to know those old men were still alive? Let alone wandering around a place this dangerous."
"So you ran into them?"
"Even I can't handle four of those monsters at once. Just seeing them gave me goosebumps. If I didn't have that invisibility cloak, I wouldn't have made it."
Hearing such words from Namsagwang—who never admitted fear—made Seowoon's expression turn grim.
The Namsagwang he knew wasn't the type to speak of others with fear.
"Then I ran into that tenacious magician bastard again. I went through hell. This time, he showed up with some knight guy—no pushover either."
"A knight?"
"Different league from what we've fought before. In the end, all I could do was run."
Seowoon's face grew increasingly serious as more powerful enemies were revealed.
"The Heavenly Demon alone is already overwhelming, and now these monsters keep coming."
"We've entered the survival zone. They're probably starting to show up now."
"At least we got the buff monster. Now the real game begins."
"Right. Cutting power across the whole map with that airplane was a great move. It's the only reason we're still alive."
–Ding! Heavenly Demon – Senruk (Killed with aura). 53/150
As the notification sounded, Seowoon spoke.
"Looks like that guy was here too."
Upon seeing the alert that warlord Senruk had died, Seowoon narrowed his eyes and activated the map.
"Looks like it's over near Bupyeong and Ganseok."
Namsagwang added his insight after checking the shrinking zone.
"After today, this place will fall outside the safe zone. We have to move quickly."
"Yeah. We should summon him while we're still barely inside the zone."
"What… Wait, from this far away?"
"I set it up when I last visited. It should work."
The two made their way toward Bupyeong Station, following the subway line, preparing for the next stage of the main game.
Bupyeong Station was larger than most other subway stations.
Despite destroying the central power systems, the station—connected to an underground shopping mall—was still partially lit by backup power.
"Looks like the auxiliary power didn't go out."
At Seowoon's comment, Namsagwang shook his head and looked around the vast underground complex.
"Why do people in your world love tunnels so much? It's not even aboveground, and you've made an entire world underground."
"It's a long story. Just… let's go with what you said—we like tunnels."
Seowoon glanced over the rows of merchant stalls nearby and shook his head.
"Already looted."
"A place this big? Yeah, it was probably stripped clean a long time ago."
As they scanned the seemingly endless underground market, Namsagwang made a remark while identifying their next destination. That's when Hammit sent a warning.
–There are magic traps cast nearby. Alert spells are also scattered throughout the area.–
At those words, Seowoon suddenly came to a halt.
"Why?"
"I think someone's dug a trap here and is lying in wait."
As soon as they ignored the alert magic and leapt out of the station building, a wave of qi crashed down toward the two of them.
-Ka-kang!
Namsagwang, who was in the lead, struck the falling blade of qi with his own and looked upward.
-Boom!
From the building next to the station, a red-haired man leapt down, lips twisted into a sneer, and met Namsagwang's eyes as he drew his weapon.
"Not bad."
"You're decent yourself."
Seowoon, noticing immediately that the man was far more skilled than him, kept glancing around nervously.
"What? Did I look like some lowlife who roams around in a pack like you lot?"
At the word lowlife, a vein bulged on Namsagwang's forehead.
"So just because you're holding the Azure Dragon Saber, you think you're untouchable?"
The man raised the saber in his hand, eyes gleaming.
"So you recognize it. Then you must know who I am."
"Why would I care who you are, you arrogant bastard? But I do remember the story of Jin Chu of One-Saber Under Heaven, the former wielder of the Azure Dragon Saber, who lost his right arm to someone just like you because he didn't know his place."
At those words, the man's face contorted in rage.
"Stop spouting nonsense!"
Jin Chu was a master on the level of his own teacher.
There was no way someone so young had taken his arm.
The red-haired man lunged at Namsagwang, his blade glowing with blue qi.
-Ka-ka-kang!
As the qi clashed and stormed in all directions, the surrounding cars and building windows began to shatter.
Seowoon couldn't possibly step into the middle of such a fight between two martial experts.
The red-haired man, who clearly wasn't far inferior to Namsagwang, was too skilled to be dismissed as the weaker one.
Still, that didn't mean there was nothing Seowoon could do.
He casually brushed back his hair—and a few strands came loose in his hand.
-Kang! Ka-grk!
Namsagwang's lips twisted into a grin as he locked blades in a power struggle.
At the same time, he abruptly leapt back—and suddenly, three Namsagwangs appeared between the fighters, lined up in formation.
"Tch! Such petty tricks!"
Despite the clones, the red-haired man didn't falter. He stomped forward, charging ahead.
But as Namsagwang's numbers multiplied into dozens in an instant, even the red-haired man couldn't help but furrow his brows.
-Kang!
Even so, he managed to block the real Namsagwang's strike.
"Hah! Did you think I wouldn't notice your footwork is different?"
He had spotted the discrepancy between the clones' illusory movement and the real Namsagwang's footwork—earning a twisted smirk from Seowoon watching nearby.
'Your eyes are sharp, but your instincts are dull.'
Namsagwang was thinking the same.
-Thud!
Without paying much attention to the fake attacks like an average player would, the man left an opening at his side—where Seowoon, now disguised as Namsagwang, drove his Bloodbone Spike into his ribs.
He had aimed to rip out the man's internal organs, but the opponent's body-reinforcing qi was so strong that all he managed was to lodge his fingers in.
As soon as the attack landed, Seowoon blinked backward—just narrowly avoiding the man's blade as it sliced through the space he had just occupied.
Had he been a second slower, his head would have been taken clean off.
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue, the red-haired man sprang into the air, ripped a scroll, and vanished from the field.
"He looked like a brute, but he was quick to make a decision," Namsagwang said.
Seowoon frowned, clearly dissatisfied.
"I could have finished him off. His reinforcement qi was stronger than I expected."
"He'd clearly trained in external arts too. You can't kill someone like that in one move with such weak qi."
At the mention of weak qi, Seowoon had no rebuttal.
The qi that barely shimmered around his fingertips like a flickering candle was, compared to the powerful energies those two masters wielded, indeed embarrassingly fragile.
He had improved since the beginning, but he still wasn't used to controlling qi energy.
"The 50 left must all be monsters."
Leaving those words behind, the two figures sank into the ground and disappeared.
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