Chapter 108: The Sea of Death (4)
Dash!
The moment Maeng Cheol-yong’s black spear was drawn back to its fullest, Jang I-seo hurled his body sideways.
“Hm?!”
It was the precise moment when the flow of internal energy made it impossible to withdraw the technique, and he had slipped away with perfect timing.
Maeng Cheol-yong’s eyes went wide. He had never imagined the man would catch the exact instant of activation and dodge.
‘Was it luck? Or did he read it?’
Either way, he was deeply startled inwardly.
Meanwhile, Jang I-seo had shifted his body five paces to the side.
‘That’s enough!’
At this distance, he was certain he could evade it. Confident in his own safety, he swallowed a breath of relief.
However,
“How foolish.”
“Hm?!”
KWAGWAGWAGWAGWA!
Along with the god of death’s warning, the whirlwind erupted from the spear tip. Jang I-seo gasped as he watched it. And he cursed himself.
Why had he assumed Maeng Cheol-yong and Maeng Hwi were the same?
If Maeng Hwi’s whirlwind was a snake, Maeng Cheol-yong’s was a dragon.
A dragon massive enough to tear the world apart!
Five paces was never going to be enough. He should have moved at least twenty.
‘I can’t dodge this.’
Even with the Thunder Circulation Method, a fatal wound was unavoidable. A true life-or-death crisis had descended.
But at that moment.
「This settles the debt from earlier.」
Along with a familiar voice, a massive shadow loomed over Jang I-seo. A man on horseback landed with an imposing THUD! and blocked the path directly ahead.
“Gwa-pyeong…?!”
It was him. He looked at Jang I-seo and smirked.
And.
KWAGWAGWAGWA! The massive whirlwind swallowed both him and his horse whole.
“Gwa-pyeoooooong!”
Jang I-seo’s cry was in vain. The storm ruthlessly ravaged the area as it passed.
A moment later.
A quiet silence flowed. Left behind were Gwa-pyeong, battered and drenched in blood, collapsed on the ground, and Jang I-seo standing blankly before him.
“…So it was true. You joined hands with bandits.”
Maeng Cheol-yong looked down at him with contempt.
When he had thought the man was a nobody, the fact that his son had been duped by such trash had made him angry.
But now, learning that someone this promising had colluded with mere bandits, he was enraged.
Look at him now.
A single bandit had fallen, and those once upright, steadfast eyes were shaking like reeds.
Being swayed by such useless sentiment was the very mindset the Third Elder Maeng Cheol-yong despised most.
FWEEE!
Had one quarter-shi already passed? The wind howled once more, and yellow sand gradually began filling their vision.
Maeng Cheol-yong walked toward the slowly closing gates of the Nine Dragon Fortress with measured steps and commanded his subordinates.
“Take him to the Flying Dragon Hall Master.”
“Yes!”
The Maeng Armor Ghost Horse Cavalry closed in from all sides, encircling Jang I-seo.
Maeng Cheol-yong continued forward without looking back.
A far more capable talent than he had expected. But that was all. Rare, but not nonexistent. At best, a prodigy who had reached the initial stage of the absolute realm at a young age.
‘Blame your own foolish actions.’
Maeng Cheol-yong cleanly severed any regret over losing a talent of the cult.
That man was finished.
Every member of the Maeng Armor Ghost Horse Cavalry was a warrior at the tail end of the first-rate realm. Moreover, when it came to group combat and multi-opponent battles, they could be called the finest.
So while Jang I-seo might manage one-on-one, he couldn’t handle his subordinates alone.
Especially not with his spirit broken like this.
However.
BZZZT!
Along with a sound like a lightning strike from behind.
“Kuaagh!”
“Kuhek!”
Incomprehensible screams began reaching Maeng Cheol-yong’s ears.
Jang I-seo was clearly alone, so why were there multiple voices?
His brow furrowed, and the moment he slowly turned.
Flash!
Black light erupted from among the dozens of cavalrymen, and his subordinates fell one after another, spitting blood.
“Hm…?”
What on earth was happening right now?
The sheer number of subordinates and the sand-laden wind obscured his vision. But one thing was clear.
His men were dropping like autumn leaves, without even a moment to grasp the situation.
“Ugh!”
Some had their arms slashed, others were sent flying with shattered armor.
‘That man… is fighting the Maeng Armor Ghost Horse Cavalry alone?!’
That was undeniably true.
Something that should have been absolutely impossible given the level of ability he had judged the man to possess was unfolding before his very eyes.
‘Did he hide his true strength? Impossible.’
For someone of Maeng Cheol-yong’s caliber, who had surpassed the supreme realm and now gazed upon the threshold of the divine realm, there were many things invisible to others that he could see.
One of those was the level of qi radiating from a person’s body like heat shimmer.
The more vivid the color, the greater the depth. The more vast the quantity, the more internal power they had accumulated.
And that could not be hidden, no matter how hard one tried. It inevitably revealed itself with every movement, every use of internal energy.
In that sense, Jang I-seo’s level had been consistent from earlier.
Initial stage of the absolute realm. And extremely pure demonic qi.
Yet that same Jang I-seo was single-handedly cutting down the Maeng Armor Ghost Horse Cavalry. How. By what means. No matter how agile his movements, there had to be a limit.
“You have one more reason to die.”
A dark shadow of the death god fell across Maeng Cheol-yong’s face.
To some, this side of Jang I-seo might have been intriguing. But Maeng Cheol-yong drew a clear line between ally and enemy.
His method was to crush a capable enemy under his horse’s hooves without mercy from the moment he identified them.
Murderous light flashed in Maeng Cheol-yong’s eyes, and his hand gripped the black spear tightly.
VWOOM!
An immense amount of internal energy imbued the spear tip, and soon a reddish film enveloped it.
A materialized form of energy that only a handful of supreme masters could manifest. The legendary sword aura that could turn even a tree branch into a famed blade. No, spear aura.
This meant he had bared his fangs in earnest, and an insurmountable wall had been erected that Jang I-seo could never overcome, no matter what trick he pulled.
Certain defeat.
The outcome was already decided.
Maeng Cheol-yong’s eyes turned fierce as he finished preparing. He was about to spur his horse and launch himself when.
“Hup!”
A stunned gasp escaped his lips. With a pale face, he hastily swung his spear through the empty air.
A moment later.
KAANG!
A friction sound rang out without a sliver of retreat.
“Keum…”
A groan escaped the lips of the great Maeng Cheol-yong.
But the surprise didn’t end there.
Thud, thud. His famed horse was pushed back a couple of steps. A heavy-boned warhorse, called the Demon King in the Western Regions, possessing strength that wouldn’t yield even to a charging bull.
Moreover, Maeng Cheol-yong had swung his spear with full force.
Yet he had been pushed back equally.
And the reason flowed from his now perfectly calm lips.
“Narak.”
The silver-haired youth.
The Third Young Lady Sa Hae-ryeong’s adjutant, Narak!
He had appeared before him like dissipating mist.
Having slipped out of the Third Small Palace that the Second Young Master Mu Han-seong had occupied, he had followed Mao and Jang I-seo all the way here.
“…It has been a while.”
A thoroughly matter-of-fact greeting. Had it not been for the pair of unadorned short daggers, each roughly one foot long, in his hands, no one would have guessed that he was the one who had just blocked Maeng Cheol-yong’s fierce assault.
“Let them go.”
But the words that followed made the situation crystal clear. He had taken Jang I-seo’s side.
This meant Narak was prepared to face the Third Elder Maeng Cheol-yong head-on.
“Are you serious?”
Maeng Cheol-yong asked. But the question was pointless.
The Narak he knew was not a man who made empty boasts.
“Yes.”
Narak’s reaffirmation followed.
An act of staggering insolence.
By rank, by generation, by martial prowess. Maeng Cheol-yong was undeniably a step above him.
Even as the Third Young Lady’s adjutant, considering Maeng Cheol-yong’s pride, he would have been within his rights to strike off his head without a word.
“…”
However, Maeng Cheol-yong held his ground without taking any action.
He didn’t even glance sideways as Jang I-seo broke through his subordinates, hoisted Gwa-pyeong onto his back, and fled toward the Nine Dragon Fortress.
To say he didn’t act rashly would be more accurate.
Naturally.
Because Maeng Cheol-yong’s eyes could see.
The immense energy radiating from Narak’s body like a spider web had seized control of the entire surroundings.
Moreover.
‘Narak… are you staking your life on this?’
While his realm was undoubtedly a notch above Narak’s, there was one thing he could not be certain of.
A death match.
Because the opponent was the former Mad Dragon Hall Master Narak, who, even if he died, would sink his teeth into the enemy commander and tear out their throat.
Especially in this state, where his pupils were torn apart like swirling vortexes.
‘To think it was important enough for you to unleash the Mad Frenzy Art…’
Twenty years ago, the forbidden art that had enabled Narak, then only nineteen, to storm the Unorthodox Alliance camp and behead three of their leaders was the Mad Frenzy Art.
A demonic art that drew internal energy into the pupils and heart, then circulated the internal power within to temporarily amplify the senses.
It carried the restriction of severe aftereffects with prolonged use, but for as long as he maintained the Mad Frenzy Art, he was an absolute powerhouse that even Elders could not ignore.
Thus, the title bestowed upon him by the Unorthodox Alliance at the time: the Great Enemy General.
The most dangerous and terrifying existence among enemy commanders.
And even without the Mad Frenzy Art, Maeng Cheol-yong could confidently say that Narak was the greatest assassin and genius of his generation.
Of course, Maeng Cheol-yong’s silence was not simply because Narak was strong. The Mad Frenzy Art couldn’t be sustained for long. There was risk, but he was not an opponent beyond Narak’s ability to overcome.
However.
‘For Narak to step forward means the Third Young Lady is behind this. This is no mere adjutant’s overstep.’
That uncomfortable feeling that something was off, which he had sensed from the moment he first saw Jang I-seo.
Maeng Cheol-yong was stubborn and aggressive by nature, but he was not stupid.
This required him to question everything from the beginning.
‘The Third Young Lady wouldn’t have been involved in the kidnapping. There is something I don’t know.’
And immediately following that thought was the image of a insidious woman.
Hohohoho!
The Flying Dragon Hall Master, Myo Chae-gyeong.
An old fox who employed schemes and stratagems as casually as breathing.
“Give me a little time. If there is a problem, I will take responsibility.”
At the low voice, Maeng Cheol-yong snapped out of his thoughts. He looked down to see Narak give a slight nod before vanishing like smoke.
THUNK!
And the iron doors in the ground, dozens of paces ahead, closed completely.
Maeng Cheol-yong stood in silence for a moment, facing the increasingly fierce sandstorm.
“Tend to the casualties. We return.”
He left a brief order and turned away. They were rats trapped in a jar regardless. If the Third Small Palace was willing to take responsibility, he would step back one pace.
But that time was one shi. Only until the sandstorm subsided and the doors opened once more.
If there was no satisfactory explanation by then…
‘Narak. You too are my enemy.’
Only the biting wind of the Sea of Death echoed across the wasteland.