Chapter 110: The Leader of the Iron Horse Bandits
A fierce-featured beauty with her hair braided in a single rope.
Ah-shin, a lieutenant and vice captain of the Iron Horse Bandits, just like Gwa-pyeong.
And.
「Are you the one who did this to Gwa-pyeong?」
A man whose torso was bare, a dragon coiled around it as if painted on, cold crimson eyes flashing through his disheveled hair.
「You are…」
Before Jang I-seo could finish, FWOOSH! He charged at blinding speed.
“Hup!”
A divine swiftness that was unbelievable even seeing it firsthand. Jang I-seo quickly twisted his body aside to dodge. And the moment the man swept past that spot, a chill ran down Jang I-seo’s spine.
‘His eyes were tracking me?’
The man’s gaze had followed his movement perfectly. The moment he thought he had escaped the threat, a hand shot out like a viper.
“Kuh!”
He was seized by the collar and lifted clean off the ground. His feet dangled, and his head filled with questions.
How. He had definitely missed him. Had he changed direction and charged again in that brief instant?
‘Impossible.’
At a glance, it might not seem like much, but Jang I-seo thought differently.
Fundamentally, to change an action a person was already performing, the mind first had to recognize it, then the body had to stop what it was doing and follow.
Moreover, the larger the movement, the more time it took to redirect.
The so-called window of opportunity.
And Jang I-seo was precisely the type who understood and exploited this “window” better than anyone. The gap to escape a threat. The gap to launch a counterattack.
However…
This man had shattered that window.
‘The first attack definitely wasn’t launched expecting me to dodge. He only realized it after seeing it with his eyes, after the fact.’
But despite that…
He had instantly halted his action, changed direction, and attacked.
Moreover, for it to be mere improvisation, his eyes were far too composed. And for it to be reflexes, it was excessively fast.
In short, he possessed monstrous vision and physical ability.
「Are you the one who did this to Gwa-pyeong?」
He asked again with emotionless crimson eyes.
Swish!
A terrifying killing intent that seemed to slice flesh.
‘This man…’
In that moment, Jang I-seo knew with certainty.
He was the crouching dragon lurking in the Sea of Death.
The leader of the Iron Horse Bandits.
The Dragon of the Battlefield, Gu-yu.
「Your silence. Does that mean you won’t deny it?」
Crrrk.
Tendons bulged in Gu-yu’s grip, and Jang I-seo’s breathing grew even more labored. But more difficult than breathing was the pain in his throat.
An immense power that felt as if it would crush his bones if it pressed any further.
‘At this rate, I’m done for.’
BZZZT!
Lightning qi flooded Jang I-seo’s body, his face already flushed red. Then, without hesitation, he kicked Gu-yu in the chest with both feet.
BAM!
Gu-yu’s body was pushed back three steps, and Jang I-seo barely broke free from his grasp.
Coughs poured out ceaselessly. A vivid handprint remained on his throat, revealing how agonizing it had been.
But the shock wasn’t limited to that.
‘He blocked this…?’
It had been a full-power strike unleashed with the Thunder Circulation Method.
Yet in that instant, Gu-yu had dropped his pupils to confirm, then crossed both arms and blocked the kick.
Thanks to that, he merely stared at his own forearm with surprised eyes, having suffered no real damage.
‘A monster.’
Truly a monster. Jang I-seo inwardly clicked his tongue.
His overwhelming bone structure and surging internal energy were remarkable enough.
But above all…
‘Those eyes read the Thunder Circulation Method first.’
Gu-yu’s crimson eyes had traced the movement of the lightning itself.
This was the biggest shock.
Even Sa Do-cheol and the Slave Lord hadn’t been able to react to it.
「Are you alright?」
While Jang I-seo was lost in thought, Ah-shin, who had been behind him, narrowed her eyes and rushed to Gu-yu’s side to ask.
For the usually blunt woman to furrow her brow like that meant she was deeply startled.
And the same was true for Gu-yu.
‘Has there ever been someone my eyes couldn’t fully capture?’
He had wandered countless battlefields and faced countless strong opponents. But until now, there had absolutely never been a movement his eyes couldn’t follow.
Why? Because he could see everything.
This wasn’t effort. It was an innate, born talent.
The beating wings of a vigorous beetle.
The trembling of peach fuzz on a sword-wielding opponent’s skin.
Everything was visible to his eyes.
Sometimes it even felt as if the world had stopped.
Thus, in the Western Regions, they called his eyes this:
The Ten Thousand Eyes.
A natural heavenly ability to read ten thousand movements simultaneously in a fraction of a second.
And yet, he hadn’t been able to fully read Jang I-seo’s movements.
Naturally, he was startled.
「Gwa-pyeong isn’t dead yet. So please, just guide me to a physician first.」
At Jang I-seo’s earnest plea, Gu-yu lifted his gaze from his forearm.
Jang I-seo’s desperate heart was fully visible in his eyes.
However.
「You came looking for the Mad Physician.」
「The Mad Physician?」
A completely unexpected answer. The Mad Physician. The question was so out of nowhere that he was somewhat taken aback.
That man was the chief culprit who had created Soul-Befuddling Powder alongside the Iron Horse Bandits.
「This has nothing to do with him. I just want to save Gwa-pyeong and…」
「You know of the Mad Physician.」
Damn it.
「An outsider with no prior connection arrives at this Nine Dragon Fortress carrying a dying Gwa-pyeong. And you’re searching for a physician more desperately than we are. How should I interpret this?」
「That’s…!」
「A cavalry army is stationed outside. If the sandstorm hadn’t struck, they would have invaded here already. But your plan to infiltrate failed. So you changed your strategy? Use Gwa-pyeong as bait and locate the Mad Physician first.」
Ice cold. A sensation like ice water running down his spine. Jang I-seo tensed up and scanned his surroundings with his peripheral vision.
One by one, armed bandits were gathering, and the braided woman had shifted her stance, ready to pounce at any moment.
After deliberating, Jang I-seo spoke.
「If you can’t trust me, then lock me up, and you can take him and save him yourselves. Gwa-pyeong was injured saving me. He avoided the vitals, but he’s lost too much blood. I’ve stopped the bleeding, but there are many wounds and the hemorrhage was severe. If we leave him like this any longer, he’ll truly be in danger.」
It was an offer with no reason to refuse.
Jang I-seo was that sincere.
However…
「You… have no intention of listening to me.」
He exhaled the breath he had drawn in, reading everyone’s eyes.
These people had no intention of saving Gwa-pyeong.
「The only physician here is the Mad Physician. I cannot let Gwa-pyeong owe his life to such a man.」
「What in the world is the relationship between the Mad Physician and you?」
「…」
「Fine. I understand.」
Jang I-seo answered as if in resignation. Then he detonated the virulent demonic qi within his body in a single burst and declared.
「Then don’t get in my way.」
At the ominous energy, Gu-yu’s under-eyes twitched, and Ah-shin lowered her stance.
The misunderstanding had already reached its extreme, leaving only one answer.
‘Knock them down and find the Mad Physician.’
He didn’t factor in the odds of success. Since this was the only answer, he would simply give it his all.
FWOOSH…
A silence brimming with killing intent flowed through the space, the tension reaching its peak.
A truly hair-trigger moment.
“Jang I-seo.”
Right then, a low voice shattered the stillness.
Everyone’s rigid bodies flinched and turned, every gaze locking onto one person.
A silver-haired youth with blunt eyes.
“Narak…?!”
It was him. The Third Young Lady’s adjutant, Narak.
He had appeared. And with a thoroughly angry face.
“What exactly have you been running around doing? Why are the Flying Dragon Hall and the Third Elder after you?”
Step, step.
A stride so nonchalant it might almost seem deranged.
The sheer presence of it was so intense that everyone’s attention momentarily shifted to him.
And that was Jang I-seo’s opening.
“I’ll explain everything later! For now, hold these guys off. Don’t kill them!”
FWOOSH! Having delivered his piece, Jang I-seo shot toward the staircase like a lightning bolt.
In that instant, the sluggish flow of time in the room wound up like a spring and began accelerating rapidly.
「Capture him.」
At Gu-yu’s command, Ah-shin and the subordinates chased after Jang I-seo in unison. Narak muttered a curse and mussed his hair.
He had come all this way, only to be treated with such insolence.
“Am I a joke to you?”
He fell into earnest contemplation with drooping eyes.
「Now that you’ve entered the Nine Dragon Fortress. Whoever you are, you cannot leave alive.」
And the crimson-eyed Gu-yu approached him, flashing killing intent.
Narak exhaled a shallow breath and muttered.
“I suppose you think I’m a joke too.”
Nothing but reckless ignoramuses, every one of them. But what could he do? His current mission was to capture the Seventh Young Master and Jang I-seo and bring them back.
Therefore.
Narak adjusted his grip on the two short daggers and spoke flatly.
“I don’t have time, so come.”
His pupils transformed into whirlpools.
The Mad Frenzy Art, activated.
KWAANG!
The Dragon of the Battlefield, Gu-yu. And the Great Enemy General, Narak.
Two absolute masters clashed.
*
Meanwhile, having climbed the staircase, Jang I-seo looked up and swallowed a groan of frustration. An endless spiral staircase.
What in the world kind of structure was this Nine Dragon Fortress? At this rate, there was no way to find the Mad Physician in time.
‘His pulse is weakening. He won’t last much longer like this. Where do I look?’
A truly dire situation. Right at that moment.
「Don’t let him reach the prison! Close the gate!」
The shouts of the bandits who had followed echoed vividly in his ears.
The prison?
He craned his neck upward and spotted bandits struggling to close an iron door far above.
‘That’s it.’
Fortunately, despite their appearance, they were straightforward.
Now that he knew the location, all he had to do was get there.
But first.
「He’s here!」
A bandit who had chased even his shadow reached out from behind.
Jang I-seo whipped around and slammed his foot straight into the man’s face. CRACK!
The bandit lost his balance and fell backward, taking the others behind him down in a heap.
「Stop right there!」
If stopping would help, I wouldn’t have come this far. Jang I-seo kicked off the ground and began sprinting up the stairs.
In a flash, he opened the distance and reached a height of twenty-one meters.
But right at that moment.
FWIIIISH!
A sharp kick shot from the side.
“Hup…!”
He stopped and barely dodged. When he looked sideways, there she was.
Dark skin, hair braided in a single rope. And fierce eyes that belied her pretty features.
Vice Captain Ah-shin, who had used the railing to catch up to him in an instant.
Truly agile movement.
「…」
They were past the point of needing conversation. She shifted right, measuring the distance. Jang I-seo did the same. And the moment both their breaths stopped.
CRACK!
Her right leg came crashing down on Jang I-seo’s flank.
CRRRK!
Jang I-seo hurled his body to the opposite side to dodge, and the railing shattered.
PA-PA-PA-PAK!
A relentless chain of kicks followed.
Jang I-seo barely evaded them while being driven back. Carrying Gwa-pyeong on his back, he couldn’t use both arms simultaneously.
「Block him!」
Moreover, the bandits who had struggled to close the gap swarmed back to point-blank range.
A true dilemma.
Meanwhile, Ah-shin launched herself from the upper stairs. BAM! She flew in, thrusting a fist toward Jang I-seo’s solar plexus.
‘If there’s nowhere to run… then I break through.’
Jang I-seo’s eyes flashed.