Chapter 10: Front Lines-2
Chapter 10: Front Lines-2
"Keuhehehehehe! You wench! You're mine!"
"Come here, pretty thing!"
The six of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils burst into wild laughter and ran straight toward Dang Yeoeun.
Then, in an instant, something they had not expected happened.
Dang Yeoeun, who had been charging forward, suddenly halted, turned her body around, and began to flee.
It was something unimaginable for her, a woman famous even among the Blood Cultists for her fighting spirit that never backed down.
"Wh-what?!"
"You wench, stop right there!"
The bewildered Twin Sickle Seven Evils urgently began chasing her. After fleeing for a moment, Dang Yeoeun glanced back and smiled a bitter, eerie smile.
It was an unsettling smile, enough to make even the rampaging Twin Sickle Seven Evils feel that something was amiss.
"No way?"
That was when it happened.
Several martial artists burst out from the dense thicket of trees.
Puhwak!
Every single one of them was a peak-level expert who had sheathed their weapons in brilliant energetic force.
"Hap!"
Shwiiik!
The first man, who shot forward like an arrow at the fastest speed, drove his sword through the chest of the seventh brother, who had been carrying a woman on his shoulder, in the blink of an eye.
Puuk!
It was the ultimate technique of the Jeomchang Sect's Sail Sword Technique, Il-si Sa-il—a strike Seonwoo Jin had used before as well, but this one boasted a dazzling speed beyond all comparison.
"Kuhuk!"
"Maknae!"
"The Jeomchang Sword Dragon Sa Gun-il?! It's a trap!"
Then Dang Yeoeun, who had already turned around and unleashed her sword, shouted.
"Stupid demon heads! You've only just figured it out?!"
When her sword, sheathed in bright green energetic force, clashed with the second of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils, the third brother—another peak-level expert—was met with a dark blue blade energy a full jang in length, on an entirely different plane from the other peak-level experts.
Kwaaaaang!
"Kueuk! Pu-Pung Yang?!"
The one who had fallen upon him was Pung Yang, the Storm Blade Ronin, the great leader of the Thirteen Squads.
From the hands of the taciturn middle-aged blade master, blade strikes swept forth as if driven by the force of a storm.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
"Kuaaaaak!"
He who frantically swung his twin sickles to fend off the blade strikes was like a small boat about to be caught in a storm and sink at any moment.
Beside them, while the Jeomchang Sword Dragon Sa Gun-il was rescuing the woman of the Fourth Squad, the ones who fell upon the other three younger brothers—first-class upper-level experts—were sword strikes as light as a gentle breeze.
A young man with a soft, slightly sleepy-looking face murmured as he brushed lightly past one of them like the wind.
"I was having a good dream, but you woke me up."
Puhwaak!
"Kuaaaak!"
After he passed by, the fifth of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils spewed blood from his chest.
His chest had, in the span of an instant, been torn to shreds like a spider's web.
"Even the Blue Wind Sword Dragon Han Gyo-seong!"
He was indeed Han Gyo-seong, the Blue Wind Sword Dragon—the one called a genius among the many talents of the Qingcheng Sect, and the squad leader of the First Squad of the Thirteen Squads.
"Th-this can't be! Uwaaaak!"
At last, as the third brother was slaughtered by the blade of the Storm Blade Ronin Pung Yang, unable to endure any longer, and his other younger brothers were helplessly killed off one by one by the Jeomchang Sword Dragon Sa Gun-il and the Blue Wind Sword Dragon Han Gyo-seong, the second brother Gu Yo-jil unleashed a fierce flurry of attacks upon Dang Yeoeun and then turned his body and began to flee.
"Hyung-nim! It's a trap! The younger brothers—!"
In that moment, the eldest Jimak's face contorted instantly as he glanced at the situation.
All his younger brothers had died in a single moment—he was so furious that he felt as if his head would burst.
But there was nothing he could do.
He had to flee right now.
"You bastard! I'll get you for this!"
"Where do you think you're going?!"
The Jeomchang Sword Eagle Ma Yu-gyeom, having anticipated the enemy's escape, launched his sword as if he had been waiting, but it only grazed the man's arm heavily.
Shaaak!
"Kuaak! You son of a bitch!"
Screaming, the eldest Jimak fled into the distance.
In the end, five of the seven were slaughtered, but the battle concluded with the two peak-level experts—the first and second brothers—escaping.
Son Ha-rang of the Fourth Squad, freed from them, was sobbing uncontrollably before the corpse of her dead lover Jeong-in.
"Jeong-in! Jeong-in!"
The others merely stood around her, watching her with heavy expressions.
At that moment, a silhouette suddenly descended like a shooting star from the dense thicket of trees.
He was a young martial artist with a manly build.
"I'm late! What's the situation?! Was it those Seven Evils bastards again?!"
Then Ma Yu-gyeom, the Jeomchang Sword Eagle and leader of the Fourth Squad, grabbed him by the collar without preamble and demanded.
"Seol Pung, you bastard! Why did you come only now?! When the enemy signal went up, all peak-level experts were supposed to gather—did you forget that?!"
Seol Pung, held by the collar, stared briefly at Son Ha-rang, who sat collapsed beside the corpse crying, before answering.
"Sorry. We were attacked on our side too."
But even at that answer, Ma Yu-gyeom only spewed fury.
"Are you trying to say you couldn't come because you were dealing with mere Liver Demons?! If only you had been here, we could have caught at least one more of the Seven Evils! No, if things had gone well, we could have caught them all!"
"...Sorry."
"Is 'sorry' all you have to say?! You irresponsible bastard! This is why I said a rootless grunt like you should never be made a squad leader!"
As the other squad leaders around them slightly furrowed their brows at his abuse, a woman who had descended behind Seol Pung urgently shouted.
"Stop it! Fourth Squad Leader!"
"Hmph! Na Seo-yu, is it? What, is this damned grunt going to take his squad leader's side too?!"
Her expression hardened as she answered.
"I will not tolerate any further insults toward our squad leader! While our Seventh Squad was dealing with five Liver Demons, we were ambushed by a hidden Spider Demon! Two of our members died because of it! Squad Leader Seol Pung slaughtered the Spider Demon and two Liver Demons in a situation where half our squad members might have died, and still rushed all the way here!"
At those words, Ma Yu-gyeom flinched in surprise and retorted.
"A Spider Demon?"
The Spider Demon was a perilous demon that moved as stealthily as an Owl Demon. But unlike the Owl Demon, it saw with its eyes to move, and unlike other demons, it absorbed human essence energy and gradually increased its internal energy—making it the demon creature treated as the most dangerous of all. It was an iron rule to slaughter a Spider Demon the moment it was discovered, since it grew stronger as time passed. In such a situation, it was only natural that he could not have come running immediately.
At that, Ma Yu-gyeom soon snorted and turned away.
"Hmph! Is that so?"
Then Na Seo-yu, the vice-leader of the Seventh Squad, shouted in an enraged voice.
"Is that all you have to say?! Apologize to Squad Leader Seol Pung right now!"
But Ma Yu-gyeom kept walking without looking back, and Seol Pung restrained Na Seo-yu as she tried to shout again.
"Enough, Vice-Leader. He just lost a squad member."
"But that goes for us too!"
"I'm fine. So you can stop now."
Seeing Seol Pung smile awkwardly as he said that, Na Seo-yu let out a sigh and shook her head.
"Honestly, Squad Leader. Why do you become so foolishly kind the moment a fight ends?"
Then Dang Yeoeun, the Tang Family Sword Peak—a beauty with a cold impression—added her words as well.
"Yeah, I agree. Seol Pung, it's because you're so soft that that fellow Ma Yu-gyeom keeps treating you recklessly. If you act like such a fool, only your squad members will suffer, you know?"
"Haha, is—is that so?"
At the sight of Seol Pung answering with a stiffly frozen expression when Dang Yeoeun spoke to him, she shook her head in disbelief and turned away.
The First Squad leader, Blue Wind Sword Dragon Han Gyo-seong, yawned and spoke.
"Ahaam, anyway, let's head back. Earlier I was just sleepy, but now I'm hungry too. Ah, right, Great Leader, did you say the new recruits are coming today?"
At his question, the Storm Blade Ronin Pung Yang, the great leader of the Flying Dragon Thirteen Squads, silently nodded. As taciturn as his impression suggested, he had not spoken a single word since earlier.
But Han Gyo-seong nodded as if accustomed to it and spoke.
"It'll take a while to make them worth their salt, but still, that's a relief."
With those final words, he launched his body into the air, and the others followed suit, flying back.
But just as Seventh Squad Leader Seol Pung was about to launch himself forward.
First Squad Leader, the Jeomchang Sword Dragon Sa Gun-il, grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"Hm?"
When Seol Pung turned back with a puzzled expression, the cold and taciturn Sa Gun-il murmured a single quiet word.
[I will apologize to him on your behalf. I'm sorry, Seol Pung.]
Then he launched himself forward first and disappeared.
At the apology from Sa Gun-il, his fellow Jeomchang sect brother just like Ma Yu-gyeom, Seol Pung laughed softly and then launched himself after him.
This was just another ordinary day for the Flying Dragon Thirteen Squads.
***
We stopped by the Second Headquarters of the Great Anti-Blood Demon Cult Frontline to register our personal details, and those of us who had volunteered for the Thirteen Squads were soon guided there by an escort.
The new recruits gathered at the Second Headquarters numbered over twenty, but the ones who had volunteered for the Thirteen Squads were just myself, Cheongyeon, and a cute-looking, youthful young lady named Cheon Ju-eun.
In my past life, I had thought of the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords and volunteered for the Thirteen Squads without much thought, but for most people, the Thirteen Squads were not particularly popular.
It was all because of the Thirteen Squads' excessively young age range.
While we were waiting in the waiting room for the vice-commander, Cheongyeon suddenly asked me a question.
"Do you suppose the reason the Thirteen Squads has the youngest age range is because all the veteran warriors are dead?"
I smiled bitterly at her question.
Her analysis was far too accurate.
"It does seem that way, but actually, not just the Thirteen Squads, the age range of the entire Flying Dragon Corps is trending downward, so there probably isn't that big of a difference."
It was a lie.
The age range of the entire Flying Dragon Corps was indeed getting lower, but even among them, the Thirteen Squads was overwhelmingly the youngest place.
From what I had seen in my past life, the number of warriors in the Thirteen Squads who were middle-aged or older amounted to only two: the commander and the vice-commander.
Cheongyeon shook her head and spoke.
"That's a serious matter. It means there are no new veteran warriors volunteering, and it's full of only young martial artists forcibly conscripted and sent by their sects because they had no choice, isn't that right?"
I thought it once more—she was a remarkable young lady.
To deduce that much from just a few facts.
I nodded in admiration.
"That's absolutely right."
Then, Cheon Ju-eun, who had been listening to our conversation with wide eyes, asked a question.
"Why don't veteran warriors volunteer?"
Cheon Ju-eun was someone I had virtually no contact with in my past life, as she had been in a different squad from me and had died before I knew it. Judging by her current question, it seemed she was not a disciple forcibly conscripted by her sect.
Because if she had been forcibly pushed out by her sect, there was no way she wouldn't know the reason.
"Because they can gain neither profit nor fame."
"Profit, and fame?"
"Everything that happens on the frontline is never leaked to the outside. So no matter how many meritorious deeds you achieve here, or how miserably you die, the outside world never finds out. Even for chivalrous heroes who don't care for profit, there's no fame or honor, only danger, so everyone avoids it."
"Ahhh."
Just as she nodded as if she understood, the door to the waiting room opened and a middle-aged man with a goatee entered.
It was the Thirteen Squads' vice-commander, the Flying Sparrow Sword Guest Heon Yeong-bo.
The moment I saw his face, a hollow laugh escaped me.
To think the day would come when I'd actually be glad to see that chatty, cowardly, and even authoritarian man.
He spoke in a somewhat arrogant voice.
"Welcome. I am Heon Yeong-bo, the Flying Sparrow Sword Guest and vice-commander of the Thirteen Squads. You must have heard of my name, I assume?"
Even the way he said the 'vice' part quietly and the 'commander' part loudly was exactly as I remembered.
I chuckled to myself and was about to humor him appropriately, but Cheongyeon, who was beside me, asked back first without a hint of hesitation.
"No, I haven't heard of you? Were you a famous person?"
Heon Yeong-bo's face instantly crumpled, but he managed his expression with effort and answered.
"Hmm, there are many masters on the frontline who are forgotten due to the confidentiality oath. It seems the young lady is a bit lacking in worldly knowledge."
His effort to package himself somehow was, however, mercilessly shattered by Cheongyeon's counter-question, asked with a tilt of her head.
"Is that so? I thought I remembered pretty much every master who is peak-level or above. Are you, by any chance, at the peak-level?"
At that, his face could no longer hold back and crumpled completely.
The fact that there were peak-level masters even among the young squad leaders, while he himself, despite being vice-commander, had not reached the peak, was his long-standing inferiority complex.
I knew I should stop Cheongyeon, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, struggling to hold back my laughter.
This direct and peculiar young lady certainly had a remarkable side to her.
"Ugh, now! We are short on time, so let us proceed quickly to the squad assignments! The squad leaders should be gathered as well."
Then he practically snatched the documents I handed over, skimmed through them, and spoke.
"Third son of the Seonwoo Clan, Seonwoo Jin. Hoh? The Seonwoo Clan, you say?"
As he said that and looked at me again, his gaze had become much softer than before.
Then he read on.
"Cheon Ju-eun, daughter of Cheon Ga-sang, the head of Gwiju Sasu? If it's Gwiju Sasu... that's an unorthodox faction, isn't it?"
When he furrowed his brow and looked at Cheon Ju-eun, she avoided his gaze with a slightly timid expression.
I, too, found it unexpected.
For the daughter of someone from the unorthodox faction to willingly volunteer for the frontline managed by the Murim Alliance—it couldn't be anything but a curious matter.
However, Heon Yeong-bo, who had just been reading the documents again, soon furrowed his brow deeply and raised his voice.
"What's this? Name: Cheongyeon. Sect and parents cannot be disclosed?"
It was Cheongyeon's personal information.
She had introduced herself to me simply as Cheongyeon as well.
Saying her surname was 'Cheong' and her given name was 'Yeon'.
Considering how Jegal Sojeo had called her 'Cheongyeon-ah,' there was absolutely no way that was the case.
It seemed there were circumstances of some kind that prevented her from revealing her identity.
"Yes, I am Cheongyeon."
When she answered with a perfectly nonchalant expression, Heon Yeong-bo asked with a fierce look, as if he had caught her red-handed.
"It seems the young lady is also unaware of the fact that a person of uncertain identity cannot volunteer for the frontline?!"
I stared at him with a dumbfounded look.
What a blatant lie.
When we didn't know a single thing about the identity of Seventh Squad Leader Seol Pung himself either.
Cheongyeon tilted her head and asked.
"They didn't say anything like that at the headquarters, though?"
Then Heon Yeong-bo shouted triumphantly.
"It is absolutely not allowed here in the Thirteen Squads! Either disclose your sect and parents right now, or apply for a different unit in the Flying Dragon Corps!"
Cheongyeon's face stiffened slightly.
It seemed she had not anticipated this kind of situation.
Watching from the side, I let out a sigh.
It seemed being glad to see that petty man was only true until we actually had to talk to each other.
I tossed out a comment from the side.
"Cheongyeon is a friend of Jegal Sojeo's, and someone who visited our Seonwoo Clan."
He snorted and retorted.
"Jegal Sojeo? Who is that? And what does that have to do with anything?"
But even just by his expression as he asked back, it was easy to tell that his eyes belatedly recalled something.
"Yes, you are thinking of the right person—the Heavenly Wisdom Sword Peak, Jegal Seoyul. This Cheongyeon here is her friend."
His pupils dilated greatly.
"Th-the Heavenly Wisdom Sword Peak...?"
"As you well know, she is the treasured jewel of the Jegal Clan. She is also the daughter of the Murim Alliance's military advisor, Elder Jegal Ji-gang."
His mouth fell open in shock.
"D-do not lie! Why would such a young lady deliberately come to the frontline?!"
I was a little curious about the reason myself, but I just smiled meaningfully and answered.
"I don't know exactly either, but there must be some sort of reason, no? Perhaps the kind of matter that might involve the higher-ups of the Alliance."
"S-s-such!"
That was the end of the situation.
Heon Yeong-bo clamped his mouth shut and guided us with an extremely respectful attitude.
And when I entered the small meeting room under his guidance, I couldn't help but let out a sigh.
All of them, whom I could never forget, were gathered there.