Chapter 218
Chapter 218
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 218
Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Double Agent
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The elite subjugation force of the Sado Alliance, assembled to take down the Windless Asura.
As if to demonstrate the Sado Alliance's true resolve, the front lines with the orthodox factions solidified in an instant as well. They'd pulled a massive contingent straight from the battlefield to hunt me down.
Their numbers and quality were on an entirely different level from the Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds that the Sado Alliance had dismissed as insignificant.
But our side was thrilled all the same.
"That's one less thing on our plate."
"For that ironclad fortress of a Sado Alliance to march out on their own two feet... The Windless Asura's name must've kept them from recognizing us properly. The enemy might as well be blind right now."
It had worked perfectly.
Our ploy to mask the real Sado Alliance leader's movements under the Windless Asura's name had succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
Song Namcheon and Gu Okgyeong huddled together. In the strategy session that followed, I had no real role to play.
All I had to do was wait.
Gu Okgyeong called out to me.
"Take a break."
"What?"
"I said rest. Don't go messing around trying to do something. Cool your head. For real. Your condition is the most critical factor in this operation. This might be our last shot at hitting both your target and mine at once. Youngwol. That wicked bitch walked out of the Sado Alliance on her own two feet, but I don't think she's out here alone. She's too thorough for that-she might've prepared something I don't know about."
Gu Okgyeong rose on tiptoe to pat my head.
"So go rest. Got it? My personal physician?"
"I told you, I'm not doing that."
"Once this is all over, I'll let you woo me for real. Look forward to it."
I organized what I needed to do during this unexpected free time as she cackled and waved goodbye, walking away.
Jin Baekcheon.
He might be by Youngwol's side right now. Which meant... maybe I should refine what I've learned on my own.
But amid the desperate struggle against the Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds, I'd already gained full control over everything I currently possessed.
How could I grasp even more? The question lingered, but no easy answer came.
Suryeon, who had stuck by my side without a moment's rest, spoke up.
"Red Cloud."
"Yes?"
"Let's rest for a bit. Just the two of us."
"......."
Her words settled my hesitation over whether I should even relax.
I wanted to honor the request of the Killer Gate Lord, who had fought solo against the Sado Alliance all this time, thinking of me.
I spent some leisurely time with Suryeon for the first time in ages. We wandered the market streets lightly, buying the foods she'd been craving.
Money wasn't an issue. I had a decent stash saved up, and Gu Okgyeong had shoved a hefty sum into my hands, telling me to go have fun.
Suryeon, browsing accessories, quietly pointed to one.
"Do you like it?"
"No. I thought it'd suit Red Cloud."
I accepted the bracelet. Delighted by the accessory I'd never worn in my life, I picked out two more like it.
I handed one to Suryeon, then personally clasped another onto the wrist of No.1 Lake, who had been quietly following behind us.
No.1 Lake flinched.
"Wh-why me...?"
There wasn't any particular reason.
"I just wanted to."
"......"
"If I've overstepped, I apologize."
"N-no, it's fine. Please, put it on me!"
Please...? Was it that big a deal?
Suryeon subtly extended her hand from the side as well. I carefully fastened a bracelet onto her slender wrist too.
"Now we match as a trio."
"So we do."
We took our time eating as well. The liquor I hadn't touched in so long tasted remarkably worldly.
With some progress made on the mission, I wanted to use the spare time to contact the cult during the lull. I wanted them to know I was alive.
But Suryeon shook her head.
"We don't have anyone we can send to the cult right now. It's too far, and security's gotten even tighter. Red Cloud, the Central Plains has no safe spots left-it's a warzone everywhere. Slaughter's breaking out in every corner. Even for stealthy assassins who can move in secret, crossing the front lines is incredibly tough."
"Hmm..."
"It'd be like sending subordinates to their deaths. I'm sorry, but I don't want to do that."
"If that's the situation, we have no choice. I was the one being unreasonable."
It was my mistake to assume things were like before. It looked like letting the cult know would have to wait until I returned in person.
I wanted to head straight back after dealing with Youngwol and Jin Baekcheon, but there was one more thing to do.
Gu Hwarin and her disciples.
A proper farewell with them.
It'd be good to at least let them know I'm alive. I'd heard that the organization they formed, the Gu Society, was tied to me, so I wanted to help them out too.
In this chaotic battlefield, they were the only group still crying out for justice-it was only natural to pay attention to them.
And if there were other loose ends...
I wanted a proper goodbye with the people I'd met while operating as a member of the orthodox factions too.
"Red Cloud. You ready?"
Gu Okgyeong came looking for me. I gazed quietly at the bracelet on my wrist.
Jin Baekcheon. Will you really be here?
The unanswered question swirled into the air and faded. I replied to her calmly.
"Yeah."
Whether you're here or not doesn't matter much anymore.
Because now...
I don't plan to lose to anyone.
"Let's go."
In the middle of the forest we headed to stood a throng of martial artists. Gu Okgyeong's followers.
Amid their resolute determination, I drew my sword as well.
Come on, then. Jin Baekcheon.
This time, it won't end with me as your plaything.
...
Youngwol felt something strange.
And that strangeness had been nagging at her ever since leaving the Sado Alliance.
Anxiety. Every odd sensation stemmed from it. What was this unease? It felt like she'd overlooked something...
Where had it started?
She reviewed the forces she'd brought. Elite experts piled high, and even the rank-and-file exceeded peak first-rate.
She'd brought that too, hadn't she? She was confident she could take down even a Phenomenal Realm master.
And yet... the anxiety wouldn't fade.
"Leader? Are you alright?"
"......."
Why was capturing one person so damn hard?
Why was running an organization so damn complicated?
Youngwol slowly advanced the subjugation force. It was laughable to be this riled up over a single expert, but everyone inwardly acknowledged it.
The enemy was the monster who'd single-handedly toppled the Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds.
They couldn't afford to get careless.
From atop her slowly moving palanquin, Youngwol looked down at the ranks. Based on scout reports, the enemy was likely lying in ambush somewhere in these mountains.
She first spread her subordinates out wide to cut off any escape. Then they began climbing the mountain at a deliberate pace.
Animals startled by the advance of so many warriors fled into view. But for some reason, there seemed to be far fewer than expected.
It was a lush forest. Yet the animal population felt unusually sparse. As if they'd fled in advance.
What could have made the animals run?
...
Probably something to do with people.
"......."
In the unusually quiet heart of the mountain, Youngwol halted the unit. The prickling anxiety at the nape of her neck surged stronger than ever.
Instinct. Pure instinct. If she didn't pull back now, something terrible would happen.
...Had she never left the Sado Alliance to begin with? No. Her judgment had been off lately anyway.
Damn you, Gu Okgyeong. It's because you left my side. I shouldn't let love blind me, but that's exactly why I've gone mad. Everything's felt off since the day I lost you.
Why is it so quiet?
Why am I so anxious?
"...Leader?"
"......."
She stared piercingly into the woods. She spread her senses wide, but detected nothing unusual.
Her eyes confirmed it too. Just an ordinary mountain. Nothing more.
...And yet.
"Battle stations."
It felt like a trap.
The moment that thought flashed through her mind, Youngwol shouted urgently.
"Battle stations!"
"Y-yes?"
"Get to battle stations...!"
Before she could finish, the earth flipped upside down. Something erupted from below the surface, and blood sprayed from all directions.
"Kugh?!"
"What the-?!"
The warriors drew their swords in an instant, but it was already too late.
Formations collapsed. Even the palanquin she rode tilted and crashed to one side.
-Boom!
Rumbling shakes. Amid them, human screams began to echo. At the same time, a acrid smell stung her nostrils.
"Nothing disorients like fire!"
".......?!"
The forest ignited, and a familiar voice rang out.
A voice she could never forget. The voice she'd chased even deploying the Heaven's Net.
That voice should have been hiding far from here...
It sliced through the soldiers, drawing closer to her.
"Hey, you double-crossing bitch."
"...Gu...Okgyeong...? How are you...?!"
The ranks parted. Amid smoke and cascading blood, a warrior advanced with sword in hand.
Any who blocked her were cleaved in two. From within emerged a woman resting her sword on her shoulder, grinning wickedly.
She ripped off her human-skin mask and tossed it aside, as if there was no need to hide anymore. The face she'd hunted so desperately appeared above it.
A face that should have been contorted in agony, on the verge of death...
Looked perfectly fine, just like before.
Even the strike that parted the soldiers was extraordinary. The power of someone who had regained her full strength, not some wounded fighter.
"Y-you should be poisoned...! That's not a toxin you could detoxify alone! That's not how it was!"
"Yeah, you're right. I couldn't shake it off by myself. Even holding it at bay was the best I could do. But get this-miracle fell right out of the sky."
"...What?"
"Heard he's got quite the connection with you too... What do you think?"
In the chaos of screams and clashing metal on the battlefield, a man stepped into view.
Ripping and tearing through any who obstructed him, a towering figure emerged like a beast. From beneath his blood-soaked bamboo hat, savage eyes gleamed.
"Are you Youngwol?"
A face she'd seen before. Yes. She'd definitely seen it.
That face. That build.
Ha... but...
"You're dead...! I confirmed it with my own two eyes!"
"Where's Jin Baekcheon?"
".......?!"
The fact that he spoke that name proved he was real. Puppets forcibly raised via the Great Law usually lacked any will...
Had he surpassed even that? How? Or had he truly revived from that corpse?
Her head spun. Was it the blood and flesh flying everywhere? Or the impossible unfolding before her eyes?
"...Ahaha."
She didn't know.
She didn't know a damn thing.
"Ah, right. That's Daeshin for you. Gu Okgyeong. Getting you really is impossible. Bringing back a man I definitely killed... and picking up a sword to the bitter end to break me. Yeah... that's why I fell for you. Because you remind me of that woman."
"What the hell are you babbling about, you fucking bitch."
"So I'll just smash it all here. I can bury a corpse that shouldn't have returned. And you, the one I let slip away once? I'll catch you right here."
Youngwol reached out her hand.
With it, a coffin suddenly burst from within her palanquin.
"Battlefields always pile up with corpses. And I salvaged one gem from the lot."
"......."
"If you're the real Red Cloud, the real Murim Alliance inspector... you'd recognize this face, right?"
With her whisper, the coffin's lid sprang open behind her.
The truth lay bare beneath the heavens.
The warrior before her twisted in horror.
"...Do you people truly know no bounds?"
"Bounds? What's the point? Defying Heaven is the law itself. Beneath the sky, there's nothing we can't do."
The heavens began to rumble.
The air filled with lightning.
Filled with the dirge of the risen dead...
To summon the thunder dragon from above.
"My word is the law. Everything I do is law. Right? Im Wolryong?"
A Phenomenal Realm expert once dug up and ruined by Jin Baekcheon.
The corpse of Heavenly Dragon Society Leader Im Wolryong began to stir.
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