Battle of Avici Hell
“Gyaaah!”
Dozens of Blood Sect martial artists tangled and shredded apart before my eyes in a howling ice storm. A blade of blue cold qi punched straight through the center of their ranks like a single decisive cut, then swept sideways and scoured them clean.
Three double-yoked carriages stood in the middle of the throng. The cold qi tore past them, rocking the carriages violently.
“Kyaaah!”
“Uwaaagh, somebody help us!”
Men, women, and children—prisoners crammed inside the carriages—screamed in terror. Seol Ye-rin flinched and hastily reined in her cold qi.
“Tch! I can’t cut loose with hostages in the way!”
She ground her teeth.
“They’re trying to steal our sacrifices!”
A Blood Sect fighter vaulted from frozen corpse to frozen corpse in bounding leaps and lunged at me. I shifted the pole I was gripping from my left hand—sheathed in the Seven Sects Black Pearl Gauntlet—to my right, then swung the gauntlet.
—Kwaaang!
The Blood Sect man’s head spun around and caved in like a bursting firecracker. Even as he died instantly, his right hand flashed as if he had planned it from the start. My eyes flew wide.
“Shit…!”
What he had aimed for with his dying breath was the tip of the pole clenched in my fist.
—Seogeok.
The pole was severed clean through.
“Uuuph!”
Wi Ryong-ha, still bound to the pole, went spinning through the air like a dancer.
“I’ve got him!”
A Wi Clan martial artist spurred his horse and snatched the pole out of the sky. His face lit with relief as he shouted,
“Young Master, you’re safe n—!”
The Wi Clan warrior’s head flew from his shoulders.
The pole slipped free. A Blood Sect fighter snatched it up. An axe from a North Sea Ice Palace martial artist split the man’s waist. He tumbled away with a scream. Another North Sea Ice Palace fighter reached for the pole as it was about to plant itself in the ground—only for yet another Blood Sect man to tackle him and roll. Both vanished under pounding hooves without even a cry.
At the end of it all, a small-framed Blood Sect fighter launched himself through the air. The blade in his hand flashed.
—Seogeok!
With surgical precision he sliced the last silk cord binding Wi Ryong-ha’s ankle, then snatched the young man up. He slung Wi Ryong-ha over his shoulder and bounded from saddle to saddle like stepping-stones, vanishing into the Blood Sect column as if the ranks had swallowed him whole.
Seol Ye-rin cried out,
“Damn it! The eldest son of the Wi Clan!”
The Blood Sect’s territory—the gorge—was now right in front of us.
—Uuuuu…!!!
A red mist rose, and a bone-chilling wind of blades howled through the canyons, shaking the very rock. My hair stood on end. Far ahead, Wi Ryong-ha’s head flickered into view and out again, growing smaller by the second.
Even in that instant of hesitation the horses never stopped charging forward.
—Dududu…!
The earth trembled. I looked ahead. The Blood Sect fighters shouted with delight.
“It’s the main force!”
“…!”
I doubted my own eyes. The number of Blood Sect martial artists we were already tangled with was no small force. And now, roughly three times that many—enough to choke the entire vast gorge—were thundering toward us from deep inside the canyon: the Blood Sect’s main army.
At this rate, the moment we entered the gorge that was their domain, a clash with that main force would be unavoidable.
“Moyong Bi!”
Seol Ye-rin shouted in alarm.
“It’s too late! Abandon the Wi Clan’s eldest son and turn around right now!!”
Even as she spoke the gorge drew closer. Half-collapsed Blood Sect fortress tiles were already visible in the middle of the canyon mouth. I answered,
“Wi Ryong-ha! You’re telling me to leave Wi Ryong-ha behind like this?!”
Seol Ye-rin yelled back,
“The main force is bad enough, but the Second Hall Master’s domain is infamous for its sinister formations! Rumor has it…!”
She sucked in a breath.
“They say it’s a cursed formation derived from the ancient White Lotus Demon Sect itself! We absolutely must not go in!”
“…!”
The hesitation lasted only a heartbeat. I clenched my teeth and roared,
“We’re going in! Seol Ye-rin, get off!”
“What?!”
I shouted,
“Carrying your heavy ass keeps throwing off my center of gravity!”
Seol Ye-rin’s face flushed crimson as she yelled,
“Hey! I’m not that heavy, you bastard!”
“I trust the North Sea Ice Palace’s falling techniques!”
She stared at me blankly.
“What the hell are you even— Uwaaak!!”
I flung Seol Ye-rin off and sprinted forward.
“You bastard, Moyong Bi, you son of a bitch!”
I saw her tumbling and rolling behind me. I slammed my foot into the ground with everything I had.
—Kwaaang!
The earth shattered and my body rocketed skyward. I plunged into the panting, red-storm heart of the Blood Sect throng as if diving into the eye of a hurricane.
“What the hell is this bastard?!”
“Enemy in the center!”
“The flank’s open!”
I vaulted onto a horse. The instant I landed I drove the Seven Sects Black Pearl Gauntlet straight down onto the crown of the Blood Sect rider still in the saddle.
“Keok!”
His head sank into his chest as if his jaw had been driven into his sternum. Blood sprayed into my face while I rapidly sorted my thoughts.
Still not too late! Entering Blood Sect territory itself won’t be the problem. The real problem is the main force! If I can just snatch Wi Ryong-ha and get out before they fully join up—!
In the middle of the Blood Sect advance lumbered several monstrous double-yoked carriages. Inside them countless commoners wept as they watched the bloodbath unfolding on every side. Between those carriages I spotted a half-naked Wi Ryong-ha being dragged away by a fleeing Blood Sect fighter.
“There he is!”
I started to leap. A wall of mounted Blood Sect martial artists drew their weapons and blocked my path.
“Kill him! It’s a demon! This dog bastard! I can feel the demonic qi!”
Unbearable loathing and madness burned in the eyes of the Blood Sect fighters surrounding me.
“Demon! Filthy demon!”
“A demon who never bathes, just eats and lives for fighting!”
—Eudeuk.
I ground my teeth.
“You bastards! I’m from the Orthodox Path!”
—Pajik!
Black lightning boiled up from my body.
—Kwaaang!
The spine of the warhorse I rode snapped and my body shot forward. Horses and Blood Sect fighters shattered and went flying through the air.
“How can a demon be this strong?!”
“And the crazy bastard claims he’s Orthodox!”
A Blood Sect fighter watched his sword crumple under my fist and screamed,
“He’s even more insane than we are!”
I ripped a blade from a charging Blood Sect man and split him from waist to shoulder. Swinging the sword at the fighters pouring in from every direction, I shouted,
“Mumyeong! I lost Wi Ryong-ha! Deploy your sensory field and find him!”
[Understood.]
Straight ahead, right down the middle of the column, three double-yoked carriages raced in a perfect line.
“He’s probably in one of those three carriages! In this chaos the only halfway safe place to stash a prisoner is there!”
[Deploying sensory field.]
—Uuung!
A pale milky-blue membrane expanded from my body. I flew forward like an arrow. Blood Sect fighters howled,
“The mad demon’s going for the carriages!”
“Stop him!”
I pulled a chain from my robes and fixed Myeolseom to the end. I drew a deep breath.
“All of you, get the hell out of my way!”
—Hwirik!
The chain whipped through the air with the serrated dagger at its tip.
—Jjjaung!!
—Jjjaung! Jjauuung!!!
Blood sprayed as Blood Sect fighters were shredded. The chain danced like a whip. Serrated blades and lightning-fast lashes severed limbs until the ground became a lake of blood.
“Haap!”
I reeled the chain in, caught Myeolseom at the end, and hurled it again.
“Uwaak!”
—Kwang! Kwang! Kwaaang!
The dagger punched clean through the chests of four Blood Sect men in succession and buried itself in the wall of the first carriage. I kicked off the ground, seized the chain, and yanked with all my strength.
—Chwararak!
My body was yanked forward, skipping over the ranks, and I arrived at the first carriage in a blink. I stowed Myeolseom and the chain, then reached out with the Seven Sects Black Pearl Gauntlet and seized the iron bars of the carriage.
“Heup!”
I poured power into my grip.
—Eujik, eujijik!
Nails, splinters, and the entire iron grille tore free from the carriage wall. I flung the grille into the face of a Blood Sect fighter charging from behind and quickly scanned the interior.
“…Wi Ryong-ha!! He’s in—!”
The carriage was packed with children and women.
“…Shit. Don’t tell me.”
I lifted my head. Two more carriages followed behind. Through the bars of one I glimpsed a child.
“…Fuck. All three of them.”
Beyond the carriages the mouth of the gorge yawned open.
Goddamn it, there’s no time! Even for me this is—!
Conflict flooded my eyes.
“Butcher! Are you the Butcher of Yoryeong?!”
I turned my head. A handful of Wi Clan martial artists had somehow punched through this nightmare of Blood Sect ranks. One of them shouted,
“We entrust the Young Master to you! You’re the only one we can trust!”
“…!”
I bit my lip. The die was cast.
Don’t think, don’t think…!
I shot forward.
Don’t think—just look at what’s in front of you and run!
I slashed with the edge of my hand, severing the reins that bound the maddened warhorses to the carriages. The first carriage was freed from its team. I spun toward the Wi Clan warriors and shouted urgently,
“I’ll bring the Wi Clan’s eldest son back even if I have to enter Blood Sect territory and stake my life on it! So! So put aside any petty talk of chivalry or righteousness! If you are martial artists as well…!”
My eyes locked with those of a nameless Wi Clan warrior across the chaos. I could not do all of this alone. Someone had to help me. I roared,
“If you’re human beings—save these people!”
“…Understood!”
Even in the thick of battle they grasped my meaning. They nodded. The Wi Clan martial artists charged forward with their lives on the line.
“M-Mommy…”
A child in one of the carriages clung to his mother, watching the whole scene with trembling eyes. The Wi Clan warriors lashed their own horses to the fronts of the carriages loaded with commoners and veered off the path to escape.
I crushed Blood Sect fighters underfoot as I raced for the second carriage.
“You’ve got some skill, you bastard!”
“…!”
Someone blocked my path. A massive Blood Sect martial artist whose enormous belly of fat rolled with every movement. He hauled out a gigantic iron club and bellowed,
“I am Tae Musangjin, loyal retainer of Second Hall Master Taejacheon himself! This body will personally—!”
—Chiik!
I flicked a fingernail-scratched acid pellet straight into his face. The Blood Sect man snorted and swung his club.
“Hmph, a pebble like this—!”
The green pellet met the descending iron club dead-on.
—Kwaaang!
A tremendous explosion and a cloud of smoke. Hundreds of tiny iron pellets scythed forward.
“Uwaaagh!”
Pellets ricocheting off the club raked across Tae Musangjin’s eyes.
“My eyes! My eyes! I can’t see a thing!”
He thrashed and screamed.
“You bastard! I’ll catch you, rip out your tongue, and make you sing with your screams—!”
—Kwajik!
I seized the back of his skull, laced my fingers together, and locked on. As I rose I drove my knee upward in a frenzied barrage.
—Kwajik! Kwak! Ujikujik!
His head was crushed between my interlocked hands and my knee until it was a bloody ruin. Even so his massive frame swung the iron club at my torso.
—Kiiing!
Myeolseom’s counter-rotating serrated blades spun to life and sheared Tae Musangjin’s arm clean off. The blood-slick arm and the club spun wildly through the air. I snatched the club, twisted my waist with every ounce of strength, and put my entire body weight into smashing his jaw sideways.
—Eujik.
Tae Musangjin’s neck snapped and he died instantly.
“Lord Tae Musangjin has fallen!”
Blood Sect fighters cried out as they stared at the corpse. I severed the reins linking the warhorses to the second carriage and shoved it sideways to free it completely.
—Purrrrk!
A warhorse tried to bite the hand that was not its master’s. I yanked my hand back and seized the beast’s neck with both hands.
—Eudeuk.
I twisted it sideways and clenched my molars.
—Buung!
—Hiiiing!
I heaved the enormous horse clean off the ground and slammed it down beside me.
“T-Truly world-shaking martial power…”
The Wi Clan warriors were stunned. I barked,
“Hurry up! What the hell are you standing around for?!”
“Ah—y-yes… yes!”
My urgency snapped them out of it; they even answered with honorifics without realizing it. The Wi Clan martial artists quickly secured the second carriage and peeled away to the side.
Only one of the three double-yoked carriages remained. Mumyeong spoke.
[Found him. He’s hiding behind the third double-yoked carriage after slipping past the seven men blocking the way.]
“You’re sure?! He didn’t slip off somewhere else in the meantime?”
[No. Not a single movement. I estimate he’s holding his breath and staying still.]
I nodded.
“Good. Third one it is!”
Behind me the path was almost clear—carved open by the Blood Sect fighters I had already slaughtered while advancing. I had to keep going. I lifted my head to look at the third carriage—and froze.
“So you’re the Butcher of Yoryeong?”
“…!”
Right in the shortest path to the third carriage stood a man with long, streaming greyish-white hair: the Second Hall Master of the Blood Sect, Taejacheon.