You’ve Been Waiting a Long Time, Haven’t You? (5)
Seol So-baek’s body was shaking like a leaf in the wind.
His vision swam, and he could barely breathe.
His heart pounded so wildly it felt as if it might burst out of his chest at any moment. Faced with the murderous aura and demonic energy spilling from the Demonic Sect, it felt as though his soul itself was being trampled under muddy boots.
He felt as if his body were sinking without end.
At last, he could understand all too well why the Ice Palace warriors had scattered and collapsed so helplessly.
I, I...
Then a small hand settled onto his shoulder, which was trembling so hard his face had gone pale.
He jerked his head around on instinct. Dang Soso, standing beside him, was looking at him with a hardened face.
“Don’t worry, Palace Lord.”
“...”
“We won’t lose.”
Seol So-baek’s eyes wavered.
She’s not afraid?
Impossible.
They were the same kind of human being. Even if Dang Soso was incomparably stronger than he was, as long as they were both human, there was no way she wouldn’t feel fear looking at those beastlike monsters.
So how could she not be shaking like that?
And it wasn’t just Dang Soso.
The Ice Palace had been unable to stop the Demonic Sect even with nearly ten times their number. No, it wasn’t merely that they had failed to stop them.
If they had fought with all they had and still been overwhelmed by something beyond their control, at least they could have held their heads high. But the Ice Palace hadn’t even dared to fight; they had turned their backs and fled.
They had abandoned the fight entirely and shown a sight that warriors should never, ever reveal.
And yet—
Despite being only a fraction of the Demonic Sect’s numbers, the Mount Hua disciples had stood their ground without taking a single step back.
What was different?
What on earth was different that led to this result?
Mount Hua...
Seol So-baek forced strength into his trembling legs. He wanted nothing more than to open that gate and run, but he couldn’t do that.
I have to see.
He had to see what, exactly, made them different.
Clang-clang-clank!
A blackened hand and a sword tinted white collided in midair. Hand and blade struck together, and absurdly enough, a sound like metal screeching against metal rang out.
Baek Cheon bit down hard on his lip.
His sword was holding back the enemy’s attacks steadily enough. But as the clashes mounted, even that was beginning to feel like too much.
Throb.
The murderous aura radiating from the Demonic Sect warrior stung his skin. His heart lurched again and again, and the hairs all over his body stood on end.
He felt two things.
First, his opponent wasn’t as powerful as he had feared.
That didn’t mean the opponent wasn’t strong, of course, only that it wasn’t on the same level as the terror Baek Cheon had felt while watching them slaughter the Ice Palace one-sidedly. Not at all.
And the second was—
Even so, fighting them is more troublesome than I expected.
Martial skill wasn’t everything.
It was a saying he had heard so often his ears had grown numb to it, but the moment he faced a Demonic Sect warrior, he understood exactly what it meant.
To face someone who had surrendered entirely to madness and would not rest until they had killed their opponent, caring nothing for their own life—that was a horrifyingly difficult thing, no matter how high one’s martial arts were.
On top of that, their movements and momentum ignored all common sense, leaving the mind no choice but to become unsettled.
Every time their blades met, his stamina and his mental strength were being chipped away.
But Baek Cheon was not the kind to be pushed back and do nothing.
Thud!
Stamping down hard, he used every ounce of strength he had to drive the opponent back. Then, as soon as he secured distance, he unleashed the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art.
As plum blossoms began to bloom brilliantly across the air, the Demonic Sect warrior who had been forced back glared with blood-red eyes. The muttering chant that had never ceased until now stopped for a brief moment, and a voice like metal being scraped across stone slipped out.
“Tricks...!”
The warrior lunged at the plum blossoms.
“Haaah!”
Qi in the form of long talons tore through the blooming flowers suspended in the air, as if some monstrous bird were raking its razor claws through a field of plum blossoms.
The flowers, so brilliantly opened a moment ago, were shattered and scattered before they could even fully flutter.
And then—
Kwaaaaaaaah!
The palm force Hye Yeon unleashed swept across the Demonic Sect warrior’s body at terrifying speed.
Kuooooooong!
With a sound like a giant temple bell being struck, the warrior was flung backward in a spray of blood.
But—
Crack-crack!
The Demonic Sect warrior twisting in midair drove his talon-shaped qi into the ground.
Grind! Grind! Grind!
The solid stone floor split with a series of sharp cracks. And in the end, instead of falling through the broken wall, the warrior stopped on the edge at the very last instant and forced himself upright.
Blood was streaming from the warrior’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Anyone could see he had sustained serious injuries. And yet, even with wounds like that, he didn’t let out a single groan.
“...Heavenly Demon’s return, all under heaven blessed.”
He merely kept muttering the chant over and over, blood gurgling up into his mouth.
Blood pouring from his whole body, a blank face, and that lunatic chant—combined, they left the Mount Hua disciples momentarily speechless. The sight was so chilling it raised gooseflesh along their spines.
“Heavenly Demon’s return...”
The dragging sound of footsteps each time the Demonic Sect warriors advanced seemed to rake straight across the chest.
Baek Cheon, who had been resolute all this time, felt his eyes waver for a split second.
Then Jo Gul’s firm voice came from behind him.
“Sasuk, if you’re having a hard time, let’s switch!”
“...”
Baek Cheon snapped back to his senses, grinding his teeth so hard they hurt.
“Stand there and watch, you brat!”
His voice rose, but his mind had actually calmed.
He bent his knees again, which had gone rigid with tension, and steadied his stance. He settled his raised shoulders, and let the pounding in his chest subside.
Words he had heard countless times. Things he no longer merely understood but had internalized. Yet whenever the real fighting began, they still slipped his mind and went awry.
Think constantly. Then think again.
No matter who the opponent was, the first thing was to set myself straight.
The tip of Baek Cheon’s sword, which had been wavering slightly, returned to perfect stillness.
Of course, the enemy was strong and bizarre. But that was no reason for Baek Cheon to hold back any of his strength.
Heavy.
Behind him stood his sajils. They were watching his back right now, and he could feel more keenly than ever how much weight that carried.
Don’t whine.
And yet Baek Cheon’s gaze grew firmer, harder, with no gaps left to leak through.
Wasn’t there someone who led not just a few sajils, but the entire Mount Hua Sect on his back? If so, how could he possibly tremble at a crisis like this and still keep his face?
The Demonic Sect warriors who had broken through the Ice Palace’s defenses were still climbing up, one after another.
Now there were already six.
But—
Six or ten, it doesn’t matter!
“Not a single one of you is getting through!”
As Baek Cheon’s sword moved with unwavering resolve, drawing vivid plum blossoms through the air, Yu I-seol’s sword followed in perfect harmony, causing her own plum blossoms to burst into full bloom at the front line.
The scene spread out like Mount Hua welcoming spring.
Swish!
The Demonic Sect warriors weren’t just standing by and watching. Every time they swept both hands, black qi shaped like demonic claws tore through the blossoms, and black palm force like vengeful spirits in the dark shattered the petals.
But being pushed back was no reason to retreat.
Because even where the petals fell, the plum blossoms kept blooming again and again.
The Plum Blossom in Full Bloom form of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art exploded from Baek Cheon and Yu I-seol’s sword tips. It was an attack infused with soul.
The swelling mass of plum blossoms instantly engulfed the entire front.
“What...?”
A startled breath escaped from the mouth of a Demonic Sect warrior.
But they had no time to be shocked. The blooming plum blossoms trembled and swayed for a split second before they surged down over them like a tidal wave.
Light blazed from the Demonic Sect warriors’ eyes. Black demonic energy erupted from their bodies as they charged straight into the forest of plum blossoms rather than away from it.
The plum-blossom sword qi flying toward them pierced their bodies, but the Demonic Sect warriors only charged more fiercely, more savagely. They could not block every petal-like blade that flew at them, so they chose instead to protect only their heads and centers as they rushed forward.
Slash! Slash!
Plum-blossom sword qi cut into limbs, pierced thighs, yet the Demonic Sect warriors did not slow even as blood poured from them.
“Heavenly Demon’s return, all under heaven blessed!”
At last, a Demonic Sect warrior who had smashed his way through the forest of plum blossoms with his own body spat up blood and swung both hands toward Baek Cheon’s head.
Thud!
But Baek Cheon’s sword struck first, piercing the warrior’s chest.
Under normal circumstances, any sane person would have retreated there.
But the Demonic Sect warrior did not step back even once. Even as the sword buried itself deeper into his chest, he simply kept advancing, blood streaming from his mouth.
“Khk!”
Baek Cheon wasn’t surprised by this sight anymore. But not being surprised didn’t make dealing with it any easier.
He quickly took a step back and tried to pull his sword free.
But at that very instant—
Grip!
The Demonic Sect warrior clenched his chest muscles and caught Baek Cheon’s sword in a vice-like hold. Even as the blade ground and dug into his flesh, there was no sign of pain in the warrior’s eyes.
Baek Cheon’s eyes flew wide open.
“Heh-heh.”
“You... insane bastard!”
And in that opening, other Demonic Sect warriors leaped over Baek Cheon’s head.
Yu I-seol and Hye Yeon were each locked in fights of their own at Baek Cheon’s sides, making it difficult to stop them immediately.
“Amitabha!”
Hye Yeon cried out in a panic, striking down one of the leaping men. But it was an attack with little meaning. No matter how powerful Hye Yeon was, he couldn’t possibly take on all of them at once.
The sacrifice of one Demonic Sect warrior.
A sacrifice whose value no one could understand.
Using that, the Demonic Sect warriors succeeded in completely breaking the Mount Hua disciples’ formation.
Swish!
Yu I-seol gritted her teeth and sent her sword flying. Fast and precise, aimed only at the opponent’s openings.
Her sword was more efficient than anything, but against foes who would not retreat even after being wounded, its power was inevitably weakened.
Slash!
Even with Yu I-seol’s sword buried in his shoulder, a Demonic Sect warrior swung his clawed hand. Three distinct red lines appeared beside her neck.
And thick blood soon began to run down in a steady stream.
But she didn’t even glance at the wound. She simply brought her blade down and ripped into the enemy’s injury.
“Kruh...”
Bang!
The instant the Demonic Sect warrior staggered, Yu I-seol’s foot slammed into his abdomen. She kicked him so hard he went flying, then used the recoil to spring herself backward into the air.
Her sword shot upward as if it would strike the ceiling, then scattered plum blossoms toward the backs of the enemies rushing past Baek Cheon and toward Jo Gul and Yoon Jong.
Slash! Slash!
Every place the plum blossoms reached was carved deep, and bone showed through. But their momentum didn’t slow in the slightest.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, you bastards!”
The one who met the Demonic Sect warriors charging forward with even fiercer killing intent because the summit was so near was Jo Gul.
“Do I look like a scarecrow to you?”
Swish!
Jo Gul’s dazzling swift sword struck and pierced the Demonic Sect warriors. They flinched for a split second at the unexpected speed, but in the end their charge did not slow at all.
“Kahahat!”
A Demonic Sect warrior let out a beastlike howl and swung his hand. The qi that burst from its tips looked ready to tear Jo Gul apart from head to toe.
Slash! Slash!
But once again, Jo Gul’s sword was a step faster. He mercilessly bored through the Demonic Sect warrior’s chest and abdomen, then drew his sword back and rolled his body away.
Grind-grind-grind!
At nearly the same instant, the floor where he had been standing split open in a deep gouge. The five deep slash marks it left were enough to make anyone who saw them stand on end.
“Khk!”
A groan slipped from Jo Gul’s mouth. He couldn’t avoid it entirely; his back burned, and pain came surging in.
Blood dripped steadily from the long gash across his back.
“Gul!”
“Don’t worry about it, Sasuk! I’m not dying!”
Jo Gul shouted. Yoon Jong looked at the wound, then finally bit his lip hard and nodded.
Their eyes both flicked, almost at once, toward Chung Myung.
Chung Myung, sitting in lotus position and circulating his inner energy, wore a calm expression utterly detached from the situation, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
“Damn it, that bastard’s always so irritating.”
“Tsk.”
After muttering under their breaths, Jo Gul and Yoon Jong tightened their grips on their swords again as the Demonic Sect warriors came charging once more.
“You’re not laying a finger on him!”
“Fight like your lives depend on it!”
Even in the middle of all this, more Demonic Sect warriors were climbing up through the broken wall, one by one.
They knew it.
They knew it was impossible to hold all of them back with their strength alone.
But it didn’t matter.
Even for one more instant!
They would hold.
Kwaaaaaang!
A Demonic Sect warrior’s black palm strike slammed viciously into Jo Gul’s sword. Unable to withstand the force, Jo Gul was sent flying backward in a spray of blood.
“Damn it!”
Realizing Chung Myung was behind him, Jo Gul stabbed his sword into the ground for an instant and twisted his body. It saved him from crashing into Chung Myung, but he still ended up slammed into the wall without any chance to defend himself.
Thud!
“Cough!”
Blood erupted from his mouth. Before he could even wipe it away, Jo Gul shouted, “Sasuk!”
“I know!”
Yoon Jong expanded his sword style wide, blocking not only his own opponent but even the one Jo Gul had been fighting.
“Huff!”
Rough breaths burst from his mouth.
Because he was fighting at the very back, the battle unfolding in front of him was painfully clear.
Hye Yeon was flinging palm force again and again, shaking off those trying to force their way in here. If he hadn’t been standing at the entrance reducing the number of enemies, they would never have been able to hold out this long.
Baek Cheon was fighting hard too.
At the center of the line, he was swinging his sword so fiercely he seemed already covered in wounds everywhere. Blood stained his uniform in one place after another.
But he did not retreat even a single inch. As if he would cling to the enemy’s trouser leg if he had to, just to keep them from passing any farther back.
Sasuk!
Yoon Jong clenched his teeth.
Beside Baek Cheon, Yu I-seol was cutting down enemies with a face so cold it was almost expressionless. One half of her uniform was soaked with the blood running from her neck.
Everyone was fighting with everything they had...
Damn it.
And yet, inch by inch, they were being pushed back.
Those bastards were unnervingly skilled.
They knew they were trying to protect Chung Myung, and they were aiming for Chung Myung with ruthless persistence. Trying to block that made everyone’s hands and feet tangle up, making the heart race in panic.
Clang!
“Khk!”
Yoon Jong, fighting two Demonic Sect warriors at once, found his sword forced backward by the sudden onslaught of power.
And then—
Slash!
A claw from one of the Demonic Sect warriors swept across Yoon Jong’s exposed chest.
“Sa-saaahyyuuuung!”
Jo Gul’s desperate cry pierced his ears, but Yoon Jong only clicked his tongue inwardly.
What was there to make such a fuss over just a torn patch of flesh?
The wounds Chung Myung had taken while facing Maninbang were far worse, and they couldn’t even be compared to the injuries Yoon Jong had sustained.
“Come at me!”
Yoon Jong roared with uncharacteristic fury and swept his sword once.
At that moment, from behind him, a sharp dagger wrapped in blue qi shot toward the Demonic Sect warriors. It was Dang Soso.
Clang! Clang!
The Demonic Sect warriors instinctively waved their hands and knocked the daggers aside. And Yoon Jong did not miss that opening.
“Haaah!”
The plum blossoms created by Yoon Jong’s sword engulfed the Demonic Sect warriors. And as if refusing to miss the opportunity either, Jo Gul flashed in like lightning and added a furious wave of sword qi on top.
This should drive them back...
And then, at that very instant—
Huh?
Yoon Jong saw something bizarre.
Within the forest of plum blossoms created by the two of them, something black was slowly, very slowly, forcing its way through.
What was truly strange was that the black hand looked unbearably slow to Yoon Jong’s eyes.
And it wasn’t only the hand that was slow. The plum-blossom sword qi he had created, and Jo Gul’s sword qi layered over it, were both unimaginably sluggish. Even Baek Cheon and Yu I-seol, and the Demonic Sect warriors visible beyond them, all seemed to be moving far too slowly.
This is...
At last, the hand reached for his neck.
It looked horribly slow, but even if he tried to dodge, his body wouldn’t move, as if it had frozen in place.
This was surely...
Death...
The Demonic Sect warrior’s hand, filled with the energy of death, came right up to his throat.
Yoon Jong squeezed his eyes shut without meaning to.
Mount Hua...
And then—
BOOOOOOOOM!
Suddenly, an enormous explosion rang out, and Yoon Jong’s body was thrown violently backward.
“Wha... what...?”
Thud.
He was hurled back so suddenly he landed hard on his backside. He stared ahead in a daze.
What just happened?
He touched his neck on reflex, only to find it perfectly intact. There should have been a hole through it, shouldn’t there?
Instead, the Demonic Sect warrior who had been aiming for his neck had been flung far away and was lying on the ground. A literal bloody pulp.
Before Yoon Jong could make sense of any of it, a low voice reached his ears.
“You kept me waiting, didn’t you?”
Yoon Jong turned slowly toward the source of the voice, his face blank.
Chung Myung, who had risen from his seat at some point, was looking at them with a cool, measured gaze.
“Ah...”
All the strength seemed to leak out of Yoon Jong in an instant.
“You guys...”
Chung Myung cracked his neck once and smiled with a twisted curl of his lips.
“Don’t even think about a single one of them getting out of here alive.”
A ferocious killing aura began to pour from Chung Myung’s eyes.