Chapter 25
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Chapter 25: Madness
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Yeon So-hyeon took a deep breath.
The stench peculiar to the back alleys—the smell of excrement, the rot of something decaying, the mustiness, the odors rising from the sewers, and the scent of melted viscera and boiling blood—felt refreshing.
Every time his heart beat with a rhythmic thrum, the Demonic Qi of the Darkness-Suppressing Heaven-Shaking Classic surged through the blood vessels and meridians of his entire body.
The Demonic Qi, which distorted and eroded reality, churned through his Upper Dantian and soared straight into his consciousness.
Everything in his surroundings entered his field of vision, and everything felt as if it were within his grasp.
It felt as though there was nothing he could not do.
It was a sense of omnipotence, and at the same time, it was madness.
Without realizing it, a rough, beastly growl rumbled deep in his throat.
Yeon So-hyeon, the Demonic Being of the Darkness-Suppressing Heaven-Shaking Classic, gazed at the prey lined up along the hallway.
"…The banquet begins."
A voice composed of harsh, metallic tones echoed through the corridor.
"K-kill him!"
With someone’s shout, the members of the Black Bone Faction began to rush forward, brandishing their weapons in a frenzy.
"Come!"
Yeon So-hyeon bared his teeth and laughed.
The face of the one who charged at the very front was pale with terror, driven by desperation.
The blade he wielded was a pathetic, cheap thing that could hardly be called a sword.
He could even see, with perfect clarity, the strands of the dirty tassel tied to the hilt for show as they fluttered in the air.
But there was no need or reason to dodge.
Yeon So-hyeon stood still and took the blow head-on.
With a sharp, metallic clash of steel against steel, sparks flew.
The blade, full of impurities and not even properly tempered, snapped and flew off.
The broken shard embedded itself into the ceiling.
It didn't even itch.
Before the hilt, which the man had dropped from the shock, could even hit the floor, Yeon So-hyeon struck the man’s head with his palm.
With a deafening explosion that numbed the ears, the man’s head erupted in the direction of the strike.
Like a whip cracked with immense force, the man’s brains, blood, and bone fragments splattered across the floor.
Only then did the hilt, now devoid of its blade, clatter to the ground.
The headless torso swayed sideways, spun half a circle, and collapsed as if leaning against the hallway wall.
At that sight, Yeon So-hyeon raised his hands and clapped.
After all, could a banquet be complete without a dance?
"Aaaargh!"
The next man rushed in, wielding an axe.
Yeon So-hyeon reached out with both hands and ripped the man’s arms from his body.
While the man shrieked at the top of his lungs, Yeon So-hyeon tossed the severed arms to the floor.
"My aaaaarms…!"
After watching that grotesque dance for a moment, Yeon So-hyeon slowly tore the man’s maw apart.
Two more men lunged into the gap, but they were sent flying, their waists severed in an instant.
The man who had been pushed forward by those behind him was caught by Yeon So-hyeon, who had his mouth wide open, and had his head chewed off right then and there.
A banquet must not be without food, after all.
Even while Yeon So-hyeon spoke so leisurely, blades flew and blunt weapons struck down.
But none of them caused any damage, and every time Yeon So-hyeon moved his body, the number of corpses missing limbs in the hallway only grew.
That foul, filthy corridor was being reborn as the ultimate banquet hall, filled with song, dance, and food.
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With a joyful smile, Yeon So-hyeon pierced through another torso with a hand-blade.
Just like that, another life vanished.
However, the Black Bone Faction was not just taking it lying down.
As Yeon So-hyeon pierced the torso, a cold, blue blade emerged from the other side.
The blade darted toward Yeon So-hyeon with terrifying speed.
"Hmph…!"
With a low snort, Yeon So-hyeon leaned back to dodge the blade.
The long sword, which hadn't a single drop of blood on it even after piercing through a body, reflected a cold, blue light from its smooth surface.
And a violent energy was surging within that blade, as if it were about to overflow.
That was the reason Yeon So-hyeon had dodged that single flash.
Between the speed, the technique, and the high-quality long sword, a true master of martial arts had finally appeared.
The attack did not end with a mere piercing strike.
"Puppet."
With a low murmur, the thrust transitioned into a slash, as if defying the laws of physics.
Slicing through the corpse as if it were tofu, the blue blade descended upon Yeon So-hyeon like a lightning bolt.
'Got you!'
The wielder of the long sword was certain his attack would succeed.
This monster had managed to dodge his first strike, which had come from a blind spot, using beast-like instincts.
But leaning back to dodge was a clear mistake.
With his center of gravity completely compromised, there was no way he could dodge the follow-up strikes of his unique secret art, Puppet.
"…?! "
However, his strike, which had cleaved the corpse, uselessly cut through the air and left only a deep scar on the floor.
"An interesting technique."
A cold breath from his opponent brushed against his ear.
If he had been a greenhorn who hadn't spent much time in the world of blades, he would have been at a loss at that moment.
He didn't need to think or judge.
His body, tempered by countless real battles, reflexively unleashed another technique.
Returning Wheel.
Another unique secret art that integrated recovery and attack into one.
Toward the direction where the breath had touched him, the sword body sprang out as if launched, and he didn't stop there, pouring out dozens of follow-up strikes in a single breath.
"Haaah…!"
He tore the space to shreds as if the blade had multiplied into dozens.
This time, the monster did not dodge the attack but began to intercept the dozens of follow-up strikes.
Every time the long claws made of black energy collided with his sword, sparks flew in all directions with ear-splitting roars.
"Huff, huff!"
Finally, as the flurry of strikes ended, he took a ragged breath.
The fact that his Internal Energy had been significantly depleted in just a few moves was a problem, but the fact that the flow of his Internal Force had collapsed due to his ragged breathing from the forced sequence of techniques was an even greater problem.
'…Damn monster bastard.'
But the biggest problem was elsewhere.
"Is it over already?"
He himself was covered in his own blood, his entire body shredded by the monster’s claws, yet the monster in the white mask didn't have a single cut on his clothes.
"I was just starting to enjoy myself. What a pity."
The monster’s rough voice scraped against his ears.
"…Go to hell!"
He staked everything on this final strike.
He poured in all his remaining Internal Energy and focus.
Of course, judging by the monster’s abilities shown so far, his final strike would undoubtedly be blocked in vain.
'But…!'
At the same time, the walls on both sides of the monster in the hallway shattered, and the two remaining martial artists who had been waiting launched their attacks.
It was a perfect ambush, targeting the moment the opponent was most off-guard.
'It worked…?!'
But what he saw the next moment was completely different from his expectations.
His sword was bitten by the monster’s teeth and shattered instantly, and at the same time, the ambush was uselessly blocked by the monster’s two hands.
The monster spat out the shards of the sword.
"Is this the best you can do?"
It was then that he realized.
No matter what they did, there had never been any chance of hunting this monster from the very beginning.
The monster was simply playing with them before devouring them.
"Aaaargh!"
He saw the two men who had given up their weapons, caught by the monster’s brute strength, rushing in with secondary weapons and bare hands.
Then, something flashed, followed by a roar.
Only then did he realize that his Internal Force had completely bottomed out.
A spray of blood mist, a fountain of blood, and noise continued for a while.
He tried to summon his remaining stamina to charge at the monster again, but this was absolutely not an opponent he could face without Internal Force.
He had lost consciousness for a moment due to the monster’s light gesture, and the reason he woke up was because of the horrific screaming.
"Gyaaaah!"
The monster, with his back turned to him, was eating one of the martial artists alive.
The hallway was filled with the sounds of flesh tearing, bones breaking, and screams.
Caught in helplessness and terror, he had no choice but to wait for his turn.
He wept and begged.
But his fate had already been sealed.
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Yeon So-hyeon, having withdrawn his Demonic Qi, asked the leader of the den, who was the last one left.
"You say I’m a mad monster?"
The leader, whose knees were completely shattered, screamed at Yeon So-hyeon, filled with malice.
"Screw you! If I’m a mad monster, then what are you? Do you think you’re some great master?!"
Yeon So-hyeon slowly looked around.
The place he had finally reached was a slaughterhouse set up in the underground space.
Viscera gathered in one place were being boiled in a large cauldron, and even more viscera were piled up, waiting for their turn.
On the other side, bones and meat were strewn about as if the butchering process had been in full swing, and in the corner, an enormous pile of bones was stacked like a mountain.
Beyond that, large pieces of meat waiting to be processed were hanging from hooks in a long line.
And finally, the place where Yeon So-hyeon stood was where the process of draining blood from the meat was underway.
The floor formed a large pool of thick blood, which was draining into the sewer along a trench.
And that blood was flowing down from the ‘human corpses’ hanging upside down.
Yeon So-hyeon looked at the corpse closest to him.
It was no exaggeration to say that only bones remained.
The only peculiar thing was that, for some reason, the woman’s belly was split open.
Yeon So-hyeon closed the eyes of the corpse, which were still wide open, and asked the leader.
"…I’m the one who’s mad?"
The person in charge of the underground human meat factory, clutching his shattered lower body and groaning, retorted to Yeon So-hyeon’s words.
"You idiot! This is all just business!"
"…."
Yeon So-hyeon, momentarily speechless, picked up a bowl that had been on the person in charge’s desk.
Perhaps they had been in the middle of a meal before things went south, as the bowl and its contents were still warm.
Yeon So-hyeon fished out a piece of meat from it.
Steam rose from the wrist, which was clearly that of an infant given its size.
It was a scene that showed exactly why the woman’s belly had been split open.
"Just business, you say?"
The person in charge shrieked as if having a seizure.
"You crazy bastard! What do you think business is?! Why do you think we do business?! It’s all just to survive and eat…!"
Yeon So-hyeon vanished in an instant, reappearing to seize the man in charge by the head and slam him into the wall.
"Aaaargh...!"
Yeon So-hyeon let out a dry laugh as he slowly dragged the man’s head across the wall, as if smearing it against the surface.
When he killed and consumed people, they called it madness. Yet when they killed, sold, and consumed people, they called it business.
They had made the killing, butchering, selling, and devouring of human beings their trade, diligently living out their lives in this harsh reality!
Yeon So-hyeon hoisted the corpse of the man—whose head had been split in half—and hung it upside down on an empty meat hook.
Blood poured from the mangled skull, splattering onto the floor.
It seemed like too quick a death, but Yeon So-hyeon had his reasons.
Somewhere in the basement, there had to be cages where they kept living people for the sake of "fresh meat."
He had to find them.
As he moved forward, he posed a question to himself.
Am I the one who is mad, or is it this world?
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