A Heart Pounding
Episode 38
Whoosh—
The moment I pulled the blade from the dantian,
"Ghk, ku, cough… I… was beaten by… a lowlife like this… ugh."
Dark red blood gushed out like a waterfall.
"Th-This is bad! …Cheon Sojin! Have you lost your mind? What in the world are you doing!"
When I turned my head,
Jong Jinwon was glaring wide-eyed as he roared.
"……."
He still didn’t seem to understand what was happening.
No—maybe he understood, but was instinctively refusing to face the truth.
He wasn’t an idiot.
"…Kh, khuk, this… is insane…."
As Dilya let out his final gasp, he collapsed forward in a heap.
Even now, the bastard still wore an expression of utter disbelief.
At this level, even the smallest opening could decide the outcome of a fight.
"Cheon Sojin! No… Cheon Sojin! If you don’t explain yourself right now, you’ll pay a heavy price—"
"That bastard was a spy from the Blood Cult. Get out of the way."
And Dilya had looked down on me, too….
Of course this was how it ended.
"Nonsense… Are you trying to hurt an innocent person in front of me again? Submit quietly and let yourself be restrained. We can hear the rest once we’re back with the Martial Alliance."
Jinwon took a stance, sword leveled, every muscle ready to unleash a technique at a moment’s notice.
"……."
When the hell am I supposed to talk him down?
I didn’t have time for this.
Dealing with him wasn’t particularly difficult, but—
Clang!
Claaang!
"You insolent bitch…! Where did that arrogance from earlier go?"
"Ugh…! You sure do love the sound of your own voice…!"
Before long, the two of them were locked in a life-and-death exchange, gradually moving farther away from here.
With every exchange of techniques, it became more obvious that she was being pushed back.
Namgung Hye was only a matter of time away from being overwhelmed.
Even if both were Super Peak masters, there was still a difference between the early and middle stages. She could only keep him occupied for a while.
The Blood Jade Sect wasn’t the sort of opponent a mere academy student could bring down.
"You interfered with our grand plan with nothing but that level of skill?"
"H-huh…! I’m not done yet! Hng!"
"L-Leader!!"
"Hey, shouldn’t we go help her? What if she gets hurt…."
"It looks like two Super Peak experts are fighting… We’d only get in the way."
Even leaving aside skill in martial arts, there was a massive gap in experience.
The instant Namgung Hye’s stance broke,
This is bad… The winner’s going to be decided within the next five moves.
I ran.
I leapt hard.
Give back what I’d received.
She’d unexpectedly helped me out, and if she got hurt, I wouldn’t have a face to show anyone.
"What!?"
Jong Jinwon’s eyes widened.
He hadn’t imagined for a second that I’d shake him off and go attack the Martial Alliance strike team.
He immediately surged with internal energy and dashed after me like the wind, swinging his sword at my unguarded back.
He must have planned to knock me down with the strike, then capture me after that….
"What!"
With a great deal of internal energy behind the blow, I leaned back diagonally just as I’d expected and avoided it.
What the—? No way!
Jong Jinwon stumbled backward, trying to regain his footing, only for
his feet to barely leave the ground before
Thud!
a kick slammed into his abdomen.
"Kuhk!"
It was a surprise attack that exploited the opening before he could even settle his stance.
Got you.
A satisfying recoil rippled up my leg and through my body.
Jong Jinwon was blasted away like a thrown ball and crashed into the members of the Cheontae Squad.
"Hey, hey! The leader’s down! Catch him, quick!"
"Here!"
"Ugh…! Cheon Sojin!!"
It wasn’t reinforced with internal energy, so it didn’t inflict a serious wound, but Jong Jinwon still went flying a considerable distance. Grimacing, he barely righted himself and stood back up.
"Haecheontae, stop standing there all confused and block this guy."
I pointed at Jong Jinwon with a finger, and the men who had been standing around blankly, watching without moving until now, finally shook themselves awake one by one.
"What? W-why should we listen to you…."
"Then who’s going to save your leader?"
"……."
The squad members exchanged looks, unsure of what to do, before finally drawing their swords.
Seeing that, Jong Jinwon snapped in disbelief.
"W-What the hell are you doing now? Capture Cheon Sojin immediately!"
"Our leader isn’t the kind of person who helps others for free."
"He must have some reason we don’t know about. And Leader Jong, we’re not your subordinates. We have no reason to take orders from you."
Even as Jong Jinwon shouted in anger, the squad members ignored him and blocked the way.
Looks like he’s got more standing than I expected.
So he was the kind of boss who treated his men well.
At any rate, all they had to do was buy time for me.
*
Clang!
Unable to withstand the sword strike whirling with blood-red energy, the blade in her hand was finally knocked away.
Claaang!
"It’s over now!"
"…!"
Her stance broke, and her body lurched backward.
Instinct told her something clear.
If she went down here, she would die.
But knowing that and being able to do anything about it were two very different things.
Whoosh—
The sound of something cutting through the air.
The stench of death was right in front of her, and it felt like tears might spill from her eyes.
She knew it.
Ugh… I was expecting this, but I guess this is as far as I go.
He wasn’t an opponent she could beat.
That didn’t mean she had charged in prepared to die.
Still, there was nothing else she could do.
She was the only one who had noticed, and the squad members would only get in the way.
Besides… our first meeting was terrible.
At the very least, she thought, she needed to do this much before he would even look her way.
Not long ago, she had spoken rudely to him, and now she was turning her attitude around as easily as flipping her palm. Even she thought it was shameless.
…But it couldn’t be helped.
At that moment, she had given him her heart.
So this is the end. …If I’d known it would come to this, I should’ve trained harder.
Then maybe she could have delayed him a little longer.
…And maybe tried harder to get closer to him.
She was only indulging in sentiment too late now.
It no longer mattered.
The sword, dripping with fierce killing intent, flew straight for her heart.
As someone who had lived her life only ever caring about herself until now, the satisfaction of having done something for him washed through her entire body.
At least, she could close her eyes in peace at the end—
The moment Namgung Hye had finished bracing herself for death—
Slash!
Someone cut the man’s sword clean in two and caught her exhausted body.
"How did you break my sword…!!"
The man who had only moments ago been glaring murderously at her now stared over my shoulder, his face gone pale.
The sensation against my back wasn’t the hardness of the ground, but something warm, steady, and strangely reassuring.
Huh?
When she turned her head, her eyes met those of a dependable man.
"Ch-Cheon… Cheon Daehaeop?"
She had already guessed he was hiding his true ability, but even if he had suffered a fatal wound, she never imagined he could bring down a Super Peak expert this quickly and come back….
His low, pleasant voice tickled her ear.
"You did well."
Her heart burst into cheers at the gentle, satisfying praise.
"……!"
The man soon collapsed beneath his hand.
While she let her body rest in the broad warmth of his arms, not wanting to let go,
those words repeated over and over in her head.
Again and again.
Endlessly.
That single, unselfish line was so incredibly
delightful.
*
In a clearing deep in the woods, two people stood facing each other.
"Where is the Blood Demon now?"
Crack!
"…Mmph!! Mmmph!!"
Dilya had already been sent to his beloved deity.
This bastard was next.
"How large is the Blood Cult’s force?"
Crackle!
"Mmmph! Mm-mmmph!! Mmph!"
"Why did you come here?"
Every time I stroked a finger, the bastard from the Blood Sect let out a painful scream.
But those screams never reached beyond the clearing.
First, his mouth had been gagged with the martial robe Dilya had been wearing, and I’d also wrapped the area in internal energy to raise a sound barrier.
"So it is the Blood Jade Sect… Not a single word, huh? Your loyalty is impressive."
Snap!
"Mmph! Mmmph!! Mmph!!!!"
"Oh? Looks like you’re starting to think about talking. Don’t worry, I’ve put the gu poison in your body to sleep."
The bloodshot-eyed man nodded frantically.
Crack!!
"Mmmph!! Mmmph!!!"
"Even after all that, you still don’t feel like answering? Well, I suppose there’s no helping it…."
"Mmph! Mmmph!!!!"
"It’s not like I’ve got any personal grudge against you. This is a perfectly legal interrogation under the laws of the Martial Alliance. Since you refuse to answer, I don’t have any other choice."
I’d just made that law up on the spot.
"Mmph! Mmph!!!"
The bastard flailed madly as though desperate to say something, but in the end, he still didn’t speak.
Tough. Very tough.
"You seem to think of yourself as someone with a pretty tight mouth, but let’s see if you can endure this, too."
That’s right. This was the finger that Blood Jade Divine Relic itself couldn’t withstand.
Maybe he had already foreseen his fate.
The Blood Sect operative opened his eyes wide and put up the greatest resistance of his life.
…It was meaningless, though.
I gathered sun-and-moon energy at my fingertips and drove it into his head.
It wouldn’t take long to pry the information out of him.
"Miss Namgung, please come to your senses! Cheon Sojin has gone mad! He’s massacring members of the Martial Alliance!"
"I don’t want to hear it. Cheon Daehaeop will bring evidence soon, so wait."
No matter how much they tried to talk, all they heard was a demand to wait.
Eventually, his patience collapsed under her blind trust.
"I don’t like this, but if it’s come to this, we’ll settle it by force… Everyone, draw your swords!"
Snick—
Shhhng—
"Why don’t you try? I was just wondering what Leader Jong’s real ability was anyway. Everyone, draw your swords!"
Snick—
Shhhng—
It was a hair-trigger standoff, both sides glaring at each other.
Then—
Cheon Sojin emerged from the woods, strolling toward them.
"……."
In an instant, silence fell over the area.
Every single person there except Namgung Hye
stared at Cheon Sojin with trembling eyes, struck by an inexplicable chill.
"Cheon Daehaeop! You’ve arrived!"
"Cheon Sojin! You insane—!"
The moment Jong Jinwon tried to press him,
I was one step faster and pulled a red stone fragment from my robe.
"Wh-What is that?"
"It’s the Blood Demon’s order."
"……B-Blood Demon?"
Faced with such undeniable evidence,
Jong Jinwon was rendered speechless, like a fish with its mouth stuffed full.
"I’ve got somewhere to go. Follow me."
##