Chapter 167: v7c17 - Breakthrough
Volume 7 Chapter 17 – Breakthrough
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
===================
The landscape of the Valley of Sin was greatly different from an ordinary slum.
Unlike general slums covered with shanties and dugout huts, the Valley of Sin was filled with tightly packed buildings.
This was because, since before the period of the previous dynasty, this area had been a historic downtown area at the foot of Mount Eunhyeong.
Based on the stone buildings built in the past, the current Valley of Sin was tightly packed with wooden structures precariously piled up by the poor.
Therefore, a paved road remained in this area, and the procession of the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon was running on that road.
Kakakakak—!
However, that path had been narrowed by structures that repeatedly underwent expansion and renovation, and the sides of the Ironclad Fortress, boasting a size far larger than general carriages, scraped the sides of the buildings, sending off sparks.
Then, eventually, a wooden structure protruding in the direction of the road got caught on the Ironclad Fortress.
Kwadeudeuk!
The fact that they were running on a sloped uphill was also meaningless.
The Ironclad Fortress, running at a fearsome speed, ran maintaining its speed as if nothing had happened.
Rather, the wooden structure was dragged out and collapsed as if thrown away.
But that was not all.
[Obstacle ahead.]
At Head Maid Jeong-ah’s sound transmission, Maid Captain Hyang, who was sitting next to the maid holding the reins of the oxcart, shouted.
“Prepare for impact!”
The giant spiritual beasts wiggled their muscles and veins clearly revealed over their skins, and rammed straight into the wall blocking the road.
Along with a roar, the thick wall was shattered as if hit directly by a cannonball and scattered in all directions.
“——!”
Geomdungi and Nureongi snorted white steam and let out a long howl.
Hyang, who had raised her arms to protect her face, checked the front and narrowed her eyes sharply.
“Entering the midstream of the valley! Enemy confirmed ahead!”
The procession entered the area where three underworld organizations were fighting.
Death throes.
Murderous intent.
Rampant weapons.
Warm blood spraying into the air.
Underworld gang members were stabbing the bellies of other underworld gang members, while still other gang members stabbed their backs from behind.
Countless underworld gang members were entangled with hostile gang members along the uphill.
Every alley was full of people pouring out, and the streets were already littered with corpses.
It was a landscape no different from a battlefield.
“Commence fire!”
The maids began to fire the repeating crossbows mounted on the Ironclad Fortress.
With fierce air-ripping sounds, the gang members were pierced by iron bolts two or three at a time.
Some were even pinned to the wall along with the iron bolts.
In an instant, dozens of those blocking the path fell flat with holes in their body parts.
Although the iron bolts crossed the street without rest like that, the number of enemies was too large, and they were still pouring out continuously even now.
“Breaking through!”
Along with Hyang’s shout, the two spiritual beasts with bloodshot eyes rammed into the wall made of humans.
As if a bomb had exploded, a storm of blood fluttered, repainting the floor and walls, and human body parts shattered in all directions scattered into the air.
“——!”
The steel oxcart pulled by the two spiritual beasts was already a complete weapon of destruction in itself.
The Ironclad Fortress ran without hesitation, creating a river of blood and corpse fragments on the ground in that way.
“Tsk!”
Maid Captain Hyang clicked her tongue.
They should have been intimidated by that intense and horrible sight.
Far from retreating, there were even those who seemed out of their minds, running straight at the front of the Ironclad Fortress.
“The enemies are drugged! All of you, show no mercy, and end their lives with a single strike!”
At that moment, gang members holding knives jumped down onto the Ironclad Fortress from above the buildings.
The swords of Hyang and the maids flashed, and the corpses fell, bounced off the Ironclad Fortress, and rolled on the ground in a wretched state.
On the rooftops, the Fourth Young Master’s subordinates ran like ghosts, catching the enemies on their path like a swarm of flies, but the enemies kept surging like waves.
“Khuk!”
One armored carriage that followed behind slipped, collided violently with the walls on both sides, and finally came to a stop.
The corpses overflowing on the ground had gotten tangled and stuck in the wheel axle.
Although the two armored carriages following behind pulled their braking devices to the limit, they finally stopped only after colliding.
Urgent sound transmissions crossed busily.
[Three armored carriages stopped! Checking damage status!]
[No loss of force! Emergency measures needed for the stopped armored carriages!]
[Requesting support!]
“…”
Confirming that sight from the rooftop, Tang Baek, the closest aide of the Fourth Young Master, stopped his figure.
At the same time, the enemies standing in front of him rolled over, spraying a storm of blood all at once.
‘The moment one enters the battlefield, the plan is meaningless, and the situation is bound to change constantly.’
His gaze turned toward the Ironclad Fortress still running ahead, as if waiting for instructions.
And before that gaze could even be fixed, a sound transmission from the Eldest Young Master flew in.
[Tang Baek! The lead procession does not stop! You will suppress the enemies alone and buy time until the armored carriages rejoin the procession! Have the remaining subordinates continue to suppress the rooftops and follow the lead procession!]
Swift and accurate situational judgment.
The most efficient and ideal decision-making, delivered firmly and promptly based on that judgment.
‘Excellent.’
A smile was drawn on Tang Baek’s stiff lips.
It was a smile smelling dreadfully of blood.
His figure seeped into the air like a ghost and headed toward the armored carriages lagging far behind.
* * *
Just as Head Maid Jeong-ah had predicted, the situation faced by the stopped armored carriages was nothing short of a tactical disaster.
Like ants constantly swarming onto sweets dropped on the floor, the underworld personnel were surging toward the armored carriages.
“Block the enemies!”
Iron bolts fired without rest pierced the enemies, and the swords held by the maids of the Maid Division protecting the carriages flashed, cutting down the surging enemies.
In the meantime, the maids assigned to the task were taking measures on the carriages’ axles and wheels.
“Shoot! Pour it on!”
One repeating crossbow of the armored carriages, which had poured out too many iron bolts in a short period, finally reached its limit.
Ting!
Her fellow maids caught a maid who fell backward, spraying blood after being struck on the face by the snapped string.
“Kill them all!”
A senior maid, who had been handed over temporary command by Maid Captain Hyang, stood on top of the carriage and shouted like a demon.
“…!”
She reflexively tried to strike with her elbow containing internal energy when something appeared next to her.
However, her elbow stopped in midair.
This was because she confirmed the black clothes and the uniquely desolate face.
It was Tang Baek.
Her gaze directed toward his two hands, from which metallic sounds were heard.
Black chains were wriggling and rapidly rewinding into his sleeves, and as if attracted by a magnet, two chain-scythes returned to his hands and were caught.
Blood drops dripped from the tips of his twin scythes, falling onto the carriage roof.
“…”
And the senior maid realized that the surroundings had sunk into silence.
There was no intense metallic sound, no sound of flesh ripping, no shout of the maids, no roar of the enemies, no sound of repeating crossbow strings snapping, and no scream.
Turning her head from Tang Baek, her eyes were filled with the sight of the heads of the enemies who had filled the surroundings separating all at once.
The sound of blood and flesh tearing and fluttering was heard.
And a step late, the figures of all the enemies surrounding the area collapsed.
Those nearby had all lost their heads, and those surging from afar were rolling around with flying daggers stuck in their heads.
As Tang Baek let go of the scythes attached to the chains and raised one hand, dozens of flying daggers that had been embedded in the corpses’ heads returned to his hand.
A master who crossed the wall.
The Blood Wind Envoy of the Tang Family.
The Head Collector of the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
This was Tang Baek.
“There was an instruction from the Eldest Young Master to finish maintenance quickly and rejoin.”
As his dry voice resonated, the senior maid regained her senses and shouted.
“Leave the enemies to him, and all of us will concentrate on maintenance!”
* * *
Tang Baek was at the lead of the three carriages that began to run again.
As the chains surged, the necks of those preparing for a surprise attack on the rooftops were snapped.
As he ran along the walls and waved his hand, the returning chain-scythes harvested the necks of those blocking the path.
The heads of those outside the trajectory of the chain-scythes were pierced by short swords and rolled back.
The heads lost their owners and rose into the air, and the torsos collapsed, spraying blood.
Every enemy on the path led by Tang Baek met death.
“…!”
At that moment, Tang Baek, who was sprinting along the wall, sensed a presence and leaped his figure to the opposite rooftop.
From the alley in the direction he avoided, the procession led by the oxcart poured out and began to run on the uphill path.
It was the procession of the Eldest Young Master, which they thought had already gone ahead.
Since they could not stop, they circled largely around the complex alleys in a square pattern, rejoining the three detached armored carriages into the procession.
[Well done, Tang Baek.]
To the Eldest Young Master’s sound transmission, Tang Baek replied bluntly but immediately.
[It was nothing.]
He climbed onto one of the armored carriages, sat cross-legged, and immediately adjusted his breath and qi.
Since he was the one who continuously used internal energy cultivation and movement techniques exceeding the carriage’s speed, it was the perfect time to reorganize.
While he governed his internal energy in just a few breaths, Jeong-ah, who grasped the front with her Dragon Eyes, reported to Yeon So-hyeon.
“There are buildings ahead that were not on the map.”
Just like the saying that the moment one enters the battlefield the plan is meaningless and the situation is bound to change constantly, another variable appeared.
The map of the midstream, which was not included in the business plan, was late in being updated, or had an error.
“The Ironclad Fortress can ‘sufficiently’ penetrate through the buildings, but the armored carriages following behind will not be able to clear the remaining debris.”
“…”
The Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon undid his cross-legged posture and opened his half-closed eyes.
[Il-ryeong!]
At his call, Il-ryeong, who was riding in the armored carriage right behind, replied.
[Yes, Master. Please command!]
She was the one who had joined through the procession that returned to Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment for supply after seeing off the Second Young Lady leaving Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment during the day.
[The front is blocked. Search for a new route with your own eyes and lead the procession.]
[Loyalty!]
Il-ryeong’s figure sprang out through the carriage window, kicked off the walls on both sides of the road, and leaped onto the rooftops.
It was a quick body movement, as if the armor she wore on her body had no weight.
The enemies blocking the front on the rooftops collapsed, and she climbed onto the highest building nearby in an instant.
[The entire procession follows Il-ryeong’s guidance!]
At Yeon So-hyeon’s command, the procession began to follow the hand signals sent by Il-ryeong.
“Where is the forward base located?”
To Yeon So-hyeon’s question, Jeong-ah, who was looking at the map, replied.
“If we go straight in the direction of travel beyond the buildings blocking the front, the plaza where the forward base is located will be visible.”
Yeon So-hyeon nodded at the answer and stood up.
* * *
The moment the procession bypassed and turned around the buildings blocking the road according to Il-ryeong’s hand signals, Yeon So-hyeon’s figure standing on the oxcart moved as if disappearing into the air.
In his hand, as he landed on the roof of a high building, was the giant Eldest Young Master flag that had been planted on the roof of the oxcart.
The Eldest Young Master flag fluttered as if tearing in the wind blowing fiercely down from the valley.
Soon, Tang Baek and his subordinates revealed themselves one after another around him.
“Good.”
When Yeon So-hyeon shook his hand holding the flagpole, the fluttering flag wound around the pole like a lie.
It was no longer a flag, but had become a steel bar.
Yeon So-hyeon cast his gaze far away and spoke.
“From now on, we break through to the forward base by the shortest distance.”
“Loyalty!”
Tang Baek and his subordinates replied in unison, radiating a fierce spirit.