Chapter 45
Having passed the first group, they continued walking until they arrived at the second group.
It was the place where Haru had fought the yokai in a fierce battle.
Back then, this entire group had been swallowed by the horrific demon that had devoured everything, and in one corner, the missing people locked inside the iron cages had been in complete chaos.
Now, everything from that time had been neatly cleaned up, as if nothing had ever happened.
“This is the place I mentioned earlier,” Jubern said as he arrived at the second group under Yebaek’s guidance.
Surrounding himself, he wiped down his chest.
“Fortunately, the infiltration seems to have succeeded smoothly. What shall we do from here?”
“If we continue to move together, we might attract unnecessary suspicion. It would be better to act separately from now on.”
“That is wise advice. Then, please take care of your body.”
“Understood. You must also stay safe, Yebaek-nim.”
The two scattered and began their respective activities.
Jubern, with his cautious nature, kept an eye on the overall atmosphere within the knightly order, waiting for the perfect opportunity to uncover the information that Viscount Blanser was hiding.
On the other hand, Yebaek…
“Your name is… was it Baek-san? Ah, yes, I heard you were assigned to this side this time. Is the mission doable?”
Viscount Blanser, dressed entirely in pure white uniform unlike the others, approached and spoke, causing Yebaek to break out in cold sweat.
In response to Viscount Blanser’s question, Yebaek answered with a lively and cheerful voice.
“I was fine. You see, Gray kept nodding off during his watch duty. So I had to put him in his place and keep him company until he woke up. Haha!”
“Hmm, I wonder what kind of conversation the two of you had.”
“Just ordinary small talk, like the kind you hear about from the training camp days.”
“That’s all? If there’s more, be honest and tell me.”
“Um, well… I feel like the relationship between Captain Senior and Captain Junior in front of me isn’t very good. We had a bit of a chat about that.”
“Hehe, hahaha! So, you did talk about that?”
Blanser Viscount let out a sudden burst of laughter at Yebaek’s answer.
Startled by the unexpectedly large reaction, Yebaek faltered and said, “Y-yes, that’s right… but I must have let slip something unnecessary. Please forgive me!”
“A slip? Ah, a very big one. I now know you’re a rat. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“What? Haha… I don’t understand what you mean at all.”
“A face that says you don’t understand the meaning. Officially, my position is Senior Captain, but the knightly order does not recognize that insolent fellow as Captain. So within the knightly order, they call me Captain.”
“T-this!”
Realizing that his identity had been exposed, Yebaek desperately reached for his sword, but Blanser’s foot moved a full step faster.
Blindfold
Thunk!
Yebaek, who had dropped his sword, collapsed helplessly to the floor, and after delivering the fatal blow, Blanser looked down at him carefully and stroked his beard.
“First, let’s use this fellow to hunt down the remaining rats.”
“Damn you! Do you know who we are?! You think you can just do this and get away with it…!”
“Sorry, but I hope you sleep a little longer.”
Crack! Smash!
“Ugh…!”
“Grrr!”
Jubern, who had come out of the cave after completing his mission, carefully knocked out the men he had put to sleep earlier.
“What were you doing while skipping out on your post? Where did you go?”
“My bladder was about to burst… I’m sorry, senior. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
After successfully completing the mission, Jubern returned inside the cave, and Blanser gathered all the former knights of the knightly order.
The atmosphere had frozen over, so there was no way anyone could feel like doing free calisthenics.
Near Blanser was a knight and someone with a sword wound on the abdomen, both kneeling and pinned down.
“Yebaek-nim? What in the world happened here?”
“Come out.”
“K, gnngh…!”
Blanser grabbed Yebaek by the hair roughly and shouted, ““…””
Come out immediately? Everyone except Jubern couldn’t possibly understand what he meant.
The order to come out was clearly aimed at the rat hiding there, Jubern, so of course that was the reaction.
“Won’t you come out? Well, if that’s the case, there’s no helping it. I’ll have to kill this one painfully. Your turn is next, so get ready. Block the entrance.”
At the threat of death, Jubern’s eyes grew icy cold.
When they had left Dongye, Jubern and Yebaek had made a promise.
That if one of them was discovered and captured, the other would not look back and withdraw alone.
It was Jubern’s way of sharing the burden with each other as a verbal oath, knowing the possibility of being captured himself.
“Yebaek-nim… please withdraw safely as per our agreement. I’ll hold you back.”
In truth, Yebaek had wanted Jubern to leave him behind and escape alone.
After all, he had only been caught because of his own mistake, and he didn’t want to burden Jubern.
“It was me who drove Yebaek-nim into a corner. How could I only think about the safety of my own body? I can’t sacrifice anyone because of me. I can never escape alone.”
But Jubern had no intention of leaving Yebaek behind.
Even if Blanser had captured him, Yebaek would not have thought of escaping alone.
“Kill him.”
When no reaction came, Blanser issued the order to kill and walked away leisurely. Just as the knight beside him drew his sword, Jubern finally stepped forward.
“I have to stall for time until Yebaek-nim recovers.”
Shing!
Jubern’s new sword revealed itself to the world.
“Ringhead Great Sword.”
Previously, Jubern’s sword had broken several times.
It had been mercilessly destroyed by Crow’s Duck and even snapped while blocking one of the sword strokes of Yu-sin, the national sword of Arirang’s.
From the beginning, a low-quality iron sword could not fully display Jubern’s ability, and because the opponents he faced were all of high level, it often broke easily.
Therefore, Lan, fearing that the weapon would restrict his actions, gave Jubern a more sturdy and powerful sword than the ones he had used in the past when he left on this mission.
“In Seo-Wangdo, I used the ordinary supply sword given to ordinary soldiers. After that sword broke against Crow’s Duck, I started using a heavier medium sword.”
“That’s right, my lord.”
“Excellent judgment. But now, you should use a bigger and heavier sword than the medium one. Yes, let me choose the sword for you myself.”
“What? Why would my lord do such a trivial thing? I can use any sword.”
“No. Don’t think that way. You haven’t done anything proper for me, so it’s been on my mind. I hope you accept it with pleasure.”
“…I am deeply honored, my lord.”
Shing. Shring.
When Jubern stepped forward and drew the Ringhead Great Sword, the entire knightly order drew their swords at almost the same time and surrounded him.
Flash!
“Damn you!”
Stomp!
“Grrrrr!!”
“We were in need of one more sword, and you’ve given us one as a gift. Thank you.”
Thud.
The knight who had been about to cut Yebaek down turned and rushed at Jubern instead, but Jubern easily dodged the sword and severed the arm of the knight who had lunged at him.
“I won’t take your life, but now you won’t be able to hold a sword and harm anyone again.”
If the opponent had been a yokai, he would have cut him down without blinking, but since the opponent was a human being, and moreover, this was the first time Jubern had actually killed a person, he held back his hand.
Leaving the dismembered knight behind, Jubern approached Yebaek and severed the aura pinning him down.
“Yebaek-nim, why…”
“You risked your life to follow me to help me. How could I only want to live by myself? How is your body?”
“Fortunately, it’s not too deep… ouch! I can barely move.”
“I’ll stall for time, so rest while you can.”
Jubern handed the sword he had taken from the knight to Yebaek and blocked his front.
“You want to face all of us alone?”
“Ha! What an ignorant rat.”
“Hmm, your courage to step forward for your comrades is admirable, but since you’ve come into this place, I can’t just let you go. For now, capture him alive.”
“It seems I’ve underestimated you quite a bit. Lucky for me. All at once, Release.”
“Such insolence! Attack him!”
The knights, thinking Jubern was a rat in a bag, formed their formation and began attacking him.
Viscount Blanser’s knightly order didn’t have exceptionally strong individual members.
They could handle Haru’s group in a one-on-one fight.
But they couldn’t be too complacent, because their coordinated attacks were quite fierce. They showed seamless teamwork, as if they were one body, and skillfully exploited Jubern’s openings.
But no matter how good the coordination was, it couldn’t work on Jubern.
Clang!
“Ugh…!”
“Kyaak!”
Jubern’s horizontal swing of his sword knocked over several knights at once.
“Although no one is exceptionally strong, there are too many of them. Before their stamina runs out, I need to take down the leader to find clues and escape easily.”
While the knights were briefly shaken, Jubern pointed his sword at Blanser, who was watching from behind.
“You have no intention of intervening?”
“Why use a chicken-catcher’s knife on a chicken? My knightly order is enough to deal with your rats.”
“Still underestimating me. Then, while the fool is still relaxed, I’ll wipe them out at once.”
“Hoo.”
After taking a deep breath, Jubern stood his sword straight and muttered the last words.
“Aqua Wave.”
Kwaaaaaaa-!
Before Jubern’s words were even finished, a dark wave surged from his side.
Most of the knights didn’t notice the enormous wave that had merged with the darkness.
But the mysterious sound, faintly echoing from all directions within the darkness they couldn’t see through, gradually grew more and more present.
When humans encounter the unknown, they usually feel fear, and fear naturally spreads everywhere.
“Eh, eh eh…”
“What is this!”
Shing.
By this point, Blanser, who had been quietly watching the situation from behind, couldn’t just stand there and watch idly.
“Release.”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh-!
The wave that had been about to overwhelm the knights suddenly stopped, as if it had hit a wall.
It was the air ability manifested by Blanser that had blocked it.
If Blanser hadn’t neutralized it, even if Jubern had adjusted the speed and power, at least forty percent of the knights would have been swept away in this one move.
“So, I thought you were a rat, but you’re a beast with claws hidden. You’re someone I can’t deal with, so that’s enough. Step back.”
“Hic…! I have no face left, Captain.”
“It’s the air ability. But compared to my lord’s, it’s like a drop in the bucket.”
“Yebaek-nim! I’m fine, so retreat quickly alone…!”
At Blanser’s intervention, Yebaek shouted urgently from behind. But Jubern simply raised two fingers without saying a word.
It was the secret code they had agreed on to start a fight with the enemy.