When the Northern Sea Runs Dry (2)
The warriors of the Northern Abyss Unit all drew their swords at once.
Those who had charged in earlier to kill the coachman had been careless, but now, not a single one of them was letting their guard down.
Jong Hwon, the leader of the Northern Abyss Unit, spoke.
“By now, Gal Sa-Ryang should be in our hands.”
“And?”
When I asked dryly, Jong Hwon looked surprised.
“Isn’t Gal Sa-Ryang the person you serve?”
“So? Are you telling me to throw away my weapon and kneel?”
“That’s right. Is there any need to shed unnecessary blood? If you surrender quietly, we’ll take you away without harming you.”
I looked down at the four corpses collapsed on the ground. They were the ones who had died after rushing in at the earlier order to get rid of the coachman.
“Aren’t you a little lacking in camaraderie? If your comrades have died, shouldn’t you avenge them and comfort their souls?”
Jong Hwon’s face hardened. His subordinates would not be shaken by words of this level, but it was clearly a provocation meant to lower their morale.
“We are not brats who get swayed by personal feelings.”
“That may be true. But you are nothing more than expendables.”
“What?”
“You have to kill someone without even knowing who your opponent is, and you have to spare the enemy who killed your comrades. Fine, good. Let’s say I understand that much, since you are warriors belonging to an organization. But can you answer this question? Right now, under whom, and for what, are you fighting?”
Jong Hwon could not give any answer, and I provoked him even more strongly.
“Right. There’s no way you’d know.”
A smile filled with killing intent formed at the corners of Jong Hwon’s mouth. It was the moment he judged that there was no more value in talking.
“Eliminate him! Tear his corpse to pieces and piece the fragments together right here.”
The men approached all at once, pouring out killing intent.
I did not know exactly what kind of organization they belonged to, but judging from the enemies mobilized in the repeated failures before and from the current situation, at least one thing was certain. These men must occupy a very important position within their organization.
When an opportunity came, I had to smash them completely.
Slowly drawing my sword, I said to Jong Hwon and his subordinates,
“If you chose the wrong organization and leader, you should at least have chosen your enemy properly.”
Tat.
The moment my words ended, my body shot toward the man on the right. He thrust out his sword in response.
My sword and the man’s sword brushed past each other in midair.
Shiiik! Chaaaak!
As the man’s neck was cut, the battle began in earnest.
I had not intended to use the Soul-Chasing Asura Sword Art from the beginning. If, by even the slightest chance, they recognized my sword art and scattered in every direction to flee, my Martial Arts might be exposed to them. I planned to hold it back as much as possible and use it at the decisive moment.
Swords flew in from all directions, each making a different sound as they cut through the wind.
Swing, shiiik! Shik! Shiiing!
Instead of soaring into the sky, I crouched low and swung my sword. The thigh of the man on my left was cut away. I slammed my shoulder into the chest of the man as he collapsed.
Crack!
Using the man whose ribs had shattered as a shield, I pushed forward.
Shik! Shik! Puk! Puuuuk!
The man in front stabbed his sword in succession. But if he thought he could pierce through his comrade’s body and attack me behind it, that was far too careless a response. To do that, he had to be able to thrust his sword as accurately and quickly as I could.
Shiiik!
My sword passed through the corpse that had become my shield. The opponent’s sword sliced through empty air, but my sword drove straight into the man’s chest.
Throwing the two corpses forward, I turned like a lightning bolt and swung my sword.
Shiiiiik!
Sword energy flew from the blade. The three warriors rushing in behind were swept up in the energy, and their torsos were cut away.
I shot straight up into the air. Sword energy flew into the spot where I had been standing and stabbed into it.
Papapapapapak!
A fight involving sword energy was certainly disadvantageous for the opponents. I only had to dodge, but they had to worry about their comrades behind them.
And yet, they freely launched sword energy. They were not worrying about their comrades; rather, they trusted them. That was how precise the flying sword energy was, and even if it missed, they had the skill to dodge on their own. Of course, that would only be the case in an ordinary fight.
Twisting my body in midair, this time I charged toward the man on the left.
Just before the sword energy flying from behind tore into my back, I dodged to the side. Because I avoided the sword energy at such a narrow moment, the man behind me failed to dodge it.
This time, I pounced on the man on the opposite side.
My sword stabbed the opponent’s heart in succession.
Puk! Puk!
At the same time, I threw my body aside and dodged.
Kwakakakakakakwa!
The sword energy that flew from behind swept through that place.
I rolled across the ground. Thinking they had seized an opportunity, the men all leapt up at once and tried to launch sword energy at me.
Shikshikshikshikshik!
Five daggers flew from my hand, and three of them buried themselves in the opponents’ chests and necks.
Because it was a moment when they had not imagined daggers would come flying, my daggers were able to become hidden weapons in the truest sense.
After that, I used the opponents’ sword energy again and killed three more. Only then did they stop using sword energy.
“Wait!”
At last, Jong Hwon stepped forward.
“If you keep running wild, Gal Sa-Ryang dies!”
His voice rang out thunderously. I could tell it was an attempt to shake me. That meant he felt the battle had turned against him and was growing anxious.
Chaaaak.
I shook the blood off my sword and said to him,
“Are you really in a position to worry about someone else dying right now?”
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Cheol-Gyeol rushed out of the building with a bewildered face.
“He’s not there!”
“What?”
“We searched every corner, but Gal Sa-Ryang is nowhere to be seen.”
“What about his quarters?”
Next to the operations room, there was a temporary lodging where Gal Sa-Ryang had been staying.
“He’s not there either. He is not in this building.”
Black Stone was just as flustered as Cheol-Gyeol.
“You said it was certain that Gal Sa-Ryang had not left the Justice Pavilion building.”
“Yes. Ju Cheol-Ryong clearly informed us of that.”
Ju Cheol-Ryong had planted people around the Justice Pavilion and had it watched separately.
Black Stone forcibly suppressed the anxiety rising inside her.
“Then where on earth is he?”
“Something is not right. I think you should leave quickly.”
“Let’s go.”
The two of them hurriedly turned around and left.
They quickly left the inner courtyard and walked along the path leading to the outer courtyard. After passing through the central gate and walking about twenty steps, Black Stone stopped in place.
“Wait.”
“What is it?”
Thinking an enemy might have appeared, Cheol-Gyeol tensed and looked around, but there was no presence at all. The reason Black Stone had stopped was unexpected.
“Isn’t this the place we passed through earlier?”
“That can’t be.”
Black Stone pointed to a rock on one side.
“Do you see that rock?”
“Yes.”
“I saw that rock when we passed by earlier too.”
“It must be a similar one.”
“The marks on the rock are exactly the same.”
Sure enough, beside the rock, there were distinctive marks like spots on a human body.
“We came the right way, so that cannot be. Please, let us hurry.”
The two of them started walking again. After going through a small gate and walking on, this time Cheol-Gyeol was the first to stop.
In front of their eyes was the rock. It was the rock with the exact same marks as before. Even without that rock, they should already have left the inner courtyard by now.
Black Stone’s expression hardened.
“Damn it!”
Feeling that what she had thought was dawn mist until now was actually emitting a mysterious energy, Black Stone said gloomily,
“We’ve fallen into a formation.”
“Stop him!”
The desperate shouts of the men could be heard.
I was running toward Jong Hwon. It may have looked as though I was following the essence of military strategy, which says that when numerically disadvantaged, one should kill the enemy’s head first, but!
My objective was the men blocking my way. When I acted as though I was aiming for Jong Hwon, they blocked the front to protect their leader.
It was already not an easy fight even if they focused solely on killing me, so they could not afford to worry about the person behind them. That was exactly what I had aimed for.
Shik! Shik! Shik!
Puk! Puk! Puk!
Three men who stood in my way fell to my sword. Behind them, an even greater number of warriors blocked the path.
I immediately turned my body. As if I had given up on killing Jong Hwon, I rushed toward the opposite side. This time, I acted as though I was desperately fleeing.
“Catch him!”
As if I would really run away. I had merely induced their carelessness.
I cut down two more who, excited, attempted reckless attacks. They seemed to be dropping with every strike I made, but every one of them was a truly skilled fighter.
That was why I was fighting while making maximum use of psychological warfare. Even with the same level of skill, the power one shows differs depending on what state of mind one fights with.
For people like us, that small difference feels enormous.
Against an opponent who cannot focus, something that would normally take two moves can be finished in one. Conversely, against an enemy filled with resolve, something that would take one move may require three. In a fight like this, that difference is extremely large. It has a chain reaction.
Shiiik.
A sword passed quickly before my eyes. In the blade that flashed by in an instant, I clearly saw my own face.
And I also saw the enemy charging in from behind.
Whiriririk!
I hoisted the man rushing from behind onto my back and slammed him straight into the ground.
Thud!
As swordsmanship and the Immortal Crane Secret Art came together, I was truly rampaging in all directions.
There had been a time when, after gaining insight from my conversation with Number Seven in the past, I deeply pondered whether I could make two opposing Martial Arts harmonize well.
The Immortal Crane Secret Art had not yet reached full mastery, but I could be certain.
I could make them harmonize well.
It was not a question of skill, but a question of thought.
In my previous life, I definitely had prejudices regarding Martial Arts.
Only now could I understand.
Those fixed prejudices had led me not onto the path of the Heart Sword, but onto another path.
Throughout the battle, gaining large and small realizations of martial meaning, I truly moved freely in every direction. I never moved in the direction the opponents predicted.
Until now, Jong Hwon had only been watching. Perhaps inwardly, he was admiring me. And he would be trying to find my weakness.
Fine. Search all you want.
It might have looked as though I was fighting frantically, but I was dealing with them while counting their numbers precisely.
I poured all my mind into it and put my heart and blood into it.
When several more fell again, the enemies changed the way they fought.
The men who had been waiting rushed forward. There were four of them.
Shiiiiik!
Puaaak!
The moment his body was cut, something like flour burst out from him with a pop.
Hwararararak!
The others scattered something. What they scattered was poison powder.
The ones who had scattered the poison collapsed to the ground and died in maddening agony. They were, in the truest sense, a suicide squad who had filled their bodies with poison and rushed in to die together with their opponent.
From afar, Jong Hwon spoke.
“You stupid bastard. That’s why I told you we should go quietly, didn’t I?”
I brushed the poison powder off my head and body. When the me who should have been dying in agony treated the poison powder like flour, everyone’s eyes widened. For the first time, fear settled into the gazes they directed at me.
“He’s a monster.”
Black Stone, who had been wandering in search of the Gate of Life, sank down on the spot as if she wanted to rest. They still had not escaped the formation.
The formation itself was not such a frightening formation. It did not suddenly make them fall from a cliff, nor did river water surge in, nor did hidden weapons pour down. It was merely a formation that prevented them from finding the way.
But as long as they did not know the Gate of Life, they could not find the path to such an extent that fear arose, the fear that they might never escape this place.
Cheol-Gyeol stood beside her.
“This formation must be Gal Sa-Ryang’s doing.”
“I suppose so. Damn it!”
The thought that they had chosen the wrong opponent kept coming to her. She had done many things after joining the organization, but this was the first time she had felt this kind of fear.
“If that ugly bastard White Stone finds out I ended up like this, he’ll be quite pleased.”
At her words, mixed with despair, Cheol-Gyeol raised his voice.
“Why would you say such a thing?”
Black Stone looked up at Cheol-Gyeol.
“Once you reach my age, your premonitions become accurate. I don’t dream often, but when I do, the dreams are accurate too.”
“Leaving premonitions aside, did you have a bad dream?”
“No. On the contrary, I had a good dream. I didn’t know it then, but thinking about it now…”
Cheol-Gyeol was annoyed, wondering whether there was any need to say such ominous things in this situation, but he did not show it at all.
“Trust the Northern Abyss Unit. They will come to rescue us.”
“Will they really?”
To her, who was half-doubting and half-believing, Cheol-Gyeol spoke firmly.
“You know it, don’t you? The Northern Abyss Unit is invincible.”
“Unleash the Northern Abyss Sword Formation!”
Once again, the way the enemies fought changed.
The men who had been fighting in a chaotic melee gathered all at once and unfolded a sword formation.
It was the Northern Abyss Sword Formation, the pride of the Northern Abyss Unit.
A sword formation possessed its own power and energy. As expected, the Northern Abyss Formation also poured out a tremendous sharpness.
Once the sword formation unfolded, Jong Hwon regained his confidence.
“To think you made us go so far as to unfold a sword formation? This is the first time it has happened for a mere individual, so consider it an honor.”
Without speaking, I observed the movements of the sword formation. The warriors were densely gathered in the center, forming a large mass, and on both sides were smaller sword formations supporting them.
“Kill him!”
When Jong Hwon’s order fell, they pushed forward all at once. A pressure bore down on me with enough energy that an ordinary expert would have his blood and qi blocked and collapse just from this momentum alone.
I drew up my internal energy.
The Asura Underworld King Sword, realizing at last that the time had come, let out one long cry.
Jiiiing?
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