Chapter 183
'Whatever defenses they've put up, they're useless.'
In reality, they couldn't even perceive his movements.
In the front, Zhang Xiaoying, acting as a shield, kept turning her head, desperately trying to find Lee Seong-jun who had suddenly vanished.
Despite her efforts, Lee Seong-jun's form remained out of sight.
"Wh-where...?"
Just as bewilderment bloomed on Zhang Xiaoying's face, the sunlight beating down suddenly disappeared, and the sky abruptly darkened.
Only then could she understand.
It was obvious that Lee Seong-jun couldn't be found by just looking at the ground around her.
'The sky!'
Zhang Xiaoying hurriedly shifted her gaze upward and gasped.
"No way?!"
Lee Seong-jun's body was bending like a bow.
Zhang Xiaoying, who also called herself a martial artist hunter, immediately recognized what Lee Seong-jun was doing.
'Bow Body Flash Technique!'
It required the ability to manipulate inner energy and precise muscle control.
It was a technique with such demanding conditions that it was rarely used effectively in actual combat.
But having fought fiercely with Lee Seong-jun earlier, she knew.
'...If it's Lee Seong-jun, he can fulfill all those conditions.'
Ping-!
With a massive sound of air being torn, Lee Seong-jun's form shot forward.
His body, launched like an arrow, fell towards the ground in an instant.
Moreover, it wasn't just a simple fall or approach.
'Ten Thousand Pound Hammer.'
As he fell like a shooting star, he spread his blood energy throughout his body, increasing his weight.
It combined two elements that could endlessly amplify speed, weight, and destructive power.
He had met the conditions to demonstrate overwhelming destructive power.
"Damn it...! Kenneth! Hide behind me!"
Zhang Xiaoying, shouting at the top of her lungs, concentrated her inner energy in both legs.
Crack-
Her two legs, filled with massive inner energy, dug into the ground, fixing her stance.
Exuding an aura that could be called not just a rock, but Mount Tai itself, Zhang Xiaoying urgently shouted.
"Such petty tricks won't be enough to bring me down-!"
Indeed, it would be impossible to inflict damage on Zhang Xiaoying in this state, with her legs fixed to the ground.
However, Lee Seong-jun, who had already grasped Zhang Xiaoying's abilities earlier, wouldn't have forgotten this.
"I told you it was amateurish..."
The moment Lee Seong-jun's leg, drawing a deep arc, landed on the ground right in front of Zhang Xiaoying's body.
An overwhelming destruction occurred, caused by the synergistic effect of a weight reaching ten thousand pounds and arrow-like speed.
Boom-!
The shockwave that rose with the massive crater tossed Kenneth's body, who was hiding behind Zhang Xiaoying, into an unsightly form, rolling and sprawling on the ground.
Naturally, Kenneth wasn't the only one affected.
The fact that a crater had formed meant that, even if for an instant, the earth that could absorb Zhang Xiaoying's shock had disappeared.
Zhang Xiaoying's body was now somewhat defenseless against the attack.
Despite the seemingly critical situation, Zhang Xiaoying was expressing strong confidence, raising her voice.
"You seem to have used your head quite well! But you were too hasty!"
In this state, with the ground itself collapsed, the Earth Manifestation technique couldn't exert its full power, so the approach itself could be considered excellent.
However, it could be said that he had made a somewhat reckless attack to break through the Earth Manifestation.
'An attack like this will inevitably have a great recoil to bear.'
Indeed, Lee Seong-jun's body, unable to withstand the shockwave, was rising into the air.
This meant he couldn't execute the rising martial arts techniques and forms that required precise and accurate postures.
'...By the time Lee Seong-jun regains his posture, I'll be able to land on the ground.'
If the opponent had been an ordinary martial artist, this thought would have been considered orthodox.
However, unfortunately, the enemy before her eyes, Lee Seong-jun, was no ordinary martial artist.
The thought that was considered orthodox earlier was just Zhang Xiaoying's own delusion.
After all, Lee Seong-jun was a being who had risen to the level of a Demon God.
He knew numerous martial arts and had considerable understanding of them.
In situations where he couldn't take proper posture, he had mastered rising martial arts that could be executed with minimal movement.
This meant that just being lifted into the air like this didn't pose a major constraint for him.
"Hup..."
As Lee Seong-jun, taking a rough breath, had blood energy surging throughout his body.
An enormous amount, enough to cover the sky in red.
At the center of it, Lee Seong-jun, floating in the air, stretched out his hand towards the sky and spread it.
Boom-!
The blood energy covering the sky churned and took the form of a huge, sharp spear.
As a weapon made from the ultimate technique of Sura, the greatest blood demon of all time, its destructive power was overwhelming, to say the least.
Of course, due to the unstable posture, its accuracy would inevitably be somewhat lower.
But as mentioned earlier, this level of constraint wasn't a big problem for Lee Seong-jun.
'The target is... Zhang Xiaoying right in front of me.'
As he manifested a strong will, the small dots of blood shed by Zhang Xiaoying began to connect, forming lines.
Shwing-!
It was the moment when the lines that kept connecting finally reached Zhang Xiaoying.
"It's over."
At Lee Seong-jun's cold pronouncement, Zhang Xiaoying's body began to tremble.
As a martial artist, as a living being, she instinctively sensed the current situation.
That red spear was connected to her, Zhang Xiaoying.
An attack that couldn't be avoided.
No, it was death itself.
"This can't be..."
Zhang Xiaoying, shaking her head repeatedly, forcefully clenched her fist.
Zhang Xiaoying, China's top hunter, a member of the Guardians called the world's protectors.
Zhang Xiaoying, who had always reigned supreme, had never felt the emotion of fear.
Therefore, to deny the rising fear, she moved her body even more desperately.
Boom-!
'Great Earth Diamond Skill, Earth Block Great Wall.'
Feeling her muscles throughout her body swell and harden, Zhang Xiaoying raised both arms and shouted.
"I will not crumble, I, Zhang Xiaoying, am the strongest shield-!"
As Zhang Xiaoying's body, shouting as if in desperation, took on a giant-like form, Lee Seong-jun, with cold eyes, roughly swung his hand.
'Myriad Blood Demon Sea, Annihilation Ultimate Move, Great Luo Heaven Single Flash'
A blood demon martial art used only when harboring the determination to definitely kill the enemy.
Naturally, its power was the greatest among all the martial arts he had unleashed so far.
Shwing-!
The Great Luo Heaven Single Flash, cutting through the air, accelerated further as it shot along the connected dots and lines.
By the time it reached Zhang Xiaoying's body, the form of the Great Luo Heaven Single Flash could no longer be called a spear.
The Great Luo Heaven Single Flash, shot in the form of a streak of light, a beam, pierced through Zhang Xiaoying, who had raised both arms, in an instant.
Boom-!
With a massive explosion, the body of Zhang Xiaoying, called invincible and the strongest shield, was torn apart.
"Urghk...!"
Amidst the excruciating pain of her limbs being torn off, Zhang Xiaoying's gaze filled with regret and despair.
'I shouldn't have fought against Lee Seong-jun, this monster.'
How could an ordinary human even think of fighting against a being standing at the pinnacle of martial arts in the first place?
She had been deceived by the tongue-wagging of the chairman steeped in Sinocentrism and his sycophantic followers.
'...I was too foolish.'
Her own judgment and choices.
Not a single one of them had been right.
Regret washed over her.
But what was most despairing was that she couldn't change the fate that was about to befall.
'The motherland... China is finished.'
She could assert it.
If they continued to show such an aggressive attitude towards Korea like this.
The motherland, China, which she had considered the world's greatest, would soon fall into Lee Seong-jun's hands.
It was no exaggeration to say that a future of destruction was certain.
But there was nothing that she, Zhang Xiaoying, once called China's hope and strongest hunter, could do.
"Ah..."
Letting out a short sigh at this miserable and sorrowful fate, Zhang Xiaoying finally closed her eyelids that she had been barely holding open.
* * *
"Be careful!"
Nicholas, who was rushing forward as if shot from a gun, raised his voice urgently.
For Victor, who was closely following behind, it was too sudden a situation, but he didn't harbor any complaints.
Because Nicholas's judgment at this moment could be considered the best.
Victor, who had quickly covered his entire body with extreme energy while narrowing his eyes, fixed his gaze straight ahead at that moment.
Boom-!
With a massive roar, a rough wind that could be called a storm swept through the area.
"Good heavens..."
Victor's face was shadowed as he let out a short exclamation.
With a wave of energy of this magnitude, one of the two must have been severely injured.
Naturally, heavy words flowed from Victor's mouth.
"It's right ahead, in the worst case... we might have to execute Zhang Xiaoying with our own hands."
The probability of Lee Seong-jun winning was too slim.
If it had been an ordinary match, it might have been different.
Right now, Zhang Xiaoying was receiving support from none other than the Inspector, Kenneth.
'Even for Lee Seong-jun... it would be difficult.'
The combination of Zhang Xiaoying, the strongest shield, and Kenneth, the best buffer, was a troublesome opponent that even he, Victor, who had reached the same realm of life and death, couldn't guarantee victory against.
'It's unsettling to have to eliminate Zhang Xiaoying, whom I once considered a colleague, with my own hands, but...'
As a member of the Guardians, who called themselves the world's protectors, he couldn't forgive Zhang Xiaoying, who had become a criminal.
Just as Victor's eyes were filled with strong determination, having steeled his heart.
Flash-
A strange form that had shot high into the sky with a red flash fell to the ground and sprawled on the floor.
"...?"
As if by agreement, Nicholas and Victor's gazes turned and fixed on the strange form at that moment.
Their eyes widened like full moons.
"Is, is that?"
"I'm not seeing things, am I...?"
In fact, it was an absurd question.
How could he, Victor, a member of the Guardians and a master who had reached the realm of life and death, not identify the identity of the form that had fallen before his eyes?
Nevertheless, Victor couldn't help but doubt his own eyes.
And it wasn't just Victor.
Nicholas was also shaking his head as if he couldn't believe it.
"This is impossible..."
Unable to trust their own eyes, Nicholas and Victor immediately set their feet in motion.
Tap-
The moment they reached close proximity in an instant, Nicholas and Victor could clearly recognize that what they had seen was not wrong.
"Zhang Xiaoying..."
The body of Zhang Xiaoying, who had been called the strongest shield, was torn apart in a horrific state.
Even he, Victor, needed considerable time and effort to break through Zhang Xiaoying's defense.
It was already surprising that Zhang Xiaoying's defense had been broken through in less than 30 minutes.
However, what shocked Nicholas and Victor was something else.
Thud-
Another form that had flown through the sky, Kenneth, sprawled on the floor in the same state as Zhang Xiaoying.
They hadn't witnessed the battle directly.
But with the situation unfolding before their eyes, they couldn't deny it.
"To think he would achieve victory against the combination of Zhang Xiaoying and Inspector Kenneth..."
"Huh..."
Clearly seeing it with their own eyes, yet finding it hard to believe, Nicholas and Victor couldn't close their gaping mouths.