Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 444 – Wicked Heart Granny (3)

-Rumble!

The meadow shook violently as if an earthquake had struck, accompanied by a thunderous sound.

It wasn’t just the ground.

The previously clear sky rippled like waves, and cracks began to form everywhere in sight.

-Crack!

In that fleeting moment, Mok Gyeong-un sensed it.

Along with the cracks, the energy that had been moving erratically until now was suddenly stabilizing.

He absolutely did not miss this moment.

Mok Gyeong-un extended his sword-controlling finger towards Wicked Granny, who had turned her head towards the thatched house.

-Swish!

Then, an incredibly transparent formless sword rushed fiercely towards her.

At that moment, Wicked Granny hurriedly turned her head, dropped her staff, and stretched out her hand.

One might wonder if it was possible to block a formless sword, which could be considered the pinnacle of swordsmanship, with bare hands, but at that instant, something transparent appeared in a shape similar to her hand.

-Woong!

It was,

‘A formless claw?’

-Clash clash clash clash!

The moment the formless sword and formless claw collided, sparks flew and everything in sight brightened.

A glint appeared in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes, who had tried to subdue Wicked Granny in one go at the moment he could properly handle energy again for some unknown reason.

He knew she was no ordinary person, but he hadn’t predicted at all that she could unleash not just a formless sword, but a formless claw.

Meanwhile,

“Hmph!”

Wicked Granny, having blocked the formless sword with her formless claw, was about to fly towards Mok Gyeong-un.

At that moment,

-Grrr!

She looked up, stimulated by a strange energy sensing danger.

There, she saw a huge blue sphere the size of a bull floating, and looking closely, its interior was rotating rapidly.

-Thud thud thud thud!

At that moment, the grass on the meadow floor was uprooted and floated upwards.

Then, as they were drawn into the blue light, they burned and oxidized the moment they touched it.

-Sizzle!

The sphere had tremendous gravitational pull, and as its interior began to rotate even faster, no, more fiercely, an even wider surrounding area began to be sucked in.

It was enough to make even the ground break apart and rise.

-Whoosh!

Due to the tremendous gravitational force, Wicked Granny’s body was also drawn towards the sphere and showed signs of floating up.

Destruction Emperor raised the corner of his mouth in a sneer as he watched this.

‘Now that I’ve regained my strength, I won’t be dragged around by the likes of you anymore…’

-Grrr!

‘!?’

At that moment, Destruction Emperor’s eyes widened.

And for good reason – Wicked Granny, who was about to be drawn in by the sphere’s tremendous gravitational force, snorted and stretched out her hand, creating an even larger formless claw.

And the moment Wicked Granny made a grasping motion,

-Crack crack crack crack!

The formless claw that had appeared in mid-air grasped the sphere and crushed it.

The energy inside was crushed in that state and spread in all directions causing other repercussions, but Wicked Granny, who had been underneath it, had disappeared.

‘Oh no!’

Destruction Emperor, realizing this, tried to move hurriedly, but,

-Thud!

He couldn’t help but feel someone grasping the back of his head.

-Bang!

In that state, Destruction Emperor fell forward and his face was buried in the ground.

It was so strong that the ground where he hit sank in, creating a pit nearly ten feet deep.

Nevertheless, Destruction Emperor didn’t die.

Wicked Granny smirked and said to Destruction Emperor, who was writhing in pain.

“Did you mistakenly think something would greatly change just because the flow of energy returned to normal?”

-Clash clash clash!

At that moment, the white scale armor Destruction Emperor was wearing began to move on its own, covering his entire body and trying to transform into something else.

However,

-Thud! Boom!

As Wicked Granny lifted Destruction Emperor’s head again and slammed it to the ground, the white scales that had been trying to change on their own as if alive stopped transforming.

Destruction Emperor’s body no longer moved.

“It’s good that you’re sturdy, not being human.”

Wicked Granny, still gripping his head, muttered something softly as if chanting a spell.

Meanwhile,

-Flinch!

-Swish!

In a fleeting moment, a black line crossed the space of the meadow, trying to pass by Wicked Granny.

However, at that instant, she moved so quickly that her body appeared in multiple layers, and she grabbed the black line with both hands.

-Thud!

-Whoosh!

In that state, Wicked Granny’s figure was pushed back nearly twenty paces.

And at the end of those twenty paces, as Wicked Granny’s hands turned completely white, the black line gradually began to take shape.

It was Mok Gyeong-un’s demonic sword, Evil Commandment Sword.

‘……’

Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze, holding the hilt of Evil Commandment Sword, became even more serious.

He had faced numerous enemies until now, but this was the first time someone had caught – not avoided – a single strike that concentrated all his power into one point, launched as a surprise attack, with both hands.

Wicked Granny’s lips twitched as she opened her mouth.

“This is quite surprising. You… Did you know how to concentrate all your power into one? At this level, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say you’ve nearly reached the extreme. And…”

-Thud!

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un moved his left sword-controlling finger.

The sword-controlling finger tried to pierce between Wicked Granny’s eyebrows, who was gripping the blade.

However, in that instant, Wicked Granny slightly twisted both palms that were gripping the blade.

Then,

-Thud!

Mok Gyeong-un’s figure, holding the sword, also twisted and his body rose.

Wicked Granny launched a palm strike towards Mok Gyeong-un’s abdomen with her whitened hand like lightning.

-Thud!

Mok Gyeong-un’s body, hit by the palm strike, created ripples in the air as he flew over ten jang away.

-Whoosh!

Wicked Granny, who had sent Mok Gyeong-un flying, raised one eyebrow.

Her figure had already been pushed back quite a bit, and she then looked at her palm.

She too had reached the level where she could concentrate all her power into one, having surpassed the wall of walls, and at the moment she accurately struck his abdomen,

‘He dissipated the force and partially deflected it.’

Wicked Granny, raising her head, opened her mouth.

“The subtlety of the Scripture of Transferring True Qi.”

It was a technique beyond the subtlety of grafting flowers, not only returning the opponent’s power as it is but also able to mix in one’s own power.

It seemed like it had been quite, no, extremely long since she had seen this.

‘I heard from those who entered that the level of the current martial arts world had greatly degenerated, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.’

Wicked Granny’s lips twitched with satisfaction.

The anger about the damaged formation had already disappeared from her mind.

Rather, she was feeling joy at meeting an opponent with whom she could properly demonstrate her skills after a long time.

On the other hand,

-Drip!

Mok Gyeong-un, who had barely managed to dissipate her force and stop, was wiping the blood flowing from his mouth.

Although he had employed the subtlety of the Scripture of Transferring True Qi in an instant, he couldn’t completely deflect the force and suffered internal injuries.

However, this wasn’t very important.

More concerning was the single move Wicked Granny had just demonstrated.

Clearly, this was,

‘She concentrated all her power into one point.’

She demonstrated a technique like the single strike that concentrates all power into one point, which could be considered the final move and subtlety of the demonic sword technique I use, through a palm strike.

Because of this, Mok Gyeong-un couldn’t help but be surprised.

Moreover, its form was quite natural.

As if unleashing an ordinary move, she launched a palm strike, but all her power was concentrated in that single move.

‘She’s strong.’

Certainly, this woman was by far the strongest among all the enemies he had met so far.

An enemy at a level where they could imbue all their power even in a light move was a monster who could drive their opponent to death with just a single moment of carelessness.

Mok Gyeong-un, whose reason had half flown away due to great anger at hearing Cheong-ryeong had been annihilated, regained his composure when he judged that the opponent was not someone he could easily kill.

At that moment, Wicked Granny,

-Swish!

Stretched out her hand and sucked in the demonic sword Evil Commandment Sword through air-walking.

Evil Commandment Sword, touched by her hand, shook its blade violently as if resisting being held by someone other than its owner.

At this, she smirked and said.

“It’s resisting strongly because it’s not its master.”

As expected of a peerless master who had surpassed the wall of walls, Wicked Granny was not affected at all by the demonic sword.

Rather, she lightly suppressed the demonic sword with her true qi.

When she applied true qi, the violent shaking of the demonic sword Evil Commandment Sword stopped.

Aiming this Evil Commandment Sword at Mok Gyeong-un, she said.

“You’re truly a peculiar fellow. I thought you were just the pinnacle of the current martial arts world, but you’re reeking strongly of our era.”

“……”

“It seems you’ve become quite cautious, able to control your killing intent well. Yes. That’s how it should be. Killing intent might become fighting spirit, but in a battle between those who have reached the extreme, it only becomes a hindrance. And killing intent isn’t used like that, but…”

-Swoosh!

Wicked Granny’s figure blurred and disappeared.

She began to move at ultra-high speed, employing her lightness technique.

Mok Gyeong-un could see her clearly.

But then her figure, moving like this, split into two.

-Swoosh swoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Her figure, split into two sides, was approaching Mok Gyeong-un simultaneously with a terrifying momentum.

Even without a special lightness technique, she had reached a level where she could split her figure into two with just her own footwork, having reached such a realm.

-Whoosh!

From the Wicked Granny flying in from the right, a very strong killing intent was felt.

The will to kill the opponent was very strong.

Seeing this, one would likely think that the figure on the left was either a feint or had a high probability of being support, and the real attack was probably more likely to come from the right.

Normally, one would think so, but,

[Killing intent isn’t used like that, but…]

Mok Gyeong-un was mindful of what Wicked Granny had said to him.

If this was true, it meant she was trying to show something utilizing killing intent.

If so, it was no different from intentionally making the opponent recognize this.

It didn’t matter which of the two was the real attack.

‘Both are real attacks.’

So Mok Gyeong-un spread his left and right hands, summoned formless swords in both hands, and grasped them.

-Woong!

Wicked Granny, who had dispersed her figure into two and was flying in, was almost within reach.

Mok Gyeong-un was about to face her with the technique of right sword left sword.

But at that moment,

-Flinch!

Mok Gyeong-un hurriedly swung the formless sword in his left hand upwards.

-Clash clash clash clash!

The formless claw and formless sword collided as it suddenly struck down from above, and white light flashed.

He had managed to block the formless claw trying to crush him from above in an instant, but the weight of its power was so strong that his knees bent, and,

-Thud thud thud thud!

The ground couldn’t withstand it and collapsed, shaking his figure.

In that fleeting moment, her figure, split in two, suddenly flew in simultaneously as if jointly attacking Mok Gyeong-un from left and right.

-Whoosh!

At this, Mok Gyeong-un realized.

She had first caused confusion through words, and deliberately revealed strong killing intent to make him unaware of her formless claw’s energy, even if just for a moment.

This was a strategy that was possible only with long experience, beyond excellent combat sense.

‘This is what experience is, child.’

It was already over.

He was quite good, but the difference in experience was vast.

She didn’t intend to kill, but she thought to take an arm as payment.

But at that very moment.

-Clash clash clash clash!

Then Mok Gyeong-un relaxed part of the blade of the formless sword he was holding.

As he did so, the force of the pressing formless claw shifted towards the relaxed part,

-Thud!

Mok Gyeong-un changed the direction of the force and sent it towards Wicked Granny’s figure flying in from the right, and at the same time, towards her figure flying in from the left,

-Clash!

He unleashed a single strike concentrating all his power into one point to block the sword.

‘Huh?’

At this, Wicked Granny was genuinely surprised.

She had thought he absolutely couldn’t block it, but she hadn’t imagined at all that he would use the formless sword to employ a flower-grafting technique to deflect the formless claw.

This was no different from deflecting true qi with true qi.

He was compensating for the unbridgeable realm of experience with unimaginable, excellent combat sense.

‘This fellow is truly something.’

But that wasn’t the end.

As her left figure and the strikes concentrating all power collided, causing a huge aftermath, in that fleeting moment, Mok Gyeong-un used the Scripture of Transferring True Qi technique to create rippling waves, accepting her power while simultaneously,

-Bang!

Stomping the ground with his foot,

-Whirl!

He imbued both his and her power into the sword at the same time and twisted the sword tip in a spiral.

Along with this, accompanied by the sound of space tearing, the sword energy imbued with both powers created a whirlwind like a storm.

-Swish swish swish swish swish swish!

At that moment, Wicked Granny’s eyes widened.

‘T-This is?’