Chapter 121
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: The Massive Assault
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Inside the Taegok Sub-Branch, underground prison.
Seol Hwa-un arrived at its entrance.
“How are the prisoners?”
Bing Cho-pung answered Seol Hwa-un’s question.
“The regular warriors know next to nothing. The one worth asking is the Lone Wine Pavilion’s vice leader, but he won’t open his mouth at all.”
“……”
He spoke cautiously.
“Shall we try torturing him?”
Capturing prisoners and extracting information through torture was commonplace, regardless of righteous or unorthodox factions.
The only difference was that the unorthodox did it openly, while the righteous did it in secret.
But Seol Hwa-un had no intention of doing so.
“I’ll try talking to him first.”
“Yes.”
Seol Hwa-un descended into the underground prison.
The twenty-odd prisoners were divided into two cells, with only one middle-aged man in solitary confinement.
He was leaning against the wall. His left shoulder bore a severe wound, soaked in blood and hanging limp.
Seol Hwa-un stood before the brain cell where he was confined.
“Lone Wine Pavilion Vice Leader, Ak Su-hong.”
“……!”
He flinched.
The middle-aged man, vice leader of the Lone Wine Pavilion, slowly raised his head.
“You’re……”
“The North Sea Ice Palace’s young palace lord, Seol Hwa-un.”
His eyes flashed.
“……Northern Heavenly Dragon?”
“That’s what they call me.”
“What an honor. To think you’d come personally to a prisoner like me.”
“I’ll get straight to the point. I hold no particular grudge against you. Cooperate with the palace, and I’ll spare your life.”
The vice leader smirked.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Of course, you’ll be held accountable for opposing the palace. But I know this battle wasn’t by your choice.”
“……”
“Without the Bloodblade Sword Lord, you never would have come.”
The vice leader shuddered at the mention of the Bloodblade Sword Lord.
“How about this? I’ll release you and your Lone Wine Pavilion warriors without any conditions. You’ll leave openly through the front gate.”
“……What?”
“It’ll be visible from the Black Refinement Sect’s camp, too. What do you think will happen then?”
“……!”
Considering the Bloodblade Sword Lord’s nature, the answer was obvious.
Even the slightest chance of defection would mean he’d slaughter them all.
“If it’s just you, that’d be fortunate. But with his suspicions, he might sweep through your main base as well.”
The vice leader couldn’t hold back and shouted.
“Just kill me already, Northern Heavenly Dragon!”
Seol Hwa-un spoke calmly.
“I’m not like him. Cooperate, and I’ll not only spare your life but preserve the Lone Wine Pavilion afterward. Though you’ll have to accept a few conditions.”
“……”
After agonizing for a long while, the vice leader finally lowered his head.
“……What do you want from me?”
“Information.”
“Too bad. I know nothing about the Bloodblade Sword Lord’s forces.”
“That may be so.”
It wasn’t anything special. They were just the province’s unorthodox groups rallied around the Bloodblade Sword Lord anyway.
“But a vice leader like you could play a helpful role for the palace. What do you say?”
* * *
Taegok Sub-Branch’s command conference room.
Even at dawn, Seol Hwa-un and Yu Gong-seon were there, along with the North Sea Martial Corps’ three brigade leaders, the four squad leaders of the Hundred-Man Squads, Jeok Rang-do, and Bing Cho-pung.
Yu Gong-seon spoke.
“Seven dead, twenty wounded. Ten are serious, the rest aren’t out of commission.”
For repelling four hundred assailants with two hundred defenders, the losses were negligible.
“An outstanding victory.”
It warranted celebration, but the current situation allowed no such luxury.
In the heavy atmosphere, Yu Gong-seon spoke again.
“The enemy numbers around seventeen hundred. Even after losing four hundred in this raid.”
One of the North Sea Martial Corps’ three brigade leaders grumbled lowly.
“Damn, no end in sight.”
“They haven’t all gathered yet. Factoring in the unorthodox arriving at dawn, we’re looking at roughly two thousand.”
The brigade leader tilted his head.
“Strategist, you’re talking like a battle’s imminent.”
Yu Gong-seon replied with a stern expression.
“Indeed. The odds are very high.”
“……!”
As Yu Gong-seon glanced at him, Seol Hwa-un nodded. Yu Gong-seon continued immediately.
“The Bloodblade Sword Lord appeared during today’s raid.”
“……!”
Jeok Rang-do flinched involuntarily.
“He seems to have scouted the sub-branch’s troop situation while we repelled the two unorthodox groups.”
Seol Hwa-un added.
“Given his caliber, he’ll have noticed our reduced numbers.”
Jeok Rang-do spoke up for once.
“Considering the Bloodblade Sword Lord’s temperament…… he’s more likely to target the weakened main sub-branch than our detached forces.”
“……!”
Seol Hwa-un nodded.
“That’s my thinking too. The question is when they’ll attack.”
Everyone except minimal sentries had been ordered to rest.
Yet most couldn’t truly relax due to the unease.
“I hope they don’t come right away, but we can’t assume anything.”
“Strategist, if they launch a full assault, do we have a chance?”
“……”
Yu Gong-seon fell silent for a moment before speaking.
“To be frank, without external aid, our odds of victory are less than twenty percent.”
Considering the troop disparity, even that was generous.
“……”
A heavy silence descended. Seol Hwa-un slowly spoke.
“That’s why I took a gamble.”
“……?”
“If it succeeds, it might turn the tables.”
His eyes gleamed.
That afternoon.
Seol Hwa-un stared ahead and said.
“They’re finally moving.”
Yu Gong-seon nodded grimly.
“Very confident. Approaching openly.”
Pitch-black enemy troops were encircling the Taegok Sub-Branch.
“Strategist.”
“Yes, Young Palace Lord.”
Seol Hwa-un’s eyes burned fiercely.
“Let’s begin.”
Seol Hwa-un and Yu Gong-seon vanished into the Taegok Sub-Branch.
Meanwhile, the Bloodblade Sword Lord stared at the sub-branch from the center of his forces.
He’d planned to strike at dawn but delayed slightly for the arriving group.
‘Strategy’s irrelevant. We crush them with sheer force.’
Though semi-coerced, the unorthodox warriors’ morale was formidable.
No ordinary sect—nor even the Eight Great Families or Nine Great Sects—could underestimate this power.
When the advancing front line was about fifty paces away, a shout rang from within the sub-branch.
“Fire!”
“……?”
Shuuuuush!
Hundreds of arrows arced over the sub-branch walls.
“Block them!”
The startled unorthodox warriors swiftly raised their weapons.
‘Foolish. Firing so openly.’
Arrows posed little threat to martial artists, unlike to regular soldiers.
Unless from master archers, visible arrows were easy to deflect.
But.
Chaeng!
“Urk!”
‘What’s this repulsive force?!’
Some deflected them, but many couldn’t handle the embedded power and fell.
Puk!
“Gah!”
“Ugh!”
It was the might of the horn bows developed by the North Sea Ice Palace, modeled after the eastern Makgung.
To survive endless nomad assaults on vast steppes, one needed mastery in either mounted combat or archery.
Thus, North Sea Ice Palace warriors excelled in archery.
Horses were expensive and scarce, so they honed bows useful for both war and hunting.
Moreover, the Hundred-Man Squads’ Fourth Squad specialized in archery. Their horn bow shots were on another level.
Shuuush!
Pupu-puk!
“Kuaaaak!”
“Uwaak!”
As casualties mounted, the unorthodox panicked.
“W-We need to fall back……”
Then, the overall commander, Black Refinement Sect Leader, bellowed.
“Any who retreat are dead! Ignore the arrows and press on!”
His voice dripped with murderous intent. Despite comrades dying beside them, the warriors advanced.
The hidden Taegok Sub-Branch warriors watching trembled in fury.
‘Ruthless.’
The Black Refinement Sect Leader smirked coldly.
‘A few deaths change nothing. We still hold absolute numerical superiority.’
As the distance closed further, the arrow rain ceased. Horn bows lost power at close range.
The encirclement soon reached ten paces.
As if waiting, the Black Refinement Sect Leader roared.
“Charge!”
Waaaaah!!
Over two thousand unorthodox troops surged over the Taegok Sub-Branch walls.
“Wipe them out!”
Madness flickered in the Black Refinement Sect Leader’s eyes.
Meanwhile, at the front face—where the most unorthodox had massed among the four sides.
The deployed Hundred-Man Squad had long merged with the Shanxi Vanguard.
Kwaaaang!
The thick main gate shattered, unorthodox warriors pouring in.
“Now!”
At Jeok Rang-do’s shout, the warriors thrust spears in unison.
Pupu-pupuk!
“Gek!”
“Kek!”
The first entrants collapsed with fatal wounds.
“Second strike!”
They swiftly withdrew and thrust again.
Pupu-puk!
Fewer fell this time. They’d reacted to the front-runners’ fate.
‘Tch!’
Jeok Rang-do, commanding, felt regret but withdrew the spearmen.
“This is the North Sea Ice Palace’s Taegok Sub-Branch! We permit no intrusion!”
With the shout, he charged the unorthodox warriors. The Hundred-Man Squad and Shanxi Vanguard followed.
Waaaaah!
Jeok Rang-do swung his blade powerfully.
Shuaak!
Seogeok!
Not full power, but it cleaved three unorthodox warriors’ chests in one stroke.
His eyes sparkled.
‘Definitely improved.’
His blade work was more concise, sharper than before.
Though his time training North Sea Ice Palace arts was short, the gains were meaningful.
‘My choice was right!’
“You bastards! I am Jeok Rang-do, Shanxi Vanguard Leader of the North Sea Ice Palace!”
Fierce combat raged between North Sea Ice Palace warriors and unorthodox foes.
Intense battles unfolded east, west, and north as well. Regrettably, the Earthly Delusion Phantom Array showed little effect.
The invading unorthodox had immediately torn up the ground, destroying the formation early.
But this was anticipated; the North Sea Martial Corps’ Hundred-Man Squads clashed ferociously against them.
Chaeng-chae-chang!
Seogeok!
“Urk!”
The remaining Imperial Sword Squad members, ten per direction, shone brightly.
An Imperial Sword Squad member’s flashy sword strikes.
Papapa!
“Urk!”
“Gek!”
He felled two in an instant, then sought his next target without pause.
Then.
“……!”
Buuuung!
Sensing something heavy descending, he swiftly raised his sword.
Kwang!!
“Urk!”
Even then, the Imperial Sword Squad member was blasted back.
“Keok!”
He vomited massive blood. He’d survived instant death but suffered critical internal injuries.
“Hm? Still alive.”
And where he’d stood, a middle-aged man with abnormally thick arms now gripped a massive axe.
“Northern rabble, I am Gong Son-wan of the Heaven-Trampling Axe!”
Heaven-Trampling Axe Gong Son-wan.
He was one of the Heavenly Remnant Twin Fiends.