Chapter 74 - Episode 11. King of Chaos (5)
Chapter 74: Episode 11. King of Chaos (5)
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Jaehwan looked around the Pavilion of Pleasure.
Souls of 《Chaos》 lay utterly trampled beneath the Lords.
Sirwen, standing beside him, widened her eyes and muttered, “They are still wallowing in filth.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Kuhahat! Is that a new bitch?”
The Lords, who had yet to grasp the situation, broke into vulgar laughter.
Cowardly Lord Laika could not laugh.
Though Laika was mocked as cowardly, he had instincts as sharp as a rat's. Those instincts were exactly why Laika, the weakest of the Lieutenant Generals, had survived this long.
Could that man be...
Laika remembered hearing a description.
Short black hair. A dark black sword.
The goosebumps rising on his forearms and the man drawing his sword happened almost at once.
The First Dragon Lord's shout echoed through the pavilion.
“Get out of the way!”
Dokbul spewed fire.
A mighty gust from the Stab.
It was an attack without the slightest hesitation.
Crack crack crack!
Cracks spread through the inner walls of the Pavilion of Pleasure, which had been made from sturdy Horned Beast horns. Its framework collapsed with a crash. The souls pressed flat against the beds screamed.
“How dare you!”
A Lord was still a Lord.
Despite being caught in the aftershock of the Stab, they had not suffered much damage. As the women attending them hurried out of the annex, the naked Lords hastily dressed and rose to their feet. Their furious voices filled the pavilion like thunder.
“Who are you?”
“The person you were looking for.”
The Five Dragon Brothers looked at one another.
“That bastard! He is the one Darkness was looking for!”
“What, it was him?”
“He came here on his own? He must be out of his mind.”
After the brothers each spoke up, the First Dragon Lord, their leader, opened his mouth.
“So you are the Gorgon Fortress Lord.”
“That’s right.”
The First Dragon Lord frowned at Jaehwan's calm response.
Even among the Lieutenant Generals of the 《Great Realm》, the First Dragon Lord was one of the strongest.
“Did you come to keep your promise?”
“No.”
Confusion spread over the Lords' faces.
“I came to kill you.”
A moment of silence followed Jaehwan's casual declaration.
No one knew who started it. By the time they came to their senses, all five Dragon Brothers were roaring with laughter.
Then the corner of the First Dragon Lord's eye twitched.
“Arrogant bastard.”
That was the signal.
All five Dragon Brothers rushed at Jaehwan.
Laika could not immediately understand what he was seeing.
All five Dragons were fighting together?
Lords were creatures prouder than anyone. They possessed enormous egos and craved honor.
Yet those Lords were launching a combined attack against a single man?
Could that man really be stronger than each of the Five Dragon Brothers?
“Attack!”
At the First Dragon Lord's command, all five brothers charged Jaehwan.
Laika let out a sigh at the sight of the Lords rushing in with murderous force. No matter how strong that man was, he could not defeat all five Dragon Brothers.
Darkness's five dragons.
The Five Dragon Brothers were Lords capable of a combined attack so powerful that people said all five together could easily face one or two Warlords.
Five Dragon Combined Assault Formation.
Jaehwan's expression hardened as he watched the five dragons twist and writhe.
The dragons' movements, which brought about mysterious transformations, were no ordinary formation.
Now this was the real thing.
Even if they were Lieutenant General-class fighters who fell a step short, they were still Lords.
He could not let his guard down.
Using 「Doubt」, he analyzed the principles of the Five Dragon Combined Assault Formation.
A transcendent-grade skill.
The aura created by the spiritual power of five Lieutenant Generals carried the crushing pressure of facing five actual dragons.
No, there really were five dragons before him.
Jaehwan did not hesitate to seize the initiative.
Spiral Kill.
Spiral Kill, which held the principles of a slash within the speed of a Stab, shot toward the fifth dragon's head.
“Ugh!”
The attack tore through the air, creating a vortex.
Ignoring the changes of the Five Dragon Combined Assault Formation, Spiral Kill pierced straight through the fifth dragon's head.
Pwahak!
The fifth head exploded in an instant and drooped limply.
Then something strange happened.
The head that had gone limp quickly raised itself again.
As if it had not been hurt at all.
“Hahahat! It is useless!”
The five dragon heads spewed fire at once. Jaehwan and Sirwen hurriedly evaded the heat that seemed ready to melt down the entire Pavilion of Pleasure.
Sirwen shouted, “You have to cut off all their heads at once!”
Jaehwan nodded.
He had just figured that out through 「Doubt」 as well.
Then there was no need to drag this out.
Without hesitation, Jaehwan unleashed the strongest spiritual power technique he could use.
The Stab of all Stabs.
The ultimate Stab that physical force could achieve.
World Stab.
Every window in the Pavilion of Pleasure exploded, and the flames released by the five dragons died down in an instant.
The center of the palace burst apart, creating a massive fissure that seemed capable of shattering the world.
The Five Dragon Brothers went pale.
The technique unfolding before their eyes was one they had never seen before.
How could such a skill exist?
Sensing danger, they gathered their spiritual power in an instant and activated Guardian Dragon, the strongest Ultimate Technique of the Five Dragon Combined Assault Formation.
The five dragon heads merged into one, transforming into a single gigantic dragon.
When the dragon opened its enormous jaws, a blue Spiritual Jade formed at its mouth.
Laika, watching the battle, clenched his sweating hands.
To think that he would see Guardian Dragon.
It was the Five Dragon Brothers' proudest Ultimate Technique. Guardian Dragon was the legendary skill said to rival a Warlord-class finishing move.
Kwaaaaaa!
World Stab collided with Guardian Dragon's Spiritual Jade, and a suffocating shockwave erupted.
It was impossible to tell which side held the advantage.
The victor was decided only after the thick smoke created by the shockwave cleared.
Guardian Dragon's massive form emerged first.
Joy and sorrow crossed Laika's face.
The Five Dragon Brothers had won.
Then, at that moment.
Thin white cracks began spreading across the head of Guardian Dragon, which radiated an ancient spiritual light.
The cracks started at its head, quickly spread across its body, and reached its tail.
Guardian Dragon, which had slaughtered dozens of Lieutenant Generals in the Eastern Battle hundreds of years ago, was being brutally destroyed.
Laika dropped to his knees.
“G-Guardian Dragon...?”
Split into two with a clean cut, Guardian Dragon turned into particles and vanished.
Amid the scattering silver particles, the five Lords appeared one after another.
The Second and Third Dragon Lords had been severed below the knees. The Fourth and Fifth Dragon Lords each lay sprawled on the ground, missing an arm.
The First Dragon Lord, whose entire body had been reduced to tatters, limped on one foot as he asked, “...What the hell are you?”
Jaehwan did not answer.
Instead, he looked slightly impressed.
He had unleashed that attack to kill them, yet they had endured it.
So this was the power of Lords.
“You bastard! We will repay this humiliation!”
Thinking Jaehwan's silence meant he was disregarding them, the Five Dragon Brothers began to rage.
“We will kill you!”
“Khuh, khuhuhat!”
The Fifth Dragon Lord laughed like a madman.
Then the First Dragon Lord spoke.
“You made a mistake today.”
The battle had already ended, yet no fear could be seen on the First Dragon Lord's face.
If anything, he appeared relaxed.
“We will return. Then we will surely bring about your soul extinction.”
The Five Dragon Brothers each gripped their swords.
There was no killing intent.
Jaehwan suddenly realized what they were trying to do.
Fortunately, Jaehwan's sword was faster than theirs.
Struck by Jaehwan's Stab, the Five Dragon Brothers screamed and dropped their swords.
“What are you doing?”
Jaehwan recalled where their sword points had been aimed.
They had all been pointed directly at their own lower abdomens.
They had just tried to kill themselves.
Why?
The First Dragon Lord ground his teeth and asked, “Are you trying to disgrace the honor of Lords?”
Honor...
Jaehwan quietly looked into the First Dragon Lord's eyes.
A person who overcame the fear of death and killed himself might be honorable.
But Jaehwan could not find even a trace of that nobility in their eyes.
They had none of the fear that any living being should possess.
There was only their desire for revenge against him.
As though they could come back to life.
...I see.
The composure they had shown throughout the battle.
Their abnormal indifference in the face of death.
“I see. You do not die.”
Only then did Jaehwan understand everything.
Ever since the Lords here had obtained the 「Fruit」 and the 「Narrow Gate」 nine hundred years ago, they must have lived without knowing the fear of death.
A life detached from death.
One of the Five Dragon Brothers laughed.
“That’s right. We do not die! Because...”
“Because you crossed the 「Narrow Gate」.”
“...So you knew. Well, it is not exactly a secret.”
The voice sounded slightly surprised, but its composure did not fade in the slightest.
“Then you must have realized it by now. What you have done.”
Ignoring those words, Jaehwan extended 「Doubt」 to its limit.
Fine lines wavering above the Lords' heads began to come into view.
Pineal Threads.
The links connecting body and soul.
The Lords, who had crossed into 《Chaos》 as living beings through the 「Narrow Gate」, could not die because of those Pineal Threads.
When a soul suffered severe damage, it automatically traveled along a Pineal Thread and returned to its physical body.
“No matter what you do, we will never die...”
“No. You will die here.”
Jaehwan spoke as he looked at the fluttering lines.
The aura behind his words was so chilling that the Five Dragon Brothers fell silent for a moment.
The first to recover was the youngest, the Fifth Dragon Lord.
“That bluff...!”
Jaehwan silently slashed through the air.
Kagagagak!
A tearing sound rang out in midair.
Thinking the attack was aimed at them, the Five Dragon Brothers squeezed their eyes shut.
Yet even after time passed, they heard nothing but that sound.
No pain came.
The Fifth Dragon Lord cautiously opened his eyes.
Jaehwan stood firmly in place, Dokbul in hand.
The youngest, the Fifth Dragon Lord, opened his mouth.
“...What was that? Have you given up?”
The Fifth Dragon Lord staggered and raised his sword.
Its point remained aimed at his own stomach.
“Just wait. Once I come back to life...!”
“W-Wait. Youngest, something is wrong.”
The Fourth Dragon Lord grabbed the Fifth Dragon Lord.
As the Fifth Dragon Lord turned to see what was going on, excruciating pain suddenly flooded the crown of his head.
The pain brought back a memory he had long forgotten.
Was this what it felt like to have an umbilical cord cut at birth?
“Khuk, kwaaaaaaak!”
The Five Dragon Brothers screamed, clutching their heads.
“What is that...?”
Cowardly Lord Laika trembled as he watched.
Standing far away from the Five Dragon Brothers, Laika could clearly see what Jaehwan had done to them.
Neither before nor after becoming a Lord had he ever seen anything like this.
The First Dragon Lord, gripping his temples, shouted, “What did you do?!”
The First Dragon Lord, whose senses were the sharpest among the Five Dragon Brothers, immediately realized what had happened.
“How... How could the Pineal Threads be severed?”
Pineal Threads.
The links connecting body and soul.
The only path that could return them to their bodies as living beings through the 「Narrow Gate」 had just disappeared.
A severed Pineal Thread meant that their souls had become trapped here.
Which meant...
“How does it feel?”
At those words, a chill ran down the First Dragon Lord's neck.
Something slowly rose from beneath his feet.
A sensation he had forgotten long ago.
The trembling that began at his fingertips traveled up his arms and crawled over the back of his neck.
He knew the name of this feeling well.
“This is what it feels like to have regained true death.”
Dokbul let out a spine-chilling sword cry.
Death was casting its shadow over the Lords.
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