Chapter 86: The Greatest Prodigy of the Demonic Way (5)

The moment Il-mok's eyes met Chui Il-hwan's face through the bushes, one thought immediately crossed his mind.

'Should I run?'

If the five of them scattered and fled in different directions, one or two might get caught, but the rest would likely survive.

But...

"Hehehe. There you are. Disciple Il-mok."

That madman was staring intently at him alone as if the other four team members didn't even exist.

Il-mok instinctively realized that if they scattered in all directions, that lunatic would definitely chase him alone.

Of course, that wasn't the problem.

Even if he got caught, the other four would survive.

He just needed to run as far as he could and surrender immediately when he got caught. It would be troublesome if he exchanged blows and some kind of enlightenment dawned on him.

"Scatter imme—"

Just as Il-mok had organized his thoughts and was about to give instructions to his team members, he hesitated.

He realized there was a very big problem with the plan he'd come up with.

During the escape, if he fell behind alone, got caught by that crazy instructor, and was subdued...

The thought that there would be no one around, just the subdued him and that instructor, sent intense warnings throughout his body.

'Fucking hell.'

Realizing he was in danger of having his precious chastity violated, Il-mok hastily changed his words.

"Don't scatter! Form a battle formation!"

"!?"

The team members who were preparing to use their lightness skill wore bewildered expressions, but their bodies quickly followed his instructions.

Having moved according to Il-mok's instructions all along, their bodies reacted automatically.

“Oh~? You choose a direct confrontation? Unexpected."

As Chu Il-hwan licked his lips with interest, Il-mok felt chills running down his spine.

'Right. Fuck. No matter how crazy that bastard is, he wouldn't pounce on me in front of all the team members, would he?'

Il-mok had decided he didn't care if he was caught by that damned instructor and received a low score. His purity was more important than the score.

Seeing Il-mok's resolute expression as if declaring a fight to the death, Chu Il-hwan smiled unexpectedly, then—

Pat!

He explosively used his lightness skill and charged forward.

But his target wasn't Il-mok.

"Damn it!"

Seeing Chu Il-hwan bypassing him and rushing to the side, Il-mok drew his sword in shock and chased after him.

Because his target happened to be Jeong Hyeon.

He was trying to grab Jeong Hyeon, who was stealthily retreating to provide support with his bow.

Alarmed, Il-mok rushed toward Chu Il-hwan, swinging his sword repeatedly through the air.

Swish!

Sword Qi formed along Il-mok's swings and flew toward Chu Il-hwan's side, but Chu Il-hwan easily avoided them with his footwork.

"Protect Disciple Jeong!"

As soon as Il-mok's command fell, Bu Gayoung, who was closest to Jeong Hyeon, hurriedly swung her whip.

Moving eerily like a snake, the whip tried to wrap around Chu Il-hwan's body, but Chu Il-hwan extended his right palm and caught the whip.

Crackle!

Black lightning burst from Chu Il-hwan's right palm and traveled along the whip into Bu Gayoung's body.

"Kyaaaak!"

While Bu Ga-young screamed from the electric shock, Jeong Hyeon, who had already aimed his bow, released arrows toward Chu Il-hwan.

But Chu Il-hwan didn't panic.

He pulled his right hand that was holding the whip, and Bu Gayoung, whose muscles had spasmed from the lightning qi, was dragged along with it.

Thud! Thud!

The arrows, whose tips had been blunted to prevent casualties during the test, repeatedly hit Bu Gayoung's back. Using Bu Gayoung as a shield, Chu Il-hwan instantly moved his left hand to press Bu Gayoung's acupoint.

One person was subdued so easily it felt almost anticlimactic, but Il-mok didn't care.

"Haaah!"

While Bu Gayoung was being neutralized, Il-mok had already approached Chu Il-hwan and was swinging his sword.

"Phew."

Jeong Hyeon, who had barely retreated, exhaled in relief and was nocking another arrow.

On top of that.

"I'll join in!"

Seong Hwan and Lee Gyun also quickly drew their weapons and charged toward Chu Il-hwan.

Chu Il-hwan watched Il-mok's sword moving bizarrely, obscuring his vision, and leisurely dodged or blocked the attacks by alternately swinging both hands.

Swish!

Meanwhile, he effortlessly dodged the arrows shot by Jeong Hyeon.

His attitude was as relaxed as if he were appreciating Il-mok's swordsmanship, despite Il-mok's teammates Seong Hwan and Lee Gyun joining the fight.

"Haah!"

Seong Hwan and Lee Gyun, who had finally approached, swung their spear and sword respectively, targeting Chu Il-hwan.

And Chu Il-hwan, who had been casually engaging with Il-mok, finally began to move in earnest.

"Huhuhuh."

There were two reasons why he had been leisurely engaging with Il-mok.

One was to see how much the Young Master had improved over the past two months.

And the other reason—

"Just because there are three of you doesn't mean you're three times stronger."

As an instructor, he wanted to teach them how dangerous poorly coordinated group attacks could be.

Surrounded by the three, Chu Il-hwan deflected the incoming sword and spear with his palms. Then, seizing the opening, he displayed his unique nimble footwork and dived toward Lee Gyun.

It was a perfectly timed move.

Startled by Chu Il-hwan's sudden approach, Lee Gyun hastily swung his sword.

Clang!!

It collided with Seong Hwan's spear, which was also targeting Chu Il-hwan, causing them to interfere with each other's movements.

The moment Lee Gyun hesitated after his hastily swung sword collided with Seong Hwan's spear—

"That's two down."

Chu Il-hwan, who had already dived into Lee Gyun's chest, simply pressed Lee Gyun's acupoint using his finger.

On top of that, he took Lee Gyun’s paralyzed body in his arms and threw him toward Il-mok, who was approaching with his sword.

'Even in this situation, he doesn't hold back his lecherous thoughts!'

Shocked by Chu Il-hwan's boldness in embracing Lee Gyun, Il-mok had to quickly withdraw his sword and throw his body to the side to avoid colliding with the flying Lee Gyun.

Thud.

Thanks to Il-mok not catching him, the paralyzed Lee Gyun rolled on the ground.

Swish!

Meanwhile, arrows continuously flew toward Chu Il-hwan, shot by Jeong Hyeon who had been waiting with his bow aimed.

He couldn't find an opportunity to shoot because Il-mok, Seong Hwan, and Lee Gyun had surrounded Chu Il-hwan.

Instead of waiting indefinitely for an opportunity that might never come, he had already put some distance between himself and Chu Il-hwan.

Crackle!

The arrows Jeong Hyeon shot in ambush were instantly consumed by the black lightning emitted from Chu Il-hwan's left palm.

But it wasn't a meaningless attack.

In the meantime, Seong Hwan had retrieved his spear and was thrusting it again toward Chu Il-hwan.

"Let's take it easy!"

Il-mok, who had avoided Lee Gyun, had also dived back to Chu Il-hwan's side and was swinging his sword.

Chu Il-hwan had considered launching himself into the air to perform a technique like he did when subduing Dokgo's team, but soon realized an important fact and clicked his tongue lightly.

'Arrows are troublesome opponents in midair.'

Quickly organizing his thoughts, Chu Il-hwan leaped to the right, narrowly avoiding Il-mok's sword while simultaneously deflecting Seong Hwan's spear with his right palm.

A similar situation unfolded.

While blocking or avoiding the attacks from Il-mok, Seong Hwan, and Jeong Hyeon—

Pat!

Chu Il-hwan suddenly twisted his body, and Jeong Hyeon's arrow, which had been flying toward him, passed by and flew toward Seong Hwan instead.

"!!!"

The startled Seong Hwan hurriedly rotated his spear to block the arrow—

Chu Il-hwan, as if waiting for this, dodged Il-mok's sword and dived into Seong Hwan's chest.

"Hehehe. Now only two remain."

After pressing Seong Hwan's acupoint, Chu Il-hwan smiled slyly, causing Il-mok to frown.

‘I don’t like it when things go in his way.’

As Chu Il-hwan had said, their incompetent teamwork turned out to be worse than having no teamwork at all.

It was because Lee Gyun and Seong Hwan's movements had actually interfered with Il-mok's swordplay.

To be precise, Chu Il-hwan had used his footwork to lead them into that situation.

And as if pleased with Il-mok's frown, Chu Il-hwan smiled broadly and dived straight toward him.

Thud! Thud!

Simultaneously, Jeong Hyeon's arrows belatedly hit the spot where Chu Il-hwan had been standing.

As Chu Il-hwan's left palm flew toward him—

"Phew."

Il-mok sighed lightly and calmly thrust his sword in response.

Without his teammates getting in the way, he felt it was actually easier to swing his sword.

On top of that—

"!?"

Clang!

Chu Il-hwan showed a perplexed expression for the first time and barely blocked Il-mok's sword.

It was because Il-mok's sword had flown straight for Chu Il-hwan's neck without bothering to set up a defense. As if aiming for mutual destruction.

It was a very contrasting sword style compared to his previous defensive swordsmanship, which prioritized his own safety.

The reason for Il-mok's sudden change in movement was simple.

Thanks to the previous fight, Il-mok had realized a very important fact.

'This guy is holding back.'

Chu Il-hwan didn’t use any lethal techniques at all. To be precise, he had no real intention to kill.

He occasionally used lethal techniques as feints, but they were just that—feints to induce evasion or defense. In the end, all his real attacks were light ones.

An instructor shouldn't kill a disciple during a test, after all.

Realizing his opponent's weakness, Il-mok's sword advanced along a path that disregarded defense.

In fact, Il-mok had two objectives.

One was to exploit an opponent's weakness who couldn't use killing techniques, as he knew he couldn't win with orthodox methods.

The other was—

'One way or another, if I fight that madman any longer, I might get enlightenment!'

Whether he won or lost, he just wanted to end the fight quickly.

Clang!

"Hooh?"

Chui Il-hwan muttered with interest as Il-mok swung his sword in a suicidal manner like Dokgo Pae’s Nine Swords of Dokgo.

Although it reminded him of the Nine Swords of Dokgo, Il-mok's sword was actually more complete in its execution. The sudden change in Il-mok's sword intent was also interesting.

"Hahaha! Good. Let's dance together!"

Intrigued, Chu Il-hwan gladly engaged with Il-mok's sword.

Swish!

Abandoning defense, Il-mok's sword flew concisely and blatantly targeting only Chu Il-hwan's heart, neck, or other vital points.

Chu Il-hwan moved both hands rapidly, completely blocking or deflecting all those sword attacks.

Faced with Chu Il-hwan's suddenly defensive attitude, Il-mok felt like he was burning inside.

'Just end this quickly, you crazy instructor!!'

He felt like enlightenment was about to dawn on him.

***

'Hmm.'

Watching Il-mok and Chu Il-hwan's battle through the bushes, Yeom Ga-hwi almost involuntarily made a sound.

'I thought he was excellent, but to think he'd be this good...'

Chu Il-hwan, as the First Instructor, was the strongest man among the instructors.

It was surprising in many ways to see a mere disciple fighting evenly with him, even if Chu Il-hwan wasn't using his full strength.

Moreover—

'It's getting more refined.'

The more they exchanged blows, the sharper and more concise Il-mok's lethal strikes became.

'They say the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword aims for perfection, but I can only say he's truly versatile.'

In the martial arts competition, he had demonstrated the principle of softness to the extreme, and now he was refining the principle of swiftness.

Watching the high-level fight that could hardly be seen as one between an instructor and a disciple, Yeom Ga-hwi had a feeling that he might have to intervene in that fight.

'...Instructor Chu's bad habit might act up.'

If things went on like this, Chui Il-hwan might go berserk and accidentally kill the Young Master.