How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 75

Chapter 75

Hoo

***

X, exuding a fierce aura, held two long swords. As if responding in kind, Ga-on also pulled out his ultra-compact railgun, Qiongqi.

In the sky, snowflakes began to fall one by one.

“I don’t know how you ended up standing here, but if you believe that luck will stay by your side forever, you’re gravely mistaken. I will cut even that down.”

“Then let’s check. Whether your sword is better, or my luck.”

It was at that mont that blue currents sparked beneath X’s feet. His body seed to dip forward, and before anyone could realize it, he had already rushed right in front of Ga-on and thrust his long sword toward his neck.

A high-speed dash using magnetic levitation.

Ga-on avoided the strike that had even left sound far behind, then pulled the trigger through the space beneath X’s armpit.

The vivid trajectory painted across the air and X’s waist bending backward as if it would snap happened almost simultaneously.

No matter that he possessed a monomolecular blade capable of cutting through most materials, lightning—in other words, electric charge—was difficult.

However, using it to one’s advantage was possible.

One example was changing direction by stepping on the streak of light carved into the air.

Ga-on’s eyes widened at the three-dinsional maneuver executed in a way he had never even imagined.

Since magnetic levitation was also a technique that used the repulsive force of electromagnetic power, it had sothing in common with a railgun. Because of that, the idea of switching directions by riding the current left behind where the shot had passed was possible.

However, actually making use of it was a different story.

It was a feat that could not even be attempted without innate sense and overwhelming experience, yet X treated the trajectory drawn by Qiongqi like rails, as if he were riding a roller coaster.

The distance closed in an instant.

X had already faced Ga-on once before.

Therefore, letting his guard down was out of the question. He spun with the montum to split him in two with a single strike. As a deep skid mark carved into the ground, the trajectory of the long sword broke apart in fragnts.

The strobe phenonon manifested to its extre.

At the end of it, two streaks of light shot toward Ga-on’s chest.

In that fleeting instant, Ga-on moved sideways and smashed the flat of the blade with his fist.

X was not the only one who could review their previous battle. Ga-on had also been pondering it ever since that day.

This was the answer he had reached.

The mont Ga-on took out a small round sphere and dropped it, hemispherical static electricity swept across the area.

Electus.

It was a device that generated an electromagnetic pulse in a localized area.

Simply put, an EMP bomb.

Not only did the affected devices stop operating, but the coil embedded in Qiongqi also lost its heat and ca to a halt.

His armant had been disard in an instant, but it was worth enduring.

Because X had also frozen in place right there.

If he had been a cyborg, it would have been difficult to exploit an opening. Even if most of the body was chanical, the brain that governed the computational system was still biological.

But X was an Actor.

Even his critical systems were a body that had to rely on communication.

Of course, there was no way the Mars Defense Force had failed to prepare for that.

The fact that he was already writhing as he shook off the shock was proof of it. The interior must have been coated with electromagnetic shielding paint.

The remaining ti was less than a millisecond.

It was too short a ti to decide the outco of the battle, but it overflowed with enough margin to take what he wanted.

Forming his hand like a blade, Ga-on struck down with the force to break X’s wrist.

At that mont, a storm swirled along the straight line drawn from top to bottom.

The blow was so powerful that the ground beneath his feet caved in, and within it was contained the principle of rotation.

With a cracking sound, X’s wrist twisted—it was only natural.

Ga-on kicked up the monomolecular blade X had dropped with the top of his foot, and the mont it rose to shoulder height, he snatched the handle.

When Ga-on raised the long sword high and took an upper stance, X let out a hollow laugh.

“You’re going to challenge in swordsmanship?”

It wasn’t as though no one had tried before. But whether it was soone called a sword master among the yakuza or soone called a sword saint among the troubleshooters, their ends had all been the sa.

No matter how unprecedented a genius one might be, the wall called ti could not be surpassed.

X alone had trained in swordsmanship for over 100 years. It would not be an exaggeration to say that among present humanity, there was no one who could stand against him.

“How delightful. I can’t even rember the last ti I felt an emotion like this.”

X adjusted his grip on the long sword with both hands and took a middle stance.

Ga-on raised the blade tip high into the sky in preparation to strike down, while X pointed his blade forward so he could react to any situation.

The increasingly heavy snowfall stood between the two.

The mont a strong gust of wind swept in and cleared away the curtain of snow, Ga-on dashed forward, carving skid marks into the snowfield.

Dozens of ters closed in an instant.

Seeing the gaps between movents breaking apart in fragnts, X could not help but be astonished. More than anyone else, he knew exactly what that sight ant.

Bang!

Sure enough, the mont they collided, an unimaginable monstrous force was transmitted through the tip of the blade.

Kiiiik.

The blade scread as it was shaved thin as though planed down. It was the characteristic resonance produced when monomolecular blades clashed against each other.

Even if he tried to deflect it, it was useless. As if glued together, the opposing blades would not separate.

“What in the world is this?”

Since reaching this level, it was the first ti he had been pushed back in a battle of calculations, leaving him nothing but bewildered.

X tried to widen the distance and reorganize his stance, but Ga-on had no intention of letting that happen.

Spinning fiercely like a propeller, he chased after the retreating X.

Each ti a flash of light burst forth, sudden gusts created by the pressure difference split the falling snow in two as they passed.

Hurriedly gripping his long sword in reverse, X blocked the horizontal slash.

Bang!

A thunderous explosion struck the area, so intense that it was hard to believe it had co from the collision of two blades.

As the ground he stepped on caved in to offset the shock, X responded by spinning splendidly like a grinder.

The full-body prosthetic he used was custom-made. It was not a mass-produced product rolling around on the streets. Every component and every circuit had been crafted separately.

The physical capability obtained from that was the strongest of the current generation and the standard of the next.

To bring him down, the concentrated firepower of an entire company would be required.

Moreover, without equipnt at the level of MUG—2 or higher, even approaching him was difficult.

However, Ga-on matched him with nothing but pure physical ability.

The result of training that had continued for hundreds of years.

While X was astonished by the muscular strength that could withstand tons of kinetic energy, Ga-on also could not hide the admiration that surfaced on his face.

Naturally, the perfection of technique was still in X’s favor. Out of a hundred clashes, he would win ninety-nine.

Yet the gap was slowly widening. It was in that single clash where defeat occurred that the difference revealed itself.

On the surface, their forms looked exactly the sa.

Even though he could not even estimate what exactly was lacking, Ga-on did not yield and continued to pressure X.

X also brushed aside the assault, and the battle between the two only grew more violent.

Boom, boom.

Each ti they spun, the load applied to the observatory increased sharply.

The concrete supporting Umbrella Tower split into spiderweb-like cracks all at once.

Yet the two paid it no mind and swung their swords like mad at the center.

A storm of strikes within a storm of strikes.

The accelerating sword dance soon rushed toward its conclusion.

Kiiiik.

In midair, long sword and long sword crossed.

At the sa mont Ga-on’s blade tip carved away the hologram helt, X’s blade tip grazed past the tender nape of Ga-on’s neck.

A cross counter that precisely cut through each other’s vital points.

But fate smiled upon X.

While the front visor of his helt flew away, Ga-on’s head above the shoulders was severed.

The separated head flew far away and rolled across the ground, while the half-body that had lost its master collapsed to its knees.

The mont the long and bloody battle ca to an end.

“As you wished, I’ve killed you twice. I pray that in the next life, you live longer than this.”

X turned his back without regret. For the ti that had been delayed, he had to hurry and eliminate the forces related to Eden.

However, he had to stop after only a few steps.

The body that had lost its head suddenly jerked upright and began walking toward where the head lay.

Since it was a sight that would not even appear in a B-grade horror film, X stared blankly.

“What…?”

What followed was even more astonishing.

Using the severed head like a soccer ball, Ga-on began juggling it before kicking it high into the air.

Following gravity, the head landed atop the empty neck and balanced without rolling off. The wound had already disappeared without a trace.

Only after seeing Ga-on move his neck left and right, as if the newly regenerated joint felt stiff, did X understand.

How he had survived.

It had not been a trick.

It was a pure ability.

“Amitabha. I see, so you are a ta-human. One that does not die, at that.”

“How do you know that na?”

“Well, what value is there in truth obtained from others? It only has aning when one realizes it by oneself.”

“Right. After coming this far, it’s not like you’d answer even if I asked.”

Ga-on discarded his finely shredded coat and swept back his blood-soaked bangs.

“That death was just right for a warm-up.”

“Just like a wandering ghost that cannot find the path to its final destination.”

“Like you.”

Ga-on charged even faster than before and brought the long sword down. He rembered exactly how X reacted to every situation. Naturally, he seized the advantage as smoothly as flowing water.

However, X was not simply taking it either. He had also been using Ga-on’s swordsmanship as a lesson.

The more exchanges they had, the higher the intensity rose.

At a distance close enough for their breaths to touch, the two pressed their blades together and exerted all their strength to overpower the other.

Kiiiik.

Through the broken hologram helt, X’s face was revealed, but Ga-on rely looked at it indifferently. As if proving that it was a full-body prosthetic, it was a dry impression devoid of even the slightest individuality.

However, the sound of breathing reaching his ears bothered him.

Yes, breathing.

Even though he possessed a full-body prosthetic and could suppress biological activity, X continued breathing relentlessly as if assigning roles to inhalation and exhalation.

If the hologram helt had not been cut apart, he would never have known.

At that mont, inspiration flashed through Ga-on’s mind like lightning.

What if it wasn’t stubbornness, but a habit?

What if it was sothing he had no choice but to do?

Perhaps this might be the decisive difference separating the levels of the two.

Ga-on stuck close to X and devoted himself to grasping the flow of his breathing.

He was soone who had mastered countless martial arts in order to complete the ancient martial art he had learned from an old monk.

The martial arts that Bodhidharma brought from India and passed down to Shaolin. Yijin Jing, Xisui Jing, and the Eighteen Arhat Hands.

Not only had he imrsed himself in Kalari Payattu, the origin of those arts, but he had also left no docunt unread in order to understand it.

From China to Southeast Asia, across Europe, Africa, Japan, and finally his holand of Korea.

Toward the end, he had even reviewed the life of Gautama Siddhartha.

A wandering that had continued for hundreds of years.

Now, it felt like it could finally end.

The mont X’s breathing returned to its starting point for the first ti, Ga-on realized there was nothing more left to learn. He stopped in place and took a middle stance.

Judging that the sudden change in Ga-on’s posture had tilted the balance in his favor, X swung his long sword without hesitation.

“Are you tired? Well, it can’t be helped. In the end, you still have a human body.”

As if proving those words, Ga-on could do little more than be pushed backward without mounting any aningful counterattack. As X gained montum from the accumulating wounds and continued his relentless offensive—

“Hoo.”

Sothing unexpected happened.