Our Kids Are a Little Fierce (1)
The sky over the Northern Sea was usually dark and brooding beneath its grim weather, but today it was eerily clear and bright. Sunlight poured down over the land.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Under that crystalline sky, the disciples of Mount Hua sprinted across the dazzling field of snow.
As they closed the distance, the fortress wall loomed larger and larger. At the head of the charge, Baek Cheon’s expression hardened.
“Chung Myung!”
“Yeah?”
“Up, or the gate?”
“What the hell kind of question is that? Up, obviously!”
“Got it!”
Without slowing, Baek Cheon hurled himself toward the wall.
And then—
Whoosh!
He kicked off the ground, rose into the air, and began running up the smooth fortress wall as though it were level earth. The other disciples followed in his wake, scrambling up the Ice Palace’s wall like flying squirrels.
“What the—?”
“My heavens!”
The Northern Sea warriors trailing behind them gaped in disbelief before they could stop themselves.
Winter in the Northern Sea was brutal, and blizzards raged almost without pause. Because of that, the surface of the wall froze over every winter, packed snow turning it into something no different from a sheer sheet of ice. And yet those Mount Hua disciples were climbing that slick wall as if nothing at all were wrong.
Even though he had already seen it once, Yeo Sa-hon had been staring blankly at the spectacle until he came to his senses with a start and shouted, “We have to climb the wall! Don’t fall behind them!”
But no matter how determined a person was, not everything in this world could be solved by willpower alone. The men who had leapt at the wall out of competitive fire, trying to imitate Mount Hua, slipped at once and crashed down in embarrassing heaps.
“Agh!”
“Ghk! Watch your footing! It’s unbelievably slippery!”
Those who managed to kick off the wall once or twice more could not go any higher and merely clung to the ice.
When they looked up, they saw Mount Hua’s disciples already nearly halfway up the wall.
How is that even possible?
It was absurd beyond reason.
The former elders of the Ice Palace could at least climb the wall with relative ease, but even they could not advance as effortlessly as those young martial artists from the Central Plains.
No matter how strong Mount Hua’s disciples were, they surely couldn’t be as strong as the Ice Palace’s former elders at that age. So what in the world was this bizarre feat?
“Don’t force it! Focus on getting up the wall first!”
“There! The ice where the Central Plains fighters stepped has cracked! That way!”
The Northern Sea warriors wiped away every stray thought and began to crawl up the ice wall. They were martial artists too; if they took it slowly, there was no reason they couldn’t climb.
Only…
“You little bald prick, are you trying to die? Get your ass up there faster!”
“S-Sir. T-the ice is too slippery!”
“What the hell, those Shaolin bastards are so damn slow!”
“Amitabha! Amitabha!”
“Amitabha my ass, you bastard!”
Seeing Chung Myung scaling the cliff while kicking a monk in yellow robes left them too stunned for words.
What exactly are those people?
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Unbothered by the chaos behind them, Mount Hua’s disciples continued driving straight up the wall. From a distance, it almost looked as though someone atop the wall was hauling them upward by force.
“So-so! Be careful!”
“Don’t worry about me—just hurry up, Sasuk!”
“Got it!”
Baek Cheon’s lips curled upward.
Ice wall or not, cliff or not, Mount Hua’s disciples were sick to death of cliffs. Sure, it was a little slippery, but compared to the wildly jagged, fractured cliffs of Mount Hua, this was nothing.
Tap-tap-tap!
At that moment, Jo Gul, who had been below him, suddenly shot upward in one swift burst.
“I’ll go ahead and clear the path, Sasuk!”
“Gul! Don’t push yourself!”
“This is nothing!”
Confidence surging through him, Jo Gul climbed the wall like a streak of light. At last, the top edge came into view.
All he had to do was get up there first…
That was when it happened.
Huh?
At the far end of the wall, where it met the sky, a group of martial artists suddenly leaned their heads out and looked down, as though watching the climbers below.
“Even so….”
Huh?
Jo Gul, who had been muttering smugly, blinked.
The figures peering down were holding something long and narrow aimed below. A long, curved wooden shaft, and strung between the wood—something sharp…
“Bows?”
“Fire!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Arrows shot downward in a coordinated volley. Seeing the storm of arrows pour toward him, Jo Gul’s jaw dropped.
“What the hell? Since when do bows show up in a martial arts fight?! Aaaagh!”
Jo Gul quickly slapped away the arrows with his plum blossom sword.
The arrows loosed by martial artists, reinforced with inner power, carried weight far beyond ordinary shafts. No matter how used one was to climbing cliffs, there was no way it was easy to repel every one of those arrows while standing on a slippery wall.
“You—!”
Just as Jo Gul kicked off the wall and swung his sword—
Skid.
“Huh?”
His planted foot slipped on the wall, and his leg suddenly dropped out from under him. With his posture ruined, there was no way he could keep deflecting the arrows properly.
He barely managed to knock away the shafts aimed at his face and shoulder, but he couldn’t absorb the rebound; he was thrown from the fortress wall and began to fall.
“Aaaagh! Damn ittttt!”
“Gul!”
“Jo Gul!”
As Jo Gul screamed and plunged downward, he suddenly came to a dead stop in midair.
“...Huh?”
He looked at the ground that was no longer getting any closer, then slowly turned his head and looked up.
“...”
Chung Myung was holding him by the ankle and staring down with a face like a demon from hell.
Only then did Jo Gul understand what he had done, and his face went pale.
“Ch-Chung Myung, no, I mean…”
“I’ll deal with you after this fight, senior brother.”
“...”
Chung Myung swung Jo Gul back against the wall and fixed his gaze upward.
“Sasuk!”
“Right, I’m coming!”
Baek Cheon scaled the wall like a bolt of lightning.
“Shoot!”
Whoosh! Swoosh! Whizz!
The arrow storm came again without fail, but Baek Cheon calmly swept his sword and cut them all down cleanly. At the front, he and Yu I-seol deflected the arrows without much difficulty.
But—
“Aaaagh!”
“Arrows!”
The disciples following below had no way to fight back against the arrows while climbing the wall.
Seeing one climber after another struck and sent falling, Yoon Jong’s expression grew hard.
“I should go and hold them off…”
“Leave it and keep climbing! It’s faster to deal with those bastards than to cover for them!”
“Understood!”
Yoon Jong also increased his speed without another word, following Chung Myung’s command.
The man issuing orders from atop the wall cursed when he saw that even with arrows raining down, the Mount Hua disciples still refused to fall.
“Shoot! Shoot! Focus on the front! Bring down those bastards first!”
“Yes, sir!”
“The oil! Where’s the oil? Bring the boiling oil!”
“It’s on the way!”
Hearing the thunderous shouts ringing in his ears, Baek Cheon’s face twisted.
This is outright warfare.
He had expected a battle against the Ice Palace to be something like the fight with Maninbang had been, but he had never imagined they would be forced into a siege from the very beginning.
If they had tried to climb this wall without those who were used to cliffs, the casualties would have been unimaginable.
Clack! Crack!
The arrows concentrated most heavily on Baek Cheon at the front. The force slamming into his sword and traveling up to his wrist gradually slowed his steps. Even Baek Cheon found it exhausting to climb a cliff while deflecting a rainstorm of arrows.
“Shoooot!”
“That bastard!”
It was then.
“Sasuk. Your shoulder.”
“Hm?”
Yu I-seol, climbing just behind him, kicked Baek Cheon’s shoulder and launched herself high into the air.
“Sago!”
She flipped once in midair. Using the momentum, she hurled her sword upward toward the top of the wall.
Whoooooosh!
The spinning blade flew toward the fighters exposing themselves to fire arrows.
“Duck!”
“Get down!”
Whip!
They hastily crouched, and the sword skimmed viciously over their heads.
It had not actually cut anyone down. But buying even that brief moment was enough to lift the burden on Baek Cheon in an instant.
“Raaah!”
Baek Cheon seized the opening, sprinted hard up the wall, and leapt higher.
Yu I-seol caught the returning sword, then, without a shred of hesitation, plunged back down.
“Take it.”
“You little—! Damn it!”
Chung Myung shot through the air with a burst of curses, grabbed her, and flung her back against the wall. Then he kicked off empty space once more and clung back to the wall himself.
“You saw that once and then immediately used it?!”
“Because I can catch it.”
That flat tone only made it more infuriating.
“I’d rather die than live with this!”
Grinding his teeth, Chung Myung looked upward.
“Tch!”
Baek Cheon’s body was wavering.
Of course it was. The closer one got to the archers, the stronger the force behind the arrows became. The shock of dozens of arrows striking at once made Baek Cheon’s foot slide on the wall.
Thud.
But before he could lose his balance completely, Yoon Jong’s hand braced his foot firmly.
“Step on it and climb, Sasuk!”
“Right!”
Baek Cheon gritted his teeth and glared upward. But this wasn’t something that could be solved by willpower alone. How could anyone easily repel dozens of arrows at once while climbing a slippery wall?
I need another way…
Then an all-too-familiar voice brushed past his ear.
“Hey, bald monk.”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Time to earn your keep.”
“Pardon?”
Baek Cheon reflexively looked down.
Chung Myung, clinging to the wall, suddenly shot upward and descended slowly toward Hye Yeon.
Hye Yeon seemed to catch on to his intent at once and nodded. He planted both feet firmly in the crack made by the shattered ice, then arched his upper body back until it was nearly perpendicular to the wall.
At the same time, he laid his right hand across his waist, and golden Buddhist energy began to pour from his body.
“Don’t tell me…”
Was that madman serious?
Chung Myung, crouched slightly in midair, stretched out his foot toward Hye Yeon.
In that instant, Hye Yeon thrust the right hand at his waist like a bolt of lightning, striking Chung Myung’s foot and flinging it upward.
BOOOOOM!
The qi bursting from Hye Yeon’s golden fist surged skyward like a golden dragon ascending heaven. Riding that power, Chung Myung shot up over the wall as though he were an immortal ascending upon a dragon.
“What—!”
“W-What is that?”
The Ice Palace warriors guarding the top of the wall gasped and lifted their heads.
“That insane bastard!”
“Wow… he’s actually crazy.”
Even Mount Hua’s disciples were blinded by the sheer spectacle.
The sun blazing in the flawless blue sky.
And Chung Myung, with the sun at his back.
Like a hawk diving for its prey, he plummeted toward the top of the wall.
“Sto—!”
At that instant, everyone who had been about to shout froze.
Chung Myung’s eyes met theirs.
The moment they saw those cold, emotionless eyes, their whole bodies went icy, as though all the blood had been drained away.
Whoosh!
Chung Myung spun once, slashing his sword, and landed lightly atop the wall. He lowered himself to touch the ground, then slowly straightened, showing no sign of haste at all.
And then—
Fwoosh!
Blood erupted in sprays from the throats of the men standing in his way.
Staggering, spilling blood everywhere, they collapsed one after another with dull thuds.
“...”
A frigid silence settled over the top of the wall.
Chung Myung casually flicked the blood from his sword and said with an expressionless face, “Let’s get started.”
The sword of Mount Hua closed the distance in an instant toward the white-robed martial artists.