Don’t Bow Your Head. (5)
Flash!
Namgung Dowi’s sword mercilessly cleaved through the flesh of the pirates charging at him. There was not the slightest hesitation in that blade. The murderous intent clinging to its tip spoke of Namgung Dowi’s resolve now.
And at that very moment, beneath him, Namgung Hwang unleashed a lion’s roar.
"Hyaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Crash!
The dazzling white sword energy that burst forth swept away the pirates charging from the front in a single stroke.
Well-earned indeed.
No, even that did not quite do justice to the force of it.
"Come! You filthy pirates!"
A storm-like shout tore through the darkness. On this black river, Namgung Hwang’s eyes alone were as clear as day, blazing as though they were aflame.
Whoosh!
A harpoon shot in with vicious speed.
Clang!
Namgung Hwang split the incoming harpoon cleanly in two, but there was no time to cut down the pirate who had thrown it. Before he could swing his sword again, another harpoon came hurtling in, and before that one could even reach him, yet another was already flying.
Harpoons were weapons made for hunting, not war.
Far thinner than spears, they did not tangle with one another. Once the hooks on their tips sank into flesh, they could not be pulled free without tearing that flesh apart.
They were a disadvantage only when martial artists fought one another. But when hunting a small number of prey like this, there was no weapon more fearsome than the harpoon.
The madness burning in the pirates’ eyes gleamed even through the blackness of the surrounding night. More than a dozen harpoons flew with all their might toward Namgung Hwang and Namgung Dowi.
"Don’t underestimate me!"
Namgung Dowi kicked off the water and sprang up again, scattering sword energy toward the pirates thrusting in with their harpoons.
Iron Sword Twelve Styles.
Unlike Emperor’s Sword Form, which demanded overwhelming internal energy, this was the Namgung Family’s foundational sword style. Its simplicity became a strength in a place like this.
Because it was simple, it was swift, and because it was swift, it carried terrible force. The white sword energy split and shattered the harpoons flying toward them, then drove itself into the pirates’ bodies.
"Aaaaagh!"
"Kraaaagh!"
The pirates screamed and went flying. Their blood spread across the Yangtze River, but the darkness that had already settled over it swallowed both blood and corpses alike without a care.
Flash!
Even after one comrade had been cut down at the waist, the harpoons kept coming.
"Ooooooooh!"
This time Namgung Hwang shouted as he swung his sword. Sword energy surged upward and burst like an explosion, churning the water in all directions into massive waves. The pirates who had leaped above the surface were swept away by that dreadful tide, thrown back as though by a physical blow.
But…
"Kill them!"
"There are only a few of them! Kill them all!"
"I’ll take the head of the Emperor’s Sword!"
Kill them, and more came. Push them back, and more chased after them.
No, it was worse than that. Even while comrades were dying right before their eyes, the pirates only raged more wildly, like a school of starving sharks that had caught the scent of blood.
"Fire!"
Flash, flash, flash!
At that moment, from several boats slowly closing in on them, hundreds of arrows rose into the air. As though they intended to blot out the sky, the rain of arrows arced once through the darkness and then poured down over Namgung Hwang and Namgung Dowi.
"You mad bastards…!"
A roar ripped out of Namgung Hwang’s mouth.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Arrows laden with internal force drove in at terrifying speed, but Namgung Hwang was not a man who would be brought down by such crude missiles. The ones who suffered from those arrows were the pirates charging the two men.
"Guh!"
"Aaagh!"
Arrows punched through the backs of the pirates’ heads and jutted out through their faces. Those who had charged thoughtlessly could not avoid the incoming shafts, and in an instant dozens were pierced through and turned into hedgehogs.
"Th-these…!"
Namgung Hwang’s eyes burned with fury.
They were firing arrows despite knowing their comrades were right there. They must know that no matter how many arrows they loosed, they could do no more than scratch him!
Were the lives of those men worth less than a scratch on Namgung Hwang?
"Black Dragon King!"
"Fire!"
Namgung Hwang bellowed in rage, but the Black Dragon King merely issued his order with an indifferent expression.
"It does not matter if you fail to wound them. It is enough if you drain their strength."
At its core, a swordsman drew all his power from his lower body. In a place with no solid footing, no sword could fully display its might. Which meant that to unleash the same power as usual, one would have to expend at least twice the normal amount of internal energy.
Especially for Namgung Hwang, whose every strike carried a vast reserve of power, exhaustion would come quickly. He had already been driven hard on Maehwado and had not been able to properly recover; that only made it worse.
Once Namgung Hwang’s strength had been sufficiently worn down, the Black Dragon King could simply step in personally and take his head.
"Fool."
A cold smile curled the Black Dragon King’s lips.
Whatever the man had been thinking, the moment he had leaped into this river of his own volition, Namgung Hwang’s fate had all but been sealed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Arrows packed with fierce internal force pierced the surface and plunged downward.
Those arrows obviously could not inflict any meaningful damage on Namgung Hwang. But that was only true for Namgung Hwang himself.
For those fighting the arrows above the water, it was enough to see and deflect them. But for the elders battling the pirates below the surface, the situation was entirely different.
Arrows suddenly came crashing down on the men who had been looking beneath the water to deal with the pirates surging up from below. The arrows, charged with internal force, did not lose power even after punching through the river’s surface, and the fate of those who had to face dozens of shafts raining into their backs was obvious.
Crack!
As befit the name of Namgung’s elders, they managed to slap some of the arrows away in that instant—but blocking them all was impossible. The sharp points drove into their backs and sides.
Thud!
"Third Elder!"
A cry like a scream burst from Namgung Hwang’s mouth.
The Third Elder, jolted by the arrows embedded in his body, instead forced himself deeper into the water.
Namgung Hwang clenched his teeth.
There was no room to worry about their own bodies. The moment they fell out of formation, Namgung Hwang would have to contend not only with the water above him, but also with the harpoons flying up from below.
Knowing that, the Third Elder had chosen to fight the pirates without caring for his own life.
Namgung Hwang looked around.
There was no end.
It was impossible to tell whether what he was seeing was the river, or the pirates filling it.
Namgung Hwang ground his teeth.
"Dowi!"
"Yes!"
"Behind me!"
Namgung Dowi glanced at him for a brief moment. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then bit down so hard on his lip that blood welled and swallowed the words instead.
The instant he kicked off the surface and moved behind Namgung Hwang, a rough breath escaped the older man’s mouth.
"Dowi!"
"Yes, Patriarch!"
Even amid all that chaos, Namgung Hwang stole another glance at him. Watching him with eyes that made it impossible to guess what he was thinking, Namgung Hwang slowly opened his mouth.
"Don’t… fall off your father’s back."
"…"
That was all. Namgung Hwang once again tightened his grip on his sword.
The result was obvious if they remained pinned down in a place like this. But what they had to do was not endure. It was advance.
No matter the cost!
"Elders, protect Dowi!"
His voice may or may not have pierced the water and reached below. But if it was them, they would understand Namgung Hwang’s intent without needing him to say more.
BOOOOOOM!
Blinding light.
With a radiance so brilliant it seemed it might restore the sky swallowed by darkness to the azure heavens themselves, Namgung Hwang’s sword energy swept forward.
In a single instant, that overwhelming sword energy quite literally split the Yangtze River apart. The pirates filling the path of the advancing blade energy were crushed without even managing to scream.
"I’m going!"
As the displaced water surged back in, the river roiled like a storm-tossed sea. Namgung Hwang kicked through the water and surged forward in a straight line.
"Die!"
"This monster!"
The pirates rolled their eyes wide and rushed at him.
Once again, a single strike!
BOOOOOOM!
The sword energy Namgung Hwang unleashed flung the charging pirates away together with the river water.
Throb! Throb!
It felt as if someone were stabbing his dantian with hot needles. From the moment he had jumped into the river, his body had already been far from whole. And with him hurling out sword energy without once looking back, it was only natural that his internal energy should begin to run dry.
But Namgung Hwang did not think about what came after.
The rear did not exist. Only the front did.
"Ooooooooh!"
Namgung Hwang’s sword moved again in a great arc. The white sword energy, dazzling as it flashed and burst forth, seemed to draw the path they had to travel directly across the river.
"Come!"
BOOOOOOM!
The bottom of the pirate ship struck by that sword energy burst apart as though some giant had torn it open with bare hands.
"Come!"
Namgung Hwang threw his head back and roared.
He no longer had any strength left in his body. His dantian now hurt as though it had been shredded by knives.
And yet his heart was calmer than it had been before he leaped into the water.
His sword energy burst out once more.
So this is…
At times, he had agonized over the half-complete sword art known as Emperor’s Sword Form.
An extreme, all-out attack. It spent absurd amounts of internal energy to generate overwhelmingly destructive power, while remaining pitifully weak when it came to defending the back. Such a strange sword art.
And yet Namgung had always produced the finest swordsmen in the martial world, and yet they always failed to cross the final threshold. The title of the world’s greatest swordsman had never truly belonged to them.
Why had his ancestors chosen such a sword art as the Namgung clan’s defining masterpiece?
But…
Now I understand.
There was no need to protect his back.
Because his son was behind him now.
Emperor’s Sword Form.
The sword of the emperor.
That sword was not meant to show off the self. It was not even meant merely to cut down enemies.
It existed to protect those who followed behind, watching his back.
That was the image of the emperor Namgung desired.
No… I should call it the path of the Patriarch.
His sword was telling him.
It was telling him to squeeze out every last drop of what remained, and protect his son.
The corners of Namgung Hwang’s mouth lifted, revealing white teeth. The surging waves slammed his face again and again, and the briny river water poured into his throat, but his eyes were brighter and clearer than ever.
"Dowi!"
"Yes!"
"Watch closely!"
This was the path he walked. And someday, it would be the path his son had to walk as well.
BOOOOOOM!
The terrifying sword energy he unleashed swept away the pirates who refused to know when to quit and hurled them back.
Crack!
But through the gaps in that no-longer-perfect sword energy, a harpoon flew in and pierced his side.
Namgung Hwang did not even turn his eyes.
Flash!
In one motion he severed the throat of the man who had stabbed at his belly, then cut down the necks of the pirates who had become completely terrified.
Thunk! Thunk!
A harpoon fired from underwater lodged into his leg, and a rain of arrows pierced his shoulder.
Even so, Namgung Hwang kept his gaze fixed only on the path ahead.
Open it.
Even if he had to burn everything he possessed.
The road Namgung would walk.
The road his son… would have to travel.