The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns
Chapter 256

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Chapter 256

“What… what is this…?”

The elder muttered with a blank expression.

How could the target of a suppression formation be using aura?

The suppression formation, which was designed to prevent the use of aura or mana, was clearly active.

Yet, the man was using aura as if nothing was wrong.

“Curious?”

As if he had sensed the elder’s thoughts, Leon asked him a question.

“You used a suppression formation, and I’m fine—wondering why?”

“……”

“The formation itself is operating normally. But it doesn’t completely shut down the flow of aura, right?”

If it did, then no one inside the area, not just Leon, should be able to use aura at all.

“So, in the end, it means there’s some kind of interference affecting me when I try to use aura…”

Blue aura energy shimmered at the tip of Leon’s sword.

“In cases like this, the disruption usually affects the circulation speed of aura.”

The elder’s eyes trembled violently.

He had seen this before—that aura, that quality.

Only a very select few who had reached the level of Master, and then broken past the wall beyond that, could wield it.

The Realm of the Mind.

Commonly referred to as a Mind Master on the Central Continent.

Ah… so that’s it.

The suppression formation may have had some effect on him, but it was never going to be enough to stop him completely.

Having reached that realization, the elder shouted reflexively.

“Disengage the formation!!! Everyone! Even if we die here, we must kill this man!!”

As long as this man lives, Coral will never be able to defeat Bata.

Even if it means sacrificing many lives here and now—he must die.

The elder rose to his feet, aura flaring from his sword as he once again charged at Leon.

Even when facing a stronger opponent, he couldn’t accept lowering his head or being paralyzed by fear—not as a martial artist.

“I am Elder Hocheon of the Namgung Clan!! State your name, warrior!!”

Though he staggered as he stood, gripping his sword tightly, Leon calmly spun his demon sword into position.

“Leon Cascadia. Eldest son of the Cascadia family.”

“To one who has reached the Realm of Ideation—I offer my respect!”

Even if they were destined enemies, warriors acknowledged strength.

Hocheon, unlike others, was a man who had carved his way to Master level through his own efforts.

And so, he didn’t hide his respect for Leon, who had reached a far loftier peak.

Without hesitation, the elder launched himself forward.

Even knowing he could not win, he attacked.

Martial artists are foolish creatures.

Even when they know they’re doomed, they throw themselves into battle like moths to a flame, just for a glimpse of a higher realm.

Red lines like threads scattered in all directions.

They were sword trails—trails from Leon’s strikes, so fast the elder couldn’t even see them clearly.

Yet he fell, collapsing under their weight.

Even in the moment his breath ceased, his eyes tried to capture those traces fully.

Most of the main forces had been drawn to Leon, while the rest were locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse with Grevy.

Meanwhile, Luna had moved away from Leon and silently stared at the figure before her.

“A pitiful creature.”

Alive, but dead.

A singular being, yet not just one.

A terrifying weapon made by fusing two parasites into one host.

Luna had seen something like it before.

Ma Cheon—the younger sibling of Hwa Ryeong and Cheon Ryeong.

If Ma Cheon was a prototype, then this was something even worse.

But what was most revolting was—

“They’ve already reached the Eastern Continent.”

She could distinctly feel the alien presence that was gluing together two incompatible parasites.

The parasitic entity from the heretic cult, fused with one created by one of the Four Great Houses of the West.

This power—it was undoubtedly the work of Nyala, servant of the Outer God.

Without hesitation, Luna pulled out a small vial from her robes.

It was the same medicine the cultists had given Leon to gain his trust.

It was likely a drug to suppress or kill the parasitic entity passed on by the cult.

Luna wasn’t worried about the creature being a threat to Leon.

Still, she had no intention of letting such a monster roam free.

Perhaps, for once, the cultists weren’t lying.

As she poured the liquid onto the massive creature bound by heavy chains, one of the parasitic entities composing its flesh began to twist violently.

It still couldn’t move properly, but its body was quickly deteriorating.

Luna didn’t want this thing to fight Leon if it could be helped.

If she were honest, she hated the idea of anything related to the Outer God approaching Leon.

“Once was enough… for him to be ruined by that god’s hand. More than that—it’s too cruel.”

She looked up at the sky.

“Lord. The horrors your indifference, your ignorance, and your abandonment have wrought—your daughter shall stop them.”

Her voice was more solemn, more sorrowful than usual.

“That’s what Eve said.”

She raised her fist.

At the same time, holy power and demonic energy gathered together.

BOOM!!! Shrrrrrrrk!!!

With a thunderous sound, the monster opened its eyes wide.

It tore off its chains and reached a giant hand toward Luna.

But her fist—before it even touched the monster’s hand—warped space itself.

In an instant, the gigantic form was crushed into nothing.

Her unsealed power was no longer what it had been at the beginning.

* * *

“Sp—Spread out into Wheel Formation!! Wear him down!! Do not face him head-on—”

SLAASH!!!

With a chilling, wet slash, seven Master-class swordsmen who had tried to attack and retreat collapsed, bleeding.

The Wheel Formation is a tactic used to wear down a powerful enemy by attacking in turns and retreating.

It’s actually a fairly effective strategy.

There have even been cases where weak fighters defeated a powerful foe using this very method.

But—this strategy only works when there’s some manageable difference in skill.

There was no way that these half-baked, drug-boosted pseudo-Masters could stop someone who had truly reached the level of a Mind Master.

“Guaaaaah!!”

“Haaaargh!!”

The basic premise of the tactic is to attack and retreat in turn—but while attacking was doable, retreating was impossible.

They thought they had landed their blows—so deep had they gone in—but their attacks never even touched me.

And they fell, struck down by my blade, the unnamed sword, with its signature: One-Horned Flash Cut.

Some even attempted suicidal, all-out strikes.

But even those were blocked instantly.

Their blazing aura-laced sword pierced the corpse of one of their former comrades.

"Stabbing an Aura Blade into a former ally’s body? What a cruel bastard."

“A cr… crazy bastard?!”

Their eyes even showed resentment, as if saying, You used a corpse as a shield!

Any allies who could’ve helped were already subdued by Grivy, who was scouring the entire forest.

Naturally, things had gone very, very wrong.

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Some had realized this and tried to flee.

The problem was, the suppression formation they had cast was overlaid with a barrier formation that cut off the outside world.

Just as I couldn’t get out, neither could they escape so easily.

Then again, they didn’t really need to worry—if they killed me, they’d be able to leave in no time.

But now, they were in a situation where all escape routes had been cut off.

And this was the result.

“Damn it!!!”

Some of them managed to break through and even land successful hits.

However, just like with Elder Hocheon, many of their attacks didn’t leave so much as a scratch—like stabbing into dirt.

Grivy, spirit of the earth.

After forming a soul contract with Grivy, my body began shedding its human form, becoming almost like a spirit itself.

That said, I still needed time to adapt to using this new power—practice was essential.

So I was deliberately letting some of their attacks hit me.

But since my memory and senses remained intact, the body instinctively responded, and power manifested naturally.

“M-m-monster…”

A terrified man dropped to the ground, trembling.

There was no one alive around him anymore.

“D-dammit! Why the hell is that monster still not moving?!”

“You fused it with a parasite from the cult, right?”

“Wh—?! How do you know that?!”

“The cult guy told me everything. Even gave me the drug to destroy it.”

“Those damn traitors!!”

He exploded with rage.

Honestly, if the cult hadn’t come to me for help, I wouldn’t have been able to neutralize that monster so easily.

But since the cult now viewed the Outer God's puppets as the greatest threat, a temporary truce to deal with them wasn’t such a bad deal—whether I liked it or not.

It’s not like they wanted the entire world to be destroyed either.

Of course, after this was over, we’d go right back to trying to kill each other.

“More importantly, there’s something I want to ask.”

I lowered my stance to meet the eyes of the man cowering on the ground.

“Who taught you the technique to fuse two parasites?”

The Outer God plants seeds in humans, erasing their identities and turning them into puppets.

It’s clear that his subordinates are spread all over the continent.

“T-that’s…”

“You know you’re the only one left who can answer. If you don’t talk, I’ll just slice your head off and ask someone else… though I really can’t afford to do that right now.”

I stared directly into his shaking eyes and warned him.

“So it’s in your best interest to speak. Otherwise, I’ll have to experiment to see just how far I can go in extracting information.”

Bone-crushing. Soul decay.

Take your pick.

* * *

I approached Luna, who stood silently before the enormous charred corpse.

As I came near, she turned to me.

“How’d it go?”

“The drug worked. If it had been in normal condition, we’d probably have needed a whole squad of swordmasters to take it down.”

That kind of monster falling this easily meant the cult’s drug was incredibly effective.

They must’ve known that too—hence giving it to me.

I didn’t like it, but a deal’s a deal.

“Grivy.”

At my call, Grivy, who had been playing around the forest, appeared instantly before me.

The entire domain was already Grivy’s territory.

Distance meant nothing to her here.

“You called, Father?”

“Did you have fun?”

“Yup.”

“Good. How about we head back now? I’ve got a tasty treat for you.”

For the first time, curiosity sparked on Grivy’s usually blank face.

“Okay!”

As I patted her head, she giggled with delight.

Then Luna gently brushed the dirt off Grivy’s clothes.

“Looks like I’ll need to trim her hair. Since she’s a spirit, will it grow back?”

“If she likes how it looks, she’ll keep it.”

At my explanation, Grivy turned to Luna.

“Hair? Trim? What’s that?”

“I’ll make it pretty.”

“Like you, sis?”

Luna smiled faintly and nodded.

“I want that. Grivy wants hair trim.”

Suddenly, I recalled that moment in the Labyrinthos when I first made the contract with Grivy.

Back then too, I’d clumsily tried to fix her long hair with a sharp stone.

She got so mad when I botched it that she didn’t speak to me for days.

Later though, I got the hang of it, and quickly learned to style her hair just the way she liked.

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