Even If I Die Here, I Won’t Back Down! (1)
"Push forward!"
Han Yi-myung shouted as he recalled the sword he had just thrust out.
His face was twisted with strain.
They’re strong.
Even though they were pressing in relentlessly with several times their numbers, they still couldn’t seize a decisive advantage. No—if anything, they were being pushed back little by little.
Is the gap really this wide?
In the earlier battle, they had been completely crushed by the enemy’s momentum. But this time, thanks to the people from the Central Plains fighting from the very start, they had managed to keep some semblance of their own momentum as they entered the battle.
And yet they still couldn’t force them back.
It was as if they were no match not only in spirit, but in skill as well.
"Aaaagh!"
Another scream rang out.
Each time blood sprayed and someone cried out, more and more people hesitated and fell back.
Han Yi-myung bit down on his lip.
No matter how long he had been away, his devotion to the Ice Palace had not changed. Watching those dear children die like this was beyond heartbreaking.
But...
"Hold them back no matter what! Don’t let them get into the cave!"
He could only whip the Ice Palace warriors onward with everything he had. There was nothing else he could do.
I have to hold out!
It was painful to sacrifice them, but if they failed to stop that ritual, the Ice Palace and the North Sea would pay an even more horrific price.
Our mistake was one thing.
They had failed to fight when they should have fought.
No one wanted to shed blood. But Han Yi-myung understood now. If you couldn’t spill blood when it was necessary, you would eventually be forced to shed far more of it.
Their duty was to drive these bastards completely out of the North Sea.
But even more important than that was stopping the ritual taking place right now!
"Hold the line with your lives! This is the North Sea! Don’t let them do as they please!"
All he could do was shout himself hoarse and keep urging them on.
But even with his determination and the Ice Palace warriors’ desperate struggle, the situation only worsened.
We have to hurry!
He clenched his teeth and glanced toward the cave.
And then Seol So-baek’s voice brushed past his ears.
"If we can just hold on a little longer!"
"..."
"If we endure, the Mount Hua people will definitely stop them! For now, we just need to do our best to hold them here!"
Han Yi-myung was struck by a strange feeling.
The young lord trusts them completely.
It even felt as if he trusted Mount Hua more than the North Sea Ice Palace he himself was meant to lead.
But Han Yi-myung could hardly fault him for that. Was he not, himself, watching only the people who had gone into the cave and placing his trust in them?
He had no choice but to believe.
Anyone who had seen that back as it always stood in the front, sword in hand, would think the same. Anyone.
"If we hold out just a little longer, those who went inside will come to our aid! Don’t retreat! Show your pride as warriors of the North Sea Ice Palace!"
Encouraged by the thought that those who had gone inside would return, the warriors who had been driven back gritted their teeth and endured the Demonic Sect’s assault once more.
It’s working.
A small spark of hope lit in Han Yi-myung’s eyes.
If they could only keep this up, then light might yet return to the North Sea Ice Palace...
Then it happened.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
"Wh-what now?"
"An earthquake?"
The entire valley began to shake.
No, to be precise, it was the mountain range in front of the ground they stood on—the mountain where the cave that Mount Hua’s disciples had entered had been carved open—that was trembling as if it might split apart.
At that unbelievable sight, the fierce battle froze in place.
W-what on earth is...
Han Yi-myung stared forward with wide eyes. The tremors were so violent that even someone who had trained in martial arts like him could barely keep his footing.
But what truly shocked him was not the shaking.
An incomprehensible chill ran down his spine.
He couldn’t tell whether the world was shaking or whether his own body was trembling. The mountain vibrated, and at the same time his whole body seemed to scream, every hair on him standing on end.
What in the world was happening?
Everyone’s eyes filled with confusion. And then, in that instant—
BOOOOOOM!
With an explosion that sounded like the world itself was collapsing, the entrance to the cave blew apart. Screams burst out from everywhere.
"Aaaagh!"
"Aaaagh!"
Shattered fragments of rock pierced the Ice Palace warriors. Those who had managed to scream had, in a sense, been the lucky ones. Most of those struck directly by the fragments didn’t even have time to cry out before they died where they stood and fell.
A moment later, through the cloud of dirt rising like a storm, more than ten figures were flung out.
Bang!
"Guhh..."
After confirming those who had been hurled to the ground, Han Yi-myung’s eyes flew wide and he shouted, "Baek Cheon!"
Baek Cheon, lying sprawled on the ground, groaned as he braced himself on one hand.
"Th... this..."
Watching him struggle to get to his feet, Han Yi-myung’s gaze shifted toward the cave entrance against his own will.
After a moment, the thick dust was blown aside by the wind. Through the now-widened cave mouth, as if the collapse had torn it open, someone could be seen slowly walking out.
"Ah..."
Han Yi-myung’s whole body began to shake like a leaf in the wind.
That is...
Step.
Step.
Everyone who was still breathing stared, dumbfounded, as the man slowly emerged.
What in the world is that...
A crimson robe, red as blood.
Pure white hair, loosely tied and falling half over his shoulders.
Around the man’s body, a darkness so black it felt alien was rising, as if it were smoke billowing from a pit of hell and wrapping itself around him.
A demon?
Han Yi-myung’s fingertips went cold.
It made no sense, but from the moment he saw that man, he could no longer breathe. It felt as though the instant he exhaled, that ominous black aura would rip through him and burn him to ash.
Step.
With every step the man took, a dreadful pressure bore down on them.
From Han Yi-myung’s half-lost mouth came a name that should never have been spoken.
"Th... Heavenly Demon?"
And then.
The instant those words left his lips, the one exuding that murderous aura fixed his gaze squarely on Han Yi-myung.
Cold.
It was only a look, and yet it felt as though an invisible blade had sliced straight through his soul.
Han Yi-myung’s knees buckled, his will to resist gone. It looked as if he would drop to his knees and bow his head at any moment.
The one who had been walking out slowly stopped. His gaze swept across the battlefield at a leisurely pace. The Ice Palace warriors retreated, trembling in helpless terror, while the Demonic Sect members immediately prostrated themselves.
"High Priest!"
"May the Heavenly Demon rise again; may all under heaven bow in bliss!"
High Priest?
Han Yi-myung’s lips turned ghostly pale.
That man was the High Priest? Not the Heavenly Demon?
Someone who looked like a vengeful ghost, capable of toppling mountains with a wave of his hand and burning forests with a glance, was not the Heavenly Demon at all, but merely the High Priest of the Demonic Sect?
Then?
Then what in the world was the Heavenly Demon?
Only then did Han Yi-myung, and indeed the Ice Palace as a whole, begin to understand what sort of enemy they were truly at war with.
These were not merely men ravaging the North Sea.
They were people who would destroy the world.
The High Priest, who had been slowly surveying the battlefield, twisted his expression.
"Useless things..."
"Please, kill us!"
The Demonic Sect members desperately bowed and slammed their heads into the ground.
"And you let filthy unbelievers set foot in this sacred place where the Heavenly Demon is to be resurrected. No sin could ever repay that crime!"
As the rebuke continued, the Demonic Sect members pressed their foreheads even harder into the earth and begged forgiveness for their sin.
The High Priest glared at them with eyes full of displeasure, then turned his gaze to the Ice Palace warriors.
"..."
But that look quickly withdrew, as if they weren’t even worth confirming with his own eyes.
The last place his eyes came to rest was none other than the spot where Han Yi-myung stood. Looking at Han Yi-myung, frozen stiff with tension, he muttered, "A swarm of vermin..."
The world went dark, and everything seemed to recede into the distance.
The High Priest’s presence was not something Han Yi-myung could possibly bear.
Impossible. This is insane.
To swing a sword at someone like that?
It was nonsense.
"Your miserable blood isn’t even fit to be offered as sacrifice for the Heavenly Demon’s resurrection. I’ll kill you all and leave you to rot."
Thud.
The High Priest planted one foot heavily and released his demonic energy. The black smoke coiling around his body churned like a black storm.
At that monstrous pressure, Han Yi-myung staggered back.
"Ah... ahh..."
Black wraiths seemed to whirl around the High Priest, shrieking like demons from a haunted valley. It was a sight too absurd to believe even with one’s own eyes.
It was nothing less than the descent of a demon.
"Haaah!"
Black energy swirled and gathered in one of the High Priest’s hands, then burst violently toward the clustered Ice Palace warriors.
Along with a hideous shriek that seemed ready to tear eardrums apart, the pitch-black force began to swallow the Ice Palace warriors whole.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Aaaah! Aaaagh! Aaaagh!"
With heartbreaking screams that made one want to clamp both ears shut, the bodies of those swallowed by the force exploded apart. Bones shattered to pieces and flesh ripped into strips scattered everywhere like fireworks.
"..."
And in the place where they had stood, there was nothing left that could be called human.
Only blood staining the ground red, and fragments of flesh, remained to testify—barely—that people had once existed there.
"Aah..."
In the end, Han Yi-myung collapsed onto the spot. The reasoned part of his mind had long since fled, taken away by a terror he had never experienced in his life.
That was not human power.
Just how strong did one’s inner force have to be for someone struck by such power to be pulverized like that?
That was the High Priest of the Demonic Sect.
The Heavenly Demon’s right hand.
"You dared set foot upon this sacred land with those filthy feet of yours. Regret it in the deepest depths of hell."
And if Han Yi-myung was like this, there was no way the Ice Palace warriors were any different.
Some had collapsed where they stood and wet themselves. Others had already turned and were crawling desperately to put even a little distance between themselves and the High Priest.
"Die!"
The black demonic energy writhed around the High Priest as if it were about to be fired again at any second. Just as Han Yi-myung was on the verge of screaming and could no longer hold back—
"Oh, my back! That damned old man’s strong as hell."
A grumbling voice came from behind him.
"..."
Han Yi-myung turned around blankly.
It was truly strange.
It wasn’t a voice full of conviction, nor one as oppressive as that High Priest’s. It didn’t carry the fierce will of someone resisting with everything they had.
It was just an ordinary, indifferent voice, the kind you might hear any day.
And yet, strangely enough, the moment he heard it, the terror the High Priest had induced seemed to drain away all at once.
Looking at Chung Myung as he came trudging over with a face twisted in irritation, Han Yi-myung let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Then it happened.
Shing.
"Baek Cheon!"
Baek Cheon slammed his sword into the ground and used it to force himself upright. Blood was seeping from the lips he had bitten through, but his eyes were filled with unbroken resolve, as though he had never once been wounded.
With Chung Myung moving ahead, Baek Cheon followed with his sword in hand.
"Amitabha."
And then Hye Yeon, palms pressed together, along with the other Mount Hua disciples, stepped forward without the slightest hesitation.
The wrinkles at the High Priest’s eyes twitched faintly.
"Foolish fools..."
Then he let out a grotesque smile. If the devil were to smile, it would surely look just like that.
"You still don’t understand that you’re no match for me, foolish unbelievers?"
"No match?"
Chung Myung bared his teeth in a grin, as if he had just heard a joke.
"I’ve lost count of how many idiots have said that to me. You wanna know what happened to all those bastards?"
"..."
"Nah. Never mind. You don’t need to know."
Chung Myung raised his sword and pointed it straight at the High Priest.
"You’ll find out with your body, starting now."
"Hahahahahaha!"
The High Priest burst into loud laughter.
"Good. Yes. That’s how it should be."
His eyes, glittering with mad delight, began to bleed red tears.
"You damned Mount Hua bastards, you absolutely have to be like this! Only then will tearing you apart be satisfying! I’ll split open those bodies and drink your blood to settle the grudges of the last hundred years!"
"That’s my line, you son of a bitch."
Spinning his sword once in the air to catch it properly, Chung Myung bared a face like a demon’s and unleashed his killing intent.
"I’ll tear your throat out!"
With a shriek, Chung Myung shot forward like a streak of black lightning toward the High Priest.