Bandit Alliance, Day of Destruction -2
"Th-the Tang Family…! Weren't you lot supposed to stay out of Sichuan's affairs?!"
"The Tang Family decides its own course. Not the eyes of the world."
"Damn it… damn it…!"
Wang Maeng-ho wiped cold sweat from his brow as he stared down from the building. Five thousand martial artists were pouring into the stronghold like a breaking flood. So swift and precise was the assault that the bandits who had rushed out for a first line of defense were already trussed up like dried fish, rolling across the ground.
From the start it had been a fight where one man had to hold ten. And those ten were driving forward with overwhelming force.
The Sichuan martial artists held a tenfold advantage in numbers and the morale of men who could each take on ten opponents. The bandits, simply crushed by that momentum, were subdued in moments.
"We can't win this!"
"Run!"
Faced with the mad fervor of men sitting a placement exam, the bandits lost their nerve and began scrambling over the palisade on the opposite side from the advancing warriors.
But—
"Hahahaha! Kill them all!"
"No killing! Capture them! Bind them!"
A welcoming feast of countless saber sheaths, sword scabbards, and bare fists was already waiting. The Sichuan force numbered a full five thousand. An airtight encirclement had long since closed around the entire stronghold.
A handful of the bandits' elite still managed to put up resistance against the Sichuan warriors, but even they were being hammered by wave after wave of attackers who had already flooded the fort. Despair filled the eyes of those elite bandits.
"Watch for your openings! The second you see a gap, dive in and snag the last hit!"
"Those ones! Heheheheh! They're definitely Peak experts — make sure you bind them!"
Dozens, hundreds of glittering eyes fixed hungrily on every opening. It was a nightmare that drained the strength from a man's arms and legs on its own.
Wang Maeng-ho looked toward the stronghold masters, each locked in combat with one of Sichuan's Super-Peak experts. The gap in skill between the masters and Sichuan's representative Super-Peak fighters was not vast — just enough for the Sichuan grandmasters to hold a slight edge — but…
Even if they somehow drove back the Super-Peak opponent in front of them, there was no way out. Despair weighed on the bandit chiefs as they flailed before the ferocious assaults of Sichuan's Super-Peak experts, each of whom was fighting with unprecedented intensity for those fifty points.
"A crushing victory."
Tang Do-gyeong marveled. He had fought plenty of duels of one kind or another, but this was the first time he had ever taken part in a battle involving more than ten people. Five hundred against five thousand — and a capture operation at that — so he had half expected fatalities or serious injuries…
A few men lay bleeding here and there, but at a glance there were no deaths and no critical wounds.
Even with Wang Maeng-ho right in front of him, Tang Do-gyeong had been spreading his attention in every direction, ready to throw hidden weapons to save anyone in danger. The victory was so complete it almost left him embarrassed.
He had thrown hidden weapons only twice, both times when a nearby martial artist looked about to be hurt. That was the sum total of his contribution.
Watching the bandits get utterly crushed, Tang Do-gyeong thought of Ho Cheon-an — of the man who had flatly declared that a second plan would not be necessary — and shook his head.
Ho Cheon-an had been right.
The difference in power was so overwhelming that a Plan B had never even needed consideration. Even if this force had taken some losses along the way, would the outcome have changed? No.
Even now the encirclement was tightening, and bandits who had completely lost the will to fight were being scooped up by martial artists as they fled in panic.
This was less a battle than a hunt… Without the binding and capture, it would have been a massacre.
Once I subdue the one in front of me, it's over.
There was no chance Dang Do-yeon would fail to take down a single bandit chief. Even with no hidden weapons, no poison, and nothing but a half-broken whip in her hand, she would still manage a clean capture.
"Not planning to come at me?"
Tang Do-gyeong's gaze settled on the saber at Wang Maeng-ho's waist. Ever since he had begun refining the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Hidden Dragon Combat Method, he had never faced anyone who used a sword or saber in real combat. Bandit chief or not, the man was still Super-Peak — a precious chance to shore up the weaknesses in his martial art.
Tang Do-gyeong himself may not have noticed, but the smile that used to haunt his face in the days they called him the Fighting Dog was already curling at the corner of his mouth.
The rough, thick fighting spirit that had thoroughly exhausted Yeo Il-ye, Heukmyo, and even Ho Cheon-an came free of charge.
"Khh… kh…!"
There was no way he could win. Wang Maeng-ho knew it — but when he looked for an escape, Sichuan martial artists already packed the ground beneath him.
Their eyes met his. He could not read their thoughts, but he could read the emotion burning in those eyes.
Fifty points! If I time the moment he runs, I might snag fifty points!
Hero Tang Do-gyeong! Just let him go for a second! I'll land one proper cut myself!
Obsession with points. Killing intent. Hunger. Under the blazing stares of Peak martial artists swarming like hyenas, Wang Maeng-ho's body trembled of its own accord. Peak experts ready to throw themselves at a Super-Peak fighter just to claim the capture — what in the world had turned them into this?
Wang Maeng-ho had no way of knowing that merit points and the color of a sect's nameplate were responsible. Pure terror took him.
"You're Super-Peak in name, at least. You can dodge one cut from me, right?"
"He won't die."
Shring. Shhrring.
The martial artists ringing the building were already loosening the ties on their weapon sheaths and drawing steel. In an instant Wang Maeng-ho stood in the middle of a forest of blades.
"Arms and legs, maybe…"
"The torso's fine as long as you miss the vitals…"
"He's Super-Peak, after all."
Even if he ran, he would not die cleanly. Driven by raw spite, Wang Maeng-ho locked eyes with Tang Do-gyeong. There was no way out left.
"Don't you dare look down on Wang Maeng-ho, master of the Fierce Tiger Stronghold! I'll take at least one of your arms for this!"
"Good spirit. Come!"
Wang Maeng-ho ripped free his thick saber and charged straight at Tang Do-gyeong. With this many people packed together, poison was useless — hidden weapons were the only option. He had to close the distance no matter what.
Shwik!
Five jang between them. Wang Maeng-ho batted aside every flying hidden weapon with the broad face of his saber as he barreled in.
Tang Do-gyeong was hurling the weapons with big, sweeping arm motions, a showy, open style. Wang Maeng-ho was almost glad of it. If Tang Do-gyeong had been firing hidden weapons at full speed with his whole body, closing the gap would never have been this easy.
In the world of combat, carelessness is fatal!
Whether Tang Do-gyeong was trying to conserve ammunition or simply put on a good show, Wang Maeng-ho neither knew nor cared — what mattered was that he could swing his saber the instant the weapon left that right hand.
And in that instant—
Wang Maeng-ho saw it.
The fingers of the right hand that had been "holding" the hidden weapon curled inward into a fist, and in the same motion Tang Do-gyeong stepped forward.
A fist…?
He hadn't been holding a hidden weapon at all? Confusion flooded Wang Maeng-ho's eyes as he stared at Tang Do-gyeong.
In time slowed by pure concentration, their gazes met. And only then did Wang Maeng-ho understand. The martial art Tang Do-gyeong was using had been designed to draw out exactly this kind of charge.
A new martial art.
Wang Maeng-ho recalled the rumors that the Tang Family had created a new technique. Had every flashy, seemingly pointless motion been nothing more than a feint to hide the fist?
A saber blazing with Gang Qi came crashing down on Tang Do-gyeong — but the fist that had already claimed the space of a punch was faster. Tang Do-gyeong's movement drove in like an awl, and a single fist tracing the shortest possible line struck Wang Maeng-ho's side first.
BOOOOM!!
Wang Maeng-ho bounced backward as fast as he had charged. The Fierce Tiger Fist Method that Tang Do-gyeong had studied and drilled for so long was the pure essence of the hard fist. Taking a blow like that while hurtling forward at full speed was catastrophic.
Wang Maeng-ho was skilled enough to represent four strongholds, but even so, this was a fatal strike with no answer. In the final instant he wrapped Gang Qi around his abdomen, but Gang Qi wrung out in desperation was never going to properly stop Tang Do-gyeong's Fist Gang.
"Urgh…!"
Spatter.
He did not fall, but his organs were shaken to pulp in a single blow, and blood streamed from his mouth.
"A one-second kill, is it…"
"Y-you bastard! Khrrk!"
The open disappointment in Tang Do-gyeong's voice sent such fury surging through Wang Maeng-ho that his blood nearly reversed course — and the price of that fury was another mouthful of blood.
Thud!
"Ohh! Hero Tang Do-gyeong dropped him with a single fist!"
"The hidden weapons were bait? Either way, that's some terrifying fist technique!"
Having ended the first real combat test of the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Hidden Dragon Combat Method with a single punch, Tang Do-gyeong brushed off his disappointment. He had wanted to feel out the technique's flaws in live combat, but the principles of the method had worked so well that it was over in one exchange.
Still, subduing a Super-Peak expert in a single blow — even against a weaker opponent — was proof that the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Hidden Dragon Combat Method held up in real fighting.
You can't fill up on the first spoonful. Proving it works in combat is enough for now.
He let the regret go with a light sigh and looked around.
"Sect Master Muk Gang-tan of the Mukju Sect has subdued Jung Sik-dang, master of the Eight Treasures Stronghold!"
"I, Dan Myeon-do, have subdued Nok Chae-so, master of the Bok Choy Stronghold!"
Waaaaaah!
"Young Lady Dang Do-yeon has subdued Hae Mul-pa, master of the Delicacy Stronghold!"
So it was all over. Tang Do-gyeong sealed Wang Maeng-ho's pressure points and surveyed the surroundings. A few bandits were still making noise inside the buildings, but Peak experts smashed straight through the walls and had them under control in moments.
"Everyone!"
Once he confirmed that every last disturbance had been settled, Tang Do-gyeong amplified his voice with internal energy.
Warriors gripping the ropes that bound their captured bandits, smiling with pride. Warriors fretting over empty hands. Warriors still darting about in search of one last bandit. All of them turned to look at Tang Do-gyeong.
Under their eyes, he raised a fist.
"We are victorious!"
WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
The bandit-alliance subjugation force — Tang Do-gyeong, Dang Do-yeon, and the martial artists of Sichuan.
Four of the Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds that had seized Jeongnam Mountain, overlooking the Nanjing Highway, the lifeline of Sichuan Province. The Tiger King Stronghold. The Eight Treasures Stronghold. The Bok Choy Stronghold. The Delicacy Stronghold. The bandit alliance they had formed.
More than five hundred men and four Super-Peak experts — completely subdued.
Victory was theirs.