Chapter 246
Chapter 246: Alliance (2)
Pope.
Two characters let slip in Kim Rae-won's manner of speaking. Yet they were Dong Bong-soo's sincere words, borrowed
through Kim Rae-won's tone.
He pulled up the system window to the corner of his vision.
『Faith Arrow』
『Shield of Faith』
『Faith Judgment』
『Faith Weight』
『Faith Sight』
Items bearing the character "faith" lined up in order. Dong Bong-soo slowly swept his gaze across that row once.
As the stat panels of the five items opened one by one, there was one thing present in every single slot without
exception.
Faith Modifier. Trust Weighting.
The words used and the format differed slightly, but the identity of the variable was the same. Where the modifier
appeared was power, and where the weighting appeared was efficiency. The variable determining both power and efficiency
was bound under the same name.
'Faith.'
The strength of this faith was plainly grounded in numbers.
Headcount was faith, and faith was power.
The faith of What is Hero was by no means an abstract concept. It was another name for headcount.
As the headcount grew, a single arrow would strike deeper, and a single act of judgment would spread wider.
The five rows were speaking in one voice, showing the input and output of that circuit.
On the other hand.
"P—Pope?"
The footsteps that had been keeping a distance of two or three paces came to an abrupt halt.
Yeop Bi-hwa turned those two characters over once in her mind.
Pope: the Emperor of Doctrine.
Looking at the characters alone, the meaning was clear. Yet no such position existed anywhere in the Orthodox Factions
of the Martial World, nor anywhere among the Evil Demons and Heretics.
An expression far surpassing even the rank of a single Cult Leader. Not a title for the apex of one particular cult, but
for the apex of the system called "doctrine" itself. Such a title was nowhere to be found on the map of the Martial
World she had walked her entire life.
"No such position exists anywhere in the Martial World. And……"
After a brief silence, Yeop Bi-hwa continued.
"Even if it did, it would not suit the Martial World."
"Why do you think that?"
"Is it not religion?"
"Don't monks fight too? Like that Dark Net Rakshasa Path you're currently fighting. The direction is a bit of a problem,
but still."
"……"
One corner of Dong Bong-soo's mouth curled faintly upward.
"Anyway, 'Kim Rae-won's' dream is now to become Pope."
"……May I ask the reason?"
"It's the same reason you're a martial artist."
Yeop Bi-hwa blinked her eyelids two or three times with a look of puzzlement in her eyes.
"……What do you mean?"
Dong Bong-soo's white teeth flashed briefly.
"Because I have grown strong and will keep growing stronger from here on, and ultimately I want no one above me."
"……"
"Isn't that the same for you? Just as it is for any martial artist."
"……"
Yeop Bi-hwa stood still for a long moment before she opened her mouth.
"This one is not like that."
"……"
"The sword is merely the path I pursue. I have not pursued strength itself. I simply grew stronger in the course of
honing the sword to purely achieve the One Line. Furthermore, what you speak of means turning the sword into a religious
order, does it not?"
Dong Bong-soo took a moment to choose his response.
"No. The Pope I speak of—the one I mean—is different."
"How so?"
"It will be a hero's order to end all fighting."
"To end all……fighting!?"
"That's right. A heroic champion of the Martial World whom no one would dare challenge, yet whom anyone could dream of
becoming. I will blaze that path first and become the Emperor of Doctrine."
"……Is that not simply being the Number One Under Heaven?"
"No. Would you obey the Number One Under Heaven if they gave an order?"
"……"
"I will place the world beneath the feet of this Hero Gate……Hero Order. All of them—those who walk the Orthodox Path,
those who walk the Evil Path, even those who walk the Demonic Path—all beneath the name of the Pope that none can defy."
"An arrogant……an utterly arrogant ambition."
Truly so.
Yeop Bi-hwa had never once felt herself to be a commoner—yet before this "new" Kim Rae-won, she could not help but feel
that was precisely what she was.
His ability, his goals, his will.
Whether this was sincere or not, the very fact that he could voice such things aloud already made him feel loftily
beyond reach, as a being that could not be surpassed.
A brief silence settled over the field path.
At that moment, one layer of the Super True Energy Field peeled away from the rear and shifted forward. It was because
it had detected a single strand of energy advancing from ahead on the field path at a terrifying speed, cutting through
the air in an instant.
'Is it Myo Jin-heo?'
Beyond the bend in the field path ahead, a single line of dust was rising. At the far end of that dust, one person was
unmistakably sensed.
Someone deploying Lightness Arts as if flying toward them, one hand gripping a fan—it was unmistakably Myo Jin-heo.
Tap—
Myo Jin-heo came to a halt roughly ten paces away.
"Guild Master."
Dong Bong-soo's gaze fixed onto him. Yeop Bi-hwa's gaze also naturally shifted to Myo Jin-heo.
"Hoo……hoo……"
Myo Jin-heo's breathing leaked out unsteadied, unlike his usual composure. What was more, he was alone. Neither Dong
Mu-toe nor Eom Bi-ryeong was at his side.
The reason for this followed immediately.
"The Scarlet Rakshasa……the Scarlet Rakshasa has come in force himself."
"The Scarlet Rakshasa?"
"That's right. The Left Guardian of the Dark Net Rakshasa Path."
Dong Bong-soo's expression instantly settled into blankness.
"Scale?"
"The main force appeared to number well over two thousand, with several at the Four Rakshasas level, and that very
Scarlet Rakshasa himself is personally making his way here. Twenty miles beyond the eastern ridge of Gangdo……whether
they will stop so as not to provoke the authorities, or push forward regardless—this Trigram Leader cannot say."
The fan dipped briefly and then rose again.
"However……the Dark Net Rakshasa Path has never concerned itself with the authorities. Most likely, no matter how close
the authorities are to you, they will have no choice but to step back, invoking the principle of Non-Interference
Between Government and Martial Arts. They would gain nothing by getting caught up in a large-scale Martial World
conflict."
At the end of that brief pause, a final line fell.
"This is clearly……a calamity, Guild Master."
Dong Bong-soo quietly turned the word "calamity" over in his mind, then smiled.
"And Dong Mu-toe and Trigram Leader Eom?"
"Trigram Leader Dong and Trigram Leader Eom are each in the process of laying Mountain, Thunder, and Illusion formations
along the eastern ridge. However, given how pressed for time they are, only the framework……"
"……Is that true? You said the Left Guardian of the Dark Net Rakshasa Path is personally closing in on this side?"
Myo Jin-heo's fan stilled. His gaze shifted from its original position to beyond Dong Bong-soo's shoulder.
Vast Heaven martial attire. A narrow, slender sword. Beauty in which the bearing of a peerless beauty and a peerless
martial artist coexisted.
A single epithet naturally assembled itself in his mind.
"Iron-Faced Lady!?"
The outward appearance of one in their mid-twenties. Yet her bearing went far beyond that. An independent force under
the direct command of the Vast Heaven Sword Venerable. One of the Three Eccentrics. An epithet the Martial World had
given her, drawn from the disposition that never bent once a direction was set.
Only then did he grasp the identity of the energy that had cut through the gray mist over the ridge not long before.
Myo Jin-heo promptly closed his fan.
"That is correct."
He answered briefly and clasped his hands in a cupped-fist bow toward her.
"I am Myo Jin-heo, a Trigram Leader of Formation Tower. A junior of the Martial World pays his respects to Senior Yeop."
"This one does not much care for formalities. More than that……are those words just spoken truly genuine?"
"This lowly junior saw it with his own two eyes. Two Trigram Leaders of Formation Tower were in the same place. The
blood-red energy at the rear of the Dark Net Rakshasa Path's main force had the character 'Blood' clearly stamped upon
it."
Myo Jin-heo's gaze returned to Dong Bong-soo.
"Guild Master."
The fan was gripped once firmly within his palm.
"And so, in urgent haste to relay this situation to Hero Gate, this Trigram Leader was on his way when—huh? Where are
you going?"
Before the words had even fully left his mouth.
Dong Bong-soo had lightly passed Myo Jin-heo and was already moving, orienting himself eastward. The hem of his robe
brushed once against the tip of Myo Jin-heo's fan as it went by.
Myo Jin-heo's hand, which held the fan, froze in place as it half-turned to follow the direction of Dong Bong-soo's
back.
"I should go take a look."
Myo Jin-heo's fan stopped right where it was.
"……?"
"A great many enemies have come swarming, you said?"
Speaking as he looked back toward Yeop Bi-hwa. One corner of his mouth slanted upward.
"You're coming too, right? You were already at war with those people who just swarmed over, weren't you?"
Yeop Bi-hwa met Dong Bong-soo's gaze once. Then the hand gripping her sword rose briefly to the chest of her martial
robe and fell again. Her mouth opened halfway as if to answer.
It was precisely then.
Once more, from beyond the bend ahead on the field path, another presence glided through the wind and approached.
White robes, a lean frame. Loosely bound white hair. An elder who appeared to be at least seventy, dressed in plain,
unmarked white robes.
From him wafted an energy that reeked strongly of Formation Tower, the same as Myo Jin-heo. Only, a true energy one
level higher than Myo Jin-heo's was sensed.
The moment he was seen, Myo Jin-heo's fan closed neatly and rose once to chest height before lowering.
"Elder Baek Han-do!"
Shortly after, the hem of the white robe came to a halt roughly three meters away from Dong Bong-soo.
The white-robed elder tossed a light gesture toward Myo Jin-heo. Then he shifted his gaze to Dong Bong-soo.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance. This old one holds a modest position as External Affairs Elder within the
Alliance Under Heaven Formation—a certain Baek."
Baek Han-do gave a brief cupped-fist bow.
"Guild Master of Hero Gate."
Dong Bong-soo responded in kind with an easy return bow.
'External Affairs Elder, is it.'
So the time has come. A figure from Formation Tower, and one in the External Affairs sphere at that—it seems quite
likely Dong Mu-toe did his job properly.
"A pleasure to meet you as well. I am called Kim Rae-won, Guild Master of Hero Gate."
Baek Han-do withdrew his clasped hands. Then he scrutinized Dong Bong-soo—once with his eyes, and once again with his
energy—slowly, yet thoroughly.
Why are formation Taoists always so alike, every single one? The methods differ, yet they are all quite similar.
One corner of Dong Bong-soo's mouth tugged briefly upward, then relaxed.
"So then, what brings Formation Tower to seek me out?"
"This old one……"
Baek Han-do's tone sank weightily.
"Has come in person to meet with the Guild Master of Hero Gate, entrusted with the full authority of the Grand Zenith
Position."
"When you say full authority, what authority are you referring to?"
"You may or may not already know—but the war between the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect and the Dark Net Rakshasa Path
is showing signs of intensifying."
"And?"
"The Alliance Under Heaven Formation has received commissions from both of them."
"Mm, and so."
At Dong Bong-soo's lukewarm, rapid-fire responses, Baek Han-do's expression shifted in a peculiar way.
"……Well, the Trigram Leader Myo present here is a member of the Alliance Under Heaven Formation."
"Oh, is that so? I wasn't quite aware of that."
"So that is why I'm saying this to you, who are the Guild Master of Hero Gate."
"……Ah, that is to say, not only Trigram Leader Myo here but Trigram Leader Dong and Trigram Leader Eom as well—no fewer
than three Trigram Leaders are in Hero Gate."
"Oh, is that so? I wasn't quite aware of that either, myself."
"I respectfully ask that you first return those three to us, Guild Master."
Dong Bong-soo let out a brief snort.
"Allow me to ask you something, Trigram Leader Myo."
The Myo Jin-heo standing nearby sent back a response half a beat late.
"……Ah, ah yes. Guild Master."
"Have I ever detained any of you?"
"No……you have not."
"Then have I hired you and paid for the privilege?"
"Certainly nothing of the sort."
"That is precisely it. I have taken no interest whatsoever in whether you people eat Hero Gate's food or do anything
else within it—so I'm not quite sure what your intention is, Elder, in speaking to me that way at our very first
meeting."
Baek Han-do's white eyebrows drew together once and then released. Within that breath, a deep trace of bewilderment was
plainly evident.
A single thin line of white briefly flickered at the inner corner of Dong Bong-soo's mouth.
"In any case, we're busy right now, so please finish this conversation among Formation Tower people."
"……What? What do you mean by that?"
Dong Bong-soo's feet turned to face east once more.
"I was just told those reeking little vermin are on their way here, weren't I?"
While the two figures from Formation Tower remained frozen in place, Dong Bong-soo's feet had already taken one more
step eastward.
Yeop Bi-hwa's hand also settled firmly atop her sword hilt once.
"This one will follow."
Dong Bong-soo's hand moved to the air once and then released. In that hand, a jet-black sword had taken its place.
Whiiirrrrr—
A fierce whirlwind whipped through once, and Dong Bong-soo's robes billowed. Then he vanished from that very spot.
Yeop Bi-hwa's footsteps followed directly in his wake.
And so, two lines of dust were drawn long across the path ahead.
"……Ha. Ha. Truly fitting of Guild Master Kim."
"……"
Baek Han-do stood still in place for a long while, unmoving.
In the spot where Myo Jin-heo's hollow sigh settled, the white robes of Baek Han-do—heavy with their own hollow
disbelief—fluttered once briefly and then fell still. At the same time, the white strands of hair that gave him the air
of an immortal swayed lightly left and right.
"My, my……well, I never."