The Sixth Vertebra of the Dragon Mountain Range
The sixth vertebra along the Dragon Mountain Range's spine. The narrowest and safest pass through the mountains that divided the continent in two. The place where monsters attacked least often. It was simple. It was the territory of the twin-headed ogre, the highest-ranked monster on the continent. No need to worry about random monster raids.
What had to be accepted was the hassle of tying up loud, bulky livestock as far as possible from the pass to lure the twin ogre away. It was a straightforward method, yet it worked perfectly. Before long, the sixth vertebra had become the top teams' favorite shortcut. But today, the long-running tradition had been shattered.
At the first resting spot along the sixth vertebra, the convoy was under attack from the orcs.
“C-c-cuck! You damn orc bastards! Stop piling up on me!”
“It seems the defenses have collapsed!”
“These idiots have gone mad together! They don't even look our way!”
The leader of the Wolf Mercenary Group, Barkan, ground his teeth and swung his sword. A faint aura lingered on the blade's edge as it sliced through the necks of the charging orcs with a sharp crack.
Slash! Blast! They kept hacking and pushing forward without pause. They trampled over their own kin as if telling their comrades to go die and charged like animals.
Squeal! “Kroooaak!” “Kyaaah! My arm!”
The disgusting sniffing sounds from the orcs and the subordinates' screams filled the air. Barkan shouted urgently toward the carriage.
“Gaeneom! Still not done?”
“N-nearly there!”
“We can't hold out any longer! Use the magic now!”
“Just a moment! Just a moment!”
Listening to the incantation, Barkan glanced ahead. There. If we break through just there, we can make it.
Squeal! The place swarming with orcs. The spot where the most of his subordinates had died. Damn it! Their corpses were so mangled it was impossible to tell where the body ended and the meat began. The orcs had rushed in right after they fell, devouring them greedily.
Crunch! Crunch! Behind the charging orcs, some were gnawing through subordinates' bodies bone by bone.
“You bastards! I'll kill you all!” Barkan swung his sword, fury burning in his eyes.
Slash! Boom! He knew one meaningless struggle was all it was worth. The number of orcs was countless. It was then.
“…Explosion!” Gaeneom rose from the driver's seat and shouted the activation word.
Boom! With a roar of scarlet flames, the explosion swallowed the orcs whole. Gurgles!
As the orcs let out pain-filled shrieks, the shockwave spread in all directions. A thick cloud of dust and stones billowed everywhere.
“C-cuck!” Squeal!
Without distinguishing between humans and orcs, everyone covered their faces with their arms and staggered back. But that lasted only an instant. Barkan shouted without missing a beat.
“Now! Break the path!”
No one was unsure where to strike. Everyone was ready to charge toward the spot where the five-circle fire magic had struck. Before the strange sound could spill from the explosion site.
Shuaaaa! The dust scattered everywhere by the eerie sound quickly gathered back together, rising and falling like breathing. Watching that sight, Barkan looked at Gaeneom. What happened? Following his gaze, Gaeneom shook his head roughly.
“I-I don't know…”
Then a sound that made you want to cover your ears came from the dust.
Ziiiiiiiiiiing! “C-c-cuck!” Kuuuuiiii!
No matter human or orc, when ears were covered, Zzzzeeeerrrr! The sound of something shattering and tearing cut off sharply. Everyone's eyes turned toward one spot as if hypnotized. The dust that had been hovering in the air as if time had stopped.
What exactly was happening here? A heavy silence fell over the sudden phenomenon. But that silence didn't last long.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Suddenly, more than one head taller than the others, orcs emerged from behind the dust. Huff! Huff! The savage glint in their eyes and the ferocious aura in their snarling breaths made them even scarier. They were the orc warriors.
“Squeal! Move fast! If you delay, you'll be food for the king!”
“Anyone who doesn't move, squeal! We'll kill you!”
The orc warriors rushed headlong into the dust. The other orcs, too, attacked the mercenaries with renewed madness.
“Squeal! Die, humans!”
“Fireball!”
“Kill the mages! Squeal!”
“D-d-dad! What do we do!”
The battle restarted.
“Abandon the carriage and retreat…” Barkan, about to make his final choice, suddenly trailed off.
Whoosh! The orc warriors who had burst through the dust suddenly collapsed as if their bodies were crumbling.
Squeal? The orcs' heads slid sideways as if their necks were broken. Why?
As if answering the question, something flew out from the dust.
Spaaaaat! Blast! Pssst! Dozens of auras sliced through the orcs' necks like living things, darting around. Boom! The mercenaries and Barkan stared blankly at the sight. The white auras looked as beautiful as if breathing the breath of the god of light, Kaliya.
“Aaaah!” Too caught up in the auras to notice, a footstep filled the entire space.
Step, step. Everyone's eyes turned toward the sound. And the moment their gazes landed, a man walked out from the dust.
A young man with black hair and dark eyes, dressed in leather. He slowly scanned the surroundings and opened his mouth.
“Huh?” The words that came out were completely incomprehensible.
***
Jin Chen narrowed his brows and said. “Who are you guys?”
He looked past the dazed Black Lotus men toward the pig-head bastards. “What are those?”
The man who seemed to be the Black Lotus leader snapped back to attention and shouted urgently. “Hah!”
“Aaah, this pig bastard.” Jin Chen reached out and grabbed the pig-head man's neck, pulling him right up next to himself.
Squeal? The pig-head man let out a puzzled sniffling noise, body unmoving.
“If I'd just left you, you'd have figured it out and died on your own. But you couldn't wait and crawled over here.”
Crack! He snapped the man's neck and hurled him away.
Whoosh! The pig-head flew in a straight line and collided with his kin. Boom! Twenty pig-heads turned into pulp and rolled across the ground in one hit. Gurgles!
“Looks like they've all gone crazy. Just wipe them all out.”
“Yes, Lord Jin!”
The moment a thunderous reply came from inside the dust, the men burst out. About fifty in number. Dressed in the same animal-skin clothes as the young man.
Blast! The men scattered in all directions and charged toward the orcs. Their movements were so bizarre and swift they reached the front of the orcs in an instant.
Squeal! Squeal! The orcs leaped back, weapons raised. But the men's speed wasn't limited to their legs.
Slash! Swoosh! Blast! Every time their weapons moved, the orcs dropped like puppets. Gurgles!
“Shut up and just die.”
“Our Lord Jin doesn't like noise!”
The number of orcs was still countless, but the men's movements held no hesitation or fear. Barkan and the others stared blankly at the scene. Were these the same orcs they'd been fighting moments ago?
As they stood there in shock, Jin Chen took a leisurely step forward. He pointed his axe at Barkan and said.
“Hey, you there. Answer me.”
“Wha?”
“Tsk, is there even one guy around here who speaks Central Plains?”
“Eh?”
“Aaah, I'm done for.”
Just as he scratched his head roughly, Gaeneom cast his spell. “Translation!”
Blast! In an instant, Jin Chen was on the carriage roof and pressing his axe down on Gaeneom's neck while he sat in the driver's seat. “What kind of trick is this?”
“H-hiiick! I-I only cast a translation spell!”
“A translation spell? Is that like sorcery?” He didn't know what sorcery was. “Whatever. As long as we can communicate.”
Jin Chen withdrew his axe and plopped down on the carriage roof. “Where is this? What are those?”
“Eh?”
“Your ears are clogged? Want me to open them?”
“No, no. This place is the first resting spot at the sixth vertebra of the Dragon Mountain Range in the east of the Karis Kingdom. And those are orcs, monsters.”
Kingdom? Dragon Mountain Range? Monsters? What the hell was this? It felt off.
“Have you heard of Central Plains? Magok or Northern Ice Palace?” He mentioned external sects as examples, since it might be from the Western regions.
Damn it, I don't know. He could tell just from his expression and shot back immediately. “Tell me everything you know about this world.”
“Eh? Yes! This is the Palice Continent with two empires, eight kingdoms, and two republics. On the west is a giant island called Kali and various small islands. It's said that the marine empire of Krogen rules all of them.”
“Is that all? No other continents or countries?”
“Yes. According to my knowledge, that's all.”
“Then religions? Buddhism or Taoism or something?”
“Religions are quite diverse. The god of light, Kaliya, the god of darkness, Tura, the goddess of war and struggle, Seiya…”
“Enough.” Those words wouldn't help.
Jin Chen narrowed his brows, rested his elbow on his knee, and propped his chin up. Had he really been transported to a completely different world? Or was it some distant place from the Central Plains?
After thinking it through, his heart leaned toward the former. It wasn't because he heard strange things like kingdoms or the goddess of light. Everything was different. The trees, the grass, even the bugs crawling on the ground. And the dense natural energy that couldn't compare to the Central Plains.
“Tsk, what the hell is this because of those bastards! I should have just wiped them out at the beginning!”
Namgung Cheon and his elite soldiers from the Namgung clan. Gudo Myeong and the jiangshi he created. These guys, after getting beaten for a while, must have gotten riled up and simultaneously unleashed their ultimate techniques. He had met them head-on, but the formation laid out in the camp suddenly shook and exploded. And when he opened his eyes, he was here.
By adding all sorts of formations to protect the camp, these guys had caused this mess. “Tsk, I told you to add them appropriately.”
Just as he clicked his tongue briefly, the pig-head man's screaming stopped abruptly. A tall, sturdy bald man with a big build walked over and bowed his head. Vice-leader Bbakbbaki.
“Lord Jin, there are some who ran away. Should we chase them?”
“Leave them. It's not important right now.”
“They went far away?”
“Looks like it. Maybe they won't be able to come back.”
Jin Chen stood up and asked Gaeneom. “Hey! What's your name?”