Chapter 269: Chapter 269
Facing Cheon-hwi, who was looking at them amidst the blood rain, the separate detachment members froze like stone statues.
It was a gruesome sight.
But at the same time, it was so dreamlike and overwhelming that they could not take their eyes off it.
They forgot to even breathe.
It was because they were overwhelmed by the current atmosphere.
They held their breath and only looked at Cheon-hwi for a moment.
Thud.
The bodies cut in half fell to the ground, and the falling blood rain gradually stopped.
A quiet silence flowed.
The detachment’s gaze was fixed on Cheon-hwi, showing no sign of moving.
It was understandable, as it was a surprising sight.
Even though he was clearly covered in blood rain, there was not a single trace of blood on his entire body.
It was completely like the beginning.
That meant one thing.
Protective Gangqi.
It was an amazing art that could not be used without highly profound martial arts and deep internal energy.
‘…He’s a monster.’
Ho Gwang-gae clicked his tongue.
‘I still prided myself on being quite outstanding among the rising stars, but to think I wouldn’t be able to see anything.’
He couldn’t even grasp what had happened.
He merely thought a sword light flashed, and that was it as the attackers were split in half and died.
A fast sword that had reached divine speed.
‘The difference in skill is too great.’
Ho Gwang-gae shook his head.
The Plum Blossom Divine Hero had reached a realm that he couldn’t touch no matter how hard he reached out.
‘…It wasn’t for nothing that the Sect Leader kept an eye on him.’
His eyes narrowed like slits.
The martial prowess of the Plum Blossom Divine Hero he saw in person far exceeded what he had heard and expected from rumors.
‘Ha, the Sect Leader told me to unconditionally follow the orders of the Plum Blossom Divine Hero…’
Recalling the words Dragon Pearl Beggar had earnestly requested, he bit his lip.
‘To tell us to handle it within one (fifteen minutes).’
His head throbbed.
The detachment members had already been sluggish, unable to properly break through the encirclement against the Green Forest bandits for half a shijin.
But to handle it in just fifteen minutes.
It was something close to impossible.
However, he gathered his internal energy.
An order had been given anyway, hadn’t it?
Tat!
Immediately, Ho Gwang-gae kicked off the ground.
Usually, he would have encouraged the other detachment members and led them to carry out the order together…
Right now, there was no time to delay.
He had to hurry and complete the order.
With a rushed heart, he unfolded the Beggars’ Sect’s basic footwork, Swallow Twin Flight, and dug into the Green Forest bandits who were shocked by Cheon-hwi’s divine might.
And he thrust his palm.
The Hundred Knots Divine Palm accurately struck the chest of a blank-faced Green Forest bandit.
Crack!
“Keok!”
At the strike of the Hundred Knots Divine Palm containing the internal energy of the Hundred Knots Art, the Green Forest bandit’s chest bone caved in, and he vomited dark blood from his mouth.
‘I have to handle it quickly!’
Feeling pressured by the time designated by Cheon-hwi, and immersed in the atmosphere and the scent of blood stimulating the tip of his nose at that moment, he did not hold back his hands.
“Cho Sam!”
“This beggar bastard!”
When their colleague died, the belatedly awakened Green Forest bandits rushed at Ho Gwang-gae.
They exuded killing intent.
A terrible killing intent that would have flustered him if it were before.
However, for some reason, Ho Gwang-gae felt that the killing intent they were emitting was weak.
‘Is it because of what happened just now?’
Ho Gwang-gae let out a hollow laugh.
It wasn’t that their killing intent had weakened.
Having experienced Cheon-hwi’s intense presence, the Green Forest bandits’ murderous intent merely failed to stimulate him, feeling infinitely weak to him now.
Laughing once at the attacks of the Green Forest bandits, which had a different level of pressure, Ho Gwang-gae stomped his foot.
Thump!
And he began to show off the martial arts that he hadn’t been able to unfold earlier.
Hundred Knots Divine Palm, Rotation Fist, and so on.
“Keok!”
With every single martial art he unfolded, the Green Forest bandits fell backward and lost their lives.
As Ho Gwang-gae showed his active performance like that.
Squeeze…
The detachment members, who had been stiff in awkward postures, looked at each other as if reading the room, and soon roughly kicked off the ground.
“Phew.”
Im Ha Yul, who had been shocked, also took a deep breath in and out to get a grip on herself, gripping her sword with a trembling hand.
Her injured hand still hurt.
But she endured the pain.
It was an opportunity she didn’t know when would come again.
However, she couldn’t miss this as it was.
She gathered all her remaining internal energy and rushed at the Green Forest bandits.
‘I have to show an active performance.’
As Im Ha Yul, who had made a firm resolution, ran towards the battlefield lastly.
Tak.
Cheon-hwi, who was watching in silence, sheathed Hwawol.
Then, he watched the detachment members rushing like they were going to die against the Green Forest bandits, and showed a satisfied expression.
“At least this is a bit better.”
Was it because of the time pressure and the impatient mind that they had to perform actively?
Their appearances, which had been hesitating until earlier, gradually changed.
Swiftly, concisely without superfluity.
Of course, there were still many things lacking.
Still, compared to the sight of them being helplessly beaten a little while ago, it was much better.
At that time.
“…Perhaps this is also a test?”
A voice was heard from the side.
Turning his gaze, Danli Gwan-cheon was looking at Cheon-hwi while clutching his side.
His face was distorted as if the pain was still severe, but his eyes looking at Cheon-hwi shone brightly.
Cheon-hwi faced him and smiled.
“Why do you think so?”
“It seems like you intentionally created that atmosphere and gave time pressure…”
Danli Gwan-cheon spoke carefully.
Cheon-hwi liked that answer.
Asking that meant that he was grasping the situation even amidst all this.
The corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth slowly twisted.
“As expected, you have good wits.”
It was as Danli Gwan-cheon had said.
He deliberately leaked an intense presence to pressure them and drove them mentally.
That wasn’t all.
The thick scent of blood tickling the tips of their noses would have stimulated them, and the slaughtered corpses would have shaken their hearts, as they were greenhouse flowers.
“That’s right.”
Answering coolly while looking around the battlefield, Cheon-hwi scanned the detachment members one by one.
“This is a test.”
At the abrupt answer, Danli Gwan-cheon was about to ask more, but silently shook his head.
After that, he shifted his gaze following Cheon-hwi and looked at the detachment members.
‘They seem like different people.’
Before they knew it, the momentum of the detachment members had clearly changed from before.
And what changed them like that was none other than Cheon-hwi’s presence.
‘It was a terrible pressure.’
He recalled the scene from a little while ago.
Just looking at Cheon-hwi’s appearance staring at the members in the blood rain was breathtaking.
Bizarre, dreamlike…
It was a sight hard to express in words.
And that intense atmosphere seized the detachment at once.
‘So the rumors didn’t spread for nothing.’
His pupils wavered greatly.
Danli Gwan-cheon was a skilled person who could easily enter any of the Three Squads and Four Units.
However, he purposely chose the separate detachment.
It was to personally verify the one called the Plum Blossom Divine Hero who wielded a great reputation.
And he felt it to his bones.
The rumors were not exaggerated.
Rather, after experiencing it himself, he felt that they were underestimated.
It was then.
“By the way, when are you going?”
Cheon-hwi said while looking at Danli Gwan-cheon.
“Now that your body is fine too.”
At those words, Danli Gwan-cheon furrowed his eyebrows.
His body had gotten better, but his internal injuries were still the same.
“My internal injuries are still…”
“Yes? So you’re going to rest?”
Cheon-hwi spoke as if it was absurd.
“If you say you suffered internal injuries, do you think the enemy will say, ‘Oh my, you’re internally injured, so I shouldn’t touch you,’ and just let you off?”
“…”
Danli Gwan-cheon closed his mouth.
It was an irrefutable remark.
Looking down at Danli Gwan-cheon who kept his mouth shut tightly, Cheon-hwi moved his lips again.
“There’s no time, so go quickly.”
Accepting it, Danli Gwan-cheon moved his feet.
Soon left alone, Cheon-hwi crossed his arms and watched the war situation.
Was it thanks to Danli Gwan-cheon joining the fight?
“Seryudo Young Hero!”
“If the Young Hero helps…”
The momentum of the detachment rose even more.
On the other hand, the momentum of the Green Forest bandits continued to fall as if plummeting to the ground.
If it was natural, it was natural.
The fact that Danli Gwan-cheon was here meant that the Red Tiger Stronghold Leader had been defeated.
“At this rate, it will end soon.”
Cheon-hwi muttered softly.
In a fight and war that separated life and death, momentum was bound to have a great influence.
And as if proving that, the war situation was leaning now.
Very steeply.
“It’s a pity, but since it’s the first time, it would be good to let it slide at this level.”
* * *
The promised fifteen minutes passed.
Cheon-hwi, with his arms crossed, looked at the detachment members who were inhaling and exhaling heavily.
Their appearances were miserable.
Their entire bodies were full of stab wounds, and the shock that had not yet faded remained on their faces.
“Hmm, it was a close call, but.”
Along with his words, Cheon-hwi looked around.
Half of the Green Forest bandits had become corpses, and the remaining half were tied up.
When Danli Gwan-cheon joined the fight, the Green Forest bandits, who were already intuiting defeat, lost their will to fight and declared surrender.
“Anyway, it is true that you swept them out, so I’ll let it pass.”
The detachment members swept their chests in relief.
“Is it over.”
“Thank goodness.”
Cheon-hwi looked at them rejoicing in relief and wore a faint sneer.
“More than that, how is it now that you’ve properly experienced a real battle?”
The detachment members’ expressions stiffened.
The real battle had given them a great shock.
The attacks of the Green Forest bandits rushing in while exuding murderous intent were fierce, and overwhelmed by it, they couldn’t even properly unfold their martial arts at the beginning and were only pushed back.
Even though there was a difference in skill.
If Danli Gwan-cheon hadn’t joined, they couldn’t even predict victory.
Cheon-hwi kept his eyes on them as they bit their lips in silence, and added his words.
“From now on, you will often experience real battles like this. No, this would rather be mild. The enemies you meet next time will be different from a motley crew like these.”
Red Tiger Stronghold was an isolated stronghold even within the Green Forest.
Its caliber was different from the sects of the Four Black Alliances that they would meet on the front lines from now on.
“Fortunately, everyone survived luckily today, but if you hold back your hands like today in the next mission, probably a few people here might die.”
It was a low voice.
But the detachment members listening to it swallowed dry saliva as one.
A real battle was completely different from the training they had done so far.
Even if one had high martial prowess, showing a gap or getting flustered would result in unavoidable death; that was exactly what a real battle was.
You have to kill before you get killed.
Having experienced that with their whole bodies, they bit their lips and looked up at Cheon-hwi.
“Is there anyone who wants to quit even now by any chance?”
“…”
In the middle, a few eyes wavered slightly, but no one spoke until the end.
“Huh? That’s unexpected. I thought at least one person would say they’d quit.”
“Haha, the Squad Leader is too much.”
Ho Gwang-gae, who seemed exhausted from pouring all his strength into the bloody battle, laughed weakly.
“We’ve already carried out a mission, so there’s no way we’d quit. Isn’t that right, everyone?”
Seeing the detachment members nodding their heads in agreement with those words, Cheon-hwi shrugged his shoulders.
“Then I’ll consider everyone is joining.”
When everyone nodded at those words.
“Then keep just one thing in mind.”
Cheon-hwi spoke coldly.
“What I need is detachment members who are immediately useful. Not burdens like today.”
“…!”
At those words, the detachment members flinched.
In other words, it meant to do it properly next time so as not to become burdens.
Cheon-hwi looked at them, who had tense faces as if they understood his words, and soon nodded his head.
“Then since everyone seems to have understood, clean up here and return… Oh right.”
Cheon-hwi, who was speaking softly, was about to turn his body when he said ‘Ah’ and moved his lips.
“Come to think of it, it’s awkward to keep calling you the separate detachment, so let’s make a name.”
At those words, everyone’s eyes shone.
To have a unit name decided after being continuously called just the separate detachment, they felt like they finally had a proper affiliation.
“Sounds good.”
“That’s great.”
Nodding his head at the answers coming from here and there, Cheon-hwi opened his mouth again.
“What kind of name would be good?”
“How about Sinhyup Squad, taking after the Squad Leader’s title?”
“Um, how about Muhyup Squad…”
Names poured out from here and there.
Listening to all those names, Cheon-hwi wore an expression showing he didn’t like them.
At that time, Im Ha Yul spoke carefully.
“How about the Extermination Unit?”
At the somewhat radical name, everyone stared at Im Ha Yul with quite surprised eyes.
“T-that’s in the sense of exterminating the Unorthodox Faction this time…”
When Im Ha Yul trailed off her sentence under the suddenly focused gazes and laughed awkwardly.
“Extermination…”
Cheon-hwi grinned.
“That’s good. Let’s go with the Extermination Unit.”