Chapter 159 (1/2)

Get In Line (3)

Its features were blurred, making it feel strange to look at it.

Visual information was delivered to the brain, but it didn’t become organized in my head, and I couldn’t grasp its gist.

It was a different kind than mental domination or cognitive distortion. If that were the case, [The Successor’s Eyes] would’ve reacted.

The man slowly stood up.

I couldn’t describe what its face looked like, but one thing was clear.

It was tired.

And at the same time, it was unhinged.

Shhh!

The man carried the broken sword.

Wiggle!

Its eyes, nose, and mouth took shape as if the veil that blurrily screened him was lifted.

I instinctively felt displeased and threatened when I saw it.

‘Damn it!’

I couldn’t help but curse.

‘Isn’t that my face?!’

There was another me in front of me.

It was a clone that bore terrible boredom and madness.

Swish!

The surprise attack came without warning.

‘No way, is this the ordeal?!’

I didn’t even have time to organize my thoughts.

The broken sword flooded in, drawing sharp trajectories.

I instinctively lifted the devil’s sword and blocked it.

Even before the halved blade reached me-

Clang!

A sharp clashing sound rang unexpectedly.

‘?!’

I couldn’t predict the weapon it was using, even with my senses.

Intangible and colorless energy enveloped its sword.

The blade, of which only half remained intact, seemed to stay afloat in the air. In reality, an invisible force from its blade collided with my sword.

Furthermore, I couldn’t see any Mana in its body.

There was no torrent spewing from the Core or explosive energy flowing through the blade.

I felt the illusion that I became blind for a moment.

Without saying a word, it charged again.

The man was speechless from the moment it first appeared. With a face that mimicked me, it only attacked to kill me while having all kinds of wicked emotions in its eyes.

There were no yelling or battle cries. Its violence was calm.

The sword path tore up and conquered the space like a fierce gale.

Cling! Cling-clang!

While ear-tearing sounds rang in quick succession, I found the problem.

So far, I predicted the next attack by looking into the Mana flow no matter who the enemies I faced were.

If the opponent was an Awakened or a monster, regardless of how they attacked, it was easy for me to expect and retaliate since there were indications.

But then-

‘I can’t predict its next attack with my unique skill!’

It didn’t work at that moment.

I had to respond based on the sword’s trajectory drawn by the opponent, body movement, and strategic prediction.

Since I got used to the privileges that [The Successor’s Eyes] offered, I was in a situation dire enough to make cold sweat flow down.

And while being attacked, I noticed one more thing.

‘It isn’t only my face that it mimicked!’

Of course, it was me who knew my physical abilities the best.

Even though I couldn’t sense any Mana at all, that being was reproducing the state I was in whenever I was immersed in close-ranged combat in my best condition.

It copied the maximum power and speed that I could exert, my agility and sophistication, and even my combat senses!

It’s like fighting a clone that copied my entirety.

‘The specifications are the same as mine, but the way it attacks is completely different. It’s using sword techniques I’m not aware of!’

It tenaciously aimed and poked at the vital points all over my body, delivering a rain-like attack.

Even though equal forces were colliding, I focused on defense than counterattacks.

Looking for the window to turn the situation around, I held on patiently.

‘Now!’

The moment the distance between the two of us closed up…

I couldn’t see the intangible sword that stretched above the broken blade, but I chased the trace of its air bursts caused by its quick movements.

Entering through the gap, I deeply inserted the sword into the man’s neck.

No, I was about to.

Instantly, the man’s sword drew a soft line.

Clang!

“?!”

A single swing contained a mountain-like weight.

I swallowed a scream and was thrown off!

“K-ugh!”

Perhaps as intended, the Sage of the Red Wilderness who had frozen in time stood in my flight’s direction.

I collided with his body in that manner.

Bang!

There was a sharp and firm sound that was hard to imagine that I clashed with a small body composed of only bones.

“Cough!”

I rolled on the floor. It was a big shock that would’ve bent hardened steel, but the Sage remained frozen.

The moment I managed to regain my sight-

Shhh-swish!

I avoided it by forcing my body to jump away, causing the transparent sword wave to hit the Sage.

There was still no scratch on his body after all the assaults.

The time zone between the two of us on the move and everything around us that had already stopped seemed to be completely isolated.

It had reached a point that no big impact could affect each other.

I clenched my teeth.

‘I’m sure the physical abilities are similar, but why do I keep getting pushed back?’

The attack that prevented me from focusing on such questions continued.

The man’s sword became sharper as time went by.

I felt like my head was burning white.

I swung the sword gradually closer to a trance.

I felt that the sense of time was strangely being twisted.

“…!”

in the man’s sword techniques and were fired at me.

The attacks were horrible and brutal, yet they were also sophisticated and diverse.

As I countered them one by one, my sword drew a sword path that wasn’t in my memories.

It’s a sword technique that I hadn’t seen, not only as Choi Seung-Hyun but also when I was reborn as Seo Jin-Wook.

I simply knew by intuition.

That’s the property of my reincarnations that I couldn’t remember at that moment.

It was the sealed memory built up in the subconscious mind through the continued cycle and repetition.

The slumbering mystery deep within my soul was waking up little by little.

It was the man’s sword that produced the stimulation.

The sense of time completely disappeared from the moment I knew that. The persistent murderous attacks turned more intense, but my defense evolved as well.

As if the remains submerged underwater rose one after the other to the surface, they were drawn in and were embodied as Seo Jin-Wook’s.

In that manner, it felt like hours… days… perhaps even years passed.

At the end of the inestimable stream of time-

I found an irreversible gap between the man’s sword path.

Swish!

Like a flash, my sword cut off space and brushed past the being’s shoulder.

Ch-wak!

The brief moment felt as long as eternity.

Blood splattered in the air.

Managing to twist its body, I failed to penetrate through its heart.

However, when the being saw its wound…

“…!”

It suddenly started laughing.

A manic shudder of laughter echoed in the room.

Then, the features created on its face, which resembled me, collapsed instantaneously.

The eyes, nose, and mouth flowed down the skin in a sliding and falling motion.

It stopped imitating me.

At that moment-

Paht!