Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Vow to the Black Dragon Corps
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White steam rose between his palm and the crystal. So Gun-ak eagerly pulled his hand away, only to be met with immediate disappointment.
"Does this level of heat not faze it at all?"
So Gun-ak pondered deeply.
His food supplies had already run out completely. And no easy way came to mind to free the Black Dragon Corps members trapped inside the crystals.
So Gun-ak plopped down onto the cold floor.
"Do I have no choice but to leave?"
If he reached the realm where he could emit Gang Qi, or if the Blazing Sun Palm reached its peak, he might be able to shatter the crystal.
Lack of food wasn't a real issue. He could go down the mountain, prepare more, and come back.
He wasn't worried about White Dragon Crokshu reappearing, either.
While thoroughly searching the castle in hopes of finding hidden rations, he had discovered what appeared to be Crokshu's diary.
That diary was filled with detailed accounts of space-time transfer magic.
So Gun-ak, who had roughly learned this world's customs and society through Jamie's memories, found it hard to accept at first—but he now understood the existence of magic akin to shamanistic spells.
'This place is a world in an entirely different dimension from the Central Plains.'
Without Jamie's memories, he wouldn't have believed it. But thanks to his own knowledge of shamanistic formations that could distort space and time to some degree, he could accept it.
It wasn't entirely impossible, so he understood it that way.
This was a different dimensional world.
As he suspected, White Dragon Crokshu was likely in the Central Plains right now.
Assuming Crokshu could deploy space-time transfer magic again, there was a chance of return—but it would probably take no small amount of time.
That was why he had set aside his worries about Crokshu.
But one problem remained.
'How long can they hold out?'
He himself had been trapped in the crystal for thirteen days after regaining consciousness. But now, fifty days later, he couldn't tell his body's condition just by looking.
Was it a dead body? A living one? Or frozen solid?
The same went for the Black Dragon Corps members. He couldn't even tell if they were already dead or in critical condition.
He had tried all sorts of experiments, but still couldn't grasp the crystal's true nature.
That only heightened his anxiety.
Still, So Gun-ak did not abandon hope.
These were not men who could perish so meaninglessly.
And there was no guarantee they were dead.
So Gun-ak speculated that the Black Dragon Corps members had fallen into a sort of suspended animation.
He had endured thirteen days himself, so if he could just break the crystals, he could save them.
The Fire Worship Cult taught that a person's soul lingered in the body for three days after death before departing to the afterlife. But hadn't he lingered for thirteen?
He was undoubtedly still alive.
So Gun-ak walked to the center of the hall lined with a hundred crystals.
He etched each one's appearance firmly into his mind, then spotted crystal fragments scattered haphazardly across the floor.
They were definitely different from ice. Cold, yes—but they didn't emit chill on their own. And they were a bit heavier than ice of the same size.
He gathered a forearm-sized crystal and a few smaller ones, stuffing them into the bag that had held his rations. He would find a way to melt them and return.
Preparations to leave complete, So Gun-ak stood at the hall's entrance and turned back to his Black Dragon Corps men.
"Hear me, Black Dragon Corps."
His voice echoed throughout the hall.
"I, So Gun-ak, have obtained this body through the Soul Separation Body Swap Great Law. I swear I will find a way to save my brothers."
The Black Dragon Corps members stood motionless, trapped in their crystals. He burned their images into his eyes and heart—a vow never to forget them, to surely rescue them.
"Hold on until then! Trust in me and wait!"
He didn't know if his words reached them, but he conveyed his heartfelt resolve.
"I'll... be back soon."
So Gun-ak bowed deeply toward his subordinates.
They were brothers who had lived only for him. Men who had pledged to give their lives to save his.
Even before five hundred pursuers, he had forsaken his life to save them—yet fate had spared only him, leaving them imprisoned instead.
It couldn't end like this. They were the precious ones he must lead and protect.
'I will shatter the seal and grant you freedom.'
The Fire Worship Cult's doctrines and shackles that had once been absolute meant nothing now. What mattered was that they were his comrades from the battlefield, brothers who had shared bonds of loyalty.
He would save them, no matter what.
With iron resolve, So Gun-ak exited the castle.
Clad in grimy winter gear, his figure dashed toward the base of the mountain.
The Ganian Mountains' spur featured a staggeringly tall range of thirty towering peaks.
People called it Sky Mountain or Crokshu Mountain.
Since White Dragon Crokshu had claimed it as his domain, even the monsters had vanished from its treacherous heights.
With fewer predators, wild animal populations boomed, drawing human hunters one by one.
Five hundred years was ample time to forget a dragon's terror.
In that span, hunters had learned which areas were safe to hunt and which were forbidden.
Hard-won knowledge from countless ancestral deaths.
The seven tallest peaks at the center of the thirty—never enter them, unless you crave the taste of a dragon's teeth.
The outer fringes could yield one or two wild beasts if you stayed cautious.
In truth, even the other peaks weren't entirely safe.
Fugitive serfs and criminals who had fled into Sky Mountain to farm hidden plots had all become dragon fodder.
The White Dragon tolerated no permanent residents in his domain—human or monster.
Yet with no monsters, it remained an alluring hunting ground for hunters. As long as they avoided Crokshu's absolute core territory and traveled in noisy groups, that is.
"It's getting too dangerous..."
Ralph had been pursuing a deer up Sky Mountain for two weeks now. The deer had fled relentlessly for its life, forcing him over several peaks already.
"Sh-should we turn back?"
Ralph agonized. From here on, animals rarely appeared. Too focused on the chase, he had climbed too high.
The deer had probably staked its life on reaching this desperate refuge.
"But if I bag it, that's twenty gold..."
Still, giving up wasn't easy.
It had happened a few days ago. An official from the lord's castle had posted notices in every village: twenty gold reward for the magnificent antlered deer's head.
Twenty gold could idle away ten years—or enroll Jimmy in swordsmanship school.
Thinking of his son Jimmy filled Ralph with courage.
Ralph followed the tracks in the snow.
The deer was swift; no easy catch.
Fortunately, two relentless weeks of pursuit meant it was as exhausted as he was.
An hour of trudging snowfields along the ridge, and he finally spotted the deer.
"Yes! Luck's on my side this year."
Ralph reached back, nocked an arrow, and drew his bowstring.
Twaaaang.
The longbow screamed as it bent.
Hearing it, did the deer sense danger? Its ears perked, and it whipped around.
Thwap!
The arrow left the string just as the deer leaped.
Thud.
The arrow narrowly missed the deer's neck, embedding in the ground.
"Damn it!"
Meanwhile, the deer bounded down the steep slope—too sheer for easy pursuit. Ralph hurriedly nocked another arrow.
But the moving target and hasty shot ruined his accuracy.
Thwap!
Sure enough, it missed, sticking into a tree.
Firing more into the dense thicket down the slope was futile.
Another test of endurance began.
"Goddamn it!"
This was his closest approach in two weeks of chasing.
He should have nailed it with the first shot. Regretfully eyeing the fleeing deer, Ralph's eyes widened in shock.
Shuuuuaaaang! Thud.
A wind-ripping roar echoed, and the deer flew back.
Rubbing his eyes and looking again, he saw an unknown spear piercing the deer's neck, pinned to a tree.
Gulp.
The astonishing sight made him swallow hard. Ralph stiffly turned, peering up the slope whence the spear had come.
Crunch. Crunch.
A red-haired man in a shabby coat descended through the snow.
It was So Gun-ak, emerging from the ice castle.
Jamie's hair had originally been light blond, but cultivating the Great Heavenly Demon Sovereign Art—strong in yang attributes—had tinged it red.
In his original body, even Blazing Sun Qi Gong hadn't changed his hair color. The sudden shift seemed tied to Jamie's constitution as a color-wood person.
"Y-you..."
Ralph stammered in shock. Ignoring him, So Gun-ak descended the slope and yanked out the spear shaft.
The deer had died instantly, neck fully pierced.
'Deer look just like those in the Central Plains.'
So Gun-ak had subsisted on barely life-sustaining scraps for fifty days in the ice castle.
Descending, he had considered digging edible roots, but the snowfields and unfamiliar plants made it impractical.
Four days of aimless descent.
With full inner energy, he could have flown down with lightness skill—but now, it was all he could do to ward off the cold.
Slash!
So Gun-ak swung the spear, severing the deer's head in one stroke, then slung the body over a suitable branch.
As blood drained, he gathered drier twigs. Ralph slid down the slope and spoke up.
"H-hey there."
"..."
So Gun-ak blankly regarded Ralph. Glancing at the rolling deer head, Ralph hesitantly continued.
"That deer's the one I've been chasing for a fortnight, skipping sleep to hunt."
"I killed it."
Ralph nodded as if it were obvious.
"True enough. If you're after meat, you won't need the head—sell it to me?"
Ralph asked cautiously.
Noticing So Gun-ak's disinterest in the head, he had ventured the question.
So Gun-ak eyed the deer head on the ground.
They used antlers as medicine here too, it seemed.
Right now, though, he needed meat.
"No need. Take it."
Ralph beamed, then gauged So Gun-ak's reaction.
'He must not know its value.'
Ralph picked up the head, wrapping it in cloth. Suddenly pricked by conscience, he hesitated before speaking.
"Hate to say it, but it's pierced—probably no good."
So Gun-ak was already skinning the deer and prepping a hind leg.
He glanced up at Ralph.
"Truth is, the lord recently offered twenty gold for a deer head trophy. These antlers would surely please him."
Interest flickered in So Gun-ak's eyes.
Ralph's honesty, despite potential gain, surprised him.
"And?"
"What do you mean 'and'? I want it, but I can't trick you. Leave it—get a good taxidermist to mount it and take it to the lord's castle."
Ralph regretfully set the head down. The antlers were long and beautifully branched—perfect for decoration.
Continuing to prep the meat, So Gun-ak asked,
"Got any liquor?"
Caught off-guard by the random question, Ralph answered blankly. He had booze to fight the cold.
"Yeah."
"Then come, have a drink first."
Ralph too had skimped meals during his exhaustive two-week chase. The prepped meat stirred his hunger.
"Sure! I'll start the fire."
Though So Gun-ak wore a backpack, he didn't look like a hunter. Ralph hurriedly fetched flint from his bag and lit bark.
Meanwhile, So Gun-ak cut and prepped another hind leg for Ralph.
Crackle. Crackle.
He built a spit over the bonfire and set the deer legs roasting.
"You don't seem like a hunter—why come so far?"
Ralph asked carefully.
Sky Mountain officially barred humans, but with no monsters, it was ideal for those determined to hide.
Besides foothill hunters, fugitives and prisoners sometimes hid here.
Ralph suspected So Gun-ak might be one.
So Gun-ak thought it over.
He couldn't say he came from Crokshu's castle. Word of the dragon's absence would draw greedy humans to plunder its ice fortress.
Until he rescued his men from the mysterious crystals, it had to stay secret.
"Everyone has circumstances they can't speak of."
With no answer, Ralph preemptively glossed over it.
Criminal or not, he had witnessed that one-throw kill. Pressing further might provoke a threat to silence him.
But Ralph's fears were unfounded.