Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 378: It Must Not Have Been Enough (3)
Rumble—
The sky cried out.
THUNDER—BOOOOM!
One thunderous boom followed right on the heels of another.
“Move faster!”
“Don’t shove! Calm down!”
Voices overflowing with fear, spilling from the people fleeing the arena.
“Issue a full mobilization order for the capital defense force!”
“The Cooperative Alliance! Surround the Cooperative Alliance at once!”
“Send cooperation notices to every martial organization!”
Civil officials and military officials, barely holding themselves together as they moved as fast as they could.
“Go to the officials first and tell them we’re here to help! We can’t fall back from here!”
“Send someone to the Sky Sword immediately! They need to hear about this!”
“The Cooperative Alliance, those lunatics! At this rate, instead of an heir, won’t this turn into a bloodbath?”
And along with them, the martial artists of the various armed groups were moving even faster.
The martial arena was overflowing with chaos, but compared to before, people were now moving with a clearer purpose.
There were those who clearly understood why.
“...It’s because of those clouds.”
Hyun Seong, elder of the Snow Flower Sect, was one of them.
The dark-crimson clouds Kim Hae-Yi had created.
The dark-crimson light pouring down through those clouds had opened up a field where people could move.
“......”
Her gaze shifted.
Not only experts like Sword Ghost and Pao Seo Tae.
“Your Majesty!”
“......”
Even King Tamahi, who remained in place without moving despite her subordinate’s plea.
Those who had staked their lives on martial arts could not tear their eyes away from one place.
Kim Hae-Yi.
The ones who had shuddered at his dark-crimson clouds—
“What in the world—”
Hyun Seong’s gaze slowly turned toward the martial arena.
“What is that sword—?”
Her attention was stolen by the sword of the person who had suddenly appeared, and she could no longer move.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
King Tamahi’s heart pounded.
The moment she had first seen the dark-crimson clouds, she had sincerely admired them. Watching the citizens of the kingdom regain their strength beneath those clouds, she had thought that no matter whether that man was ally or enemy or anything else, would he not be fit for the future of the Lan Kingdom?
That sword—
But the instant she saw one man’s sword—
her heart, as a martial artist, began to pound.
How utterly clear.
King Tamahi.
To her, the sword was now life itself.
As she trained with the sword, she had always wondered what the ultimate pinnacle of martial arts was.
KWAAANG!
BANG!
A sword that collided with the white lines and unleashed one thunderous crash after another.
And yet, the moment she saw that sword, one thought came to her.
“...A sword is a sword.”
Wooo—wooo—
Black aura surged up savagely with a faint cry.
Like a night sky studded with stars, it seemed to glitter, and yet it was drenched in a terrible darkness.
And at the tip of that aura, another black force of a different nature hovered.
Slash!
The black sword severed another white line.
“Yes—”
It was, literally, a sword.
The King had once been the strongest in the Lan Kingdom, so she could feel it clearly.
He did not train.
No, judging by how his fundamentals were set, it seemed he had learned swordsmanship when he was young, but—
Beyond that, it was all real combat.
That man had unquestionably swung his sword in real combat.
Solely to cut.
Solely to block.
Solely to survive—
“To survive—”
That sword contained an indescribable desperation.
If I do not swing it—
I will be devoured.
What is mine will be taken away.
Yes.
That must be why humans first took up the sword.
Leaving aside power, honor, and everything else—
the very first reason must have been to survive.
Was there any reason for a sword more obvious than that?
“...I looked away.”
And King Tamahi had looked away from that.
No.
She had never needed it.
As the child of the former king, she had not taken up the sword to survive, but to learn martial arts.
Was that why—
I simply can’t—
She could not tear her eyes away from that savage sword with its simple form.
And her heart pounded.
When she looked at Kim Hae-Yi, she thought of the future of the kingdom.
When she looked at that man’s sword, she wanted to fight him.
But—
Still, strangely enough, the King’s gaze kept being drawn, every now and then, to one person.
Who is that man?
The man wearing a mask, standing between Kim Hae-Yi and the red-haired swordsman.
Who was he?
As if relying on him, Kim Hae-Yi closed his eyes and began to meditate calmly.
Rumble—
He was probably controlling the clouds spread across the sky.
And the red-haired swordsman too, after looking at that black-masked man, seemed to set his heart at ease and swing his sword freely.
Who is he?
...For some reason, that person seemed like the leader.
Instead of taking cover, Tamahi kept her hand on the hilt of her sword and watched the martial arena.
So that she too could fight at any moment.
Looking at those three, her hand itched so badly she could not stand it.
KWAAANG!
Another thunderous boom rang out.
Slaaash—
Choi Han was driven back.
He was flung away by the force released by the white line.
“!”
But So Hee’s eyes wavered.
Slash.
Another white line was severed.
This one had not even touched the Heavenly Demon’s dark-crimson light.
“How—”
She could not believe it.
“How can another seed appear?”
Before individuality fully manifested and took on a unique form.
That seed stage.
After Kim Hae-Yi, another seed had appeared.
And not just that—
“...Dangerous.”
Even though it was only a seed, it possessed enough power to lightly cut through So Hee’s white lines.
He was more dangerous than Kim Hae-Yi.
Was there ever a Wanderer like that?
Before she could think through what that meant—
Tap!
So Hee had no time.
Choi Han, lightly kicking off the ground, charged at her once more.
“Damn it!”
So Hee moved both hands quickly.
White lines burst from her palms.
“Spread.”
The moment her words ended, the white line transformed into dozens of strands and rushed toward Choi Han.
And Choi Han raised his sword.
Wanderer.
He thought of nothing else right now.
The white lines rushing toward him.
Slash.
He cut one of them.
Slash.
He cut another.
And he advanced.
But Choi Han could not cut all dozens of strands.
Bang!
KWAAANG!
Bang, bang!
Several strands drove themselves in around Choi Han, and into the path he had to advance along.
And they emitted white light.
It looked as though they were forming another domain.
Would not the appearance of prey leaping into a spider web be no different from Choi Han himself?
But Choi Han did not think such things.
Wanderer—
His eyes held only So Hee.
Because right now, that was allowed.
The Heavenly Demon.
Alberu.
Cale.
Those three were now handling the things Choi Han usually worried about.
Alberu was helping evacuate the people.
The Heavenly Demon had created a field where he could fight.
And Cale at his back would step in to help him at any moment if Choi Han were in danger.
Today, he really only had to fight.
And Choi Han knew very well why those people were deliberately taking on the dirty work and creating a field where he could fight.
Choi Jung Gun and the Wanderers.
Choi Han and Choi Jung Gun.
Because they knew what lay between those two, they must have willingly gone to the trouble of creating this situation.
Choi Han was certain that was the case.
Because Cale, who would normally step up saying that it was °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° most efficient and easiest if he did it himself, was quiet today.
For the sake of the Heavenly Demon and Choi Han, he had probably chosen a slightly more troublesome path.
Slash.
That was why Choi Han could move forward without hesitation.
Because what lay behind him was not frightening.
Forward!
I only need to look forward.
What a grateful thing that was.
When he had first gripped a sword and faced monsters, he had needed to fear not only what was in front of him and behind him, but even the ground beneath his feet.
But now—
I only need to walk my own path.
More than vengeance, some unknowable gratitude made Choi Han’s heart want to run wild.
And he did not bother suppressing it.
Thump. Thump.
The more violently his heart pounded—
Slash!
Slash, slash—
the faster he cut through the white lines.
Choi Han did not look at his sword.
But he could feel it.
It’s grown bigger.
The black force that had originally wrapped faintly around Choi Han and his sword had grown larger than before.
It was becoming clearer and clearer.
The more certain I become of my path, the stronger this power grows.
The Heavenly Demon’s force had grown explosively as well.
That too must be because, after experiencing something new in New World, the Heavenly Demon had ultimately realized that what mattered to him was the Demonic Cult.
And because he had gained certainty in the path he would walk.
Thump. Thump.
Now he could see clearly.
Yes. I can see it.
The white lines.
When his black force touched those lines—
a path appears.
By sweeping away the obstacle standing in front of him, he could see the path beyond it, the road he had to walk.
It was different from Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk’s, from the power Beacrox was learning, the power that cut through anything.
Ah.
Choi Han kicked off the ground with admiration.
Tap!
He leaped upward.
Bang!
A white line struck the ground.
But lightly clearing it, Choi Han advanced again.
He could see the path.
A signpost.
“You bastard!”
Past dozens—
“Spread!”
the white lines split into hundreds of strands.
Kiiiiiiiii——
The white light pouring from So Hee grew even larger.
Everything around Choi Han turned white, covered in spider web.
Wooo—wooo—
Unlike its savage appearance, Choi Han’s black force gradually grew quieter and quieter in its cry.
Hundreds of white lines drove downward as if plunging into the ground like a torrential downpour.
It seemed impossible that any human could avoid rain without an umbrella—
Slash.
But Choi Han’s black force cut through the lines and moved forward.
He did not use excessive strength all at once.
Only exactly as much as he needed to move forward.
Wooo—
Like the sound of the crying fading.
The dragon’s shape too was growing dimmer.
The glittering black aura.
The black force.
All of it was shrinking in scale.
Wooo—
Now, almost all that could be seen was a thin black force wrapping only Choi Han and the sword in his hand.
Watching this, Alberu unconsciously stopped moving and simply stared.
A white downpour poured down.
And black Choi Han walked through that downpour.
That figure was—
“...A beast—”
Yes.
He was exactly like a beast.
On a rainy day, a beast that had discovered prey and was moving in to hunt.
That beast’s steps had no need to be excessive.
No need to stand out.
It only needed to—
“Catch its prey.”
Ah.
Alberu let out a breath of admiration.
Yes. That was it.
That was how Choi Han had always fought.
Though he was Choi Han wreathed in a rough and savage black dragon,
he had never originally enjoyed fighting in a flashy way.
What Alberu had belatedly recalled, Choi Han had already known.
Because his beginning had been the Forest of Darkness, where survival came first.
There was no need to stand out there.
Rather, when he was weak, he must have hidden.
And after becoming strong—
there would be even less need for that.
Because the monsters of the Forest of Darkness recognized his strength and avoided him.
Choi Han raised his sword.
Slash.
He cut through another white rain.
And from behind him, Choi Han heard Cale’s voice.
“Right. Frightened prey acts exactly like that.”
A smile touched the corner of Choi Han’s lips.
Ahead.
Into Choi Han’s field of vision, which had been fixed only on the target, So Hee came into view.
“You bastard! How dare you!”
So Hee, pouring out hundreds of white lines.
Shock and fear colored her eyes.
To escape the beast,
prey either runs away,
or exaggerates its strength, hoping the beast will flee.
And the beast merely aims quietly for the prey’s throat.
A calm voice flowed from Choi Han’s mouth.
“I’m here.”
And in So Hee’s white eyes, Choi Han, who had been like a mere dot, had already grown as enormous as a massive mountain.
He had truly grown larger.
“......!”
A beast, by nature, knows when it must use its strength.
To hold back power with prey right before its eyes is a foolish thing.
Kiiiiiiing—
A creepy sound, as if mixed with despair.
That sound vanished.
Or rather, it had not truly vanished.
“Ah.”
“Huh—”
But their gazes had been seized by what they saw, to the point that they could no longer hear it.
A massive black dragon surged up from Choi Han’s body.
—Not yet,
Cale heard the Ancient Tree’s voice.
—That still isn’t an ancient power.
The Ancient Tree’s voice trembled.
Looking at the Heavenly Demon, he had realized that aura’s true nature was the seed of an ancient power.
—And yet for it to be that strong, Choi Han, that child is truly,
The Ancient Tree spoke as though in admiration, as though in lament.
—truly terrifying.
The faint black force exploded upward together with the aura.
The glittering black dragon, unlike before, had become somewhat clearer in shape.
Even so, as if it had no intention of hiding its temperament, it opened its jaws savagely.
And it shot forward in the direction Choi Han’s sword extended.
“You damned bastard!”
The white lines So Hee hurriedly threw up before herself like a shield.
Jjiiiiiizzz—!
The black dragon that tore every one of those white lines apart with its sharp fangs, Choi Han’s sword, Choi Han’s body—
kept moving forward exactly as they were, ripping through the spider web.
At last, they reached the target.
Slash.
They cut through the target.
“Aaaaagh—!”
So Hee’s desperate scream rang out.
So Hee covered her eyes with both hands.
Blood was flowing down through them.
The Wanderer whose eyes had turned white and had been pouring out light.
The center of that power was clear.