The Terminally Ill Young Master is the Mad Dog of the Underworld-Chapter 340

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]

Chapter 340: The Scam Known as Demonic Arts

Amilcar grew inwardly tense as he watched the situation turn disadvantageous in an instant.

Above all.

‘To fly through the sky using Sword Control.’

The skill Leszek was displaying was truly absurd.

He had never known such a thing was possible.

Moreover, that man was stronger than him.

He was probably stronger than Gulbark, too.

‘……Dammit.’

He had planned to strike quickly and retreat, but the situation had somehow taken a strange turn.

His miscalculation that they wouldn't be able to participate in an aerial battle was a critical mistake.

‘There is no shame in retreat.’

Retreat was a common military tactic.

In the first place, looking at their forces alone, the gap was as wide as a scout team fighting the main army.

‘But is this Allenvert’s true strength?’

He had to find out if Allenvert was hiding his power, and if so, what his true level of skill was.

Besides.

‘I have an ace up my sleeve, too.’

Amilcar gave a signal.

At that, something enormous flew in from even higher, blocking out the sun.

“What is that?”

“Haha, it is a ‘super-sized species,’ a rare birth even among Wyverns.”

Riding on its broad back was a corps of mages and Death Knights.

“Absurd. Did you think you could stop this Geninghen Grunewald with such shoddy troops?”

Geninghen formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation.

Layer upon layer of magic activated, beginning to strike the super-sized Wyvern and its riders.

“Kuk!”

The mages’ blood and mana were twisted, unable to withstand the few barrages.

A flood of Death Knights were struck by the magic, bursting into flames, being electrocuted, or freezing solid before plummeting from the sky.

[Geninghen. I understand your feelings, but calm down a little.]

It reached a point where Leszek had to send a telepathic message to stop him.

[That man must be defeated by Allenvert's hand.]

[…….]

[Are you going to ruin this with your emotions?]

At those words, Geninghen's Heart Demon began to settle down.

The grief over his friend’s death.

He had passed Heinz the elixir, joking that it was the 'final duty of the elderly,' and he deeply understood the feeling behind that act.

But.

If the Ebony Oath was stolen in the end, wasn't Heinz's death a meaningless one?

The very man responsible for that useless death was standing right there, and his heart was thrown into turmoil by the futility and rage.

[Dammit.]

In the end, Geninghen compromised.

[We will take care of just his subordinates.]

[I will help with that.]

Now that they were the targets of the two elders, even Amilcar’s proud commando unit stood no chance.

***

“Dammit. Buy time, no matter what!”

“Leave it to us!”

Amilcar, after ordering his adjutant to run interference, glared at me. Then-

‘Oh?’

It seemed he had decided his massive Wyvern was no longer viable.

He transferred to a subordinate’s Griffin and flew at me.

‘It’s certainly fast and nimble.’

And so, our second round began.

“Die!”

This time, Amilcar unleashed an ultimate technique from the start.

‘So that’s how you want to play?’

It was obvious, but in aerial combat, one couldn't use the rebounding force of the ground and legs.

It seemed he had calculated that, in addition to a maneuver battle, he would inflict damage by pouring out high-firepower ultimate techniques from a distance.

‘I see your intent.’

High-powered ultimate techniques? Wasn't that the field I was most confident in?

‘Celestial Chain Breaker, Lonely Wave Yearning Moon, Profound Radiant Heaven Rend.’

I pressured Amilcar, unleashing a barrage of my own ultimate techniques.

“……You’re stronger now than before. Do you still rely heavily on ultimate techniques?”

His gauging eyes, his probing words, everything was moving according to my intentions.

I did not correct his misunderstanding.

Sometimes, in a fight, it is necessary to be underestimated.

“Who knows? It’s hard to use precursor-reading techniques in a fight like this, so I’m just using the most effective tactics.”

At that, Amilcar smirked.

“Impressive, but you’re no match for him. You’d be better off begging for your life now.”

I retorted, pretending to be angered by his words.

“Madness! In that case, can you take this?”

Pretending to pull out my hidden trump card, I drew upon the power of the Limitless Heaven-Defying Art.

“Black Flame Dragon, burn them all.”

Fwoooosh!

The Black Flame Dragon, brimming with overwhelming heat, swallowed the Wyverns and swatted the Griffins as if they were flies.

Chiiiiik!

Weapons that were swallowed became puddles of molten red slag, and bodies were instantly turned into black charcoal.

“So that is the martial art you were trusting in!”

Amilcar laughed uproariously and raised his sword.

“It is strong, but it cannot surpass him.”

Then, he too drew upon the power he trusted.

“Ghostly Shadow Cut!”

A sword force imbued with a horrific ghostly manaflew toward the Black Flame Dragon.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

What happened next was a truly surreal sight.

The power of the black flame trying to incinerate its foe, and the power of the demonic energy trying to cut and crush it, became entangled, and the resulting shockwave…….

“The-The ships are capsizing!”

“Hold on tight! We’re done for if we’re thrown off!”

“He’s flying! Don’t get caught up in it!”

A massive tidal wave rose on the sea, and a great storm erupted in the sky.

Wyverns and Griffins were swept away, and the ships pitched so violently they threatened to capsize.

“……Insane.”

That single, muttered word was surely the shared sentiment of all who watched this fight.

“Hmm, it seems fighting with ultimate techniques is meaningless.”

I said, looking at Amilcar.

“You’re truly incredible.”

“I didn’t expect to make you use that technique.”

Amilcar said.

“But, I acknowledge it. It truly is an unbelievable talent. To have built skills equal to mine at your age… it’s unprecedented in all of history.”

“So?”

“You have already failed. Even if I die, at a level where you cannot even defeat me, you have no hope of defeating him.”

I replied simply.

“Are you perhaps scared?”

“What did you say?”

“Why is the great Sir Amilcar so long-winded? I haven't even used my full power yet.”

“Nonsense.”

“You’ll find out soon enough if it’s nonsense, so don’t worry.”

I spread my perception wide and immediately searched for a suitable battlefield.

“It’s hard to settle this in the air. Let’s go to that deserted island to fight.”

Before Amilcar could even retort, I used a combined power of the Limitless Heaven-Defying Art and the Silent Night Soul-Soaking Divine Art to ‘absorb’ him, and then cleverly twisted that power to ‘throw’ him toward the deserted island.

Shiiiiiing!

As I followed Amilcar, who had been flung away in an instant, I called out.

“Father, please take care of the remnants!”

I was moving so fast that the reply came via telepathy.

[Leave it to me.]

* *

“What was that, you punk.”

“You ask the obvious. I just picked a battlefield where we can both unleash everything, didn’t I?”

Amilcar personally slit the throat of his dying Griffin, whose wing was broken, and was doused in its blood.

“To cut off your own escape route, how absurd. Even if you beat me, you have no way to escape, do you?”

It seemed Amilcar had no intention of returning alive.

“Pathetic. To have all that power, that high of a position, and yet you still haven't escaped the fate of being the Dark King’s chess piece.”

It was the same for Ivan.

“And what about you? Why all the trash talk now?”

Now that things had come to this, Amilcar revealed his killing intent, as if he no longer cared about the consequences.

“Come at me. I must take your head back to him.”

“Oh? So if you take my head, you have a way to escape?”

Amilcar just grinned and did not answer.

“Well, you have to have at least one thing to rely on.”

Did Amilcar realize this was my mercy?

“Let’s begin again.”

I added the power of the Limitless Heaven-Defying Art to my sword style, which combined fast, heavy, and strong techniques.

Cha-cha-cha-chaeng!

Our exchange was almost equal.

This was because I was limiting my caliber to a level just slightly higher than Amilcar’s.

And yet, as the exchange deepened.

“Kuk!”

Amilcar’s sword was not strong enough, and his techniques were not skilled enough.

I fought as if I were looking at all existing sword forms and all strategies laid out at once, picking and choosing as I pleased.

Paaak!

I mixed in palm arts, kicking arts, and fist arts to disrupt him.

“Keoheok!”

After slowly reducing his available options and pressuring him, I landed an unavoidable attack.

And then.

“Ugh.”

I accurately read his intentions and landed a counter, plunging a sharp fist into Amilcar’s steel-like abdomen.

“Wuek!”

Amilcar spat out the meat he had devoured for breakfast and stumbled back, his face a mask of disbelief.

“I can’t understand. Why are you better at fighting than I am?”

“I guess I’m just stronger.”

“Shut up. Even if your father came, he could not overwhelm me like this. Are you hiding your strength?”

Instead of answering, I sent a Sword Orb flying, threw the sword in my hand to transition to Sword Control, and then.

Swiish!

I drew a Mind Sword from my empty sheath, overwhelming Amilcar’s hands and feet.

“Kugh!”

Amilcar’s fighting spirit seemed completely broken, and he began to focus solely on surviving.

‘Pathetic, Amilcar. You, who were once as strong as a celestial being. What has become of you?’

Both Ivan and I had once held this man in awe.

But the Amilcar of today had almost none of the dignity of an old master that I had seen in Leszek, or even in Ivan.

“The wall you could not overcome, and the long-standing Heart Demon you gained during your long wandering. Has it eroded even your dignity?”

“What?”

Every martial artist has a set limit.

Even those who boast of ‘surpassing their own limits’ have a true limit they can never overcome.

“Amilcar. You sold your conscience for demonic arts, and you served the Dark King, succumbing to fear. Are you proud of the power you obtained that way?”

“……Are you trying to lecture me?”

“No, I’m laughing at your foolishness. You stupid bastard.”

Fwoosh!

The heat of the black flame imbued in my sword wrapped around Amilcar’s arm.

“Kuuuuugh.”

Amilcar, his eyes bloodshot, endured the searing pain before forcing the heat out and spitting out a broken tooth.

“Ptui!”

“Pitiful. Was that hot? How hard did you have to bite down to break a tooth like that?”

“Shut up and answer my question. What do you mean, I’m foolish?”

The wounded beast growled.

“Ah, that? Of course, I’ll tell you.”

The tide of battle had turned long ago.

But I didn't end the fight, intending to use my words to instill a Heart Demon in Amilcar.

“Demonic arts are, in fact, a grand scam.”

“What?”

“In the end, you only become as strong as your vessel allows, it just reduces the time and effort it takes to get there. In exchange, you wear a slave’s collar and experience a stagnation phenomenon in the later stages.”

In other words.

“If you were an underworld bladesman or a mercenary who couldn't obtain proper martial arts, it might be a different story.”

If you were in a position like mine, that is.

“But you were a knight loyal to the Flanders royal family from the start. ‘Even if you hadn't chosen that path,’ you would have eventually reached a similar state.”

After all, Amilcar’s vessel was undeniably that of a warrior who appears only a few times in an era.

“The only difference would be whether you obtained that power 17 years ago or 7 years ago. You merely ‘received an advance payment’ in exchange for your life and soul.”

That was the essence of demonic arts as I saw it.

“The Dark King is truly a master con artist. To enslave so many people with a contract that ‘gives power in advance.’”

“Shut up!”

The tip of Amilcar’s sword wavered.

“Pathetic bastard. You can’t even swing your sword straight now?”

Kaaaaang!

I simply slapped his wavering sword, sending it flying.

“I told you to shut up!”

The disarmed knight swung his fist, clad in Fist energy, like a hammer, but-

Even in fists, I am now a man who has surpassed the caliber of Fist King, Fist Emperor, Fist Saint, Fist God, and Fist Demon.

“Shuk, shushuk, shuk.”

I made a stupid-sounding whoosh as I deflected Amilcar’s punch, then struck his wide-open chin with a short jab.

Paaaaak!

It was a testament to his impressive reaction and defense that he didn't lose consciousness from that punch.

“Soul-Penetrating Black Moon.”

I plunged a powerful penetration energy into the staggering Amilcar’s solar plexus, churning his insides.

Duuuuuung!

“Wuek!”

Amilcar flew backward, spraying an arrow of blood, and slammed his back against a rock wall.

“……It’s over.”

I walked slowly toward the despairing Amilcar and instilled the final Heart Demon.

“How tragic, that this is all a man like you gets in return for a lifetime of devotion.”

“……!”

Amilcar’s eyes wavered.

I know the word for that wavering.

‘Bewilderment.’

A wavering had begun in Amilcar's loyalty.

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]