Blood Demon of the Past Life – Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Step Up （4）

This trial.

The fortunate thing amidst the misfortune was that the ant extermination wasn’t completely impossible just because Kang San wouldn’t kill the enemies. Of course, the difficulty had increased significantly. However, Kang San’s role was strictly to block the enemies at the front, and there was someone else assigned to the role of dealing with this large number of monsters.

It was Yeon Woo-bin.

While Kang San was buying time, his magical power surged explosively.

“Salamander’s Breath.”

Hwaak.

Hwarururururu-

Powerful flames erupted.

The surging flames, as if they were the Salamander’s jaws, swallowed the ants whole, and with a crackling, acrid smoke rising, they were instantly burned black. Salamander’s Breath was strictly a D-rank skill, but its firepower was such that even the Soldier Ants of the same rank couldn’t withstand it. Yeon Woo-bin was determined to only use area-of-effect attacks. Against the ants that pushed forward with their numbers, he couldn’t afford to waste mana on single targets.

Once one cycle like that was completed.

‘Trial’s Shield.’

Hwak.

It was Kang San’s turn without fail.

Sensing the killing intent directed towards Yeon Woo-bin, Kang San stepped in between and raised his shield.

Kwageuk.

He blocked the attack by a hair’s breadth.

However.

Kwaang━!

He was pushed sideways by a powerful foreleg attack.

As he raised his head, he saw the world turning black once again.

‘There are a damn lot of them.’

Dozens?

That’s how many he could see just within his field of vision.

Thanks to that, his defense had increased significantly with Guardian’s Will, but as always, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing for Kang San. It meant that there were as many enemies to handle as the stats he was granted. While constantly blocking the ants’ attacks that crashed against him, Kang San focused on the visible killing intent amidst the chaotic entanglement.

The ninth trial.

It probably didn’t simply mean to succeed in the extermination without killing.

Since the Memory Fragments always provided clues, Kang San knew that he had to overcome this situation like the ‘Blood Demon’.

‘Blood Demon Art is a way to handle killing intent. If what the old man said is true, it must be possible to use it defensively as well.’

Hoowung.

An ant raised its foreleg.

The swirling red energy indicated that there were numerous openings even in that short moment, but Kang San couldn’t attempt a counterattack that would take a life. However, he widened his eyes. Even amidst the intense impact that struck him, he tried to capture how the killing intent moved and imprint it in his eyes as much as possible.

Kwaang!

Kwaang, Kwaang!

He was pushed back unilaterally.

When he excluded attacks, he definitely couldn’t control the enemies’ movements effectively.

“Keuk.”

He contorted his face.

It wasn’t easy.

No matter how much he concentrated, he couldn’t find the direction the old man had spoken of.

‘Could it be the same context as when I made the sword?’

He had to think.

Kang San struck the ant away.

Blocking the consecutive incoming attacks one by one, he recalled the moment when he had hammered the steel, enveloped in killing intent.

At that time, for sure.

He saw a path.

Even though there was no target to kill, the Blood Demon Art pointed to a new path.

‘I have to apply the way I handled the Blood Demon Art.’

It’s not just a fluke.

Kang San had definitely handled the Blood Demon Art, and in order to revive the feeling of that time, he drew upon the magical power of the Blood Demon Art. The abstract concept of it didn’t react immediately just because it had ‘will’. When crafting the sword, there was a medium of hammer and steel, and flames. The violent collision acted as a catalyst to trigger the magical power of the Blood Demon Art, but now he had to draw it out from nothing.

Kwageuk.

“Keuk.”

A Soldier Ant finally bit his shoulder.

It was because he had closed the distance in an attempt to handle the killing intent.

Kang San pushed its head away.

I can’t kill it. While tearing off the Soldier Ant, a chunk of his flesh was ripped out.

‘Healing Aura.’

Hwaak-

He healed the wound.

The ant that had been pushed back, as if excited by the taste of blood, was seen fiercely enraged and raising its forelegs.

‘Focus.’

He didn’t back down.

He faced the opponent.

He finished preparing to counter with his shield and showed his will not to retreat a single step from the line of death.

At that moment.

‘…!’

A strange phenomenon was captured in Kang San’s vision.

The Soldier Ant’s foreleg.

Red energy flickered from there.

It wasn’t indicating a vital point, but it was aimed precisely at his right shoulder as it shot out fiercely.

Thought was unnecessary.

More precisely, there was no time to think.

It was a split-second moment, and Kang San instinctively twisted his body.

Then.

Hook.

Kwaang!

As expected, the Soldier Ant’s foreleg grazed his right shoulder and crashed to the ground.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

A single success.

He finally achieved what he intended.

Kang San had clearly dodged the attack by anticipating the killing intent, but he still wasn’t immediately convinced that this was the answer.

‘It could have been a fluke.’

He needed definite confirmation.

Whether this was right.

Whether it was truly the correct method.

Kang San calmly observed the incoming attacks once again.

Saaaak-

Kyaaak!

Killing intent arose.

The Soldier Ant that had failed its attack emitted an even stronger momentum, and the swirling energy from its sharply bared teeth headed towards Kang San’s head. It meant that it was about to attack his head. As Kang San raised his shield, the sound of two things, as hard as steel, colliding strongly was heard once again.

Kwageuk━!

‘It was real!’

He blocked the attack.

Goosebumps rose on his skin.

The old man’s teachings were for this.

Not just using killing intent to kill the enemy, but understanding the intention behind expressing killing intent.

He had the world, where death was rampant, in his grasp.

A net of heaven and earth.

It wasn’t a coincidence that he had survived back then, surrounded by countless enemies, from the Tang Clan warriors who unleashed Full Sky Flower Rain. The old man was looking at the world from a different perspective. Amidst the red energy tangled like threads, he had carved a path through the seemingly impossible space and managed to kill all the enemies.

Kyaak!

Krararak!

The ants went berserk.

Frustrated that their attacks weren’t working, they swung their arms haphazardly, determined to kill Kang San somehow.

Hwik, Hwik.

He saw them all.

‘Left.’

Hook!

The attack grazed past him.

‘Right.’

He dodged again by a hair’s breadth.

The killing intent showed him the future 2 to 3 seconds ahead, and it made a huge difference in the breathlessly entangled battlefield. Kang San absorbed the current situation like a sponge. If he had initially shown awkwardness in the sense of utilizing killing intent, he now applied it as if it were originally his own. The fragmented memories of the Blood Demon revived, and he reenacted the scene of dodging enemies’ attacks in the darkness.

It was then.

『You have met the special conditions for Blood Demon Art.』

『Blood Demon Art has risen to 3 stars.』

『You have acquired Blood Demon Sword Technique, Second Style: Pursuit Kill.』

It was an unexpected reward.

At the same time.

“…What is this.”

His vision expanded.

Kang San’s world changed.

A world where red energy was tangled like threads.

It was a world of a new realm, not recorded as anything tangible.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

It had already been over twenty minutes since the fight began.

In a situation where rest was not allowed, Jo Han-byeol fired an arrow and caught his rising breath.

“Heok, Heok.”

From the beginning until now.

Just how many arrows had he fired?

He couldn’t count past a few dozen, and even though his hands were torn and bleeding, he continued to fire arrows.

He knew it too.

Ant extermination.

It was impossible unless everyone did more than their fair share.

He hurriedly swallowed a potion while catching his breath.

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

A refreshing feeling enveloped his entire body.

Yeon Gyu-seong had provided at least intermediate-grade potions, and he felt their effects quickly restoring his stamina.

He glanced at the battlefield.

He saw Kang San fiercely entangled with the ants.

“…How on earth is that an E-rank?”

He was amazed every time he experienced it.

He had acknowledged Kang San’s skills from the start, but while undergoing Yeon Gyu-seong’s test, he realized that Kang San was a more skilled person than he had thought. Common sense dictated that the Necromancer Hobgoblin was a force that an E-rank party couldn’t handle. From the moment he accomplished such an impossible feat, he accepted that Kang San was from a completely different realm.

But.

His current appearance was also beyond common sense.

Even when focusing solely on attacking, he was this out of breath, so he couldn’t understand how Kang San was holding out for 20 minutes.

‘According to the original plan, Chan-woo was supposed to buy time depending on the situation…’

The basic plan.

If Kang San felt his stamina reaching its limit, Jeong Chan-woo was to switch places and buy time for even a minute while Kang San replenished his stamina with potions. If things had gone as expected, it would have been time for Kang San to signal, but seeing him still holding out strong, he suddenly felt ashamed.

After meeting Kang San.

It had always been like this.

Because Kang San took care of everything, Jo Han-byeol didn’t bear the burden of any crisis to the extent of the crisis itself.

It was a great thing.

To keep up with such a person, he himself needed to change.

Yeon Woo-bin was like that too.

And so was Jeong Chan-woo.

He absolutely didn’t want to fall behind them as they grew in spurts.

Sook.

He drew an arrow.

A sharp pain shot through his fingertips, which were completely scraped, but it was a trivial thing compared to the pain Kang San was enduring. He swallowed the pain. And just as he was about to focus and fire the arrow.

『The skill Archer’s Tenacity has been generated.』

『Concentration stat increased by 10.』

Jo Han-byeol too.

He was gradually improving his abilities.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Strangely enough, Kang San didn’t feel like this situation was as overwhelming as Jo Han-byeol thought.

Hoowung-

Being able to see the attacks meant.

That he could react in advance.

Originally, it would have been a format of recognizing and blocking attacks, but now Kang San could reduce unnecessary stamina consumption by dodging from the start. Of course, he had to block attacks he couldn’t dodge. However, unlike when he had to block most of the 10 attacks, the reduction in direct collisions gave Kang San some breathing room.

It was a new realm.

While he could attack enemies more effectively due to Blood Demon Art, the efficiency of his defense also increased.

In a situation where the number of enemies had visibly decreased.

Kang San shouted.

“I’ll open the path from now on!”

“Yes!”

It was something they had discussed beforehand.

They decided to reduce the number of enemies as much as possible in a space advantageous for defense at the beginning, and to open the path when they saw an opportunity.

Now was that opportunity.

‘Tinker Bell’s Light Orb.’

Hwaak-

The scroll emitted light.

Kang San had used the scroll at the beginning, and a small orb of light rose and searched every nook and cranny of the ant tunnels. Where the dead ends were, where the path leading to the Queen Ant was. It had finished searching while the battle, which lasted over 20 minutes, was going on. If it had been a hunting ground imbued with magical power, Tinker Bell’s Light Orb wouldn’t have been able to analyze it, but in the current earthen tunnels, there was no big problem.

“This way!”

“Fire Wave.”

Hwaruk.

Hwarurururuk.

They set the direction.

As they moved in the direction the Light Orb was heading, Yeon Woo-bin activated the magic he had prepared in advance and attacked the monsters blocking the path. Moving forward wasn’t difficult. The ants boasted overwhelming numbers, but a certain number of them never left the Queen Ant’s side to ensure her safety.

Therefore.

The fact that the ants’ support had dwindled meant that almost all of them, except for the force protecting the Queen Ant, were dead.

Kang San also took a potion in the middle.

And after moving for a long time, they finally reached the space where the Light Orb had stopped.

Wheeing-

It was a huge cavity.

In that empty space, a gigantic ant existed on top of a mountain-like pile of earth.

That wasn’t all.

Kreuruk.

Kieek.

About a hundred ants were guarding the area.

Kang San grabbed his shield and shouted.

“Get ready!”

“Wow, there are a damn lot of them.”

Was that the signal?

Kyaaak━!

As the Queen Ant’s jaws opened wide, a hundred ants started rushing in all at once.