15. Trench Veteran Never Die (3)
15. Trench Veteran Never Die (3) – Crocodile Hunting
“Phew.”
The water doesn’t match. Dol grumbled to himself, holding the black horned dagger in his hands and catching his breath.
I didn’t think it would be an easy task from the beginning. It was a task requested from none other than the Jegal family.
There is a reason why S-class martial arts groups, which even the general public knows, hire outside personnel like themselves instead of using their own forces.
If it’s something illegal that would be embarrassing if it were known to the outside world, or if you need a meat shield.
And this time, it was probably a case of both.
To put it nicely, he is an outsider, and his martial arts skills are only slightly higher than those of an ordinary ronin. If the conditions are good, why would he entrust it to himself?
Of course, it was a story that had nothing to do with the stone.
Even if it is against the principles of the martial world, she does not have any aversion to it since she prioritizes money, and even if she goes to the meat shield, it is not like she cannot take care of herself. Of course, there is no way she would have accepted the request to deal with an absolute master without having that much faith in him.
In the martial arts world of Dosan Swordsmanship, where there are countless masters like grains of sand, being recognized as an expert in preparing for a showdown with a great master means that you have an outstanding tactical sense when dealing with masters.
It wasn’t that difficult of a task to drag out Mokjin’s combat data while stalling for as long as possible. That was the extent of her role.
‘I thought so······.’
I could tell when I confronted it directly.
That Dongwoo Gong Lee Mok-jin was ridiculously underrated.
Although Dol has faced many masters as an outsider, he has never felt this helpless before.
It was only by sheer luck that she had managed to survive until now, even when facing Mokjin’s sword that was scattering chilling blades without hesitation. If Mokjin had not been an ancient being with almost no understanding of modern martial arts, his head would have exploded at the first move.
Ha. The stone let out a small sigh. It was because it sensed its own end.
‘Today is my last day. I knew this day would come someday······.’
It was foolish to expect to survive when faced with an enemy who spread such refined murderous intent.
‘Still, I have to complete the mission.’
It is the law that soldiers must do their best for their mission even if they die. Since she received the advance payment, it was her duty to complete the mission without disgracing the name of a trench veteran.
Of course, there was also the calculation that Zhuge Liang would not pay the price of his life lightly.
Dol, who was holding the black horned dagger, was once again strengthening his fighting spirit. Mokjin nodded as he looked at her.
“The moment it emerges, this fog turns into a sticky trap. Wherever this fog touches, prayers do not gather well. It is a strange magic.”
“······hmm.”
This is really too much. The stone let out a low moan. No matter what, I didn’t think that the role of the Hwanggae Dokmu would be figured out with just a couple of swings of the sword.
However, the stone did not despair. Since the person standing before him was an ancient being, he predicted that he would not be able to know the detailed strategy of the Hwanggae Dokmu.
Her official name, Hwanggaedokmu, is inspired by the ancient chemical weapon mustard gas, but it is not actually a simple poison gas.
Since most poisons can be neutralized by nanobots in their bodies, poison gas is not a significant blow to the absolute masters, so Hwanggae Dokmu boldly gave up its direct attack ability and focused on other functions.
That function is the extreme superiority over energy.
The true identity of the Hwanggae Dokmu was a colony of nanobots that had undergone anti-internal energy coating treatment.
Unlike the nanobot poison technique that hacks the opponent’s QIOS and disrupts the circulation of internal energy, the essence of the Hwanggae poison technique is the martial art that directly disrupts the atmosphere’s energy.
If I had to use a metaphor, it would be a kind of debuff martial art that creates an unfavorable environment for the opponent. In some ways, it could be said to be a descendant of San-gong-dok (散功毒).
In a space controlled by a fully developed Hwanggae Dokmu, it becomes extremely difficult to form sword energy or string energy by releasing energy outside the body.
The greatest weapon of all masters is the ability to freely wield their powerful attack power. The Hwanggae Dokmu is a martial art that is extremely effective in dealing with such masters.
Not only that, the physical resistance created by concentrating nanobots whenever necessary can even greatly reduce the power of the opponent’s martial arts skills.
If the Hwanggae Dokmu cannot be destroyed, the opponent’s power will be greatly reduced. If this is the case, it will be possible to somehow buy enough time to obtain the data.
Of course, the opponent is a superhuman who lives in a realm beyond her perception, so she can destroy him in unimaginable ways. Dol didn’t let his guard down and kept his nerves sharp.
“under!”
Mokjin let out a short blast of energy along with a short blast of energy. It was to clear away the thick fog.
A fierce and vicious wave of energy that made the skin tingle. The stone that felt the wave made a disgusted expression. Even other masters could emit energy, but the momentum contained in the wave was beyond common sense.
But apart from that, Mokjin’s qi wave had no effect on the Hwanggaedokmu, which had an anti-internal energy coating.
‘As expected, you don’t know the destruction method.’
The most effective way to deal with nanobots like the Hwanggaedokmu is with an electric martial art that deals with electromagnetic waves, or a martial art that can produce an EMP effect, similar to that of the Hwanggaedokmu. Nanobots are extremely sensitive to electromagnetic pulses.
But in other words, it also meant that there was no way to directly hit the nanobot colony without that method.
Perhaps because things weren’t going as planned, Mokjin wiggled his eyes and swung his sword filled with his internal energy once.
Mustard-colored fog rippled along the sword’s trajectory. However, as if a sword were cutting through water, the nanobot swarm returned to its original state.
“Tsk.”
Mokjin clicked his tongue lightly as he watched the rocks approaching him, holding a trench knife in both hands. It wasn’t just the rocks, Jegal Hol, who had just bounced them off, was now pulling himself together.
“I tried to give you a comfortable ending, but I ended up making you do something inconvenient.”
If you want to die so badly, I have no choice but to grant your wish. Mokjin put his sword away and cracked his knuckles. He still had no way of knowing what the principle of this strange magic was, but if it was difficult to move his body because of the fog, there was no need to insist on using the sword.
The stone swallowed dry saliva as he looked at Mokjin.
‘If we want to get the maximum data… tactical warfare would be meaningless.’
If the opponent is of average level, it would be right to use tactics that make the most of the Hwanggae Dokmu, but against a master like me, it would be better not to do it at all.
Swish. The fog between the tree and the stone parted, creating a narrow path. The tree and the stone faced each other, with the straight path between them unavoidable to the left and right.
“······.”
Mokjin put his hand into the thick fog surrounding him. He felt a suffocating sense of resistance. It was as if he had entered the depths of the ocean.
It would probably not be impossible for a skilled player like Mokjin to get through this. However, moving around in the fog would be quite inconvenient.
“Huh. How arrogant.”
Mokjin let out a hollow laugh. It seemed as if he was trying to confront her head-on.
There was no reason to avoid it. Mokjin took a step forward, willing to go along with the old soldier’s provocation.
The distance between the two people walking towards each other gradually decreased amidst the creaking sounds. The old soldier’s tense eyes and Mokjin’s calm eyes collided in the air.
Soon, when the distance between the two people became close enough to reach each other by stretching out their arms-.
“Ugh!”
The fist of the stone with the knuckles flew towards Mokjin at the speed of light. It was an unconventional form that was far from the standard form, as if it was trying to see the opponent’s blood by any means possible. It felt like a martial art of the Sa-pa rather than the Jeong-pa.
However, how could such a small skill work on Mokjin, who had experienced countless unmanned forces? It might be somewhat refreshing, but martial arts that were more varied and powerful were abundant in the world of martial arts.
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“It’s crude.”
With one wave of Mokjin’s hand, as if shooing away a fly, Dol’s left hand flies away, sending a spurt of blood flying.
“Ugh!”
A breath of pain escaped between the dry lips of the stone.
It was to somehow maintain the shape of an arm that would have been reduced to a piece of meat in an instant. The physical resistance of the Hwanggae Dokmu was limited to the amount of damage that could be reduced against a master with a standard of Mokjin.
But this one attack was not simply meaningless.
‘now!’
“Whoa!”
With the stone communication, Jegal Hol, who had been waiting for this gap, jumped out from the fog.
He was not an opponent who could hide his strength. Without a moment of hesitation, Zhuge Liang unleashed the most powerful martial art he could, the Wild Hawk Slash and Kill Three Claws.
A pair of icy claws made of reinforced alloy dot the upper and lower parts, and in the center, a crocodile mouth with shark-like teeth rushes towards Mokjin’s neck.
For Jegal Hol, who has mastered the New Physical Thought External Skill (新肉體思想外功), which allows him to replace his body with powerful cybernetic body parts to obtain a more powerful body, the Huang Gaedokmu, which nullifies the internal energy outside his body, is the best match. By simply giving a passcode to his skin gloves, he can perform martial arts with maximum power without any restrictions even in the nanobot fog.
However, despite this, it was impossible to bridge the deep gap between Zhuge Hu and Mok Jin.
It is said that it is difficult to concentrate energy due to the Hwanggae Dokmu, but is it necessary to use the sword energy against the lower body? Mokjin’s two hands extended in reverse towards Jegal Hol.
The match was decided in a split second. As soon as the hand made of leather and the hand made of alloy met, there was a cracking sound of metal and both of Jegal Hol’s arms and jaw were shattered.
The sturdiness of the body parts is incomparable to that of human skin, but the essence of martial arts is to fill that gap.
By the time Zhuge Hu realized that his martial arts had been defeated, Mo Jin’s palm had already touched his defenseless abdomen.
Mokjin looked up at Jegalhol and spoke in an emotionless voice.
“It may look tough on the outside, but is it just as tough on the inside?”
“······!”
An explosion that shouldn’t come from a human body is heard, and the hide of a giant crocodile’s back literally bursts apart.
An internal force technique with incredible power that crushes the spine and tears internal organs to shreds.
It was a desperate situation.
Author’s Note
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Information) In the modern world of martial arts, there are quite a few masters with considerable martial arts skills, like the veterans of the trenches, who are motivated by money. This is partly because of the influence of capitalist society, and partly because there are many things that require money, from small things like internal energy drives to large things like mobile spaceships.
Information) Trench soldier Dol is a veteran ronin who has already fought against many absolute masters who have reached the realm of Hwagyeong.
Information) Toxic gas is not even a problem for experts. However, if you try to hack using nanobots, the reality is that you can’t even break through the firewall of a large sect with your mediocre skills that haven’t even trained in professional hacking techniques.
Information) In a fully developed Hwanggaedokmu, it is usually difficult to deploy not only the sword, sword, and sword ring, but even the sword ring or the Igi-eo sword. However, in cases outside the standard, such as Mokjin, it is possible to push through with a strong control over the anti-internal energy element and deploy it roughly.
Information) The biggest weakness of the Hwanggae Dokmu is that it is helpless against electric martial arts or martial arts with EMP properties. In severe cases, it can be neutralized by even an electric shock similar to that of a self-defense electric shock device.
(Information) Trench Knife Martial Arts, the unorthodox martial arts known as the Trench Killing Black Horn Fist (塹殺黑角拳), is a martial art that is most efficient in narrow passages such as trenches. The characteristics of the Trench Killing Black Horn Fist are the unconventional and deadly linked attacks that draw out the bestiality within one’s instincts, and it mainly uses a martial art using knuckles to corner the opponent and then a tactic of ignoring the opponent’s defense and stabbing the vital point with a sharp knife like an awl.
Information) The Wild Snake Slashing Three Claws (野鰐斬戮三爪), a martial art of the evil army tyrant Zhuge Liang, involves blocking the opponent’s movements with both hands and then biting the opponent with crocodile-like jaws. It is extremely cruel and not good for the emotions of young children.
Information) The New Physical Thought and External Work (新肉體思想外功), which strengthens the body through active body modification, and the Strengthening Physical Thought and External Work (强化肉體思想外功), which strengthens the body through continuous drug administration, are the two mainstream external work ideologies that dominate modern external work martial arts. Another ideology is the Extreme Current External Work (極限流外功), which trains the body according to a thorough curriculum based on scientific evidence.
