Chapter 18: Spider Demon-3
Chapter 18: Spider Demon-3
Pabak!
"Kiiiiiiik!"
The creature's speed and my own were nearly identical.
So it must have realized it couldn't catch me, because it suddenly stopped chasing and turned to look back.
It was probably going to return to Bae Jong-gwan.
"Damn it all!"
The back of my head prickled with tension.
The bastard was a beast, yet its situational judgment was disgustingly quick!
In the end, I had no choice but to turn my steps as well.
If I fled completely, Bae Jong-gwan would die.
Bae Jong-gwan was currently swinging his entire body, bouncing off and trampling the horde of Liver Demons.
Looking at him now, he resembled a massive bear beating down a pack of wolves.
The Liver Demons' fangs and claws couldn't pierce Bae Jong-gwan's hardened body, and their brute strength couldn't match his power.
But there was no telling how long that could last.
Because Bae Jong-gwan ultimately couldn't kill the Liver Demons, and he would gradually tire as time passed.
So I absolutely could not let this Spider Demon go to Bae Jong-gwan.
I flung myself toward the Spider Demon and shouted.
"Over here, you spider bastard!"
Then the creature lunged at me as if it had been waiting.
It really had been aiming for this.
Shuhaak!
"Ugh?!"
Its sharp claws thrust toward my chest.
There was absolutely no room to dodge.
Puuk!
The claws pierced through my chest.
No, at least that was how it appeared.
But what it pierced was my afterimage.
At the very last moment, I had instinctively deflected the creature's claws, and I sped up again and fled while drenched in cold sweat.
It was all thanks to the Bi Sect's Cheonpung Step.
The ingrained Cheonpung Step, unfolded unconsciously, had saved my life.
Though of course, I couldn't say it was completely saved yet.
"Kiiiiiiik!"
With a face completely distorted in fury, the Spider Demon began chasing me again.
Even in that desperate moment, I silently conveyed my gratitude to Bi Sa-yeong.
'Sa-yeong! I survived thanks to you! If you bring the squad leader back before I die, I'll even call you hyung-nim!'
Screaming internally, I began the chase once more.
It was a bizarre pursuit, circling around Bae Jong-gwan as he clashed with the Liver Demons.
"Kiiiiiiii!"
A short while passed.
Bae Jong-gwan continued playing the monster among the Liver Demons, and I kept circling around him.
During that time, the Spider Demon had nearly caught me several times, but only managed to graze my collar. Now its expression looked like its mind had snapped from pure rage.
"Kkiaaaaaaak!"
By now, I thought I could even interpret the meaning behind the shrieking howls it let out while chasing me.
'If I catch you, I'll kill you.' Well, something along those lines.
So up to this point, the situation wasn't that bad.
I hadn't killed the Spider Demon or the Liver Demons, but at least I was maintaining the status quo.
But inside, I was anything but fine.
The pressure that something had to change was weighing heavily on me.
First of all, Bae Jong-gwan's movements, which I had been watching, were gradually slowing down.
Which meant he was getting exhausted.
And honestly, the same went for me.
I had thought I was confident in maintaining a movement technique for a long time, but moving for my life with desperate, all-out effort consumed stamina on a completely different level.
At this rate, even if Bi Sa-yeong met the squad leader the moment he arrived at the Thirteenth Squad and brought him here, it seemed I wouldn't be able to hold out until then.
I needed another way.
'What do I do? What can I do? What do I have that's superior to that bastard?'
I coldly compared the creature and myself.
And only its overwhelming abilities came to mind.
Physical abilities surpassing a peak-level master.
Skin so tough that even sword qi barely pierced it.
Of course, a sword would pierce its eyes or the inside of its mouth, but there was no way a creature that rivaled a peak-level master would let me land such a hit.
No, honestly, I wouldn't even have the time to swing my sword.
Because the moment it caught me, I would die immediately.
If I had to force myself to find points of superiority, they would be that I could use my head, and that the creature still hadn't fully adapted to the Illusion Sword.
But I wasn't confident I could use the Illusion Sword more than twice.
If I used it one more time, the creature seemed like it would adapt.
I spat curses in my mind.
'Damn it! I'd rather have met an Owl Demon at night than a Spider Demon in broad daylight!'
Then suddenly, a thought flashed through my head.
'Wait. Owl Demon at night, Spider Demon during the day?'
And immediately I recalled the surrounding terrain.
Around here, there was definitely...
Maybe there was some kind of method after all.
Though it was a gamble...
Yes, still, having something to try was something.
Even in the urgent chaos, I grinned and glanced at the Spider Demon chasing me with its beast-like face.
'Alright, to do that, first.'
I changed direction slightly.
Tadak!
It was the spot where the Liver Demon Bae Jong-gwan had just thrown away was rolling on the ground.
When I suddenly charged toward it, the Liver Demon instinctively swung its arm at me.
Buuung!
I lowered my body to the ground to deflect it, and succeeded in slipping past the creature's flank like air.
Long live the Cheonpung Movement Technique.
As I glanced back in the process, the Spider Demon that had been right on my heels was just about to collide with the Liver Demon.
Good!
I clenched my fist in triumph, but it was a pointless gesture.
Puhwaak!
The Spider Demon had torn through the Liver Demon's torso as if piercing it in an instant, and immediately came after me.
Startled, I immediately sped up again.
"Uwaaahk!"
Shuhak!
I felt the creature's arm brush the hair on the back of my head.
Goosebumps erupted all over me.
This was bad!
I had hoped to create some distance, but one Liver Demon wasn't enough.
I gritted my teeth and searched for the next target.
Let's try once more!
This time I charged into a spot where three Liver Demons were clustered together.
As I rushed straight toward their front, three arms aimed at me churned the space.
"Kuaaaaang!"
My mind, focused to the extreme, became razor-sharp.
As if time itself had slowed, the trajectories of the arms became vividly clear in my eyes.
Let's see you try!
I tilted my body sideways and deflected the arm slashing diagonally down from my left.
Buuung!
Next, the claws sweeping horizontally.
Shuuung!
I ducked my body deeply to evade that, then immediately shot my body upward like a dolphin.
Pabak!
Then the third Liver Demon's claws grazed past my toes.
Shaaak!
'I did it!'
I cheered internally.
I had passed through the attacks of three Liver Demons, deflecting them by a paper-thin margin.
This was something I had never even attempted in my past life when I was at the peak of first-rate.
At least in movement technique, I had undoubtedly improved compared to my past life.
And just as I had expected, the Spider Demon couldn't easily pass through three Liver Demons.
Puhwaak!
"Kkieeeeeeek!"
"Kkeueeeeeek!"
Peooeok!
It easily split apart the first two with its claws, but ended up colliding with the last one, slowing its speed.
This was an opportunity.
Using the brief breathing room, I cut my hand with my sword again and splashed blood onto the creature's face.
Chwaaak!
"Kuaaaaaang!"
Now, its entire face smeared with my blood, the creature was chasing me like a beast that had completely lost its reason.
Grinning, I flung my body forward.
Good! Come and get me!
I continued running deeper into the forest.
The frenzied creature no longer had any thought of returning to Bae Jong-gwan and just kept following me.
"Kiiiiiiiik!"
The creature's shrieking felt so close it was practically brushing the back of my skull.
Just a little more, just a little further!
A moment later, the rocky mountain came into view.
It was the place I had been aiming for.
I flew up to the middle of the rocky mountainside, dragging the thing behind me. Then, without a moment's hesitation, I threw myself into a cave situated on the slope.
"Jin!"
I shouted at the top of my lungs and kept going deeper inside.
I'd already known, but it was a fairly deep cave.
"Kiiiiiiiiik!"
The shrieking of the creature that had followed me in echoed throughout the entire cave.
The sound was reverberating everywhere, masking my own noises, and I couldn't have been more grateful.
As I continued inward, there eventually came a point where not a single ray of light remained inside the cave.
It was complete darkness.
I took a deep breath, then cut my palm again and recklessly splattered the flowing blood against the cave wall.
And I kept moving further in as I did so.
An Owl Demon operates at night, but this Ju-gwi operated during the day.
So naturally, the Ju-gwi's primary sense wasn't hearing, but sight.
However, in a place like this where all light had vanished, the only thing left for the bastard would be its sense of smell.
Exactly like now.
Boom! Kwaaaaang!
I could hear the sound of the Ju-gwi smashing its fists against the cave wall. It seemed it had zeroed in on the spot on the wall where I'd splattered blood.
A grin spread across my face.
I had succeeded in disrupting the creature's senses.
Now the thing couldn't see me.
Well, of course, the problem was that I couldn't see it either.
I stopped moving, closed my eyes, and stood in place.
Then I tried my utmost to calm my mind.
In my past life, there had been a time when I'd walked around with my eyes closed, training my senses like Squad Leader Seolpung.
It was because I'd wanted to become like the squad leader, able to perceive my surroundings as clearly as the palm of my hand whether it was day or night.
Of course, I'd failed in my past life.
My senses had grown much sharper, but I simply hadn't been able to reach the squad leader's level.
And in this life, I hadn't even begun that training yet.
There had been far too many other things to train.
Standing in place, I slowly extended my bleeding palm forward.
Then I tried to feel the creature's movements.
Having to stake my life on something I'd never once succeeded at — there was no doubt it was a reckless thing to do.
If I failed this time too, I'd probably die.
'But there's no other option, is there?'
I smiled as I thought that.
Boom! Kwakwakwang!
The sound of the creature smashing the cave wall was getting closer and closer. I swallowed hard.
Seonwoo Jin.
You have to be quiet. Don't be impatient.
If you get impatient, you'll definitely fail.
I breathed extremely slowly and tried to sense the creature.
Its position, its actions, and its appearance.
But what appeared in my mind's eye was still just darkness.
A pitch-black darkness where nothing could be felt.
What's more, it seemed the thing had now stopped focusing on the places where the blood smell led it, because the closer it got to me, the less it smashed the walls.
So now I couldn't even tell its location by ear anymore.
Where was it? Where could it be?
Had the bastard already pinpointed my position?
All kinds of scattered thoughts swirled chaotically through my head.
I exhaled slowly.
I tried to wash away all my impatience and stray thoughts through my breathing.
And just as Squad Leader Seolpung had told me in my past life, I focused solely on the thought of melding with my surroundings.
Quietly, completely at ease.
Like the air, and like the rock.
That was the moment.
I felt something approaching my palm.
The creature was trying to jab its own claws toward the palm I had extended forward.
I flinched.
I immediately pulled my palm back and stabbed the sword in my right hand forward with all my strength.
Shunk!
The sensation of something sinking in deep.
The next moment, a horrifying scream erupted.
"Kiaaaaaaaaak!"
It was the Ju-gwi's scream.
I'd succeeded!
Overwhelming euphoria flooded my mind.
The one place — the only place — where I could sink my sword into the creature's body.
I had succeeded in driving my sword into the Ju-gwi's eye.
I did it, I actually did it!
Because the bastard possessed the physical abilities and reflex nerves of a peak-level expert, it should have been absolutely impossible for me, at my level of skill, to stab a sword into its eye.
At least, in a bright place.
But I had forced the thing into the darkness where it couldn't see me, and succeeded.
I was so happy I felt like I'd go mad.
But I suppressed the cheer that was about to burst out, let go of the sword, and immediately pulled my body back. The creature was going berserk.
"Kiaaaaaaaaaak!"
Then, carefully evading the rampaging creature, I dashed back out of the cave.
I could vividly sense that the thing, far from chasing after me, was writhing on the cave floor in agony.
The cave had felt so long when I'd entered, but I was able to return to the entrance in just moments.
The sunlight streaming into the cave entrance from outside had never felt so profoundly moving.
I came back outside and immediately ran to Bae Jong-gwan.
The bastard, who'd been huffing and puffing as if his strength was nearly gone, broke into a bright smile the moment he saw me.
It was a smile as bright and pure as sunlight.
I shouted at him with all my might.
"Jong-gwan! It's time to head back!"
Then I threw a full-body slam with everything I had at the Liver Demons charging toward him.
"Hyaaap! Iron Body Meteor!"
Puh-buh-buh-buhk!
This time, because I hadn't left him behind, and because we would finally make it back together, I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
Really... it was such a relief.
***
Bae Jong-gwan and I left the Liver Demons behind and ran back to the thirteen squads.
There was absolutely no way that mere Liver Demons could keep up with us when we were running away with genuine desperation.
And on the way back to headquarters, we ran into Bi Sa-yeong, who was dashing over desperately alongside Squad Leader Seolpung.
The bastard, who'd been running with tears streaming down his horribly contorted face, looked at us, perfectly fine, and momentarily wore a dumbfounded expression before immediately scrunching up his face and spitting out curses.
"You sons of bitches! You bastards, seriously! Seriously...!"
Then he hung his head low and sobbed.
"...Thank you. Thank you, you fucking bastards."
Bae Jong-gwan and I smiled warmly and wrapped our arms around him.
Having survived several times in my past life through the sacrifices of my friends, I felt I could fully understand how his heart felt.
After Bi Sa-yeong composed himself a bit, we went back to the Liver Demons.
And this time, with relaxed minds, we could enjoy the spectacle of Squad Leader Seolpung's slaughter.
Every time the squad leader swung his fist, a Liver Demon's head went bursting, puff after puff, and the sight was utterly pitiful.
The Ju-gwi I'd left behind in the cave was apparently still writhing on the cave floor.
The squad leader went in alone to finish the bastard off, and when he came back out, the only thing he brought with him was the sword of mine that I'd lodged in the creature's eye.
We decided to just keep my fight against the Ju-gwi a secret.
It didn't seem like people would believe that I, still a mere second-rate martial artist, had fought a Ju-gwi, and more than anything, I didn't want to stand out excessively while my skills were still so lacking.
In the end, I gained no credit or fame from this incident.
But even so, I could be fully satisfied.
Because the next day, just like any other day, I was able to do external training with my friends Bae Jong-gwan and Bi Sa-yeong.
That ordinary daily routine had never felt so precious.