Chapter 91 - Timur Khan (2)

If they collided like this, the rotational force would sweep Dong Bongsu up and tear him to shreds in an instant. That much was obvious...!

CLINK.

But it did not. JP collided with true qi, yet the sound was far quieter than expected. Timur Khan's tremendous flying speed was pushing Dong Bongsu backward, but he had not been caught in the rotation. Only the force of the charge was driving him back.

The tip of Dong Bongsu's sword had struck precisely at Timur Khan's axis of rotation. Had it strayed by even a single millimeter, he would have been swept into the Self-Spinning Sword Ring. But by piercing the spinning top's axis without the slightest error, he had rendered its rotational force irrelevant. However fast a needle spun, the very center of its tip was effectively stationary.

Such precision would have been inconceivable for anyone but Dong Bongsu. Even so, the tip of Timur Khan's Self-Spinning Sword Ring carried tremendous martial force.

SPLURT.

Blood seeped out between Dong Bongsu's lips.

SKRRRRR.

His [Vagabond's Leather Shoes] scraped across the battlements, generating tremendous friction. Sparks flashed beneath them.

He was being driven backward without end. If he were pushed just a little farther, the tip of his Vagabond Sword would waver, and the Self-Spinning Sword Ring would engulf him in an instant.

Dong Bongsu opened his mouth, and a sword appeared between his upper and lower teeth.

Perhaps the internal injury had torn some of his organs; fragments of them spilled from his mouth along with the sword. Despite the excruciating pain, he thrust it with absolute precision at the point where the tips of the Vagabond Sword and the Self-Spinning Sword met. Calling it a thrust was an exaggeration—it barely touched the tip of the Self-Spinning Sword.

[Consecutive Strike] activated, knocking Timur Khan backward.

Dragging his unbearably heavy body forward, Dong Bongsu extended the Vagabond Sword again, striking the exact tip of Timur Khan's Self-Spinning Sword. Once again, a sword shot from his mouth and touched the same spot. It could not penetrate Timur Khan's Body Ring, but it was enough for the system to recognize the action as an attack and activate [Consecutive Strike].

Timur Khan was pushed back once more.

Until then, Timur Khan had not realized that he himself was being driven backward. He had merely assumed that Dong Bongsu's qi was retreating. Soon, however, he realized that was not the case. There was almost no collision between their qi waves. His Self-Spinning Sword Ring was striking his enemy's sword—how could it be so quiet?

As an art intended to kill in a single blow, the Self-Spinning Sword consumed an enormous amount of internal power in proportion to its might.

Ten times. He was driven backward ten times.

At last, Timur Khan stopped spinning and landed.

Dong Bongsu was still standing unharmed. Blood trickled from his mouth, but his expression was no different from when they had first met. No—standing there without any expression at all, he could not have looked more composed.

How?

Contrary to what Timur Khan thought, however, Dong Bongsu was utterly exhausted, his insides in turmoil from his internal injuries.

Timur Khan's own insides were reeling from the sudden expenditure of so much internal energy. For a moment, he gazed at Dong Bongsu's eyes, hidden behind his bangs, then raised his head to the heavens again. Unlike the blood-red earth, the sky remained blue.

"Do you know why the sky is so blue?"

Dong Bongsu did not answer. Timur Khan continued anyway.

"Even men like you and me will have our souls cleansed once we die and cross that blue river. That is why they say men need not fear death. So die without hesitation. Stop clinging to life for nothing."

Timur Khan raised the sword he had briefly lowered. This time, instead of holding it above his head, he extended his arm straight out to the side, holding it horizontally. His head, rather than his sword, became the spinning top's axis. Then he began to spin again.

WHOOOOOM!

If the previous attack had resembled a rapidly spinning awl, this one looked like a shot-putter turning before releasing the shot.

Dong Bongsu watched Timur Khan's rotation with the same impassive gaze, then began turning in the same direction. Even his posture was identical. The only difference was that his rotation was incomparably slower.

TING.

Dong Bongsu's feeble rotation met the tip of Timur Khan's stormlike Self-Spinning Sword. Yet once again, the sound was quiet, as though wind had met wind without anything happening.

Having gauged Timur Khan's rotational rhythm with his eyes, Dong Bongsu had timed his own rotation so that their sword tips would meet exactly. As a result, only their tips continued to touch, never their blades. As this repeated, Timur Khan found himself being driven backward again, accomplishing nothing.

In the end, he had no choice but to stop spinning once more.

"Hah... hah..."

Timur Khan panted from the extreme expenditure of internal power. He said nothing, but his face was rigid. His expression said it all. Why in the world was the Self-Spinning Sword not working?

In truth, however, the Self-Spinning Sword was hurting Dong Bongsu. Even though only their sword tips were touching, that alone was enough to keep battering his insides. It simply was not enough to kill him.

But Timur Khan had no way of knowing that. Dong Bongsu's face showed nothing at all.

Apart from being a little paler than before, it betrayed no change.

When Timur Khan's attack stopped, Dong Bongsu turned his head and looked down from the wall. The battle line between the northern expeditionary army and the nomad soldiers had already shifted almost to the fortress gates. Before long, Lee Jasong's army would occupy all of Guishui Fortress, from its walls to its inner citadel.

Was that a smile? Dong Bongsu's lips spread wide as he watched.

Then, without a moment's hesitation, he abandoned Timur Khan and leaped off the wall.

KRA-BOOM!

Dong Bongsu activated [Sword Qi] and plunged into the mingled ranks of friend and foe. Five or six men were pulverized amid a tremendous blast. Without stopping, he began swinging his sword wildly. As though it had no eyes, his Vagabond Sword cut indiscriminately through allies and enemies alike.

Timur Khan was speechless. Never had he suffered such humiliation. Not only was this the first man to stop his Self-Spinning Sword, he had gone off to do something else in the middle of their duel. His blue eye trembled with rage.

He immediately leaped from the wall after Dong Bongsu. Victory, defeat, even death—none of it mattered anymore.

'Whatever happens, I will kill that bastard.'

By then, Dong Bongsu's HP had already recovered above twenty percent. He slashed his own body again. Pus and blood spattered, and his HP dropped below twenty percent once more.

[Survival Instinct Lv.2] activated again.

[Qi Circulation] and [Sword Qi] were soon stacked upon his Vagabond Sword as well.

He immediately turned and swung at Timur Khan as he fell from the sky. The movement resembled a great dragon uncoiling and lashing its tail.

"Great Dragon Swings Its Tail!?"

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Still in his falling posture, Timur Khan was hurled back into the sky. But more than the shock battering his insides, what astonished him was that Dong Bongsu had used Great Dragon Swings Its Tail.

That was no concern of Dong Bongsu's. He immediately activated [Qinggong] and soared toward Timur Khan.

CLANG!

Their swords clashed fiercely in midair once more.

A faint groan escaped Timur Khan as he was sent flying backward. For the first time, Dong Bongsu had overpowered him through sheer force. The continued expenditure of internal power had left Timur Khan almost entirely drained, while Dong Bongsu was stronger than at any other point since the battle began. Moreover, though it was only an imitation, his swordsmanship now incorporated Mamorota's mighty move.

As Dong Bongsu fell to the ground, he swung his sword at the soldiers around him once more.

Blood and flesh flew, restoring more of his HP. Riding that momentum, he charged Timur Khan again and unleashed a storm of attacks. His sword was no longer quiet as it had been before.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! THUD-THUD-THUD!

Dong Bongsu's swordsmanship had transformed. His sword was powerful, as though it combined Timur Khan's swordsmanship with Mamorota's staff techniques. Fighting them had allowed him to absorb the strengths of both. Though his martial arts were not exactly the same as theirs, those strengths had blended into his swordsmanship remarkably well. Dong Bongsu had evolved once again.

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

With his internal energy almost depleted, Timur Khan could not withstand Dong Bongsu, who had recovered much of his HP.

Driven back relentlessly, Timur Khan was finally forced inside the fortress gates.

Following Dong Bongsu, Lee Jasong's northern expeditionary army poured into Guishui Fortress like a flood.

Just as Dong Bongsu became aware again of the soldiers' shouts, which he had not heard for quite some time, his sword finally buried itself in Timur Khan's heart.

CRACK. CRACK-CRACK.

The sound of the ribs protecting his heart breaking and being severed rang out clearly.

As though consumed by some unbearable grievance, Timur Khan glared at Dong Bongsu, his eye wider than it had ever been in his life.

"You... You..."

But he could not finish his curse against Dong Bongsu.

Dong Bongsu had drawn another sword with his free hand and rammed it into his mouth.

Light flared.

Timur Khan lay sprawled on the ground, gazing at the blue sky he had loved, as holy light pouring from Dong Bongsu's entire body swept over him. Soon, that light spread throughout Guishui Fortress, igniting the northern expeditionary army's bloodlust.

"Heaven's wrath has struck the barbarians! Slaughter them all!"

"Raaaaaah!"

"Kill them! Wipe them all out!"

Many soldiers who saw the level-up light pouring from Dong Bongsu's body raised their swords high, looking up at him in awe. Then they charged the enemy, swinging their swords without pause.