I Knew This Would Happen (2)
The Bishop’s body lurched as though it were about to collapse to the floor at any moment, then toppled backward.
Thud.
Blood kept pouring from the wound in his chest. As though his energy were running in reverse, more blood gushed from the seven orifices of his body in fitful spurts.
“Ghh…….”
None of them were still standing.
The disciples of Mount Hua had exhausted every last ounce of strength and fallen to the ground, and the Bishop himself could no longer rise.
Even Chung Myung was on one knee, barely keeping his upper body propped up on Black Heart Sword.
“Huff…… huff…….”
Ragged breaths tore out of Chung Myung’s mouth.
Grrrrk.
Pressing down hard on Black Heart Sword, he forced himself upright with great difficulty. Then he limped toward the fallen Bishop.
Step. Step.
“Cough!”
Every time the Bishop convulsively coughed, blood sprayed from his split chest and mouth.
Anyone could see it. Even if a Great Immortal himself came down from the heavens now, he couldn’t save that bastard.
“I’ll finish…….”
But Chung Myung was just as spent.
As he staggered toward the Bishop with his sword as a cane, his strength gave out and he pitched forward again. There wasn’t enough left in his broken leg to take another step.
“You…….”
Yet he gritted his teeth and, with trembling arms, shoved himself back up. Savage killing intent churned in his eyes.
Dragging his legs, he crawled and hauled himself closer.
He was going to sever the Bishop’s last breath.
Then, at that very moment—
Crack-crack-crack.
The Bishop’s hand clamped onto the floor. And as though by some impossible miracle, he hauled his body upright.
Chung Myung’s eyes flew wide open.
Strength?
No. That wasn’t it.
The Bishop’s eyes had lost all focus. Like a man who’d gone mad, he had only risen because the last flicker of life had returned to him in that blind, hazy state.
It was the final flare before the candle went out. The last burst of vitality that came to one whose life force had nearly run dry.
Just as Chung Myung grabbed his sword and tried to reset his stance, the Bishop desperately turned and lurched toward the cave.
“Heaven…… Demon…….”
“That son of a—”
As Chung Myung tried to give chase, the Demonic Sect members who had finally forced their way through the North Sea Palace’s resistance rushed in front of him and blocked the way. Then they threw themselves in front of the Bishop to protect him.
“Bishop!”
“Aaaaagh! Bishop! Aaagh!”
Their bloodcurdling wails stabbed into his ears.
The madness in their voices made it painfully clear to Chung Myung that they would gladly give up their lives to protect the Bishop.
“Hah…….”
Chung Myung ground his teeth, trembling with fury.
Didn’t this make him look like the villain?
The Bishop, his voice frayed and shredded, said, “The back…… the back is yours to hold.”
“Go!”
“We’ll hold them back! Go!”
And then he staggered into the cave.
Heavenly Demon…….
Chung Myung’s face twisted into a grim mask.
His goal had never been to kill the Bishop. It had been to stop the Heavenly Demon’s resurrection.
Even if he had driven the Bishop to the brink of death, if the Heavenly Demon revived, all of it would mean nothing.
No!
But he no longer had the strength to break through them. Merely staying conscious was all he could manage.
“……Heh.”
At some point, Chung Myung gave a crooked smile.
“I’m really turning into a damn idiot. Saying something can’t be done.”
There were things in this world that had to be done.
And this, obviously, was one of them.
Just as Chung Myung was about to lift his sword again—
“Aaaaargh!”
With a desperate roar, someone leaped in front of him and began attacking the Demonic Sect warriors.
Huh?
Chung Myung stared blankly at the scene.
It was a familiar face. Song Won, the guard captain who had once guided the Mount Hua disciples all the way to the mine. His body was covered in cuts and blood, yet he had charged at the Demonic Sect warriors like a demon from hell.
“Open the wayyyyy!”
A heartbreaking cry rang through the valley.
“You useless bastards! How long are you going to keep leaving your fate to outsiders and just stand there twiddling your thumbs? If there’s something you’ve got to protect, then protect it with your own damn hands!”
Song Won wasn’t the only one.
Seol So-baek, who had run over without anyone noticing, raised his sword and charged into the Demonic Sect warriors.
“That crazy—”
At the sight, curses burst out of Chung Myung’s mouth.
“Palace Lord!”
“Young Lord!”
Kwaaaang!
A black palm strike from a Demonic Sect member shot straight at Seol So-baek’s front. But Han Yi-myung, who had arrived just in time, cut across in front of him and took the blow.
“What are you all standing around for!”
His shout was aimed at the warriors of the Ice Palace.
“Put your lives on the line and break the path open! Let Chung Myung Daoist open his road with the blood of the North Sea! If you still have even a shred of martial spirit left in you, prove it here!”
Ferocity blazed in the eyes of the Ice Palace fighters.
This had originally been their battle.
And yet the men from the Central Plains, who had nothing at all to do with this, were the ones shedding blood and risking their lives to fight for them.
If they could watch this brutal struggle and feel no shame, then they weren’t human. If they could watch such a desperate fight and feel nothing stir in their blood, then they weren’t martial artists.
If the others had once cursed them, even once rebuked them, they might not have felt this ashamed. But those people had fought without a single word of blame, without a trace of reproach, simply standing against the enemy.
That fact made the Ice Palace warriors unable to bear it any longer.
“Open the road!”
“Make way for Chung Myung Daoist!”
“Don’t spare your lives!”
The warriors of the Ice Palace threw themselves at the Demonic Sect members with a momentum entirely unlike before.
Their earlier timidity, their panic, their desperate attempts merely to defend themselves—all of it was gone.
They bellowed as they charged, baring their killing intent. They attacked without fear of injury, fixating on the enemy and nothing else.
Even if it meant having their own bodies torn apart, they would break the path as quickly as possible.
Seol So-baek and Han Yi-myung grabbed Chung Myung by both shoulders as he swayed.
“Let’s go!”
“Daoist!”
Chung Myung looked once at the two men supporting him, then nodded.
And without another word, he ran forward.
“Ghk!”
“Die, you filthy Demonic Sect dogs!”
“This is the North Sea! This isn’t a place for vermin like you to run wild!”
Even when a Demonic Sect blade pierced his belly, he did not retreat. He swung his sword and severed the opponent’s throat.
Change came to everyone, sooner or later.
Nothing could be accomplished by shoving responsibility onto others and merely looking after one’s own safety. Doing so would only create even greater sacrifices.
Those who saw that truth with their own eyes now no longer cared about their own lives; they began carving out a road for Chung Myung.
The Demonic Sect members, who had been resisting fiercely, were gradually pushed left and right. A road opened toward the cave faster than Chung Myung could run.
“Song Won!”
“Yes!”
Some of those who had been forcing the path open at the front joined around Chung Myung as though escorting him.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
Chung Myung didn’t bother checking behind him.
He would leave what remained to the North Sea Ice Palace and go do what he had to do.
The elite of the Ice Palace and Chung Myung entered the cave.
Though parts of it had caved in here and there, a path inward still remained. Whether that was a blessing or a curse, no one could say.
“The Bishop?”
“At that condition, he couldn’t have gone far!”
He had been staggering so badly he couldn’t even use light-footed movement. Even if there had been some distance, at this speed they should catch him in no time.
But they soon realized the pursuit would not be nearly so simple.
“What is it?”
“There’s something ahead!”
The Demonic Sect shouldn’t have still been inside the cave, and yet the sensation of something moving within the cavern came to them from ahead.
Not just one. Several.
Those with keen senses clenched their jaws as a chill poured toward them from the front.
Han Yi-myung stared wide-eyed at the approaching figures.
“Th-thi—”
Song Won bit his lip until it bled.
Missing people. Figures with unfocused eyes were shambling toward them.
“Chief Officer!”
“Don’t hesitate. Attack!”
Han Yi-myung shouted through a face twisted with fury, as though he were coughing up blood.
“They’re not human! That thing—those things—aren’t living people anymore! Those damn bastards!”
Their clothing was unmistakably that of the North Sea.
So the missing people…….
There was no doubt now that these bastard dogs had dragged off the people of the North Sea and done something to them. There wasn’t even the slightest trace of life in them, and yet they still walked on their own two feet.
How could they commit such a monstrous crime?
“Ice Jiangshi, maybe.”
Chung Myung muttered softly.
Everyone else was outraged by this horrific sight, but Chung Myung instantly noticed that the energy in the approaching Ice Jiangshi was all slightly different.
No.
These weren’t Jiangshi made simply to be used as minions. They had clearly been taking people and conducting repeated experiments for some purpose.
Still, Jiangshi were Jiangshi. Ice Jiangshi made with the chill of the North Sea could only be called cursed monsters.
“Go!”
Song Won shouted at the others with unwavering resolve.
“We can’t delay! I’ll handle this! Go!”
Han Yi-myung bit his lip, then nodded.
“Open the road!”
At those words, the Ice Palace warriors surged forward.
Clang-clang-clang!
The sounds of sword qi and palm force striking the bodies of the Ice Jiangshi rang out. Then came the sounds of the iron-hard hands of the Jiangshi tearing into the flesh of the Ice Palace warriors.
“Hraaaah!”
The Ice Palace fighters screamed miserably as they shoved the Jiangshi left and right. The mindless Jiangshi paid no heed to being pushed aside; they were too busy striking, biting, and clawing at the Ice Palace warriors in front of them.
Chung Myung ran along the opened path, his eyes blazing with cold.
Those damn bastards!
The hatred and rage boiling in him to the limit felt as though they might burn his chest to ash.
This was always how battles with the Demonic Sect went.
“There are more ahead!”
At the Ice Palace warrior’s cry, bloodshot veins burst in Han Yi-myung’s eyes.
“Go! Chung Myung Daoist!”
This time, there were quite a few of them. Han Yi-myung said with a face hardened by iron determination,
“We’ll risk our lives to break through! Go!”
“So-baek…….”
“Go! Daoist!”
At Chung Myung’s hesitation, Seol So-baek called out with an even firmer expression. In the end, Chung Myung nodded.
He’s already grown into the face of a martial artist.
War turned children into adults.
Perhaps it was a sad thing, but here and now, he had to acknowledge this child as a true martial artist.
“Open it!”
“Yes!”
The remaining Ice Palace warriors all rushed at the Ice Jiangshi. They shoved them aside roughly, cut them down, and forced the way open.
It was barely enough space for one person to pass through, but Chung Myung squeezed through that gap and staggered onward.
Drop. Drop.
Blood running down his hand dripped steadily to the floor. His vision kept blurring, and he no longer felt anything in the hand gripping his sword.
Now he could only force this body, in which even pain had vanished, to keep moving, step after step.
Grrrrrr…….
“…….”
At the sound of something like a beast growling from somewhere ahead, Chung Myung slowly raised his head.
More Ice Jiangshi were approaching.
“Hah…….”
They really were thorough, weren’t they?
Chung Myung twisted into a crooked grin.
“Sorry, but…… I’m not the type who’s ever learned how to give up.”
He moved the arm that refused to obey and forced Black Heart Sword—heavier than a thousand pounds—up into the air. But then a voice, now quite familiar to him, came to his ear.
“Go.”
Chung Myung slowly turned around, dazed.
“……When……?”
“A man who can’t find the place where he’s meant to die ends up looking miserable. At last, I’ve found my own place.”
“…….”
Chung Myung stared blankly at Yeo Sa-hon. The old man’s face was utterly calm.
“I’m sorry.”
“You…….”
“Go. What more is there for us to say?”
Perhaps it would be wiser for Yeo Sa-hon to break through alone while Chung Myung held back.
But Yeo Sa-hon didn’t think that way.
What he had to do was stop the Heavenly Demon’s resurrection. And…….
Restore the spirit of the lost North Sea.
For that, someone like Chung Myung had to remain here.
The palm force Yeo Sa-hon unleashed shoved the Ice Jiangshi back violently. But perhaps because the enemies in front of them were now fewer, quite a number of Ice Jiangshi broke through and rushed toward Chung Myung’s retreating back.
Still—
“Go! Don’t look back!”
Yeo Sa-hon threw himself in front of them and blocked the Ice Jiangshi with tenacious resolve.
Listening to the desperate shouts from behind him, Chung Myung kept walking forward.
Strange.
The cave that hadn’t seemed so long when he first came in now stretched on endlessly, with no end in sight.
Drag, drag.
Each time he dragged his uncooperative feet forward, his body grew heavier and heavier, as though it had weights hanging from it.
His vision blurred more and more. All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing, ready to go out at any second, and the pounding of his heart.
Thud.
At last Chung Myung collapsed to his knees and fell. With bones showing through his hand, he clawed at the floor as though trying to seize it.
Don’t be ridiculous.
He’d had it much worse than this before. It had hurt far more than this.
Chung Myung clenched his teeth. Then he forced up the body that seemed ready to go limp.
I am Mount Hua’s Plum Blossom Sword Saint.
He dragged his motionless leg and once again pressed onward along the narrow, dark path.
How long had he walked like that?
After trudging endlessly along the road that seemed it would go on forever, a sliver of pale light finally appeared before his eyes. He had reached the cavern.
The huge form of an asura, and the Bishop’s back as he knelt beneath it, his body a ruin, came clearly into view.
“That bastard…….”
Grrrrk.
Chung Myung dragged Black Heart Sword along as he staggered toward the Bishop.
“Heaven…… Demon ascends……. All demons bow…….”
The Bishop’s strained incantation kept pouring into his ears like a spell.
“O Heavenly Demon……. O Heavenly Demon. Receive the blood of this body, and descend upon the world. Become the inferno that will one day burn this world to ash…….”
There was no time to stop it.
The blood flowing from the Bishop’s wrist struck the pattern on the floor with a dripping patter, then quickly sank into it.
And soon, the pattern began to erupt with a massive scarlet radiance.