Tell You What Real Despair Means (1)
The water bandits flooded the riverbank and came surging in like a literal tide.
Like a pack of wolves that had caught the scent of blood? No, sharks would have been the more fitting comparison.
Their eyes burned with madness as they bared their teeth toward the Namgung Family’s flesh and screamed obscenities into the wind.
The front lines collided.
For those who had already been holding on by sheer force of will, the sight of enemies driven to frenzy, charging without end with shrieks more beast than human, was enough to paint their hearts with despair.
“Khaaaah!”
The rushing water bandits leaped upward over the heads of the Namgung Family. Their backs rising suddenly blocked out the sun, casting a long shadow over Namgung, as though it were an omen of their fate.
“Taaaap!”
But the ones waiting to meet them were the Namgung Family.
Even as despair closed in, instinct found the sword path before thought could. And before their minds could even catch up, their blades struck first.
Thud! Thud!
The iron swords of the Namgung Family pierced straight through the bodies of the water bandits. Blade tips burst out through backs, and blood sprayed upward like rain over the Namgung swordsmen.
The feel of hot blood splashing across their faces jolted the dazed warriors awake.
But this was only the beginning.
“Kill them all!”
“Jam harpoons down their throats!”
The water bandits didn’t care one bit about the blood their comrades spilled. Without a shred of hesitation, they hurled themselves into the forest of blades jutting up before them.
The madness of the battlefield.
A lone man could never face death with true composure. But when the ragged breathing of others poured against his back, he forgot even his own death.
Over corpses and swords, the water bandits came crashing in.
They were outnumbered.
Namgung’s swordsmen swung desperately, trying to drive them back, but the water bandits kept lashing out with their harpoons like beasts even as their throats were cut open.
“Aaaagh!”
The battlefield was a land ruled by momentum. When pressure crushed a blade’s spirit, it could no longer find its path. Under ordinary circumstances, things might have been different, but the Namgung swordsmen had already burned through every last scrap of stamina they had.
So now… there was nothing left but to break.
Crack!
A sharp harpoon drove into a shoulder and burst out through the side.
“Guh….”
Seared agony spread through his body.
But the enemy’s claws did not even grant him the luxury of savoring death slowly.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Hungry harpoons kept stabbing into the collapsing body again and again. The swordsman’s flesh was pierced with dozens of holes before he crumpled to the ground, never even leaving behind a complete corpse.
Slash!
A blade swung hard enough to shatter a harpoon in half, then rip through a neck. But in response, another blade darted out, knocking the weapon aside and piercing the pit of the stomach.
In an instant, the formation buckled, and both sides began tangling together in a chaotic, bloody mess.
“Hold the line! Damn it, don’t let them mix together!”
Namgung Myeong shouted as though vomiting blood himself.
The Namgung Family was small compared to the water bandits.
Of course, individually they were experts no water bandit could dare to approach. But this was not a stage for duels. No matter how skilled you were, a battlefield was a place where shouts and death raged from every direction. In that storm of slaughter, how could you possibly stop weapons flying in from behind?
The moment the formation collapsed, annihilation was all but guaranteed.
“Block them! Block them now!”
The instant Namgung Myeong roared, he drew his sword and charged straight ahead. He knew this was no time to issue commands from the rear; he had to throw himself forward and repair the crumbling line with his own hands.
As soon as he moved, the elders waiting behind him kicked off the ground and surged forward as well.
Flash!
Their swords swept like streaks of lightning.
“You won’t pass here until you kill me!”
“Come on then! Dogs of the Water Bandit Sect!”
The elders were just as desperate.
The ones dying in front of them now were their sons, their grandsons, their disciples. The swords they had clenched through the deaths of their own kin at last found an opening to move, and in an instant they cut through the bodies of the water bandits.
“Aaaagh!”
“C-kgh! You damn….”
But the situation did not change nearly as quickly as they had hoped.
The peak masters wiped out a great many water bandits in a single sweep, but the sheer number of enemies flooding in made it look almost negligible.
Namgung Myeong’s eyes went bloodshot.
If only this had happened somewhere else.
If this had not been a barren island with nowhere to hide, they would never have been driven into such a corner. But on this island there was no place to shield yourself, nowhere to lean your back. And the enemy was hammering them from every direction.
Even the halls they might have hidden in had already been blown apart by artillery fire. All they had left were the iron swords in their hands and the comrades bracing themselves against one another’s shoulders.
No—wait!
They still had one thing left.
“Ooooooooh!”
Along with a deafening roar, a dazzling white sword qi came crashing down like a cannonball over the heads of the charging bandits.
“Ah….”
The eyes of the water bandits who had rushed in without even looking back went blank for an instant. When their focus, briefly stolen by the impact, returned, what filled their gaze was not madness but shock and fear.
Crash!
The white sword qi swept through the bandits and smashed them apart.
One strike.
That single strike turned nearly twenty water bandits into chunks of flesh, leaving no proper corpses behind. The qi that detonated as it slammed into the ground did not leave behind even a single drop of blood on the earth.
BOOM!
The aftershock ripped through the surroundings. The water bandits, each stunned by the terrible sight, froze in place.
“W-what in the….”
“T-the Emperor Sword!”
None of them wanted to be swept away while trying to face that sword qi head-on. But the battlefield gave them no chance to understand what they were seeing.
“Move, you idiots!”
“Aaaah!”
Those who could not properly see the power of the strike because the backs of their comrades blocked the view only kicked the frozen men aside and rushed forward like moths flying straight into a flame.
BOOM!
Another burst of white sword qi.
The Emperor Sword, Namgung Hwang.
He, too, was exhausted to the bone. And yet his blade was proving, beyond all doubt, why he was called the Emperor Sword.
“Kill them all!”
But even he had only one body. With water bandits surging in from every direction like ants, his sword felt far too short and his body far too small to block them all.
“Huaaah!”
A hysterical shout burst from Namgung Hwang’s mouth.
Bang! Bang! BOOM!
Each time his sword swung, a terrifying wave of sword qi roared out like a storm.
“Black Dragon King!”
Bloodshot veins rose in Namgung Hwang’s eyes.
“Are you only going to come out after all your underlings are dead? You coward! For a coward like you to call himself the king of the Yangtze—this whole world will laugh at you!”
The words were mocking, but his voice carried naked urgency. He was desperate to provoke the Black Dragon King, to drag him out somehow, any way at all.
But the Black Dragon King did not move.
He merely watched Namgung Hwang’s desperate struggle with a faint, fishy smile, like a wolf thrashing amid a flock of sheep.
“Ugh….”
Though their eyes were close enough to feel each other’s stare clearly, Namgung Hwang could not throw himself at the man who owned it. The moment he abandoned his post here, he knew the Namgung Family would be annihilated, regardless of the outcome of this duel.
“Aaaagh!”
Namgung Hwang sliced clean through a water bandit’s waist. From the split flesh, entrails and blood spilled out and drenched his entire body.
Heat and a nauseating stench assaulted every one of his senses.
In the very center of the battlefield, Namgung Hwang screamed again and again.
Someone died.
“Aaaagh!”
One of his disciples.
Another died.
“Kraaaagh!”
One of his family.
The exchange ratio was absurdly lopsided. For every one Namgung died, more than ten bandits fell. It was the sort of performance worthy of the Namgung Family’s name.
And yet who could rejoice?
Who would ever willingly trade their own death for the enemy’s?
“You sons of bitches!”
Namgung Hwang saw it clearly.
His son, Namgung Do-wi, was cutting down water bandits while bleeding from both eyes.
His sword was fast, and fierce. Even in the midst of despair, it carried a distinct light. The very light Namgung had pursued for so long.
But….
Even that sword will lose here.
As the head of the family felt the fate of the clan bearing down on him, hot tears finally spilled from Namgung Hwang’s eyes.
Even if his arm were severed, even if a dagger were driven through his heart, tears should never have flowed from the eyes of this iron man. And yet before the dying children of his family, before the ruin of a house fated to be erased, even he was only a weak human being.
Everything was his fault.
Everything was his sin.
If it would save even one more person, he would gladly let his whole body be ground to dust and endure eternal suffering in hell for thousands of years. But heaven would not even grant him the chance to sacrifice himself.
As though his life were too trivial to matter.
The blood of the water bandits and the blood of Namgung mixed together on the ground. While living, they had been different; once dead, they were nothing more than corpses all the same.
“U-uaaagh! Save me!”
“I-I can’t do this anymore!”
They were breaking.
They had fought with composure even in the face of death, but that resolve could not overcome the terror of the harpoons endlessly seeking their bodies, or the sight of comrades dying right beside them. One by one, they began sobbing, leaking tears and snot, and stumbling backward in panic.
“Don’t fall back!”
“Hold your ground! Please! Please!”
Namgung Do-wi and Namgung Myeong’s voices tangled together, echoing brutally across the skies above Maehwado.
At the last moment, they had intended to die as warriors and preserve the Namgung name. But the death standing before them was nothing so romantic.
Name? Reputation? Dignity?
What use were any of those things to a man lying dead on the ground?
He just wanted to live. One moment longer. Even if it meant using a comrade as a shield in his place, even if it was only for a fleeting instant….
“Ugh…! Aaaaagh!”
A lion’s roar burst from Namgung Hwang’s mouth, filled with rage and despair.
His presence was like a tiger standing among wolves. Even wolves with sharp fangs would not dare challenge a tiger head-on.
But in this vast battlefield, even a tiger had its limits.
Whoosh.
Somewhere, a severed head flew through the air and landed at Namgung Hwang’s feet.
“…….”
He could not bear to look at it and turned his head away. From his chest, thick bloody tears seemed to pour out.
Yes. Let us all die here.
Gritting his teeth, he forced every last ounce of hidden potential to rise. If they were all going to die anyway, he would drag as many water bandits down with him as he could. He no longer believed in hope.
“Ugh….”
But at that very moment.
An unbelievable shout reached Namgung Hwang’s ears.
“Aaaagh! They’re here! They’re heeere!”
He jerked his head toward the sound.
“Shaolin! Shaolin has arrived! Shaolin is here!”
Shaolin?
The news fell like sweet rain, and shock and joy lit up in the eyes of the Namgung swordsmen who had been on the verge of collapse. All of them turned desperately toward the opposite bank.
“A… ah….”
“Aaaaagh!”
“Damn it! Reinforcements! Reinforcements are here!”
The instant they saw the group standing on the other riverbank wearing yellow robes, the Namgung swordsmen shouted themselves hoarse.
“Shaolin is coming to help!”
“Hold on! Hold out!”
“You damn water bandit bastards! I’ll kill every last one of you!”
Shaolin’s arrival was joy for the Namgung Family, but a message of despair for the Water Bandit Sect.
“S-Shaolin?”
“Shaolin is here?”
Even the water bandits had eyes, and the moment they spotted Shaolin on the far bank, their reason began returning rapidly.
“Why… why Shaolin….”
“Damn it!”
They knew it too.
The river might be too wide for ordinary men, but these were Shaolin monks. If they set their minds to it, they could cross in an instant and join the battle on Maehwado.
The water bandits’ momentum faltered for a moment.
Chaos and confusion continued to spread across Maehwado.
“Abbot!”
“Mm!”
Beop Jeong bit his lip hard and nodded.
“We’re not too late! No… we’re a little late, but not so late that this can’t be turned around!”
If they had arrived even an incense stick’s burn later, there would have been no one left alive there.
The battle breaking out before their arrival was a bitter loss, but the Namgung Family had not yet been wiped out. If they could still save even half their strength, victory was still within reach!
“Abbot! There’s no time to waste!”
“Yes!”
A great lion’s roar burst from Beop Jeong’s mouth.
“Disciples, listen well! Cross the river and support the Namgung Family! Drive those treacherous water bandits from this island!”
“Yes, sir!”
Beop Jeong’s monk’s robe flapped in the wind.
We’ve won this time!
He clenched his fist.
This battle had, from the very beginning, been a race to see who arrived first. Since they had reached the place first, the outcome was practically decided. No matter how formidable the Water Bandit Sect might be, they could not face Shaolin and Namgung at once.
The Namgung Family might no longer be at full strength, but that did not matter. Shaolin alone could handle the Water Bandit Sect. Simply pinning their feet to this island was enough for Namgung to have done its part.
“Now! Go and crush those evil fiends—!”
Just as Beop Jeong was crying out with heroic force, it happened.
He flinched.
Mid-shout, he abruptly stopped and jerked in place. Then he began shouting in alarm.
“St-stop! Everyone stop where you are!”
The Shaolin monks who had been about to plunge into the river turned around in shock at the desperate cry behind them.
“A-Abbot?”
Beop Gye also looked at him with a face full of confusion. Why was there any time to hesitate now?
“……Abbot?”
But when he saw Beop Jeong’s face, he started. The abbot had gone completely white, as though he had just come face-to-face with a ghost.
“What is it….”
“A-amit… Amitabha….”
The Buddhist invocation trembled horribly.
“Why… why! Why is this happening!”
As he soon erupted in fury, Beop Gye seemed to realize something and slowly turned his head. His gaze went toward the upstream river, the very direction Beop Jeong had already been staring at in horror.
“Ah….”
Only then did Beop Gye see it too.
The massive fleet finally emerging into view along the great bend of the river.
“Kgh….”
There could be no mistake. There was no way to mistake it.
He had no choice but to confirm it with his own trained eyes.
Among dozens of ships that had appeared at once, the enormous vessel leading the formation. And the man standing at its bow.
How could anyone fail to recognize him? How could anyone ever forget that face? Anyone who had seen him even once would never forget.
“J-jan….”
A dead white voice leaked from Beop Gye’s mouth.
“Jang Il-so….”
Paegun Jang Il-so.
At the head of the fleet advancing toward Maehwado, he looked at the Shaolin monks lined up along the riverbank and slowly curled one side of his lips.
“My, my. You all certainly ran hard to get here.”
Covering his face with a hand ringed in glittering colors, he let out a smile steeped in eerie malice.
“Why? Were you expecting something? Hahahahahaha! Aahahahahahaha! Aahahahahahahahaha!”
At the sound of Jang Il-so’s laughter, full of delight and madness, even the Yangtze seemed to hold its breath.