Do Zilong's Temporary Rescue

The enemy charged at me like an arrow loosed from a bowstring. Short as the distance was, it was more than enough room for a leap.

"Yaaah!!"

Watching him attempt a desperate lance charge while gripping with nothing but thigh strength — this was an era without stirrups — I had to admit the skill was impressive. With my lower position and shorter reach, all I could do was dodge.

Then I'd simply erase that disadvantage. I vaulted onto the horse Yu Bi had ridden in on, and the moment my opponent arrived, I leaned my body just slightly aside.

His spear cut empty air. I didn't waste the opening — I swung my blade and brought it down on the back of his neck.

With a wet, thick sound, his head separated halfway from his body. Before the dangling rear view could even make me gag, I spurred the horse and charged the rest of them.

"Wh-what the hell is that guy?"

They'd just watched a ghost's swordsmanship unfold right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front of their eyes; of course they were rattled. They raised their weapons belatedly to fight back, but before I even reached them I hurled my blade with tremendous centrifugal force.

The sword buried itself cleanly in the neck of the spear-wielding cavalryman at the front. At the same moment I arrived before him, snatched the spear from his hands before he could even fall from the saddle, and shouted at the rest.

"Hand over Bi-bi. Do that, and I'll let the rest of you go."

"Th-this bastard's lost his mind! What are you standing around for, you idiots?! Cut him down right now!"

"Waaaaah!!!"

The cavalry moved as one and closed in on me. But they hadn't forgotten, had they — that I'd already completely closed the distance?

A horse that has lost its speed is nothing more than a tall infantryman. No matter how perfectly a rider becomes one with his mount, two legs will always be freer than four — their mobility had, if anything, been reduced.

I, on the other hand, had held my ground from the start. I knocked aside a few spears as they came in, and just like that the field was mine. At lightning speed I drove the spear into their bellies.

Another one toppled from his horse with a hole through his gut. Only then did they realize the situation was not in their favor — but it was already far too late.

I cracked one rider's mount across the rump; its stance collapsed. Without so much as turning my head I thrust the butt of the spear straight behind me.

With a solid thud, another enemy took it in the stomach and rolled across the ground. While they were still reeling I drove the spear into another belly.

In the span of a breath their strength had been cut nearly in half, and their morale shattered completely. The moment I speared one more and sent him tumbling from the saddle, the survivors simply flung Yu Bi to the ground.

Then they wheeled their horses around and fled in a thunder of hooves. Part of me wanted to chase them down that instant and fillet every last one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of them — but checking on Yu Bi came first.

"Lady Yu Bi!"

"Ah... I-I am quite all right!"

Yu Bi forced a smile through her ruined appearance, trying to assure me she was safe. Of course, even that look of hers was beautiful enough to blot out the moonless sky in a total eclipse.

"The necklace! They took the necklace, didn't they? I'll go after them right now—"

But I couldn't move another step. Yu Bi flung both arms around my neck in a flash and burrowed into my chest with everything she had.

"Please do not go! So long as you are unharmed, Lord Do Yeop, that necklace means nothing to me. Hhk... hh-hhk..."

Had her reason finally returned? Realizing just how terrifying a fate had nearly befallen her, she poured out endless tears.

All I could do was pat her back. A moment of absolute crisis, when she had believed she would lose everything.

A system of this game that even I hadn't known about had saved us all.

About one gyeong — fifteen minutes — passed like that. Yu Bi still had her arms locked around my neck, nestled against my chest, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while I stood there receiving her like a dog that desperately needed to pee and couldn't move an inch.

"Um... Lady Yu Bi? Your tears seem to have stopped, so shouldn't we start moving?"

"Ah... I nearly committed yet another grave mistake."

Yu Bi quickly withdrew her arms. As I reached out and smoothed her tangled hair back into place, she beamed up at me and asked,

"How did this come to be? Why hide such skill all this time?"

"Huh? How it came to be... it's a kind of empty fort strategy. There were so many of them that I figured I'd let them drop their guard first, then take them out. Of course, you not running away nearly got us both killed, but..."

"Ah... I had no idea, and nearly only got in your way. But from that position I simply could not flee alone..."

"I know you did it for my sake, but it was far too dangerous. So don't just write it off as water under the bridge — from now on, if I tell you to run, you run. No exceptions."

"Hup... Then does that mean you will continue to stay by my side from now on?"

That wasn't it. Far from staying by her side, I needed to get back to Yu Hyeop this very moment.

The fact that Dong Zhuo's men had already made it this far meant Yu Hyeop herself had likely already been detained.

Of course, that had been the original plan. Use Dong Zhuo to eliminate Empress Dowager He, then do whatever it took to stop him from plunging the realm into chaos.

There was always the chance of failure. And so this White-Haired Failure might end up summoning an age of chaos so brutal even breathing would be hard — with my own hands.

Even. So. I was not going under Yu Bi. More importantly, now that I'd realized my stats reset with every new moon, I could finally enlist under Cao Cao or Yuan Shao for real.

"Why... do you say nothing?"

"W-well, first let's get up, shall we? I need to go see His Highness the King of Jinliu, so you should hurry back to Master Lu Zhi."

"I shall go with you! You said you cannot ride, Lord Do Yeop, so I shall serve as your rider in your stead— Hup! But just now, did you not handle a horse more splendidly than anyone?"

Yu Bi flinched as she remembered me mounting up and scattering five or six cavalrymen moments ago. Well, even I had no idea how I'd managed to ride and move like that.

"That... you showed me how you ride, didn't you? I learned from watching."

Even I thought that excuse was painfully forced. When Yu Bi stared at me with eyes full of suspicion, I had no choice but to lie again.

"Haa... The truth is, I just wanted to ride with you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm a filthy, disgusting man, that's what. I lied about not knowing how to ride because I wanted to stay pressed up close to you even a little longer. Feel better now?"

I had no choice but to cast myself as the vile creature who'd wanted to rub against Yu Bi's pale skin. Now that she knew what kind of man I was, couldn't she just freak out and go back to Lu Zhi?

"Ah... I-I never knew you looked at me that way as well, Lord Do Yeop..."

But instead of recoiling in horror, Yu Bi flushed crimson all over again and cupped both cheeks in her hands. For someone who claimed she'd never been with a man, she seemed to rather enjoy being flirted with.

Was this what Lu Zhi meant when he said she was easily swayed?

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

That was when it came — the sound of something fiercely kicking through the grass, cutting through the dark. I snatched up the spear at once and stepped in front of Yu Bi.

"Lady Yu Bi? Hide behind me for now—"

"Uwoong!!!"

But a figure had already burst from the darkness. A tall woman with long loose hair streaming behind her came driving a spear at me, kicking up a wind so brutal it was almost absurd.

But who did she think she was, charging me? To face someone who'd dumped every single stat into Strength and even stolen Zhao Yun's special ability, she'd need—

The instant I blocked the spear, I was shoved a full half-step backward. A tremendous vibration shuddered through the hand gripping the shaft, and cold sweat ran down my spine at the thought that I was completely, utterly screwed.

"Uwoong!? How did you block that?"

But she seemed even more surprised than I was. She'd just shoved back someone with Strength 96 in a single exchange, and yet her eyes went round as if she were praising me for stopping it.

"Yi De!"

"Yi De?"

From the darkness, Yu Bi recognized her opponent and cried out a name I knew all too well. At the same time, the woman called Yi De bolted straight for Yu Bi and threw herself into her arms.

"Uwoong! I've been looking for you this whole time, big sis!"

So that was Zhang Fei? No wonder the fight had looked completely unwinnable compared to a moment ago — the second I reset my stats, I'd run straight into one of the strongest people in the entire setting.

As expected, her stats were so superior they couldn't even be compared to a White-Haired Failure like me. And because I'd just dumped everything into Strength, she even had me beat in Intelligence and Politics.

Her behavior, though, was pure mischievous little sister. Even now she was nuzzling her head into Yu Bi's chest — a woman smaller than herself — and cooing for affection.

The baby fat still soft on her cheeks suggested she'd only just come of age. And with that plump, Squirtle-like face of hers, just looking at her was enough to pull a dad-smile out of me unbidden.

Of course, that was only her face. Her full, healthy figure was so vigorous I didn't know where to put my eyes — vigorous enough that certain other parts of me felt healthier too.

That was when it happened. I'd only been savoring the tearful reunion of the two sisters for a moment when a cold blade suddenly settled against my throat.

"Huh?"

That was originally Chosun's specialty — who was copying her? I rolled my eyes just far enough to check.

She was a touch shorter than Zhang Fei, but still a tall woman who could match most men. And yet...

For a second I thought a celestial maiden had descended from the heavens. That wasn't a tired cliché — it was the only way to describe the otherworldly mystery radiating from her.

Especially her hair, catching what little starlight there was and fluttering like soft silk. Her features weren't particularly striking, and yet somehow they overflowed with warmth.

A face tapered in gentle curves, and clear eyes that seemed untouched by a single speck of the world's dust.

Where Yu Bi looked like a cold beauty on the surface, this woman seemed as pure as if "goodness" itself had been given human form.

"What are you doing?"

Her voice, though, was cold as ice. Even if I took Chosun — the coldest woman I knew — and left her in a freezer for an hour, she wouldn't give me chills like this.

Frost in the height of summer. A woman whose outside and inside were completely different.

"Ah! Yun Chang, you mustn't!"

Yu Bi sprang to her feet and ran to her. Well, I'd expected as much.

After Zhang Fei, this one always showed up. That was the rule of the setting.

For reasons I couldn't place, the three Liu-Guan-Zhang sisters seemed to have an awful lot of nerfs baked into their epithets. Then again, they had no office and no faction right now, so it made enough sense.

"Who is this man? He's a eunuch."

"W-well, he's someone who helped me a great deal when I first came to Luoyang. And though he's dressed as a eunuch, the truth is that 'that' is still perfectly attached, so..."

"Is this man the one called 'Do Yeop'?"

"Hup... Yun Chang, how do you know that?"

To my surprise, Guan Yu already knew who I was. At that, Zhang Fei bounced up like a spring and chimed in.

"Uwoong! Master told us earlier when big sis wasn't around! He said you're the most pathetic, worthless man he's ever seen!"

Zhang Fei had been ending every sentence with that cute little tag since she showed up. I got that she was the baby sister, but wasn't the baby-talk a bit much?

Anyway, Lu Zhi clearly hadn't had a single kind word for me. Of course, looking back on how I'd acted there, even I thought I'd gone too far — so I understood well enough.

"That's not true! Master ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠has the wrong idea. Lord Do Yeop here is..."

"A cripple in peacetime. A cripple in chaos, too. How on earth did you end up friends with a halfwit like this?"

Guan Yu glared at me with something beyond contempt — as if she were looking at a contaminant — and demanded an answer. Yu Bi scratched her head and tried to persuade her.

"Sigh... I didn't have the face to go straight to Master, so I was working at a tavern called Chwiwharu... But you're all wrong about him! Just now, if Lord Do Yeop hadn't saved me, the three of us might never have met again."

"I don't know what that man did, but Yi De and I would have arrived immediately. There's no need to thank someone like him."

"Uwoong... Guan-unnie's right. Looking at that man just feels... gross somehow..."

Even Zhang Fei was eyeing me like something unpleasant. Well, I'd just nerfed my Charm down to 1, so I probably didn't even register as a proper human being.

"Haa... I don't care how you judge me. Anyway, welcome. I need to go see His Highness the King of Jinliu, so take Lady Yu Bi and head back to Master Lu Zhi."

"Ah... That I cannot allow! We don't even know how many soldiers Dong Zhuo brought — how could I send you alone, Lord Do Yeop?"

"Uh... the more you worry, the faster you should rejoin Master Lu Zhi, don't you think? If you're that concerned about me, just bring their forces west as quickly as you can."

"B-but if something were to happen to you in the meantime, I would... What if we did this instead? The night is deep, and finding His Highness the King of Jinliu will be difficult — so we three sisters shall accompany you. That way, even if enemies appear it should be no great trouble, and we will find His Highness more easily as well."

"No, what I'm saying is..."

Oddly enough, it made sense. No matter how strong an individual was, if raw Strength alone could solve everything, why would stats like Leadership even exist?

As I'd just seen, Dong Zhuo's enraged subordinates wouldn't clear a path for me no matter what I said. There was a real chance of more bloodshed — and the closer I got to the enemy's heart, the lower my odds of survival would drop.

But if Guan Yu and Zhang Fei joined us? Even if Yu Bi herself was incompetent, slotting two peerless warriors plus a Do Zilong into the party meant dying would be harder than living.

"Haa... Fine. The four of us will go together, then."

And so the four-person party was decided. Yu Bi finally relaxed and wiped the sweat from her brow.

Guan Yu, however, clearly hated every bit of this. Or more precisely — she just hated me.