Watch Your Rear
An eight-foot monkey rampaged wildly through the martial artists.
The White-Haired Lion King was no mere beast of brute strength. Somehow—inexplicably—it wielded a divine weapon that stretched and contracted like the Ruyi Staff, and it was cunning enough to slip free of any encirclement they threw around it.
"Ukieek!"
On top of that, the creature was performing a passable imitation of staff arts, as if mocking the martial world itself. True, no internal energy rode the tip of its staff—making the whole display martial technique rather than true martial arts. But as a spirit beast saturated with the qi of nature, every blow still packed monstrous power, and the fighters of the North Sea Ice Palace went flying as if they were nothing.
"Ghk—!"
"That damn monkey and its freakish staff work…!"
"Everyone, hold the encirclement!"
Seol Jindo fought to keep the collapsing formation from falling apart entirely. This was the very spirit beast that had once toppled the Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace in his prime. The monkey tore through the martial artists charging it one after another, its mouth twisting into a sneer.
"Ukki!"
That face, just human enough to unsettle, made the mockery all the more repulsive.
"Who the hell are you laughing at!"
As the representative of the lord of all beasts, I unleashed the Dog Beating Staff Technique. A white-hot, blazing surprise strike came down straight for the White-Haired Lion King's crown.
But the thing must have had eyes in the back of its head—it whipped its staff up in a panic and blocked the blow.
KAAANG—!
Power slammed into power. Fierce energy flared and died, and a shock that rattled my entire body shot up from my fingertips.
"…Kkiek!"
The rebound nearly tore its grip apart. The monkey flinched and stared at me. Until now it had ruled this cave without a rival; my appearance had clearly shaken it.
And I was just as shaken on my side.
"That's impossible—I hit it with Staff Force…!"
No matter how hard the metal, Sword Force or Staff Force should shear through it or shatter it without effort. That was the very essence of the martial arts martial artists spent a lifetime refining.
While I was still reeling, Jo Harang drove into the White-Haired Lion King's flank like lightning.
"Haaah!"
Her greatsword, wreathed in vivid Blade Force, tore through the air and aimed for the creature's waist. She fought with an overbearing saber style that cleaved enemies weapon and all—but even that greatsword, shrieking as it split the air, was turned aside by the absurdly lengthened staff and bounced away empty.
KAAANG—!
Yellow sparks of metal sprayed out, blue Blade Force afterimages hanging in the empty air. Jo Harang staggered back two steps and shouted from beside me, shock and fury flashing in her eyes.
"What is that staff…?! Is it made of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron or something?!"
I could see every ounce of her bewilderment written plain on her face.
The White-Haired Lion King rattled its stretched staff back to its original length with a sharp charrk and glared between the two of us, golden eyes blazing with anger.
"What? Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron…?"
"Damn it—why would something that precious be in a monkey's hands of all things?"
Everyone ground their teeth and called it absurd, but the fact remained: that staff had blocked Blade Force and Staff Force in succession. Any hope of an easy win had to go out the window. We were going to have to beat this thing into the ground properly.
"Harang! Together!"
"Yeah, got it!"
No words needed—we moved as one. As I slid in with Whirlwind Steps, Jo Harang shot in from the opposite side, her long black hair streaming behind her.
Dadadadang!
Sharp metallic clashes rang out in rapid succession. The blue greatsword carved countless arcs while my black staff, turned pure white with force, stabbed into every opening. White and blue trajectories dazzled the eye. The brilliant radiance of Blade Force and Staff Force, three weapons locked together in midair, and the constant spray of sparks lit the ice cave bright as day.
"What are you doing! Those young heroes are fighting for their lives—do you mean to just stand there and watch?!"
Seol Cheonsang's thick bellow rolled through the cave like thunder.
"We're joining in! Take up your weapons, people of the Ice Palace!"
Seol Sakwha raised both knife-hands, cold air pouring off them as she cried out.
"For Lady Seol Soyeong…!"
They had been shaken by the spirit beast's divine weapon and sheer presence—but at Seol Cheonsang and Seol Sakwha's urging, the martial artists of the North Sea Ice Palace found their courage again. With a unified roar they charged in for a combined assault.
"Waaaaah!"
Numbers tell, as they say. Pressed from every direction, the monkey must have felt the heat—it suddenly poured monstrous strength into its staff and slammed it into the ground.
KUUUNG!
Thick shards of ice exploded toward the martial artists, and sharp icicles rained from the cave ceiling.
"Watch out—!"
Seol Jindo shouted in alarm, but several fighters were already caught in the cascade, screaming as they went down.
"Aaaagh!"
Having disabled a portion of them, the creature swung its ever-lengthening, ever-shortening staff in a frantic whirl toward us as we charged.
"Ukieek—!"
With a staff whose length was impossible to predict, measuring distance against this thing simply did not work. The only ones who could answer its unpredictable onslaught on the fly were Jo Harang and me—both of Transcendental Peak Realm.
"Harang! That bastard has a habit! When we all rush it at once, it pulls the staff long first!"
Even in endless variation, there are patterns. I had already fallen several steps back, certain I was out of range—only for the staff tip to lunge out with a sudden pop. I knocked it aside with my black staff and shouted.
"I know that, but there's nothing we can do about it!"
"…Listen carefully! Unlike a sword with a short grip, a staff is a long weapon that extends both ways!"
That let you control range with infinite flexibility by shifting your grip short or long, making it outstanding in multi-opponent fights. The downside, though, was just as clear: swing it wrong and one end snags on something.
"You get it, Harang?"
"…Of course I do, Mujin!"
She might look like she lived without a thought in her head most days, but the moment battle started her mind went razor-sharp.
"Seol Cheonsang! Seol Sakwha!"
We split left and right, calling out the names of the North Sea Ice Palace's main fighters.
"Ukki!"
Right on cue, the iron staff carved a vicious line through the air. Exactly as planned, we both struck the staff tips flying toward each other with our weapons at the same instant.
KAAANG!
Force slammed into both ends of the staff at once. One tip locked against the Jiokchammabong; the other against the greatsword. The staff was pinned fast, unable to move an inch.
"Kkiek? Ukieeeek!"
The monkey heaved and strained to wrench its staff free, but even its strength could not shake off two Transcendental Peak masters putting everything they had into the hold.
The opening yawned wide—and Seol Cheonsang and Seol Sakwha, who had been waiting for exactly this moment, charged without the slightest hesitation.
"Ice-White Divine Palm, First Form!"
"Extreme Yin Force!"
From both their palms burst pure white palm energy thick with cold. Two Peak Realm masters of the North Sea Ice Palace drove their Ice-White Divine Palms into the White-Haired Lion King's unguarded back and waist. A sharp crack rang through the air as the moisture froze solid.
"You did it! Cheonsang, Sakwha!"
On impact the technique delivered not only crushing force but extreme yin energy that bored in like a meridian-piercing strike and wrecked the body from within. Land it cleanly even once and a Transcendental Peak expert could drop where they stood—that was the terror of the Ice-White Divine Palm.
So when Palace Lord Seol Jindo saw it land twice, he clenched his fist and cheered, certain his children had at last taken his revenge for him.
That judgment was a little premature.
"Ukieeeek—!"
The creature bellowed in rage and twisted its whole body, hurling all of us away. Seol Cheonsang and Seol Sakwha in particular took a solid hit each and went flying.
"Kh…"
Seol Sakwha, who had crashed into the hot-spring water, rose again with her soaked golden hair plastered to her face. Meanwhile the monkey casually dusted the ice that had formed over the spots where the Ice-White Divine Palm had struck.
"This can't be… The Golden-Haired Lion King was always a creature overflowing with yang energy!"
Even if living in the Ice Palace had turned its fur white, any living body whose interior froze solid should have taken catastrophic damage. And yet the thing was still on its feet—hurt, yes, but far from finished—staring us down as if it meant to kill us all.
"What the hell just happened? The Ice-White Divine Palm landed clean. I'm not even sure I could walk away from a hit like that."
Jo Harang, having steadied herself, muttered beside me with a face that refused to believe it.
"Beats me. What is that thing…"
Not once but twice, and it had still endured the extreme yin energy boring into its body. I was staring at it with the same baffled look when—
"Ukki! Ukieeeek!"
Realizing how close it had come to dying, the monkey leapt and stamped about with a twisted face. It looked exactly like a furious ape.
"How?! Why won't you die! I felt it go in clean through my fingertips…!"
Seol Cheonsang shoved himself upright and stared at the relatively intact White-Haired Lion King in disbelief.
"No, Brother—it didn't go in cleanly."
Seol Sakwha, whose senses were a touch sharper, seemed to have found the reason their combined strike had failed.
"That feeling just now… It's the fur. That white fur shed almost all of our cold energy."
The pelt it had adapted to survive this ice cave had kept the yin energy from properly penetrating its interior. But knowing the reason did nothing to ease the looks on everyone's faces.
"But that thing is covered head to toe in white fur…"
From the front, the White-Haired Lion King was packed so densely in white hair that not a single gap showed. Which meant every last one of the dozen-odd North Sea Ice Palace martial artists gathered here had just become useless.
"H-hey!"
But those watching the fight from farther back saw something different. Seol Soyeong, who was supposed to stay safely in the rear, had somehow drawn close and was shouting.
"S-Soyeong?"
Everyone, the Palace Lord included, turned to her in surprise. Desperate to contribute something, she pointed at the White-Haired Lion King's backside.
"There's a small red patch on its rear! That part doesn't seem to be covered by fur!"
Her voice rang out as if she had found the one weak point. To check it, Ilhong immediately sent a poisoned throwing needle flashing toward the spot.
Shwiik!
The White-Haired Lion King jerked in shock and twisted desperately out of the way. Even Blade Force and Staff Force screaming in at it had never gotten a reaction that big—Seol Soyeong had clearly nailed the creature's vulnerability.
"So that really is the weak spot?"
As I muttered, Seol Jindo roared at the top of his lungs.
"Everyone—target the White-Haired Lion King's rear!"
The solemn command of the Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace—and our client.
"Mujin! Go for the butt! The butt!"
"For a grown woman to talk like that…"
A full-grown young lady was yelling "butt" with pure excitement. I shook my head at Jo Harang's complete lack of decorum and shot forward.
"U-ukieek!"
The monkey must have sensed that our momentum and strategy had changed. Realizing that a crowd of humans was now aiming for its backside, the sneer vanished from its face as it swung its staff in deadly earnest.
KUUUNG!
Once again the White-Haired Lion King slammed the ground hard beneath a forest of giant icicles. But fool me once—I planted myself in front of the Ice Palace fighters and, together with Jo Harang, smashed every last falling slab of ice that got in our way.
"Trust in Young Heroes Dan Mujin and Jo Harang—charge!"
"Ohhh!"
Seol Cheonsang bellowed, cold qi wrapping his entire body. With the two of us as the spearhead, the martial artists of the North Sea Ice Palace seized the initiative again and pressed the attack.
Its weakness exposed, the creature seemed to lose its composure; it flailed the staff even more frantically than before.
Dadadak! Taak!
And that only created more openings. The desperate White-Haired Lion King spun the tip of its staff in dazzling patterns, thrashing about—but trying to break the encirclement and protect its rear at the same time made its staff work clumsier by the second.
"In the art of the staff, none surpass this!"
One clean deflection, knocking the staff's tightrope-like thrust aside at an angle. Then the second form of the Dog Beating Staff Technique—Head-Striking Staff Blow. The Jiokchammabong came down on the creature's crown with force enough to split stone.
PAAAK!
It paid the price for taking its eyes off a master of the staff. One furry hand shot up and managed to block the Head-Striking Staff Blow—but immediately the wet sound of flesh bursting and bone shattering tore through the air.
"Hup!"
In that same breath Jo Harang slid to the opposite side, drew her greatsword, and cut for its waist. A terrifying sonic boom, a flash of light carving through the misty vapor. The White-Haired Lion King spun the staff with its remaining hand—charrk!—stretching it long and barely managing to stop her strike.
Under the long-practiced combined assault of the Heavenly Killing Star and the Purple Micro Star, the creature's face went ashen. For the first time, something like fear flickered through those golden eyes.
And with its gaze and both arms completely bound by the two of us…
"Now! Sakwha!"
Seol Cheonsang shouted to his sister.
"Father's revenge…! Extreme Yin Force!"
Seol Sakwha answered the call, and the two Peak Realm masters sprinted forward with Ice-White Divine Palms gathered in both hands. Extreme yin energy surged and seethed within their palms.
Then those two hands, laden with cold, smashed mercilessly into the spirit monkey's bright-red rear—the one place not buried under white fur.
PEOK—!
The eight-foot spirit beast let out a piercing shriek and leapt high into the air. Its agonized cry, hands clutching its backside, shook the entire ice cave and echoed off the frozen walls.
"Ukieeeeeek…!"