Chapter 113 – Retreat (2)

Text boxes suddenly appeared, telling Seol-Hwi that the AI’s understanding of martial arts had risen.

And among the notifications which followed, the last one caught his eye.

<AI Seol-Hwi’s rank has gone up to Lv2.>
It’s the same as Simulation…

The mark of ‘Lv2’.

He didn’t know how to read ‘Lv’, but what’s certain is the number 2. 1 Seol-Hwi interpreted this as something growing higher than it was before.

However, there were also restrictions to this condition.

<Because of AI Lv2, the duration of AI is reduced due to ability improvement.>
Time: 900 seconds → 300 seconds

300… 299…

Seeing the number ‘300’ gradually decreasing, Seol-Hwi was able to estimate roughly how much time he had left.

“The same trick won’t work twice on us!”

Meanwhile, the two old men were extremely hostile towards the AI. Despite this, they didn’t blindly rush in to attack, perhaps because they had already experienced for themselves how strong the AI was.

And then there was the old man who had appeared at the last minute. He was still standing on the rafters, where he had taken Seo Ryeong’s life. His attitude was even worse than the other two.

“I’ll rip your body to pieces, just like that dead bitch!”

The AI was already angry, but the insulting words from the enemy’s mouth stimulated its anger further.

The duo of Mount Hua Elders looked each other in the eyes. Seol-Hwi could see that they planned on attacking together.

You need to win.

He sincerely hoped the AI would be victorious. Although Seol-Hwi couldn’t do anything at the moment, the AI was different.

That guy had the power to tear those old men apart.

Papapat!

The Mount Hua Elder duo moved at the same time. Their speed was truly astonishing. On the other hand, the AI moved before Seol-Hwi could even gauge how.

Bang!

The sound came first.

And then the scene which followed made Seol-Hwi doubt his eyes.

The AI was crouched in a corner of the room. And in one hand was a man’s head – the old man who had killed Seo Ryeong.

This is insane!

Even though he was watching as closely as possible, Seol-Hwi missed what had happened. Contrary to the insanely fast movements of the Mount Hua Elder duo, he never even saw the AI move.

“What were you saying? That you’d ‘rip my body to pieces’?”

“Kuak… kuak…”

When the AI clenched his hand, the old man’s face turned purple.

The ground below them was soaked in blood.

“You don’t want to answer? You must be crazy.”

Bam!

The AI smashed the old man’s head onto the floor.

“Kuaak!”

The old man screamed in pain.

“Elder Guyang!”

Seeing this, one of the other Mount Hua Elders shouted out.

Papapat!

He rushed towards the AI, but this was in vain. The AI grabbed his sword with its other hand, still in a half-kneeling position.

“Wait your turn. I’ll come for you soon.”

“Ugh…!”

The old man clenched his teeth and tried to retrieve his sword, but the AI refused to let go. The AI, who was bleeding due to holding onto the sharp blade with its bare hand, slowly got up.

There was another ‘Bang!’, and the old man who attacked the AI rolled on the ground after being punched. He continued to roll, only stopping when he hit the wall.

“You! Do you think you will be fine after this?”

Meanwhile, Elder Guyang, who was now free from the AI’s grasp, stood up from the floor and shouted at the AI.

Puak! Puak! Puak!

The AI struck him with its fist. After being hit three or four times, his body became limp and fell to the ground.

Tuk!

And the AI kicked him for good measure. Afterwards, the AI wiped away the blood that was on its hands.

“Wake up. You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

“…You, who are you?”

The old man who had been punched by the AI and rolled far away, had regained his consciousness. He instinctively felt that he could not win against the AI, no matter what he did.

He’s using external energy!

Seol-Hwi could understand the Elder’s feelings. He couldn’t help but notice that the AI had grabbed the opponent’s sword with its bare hand.

It was a martial art that couldn’t be unfolded without mastering the external energy gathering technique.

What was the AI’s identity, that it even knew these kinds of martial arts?

“What can bastards like you even do?”

“You brat!”

The old man rushed forward. In order to deliver the fatal final blow, he was unleashing the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

For a brief moment, the AI glanced at Seol-Hwi and said,

“If you master the Flame Aggregating Demonic Martial arts to the advanced level…”

Swish!

The old man’s Plum Blossom Sword Technique was the pinnacle of splendor.

There were so many swords stabbing at once, that Seol-Hwi wondered how the AI would counterattack while dodging the assault.

“Special skills will come. Like this…”

Like a monster, the AI easily avoided the attacks of its opponent. Not just that – the AI surprised Seol-Hwi by defending against them, not letting any of them slip through. The AI shouted something while moving left and right.

“Sura Exploding Flame Arts!”

…!

Kwaang!

At first, it was just sparks floating in the air. A flame with no form. So even when they approached the opponent, the old man couldn’t stop them.

There was no way for him to resist.

Seol-Hwi watched as the man’s body caught on fire, and then exploded in an instant. The explosion was powerful enough to bring down half the building.

That’s Flame Aggregating at the advanced level…?!

Since the time he had mastered the technique, Seol-Hwi was able to guess what kind of martial arts it was. A blow that could only be used at its peak.

Contrary to what he only thought of in theory, the actual practice of it was shocking to see.

And the AI did everything effortlessly.

“This will be the second skill which comes from advancing that. Raise the level of your proficiency to advanced at any cost. Once you do, you will never lose to any of these old men.”

-…

“One more left.”

There was one last Mount Hua Elder remaining. His face was crushed beyond recognition by the AI, but his eyes were shining.

Seol-Hwi knew what those eyes meant. Like Gu Yeom, he was prodding the blood points on his body, using the hidden technique of Mount Hua.

“What I’m going to show you this time is the Supreme Wind God.”

Supreme Wind God…!

A technique which probably comes out when the proficiency of Four Peak Demonic Martial Arts was higher.

“It isn’t easy to develop this skill, even after you’ve acquired it. The requirement is not combat power, but more than a certain level of health and internal energy. Be sure to learn it.”

Suddenly, the old man ran to attack the AI. He reached out his hands, instead of holding onto his weapon. At that moment, a thought occurred in Seol-Hwi’s mind.

A suicide attack…?!

But then, something incredible happened with the AI’s sword.

Woong!

A thunderbolt fell from the sky and struck the AI. The thunder transferred from the AI’s body to its sword, and the blade shone with a brilliant light.

The old man was cut down by the light, and perished. At the same time, a raging storm smashed the surviving half of the building to pieces.

-What…!

Seol-Hwi watched, amazed. It was unbelievable to think a human could do this.

The AI looked at Seol-Hwi and told him,

“This is a skill that can be learned once you reach the intermediate level of Four Peak Demonic Martial Arts. Get used to the two things I talked about, and they will be of great help during times of crisis.”

Seol-Hwi couldn’t say anything – he was still trying to wrap his head around what had happened.

But he knew it was real, because the entire building was completely destroyed.

And this made him face reality. The timer was still counting down.

100… 99…

Disciples of Mount Hua were starting to appear.

“Come on then. Let’s end this.”

The AI raised his head and glared at Seol-Hwi.

“It’s my turn to go see if I’m right.”

-What are you talking about?

“Didn’t I tell you? Let’s see with our own eyes the consequences of your judgement.”

The AI had moved quickly after saying that. It moved dozens of meters in a second, bypassing disciples of Mount Hua.

It was when the AI moved a large distance like this…

“Haaah!”

They arrived at the place where a battle was currently happening.

Jeok Song!

He was fighting against numerous warriors of Mount Hua. But direct help was no longer possible.

Looking at his physical condition, he had already suffered too many wounds from the swords of his enemies.

“See that? One of your subordinates is dead. And there is another one not too far away.”

-…!

Another sight began to appear in front of Seol-Hwi after the AI pointed it out.

“Come and get me!”

A man surrounded by enemies.

Yorim!

Contrary to his words and actions, he didn’t have the power to stop his opponents. It was because he had already broken his shoulder, and Seol-Hwi noticed he was limping on one leg.

The AI said,

“If their combat power exceeded 6 million, those Mount Hua bastards wouldn’t be able to catch your subordinates with their skills.”

-Even if they can go against first class disciples, what about the Elders? They will not stand still.

“You idiot! Take a good look around you. There are no proper Mount Hua Elders here. Gu Yeom was the strongest. Everyone here was a secret.”

-Why?

“We don’t have time, ask Ma Taryong… there’s something more important right now.”

The AI turned its head, and while looking at the hill on the other side, warned Seol-Hwi,

“This evening, the second disciple of the Heavenly Demon. His underlings will attack this place.”

-What?!

“Ma Taryong was captured after discovering the secret hideout of Mount Hua. And this information was passed to the second disciple, not the fourth disciple. So they are coming here to attack…”

-What do you mean?

“It is up to you to find out. And lastly, this is the most important thing.”

-What is it?

20… 19…

The AI checked the timer and continued,

“I was too overwhelmed by my anger, and raised my skills. As a result, I used up your innate energy, your life force too. So when we switch back, you might lose your life.”

-Hey! Seriously?! Again?!

“Don’t worry. Because I did you a favor, and put your sword and shoes in the toolbox. Anyway, I’m sorry for what happened so I am letting you know. Oh, and…”

-Urgh, what now…

“For the time being, you won’t be able to summon me because my rank went up. Of course, when you reach a higher state, then you can summon me again. Can you do that?”

-Yah! What are you talking about…?!

“I just told you. So goodbye.”

The AI smiled, and Seol-Hwi’s vision darkened.

Ah, fuck…

<Two lives left.>
A notification popped up.

Seol-Hwi’s second chance was being used.

1 Remember that there are some words/symbols from the system Seol-Hwi doesn’t understand because they’re not in Korean. Here it’s saying Lv exactly, which is different from the actual Korean word “level”, so Seol-Hwi doesn’t understand Lv stands for level. ↩️