Chapter 15
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Strongest Squad (5)
“Changbok.”
Vanguard called out to someone.
“Yes, sir.”
The warden responded with effort.
It had been grueling just getting here for the warden. His legs weren't fully healed, making the mountain path a torment to traverse. But if he didn't keep moving, he'd be left behind.
No one was exempt from Vanguard's ironclad rules.
He had barely managed to keep up, but his whole body was drenched in sweat.
If it were the satisfying kind of sweat, he could sweat buckets without complaint, but these were cold droplets beading on his skin.
He wasn't voicing it, but he felt like vomiting inside.
The past three days had been a brutal forced march for him.
If he were in top shape, he'd be flying along, but now even standing still took effort.
It was nothing like his days as a guard.
Now his martial arts were sealed. When he'd been thrown into Thunder Prison to pass the Life-Death Trial, his internal energy had been blocked, and it remained so to this day. They hadn't released it.
Why hadn't they unsealed his internal energy? It was obvious... They wanted him to take the test on equal footing, just like Four Thousand Four or the Fox of Bireung Mountain.
Vanguard didn't give special treatment just because he was from Heavenly Annihilation Division. He wanted everyone treated the same. Changbok agreed with that. He had no intention of expecting special privileges for being from Heavenly Annihilation Division.
“How's the leg?”
“It's fine.”
“I looked into you a bit.”
“...”
“It was Hanbi who nominated you.”
“I know.”
“You two had some connection back in Martial Camp?”
“Yes.”
“So... I got curious about that connection and dug into it.”
“...”
“There was an interesting incident in Martial Camp during the Renyin Year. Two candidates were in the running for top grade... you and Hanbi. You split the wins two to two. Honestly, that surprised me a little. I know Hanbi's skills well... It was hard to believe you were the master who traded two wins and two losses with him.”
“...”
“It raised some questions too.”
The chubby warden called Changbok listened silently, his face scrunched up in a frown.
Vanguard seemed to have investigated his past thoroughly.
It was true. Over the past month, Vanguard had visited the main headquarters.
The headquarters kept secret records on all the inmates. Far more detailed than what the Warden held—books that listed everything about them, down to their favorite colors.
Only squad leaders could access these inmate records.
And not the whole thing—just the entries for the inmates they themselves selected.
Leaders didn't just get information on inmates. Hidden within were letters that allowed control over them—shackles binding body and soul alike.
It was only natural for Vanguard to investigate him.
Heavenly Annihilation Division would have handed over his information to the leader as well.
He'd thought it would take time for the leader to learn everything about him... but one trip to headquarters had sufficed. Now Vanguard knew more than he did himself.
Vanguard spoke.
“Why did you drop out midway through Martial Camp training? Why is a master who traded two wins and two losses with Hanbi rotting away as a mere warden in this backwater Nineteen Hells?”
“Does that matter?”
Changbok asked.
Vanguard knew the reason he hadn't finished Martial Camp training, the reason he'd been exiled to this forsaken Nineteen Hells.
He was asking if that incident was an issue now.
Vanguard shook his head side to side.
“The past is the past. But... if something like that happens again... Last time, you got lucky and only ended up banished to Nineteen Hells, but under me... you'll die.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
Changbok clasped his hands and bowed in respect.
“You're from Volume Six, so you'll handle the rear guard... Four Thousand Four won't be bringing back a sword.”
“I figured as much.”
“Soonest today, latest tomorrow. Hold the rear.”
“I have a request.”
“A request? What is it?”
“Forget the name Changbok.”
“...”
“When I decided to follow you from Nineteen Hells, I discarded the name Changbok.”
“Is that so? What should I call you then?”
“You call the Fox of Bireung Mountain 'Fox'... So for me, something fitting my looks—Wild Boar would be good.”
“Isn't Wild Boar a bit much?”
“It's a nickname from when I was young. I'm used to it, more comfortable than anything else.”
“Hm! Alright then. Wild Boar.”
This time, Wild Boar bowed deeply with his salute.
The tall man, Hanbi, approached and sat beside Wild Boar.
Hanbi and Wild Boar were of similar height. But Hanbi looked taller because he was slim, while Wild Boar appeared shorter due to his fat.
“You insisted on Wild Boar, huh?”
Hanbi said, glancing toward Three Morning Village.
“Heh heh!”
Wild Boar let out a wry chuckle.
Honestly, Wild Boar wasn't a childhood nickname. It was what Hanbi called him. In return, he called Hanbi "Bone Awl." That nickname wasn't from Martial Camp either—it was their private moniker for each other.
“Quitting your guard post this time must be because of me too.”
Hanbi had nominated him. But without Wild Boar begging the Warden, it might not have happened.
“Heh heh! I had something I was curious about...”
“What?”
“Why does Vanguard only kill off One-Four-Six?”
“It's not that he only kills One-Four-Six—it's that One-Four-Six are too worthless and end up dying. Nominating you this time was influenced by that too. I figured if a proper guy handles the rear, they won't die.”
“I know Vanguard is Jia-Shen top grade. You were top grade too.”
“Thanks to you stepping aside.”
“I get two surviving. Top grade isn't handed out easily. But why did that woman survive?”
He nodded toward the woman tied to the tree.
“Don't you recognize her?”
Hanbi countered with a surprised look at Wild Boar's words.
“Is she someone I know?”
Wild Boar narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the woman closely.
No. He didn't know her. Definitely a stranger. Someone he'd never even brushed shoulders with on the street, let alone met.
“A few years rotting in the mountains have blinded you.”
Hanbi slapped Wild Boar's shoulder.
“Who is she?”
Wild Boar couldn't tear his eyes away as he asked.
From Hanbi's tone, she seemed like someone he should know... but no matter how he looked, he didn't.
Hanbi said,
“Jaja. It's Jaja.”
“Jaja? Ja... Jaja!”
Wild Boar's eyes finally widened in shock. He gawked at her, his eyes bulging like gongs in genuine surprise.
“That woman is...”
“Shh! She's got a hellish temper. Point at her, and she'll snap your finger off.”
“Gasp!”
Wild Boar had been pointing with his hand and hurriedly dropped it.
How could he not know Jaja? In Gengzi Martial Camp—called the "Camp of Death" for its swarm of masters—she had outshone every warrior to claim top grade with pride!
She was two years their senior, both Hanbi and him.
“I'm dead.”
“Why?”
“She looks like a junior at a glance. So I mentioned the Renyin Camp and told her to treat me like a senior politely once we're out.”
“When did you say all that?”
“In the prison. Before the Life-Death Trial.”
“Heh heh heh! Then you've already greeted each other.”
“Amazing. Jaja. Jaja's here too. Heh heh!”
Wild Boar chuckled wryly.
The Warden had grumbled that Vanguard only killed One-Four-Six.
The guards felt the same. Vanguard always came to save only One-Four-Six. It seemed like he favored Three-Five. He opened a path to survival for Three-Five while killing off One-Four-Six.
Now he understood why One-Four-Six kept dying.
Vanguard was Jia-Shen top grade. The strongest from that year's Martial Camp graduates.
Five Lords was Hanbi. Hanbi was Renyin top grade.
And now Jaja too. Gengzi top grade.
Gengzi top grade was on another level from other top grades. That year had so many masters that over ten who could have easily been top grade in any other year had entered.
There was a saying: top among tops. She was that top among tops.
Usually, such top grades became squad leaders or captains. They assembled their own teams and handled missions independently.
Whether called squad leader or captain depended on their preference.
Squads were fixed at six members by rule, impossible to change. But who filled those spots depended on the leader's prowess. Most scoured Nineteen Hells to pick the toughest inmates.
The squad led by Vanguard was extraordinarily powerful.
One squad with three top grades. Top grades who could lead their own squads, especially a Gengzi top grade, serving as mere squad members under Vanguard.
They wouldn't die on ordinary missions.
In the end, only the inmate-born One-Four-Six died off.
Vanguard wasn't deliberately killing One-Four-Six. He wasn't planning missions to make them die. They were simply so ridiculously weaker compared to One-Three-Five that they perished.
“Pfft!”
Wild Boar let out a wry laugh.
“Why?”
Now he knew why One-Four-Six kept dying. He knew Vanguard's secret.
The organization Vanguard led was probably the strongest in all of Heavenly Annihilation Division.
He didn't think he was inferior to Hanbi. Even now, he was confident he'd beat Hanbi in a fight. Sure, Hanbi had won twice, but that was due to carelessness... Hanbi probably thought the same.
If he placed himself on Hanbi's level, this group now had four top grades.
And they'd pulled in Nineteen Hells' top killer, Four Thousand Four.
He'd seen Four Thousand Four's abilities firsthand.
Without martial arts, in pitch-black darkness, he'd unleashed a killing technique even he couldn't handle.
If he fought Four Thousand Four in the same situation?
Last time, his leg broke. While Four Thousand Four shattered it, he couldn't do a thing. Even without internal energy, he'd been overwhelmed too easily.
If cornered in the same spot again, fighting Four Thousand Four seriously... He had no confidence in winning.
From a martial artist's view, someone like Four Thousand Four was less than a pushover. And he couldn't shake the thought that Four Thousand Four saw him the same way.
Four Thousand Four was a strange one.
The Fox of Bireung Mountain... that guy was strange too.
Honestly, the Fox wasn't even considered a proper martial artist.
How strong he really was would only show once his martial arts recovered, but for now, he was the weakest. Probably still the weakest even after recovery.
Yet he seemed like the type to stubbornly survive.
Even if he and Four Thousand Four died, somehow that guy would live. That's how it felt.
In fact, during this Life-Death Trial, it had played out that way. He'd taken injuries mid-fight. The worst from Four Thousand Four, but injuries nonetheless.
Four Thousand Four had gotten inexplicably beaten up.
Meanwhile, the Fox of Bireung Mountain hadn't a single scratch.
Everyone dismissed the Fox. He was too insignificant to warrant deep attention.
Paradoxically, that lightness kept him alive.
Checking each one, this lineup had no weak links.
It might be the strongest organization since Heavenly Annihilation Division's founding.
'Everything will be decided this time.'
Vanguard, Hanbi, and Jaja's prowess needed no question... Four Thousand Four had to retrieve that sword. The Fox of Bireung Mountain had to guide properly. He had to hold the rear thoroughly. All without recovering his martial arts, relying on raw strength alone.
'Four Thousand Four absolutely won't bring a sword. He'll come back empty-handed. The Fox won't manage as a guide... In the end, it'll be just me left. I have to hold off whoever pursues.'
He picked up a sharp rock from the ground. Then cut a tree branch and fashioned a stone axe.
He'd definitely need a weapon.