Radiant Dragon’s Otherworldly Reincarnation - Chapter 276 : Chapter 276
Chapter 276. It Can’t Be (1)
“Tsk, useless things….”
Lust clicked her tongue as she watched her disciples’ defeat.
They were disciples she had raised with considerable effort, yet they had been defeated.
It couldn’t be helped.
Even to her eyes, the military strength of the Schneider Duchy was beyond imagination.
The size of their forces was small, but in terms of quality alone, they would surpass the Empire or the Holy Theocracy.
It would have been overwhelming for her disciples.
But….
“It doesn’t matter.”
“……”
“In the end, all that matters is that I win.”
“……”
“Hmm, you’ve suddenly gone quiet. Have you finally realized the difference in our power?”
“……”
Despite Lust’s repeated provocations, Patrick said nothing.
Rather, how should one describe Patrick’s expression right now?
Disbelief? Confusion? Shock?
It might have been the first time that the great Patrick Schneider was so agitated during a battle.
“You….”
“What is it?”
“Where did you learn that?”
“That? What are you talking….”
Lust, who was speaking, clamped her lips shut.
The Double Dragon who was in front of her had disappeared again.
If she read the direction of his advance from the flicker of the afterimage….
‘Left!’
Instantly, Lust quickly extended her left hand, filled with demonic energy.
At that spot, with a powerful impact, Patrick blocked her attack with his sword and was pushed back.
“Hmm…. So you were curious about this.”
Lust said, pointing to her hand that was copiously emitting demonic energy.
“When one reaches my level of mastery, one can exert destructive power just by emitting demonic energy without processing it into magic. Just like you all use aura.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Then what were you curious about?”
“I’m asking where you learned the way you wield that power.”
Whether it was demonic energy or aura, there was nothing surprising about materializing and wielding the power itself.
After all, emitting accumulated power wasn’t that difficult once one gained proficiency.
To put it extremely, even Ava would be able to shoot something like a simple energy blast if she trained for about ten more years.
But that wasn’t the problem.
The footwork and body mechanics that reflexively came out whenever Patrick approached and closed the distance.
In them were clearly engraved the traces of the Way of Martial Arts.
Just innate talent?
Absolutely not.
Originally, the movements of martial arts were unnatural to the human body, but many were optimized to logically respond to an enemy’s movements.
The principle of martial arts was to train to be able to use such awkward movements well in necessary situations.
Therefore, between a learned person and a naturally talented one, even if their level of mastery was the same, the difference would inevitably show.
And that was clearly the martial art of a learned person.
“Where did you learn it?”
“Hmmm, why are you curious about that?”
“……”
“And even if you are curious, why should I tell you? Hmm? Double Dragon?”
The look on Lust’s face, as she spoke while licking her lips with a seductive smile, was full of ridicule.
At that, a chilling killing intent formed in Patrick’s eyes.
“Is that so? You need a reason?”
“That’s right, isn’t it?”
“I see. In that case….”
“In that case?”
“I’ll create that reason for you right now.”
Then, Patrick sheathed the swords in both his hands.
And then….
“What are you… heup?”
Once again, Patrick’s figure disappeared while Lust was speaking.
This time, it was the same direction as before.
Lust once again extended the palm of her left hand, filled with demonic energy.
‘I’ll smash your head.’
Though it was the small palm of a woman, her single strike had the power to blow away the head of a giant cyclops in one blow.
Yes, if it hit, that is.
Sreureureuk.
Patrick’s two hands moved smoothly.
It was a slower movement than Lust’s, but the trajectory of his hands exquisitely obstructed the path of Lust’s hand.
As a result…
Peoong!
Lust’s strike was swept up over Patrick’s head and exploded in the empty air.
But that wasn’t the end.
As soon as the strike from her left hand missed, a palm technique from her right hand flew, aiming for Patrick’s heart.
But Patrick’s movements were smooth again.
This was….
Tai Chi Using Stillness to Control Motion.
It was Tai Chi.
In the first place, the martial arts of the Twin Dragon Sect, which involved fighting with a sword in each hand, did not include palm techniques.
But even so, there was a palm technique that Patrick could use.
It was Tai Chi.
The foundation of the foundations of Central Plains martial studies.
It was a martial art that anyone knew, not just martial artists of the Jianghu.
In fact, in the Murim, there were two types of Tai Chi.
One was the Tai Chi used by the Wudang Sect as a practical martial art.
It was a Tai Chi that was operated with qi to emit immense power.
And the other was the Tai Chi that a great martial artist named Zhang Sanfeng created and widely spread for the health and proper cultivation of the mind and body of all people.
The latter had to be considered to have no practical application.
If the former was a sharp real sword, the latter was a wooden sword, no, a bamboo sword, in fact, at best, it was just a switch that a village schoolteacher might use.
But even that switch could be used in a real battle depending on who used it.
Patrick was using the decorative Tai Chi in a real battle to deflect all of Lust’s attacks.
“Keuuuk….”
Peong! Peongpeong! Peoong!
Lust’s rough attacks could not penetrate the strange yet slow trajectory drawn by Patrick’s two hands and repeatedly burst in the empty air.
Patrick dealt with such a Lust with a profound gaze.
“What in the world is this?!”
Even though her opponent was right in front of her, it felt like she was striking at empty air alone.
Her opponent wasn’t moving particularly fast, but slowly, yet her attacks weren’t flying straight.
At this strange experience, Lust bit her lip hard.
And as if she no longer wanted to play along with this farce….
“Blink.”
She briefly chanted the cast magic and created distance from Patrick.
And then….
“Curse Fire!”
A crimson cursed flame from her hand flew towards Patrick.
Just before that flame hit Patrick….
Spat!
A single sharp flash of light drew a line in the empty air.
And the cursed flame could not advance past that line and split in half, exploding.
Kwaaang!
In the spot where the explosion ended, Patrick, who had already drawn his swords in both hands again, was glaring at Lust.
And taking a step forward, he said.
“You’ve learned it, but….”
“What are you saying?”
“You haven’t learned it properly.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“To not even know how to counter the most basic foundational forms of Tai Chi….”
“Speak in a way I can understand, Double Dragon!”
“…Never mind. Let’s stop now.”
Patrick shook his head from side to side.
Having thus shaken off the idle dream in his head, Patrick’s gaze had returned to normal.
“In any case, you are my enemy.”
“Haang?”
“Enemies are beaten to death. That’s enough.”
“Hmph. If you think you can….”
As she spoke again, Patrick disappeared.
‘The same trick over and over….’
Even the direction was the same.
Lust extended her left hand again to send Patrick flying.
But….
Seogeok!
This time, it was different from before.
Her attack, which had pushed Patrick back several times, didn’t even land; instead, a single streak of light sharply cut through something.
And what fell to the ground with a thud was….
“Aaaak!”
It was Lust’s left hand.
Patrick said coldly to such a Lust.
“Shut up.”
And Patrick’s sword swung again.
It cut off Lust’s left leg.
“Aak!”
Lust collapsed to the ground as her leg was severed.
But even so….
“Die!”
She showed the grit to shout venomously and extend her right hand towards Patrick’s abdomen.
Seogeok!
“Aaaaaaak!”
Although the result did not follow her grit.
Her arm was cut off without fail.
Having lost one leg and both arms, she was still a mage.
She tried to quickly cast with her mouth….
Kwajik!
“Shut your filthy mouth.”
It was overwhelming.
Patrick, after crushing the fallen Lust’s mouth with his foot, aimed his sword and said.
“There’s a lot I’m curious about, but….”
“Hooo…. Hooo….”
Lust, even with her mouth blocked, glared at Patrick with venomous eyes.
Looking directly at that gaze, Patrick said.
“You won’t do. You’re the classic type of person who you don’t know what they’ll do if you let them live.”
Patrick raised his sword and said.
“Die.”
And at the moment Patrick’s sword was about to fall….
“Young Master, just a moment!”
Someone urgently stopped him and intervened.
Patrick turned his gaze towards that someone.
“What is it?”
“That…. That is, that….”
The person who stopped Patrick couldn’t say anything when Patrick actually asked.
He just looked at Patrick with a helpless gaze, pleading for something.
Oliver A.
A person to whom Patrick had personally granted a surname and who was like a disciple he had raised for a long time.
Patrick looked at Oliver for a moment and then said.
“Are you asking me to spare her?”
“……”
Oliver, unable to answer.
But the current silence was practically an affirmation.
To such an Oliver, Patrick said.
“Sir Oliver A.”
“…Yes.”
“I will speak, considering the merits you have established by serving in the fiefdom so far.”
“……”
“If you ask me to spare this woman right here and now, I will spare her.”
At Patrick’s words, Oliver’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Yes. However….”
“……”
“Look around you.”
At Patrick’s words, Oliver flinched.
There was no need to look around again.
He already desperately knew what the current situation was.
He had been deceived.
And as a result of his deception, he had almost brought irreparable damage to the fiefdom.
This devastating fact made Oliver shut his eyes tightly.
And to him, Patrick said.
“Still, if you ask me to spare her, I will. I will take care of the aftermath and all the responsibility.”
“Young Master….”
“But, the choice is yours to make.”
At Patrick’s words, Oliver let out a deep sigh.
He had been blind.
He didn’t know if that’s what love was originally like, but he had been blind and foolish.
If so, shouldn’t he open those eyes now?
Humans live their lives seeing what they want to see and hearing what they want to hear.
Even when the truth is right in front of them, they deliberately turn away and try to continue believing what they want to believe.
Without even knowing that it might be trapping them in a pitfall called complacency.
To grow, one must come out of that place.
That is the beginning.
“Please kill her.”
Oliver correctly acknowledged reality.
He admitted that he had been deceived and that he himself had been foolish.
The sadness and devastation that would be brought about by this decision were the price he had brought upon himself.
Patrick nodded at Oliver and said.
“You have made the right decision.”
“……”
“Well done.”
It was the moment Patrick had praised Oliver so readily for the first time.
And then….
“Keu… kekeke….”
From under Patrick’s foot, Lust forced her mouth open and spoke.
“No… nogo inae….” (You… will regret this….)
“……”
“Deodi du…yeobara….” (Just you… wait….)
Lust glared at Patrick with wide-open eyes and said.
“Eue hi hakin iha.” (Do you know what this means?)
“Ah…. You mean that?”
Patrick knew what Lust was trying to say.
And raising his sword, he said.
“I know. This isn’t the first time I’ve killed a black mage.”
“……”
“And if I had to say….”
“……”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not a coward who can’t pickle kimchi because I’m afraid of maggots.”
“Ha… haam!”
Patrick’s sword fell mercilessly downward.
Dozens of sword gleams mercilessly diced Lust. Just in case, he had no intention of leaving the corpse in an intact form.
Lust.
One of the seven direct disciples of the Venerable Master met her end like that.
***
“Keoheok….”
Greed clutched his heart and writhed in pain.
In the excruciating pain, as if his heart were being directly burned with a hot iron, Greed was more surprised than pained.
“Don’t tell me Lust is dead? That witch?”
She was a comrade and a rival who had worked in the shadows of the world for hundreds of years as a disciple of the Venerable Master, waiting for the Day of the Falling Sun of Salvation.
Such a woman had died.
Although she had the weakest direct combat ability among the seven, he never thought she would die before the falling sun even came.
Her death left a stronger impact on Greed than he had thought.
Probably, the others who felt Lust’s death at this moment would feel the same.
In the end, they were all subordinates under the name of the Venerable Master.
“Double Dragon…. Keuuu… I knew he was more than ordinary, but to think he would kill Lust.”
Greed clutched his heart, staggered, and got up.
And with a twisted smile on his lips, he said.
“But you have made a mistake. We, the seven disciples, are the direct disciples of the Venerable Master. The backlash from our deaths will surely bring you ruin.”
In the case of black mages, they summon a monster from hell at the moment of their death.
It was a final arrangement typical of black mages who wouldn’t die alone.
And in the case of these seven disciples, the one who had made that arrangement was not themselves, but their master, the Venerable Master.
He didn’t know what kind of restriction he had placed. He didn’t know, but he was certain.
“You’re finished, Double Dragon.”
That it would surely bring death to the opponent.
***
The moment Lust died.
Black demonic energy surged up from her corpse and began to create a pitch-black gate in the empty air.
“As expected, it’s starting.”
Patrick slung his twin swords over his shoulder and quietly stared at that space.
When he had killed a black mage before, a Dullahan had appeared and attacked him.
That one was a minnow compared to this woman, yet a big shot like a Dullahan had appeared.
If so, what would be summoned as the price for this woman’s death?
‘Archlich? Death Knight? Undead Dragon?’
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.
He would face them all.
In front of Patrick, who had made up his mind, what appeared from beyond the gate was….
Kuung!
It was a single knight.
A single knight wearing black armor and holding a black sword, but no shield.
He wore a full-face helmet so his face wasn’t visible, but from the red baleful gleam in the two eyes visible beyond the helmet, he could tell.
“A Death Knight, is it? Not very interesting since it’s within the expected range.”
Well, since it was a Death Knight, it looked stronger than the Dullahan he had faced before….
‘Huh?’
Strange.
As far as Patrick knew, a Death Knight was definitely a much higher-ranking, high-risk monster than a Dullahan.
But why did that Death Knight not seem dangerous at all?
Far from being dangerous….
‘What is this?’
He couldn’t even feel the ferocity unique to the undead and the killing intent and madness towards the living.
Seeing the confused Patrick, the Death Knight raised its sword and aimed it at Patrick.
At that, Patrick habitually raised his sword as well.
‘Let’s stop thinking for now.’
Whatever the opponent was, if it was an enemy, all he had to do was fight and win.
The more difficult the thought, the duller the sword becomes.
‘For now, focus….’
“Heok?!”
Patrick’s eyes widened in astonishment.
He couldn’t help it.
The moment the Death Knight swung its sword….
“It can’t be.”
Plum blossom petals began to flutter from the tip of that sword.
