The Incompetent Hero and Red Oni (6)
BOOM! KRA-KOOM!! CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!! RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!!!
A roar that seemed ready to tear heaven and earth apart thundered across the world, splitting the clouds wide open. Trees were ripped up by the roots and smashed to splinters, and the ground itself caved in — that much went without saying. It was fortunate this place was uninhabited. Had any of this unfolded inside human territory, countless people would already be dead.
And the one causing all this disaster was a great tiger the size of a small house, its fur a pure, spotless white.
GRRRRAAAAAOOOOOOOHHH!!!
Baekho.
Ah, for real… If I could just kill her, this would be over in a second…
But if I killed Baekho here, there was no telling what kind of backlash I'd get from Baekryeon — or from the nation of Jo, which revered Baekho as its guardian deity. Killing her simply wasn't an option. I didn't bother holding back the sigh that rose on its own as I looked at her.
She had to be as frail as a body could get. On top of that, the potent aphrodisiac and the forced pleasure drilled into her through training had left her teetering on the brink of total collapse — and still she was drawing on an unbreakable will, trying to smash everything that bound her.
Judging by the way she was going, she planned to keep rampaging until she dropped dead.
Nothing is harder than subduing someone fighting with everything they have left. And if I just waited for Baekho to die…
Unlike that damn Juzaku who threw the first punch for no reason, I can't just leave Baekho to die…
"Doryeong!!!"
"We've finished cleaning up down below!!!"
While I was locked in a contest of strength with Baekho, still trying to figure out what to do, Baekryeon and Seollin — who had been dealing with Chui — managed to wrap things up without much trouble and came running toward me. Of course, Baekho's rampage kept them from getting any closer than a certain range…
"You two stay back for now!"
"But Doryeong!…"
"With her thrashing around like that, even I can barely protect you! And we can't kill her, remember?!"
If killing her had been allowed, this would have been simple. But since it wasn't, I had to find a way to subdue her before she ended her own life.
"Why is a Sacred Beast attacking us in the first place?! We're only trying to help!"
I agreed with Seollin completely. All I wanted was to help Baekho — so why the hell was I the one getting put through the wringer?
While I was thinking that, Baekryeon took a desperate step forward and cried out.
"O Baekho!"
"Baekryeon?! That's dangerous!"
Seollin knew full well that stepping into a battlefield beyond human limits was suicide for anyone who hadn't transcended those limits, and she tried to stop Baekryeon. But Baekryeon shook off Seollin's grip and spoke.
"I am a descendant of Baekho. If Baekho is enraged, then it is my duty to stay her wrath!"
"Look at that! How are we supposed to survive in the middle of a fight like that?! I get how you feel, but calm down and leave it to Cheon-woo!"
"Even so, I must go!!"
"Don't be stubborn, Baekryeon!!"
KRA-BOOM!!!
The sound of Baekryeon and Seollin bickering reached me. They're really going at it even in a situation like this, I thought — and then I looked at Baekho.
"?"
Grrrrrrrr…
"Did she… calm down?"
Baekho, who until now had done nothing but mindlessly destroy everything around her, stopped and looked around. But it seemed she hadn't found what she was searching for. She let out another earth-shaking roar and resumed her rampage.
GRAAAAAOOOOOHHH~~!!!
What was that just now…?
Something had changed. In the movements of a Baekho who had been destroying everything without restraint, a faint caution had appeared.
Why the shift? I didn't need to think hard to figure it out.
I snapped my gaze around. At the end of it, Baekryeon and Seollin were still scuffling with each other.
In the lore, Baekryeon is Baekho's true child. No one else knows that now except Baekho herself…
If there was any means left for her to claw back even a handful of reason in a state this broken, this close to total corruption — it would have to be an emotion fierce enough to forcibly crush the chaos she was feeling.
Yes. Something like a mother's feelings for her child…
"Baekryeon!!!"
The moment the thought clicked into place, I called her name. Baekryeon and Seollin both stopped mid-scuffle and looked at me.
"Baekho's movements changed! From her reaction, she still remembers you to some degree!! You're probably the only one who can bring her back to her senses!!"
"Ah — understood! I shall go at once!"
"Ah! Baekryeon!!"
The second she had my permission, Baekryeon hurled herself into the inhuman battlefield Baekho and I were tearing open. Seollin watched in a fluster, then made to dive in after her — until I stopped her.
"Seollin!!"
"Y-Yeah?! What is it?!"
"Baekho's body is almost certainly a mess from being marinated in massive amounts of aphrodisiac and every other poison imaginable! Get ready to treat her!"
"!!… Got it! I'll prepare right away!"
Seollin nodded hard and hurried down the mountain.
"Doryeong! What would you have me do?!"
"I'll neutralize her for a moment — call out to Baekho in that window! Somehow, make her come to her senses!"
"Understood! I know not whether I can succeed… but I shall do everything in my power!"
Baekryeon nodded with desperate resolve. Once I'd confirmed it, I turned my eyes back to Baekho.
Click.
"D-Doryeong! Your sword!…"
"It's fine. I won't wrap it in Gang-gi. That hide of hers should hold up somehow."
And even if it didn't — a little blood was necessary for a proper subdual anyway.
Earth Cleaver
CRAAACK!!!
I slammed a heavy blow straight into Baekho's skull. A sword strike delivered a far more decisive impact than a bare fist ever could — Baekho's movements stopped cold.
"Baekryeon! Now!!"
"Understood!!"
The instant she heard me, Baekryeon sprinted toward Baekho in a single bound.
"O Baekho!! Please, calm yourself!! We came to this place to aid you!!!"
Baekryeon's words. With her body wasted and her mind in chaos — had Baekryeon's voice still reached her?
A faint spark of life seemed to surface in Baekho's golden eyes.
"Please… come back to your senses…"
Grrraah… uh… uhhh…
Baekho's body became wrapped in a haze of white light. The light gradually dispersed, shrinking smaller and smaller, until at last it contracted to roughly the size of a human woman. And then, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, a woman's form appeared from within the cocoon of light.
Hair mixed of white and black. Tiger ears standing alert, and a tail.
Baekho in her human form.
"Baek…ryeon…"
She left those words as her very last, and collapsed.
"Lady Baekho!!"
"She's still breathing. Faint, but she'll be all right. Let's move her quickly. Seollin should have everything ready to care for her."
"I'm afraid that won't be happening."
"!"
Just as we were about to carry Baekho away, a voice cut in. I turned my head toward the sound. At the same time, Baekryeon shuddered violently, eyes flying wide as she whipped her head around.
Standing in that direction was a man with hair the color of blood.
I didn't need anyone to tell me who he was.
"Red… Oniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Like the roar of a savage beast, Baekryeon's cry — thick with pure rage — rang out across the land.
"Baekho is necessary to us. Hand her over quietly and disappear."
"Silence!!! You bastard!! You annihilated my clan, and now you mean to defile even Lady Baekho herself!!!!"
"Your clan?… Ah. So you're a survivor of the Baek family. Come to think of it, I do recall Baekho shielding a single human girl back then."
As if only just remembering, he spoke with a thoughtful air. Baekryeon, enraged even further by the sight of him, looked ready to charge — until I stopped her.
"Stop."
"Doryeong! But!!…"
"What's more important right now — cutting that thing's head off, or taking care of the Baekho in your arms?"
"That is!…"
Unable to answer, Baekryeon clenched her teeth in frustration even as she carefully gathered Baekho closer against her chest.
"Promise me this. When the time comes to take that creature's head, you will do it before my eyes."
"Of course. Head back first. I might carve off every last limb, but I'll leave him alive."
"Understood."
Baekryeon nodded, turned her back, and ran.
"I believe I told you to hand over Baekho."
Slash!
In that instant, Red Oni shaped a blade with his bare hand and swung it like a sword. From his fingertips, a blood-red slash of qi formed — and the crimson cutting force streaked straight for Baekryeon's turned back. My sword caught it lightly and scattered it to nothing.
"!"
"You think I'm a joke?"
"You… that sword. So it is. The Hero from the Central Continent. To have already caught up this far — impressive."
"Wasn't intentional, but here we are."
Our eyes locked for a moment. Hair red as blood, and eyes just as red. The instant I thought I saw my own reflection in those eyes, his form blurred — and he charged me at once, unleashing another crimson qi slash.
"No learning capacity? I already told you that doesn't work."
Grand Counter + Spatial Slash + Breath of All Things
THUD! SLASH!!
"Khuh?!"
I casually nullified the crimson slash and sent a counter-slash of my own. Compared to the attacks I'd thrown at Baekho, Juzaku, or the Demon King of Desire, it was an extremely light strike — and still he barely managed to take it.
"A H-Hero already has this much power…?"
He stared at me in open shock. Only now did he seem to grasp the gap between us… but confirming his level only made the strangeness grow sharper.
"…Yeah. This is weird."
"But even if you are a Hero…"
"You — how the hell did you subdue Baekho?"
That single exchange had confirmed it. He did not have the power to subdue Baekho.
"Who was it. The one standing behind you."