The Road to Wudang (7)
“What the hell?”
Heuk Sa-tang, leader of the Black Shadow Sect, hurled his wine bottle to the floor at the sudden explosion and shot to his feet.
The moment he stepped outside, he spotted a man wearing a bamboo hat surrounded by his sect disciples.
Just one?
One person? His brow twisted at the unexpected intruder.
An uninvited guest at a time like this?
“Move aside.”
“Yes, Sect Leader!”
He scattered his subordinates and strode forward.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
When he finally drew close enough to see the face beneath the bamboo hat, he narrowed his eyes and peered inside. Then his beady eyes flew wide open as he muttered.
“The Lion Sword Hero?”
“I’m honored that even the leader of a sect knows my title.”
“I’ve had my eyes on you from the moment you entered this city.”
“I’m not interested in men, though.”
This is getting annoying.
The relentless sarcasm made veins bulge at his temples. But who was he? He was the man who had founded the Black Shadow Sect and spent years meticulously building a plan to swallow the city from the shadows.
There was no reason for him to be shaken by something like this.
“I don’t know what you were thinking, coming here alone… but it looks like you’re tired of living.”
“That’s my line.”
William calmly batted away the Black Shadow Sect Leader’s threat and shook the wooden signboard in his hand. Then, as if to make a point, he slammed it against his knee and snapped it in two.
Veins throbbed on the Black Shadow Sect Leader’s temples at the sight.
“You bastard! How dare you lay a hand on our Black Shadow Sect’s signboard…!”
When he roared and released his killing intent, the sect disciples flinched and retreated several steps in fear.
For a guy stuck in this backwater, he’s pretty skilled.
At the very least first-class. At most, peak. But the sense of danger he gave off suggested he hadn’t trained his martial arts through normal means.
“Hah.”
“And why don’t you wash up a bit? You reek.”
“What?”
William’s playful jab made the already flushed face from drinking turn even redder. After all, no one in this place had ever dared speak to him so offensively.
“Why don’t you go wash up? I don’t particularly enjoy killing filthy villains even if they are villains.”
“Ha. You’ve got guts.”
“Well… we’ll see about that.”
William spoke in a soft voice as he reached out. His hand approached at a speed that was neither slow nor fast, as if aiming for the collar.
But as the leader of a sect, the man was no pushover.
“Disciples of the Black Shadow Sect! Teach this arrogant fool a lesson!”
“Oh, so you won’t be stepping forward yourself?”
“Why should I dirty my own hands?”
“Do you really think your subordinates can take me down?”
“Even if you’re a renowned expert, do you think you can overcome the violence of numbers? You will pay the price for your arrogance.”
Looks like well over a hundred.
An overwhelming number. Most hovered around second-class, but first-class warriors were scattered among them, making the count something even a peak expert like him couldn’t simply ignore.
“Are you planning to run away while they fight, Sect Leader?”
“No! I plan to sit back, drink, and watch you get beaten to a pulp! Attack!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the Black Shadow Sect disciples encircled William and thrust their weapons forward.
This reminds me of an old movie poster.
With not a trace of fear on his face, he turned his body in a leisurely circle as if taking a scenic stroll. Naturally, his gaze swept across the enemies pointing their weapons at him.
“There’s a saying in Europe.”
His left leg naturally slid back. His eyes turned toward the Black Shadow Sect Leader, who had just sat down on a bench with a fresh wine bottle.
“Do not point your weapon recklessly at a knight.
...For it is no different from pointing one at a castle wall.”
The aura that had been suppressed inside his mana core began to surge like a wild stallion. The aura that spread through his entire body in an instant clung to his mana roads and muscles, then began leaking out through his pores to form a single shape.
“W-what is that?”
“A self-defense technique?”
“I’ve been practicing footwork lately. It’s perfect that you’ve provided me with training dummies like this.”
“What did you say, you crazy son of a—”
He bent his knees. His body naturally lowered, and the aura clinging to his skin began to paint a more concrete image.
A densely fitted aura armor—the symbol of a knight, his shield, and his most powerful weapon.
“If you want to live, get out of the way.”
Boom!
With an earth-shaking explosion, his figure shot forward.
The terrifying sight, like a cannonball flying straight at them, made the disciples instinctively sense danger and try to dodge. But how could agile evasion be possible in a crowd of so many people?
“Uwaaaagh!”
Those who collided with William screamed as they were flung to the ground.
Broken weapons and pools of blood soaking the floor. Having turned over a dozen warriors into bowling pins in a single moment, William looked at the now much closer Black Shadow Sect Leader and spoke.
“Will you keep playing king of the hill alone after losing all your subordinates, or will you fight me and at least try to survive?”
What kind of martial art has such absurd destructive power…?!
Martial arts that simply drew out raw power were common, but one that charged in so recklessly was rare.
The reason was simple.
The consumption of internal energy was intense, and it placed a tremendous burden on the user’s body.
It was a method difficult for people of the Central Plains to handle. Even if one had mastered external arts, no one would think of slamming into things like that.
Didn’t a person’s life hang in the balance with even a small dagger? No martial artist would willingly walk into a trap with a single mistake.
But a knight who always had to receive the enemy’s attacks on the front line had no choice but to face death and trade blows as routinely as eating!
Flustered by the unimaginable attack, the Black Shadow Sect Leader threw his wine bottle at William to buy a little time.
He’s definitely a higher-level expert than me! I need to either use wheel tactics or set up a coordinated formation to take him down!
As expected of a sect leader, his mind spun rapidly and produced a solution.
“Surround him again! Attack his rear while I hold him off!”
“It’s already too late, Black Shadow Sect Leader.”
His footwork unfolded once more.
He’s coming!
The human cannonball shot forward again. The Black Shadow Sect Leader pushed his Black Shadow Step to its limit and barely dodged to the side, escaping William’s charge by a hair’s breadth.
“Haha! With such simple movements—”
My main hall!
Was that really the sight of a human colliding with a building? The Black Shadow Sect Leader stared at the main hall now pierced with a straight hole, unable to hide his disbelief.
His subordinates were the same.
“I-is that the Diamond Indestructible Body?”
“Can a human even do that? Smashing through a building like that?”
“Punching through a building does make the shoulders a bit stiff.”
Having created a shortcut through three or four rooms, William rolled his shoulders and reappeared among the enemies. He looked at the corridor he had carved through the main building and let out a hollow laugh, then checked the amount of aura left in his mana core.
I can do that three or four more times.
It was thanks to the leather vest he had worn to reduce aura consumption even slightly, and the spiritual medicine he had received as a prize for winning the tournament.
Maybe I should check if the Black Shadow Sect has any spiritual medicine stashed away.
The more aura, the better.
He decided that after shaking down the Black Shadow Sect Leader, he would shake down the sect’s storage as well.
“The pavilion I built with my own expensive money…!”
How hard had he worked to save up for this building? Seeing the ugly hole punched through the pavilion he had poured so much effort into, he couldn’t contain his rage.
“Then why don’t you just surrender quietly?”
“I’ll strip your bones and skin and display them in the marketplace!”
“If you can, go ahead and try.”
“Disciples of the Black Shadow Sect! Take up your weapons! Do not let this invader of our territory live!”
“You think that’ll work?”
His body moved forward again, leaving behind faint afterimages.
A charge that seemed capable of destroying everything.
Naturally, the target was Heuk Sa-tang.
The sect leader took the opening stance of his specialty, the Black Shadow Fist, and sent powerful internal energy surging from his fist to meet the charge. He began moving his feet in complicated patterns.
Dodge! Then strike from behind!
Avoid the direct charge and hit from the rear.
The simple solution he had come up with seemed like a fairly solid countermeasure. If the opponent was slamming in at such high speed, securing flexibility in his movements would be difficult.
But his prediction was spectacularly off the mark.
“This…!”
“You think I’d use the same move when you clearly know I’m going to dodge?”
William’s sword, which had landed precisely in front of him, blocked the dark crimson fist energy and slowly pushed the Black Shadow Sect Leader back.
What kind of strength…!
He who used an aggressive fist style had never neglected muscle training, so he had always been confident in his raw power. Being pushed back in a contest of strength was not pleasant.
“Ha! What a brute, and with such strength! But I am not alone here! Disciples! Now!”
At his shout, dozens of disciples charged at William’s back all at once.
An absolutely desperate situation.
Yet the reaction William showed was neither panic nor despair, but laughter.
“You’ve trained your subordinates well, Black Shadow Sect Leader.”
William’s body spun using the sect leader’s own body as an axis, his sword sliding along the back of the man’s hand toward his throat as if gliding on ice. At the same time, William’s foot mercilessly kicked the sect leader’s shin.
A sudden move.
The Black Shadow Sect Leader wrapped internal energy around his shin to keep his stance from collapsing, then countered with an elbow strike to William’s solar plexus.
“Not bad.”
The positions had completely reversed in an instant.
Thanks to that, the disciples awkwardly withdrew the weapons they had nearly thrust toward their own leader.
“Hah!”
“Then shall we get a bit more serious?”
William’s figure shot forward once again.
This time the aura armor covering his body was thinner than before. Seeing this, the Black Shadow Sect Leader ground his teeth and wrapped his body in internal energy to evade the charge.
He had realized that trying to block that charge head-on would be impossible. But there was one thing he had overlooked.
“Uwaaagh!”
“Run!”
“My arm!”
The fact that his own disciples were standing right behind him this time.
“At this rate, all your subordinates are going to die.”
Already twenty subordinates had fallen to the absurd charge. The Black Shadow Sect Leader’s fury rose to the top of his head.
“When my great cause is so close to completion, where did this dog-like bastard come from…!”
“Oh, great cause. I’m quite curious what that means.”
So there really is something.
A plan too large for a mere hundred-member sect like the Black Shadow Sect to carry out alone. A smile bloomed on William’s lips as he caught a glimpse of the truth hidden behind that plan.
“That gives me one more reason to take you to the clan with me.”
“Nonsense!”
As if he could no longer tolerate William’s behavior, the Black Shadow Sect Leader charged at him like an enraged bull.