Absolute Regression

Chapter 712: Stab My Heart!

The creature was intelligent.

The Flying Blood Serpent, which had been relentlessly attacking the heart, changed its strategy.

It began biting into Geom Mugeuk’s blood vessels. At first, it chewed on the less vital ones, watching how Geom Mugeuk would react. When Geom Mugeuk paid it no mind, it moved on to more important vessels.

It was a calculated plan—if Geom Mugeuk diverted his internal energy to protect the vessels, the strength defending his heart would inevitably weaken.

Of course, the serpent never attacked to the point of killing him. It knew that if Geom Mugeuk died, it would also perish. It was, in every sense, a beast with near-human intelligence.

It moved too swiftly to be caught. In the end, Geom Mugeuk had no choice but to feign yielding his heart in order to trap it.

He gave up half his heart, while pouring every drop of his internal energy into preventing the serpent from entering the other half.

Once the Flying Blood Serpent entered his heart, it never came back out. At first, it simply coiled itself inside and stayed still.

Geom Mugeuk thought that was a relief, but he was wrong.

The serpent began to absorb strength through his heart, becoming far more powerful than when it had been coursing through his blood vessels. Conversely, Geom Mugeuk grew weaker by the same measure.

Once it was replenished, the Flying Blood Serpent attacked the remaining half of his heart with a force incomparable to before.

Geom Mugeuk poured all his energy into holding it back.

Enduring, and enduring again.

At first, he did it to protect his blood vessels. Now, it was to keep his heart from being torn apart. The drain on his spirit and strength was immense.

To resist with every nerve and ounce of strength was truly agonizing.

He wanted to scream, but he didn’t. Surely, Cha Iran was also doing her utmost.

If she discovered his condition, she might grow anxious and make a mistake. That was why Geom Mugeuk endured and endured again.

When the pain reached its peak, Geom Mugeuk began to see illusions.

He was alone, bracing against a massive wall that pressed down on him.

Bit by bit, he was being forced back. His muscles and bones felt as though they were melting away. His arms longed to collapse, to give up.

But Geom Mugeuk refused to surrender. He was not someone who quit simply because it was hard.

How long had he held out like that?

Thud.

At the sound of movement beside him, Geom Mugeuk turned his head. For a moment, he was startled.

Someone was pushing against the wall with him—one of the four demons of the Nine Calamities Demon Art, the handsome one.

‘How are you here?’

Thud.

Then, from the opposite side, another demon appeared—this one with a fearsome face. After glancing at Geom Mugeuk once with that frightening expression, it too began to push against the wall.

Thud.

This time, a mysterious-looking one appeared beside the handsome demon. Finally, next to the fearsome one, the clever-looking demon also joined in.

When the four demons pushed together, he no longer got forced back.

Geom Mugeuk was overjoyed.

And then, at the final moment, something blotted out the light and cast an enormous shadow over him.

When Geom Mugeuk lifted his head to look upward, something massive was pressing against the wall.

The Heavenly Demon Spirit?

Yes, it was the Heavenly Demon Spirit. It was too dark to see clearly, but he was certain.

With both the demons and the Heavenly Demon Spirit joining him, the wall began to push forward once more.

‘Ah! Now that even the Heavenly Demon Spirit is here, I can finally let go.’

The strength slowly left Geom Mugeuk’s arms.

But this illusion was nothing more than a heart-demon conjured by his exhausted subconscious. In reality, the wall was still being pushed backward.

That was the nature of a heart-demon—it shook the mind by taking on the forms of those one trusted most.

‘Yes… I can rest now, can’t I?’

Just as the last of the strength was about to leave his hands, a voice called out from the darkness.

……Young Cult Leader.

That voice? A familiar voice, whispering faintly from afar.

At first, it sounded distant and unclear, but the next words broke through the darkness, ringing sharp and bright like a sword of light.

“Since I have come, open your eyes!”

At the very moment Geom Mugeuk recognized it as the voice of the Evil Smiling Demon—everything around him began to vanish.

The demons disappeared one after another.

Finally, the Heavenly Demon Spirit vanished as well. As its shadow dispersed, the world grew bright again. The heart-demon had been shattered.

“Young Cult Leader!”

At the Evil Smiling Demon’s call, Geom Mugeuk’s eyes snapped open.

Right before him, the Evil Smiling Demon was truly looking at him. Only then did Geom Mugeuk realize it—everything he had seen was a heart-demon illusion.

“Are you all right?”

Behind the mask, the Evil Smiling Demon’s eyes were full of worry. He had sensed that Geom Mugeuk’s condition was dire.

Summoning the last of his strength, Geom Mugeuk spoke.

“Stab my heart!”

“!”

The Evil Smiling Demon’s eyes widened. He knew then that the moment of prophecy had come.

He, too, had speculated about the prophecy.

Would he only have to pretend to kill the Young Cult Leader? Or kill some decoy disguised as him?

But never had he imagined that he would be asked to truly pierce Geom Mugeuk’s heart.

Geom Mugeuk’s hand grabbed his wrist, pulling it toward his chest.

‘Trust yourself and stab.’

With that act, Geom Mugeuk closed his eyes. By the time he had fallen into the heart-demon’s grip, the Flying Blood Serpent had already invaded the remaining half of his heart. The more of the heart it occupied, the stronger it became.

The moment Geom Mugeuk spoke those words, Hwa Do-myeong cried out.

“No! Stop him!”

He mistook it as Geom Mugeuk attempting suicide—choosing death before the Flying Blood Serpent could completely dominate him.

If Geom Mugeuk died, it would not only mean failure in killing the Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance, but also the loss of the energies sealed within his body.

At once, more than twenty of Hwa Do-myeong’s subordinates leapt forward.

The Faceless Swordsmen simultaneously drew their daggers to meet them.

Swish.

One Faceless Swordsman dodged the sword of the first attacker and drove his dagger into the man’s chest.

Clang!

The strike was blocked—the opponent was no ordinary fighter. Indeed, he was far more skilled than those from the alley earlier.

But the ten strongest Faceless Swordsmen from the Valley of Wicked were opponents unlike any they had faced before.

Just as the man thrust his sword forward again—

Shuk! Shuyuk!

The Faceless Swordsman unleashed wind blades. The first one barely missed as the man twisted aside, but the second sliced off his ear.

Crack!

The enraged fighter swung harder—

Thud!

The Faceless Swordsman’s dagger pierced his heart.

Immediately withdrawing his dagger, the assassin darted sideways.

He rushed at a assassin woman’s back, who was about to be ambushed by another foe—

Swiish.

The earlier Faceless Swordsman seized the enemy, plunging a dagger into his throat.

Thud.

The man who tried to strike the rescuer collapsed under the hand of the First Beauty.

The coordination between the Faceless Swordsmen and the assassins was seamless. They fought as though they had always been comrades, saving each other in perfect rhythm.

Seeing that the opposition was stronger than expected, Hwa Do-myeong ordered the three bamboo-hat warriors standing behind him.

“Kill them all!”

Of the three, two—a man and a woman—sprang forward.

The woman wielded a sword, the man a blade. Their skills were exceptional.

Swiish!

Shreaak!

Fast, overwhelming sword energy and blade energy surged forth, slashing toward the Crescent-Moon Faceless Swordsman and the Spider-Marked Faceless Swordsman.

Too late to dodge!

At that instant—

Boooom!

Another powerful energy stormed forth—

Kwaaang!

It collided head-on with the incoming sword and blade energies.

The one who landed before the Crescent-Moon Faceless Swordsman and the Spider-Marked Faceless Swordsman was Cha Iran. She had unleashed the Heavenly Maiden Night Rain Palm with both palms to save them.

“Your opponents are me.”

The two Faceless Swordsmen glanced at her once before springing back into the fray. This was no time for words of gratitude.

Cha Iran’s gaze turned past the bamboo-hat warriors, locking onto Hwa Do-myeong. But his eyes were not on her—they were fixed on Geom Mugeuk and the Evil Smiling Demon beyond her.

He could feel the urgency burning inside Hwa Do-myeong. Perhaps that was why he so often hid behind his fan before her—so that desperate heart of his would not be exposed.

Hwa Do-myeong himself leapt forward, landing in front of Cha Iran. At the same moment, the last bamboo-hat warrior also flew in. Judging by his movements, he was clearly the one tasked with ensuring Hwa Do-myeong’s safe retreat.

Hwa Do-myeong had no intention of conversing with her. Nor did he imagine that telling her to step aside would make her do so.

Shaaah!

From his fan, a powerful surge of energy roared forth.

Cha Iran shot upward, narrowly evading the blast—

But in that instant, the remaining bamboo-hat man and woman rushed in together for a combined strike.

Deflecting the incoming sword with her dagger, Cha Iran unleashed a flurry of palm techniques.

With all her strength, she fought to block them, vowing not to let even a single one pass.

Yet, facing all three—Hwa Do-myeong and the two bamboo-hat warriors—was too much.

At last, she failed to evade a slash of blade energy from the bamboo-hat man.

Thud!

It struck her body. She instantly raised her Protective Energy, but the impact was tremendous.

Even so, she did not yield. Amidst the blow, she countered with a palm strike against the man who had sent the blade.

And then—

Flash!

The bamboo-hat woman was suddenly before her in midair, as if she had shifted space itself with an astonishing movement technique.

Swiish!

The sword was already flying toward Cha Iran’s face. Had she been in peak condition, she could have dodged. But as she was now, she could not.

It would not kill her—but she could not escape a grievous wound to her face.

At that exact moment—

Swiish!

A dagger flew straight at the bamboo-hat woman.

Clang!

Her sword struck it aside in midair, but the force carried through—missing Cha Iran entirely.

She had already escaped her strike. The one who had thrown the dagger was the Spider-Marked Faceless Swordsman—the very one she had saved earlier.

Shaaak! Shaaak!

Relentless waves of energy surged at her again.

Because assassins were battling behind her, Cha Iran did not dodge. Instead, she met them with her palm techniques.

Boom! Kwaaang! Kwoom!

From left and right, the bamboo-hat warriors attacked, and from the front, Hwa Do-myeong pressed his fan. Three against one—the combined assault battered her until she staggered, injured internally.

At that moment, someone hurled himself forward to save her. This time, it was the Crescent-Moon Faceless Swordsman.

He pulled the wounded Cha Iran back, retreating.

The assassin women ran up to shield her.

The Faceless Swordsmen encircled Geom Mugeuk and the Evil Smiling Demon. Their eyes gleamed with resolve—unflinching, fearless of death, they would not yield a single step.

“Wipe them all out!”

At Hwa Do-myeong’s command, the two bamboo-hat warriors stepped forward—

Thud!

The sound of flesh being pierced rang out. It came from within the circle of Faceless Swordsmen.

As they turned, Hwa Do-myeong too caught sight of the scene through the gap between them.

The Evil Smiling Demon’s dagger was lodged in Geom Mugeuk’s heart.

In that instant, Hwa Do-myeong’s eyes widened.

‘Did he really stab the Young Cult Leader?’

He knew that of all the Demon Supremes, the one closest to Geom Mugeuk was the Evil Smiling Demon. If it had been any of the others, perhaps—but he had believed this one could never do it.

The Faceless Swordsmen also stared in shock before turning back toward the front lines.

The assassin women exchanged horrified glances, their eyes flicking between the two men.

The truth was undeniable—The Evil Smiling Demon had stabbed Geom Mugeuk’s heart.

While Cha Iran, the Faceless Swordsmen, and the assassins clashed desperately with their foes, the Evil Smiling Demon pressed his palm against Geom Mugeuk’s heart, focusing his mind.

At that moment, all sound faded away for him. Only the beating of Geom Mugeuk’s heart existed. In that instant, he was both Divine Physician and Demon Doctor.

He felt the alien presence within the heart.

The Flying Blood Serpent had seized it completely. He knew instinctively: to kill it, he must strike its head—no, its skull—with absolute precision.

But he hesitated. If he missed, Geom Mugeuk would die.

The problem was that the Flying Blood Serpent moved in completely unpredictable ways, now pushing toward the final portion of the heart.

There would be only one chance.

At the very moment it claimed that last vacant space—

That instant!

The Evil Smiling Demon waited.

He knew battle raged around him, but his mind was fixed solely on the serpent.

And then—finally!

When the Flying Blood Serpent occupied the last corner of Geom Mugeuk’s heart—

The Evil Smiling Demon’s dagger sliced the air in utter silence. The character for “Laughter” engraved on the blade cut through the void.

With the dagger given to him by Geom Mugeuk, with the martial arts Geom Mugeuk himself had taught him, he pierced the heart.

Thud!

Not a feint—but deep enough to touch the heart itself.

Silence followed.

All eyes locked on that moment.

When the Evil Smiling Demon withdrew his dagger, Geom Mugeuk’s head drooped as blood spilled from his chest.

He did not move. He looked as though he were truly dead.

It was Hwa Do-myeong who cried out belatedly.

“No!”

He believed Geom Mugeuk had died.

But the one who had died—was the Flying Blood Serpent.

The Evil Smiling Demon’s dagger had struck its vital point with flawless precision.

Shaaak!

The serpent, pierced through its skull, convulsed violently—

ShaaAAAAAH!

The Flying Blood Serpent’s body slowly began to scatter.

A flood of immense medicinal power, rare herbs, and the essences of countless divine relics filled the heart. That mysterious energy stitched together the torn wound left by the dagger.

Geom Mugeuk’s body began to absorb it.

It was the first time. No medicine until now had ever melted directly into the heart.

From the heart, that energy was wrung out and coursed through his blood vessels, flowing into his entire body.

A power unlike anything he had ever felt.

Geom Mugeuk began to refine the Flying Blood Serpent’s vast energy into his own internal strength, saturating every blood vessel with it.

The Evil Smiling Demon silently watched him.

Geom Mugeuk’s aura was faint—so faint that only someone this close could barely sense it.

But the Evil Smiling Demon knew.

Geom Mugeuk’s expression had grown peaceful. Like someone lost in a pleasant dream, even a slight smile lingered on his lips.

‘It’s done.’

He had struck precisely. Never in his life had he been so tense. Even if it had been his own heart, he would not have felt such strain.

The prophecy had been fulfilled.

That unbelievable prediction—that he would stab Geom Mugeuk—had come to pass. The only difference was the setting. It was no grand stage, because of that assassin woman.

Once she changed her mind, the stage for The Greatest Beauty Under the Heavens vanished with it.

It was then that Hwa Do-myeong’s furious shout rang out.

“You lunatic! How dare you kill the Young Cult Leader!”

The Evil Smiling Demon slowly turned his head toward him.

From behind the mask, his cold eyes smiled as he spoke.

“Now you understand.”

Blood still dripped from the dagger in his hand—Geom Mugeuk’s blood.

“There is no one I cannot kill.”