Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Swing Itself is the Technique
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“Finally, we’ve arrived.”
Ak Muyoo directed his gaze downward at the dune. The place his eyes rested on looked no different from any other desert expanse. Only the color of the sand varied slightly from spot to spot, like seas of different hues.
“Is that the Sucking Sands?”
Gun Cheokjeon asked.
Fatigue was evident on his face as he looked at Ak Muyoo.
“Yeah.”
Ak Muyoo nodded.
“Have you been there before?”
“I lived there for six months.”
“When did you live here?”
“Five years ago.”
“Five years ago—that wasn’t when you were at Wind Base?”
“Right.”
“How could you have lived here while you were at Wind Base?”
“You remember the battle called the ‘Great Desert Bloodbath’?”
“Was there a battle by that name?”
“Anyway...”
Ak Muyoo shook his head.
“We don’t know about battles unless we get reports on them.”
Gun Cheokjeon said.
“That makes sense. Anyway, in that battle dubbed the Great Desert Bloodbath, our unit got surrounded by the enemy, and nearly seven thousand men died. We barely broke out of the encirclement, but over a hundred of us, including me, escaped in a different direction from the main force. That’s when the pursuit began. By the time we arrived here after losing everyone along the way, I was the only one left. When I looked back from here...”
“What about it?”
“It was just like that day.”
At Ak Muyoo’s words, the group turned around. The Blood Wolf Clan was charging toward them in a black mass.
“If we go in there, can we shake them off?”
“We can only hope none of them know about the Sucking Sands. Let’s go.”
Ak Muyoo urged his camel forward.
The group soon reached the base of the dune.
“The sand color’s different.”
Ara, who had come up beside Ak Muyoo, said.
The area they had passed through so far was gray, but the place Ak Muyoo called the Sucking Sands was closer to a mouse-gray.
“Yeah.”
Ak Muyoo nodded.
“It’s amazing.”
“How’s the wound?”
“Well...”
“It’s gotten worse?”
“Yeah.”
“Lower or upper?”
“Lower.”
“We’ll check it out when we get time. You’re young, so you can handle that much. If you were older, you’d already be buried.”
“Haa!”
“Taha!”
Voices from the enemy drifted down from atop the dune.
“Let’s go.”
Ak Muyoo whipped the camel’s neck with the reins. The camel moved forward. The group soon entered the Sucking Sands. Ak Muyoo dismounted, holding the reins as he scanned ahead and walked. His movements were so unhesitating that one might doubt this was truly the Sucking Sands. After walking straight for a while, Ak Muyoo and his group vanished behind the dune.
At that moment, the Blood Wolf Clan arrived right at the edge of the Sucking Sands. As if sensing something eerie, they halted without entering.
“What are you doing?”
Gorgan bellowed as he arrived late.
“That’s the Sucking Sands.”
The adjutant pointed ahead and said.
“The Sucking Sands?”
Gorgan’s eyes widened slightly. He stepped forward. Moments later, he reached the boundary of the Sucking Sands. Even though it was the same desert, the Sucking Sands were distinctly separated.
“Where are they?”
“They went inside.”
“The Central Plains folk charged right in without hesitation, yet you who pride yourselves as desert dwellers are hesitating.”
“We’ll go in. Advance the vanguard.”
The adjutant shouted. The vanguard began entering the Sucking Sands. The Blood Wolf Clan was tense at first. They advanced cautiously, one careful step at a time.
“...?”
But after walking a good distance, nothing happened.
“We got scared for nothing.”
The Blood Wolf Clan relaxed. They walked boldly. After another incense stick’s time passed with no incident, those walking dismounted and mounted their camels. Since Ak Muyoo’s group was nowhere in sight, they assumed they had fallen far behind.
“Hya!”
“Hya!”
“Run!”
They whipped their reins in unison.
The camels broke into a gallop. Those who had been in single file spread out sideways into a horizontal line.
“Haa!”
“Taha!”
“Chaha!”
They charged like soldiers who had received an assault order. Soon, a low dune appeared before them. They climbed it without hesitation. As they crested the dune, they spotted Ak Muyoo’s group in the distance.
“They’re heading that way.”
“Catch them!”
They yelled as they rushed down. Not a single one among them, charging at full speed, considered this the Sucking Sands. Their speed increased.
“Haa!”
“Taha!”
“Chaha!”
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The camels, after descending the dune and traveling about ten paces, suddenly pitched forward. The riders flew another three paces before crashing into the sand.
“...!”
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Some jumped to their feet. That’s when it struck. Their ankles sank deep into the sand floor. At first, they thought little of it. Sinking into sand was natural. They strained to pull their feet out.
But their feet wouldn’t budge. No, they sank deeper.
“Gasp!”
Only then did the Blood Wolf Clan’s faces harden. They exerted more force.
“I-It’s a quagmire!”
Someone cried out in terror.
He was right. The more they struggled to escape, the faster they sank.
“Save me!”
“Uwaaak!”
Screams erupted here and there.
“My god!”
Gorgan stared blankly ahead. He had heard that the Sucking Sands were the desert’s quagmire but hadn’t believed it. Yet it truly was.
His men and camels trapped in the Sucking Sands couldn’t escape. Soon, they vanished beneath the sand.
“Find another path!”
The adjutant bellowed.
“There are footprints over there.”
One subordinate pointed to the left. Sure enough, there were footprints leading inward.
“Follow those footprints.”
A few Blood Wolf Clan members advanced to scout the path. The Blood Wolf Clan proceeded as cautiously as when they first entered the Sucking Sands.
They followed for about half a shichen.
The vanguard suddenly stopped.
“What is it?”
The adjutant asked.
“There are two people standing ahead.”
The vanguard scout replied.
The adjutant pushed past his men and went forward. It was as the subordinate said. About ten paces away stood a man holding an unusual saber.
“Kill him!”
At the adjutant’s shout, the men ahead charged at Ak Muyoo. Ak Muyoo also ran toward the Blood Wolf Clan. As he ran, he released the Demon Hooks gripped in both hands. The hooks dragged along, carving long furrows in the sand.
‘Fifty paces.’
After fifty steps, he immediately unleashed the Mad Thousand Blood Steps.
Thud! Slash! Thud!
The Demon Hooks sliced, slashed, and crushed the enemy.
“Kuaak!”
“Aaak!”
“Uaak!”
Screams burst out, and the sand soaked with blood.
“Attack him all at once!”
Someone yelled, and those in line split left and right, charging at Ak Muyoo. But even as the enemies rushed in, Ak Muyoo didn’t glance at them. Even when they reached right in front of him and raised their weapons, it was the same.
“Gasp!”
The man who had raised his weapon panicked.
Suddenly, his foot sank, and his body began plummeting rapidly. The one on the right fared no differently. He sank even faster than the one on the left.
Thud! Slash! Slash!
In the meantime, Ak Muyoo eliminated more foes.
“He’s alone! Push forward!”
The adjutant roared.
“Chaha!”
“Taha!”
The vanguard charged at Ak Muyoo with battle cries. Ak Muyoo continued to counter the Blood Wolf Clan with the Mad Thousand Blood Steps.
The Mad Thousand Blood Steps wasn’t limited to advancing forward. He could retreat backward while executing it to dispatch enemies.
“The Wolf-Slaying Squad, advance!”
Gorgan shouted.
The Wolf-Slaying Squad was composed of the strongest warriors in his tribe. At the command, over thirty men surged forward. They charged at Ak Muyoo in a single line.
Ak Muyoo also ran with his arms dangling.
Slash!
Ak Muyoo struck first. One man flew over his comrade’s head, plunging down at Ak Muyoo.
Ak Muyoo’s right arm sliced through the air, the Demon Hook shooting toward the man’s throat.
Clang!
The one who blocked the Demon Hook flew to the right, unable to withstand the force.
Step!
The man landed on the ground.
“Gasp!”
A groan escaped the man’s lips.
His foot had sunk deep into the sand. The man alternated his gaze between where his comrade stood and where his own foot was trapped. His foot was already buried to the knee. He poured all his internal energy and stomped. But his body didn’t rise. The Sucking Sands had absorbed all his energy.
‘The Sucking Sands.’
The man murmured like a groan.
“Keok!”
He saw his comrade fall screaming to the opposite side. Ak Muyoo had retreated, then charged forward again.
‘It’s not just a thousand paces forward.’
Ak Muyoo grinned.
The Mad Thousand Blood Steps wasn’t merely a thousand forward steps. Retreating backward also counted as a thousand forms. He could move a thousand paces left or right. Of course, not here.
Forward, backward, left, right made four thousand paces, and leaping into the air every five steps multiplied the forms beyond count.
That wasn’t all. There were four ways to wield the Demon Hooks. Letting both dangle was basic. Gripping the left one while freeing the right hand, gripping the right while freeing the left, or holding both.
Combining them turned a thousand forms into four thousand, five thousand.
‘No. In the Mad Blood Calamity Demon Flow, the swing itself is the form.’
His extreme dynamic vision captured the enemies’ weapon positions. Shoulder and wrist movements perfectly traced the weapons’ trajectories.
He snapped both wrists inward sharply and swiftly. The Demon Hook handles sucked into his palms. He brought the right-hand Demon Hook in front of his left upper arm and swept the left-hand one horizontally.
His right arm moved slightly faster.
Clang!
The right-hand Demon Hook blocked the enemy’s weapon right in front of his left shoulder.
Now the enemy’s right side was wide open.
The left-hand Demon Hook dove into that gap. As the tip reached the foe’s throat, he twisted his wrist horizontally with force and speed.
Slash!
The man’s throat split top to bottom, blood spurting out. Ak Muyoo’s body lurched forward. It looked like his stance had collapsed from overextending his footwork. That’s when his right arm powerfully sliced the air. The Demon Hook, sweeping a chi above the ground horizontally, targeted the legs of the foe ahead.
Slash!
Using the recoil from severing the legs, he righted his body and released both Demon Hooks.
Whoosh!
The released hooks shot forward simultaneously.
Stab! Stab!
The right-hand one pierced a throat, the left-hand one a dantian.
“Keok!”
As he heard the scream, he yanked both arms with full force. Using the pull’s momentum, he sprang forward. Mid-leap, he swung his right arm upward and left arm downward.
Slaaash! Slaaash!
“Keok!”
“Kuhuk!”
Two men screamed and collapsed.
Shuuuuaak!
A massive surge of energy shot over the fallen pair. Ak Muyoo retreated while swinging his Demon Hooks.
Kaaang! Kaaang!
Thud! Thud thud thud thud!
Ak Muyoo retreated repeatedly.
Step!
After falling back over ten paces, he braced his left hand on the ground and stopped. He fixed his gaze ahead. A man of enormous build stood there.
“I am Gorgan, chieftain of the Blood Wolf Clan.”