This Is Farewell
“What the hell is that sound?”
One of the Jegal Family martial artists muttered under his breath. His legs had begun to tremble. The noise swelled as the flash of light drew nearer.
—Kyaaaaaa…!!!!
It was the pure, harrowing wail of a ghost—exactly like the death scream of a woman having her throat cut. The ghostly cry approached at an exponential rate. At its end stood the Jegal Family martial artists, screaming in pure terror.
“A-Ah—!”
—Kwaaaang!
—Kwaang! Kwagwagwang! Kwang!
Like a heavenly beast clawing down at the earth, every time one of those flashes struck the ground, heaven and earth shook.
“Uwaaak!”
The Jegal Family martial artists who had been lying in ambush among the reeds went flying.
—Kwaang!
—Kwarreung!
Even the thunder bombs they had buried along the path detonated one after another, turning the scene into pure pandemonium. The flag-bearers holding the red banners were blasted away as well. Everything was being plowed under. Dust and dirt erupted skyward.
—Huddeuk!
Gravel and stones shot high into the air before raining down onto hair and shoulders. I clenched my teeth and forced myself upright.
“Keuk! We have to start now, even if—!”
Everyone, do not move!
Jegal Sea’s shout froze me in place.
Only the third squad has been wiped out! The other nine squads are still intact! Keep your internal energy completely hidden and hold your breath. Do not make a reckless move until the enemy is fully inside the operation zone!
—Kuuung!
A ground-shaking roar rolled in from far away. In the distance, near the horizon, a humanoid figure flickered into view. Beneath the moonlight it walked toward us, blinking a pair of round, bird-like crimson eyes.
—Huuung.
Then it vanished again into the swaying reeds and darkness like a mirage.
—Kuuung… kuuung….
Yet the steady, rhythmic footsteps told us the thing was still coming, unchanging.
An urgent report came from the lead squad.
Lady Jegal Sea, the Thunder Emperor is about to enter the designated position.
Moyong Bi, Eun Seollyeong! Get ready! The moment I give the signal, we start!
At those words Eun Seollyeong and I rose from our crouches in the reed field. She stretched out a pale finger and gripped my shoulder.
“Moyong Bi. The first hurdle is breaking through a distance of ten majang. Once you begin this full-power sprint, you absolutely cannot stop until the end. Whether we clear that first hurdle or not rests entirely on you.”
I clenched my teeth and nodded.
“Mumyeong. Get ready.”
Understood. I will pour every last bit of the gauntlet’s spiritual energy into this single activation, with the resolve to empty it completely. Target is set to the standard of the battle against the Ten Thousand Blood Emperor.
—Kiiing!
Crimson light spun in both of my eyes. Spiritual energy from the gauntlet surged up from my dantian and flooded my lower body. My entire frame began to shudder.
—Kkudeuk, kkudeuk…!
Every muscle in my lower body, primed for the Hyeol-yeong-mu-hwan-sin-sul, swelled like a drawn bowstring on the verge of snapping.
Then—
The flags! Where are the flag-bearers?!
“…!”
—Hwiiing…
The flag-bearers who had been stationed in sequence through the reed field to correct the path and eliminate error were nowhere to be seen. Thick smoke billowed. Here and there, horrific craters pocked the ground. In those places, martial artists who only moments ago had been moving with purpose now lay torn beyond recognition, cooling in pieces.
My pupils shook.
“At this rate, even if I run at full power, I can’t be sure the Thunder Emperor will still be at the end of the path….”
The Hyeol-yeong-mu-hwan-sin-sul boasted the greatest speed when restricted to a straight line—but its drawbacks were just as clear. The faster I ran, the harder sharp changes of direction became. The flag-bearers who would mark the route were essential.
Jegal Sea shouted.
Where is the reserve unit?! What are the squad leaders doing?! Without the flag-bearers’ signals Moyong Bi can’t even start!
The section of the flag-bearer line that the third squad was responsible for—the midsection—has been completely obliterated! The flag signals aren’t getting through properly!
My mouth went dry. In the worst case I would have to charge like a bull with its tail on fire, relying solely on my own eyes to alter course through this darkness and find the Eight Demon Dragon myself.
Can I really improvise this?
With the midsection severed, any directional guidance by flag was no longer reliable in accuracy. Things were already going wrong from the start. Even if I ran by sight alone, I had no idea whether I could control the speed of pouring every last drop of the gauntlet’s internal energy at once. And if I held back and slowed down to account for the situation, I would simply be sniped by the Thunder Emperor and blown apart.
Then—
Just a moment…! I-I can do it…!
I couldn’t see the figure. But the voice that reached us through sound transmission—someone I had only known as the third squad leader, a nameless martial artist—was gasping as he died. It was soaked in blood.
Just a moment… please wait just a moment…! I can do it, I… I…! Aaagh… aagh….
He was a grown man.
It hurts…
A thick, adult martial artist’s voice. A man’s voice. That voice was turning wet with the agony of hell.
—Kkuuk.
Eun Seollyeong’s fingers tightened on my shoulder.
I won’t give up… I won’t give up…!
Even so, the voice kept trying to crawl forward. Trying to fulfill the duty he had been given.
—Kkadeuk.
My jaw clenched hard. In the silence that had fallen over everyone, the reed field swayed. Through that silence only the ragged breathing of one nameless man echoed.
I can die… but my children can’t die…! Mother, Father, I’ll protect them, I’ll protect them…!
His tongue was beginning to tangle. One man’s life was ending. Everyone could feel that a single man, clutching a flag with desperate strength, was crawling back to his post.
Third squad leader of the Jegal Family… Hyeong Wonjeong…! As a man of the Orthodox Path…! And as the elder brother and squad leader representing our wiped-out squadmates…!
The next words did not come for a moment. Then, with his final breath, the man’s last sound transmission ended.
Mission… complete….
—Pabat!
From far away, red flags began to rise one after another. The broken midsection of the flag-bearer line was reconnected, and from the distant horizon a single continuous path was completed.
The instant those red flags came into view—
Moyong Bi! Now! Everyone, run!!
Jegal Sea’s full-throated scream tore through the air.
—Uwaaaaa!!!
With a roar that shook heaven and earth, every Jegal Family martial artist who had been lying in ambush among the reeds burst out. I too let out a blood-tinged shout and began to sprint like a madman. Eun Seollyeong kept pace at high speed. I thrust my left arm back. She seized it and settled onto my shoulder as lightly as a feather.
—Jjeoeong!
A massive boom accompanied our leap forward. We began to race madly along the path of red flags.
“Lord Moyong Bi, hang in there!”
“Our hopes! A miracle…!”
“Please protect our families!”
“Go!!”
Every martial artist holding a red flag and guiding the path poured all their strength into shouting as I flashed past them. And at the middle end of that path—
—….
Tattered martial robes. No legs. No arms. Kneeling in the middle of the reed field, a nameless martial artist held a red flag high toward the sky as he died. I shot past him like a gale.
—Kkadeuk.
I clenched my teeth until they nearly shattered. Tears welled in my eyes, and from them crimson light blazed. In a world filled with red moonlight I howled with raw desperation.
“Uwaaaaa!!”
—Kiiiik…!
The sound of a colossal bowstring being drawn thundered across heaven and earth.
—Waaaaaa!!
Every Jegal Family martial artist charged forward as one.
—Beonjjeok!
For an instant light filled my vision. With a single stroke, dozens of martial artists were swept away and sent flying.
From Two-Form Formation to Eight-Form Formation! Hidden units three through seven, straight line! Some of you, activate every buried mechanism!
Jegal Sea’s shout rang out.
—Kwaang! Kwang!
Thunder bombs buried deep in the ground detonated. Countless hidden weapons and mechanisms triggered in chain reaction. The earth rumbled. The air vibrated. And in front of it all, the protective aura of the Eight Demon Dragon, the Thunder Emperor, unfolded.
—Jjeojeojeong! Jjeoeong!
Every attack was blocked. Countless hidden weapons lost their force, bounced off, and clattered to the ground.
Squads four through six to the right flank, the rest to the left! Encircle him in Crane Wing Formation!
Jegal Sea cried.
The second squad will temporarily cover the role of the wiped-out third squad. The tenth squad that was just massacred—survivors, fall back while rescuing others!
—Beonjjeok!
Another group vanished.
Keep the Thunder Emperor’s attention off Moyong Bi as much as possible! Today!
Jegal Sea shouted like a madwoman.
Every last one of us here came prepared to die! Not a single exception! If you try to live, your families will die in your place! Remember only that!
“Uwaaa!!”
Under Jegal Sea’s command the martial artists moved as one. All of them were fighting to the death. None retreated. They threw themselves forward like moths into a great bonfire.
—Tadadada!
I raced through the vast reed field filled with screams.
—Uuung, uuung, uuuung!
Behind me a long trail of crimson afterimages stretched in a straight line. It was a broad plain of reeds. The distance was still immense, yet along the line of red flags, a black silhouette with the full moon at its back began to come into hazy view.
That’s him… the Thunder Emperor!
Already countless martial artists were charging into the Thunder Emperor’s range.
Huuuu…!
The massive figure exhaling a deep breath with crimson eyes was less a single being and more something that had transcended humanity—truly close to a demon god. Under Jegal Sea’s direction they were spreading out like a crane unfurling its wings, surrounding him as they charged.
—Gya-ut.
The giant Thunder Emperor tilted his head. He looked at the swarm of martial artists rushing him.
—Huuung.
A hand wrapped in pus-soaked bandages rose high against the full moon. In it was an iron bow longer than the Thunder Emperor himself, reminiscent of a massive ancient temple tree. Until now that iron bow had been aimed at the sky for extreme long range. Now it lowered toward the earth.
—Kwaang!!
The tip of the iron bow, sharpened like a stake, smashed into the ground and drove deep.
—Udeudeuk! Udeuk!
With the sound of bones, the Thunder Emperor’s five bandaged fingers twitched and clenched as if tearing open empty air and seizing it. He drew an invisible bowstring taut.
Eun Seollyeong’s eyes flew wide as she shouted.
“Moyong Bi, faster! We have to get outside the radius!”
“What?”
She cried,
“It’s a direct shot!!”
—Kwadududu!!
The Thunder Emperor spun once in an ellipse; his hand moved at a speed the eye could not follow, drawing and releasing the bowstring seven times.
—Huk.
All sound seemed to be sucked away into silence.
—Kyaaaaa!!!
With that same harrowing ghost wail, seven flashes of light swept through the charging martial artists.
“Uwaak!”
“Aaaagh!”
“My leg!”
I ran like a madman with Eun Seollyeong on my shoulder. Thunderbolts that missed by a hair’s breadth slammed down behind me one after another. Screams filled the air from every direction.
“Kkeuaaak!!”
“I-I can’t die like this…!”
—Kwareung, kwarreung!
The slower my approach, the more the martial artists’ sacrifices would multiply—that much was obvious.
—Uuuung!
I was running so fast the reeds flashing past my eyes were a blur, yet somehow it still felt agonizingly slow.
Just a little more, if I could just be a little faster…!
I had never poured every last scrap of my strength into a single footwork technique like this before.
“Haaap!”
—Pajijik!
Black lightning coiled around my body as I overtook even the martial artists who had been far ahead of me. Now there was no one in front of me. I became a single crimson arrow streaking forward.
Huuuu….
The world seemed to stop. I lifted my head.
—Ossak.
Our gazes met.
You… who are you….
The damp voice was not human. The Thunder Emperor’s crimson eyes locked solely on me.
Mumyeong shouted.
Host, we’re almost there! Get ready! We’ll arrive within nine ryo of the remaining distance!
—Cheolkeong!
The iron bow, still exhaling white steam, was driven into the ground again as the demon’s mouth opened.
Haaa….
From a mouth with no teeth left, only gums remaining, thick damp steam poured out.
—Pajik, pajijik…!
Brilliant yellow lightning began to surge from his entire body.
Eight ryo…! Seven, six, five…!
—Kugugugu!!!
This was a presence of an entirely different dimension from the seven rapid shots he had just unleashed. The yellow lightning was identical to my black lightning in every way except color. All the air began to spin and be sucked in around the Eight Demon Dragon.
I realized what it meant and screamed.
“A Gangsal?!”
Its tip was aimed straight at me as I charged at the front.
“Damn it, we’re too close! What do we do?! At this rate the plan for the two of us to combine our strength and endure the seventh shot is ruined from the start!”
It was already too late to change direction. I stared at the tip of the Gangsal beginning to blaze brightly before my eyes and shouted. On my shoulder Eun Seollyeong drew her Chamajeong and cried out.
“Moyong Bi. Do not change direction! Keep running forward!”
“What?!”
Eun Seollyeong clenched her teeth. She seized her own wrist.
“Do you remember the promise this lady made.”
There, wrapped around her wrist, was the last of her restraint shackles—cold-fragrance stone used even by the Demonic Cult to imprison its worst criminals.
“I will definitely bring him down…! If there is anyone who can kill that demonic monster of the Non-Human Demon Realm, that demon god—!”
Without the slightest hesitation she gripped the shackle.
—Cheolkeong!
She unlocked it and flung it away.
“It is none other than this lady, the current strongest Guardian in the martial world!!”
—Kwaaaaa!!
Enormous silver internal energy erupted from her entire body.
“I will never, ever repeat the mistakes of the past!”
The Chamajeong began to gather above her grip.
—Jureuk.
A thin line of red blood trickled from her lips.
“Even if I die!”
In the past Eun Seollyeong had said she wore the restraints to recover from a fatal wound she had once suffered. It was a wound so deep that she had to wear shackles that suppressed her internal energy and recuperate for countless eons just to heal it faintly. From the moment she cast the shackles aside, her face grew paler by the second.
—Huuuuung!
As if devouring her life force, the mass of Chamajeong in her hand transformed into a single long, terrifyingly sharp blade—or rather a spear—and began to pour out cold energy like a blizzard.
Mumyeong spoke.
She’s prepared to die together with him…!
I realized this was the full power of Eun Seollyeong—Guardian of the Mount Hua Sect, the one called the Specter of the Battlefield—something I had never once seen before.
—Kugugu…
The Eight Demon Dragon Thunder Emperor slowly turned his gaze. He fixed it on Eun Seollyeong on my shoulder.
This… energy….
—Jjeoeong!!
Accompanied by massive lightning, the Thunder Emperor’s attack filled my vision as it launched. At the same time Mumyeong spoke.
We’ve reached the target distance!!
I shouted.
“Eun Seollyeong! We’ve arrived—!”
—Kwaak!
Eun Seollyeong seized my shoulder. She whispered rapidly into my ear.
“That you are not a demonic man—I knew that better than anyone. Yet in the end I never had the courage to honestly apologize to you, the man you are.”
“What?”
Eun Seollyeong was not looking at me. Down her white skin, past the corner of her mouth, a single streak of red blood was flowing. Ahead of her was death itself, approaching moment by moment amid a massive mass of light. Her straight brows were furrowed, yet her unshakable conviction looked only forward. The way she stared at something far away without looking at me was exactly the same as when I first met her.
“I’m sorry. Moyong Bi. And—”
Suddenly she looked at me.
“This is farewell.”
She kicked off my shoulder and launched me away.
“Uwaak!”
—Kwadangtang!
With the acceleration of the Hyeol-yeong-mu-hwan-sin-sul I tumbled forward, rolling madly.
“Damn it, you crazy woman!”
Through my shaking vision I saw her charging alone toward the massive mass of light.
“Why the hell do you always have to do whatever you want right to the end—!! Keuk!”
A colossal gale that even swallowed my shout came howling down.
—Kuuung…!
Immediately afterward, right before my eyes, a massive collision began as a silver mass of light slammed head-on into the Eight Demon Dragon Thunder Emperor.