Chapter 13: Flying Dragon Thirteen Squad-3
Chapter 13: Flying Dragon Thirteen Squad-3
"Uwaaaaah! Finally done!"
I practically fell from the tree down to the ground.
This damn full-speed sprinting had been going on for two months already, yet I couldn't seem to get used to it at all.
Of course, the fact that I kept increasing the weight of the steel vest probably had something to do with that.
By the time I reached the clearing, the other squad members had already entered their energy cultivation meditation.
Aside from Squad Leader Seolpung, who had set off again, and Bae Jong-gwan, who would arrive later than me, it seemed I was the last one.
"You're a bit late today. You've worked hard."
Our squad's vice squad leader, Miss Na Seo-yu, who had been about to enter energy cultivation meditation, greeted me with her characteristic bright smile.
Miss Na Seo-yu, with her slightly downturned eyes and perpetually smiling face, was as caring and beautiful today as ever.
I was happy to the point of tears simply at the fact that I could see her again.
"Ah, yes, I increased the weight again and couldn't pick up any speed. It's probably because my training is still insufficient, I suppose. Hahaha!"
When I answered with an awkward laugh, she smiled brightly and praised me again.
"Training is meant to make you better than yesterday, isn't it? You're truly remarkable, Seonu Gongja."
"Ah, no. It's truly nothing. It's but a drop in the bucket compared to the squad leader. Hahahaha!"
Miss Na Seo-yu had warmly sheltered me even in my past life, when everyone ostracized me and called me a pig.
Back then, I had developed a one-sided love for her.
Though I had been unable to confess my feelings, or prevent her death.
"Then rest a bit before you start. I'll begin my meditation first."
"Ah, yes! Go ahead! Understood!"
After sneaking a glance at her face as she entered energy cultivation meditation, I quickly turned my head before anyone could catch me looking and entered energy cultivation meditation myself.
It had already been two months since we came to the frontline. About a month ago, the female squad members—Miss Cheongyeon, Miss Na Seo-yu, and Miss Cheon Ju-eun—had also begun participating in the training.
From what I heard, Miss Cheongyeon had wanted to participate from the very start, but the other young ladies had persuaded her to wait just a little longer, so she had held back.
Early on after arriving at the frontline, she had asked me with a serious expression.
'Don't you think there are too many masters here?'
'Pardon?'
'Out of barely seventy-some members, there are five peak-level masters in their twenties alone. Isn't the ratio far too high? Even the Murim Alliance, said to gather only geniuses, isn't like this.'
I had answered her words with a grin.
'Perhaps it's because the people here are more desperate than those in the Murim Alliance? Since falling behind in skill means truly dying.'
'Hmm.'
After that, as if her competitive spirit had been ignited, she began throwing herself into training with ferocious intensity.
It remained the same even after she joined our training.
Among the women, she was the only one who did the sprint training while wearing a steel vest.
I had known she was originally strong in curiosity, but her competitive spirit seemed equally formidable.
On top of that, she even said she would participate in the external body training, making us all recoil in shock.
Striking the bare skin of a woman like her with bamboo sticks—*chalsak chalsak*—even an external arts pervert like Bae Jong-gwan couldn't do such a thing.
In the end, when told that external body training required stripping off her upper garments and applying medicine, she had no choice but to back down. Yet the way she wore a regretful expression was so quintessentially Miss Cheongyeon that no other words came to mind.
Other than that, everything had been going smoothly.
The Supreme Primordial Chaos Art was indeed the ultimate mental cultivation method, and now that I had mastered the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords, my rate of growth was incomparable to my past life.
I was greatly looking forward to my duel with Ju Tae-gyeong, which was now a month away.
The growth of Bi Sa-yeong and Bae Jong-gwan, friends I absolutely wanted to keep alive, was also progressing smoothly.
Though Bi Sa-yeong constantly grumbled, he followed the training well without giving up, with his characteristic stubbornness, and the newly learned Cheerful Mind Method was giving him wings.
Bae Jong-gwan, too, unlike his past life, was now immersing himself not only in external arts but also in movement techniques and the newly learned mental cultivation method.
His obsession with external arts had been something close to sheer defiance.
Defiance to earn recognition through external arts, which everyone dismissed.
It was probably because of his late father's dying words, but that defiance had made him abandon all other training and focus solely on external arts.
To him, I had said this.
'By chance, I happen to possess the mental cultivation method of the Diamond Body Invulnerability Sect, which pursued the Diamond Body Invulnerability. Would you like to learn it?'
'...The Diamond Body Invulnerability Sect?'
The term Diamond Body Invulnerability was like a dream to those who trained in external arts.
He could not help but be interested.
'Yes, it was a sect that held the aspiration to temper both the inside and outside, achieving true Diamond Body Invulnerability. I also happen to have their medicinal compound formula; if we reconcile it with your own formula, we could achieve even better effects.'
'Y-you're saying you'll give something like that to me? Truly, you are....'
Gripping his hand tightly, which was even glistening with tears, I had told him this.
'I'm not giving it. We'll learn it together. We shall become Diamond Body Invulnerability together. What do you say?'
'Together... Diamond Body Invulnerability.... *Keuheuk!* Truly, thank you, Jin!'
While patting him as he finally burst into tears, I inwardly apologized to him.
In truth, there was no such sect as the Diamond Body Invulnerability Sect.
Well, perhaps it might have existed, but at least I wasn't aware of it.
What I actually possessed was the Iron Arhat Mind Technique—a mental cultivation method originating from Shaolin—and a medicinal compound formula, both of which I had read about in my father's study.
Since it was a training method originating from Shaolin, which originally valued both external and internal arts, it was suitable to give to Bae Jong-gwan. I had simply embellished it a little for motivation's sake.
It pricked my conscience just a bit, but still, if the motivation and outcome are good, isn't that all that matters?
Rationalizing it to myself like that, I continued to train in external arts together with him.
For now, it seemed that all I could do was to continue helping myself and the comrades around me grow like this.
Two months had passed since we arrived here, and if my memory was right, a major incident was about to happen soon. An incident incomparable to the duel with Ju Tae-gyeong....
And my memory was almost never wrong.
Looking back on my past life's memories, one day, over fifty gangui had suddenly swarmed in like a tidal wave.
Having never faced more than five or six gangui at once before, we had suffered a catastrophe from that unprecedented disaster where almost an entire squad had been annihilated.
And that wasn't all.
Though I didn't know the exact cause and effect, in my past life, life on the frontline had become one level harder from that point onward.
As if, rather than climbing a continuous slope, we had suddenly stepped onto a staircase where the height of each step had abruptly increased.
The frustrating thing was that even though I knew this fact, my current standing and martial arts within the Thirteen Squads meant I could neither tell anyone nor directly prepare for it.
Like a punch you can see coming from a mile away and have no choice but to be hit by, it was simply frustrating.
***
Won Cheong-won, squad leader of the Thirteen Squads' Sixth Squad, was leading the Sixth Squad members on patrol through the dense jungle.
Patrols were conducted four times a day—morning, afternoon, evening, and night—and the seven squads rotated through them in turn, so typically a squad did patrol about once every two days.
Won Cheong-won, who had been at the front cutting down undergrowth with his sword to make a path, was waving his free hand around, continuously swatting at the mosquitoes swarming him.
The tropical rainforest region of Yunnan was originally teeming with mosquitoes, but Won Cheong-won, among all people, was strangely bitten especially often.
Perhaps his blood was tasty, or perhaps he just had a face that was popular with mosquitoes.
"Should've been popular with women instead of mosquitoes."
Muttering like that, Won Cheong-won, in a moment of irritation, drew his sword.
"Ei!"
*Shu-haak!*
In an instant, the space around Won Cheong-won was filled with sharp sword shadows like a hedgehog's spines.
It was the Mount Qingcheng Sect's unique ultimate technique, the Seventy-Two Waves Sword, and among its forms, the defensive technique Sword Rain Dense, Dense.
Won Cheong-won wore a satisfied smile as the mosquitoes that had been clustering around him were massacred.
More mosquitoes would swarm in again soon enough anyway, but just being able to avoid hearing that buzzing noise for even a short while was quite satisfying.
At that, his squad members behind him burst out in admiration.
"Whoa, as expected of the squad leader! You're amazing every time I see it!"
"That's the Sword Rain Dense, Dense of the Seventy-Two Waves Sword, right?!"
At this, a proud Won Cheong-won lifted his head and answered.
"What's this modest display? For a disciple of the Mount Qingcheng Sect, this much is basic."
But Won Cheong-won's squad members didn't leave him be to boast.
"Our squad leader is this impressive, so how incredible must the First Squad Leader be, who's considered a genius even in the Mount Qingcheng Sect?"
"Han Gyo-seong, the First Squad Leader's Cheongpung Sword Technique is incomparable to our squad leader's. His title is even Blue Wind Sword Dragon, isn't it? Our squad leader is Quick Trouble Gibbon—can a dragon and a monkey even be compared?"
"Urgh!"
Won Cheong-won, his face crumpling at the squad members' words, let out a bellow.
"Shut up, you bastards! That bastard who reached the peak level in his twenties is the weird one! He's got no humanity whatsoever!"
"Ah, right, Squad Leader! Speaking of which, they say Seolpung, squad leader of the Seventh Squad, catches mosquitoes while running with his eyes closed? Apparently his senses are so precise that whether running or walking, he never gets bitten even once."
"Urk! Th-that bastard, if he were as popular with mosquitoes as me, he'd probably have been bitten a few times too?"
Unbefitting of a disciple of the prestigious Mount Qingcheng Sect, Won Cheong-won was exceedingly cheerful and fraternized with his squad members without formalities, and he was always teased by them like this.
But precisely because of that, the Sixth Squad's unity was more tightly knit than any other squad.
Vice squad leader Gong Jong-hwa spoke to the squad members.
"Don't tease him too much. Where else are you going to find a squad leader as good-natured as ours? He's got long arms, too."
"That's right, that's right. The vice squad leader knows what she's talking about, as expected."
When Won Cheong-won nodded in satisfaction at the vice squad leader's words, the squad members jeered.
"Hey, if you think he's so great, why don't you date him then, Vice Squad Leader?"
"That's right. Please save our squad leader. Don't leave him all alone and lonely."
"Mm, that's a bit... His arms are too long, it's a bit burdensome."
"What? Puhahaha! Just a moment ago you were saying his long arms were an advantage!"
"Wahahaha! Squad Leader, you got rejected again!"
"Shut up, you bastards! I'm not interested in the vice squad leader either!"
It was just as they were entering the latter half of their patrol, loosening their tension a bit and chattering noisily.
A certain sound suddenly reached the ears of Won Cheong-won, who was at the peak of first-rate.
"Everyone quiet!"
As soon as Won Cheong-won spoke with a stern expression, all the Sixth Squad members immediately lowered their stances, their eyes tense as if they hadn't been making a racket moments before.
Sssssssk!
With the surrounding noise gone, Won Cheong-won's ears picked up the sound of something pushing through the bushes and approaching.
Won Cheong-won murmured in a low voice.
"Something's coming. Quite a lot. Defensive formation!"
The Sixth Squad members immediately formed a defensive formation with Won Cheong-won at its peak.
It was a formation that concentrated a heavy burden on Won Cheong-won, whose martial power was overwhelmingly superior to the other squad members.
The rustling sound was drawing closer and closer.
Won Cheong-won swallowed dryly and murmured.
"This is... I think there are a bit too many?"
The next moment, the creatures burst out from the underbrush.
"Kyaaaaa!"
"Kiyaaaaa!"
They were gangui.
And more than ten gangui were charging them all at once.
Won Cheong-won immediately realized that things had gone wrong.
Until now, even when gangui swarmed together, the maximum had been five or six at most, but now the dozen or so before his eyes wasn't the end of it.
Gangui kept charging in from behind them.
Won Cheong-won let out a scream-like shout and swung his sword at the gangui at the very front.
"Vice Squad Leader! Send the signal!"
Shuhaaak!
The Sword Rain Dense that had caught the mosquitoes earlier unfolded once more. This time, unlike before, it was a strike delivered with everything he had, thick sword qi billowing out like hazy mist.
But it didn't work.
Tung! Tututung! Tutung!
The sword qi bounced off the bodies of the three gangui charging at the vanguard.
They were mid-grade gangui, impervious to sword qi.
Won Cheong-won shouted urgently.
"At least three mid-grade ones! Everyone run! Fall back!"
Boom!
Along with Won Cheong-won's cry, the red flare that vice squad leader Gong Jong-hwa shot upward soared into the sky.
It was the emergency signal.
***
Deng-deng-deng-deng!
The urgent sound of bells rang through the Thirteen Squads' barracks.
It was an emergency deployment order, heard for the first time in a long while. All troops immediately assembled on the training ground.
There, the Thirteen Squads' leader, Storm Blade Ronin Pung Yang, had already finished preparations to sortie. In his place—as he was a man of few words—the vice-leader Heon Yeong-bo quickly relayed the situation.
"Three red flares went up. One first, then two at once. The squad leaders will sortie first alongside the commander, and the squad members will follow under the leadership of the vice squad leaders!"
A red flare meant that an undefeatable enemy had appeared. And if one fell into a crisis, a second flare was to be fired.
And that two more had been fired after the first clearly meant a dangerous situation the likes of which they had never seen before.
"Let's go!"
As Storm Blade Ronin Pung Yang spoke curtly and launched his body, among the squad leaders, those who were at the peak level launched their bodies after him.
First Squad's Blue Wind Sword Dragon Han Gyo-seong, Second Squad's Jeomchang Sword Dragon Sa Gun-il, Third Squad's Tang Family Sword Peak Dang Yeo-eun, Fourth Squad's Jeomchang Sword Hawk Ma Yu-gyeom, and Seventh Squad's Gale Flying Dragon Seol Pung.
As the peak-level masters vanished from sight in an instant, the vice squad leaders of each squad also began to move, leading their squad members.
Na Seo-yu, vice squad leader of the Seventh Squad, also spoke after a moment's hesitation.
"We should go as well. It seems we cannot wait for the squad members who are currently absent."
And so, all Thirteen Squad members present at headquarters began to move.
It was the first time such a thing had happened since the Twin Sickle Seven Evils incident.
***
When the three mid-grade gangui deflected his sword qi and pushed straight in, Sixth Squad Leader Won Cheong-won immediately discarded his sword.
For swordsmen, it would have been an act directly linked to death, but fortunately, Won Cheong-won was no swordsman.
"Euhyaaaap!"
With a martial shout, he spun his body, swinging his long arms like whips to batter the surrounding gangui.
Puhpuhpuhpuk!
Gangui struck hard by his arms went flying off in all directions.
Even if he couldn't pierce or shatter the gangui's skin, he could at least push them back and swat them away.
He was originally not a swordsman, but a fist master.
The direct successor of the Whirling Fist among the Mount Qingcheng Sect's fist lineages—that was Won Cheong-won's true identity.
It was just that, having not yet reached the peak and unable to use energetic force, he had taken up a sword to at least make use of sword qi.
But even as he escaped the crisis, Won Cheong-won looked back with a face still etched with desperation.
He himself, a fist master, could at least push back the gangui, but for the squad members whose specialty was weapon arts, it would be impossible.
The sight of his squad members being overwhelmed by countless gangui entered Won Cheong-won's eyes.
He rushed in desperately, shouting.
"No!"
The fundamental tactic against gangui was for two people to form a pair, one diverting the gangui's attention while the other attacked.
It exploited the gangui's weakness of being unable to pay attention to other things once focused on one. But now, the Sixth Squad members found themselves facing more gangui than themselves for the first time.
Far from forming pair teams, they had to face more than two each alone.
When a gangui clamped its teeth down tightly on one squad member's saber, the squad member's face turned pale.
With his saber immobilized, other gangui swarmed him from both sides.
"Ah, no! Aaaaagh!"
His arm was torn, his throat bitten out—all in a single instant.
Three gangui had lunged at him and were eating him alive.
Vice squad leader Gong Jong-hwa was also in a state of crisis.
She had emitted sword qi and cut through the chest of one low-grade gangui, but the creature had charged in even with its chest split wide open.
Too startled, Gong Jong-hwa thrust her sword straight into the gangui's heart.
Puhook!
But that was something she should not have done.
Her sword was lodged in the creature's heart, and while she had yet to pull it out, two other gangui were charging at her.
"Kyaaaaa!"
"Kiyaaaaa!"
Realizing she could neither block nor evade, Gong Jong-hwa closed her eyes and screamed.
"Kyaaack!"
But it seemed her time had not yet run out.
Puhpuhpung!
Won Cheong-won, who had dashed over just in time, had batted the gangui away to either side with both arms.
"Vice Squad Leader! Run!"
Even at the moment Won Cheong-won saved her, yet another squad member was screaming and being devoured by gangui.
"Save me! Uwaaaaagh!"
The moment Won Cheong-won's regretful gaze lingered on him briefly, the mid-grade gangui he had temporarily swatted away were charging at him again.
There was no end in sight.
It was the moment Won Cheong-won, his eyes filled with despair, moved to reach out toward them again.
Suddenly, from somewhere, a massive lump flew in.
"Hiyahp! Iron Body Meteor!"
"Euhahp! Diamond Flying Star!"
Puhpuhpuhpupung!
They were two men.
Contrary to their grandiose martial shouts, the two men who were barreling in like boars, recklessly headbutting and body-slamming gangui left and right, were none other than Seventh Squad's Bae Jong-gwan and Seonwoo Jin.
It was the dramatic entrance of the two who had been pointed at and called medicine peddlers by everyone in the Thirteen Squads.