Chapter 138 - Blood Steam Battle - 3

Hei, Lian, Ye, and Xing went where Sok Yeong-Gi was fighting. Jin-Sang's last remaining spirit soldier looked nervously at the approach of that pair of young martial artists who had completely reversed the situation. If his other two companions hadn't had a chance to survive, he too wouldn't have been able to.

Plunging from the sky, Hei blocked the way for the enemy spirit soldier. On the other side, Sok Yeong-Gi smiled as he prepared to savor revenge against the enemy who had overpowered him so far.

"Nice job, Hei. Keep him busy so that I can deal the final blow." Sok Yeong-Gi grinned wickedly at the enemy who instead had a look full of terror and despair. It was over now. There was no escape.

Upon hearing the words of Sok Yeong-Gi, Hei smiled and replied, "Of course, I will do as you say."

Hei then launched a series of attacks against the poor unfortunate who had remained without allies. With the amplifying effect of spirit power resulting from the Battle Formation, it wasn't a problem to face the second stage spirit soldier, considering that the enemy had spent part of his energies against Sok Yeong-Gi.

Sok Yeong-Gi charged his spirit power left in his sword and made his final move. The metal blade flashed in the air with a hissing sound as it cut towards the enemy. The spirit soldier of Jin-Sang tried to defend himself with his weapon; however, Hei prevented it by intercepting the trajectory of the weapon.

Slash!

Jin-Sang's sword tore the enemy's chest with an oblique wound from the right shoulder to the left hip. The spirit soldier who had just been cut could only curse his bad luck as he closed his eyes and fell to the ground.

Swoosh! Clench!

It was at that moment when the enemy's corpse had just begun its descent, and Sok Yeong-Gi still had his sword lowered from the movement previously performed. Lian's two ribbons furtively moved and went to wrap the two fighters forcefully. Sok Yeong-Gi, currently without strength, was taken aback as he was tied to the still-hot corpse of his enemy.

"HEY! What the fuck are you thinking of doing?!" Sok Yeong-Gi roared angrily, not understanding Hei's intentions.

So far, Hei had helped Won Byung-Chul and Ryuk‌ ‌Gyeong-Su so that they could go to help Ho Ri-Na. Sok Yeong-Gi thought Hei would do the same with him too, but apparently, he was wrong. Hei didn't think of reserving the same favorable treatment at all.

"A simple showdown," Hei replied as he lowered himself to the same height as Sok Yeong-Gi and looked him in the eye. "If you think I haven't understood your hostility towards me, you're wrong. Not to mention the whale episode - you didn't give the order because you were confident in our abilities; you just wanted to use us as a shield."

Hearing this, Sok Yeong-Gi turned white. Swallowing a bitter bite, he tried to reply, "But no... what are you saying? I have never had any hostility towards you. Besides, the order of that time with the whale was because you and your partner were the only ones in the seventh stage capable of stalling a second-level spirit beast. You have to believe me."

"Although what you say is true, and I doubt it. However, I can't let you go. I can't afford to put my family's life at risk. Goodbye, Sok Yeong-Gi."

"No, no... wait. Wait I told you-!" While Sok Yeong-Gi pleaded to be spared, Hei twisted the neck of Ho Ri-Na's spirit soldier. Then, to make sure he was dead, he took his head off and threw it into the sea with his body, after recovering his space ring and the killed spirit soldier of Jin-Sang's one.

From a distance, Jin-Sang laughed madly at that scene. "Ho Ri-Na! Ho Ri-Na! Haha! You make me laugh. You like putting on airs with that stupid name of Steam Goddess, but in reality, you are just a stupid woman who is being manipulated by two kids."

Hearing the Red Devil's provocation, Ho Ri-Na snorted before replying, "You don't have the qualifications to scold me Jin-Sang. Weren't you also made fun of all the time by them?"

At Ho Ri-Na's reply, Jin-Sang's smile faded. It was true. He couldn't deny it. Those who had considered two small insects had ended up destroying his plans. But the last word had yet to be said.

"Ho Ri-Na. I propose an agreement. With these two spirit soldiers who are fighting with you, you have the strength to defeat me. But for what purpose? We'll just end up killing each other, and those kids will have won effortlessly. Join me and kill those brats. After that, we'll end our fight."

Jin-Sang's plan was simple - to appeal to the dislike Ho Ri-Na felt towards Hei and Lian after Ho Yeon-Hong's kidnapping and forcing her to hand over the map fragments. But his proposal didn't go as well as he hoped.

"Haha! Red Devil, how low have you fallen?. With your contemptuous behavior deriving from your trust in your Red Shark Bloodline, you have dominated so far with an iron fist. And now you want to propose an alliance instead? Do not make me laugh. Since you like to define women as objects that are only good at heating men's beds, then as a man, you should behave as such."

"Bitch! Don't get your head up. Even so, don't think you can handle my strength. I will kill you three and then those two brats and become the Pirate King!"

The fight between Jin-Sang and the group formed by Ho Ri-Na, Won Byung-Chul, and Ryuk‌ ‌Gyeong-Su continued. The reason Hei had killed Sok Yeong-Gi was to avoid giving too much advantage to the Steam Goddess. Not only against the Red Devil but also himself. By doing this, the fight would have consumed almost all the forces of both sides. At that point then, it would have been easy to kill the Red Devil and make Ho Ri-Na obey their agreement, even by force, if necessary.

And so, Hei and Lian waited as they meditated in midair to recover their lost spirit power. Xing and Ye began to look lazily at the clash between the four spirit soldiers. Sparks and metallic noise spread from all sides - the Red Devil was using his blood swords created by his Blood Law to torment Ho Ri-Na and his with a myriad of attacks. The group of Ho Ri-Na parried as they could, filling their gaps between them and making sure not to be injured under the blows of the Red Devil. However, it was easier said than done due to the power of the enemy.

Jin-Sang knew he couldn't escape - he was the Red Devil, the most feared of the Pirate Generals. Even before acquiring his fame, he had always been a contemptuous and self-confident person. Throughout his life, he had concentrated on martial arts offensive techniques since he was only interested in killing and annihilating his enemy. He had never bothered to study distraction techniques to use during an escape. After all, never before had he thought inside his head about escaping. However, now that the time had come, he didn't have the ability.

Jin-Sang's speed was faster than Ho Ri-Na, but the Goddess of Steam had the Gas Law - Steam, on her side. The Steam part of the Gas Law allowed martial artists, in addition to having insidious attacks, to increase their speed significantly, thanks to the characteristics of this Elemental Law. Therefore, regarding the speed, it could be said that the Steam Goddess and the Red Devil were equal. But Ho Ri-Na wasn't alone, so escaping was something impossible. Jin-Sang could only make his way by force as he always had - and his efforts paid off.

Ryuk‌ ‌Gyeong-Su was seriously injured, and with the expenditure of energy resulting from the previous clash and his cultivation as a second stage spirit soldier, he was the first to have to leave the battlefield. The situation seemed unfavorable for Ho Ri-Na and Won Byung-Chul. Fortunately for them, Ryuk Gyeong-Su's withdrawal was also the signal that Hei and Lian were waiting for.

From the section in the sky where they were meditating, the two youths got up and headed at high speed towards where the last remaining spirit soldiers, Won Byung-Chul and Ho Ri-Na, were fighting Jin-Sang.

The expression of the Red Devil, who had regained confidence after knocking out one of his opponents, darkened again when he saw Hei and Lian approaching.

"Brats! You will pay me for everything you have done. For destroying my dream!" Jin-Sang screamed angrily as his eyes turned crimson red.

In an instant, he passed over Ho Ri-Na and Won Byung-Chul to head up against Hei and Lian. Since this move was too sudden, Ho Ri-Na was taken aback but recovered quickly and went in pursuit, followed by her right arm, Won Byung-Chul. However, before she could reach Jin-Sang, the Red Devil would have had time to launch his attack against the young couple of martial artists.

The attack of a sixth stage spirit soldier!

Although weakened and injured, Jin-Sang remained a sixth stage spirit soldier. It wasn't something Hei, Lian, Xing, and Ye could receive without problems since the pirate was using all the power he could generate. But Hei also predicted that situation.

"Xing, Ye. It's up to you, my two little sisters."

'Leave it to us!' (Xing)

'That bad dude will surely remain with his mouth open wide when he sees that his attack has been in vain.' (Ye)

The two little divine beasts weren't merely watching the fight while Hei and Lian were meditating. Xing had started making silk within her spinneret while Ye was concentrating on hardening her body as much as possible with the Law of Metal. The same act of meditation by Hei and Lian was to maximize their survival chances from a direct attack by the Red Devil.

Xing spat out all the stored silk and created a silk cocoon around her and the others. Lian quickly moved her ribbons and created a further layer of the cocoon followed by another layer formed by Hei's hair. To top it off, Ye increased her size just enough to cover almost the rest of the area inside the cocoon and cover Hei, Lian, and Xing with her body.

Peng! Screech!

The blades of Jin-Sang's blood came down like a guillotine preparing to execute the evildoers. However, this time there would be no execution.

Xing's silk layer received the full impact of the technique and was the first to break. Having more space, Hei then moved his hair forward, embracing Lian's ribbons, and the two layers together ended up dispersing the physical power of the attack. However, there was still the damage resulting from the transmission of Jin-Sang's spirit power.

The users of the Law of Blood could, in fact, transmit their spirit power, as if it was a liquid, inside objects and people. When parrying the blow of a martial artist having the Blood Law, one had to always pay attention not only to external wounds but above all to the internal ones. In a sense, the Law of Blood represented similarities to the Law of Water, but the effects of lethality in the latter were less.

Ye, therefore, acted as a metallic shield and assumed the violent charge of Jin-Sang's spirit power. The divine beast snake had prepared herself enough to resist the impact and, although it was more violent than she had anticipated, it was still not enough to intimidate her. After all, most of the technique had been nullified by the previous protective layers. As the daughter of the Spider of Nightmare and the Snake of Darkness, there was no way the remnant of a technique could defeat her.

When the layers of ribbons and hair dissolved, revealing what was inside, Jin-Sang's evil grin became frozen. He couldn't believe it, even if he was seeing it now with his own eyes. His strongest attack, the move with which he had killed his strongest enemies. Although he was weakened and had lost much of his power, it should have been enough to cut those first-stage brats into slices. Yet the reality before him was very different.

From inside the now flaked cocoon, Hei smiled, revealing a series of sparkling blue teeth. Jin-Sang wanted to scream against him, but before he could do anything else, he was reached by the Steam Goddess. Ho Ri-Na took advantage that Jin-Sang had just launched an attack and was temporarily exposed to end the fight.

"Steam Kiss!"

As with Hong Shin, the Steam Goddess put her lips against those of the Red Devil. Won Byung-Chul instead came from behind Jin-Sang to prevent him from waving his arms and hitting Ho Ri-Na during his attack. The Red Devil realized that he had screwed himself and tried to free. But everything he did was in vain. Won Byung-Chul blocked him from behind while Ho Ri-Na was attacking him from the front. Even his feet were being blocked by Lian's ribbons as Hei attempted to skewer him in the stomach and reduce his defensive layer of spirit power.

And it was in that strange tangle of people that the Red Devil finally lost his life. The most feared of all four Pirate Generals, as well as the pirate martial artist most highly rated to become the next Pirate King. He was said to be a descendant of the Pirate King Hae Seong and to have inherited his talent. But despite all these appellations, the final truth was that the Red Devil had ended up losing.

The great battle of piracy was over. The winner was the one and only Steam Goddess - Ho Ri-Na. The last remaining of the Four Pirate Generals. No, from now on, she had fully and deservedly assumed the title of Pirate Queen. The Age of the Steam Queen was about to begin. However, how long would she manage to retain her power, it was something that only time could know. The fact is that from today she was the one who commanded the pirate scene of the Forgotten Ocean.