“Take this aerial bombardment, you Central Plains bastards.”

The rain was still falling on the second day.

I shot a thunderbolt at the guys who were running away in a flurry, as if they had never been subjected to an indiscriminate bombardment.

Then, a current that spread radially along the ground, centered on the guy who was burning black.

The other unorthodox faction members who were caught up in it also trembled like an aspen tree and soon collapsed.

Perhaps because it was raining, it was convenient to be able to electrocute them over a wide area.

The peak-level unorthodox faction members who could use protective qi were dealt with by Gu Ja-beom and Baek Hasin below.

‘We’ve stirred everything up, so the Shaolin Temple will take care of the rest.’

Before I knew it, the martial artists of the Shaolin Temple, who had spread out the Arhat Formation, were entering to deal with the remnants and secure the base.

With the surprise attack on the first day, we had blown away three of the eight branches of the enemy that had infiltrated the central part of Hunan Province.

Since this was the fourth, we had already dealt with about half of them.

Considering that the Shaolin Temple had even taken down the small subordinate organizations under the branches, it was a tremendous speed.

I strongly felt that they had been sharpening their swords for this day.

Should I say it was like a powerful investigation team that had been tracking them for years had raided them?

“Catch them!”

“Kill the unorthodox faction bastards!”

Looking at what they were doing, they seemed more like a gangster organization than the police.

At least the Shaolin Temple didn’t commit serious crimes against the weak as if it were a daily meal, so it was incomparable.

Just looking at the crimes of the branch guys who were being subjugated in this place, half were on death row and half were serving life sentences.

‘Still, at this point, they’ll probably be contacted soon.’

Since the branch was completely robbed, the other side wouldn’t just stand by.

They would surely aim for a counterattack.

As I thought, after dealing with the remnants and arriving at the small city that the fifth branch was occupying, I felt a sense of déjà vu in my super-senses.

‘A hawk.’

The very same hawk that had tracked us before was circling high, hiding itself between the clouds where the rain was thinning.

I immediately sent a signal below and prepared for a surprise attack.

‘They’re coming.’

Soon, two strands of powerful qi flew from both blind spots, aiming for the 30m point in the sky where I was.

As if I had been waiting, I deflected the offensive by wrapping the First Blade and the Martial Arts Sword with powerful qi.

“Kill the bald heads!!”

“It’s a surprise attack from the unorthodox faction bastards!!”

With that, the unorthodox faction members who had jumped out from the buildings in all directions began to rush in.

In the midst of the chaotic scene, I alone blocked the powerful qi that was flying from behind and raised my altitude.

Since it was a powerful qi flown by two Transformation masters, even though I had prepared for it, the internal damage was no joke.

‘It was still too much to block the powerful qi of a Transformation master in succession.’

Even though I had risen to the super-peak level, the difference in their realms was still clear.

In the end, after climbing so high that the people below looked as small as grains of rice, I made a foothold with a shield and began to recover.

The two Transformation masters were probably Seo Chae-gang, the Thousand Jin Strength Bear, and Lee Do-yul, the Swift Blade Chaotic Demon.

Looking down, Gu Ja-beom and Seo Chae-gang were already clashing with their greatswords and axes, and the masters from the Shaolin Temple were surrounding and pressuring Lee Do-yul.

‘The ones I have to face are not those guys.’

The Transformation monsters were a problem that the close-range specialized forces had to deal with, and my role was to change the tide of the battle by taking advantage of the long-range.

After barely pulling myself together, I shot ice magic at the point where the unorthodox faction members were gathered.

The unorthodox faction members who were pierced by the ice fragments that fell at high speed.

The lightning I had used before was a wide-area attack, so there was a risk of our allies being caught up in it, so a designated strike was inevitable.

However, since the altitude was high, the aim itself was not accurate, so I could only use it where the unorthodox faction members were clumped together.

‘I can go down when the battle intensifies, but the internal damage from before still remains. And this is, after all, the Shaolin Temple’s business. There’s no reason to get too involved.’

Even if we successfully repelled the enemy here, our final goal was to carry out the mission that Cheon Mu-jin had left in Shaanxi Province.

There was no need to risk my life and use all my strength.

Since I had also been active in the previous branch destruction.

Above all, the Shaolin Temple was not weak.

Lee Do-yul, who had been swinging his dao at a tremendous speed, began to be pushed back by the Arhat Formation of the Shaolin Temple’s super-peak masters.

Other unorthodox faction masters rushed in to help Lee Do-yul, but this time, the elders from the Shaolin side came out and swept them away.

The Shaolin was strictly one of the two pillars of the Nine Great Sects, and since the quality of their individual martial artists was high, if they were determined to fight, this side was at an advantage.

That’s why they had probably launched a surprise attack, but as a result of fighting, this side was just stronger.

‘If the guys gathered here are all their forces, we win.’

As I was watching the tide of the battle with that calculation and pouring down magic, there was also a sense of unease somewhere.

The other side must have known that it would turn out like this.

When my thoughts reached that point, I raised my altitude a little more and looked at the area.

In the distance, beyond the mountain ridge where the sunlight was faintly casting through the clouds, I could see moving bandits.

‘The Eighteen Fortresses of the Green Forest?’

It seemed other forces within the Heretic Alliance had also come to support. I quickly let out a shout imbued with internal energy towards the bottom.

“It’s a surprise attack! A large number of enemies have appeared from the northeast!”

And then I flew towards the bandits. Since it was a slope coming down from the mountain to the ground, it was a good terrain for an ambush.

‘First, I’ll check the level of the leader.’

Because if a Transformation Master was mixed in, I had to change the way I fought.

That’s why I first flew a dozen or so lightning strikes at the procession coming down the mountain slope while maintaining a high altitude.

“Aaaargh!”

The bandits who fell after being hit by the lightning that flashed from all directions as if they were in the middle of a lightning zone.

When a hundred of them were instantly rendered combat-ineffective, the bandits in the area also looked up this way with pale faces, frightened.

“Th-the Great Mage!!”

It seemed the rumor had completely spread now.

At that moment, a high-speed powerful qi flew towards me.

Kaang!

While dodging to the side on the shield, I flew the First Blade along the opponent’s trajectory and deflected the powerful qi.

Unlike the Transformation Realm’s powerful qi I had to block before, its power was not that great.

I shouted at the man who had a full beard, like a bandit.

“Are you the fortress master!!”

“That’s right!”

I shouted, guessing from the scale of the bandits who were mobilizing at the foot of the mountain.

“You have a lot of guts to come without the other fortress masters!”

“Of course! I’m enough for you! Come down now! Let’s fight fair and square!”

I didn’t even listen to the nonsense and flew a lightning strike that I had formed.

Pa-ji-ji-jik!

A flash and smoke rose from below.

“You… coward!”

The fortress master, who had dodged the lightning strike, looked up at me and cut up a powerful qi.

I dodged it and shot an electric magic. Mainly at his subordinates, not the fortress master.

I had heard all the information I could get from the conversation just now.

Fortunately, the fortress master was at the super-peak level, and it seemed he hadn’t come with the other fortress masters for support.

It seemed he had intended to push through with just numbers, but it was useless against me.

‘Because magic is the most specialized skill for massacre.’

And then I aimed the Daoist Scholar’s Fan at the bottom. A high-density electric shock that formed on each of the ribs.

“And you call yourself an orthodox faction member! Come down now and face me…!”

Against the backdrop of the fortress master’s vain shout, thunderbolts flashed wildly.

Kugugugung!

Soon, ice rushed in like crazy with a gust of wind, and in the middle of the hellish scene where lightning fell from all directions, the bandits were literally swept away.

‘Since it’s raining, I should try this too.’

I covered the bandits who were barely escaping up the mountain with water stream magic.

A stream of water shot at high speed from a height of tens of meters was a lethal weapon in itself. Dozens of bandits lost consciousness and were swept away by the cold and strong stream of water on an early winter day.

Water naturally flows from a high place to a low place.

The water stream, enhanced by the rain, grew and grew, turning into a torrent and covering the bandits who were below it.

And.

Beon-jjeok!

A thunderbolt struck right in the middle of it. An attack that was enough to make even the first-rate level bandits foam at the mouth and faint.

Among them was the fortress master, who had tried to escape to a tree but was caught up in the Flame Lightning First Blade Spear that was shot from a lowered altitude.

“You…! Apu!”

The fortress master, who was taking a stance with his superhuman ability even in the torrent. Even though I kept planting lightning, perhaps because his protective qi was thick, the damage was not great.

Of course, while he was enduring like that, his internal energy was being consumed at a tremendous rate, but it was insufficient as a decisive blow.

That’s why I blocked the opponent’s powerful qi that was flying again and gathered my mana.

‘If the environment is right, magic is invincible.’

And then, just as the rapids that were covering the fortress master and the bandits were being pushed down the mountain and starting to lose their speed, I used a maximum output freezing magic in the center of it.

Jjeo-jeo-jeo-jeok-!

Perhaps because it was early winter, the small tsunami began to freeze as it was.

But the offensive didn’t end there.

“Aaaargh!”

With a god-like mana control, I added sharpness to the ice and manipulated it so that ice awls would soar from the water disaster.

The peak-level bandits who had barely survived the electric shock were also pierced by the ice crystals and suffered, and then they were buried in the ice.

The foothills of the mountain, where everything was frozen white. The place where hundreds of bandits had been swarming was now an ice sheet with not a single scream.

Just then, a small crack appeared in the beautiful, yet gruesome, scene.

Jjeok-

The ice broke, and two men revealed themselves from within.

The only ones who had survived in the bone-chilling cold were the fortress master and a man who seemed to be the vice-fortress master.

The two men, who looked up this way with shocked expressions after losing hundreds of bandits.

The reason they, who had reached the realm of the super-peak, were trembling was surely not just because of the cold.

Soon, they began to flee in fear, with eyes as if looking at a monster.

‘It’s a shame to just let them go like this.’

The time when it was easiest to gain military merits in a battle was when you seized the momentum and chased the fleeing ones.

If I let them go like that, they might come back to attack later, so it was better to eliminate the future trouble.

Above all, I needed their heads to extort a reward from the Shaolin Temple.

I accelerated using psychokinesis while stepping on a shield that I had formed in an instant.

‘First, one of them.’

And then I flew a Flame Lightning First Blade Spear at the man who seemed to be the vice-fortress master.

Kaang!

As if he had been on guard even while fleeing, the fortress master flew a powerful qi to reduce the power of the Flame Lightning First Blade Spear, and the vice-fortress master turned around and barely managed to block the offensive, but failed and lost his sword.

It was thanks to flying it in a curve. In the end, the First Blade pierced his side.

Although it wasn’t deep, since the wound was burned by the lightning and flames contained in the First Blade, the vice-fortress master bled and then knelt on one knee.

‘If it had gone in a little deeper, it might have been dangerous in reverse.’

Still, it was a 2-on-1 situation. Fortunately, since I had attacked while maintaining a safe distance, I was able to avoid an unexpected counterattack.

The fortress master, who had been looking at the vice-fortress master for a moment, soon flew a powerful qi this way.

Kaang!

The fortress master who fled in the gap while I was blocking this. A tail-cutting worthy of the unorthodox faction.

“You fool.”

I controlled the Second Blade and blew off the neck of the vice-fortress master, who was glaring at me, trembling with a sense of betrayal.

And then I looked in the direction where the fortress master had disappeared far away and then landed on the ground.

‘I’m almost out of mana.’

After using wide-area magic like that, there was no way I would have any mana left.

In this state, it was insufficient to catch the desperately fleeing fortress master.

‘If that guy had rushed in to save the vice-fortress master, he might have been defeated instead.’

Then there was a high probability that he could have saved the vice-fortress master.

It was a truly ironic situation. To think that the action that seemed like the most rational choice was actually the most foolish action.

I took the vice-fortress master’s head and hid it on one side for evidence, and then I recovered my mana.

And then I floated up into the air again.

The fortress master’s realm was certainly higher than mine. He must have been at least at the proficient super-peak level.

Nevertheless, by pushing the matchup and the environment to the extreme, I was able to win against him and his group of hundreds of bandits.

And so, after destroying one unorthodox faction group by myself, I returned to the main force.

But what was there were unorthodox faction members who were holding hostages and confronting each other.

Looking around, Seo Chae-gang and Lee Do-yul had already fled, and only their subordinates remained.

Even though the momentum had already tilted, the reason they couldn’t finish it was because the guys were holding civilians hostage.

The Shaolin Temple was one of the pillars of the orthodox faction and a group that made it their doctrine to protect the weak, so they couldn’t rush in recklessly.

‘Next is a hostage situation?’

It was a very tricky situation.

For martial artists who had to get close and cut, or fly a dagger, it would be difficult to break through.

But what if I used magic?

‘The number is about 20. It’s tricky, but I can do it.’

I hid my presence and began to approach the unorthodox faction group from a distance.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep