Chapter 85 - Blood Drain, Appendix: A Summary of Skills and Rules

But that did not mean Dong Bongsu was out of danger. Kaiji's claws were still sweeping toward his lower body.

Although Consecutive Strike had activated with exquisite—calculated, to be precise—timing and sent Mamorota flying, it was already too late for Dong Bongsu to retreat.

Dong Bongsu vanished. Like Mamorota's iron mace earlier, Kaiji's paw cut fruitlessly through empty air. A missed kick in the most literal sense!

Dong Bongsu had used the [Consecutive Strike]-[Movement Art] combination, just as he had when killing Paitan. Two gains with a single move: he evaded Kaiji's attack and got behind the airborne Mamorota.

Mamorota could barely keep his wits about him.

When he first began fighting Dong Bongsu, he had never imagined a battle like this. Who in the world fought this way? Techniques that should not even exist, and combat abilities that defied common sense.

But he, too, was a northern warrior seasoned by countless battles. Startled though he was, Mamorota responded calmly.

The instant Dong Bongsu disappeared, he sensed a presence behind him as he hung in the air. Whatever trick Dong Bongsu had used no longer mattered. What mattered was that he had appeared behind him.

He immediately twisted backward, gathering all his internal power as he swung his curved saber. He looked like a great dragon coiling and uncoiling to lash its tail. The move was called Great Dragon Swings Its Tail. Combined with the method of Mighty Overlord Spin, its power grew enormously.

BOOM!

Dong Bongsu's sword and Mamorota's saber collided in midair once more. Again, a tremendous explosion and a wave of qi erupted, sending them flying in opposite directions. Naturally, Mamorota flew back the way he had come, toward Kaiji. Using that momentum, he swiftly vaulted back onto Kaiji's back.

Dong Bongsu, meanwhile, was sent flying over the battlefield far away from them. Soaring like a bird, he mercilessly swung the Vagabond Sword at several Gray Wolf Corps warriors in his path. With his momentum and the power of his Skills behind it, his sword was viciously fierce.

RRRIP!

Would even scraps of worn cloth tear so easily? The Gray Wolf Corps warriors were cut to pieces in an instant.

"Raaagh!"

A few Gray Wolf Corps warriors who did not know their place charged at Dong Bongsu as he landed, only to become more shredded rags.

When no more of them came at him, he turned and charged toward Mamorota and Kaiji again. They were already racing fiercely toward him.

BANG! CLANG-CLATTER!

On the surface, Dong Bongsu and Mamorota were almost evenly matched. But Mamorota had Kaiji on his side. Dong Bongsu could no longer use [Movement Art] for five minutes, and the remaining duration of [Qi Circulation] was steadily dwindling. In reality, he was at a far greater disadvantage.

The Inventory Divine Art was the only reason he could hold on at all. Bizarre weapons sprang from the gaps in his torn clothes at unpredictable moments, making it difficult for Mamorota and Kaiji to respond.

But those unorthodox tactics soon broke down.

BANG!

Kaiji's claws struck Dong Bongsu squarely in the left thigh.

While Mamorota blocked the Vagabond Sword and the sword fragment fired from Dong Bongsu's mouth, Kaiji had exploited an opening with exquisite timing.

Dong Bongsu hurriedly summoned a defensive steel plate through a tear in his trousers, but fully negating those terrifying claws had been impossible from the outset.

The steel plate crumpled completely, and Dong Bongsu was driven sharply backward. Thick as the plate was, the tear in his trousers limited the size of the object he could produce. Besides, Kaiji's forepaw could easily rip through a tiger's hide. It would have been stranger if the blow had done no damage.

"Raaawr! Rarf!"

Kaiji seized the moment, pursuing Dong Bongsu with another attack. Red liquid still streamed from his mouth, but even a fierce tiger could not compare to his ferocity.

With the claws of his right paw fully extended, he swept them from right to left in a raking strike.

Dong Bongsu hurriedly turned the Vagabond Sword into a reverse grip and raised it to block the claws.

THUD!

A dull impact rang out. At the same instant, an equally heavy shock assailed Dong Bongsu's entire body. Every bone in him shuddered. Excruciating pain wrung every last cell, from the tips of his fingers and toes to the roots of his hair, yet his eyes only grew more impassive.

"Die!"

Blocking Kaiji's attack sent Dong Bongsu flying to the left, and from the opposite direction, Mamorota's curved saber swept toward him in a half-moon arc.

Dong Bongsu immediately returned the Vagabond Sword in his left hand to his Inventory, then drew it straight into his right.

He blocked Mamorota's whirling saber by a hair's breadth, but could not deflect all its force. The momentum of Kaiji's blow and the power of Mamorota's saber combined into a tremendously powerful impact.

"Ghk!"

A stifled groan escaped him. This time, however, it did not end with a single brief grunt as before.

Blood spurted from Dong Bongsu's mouth in streams. If he had bathed in his enemies' blood earlier, now he was showering in his own.

"Hahaha! I've no idea how the hell you fight, but it's over now! Hyaaah!"

Mamorota and Kaiji attacked once more to finish him off for good.

They did not see Dong Bongsu's eyes, which remained impassive despite his internal injuries. Unfortunately for them, the veil of blood over his eyes made them even harder to read.

"... There. Now. Heh heh."

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Another thunderous crash rang out, and Dong Bongsu flew backward like a kite with its string cut. Mamorota was no longer listening to his muttering. He was almost certain that even if this attack did not kill Dong Bongsu, he would never get up again.

Where Dong Bongsu was hurtling, limp as a corpse, Gray Wolf Corps warriors were slaughtering mercenaries and whirlwind-catapult crews. Several spotted him flying toward them.

"It's him! He's coming this way!"

"Kill him!"

"Woof! Woof!"

They waited with bloodshot eyes, ready to kill Dong Bongsu, while the gray wolves smacked their lips.

The Gray Wolf Corps' savage curses drew closer, but Dong Bongsu was still smiling.

"Blood. I've lost too much blood. I need blood."

Dong Bongsu murmurs under his breath. Of course, no one could hear him.

He sank lower and lower.

4m, 3m, 2m, ...

As the distance between him and the ground shrank, the things covering his seemingly exhausted body changed one by one.

Blood-red hard armor, blood-red leather shoes, and a blood-red bamboo hat.

Last came the blood-red Vagabond Sword, made redder still by his own blood.

Dong Bongsu gripped his sword, activated [Sword Qi], and slashed downward with all his might.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

PATTER-PATTER.

A rain of blood and chunks of flesh falls.

Everyone beneath Dong Bongsu as he fell was slaughtered in an instant. He had gathered every last ounce of strength and unleashed an explosion of [Sword Qi].

Dong Bongsu slowly rose, showered in blood and flesh.

If the battlefield had a soul, it was as though it had briefly lost it: everything stopped. But the moment did not last long.

"Kill him!"

"Kill that son of a bitch!"

"That must have been his last attack! He won't even have the strength to lift his sword now! Attack him all at once!"

But they were mistaken.

Dong Bongsu slipped swiftly through their ranks. He was faster now, more reckless with his own safety, and using even more merciless techniques.

Above all...

He was more alive. The more he swung his sword, the more he killed, the more vigor returned to his body.

He was stronger. His sword had unmistakably grown more powerful.

Current HP: 26 / 100 (%)

· When HP falls to 50% or below, all stats increase by 5%. (Lv.1 activated)

· When HP falls to 20% or below, all stats increase by 10%. (Lv.2 activated)

※ Even if HP drops and then recovers above the relevant threshold, Survival Instinct's effect persists for one minute.

His HP had fallen below 50% and was now recovering rapidly.

It made no sense to anyone watching, but the more people he killed, the more his wounds and damage disappeared.

"... What...the hell...is that...bastard...?"

Mamorota was so dumbfounded that he could not move for a moment.

Swordsmanship that made its user more vigorous with every kill?

He had heard that something called the Great Absorption Art was passed down in the Central Plains, but this did not look like that kind of martial art.

What Dong Bongsu was absorbing was not internal power, but blood itself.

But he could not remain like this forever. If he stood by, the Gray Wolf Corps might suffer devastating losses. He had to attack and finish Dong Bongsu before he fully recovered. If he delayed any longer, he might be the one defeated instead.

"Hyah!"

Mamorota flicked Kaiji's reins, intending to charge at Dong Bongsu.

But for some reason, Kaiji did not move.

He looked down at Kaiji and found his eyes lifeless. Those once murderously gleaming eyes were half closed, and his bristling fur had gone completely flat.

Kaiji's only injuries were the 'two' wounds he had suffered while trying to bite Dong Bongsu's thigh earlier. Two wounds that were not even particularly deep. That alone could not possibly have reduced Kaiji, a great gray wolf, to this state.

'Poison?'

Mamorota could think of no other explanation.

But it was not poison.

· Two consecutive successful strikes inflict 'Bleeding' on the enemy.

It was one of the effects of the Skill [Consecutive Strike Lv.1]. A target afflicted with the [Bleeding] status condition slowly dies. With a healer on hand to treat it immediately, it would have been a trivial attack. Unfortunately, there were no healers here.

THUMP.

At last, Kaiji's HP was completely depleted, and he sank to the ground.

Mamorota could only watch Dong Bongsu mercilessly slaughter the Gray Wolf Corps warriors.

He could not make heads or tails of the man. Bizarre hidden-weapon techniques and poison arts, unimaginable sorcery, unfathomable swordsmanship, and above all, monstrous vitality that grew stronger the longer he fought.