Chapter 215: Jin So-eun-3
Chapter 215: Jin So-eun-3
"Kyaaaak!"
"Huk!"
"Yang hyung!"
The later-generation talents, who had just been mustering their courage, all could not help but let out horrified screams.
No matter that they were children of martial families, to those who had never experienced real combat, a brutal murder like the one that had just occurred was far too terrible a thing.
Even more shocking was the fact that the person who had died was an acquaintance they had been laughing and chatting with just moments before.
The cold reality that they might be next was freezing their bodies and hearts solid.
At that moment, the ruffian who had killed a man without a care in the world muttered with a cruel grin.
"So that means that guy over there is a Jin Clan brat, and this one I just killed wasn't, right? Well, if not, so be it. Anyway, I just need to keep that bastard alive."
Even after killing a man, he was smiling brightly as if something was greatly amusing him.
At that brutal sight, and at his words, all the later-generation talents could not help but swallow hard without realizing it.
'They're only going to spare Young Master Jin alive?'
The meaning of those words was crashing down upon them with immense weight.
Was that man essentially saying he would kill everyone except Jin Gye-gun, the son of the Jin Clan?
All thirty-some later-generation talents gathered within this place.
"Th-that's..."
"I-impossible."
The later-generation talents simply could not accept that reality.
To them, who had lived like flowers in a greenhouse in Gwangju—the domain of the Jin Clan—such a thing was beyond imagination.
But unfortunately, the man's words did not sound like a joke at all.
Moreover, it was not just his cruel words that were shocking.
One of the later-generation talents stared blankly at the man's dao and murmured.
"A P-Peak-level master?"
It was true.
A yellow glow was clearly blazing forth from the dao the man was twirling about.
It was Blade Energy.
His opponent was someone who had reached the Peak Realm in martial arts.
Conversely, among the later-generation talents gathered here, there was not a single one who had attained the Peak Realm.
Even Jin Gye-gun, considered the finest among them, had only barely reached the upper tier of the first-rate.
One of the later-generation talents suddenly murmured in a despairing voice.
"No..."
The eyes of the later-generation talents could now only fill with the light of despair.
It was then.
The scarred ruffian shouted to his subordinates who had followed him inside.
"Leave only that Jin Clan brat over there alive, and kill all the rest!"
At this, his subordinates smirked, their smiles laced with killing intent, and asked.
"There are plenty of women too. Do we kill them all?"
The man's face crumpled fiercely as he yelled back.
"Who told you to damage such precious goods?! Are you insane?! Do I have to spell out every single thing?!"
At their leader's roar, the subordinates burst into cackling laughter.
"Keuheuheu! Understood!"
"As expected of the boss!"
Then, looking at the later-generation talents with eyes gleaming with murderous intent, they shouted.
"Now! Let's go!"
"Yeehaw! It's a festival!"
"Kkii-ha!"
The attackers' subordinates, already drenched head-to-toe in the blood of the escort warriors outside, leaped into the cabin where the later-generation talents were gathered like a pack of wolves.
Their aura was truly like gazing upon beasts thirsting for blood.
Clang! Clang clang!
"Y-you bastards, how dare you!"
"Do you know who we are?!"
"How dare mere river bandits...!"
No matter how panicked they were, the later-generation talents were still children of martial families and warriors who had practiced martial arts their entire lives.
They gritted their teeth, somehow drew their weapons, and tried to clash and resist.
But they were already overwhelmed by the momentum.
Moreover, there was little they could do, given the vast difference in real combat experience.
Even those later-generation talents with a slightly higher level of martial prowess were swept into the opponents' skilled coordinated attacks and immediately struck by blades.
"Keuaaak!"
"Y-you curs, do you know who I am?! I am from the Sunsa School...! Aaak!"
"Haaap! Ughk?! Uaaak!"
The situation unfolded one-sidedly.
Then, a few of the later-generation talents who had lacked the courage to resist from the start now began kneeling and begging in various places.
"S-spare me! I am from the Jong Family...!"
"Please spare me! I surr...!"
But it was useless.
Slice!
"Uaaak!"
"Kyaaaak! No!"
The attackers swung their blades without mercy even upon the later-generation talents who had expressed their intention to surrender.
Because they had no intention of keeping a single man alive anyway.
Now the later-generation talents realized there was no other way.
Somehow, they had to stake their lives and resist.
The deep, hopeless despair that they might truly die here was gradually eating away at their hearts.
It was then.
Amidst that chaos, the handsome young man Gyo Gwa-ryong, who had been beside Jin Ga-in, swiftly scanned his surroundings.
It was a situation where Jin Ga-in was clinging tightly to his arm and didn't know what to do.
"G-Gyo Gongja, what do we do?"
But Gyo Gwa-ryong's eyes did not look at her.
His eyes were solely searching for a path of life and death.
In his estimation, neither resisting them nor surrendering seemed to be a wise choice right now.
Thus, there was only one path he could choose.
Gyo Gwa-ryong suddenly shook off Jin Ga-in's arm with a jerk, then without hesitation, leaped backward in a single bound.
At his sudden action, Jin Ga-in screamed in shock.
"Ahk! Gyo Gongja!"
But in that moment, he was already in the midst of smashing through the cabin's rear window and leaping out.
Crash!
Jin Ga-in's expression became utterly devastated and lost.
Because she had believed with iron-clad certainty that he would lay down his life to protect her.
To her, the situation of being abandoned by him was more shocking than the river bandits' attack.
She murmured blankly, as if in disbelief.
"G-Gyo Gongja?"
It was then.
The bandits swarmed right up to her face.
"You wench!"
Greedy, beast-like faces and ghastly weapons scattering blood were thrust before her.
Jin Ga-in was stricken with terror.
Having no will to fight back from the beginning anyway, she could do nothing but collapse limply onto the spot.
And instinctively, she screamed with all her might.
"Kyaaaak! I-I am a child of the Jin Clan!"
At this, greedy smiles bloomed on the faces of the attackers watching her.
"Hoh? A child of the Jin Clan?"
Jin Ga-in was immediately seized by the enemies and dragged helplessly before their ringleader.
Despite not having her acupoints sealed, she was trembling and could not even offer resistance.
"P-please spare me."
"Euheuheu! A rather comely wench, aren't you. So you are a daughter of the Jin Clan?"
"Y-yes!"
There was no trace of the spirit befitting a daughter of the Jin Clan, the strongest sect in Guangdong, of which she had always spoken.
It was an unbearably pathetic sight.
Jin So-eun, standing in one corner, had taken in all of these scenes with her eyes.
It was a truly unbelievable spectacle.
The later-generation talents, who had just been swaggering about as if they were something, were falling apart like complete non-warriors the moment a real crisis had arrived.
That such people were the children of martial families, that even Jin Clan children were mixed among them, was utterly absurd.
Especially hideous were the sight of Jin Gye-gun standing at the deepest part of the later-generation talents, not knowing what to do, and the sight of Jin Ga-in groveling desperately, begging to be spared.
Those who prided themselves on being second to none under heaven in ferocity and tenacity—those were supposed to be the warriors of the Jin Clan...
Jin So-eun abruptly and quickly surveyed her surroundings.
She confirmed that she could still escape this place by going out through the window Gyo Gwa-ryong had fled from.
'The retreat path is that way.'
But she only confirmed the escape route; she did not try to flee through it.
Even if she went outside, being surrounded by their ships would make it the same situation anyway, and most of all, as a daughter of the Jin Family Stronghold, she could not abandon the people and slip away.
Jin So-eun calmly surveyed the large cabin interior, which had now turned into a scene of chaos.
Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaechaechaeng!
"Kyaaaaap!"
"Kuhahaha! Die!"
Puhwaak!
"Kkeueuk!"
The tide of battle was clear.
The later-generation talents, who had belatedly gathered their wits, were desperately trying to resist somehow, but they were being inevitably pushed back by the coordinated attacks of the attackers, who appeared extremely numerous and seasoned.
They were being pushed from all directions to such a degree that it was ambiguous where to even intervene and help.
Jin So-eun licked her lips with her tongue and thought.
'If that's the case, then rather...'
Jin So-eun, who had only trained in the mountains, was severely lacking in real combat experience.
But her grandfather had used various methods to supplement that insufficient real combat experience.
Methods like making her jump into a pack of wolves holding only a single dagger while covered in blood paint, or throwing her into a bandit stronghold for a brawl without using internal energy.
They were all training methods excessively harsh for performing in a woman's body, but she had always diligently completed the tasks her grandfather gave her.
Perhaps it was thanks to that.
The current chaos was taking shape before her eyes at a single glance.
Her eyes rapidly scanned the surroundings.
First, she needed something she could swing.
'Longer would be better, but even if it's short...'
At that moment, her eyes stopped at the corpse of one already dead later-generation talent.
Because a short spear that could no longer be swung was clutched in his hand.
Jin So-eun's eyes flashed as she looked at the short spear.
'That's it!'
The problem was that the corpse was positioned behind the enemies.
And not just any spot, but directly behind where the enemies were swinging their dao. Going to grab that would be a perfect place to get surrounded.
So, jumping into the midst of enemies savagely swinging their dao just to grab that one short spear seemed somewhat unreasonable.
But Jin So-eun did not agonize for long.
'Nothing to be done!'
Without hesitation, Jin So-eun flipped a nearby food-laden table and hurled it at the enemies with all her strength.
"Haaap!"
Buuuung!
"Huh?"
The attackers momentarily showed interest at the table flying toward them, then soon sneered.
Because a table flying at that speed could not possibly be a threat.
One of them brought his dao down on the table and shouted.
"What a useless act!"
Kwajik!
The flying table was split clean in half with a single stroke.
But since their gazes had been blocked by the table, they could not stop Jin So-eun from sliding in underneath the table in the meantime.
She slid in sleekly, as if skimming the floor.
Saaaak!
And in an instant, she reached the corpse collapsed behind the enemies.
The attackers then faltered for a moment seeing her darting among them.
"Wh-what the?"
"You bastard?! No, is that a wench?"
It was when they hesitated to attack for a moment, due to her boyishly short hair and yet her visibly pretty face and figure.
At last, a bright smile bloomed on Jin So-eun's face as she grasped the short spear in her hand.
And in that instant, the spear shaft traced a semicircle through the air like lightning.
Buaaaang! Ppagak!
"Kkeok!"
One attacker's neck snapped with a bizarre sound—it happened in the blink of an eye.
Unusually, she had wielded the short spear not with the blade but with the shaft, striking and killing one attacker.
The attackers, a beat late but now hastily coming to their senses, let out shouts of fury and swung their weapons.
"How dare you!"
"You bitch?!"
"Die!"
Suhuaaak!
But before that, the short spear began to whirl around Jin So-eun like a living creature.
Hwiririririk!
It was an eerie sight.
Jin So-eun merely extended her hand, yet the short spear was whirling around her arm and striking away the enemies' dao. And it was precisely striking only the flat sides of the descending dao at the exact right moment.
Tdadadadadang!
The attackers shrieked in confusion as the directions of their dao, their flat sides struck by the spear shaft, twisted wildly out of control.
"Eo-eok?!"
"Wh-what is this?"
In that interval, the spear shaft whirling around Jin So-eun's body began raining down on their bodies.
Ppababababak!
"Eueuk!"
"Eo-eok!"
The spinning shaft struck one attacker's wrist hard, making him drop his dao, and swept another's ankle to trip him.
Then it struck the back of the last one's neck with precision.
Ppagak!
"Kkeoeok!"
A neck bent at a right angle—another one had been dispatched.
Now the other attackers nearby also began to register her.
"Over there! Kill that bitch first! She's no pushover!"
"Kkiyaaap! Die!"
The attacker closest to her threw his body at her to overwhelm her.
It was a ferocious assault, bringing his great dao down like an axe.
Buaaaang!
Jin So-eun swung the shaft without hesitation and clashed with the dao head-on.
Seogeok!
The part just below the short spear's blade was cut, and the blade fell away powerlessly.
Because the wooden shaft portion could not withstand the dao strike that came cleaving like a great blade.
Having blown away Jin So-eun's spear blade in a single strike, the attacker now burst into a roaring laugh and swung his dao again.
"Kuhahahaha! You bitch! It's over!"
But he failed to see.
The satisfied smile spreading across Jin So-eun's face, precisely because she had lost the blade.
She was beaming brightly at the sensation in her hand, which now felt familiar.
'Good.'
Indeed, having detached the blade, the weight balance seemed well centered.
The familiar texture she had not once let leave her hand in fifteen years—the moment that texture was felt, the short staff in her hand began to writhe as if it would leap out on its own, alive.
Hwiriririk!
The next moment, the short staff that sprang from her hand began to demonstrate a movement entirely different from before.
Buaaaaang!
It was like a small, living whirlwind.
If its movements earlier had only seemed alive, now it was truly moving as if alive.
The short spear—no, now the short staff with its blade removed—was spinning around the tips of her fingers and the ends of her hair of its own accord, striking down the great dao and battering the attackers.
The sight no longer even resembled a short staff.
It was a fluid movement as if watching a small dragon circling around her.
Ppagagagagak!
"Kuaaaak!"
The attacker who had been bringing his great dao down on Jin So-eun was battered by the short staff and collapsed in a heap.
It looked as if every bone in his body had been shattered.
The other attackers rushing in behind him were the same.
The moment they realized it, their dao were struck on the flat and knocked from their hands, and they had no choice but to be battered by the short staff.
Ppababababak!
"Kkeuaaaaak!"
"Euaaaaaak!"
Now everyone within the cabin began to take notice of her.
Because her Staff Technique, which struck opponents while moving like a living creature, was an exquisite and supreme method such that neither the later-generation talents nor even the attackers had ever heard of or seen before.
"Wh-what is that?"
It was so.
They knew absolutely nothing about her Staff Technique.
At least, except for a single person.
Jin Gye-gun, who had been driven into a corner, stared at her with a horrified expression and muttered.
"Th-that, surely it can't be..."
As the young master of the Jin Family Stronghold, Jin Gye-gun, at least he, had definitely heard of such a realm before.