Chapter 247
Chapter 247: Alliance (3)
Black-red.
The fields beyond the eastern ridge of Gangdo were blanketed in a color that was red-ish black, black-ish red.
A single color that appeared to be two.
It was a landscape created by a vast number of people pouring out the same kind of true energy.
However.
Had there been anyone standing atop the ridge looking down upon those fields, the first thing to catch their eye would not have been that blood-dark hue, but a single banner soaring up to cleave through it.
A white shaft. Blood-dark cloth. One character stamped dead center in the cloth.
Blood.
In this Martial World, it was rare for a character stamped on a banner to be nothing more than a simple character. In many cases it was a mark that compressed and conveyed what those who followed that banner were—and this single character belonged precisely to that category of mark.
The group that had refused to be classified under any of the Orthodox, Evil, or Demonic divisions and had devoted itself solely to its own cult from a corner of Nirvana Mountain—that was the Dark Net Rakshasa Path, and the one character that compressed all of that group into a single symbol was Blood.
This banner, however, was not the standard banner of the Dark Net Rakshasa Path, but the banner of the Left Guardian.
The Scarlet Rakshasa.
In the very center of the shadow cast by the banner as it snapped open and billowed, one person stood.
The kasaya draped around him was the color of blood, and on the head revealed above it, not a single strand of hair existed. The kind of stillness-in-motion that could only belong to one who bore killing intent yet was not swept away by it sat unshakably upon that bare skull.
"Did you sense it as well, Junior Brother?"
The Scarlet Rakshasa, his gaze fixed on the foot of the ridge, spoke toward the side.
At a distance of two or three paces from him stood another person also draped in a blood-red kasaya. He was one of the Four Rakshasas—Hyang-Rakshasa. He shifted his gaze once to the same place.
"Yes, it pierced through to the very depths of this junior's Dantian, Senior Brother."
"Is it some miscellaneous Immortal, or yet another Descent type?"
"……What do you mean, Senior Brother?"
"It matters not. Pay it no mind."
The Scarlet Rakshasa's eyes swept once across the eastern face of the ridge.
"Just as I anticipated—the money-grubbing worms of Formation Tower were indeed lurking behind all this."
"Yes. Along the eastern face of the ridge……one layer……two layers……. Perhaps even three layers of formation arts, it would appear."
"Energy that summons mountains, calls forth thunder, and weaves illusion. But it seems they did not have quite enough time."
"Yes, Senior Brother. So it would appear."
Hyang-Rakshasa answered briefly.
At that, the Scarlet Rakshasa's hand slowly rolled one bead of the bone rosary hanging at his neck.
"Hyang—listen."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
"You are to pursue the owner of that energy from a moment ago."
"Yes, Senior Brother. I receive your command."
"Vajra. Mandala."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
Two individuals who had been seated in meditation in the middle of the procession rose simultaneously.
"You two—take position at the vanguard of the main force and break the formations."
One of them was a giant whose frame was easily twice the size of the Scarlet Rakshasa's. A thick chain of bone ran from one shoulder down to the middle of his back, and across those shoulders rested one black Vajra rod on each side. He was Vajra-Rakshasa, one of the Four Rakshasas.
The other was a woman of nearly the same build as the Scarlet Rakshasa, but with a single panel of cloth draped behind her back. A full panel of five-colored Mandala patterns over a black ground. As she rose, one hand slid a string of bone rosary beads smoothly along once. She was Mandala-Rakshasa, one of the Four Rakshasas.
Both answered simultaneously.
"Yes, Senior Brother. We receive your command."
"Then advance."
At the Scarlet Rakshasa's single brief word, Hyang-Rakshasa first vanished eastward along the field path, while Vajra-Rakshasa and Mandala-Rakshasa shifted to the vanguard position.
Wuuuuuuuu—
The procession of two thousand in the main force immediately began to move, following the two of them.
The march formation was newly arrayed across the blood-dark field.
"It is a place where the Revered Master himself was moved to personal wrath."
The Scarlet Rakshasa himself also set his feet in motion shortly after.
"Erase them all. Whether it be Vast Heaven, or Formation Tower, or the new enemy……"
The Scarlet Rakshasa's mouth added one more word toward the great force that was surging blood-dark in an instant.
"Or Hero Gate."
"Waaaaaaah!"
***
On the eastern slope of the ridge.
Another line of formation pattern was carved into the earth. It was the mark left by Dong Mu-toe's finger drawing once through the dirt and channeling a thread of energy into it.
Beside him, Eom Bi-ryeong was holding a two inches-length Formation Eye Stone with both hands.
"Mu-toe, is this stuff actually going to get fully laid down?"
Eom Bi-ryeong asked, pulling the stone she was holding a little tighter toward herself.
"One Mountain Formation is missing, two strands of Illusion Formation are missing, and the Thunder Formation……. Ah, this one doesn't seem possible at all given the terrain?"
Dong Mu-toe was crouching on the dirt floor, muttering as his fingers clicked and rolled.
"Hey."
Even at Eom Bi-ryeong's call, his fingertips were still carving out another line of formation pattern into the earth.
"Hey! Oi, you little shit!"
Silence.
"……Ha. That useless bastard. Typical Formation Path types, tsk."
Shaking her head like that and about to carve formation patterns again, Eom Bi-ryeong's head suddenly snapped up.
Rrrrrrrrrr—
"Waaaaaaah!"
It was because the Dark Net Rakshasa Path had begun its full-scale advance from the fields beyond the ridge.
"Hey, hey!"
"……"
Thwack.
Eom Bi-ryeong's foot finally landed squarely on the back of Dong Mu-toe's head. Only then did he look up at her and holler.
"What are you doing! You wench!"
"Wench nothing, you little shit. Look over there."
At Eom Bi-ryeong's words, Dong Mu-toe finally confirmed the Dark Net Rakshasa Path's movement.
"Huh? They're already coming?"
"Already my ass. Hey, we've been here more than half a day."
"……Have we?"
"Anyway, so what are we going to do now?"
"What do you mean what are we going to do?"
Dong Mu-toe tossed out those words and immediately moved his hands again.
"Finish up what we were doing and bolt."
"……Can't we just bolt?"
"If we do just a little more it'll at least function somewhat."
"Fine, fine. You blockhead."
While another line of formation pattern was being laid down from Dong Mu-toe's hand, Eom Bi-ryeong also drove the stone she had been holding straight into the end position.
After the two of them moved busily at a speed incomparably faster than before, the formation arts they had been laying down reached a certain degree of completion.
"Done. Let's get up."
The spot where the two stood up was the summit of the ridge. Eom Bi-ryeong knocked the dirt from her knees once and shifted her gaze to the fields beyond the ridge.
"Whoa."
The blood-dark procession had already advanced to the very base of the ridge.
Among it, two people at the vanguard of the procession were moving several steps ahead of the main force, and their appearances were anything but ordinary.
One was a bald-headed giant, the other a giant nun with a panel of cloth draped behind her back.
"Oh no, those two are the Four Rakshasas, right?"
"Yeah. Looks that way. Goddamn, they look strong."
While the two exchanged those brief words, the vanguard of the main force at last set foot on the base of the ridge.
In that instant, the earth across the area below the ridge heaved once as if an earthquake had struck.
The Mountain Formation had been activated.
Simultaneously, the footsteps of the Dark Net Rakshasa Force's main column all grew heavy at once. As the earth split and cracked apart tearing at the ground beneath their feet, the march formation fell into momentary disarray.
"Oh? It got them. It got them."
"Oh, it's actually working?"
As Dong Mu-toe's eyes picked out yet another line among the Formation Eye Stones, another layer of dust rose across the field and the lower area of the ridge.
The Illusion Formation.
Part of the main force's field of vision would be distorted by that dust for a while, and their direction of advance would be disrupted……. Huh!?
The formation arts the two had worked so hard to lay down were functioning—but that was all.
Craaaash—!
The moment one of the two Four Rakshasas—the giant one—shifted the two Vajra rods from his shoulders into his palms, he struck the ground, and the other swept the fingertips of one hand through the Mandala cloth at her back.
The source of the thunderous sound was the impact that erupted from beneath the giant's feet. The two Vajra rods struck the dirt floor simultaneously, and two shockwaves originating from those two points spread out in a fan shape along the base of the ridge.
Heavy Peak Illusion-Confusion Formation.
The formation technique that combined the Mountain Formation and Illusion Formation as a pair under that name received those shockwaves.
But the earth that the Mountain Formation had been pressing down was mercilessly shaken by the shockwaves. The Formation Eye Stone closest by lurched about a hand's breadth out of its position before sinking back in. Then the next Formation Eye Stone. And the one after. Dozens of Formation Eye Stones embedded along the ridge slope lurched out of position one after another following the concentric rings of the shockwave, and the formation patterns carved into the earth lost their light moment by moment.
At that, the footsteps of the main force that had grown heavy were relieved one by one.
"……"
Dong Mu-toe's clicking fingers stalled and stopped.
In the meantime, the Mandala cloth spread wide from the tip of the nun Four Rakshasas's fingers.
The red, orange, yellow, green, blue—five-colored patterns danced and swapped positions on the cloth as if alive, and the dust cloud the Illusion Formation had created began to swirl around those colors and be drawn in.
The main force's field of vision that had been blocked by the dust returned one by one, and the direction of the entire procession's feet readjusted toward the summit once more.
"Uh……. Hey, this. It's all getting broken?"
It had not been long since the Heavy Peak Illusion-Confusion Formation was activated before it was already losing its shape.
"Hey, we're screwed. Let's bolt."
Dong Mu-toe hurriedly rose from the dirt floor.
And as for Eom Bi-ryeong—she had actually been busily scanning the rear slope of the ridge for some time already.
"If we go down the rear slope we should be fine. The enemies are coming up from the front, so the rear should be clea—"
But those words couldn't even be fully spoken.
It was because a group had already taken position on the rear slope of the ridge—the very spot the two had been about to slip down.
One panel of blood-red kasaya. Then another. While the main force's front had been halted absorbing the formation techniques, a single vanguard unit had circled around the ridge and packed the rear slope.
At a glance, it looked to be about a hundred strong.
What was more, every single one of them appeared capable of being at least supreme first-rate—powerful, elite Rakshasa Warrior Monks.
"……Oh, for real."
Eom Bi-ryeong's hand gripped her sword hilt more tightly. Dong Mu-toe shook his head once and stopped in his tracks.
"We're cooked, damn it."
The main force front, at the base of the ridge below.
Vajra-Rakshasa's two Vajra rods were lifted once more above his boulder-like head.
The first impact had broken one side of the formation technique, so the next single blow would completely crush the other side as well. If possible, he intended to smash the Trigram Leaders who had installed the formation arts while he was at it.
Gooooo—
Both Vajra rods, fully saturated with Rigid Energy, struck the dirt floor simultaneously, and the impact originating from those two points surged up riding the ridge slope like a wave.
Krrrrrrrr, crackkk—!
Beside him, Mandala-Rakshasa coiled another panel of the Mandala cloth around her fingertips. As the five-colored patterns whirled and swapped positions around her fingers like a cyclone, the green branch among those colors shot out like a living giant finger and streaked upward at lightning speed along the ridge slope.
Tssssssss, crackzap—!
Vajra-Rakshasa's impact was meant to finish crushing the formation techniques, and the Poison Color among the Mandala Absorption Color Finger Art was intended to gather the scattered dust and simultaneously blanket the ridge in poison.
The position those two were aimed at simultaneously was, naturally, precisely the same spot where Dong Mu-toe and Eom Bi-ryeong stood.
And that was not even the end of it.
The rear slope of the ridge, behind the two of them.
Thirty elite Rakshasa Warrior Monks in blood-red kasaya were already swooping in like a blood-dark storm.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!
Each of the thirty held one Curved Blade in hand, and they all simultaneously kicked off the ridge's crest and came hurtling toward the two.
"Oh, for real!"
The very instant Eom Bi-ryeong urgently drew her sword to swing—
Dong Mu-toe's fingers still in the posture of lifting away from the earth—
Precisely at that same simultaneous moment.
The earth beneath the two cracked apart from the impact as Vajra-Rakshasa's Rigid Energy surged upward, and
The Poison Color of the Mandala was pressing in right before their faces, and
Thirty Curved Blades were being swung one step behind the two of them.
All those offensives closing in on the two in a single split second—right at that very instant.
Crackk—!
A single panel of blood-red kasaya was split cleanly in two.
Clanggg—
A Curved Blade fell to the ground, severed in half just like the owner of that kasaya, and that kasaya's owner likewise fell separately, split left and right.
Beside him, another person.
Beside him, yet another person.
And so thirty blood-red kasaya Rakshasa Warrior Monks fell to the earth at the same time. Thirty men in thirty pairs, thirty Curved Blades in thirty pairs, and the kasaya they wore also increased dramatically to sixty panels.
"……!"
Beneath Dong Mu-toe and Eom Bi-ryeong's feet, something else was happening.
The Rigid Energy that had surged up like a thunderbolt through the cracked earth dissolved right at one inch in front of the two's feet, and the Mandala's Poison Color evaporated on the spot and scattered into the air without a trace.
Tsrrrrrrrng—
A single ring of Sword Song flashed belatedly in the vicinity of the severed Rigid Energy and Poison Color.
Whiiirrrrr—
Along with that, a fierce whirlwind swept through above the ridge. Two lines of dust were drawn in an instant from the ridge's crest all the way to directly behind the two.
And so, one step behind the two.
A man wearing a robe with the character for "Enemy" boldly carved on the back appeared as if he had been there from the very beginning.
In his right hand, one jet-black sword. The sword's tip hung drooping toward the dirt floor, dripping warm, vivid blood drip by drip.
And two or three steps behind that person, a cold-faced peerless beauty in Vast Heaven martial attire as well.
Shwik— the man wiped the blood from the sword in one stroke and stepped forward past Dong Mu-toe and Eom Bi-ryeong with steady, measured steps. It was Dong Bong-soo.
He then lightly ruffled both their heads and went to stand at the edge of the slope, looking down below.
"Quite a lot of little guest bastards showed up, didn't they?"
Ssiik—
Thud—he smiled, rolling the head he had been holding in his other hand down the slope.
"So I even came prepared with a gift."
Rumbllllllle—
The head reached the bottom of the incline before long, and only when it came to a stop there was the identity of the "gift" revealed.
Hyang-Rakshasa.
"You'd better appreciate it."
It was the severed head of Hyang-Rakshasa—First Seat among the Four Rakshasas—who had just departed moments ago, carrying the Scarlet Rakshasa's orders.
"Because if you don't, I'll be giving you a lot more gifts. Very, very many more."