When Dragon and Tiger Join Hands (3)
Deputy leader Gang Pyo spoke into the bamboo tube toward the Tang swordsmen guarding each passage.
"Report on all passages."
"No abnormalities in the Wood passage."
The Tang swordsmen guarding the Metal, Fire, and Earth passages reported in turn.
Only the Water passage remained silent.
It was only natural. Seo Baek and Dang Ryong had already taken the lives of the two Tang swordsmen stationed there.
"All Tang swordsmen, listen up. Rat bastards have entered the Water passage. From now on, we'll track them down and drive them into the trap."
"Understood!"
With that, no further conversation could be heard.
The Underground Hall's security system was far more meticulous and cunning than Seo Baek had anticipated.
The infiltration had been exposed.
Suddenly, the tunnel floor vibrated faintly. It had to be all the Underground Hall swordsmen rushing to capture the intruder.
Dang Ryong sent a transmission.
[How many of those bastards are there in total?]
[Dozens that I've seen alone. Considering the scale of this underground hideout, there could be over a hundred.]
[A hundred to one. How pitiful.]
[Us?]
[Don't be ridiculous. The small fry.]
[Obviously.]
[What's the plan?]
[Lure them in and defeat them piecemeal.]
"There they are!"
Underground Hall swordsmen who had rushed over from nearby spotted Seo Baek and Dang Ryong and shouted.
Without a word of warning, they leveled their spears and fired their crossbows.
Shoooosh.
The air-tearing whistle assaulted Seo Baek and Dang Ryong.
In an instant, both vanished from the spot.
Whoosh.
Papapapak. The bolts embedded into the walls, having lost their targets.
By the time the Underground Hall swordsmen regained their wits, Seo Baek and Dang Ryong were already sprinting deep into the tunnel.
"Chase them!"
Tatatatat. The footsteps of their pursuers were surprisingly swift—not the clumsy shuffle of amateurs. Proof they had trained in lightness skill.
Then their mismatched attire and haphazard weapons must all be a ruse. A ploy to plant the misconception of a ragtag bandit group hastily assembled.
As they reached a fork ahead, Dang Ryong veered sideways, separating from Seo Baek.
In that moment, another volley of three bolts flew at him.
Seo Baek leaped upward, hugging the tunnel ceiling as closely as possible.
The bolts grazed perilously beneath his feet.
But the final shot flew straight at his back.
Yet the bolt failed to pierce Seo Baek's back.
'If they've trained in lightness skill, they've drilled in other arts too.'
Seo Baek had already anticipated crossfire from multiple angles.
The instant the bolt hurtled toward him, he twisted his body midair in a half-turn. His broad sword blade became a shield, deflecting the projectile.
Kang.
Tatat. Seo Baek kicked off the ceiling and wall, using the rebound to flip his body. The moment his feet touched the ground, he dashed away like the wind.
"Fire!"
"Don't just shoot wildly. That bastard's too fast."
As Seo Baek kept evading the bolts, the apparent leader barked an order to cease fire.
"Then what do we do?"
"Drive him into a dead end, then shoot."
Three Underground Hall swordsmen pursued Seo Baek from behind.
That was when a shadow silently materialized behind them.
Shuk. Puk.
The blade plunged deep into the rearmost swordsman's back. Piercing his heart, it cut his life short without even a gasp.
Whoosh. The shadow leaped forward, stepping on the falling body.
Puk. This time, the blade stabbed through the nape and windpipe. He too collapsed without a cry, just like his comrade.
The leader ahead sensed something eerie and glanced back.
In that instant, the sound of flesh slicing rang out.
Chwaak.
"……?"
Clueless to what had happened, the swordsman rolled his eyes in confusion.
He spotted his two dead comrades spilling blood and recoiled in horror—then frothed at the mouth and died. His head had been severed by Dang Ryong's sword and tumbled to the floor.
[Three down. You haven't even started.]
[Consider that a gift from me.]
Seo Baek switched his sword to his left hand and drew a dagger in his right. He pressed close to the wall and ran.
At the next fork, a swordsman popped out from around the corner.
"Rat bastard here!"
The swordsman raised his spear to fire a bolt, but Seo Baek twisted his left hand, blocking with the sword blade. As he passed, he slashed the man's throat with the dagger.
Chok.
[One down. Game on.]
[That's all? I've got two more.]
Just then, another swordsman rounded the corner.
Seo Baek raised his left hand high, pressing the sword flat against the man's face.
"What the…?"
His vision blocked, the swordsman panicked and craned his neck aside—sealing his fate. Seo Baek's dagger sliced his throat.
[Numbers catching up?]
[Won't let it hit three.]
[Why?]
[It'll balloon to dozens soon. Pointless.]
[Cocky, aren't you?]
[Confidence against small fry? Just cut them down.]
[Hah.]
[Just dodge the bolts. I won't care if you die.]
[I won't die until I've saved your worthless life once.]
[…….]
For some reason, Dang Ryong's last words rang utterly sincere.
Blocking bolts with his sword face and slashing with the dagger proved effective, so Seo Baek adjusted his tactics.
'Quick and decisive.'
As Underground Hall swordsmen swarmed the tunnel, Seo Baek defended his front with the sword blade and charged straight at them.
Kakakakang. The barrage of bolts ricocheted off the blade.
He flashed through the startled swordsmen like lightning, drawing his dagger.
Each stroke etched a line in the air, and one by one, they clutched their throats, staggered, and slowly crumpled to the ground.
A precise technique targeting only the carotid arteries.
A human will die if the carotid is severed. But unlike a heart strike, death comes slowly, agonizingly.
That was exactly what Seo Baek aimed for.
The more who staggered clutching their necks, the more they obstructed the narrow tunnel's firing lines.
And a carotid slash unleashes a fountain of blood.
That too clouded their vision, making them hesitate to shoot.
Where Seo Baek passed, staggering swordsmen and sprays of blood turned the tunnel into pandemonium.
Dang Ryong, witnessing it, transmitted:
[Blinding them with blood to block firing angles? You don't hesitate to do something that'd make you a public enemy in the Murim. You're no righteous sect type.]
[Not something for a Sacheon Tang Clan man to say.]
Ignoring Dang Ryong, Seo Baek weaved through the tunnels, cutting down Underground Hall swordsmen.
Dang Ryong focused on the fight too—no more transmissions.
Their paths left a trail of blood-soaked corpses.
Their separate movements sowed even greater chaos among the swordsmen.
The intruders' numbers still unknown.
Comrades dropping everywhere made it seem like phantoms flickering east and west.
"He's here!"
"No, over there—not this way!"
"What… khek!"
"Where the hell is he… aaagh!"
As time passed, bolt whistles faded, replaced by screams echoing through the tunnels.
One swordsman reported into the bamboo tube.
"Deputy leader Gang! We can't stop them!"
"What? From mere rats…?"
"They're no rats. They're peak masters… aaagh…."
Thud.
After the collapse, Gang Pyo heard a familiar voice through the tube.
"Deputy leader Gang?"
"You…."
"Seo Baek, on his way to Shaolin."
"……!"
"The prison area's hell. Spare your men's lives—avoid pointless slaughter?"
A warning that sending more was futile.
Of course, Gang Pyo wasn't one to yield to mere words.
"You insolent pup."
"Insolent? That's the Underground Hall. Didn't you kill Shaolin monks and erase the evidence?"
"Kuhuhu, you know well. Feigning ignorance might've saved your neck. You're a dead man now."
"Hardly. Today's your funeral."
Seo Baek's voice cut off there.
From behind Gang Pyo, swordsmen dragged something forward.
Gururur.
Six swordsmen hauled a box-sized contraption like a mortar tub. Heavy-looking, with wheels on both sides.
Twenty-five holes in the front suggested some mechanical device inside.
"We've brought the Thunderbolt Thunder Arrows."
"We'll kill them now!"
"Understood!"
The swordsmen wheeled the device called Thunderbolt Thunder Arrows toward the prison.
As they passed the central cross-shaped passage, Gang Pyo, following, commanded:
"Halt! Prepare to fire here."
This straight, open tunnel was a must-pass for anyone heading the opposite way from the prison.
Yet impossible to attack from the prison side unless the intruders approached themselves.
The swordsmen, realizing this, asked Gang Pyo:
"What about those who went to the prison?"
"They're bait for the trap. Sacrifices are needed to catch rats."
"……."
Their comrades heading to prison were expendable.
The swordsmen sighed in relief, glad not to be the vanguard.
Beyond the tunnel stretched pitch darkness untouched by light.
From it came sharp whistles in succession. Followed by heavy thuds of bodies hitting the floor.
Thump, thump….
Swordsmen dying one by one.
"Ready to fire."
"Shoot the moment you see the rats!"
Then, a hazy shadow approached from the dark.
The swordsman with his finger on the Thunderbolt Thunder Arrows' trigger swallowed hard, about to pull.
But the shadow flailed its arms wildly, shouting:
"Don't shoot! We're on the same side!"
The figure emerging was a familiar comrade. The firer sighed and eased his finger.
In that instant, a sword flash severed the man's throat. The head flew, rolling to the device's front.
"……!"
As the headless body slumped, a man in a red robe appeared behind.
"A mechanism firing dozens of bolts at once? Useless hacks always rely on tricks."
The man, Dang Ryong, tilted his head indifferently.
"Fire!"
At Gang Pyo's order, the swordsman yanked the trigger.
Or tried to—his finger froze like ice.
"……?"
Glancing down in panic, he saw something glinting embedded in his wrist.
"Can you see? Your eyes are fine."
Kirikkirikkirik.
Dang Ryong wiggled his fingers, and the silver needle in the wrist twitched faintly.
The next moment, the swordsman stiffly bent forward, embracing the Thunderbolt Thunder Arrows.
As Gang Pyo and the others stared in bewilderment, the man threw his weight, swiveling the device.
Gururur… clunk.
The box pivoted on its wheels, holes now facing backward.
"You mad bastard…!"
Gang Pyo recoiled in horror.
Then the swordsman's finger pulled the trigger.