We Will Not Let Them Live to Tell It (3)
“Uraaaaaaaaaah!”
Gwak Hwan-so swung his sword with all his might.
The assault plainly caught the Changgui unit off guard. In an instant, a stormy wave of sword energy washed over them head-on.
“Aaaagh!”
A Changgui warrior, cut from head to toe, screamed and stumbled back. It was so utterly pathetic it was hard to believe he was of the same caliber as the man who had casually blocked Gwak Hwan-so’s sword only moments ago.
Th-this…!
Gwak Hwan-so tightened his grip on his sword.
This is Mount Hua’s Acting Sect Leader!
They were different. Too different.
Beside him, Lee Ja-yang was also swinging his sword as if possessed. The same was probably true of the men following behind Gwak Hwan-so.
No, no!
In truth, saying they were “following behind Gwak Hwan-so” wasn’t quite right. The one they were chasing now wasn’t Gwak Hwan-so at all—it was Baek Cheon!
Gwak Hwan-so shouted himself hoarse.
“Push forward!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Changgui warriors ground their teeth as they watched Hainan surge at them with every ounce of momentum they had.
“These damn island bumpkins!”
It looked as if fire was bursting from their vicious eyes. But only for an instant.
“Aaaagghhh!”
Before their rage could even fully turn into force, a miserable scream rang out from behind them. Instinctively, they turned their heads, and what spread before them was a feast of red plum blossoms engulfing the front ranks.
Even if they were the notorious Changgui unit—and had survived the even more notorious training of the Maninbang—it was impossible to keep their usual composure while being attacked from both front and rear.
And the biggest problem of all was that swordsmanship.
“Aaagh!”
“D-damn it!”
If the sword coming from behind them had been a straightforward, forceful strike like those of other righteous sects, they would have swallowed their panic and focused on eliminating Hainan first.
After all, while the men at their backs were being killed, they would at least have time.
But Baek Cheon’s sword was not the sort of blunt, obvious heavy strike anyone could predict. Those drifting sword energies were impossible to block in their entirety. Even if they used the men behind them as shields, they still couldn’t afford to relax completely.
And because of that…
“Kraaaagh!”
“Tch! My back…!”
The sword energy, fluttering like petals, slipped between the Changgui formation and kept piercing flesh again and again. The blades were thin and light like flower petals, so most wounds ended in little more than torn skin and cloth, but depending on where they landed, they could easily become fatal injuries that bled too much to stop.
Wasn’t this maddening? Sword energy kept raining in from behind, worming into every gap—how on earth were they supposed to focus only on the enemies in front of them?
That was why these brats, who would normally have been no match at all, were now able to make them sweat. Those in front only had to deal with the Changgui unit before them, but the Changgui had to endure a pincer assault from front and rear.
“Those bastards!”
Their frustration, having nowhere else to go, finally exploded. One of the Changgui warriors yelled toward the rear.
“Damn it! It’s only one guy—why can’t you handle him? You useless idiots!”
“What?”
“At least latch onto him and hold him down! Stop acting like fools to save your worthless lives!”
“You son of a bitch!”
The rage that should have been directed at the enemy spilled onto their own comrades. Because the fight was so fierce, they couldn’t even properly argue; under normal circumstances, they would have already been trying to cut each other down.
After all, these men weren’t bound by true fellowship. They were simply the strong forced into one name by force. With death already at their throats, they had no reason, and no room, to worry about anyone else.
And the cracks in their hearts were enough to shatter the Changgui’s already tenuous momentum in a single blow.
“Oooooooh!”
As the enemy faltered, Hainan’s disciples drove their momentum even higher and charged forward.
From behind them came voices that lent courage.
“Do not forgive the villains! This is Hainan!”
The instant Hainan’s sect leader, Geum Yang-baek, let out that mighty shout, the Hainan swords grew even sharper.
Watching Hainan thunder forward like a tide, Heo Mang’s face went deathly pale.
N-no way!
He had to fix this immediately, somehow.
The Changgui were currently maintaining a formation close to a straight line, their backs to the shore. But if the center was broken through, the unit would naturally be split in two.
If that happened, the remaining men would be surrounded from every direction by a larger enemy force. And that was with their already small numbers split in half and their momentum further crushed.
Not even the Changgui’s grandfather could survive that. When a small number of weak men faced a few strong ones, the most efficient method was to encircle the strong and prevent them from using their full strength.
So they absolutely had to stop the center from being pierced. But…
Clang!
“Ghk….”
“You bastard, looking away while I’m right in front of you?”
The rough-haired young Mount Hua brat standing in front of him kept hold of him and wouldn’t let go. No, not just wouldn’t let go—if he slipped even a little, that sword would pierce his throat.
Then the Mount Hua man narrowed his eyes and asked,
“What? Want to go over there? Ah, sure, that’s possible.”
A thick sneer curled at the corner of Jo Geol’s mouth.
“If you kill me. Think you can do that?”
“Cut the crap and just fight, Geol.”
“Ah, seriously!”
Failing to keep up the dignity he’d been trying to project, Jo Geol twisted his face and thrust his sword forward at Heo Mang.
Flash!
The sword, quick as lightning, brushed past Heo Mang’s cheek as he violently jerked his head aside. The sensation of skin splitting and blood running made his face burn.
Cold sweat slid down Heo Mang’s forehead.
What the hell are these guys?
Was there any reason for Maninbang to be newly shocked that Mount Hua was strong?
The proposition that Mount Hua was strong had already become an established fact within Maninbang. They were, after all, a demonic sect. If demonic sect warriors who lived and died on the battlefield couldn’t properly judge an opponent’s skill, they wouldn’t have survived this long in the first place.
But these bastards’ movements could not be explained so simply. Even split apart across a vast battlefield, even unable to exchange so much as a glance, they moved as if they were shouting to one another in open conversation.
The moment that pale-faced brat started leading the Hainan disciples, who had been moving in chaos, the others immediately began cutting off support headed that way, as though they had known all along.
How can they do that?
Strategic movement had nothing to do with personal martial skill. Even someone with tactical ability could not always bring every ounce of that ability to bear in real combat.
There was a world of difference between desk-bound strategists drawing maps from above and understanding the situation in the middle of a battlefield where blades were flying.
This was the kind of field one could only begin to grasp after countless battles—so how in the world were these young brats able to move like this?
“Hah!”
Flash!
At that moment, a sword shot in and pierced Heo Mang’s shoulder.
“Kgh!”
Heo Mang threw his body backward in a panic. Blood gushed and spilled from the punctured shoulder.
“You can’t be daydreaming with me right in front of you! You pathetic demonic bastard!”
“You little—damn you…!”
“Then win, if it pisses you off!”
Though Jo Geol’s mouth kept spewing light, careless words, his eyes were filling with a cold, heavy killing intent.
Meanwhile, similar things were happening elsewhere.
“Ooooooh!”
Roooooom!
“Haaaaaah!”
KWA-BOOOM!
The Changgui were not called Maninbang’s combat unit by luck. They knew perfectly well that they had to stop Hainan’s main force from breaking through the center.
“Aaaaghhh!”
But what they received in response to their attempts to hold the line was Hye Yeon’s golden Buddha light, Namgung Dowi’s cannon-like white sword qi, and Dang Pae’s pink poison mist pouring down so thickly it seemed to blot out the sky.
“Th-this…!”
No matter how bold a man was, could he really advance while shouldering the power of Shaolin, the sword qi of Namgung, and the poison of the Tang Family? It was nothing short of suicide.
Given the situation, there was nothing they could do even as they watched their formation collapsing before their eyes.
After dithering like that for a moment, the Hainan vanguard finally broke straight through the center of the Changgui formation!
T-this… no way…
Heo Mang’s face went instantly pale.
That damn unit commander!
At a time like this, the commander should have issued orders quickly—but their commander had already had his head severed by the Mount Hua Divine Dragon’s sword. That left no one else to give orders here.
“B-back off! We’ll be surrounded. Change formation…!”
Flash!
Heo Mang, who had not even finished speaking, twisted his waist in haste. Jo Geol’s sword once again sliced a long line across his face without mercy.
“You keep looking everywhere but at me.”
“You damned bastard!”
Despair settled over Heo Mang’s face. At this rate, their fate was all but decided. If the Hainan and Heavenly Friends Alliance brats who had pierced the center simply turned and surrounded them… it would be over.
But just then—
“Run! We’re boarding!”
“Yes, sir!”
Instead of changing direction after cutting through the center of the Changgui, they charged straight toward the shore. Then they hurled themselves toward the anchored ships.
“There’ll be enemies on the ships too! Don’t let your guard down—take them over!”
“Yes, sir!”
At Geum Yang-baek’s swift command, the Hainan disciples pushed harder, leaping up with remarkable speed and beginning to seize the vessels.
What?
Heo Mang’s mouth fell open before he could stop it.
What in the world were they doing? They weren’t even destroying the ships—they were boarding them?
Then did that mean they had dragged their full force here and fought the Changgui just so they could take those ships?
Why?
This was Hainan Island. Ships were everywhere, as common as carts on land. What possible reason could they have for doing something so insane here?
No, before that…
They had a chance to encircle us, and they just threw it away like that?
If their main force boarded the ships, the Changgui left behind on the shore would gain time to reorganize. By any sane standard, it was madness.
“W-what are you doing?”
He didn’t actually expect an honest answer, but the whole situation was so absurd that the words slipped out anyway. Yet the young Mount Hua brat he was facing clearly wasn’t sane either.
“Those ships are ours now.”
“……Ships?”
“Yeah. Pissed off, aren’t you?”
“…….”
Heo Mang’s mind went blank for a moment, and he shut his mouth tightly. It wasn’t as if they were in any position to exchange polite conversation to begin with.
He didn’t understand why they were targeting the ships. But at least he understood immediately why they hadn’t surrounded him.
“They’re coming!”
“Huh?”
At someone’s shout, Heo Mang snapped his head up in alarm.
The forest leading to the shore was shaking as though the whole thing had been struck by cannon fire!
“Gu…!”
A cry tore out of Heo Mang’s throat, a mixture of fear and relief he couldn’t even begin to sort out.
“Military strategist! The main force! The main force has arrived!”
RUMBLE—!
The trees burst apart as if hit by artillery, and an enormous number of Maninbang warriors emerged. Among them, the Maninbang strategist, Ho Ga-myeong, walked forward, sweeping the shore with ice-cold eyes.
His gaze stopped in one corner of the beach. More precisely, on the single figure standing there in leisurely fashion.
Ho Ga-myeong spoke slowly.
“……I didn’t expect to meet you in a place like this.”
Without changing his expression at all, he went on.
“What business do you have on this distant island, Mount Hua Divine Dragon?”
Cheong Myeong looked at Ho Ga-myeong for a moment, then tilted his head slightly.
“Uh… sorry, but…”
“Hmm?”
“Who are you again?”
Silence fell all at once. Ho Ga-myeong’s dark brows twitched faintly.