A sound like a book being slapped echoed as the arm sprung up.
The elongated arm, reminiscent of a whip, moved like a serpent with a sharp blade in hand, slicing through the air.
With a threatening hiss, it writhed grotesquely towards Jinseong and, when it finally reached him, unleashed a violent transformation, shattering the sound barrier.
Boom-!
As the sound barrier was pierced, I heard the deafening noise.
With a thunderous crash, the fist collided with Jinseong’s body.
The blade gripped in the hand burrowed into the armor Jinseong wore, thrashing about as if it aimed to reduce muscles and bones to pulp.
It resembled a wicked snake launching a venomous attack.
Truly horrific, and abundantly so.
Moreover, this horror offered no sense of satisfaction.
There was a desire that wasn’t fulfilled by biting with fangs, slicing like a rag, or smashing every bone in the body.
Crack-!
So, that which wore the guise of Lee Jae-soon twisted its waist again and swung another arm.
Ssss-!
The initially struck arm reacted, signaling the other arm to move. The snake coiled on the ground leapt into the air, writhing elegantly as it sliced through the void, a predator that had spotted its prey, mouth agape and ready to dive.
As the whip reached its target again, it broke the sound barrier.
Boom-!
When it broke the sound barrier, a mighty hand wielding a hammer struck Jinseong’s armor with force. After tearing flesh with fangs, like it was a natural follow-up, the serpent struck hard to mimic crushing bones with its hammering.
The hammer battered the armor.
The sensation of impact when it smote the armor—this sensation traversed along limbs that could hardly be called arms, reaching the head where it urged the body to keep moving with exhilaration.
Ssss-!
Boom-!
When one side connected, the other arm sprang into action.
Ssss-!
Boom-!
As the other arm moved, the previous arm coiled back in preparation to bite the neck again.
Crack-!
To facilitate this, the waist twisted and turned, twisted and twisted again.
As if those limbs existed solely to lash out at the opponent.
The innards twisted, bones shattered, and the spine wracked with the twisting that made one wonder if it would snap, twisting in a direction like a pretzel while alternately tightening and loosening.
Boom-!
Boom-!
All purely to whip out.
To show the sorcerer, who barked like a dog at it, a bitter taste of reality.
Ssss-!
Ssss-!
Boom-!
That which wore the skin of Lee Jae-soon continuously moved and moved again.
It overexerted a body that was both not its own yet partially its own, as if thinking it could swap it out when destroyed, wildly swinging its arms. The madness in those eyes had no contemplation on how to twist the elongated arms and no concern for the fatigued waist, nor the damage done to the muscles, organs, and bones from the intense movements.
Its uncensored demeanor stemmed from not using what belonged to it.
And this disregard for its own body morphed into brutal attacks, displaying overwhelming power capable of crushing even a formidable warrior.
Boom-!
Boom-!
Even without the use of energy, the threatening attacks grew stronger over time.
The speed of its twisting waist shortened with every passing moment, and the time taken for the arms to swing and retract diminished gradually.
Acceleration.
It was accelerating.
Aggression and savagery.
Morphing close to a level of overwhelming pressure.
The once-visible whipping motions became so rapid they were nearly impossible to track with the eyes, and the sonic booms pulling apart the air now felt like an unbroken line of sound, shortening the intervals between each occurrence.
Ssss-!
Moreover, behold that sound.
That incessant hissing as if a snake was threatening relentlessly.
How could such noise emanate from a human arm?
Regardless of how much it had been distorted to seem unrecognizable as a human arm, it had taken on a shape as if merely the skin had been stretched to its limit.
Gaze upon that figure, grinning wickedly, making sinister serpent sounds like an evil sorcerer.
Oh, that wickedness.
Wickedness!
To witness that vile glint of eyes as if commanding snakes!
To see that visage, one must admit it bore quite a resemblance to a sorcerer.
But look.
Look with clear eyes.
Do not be deceived by the dazzling movements.
Do not be lured by the relentless screams and threatening sounds ringing in your ears.
“O you, beguiled by superstition, look! There’s no pentagon-shaped crown upon its head, no necklace of 108 skulls, no apron made from human bones, nor even a grass belt. How can one call that a sorcerer? O, Tribesmen! Tribesmen! Do not be deceived! Look upon the essence and shake off your fear. Wish for blessings and chant with fervor.”
Shout as if you were wishing.
Let the heavenly joy linger.
Bless to create paradise.
“Taši shog.”
May there be prosperity!
“Taši shog.”
Prosperity shall come!
“Taši shog-!”
Prosperity will soon arrive-!
Infinite prosperity shall be—-!
*
Park Jinseong shouted.
Even while being struck by the whip in the guise of Lee Jae-soon.
While slicing armor with the blade and creating cracks in the armor he wore, Jinseong merely uttered his wishes with fervor.
“༄ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པ་དྨེ་ཧཱུྃ་.”
Oh, like a lotus blooming in full glory.
The more they gather, the more radiant the jewels shine.
Life gathers to increase in number, brilliance gathers to showcase beauty, nature shall flourish and thrive.
“༄ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པ་དྨེ་ཧཱུྃ་”
The mantra of everlasting prosperity chanted is indeed of great length.
The Tibetans believed this mantra held power and that the more one chanted it, the better it became.
Therefore, Jinseong chants it.
“༄ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པ་དྨེ་ཧཱུྃ་”
The invocation.
The true words.
The more one chants, the more they shall gain blessings and thrive abundantly.
How could it not be good?
How could it not bring joy?
This is the joy one can only taste from above the heavens.
Thus, Jinseong proclaims.
“O beings, flourish and thrive!
Just as flowers blossom from the west to the east, let them bloom.”
Crack.
Creak.
And as if in response to Jinseong’s call, life began to flourish.
The beginning sprouted from the armor that was being broken.
Crack.
Creak.
Like the shell twisting due to heat.
Or as if it were fried in oil.
Or as if it were cracking apart more seriously from a small scratch.
The sound of discord echoed from the armor Jinseong wore, and cracks began to radiate from where the whip had struck all around.
Creeeak.
The cracks spread.
Separating themselves into notable chunks.
Soon the spreading cracks splintered those chunks.
The pieces became smaller, smaller, and ultimately seemed to be nothing but crumbs covered in gold.
Ssss-!
Thus, as the whip reached the gold-painted armor with a sound that tore through the air.
Boom-!
Crash-!
With a colossal sound, the armor also was ripped away, scattering fragments everywhere.
Lee Jae-soon grinned wickedly at this sight and moved its arms.
To dine upon the prey that had lost its protective shell.
To play with a toy that had lost its armor.
Ssss-!
That which claimed Lee Jae-soon’s body was convinced.
Just as a crab that shed its hard shell gets devoured, the whip too would feast on flesh and crush bones, creating yet another casualty.
Just like the warrior before, it would lie on the ground like a rag, becoming cold.
So it believed.
Whoosh-!
But the whip that dashed forth with a loud noise only tore through the air instead of striking the body meant to be there.
“Uh?”
Instead of the electrifying sensation of impact, there was emptiness.
The hollow feeling when hitting a vacant place.
“What the?”
It should have been there.
Not even a second had passed since the armor was crushed, so it should have undoubtedly been there.
Though it was dark and hard to see, a figure was faintly visible.
So, it should have responded with a sensation upon impact.
But why didn’t the sensation come?
Why was there no feeling in the hand?
It glared with a puzzled expression, looking at where Jinseong had stood.
Boom-!
With a roaring sound, the black mist surged toward him, as if to resolve his question.
