Surviving in a Romance Fantasy Novel-Chapter 170: Cold Wind (2)

The blade wind blew.

Even just trying to stay focused amidst the swirling sword wind made my head feel like it was spinning.

By the time I gave up counting how many swords had already broken, my body was already battered beyond recognition.

I had cut down several general-level officers in front of Taehwa Pavilion, and slain hundreds of demonic spirits on my way here, and now, in that state, being told to face the main body of the Plague Demonic Spirit was an impossible ordeal from the start.

To make matters worse, my opponent was someone who had already killed me multiple times within the cycles of reincarnation. So even if I lost here, no one could rightly blame me.

Claaang!

But as I struck its blade upward to deflect it, I felt even more power surge into my wide-open eyes.

I shoved its body back with my shoulder and drove my sword into its waist.

Twisting the blade with every last ounce of strength I could summon, I finally yanked it back out, and blood sprayed like a fountain.

[Keurgh…]

As I was drenched in blood and felt myself nearly blacking out, I somehow managed to cling to consciousness.

I caught my breath amidst the blood splattering in every direction and glared at the demonic spirit.

I would kill it. No matter what.

With only that thought in my heart, I poured everything I had into every single sword strike.

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And just as I gripped my sword again, ready to continue the assault—

Taaak.

It moved at a speed so fast that not only could my eyes not follow it, but even my senses failed to register it.

It lowered the Heaven and Earth Sword, then raised its opposite leg and kicked me squarely in the jaw.

It happened so suddenly that I couldn’t even react.

Then it twisted its body again and slammed a kick into my abdomen, and I was sent crashing through the Gate of the Imperial, flying all the way outside the Ancestral Shrine.

Kudangtang! Kwaang!

The Sword Master who was further empowered by the power of the Plague Demonic Spirit was a being no longer within the realm of human capability to contend with.

As if to prove that fact, before my body even hit the ground and rolled across it, its sword had already pierced straight through my shoulder.

This time, the blood that sprayed was mine.

When I tried to grip the sword and stab it right back, it pulled its blade free and spun its body wide, landing another brutal kick that sent me flying.

Kwadangtang! Bang!

As I rolled across the mist-filled floor of the Ancestral Shrine, I felt moisture pooling beneath me.

When I forced my mind to focus, I realized it wasn’t water; it was my own blood.

[You’re crawling on the ground like an insect, just as you’ve done countless times across the endless cycles of reincarnation.]

As I kept my head bowed in silence, it clutched its torn waist and laughed.

[Very well. I admit it. You’re stronger than any swordsman I’ve ever faced. But still, that’s only by human standards.]

“Huff, huff…”

[How could a mere human ever hope to stand against a force of nature?]

It flicked the blood off its sword and looked up at the sky.

It had been sealed inside the Imperial Tomb for countless years and had likely emerged more than once.

But this time, it was truly the end.

Once it absorbed the physical remnants of itself scattered throughout Cheongdo Palace and returned as a complete Plague Demonic Spirit, it would only take moments for the Imperial Capital to fall.

It was the dawning of a new age. The era of the demonic spirits.

It had been trapped in this cycle of reincarnation for so long, but now the time had come to massacre every loathsome human and bring that era to its end.

But would I ever allow that?

Humans were powerless before natural disasters.

It sounded like an undeniable truth, and yet, paradoxically, humans had always managed to overcome such disasters.

Fwoosh!

The spiritual energy blessed by the Heavenly Dragon glowed with a deep blue light.

That energy, filling the Ancestral Shrine, seemed to illuminate the entire world.

It was emanating from the thick mist. The light came from none other than the former Heavenly Maiden Ah Hyun as she released her power.

Whoooosh!

Crashing into the physical body of the Plague Demonic Spirit with sheer force might have seemed reckless at first glance.

However, for Ah Hyun who had already drawn upon the Heavenly Dragon’s power down to its very last drop, this was her limit.

[Krrgh!]

The Plague Demonic Spirit was momentarily caught off guard by the sudden ambush but clenched its teeth and managed to withstand the impact.

A burst of dust briefly erupted into the air, but it gritted its teeth and succeeded in shaking off all the energy.

From behind the tomb of the Ancestral Shrine, Yeon Ri revealed herself, having gathered her strength.

Her hair was completely disheveled, her clothing torn in places, and her appearance was utterly haggard.

She had poured in all her strength, yet seeing that it had no effect whatsoever on the Plague Demonic Spirit, she let out a hollow breath.

[That disgusting face again.]

The moment it saw Yeon Ri’s face, the Plague Demonic Spirit scowled.

She was the one it resented more than anyone else.

She was the very person who had trapped that monster within the cycle of reincarnation.

[The same Heavenly Maiden who’s clung to my heels time and time again.]

“Sorry, I’ve got a bit of an obsessive streak. Don’t like clingy girls?”

Even as sweat poured down her face, that girl could still throw out absurd remarks.

Yeon Ri tried once more to draw the Heavenly Dragon’s energy into her body, but by now it was nearly depleted.

In truth, it made no sense that she had been able to wield the Heavenly Dragon’s power up to this point at all.

Perhaps Yeon Ri in her prime might have been capable of a bit more, but now, she was nothing more than an ordinary girl.

The Plague Demonic Spirit looked at Yeon Ri’s face and broke into a smile full of euphoria.

It was the moment the power of the very lady who had held it so tenaciously was finally spent.

It was the moment it had waited for, again and again, throughout the endless years.

Countless times, it must have imagined just how it would tear that wretched girl to pieces.

By seizing Yeon Ri now and killing her in the most brutal way possible, it could finally bring this hateful journey to an end.

The moment it reached for its sword, my body sprang forward like a coiled spring.

There was no bait more fitting to draw its attention than Yeon Ri.

She was the one it had spent those long ages grinding its teeth over in vengeance.

Just as I was about to strike its neck in a single slash, our eyes met.

In that fleeting instant, even just the exchange of glances was enough to foresee the next scene. My attack would be blocked.

The very moment I tried to think of my next move, my sword was already shattered by the blow it unleashed for defense.

Claang!

Without pause, it swung its sword again, this time slashing across my upper shoulder.

I managed to throw my body back in time to avoid being cleaved in two, but a deep gash ran from my left shoulder down to my right waist.

Even that alone would have been more than enough to instantly kill an ordinary human.

My body was flung away, leaving a large trail of blood on the ground.

Crash! Boom!

My consciousness briefly faded….then returned.

Pain consumed every inch of the body as if it were trapped in a burning furnace.

I could feel the blood draining from me. It was clear that any further bleeding would lead straight to death.

I was going to die.

Had all the deaths I experienced through countless cycles of reincarnation been like this?

Even a swordsman who had reached the pinnacle among humans was nothing more than a fragile individual before the arrival of a disastrous being like the Plague Demonic Spirit.

If I closed my eyes now, I felt I might never be able to open them again.

“Kuheuk!”

The bastard strode right into the center of the ancestral shrine and grabbed Yeon Ri by the collar.

The Heaven and Earth Sword in its hand was stained thick with blood.

When a smile of ecstasy spread across its face, the true form of the mad Plague Demonic Spirit finally seemed to emerge.

[I waited and waited for this moment.]

Yeon Ri choked and coughed violently, but the Plague Demonic Spirit paid no attention. It only grinned with that crazy smile stretched across its face.

[As to be expected from the Heavenly Maiden of the Heavenly Dragon. Indeed, it was wise of you to stake everything on that young Sword Master.]

“…kuheuk… keok… keok…!”

[Had the cycle of reincarnation continued a little longer, that Sword Master might truly have struck me down. But it wasn’t enough.]

It tightened its grip around Yeon Ri’s neck with its twisted smile widening even further.

[What was lacking? It was your power. If this reincarnation had gone on just a little longer, if you had rewound time just a few more times, perhaps there might have been a world where that boy did defeat me. But your strength ended here, and that’s all there is to it.]

“Huhh… huhh… keheuk…”

[What a pity. Heavenly Maiden, you have failed. Congratulations. You are a failure.]

Thunk

The Heaven and Earth Sword pierced into Yeon Ri’s side.

Her eyes widened, and blood poured from her mouth.

Her body, which had been thrashing wildly, began to go limp, and the Plague Demonic Spirit flung her toward me without a second thought.

Thud, crash!

She rolled across the dirt and landed beside the pool of my own blood, bleeding from the mouth.

“Keheuk, keok! Keok!”

With every cough, blood sprayed.

Whether it was Yeon Ri or me, if things continued like this, we would both die from huge blood loss.

Whether it was Yeon Ri or me, if things went on like this, we would die from huge blood loss.

[Humans were truly fragile. Just a little blood loss, and they lost consciousness and died just like that.]

“…….”

[So. Is despair filling your chest? Do you think that if you had held on just a little longer, if you had just a few more chances, that swordsman might have been able to kill me? Does that regret weigh heavy on your heart? Go ahead and despair all you want. That is your limit.]

And yet… Yeon Ri slowly lifted her body from the pool of blood.

Her entire body was soaked in it, stained from head to toe and she was smiling.

“Really? I don’t feel regret at all.”

Her body had grown so weak that it wouldn’t have been strange if she died right then and there.

She was in a situation where a single swing of the Plague Demonic Spirit’s sword could send her head flying…

But Yeon Ri, having become so numb to the feeling of despair after countless cycles of reincarnation, simply smiled with a lightness that seemed almost innocent.

“Looks like you’re the one who got scratched. You can’t stand it, can you…. wanting to kill me so badly.”

As Yeon Ri smiled with that infuriating expression, the Plague Demonic Spirit’s face twisted.

It had lost count of how many years had been wasted because of that arrogant girl. While wasting time might not have meant much to an immortal like the Plague Demonic Spirit, who lived forever, because of her schemes it had nearly died for real.

When that fear turned into rage, it raised the Heaven and Earth Sword.

Was she the kind of girl who could drive others mad with nothing but her sheer nerve? Even the Plague Demonic Spirit, it seemed, couldn’t stand that innocent smile of hers… Just as it moved to strike with a final blow.

In that ultimate moment…. where a single slash could end the lives of both his enemies.

The ancestral shrine shook violently.

An earthquake?

Or perhaps a tremor caused by human hands?

In the shock of a world suddenly trembling, the Plague Demonic Spirit’s face momentarily faltered in confusion.

A mysterious divine energy swept over the area and instantly cleared away the thick fog that had filled the ancestral shrine.

The Plague Demonic Spirit had repeated countless cycles of reincarnation together with Yeon Ri.

Through those cycles, it would have already come to read the state of Cheongdo Palace like the back of its own hand. Within this palace, there was no longer anyone who could exert more influence than it.

It had surely confirmed this over and over again through many cycles of reincarnation.

Whenever the Sword Master Seol Tae Pyeong and the former Heavenly Maiden Ah Hyun were killed, the imperial capital unfailingly marched toward destruction.

It had endured, believing that this was a truth that would never change…

But within the cycles of reincarnation that Yeon Ri had endured and endured again, the one who had tempered its soul was not it alone.

Those of extraordinary nature still shone within reincarnation, and among them, there had been one who pressed forward and forward again while no one else noticed.

Were the long years that Yeon Ri and I had withstood together truly meaningless?

No, they were not—so it seemed to say… as the girl on the battlefield stood upright.

The Plague Demonic Spirit would not have noticed just how extraordinary she was.

Because it had no information about the Heavenly Dragon Love Story.

She appeared, at first glance, to be just an ordinary palace maid, and so there were few who could perceive the true talent hidden within her.

There were many stories of ordinary people rising through hardship. The Heavenly Dragon Love Story was just one among the many such tales.

The girl descended within the shrine, scattering divine energy. The edges of her palace robes fluttered in that energy, adding a sense of mystery to the scene.

Among countless tombs, she spread her aura like an immortal, and within that presence was clearly felt the power of the Heavenly Dragon.

It was a vast force that even Taoist masters who had trained for decades in the sacred mountains would struggle to wield, now seeping between the graves.

As her eyes opened fully, a faint bluish energy shimmered in her clear gaze.

It was the first true anomaly, one that had never been observed across all the countless cycles of reincarnation.

Only at the very end. Only at the final moment did the young dragon emerge from its shell.

Her way of action was remarkably simple.

In this chaotic and complicated world, her one and only goal had been to protect her only blood relative.

[This energy……]

An immense energy of the Heavenly Dragon, unlike anything ever seen before, rose up around the girl who had landed on the battlefield.

Heavenly Maiden Seol Ran.

She looked down at her younger brother, who lay broken and battered.

Then, her gleaming eyes turned toward the Plague Demonic Spirit who had struck down her brother.

“…What… did I just see…?”

White Princess, who had been leading the soldiers, stood dazed in front of the Great Star Gate.

The gate, consumed by the Plague Demonic Spirit’s right arm, had long since become an impenetrable wall of lamentation.

Yet now, the Great Star Gate she looked up at was utterly shattered.

Even the large Plague Demonic Spirit that had been inside it had been split in two, its dark crimson blood splattered in every direction.

The soldiers too could only stand still, staring blankly at the remains.

The sky above was dark, blanketed in clouds.

From there, the enormous forepaw of the Heavenly Dragon descended, crushing the entire Great Star Gate in one powerful strike.

There was no trace of the girl left at the shattered gate.

In the wake of what felt like the passage of a heavenly being, not a single soul could utter a word.

Only the cold winter wind swept across the battlefield.