Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: The True Target
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Namgung Un wore a stunned expression.
Having experienced the fierce battle with the assassins before, he knew all too well how terrifying combat in a forest could be.
*Peeee!*
Just then, a flare shot up from below. It was the signal flare launched by Heuk-pyo.
“You must have realized it from our last experience.”
Bu Eun-seol said in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the forest.
“In a place like this, you don't display your martial arts. You disrupt their flow and fight with your senses.”
“Of course.”
Namgung Un, who had been incredibly tense, took a deep breath at Bu Eun-seol's words and nodded.
“Thankfully, it's not the dead of night this time!”
*Rustle, rustle.*
Following them, the In-geom Squad and the wanderers who had been waiting in the rear charged forward, shaking the forest.
The full-scale battle between Eum-sa-gok and the wanderers had finally begun.
“Wanderer Squad! Forward!”
Mun-gwang, standing at the head of the formation, shouted in a solemn voice.
He was a master with extensive experience in the martial world.
Seeing the forest spread out before them, he anticipated a chaotic battle and decided to hold the In-geom Squad back, sending the Wanderer Squad, who had more experience in mountain combat, to the front.
*Fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip!*
As hidden weapons poured out from the forest, the wanderers skillfully used the terrain to evade or raised their own weapons to counterattack.
Namgung Un, watching the scene, let out a breath of admiration.
“I see. The terrain can be an advantage for me as well.”
While he was still marveling, Bu Eun-seol shot forward.
*Whoosh.*
He moved ahead, using the natural features of the land even more adeptly than the wanderers who had charged in first.
*Kwang! Pow!*
And he precisely located the hidden assassins, unleashing a single punch.
The assassins of Eum-sa-gok were veterans of forest combat, but not a single one could block Bu Eun-seol's punch.
*‘What kind of fist art is that heavy?’*
Namgung Un, following behind Bu Eun-seol, gaped.
A seemingly light punch was shattering boulders and trees in an instant.
“Attack from above.”
As Bu Eun-seol tore through the battlefield, the assassins changed their tactics.
They climbed into the trees to evade his attacks and fired hidden weapons from above.
*Whoosh!*
Bu Eun-seol, skillfully dodging the projectiles raining down on him, extended both his arms.
From between his hands, sharp daggers materialized. With each flash of brilliant light, hidden assassins dropped to the ground.
Seeing their comrades fall from the air like rain, the remaining hidden assassins lost their will to attack and began to descend back to the ground.
*‘Isn't Brother Seol going to use the sword on his back?’*
Namgung Un was a sword master himself.
Though Bu Eun-seol was continuously using his fists and hidden weapons, his right hand was always ready to reach for his back.
Just from his posture, Namgung Un could guess that he was an incredible sword master.
“That bastard…”
As the tide of battle turned against them due to Bu Eun-seol's actions, the assassins' leader pointed at him and shouted.
“Get him first!”
In truth, the combat strength of the Wanderer Squad and the assassins was about equal.
But with Bu Eun-seol moving about and felling assassins like bundles of straw, the situation had quickly become disadvantageous for them.
*‘Wasn't he a high-ranking wanderer?’*
Mun-gwang, fighting fiercely against the assassins, also sensed it as he watched Bu Eun-seol.
Bu Eun-seol's martial prowess far surpassed that of a high-ranking wanderer. And what he was showing now wasn't even the full extent of his abilities.
*‘We were lucky.’*
Mun-gwang inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
If Bu Eun-seol and his companions hadn't been there, the raid on the Unga Villa would have been a complete and utter failure.
“B-Brother Seol, let's slow down a bit!”
Namgung Un, who was following and assisting Bu Eun-seol, felt like he was losing his mind.
“We've pushed in too deep, just the two of us! The enemy is converging on our position!”
“Isn't this a good opportunity?”
Bu Eun-seol smiled coldly.
“It's the perfect chance to gain real combat experience. Watch closely.”
Bu Eun-seol doubled his speed and shot forward.
His movements were concise, adapting to the enemy's attacks. They weren't rigid, pre-set forms.
It was like the movement of a flood dragon, swimming freely and cutting through the current.
“Your hiding spots are obvious.”
Moving stealthily like a ghost, Bu Eun-seol threw a punch at the assassins hiding beneath a boulder.
*Kwoong!*
Each time his fist landed, the ground trembled and flesh and blood flew.
Whenever Bu Eun-seol found a hidden assassin, he brought his fist down from above. It was as if a boulder were falling from the sky to crush them.
“What in the world is this fist art?”
The fist art of the Fist Demon was on a different level from the countless other fist arts scattered throughout the Murim.
The force of the punch, which should have originated and extended from the fist, rained down freely from all directions, making it impossible for even skilled masters to block.
“He's a master we can't face head-on! Hide and use your secret techniques!”
The assassins, realizing Bu Eun-seol was a master they couldn't possibly block, attempted to use their concealment arts and secret assassination techniques.
However, Bu Eun-seol, who had spread the senses of his Ya-su-do, could be called the natural enemy of assassins.
No matter where they hid or what they did, they were in the palm of the Buddha's hand.
“To call them assassins… their level is pathetic.”
Bu Eun-seol, who had experienced the killing arts of the Geuk-sal-mil-gak in the Isle of Hell.
In his eyes, the secret techniques and concealment arts of the Eum-sa-gok assassins felt like child's play.
“That man is a grim reaper.”
Assassins who cut down people as easily as they ate meals were not supposed to feel fear.
But the sight of Bu Eun-seol, pinpointing their hidden positions like an emissary from the underworld, was terrifying.
And wasn't this supposed to be their own backyard?
“To think the forest we created as our final stronghold would end up strangling us.”
The Eum-sa-gok assassins had designed the interior of the Unga Villa as a forest, turning it into a death trap.
Because of this, even if someone broke through the formation at the gate, they could never escape as long as the retreat path was blocked.
But as the battle turned against them and the enemy blocked the entrance, they were the ones who became rats in a trap.
“That son of a bitch.”
Hidden in the most secret part of the Unga Villa, Heuk-sal, the First Killing Ghost of Eum-sa-gok, gritted his teeth as he commanded the assassins.
Everything he had prepared had crumbled because of the sudden appearance of Bu Eun-seol and his party.
“I will kill that bastard, no matter what.”
I don't care about anything else, but I have to kill that pale-faced bastard who uses that fist art.
*Rumble…*
The ground where Heuk-sal stood sank, and his body disappeared as if sucked into the earth.
He had activated the Eum-ryeong-baek-sal-ji-dun-sul, one of Eum-sa-gok's secret assassination techniques.
The earth evasion technique allowed one to move freely and stealthily underground, but it was extremely difficult to master.
Heuk-sal was the only one in Eum-sa-gok who had mastered the Eum-ryeong-baek-sal-ji-dun-sul.
*Rumble…*
Heuk-sal stealthily approached the spot beneath Bu Eun-seol's feet and pushed a small, tube-like object slightly above the ground.
It was a Bu-si-tan-chim-gwan, prepared to assassinate any masters from Jin-cheon-mun who might invade.
*‘It's a waste to use it on someone like this, but...’*
Just as he put his mouth to the tube, about to fire the Bu-si-tan-chim at Bu Eun-seol,
“There you are.”
At that moment, Bu Eun-seol looked down at the ground and smiled coldly.
“I've been waiting for you.”
When assassins participate in a large-scale battle instead of working alone, the commander is the most crucial element.
If the fiercely individualistic assassins are not strictly commanded, they become nothing more than a disorderly mob.
That is why in large-scale battles, the commander does not step onto the battlefield but remains hidden in a secret location.
*‘This demonic bastard!’*
Realizing he had been discovered, Heuk-sal quickly tried to use his earth evasion technique, but Bu Eun-seol was faster.
*Kwoong!*
With a low vibration, Bu Eun-seol's fist slammed into the ground.
*Pshhhhh.*
With a sound like air escaping, the ground began to soak with red.
With that single punch from Bu Eun-seol, Heuk-sal was literally buried alive and killed underground.
“Surrender now!”
In that time, the Wanderer Squad and the In-geom Squad had surrounded all the remaining assassins.
Assassins are similar to soldiers in an army.
Kill the commander, and the battle ends quickly. They only know how to act and fight as they were trained.
“It's over.”
Heuk-pyo, standing behind Bu Eun-seol, muttered softly. Namgung Un also sheathed his sword and looked around the Unga Villa.
While it couldn't be said that the Wanderer and In-geom Squads were unscathed, thanks to the efforts of Bu Eun-seol's group, their losses were minimal.
“Thank you.”
Just then, Mun-gwang approached Bu Eun-seol's group and spoke with conviction.
“We were able to win thanks to all of you.”
“Commander!”
Just then, a young man with an agile build rushed up to Mun-gwang from the rear.
“We have a huge problem.”
“A huge problem?”
“While we were fighting here, the Pae-do-mun led the remaining Eum-sa-gok assassins and invaded our headquarters!”
“Our headquarters?”
Urgency filled Mun-gwang's eyes.
Jin-cheon-mun's greatest strength lay in its three divisions: Heaven, Earth, and Man. With him and the In-geom Squad absent, there was no way the headquarters could repel the Pae-do-mun's forces.
“Everyone…”
Mun-gwang shouted with a panicked expression.
“Return to headquarters!”
***
Jin-cheon-mun.
Originally, it was a small martial hall that had long been established in the Sangyang region, teaching the Jin-cheon Sword Art.
However, as the martial artists produced by Jin-cheon-mun made names for themselves in various escort agencies and constabularies, the sect's scale gradually grew.
As it grew from a small martial hall into a medium-sized sect of the Murim, the position of the Pae-do-mun, which ran a smuggling business near the Sangyang border, became precarious.
Though they were somewhere between righteous and unorthodox, Jin-cheon-mun's roots were in a martial hall that taught martial arts. Since most of its disciples walked the path of righteousness, they constantly clashed with the Pae-do-mun.
—Let's fight and see who the dominant sect in Sangyang is!
The struggle for supremacy between Jin-cheon-mun and Pae-do-mun that had begun that way was now reaching its final chapter.
When Mun-gwang, the commander of the In-geom Squad, left for Mount Hamchwi to deal with the Eum-sa-gok assassins, the Pae-do-mun seized the opportunity and descended upon Jin-cheon-mun with a large force.
—Waaaaaah!
With fierce battle cries, the masters of Pae-do-mun poured into Jin-cheon-mun, swinging their blades and running rampant.
With every flash of a sharp blade through the air, disciples of Jin-cheon-mun fell with short screams.
“Ugh.”
At the forefront of the battle, Gwak-cheon, the commander of the Cheon-geom Squad, gritted his teeth as he cut down enemies.
Normally, Jin-cheon-mun's forces slightly overwhelmed those of Pae-do-mun. A sudden invasion like this should never have been successful.
But Jin-cheon-mun was currently missing the In-geom Squad, one of its three main battle divisions.
More importantly, Eum-sa-gok assassins interspersed among the Pae-do-mun members were repeatedly launching disruptions and surprise attacks from all directions, causing the tide of battle to turn increasingly against them.
*‘They hired the entire Eum-sa-gok assassin group.’*
I thought Pae-do-mun had only hired a portion of the assassins to launch a surprise attack on Mount Hamchwi.
Now I see they hired all of Eum-sa-gok to execute a feint.
*‘There must have been an information leak.’*
Pae-do-mun began their invasion the moment the In-geom Squad hired the wanderers and left for Mount Hamchwi.
In the end, Jin-cheon-mun had been defeated by Pae-do-mun in terms of both money and intelligence.
*‘How did a group that only ever ran a smuggling business suddenly acquire such financial power?’*
To buy out the entirety of Eum-sa-gok, which was crawling with first-rate assassins, would require at least a million nyang of silver.
The problem was, how could the financially unstable Pae-do-mun afford to buy out all of Eum-sa-gok? No matter how he thought about it, Gwak-cheon couldn't figure it out.
“Aargh!”
Meanwhile, the screams of Jin-cheon-mun disciples erupted one after another.
In a chaotic battle, momentum is the most important thing.
With the Eum-sa-gok assassins rampaging across the battlefield, even the relatively weaker Pae-do-mun members were overwhelming the disciples of Jin-cheon-mun.
A heavy despair, like a lead weight, tightened around Gwak-cheon's neck.
In this situation, there was simply no way to turn the tide of the battle.