As soon as Hong Yeon-hwa stepped onto the road, she drew her sword.

Wooong.

Thanks to her preparation, a bright white light shot up from her sword.

The dazzling light had already taken on a clear form by the time I reached the guy’s side, who seemed to be about eighteen.

I could finally see the guy’s bewildered expression among the women, who seemed to number around twenty.

Thin, long eyes, a sly face, and skin so white it was strange.

He called himself a Black Wolf, but he looked more like a snake or a bird.

Perhaps he was in the middle of a ritual, as he hastily raised one arm.

A blue aura surrounded his arm, but it was just a hastily summoned power.

No matter how weak my sword was, it wouldn’t be blocked by that.

“Split in half… no, die halfway!”

I wanted to ask him a lot of things before killing him.

As my sword clashed with his blue aura, I felt a slight resistance.

Suk.

“Aaaahhh!”

The guy’s arm was cut off in one stroke and fell in front of a woman.

“Kyaaaahhh!”

It was a natural reaction for a commoner to scream at the sudden sight of an arm being cut off.

The problem was that I found myself focusing on that side without realizing it.

The Black Wolf, who was holding onto his severed arm, rolled on the ground and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Kill him even if it costs your life!”

It wasn’t an ordinary voice. It was a strange resonance that shook the surroundings.

Of course, a trick performed hastily without any special preparation would only be so strong.

Even a commoner would be dizzy for a moment and then it would be over, but… it seemed different for those who had already been affected by the love potion.

It was like a momentary pause button had been pressed on the scene.

The women in revealing clothes with their mouths agape, the women screaming at the sight of the severed arm, and the old man who had guided us here were all the same.

Maybe everyone in the village who had heard the guy’s shout a moment ago had stopped moving.

I quickly approached before the commoners could move and swung my sword again.

Kwoong!

“Kuhh!”

But the guy blocked my sword with a large brush he had taken out from somewhere.

It was about ten feet long and made of metal, which was unusual.

It didn’t look like a simple brush at first glance, but rather like a weapon.

Anyway, he must be a hermit who has reached the stage of enlightenment. He must have carried a weapon even in a naked state.

Well, even though one of his arms had been cut off and he couldn’t withstand the power of my sword, he still managed to push me back.

I couldn’t cut him in one place like I did before, but a few more strikes and he would crumble.

Despite being caught off guard, I found his resistance too weak for a Black Wolf.

Suddenly, the Black Wolf started laughing.

“Hehe… I won’t fall for it twice.”

“Laughing? I wonder if you’ll still be laughing on the third or fourth time.”

“There won’t be a third or fourth time to laugh.”

After saying something meaningful alone… he suddenly turned around and ran away.

That bastard.

I immediately infused my legs with energy and was about to chase after him.

But the people who had been frozen by the Black Wolf’s command all rushed towards me at once.

People with a doll-like expression surrounded me.

Even though I was clearly holding a sword, they blindly clawed at me, revealing their nails and attacking me first.

Do they really not care about their own lives as the Black Wolf commanded?

If I wanted to, I could break through them easily. But I don’t know any delicate martial arts.

If I ran with all my strength like usual, the surrounding commoners would be seriously injured by the aftermath.

If I gently pushed them aside and ran, I would slow down and lose sight of the Black Wolf who was running away.

Now I understand why he was so confident and kept taunting me. He had figured me out in that short time and was sure he could escape.

But I had anticipated this much.

Why else would Hong Yeon-hwa, our strongest member, have stayed still after the first strike?

It was for moments like this.

“How dare you try to escape from me, a lady!”

Thump.

With just one light step, I exerted pressure on the surroundings.

It wasn’t a particularly strong pressure.

But it was enough to restrain the commoners who hadn’t learned martial arts.

“……”

“……”

“……”

The commoners who had been rushing towards me froze in the same position.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s Cheonma Gunrimbo, which focused on range rather than power, crushed the entire Jungsoo Village.

Even though it was a small village, it covered the entire village.

I had heard that she could do it, but seeing it in person was amazing.

Pushing aside the frozen commoners, I closed the gap between me and the Black Wolf.

There was no more distance to keep.

I put all my strength into my legs and kicked the ground.

Kwaaang!

I felt the rebound from my feet. The surrounding scenery flowed by quickly. And the Black Wolf’s back getting closer and closer.

One of his arms had been cut off and he couldn’t maintain his balance to use his martial arts properly. It didn’t take long for me to catch up to him. He turned around and faced me.

“This…this is unbelievable!”

“Is it any more unbelievable than you controlling the entire village with your blood magic?”

To me, both seemed equally unbelievable.

“Why are you using that power for these lowly peasants? What did I do wrong?”

Ah, so that’s what he was thinking.

“You damn monster! Do you think you can just come here and get away with it?”

He dropped the condescending tone he had used earlier and swung a large brush, also known as a Pan-Gwan-Phil.

Splat.

As if he were painting in the air, a blue-green afterimage was left behind.

It was an old story, but I had learned from my time at the Yongbongji Society that Jeon Ga-se’s martial arts used tools that were not suitable for combat, such as fans and brushes.

Therefore, the power itself was relatively weak, but there was something beyond a simple strike.

Hwaaack!

Sure enough, the brush was easy to dodge, but the afterimage left behind glowed brightly.

Boom!

The delayed explosion of the energy hit me. If I hadn’t been prepared, it could have been dangerous.

I was able to block it without any significant damage because I had anticipated it.

“Tsk.”

The cold-blooded bastard blew energy into the brush again.

Unlike the front of the brush, the back was sharp and pointed, reminiscent of a needle. It was quite threatening.

“Die!”

The blue-green energy rushed towards me at lightning speed.

Jung-gum-hyeol, Dang-mun-hyeol, Geo-gol-hyeol, Je-mun-hyeol, Gok-ji-hyeol, Bi-yu-hyeol, and more.

Precise thrusts aimed only at the heart and arteries.

If any of them hit, it would be a fatal blow that could completely subdue the opponent.

But…

“Hup!”

I gripped my sword tightly and twisted my waist as much as I could.

Hyeok-so-cheon-gun.

The wide-ranging storm of energy that swept forward blocked all of his thrusts and left several small wounds.

What? Why isn’t he using Hoshin-ganggi?

It wasn’t a direct hit, and the aftermath could have been easily blocked with Hoshin-ganggi.

For a moment, I wondered why he wasn’t using it, but I took advantage of the Black Wolf’s hesitation and raised my sword high.

I was about to end it in one blow.

“Not yet! It’s not over yet!”

The Black Wolf pushed away the brush that had been thrown away and raised it again.

Even in the middle of his previous thrust, he had drawn something on the brush, and a strange pattern was floating in the air.

As I took in the sight, my vision suddenly shook.

What kind of sorcery or technique was that a moment ago? My senses began to race as if I were drunk.

…Only for a brief moment.

Something was trying to affect me, but my determination, strengthened by the abilities of Muryeong Shin Gong, bounced it off.

“Huhahaha! Gotcha! I’ll take you as a hostage and escape from that monster-like bitch! And then, once again…!”

Whether it was him or her, they all seemed to treat me as if I were Hong Yeon-hwa’s weakness. Do I really look that easy to handle?

Of course, compared to Hong Yeon-hwa, I might seem easy, but I can’t help feeling resentful.

Filled with such dissatisfaction, I continued my swordsmanship, which had momentarily stopped.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“What…? My Baekun Manlakdo白雲萬樂圖…!”

Perhaps his confidence was not working, as the guy with his mouth wide open quickly retrieved his Pan-Gwan-Phil and raised it.

But there was no way he could block the one-sword strike that contained the essence of Taesanabjeong.

Kwaaang!

“Aaaahh!!”

The guy holding the brush was unscathed, but his arm holding the brush was twisted at an odd angle.

He fell to the ground, writhing, and I stepped on one of his ankles to prevent him from escaping.

Crack.

And then, to prevent him from pulling any more tricks, I cut off his broken arm from the elbow.

Squelch.

The Black Wolf, who had lost both arms so pathetically, had only one leg left intact.

He was probably in a higher position than me in Hwagyeong, but he was weaker than I had expected.

Well, that’s not important. What’s important is…

“Now we can have a conversation.”

The words that will come out of his mouth from now on.

I have so many questions.