My Dad Is the Strongest Under Heaven
Chapter 39
Chapter 39
Chapter 39. An Unprecedented Arch-Demon
Geugaksoma.
Decades ago, he was an unprecedented arch-demon who plunged the Murim into terror, one of the Absolute Great Evils—the five strongest and most wicked villains of the martial world.
He was an unrivaled murderer who butchered people without reason, driven solely by his fleeting whims from moment to moment.
Whether a young child, an elder, or a pregnant woman, he slaughtered anyone who caught his eye without distinction.
Even his methods of killing varied each time.
Yet they all shared one common thread: making his victims die as agonizingly and slowly as possible.
Geugaksoma took pleasure in watching human agony.
In the end, after countless atrocities and murders, he became the public enemy of the entire Murim.
His last known murder was the killing of the Namgung Clan’s youngest daughter and the younger sister of the Leader of the Evil Faction Alliance.
No one knew why the two were together in the same place on that fateful day, but both met horrific ends at Geugaksoma’s hands.
It was a stark testament to his indiscriminate, merciless brutality.
The Namgung Clan’s Emperor Sword and the Leader of the Evil Faction Alliance, both having lost beloved family, swore to the heavens that they would tear him limb from limb. Yet he was never caught, vanishing without a trace at some point.
And now, several decades later, he had revealed himself here.
Oh Chae-mu could not fathom in the slightest how Geugaksoma had ended up in a place like this.
In truth, Geugaksoma had spent years wandering through deep mountain ranges, settling into any bandit stronghold he came across. He would pull the strings from the shadows, making them carry out all sorts of filthy deeds, and once their usefulness ran out, slaughter every last one before vanishing—a cycle he had repeated time and again.
Regardless, Oh Chae-mu could only marvel at how rotten their luck was.
To come to subjugate mere bandits only to run straight into such an arch-demon.
‘Damn it.’
When he had proudly severed the bandit chief’s head just moments ago, he never could have imagined things would turn out like this.
With Geugaksoma’s appearance, the situation had spiraled into the worst possible catastrophe.
Right now, the foremost objective was to keep as many comrades alive as possible and return to the Paeng Clan.
“Is everyone alright?!”
Enduring agony as though his body had shattered into pieces, Oh Chae-mu shouted through gritted teeth.
At his voice, the members of the White Wolf Troop sprawled across the ground nodded with great effort.
Fortunately, it seemed no one had sustained fatal injuries just yet.
But it was only a matter of time.
For the lives of everyone present hung entirely on the whims of that demon.
‘What should I do?’
Though Oh Chae-mu prided himself on having weathered all manner of battles, facing such an overwhelmingly superior foe made survival entirely unpredictable.
In circumstances like this, survival came down to ninety percent luck—no, even more than that.
“I am in exceptionally good spirits today. To think my toys would walk right into my lap on their own feet.”
Geugaksoma cackled in delight.
The thought of how he would slaughter every member of the White Wolf Troop filled him with perverse glee.
Meanwhile,
“Urrgh…”
“W-we have to run. As far away from that monster as possible…”
“Or that mad old bastard will kill us all. Every single one of us.”
To the bandits, Geugaksoma had long been terror incarnate. Recalling their comrades who had perished in gruesome agony at his hands, they had lived under the constant, suffocating dread that they could meet the exact same fate at any moment.
Their minds could endure no more.
Eeeek!
One of them hurled his weapon aside and fled like a madman.
Once one broke into a run, the rest of the bandits followed suit, scattering frantically in every direction.
However,
“Now, now, that simply won’t do. We shared some affection between us, didn’t we?”
Flashing a grin, Geugaksoma flicked his fingers in rapid succession.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
In an instant, the fleeing bandits had their heads pierced clean through by Geugaksoma’s flicked finger qi, dropping dead on the spot.
Dozens of heads bursting open one after another right before their eyes was a gruesome, spine-chilling spectacle.
It was nothing short of a horrific, chilling one-sided massacre.
It was then.
“Waaagh!”
Gu Tae-san, who had been knocked unconscious on the ground, pushed himself up.
“Ho-oh. A sturdy fellow, just as you look. Brutes like you are the most fun to play with. Good, very good. Hehehe.”
“Shut your mouth, you crazy old lunatic!”
Meeting the ominous gaze Geugaksoma cast over him, Gu Tae-san’s eyes flared as he charged forward.
“Control yourself, Tae-san!”
Oh Chae-mu shouted in urgency, but Gu Tae-san had already raised his great blade and swung it toward Geugaksoma.
“Khehehe, yes. I quite like that temper of yours as well.”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
Geugaksoma’s finger qi instantly bored through Gu Tae-san’s thigh, arm, and shoulder.
“Kuwaaagh!”
Geugaksoma’s finger qi packed enough destructive force to punch straight through Gu Tae-san’s dense muscle as if it were nothing.
Yet for some reason, he did not kill Gu Tae-san in a single blow.
It was clear he intended to toy with him like a plaything before finally putting him to death in the most agonizing way imaginable.
He meant to toy with every single member of the White Wolf Troop here and slaughter them in that very manner.
Seeing this, Oh Chae-mu clenched his fists, trembling with rage.
“How many?!”
“Hm?”
“Just how many people have you killed like that?!”
“Who knows? I stopped counting once it passed a thousand. But if I had to make a rough estimate, at the very least…”
Geugaksoma tilted his head to the side, then straightened it back up.
“It should easily exceed ten thousand. Most were defenseless children or women rather than martial artists, hehehe. Those are far more satisfying to kill, after all.”
“Y-you piece of filth…!”
Sparks flared in Oh Chae-mu’s eyes.
He wanted to kill him. This wretched scum of humanity.
Yet Oh Chae-mu knew better than anyone that he lacked the power to do so.
Had he not already been battered to pieces by a single blow?
“Why the long face?”
Watching Oh Chae-mu tremble from head to toe, Geugaksoma sneered with utter satisfaction.
“Are you angry? Hmm? Khehehe.”
The wrinkles around his perpetually laughing eyes creased even deeper.
As Oh Chae-mu glared at Geugaksoma with wide, furious eyes, a single strategy flashed through his mind.
Yes, this is the only way.
We cannot die miserably like this.
Taking a slow, deep breath, Oh Chae-mu closed his eyes for a moment before snapping them open.
Infusing his voice with inner qi, he roared:
“White Wolf Troop, on your feet!”
At his voice, every member of the White Wolf Troop stirred.
Yet standing appeared agonizingly difficult for them.
He knew. He knew their conditions were as dire as could be. Yet despite knowing it was an unreasonable demand, he gave the order.
Before being slaughtered in powerless misery, they had to muster everything they had and play their final card.
Spurred by Oh Chae-mu’s command, the White Wolf Troop barely managed to drag themselves upright.
“Nnnngh.”
The same went for Gu Tae-san, whose entire body was already soaked in blood.
Immediately, Oh Chae-mu bellowed:
“Prepare the Five Rings Blade Formation!”
There was no other way.
A power that multiplied the strength of the White Wolf Troop manifold.
In truth, they had only recently begun training in the Five Rings Blade Formation.
Until now, they had primarily fought independently in their own styles, but Oh Chae-mu had judged that they needed a contingency plan for when they encountered an insurmountable foe.
But he had never imagined that day would arrive so soon.
Though it was still far from perfection, this was their only remaining resort.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
The White Wolf Troop gathered in unison, setting up the Five Rings Blade Formation.
Their injuries were already so severe that every movement wrung groans of excruciating pain from their lips, yet they had to push through.
There would be no second chance.
This was the final move that would decide whether they lived or died.
“Khehehe, yes. Try whatever you like.”
He even released his focus on Gu Tae-san before him.
Geugaksoma sneered derisively at the White Wolf Troop as they braced for a fight to the death.
“For this seat thoroughly enjoys watching ants struggle with all their might just to cling to life.”
“Ignore his babble and focus!”
Glaring at Geugaksoma as the demon tried to rattle their minds, Oh Chae-mu shouted:
“We will slay this villain right here with our own hands! Without fail!”
At Oh Chae-mu’s words, the eyes of the White Wolf Troop flashed with resolve as they squeezed out every ounce of their remaining strength.
Though their bodies creaked on the verge of collapse, they bit their lips until they bled, holding out with desperate fury.
“Deploy the Five Rings Blade Formation!”
At Oh Chae-mu’s shout, the White Wolf Troop swiftly encircled Geugaksoma.
With coordinated precision, they initiated their joint strike formation.
The Five Rings Blade Formation, prepared for a day just like this, finally unveiled its form.
Swiiish!
Fierce, ferocious energy closed in from all sides, swiftly tightening around Geugaksoma.
Though their bodies were battered, driven solely by the sheer will to survive and conquer, the White Wolf Troop executed the formation with greater mastery than they ever had in practice.
Soon, a colossal mass of converged energy coalesced and fired straight toward Geugaksoma.
Rumbleeee!
Looking between the White Wolf Troop pouring their souls into the formation and the ferocious blade energy hurtling straight at him, Geugaksoma slightly raised an eyebrow.
“Ho-oh. The momentum is reasonably fierce, hehehe. But…”
Geugaksoma extended a single hand toward the incoming surge of energy.
“…ants gathering their strength are still just ants.”
Krrr-rrr-rrr-rrrk!
The full might of the Five Rings Blade Formation was futilely halted by Geugaksoma’s single hand.
It seemed their final struggle would end in vain without achieving a single thing.
Slowly, Geugaksoma began clenching his fist, intending to crush and extinguish the energy entirely.
But at that very moment—
Fwoooosh!
A monstrous killing intent surged out of nowhere and slammed toward Geugaksoma.
It was so terrifyingly potent that it was a sensation Geugaksoma had never experienced in his life.
“…!”
While Geugaksoma flinched involuntarily, his attention momentarily diverted by that chilling aura—
“Now!”
“Waaaooooh!”
As Oh Chae-mu roared, the entire White Wolf Troop, including Gu Tae-san, poured out every last shred of their strength.
The second wave of blade energy they unleashed merged with the fading energy in Geugaksoma’s grip, swelling explosively in an instant.
Boom-boom-rumble!
“Mmh? Why, you insolent brats—!”
Just a single instant.
In that fleeting split second where his concentration broke, Geugaksoma lost his balance, and the second strike of the Five Rings Blade Formation landed cleanly upon him.
K-BOOOOM!
Geugaksoma was blasted backward as a massive explosion erupted.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
“D-did it work?!”
The thick veil of dust kicked up by the explosion obscured all vision.
Swallowing dryly in tense silence, everyone waited for the dust to clear.
Yet soon, a silhouette formed amidst the haze, and someone slowly strode forward.
Recognizing the identity of that shadow, despair washed over the faces of Oh Chae-mu and all the troop members.
It was Geugaksoma. Appearing without so much as a single scratch.
“You damned little curs.”
A venomous curse spilled from Geugaksoma’s mouth.
He lifted his damp palm to his gaze.
Though not severe, it was undeniably stained with blood.
He had been wounded by that strike just now.
It had been far too long since he had sustained such an injury.
Irritation surged within him.
How dare mere insects…
The perpetual smile on his face twisted into a demonic sneer for a brief moment before settling back into place.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
In a flash, finger qi shot toward the White Wolf Troop with terrifying velocity.
“Khuuugh!”
“Aaargh!”
“Ke-heooook!”
Finger qi of a completely different magnitude tore through the White Wolf Troop.
It was the Strike Kill Finger—Gyeoksalji, Geugaksoma’s exclusive martial art that had struck terror throughout the entire Murim.