Chapter 8 (1)
Chapter 8 (1)
"You bastard! How dare you play games with us!?"
One of the attackers, enraged at being toyed with, drew his sword and lunged forward.
The other three didn't step in.
It wasn't just because he was the most skilled among them; they judged that all four of them ganging up on such a bluffer would be shameful.
Most experts are forged through long training and countless experiences, so while they might be vicious or cruel, they wouldn't be as frivolous as that guy.
However, that prediction only applied to people of this era; it didn't apply to Jincheon, who had come over from the 21st century.
"I'll kill you painfully!"
True to his word, the sword-wielding attacker swung fiercely, as if intending to sever Jincheon's arm.
The trajectory of the sword, swung without a single wasted movement like lightning, was poised to smoothly slice off Jincheon's arm.
As Jincheon raised his arm to block the sword, the attacker poured even more internal energy into it, strengthening the sword's power.
He had no doubt that unless it was a legendary state like the Indestructible Diamond Body, blocking his sword with bare skin would never end well.
Chwarak! Ka-ang!
"!?"
However, as his blade was blocked by the gauntlet suddenly extending, the attacker looked momentarily flustered.
'The gauntlet's length extended? I didn't expect him to block my sword, but the skills of a guy who relies on such a gadget are nothing!'
The attacker, looking down on Jincheon even more, swung his sword once again.
A martial artist should never rely on the power of gadgets!
If a guy relies on that, there's no need to even look at his skills.
In an instant, the arm of Jincheon that had blocked his sword vanished from his field of vision.
Ppak-ak!
"Ugh!!"
And the attacker, his eyes rolling back from the pain in his jaw, felt his body float up into the air.
As if he had been aiming for that exact moment, Jincheon kicked off the ground and slammed his fist down onto the face of the attacker floating in the air.
Ujijik!
With the sound of bones crushing upon impact with the ground, the sword-wielding attacker's body hit the floor, bounced, and rolled a few times before sprawling where his companions were.
"That's one."
Twitch- twitch-
The sword-wielding attacker twitched a few times, then went limp.
He was dead.
"Tsk!? He's no ordinary guy, is he?"
"You, keep that wench from running away!"
"Hmph!"
Two people headed toward Jincheon, while one blocked Eun So-hye from escaping.
"Die!"
"Haa!"
The two attackers, seemingly well-coordinated, lunged from the left and right, raising their sword and saber almost simultaneously.
Naturally, Jincheon, having no reason to let two people surround him, launched his body toward the attacker holding the saber.
"Haaat!"
Chwararak!
The attacker with the saber swung it dazzlingly, making it impossible to read the trajectory while also making the opponent feel threatened, preventing him from approaching easily.
If Jincheon had been an ordinary martial artist, he would have been flustered by the saber technique that feinted with the intent to strike sharply at any moment, but...
"Look at your opponent while you fight, you idiot!"
To Jincheon, who possessed a gauntlet that remained unscathed even when colliding with weapons imbued with internal energy, those movements were meaningless.
"Hup!"
The attacker holding the saber feigned a strike at Jincheon's head, but in an instant, the trajectory changed, and he swung with the intent to slice his side.
A master of the ever-changing fast saber.
However, Jincheon, having read that, blocked the saber with his forearm.
"Haaat!"
The attacker with the sword, seizing that opening, lunged, aiming for Jincheon's side.
In an instant, the one with the saber felt a chill at the smile forming on Jincheon's lips.
"Dodge!"
"What?"
His companion's shout to dodge, in a situation where he could perfectly target the side.
At the same time, the sword-wielding attacker could see a small, flaming pouch flying toward his face.
Puhwa-ak!
"Argh!?"
As the mouth of the pouch tilted, the liquid inside soaked the attacker's body, and the fire spread to his face.
It was a collection of only the animal oils with the lowest flash points that he had hunted so far.
"You bastard!"
The attacker with the saber, venting his anger at Jincheon's behavior, which was completely different from the ways of a martial artist, put strength into his saber and poured internal energy into it.
However, as explained above, Jincheon's gauntlet was a gadget capable of blocking weapons imbued with internal energy.
Jincheon relaxed and lunged forward, shouldering into the saber-wielding attacker's body and slamming a palm strike, filled with Yang energy, into his abdomen.
Puh-ung!!
"Guaaack!"
A small explosion occurred as the palm strike connected.
Naturally, the attacker, unable to withstand the impact, flew back and went limp, crumpled with enough force to knock down an unlucky tree.
"Two."
Then, Jincheon ran toward the third attacker, who was distracted by trying to take off his clothes because they were on fire,
"Eek!"
and simply swatted away the sword of the attacker who was hurriedly swinging it to counterattack, then kicked his ankle hard.
The attacker, whose ankle was kicked with great force, was lifted into the air, and the last thing he witnessed was a fist slamming down toward his face.
Kwajijik!
The attacker, whose face was slammed into the ground by the fist, lost consciousness after receiving an impact strong enough to lift his lower body high into the air.
"Three."
"Th-this is impossible...! A guy so young...!"
"Heh heh heh. There are geniuses like me in this world, you greenhorn who's only grown old."
"Grrr!"
The last one, who had been blocking Eun So-hye from escaping, gritted his teeth at Jincheon, who called him a greenhorn despite being younger than him.
If things go on like this, he'll end up dead like his companions.
In that case!
"Eek!"
"Stop! If you move any closer, I'll kill this wench!"
He tries to reverse the situation somehow through hostage-taking.
The attacker pulled Eun So-hye's body and aimed his sword at her neck.
"Oh my~ do you think I'll be surprised and say, 'Oh no~ how could you do such a wicked thing~'? I don't even know that wench's name, you moron."
As expected, he wasn't from a righteous sect.
He had held onto a sliver of hope that he might be from a righteous sect, but since the situation had turned out this way, there was no choice but to go a different route.
"Do you know who this woman is! She is Eun So-hye, the eldest daughter of Eun Ju-gang, the Medicine King and leader of the Yakwangmun!"
"So?"
Jincheon, as expected, had a 'so what?' expression.
"If this woman dies, you won't end up well either! Get out of here right now!"
The attacker, having confirmed that Jincheon was the type to laugh if told to drop his weapon and surrender, claimed that just being here was dangerous and told Jincheon to disappear.
'Hmm~ what should I do about this.'
Jincheon hadn't learned methods of attacking quietly like hidden weapons or poison, so he had no way to handle the current situation.
But he didn't want to just disappear like this.
First, he didn't want to follow the attacker's orders.
The second reason is...
'I can't just go back after seeing that woman's face.'
Eun So-hye's innocent and pitiful appearance, the physician's robes that accentuated her feminine curves, and above all, the overall vibe she gave off, were telling him that she was a female worth pursuing.
A connection with such a female is not easily obtained.
Therefore, Jincheon looked around, wondering how he could resolve this hostage situation.
And he could see that Eun So-hye had been shedding tears while looking somewhere else, rather than at her own life, for a while now.
A handsome young man bleeding and in danger if not treated immediately.
Eun So-hye openly radiated worry about what would happen if he died.
'In that case...'
Not knowing if it would work or not, Jincheon, hoping at least that he had learned a bit of martial arts, opened his mouth.
"That guy is in huge danger right now. If you don't stop the bleeding and treat him immediately, he'll die from blood loss, not the wound itself."
"!!"
At Jincheon's words, Eun So-hye's face turned pale.
"Who cares if that bastard dies or not! Get lost right now!"
But Jincheon didn't stop there; he approached the young man, checked his pulse, and put on a serious expression.
"It's dangerous. A quarter of an hour...? No, even a quarter of an hour is too long. He's on the verge of breathing his last if he isn't treated immediately."
"Ah...!"
Seeing Jincheon check the pulse and examine the wound accurately, as if he knew medicine—even to the eyes of a fellow physician—Eun So-hye found herself tearing up without realizing it.
'If Gaga dies... there's no point in me living either!'
If Jincheon disappears like this, she and Kang Cheon-ung will die.
Thinking that, she started to struggle, thinking that dying this way or that way was the same anyway.
Puk!
"Argh!?"
She had stabbed the man's arm with a needle hidden inside her sleeve.
"Th-this wench!!"
The attacker, because he couldn't kill Eun So-hye cleanly, intended to strike her head with the hilt of his sword.
Ka-ang!
"Ugh!"
However, Jincheon, who had been waiting for that opening, threw an arrow by hand and narrowly hit the man's sword.
"Run!"
"You wench!!"
The attacker tried to pull her with the arm that was holding her body, but,
"Ugh!?"
The arm holding Eun So-hye suddenly went limp.
In that critical situation, he had accurately struck a pressure point, causing the strength to drain away instantly.
Eun So-hye hurriedly fled in the direction of Jincheon, and the attacker, wanting to complete at least half of his mission to thoroughly ravish and violate Eun So-hye, tried to swing his sword.
"W-wait!"
'Ding. Time out.'
Before that, Jincheon deployed his internal energy to the maximum and instantly closed the distance with the attacker.
Kwajik! Kwajak! Puh-puh-puh-puck!
"Guaaaargh!"
After that, it was just a matter of beating the attacker and finishing him off for sure.
"Gaga! Gaga!! Please, pull yourself together!"
Having dealt with all four attackers, Jincheon approached Eun So-hye, who was shaking the body of Kang Cheon-ung, whose complexion had turned pale.
"Benefactor! Please, save Gaga! With the tools and herbs I have now, I can't save Gaga! My tools are in the city, but Gaga's life will be cut short before I can even go halfway!"
She had hurriedly pressed his pressure points to stop the bleeding, but that wasn't enough.
If he isn't treated right now, he's in critical condition.
Therefore, Eun So-hye begged Jincheon, hoping for the physician-like skills he had shown earlier.
"Fine."
Jincheon, for some reason, readily agreed, placing his bag next to Kang Cheon-ung's body and taking out the medical tools inside.
The moment Eun So-hye's face brightened at the sight of the practical tools that were clearly only possible for someone who knew medicine,
"But there's a condition."
Jincheon, wearing a smile mixed half with wickedness and half with deviousness, set a condition.