Chapter 475

The Mutated Water God Dragon.

When you got right down to it, this bastard was a dragon too.

It might have been closer to an imugi¹ than a true dragon, considering it could neither roam beneath the azure heavens nor wield a dragon pearl.²

But there was one problem…

This bastard with its murky identity knew how to use Breath.

And not just any Breath. A fucking powerful one.

Kwaaaaaaaaaah!

I stared with my mouth hanging open as an enormous sphere of water spread across a radius of several dozen jang.³

The ground, built up layer upon layer over centuries by sediment flowing from the Yangtze, collapsed by nearly half in an instant.

This is insane.

A force far beyond ordinary water pressure.

That was not merely an enormous quantity of water gathered together and fired all at once.

With the Mutated Water God Dragon’s immense qi infused into the sphere, it was only right to call it Water Breath from now on.

Water Breath in the Murim.

It would have been more natural if some insane undead monster had insisted it was from Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States.

I stared in horror as the Water Breath vomited by the Water God Dragon pulverized everything in its path.

At the same moment, three figures shot away from the ground being reduced to a wasteland.

“Mimi, blow up the water orb!⁴”

“…You’re completely insane. I felt murderous intent for a moment there without even realizing it.”

“That’s normal. This old man has wanted to kill you about five times already.”

One lunatic pestering a horned snake. One rejuvenated old man. And one old man who could hardly look any older.

Once I confirmed that all three were safe, a sigh of relief escaped me.

Thank goodness they dodged it.

If they took a direct hit from Breath with that level of destructive power, even a Supreme Peak master could not escape unharmed.

The Water Breath fired by the Mutated Water God Dragon was that powerful. It contained qi that far surpassed the Breath of the Black Wyvern I had personally killed in the past.

What the hell? It was strong before, but I don’t remember it being this strong…

Was it the effect of Berserk? Or had it only now drawn out all the power lying dormant within it?

I did not know the exact cause, but it unquestionably had something to do with its pupil suddenly turning black.

And my goal right now was to bring this bastard down by any means necessary.

—Krrrrrrk.

Its pitch-black pupil gleamed.

The monster let out a low growl at the humans who had dodged its attack with the speed of a streak of light, then opened its maw again.

Goooooong.

Along with an immense flow of qi, the waterspouts circling it surged upward as though being sucked into its gaping jaws.

Already…?

A second Water Breath.

Even wyverns, the modern world’s quintessential dragonkin monsters, could not use Breath this quickly or this frequently.

This thing was on an entirely different level.

Before the Water Breath could be completed, I swung with all my strength and slammed my fist into the bridge of its nose as its jaws slowly opened.

“You gaping bastard!”

Kwaang!

The enormous head shook with a deafening boom.

The sudden jolt made the rapidly forming sphere of water falter. But despite accomplishing what I had intended, my expression hardened.

It’s different.

That punch had carried all my strength.

Yet the resistance I felt through my fist was nothing like it had been only moments earlier.

Breath was not the only change that had occurred in the Mutated Water God Dragon. Its body had grown stronger as well.

To put it simply, it felt as if a punch that should have smashed through ten pine boards had stopped after breaking only five.

I clenched my teeth.

Damn it.

I should have adapted my approach to the situation, but I had been too complacent. I grabbed White Flame, which I had shoved between the dragon’s scales.

Store in Inventory. Open. Summon.

Shhk!

In the blink of an eye, White Flame vanished as though dissolving into empty space, passed through my Inventory, and reappeared in my grasp.

Every movement had been pared down to the absolute minimum. It was something impossible without the System, and even I had only recently begun to master this application.

The moment White Flame’s shaft settled into my hand, all my preparations were already complete, and I brought it down in a single strike.

Fwoosh!

Blue-white flames rose over the transparent spearhead, burning the air and evaporating the moisture filling the surroundings.

The flames sliced through the dense, foglike steam toward the black-scaled bridge of the monster’s nose.

“Shut your mouth.”

Heavenly Strike.

Kwaaaaaaaaaah—schk!

The immense flames summoned by burning internal energy split the scales. They burned through flesh and shattered bone.

Even flesh of astonishing toughness could not stop a strike that fused Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron with Force.

Behind everything cleaved apart to either side of the spearhead was the nearly completed sphere of water.

Cut.

The centuries-old Water God Dragon’s Water Breath met the fire dragon’s claw plunging down like a lightning bolt from the heavens.

No.

They collided head-on.

Gooooooong—

Along with a deafening boom that numbed my ears, red and blue flashes filled my vision.

That day, those present at the scene were not the only ones who heard the mysterious roar.

Everyone staying near Dongting Lake heard it.

Gugugugugung!

Mountains, rivers, and trees bowed beneath a tremendous boom unlike any peal of thunder.

Commoners who had shut themselves indoors to avoid the ominous atmosphere flung themselves facedown in shock, while government troops roaming near Dongting Lake to investigate the incident dropped their spears and fled in terror.

Elderly men patted their sobbing grandchildren and gazed worriedly at the sky as they muttered,

“It’s the divine spirit. The divine spirit has grown angry and brought heavenly punishment down upon someone. What is going to become of this wretched world…?”

They were half right and half wrong.

The divine being passed down by word of mouth for hundreds of years, from the distant past to the present day, had indeed existed.

But the spirit beast once worshiped as a divine spirit had degenerated into a hideous evil beast, and the heavenly punishment delivered by the enraged Mutated Water God Dragon had been blocked by a single human.

Deep in a part of Dongting Lake that no one ever visited, the battle between that human and the evil beast continued even now.

—Kroaaaaaaaaah!

A pained roar shook heaven and earth in every direction.

The monster, its maw torn open, writhed and threw its body onto the waters of Dongting Lake.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!

The river water, mixed with dark-blue blood, surged to a distant height in an instant.

Waves fit for the distant open sea rose and crashed in every direction. Three figures no larger than specks beside the monster’s enormous body darted just ahead of them.

Shweeeeeek!

Three figures shot through the air like arrows.

But one of them chose a direction completely opposite to the other two.

Seeing Jeok Cheongang charge alone toward the monster instead of dodging, Mungyeong sent a Sound Transmission.

“Fire King!”

But rather than answer, Jeok Cheongang thrust one palm toward the oncoming wave.

Poom!

With a heavy crack of displaced air, a hole burst through the center of the enormous wave about to swallow his small, aged body, and the water evaporated into steam.

A second and third wave soon came rolling in, driven by the monster’s ceaseless, pain-filled thrashing.

But the next moment, they were cleanly sliced apart.

Shraak!

A pure-white streak of light had severed the waves through their middles.

Then Cheongpung’s scattered Sword Energy mingled with the spray and reduced the pebbles flying through it to dust. Mungyeong shook the water from his short sword and spoke to Jeok Cheongang.

“There are a few things I want to ask. Did you happen to learn water arts since we last saw each other?”

Jeok Cheongang glanced at Mungyeong and answered bluntly.

“Do you know what this old man hates most in the world?”

“…?”

“First, getting wet. Second, setting a mountain on fire. And third—the last one—watching a mountain burn while I’m soaking wet. Those three things.”

“What does that have to do with—”

“It was about fifty years ago. I’d just finished taking a bath I didn’t want in a nearby valley, and when I came out, Mount Jiuhua was going up in flames. In the end, I hunted down and killed every last one of those sons of bitches.”

It was a story every martial artist knew.

After that day, an old man who had been practicing martial arts deep in the mountains of Mount Jiuhua gained the name Fire King.

“Well, things worked out well enough, and the people around me started praising me as the Fire King and whatnot. But some insane bastards pointed fingers behind my back. They called me a Killing Ghost of an old man who could kill a thousand people without batting an eye.”

Mungyeong frowned at Jeok Cheongang’s attitude. The old man was not even looking at him, simply saying whatever he pleased.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. What kind of nonsense is—”

“It’s nothing. To put it simply, this old man liked Mount Jiuhua. I liked it even more because it was the first home I could call my own. During the Great Faction War, I drilled it into every bastard under heaven that I’d crush anyone who touched what belonged to me, no matter what it took. But…”

Jeok Cheongang walked toward the writhing monster, his eyes blazing as he continued,

“That damned bastard doesn’t seem to know that. Then again, if it had known, it wouldn’t have touched my Disciple without a shred of fear.”

“You really do whatever you please. So after all that, you never learned water arts.”

“Damn it. We’ll manage somehow.”

“We’re hardly friends, but even I feel compelled to tell you to be careful.”

“Do water arts really matter when dealing with one lousy eel? I’ll hunt it down and crush it by any means necessary.”

Cheongpung joined in with an innocent voice.

“Wow. Do eels really get that big? Are they all about fifty jang³ long?”

“I feel the urge to kill rising.”

“If you’re going to kill him, ask the Sword Saint for permission and do it quietly. Of course, lend us a hand first.”

Mungyeong lightly adjusted his grip on his short sword, then suddenly spoke.

“Did Jin Taekyung happen to learn water arts?”

“I vividly remember training him in the deep valleys of Mount Jiuhua. I’ve never seen anyone so bad at swimming in my life.”

“…Then we’ll have to drag that monster onto land immediately.”

“I agree. I don’t want to lose my Disciple twice.”

If the battle took place underwater, it went without saying that the Water God Dragon would have the advantage.

But there was no other choice.

If they did not step in, Jin Taekyung would drown.

Just as Jeok Cheongang and Mungyeong exchanged determined looks, Cheongpung suddenly spoke.

“Huh? That’s not right. Benefactor is really good at swimming.”

“……?”

“……?”

“It’s true. On the way here, Benefactor… Uh, what was it again? Oh, right. He asked me to call him Aguaman.”⁵

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

The two old masters stopped short, confusion rising in their eyes.

At that very moment—

—Gwoooooooooar!

Shraaaaaaaaaah!

Along with a roar echoing from deep beneath the river, a human figure shot up through the surface.

Jeok Cheongang’s jaw dropped when he recognized the familiar face amid the spray exploding in every direction.

“You, you…”

“Pwah! Form up!”

“W-What did you say?”

There was no time to resolve his confusion.

The instant the words left his mouth, a huge shadow rippled across the rolling surface.

At the same time, a thunderous shout burst from Jin Taekyung’s lips as he landed on the ground.

“Form an attack formation!”

What burned in his eyes was not the look of a martial artist.

It was the look of a seasoned Hunter.