Lee Sungmin was on the outskirts of Nerod, currently.
He couldn’t escape like he thought he would.
Lee Sungmin had quickly departed after killing An Zun, and had just leaped over the city gates. He was hoping to quickly depart and arrive in another area as soon as possible, and lie low while he traveled back to Hadras.
But, it was like Lee Sungmin had been worrying about. The situation never completely followed the script.
It had happened in a flash. An object suddenly had dropped from the sky like a meteorite right before Lee Sungmin’s feet while he was running out of the area by using his footwork techniques.
The object wedged itself into the ground, creating a small crater around it. It was a simple-looking sword with no decorations to be seen on it.
The second Lee Sungmin recognized the object as a sword, he immediately recalled what Sima Ryunju had been warning him about prior to the trip.
‘Geom-Seong…!’
Lee Sungmin’s hairs on his body stood up as he immediately roused his internal energy to its limits with his internal circuit, and opened up a slipstream of space and shot through it using the Dark Storm Arts.
Repeatedly kicking the ground through the distorted space with his body covered in lightning, Lee Sungmin spared no effort to completely retreat.
He would first use all his energy to sprint with his Dark Storm Arts and gain as much distance as possibl,e and immediately call the Pegasus.
It would be his last time to use the Pegasus, but Lee Sungmin did not care or hesitate to make the decision.
If he did not use the Pegasus to immediately teleport from his location, he would surely be caught.
Demonic Emperor’s Dark Storm Arts : Lightning Gale ( 雷風)
This new method of movement was something that one could not fully pull off even if he was a Transcendent. Lee Sungmin was not confident in fully pulling it off, since it would place a burden on his body.
But, Lee Sungmin did not care about pain or the burden on his body, as his body was closer to a monster. As he shot through the spatial cracks, his muscles were continuously ripped apart and regenerated.
However, a black figure chased right behind Lee Sungmin as he sprinted through the distorted space. Lee Sungmin was barely able to properly use the Lightning Gale, as his body was becoming closer to that of a lightning spirit’s, yet this black and shadowy figure was right behind him and even gaining on him.
It was the Heavenly Sword of the Wudang that had reached the pinnacle of all swordsmanship. No matter how securely Lee Sungmin distorted the space and passed through it, Geom-Seong sliced through space like it was butter.
Despite Lee Sungmin overheating his dantian and overhauling his internal circuits to go faster with the lightning gale, Geom-Seong was right behind him.
Sima Ryunju’s words haunted Lee Sungmin. If he encountered Geom-Seong, he should immediately run and never look back. But, no matter what, Lee Sungmin should never attack him.
Even when the figure of Geom-Seong was right behind Lee Sungmin’s neck, he continued to run without turning his head.
Lee Sungmin desperately panted for breath as he overused his lightning gale. He wouldn’t be able to run any further.
As Lee Sungmin could not use his lightning gale any further, he slowly came to a stop and grit his teeth tightly without moving.
Lee Sungmin could feel it. The presence of Geom-Seong was the very embodiment of a sword. Unparalleled sharpness and technique. If he moved an inch from his spot, his head would roll.
As Lee Sungmin stood there in silence, not moving, Geom-Seong did the same. Eventually, Geom-Seong spoke via telepathy to Lee Sungmin.
[Why are you staying still?]
Lee Sungmin hearing this, trembled.
[Why don’t you keep running, kid? Aren’t we going to keep playing tag?]
“………are you the Heavenly Sword of the Wudang… Geom-Seong?”
[Who else, but this old man could be so skilled with the sword? What do you think, aren’t these man’s tricks pretty good?]
“Why are you doing this to me?”
Lee Sungmin turned his head to face Geom-Seong. The black shadowy figure that was Geom-Seong pointed his sword right at Lee Sungmin’s forehead.
[What a shameless fellow. Let me ask you this brat. Why do you think this old man is doing this?]
“I have done no harm to the Wudang.”
[Oi kid, do you think this old man gives a shit about those fogies in the political factions? I couldn’t care less, but you did just attack one of them, didn’t you?]
“Is that why you’re doing this to me?”
[No, that’s just an excuse for me to come out and see you. I thought you were pretty good at running and quite funny to watch. So I tried to joke around, and you ran pretty well. That’s why this old man has gotten excited.]
“Are you saying this is all a joke?”
Lee Sungmin stared past the tip of the sword pointed at his forehead, directly at the black shadowy figure of Geom-Seong. It was his first time talking to Geom-Seong, and Lee Sungmin couldn’t decipher what kind of character he was.
[You definitely sound like an old man.]
Heoju spoke sarcastically via telepathy inside Lee Sungmin’s head.
[What if it isn’t a joke? What if I just wanted to run around and get some exercise?]
“I’m not happy at all.”
[This old man is quite pleased…. Though I don’t think it’s quite enough to be his successor. I’m afraid you’re still awkward in using the Lightning Gale. You’re not quite as good as he was a hundred years ago.]
“…… Are you going to kill me?”
[Why are you saying something so scary? This old man is a Taoist. There’s no need for pointless killing. Well, only unless you’re a criminal that is.]
Geom-Seong spoke in a stern voice.
[Listen to yourself talk kid. If you were me, would you kill you?]
“……I don’t think so.”
[That’s my call to make though.]
Geom-Seong chuckled at the uneasy words.
[Oi brat, this old man does have ears, you do know that, right? I’ve heard what you’ve done up until now, Ghost Spear.]
“Most of that would be a misunderstanding.”
[Do really you want to say you’re innocent? Can you prove it?]
“If I could prove it, I would have done it right away.”
[HAHAHA!]
Geom-Seong laughed loudly at Lee Sungmin’s words.
[I’d like to meet up with you and talk to you in person. That way this old man can see you without having to use an incarnation body to talk to you.]
“You want me to come to the Wudang Sect? Do you think I’ll really go?”
[What if you don’t come? Well, if you say you won’t, I’ll just kill you here.]
“…. Didn’t you just say that you don’t like pointless killing?”
[I don’t think it’s pointless to kill you though.]
Geom-Seong chuckled and Lee Sungmin trembled at his words.
Lee Sungmin bit his lower lip out of stress. If Geom-Seong was being serious, he had a general idea about the location of the Wudang Sect.
“……… Are you located in the Mujal Mountains?”
[That’s right.]
Geom Seong answered without hesitation. Lee Sungmin laughed out loud in disbelief.
[I’m not lying. Even though I created an incarnation that can use my Heavenly Sword and looked around, I can still feel the presence of everything near the mountain.]
From the Mujal mountains, Geom-Seong had been able to detect Lee Sungmin’s presence and send an incarnation that was capable of Transcendent Swordsmanship.
“What exactly is the Heavenly Sword…….”
[This right here is the only true Heavenly Sword technique in the world. This old man has been practicing and relentlessly training with his sword for hundreds of years. Don’t you think with my level of swordsmanship, that I can dare call myself the true Heavenly Swordsman?]
‘Definitely.’Lee Sungmin thought to himself as he continued to bite his lower lip. Lee Sungmin thought of Guan Zun, the Transcendent Swordsman from Beyond the Heavens, and his sword technique. Compared to Geom-Seong’s incarnation, Guan Zun was like a child.Suddenly, Geom-Seong, after noticing Lee Sungmin’s odd behavior, spoke.
[Just go.]
After a moment of thought, Geom-Seong continued.
[It’s been a while since I’ve last killed a criminal…. But I’d rather not kill you here.]
“……how come?”
[Don’t thank me for saving your life, you brat..]
Geom-Seong mumbled as he spoke, not revealing the reason he suddenly backed off. His odd choice of words left Lee Sungmin confused.
[What are you doing? You’re not running away. Get going before this old man changes his mind.]
Lee Sungmin, snapping out of his reverie, did not hesitate to turn right around and run away. He was grateful he did not have to use his last chance with riding the Pegasus.
Lee Sungmin ran away from the spot with all his might while thinking about Geom-Seong’s odd words.
* * *
“Is your body able to move easier yet?”
While Kim Jonghyun was laying down, resting his tired mind and new body, he heard a voice inside the room.
Kim Jonghyun peeked his half-opened eyes towards the voice that had entered through the door. Kim Jonghyun did not dare to correct the Vampire Queen’s lack of manners.
After all, he was in the position of the guest, not the host.
“Yes, thanks to your care.”
“Can you not say something so disgusting to me?”
At Kim Jonghyun’s rather slick reply, Geniella showed clear displeasure towards him.
She had an expression of intense agitation, like there was blood in her very eyes.
After the forest ritual failed, Kim Jonghyun chose to flee to Geniella’s mansion as the best hiding place for him to currently recover.
Predator had taken a large hit to their power as an organization. Especially with regards to their 5 Black Stars. Arbeth had his soul destroyed by Kim Jonghyun and robbed of all his magical knowledge. Henemy, the King of Monsters, had his heart ripped right out of his chest thanks to the conflict with Yana, the Gumiho.
Juwon had gone off in search of the Dragons due to his boredom as the new Leader of the Lycanthrope Tribe, and had gotten into a brutal fight with Jehu, the Lord of the Murim Alliance, resulting in him going M.I.A.
Volander, the Leader of the Death Knights, had gone off to try and find a Dragon as well, in search of a way to resolve the curse of the undead.
And then there was Geniella. The Vampire Queen, who did absolutely nothing but make Travia her playground.
“If you had completed the ritual, it would have been quite the sight to see.”
Geniella was wearing a colorfully embroidered kimono. This is what she used to wear to seduce the Bloody Heavenly Demon. Even after the death of the Bloody Heavenly Demon, she would sometimes wear a kimono.
The reason she wore it was obviously because it was beautiful, but also because it was slightly revealing. The slight pleasure of having her breasts and thighs slightly exposed gave Geniella a rush.
“You’ve become a very unstable being thanks to your failure. Perhaps you might be stronger than Arbeth right now.”
Kim Jonghyun smirked at the words. He failed to fully assimilate his consciousness into the new body. The burden of failing to fully assimilate, resulted in him having a body that was like a ticking time bomb that could go off at any given moment.
It was a high-risk and high-reward ritual that Kim Jonghyun had attempted, and he was facing such consequences.
“What are you going to do?”
Geniella approached the bed and sat down. Her eyes showed a sense of being intrigued now, rather than agitation.
“It would be impossible to attempt the ritual again. But you still have the Grimoire, and I think it’s possible for you to search through its contents to find something to heal your imperfect body.”
“That’s right.”
Kim Jonghyun answered with a certain level of conviction. Geniella gave the Grimoire a simple and uninterested glance.
All the Dark Wizards within Eria, wanted desperately to get their hands on such an item. But to Geniella, it was nothing but a pile of scrap paper.
“What were you going to do now that you’ve become a half devil?”
“I tried to behave like one leading up to now, but I’m unsure now.”
When asked by Geniella, Kim Jonghyun answered without hesitation.
“I tried to act like the devil in the old fairy tales. Wanting to destroy the world, or fighting the warriors and heroes of modern times.”
“The devil in such a story is always defeated by the heroes though.”
“I planned on it if I was to become a full Devil. But right now, I failed, and I can’t do such things anyways.”
“But you’re disappointed that you failed, aren’t you?”
“I was angry, too. I could have succeeded, but I didn’t. I expected many scenarios, but I didn’t expect the Lord of the Murim Alliance, Jehu, to show up there.”Kim Jonghyun continued as he then murmured to himself.
“It seems I wasn’t supposed to become the Devil in this life…”
Hearing Kim Jonghyun’s murmur, Geniella burst into laughter.
“It must be the strings of fate. It seems my fate was truly not to become a Devil.”
“Hahaha such a fate was trivial anyways.”
Jeniela giggled at Kim Jonghyun’s answer.
Kim Jonghyun wrinkled his eyebrows when Geniella seemed to make fun of the idea of his fate..
Geniella, the Vampire Queen. Kim Jonghyun was a very perceptive man, and yet…. This woman was someone he truly found disturbing and mysterious.
“As the Vampire Queen, I have a lot of questions for you.”
“I know I chose this place as a temporary hideout because I wanted to ask something of you as well.”
Geniella stared at Kim Jonghyun, who suddenly revealed he had a question for her as well.
“I don’t know why I’m asking you this now, but it’s been on my mind.”Kim Jonghyun spoke as he raised his body up slightly and checked its condition. The body he had obtained as a half-devil was incomparably stronger in many ways to his previous one.
“There’s always something on your mind.”
He had spent months trying to get used to this body. It was still incredibly difficult since his consciousness was still assimilating into it, but it was much better than before. Kim Jonghyun then paused, choosing his next words very carefully.
“The question I’m asking to you, as the Vampire Queen, might come off as rude. You might try to kill me in fact because of it.”
“If you’re worried about that, then you shouldn’t ask the question.”
“I have a personality that just can’t let go of something once I get interested in it.”
Kim Jonghyun smiles, revealing his white canines with his half-devil body.
“If I’m in my present body, even if you try to kill me in earnest. I certainly might not be able to face you, but I am confident in running away from you.”
“You’re quite overconfident about yourself, aren’t you?”
Geniella spoke with a fake smile. Her smile was clearly forced and her eyes had turned cold like a serpent’s.
“Maybe I am. Well, as the Vampire Queen, I was always wondering when I first entered Predator. Why do you stay around in the North like this? You’re stronger than almost any other monster right now, if not the strongest. Though you wouldn’t be much of a match for people like Sima Ryunju, Musin and Geom-Seong…”
“So?”
“The thing is, you still have power to do almost anything you want in this world. What the hell are you waiting for?…I’m very curious.”
Kim Jonghyun grinned as he continued to speak.
“You’ve lived for hundreds of years, and you’ve been holed up in the North since decades ago. The interesting thing is that you’ve stayed completely silent as well, while doing so. Yet recently, you’ve started to make movements. Has the recently infamous Ghost Spear sparked your interest?”
“If he were a great man, it’s only natural he would still be alive right now.”
Geniella’s mood didn’t look bad yet. However, Kim Jonghyun did not forget that he should be careful every single word he spoke from here on out.
He was bringing these things up in a slow manner since they might be able to pique Geniella’s interest and might help his chances of survival a bit when he asked this next question. The true question.
“Vampire Queen of the North, Geniella of the 5 Black Stars….”
Kim Jonghyun took a deep breath.
“What kind of deal did you make with the Dragons?”