Chapter 94 – Contaminated World (3)

“Faster! We need to get out of the river while Sun-woo-ssi blocks it!”

Daniel shouted at Hayden, but Hayden was already pushing the boat with all his might.

‘A Kraken! Why would a giant squid that lives deep in the ocean appear in a river?’

Even while desperately trying, Hayden couldn’t understand the Kraken appearing in a river. Though they said the planet was contaminated and the ecosystem changed, there was no reason for such a giant sea monster to come all the way up a river.

“Damn it! Even handguns can’t hold it back anymore!”

While Hayden pondered why the monster appeared, Michael who had been spraying bullets toward the rear roughly changed magazines and spat curses.

Because the monster’s legs that had been easily cut by Sun-woo’s sword took on a faint glow and completely deflected bullets.

Nan-seol was also gripping her sword with visible veins and glaring backward. She had no choice but to feel her helplessness once again.

After reaching absolute level, she thought she had finally become a proper martial artist, but merely standing on water meant she could only watch the fight from this far away.

‘Still far from enough. I was too complacent after just taking one step.’

Nan-seol glared at the fight between Sun-woo and the monster while thinking thoughts that would make countless ordinary martial artists clutch their necks.

***

‘Damn! Looks like it’s really angry.’

Sun-woo urgently dodged the giant pillar falling above his head while inwardly regretting whether he had provoked this giant squid too much.

The monster’s legs that blocked the raft were immediately cut by his sword, so he seemed to have taken the opponent too lightly.

When the monster gave up on the raft and attacked Sun-woo, this time he tried to cut the attacking legs with his sword again, but this time the sword only cut the skin of the faintly glowing legs and couldn’t inflict wounds.

If he hadn’t prepared to pull back his body just in case, he would have immediately been caught by those legs and died.

From then on, instead of attacking, Sun-woo was jumping around in all directions to avoid the sucker legs rising from underwater and falling after rising.

Though it looked very precarious on the outside, Sun-woo’s expression wasn’t so dark. Rather, Sun-woo’s face even looked as if filled with some expectation.

He was now using the fight with the monster, the Kraken, as lightness kung fu training.

Perhaps because it was a fairly strong monster, it didn’t scream to call other contaminated life forms. For Sun-woo who didn’t need to coordinate with others, now was a perfect situation to train the lightness kung fu that had been tickling him.

Of course, the fact that attacks weren’t working right now was also a very big reason, but the gradually fitting lightness kung fu and footwork made him not find the monster’s attacks so frightening.

The sucker leg fell again in front of Sun-woo dodging his body here and there.

Sun-woo floated his body on water with magic and stepped the footwork according to <Seven Star Steps> to avoid the falling sucker leg. He kicked off the leg rapidly striking down the water, used lightness kung fu to lighten his body, then shot up into the air and swung his sword at another leg towering in the air, making blood splatter.

‘Moving feet to each position of the Big Dipper, moving internal energy along the meridian pathway according to Seven Star Steps, kicking off legs and soaring to the sky… Huh?’

Sun-woo who had been repeating his actions internally along with movements thinking he might gain some new enlightenment was bewildered at his actions that didn’t match up.

‘Clearly, I’m using sword technique while using footwork and lightness kung fu? The internal energy used then is definitely <Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art>, so how can I use lightness kung fu?’

After landing on the water, stepping back again to avoid legs rising from below, Sun-woo continued his thoughts.

‘Then does that mean I can sufficiently use <Seven Star Steps’> footwork and lightness kung fu with <Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art>? No! Then that doesn’t make sense! If I’m not moving internal energy according to Seven Star Steps’ meridian pathway, there’s no need to move in the Big Dipper constellation!’

Sun-woo who had been unconsciously dodging legs stopped right there.

And several sucker legs struck down toward the stopped Sun-woo.

Splash!

Tremendous spray shot upward and above the spray, Sun-woo’s figure soaring to the sky was visible.

‘I see. Naturally, just as there’s sword technique according to Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art, there must be corresponding lightness kung fu too.’

Sun-woo seemed to have realized something, and simultaneously a voice was heard from the phone in his pocket.

Probably to prepare for going to contaminated dimensions, they seemed to have added voice support function to the phone instead of the Summoner.

[Seven Star Steps has evolved into new footwork and lightness kung fu.]

[The rank of the martial art newly obtained through enlightenment increases.]

The voice heard from the phone was different from Sun-woo’s expectation.

Just as Three Disaster Sword Technique previously evolved into new sword technique by Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art, this time Seven Star Steps seemed to have evolved.

Sun-woo who wanted to gain a bit more enlightenment about <Seven Star Steps> had no choice but to be surprised at the unexpected result.

But the voice didn’t end there.

[Congratulations. Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art has been completed.]

Simultaneously, fireworks burst in Sun-woo’s mind. It felt as if he became one with his internal energy circulating along meridian pathways, and even with closed eyes it seemed he could see and control his body’s movements, every single pore.

Sun-woo finally seemed to understand what martial art Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art was, how tremendous a martial art it was.

A faint light flowed from Sun-woo’s body and his body slowly fell downward.

Kuaaaang!

In the meantime, when the Kraken’s legs couldn’t reach Sun-woo who had soared high in the sky, it was rising to the water surface.

It was like a flat island rising in the middle of the river. Except for the fact that in the island’s center was a giant mouth surrounded by numerous sharp teeth in a circle.

Below where Sun-woo was falling, the Kraken’s body that rose up opened wide its mouth filled with sharp teeth.

The Kraken that opened its mouth surrounded Sun-woo’s vicinity with seven remaining legs to catch Sun-woo who had now descended somewhat, then bent their ends to strike down at Sun-woo.

At the crisis moment, Sun-woo could settle his enlightenment. Sun-woo who opened his closed eyes saw the giant monster’s mouth below him and muttered small.

“Since I made sword technique Wheel-Turning Sword Technique, shall I make lightness kung fu Wheel-Turning Steps?”

Sun-woo who created another martial art name without much thought rotated his body in midair and did a handstand facing downward.

Ignoring the sucker legs attacking from above, Sun-woo kicked off the sky toward the Kraken just like that.

Bang!

A sound like an artillery shell exploding was heard, then Sun-woo’s body shot downward like a bullet. And in Sun-woo’s two hands, his beloved sword was emitting tremendous light.

“Sword Energy Shield (Geomgang)! First appearance.”

Sword Energy Shield, the manifestation of a complete upper absolute-level master, was unfolding in Sun-woo’s hands.

Completely different from the semi-transparent sword energy until now, shining energy that seemed able to cut anything surrounded the sword.

And Sun-woo who created Sword Energy Shield muttered small and jumped into the Kraken’s open mouth.

“Explosive Shield (Pokgang)!”

Kwang!

Simultaneously, a tremendous explosion was heard from inside the Kraken’s mouth, and the next moment water sprayed out like a fountain from the Kraken’s mouth.

Sun-woo’s sword had pierced through the Kraken’s body. As water sprayed out simultaneously, the sucker legs that had been lifted toward the sky fell straight to the water surface, and the Kraken’s body soon sank underwater.

In the meantime, the party that barely reached the opposite riverbank and was watching Sun-woo worriedly was surprised at the sinking Kraken’s appearance and hastily tried to float the raft again.

Because it looked like Sun-woo might sink underwater together with the Kraken if things went wrong.

But contrary to their worries, Sun-woo’s head suddenly popped up in front of the Kraken sinking underwater. Sun-woo waved his hand toward the party that boarded the raft again, then began swimming toward the riverbank.

‘Ugh, the recoil is as tremendous as the power is absurdly great.’

The swimming Sun-woo’s face was pale white. Because he had already exhausted all his internal energy with the last attack.

Thanks to that he could catch the Kraken, but with meridian pathways throbbing from exhausting all internal energy, it seemed using internal energy freely would be difficult for quite a while.

Sun-woo who exhausted internal energy was now swimming with only physical strength.

Even that alone was at a dimension different from ordinary humans’ speed, but unable to use the internal energy he used well, Sun-woo’s frustration was indescribable.

***

When Sun-woo reached the riverbank, the party left the raft behind and hastened their steps to get away from the river.

Because the Kraken screamed at the end, they didn’t know when monsters might rush in.

“Really amazing. To catch a Kraken. Even an uncontaminated Kraken requires multiple A-rank ability users clinging together to catch, but you caught that contaminated Kraken alone this time.”

Hayden looked at Sun-woo with surprised eyes and kept pouring out exclamations.

Other party members were also amazed at Sun-woo’s growth, but for Hayden who had actually seen the battle between Kraken and superpower users before, the moment Sun-woo caught the Kraken, he seemed thoroughly infatuated.

Unfortunately, Sun-woo walking at the party’s very front couldn’t easily answer the exclamations pouring from behind. Because he was barely gathering internal energy to monitor the surroundings.

With meridian pathways continuously throbbing and thread-thin flowing internal energy immediately disappearing, monitoring surroundings with sorcery also became no easy task.

Meanwhile, Nan-seol was walking with a serious expression as if pondering something. The moment she heard that Sun-woo walking on water wasn’t Water Surface Flying, her expression changed briefly, but soon she hardened her expression again as if it was unrelated to that matter.

Daniel and Michael seemed infected by Nan-seol too, both seeming to be thinking about something. Thanks to that, when Hayden quieted down too, the entire party became quiet, but Sun-woo rather liked this atmosphere.

Fortunately, the Kraken’s territory seemed quite wide. The party couldn’t discover monsters and beasts for quite a while.

Taking a slightly leisurely opportunity, Sun-woo checked his phone.

<Earth Spirit. Rank 7> Rank Up: 400p

<Illusion Technique. Rank 5> Rank Up: 200p

<Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art. 8 Stars> Rank Up: 1,000p

<Wheel-Turning Sword Technique. 8 Stars> Rank Up: 800p

<_____. 8 Stars> Rank Up: 800p

<Physical Enhancement. 3 Stars> Rank Up: 100p

<Water Magic. 3 Circles> Rank Up: 200p

<Fire Magic. 1 Circle> Rank Up: 200p

The spot that had been Seven Star Steps had changed to a blank. Sun-woo filled that spot with <Wheel-Turning Divine Technique>. Because it looked slightly better than writing Wheel-Turning Steps.

And Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art, Wheel-Turning Sword Technique, and the newly evolved Wheel-Turning Divine Technique all became 8 Stars. Looking at the story saying <Wheel-Turning Divine Demonic Art> was completed, binding even the divine technique into one internal energy seemed to have grown everything overall.

Sun-woo was satisfied with the martial art’s growth. And having confirmed his skills in this fight with the Kraken, his satisfaction was even greater.

The Kraken gave additional points besides the role of showing Sun-woo’s skills, and moreover gave Sun-woo a gift.

Sun-woo sneakily took out a sparkling stone from his pocket and showed it to the phone camera.

An explanation about the stone appeared on the phone.

<Kraken’s Core: A gem containing the abilities of giant monster Kraken.>

<Similar in nature to neidan, helps ability enhancement or giant monster’s growth and recovery.>

Sun-woo made a strange expression. It seemed another one similar to the imugi’s neidan had come in.