Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Forest Beasts
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No sooner had Heuk Do-san's shout ended than something burst out from behind him. It was a beast with a massive horn protruding from its horse-like body—one he'd never seen before in his life.
But figuring out what it was wasn't hard. The day after they landed ashore, he'd seen rotten corpses in the forest, and Heuk Do-san had described them to him.
"That's a demon deer...!"
Hyeon-gak said.
Three hundred, four hundred, five hundred...
There were far too many to count, a massive herd of demon deer charging toward them. Heuk Do-san and Dang Yak-ran were desperately fleeing to avoid being trampled underfoot.
"Damn it!"
Yeom Jin-sang sprang to his feet and bolted. It was a mystery where he'd found the strength after collapsing just moments ago.
"Run!"
Gong Cheon-ak yelled.
"We can't leave you behind."
Bing-seol shouted.
Hyeon-gak, slumped against a tree with his arms dangling limply at his sides, looked unable to stand on his own.
In the meantime, the demon deer herd closed in to within twenty paces. If they stayed put, they'd all be crushed.
"Damn it all!"
Gong Cheon-ak scooped up Hyeon-gak and started running.
Bing-seol followed behind.
When martial artists unleashed their lightness skills, they could outpace a horse at full gallop. It was said that the top experts of the Beggars' Clan—known as the fastest under heaven—could chase down and catch swallows in flight.
That was the power of lightness skill.
But in a forest choked with trees every five or six steps, it was utterly useless.
Everyone zigzagged desperately around the trees, running for their lives. Gong Cheon-ak, Bing-seol, Heuk Do-san, and Dang Yak-ran tumbled and scrambled along, trailing far behind Yeom Jin-sang, who was way out in front.
"What the hell happened?!"
Gong Cheon-ak yelled as they ran.
"I don't know!"
Heuk Do-san answered.
"You drag these monsters here and now you claim you don't know?!"
"We were gathering snow ghost herbs when the ground suddenly shook, and the demon deer came pouring out. We just ran like hell so we wouldn't get flattened."
Dang Yak-ran answered in his place.
"So why the hell did they show up out of nowhere?!"
It was then.
"Ack!"
A sharp scream rang out as Bing-seol tripped and fell, her foot caught on an exposed tree root.
To make matters worse, a demon deer with its sharp horn leading the way was charging straight at her from behind. At this rate, its horn would pierce right through her back.
"Don't stop—keep running!"
Heuk Do-san shouted. He whipped around like a gale and loosed an arrow.
*Shweeek! Thunk!*
The arrow pierced straight into the demon deer's crown with a sharp whistle.
It collapsed on the spot, then slid forward several paces on its momentum before finally halting just a hand's breadth from Bing-seol.
Terrified, Bing-seol froze like a statue.
"Get it together and run!"
Heuk Do-san landed beside her in the blink of an eye and yelled. He scattered three arrows on the ground, nocked them one after another, and fired rapidly at the oncoming lead demon deer to buy her time to escape.
*Shweeek! Thunk!*
*Shweeek! Thunk!*
*Shweeek! Thunk!*
Every shot was a perfect hit, no misses.
He glanced back to see Bing-seol limping away, on the verge of collapse with exhaustion heaving in her chest. That's when Dang Yak-ran, who had doubled back, reached out a hand.
"Grab my hand!"
Bing-seol took it, and the two ran on together, mustering their strength. But now, two demon deer were charging wildly from the left.
Heuk Do-san leaped up and ran while yanking two arrows from his back and firing them in quick succession.
*Thunk! Thunk!* The demon deer crumpled, arrows buried in their vital neck spots.
Heuk Do-san kept running, shooting arrows nonstop to cover Dang Yak-ran and Bing-seol. By then, the demon deer herd had caught right up to their heels.
Even among the same herd, some were fast, some slow. Some broke from the pack and ran right alongside them; others burst out from far left, cutting right through the middle of the fleeing group.
The beasts weren't carnivores, so they didn't bite or attack directly. Still, every time a sharp horn grazed past, it was a heart-stopping close call.
Deer sharpen their antlers during mating season to fight other males, and these demon deer were no different. Their branched, pointed horns were like spears. The group dodged the horns flying in from all sides, twisting their path this way and that.
"Don't scatter!"
Heuk Do-san shouted again.
Yeom Jin-sang, out in front because he'd bolted first, was the biggest problem. He ran blindly toward wherever there were no demon deer, heedless of the rest.
Not that there was time to worry about others. With thousands of horn-spears charging from every direction, who had the luxury?
Instinctively, everyone followed in Yeom Jin-sang's wake. At some point, they hit a long uphill stretch. The tireless demon deer thundered up the steep slope like water buffalo.
"We need to come up with some kind of plan!"
Gong Cheon-ak yelled from ahead.
"Shut up and run!"
Heuk Do-san shot back.
After running a good while, a downhill appeared. Running downhill was twice as grueling and dangerous as uphill— one slip, and an ankle could snap.
"Huff huff, this is insane."
Gong Cheon-ak grumbled again.
He rarely showed any sign of tiring, but this was different. His tongue lolled out three inches, as if it might flop right off.
And he was carrying the rotund Hyeon-gak to boot.
Suddenly, a babbling brook appeared ahead. They'd burst through the forest atop some mountain or hill.
To the left of the stream yawned a gorge. No need to deliberate—Yeom Jin-sang plunged straight in. Gong Cheon-ak, Dang Yak-ran, Bing-seol, and Heuk Do-san followed one after another.
At the same moment, the demon deer pouring from the forest began crossing the stream en masse and vanishing into the woods opposite. The sight of thousands of massive-horned beasts fording the water was a spectacle unto itself.
Only then did the group halt their flight and watch the herd pass. Breath heaving to their chins, no one could speak for a while.
"Haa haa, what the hell is going on?"
Dang Yak-ran came over and asked.
"Looks like they're being chased by something."
Heuk Do-san replied.
"What could drive these massive beasts into such a frenzy?"
"No idea."
"Put me down already!"
Gong Cheon-ak bellowed, hurling Hyeon-gak aside.
"Ow, these damn reins are killing me."
"Shut it, you rock-headed monk! If you hadn't scarfed down whatever junk you found, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"How's this my fault?"
"If you hadn't gotten poisoned, you wouldn't have stopped, and then Heuk Do-san wouldn't have gone for antidote and brought these monsters down on us. We almost..."
"Hey, look at that."
Hyeon-gak pointed toward the stream. A few stragglers from the herd had suddenly veered toward the gorge and were charging in.
One or two turning sparked a chain reaction—the rest followed tail to tail. It looked just like a new stream carving its path.
*Dududududu...*
"Run!"
Heuk Do-san yelled.
"Damn it!"
Once again, Yeom Jin-sang was fastest. He blurred into the gorge depths with gale-like footwork. Reflexes worthy of legend.
Dang Yak-ran supported Bing-seol as they ran again. Gong Cheon-ak hoisted Hyeon-gak once more and bolted, howling in anguish.
"Uwaaak!"
After running some distance, the group skidded to a halt and froze like statues. An abrupt cliff loomed ahead. Cliffs on all sides—front, left, right—and behind them, the demon deer herd had swelled to hundreds.
They were trapped, no way forward or back.
Even the lead demon deer faltered at the sight of the cliff, panic clear in their eyes.
But those behind didn't know. They kept charging, shoving the front-runners forward.
Entangled with those horned beasts spreading every which way in the narrow gorge—what happened next was anyone's guess.
A total catastrophe.
"This is madness!"
Gong Cheon-ak squeezed out.
"Everyone, hug the walls!"
Heuk Do-san fired arrows like a whirlwind.
*Shweeek! Thunk!*
*Shweeek! Thunk!*
Two frontrunners dropped in quick succession. The ones behind tripped over their horns, creating utter chaos.
That bought a brief standoff line.
Heuk Do-san reached back to create another on the surging left flank.
But he grasped only air. All the arrows tucked in his fur cloak had fallen out.
"Damn it!"
In that instant, a third demon deer hurtled forward, horn foremost at terrifying speed.
No time to react. Heuk Do-san swung his bow like a club at its horn.
*Clang!*
The horn-bow clashed and tangled with the live horn. The impact slammed the demon deer's head to the ground for a moment.
But only for a moment—it shook its head violently, flinging the bow away, then rammed its head into his gut.
By then, a fourth was charging horn-first. One wrong move, and his belly would be riddled with holes.
In a flash, Heuk Do-san levitated slightly off the ground. He grabbed the passing horn below, then flipped through the air with explosive strength.
He'd maxed his power in that instant burst. The demon deer's massive bulk couldn't withstand the force and spun wildly in midair.
Lifting man or beast off the ground is hard; once airborne, finishing it is simple.
In that split-second hover, it could only flail—its weight went nowhere.
Heuk Do-san hurled the airborne demon deer bodily at the approaching fourth.
*Clang! Boom!*
The two tangled and crashed down. Meanwhile, he drew his axe from his belt.
By then, Gong Cheon-ak and Dang Yak-ran had evacuated the others to safety and rushed back.
"Gong Cheon-ak, left flank. Dang Yak-ran, right. I'll take center. Don't let a single one through!"
The three plunged into the demon deer herd. Thus began the desperate clash between humans and the horn-spear beasts.
Heuk Do-san weaved through them like lightning, swinging his axe in gales. Blood sprayed into the air with every whistling slash.
"Come on!"
True to his brute-force style, Gong Cheon-ak bashed horns and backs indiscriminately with the stone axe he'd snatched from Yeom Jin-sang. No mere demon deer could withstand the raw power surging from the Heavenly Demon's seventh disciple.
Dang Yak-ran dodged horns with ghostly footwork while precisely slashing throats with her wrist guards.
In short order, a dozen or so lay writhing. But the black mass of demon deer pressed on relentlessly.
Human bodies of bone and flesh couldn't hold out forever. Without a quick alternative, they'd end up as mere meat lumps in this unknown land.
Then, a miracle. The demon deer herd spooked like they'd seen a ghost and wheeled around, fleeing the gorge.
*Dududududu...*
Hundreds vanished in under a quarter hourglass.
The group stared in bewilderment.
"What now?"
Gong Cheon-ak said.
"Why are they doing that?"
Dang Yak-ran asked.
Heuk Do-san stared piercingly at a distant clump of grass instead of answering. Looking closely, the gorge ended abruptly midway, severed like with a knife blade.
Narrow gaps on either side could barely fit a person, masked by thick grass. And from within that grass, something was slowly emerging.
Dang Yak-ran belatedly cried out.
"That's...!"