Chapter 677: It's been a while! (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 677: It's been a while! (5)
“Vice-Captain.”
“Yes, Captain!” the man standing behind Beomdong answered, his posture ramrod straight.
“We’re setting the snare. Get ready.”
“…!”
Operation Snare was a go.
At Beomdong’s words, the man’s eyes lit up.
The Snare…?
Just what kind of monster were they trying to capture to warrant using that?
It was the Sky Dragon Army’s Snare, an operation no one had ever escaped. It was a strategy impossible to flee from unless the target was a monster on the level of the Ten Masters of the Central Plains.
As the middle-aged man tensed with anticipation…
Let’s see you get a taste of this, you arrogant brat.
Beomdong smirked, already picturing the eldest son of the Gu Clan flustered and helpless.
* * *
Not long after Beomdong went to see the Lesser King of Hell…
Smack—!
“Keuheok!”
“Lift your head. I told you you’d die if you closed your eyes. Why do you keep closing them? Should I just pluck them out so you don't have to worry about it anymore?”
Beomdong realized then that something had gone terribly wrong.
“Keuhhh…”
Every time blood-flecked saliva trickled from his mouth, fragments of a porcelain cup came with it. The inside of his mouth was completely shredded, the metallic tang of blood overwhelming his senses.
He tried to move, but from the moment his neck had been grabbed, he hadn't been able to muster a single ounce of strength. His acupoints hadn’t been struck, nor was he held in a position that physically restrained him.
He simply couldn’t summon any power.
“A bastard from the Alliance, threatening me with the people around me? Are you completely insane?”
“Keuk… Guhh… Let go, let go of me now… You’ll regret…”
“Still got a tongue in your head, I see.”
Crash—!
“Keok!”
A sharp impact rocked his skull. Gu Yangcheon had picked up the cup in front of him and smashed it against the man’s head. The broken shards didn’t fall to the floor; instead, they floated in mid-air, suspended by an unseen force.
Gu Yangcheon grabbed one of the larger, jagged pieces.
Stab—!
“Kuaaargh!”
He drove it straight into the back of the man’s hand.
Beomdong had instinctively tried to shroud his body in Combat Qi, but Gu Yangcheon tore through his protective aura as if it were wet paper.
Plink—!
The shard embedded in his hand was yanked out instantly. Just as blood began to well up from the deep puncture…
Sizzzle—!
“…!!!”
The searing agony on the back of his hand was so intense that this time, Beomdong couldn’t even find the breath to scream. Gu Yangcheon was cauterizing the wound with raw fire.
“Gasp… keoheok… Guhhhhhaaa…”
As Beomdong choked and writhed, Gu Yangcheon grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head up. Then, his glowing blue eyes locked onto Beomdong’s.
“You should have behaved when I was letting you live in peace. Why do you keep acting like a fucking prick? You're forcing me to be one too, aren't you?”
He was smiling.
Gu Yangcheon was smiling as he burned the flesh on the back of Beomdong’s hand. Seeing that grin, a primal chill ran down Beomdong’s spine.
…I made a mistake.
He had intended to use the Alliance’s position and power to pressure those around the boy. Of course, he knew there was a chance the threat wouldn’t work.
But…
To think he was this strong.
The crucial part of this operation was to provoke the opponent into acting out of anger. If they couldn’t control their temper and tried to subdue or threaten him, it would create the perfect pretext—assaulting an Alliance official—making it easy to seize the legal right to investigate.
Goddammit.
Beomdong’s fatal miscalculation was that he never expected Gu Yangcheon to go this far. He never imagined that someone would openly assault and torture a Captain of the Alliance like this, right in the heart of Henan.
Sizzzle—!
Feeling his hand burn, Beomdong’s body trembled as he finally let out a strangled shriek.
“Haaaahhh!!”
The situation was deteriorating rapidly. Beomdong had decided to handle this personally, judging the opponent to be a formidable master. But he had never imagined he would be overpowered so effortlessly. He knew the man was a master, but to be this powerful…!
Amidst the blinding pain, Beomdong’s mind raced.
My Qi isn’t moving. Could it be… poison?
Beomdong wasn’t someone who could be defeated so helplessly. He was a martial artist of considerable skill, a man who had earned the rank of Captain in the Alliance. To be unable to circulate his Qi just because he was grabbed by the neck made no sense.
Damn it. When did he…?
Did he poison the tea? If so, when? At the beginning? No.
I even checked it just in case…
He had scanned the pre-prepared tea for any tricks before drinking. When could he have possibly added the poison?
As his shredded mouth and constricted throat throbbed, Beomdong’s eyes darted around. Even so, he had to endure. No matter how much pain he was in, the boy probably wouldn’t kill him. He just had to hold on.
Outside, the members of the Sky Dragon Army were waiting. Personnel placement was the most critical part of the Snare operation. If their agent didn’t send a signal or failed to appear after a certain amount of time, they were instructed to storm the location.
In a few more seconds, the appointed time would pass. Then, the Sky Dragon Army would arrive to rescue him.
Just hold on until then.
Just as Beomdong was clinging to that thought…
“Master.”
Nahi approached Gu Yangcheon, who was still searing Beomdong’s wound, and spoke.
“What should I do with the rats outside?”
“…!”
At Nahi’s words, a cold sweat broke out on Beomdong’s back.
Rats? Is she talking about the Sky Dragon Army?
If so, they should be a good distance away, using advanced stealth techniques. How on earth did she know they were there?
“Should I clean them up?” Nahi asked calmly, ignoring Beomdong’s shock.
Gu Yangcheon finally stopped burning Beomdong’s hand and gave a slight nod.
“Hmm.”
For a moment, only Beomdong’s pained groans filled the room.
“No, leave them be,” Gu Yangcheon answered casually. “I was about to tell you to go take care of them. But as it happens…”
His gaze shifted to the closed window.
“That bastard is here.”
He could feel a presence in the distance. A very familiar, very detestable presence.
* * *
Nearly half an hour had passed since Beomdong had approached the target.
Amidst the tense atmosphere, a man approached the commanding officer.
“Vice-Captain, we’re almost at the scheduled time.”
“…Right.”
Jeongjin, one of the vice-captains of the Sky Dragon Army, nodded. The moment their captain, Beomdong, had approached the target, the door had slammed shut. It was an unplanned development that had startled them all.
“We stick to the plan. Prepare yourselves.”
Jeongjin kept his men in line, focusing solely on the mission Beomdong had given them. Half an hour since the anomaly occurred. Once that time passed, they were to announce the Alliance’s name and storm the building.
That was the core of the operation. Recalling this, Jeongjin bit his lip.
Are you really alright, sir?
The Captain had said there likely wouldn’t be any danger. But for the windows and doors to be sealed the moment he went in… he could even tell a sound barrier had been erected. Something had definitely happened.
Jeongjin considered whether they should charge in immediately, but…
This is the Captain we’re talking about. He must have anticipated this.
This had to be part of the strategy. Believing this, Jeongjin steadied his breathing. The target was said to be barely over twenty years old. The Captain had called him a master, but…
Even so, he can’t be on the Captain's level.
As a captain from the intelligence department, Beomdong's martial prowess might be lower than the frontline combatants, but he was still a captain. He was by no means a weakling.
Trust him and prepare.
Just as Jeongjin came to this conclusion…
“Vice-Captain. It’s time.”
His subordinate reported. Jeongjin nodded and drew his sword.
Shing.
With his blade bared, Jeongjin signaled his men.
“Sky Dragon Army. Prepare for battle.”
As Jeongjin moved, the surrounding martial artists shifted into their combat stances.
“The target is right in front of—”
“A sword.”
“Towards the sword… no. Huh…?”
A voice from his side made him freeze. A shiver ran down Jeongjin’s spine as his head snapped to the side. Someone was standing in a spot that had been empty just a heartbeat ago.
What the…?
Jeongjin’s eyes widened. It was a woman with a small, slight build. She had a club larger than her own body slung over her shoulder, and her hair was unusually short, barely covering her ears.
“A sword, it’s a sword. Right? This is a sword, isn’t it?”
The woman stared at Jeongjin’s blade with unsettling, wide eyes, expressing a strange fascination.
“It’s a sword, a sword!!”
“…What the—!”
Just as Jeongjin was about to raise his guard at her bizarre behavior…
“But why are you holding a sword? Mister, why are you holding a sword? What are you trying to do? What is this? Near here is the… Ah, I shouldn’t say it. Right, thanks for telling me.”
The woman began to mutter to herself.
“Aren’t you not supposed to hold a sword? I was told to come here, but it’s weird if this mister is holding a sword, right? You think so too? Right, I think so too.”
The woman continued her one-sided conversation. Watching her, Jeongjin frowned. He couldn’t afford to be delayed. He had to ignore her and move.
“Damn it! Ignore her and advance!”
“Then, is it okay to kill them?”
Fwoosh—!!
“…!!”
Suddenly, an immense, suffocating killing intent brushed against Jeongjin’s skin. Instinctively, he tried to swing his sword.
But before he could…
“Right. That should be fine.”
The woman was faster.
Swish.
The club that had been on her shoulder was suddenly in her hand, whistling through the air.
In that instant—
KWWAAAAAAAANG—!!!
A violent explosion swept through the Sky Dragon Army.