The battlefield descended into chaos. At the signal, two hundred martial artists suddenly turned and swarmed in every direction like a pack of wolves.
“Kill them all!”
“Aaaaargh!”
They weren’t quite on the level of Gwak Jun and the assassins we’d fought earlier, but they radiated an aura like well-honed blades.
The Jin Family of Taiyuan and the Mount Heng Sword Sect. If the martial artists of both factions joined forces, we’d have a real chance—but right now, that looked difficult.
This is bad.
Worst case, I might have to pull Jin Wikyung out and run.
I was thinking that when the reconnaissance squad arrived behind me, breathing hard.
“Captain, maybe we can—huff!”
The moment they saw what was happening in front of them, their eyes nearly popped out. Hyuk Mujin, who came crawling up behind them, gaped as well.
“Bweeegh!”
“…So that was it.”
It must have been rough. After a fast, heavy burst of vomiting, Hyuk looked half-dead as he spoke.
“I think this is as far as I go.”
Anyone looking at him might have taken him for a wounded soldier who’d been stabbed while fighting bravely.
I gripped his shoulder hard.
“Mujin. You can do this.”
“No. I’m finished. I’ll only be a burden if I go.”
“A burden? You’re an excellent meat shie—”
“Excuse me?”
“Shield! You’re the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s shield!”
“I could have sworn you said meat shield.”
Ignoring Hyuk’s suspicious muttering, I hauled him to his feet. Right now, even a meat shield—no, a single extra hand—was precious.
Besides, apart from me, Hyuk was the strongest meat shield in the reconnaissance squad. Damn, it kept slipping out.
I deliberately lowered my voice.
“Our family is in danger, and you’re saying you want to run?”
If it had been me, I would have run.
“No, sir!”
A twenty-first-century office worker would have spat in your face and walked away even if you promised to file it as a workplace injury, but the reconnaissance squad was more loyal than I’d expected. Hyuk drew his sword, his face pale.
“Very well. If a martial artist has to die, he should die fighting.”
“That’s a fine resolve, but don’t die.”
“You just called me a meat shield.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“Yes.”
Hyuk’s answer was as sharp as a blade, and quiet laughter spread through the reconnaissance squad. The tension in my body, frozen by my first large-scale battle, eased a little.
I grinned and tightened my grip on my spear.
“Eyes wide, ears open. Follow my orders, and you’ll make it back alive.”
That was a vow I was making to myself. I would get these guys out alive somehow.
Please don’t die.
I didn’t know how this war would end, or who would live and who would die.
All I could do was give it everything I had.
“Let’s go.”
At that, we charged forward like a gale. We were an arrow with me at the tip, and our target had already been chosen.
The Head Elder.
Clear in the distance, I could see a white-haired old man. At his feet lay a fallen man surrounded by a pool of blood.
A ball of fire surged up from my gut.
“That’s my brother…”
I pulled a spear from where it had been driven into someone’s corpse like a gravestone. Then, in the next instant—
“Get your hands off him, you bastard!”
The spear shot straight ahead, devouring the hundreds of feet between us.
Someone in the reconnaissance squad let out a muffled cry.
“We got him!”
That was when the Head Elder’s sword moved.
Shuk.
A streak of light. The spear split in half and bounced away to either side.
Same result as before. But this time, we’d closed the distance considerably, so I saw it clearly.
The blue flash that surged along his blade for an instant.
Aura?
No. Why was that showing up here?
Aura.
A crystallization of mana that only an A-rank Hunter or higher could draw out.
Mana and internal energy were different only in name. Both were forms of qi. And since this was Murim, that made it Sword Energy.
Sword Energy.
Heh heh heh.
Fuck. Are you kidding me?
I’d known for a long time that the Head Elder was a master. I’d even been prepared to fight him if it came to that. The problem was that a Head Elder who could use Sword Energy hadn’t been part of the plan.
This is a bit much.
I glanced aside and saw more than ten pairs of trembling eyes.
Hyuk Mujin’s were practically undergoing an earthquake.
“C-Captain.”
“Y-Yeah?”
“That just now… looked like Sword Energy.”
“Yeah…”
“Can you use Sword Energy too?”
“If I could, I would’ve used it already. Even Jopil wasn’t at that level.”
“Right?”
“Right. But aren’t you exhausted?”
“I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
As if we’d agreed on it, we slowed down. We’d gone from the hundred-meter dash1 to race walking, but it still felt like we were walking into a lion’s jaws.
“Uh, Captain.”
Hyuk spoke with every trace of color drained from his face. Judging by his complexion alone, he could have passed for a white man.
“Are you sure the Head Elder betrayed us?”
“I’m sure.”
“Could it possibly be a misunderstanding—”
Before he could finish, three or four black-clad men charged at us with a shout.
“Protect our lord!”
“For the Head Elder!”
Get a load of those lines. They’d work perfectly as a toast at a Jin Family of Taiyuan year-end party.
I cut down every last black-clad man charging us, then looked at Hyuk.
“Uh, what were you about to say?”
“…Nothing.”
Having failed to win the argument in his own head, Hyuk hung his head with a grim expression.
But only for a moment. Step by step, the closer we drew to the Head Elder, the more desperately he searched for a way out.
“Why do people have to fight?”
Is this bastard aiming for the Nobel Peace Prize?
“You said earlier you’d fight and die. Like a martial artist.”
“That was the worst-case scenario. Wouldn’t it be better to settle this with a conversation?”
“Talking would be nice. But they sent assassins after us first.”
“Oh.”
“And I threw a spear.”
“Ah.”
“And I cursed while throwing it.”
“Ah—ahhh.”
By the time we were within about a hundred feet of the Head Elder, Hyuk’s face looked like death. The other reconnaissance squad members didn’t say anything, but I could see them trembling.
Of course, I wasn’t much different. Just thinking about Sword Energy made my heart pound.
I’m well and truly screwed.
But I had no intention of running. If I had, I never would have come back in the first place. I would have been content with reality and simply kept living there.
I’d already come too far. There was only one path left.
“Stop.”
Everyone halted as if they’d been waiting for it. Hyuk’s face said he was hoping for a dramatic peace treaty, but I gripped my spear and stepped forward.
“W-Where are you going?”
“To fight. You wait here.”
“Are you insane? We’d be better off waiting for the Lesser Family Head and attacking together—”
“See the person lying over there?”
“Y-Yes.”
“That’s my brother.”
Hyuk stared at me as though the sky had fallen, then let out a deep sigh.
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“What?”
“Even a meat shield like me should bump our odds up by a hair, shouldn’t it?”
This guy actually came up with some admirable thoughts.
I snorted a laugh and turned away.
“You trying to get yourself killed? I’m just going to feel him out and come back. Wait here.”
The Head Elder was now barely thirty feet away.
A distance either of us could cross in an instant.
A heavy silence pressed down on the space between us. In those few moments, my palms grew damp.
Phew.
But I wasn’t an easy mark either. At Level 30, when I was only Second Rate, I’d already defeated Jopil, a Peak master. And I’d continued to improve after returning to reality.
Now that I was Level 40, I could proudly call myself a master capable of holding his own in either reality or Murim.
No. I was a master.
If I keep as much distance between us as possible…
In a fight where a few centimeters2 could decide life or death, a spear’s reach was a massive advantage.
I watched the Head Elder’s face and steadied my breathing.
This is doable.
I drew up my internal energy in a single burst and charged. Ten feet—the range where my spearhead could reach the Head Elder, while his sword couldn’t reach me.
Now!
I brought the spearhead down toward the crown of his head.
At the same time, the System notification I’d been waiting for rang out.
Ding.
System
- The effect of the Title Gambler is applied.
- Strength temporarily increases.
- Agility temporarily increases.
- Stamina temporarily…
The effect of the Gambler Title, which raised combat-related stats by ten percent in a one-on-one duel, seeped into every part of my body.
And on top of that—
Whoosh!
The increase in my stats accelerated the attack as well. The spearhead came down like a bolt of light, aimed at the crown of the Head Elder’s head.
This is going in.
I was certain.
Even a monster like Jopil wouldn’t have been able to dodge it. But the man I was facing wasn’t Jopil.
He was the Head Elder.
Boom!
The spear shaft shuddered with a thunderous crash. The Head Elder had blocked the spear with a movement too fast for me to see, and now he smiled faintly.
“Not bad. Better than I expected.”
Without even time to answer, I wrung out every last ounce of strength. The spear, loaded with tremendous force that even a decent master would have struggled to endure, crushed down on his sword.
Grrrkk.
With an ugly grinding sound, his sword slowly began to rise…
No. Wait.
It should be going down. Why is it coming up?
I’d put that much force into it, yet I was the one being pushed back. At my dumbfounded expression, the Head Elder’s smile deepened.
“You tried, but did you think that would be enough?”
The next instant, every hair on my body stood on end.
Tsssss.
A blue haze bloomed along the blade.
Sword Energy.
Before I could even react, the spearhead that had been slowly getting pushed back was sliced off like tofu.
Shing.
Now it wasn’t a spear but a staff. A long staff.
Sword Energy flashed again toward me as I backed away.
Shing.
The long staff became a short staff.
Shing.
“…”
Fuck. Even nunchucks would be longer than this.
I hurled the iron rod—no longer a spear or even a staff—at the Head Elder.
Shing.
“Do you intend to run?”
Run? What a hurtful thing to say.
I’d already thrown myself sideways the instant I released the rod. I grabbed the collar of the man lying facedown as though dead.
Got him!
My only goal from the start had been to rescue Jin Wikyung.
Now that I’d accomplished it, there was no reason to fight that monstrous old man. I clutched Jin Wikyung to me and launched myself away with all my strength.
Whoosh—boom!
The Sword Energy that came a beat later split the ground.
Hyuk Mujin and the reconnaissance squad surrounded us as we escaped the Head Elder’s range by a hair.
“Protect the Captain!”
“Are you all right?”
I said nothing. I forgot that we had to flee from the Head Elder immediately. I even forgot that we were standing in the middle of a battlefield.
My mind was consumed by a single question.
Who is this man?
I’d definitely rescued Jin Wikyung. I was supposed to have rescued him…
So who was this macho-looking middle-aged man in my arms?
His face was covered in blade scars, and his eyes were bloodshot. In a trembling voice, I asked,
“Excuse me, but who are you…?”
At that moment, Hyuk Mujin let out a startled cry.
“Gah! Lee Cheonbaek!”
Lee Cheonbaek? The name rang a bell.
“You know him?”
“Of course I do!”
“Are you close?”
“What kind of bullshit is that? That’s Blood Wolf Sword Lee Cheonbaek!”
“Blood Wolf Sword?”
“Yes! That Blood Wolf Sword…!”
“Cool alias. Sounds like a master.”
Hyuk tore at his hair and shouted,
“He’s the Sect Leader of the Mount Heng Sword Sect! Blood Wolf Sword Lee Cheonbaek!”
“…!”
I scrambled backward.
This man was Lee Cheonbaek?
Cold sweat ran down my back.
He’s Lee Seogeun’s father.
He was the man who’d started a war because he thought I’d poisoned his son. He was also a cold-blooded killer who’d slaughtered adults and children alike in revenge.
As if rescuing the wrong man wasn’t bad enough, I nearly got stabbed for it.
But Lee Cheonbaek no longer seemed to have the strength left for that.
His whole body was covered in blood, and he couldn’t so much as twitch a hand. It looked like he’d suffered a serious Internal Injury or been subjected to a Pressure-Point Strike.
Still, at least it isn’t Jin Wikyung.
As if he’d read my mind, Hyuk asked,
“Then where is the Lesser Family Head?”
“I don’t know. And…”
I hurriedly yanked him back by the nape of his neck. A sword flew in and buried itself where Hyuk’s foot had been a moment earlier.
I’m really well and truly screwed.
I let out a deep sigh, then continued.
“You think that old man is going to let us go?”
The Head Elder burst into a hearty laugh.
“Ha ha ha! Have you ever seen such an insolent brat!”
“If I behave politely, will you let us go?”
“Don’t you think you’ve come too far for that?”
Tsssss.
Sword Energy surged up.
No more words were needed.
I pulled a spear stuck among the corpses. Then, with everyone’s eyes on me, I spoke.
“Encircling formation. Spread out.”
One of the oldest Hunter sayings went like this:
There are strong monsters, but no monster that can’t be taken down.
What made that possible was a raid.
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