The first thing I felt was confusion.
“Set out?”
Gwak Jun answered.
“Yes. Our side needs to get moving too, or we won’t make it in time.”
At those cryptic words, Hyuk Mujin stepped forward.
“You there, from the Samdo Sect. You seem to have the wrong idea. Our mission is to wait here in the rear with the Young Master.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Gwak Jun’s eyes went round. At his reaction, the reconnaissance-squad members nodded with looks that said, That figures.
“Looks like I had it wrong.”
“It happens. Sure it does.”
But I thought otherwise.
What do you mean, it happens?
There were twenty Samdo Sect martial artists left in the rear. Gwak Jun was their leader.
Would a guy like that mix up his orders?
He was unpleasant, no question, but he didn’t look that stupid.
Dread crept over me.
“That’s a problem. The mission I received is a little different.”
“How is it different?”
As I spoke, I pressed down firmly on Hyuk Mujin’s foot. He horsed around dozens of times a day, but he wasn’t an idiot. His eyes widened as he caught my signal.
“Captain, please move your foot. It hurts.”
“…”
For fuck’s sake.
Gwak Jun’s mouth curled as he watched me stare in disbelief.
“You catch on fast. Or are your subordinates just idiots? Well, anyway. I’ll tell you exactly what that person said.”
The smile vanished from Gwak Jun’s face. With the cold, emotionless gaze of a killer, he continued.
“Eliminate everyone and join the main force.”
Clang-clang-clang!
The instant the words left his mouth, dozens of sword flashes shot into the air. Killing intent and tension hung between the twenty martial artists Gwak Jun led and the reconnaissance-squad members, who drew their swords half a beat later.
“Have you bastards lost your minds…?”
Hyuk Mujin ground his teeth and glared at them.
“You dare betray our family? Are you that desperate to die?”
“Betray? Die? You’re badly mistaken.”
A sneer tugged at Gwak Jun’s mouth.
“We never betrayed anyone, and we aren’t going to die. Least of all to trash like you.”
“You son of a—!”
Hyuk Mujin’s eyes went wild as he threw himself at Gwak Jun.
Or tried to.
“Stay put.”
“Captain?”
Hyuk Mujin’s eyes flew wide.
“They’re the Samdo Sect! They’re nothing but Second Rate sect husks! Let us smash them right now and—”
“No.”
“What?”
“They’re not dregs.”
Their sharp aura and murderous eyes were nothing like those of the ordinary martial artists I’d seen from small and mid-sized sects. The System turned my suspicion into certainty.
System
Lv.30
That was their average Level according to Qi Sense.
Every last one of them was a First Rate martial artist. Damn it. I’d spent three days with these people and hadn’t noticed a thing.
I’d been too fixated on Logout.
That was what I got for letting my guard down. I bit my lip and looked at them—or, more precisely, at the thick grass behind them.
The movement had been extremely faint, but it couldn’t escape my eyes.
Someone’s hiding there.
They were outside the range of Qi Sense, so I couldn’t confirm it, but my instincts told me I was right. Spies, and an ambush on top of that. Thorough bastards.
“You lot. Who are you really?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Where is the real Samdo Sect?”
The Samdo Sect was only a small or mid-sized sect. As Hyuk Mujin had said, they were Second Rate husks. People like these couldn’t have been whipped up overnight.
Don’t tell me.
“Did you come from the Mount Heng Sword Sect?”
Gwak Jun let out a short laugh.
“The Mount Heng Sword Sect? Well, I suppose you could think that.”
Damn it. A third faction.
Logout was right in front of me, and this had to happen now…
Shit. Just my fucking luck.
I was scared shitless. The more I shrank back, the more triumphant Gwak Jun became.
“It’s too late for regrets. The grand plan was set in motion long ago.”
“Urgh.”
Gwak Jun declared in a voice brimming with delight,
“Today… Shanxi Murim will welcome a new master.”
Ding.
System
— A Quest has been created.
Quest
Slay the Assassins
Someone who has long awaited the right moment has made their move. First, defeat the assassins sent by the traitor!
Grade: Peak
Restriction: Jin Taekyung
Objective: Slay the Assassins (0/20)
Reward: EXP and Fame
Chain Quest
Failure: Death
I blinked. Had I misread the Quest Window?
Twenty?
Why twenty? There were enemies lying in ambush back there too.
Just as the question occurred to me, the grass shook. The ambushers charged toward us with a battle cry.
“Kweeeek!”
That was a strange battle cry. No, wait. Wasn’t that an animal?
As I stood there blankly, an alert rang in my ears to announce that Qi Sense had activated.
System
Lv.1 Water Deer
What the hell?
“Water deer?”
A herd of water deer brushed past us and vanished beyond the hill. A sudden appearance. A quick exit.
Gwak Jun drew his sword with an oddly deflated look on his face.
“Attack!”
The twenty enemies approached slowly. Still reeling from the water deer, I called to Hyuk Mujin.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“They’re all First Rate, you know?”
“What? Really?”
Hyuk Mujin jumped.
“Yeah. You know Lee Seogeun, the second son of the Mount Heng Sword Sect? Imagine twenty of him.”
“Twenty Lee Seogeuns?”
His reaction was strange. Hyuk Mujin thought it over for a moment, then tossed out a single remark.
“They’re all going to die, aren’t they?”
Gwak Jun thought,
This isn’t how it was supposed to go.
His gaze was locked on one man. Jin Taekyung, the Third Young Master of the Jin Family of Taiyuan, known as a Supreme First Rate martial artist.
Every time his spear moved, blood spurted and Gwak Jun’s men fell.
Even if they weathered one blow, the second or third always finished them. Every one of them was a First Rate martial artist trained for at least ten years.
What the hell is he?
He was clearly a spearman, but he didn’t care whether the gap closed or not. Whenever it looked like there wasn’t even room to swing the spear, daggers and axes popped out from somewhere and stabbed and jabbed at anything in reach.
It put an acrobat troupe’s tricks to shame.
Where the hell are all those weapons coming from?
He hadn’t even seen them appear. He had no idea what kind of technique it was. This wasn’t a matter of martial arts or internal energy.
Jin Taekyung himself was simply strong.
The information was wrong.
Twenty men weren’t nearly enough. They should have brought twice that number. According to the information Gwak Jun had received, Jin Taekyung was nothing more and nothing less than a lucky greenhorn.
And what the hell are those men?
The nine said to be Jin Taekyung’s subordinates advanced slowly with their backs to one another, paying no attention to what their leader was doing up ahead. Individually, their skills were sorely lacking, but together, they formed an iron wall.
Thud. Crack!
“Gaaah!”
“Stab them! Stab them!”
“Come in! Come in!”
Gwak Jun’s lips trembled.
They had no honor as martial artists. In the middle of this melee they piled on three or four at a time and hacked away, and even his First Rate subordinates couldn’t avoid ending up as meat on a skewer.
“You bastards…!”
Anger drove out his fear of Jin Taekyung. Just as Gwak Jun, beside himself with fury, was about to hurl himself into the fight—
Whoooosh—
A violent gale erupted at the center of the battlefield.
Jin Taekyung’s spear tore through the wind and shattered the swords. Hundreds of sword fragments rode the gale and swept forward, tearing into the owners of those swords and anyone else who failed to react in time.
Pupupupupup!
“…Urk.”
Thud.
A martial artist with sword fragments buried all over his body pitched forward. Of the ten or so men caught in One Annihilation, he was the only one who managed even that much of a sound.
“…!”
Someone swallowed hard, their throat bobbing.
For that moment, friend and foe alike fell silent. No one dared even think of raising a sword to fight.
One person was the exception, of course.
“One Annihilation. This thing is awesome.”
The instant Gwak Jun heard that mutter, he gave up on everything.
It’s all over.
Even if the grand plan succeeded, he had failed. All that remained was the meaningless choice between dying to Jin Taekyung and dying to that person.
I have to run. Far away, somewhere no one can find me.
But Gwak Jun never got the chance to leave in search of a second life. Just as he turned, a savage voice stopped him.
“Stay right there if you don’t want to die very painfully.”
Jin Taekyung added in a slightly gentler voice,
“If you answer well, I’ll kill you gently.”
Gwak Jun’s face went white.
Crunch!
“Ghk.”
I felt it.
Two or three ribs had probably broken, and the wind had been knocked clean out of him.
He held up pretty well for a Level 40, but that was his limit.
“I told you not to run.”
“If I were him, I would’ve run too.”
Covered in blood and dust, Hyuk Mujin stared at me like I was some kind of beast.
“If you’re going to tell him you’ll kill him gently, you might as well say you’ll coat your spearhead with Golden Sore Medicine1 before you stab him.”
“Want me to stab you?”
“Now that I think about it, you’re right. A blade hurts less if it hits you gently, doesn’t it? So I suppose you can die gently. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.”
I smacked him once on the back of the head, then hauled Gwak Jun to his feet.
“Let’s try this again. Who are you?”
Ptooey.
I easily dodged the bloody phlegm. With a high Agility stat, you could even avoid spit flying at you from point-blank range.
That was a useful life hack.
Of course, I had a useful life hack for Gwak Jun too. For example:
“If you get hit in the solar plexus while your ribs are broken, it hurts a lot.”
Thump.
“Gaaaaah!”
“So? Your answer?”
“S-Samdo Sect.”
When I raised my fist again, Gwak Jun shouted,
“The Samdo Sect! We really are the Samdo Sect! I’m telling you the truth!”
Hyuk Mujin frowned.
“He’s lying. The Samdo Sect was founded thirty years ago. In truth, it’s closer to a martial arts school than a sect. They’re highly respected for taking in wandering orphans and teaching them.”
“So?”
“Couldn’t these bastards have killed all the Samdo Sect’s disciples and taken their places?”
“Taken their places? Pfft.”
A deflating sound escaped Gwak Jun’s mouth. He was laughing.
“You still don’t understand? The Samdo Sect was founded according to that person’s will. As if any of you could have guessed at a grand plan thirty years in the making. Heh heh.”
“Thirty years?”
It was an unimaginably long time. Only a handful of people could have lain low for that many years while plotting to seize Shanxi Province.
Only one person came to mind.
The Head Elder?
Why would he do such a thing?
The Head Elder was the one who had pulled Jin Wikyung to his feet while he blamed himself before the children’s bodies. He was also the one who had halted every political maneuver and actively cooperated.
Thanks to him, the Jin Family of Taiyuan had united and made it this far…
Wait.
My head spun.
Could it be?
“Hyuk Mujin. How many martial artists are there from the small and mid-sized sects that recently joined us?”
“If you add the Samdo Sect and the Gunggui Sect together, well over a hundred.”
“And under the Head Elder?”
“If you mean the Head Elder’s faction, probably close to half the main force… Ah!”
Hyuk Mujin and the reconnaissance-squad members gaped as they grasped the situation.
If my guess was right and the Head Elder was a traitor, everything fit.
Helping Jin Wikyung had been nothing more than preparation for today.
So he could take everything in a single battle.
He had helped Jin Wikyung and united the family’s strength for this very day.
Suddenly, I remembered what Gwak Jun had said before the fight.
That one line about Shanxi Province getting a new master. It no longer sounded like nonsense.
The main force is in danger.
I had to tell Jin Wikyung.
“We’re moving out. Right now!”
I shouted and was about to turn.
“Already too late.”
Gwak Jun grinned, baring his bloodstained teeth.
“Too late for me, too late for you bastards, and too late for the Jin Family of Taiyuan and the Mount Heng Sword Sect. The grand plan has already begun.”
At the same time, blood gushed out. From his eyes, nose, and mouth—from every opening.
Gwak Jun’s head slowly drooped.
Hyuk Mujin spoke with a sickened look on his face.
“He severed his own heart meridian.2”
Gwak Jun’s death meant one thing.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
System
— Defeated Lv.40 Gwak Jun!
— Slay the Assassins (20/20)
— Quest Slay the Assassins complete!
— Level up!
— Fame increases by 50!
Quest complete, a level-up, and a Fame increase.
After all those notifications, a single message appeared.
System
— All conditions for Logout have been met.
— Logging out in 3 seconds. 3, 2…
Strength drained from my whole body. It felt as if I were floating.
Hyuk Mujin caught me, his face filled with alarm.
“Captain!”
His voice crackled with static. My vision blurred, and my body slipped beyond my control.
Not now. Not like this…
Of all times.
And then—
System
— 1.
Darkness crashed in.
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