The Buff
“You rabbit-like bastard!” Geumgang let out a sigh as he watched Gi Eungso flee. “In the old days, I would’ve caught him. Even though my meridians have healed, my body still doesn’t move the way I want it to.”
“It can’t be helped. You’ve been away from the battlefield for a long time,” Lee Cheongryeo said, comforting him. “It’s a shame, but he’s already escaped. There’s nothing we can do.”
“Tsk. I really wanted to catch that one guy.”
“Still, we protected the village, didn’t we?” Lee Cheongryeo gestured toward the unharmed Muwichon. For the past several days, the two of them had been patrolling the area around the village. They had done so out of concern for the Sadoryeon, and just as expected, an intruder had come.
“The Blood Blade Fiend, Gi Eungso. He may seem reckless, but he’s a clever one. After suffering a loss like that, he won’t act rashly again.”
Geumgang spoke with a worried tone as he led Lee Cheongryeo back into the village.
“My Lord.”
“Benefactor.”
Geumgang and Lee Cheongryeo. The two men knelt before Elena. They prostrated themselves as if before a king and spoke.
“We are sorry. We let the enemy escape, so it is certain he will return with the Red Blood Hall as he declared.”
“Benefactor, what will you do now?”
The two men reported the situation to Elena and sought her next instructions. Faced with their expectant gazes that seemed to beg for any order at all, Elena thought to herself.
'Fuck. We're screwed.'
Several days had already passed. Even the slow-witted Elena had no choice but to notice. This was not a game, but a martial arts-style otherworld.
‘I can’t log out, and the status window won’t open. What kind of rotten luck is this?’
During those days, she had also looked into what the Sadoryeon was. One of the two colossal powers that divided the Murim world. To have become enemies with such a group from the very beginning was an absolutely terrible stroke of misfortune.
‘Not only did I get isekai’d out of nowhere, but the moment I arrived I got dragged into a fight! Even if I cut ties with Cheongryeo now, they probably wouldn’t believe me.’
By now, the enemy would already consider her Lee Cheongryeo’s comrade. In this situation, parting ways with him would only mean losing an ally. Lee Cheongryeo, who treated her with utmost respect and called her his benefactor. And Geumgang, who for some unknown reason had sworn absolute loyalty to her. It seemed the correct choice was to overcome this crisis together with these seemingly powerful individuals.
‘Thankfully, these two are first-class or Peak Realm experts or whatever, and they’re friendly toward me. I’m not entirely sure, but it seems everyone keeps mistaking me for some mysterious high-level master.’
In that case, it would be good to take advantage of that misunderstanding.
“Before I make a decision, there is something I wish to know,” Elena said, her eyes sparkling. “What is the strength level of the Red Blood Hall?”
“They are the main combat unit of the Sadoryeon, but they are the lowest ranked among the main forces.”
Geumgang, who had plenty of Murim experience, explained. At the words “lowest ranked,” Elena’s ears perked up.
‘Lowest ranked means they’re weak, right!’
She rejoiced inwardly, completely failing to realize that Geumgang had only meant they were relatively weak within the monstrous organization known as the Sadoryeon. From the perspective of the entire Murim world, the Red Blood Hall was still an elite group composed of powerful experts.
‘If I give these two my buffs, couldn’t we win? That guy from earlier ran away when the two of them attacked him together.’
Elena had no idea that Gi Eungso had fled partly out of fear of her. After all, she had simply stood there watching without doing anything while the fight happened. How could she know he had run away in terror of the person who had only been staring?
‘No, just these two still feels a bit uneasy. It would be better if we had more numbers.’
Elena pondered. After thinking and thinking some more, she suddenly spoke.
“Let us abandon this village.”
Abandon Muwichon! It was an extreme order, yet no one objected.
“As expected, that seems to be the only way?” It was the solution everyone had been thinking of inwardly. Lee Cheongryeo agreed, though he still looked worried. “Even if you, Benefactor, manage to repel the Red Blood Hall, the Sadoryeon will simply send even stronger forces. No matter how great a master one is, numbers can overwhelm. Avoiding them entirely would be the best option. However…”
Lee Cheongryeo looked at the village residents with pity.
“If we leave the village, what will become of these people?”
“What else? They’ll have to scatter,” Geumgang said coldly. “Are you planning to drag them along while we’re being chased by the Sadoryeon? They’ll be more than a hindrance; they’ll all die.”
“But if we send them off alone and something happens to them…”
“Cheongryeo, I’m sorry, but there’s no use trying to stop this. I am the chief of this village.”
Geumgang spoke firmly to the villagers.
“I intend to serve my Lord from now on, so I can no longer take responsibility for you all. Muwichon is disbanded. You must all leave the village.”
A sudden and absolute order of dissolution. There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t shocked by those words. The villagers looked at each other and began murmuring. Then one of them approached Geumgang.
“Chief…”
“What? Don’t tell me you’re going to blame our Lord now, after all this?”
Geumgang continued with a look that said he wouldn’t let it slide if that were the case.
“You all clung to her because you needed her miraculous medical skills, even at the risk of danger. And thanks to our Lord, you’ve gained new lives.”
“…That’s…”
“Now that your bodies are healthy, there’s no need to stay in a place like this. This is actually an opportunity. Go back out into the world and live proper lives.”
“That’s not what I meant!” The villager who had been listening to the lecture suddenly shouted. “Please take me with you as well!”
“Don’t make me laugh. What use would I have for the likes of you?”
“If nothing else, I can at least be a shield. Please allow me to help the Divine Physician!”
He held out both of his hands, nearly sobbing as he spoke.
“You know, don’t you, Chief? These hands originally couldn’t move.”
“I know. You got caught up in a fight between martial artists and took a strike to the arm from some inner energy technique. Your nerves were completely destroyed, so you couldn’t work and ended up here. That’s what you told me, isn’t it?”
“Yes. The Divine Physician healed them!”
The villager turned tearful eyes toward Elena.
“My family and friends all abandoned me. I resented everything, but the Divine Physician gave me another chance! I want to do something for her too!”
“It’s a touching resolve, but it’s meaningless,” Geumgang was about to say coldly that he was useless when—
“It’s fine with me.” Elena stepped forward. “If that is truly your wish, then I cannot refuse. To be honest, I was also conflicted about whether it was right to send the villagers away so irresponsibly like this.”
“My Lord! Are you speaking sincerely?”
“From the beginning, it was all because of me that these people had to leave the village. In that case, it is only right that I take responsibility until the end.”
Pushing aside the protesting Geumgang, Elena looked at the villagers.
“If there are others besides this man who wish to follow me, please step forward. Since all of this happened because of me, I will take responsibility for everyone!”
The moment she shouted firmly, the result far exceeded her expectations.
“M-me too!”
“Then I will go with you as well!”
Every single one of the villagers had declared they would follow her.
“I wanted to help the Divine Physician too! I wanted to repay the person who saved my life! But I thought someone as useless as me would only get in the way…”
“You are not useless.”
Because,
‘I’ll just buff you all and make you useful.’
Elena had been racking her brain desperately. Of course, she wasn’t doing this for the villagers’ sake.
‘Even if they’re just ordinary villagers, numbers are numbers. If I buff all of them, they should be useful.’
The idea of turning ordinary people into disposable tanks left a bad taste in her mouth, but she had no choice.
‘This isn’t the situation to be worrying about morals. Besides, I’m worried about releasing people who were practically cripples until recently. If they stay with me, at least they won’t die.’
Elena rationalized it to herself and spoke.
“Is there anyone who objects to my decision?”
“None.”
“If it is my Lord’s will.”
Not only Lee Cheongryeo, but even Geumgang, who had been the most opposed, accepted it. They could not dare defy the commands of Elena, whom they revered like the heavens.
“Good. Then let us depart quickly. Where should we go?”
“How about Sichuan? It is relatively close from here, and since it is territory controlled by the orthodox sects, even the Sadoryeon would find it difficult to set foot there.”
When Geumgang offered his opinion, Elena nodded.
‘Sichuan. That’s definitely the place famous for Sichuan cuisine. Let’s head there!’
There was nothing of value in the village to pack anyway. They were able to set out with the villagers very quickly.
‘If we can avoid running into the Red Blood Hall entirely, that would be even better!’
They hurried their steps as much as possible, but with a large group that included ordinary people, it was inevitable.
“I clearly told you I would bring the Red Blood Hall!”
They hadn’t gone far before they were caught by the Red Blood Hall. A group of menacing figures armed with weapons blocked their path. At the head of the formation stood Gi Eungso.
“Two first-class experts as vice commanders, forty second-class, and eight hundred third-class. I brought the entire Red Blood Hall.”
The returned Gi Eungso calmly introduced his forces. Nearly a thousand people. Elena’s group was left speechless.
“No way!”
“Gi Eungso, you crazy bastard!”
Even the high-level experts Lee Cheongryeo and Geumgang were stunned, and…
“…”
“…They won’t even make decent shields.”
The villagers who had stubbornly insisted on following were also struck dumb as they faced reality.
Gi Eungso had crushed the enemy’s morale in a single blow, yet his own expression was far from pleased. He wasn’t smiling arrogantly; instead, he looked tense.
“I brought everything I had to make sure I killed you all. Especially you—the Western expert. I came specifically to kill you!”
‘Fuck!’
Elena, who had been pointed out, ground her teeth inwardly.
‘What a needlessly thorough bastard. This is getting dangerous!’
The enemy numbers were quite high, but that wasn’t the real problem.
‘If they were all single-digit levels, I could wipe out a thousand of them, but there’s no way their average level is that low, right? Even if they’re weak, they’re probably around level 10 on average. The elite officers should be somewhere between 30 and 40.’
She tried to calculate, but without knowing their exact levels, it was all just speculation.
‘Can’t be helped. I should start by buffing the villagers I brought along. Maybe around level 20?’
Elena’s main specialty was healing, so buffs were only a secondary function. Applying buffs to a large number of people at once would significantly reduce their effectiveness.
‘I’ll apply this much to the villagers for now and see how it goes before using better buffs.’
Having made her decision, Elena hurriedly activated a mass buff.
Mass Buff - Enhanced Physical Ability
The moment a wave of light burst forth—
Every single one of the villagers transformed into muscular figures nearly two meters tall.