Chapter 336: Chapter 336
CRASH—!
Boulders crumbled.
BOOM-BOOM-BANG!
Trees exploded into dust.
SHIIING—!
Sharp blades and rampaging Sword Qi.
GAAAH!
A corpse turned lonely ghost by that Sword Qi.
“Brother Kang!”
Someone who’d been alive and voicing complaints just yesterday was breathing no more.
But there was no time to clutch the body and process the grief.
“Snap out of it!”
Linger too long in sorrow, and you’d soon meet your own death.
The horrors of the battlefield weren’t so different between past and present.
“You want to die here together?!”
“Jin So-un……”
I pulled the despairing Academy student to his feet, but he couldn’t muster even half his skill.
A sudden ambush, the unexpected death of a friend, wretched weather and environment.
All of it mixed together, turning this place into hell for the Academy students.
“Eun-ho, how’s our squad?”
“They’re holding in Sword Formation. But if the other areas collapse, we’ll be in danger too.”
“……”
I wanted to rush to my squad immediately, but there seemed to be some time yet.
Of course, if I couldn’t resolve this situation before that window closed, by the time I got there everyone would already be dead.
‘Remember. Remember.’
What I needed to do right now.
Find a way to survive this.
Not alone.
With my people.
‘Right, with my people.’
After organizing my thoughts, I spoke to Eun-ho.
“Go back to the squad.”
“Eldest Senior Brother……!”
“And make sure none of our members die.”
The White Tiger Sword Formation’s effectiveness changed depending on how it was operated.
Where Eun-ho needed to be right now was among the squad.
“Understood.”
Eun-ho nodded and locked eyes with me once more.
My intent must have reached him — I could see resolve in his gaze.
“You don’t die either, Eldest Senior Brother.”
Watching Eun-ho’s retreating back, I drew the Taeul True Scripture to full power.
Don’t die, don’t die……
The Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power ignited, and the darkness receded.
I tore my gaze from Eun-ho, already vanished into the distance.
“Obviously.”
The eyes of a black-clad figure hiding in the darkness flew wide open.
“Hrk!”
The figure tried to retreat, driven by instinctive fear.
What a nostalgic feeling.
In my past life, it had always been us doing the retreating.
So I should return what I’d received back then.
“I have no intention of dying until I’ve slaughtered every last one of you!”
SLASH—
The black-clad figure couldn’t even manage a final scream before crumpling to the ground.
From his severed neck, a fountain of blood shot skyward like a signal flare.
***
WHOOOOSH—
I scattered the Great Heaven Sword Art wreathed in Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power in every direction.
Not to deceive anyone.
But to avoid being deceived.
In the brief moments the light of the Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power revealed their forms, I committed them to memory and compared them against my past life’s recollections.
‘Light concealment arts, excessively efficient saber techniques, demonic qi that doesn’t clearly manifest.’
The Demonic Cult’s armed force that had been nicknamed the Covert Wolves within the Murim Alliance during my past life.
The Silent Sound Demon Wolf Unit.
Because they didn’t overtly display demonic qi, they specialized in covert operations and ambushes.
They looked like an unremarkable, half-hearted military unit, but conversely, they were deployed effectively everywhere.
‘But there were definitely traces of demonic qi too.’
I stopped my thoughts before my head got more tangled.
Right now, dealing with these damned bastards came first.
The problem was that people who lived and breathed concealment arts wore all black on top of it, making them even harder to spot.
Even spreading my sensory perception, they showed no clear difference from the Academy students, making them maddeningly difficult to fight.
“GAAAH!”
“GURK!”
Those supposedly exceptional Academy students were dropping dead without even displaying their true skills.
“……Damn.”
All I could do was shine my light as brightly as possible.
But the more I did, the Demon Wolf Unit members simply hid in the shadows trailing behind my light.
“JIN SO-UUUUUN!!!!!”
Just then, some bear-like man came charging toward me, barely shielding his head with both arms.
THWACK-THUD!
Two Demon Wolf Unit members who’d been hiding in my shadow went flying, and I immediately unleashed my sword at them.
SLASH— SLASH—
One collapsed bleeding from the neck; the other, arm severed, vanished back into the darkness.
Both had clearly sustained fatal wounds, yet neither let out so much as a groan.
The bear clicked his tongue in disgust at the sight.
“Damn it……! Where the hell did these guys come from?”
The bear-like man was none other than Nam Hwa-seong.
“Nam Hwa-seong. Why are you here?”
He should have been with the Twelve Peak Citadels right now, yet here he was.
“What the hell is going on, Jin So-un?”
That question, laced with rock-solid trust that I’d know everything — it made me forget I was in the middle of a fight, and my head turned.
“……You came all the way here just to ask that?”
That firm conviction in his eyes.
“Isn’t this clusterfuck your specialty?”
……Was that a compliment?
Regardless, he was here, so I might as well put him to use.
“Perfect. Start setting fires.”
“Fires?”
I jerked my chin at our surroundings.
“Can’t fight or do anything if you can’t see, can you?”
Nam Hwa-seong scrunched his brow.
“Do you have any idea how damp the Black Forest is?! Even with firewood, all you get is smoke and……”
“Who said anything about burning the forest?”
“……Then?”
I kicked a torch lying on the ground and sent it sailing into a shelter.
WHOOSH—
Flames spread instantly, lighting up the area.
The shelters, built with oil-treated fabric for waterproofing, were vulnerable to fire, which was why they’d been set up away from torches.
In other words, they were the perfect kindling.
Nam Hwa-seong coughed amidst the smoke billowing from the burning shelter.
“Where, cough cough, where are we supposed to sleep now?!”
Worrying about sleep in a situation like this. So perfectly him that it actually gave me energy.
I glared at the back of his head.
“Would you rather sleep in hell? Or under the open sky?”
“……I’ve done too many good deeds to go to hell.”
“Bullshit.”
Thanks to the sudden flashes of light, the Academy students who’d been struggling against enemies in the dark could now move nimbly, dodging the Demon Wolf Unit’s blades.
When Nam Hwa-seong followed my lead and hurled a torch into another shelter, the area grew even brighter.
Some people finally cooled their heads after watching our actions.
“Fire! Light fires!”
“Burn the shelters!!”
“Hurry! They’re using concealment arts!”
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
Bright flames bloomed across the base camp.
It lasted only a moment, but the daylight-like brightness allowed the one-sided rout to slowly stabilize.
“You bastards……! What the hell are you?!”
“Do you know who I am?! I’m the Third Sword of Wudang!”
“I’ll find out which sect you belong to and have my revenge!”
Counterattacks erupted everywhere, and some even began overwhelming the Demon Wolf Unit.
But the battle was still tilted against us.
“Nam Hwa-seong. Where’s Cheol Sun-jik?”
“Brother Cheol? Why?”
“We can’t fight all night like this! Find him and come to the center of the base camp.”
“……In this chaos?”
“If you wanted to work in safe conditions, you should’ve studied literature instead of learning martial arts!”
Nam Hwa-seong’s shoulders seemed to droop, but I didn’t have time to care.
“Get here within one incense-stick’s time.”
“F-fine.”
I executed the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps, creating five afterimages while unleashing the Minor Heaven Sword Art and Great Heaven Sword Art in succession.
WHOOOOSH—
SLASH— SLASH— SLASH— SLASH—
A strange sensation I’d never felt in my past life lingered at my fingertips.
‘Is this what killing feels like?’
A sense of competence that proved my efforts.
The confidence that I could do anything.
The omnipotent feeling that another’s life and death rested in my hands.
Even as I committed murder, a strangely positive sensation heated my mind.
Was this the feeling that the demonic practitioners who’d rampaged across battlefields had possessed?
The thought that maybe this was why those demonic practitioners had laughed so freely on the battlefield — it made my chest turn ice-cold.
SQUELCH—
The Red Radiance Sword pierced a vital spot.
I could have pulled the blade out and the man would have died regardless.
But from that position, I twisted the sword half a turn.
CRUNCH—
Along with the sound of breaking bone, the dying spark in the Demon Wolf Unit member’s eyes flared wide — like a guttering flame searing through nerves.
“That’s right. Keep your mouth shut until the very end.”
I pulled the sword free and drove it into his thigh, then twisted again.
“Ngh……”
For the first time, a groan escaped the dying man’s lips.
His fading heart must have left his mind unable to enforce any more restraint.
The members who’d been hiding in the darkness to avoid the Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power must have sensed something wrong, because they all charged me at once.
Eight in total.
I wrenched the Red Radiance Sword from the thigh and immediately executed the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula.
WHOOOOOOSH—
The Ten Thousand Swords, split into six blades, deployed the Twin Heaven Sword Formula.
WHOOOOOOOOOOSH—!
Dozens upon hundreds of blades — Illusion Swords and True Swords — their Sword Qi consumed the area like a storm.
And then.
From within the storm of Sword Qi, black demonic qi surged up in violent response.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH—
The air rang— rang— and the shockwave scattered the burning shelter’s flames like sleet.
“As if I’d let you escape……!”
I gripped the Red Radiance Sword tighter and brought it crashing down on them.
SLASH— SLASH— SLASH—
Three bodies dropped amid sprays of blood.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BANG—
The remaining Demon Wolf Unit members, unable to withstand the Sword Qi explosion, had body parts blown apart and tumbled across the ground.
By the time most of the base camp shelters had burned, eliminating the need to illuminate the area further.
I withdrew the Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power and drew up killing intent instead.
GYAAAAAAARGH!
A blood-curdling scream swept the grounds, and the Red Radiance Sword, its edge now sharper than ever, began carving through the Demon Wolf Unit.
“Ngghk!”
Was it the killing intent pouring from the Red Radiance Sword?
A scream leaked from the lips of a Demon Wolf Unit member with a pierced vital spot.
A sight unlike anything I’d known of them. Wretchedly frail.
“……Why don’t you laugh? Don’t you laugh a lot when you fight?”
I twisted the Red Radiance Sword where it stood, shredding bone and nerve to pieces once more.
“GAAAARGH……!”
Instead of laughter, he screamed — and died screaming.
At the gruesome sight of the dying Demon Wolf Unit member, one Academy student turned pale and shook his head as if sickened.
“What are you doing? Want to die?”
“……”
“If you want to live, pick up your sword and get to the center of the base camp.”
“Right now……?”
“How many times do I have to say it?! If you didn’t want danger, you shouldn’t have picked up a sword!”
“F-fine!”
Leaving the thoroughly terrified student behind, I ran back out and scanned the area.
I’d been sure that shiny head would be easy to spot.
“IL-GAK!!!!”
Where the hell was that baldy?
Between killing Demon Wolf Unit members, I asked Righteous Path Association members about Il-gak’s location, but none of them knew.
What was even more absurd was that one of them said this with a fearful expression.
“Don’t tell me…… you’re trying to el-eliminate Il-gak?”
What kind of deranged nonsense was this?
“If we stay scattered like this, we die. Didn’t you learn that at the Academy?! Where’s Il-gak?!”
“Ah…… i-if that’s it, then over there……”
Shit, he’d really picked the farthest spot.
Following the Academy student’s pointed finger toward the base camp’s outermost edge, I severed one more Demon Wolf Unit member’s head and kicked off the ground.
“IL-GAK!!! Where are you?!”
After eliminating seven Demon Wolf Unit members, I finally spotted that damned bald head.
But.
The moment I shot toward him.
He jabbed at me savagely with the staff in his hand.
‘This crazy……’
I barely twisted my body midair, kicked the staff away with my foot, and landed roughly.
“Can’t you tell friend from foe?! Baldy!”
“Benefactor Jin?”
Only then recognizing me, Il-gak let out a small sigh.
“Your killing intent was too strong…… Naturally, I assumed you were an enemy.”
“……”
“Benefactor Jin, these people’s strikes are extremely brutal. Moreover, they don’t let out a single scream even as they die.”
I’d already fought them all on the way here, so I knew. No — I’d known since my past life.
“Let’s head to the center of the base camp.”
“The center?”
“I’ll explain when we get there!”
As Il-gak pulled back from the outer perimeter, it began to crumble.
I quickly shouted to the other Academy students as well.
“Everyone, rally to the center! There’s no end to them out here!”
BOOM-BOOM-BANG!
BOOM-BOOM-BANG!
Since the priority was movement, there was no time to chase retreating Demon Wolf Unit members.
Instead, I made sure to kill every enemy in sight.
“GAAAARGH!”
“……”
For some reason, Il-gak gave me a strange look.
“……Even they scream when struck by your sword, Benefactor Jin.”
I couldn’t figure out what the problem was, so I ignored it and charged forward.
And when we reached the center of the base camp, Cheol Sun-jik, Nam Hwa-seong, and Namgung Seon-hwa were already there.
When my eyes met Namgung Seon-hwa’s, she spoke.
“I figured you were planning to organize by faction, so I came.”
A truly sharp person.
There’d been a reason she hadn’t hesitated to enter the Demon Spirit Plateau.
“Thank you for coming.”
I was a bit worried about my squad, but with Eun-ho and Geum-pyo there, they wouldn’t go down easily.
“What do you mean by that, Benefactor Jin? Are you saying you intend to promote division in the middle of all this?”
Il-gak said, alarmed.
Surprisingly, Cheol Sun-jik said nothing and listened without objection.
Weren’t they supposed to be on opposite sides?
“What can people who’ve never once coordinated accomplish at this point? Gather with the people you know. That’s why I brought everyone together.”
“……And what after that? You can’t hold them off like this.”
“Who said anything about holding?”
“Benefactor Jin……!”
When you’re getting beaten from all sides, there’s no good way to take the hits.
Block with your arms, your arms hurt. Block with your head, your head hurts.
The best defense when you’re getting swarmed is to shove an awl into the enemy’s gut.
“Starting now, we counterattack.”
Let’s see if you bastards back off or not!