Chapter 296
Chapter 296
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 299
Chapter Title: Poison Reversal and Thunderclap Bomb
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The Thunder Dragon Squad blocked the enemies surging into the Heavenly Pavilion by deploying the Thunderclap Chain Formation.
However, even the Thunder Dragon Squad, which had been holding the front like an iron wall, began to waver little by little after a short while.
Geon Cheon-hwi deflected the hidden weapons being fired by the unorthodox warriors with his sword and shouted.
“Tak Hyeok-dong! Move to the third squad!”
“No way! We’re barely holding here!”
“I’ll go! I’ll go!”
Jang Woong leaped over Tak Hyeok-dong’s shoulder and flew toward the third squad.
He tumbled to the ground, rolling past the feet of the unorthodox warriors.
Thud-thud-thud. His twin blades severed the enemies’ ankles, Achilles tendons, and calf muscles.
“Arghhh!”
“You rat bastard!”
“Uwaaaah!”
Thunder Dragon Squad’s third squad leader, Baek Kyung-hu, swung the iron mace in his hand with full force.
The spiked head smashed the opponent’s skull outright.
The enemies hesitated at the shocking attack, then charged again with furious roars.
“Kill them!”
“Push! Push—!”
“Kill them! We’re almost through! Push in!”
Nangong Ryong and Paeng Jung-hyeok split left and right to engage the foes.
Sword and blade auras capable of cleaving steel rained down.
The unorthodox enemies strained to squeeze through the narrow entrance, heedless of how many died or fell.
Dang Myeong-jin and Dang Myeong-ok showered hidden weapons on the enemies pressing into the entrance.
Piercing Air Needles and Willow Leaf Daggers sliced through the air like rain.
Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew-pew-pew!
Amid the blood-splattered battlefield, So Hye-yeon traversed it using the steps of Crescent Moon Dusting Footwork.
This was her first time in such a horrific war, yet she did not hesitate.
To hesitate even once meant the enemies would kill her allies.
She did not think of it as fighting for the Nangong family. To them, she was merely an outsider.
Nor did she wish to be called a righteous warrior.
She had learned through Nangong Hyuk, overcome hardships, and grown. She saw this as repaying that grace, and this war as another step in her growth.
Moreover, publicly, the Sword Pavilion had not tolerated the unorthodox horde’s evil deeds.
She viewed the unorthodox warriors who had climbed here through slaughter as embodiments of injustice.
So Hye-yeon’s sword grew ever more resolute and sharp.
In response, the enemies’ shouts and killing intent surged higher.
The Heavenly Pavilion filled with the stench of blood and the hot breaths of the warriors.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
“Up to this floor!”
“It’s empty! Climb the walls!”
“The enemies are going up! Block them! Don’t let them climb!”
“Come if you wanna get sliced! I’ll tear you all apart!”
Vicious curses flew alongside sprays of blood.
So Geol-gae smashed back the enemies pushing into the Heavenly Pavilion with his staff and yelled.
“How long are we gonna hold out like this! We’ll all die at this rate, for real!”
Nangong Hyuk grabbed the Thunder Dragon Squad member by the collar, pulled him back, and sprang forward.
“Hold a bit longer! Not yet!”
“No, when the hell is ‘not yet’!”
“Just hold!”
“Argh, damn it!”
What the hell was he thinking!
So Geol-gae was bewildered but couldn’t stop his hands.
Even a moment’s rest meant being pushed back ten steps. Any gap in the formation they’d struggled to maintain would open up.
His body, tempered by hardship and martial arts, grew heavy like a waterlogged sponge.
‘Damn, was I this weak?’
No matter how frantically he scurried like his feet were on fire, he was the Beggars’ Sect Little Division Leader of the world.
And the Thunder Dragon Squad was still fighting fiercely!
Veins bulged on So Geol-gae’s forehead.
“You fucking bastards! I’m Beggars’ Sect Little Division Leader So Geol-gae! Die, you scum!”
So Geol-gae gritted his teeth and roared.
Fine, they’d hold until they were told to hold.
He didn’t know why, but they’d hold.
Nangong Hyuk quickly scanned the surroundings.
He darted swiftly wherever needed.
If the right side buckled, he went right; if the left, he went left.
He pulled back the exhausted and blocked experts while watching all directions.
‘Come on, you bastards.’
Nangong Hyuk stood tall amid the onrushing foes like a raging beast, eyes fixed on Ho Tae-gun and the White Blood Squad watching from afar.
The real fight began when those guys joined, and that was when Nangong Hyuk aimed for the reversal.
Come on.
Come on!
Watching the slaughter unfolding inside the Heavenly Pavilion, Ho Tae-gun’s eyebrow twitched.
The Thunder Dragon Squad was holding better than expected.
It was like a slaughterhouse.
The once splendid Heavenly Pavilion’s outer walls and courtyard reeked of blood, pools of it forming, evoking a hellscape.
Ho Tae-gun’s gaze chased Nangong Hyuk, who darted everywhere.
Nangong Hyuk was aware of him too.
He mouthed words.
‘Scared?’
Truly scratching at one’s nerves.
Ho Tae-gun steadied his breath and smirked.
There was definitely something up. Given the cunning he’d shown so far, there was a plan.
But Ho Tae-gun took the bait.
The martial world was ruled by strength.
“I’ll show you.”
That no petty tricks worked against overwhelming power.
Ho Tae-gun strode forward.
The White Blood Squad Leader and White Blood Squad advanced first, exuding thick killing intent.
“Out of the way!”
At the chilling voice, the unorthodox experts scrambling into the Heavenly Pavilion hurriedly retreated.
The unorthodox horde split in half in an instant.
The White Blood Squad Leader drew his sword.
Shing!
With a clear metallic ring, fan-shaped pure white sword qi shot toward the entrance like an arrow.
Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew!
The sword qi pierced those blocking the entrance, friend or foe alike.
“Gahhh!”
“Uwaaaak!”
“Guh, guh!”
The White Blood Squad trampled the falling corpses and moved.
Ho Tae-gun said coldly.
“Sweep them away!”
With his command, the White Blood Squad Leader and White Blood Squad exploded forward.
At that moment, Nangong Hyuk’s eyes flashed as he roved the Heavenly Pavilion interior.
He sent a transmission.
[Fall back!]
Nangong Ryong and the Thunder Dragon Squad reacted instantly to the voice in their ears.
As if rehearsed, without a hint of hesitation, they retreated, yielding the space they’d never given up until now.
They instinctively knew this was the moment Nangong Hyuk had spoken of.
It was a movement impossible without complete trust in Nangong Hyuk’s judgment.
The White Blood Squad filled the gap left by the Thunder Dragon Squad in a flash, followed by the unorthodox warriors surging in.
The White Blood Squad Leader thrust forth the White Blood Radiant Heaven Sword and flew in like a shot.
His momentum was ferocious, like a beast pouncing on prey.
Nangong Ryong blocked the White Blood Radiant Heaven Sword with Imperial King Sword Form.
Boom! Clang-clang-clang!
The fan-shaped sword qi was nullified by the thunder-wreathed Imperial King Sword Form.
The White Blood Squad leaped in succession, the unorthodox horde cutting off retreat, glaring at the Thunder Dragon Squad like cornered rats.
“You rat bastards! I’ll kill you all!”
“I won’t kill you easy! I’ll rip you apart and feed you to wild dogs!”
“Beggars’ Sect Little Division Leader! I’ll flay that beggar scum alive and stuff his guts in his mouth!”
So Geol-gae’s ears perked up.
Fuck, why me specifically?!
So Geol-gae looked at Nangong Hyuk in panic.
“What are you doing! Do something!”
Nangong Hyuk responded to So Geol-gae’s desperate gaze.
Ho Tae-gun entered his sight, flying in like the wind.
Ho Tae-gun scattered terrifying killing intent and shouted.
“If that’s all you’ve got, you’re dead!”
Nangong Hyuk twisted his lips.
Who’s killing who?
He sent a transmission to Dang Myeong-jin and Dang Myeong-ok.
His transmission boomed like thunder to the Tang siblings.
[Tang Clan!]
“Yes?!”
Dang Myeong-ok, who’d been embedding Willow Leaf Daggers in enemies’ foreheads, snapped her head up.
[Release the poison!]
“Y-Yes?!”
Release poison here and now?
The Heavenly Pavilion was vast, but the first floor was sealed on all sides.
In this chaotic melee, releasing poison here would...
[What’d we build tolerances for, then!]
...Ah!
Dang Myeong-ok and Dang Myeong-jin nearly smacked their heads.
They realized Nangong Hyuk had chosen this enclosed, cramped space not just for defensive advantage.
The Tang siblings quickly rummaged in their robes and pulled out poison pouches.
Tang Clan folk always carried half a dozen poison pouches like salt.
“Release it!”
Nangong Hyuk bellowed like lightning as he drew his demon sword toward Ho Tae-gun.
Boom!
He and Ho Tae-gun clashed head-on.
Crack-crack!
Their collision cracked the青stone floor like a spiderweb.
Ho Tae-gun curled his lips.
“No more tricks up your sleeve?”
“This a circus, punk?”
“Good, fine poison qi!”
“Poison qi my ass. It’s real poison.”
“Haha! Right, good... Hm?”
Ho Tae-gun sensed something off.
His skin stung, a chill creeping in.
His gaze shifted toward the source.
Poof-pooff!
“Guh, guh!”
“Grrk, grrrk!”
“P... guh, guh.”
The unorthodox horde along the outer walls clutched their throats, faces turning pitch black.
They vomited blood from every orifice, writhing in agony.
Ho Tae-gun’s eyes bulged.
He was aghast.
Poison!
It was poison.
‘These mad bastards?!’
The two Tang siblings were scattering poison pouches everywhere.
Each one lethally fatal.
Their secretive, swift poison arts had gone unnoticed.
In this sealed, cramped space, the poison’s power was maximized.
Unless one was an expert who could seal even pores with internal energy, poisoning was inevitable.
And that poison was the Tang Clan’s deadliest, the most vicious and malignant in the world.
“Uwaaaack!”
“Gaaack!”
“Sp-Spare me... guaaack!”
The unorthodox warriors flailed in the poison qi.
Chaos erupted as they fled the Heavenly Pavilion.
They trampled each other, shoving allies aside in panic, turning it into a hell of Asura.
The poisoned clawed at the walls in gut-wrenching pain until nails snapped in a pitiful spectacle.
Ho Tae-gun’s eyes curved fiercely.
“Mutual destruction, is it!”
Releasing poison here, where friend and foe mingled, meant nothing but mutual ruin.
Nangong Hyuk sneered.
“Mutual destruction?”
“Unleashing poison arts in this mix...”
“Who said mutual destruction?”
“What?”
Ho Tae-gun looked around in confusion.
Slash!
“Guhk!”
Swoosh!
“Kyaaack!”
Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew!
Chilling sounds echoed as a bloodstorm erupted around the Thunder Dragon Squad.
The Thunder Dragon Squad swept through the enemies with terrifying momentum, full of vigor like fish in water.
“Crack up! So that was the plan!”
“They’re done for!”
“Kill them!”
The Thunder Dragon Squad had built tolerances against even the Five Poisons Sect’s deadliest venom.
And while fatal to the foes, the Tang siblings had dosed it just right to create an optimal environment for the squad.
Toppling the flailing poisoned enemies was easier than squashing ants.
Bloodshot veins filled Ho Tae-gun’s eyes.
‘He planned for all this?’
Had this kid been toying with him from above?
“Hey, spacing out?”
Nangong Hyuk sneered and thrust his demon sword with full power.
Boom!
A massive boom rang out, staggering Ho Tae-gun back.
“Urk!”
Poison qi invaded him too, his breath control faltering from clashing with Nangong Hyuk.
In that brief hesitation, the Thunder Dragon Squad butchered the foes.
In moments, the area became a sea of blood, leaving Ho Tae-gun, the White Cloud Sword Wave experts, and dozens of unorthodox elites.
But outside still teemed with unorthodox warriors who hadn’t entered yet.
They swiftly retreated beyond the poison’s reach.
When the poison pouches were finally spent, Ho Tae-gun roared.
“Playtime’s over!”
Amusement required leisure.
He had neither now.
“I’ll rip you all...”
“Everyone, up to the upper floors!”
“...!”
Nangong Hyuk sneered at Ho Tae-gun and leaped to the next floor.
“You bastard!”
Ho Tae-gun swung his sword fiercely, but couldn’t chase Nangong Hyuk slipping away like an ebbing tide.
Nangong Hyuk dashed up to the next floor.
Corpses littered it from the earlier fight.
“Go higher! Higher!”
At Nangong Hyuk’s urgent shout, everyone climbed further.
Around the fourth floor.
People unconsciously looked at Nangong Hyuk.
Nangong Hyuk glanced down.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Ho Tae-gun and the enraged enemies appeared with heavy footsteps.
Nangong Hyuk pulled out something black and round from his robe.
So Geol-gae’s eyes widened, mouth agape.
“W-Wait, n-no way, you’re not gonna use that...”
Gleam.
Nangong Hyuk’s pupils glittered with madness.
“Why carry it if I won’t use it?”
“You madman! Wait—!”
“Hey, duck.”
Whoosh!
The thunderclap bomb left Nangong Hyuk’s hand and thudded down to the first floor.
“You fucker!”
“Down! Get down!”
“Huh?!”
People flattened themselves on the second-floor planks in terror.
BOOOOOOM!
A pillar of flame erupted ferociously, a colossal roar shaking the Heavenly Pavilion.