“The aura is rotting, I see.”
Sending the aura condensed on a weapon usually consumes a massive amount of one’s internal energy.
That’s why in the Western Regions, the act of projecting the aura from a weapon is deemed as half-madness. Using such a precious resource like aura for display would leave one devoid of it when it’s actually needed.
William leaned his body and sent out his sword qi, then glared at the direction it came from.
“Blood… more blood…”
A completely exhausted, eerie voice carried by the wind reached William’s ears.
‘Sanity has slipped away.’
The bushes rustled, and a disheveled man appeared.
Bloodstained clothes. Eyes with every blood vessel burst. A sinister aura surrounding him.
‘Possessed by a demon? Or maybe Practitioner of Dark Arts?’
It was difficult to determine which, but one thing was clear: the man was staring at him with eyes concentrated with murderous intent. Keeping eye contact, William opened his mouth.
“Hye-ryeong, inform Elder Baek that a devil has appeared here.”
“Yes! Mister! Hang in there!”
If one could send out sword qi, it was certainly not an enemy Hye-ryeong could face.
Without a word, she unleashed her light-bodied technique.
Had her movements disturbed him, his gaze shifted towards Hye-ryeong.
“Girl…”
“How about you take care of your own neck instead of looking around?”
William slowly moved, blocking his line of sight and repositioned himself.
“Colored-Eyed Person’s blood…”
He adjusted his grasp on the sword and overlaid it with a red sword qi. His sword, emitting a greedy shine, pointed directly at William.
‘Judging by the unnecessarily large blade, it must be a brute strength-focused sword technique.’
As if symbolizing the ferocity of his opponent, the thick sword scattered red qi and pointed straight at William’s heart, clear in its intention to kill.
William’s eyes narrowed, carefully scanning his opponent.
‘No visible injuries apart from some abrasions. If this guy did wipe out the patrol team, he must have expended quite a bit.’
Just as physical strength is finite, so is one’s aura.
Even in the Central Plains, where the average person tends to possess more aura, continuously projecting it would be draining.
Unless this was someone who consumed restorative pills like meals, being exhausted to the point where one can’t properly wield a sword at this juncture wouldn’t be surprising.
The more chaotic the fight, the more drastically the physical strength and aura are consumed.
But William didn’t believe for a second that his opponent was exhausted.
‘A seasoned warrior distributes stamina while fighting, but a man possessed by demons, gone mad, puts everything into each single attack.’
William knew well the insanity brought upon by the battlefield—it can turn ordinary men into raving lunatics.
He had seen his comrades go mad on the battlefield, indiscriminately slashing enemies until they lost their own heads. And also ended the lives of many enemies who had gone crazy and rampaged in battle.
He himself had a period where he, tainted by the battlefield’s madness, had massacred countless foes, so there couldn’t be many in the Central Plains who understood the mind of a madman better than him.
‘The best plan would be to not engage…’
It wouldn’t be surprising if he’d collapse from exhaustion before too long; madmen usually suffer from injuries too severe to ignore, and would eventually tire out when their power reserve is exhausted.
However, the situation could become complicated if his target changes to Hye-ryeong.
Lacking light-bodied techniques, William wouldn’t be able to catch her if she decided to run.
‘Knights do not turn their backs on enemies.’
Turning one’s back on an enemy is tantamount to abandoning what must be protected.
So, with not an inch of hesitation, he clutched his sword and awaited the madman’s attack.
An impulsive attack against a madman could be fatal unless it was for the kill, so attacking recklessly was a strict no.
“Give me blood…”
An eerie, blood-curdling voice accompanied the madman’s advance toward William. Observing the movement of the sword, William angled his blade slightly to meet it.
The sword, swung with all the madman’s strength, slid down the smooth blade of William’s longsword. No matter how much force was involved, unless there was an extreme difference in power, physics would always side with the rational.
William, the moment his blade was driven into the ground, struck the madman’s forehead with the pommel. A clean counter. A normal warrior would be incapacitated by this.
But William didn’t expect his current opponent to be so easily defeated.
If the madman crumpled too easily, he wouldn’t deserve the title of madman. As expected, the devil dodged William’s counterattack, rolling on the ground.
“Lazy Donkey Roll.”
Any martial artist who dared to perform this move would be looked down upon.
But the madman performed the roll without hesitation, evading the attack.
‘That’s why madmen are difficult to handle.’
Madmen don’t care about their dignity or face; they simply follow their instincts.
Thus, there are few opponents as troublesome as madmen when there isn’t a significant disparity in their cultivation levels.
It’s hard to seize the initiative against their reckless movements, and their innate survival instinct lets them evade even the deadliest assaults with incredible accuracy, rolling on the ground if necessary.
Madmen minimize damage when accepting blows, and aim to sever the opponent’s lifeline.
Movements based purely on the instinct to survive.
For only death could truly halt the steps of a demon-possessed madman.
That’s why William decided not to attack unnecessarily.
He knew the madman would tire himself out and collapse eventually.
Clenching the handle of his longsword, William readied himself in the high position stance, awaiting the unknown devil’s attack.
A mighty downward stroke.
An action rarely performed by someone who knows the proper way of wielding a weapon, but the madman seemed to have forgotten everything, relying solely on brute force.
If blocked head-on, both the madman and the sword would surely split William in half.
But William wasn’t the kind of swordsman to bluntly oppose such an attack.
Once again, the sword slid down his longsword blade.
An inevitably exposed opening.
William, feeling the weight on his arm, pivoted his tilted sword around its center and spun it. The sword strike that slipped along the blade collided and lost its balance, burying itself in the ground.
William quickly thrust his sword forward, aiming at the madman’s forearm, and then retreated.
Not a fatal wound, but an injury that would hinder movement.
‘Not sure if I cleanly severed the tendons.’
But eventually, a madman is human.
When muscles and tendons are severed, movement becomes impossible.
William intended to slowly pare down the madman before him, like slowly peeling an apple, making him tire faster and die eventually from exhaustion.
“Blood… not enough…”
“Are you a vampire?”
William stared in disgust at the man who was slowly rising, blood dripping from his right arm. The man, without a flicker of expression, wiped the blood on his arm with his hand and licked the blood off his fingers.
A typical symptom of a madman.
Obsession with blood.
“Blood…!”
The man charged again. William greeted the rushing madman with an Ox-Guard stance.
Five steps.
Another red sword qi erupted from the madman’s sword. The red qi towering over a foot high above the sword body swirled violently, threatening to destroy everything it touched.
William enveloped his own sword with a thin layer of energy. Compared to the opponent’s, it was almost untraceable.
It might seem insufficient to counter such a powerful sword qi, but William understood better than anyone that victory doesn’t hinge on quantity of energy but on skill.
Strength without accompanying skill is meaningless.
‘He’s coming.’
William extended his right foot slightly forward.
Three steps.
Like an executioner decapitating a criminal, the madman’s sword left a red afterimage as it aimed for William’s neck.
A lethal strike suitable for the term “life-crushing bone-breaking.”
In the end, “life-crushing bone-breaking” entails the principle of a mutual loss; if the bones are not taken, it becomes merely a failed slash.
William held his sword with its tip pointed downward, meeting the thick broadsword. The red energy collided with the blue energy, the former attempting to consume the latter.
But the energy on William’s longsword remained firmly shut, refusing to yield to the red energy and steadfastly blocking the attack.
Then, William’s sword tilted again.
Strength ultimately holds meaning only when it is received reciprocally.
William, from the start, had no reason to engage in a strength contest with him.
When the swords once again met, William, with one hand gripping the sword, swiftly unsheathed a dagger from his waist and threw it.
Unprepared for this attack, the madman tried to evade by twisting his body, yet the dagger piercing his abdomen was inevitable.
‘This is a method I usually reserve for those who didn’t gear up properly, but now I’ve had to use it again.’
The madman yanked the dagger out of his abdomen.
“Blood…”
Blood began to flow from the wound caused by the dagger. Yet, the madman, oblivious to when he had been pierced through, grinned maniacally and started extracting every particle of qi from his dantian.
“Kill me…”
The ground was soaked with blood, and the madman’s body turned red.
The deepened red energy made William click his tongue.
“Annoying death throes.”
This guy was going to die.
William was certain.
However, the final attack was the ultimate strike containing everything he had left.
The madman rushed toward William, his movement closer to a wild beast’s than that of a human.
With a tranquil expression, William directed his sword’s tip toward the qi-emitting madman.
“Let’s see what happens.”
The outcome would be decided in one move.
Would they both die?
Or just one of them?
William infused a little more energy into his longsword this time.
Because he had calculated that the minimum aura was insufficient to block the attack.
Eventually, the two warriors charged at each other.
A purely fierce, bloodthirsty slash aimed at William’s neck. Such was the strong will to break anything that dared to get in its way.
William… covered his hands with energy and gripped the middle of the blade. One with the energy, William faced the blood-red sword. The longsword and the broadsword collided, initiating another force struggle.
This time the full-powered sword strike was much more potent, penetrating the blue energy as if it would allow no defense.
Then, William’s sword and body rotated once. The sword missed its target and the madman’s gaze turned toward William’s sword.
The sword aimed for his neck. The madman, encased in energy, grabbed the longsword with his hand.
Blood splattered.
Even energy-draped steel couldn’t be completely halted by the hand.
But the madman paid no mind, holding William’s sword tip with his hand, and opened his mouth.
“I don’t have the habit of biting men, sorry.”
William released his sword, bent down.
And before the madman could react, he drove a straight punch, wrapped in energy, into the madman’s chest.
“Urgh…!”
“No matter how mad the guy is, striking vital spots will leave them incapacitated.”
The madman’s weapon clattered to the ground. Retreating, William observed the madman, coughing out blood.
“I’d like to recover the damage done to my sword, but it seems tough.”
“Auntie!”
“Great Hero Wi!”
“Ah, you’ve come?”
William averted his eyes from the fallen madman who was forming a pool of blood.
There was no reason to focus on the dead.
William spoke to Hye-ryeong, who looked at him with worried eyes.
“It took too long, so I just dealt with it.”
“Knight William!”
“Yes! Mister! Be well!”
“As you can see, I’m fine. Thanks to everyone’s support.”
William finally looked away from the madman and turned around.
There was no point in worrying about the dead.
“Took longer than expected, so I just handled it myself.”
