The Lightning-Fast Sea Dragon
Gulp.
For a few seconds, the only sound that echoed through the air was the sound of Rin and me swallowing hard.
The presence we were staring at in front of us drew closer and closer, refusing to stop.
And then, it finally revealed itself.
"You girls play rather rough. I suppose that is to be expected of fearless wenches wandering around such a place on their own."
"What in the...?"
"Ah!"
The bastard was moving perfectly fine, even though the hand axe I had thrown was lodged squarely in his left chest.
I was dumbfounded.
I knew my own strength better than anyone.
I can snap a grown man's neck just by swinging my fist.
I had already killed several men that way. Yet this guy had taken a hand axe thrown with that exact same strength and didn't even flinch. He was completely unfazed.
No, with the axe blade buried that deep, it should have shattered his ribs at the very least. How could he act so nonchalant?
"A Blood Cultist!" Rin gasped.
"W-what is that?" I asked.
"You vile practitioners of demonic arts! Have you finally lost your minds? Do you truly think you can attack an investigator of the Murim Alliance and continue to hide in the shadows as you always have?!"
I had asked what a Blood Cultist was, but Rin seemed to have no time to answer me.
Demonic arts... I think I heard that practicing them drives you crazy.
Was the man standing before us really someone who practiced such dark arts?
If so, it was no wonder Rin was so utterly terrified. I decided to read the room and keep my mouth shut for now.
"A lackey of the Murim Alliance," the Blood Cultist sneered. "This old man did not wish to see tears stream down a young girl's face, so I was willing to turn a blind eye and let you go. Why have you returned to this den of death?"
"If you thought of me as a mere girl, you are sorely mistaken. I will never abandon a brother of the Murim Alliance, and I gladly decline whatever cheap pity you claim to offer!"
"Is that so? I showed mercy thinking you were a girl, but it seems I merely spared a fellow who looks unfit to play the part of a man. This old man must be getting old indeed. I used to think my eye for women was impeccable."
"How dare you spew such vulgar mockery again...!"
"By the way, did you say you would not abandon your brother?"
Slowly, the Blood Cultist's gaze shifted toward Rin's senior, who was still hanging from the tree.
"If so, then that fellow's death could not be more tragic. He must have yearned for his friend's help more than anyone, yet that friend only showed up after he had already been turned into dry firewood."
"You bastard!"
With her eyes flashing with rage, Rin charged forward.
Channeling a palpable, chilling killing intent into her broken, half-length sword, she swung it with all her might.
Clang!
However, the Blood Cultist reacted effortlessly, parrying the blow.
Though he had been empty-handed just a moment ago, he had pulled the hand axe out of his left chest and was now using it to trade blows with her.
Normally, a short hand axe could never match the reach of a sword, leaving its wielder overwhelmed. But now, Rin was also forced to swing a broken blade.
Even without the advantage of reach, Rin fought on equal terms with the Blood Cultist.
In the span of a single second, metal clashed against metal dozens of times.
The broken sword and the worn hand axe collided relentlessly, as if testing each other's limits. I watched the spectacle with rapt attention.
"Ugh..."
There was too much information flooding my brain at once.
It hadn't been like this when I was dealing with the bandits in the cave. But watching martial artists who had mastered high-level techniques fight, my eyes tried to precisely "perceive" every single movement, causing a sudden wave of fatigue to wash over me.
Frowning slightly, I pressed my fingers against my eyelids to massage them. For a moment, I only listened to the ringing of clashing metal.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, a strange possibility occurred to me, and I stared back at the two of them.
Why doesn't he have any other weapons?
That guy Rin called a Blood Cultist. Circumstantially, he must have fought Rin's senior.
So why didn't he have a weapon of his own?
Using my hand axe to fight was one thing. History was full of soldiers looting and using their enemies' weapons.
But it was bizarre that this Blood Cultist, who had severed the arm of Rin's senior, didn't carry a single blade or blunt weapon on him.
Which meant...
Is his own body the weapon?
If the Blood Cultist's body itself was a weapon powerful enough to easily slice off—no, tear off—a grown man's arm, then the current distance between them was dangerous.
A broken sword and a hand axe. If the Blood Cultist closed the gap of less than a meter between them, Rin's arm could be ripped off just like her senior's.
And as if to prove my theory right, the Blood Cultist's left fingernails suddenly began to grow.
They turned a sharp, blood-red color, lengthening like the claws of a werewolf.
A single scratch from those would be fatal.
"Watch out!" I screamed.
"What?!" Rin gasped.
Whoosh!
I lunged forward, tackling Rin to the ground. We rolled across the dirt just as the Blood Cultist's claws swept through the empty air where Rin had been standing a split second before.
"H-haa..." Rin panted.
If she had just stood there, she wouldn't have been able to block it. It was too close, and the movement was so fast that even my eyes could barely track it.
"You are a quick-witted lesser dragon," the Blood Cultist remarked.
"I'm not an imugi!" I snapped.
Why does everyone keep calling me a lesser dragon? Do they think I'm a joke just because I live at the bottom of the river?
I am a Sea Dragon!
"Be that as it may, lesser dragon. Do you dare stand against this old man when you should be fleeing for your life?"
"Why would I run away?"
"Out of nowhere, one of the branches of the Janggang Water Sect was raided and wiped out by government soldiers. A strange occurrence. The government does not usually interfere in such matters. They are too busy defending the borders to bother protecting anything other than the major trading cities along the Yangtze River. And yet..."
And yet, the government soldiers had mobilized and annihilated a branch of the Janggang Water Sect.
"I heard there was a martial artist who captured several bandits and handed them over to the local magistrate. At first, I thought some naive youngsters had caused a ruckus, but it was you all along."
"...No, it wasn't?"
"Do not deny it. You would do well not to treat this old man like those illiterate bandits. I know that you are a shockingly naive, soft-hearted, foolish lesser dragon. You could not even bring yourself to kill the bandits who targeted your horn and tail, choosing instead to hand them over to the authorities."
Well, I did kill a few of them...
"The government then raided the weakened branch and wiped them out. And now, you have twice saved this Murim Alliance wench who was destined to drown. Is there a single falsehood in this old man's words?"
Actually, yes?
"Silence is consent. Haha, how tragic, lesser dragon. No matter how much you love humans, they will never return your affection. How pitiful. Truly pitiful."
"It's not that big of a deal."
"So? Lesser dragon, do you intend to keep protecting that girl in your arms?"
"Well, it's not like I have a reason to just watch her die."
"Oh, but you do. If you continue to protect her, this old man will kill you as well. Your horn and tail will make excellent nourishment. They will guide me to a new realm of cultivation."
"And?"
"However, this old man must unfortunately continue to operate under the guise of the Janggang Water Sect for now. The Murim Alliance wench must die to keep her mouth shut, but I can turn a eye to you. Even if you report my existence to the Alliance, they will only laugh and send you away."
"Ah, I see."
So, this Blood Cultist had been using the bandits as a front, waiting behind the scenes for me to be captured.
Even if it wasn't me, he had probably threatened the bandits to bring him anything that could make him stronger.
The problem was that because I sold the bandits out to the government, the Murim Alliance dispatched investigators. Now, concealing his own existence had become a higher priority than capturing a divine beast.
But here's the thing.
How could I trust this bastard? What if he killed Rin, went back on his word, tracked me down, and killed me anyway?
"I see. Should I take this silence as a refusal?" the Blood Cultist asked.
"Let me ask you one more thing," I said.
"Speak, lesser dragon."
"If I do what you say and abandon her, what are you going to do for me?"
"Must I do something for you? Frankly, this old man sparing your life is no different from giving you a mountain of gold. As they say, life is priceless."
"Alright, I get it."
"W-wait!"
Rin, who had been completely excluded from the conversation until now, looked at me in sheer panic.
I looked her straight in the eye in response.
Perhaps sensing something in my gaze, Rin, who had hurriedly raised her sword, lowered it once more.
"Oh? Have you given up, lackey of the Alliance?" the Blood Cultist mocked. "Judging by that resigned look on your face, it seems even this lesser dragon is going to abandon you. Just as you did to your friend."
It was a perfect setup. Even the Blood Cultist was fooled into thinking Rin had completely given up on resisting.
"Hyaaaah!"
I scooped Rin up in my arms.
"What in the...?"
Throwing her over my shoulder, I bolted toward the Yangtze River.
For a split second, the Blood Cultist stood frozen in utter bewilderment.
"You wretched girls! How dare you make a fool of this old man!"
Realizing what was happening, he flew into a rage and gave chase.
But he was too late.
The physical abilities of a Sea Dragon far surpass those of ordinary humans.
I dared to estimate that even compared to a martial artist of a fairly high realm, my physical strength wouldn't fall short.
With Rin slung effortlessly over my shoulder, I dove straight into the river.
"W-wait, I can't swi—"
"What are you doing? Hurry up and get on my back!"
Adjusting my posture in the water, I let Rin climb onto my back and began paddling away, splashing through the water.
"You bastards!"
The Blood Cultist's furious roars echoed from behind, but I ignored him completely and focused on swimming.
Wow, I knew I'd be good at swimming, but I'm seriously fast.
A Sea Dragon is a divine beast that lives in the water.
Even if a martial artist ran with all his might along the bank, the distance between us wouldn't close easily.
This was the home-ground advantage.
"...Um, I'm grateful that you didn't abandon me and ran away with me," Rin muttered.
"Why? Is there a problem?"
"Back there... wasn't that look you gave me a signal that we were going to fight together? That's how I understood it."
"Why on earth would I fight him?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, think about it."
If I stepped up to fight and lost, I'd just die.
To be honest, I wasn't entirely confident I could beat that monstrous Blood Cultist in a fight.
Rather than miscalculating my chances and getting my nose broken...
"It's much cleaner to keep you alive, deliver you to the Murim Alliance, and have them bring a whole squad to sweep the area. That way, the neighborhood around my nest gets peaceful, and I don't have to bust my hump fighting."
"Ah..." Rin murmured, dumbfounded.
"That's what the Murim Alliance is for, right? Maintaining public order is your job."
"I-I suppose so... We shouldn't force our duties onto you. It is our job, after all."
"Right? Now that you get it, hold on tight to my clothes or my waist. Let's keep swimming to lose him first, then we'll head back to land."
"Yes!"
Nice. That's one problem solved.
Once I bring the Murim Alliance here, the property values along the Yangtze River are going to skyrocket.