Squish—
Dong Bongsu's foot took a step forward in the mud.
In response, the five-colored scales shimmered.
Grrr—
The Qilin's head slowly turned toward Dong Bongsu.
A dragon's whiskers, hanging amidst a lion's mane, let a stream of rainwater trickle down, and above it, a massive horn jutted out prominently through the downpour.
Seeing it up close, he understood better.
He had never seen a creature like this before.
It was a type of prey he was encountering for the first time.
Phat-!
Dong Bongsu shot toward the Qilin.
Shhh—
A sword materialized in each of his hands.
In his left, the Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword.
In his right, the Evil-Slaying Sword.
As the weight and coldness of the two sword hilts settled into his palms, the corners of Dong Bongsu's mouth tilted up into a smirk.
Above, the rain still fell without pause.
Slicing through it like a beam of light, Dong Bongsu arrived right before the Qilin.
The Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword in his left hand swung sideways.
Its tip shot straight for the Qilin's lower right flank, where the five-colored scales were most densely layered.
The beast, moving with a speed unbefitting its massive body, twisted to its left and easily deflected the blow.
Using the momentum of the twist, its head spun around, its giant horn swinging in a wide arc.
The rainwater gathered at the tip of the horn scattered in all directions.
Clang—!
A brief flash of light erupted where the horn and sword clashed.
The sword's tip dug slightly into the horn, but went no further, even though it was fully imbued with Sword Aura.
So, it's quite a tough one.
Dong Bongsu's calculations quickened in an instant.
The vibrations and waves he felt from the sword's blade were distinctly different from a normal clash with an aura.
The inside of the horn wasn't just hard.
It felt as if the horn itself was redirecting the sword's true power somewhere else.
"Krrroooowaaaah—!"
Splash—
The Qilin's four hooves kicked off the mud.
Hooves whiter than snow instantly churned the mire, sending muddy water flying everywhere.
Its massive body slid sideways more than ten Zhang in an instant, its white mane dragging a swath of rain with it.
Deep hoofprints were gouged into the ground where it had been.
Muddy water swirled into the edges of the prints.
Dong Bongsu's feet followed in the same direction.
Whoooosh—
Dong Bongsu's figure slid right along the Qilin's flank.
The Evil-Slaying Sword in his right hand, moving even faster, tilted from left to right and drove toward the retreating Qilin's right shoulder.
A white light on the blade intensified, sliding along the rainwater on the five-colored scales.
"Grrrung—!"
The Qilin snorted again.
Just as in the previous exchange, the Qilin's neck snapped back in the opposite direction.
The lion-like white mane whipped from left to right, following the rotation, and swept toward Dong Bongsu once more as if to crush him.
The clumps of rainwater clinging to the mane fanned out and scattered in all directions.
At the same time.
A line of Azure Scales on its shoulder flashed with a cerulean light.
A single scale filled with Azure Light from within, and that light spread across its surface to the adjacent scales, until the entire patch of Azure Scales on its shoulder was glowing.
The light then condensed inward, converging to a single point.
The condensed Azure Light traveled up the surface of the scales and instantly caused the mane to stand up stiffly, like a weapon imbued with a tremendous Sword Aura.
Chhhung—!
The white light of the Evil-Slaying Sword met the Azure Light head-on.
The sword dug slightly into the mane before being pushed back out by the Azure Light.
Pushed back by the Azure Light, the Evil-Slaying Sword slid back into Dong Bongsu's hand.
The stiffened mane surged forward in that brief opening.
The cluster of white mane, infused with Azure Light, fanned out to twice the height of a man and swept over Dong Bongsu's front.
Each and every strand of the white mane was a weapon containing a massive aura.
To put it in human terms, it was a bundle of Mane Aura.
It was as if tens of thousands of swords, sabers, spears, and axes, all imbued with an immense aura, were attacking at once.
Shwiit—
Both of Dong Bongsu's hands vibrated briefly.
The Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword in his left hand, the Evil-Slaying Sword in his right.
A black color instantly coated both blades.
A sliver of light was sucked inward from the surface of the blades, and the space they occupied was filled with darkness.
The two swords of Super Black Hole Sword Aura briefly crossed in front of his chest.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-chung—!
The swords met the bundle of mane head-on.
Not one strand at a time, but the entire cluster.
The Azure Light clinging to different spots on each strand crashed against the two blades.
At every point of contact between blade and mane, a light flashed briefly before dying out.
Dong Bongsu's body slid back from the impact.
His feet sank deep into the mud.
Maintaining his momentum, he slid back diagonally for nearly several dozen Zhang, his two swords still crossed.
Shwiiiiiiiish—
Muddy water swirled in his wake.
That mane can't be cut; the whole bundle must be crushed.
Dealing with it strand by strand is pointless.
Having quickly assessed the situation, Dong Bongsu's gaze fell once upon the jet-black sword in his left hand.
Shwii—
His left hand drew the sword sideways.
This time, not at the mane, but at the gap between the scales on the shoulder that held the mane, the tip of his left sword drove diagonally, splitting and swallowing the innermost scale of the blue patch on its shoulder.
Grrr—!
The Qilin's massive body twisted to the side.
It was a spot where his sword had never once managed to pierce through the skin.
A single scale was devoured by the Super Black Hole Sword Aura, instantly revealing the white flesh beneath.
Though it was only a very small area, a clear opening had been created, one that the Azure Light had not yet managed to fill.
Through that gap.
Fwoom—
A point of light formed at the tip of Dong Bongsu's left index finger.
[Faith Arrow]
The finger, still gripping the sword, created a point of light.
The light instantly condensed and took the form of an arrow.
The Sacred Light, sublimated into the shape of an arrow, shot straight for the empty space where the scale had been split, and the light struck precisely in the spot the Azure Light had yet to fill.
Kwagagwang—!
With a massive explosion that was hard to believe came from an arrow, the Qilin's massive body contorted.
The Sacred Light, embedded like a single white dot in its flesh, purified the area from within.
Fwoom—
Another point.
Fwoom—
And another.
Gripping the sword with only his thumb, he used all four fingers of his left hand to fire four consecutive arrows of light in an instant.
Four streaks of Sacred Light drove in a straight line toward the same spot on the shoulder where the scale was split.
In response, the Qilin's body was pushed back several dozen Zhang, cutting through the rain.
But even then, the Azure Light was already welling up again on the surface of its scales.
It clearly had a self-healing mechanism.
Yes, yes, this is what makes it fun.
The corner of Dong Bongsu's mouth tilted upwards.
Krrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—!
Whether out of pain or fury, the Qilin raised its head to face Dong Bongsu directly.
Its whiskers stood on end.
The rain stopped at their tips in an instant.
The surrounding air came to a standstill.
A beam of light shot up from the giant horn on the beast's head, splitting the dark clouds in a single line.
Jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjeong—!
The Qilin's roar struck the entire valley at once.
The cliffs on both sides vibrated simultaneously.
The steep slopes of the two cliffs that formed the narrow valley shook violently, and the dense green thickets and trees lining the slopes were all flattened inward.
The clumps of earth and rock around the roots of the plants on both slopes crumbled instantly like sandcastles.
The stream that flowed like a brook at the bottom of the valley scattered in all directions, following the pattern of the sound waves.
The rain briefly halted at an angle between the two cliffs before falling again.
Astonishingly, it was a Rain of Aura.
Kwadudududuk—!
Sections of the mountains were sheared off diagonally from the edges of both cliffs, and a torrent of earth and rock poured down to the valley floor.
Both slopes were left with a massive empty scar.
Below the sheared sections, muddy water shot up in all directions.
Rrrrrrumble—
The dark clouds pressing down on the valley were also torn apart diagonally.
Through the rift, the blue sky peeked through before the clouds closed again.
'Is it some kind of Sound Art?'
The power to instantly dominate an area and freely control the wind and rain.
However, the Sound Art did not reach Dong Bongsu.
Every sonic assault generated by the Qilin's roar stopped a handspan before him.
The Super True Qi Field was blocking all the sound waves.
The sonic patterns dispersed wherever they touched the invisible barrier, and the rain of aura was completely pulverized by the Super True Qi Resonance and scattered in all directions.
Dong Bongsu's feet did not move an inch from the mud.
In that time.
The Qilin's scales all shimmered at once.
Five colors.
Five streaks of light simultaneously infused the surface of its scales.
Red.
Blue.
Green.
Gold.
White.
The five lights welled up on the surface of the scales simultaneously.
The radiance of each color condensed in an instant.
A fiery glow rose from the red scales, and a watery light filled the space beside it from the Azure Scales.
A windy light flowed diagonally along the mane from the green scales, and an earthy light condensed inside the hooves from the golden scales.
A metallic light from the white scales thickly enveloped the entire massive body, and the five lights began to dance together in one place.
The Qilin's body, spanning several dozen Zhang, began to accelerate.
Kuuuuuuuuuuung—!
Kuuuuuuuuuuung—!
Kwaaaaaang—!
Its hooves churned the mud as it charged straight for Dong Bongsu.
Kudung—!
Kudung—!
Kudung—!
Each hoofbeat gouged a hole one Zhang wide in the mud, sending clumps of earth flying in all directions.
Wuuuuuuuuuuuuung—
The massive horn drew an arc and fixed on a single point in front—precisely on Dong Bongsu.
Chiiiiiiiiiiiiing—!
With a grating sound that seemed to crush the very surroundings, the earth around the roots on the cliff faces was swept toward the Qilin's horn.
The stream at the bottom of the valley was pulled up into a diagonal line, and the rain also accelerated, sucked into the five-colored streams of aura.
The five radiances of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Metal.
Soon, the five colors spread to the entire surface of the horn.
After the five colors coated the entire cone, the horn began to spin.
A five-colored vortex.
The five vortices mixed together as they spun, forming a single projectile.
Spaaaaaaaang—!
A bundle of five-colored vortices spun rapidly as it shot in a straight line toward Dong Bongsu.
The tip of the vortex began to condense into a single point right in front of him.
Dong Bongsu stood perfectly still.
Two jet-black blades crossed before his chest.
The blackness on the Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword in his left hand instantly deepened.
The same black light condensed on the Evil-Slaying Sword in his right hand.
All the skills he had accumulated were stacked onto the two blades.
Finally, even the Super Rotation was layered on top in that transcendent combination.
Two black lines.
They were not flat surfaces or thin lines.
They were simply two streaks of black lines crossed in an X before Dong Bongsu.
A state where neither light, nor sound, nor dust would remain where they passed.
— A single line devours all.
Super Black Hole Sword Aura.
At the very moment the two black lines were about to receive the five lights, a mechanical sound registered in Dong Bongsu's perception.
Diring—
It wasn't New Murim Online.
It wasn't What is Hero either.
— [G▒ds of R▒a▒ms] [▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒rd ― K▒rin]
A line of distorted, barely legible text appeared just before the vortex touched the black lines.
And then, piercing through those holographic letters, came the five-colored gale of aura.
The two black lines indifferently created an interference pattern as they met the Qilin's attack head-on.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!