I’ll Show You What Real Ruthlessness Looks Like (1)
It was impossible to tell what that crimson thing truly was. But everyone who saw the red dots stopped moving on pure instinct.
What, what is that? That thing?
Cold sweat trickled down Jo Gul’s spine.
Some kind of mechanism? Or maybe—?
Whatever it was, one thing was clear: it was not good news for them.
The moment they looked at that red point, their bodies simply refused to obey. It felt as though their flesh knew the danger before their minds did and sounded the alarm first.
Sensing the crisis, his gaze naturally drifted to Chung Myung. Whatever his usual behavior might be, in a moment like this there was no one more reliable than Chung Myung, no matter what anyone said.
"Chu, Chung Myung."
"Yeah?"
"What the hell is that?"
"Uh... looks like bats?"
"Bats?"
"Yeah. I feel like I heard something about red-eyed bats somewhere, so maybe... "
Chung Myung tilted his head.
"No, wait. Aren't bats’ eyes normally red?"
Was that really important right now? Huh?
Then, as if something had just occurred to him, Chung Myung clapped his hands together.
"Ah, right. Bloodsucking Ghost Bats! That was definitely the name!"
Hong Dae-gwang, who had been frozen in place with only his eyeballs moving, spoke up cautiously.
"...So all those red things are bats’ eyes?"
"Yeah. Seems like it."
"Th-then what are we supposed to do?"
"What do you mean, what are we supposed to do? They’re just bats. We can just walk past them."
With that, Chung Myung nonchalantly started walking again. The others glanced around with tense expressions.
Is this really fine?
Well, bats weren’t usually a problem. Some people found them disgusting and avoided them, but no one had ever heard of someone dying because a bat bit them.
Everyone eased up just a little and carefully followed after Chung Myung.
Then Baek Cheon moved close behind Chung Myung and lowered his voice.
"By the way, Chung Myung."
"Hmm?"
"I’ve heard of the Bloodsucking Ghost Bats as well, but this is the first I’ve heard of their eyes being red. Is that really true?"
"Huh? No, wait. What I heard was... Ah!"
Chung Myung clapped his hands again.
"It wasn’t just the Bloodsucking Ghost Bats. It was Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats. There’s a strange beast in Yunnan called the Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bat, and if it bites you, it sucks your blood dry until nothing’s left but skin and bones, or so I heard. They’re so hard that even swords won’t cut them, and even a master would have trouble dealing with just one... "
His voice gradually faded as he kept talking.
Chung Myung glanced back over his shoulder.
Everyone was staring at him, trembling with grim faces, as though they’d just bitten into something rotten. Chung Myung spoke in earnest.
"...You know?"
"Yeah."
Chung Myung took a deep breath and slowly extended one foot forward. The movement was unusually careful for him, full of caution.
"Quietly... "
Rustle.
"If we go, then they... "
Rustle, rustle!
"won’t... "
Rattle-rustle-rustle! Rustle!
Chung Myung only smiled.
As if.
"We’re screwed."
Kieeeeeeeeeek! Kiiiiiiiiiiik!
A shrill cry that seemed ready to rip their eardrums apart burst out all at once, and the Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats with their blood-red eyes surged up like a cloud.
"Ruuuun—"
The moment Chung Myung tried to shout for them to run, the others shoved past him all at once and bolted ahead as if their lives depended on it.
"Aaaaagh!"
"If they catch us, we’re done for! Run, ruuuuun!"
Chung Myung watched them with a pleased smile.
"Those bast—"
What? Martial siblings were supposed to live and die together? Brotherly bonds and all that crap?
Watching them shove Chung Myung aside and sprint for their lives like their asses were on fire, trying to survive any way they could, was enough to blur his vision with tears.
In the middle of it all, Baek Cheon was the clearest sight of all, running in the very front without even looking back.
That bastard’s trying to save his own skin all by himself.
He’d grown up so well that just watching him made one feel proud...
"...my ass! You rotten bastards!"
From every direction, the Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats came swarming in, their red eyes flashing.
"Hiiiiiik!"
Chung Myung also broke into a full sprint.
"Aaaaaaagh! Why are there bats in a cave!"
"Because it’s a cave, you idiot!"
"No! Why are the ones from Yunnan living here?!"
"How the hell should I know!"
Hong Dae-gwang also shouted at the top of his lungs and ran with all his might.
"Yak Seon, you damned bastard! That lunatic dragged these things all the way here from Yunnan and let them loose! Sect Brother! Sect Leader Senior Brother! If that son of a bitch is up in the heavens, go punch him in the face for me!"
- How the hell am I supposed to beat up the strongest man in the world?
"Then gang up on him with the disciples like you always do, damn it!"
"What are you ranting about by yourself, you lunatic!"
"Grrrrrgh!"
If Chung Mun had been here, he would have been throwing a fit and yelling, That insane brat is trampling Mount Hua’s honor into the dirt.
And yet Chung Myung went right on spouting that sort of nonsense.
As if to punish him for it, the Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats bared their sharp teeth and lunged viciously.
Chung Myung hurriedly swung both hands, batting the bats away.
Clang! Clang!
Whoa, what the hell?!
Hitting bats with his hands felt like striking slabs of iron. In Yunnan, they said that if you stumbled into a cave full of Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats, even a huge water buffalo would be reduced to bones in no time, and after feeling the impact through his fingertips, that made perfect sense.
"Aaagh!"
"Careful! Their claws are sharp!"
Chung Myung could knock away the bats that came flying in, but the others weren’t in a position to do the same. Where their claws grazed, flesh split open in long lines and blood sprayed out.
As soon as they caught the scent of blood, the bats went even more berserk. Hundreds of them crossed and recrossed through the air in a wild frenzy, diving in and then veering away again.
It was a sight that made one’s head swim just to look at it.
"B-Branch Leader! My arm! I can’t move my arm!"
"What? Damned paralysis poison?"
Hong Dae-gwang’s face twisted hard.
What kind of bat is this supposed to be?
A body like steel, claws that could mock any decent sword, and now paralysis poison too?
This was a monster even a top master would struggle to handle. The problem was that there wasn’t just one or two of those monsters, but hundreds, attacking in a swarm.
"Aaagh!"
Feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder, Hong Dae-gwang whipped his head around. Somehow, a Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bat had already latched onto his shoulder.
"You little bat bastard!"
Hong Dae-gwang roared like thunder and swatted the bat away. Flesh tore loose from his shoulder in a chunk, and blood spurted out in streams.
At this rate, we’ll all die.
The wound itself wasn’t the issue. What mattered was the paralysis poison that seeped in through it. Soon their movements would slow, and after that, the only ending left would be getting ripped apart alive by those damned things.
"Don’t let them bite you, ever! Kill every bat that comes near!"
"Branch Leader! Our weapons aren’t working! These things move weirdly. It’s like they know our paths in advance and dodge before we even strike!"
"What... "
But there was no time to get irritated. Hong Dae-gwang swatted away a bat flying straight at his face and thrust out his hand.
It was one strike of the Beggars’ Sect’s famed Eighth Immortal Palm.
And yet the bat spun in the air and dodged Hong Dae-gwang’s palm with absurd ease.
"It dodged?"
A mere beast dodged a palm strike infused with the Beggars’ Sect’s martial principles?
A chill ran down his spine in an instant.
What in the world are these ridiculous monsters?
He knew the world was vast and contained countless grotesque, bizarre things. That was only natural for someone like the branch leader of the Beggars’ Sect, who knew more about the martial world’s information than anyone else.
But actually seeing them with his own eyes was horrifying beyond words.
Even if Hong Dae-gwang gave it everything he had, could he handle ten of these monsters?
He wasn’t confident.
But there weren’t ten Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats here. There were hundreds. At this rate, they really would all be wiped out.
"Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Do something!"
And in a crisis like this, the only person to turn to was Chung Myung.
"Ugh!"
Chung Myung clicked his tongue irritably and drew his sword.
"Mount Hua—"
Hong Dae-gwang turned back to urge Chung Myung once more, then suddenly shut his mouth.
Nothing had changed.
Chung Myung had simply drawn his sword. His expression, his movements, even his momentum—none of it had changed.
And yet...
It’s different.
He couldn’t say exactly what was different, but the Chung Myung from moments ago and the Chung Myung now running at the rear felt like entirely different people.
That impossible sense of mismatch left Hong Dae-gwang flustered.
The Mount Hua brat who always opened his mouth and spewed nonsense had vanished somewhere, and in his place stood a swordsman like a blade sharpened by a hundred battles.
Then his sword began to move, slowly.
Whooosh.
It felt as if wind had started blowing from nowhere. Chung Myung’s sword moved with languid grace. The tip trembled faintly of its own accord, and then dozens, hundreds of sword shadows began to fill the dim cave.
Plum blossoms?
They bloomed.
At every divided and split sword tip, a plum blossom began to open. Tiny buds transformed into blossoms in full bloom. It was as though the cave itself had become a vast plum grove.
Even knowing that this was no time for such things, Hong Dae-gwang found himself staring blankly.
Is this Mount Hua’s martial art?
Mount Hua’s plum blossoms.
Once erased from the world’s memory, now rising again to shake the world with their name—Mount Hua’s plum blossoms revealed themselves fully before Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes.
He almost felt a thick scent of plum blossoms drifting through the air.
He knew swords could not give off fragrance, knew the scent he was breathing now was nothing more than an illusion, and yet Hong Dae-gwang still shivered at that rich perfume.
And then.
Falling petals.
The plum blossoms began to scatter. Petals followed the wind, followed the flow, filling the cave like a blizzard and sweeping away the Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats.
Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!
Kaaaaaaaaaaak!
The bats’ screams echoed through the cave.
Rustle-rustle-rustle.
The sound of their wings bored into Hong Dae-gwang’s ears.
It was the same wingbeat he’d heard just moments ago. But this time it sounded a little different. Now it was the sound of Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats cut down by Chung Myung’s sword and falling to the ground.
"Ah... "
Realizing that the plum blossoms that had filled the cave had vanished cleanly without a trace, Hong Dae-gwang let out a sigh heavy with regret before he even knew it.
Shiiing.
Chung Myung’s sword slid back into its scabbard.
"Hoo."
After releasing a short breath, Chung Myung raised his head sharply.
There stood a swordsman with the tempered aura of a refined blade...
"Those damned bats don’t know their place!"
...no, not at all!
It was the familiar Chung Myung, standing there with his shoulders thrown back in smug satisfaction.
...
If he’d just kept his mouth shut, that would’ve actually been kind of moving.
"What are you standing around for? You not coming?"
"I-I am."
Hong Dae-gwang glanced back.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Not all the Demonic Bloodsucking Ghost Bats had fallen to that one strike. More than half of them still survived, clinging to the cave walls and glaring this way.
But beasts were beasts. Perhaps they had sensed Chung Myung’s strength, because despite being nothing more than bats, they no longer dared approach. They only hissed threats from afar.
A sword that instills fear in birds’ heads.
No, wait. Weren’t bats birds?
Should he call this bizarre or astounding?
Shaking his head, Hong Dae-gwang finally saw the end of the cave ahead.
Damned it all, now I’m afraid of what’s going to come next.
He bit his lip lightly and quickened his pace.
Still, choosing to stick close to this guy was the best decision I’ve made.
If he hadn’t, he would already be dead.
Hong Dae-gwang looked at Chung Myung with eyes full of trust.
Perhaps sensing that, Chung Myung smiled with satisfaction and said,
"What, you here to sightsee? Why do you keep staring at everything?"
"... "
"The Beggars’ Sect really has fallen on hard times. Hard times."
"... "
No, maybe not.