Chapter 228
Chapter 228: Broken Sword (4)
The mountain was moving.
Before the fog cleared, a reddish-brown flow began spilling over the eastern ridge. At first, it was indistinguishable from the mist. The reddish-brown band seeping into the dense twilight of the mountain slope looked like part of nature itself.
But fog makes no sound.
Rustle. Rustle-rustle.
The sound of footsteps treading through fallen leaves continued in steady rhythm. Not a single foot. Hundreds of feet striking the ground in the same beat. Their stride lengths were uniform, and even the height at which their knees rose was orderly. A military march. A disciplined gait etched into the body through years of training.
Reddish-brown monk's robes.
Shaved heads.
Crescent Moon Blades or long spears at their waists.
The line pouring over the ridge showed no sign of ending. It was a formation so long that when the vanguard reached the mid-slope, the rear had yet to clear the mountain base. Not a single line but multiple layers. The density of monks filling every gap between the trees as they descended was not one per several trees, but one per tree.
The formation was not a straight line.
It traced the arc of a semicircle along the mountain slope. The two ends of the formation, which had set out from the east, extended toward the southeast and northeast, taking a posture as if to embrace the entire mountain. As that arc narrowed, the space at the mid-slope drew inward like a closing pouch.
The monks' faces held no killing intent.
Neither anger, nor fear, nor excitement could be read in them. Only half-closed eyes and slightly parted lips murmuring the same scripture in unison. Not the expressions of those heading to a battlefield, but the faces of practitioners walking to offer prayers.
They wore swords at those faces.
They prayed for killing with those lips.
Na—mu—a—mi—ta—bul.
The sutra-chanting rose up the mountain.
Hundreds of voices layered into a single wave and pressed down upon the air. The low, deep gathering of voices climbing through trees and rocks was…… not ordinary sutra-chanting.
It was a marching hymn.
Inside Dong Bong-soo's hand, the sword vibrated faintly. The sword itself was resonating with the approaching footsteps.
'They're……'
The points of energy sensed by the Super True Energy Field were rapidly multiplying. Each one individually was nothing special. Between the upper tier of second-rate and the lower tier of first-rate.
But what he had detected at first was roughly two hundred.
Not the main force—the advance guard.
The intervals between the footsteps ascending from below the mountain were even and without gaps. Not a patrol, but an infiltration. A reconnaissance squad-level effort to mop up routed stragglers.
"……"
With a sharp shift of his gaze, Dong Bong-soo surged forward.
Fwwsh—!
A straight-line acceleration kicking off the ground. Rather than cutting through the trees, he climbed atop one and stepped along its branches, standing upon the tree canopy.
Everything below was visible at a glance.
A column of reddish-brown monk's robes was crawling up the mountain slope. Ten at the vanguard carrying Crescent Moon Blades, followed by five or six rows of long spears. Roughly two hundred in number, as before.
Had they sensed something?
The Crescent Moon Blade at the head trembled faintly. But the eyes looking upward could find nowhere to land.
Slide—
Dong Bong-soo dropped from the tree like a ghost.
Downward.
Crash—!
Landing was entry.
The Super True Energy Field expanded. From sensing to suppression. Extending past fifty paces in radius to encompass the entire advance guard.
The air settled heavily. Three monks at the vanguard reflexively raised their Crescent Moon Blades, but before a single sword could be drawn, the pressure of the Super True Energy Field crushed their energy. The flow through their meridians reversed, and their joints locked.
Naturally, the sword had no choice but to move on its own.
Swish—
A single line.
The three at the vanguard collapsed without a scream.
Dong Bong-soo continued walking. He sprinted in a single breath toward the very center of a hundred men.
With each movement of the sword, one fell, then two. The Super True Energy Field first suppressed their energy, and the sword delivered the finish. Not in sequence—simultaneously. The moment the Field made contact, the sword had already arrived.
Crescent Moon Blades flew in. They must have been thrown from outside the Field. Those checking with a kind of long-range throw. Likely one squad prepared in advance for dealing with superior martial artists.
But.
Snap—
The sword rose and deflected the Crescent Moon Blade. In the same motion, the sword descended and split the shoulder of a Rakshasa Warrior Monk standing before him.
The throwing continued. The training level of the Rakshasa Warrior Monk Unit's throwing squad was considerable. A textbook combination where the rear ranks alternately threw Crescent Moon Blades to check the vanguard's advance, while the middle ranks' long spear formation pushed forward.
Of course.
"……"
It was useless against Dong Bong-soo.
Because the moment they entered the Super True Energy Field, that combination fell apart.
The long spear formation advanced. Eight long spears thrust simultaneously. The intervals and timing were precise.
Dong Bong-soo did not retreat a single step.
The internal power loaded into the spears scattered midway through their motion, and the blade tips lost their force. It would have been no different from throwing a punch underwater. The energy dissolved away into the air.
The sword burrowed between spear and spear as if through open ground.
Clang! Clang! Crack—!
Three were severed and two were snapped. The owners of the remaining three had already collapsed.
Slice—, thud-thud-thud.
Like bamboo stalks toppling one after another, Dong Bong-soo's sword quickened as it weaved through the enemies falling around him.
Clang! Thwack—! Crack!
It took less than half a quarter-hour for the two hundred of the advance guard to be shattered.
Reddish-brown monk's robes blanketed the mountain slope, but not one figure remained standing.
Dong Bong-soo rested the sword on his shoulder and looked down below the mountain.
"……"
The Super True Energy Field's sensing was picking up new points.
Quite a few.
About twice as many as before?
Na—mu—a—mi—ta—bul.
The sutra-chanting was rising again. A wave far thicker and heavier than that of the advance guard. The prayerful vibration of four hundred voices layered into one shook the mountain.
'The main force.'
Dong Bong-soo's eyes narrowed.
"Guild Master."
Eom Bi-ryeong, who had followed at some point, called from behind. She had already drawn her sword.
"How many are there?"
"Around four hundred."
"Four hundred……. What's their level?"
"First-rate. A few are peak first-rate."
Eom Bi-ryeong's brow furrowed and then smoothed again. The corner of her mouth twisted. An expression difficult to tell between smiling and grimacing.
"Ah, seriously. I can't figure out what I'm doing coming here."
A short sigh dissolved into the wind.
Behind her, Myo Jin-heo gave a dry chuckle and snapped his fan shut. A signal that his observation was complete.
"Their approach formation is a Horizontal Formation. They are ascending in a semicircle along the mountain slope."
"That means we're already half-surrounded?"
"That is so. Thus, pulling back for now would seem the wiser choice……"
Eom Bi-ryeong let out a scoff.
"If Guild Master were the type to pull back, he'd have done it already. What kind of thing is that to say?"
Dong Bong-soo did not look back.
Only the corner of his mouth twisted. Something he himself might not know was a smile or otherwise.
In truth, he had always done everything alone, but unexpectedly, team play was proving manageable, he thought. In addition, there was the judgment that for Kim Rae-won, this felt more natural.
"Trigram Leader Eom, left. Trigram Leader Myo, rear."
"What?"
"Simple. I eat from the front, and the two of you pick up what I let slip."
Eom Bi-ryeong's eyebrows curved ever so slightly upward.
"Hiyaaa, just like Guild Master Kim. How many bald heads are you planning to eat alone?"
"All of them if possible."
"Trigram Leader Myo and I just get the leftovers?"
"If you don't like it, go take the lead."
The moment he finished speaking, Dong Bong-soo pointed the sword tip at the ground.
The Super True Energy Field expanded rapidly and wide. The Field that began at twenty paces surged past fifty and pushed out to a hundred. The air settled, and the leaves flipped over all at once. Even the wind at the mountain's mid-slope came to a stop.
Enough to warp even the sound of sutra-chanting.
Na—mu—a……
The rhythm of the prayer scattered, and four hundred mouths stumbled simultaneously.
In that instant, Dong Bong-soo leapt once more.
This time toward the ground. A straight line piercing through the trees. The four Rakshasa Warrior Monks standing ahead had their shoulders and arms split before they could even raise their Crescent Moon Blades.
Too naturally, his sword never knew rest.
He sprinted toward the very center of four hundred.
Slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-slash-slash—!
A single sword stroke sent five or six ascending to heaven, but it was clearly different from the advance guard.
The main force's formation reformed before it could collapse. When the vanguard was pierced, the middle ranks spread to swallow the gap; when the middle ranks were split, the rear ranks filled in and pushed forward—the breathing of a Grand Formation War.
"……"
Dong Bong-soo's response was simple. He merely raised his sword speed.
Not one line but two, three lines were drawn simultaneously. While the Super True Energy Field suppressed their internal power, the sword cut in triple across all directions.
Still they pushed in.
The tenacity of the Rakshasa Warrior Monks filling the formation even as they died filled his vision to the brim. The vibration of sutra-chanting was moving their bodies. Those who had lost their fear. A madness that believed even dying was salvation resided in their steps.
What cut into that gap was a Sword Energy that came flying from the left before he had noticed.
Fwip—!
Eom Bi-ryeong.
Leaping off a boulder on the mountain slope, her sword cut horizontally and sliced through the knees of four Rakshasa Warrior Monks in a single strike. Not the back, but the knees. A precise sword strike that did not kill but ensured they could never stand again.
Slice—
Dong Bong-soo's sword split the seam ahead, and in that split second when the formation opened, Eom Bi-ryeong bored in. Eom Bi-ryeong's feet landed where Dong Bong-soo had stepped, and Dong Bong-soo stepped across the void left by those Eom Bi-ryeong had broken and moved on to the next row. No words, no glances. Only their bodies reading in advance the path each other's sword would take.
Over the screams of the monks whose knees had been cut, Eom Bi-ryeong's voice fell.
"Hah, why are these guys so tough? With them not chewing down like this, there's no way you can eat them all alone, is there?"
The grumbling inserted itself between sword strikes. But her feet did not stop. Landing and leaping chained into a single motion as she plunged into the next group.
Bang—!
Lightning exploded from behind.
Myo Jin-heo's Thunder Seal Absolute Ring.
The moment his fan spread open, static electricity spread through the entire rear ranks of the Rakshasa Warrior Monk Unit. The metal in their armor and weapons resonated, and sparks flew. Muscles contracted, joints locked, and dozens of the rear ranks simultaneously staggered.
"I will hold the rear."
One word.
The fan folded and spread open again.
Bang—!
A second lightning strike.
The rear ranks came to a complete stop. The lightly armored monks maintaining the sutra-chanting collapsed first. When they fell, the vibration of the sutra-chanting that had blanketed the entire Rakshasa Warrior Monk Unit was cut off.
Once the prayer vanished, all that remained were screams.
The formation of the Rakshasa Warrior Monk Unit, being attacked simultaneously from three directions, rapidly crumbled.
From the front, the Super True Energy Field suppressed energy and the sword cut; from the left, Eom Bi-ryeong's sword strikes tore through the flank; from the rear, Myo Jin-heo's lightning sealed off the retreat.
Three against four hundred, no—already fewer than three hundred.
Too naturally, the side being pushed back, no—being devoured, was the three hundred, no, the two hundred.
Then.
The Super True Energy Field caught a discordant point.
At the rear of the main force. A point of energy rising from a position that had not yet cleared the mountain base. Its density was incomparable to that of the hundreds of Rakshasa Warrior Monks. If the surrounding points were grains of sand, this was a lead weight.
Not one.
Two.
Boom—
A heavy mechanical tone rang through his mind.
[Sub] Rakshasas of Slaughter
[Sudden]: There are those who lift a blade under the name of the Buddha.Among them, two exceptionally heavy footsteps are baring their hostility toward you.Be careful. They do not seem to be ordinary fangs.
· Repel the Rakshasa Unit's elite forces.
├─ Target: 2
├─ Progress: 0/2
└─ Reward: Hero History +5, Fame +5
Slide—
The corner of Dong Bong-soo's mouth rose on its own.