Martial Arts Worlds

Chapter 383: Withering Souls

The statue looked deadly concentrated, and then, with its twelve arms, it clenched them into fists the size of basketballs and then hurled them straight at the black-haired young man.

No one had been able to deal with twelve arms before.

"Rendering Edge!"

Kiernan snapped his hands forward, and with the sides of his hands, he redirected the basketball-sized fists so that they collided with each other in midair and pushed each other to the side.

SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!

The arms smashed into the ground with a resounding crash that sent tremors through the earth.

"Kiernan Hunter—New Threat Level: 6."

The statue's raspy voice sounded.

"Yokai Style, Shakunetsu no Oni!"

With a flaming fist, Dante punched the statue in the chest, and with a flaming wound, sent it flying towards the stainless steel door.

SMASH!

Guard Angel crashed into the door, denting it and harming the surface, but its eyes shone as it stood back up.

Crack… crack… crack… crack…

More sounds of cracking sounded, and at that moment, in front of everyone's shocked expressions, more arms sprouted from its back.

Now there were thirty-two arms sprouting from its back, thrashing wildly, and pressure so heavy that it could collapse the ceiling appeared.

It was a sight frightening enough to make even the bravest person tremble in fear.

"What in the world… what exactly is its limit? It will just keep spamming those arms till it overwhelms us, and our attacks do nothing to it.

"It will just regenerate!"

Dante shouted in frustration.

"…"

Aoi stayed quiet.

"Tch…"

Gunwoo clicked his tongue, but then they all heard Kiernan say.

"It is at its limits. Its stone body can't withstand the burden of any more arms. It is already at the brink of just falling apart, and we need just one more push."

Kiernan said.

"How are you so sure?"

Dante asked.

"When this statue summons its arms, its back's stone shell cracks to allow the arms to sprout from its real body underneath the stone shell.

"This stone shell is nothing but a protective shell, and I believe that it cannot regenerate any more."

"You're saying it as if it has a real body. I've destroyed its face, but even that regenerates. Are you sure its real body cannot regenerate?"

Dante asked.

"Its real body is not that of a human's. I believe it has a martial soul deep inside its body, and that stone shell is protecting it.

"As long as you hit the martial soul, it will fall apart."

Kiernan said.

"Martial soul?!"

Dante and Gunwoo exclaimed.

It sounded ludicrous, as they had never heard of statues having martial souls, but they also had not met other moving statues that could come back to life.

Kiernan did not come to this conclusion out of nowhere.

When he used Duelist's Map, he saw red dots inside this cave. The Guard Angel had its own red dot, which could only come from having a martial soul.

"I've never seen a martial soul in the flesh or… well, in its true form. You think that when I break through its shell, we will see the martial soul?"

Dante asked with his heart beating rapidly.

It was a rare thing to witness.

When people died, their martial soul would wither and disappear alongside the person's consciousness.

Some religious fellows believe that the martial soul traveled with the consciousness to another plane of existence.

Thus, not too many people have had the pleasure of ever seeing a martial soul directly with their own eyes, but some people have willingly offered to donate their martial soul away.

Real-life martial soul was always sold for millions in auctions, but it wasn't an item that could be sold legally, as it was very illegal to take out martial soul from a person's body in the first place.

Another problem with taking out a martial soul was that it was connected to the person's life force, and when the original owner of that martial soul died, it would wither away and disappear forever.

Therefore, for a good reason, they were very excited to see the martial soul with their very own eyes.

'If I get my hands on that martial soul… can't I sell it and become insanely rich?!'

Dante thought with his greed swelling inside him.

He knew just how valuable the martial soul was and its potential to bring him great wealth.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's destroy it!"

Dante shouted and jumped towards the statue, but at that moment, its thirty-two arms started raining down at him.

Dante's eyes widened in shock, but at that moment, Gunwoo grabbed him and sped to safety.

"What are you doing? Don't be impatient!"

Kiernan shouted.

He didn't know what came over Dante, as he wasn't really familiar with how valuable a real-life martial soul actually was.

If he knew, even he would've become quite greedy for it, as he needed money, and badly.

Swoosh!

At that moment, Aoi rushed forward, her ponytail swaying behind her, and with slow movements of her hands, she pushed the arms out of her way and then touched the statue in the chest.

Crack…

With a single touch, the chest cracked, and a hole emerged with bright light shining through into her round eyes.

It was a glorious sight.

"Is it the martial soul!"

Dante shouted.

Aoi reached into the chest, grabbed something round, and pulled it out. It was a brilliant blue, pearl-like gemstone, pulsating with power and warmth.

It was the Guard Angel's martial soul.

Crumble…

The statue crumbled apart and became nothing but dust under their feet.

"It's… the martial soul."

Gunwoo exclaimed.

With slow steps, Dante approached Aoi and looked at the martial soul with dry lips, wanting nothing more than to rip it off her hands.

However, at that moment, the martial soul withered and disintegrated into dust. The dust fell between her fingers and into the ground.

She looked sad.

"W-w-what the hell?!"

Dante screamed.

"The martial soul's real owner must be long dead. That statue must've been only its placeholder, which is why the statue was able to come back to life.

"Now that the martial soul is out of the statue, it realized its original owner is dead, and therefore withers away…"

Kiernan said.

"Shit!"

Dante screamed and tugged his hair, but at that moment, the stainless steel door clicked open and creaked open slowly.