No! This Is Going Too Far! (3)
It came crashing down.
Massive boulders and tons of earth began pouring downward. It looked as though a colossal wave of yellow soil were surging toward them.
Dust burst up like a cloud, and the rocks tumbled down and down as if they were exploding apart.
“Jump, you idiots!”
That was the instant Chung Myung shouted.
The disciples of Mount Hua hurled themselves toward the edge the very moment they heard his voice, without the slightest hesitation. Their bodies moved before their minds had even finished thinking.
It was, in truth, an astonishing bond of trust.
But the others still hadn’t understood what was happening.
“No! You brainless fools! Jump now! Are you deaf or what?!”
Chung Myung kicked anyone in sight and sent them flying over the edge.
“Wh-what is—”
“What is your ass!”
He seized the person next to him by the collar and, without the slightest pause, threw him clean off the cliff.
“Aaaaargh! That insane bastard!”
Then he tore across the cliff top like lightning.
“When!”
Thwack!
“A person!”
Thwack!
“Speaks!”
Thwack!
“You’re supposed to listen, damn it!”
He swept over the cliff like a storm, kicking every human he could reach and hurling them away. The moment the others saw that, they screamed and threw themselves down the cliff as well.
“Malko!”
Chung Myung shouted at Heo Sanja.
“Jump down now!”
“What are you doing?! That’s nothing but rushing headlong into death!”
“I said jump, so jump! Now!”
Leaving those words behind, Chung Myung also leapt off the cliff.
Heo Sanja bit his lip hard as he watched.
“Elder?”
It was a question asking what they should do. There was no time to think it through.
“Jump down! We’re heading below!”
“Yes, sir!”
Watching the disciples begin to leap down one after another, Heo Sanja too threw himself off the cliff.
That boy is beyond anything I imagined!
Then perhaps entrusting their fate to him was one way forward.
“Rraaaaargh!”
Chung Myung kicked off the air several times.
Normally, when falling, one lightened the body and sent true qi downward to slow the descent, but Chung Myung was doing the opposite. He was pouring on speed, shooting toward the ground with all his might.
Damn it, there’s no time!
The ceiling in the distant chamber had collapsed, buying them only a brief reprieve. But soon those boulders would slam into the floor, and after that all that remained for everyone here would be a happy little mass burial.
KUUUUUUUUNGH!
When Chung Myung smashed into the floor, a deafening roar rang out and shards of stone burst into the air in all directions.
“Ghhhhh.”
“Chung Myung! The way we came is completely blocked!”
“I knew it. That rotten old bastard!”
Chung Myung ground his teeth. The path they had taken to get here had already been sealed with solid stone walls.
Should he cut through?
Like hell that would work.
The man who built a place like this would never fail to prepare for that. In all likelihood, cutting through that stone wall was almost impossible.
Even if they managed to hack their way out, there was no guarantee the whole place wouldn’t collapse along with it.
Chung Myung decided to push forward with the thought he’d first had. If the bastard named Yak Seon really wasn’t a complete madman who’d snapped clean in half, then there had to be a way to survive.
“Chung Myung! What do we do now?”
“The floor!”
Chung Myung shouted without delay.
“Dig the floor! Now! There’s gotta be something under it!”
“The floor?”
“Don’t ask questions and move!”
Chung Myung also drew his sword and stabbed it wildly into the floor, just as Wudang had once found the entrance to the Sword Tomb.
Seeing what he did, everyone else, one after another, thrust their weapons into the ground. For now, they had no choice but to follow that bastard.
“Here!”
“There’s one here too! The sword won’t go in!”
“Here as well!”
But this time the problem wasn’t that they couldn’t find anything.
The problem was that everyone had found something.
Chung Myung’s face brightened.
“Dig! Dig, you bastards! Tear off everything covering it! Now!”
Without even realizing it, everyone had begun moving on Chung Myung’s command by reflex. In a situation where no one could see a hand in front of his face, if everyone had gone blind, there was nothing left but to follow the words of the one who could still see.
Even if he was some little brat from Mount Hua who had come out of nowhere.
“Aaaaaargh!”
“Aaaahhh!”
With bloodshot eyes, everyone began digging at the earth. Those with weapons swung them, while those without used both hands to claw away the hard-packed floor.
So what if their weapons were damaged? So what if their fingernails bent backward? They were all about to die, after all.
“Dig! Faster, you bastards! Don’t straighten your backs—work!”
Even Chung Myung, who had been barking orders like a madman, swung his sword violently.
“Orachaaa!”
Every time he brought the blade down, earth as large as a man’s body flew aside. But the floor was wide, and the place to dig was far too…
“Haaah!”
Then a blue sword aura like a bolt of silk drove into the ground.
KAANG! KWAAAANG!
“That’s it!”
These utterly useless bastards were actually pretty useful here! That broad, ceaseless sword aura was perfect for digging through the floor.
They should’ve put their talents to use and dug caves long ago instead of swallowing pills and chasing longevity! Damn Malko bastards!
“There’s metal here!”
“A metal plate’s laid all over it! Even sword aura won’t get through!”
At someone’s shout, Heo Sanja hurried over, drawing out his sword aura.
“Stand back. I’ll cut it—”
“Aaaaargh!”
At that moment Chung Myung rushed over and kicked him in the side.
Heo Sanja was sent rolling across the floor by the blow he had never imagined coming, and stared at Chung Myung in shock.
“W-what are you doing—”
“What do you think you’re doing, you insane malko bastard?! That’s our lifeline!”
“That’s….”
Leaving Heo Sanja, who clearly still didn’t understand the situation, Chung Myung lifted his head and looked up.
“Oh, shit…”
Already, the boulders were collapsing through the cracks in the cliff where the divine troops had been.
No, no good!
At this rate, they wouldn’t make it out in time.
Chung Myung’s head snapped back down. Somehow, there had to be a way…
“There!”
Shouting, Chung Myung threw himself to the side.
There it was!
Though it was half-buried under dirt and stone, the material there was unmistakably different from the rest.
Chung Myung swung his sword like lightning.
KWAAAAAAANG!
The earth and gravel scattered in every direction, and the floor was laid bare at last!
“Th-this is…!”
“A door! Aaaaargh!”
Bloodshot veins stood out in Chung Myung’s eyes.
A door.
The same sort of structure they had seen when they first entered this place.
Only, the first door had had the image of swords pointing at one another carved into it, while this one bore the image of two swords stabbed into the ground.
“Here! Cut here, malko!”
Heo Sanja rushed over at once and swung his sword.
Faaast! Faaast!
The door was sliced into dozens of pieces. At the same time, a pitch-black hole revealed itself once more.
Without even turning around, Chung Myung reached out to the side.
Grab!
“Huh?”
Baek Cheon turned to look at Chung Myung, startled.
“Go, Sa-suk!”
“Huh? Hey, you insane litt— Aaaaargh!”
Chung Myung threw Baek Cheon into the hole. Then he seized the Mount Hua disciples nearby and one by one stuffed them into it as if he were dumping them in.
“Jump on your own! If you don’t want to die!”
There was no room for hesitation.
Everyone threw themselves into the hole with every scrap of strength they had left. Instinct told them that this was the only way they would survive here.
“Jump! Jump! Now!”
Then Chung Myung caught sight of something bizarre.
Far off to one side, the Beggars’ Sect members were carrying the injured on their backs. In a situation where even leaping for your life was no guarantee of survival, they were helping wounded men who couldn’t even walk on their own.
“Ah, those crazy—!”
Chung Myung sprinted toward them and grabbed Hong Dae-gwang by the collar.
“W-whoa?”
“What the hell are you doing, you damn beggar!!”
“There are injured people! If we leave them here, they’ll die!”
“I’m the one who’s gonna die! I’m the one who’s gonna die! Damn it! How the hell did you idiots even get this far?!”
Chung Myung snatched up every Beggars’ Sect member and wounded person who still hadn’t grasped the situation and flung them toward the entrance.
“Use your damn brains and be nosy later!”
At last, after throwing away everyone he could get his hands on, Chung Myung’s gaze shot upward.
“Aw, shit!”
Boulders were falling as if they were about to flatten him at any second.
“Aaaaargh!”
With a bestial scream, Chung Myung hurled himself aside to dodge. A chilling wind brushed the top of his head. He flopped flat against the floor and began crawling toward the hole on all fours.
The speed of a man running with both arms and both legs was enough to make anyone’s jaw drop. He looked like some huge, ugly roach scrambling for its life at full speed.
“What are you doing, malko?!”
“Hurry!”
Heo Sanja, who had been guarding the entrance to the very end after shoving the disciples into the pit, shouted at Chung Myung.
“Jump in! Now!”
“Mind your damn business!”
A boulder came crashing down toward Heo Sanja’s head. Chung Myung kicked off the floor, flew over, seized Heo Sanja around the waist, and spun his body around.
“Orachaaa!”
He kicked away the boulder hurtling straight at them and used the rebound to leap into the hole. The speed was monstrous….
KUUUUNGH!
“Ghk!”
Chung Myung’s eyes went wild.
The problem was that he hadn’t realized the hole, which had looked terrifyingly deep, was actually only as deep as a person standing up.
Chung Myung, who had rammed his head into the floor with all his strength, rolled around clutching his skull.
“Aaaaaagh! You rotten bastard, Yak Seon!”
It was absolutely not Yak Seon’s fault, but right now Chung Myung was in no mood to care.
He groaned while holding his head for a moment longer, then jumped up and looked around.
It was a space that was both large and cramped at once.
And in that space, all the survivors had gathered.
“I-is it over?”
“Chung Myung! Are you all right?”
All right?
If I’m all right, then what about the rest of you?
“I’m fine, and we—”
We’d better see.
Chung Myung looked upward with bloodshot eyes. Yak Seon must have discovered this space and intended to save anyone who entered it.
But…
I don’t know about the rest, but not here.
Even Yak Seon, who built the Sword Tomb, would never have been able to test this place. After all, who could know whether it would withstand boulders falling like rain?
Chung Myung prayed that Yak Seon had truly been a once-in-a-millennium genius and had made this place perfectly.
And then, in that very instant—
KUUUUUUNG!
KUUUUUUUUUNG!
KWAAAAAAANG!
The impact of the falling boulders swept through the space. It was like a giant cannon had exploded right in front of them.
His insides twisted, and his eardrums felt like they’d burst. Those who spat up blood from their mouths clutched their faces and rolled on the floor.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Aaaaaah!”
Cries rang out everywhere, but at the very least the disciples of Mount Hua and Wudang held firm against the shock and kept watch on the situation.
Still, things looked terribly grim.
Baek Cheon’s face had gone pale as death.
“Ch-Chung Myung! Damn it, it’s collapsing!”
The metal bracing in the ceiling had begun to bend. It hadn’t broken under the impact, but it seemed impossible for it to preserve its shape under repeated shocks.
This made one thing painfully clear: this place could not withstand the force of the sky collapsing.
“Aaaargh! Yaakseeeoooon!”
You bastard, why do you have to be such a half-wit? If you’re going to be smart, then be smart properly!
At this rate they’d all be crushed flat into one miserable lump.
“Better to die than suffer through this! Damn it!”
Chung Myung sprang to his feet and thrust both hands up toward the ceiling.
KUUNG! KUUUUUUNG!
“Kgh!”
Every time the impact came, it felt as though his waist was being torn apart. But he had to endure it. If the space itself couldn’t hold, then they had no choice but to add the strength of human hands.
Chung Myung drew out every last bit of true qi in his dantian and shoved the ceiling upward as though his life depended on it.
“What are you doing, you bastards?! Do you want to die?!”
Heo Sanja was the first to understand what Chung Myung was doing.
“Amitabha!”
He hurried over. Standing in the center, he stretched out both hands beside Chung Myung, who was bearing the ceiling.
“Hraaaah!”
He gathered every ounce of strength left to him and pushed the ceiling upward.
Before long, those who could stand on two feet all rushed in and helped support it.
At this rate, they would all die. They had to stop it from collapsing no matter what.
“Forget whatever first heaven qi or nonsense you’ve got and throw everything in! If we lose here, we all die, got it?”
Chung Myung bared his teeth, madness blazing in his eyes.
Die? Here?
What a joke.
“I’m not—”
KUUUUUUUUUUNG!
“—dying here, you bastards!”
KWAAAAAAANG!
KWAAAAAAANG!
KWAAAAAAANG!
The boulders slammed down all at once, and the impact—as if the world itself had collapsed—swept through the dark chamber.