Chapter 33: Life-Death Eccentric Doctor-3
Chapter 33: Life-Death Eccentric Doctor-3
Ma Jong-hwan asked me with a worried expression.
"Are you alright?"
His gaze was directed at the spot on my arm where Dong Paegyeong's throwing dagger was embedded.
I first retrieved the Three-Colored Death Adder, then answered with a smile.
"I'm fine. I've trained in external arts, so my skin is tough. The pain is a bit dulled too. And thanks to the detoxifying antidote you gave me earlier, it seems the poison's effects were neutralized right away. Thank you, Elder."
It was not just a polite remark.
Thanks to the antidote Ma Jong-hwan had handed me during our run earlier, the poison smeared on Dong Paegyeong's throwing dagger had no effect on me whatsoever.
Of course, that was only possible because I had known beforehand the type of poison the low-level warrior I took down earlier was using.
The wound on my arm was the same story.
Since it was a throwing weapon imbued with energetic force, it would not have been strange if it had pierced through my arm, or even my body. But the dagger had already slowed down while penetrating my sword, and thanks to my external arts training, I had only sustained a relatively shallow wound.
It was fortunate, at least, that I had used the sword I wielded in the past rather than Mukrang, just in case the bastard recognized it.
And above all else, training in external arts together with Bae Jong-hwan truly seemed to have been a wise choice.
Ma Jong-hwan shook his head and said to me.
"It's a fortunate thing, but you must not treat the wound lightly. Let me see it for a moment."
Ma Jong-hwan simply extracted the throwing dagger from my arm, nodded, and applied some medicine.
"So your external arts training was genuine. With this degree of injury, the wound isn't large."
Then he asked me.
"Just who are you? At that young age, you possess martial prowess that already appears to be at the highest tier of first-class, movement techniques surpassing a peak master, remarkable improvisation skills, and you've even trained in external arts. The fact that I haven't yet heard of someone like you is what's stranger now. Could you reveal your identity?"
At his question, I answered with a grin.
"Of course, Elder. I am Seonwoo Jin, a member of the 7th Squad under the Flying Dragon Thirteen Squads. I happened to be on leave and came across your story by chance. I suppose fate must have connected us."
At that, he asked back with a startled face.
"The Flying Dragon Squad?! Ah, so that is why you were unknown?!"
We moved our feet again and continued our conversation.
It was mainly about the process of rescuing his children.
As he listened to the story, he sighed and spoke.
"So the children were under such a misunderstanding. Yes, even though I believed that was the best course of action, it must have been terribly harsh for the children. Thank you. If not for you, the children might have died resenting me."
"Ah, that was the work of a friend of mine. Strictly speaking, it was that friend who saved your children. Please give your thanks to him later when you meet him."
While we were conversing like that, I abruptly flinched in surprise, put a finger to my lips, and said.
"Wait!"
And when I listened carefully, I could feel a presence approaching from ahead.
It was the presence of not just one, but multiple people.
"People are swarming towards us from the front. It seems they've already tightened the encirclement up to here?"
I had thought we were in a semi-encirclement state, but it seemed it was a full encirclement, not a semi one.
For a moment, the thought crossed my mind: should I just break through the encirclement like this and escape?
But I soon shook my head.
There were likely peak masters on the side that was tightening the encirclement as well.
Since there were still three peak masters remaining, I could not risk a reckless adventure.
In the end, I decided to turn my steps around.
"Let us go back, Elder. I suspect the direction I broke through from will have the weakest encirclement."
To be precise, the side where Squad Leader Seol was coming from was likely the weakest and safest, but there was no way to know that direction exactly.
"I apologize, but I must carry you on my back again, Elder."
"I am sorry. To cause you this much trouble."
After carrying Saengsagwoe-ui on my back, I increased my speed and started running again.
The route was a path slightly more northward than where I had killed Dong Paegyeong earlier.
Thinking that Squad Leader Seol would be coming from the north, I had chosen that route, but unfortunately, that thought did not match up well.
I ended up encountering a different bastard instead of Squad Leader Seol.
"There he is! Catch him!"
The man shouting that and charging from the northwest with a horde of underlings was a giant with a black, hairy face, wielding a massive iron mace, as huge as Bae Jong-gwan.
He was most likely Han Jeok-sam, the Black Mountain Iron Mace, the third brother of Black Chamber Master Go Ju-yong.
The direction I had chosen for our route was west, but because of the bastards encircling us from the northwest, it became an ambiguous situation to just keep running that way.
After quickly scanning the surroundings, I started running back in the direction we had come from.
"Don't lose him! Encircle them! Throw your projectiles!"
As soon as Han Jeok-sam shouted that, the bastards who had encircled us from the true north began hurling their throwing weapons at me.
Indeed, they said Han Jeok-sam was simple and ignorant, and it seemed he had even forgotten that Saengsagwoe-ui must not be killed.
Ping! Ping! Hwing! Hwiririk!
Holding Mukrang's sword in my left hand, I simply deflected the projectiles.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
I could easily block attacks of this level without even needing to look closely.
Then Han Jeok-sam shouted again.
"That bastard, he's holding the Mukrang sword, isn't he?! You wretch, how did you get that?!"
As expected.
Since it was an unusual sword, entirely black with a wolf's head carved into the guard, the bastard had recognized Mukrang too.
This was why, even when confronting Dong Paegyeong earlier, I had used my original sword. But there was no helping it, as its edge had been chipped by a projectile.
It seemed another reason to annihilate the Black Chamber had just increased by one.
I deliberately controlled my speed, adjusting the distance so that the bastards could just barely keep up.
Still, as a peak master, Han Jeok-sam led the very front, chasing me.
The distance between him and me was steadily closing.
Three jang, two jang, one jang.
"You wretch! Got you!"
The moment Han Jeok-sam had that misconception, my movement technique suddenly began running vertically up a large tree that had been ahead.
Tadadadak!
"Wh-what the?!"
Just as the startled Han Jeok-sam came to a screeching halt and stared up at me, I, who had ascended in an instant, ran like the wind across a branch and leaped far toward the west, the direction I had originally intended to go.
Pabak!
"Whoa!"
"D-don't lose him! Launch your projectiles!"
The flustered Black Chamber thugs hurled their projectiles at me, but it was too much for them to keep up with my suddenly accelerated speed.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Listening to the armor-piercing sounds of projectiles passing hopelessly behind me, I scattered my own projectiles at the Black Chamber thugs at my landing point. They were the black throwing daggers I had taken from Dong Paegyeong's corpse.
Pyusyusyusyuk!
"Kuaaack!"
"Ughaack!"
"Aaaack!"
As the bastards hit by the projectile bombardment screamed, I landed lightly among them, ran forward, and unfurled my sword technique.
It was the second form of the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords, the Divine Eagle Spreading Wings.
Syuhahaak!
As the sword light extended fantastically, spreading like wings, the blood of the Black Chamber thugs was scattered in all directions.
Within that passage of blood, I shot out like a leopard and began sprinting at full speed again.
Behind me, I could hear the scream-like shout of Han Jeok-sam echoing.
"You bastard! I absolutely will not let you live!"
That guy, unexpectedly, seemed to have something in common with me.
Because I was thinking the same thing about him.
Anyway, this was no time to be at ease.
The encirclement was closing in far faster than I had thought. Enemies were already appearing from the southwest as well.
"There! The one carried on that bastard's back is Ma Jong-hwan! Do not lose him, no matter what!"
A sharp-looking swordsman who appeared to be in his fifties, that man was most likely Black Chamber Master Go Ju-yong.
For two peak masters to appear from the north and south, I wondered if I would have met Black Light Wheel Gak Gi-hyo if I had kept going east?
Indeed, choosing the west as my route had been an exceptional choice.
But that absolutely did not mean the current situation was an easy one.
There were rumors that Black Sword Guest Go Ju-yong was a master with nearly ninety years of internal energy.
I did not know if that was true, but the speed at which he was pursuing us was certainly not something to be taken lightly.
Even though he was not someone who specialized in movement techniques, he was displaying speed comparable to that of Black Killing Dart Dong Paegyeong from earlier.
It seemed I would not be able to widen the distance with movement techniques alone.
It was then.
My eyes caught that the path ahead was cut off.
Before I knew it, we had reached that very cliff I had climbed up earlier while carrying Saengsagwoe-ui.
Back then I had climbed up, but now the situation called for jumping down.
The height of the cliff was roughly thirty jang (1 jang = approximately 3.3m). It seemed too much to jump down with Saengsagwoe-ui on my back.
And Go Ju-yong must have thought the same.
His voice reached me.
"That end is a cliff! Spread out to both sides and encircle him so he can't escape left or right!"
Then Saengsagwoe-ui, still on my back, spoke.
"Put me down at that edge. I will buy some time while you descend. Those bastards will never be able to capture me."
Of course, that could also be one method.
Because in my past life, even without my help, Saengsagwoe-ui had ultimately succeeded at least in killing Go Ju-yong.
But still.
Wouldn't that be too damaging to my pride?
After coming all this way, to say 'I'm sorry,' put him down, and run away?
Suddenly, a thought came to mind.
I prided myself on being in a much better state than my past life self.
But I had not yet tested that limit.
I abruptly asked Saengsagwoe-ui.
"Elder, do you trust me?"
He answered, flustered.
"You? O-of course, I do trust you. But...."
Honestly, I had intended to do it even if he said he didn't trust me, but since he said he trusted me, there was even less reason to hesitate.
I spoke confidently.
"Then please leave it to me."
"Huh? Leave what...?!"
At that moment, my movement technique suddenly accelerated sharply.
Pabak!
The startled Saengsagwoe-ui shouted.
"Y-you!"
That instant, my body was leaping like a bird off the thirty-jang-high cliff.
"Iyaha!"
"Gyaaack! You!"
Looking down at the dizzyingly distant ground as I moved forward, it felt as though I was flying through the sky.
Of course, it only felt that way; there was no way I was actually flying.
My body had begun to plummet further downward.
Perhaps because of the heavy weight, the felt acceleration was no joke.
From here on, it was crucial.
I grabbed Saengsagwoe-ui's body and whirled him around together with me.
Then our two bodies began to spin in the air like a ball.
Then, when I felt enough rotational force had built up, I hurled Saengsagwoe-ui with all my strength toward the sky—the opposite side of where we were falling.
"Hyaaap!"
Hwaak!
"You?!"
His startled eyes were receding rapidly in an instant.
As a reaction to throwing him, my own body plummeted downwards even more dramatically.
I was hurtling into the ground like a meteor.
But even in that moment, I did not lose my composure.
My vision, watching the ground rapidly approaching, was becoming progressively sharper, as keen as a finely honed blade.
I watched the ground drawing closer moment by moment.
Then, in a single moment, I abruptly felt a strange sensation, as if time were slowing down.
A feeling that all things around me were slowing down as if stopping, and only I alone looked upon the world soundly, as if I were the protagonist.
And in that moment, my feet finally made contact with the ground.
A tremendous impact bore down on me, threatening to shatter my body to pieces.
But my senses remained cold and sharp.
I calmly began dispersing the impact throughout my entire body, as if stepping down a staircase.
First the tips of my toes, then the toes, the soles of my feet, ankles, knees, pelvis, waist. I dispersed the impact little by little through each and every joint.
Just as if I had become shapeless water.
And after the briefest instant of time had passed, I was fiercely rolling across the ground like a ball.
At last, I had succeeded in completely dispersing the impact.
My heart filled with fervent joy.
I felt like springing up and letting out a cheer.
But there was still work to be done.
After rolling to some extent and offsetting the impact, I immediately sprang to my feet and checked the sky.
Saengsagwoe-ui, whom I had thrown upwards, was falling back down again.
Tadak!
I immediately shot up into the sky and snatched the falling Saengsagwoe-ui.
"Huh-eok!"
I smiled and asked him, whose expression looked as if his soul had left him.
"Are you alright, Elder?"
At that, he, who for a moment seemed unable to collect himself, barely opened his mouth and answered.
"The next time you ask me if I trust you, I will answer no. I truly thought I was going to die."
I replied with a grin.
"Honestly, even if you had said no, I intended to jump anyway."
"Heok."
Now I felt like I could toss out a joke with a light heart.
After all, Go Ju-yong was just watching from atop the cliff with his mouth agape, and the path ahead was the route I had cleared of Black Chamber thugs earlier.
I just had to run comfortably along the same way I had come.
There was a time when I thought that.
For a very brief moment, but still....
"Uhahahaha! I thought you would come back this way! Just as I expected, you're right in the palm of this old man's hand!"
Figures who had been lying in ambush ahead were revealing themselves.
In particular, the man who appeared to be their leader was a sharply-featured middle-aged man holding a pair of wheels—likely Gak Gi-hyo, the Black Light Wheel, Go Ju-yong's second brother.
This time, I truly could not help but be caught off guard.
To think they had set an ambush on the very side I had broken through from.
Just as I halted my steps in surprise, Go Ju-yong, who had been watching from atop the cliff, burst into roaring laughter.
"Ugahahaha! As expected, it brought me joy! Well done, truly well done! Ugahahaha!"
I suddenly looked around.
There was nowhere to go.
Neither behind me, nor ahead.
If I fled anywhere, it would be to the sides, but the enemy's encirclement was spread wide, so those directions were not easy either.
This time, I had truly and completely been surrounded.
The sight before my eyes was growing grim.