Chapter 14: Flying Dragon Thirteen Squad-4
Chapter 14: Flying Dragon Thirteen Squad-4
No matter how sharp my memory was, I couldn't recall exactly which day the Gangui pack ambush would happen.
But I could narrow it down.
It was something that happened to the Sixth Squad, the one right ahead of us, and it occurred when we were on afternoon duty — which meant it happened while the Sixth Squad went out on morning patrol.
Our afternoon patrol came around once every four days. So it wasn't particularly difficult to pinpoint if I just prepared for that day roughly two months after I arrived.
But knowing the day was one thing. Preparing for it was another matter entirely.
There was no way I had the skill to take on that many Gangui alone, and I wasn't in a position to move people around as I pleased either.
So the people I could choose were limited to exactly these individuals.
The kind of people who would somehow manage to believe the bullshit story that a sage appeared in my dream and gave me a revelation to stop the Gangui pack.
Bae Jong-gwan was charging into the Gangui bare-bodied, ricocheting them like pebbles and letting out roaring laughter.
"Euhahahaha! Light! Too damn light!"
He looked like a man who had just achieved his dream.
On the other hand, I — having shed weight to the point of being undersized and still lacking Bae Jong-gwan's level of external training — had to bounce the Gangui away while wearing a steel vest to increase my mass.
I didn't want to resort to this brute-force method if possible, but I had no choice since I had to push the Gangui back in front of the Sixth Squad members.
In the brief gap that opened when the Gangui were swept aside, I shouted at the Sixth Squad members.
"What are you doing?! Retreat, now!"
At that, Sixth Squad Leader Won Cheong-won, who had been staring at us blankly, snapped back to his senses and shouted.
"Retreat! Run at full speed!"
Then, instead of following his own orders, he came up beside me and yelled.
"Seventh Squad members?! You fall back too! Those numbers are too much!"
I knew that fact better than anyone.
Right now, we'd been able to sweep the bastards aside using the momentum from our long-distance charge and a flank ambush, but soon — the moment they swarmed Bae Jong-gwan in a concentrated rush — he would have no choice but to stop in place and be surrounded by them.
But I hadn't come here relying solely on Bae Jong-gwan. I shouted at the top of my lungs.
"Sa-yeong! You're up!"
At that, Bi Sa-yeong, who had been waiting in the rear, charged in while cursing.
"Fuck! Making me do this crazy shit!"
Using his dazzling speed, Bi Sa-yeong swept past the demons who had lost their balance thanks to Bae Jong-gwan.
With rapid slaps.
Specifically, slapping the demons' faces at superspeed.
The faces of the demons that Bi Sa-yeong slapped as he passed were smeared with red liquid.
Bi Sa-yeong's own blood.
He had cut his palm and struck the Gangui as he passed.
A characteristic of the low-intelligence Gangui was that once they fixated on a target, they pursued it to the end.
Even in the Flying Dragon Corps, they taught us to exploit that trait using the pair team tactic to confuse and handle the Gangui.
And the bastards had one more characteristic.
They went absolutely mad for human blood and flesh.
They were creatures designed to prioritize tearing apart and devouring humans above all else.
Bi Sa-yeong had just smeared his own blood scent on those bastards.
So they couldn't possibly tear their eyes away from him.
The Gangui that Bi Sa-yeong had slapped — the ones now smeared with blood — scrambled to their feet and began chasing him with terrifying ferocity, exactly like a pack of wild dogs.
Including the mid-level Gangui I had insisted absolutely had to be lured away.
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
"Kiaaaaaaaa!"
"Keuaaaaaah!"
As over thirty Gangui came thundering after him in a swarm, Bi Sa-yeong began fleeing while shrieking.
"Aaaarrrgh! Seonwoo Jin, you son of a bitch!"
I let his curses slide in one ear and grinned.
Everything was going according to plan.
Sure, it must have been terrifying for Bi Sa-yeong, but he was the senior disciple of the Bi Sect — and after all that brutally intense movement technique training I'd put him through — did I seriously think he'd get caught by mere Gangui?
The bastards would never be able to catch Bi Sa-yeong.
...Probably.
So now, while Bi Sa-yeong kept their attention, we only had to deal with the remaining twenty or so Gangui.
It wouldn't be easy, but since Bi Sa-yeong had taken the mid-level Gangui away, it wasn't impossible either.
I spoke to Won Cheong-won.
"Sixth Squad Leader, I'm afraid I'll need you to go into the thick of it with me and draw the eyes of the remaining bastards. If you would?"
At that, Won Cheong-won, who had been staring at me with astonished eyes, soon nodded and bravely leaped into the Gangui first.
The Whirling Fist, an ultimate technique of the Mount Qingcheng Sect, spun like a vortex, ricocheting the Gangui away.
The impacts were powerful.
After Squad Leader Seolpung, he was the second fist master of the Thirteen Squads — a truly impressive sight.
But, well, there was no telling how long I could last in the middle of that.
I could only hope that Miss Cheongyeon reduced the numbers quickly.
"Kiaaaaaaa!"
I grabbed one Gangui charging at me with the Golden Capture Hand, lightly threw it backward, and then plunged in myself.
It was finally time for the Gale Eighteen Strikes — which I had been practicing through sparring with Squad Leader Seolpung all this time — to show its true worth.
"Euhyaaaap!"
Rapid strikes landed.
I swung my hands and feet, striking and shoving back the Gangui surging at me like a wave.
When I couldn't block, I took the hit with my steel vest; when my hands weren't enough, I body-slammed them away.
Anyway, for someone like me who couldn't smash them with energetic force like Squad Leader Seolpung, this was all I could do.
While I was striking and seizing the Gangui charging from all directions, swinging them around, I stole a glance at my comrades.
Then, the sight of Bae Jong-gwan snatching the arms of that first Gangui I'd thrown — right out of midair — caught my eye.
"Miss Cheongyeon! Got him!"
"Understood."
Even in the desperate urgency of being surrounded by Gangui, I smirked.
A Gangui caught like that — no matter how much it thrashed — could never escape the arms of the massive, muscle-bound powerhouse that was Bae Jong-gwan. Even if it were a mid-level Gangui.
That was the conclusion we'd reached after countless experiments every time we met a Gangui during patrols near Lee Geon.
And even if the bastard kicked Bae Jong-gwan with its free legs, it would be useless. Because nothing short of their claws or teeth could pierce Bae Jong-gwan's external arts.
So all a bastard caught like that could do was open its mouth wide and shriek.
"Kiaaaaaaa!"
Then, Miss Cheongyeon, who had been waiting, would simply thrust her sword qi into that open mouth.
A practiced strike that pierced through the roof of the mouth and into the brain.
The time it took to dispatch one that way was barely three breaths. Our squad members, who had always dealt with Gangui like this during every patrol, had now become practically seasoned craftsmen at it.
In fact, whenever the Gangui attacked, we would deliberately leave just one alive and use it to practice against Gangui or conduct various experiments.
'To be precise, it wasn't us — it was Miss Cheongyeon...'
She wanted to carry out various experiments on the Gangui.
Experiments like how effective Bae Jong-gwan's external arts were against a Gangui, or how tempered my skin or Bi Sa-yeong's skin was.
All of this was possible, of course, only because the Gangui were the lowest-grade demons.
Except for their tough skin, they were just like wild beasts driven by instinct.
Once this incident was over, new demons would appear soon, and then we wouldn't be able to dispatch them this easily anymore.
But for now, I could say it with confidence.
No one in the Thirteen Squads could handle the Gangui better than our squad members.
"Euhyaaaap!"
I swung my body to bounce the Gangui away, occasionally tossing one toward Bae Jong-gwan, and drew up more strength.
From now on, it was a battle of endurance.
***
The sight that Grand Master Poong Yang and six other peak-level masters witnessed after sprinting at full speed was an extremely bizarre one.
"Aaaarrrgh! I can't take it! I can't take this anymore!"
The image of Bi Sa-yeong shrieking as he circled the forest with thirty-odd Gangui trailing behind him, the figures of Won Cheong-won and Seonwoo Jin struggling fiercely amid the horde of Gangui,
and the sight of Bae Jong-gwan and Cheongyeon methodically dispatching the Gangui one by one like craftsmen performing a division of labor — all of it was utterly bewildering.
The peak-level masters, who had been staring blankly at these scenes for a moment, soon collected themselves and charged at the Gangui.
For them — masters capable of wielding energetic force like sword energy and blade energy — even the mid-level Gangui were nothing more than slightly ferocious beasts.
Watching them cleave Gangui in half with sword energy and burst heads with fist energy, Seonwoo Jin was at last able to let out a sigh of relief.
Though the others couldn't know it, the Gangui pack ambush — which in Seonwoo Jin's past life had annihilated every member of the Sixth Squad except their squad leader Won Cheong-won — was now drawing to a close with the bare minimum of casualties.
***
Afternoon training, several days after the Gangui pack ambush.
"Ugh, the stench."
Bi Sa-yeong grumbled again today as he applied the external training liquid.
"The color's all black and goopy, and the smell's foul to boot — that's why people don't want to learn it. Ah, seriously."
Even as he grumbled and smeared the liquid all over his body by himself, Na and Bae Jong-gwan smiled quietly as they watched him.
In truth, after the incident with the swarm of gangwi, he had been participating in training quite actively.
Now that he felt himself growing and had even started receiving recognition from others, he seemed to be putting more heart into it.
But that grumbling mouth of his never stayed shut.
"Look at that. Everyone watching over there would have rushed over to train together ages ago if it weren't for this liquid, don't you think?"
I answered him.
"Well, from what I saw, it seemed more like they changed their minds after seeing what actually happens afterward."
As he said, several squad members from other squads were watching us from a distance.
It wasn't just today. Over the past few days, quite a few people had been observing our external training, and the number was growing.
All of this was the aftermath of the gangwi swarm attack incident.
Once word spread that Na and Won Cheong-won had survived among over twenty gangwi using fist and foot techniques, the squad members had begun seriously contemplating learning these techniques.
The best thing would be to quickly reach the peak realm and manifest energetic force, but that was about as realistic as trying to get rich quick just to have a nice dinner tonight.
Even if it couldn't handle the gangwi right away, if it helped increase survivability, there was no reason to refuse learning fist and foot techniques.
In fact, it seemed this issue was being seriously discussed in the officers' meeting as well.
Their interest in external arts was for the same reason.
Once testimonies spread that Na and Bae Jong-gwan had sent gangwi flying with body slams, people began to look at external arts—once dismissed as mere street vendor feats of strength—in a new light.
Of course, they would flinch once upon seeing the dubious training liquid being applied, and then when Bae Jong-gwan smiled brightly like a pervert and started smacking himself with bamboo sticks, they would all turn and walk away... but still.
Of course, that didn't mean there was no one who actively wanted to learn.
"Hey! Friends! Hard at work again today, I see!"
The one approaching with a cheerful laugh and waving his hand was Won Cheong-won, the squad leader of the Sixth Squad, whose long arms were striking.
"You apply that stuff every day, right? If you put that on, you can use that Diamond Flying Star thing or whatever? Let me try it just once...!"
He was originally a fist master, and having fought alongside us, he seemed genuinely eager to learn external arts.
It was just that the people around him didn't want him to.
Gong Jong-hwa, the deputy squad leader of the Sixth Squad, followed right behind him, grabbed his ear, and began dragging him away again.
She left us with a shy smile and a greeting.
"Ho ho ho! Pardon us!"
"Aaaah! Deputy Squad Leader, what gives?! I'm telling you, I really want to try that stuff!"
Just then, the Sixth Squad members who appeared from somewhere each grabbed one of Won Cheong-won's limbs and carried him off, greeting us as they went.
"Keep up the good work!"
"You look magnificent covered in that mud!"
It was a scene befitting the Sixth Squad, the most united and cheerful squad among the Thirteen Squads.
Though that unity was best expressed in how they prevented their own squad leader's antics.
After the Sixth Squad passed by like a storm, a moment later, members of the Third Squad passed by our side.
It seemed you could recognize they were the Third Squad no matter how far away they were.
Because the one leading them was none other than Dang Yeoeun, the Tang Family Sword Peak.
Her cold and intellectual beauty seemed to emit its own light, even among all the people around her.
The squad members and followers trailing behind her felt almost like shadows by comparison.
"It's Lady Dang."
"Lady Dang."
"Woaaah, as expected."
We, who had been in the middle of external training, found our gazes stolen toward her without even realizing it.
It was an almost instinctive reaction.
She was a face we saw at least once a day, but her beauty forced a gasp of admiration every single time.
I wanted to claim, full of personal bias, that our deputy squad leader, Lady Na Seo-yu, was the most beautiful, but as long as I had eyes, I had no choice but to concede defeat.
When it came to cold, objective comparison of appearance, perhaps only Jegal Seoyul, the Heavenly Wisdom Sword Peak I had seen at the Seonwoo clan estate, could compare?
Just then, one of the burly, robust men walking directly behind Dang Yeoeun suddenly approached us with a smile and spoke.
"Good to see you! I've always passed by and seen you, but only now am I finally greeting you properly!"
He was Myeong Sa-hyeon, the deputy squad leader of the Third Squad—a man so open and spirited that he had boldly declared in front of everyone that he took the deputy squad leader position for Dang Yeoeun because he was smitten with her.
Moreover, with his great popularity, he was effectively serving as the de facto squad leader of the Third Squad in place of Dang Yeoeun, who was somewhat uncomfortable with interpersonal relationships.
He approached us with a likable smile and spoke.
"I'll say this now, but I used to think you lot were wasting your time."
Well, that was perfectly understandable.
In my past life, even my friend Na had thought the same.
"But you proved otherwise—that your training was indeed worthwhile."
Having said that, he clasped his fists and bowed to us with earnest formality, apologizing.
"So I wanted to apologize without fail. Even if it was only in my heart, I had looked down on you."
As I had heard, he was nothing if not a stouthearted man.
We returned the clasped-fist salute and told him it was fine.
Then, with a mischievous face, he whispered as if sharing a secret.
"And this is a secret, but if I ever get the chance, I'd like to learn external arts from you as well. Though I hesitate because my goddess would likely dislike it."
At that moment, Dang Yeoeun, who had been walking far ahead, called out to him.
"Deputy Squad Leader! Are you not coming?!"
He feigned a startled flinch, then grinned at us and murmured.
"You see that. Contrary to appearances, our goddess is rather possessive. Well then, I must be off. Until next time."
Just as he turned to leave, I found myself urgently grabbing him without thinking.
"Deputy Myeong!"
"Hmm?"
"Ah, well... no. Take care of yourself. I pray we may train together next time without fail."
"Huh? Hahahaha! Thank you! I pray for the same!"
As he ran off toward Dang Yeoeun with a cheerful laugh, and she waited for him with an exasperated expression, I watched them with heavy eyes.
A sigh escaped me before I knew it.
In my past life, he had died.
And by the sword of Dang Yeoeun, the woman he loved, no less.
He had been soul-stolen by the Blood Cult and turned into a puppet, and Dang Yeoeun had been left with no choice but to kill him.
Even though my regretful heart wanted to warn him, I, too, did not know the exact details of when and how that incident had unfolded.
All I knew was that Dang Yeoeun personally killed him after he was soul-stolen by the Blood Cult, and that afterward, Dang Yeoeun had completely broken down.
Right now, everyone in the Thirteen Squads thought Myeong Sa-hyeon was the one unilaterally chasing after Dang Yeoeun, but that probably wasn't the case.
After having to kill him with her own hands, Dang Yeoeun had been unable to recover her senses, and for some reason, one day she had become the woman of Ma Yu-gyeom, the leader of the Fourth Squad.
And treated almost like a plaything at that...
In her final moments, as she collapsed weeping in despair over Ma Yu-gyeom's betrayal when he switched sides to the Blood Cult, the image of her last appearance remained vivid in my memory.
She was not the perfectly flawless ice goddess we saw on the surface.
As I couldn't tear my eyes away from them, Bi Sa-yeong laughed and teased me.
"What's this? Jin, do you have feelings for Lady Dang too? This won't do. Give it up. Unrequited love sickens the heart."
I snorted and shook my head.
"What are you talking about? As if I'd harbor feelings for Lady Dang. I have no desire to be stabbed to death by that legion of rivals either. I just want to exchange a few words with her, that's all..."
In truth, it wasn't that I had no interest in her at all.
After all, the gangwi swarm attack incident had passed, which meant the cheolgwi would be appearing soon.
To deal with the cheolgwi—which could not be cut by sword qi nor shattered by fist energy—I needed Lady Dang's help.
But I had absolutely no point of contact with her, and I truly was pondering how to strike up a conversation.
Then Bi Sa-yeong, having misunderstood my words, spoke with a serious expression.
"Huh? What? It was real? Were your feelings so deep that just being able to speak to her would be enough? You had feelings but were holding back because of your comrades?"
At that ridiculous leap of logic, I was genuinely flustered this time.
My mouth fell open as I tried to protest.
"N-no. What are you...?"
"What? Really? Jin-i, you're in love with Lady Dang?"
When even Bae Jong-gwan jumped in and spoke in a booming voice, I should have realized.
The fact that words without feet travel a thousand li.
And that I should have nipped any room for misunderstanding in the bud from the start.
Before I knew it, Lady Cheon Ju-eun of our squad, who had been approaching from behind to greet us, was shouting with a shocked face.
"What?! Did you hear that?! They say Seonu Gongja is in love with Lady Dang!"
The people she said that to were none other than Lady Na Seo-yu and Cheongyeon.
My vision went white.
"N-no! Lady Cheon, Lady Na! Th-that's not it!"
But as I tried to make excuses, all that filled my eyes was the face of Na So-jeo, looking at me with pity in her gaze.
"Urrrgh!"
Unable to bring myself to speak the truth, I could only stare up at the sky in bitter injustice.