The Incompetent Hero and Mount Heaven (6)
Whoooosh!!…
A fierce wind howled without mercy.
This was the deepest heart of Cheonsan—and at the same time, its highest peak. The beastmen who dwelled here called the place Heaven’s Hollow. It was the true headquarters of the Beastman Alliance, an uncharted realm that even the Yeom Kingdom had never discovered.
In that place stood a solitary figure, staring blankly at the highest point of the sky.
“…”
A girl with a blood-red sword at her waist, luxuriant white hair streaming in the wind, and peculiar fragmented blue eyes. The being known as the Sword Demon simply gazed upward in silence.
She was lofty yet cold, fragile enough that she seemed ready to shatter at any moment—and yet breathtakingly beautiful. Even the beastmen who despised humans never dared defy her. On the contrary, they revered her. Precisely because of that reverence, no one ever thought to approach.
And so the lonely absolute stood there alone.
“Sword Demon.”
The one who came seeking her was a red-haired man—Red Oni.
“…”
He addressed her with careful respect, yet she seemed neither interested nor uninterested. She merely continued staring at the endless blue sky. Accustomed to that silence, Red Oni pressed on.
“Word has come that he has set foot on Cheonsan.”
“…”
At those words the Sword Demon’s vacant gaze finally shifted toward him.
A prickling pressure.
The mere turn of her eyes carried an overwhelming presence. She felt no emotion toward him whatsoever—yet the sheer weight of her existence proved she already stood on a plane far beyond his own. That was why she paid no attention to ordinary people. The only things that interested her were equals in strength… or methods by which she herself could grow stronger. Nothing else.
“He’s here?”
“!”
Even though a fair distance still separated them, she closed the gap in an instant and stood right before him. Those pale-blue eyes seemed to pierce straight through body and soul.
“Y-yes. Just now… we confirmed it.”
His voice trembled of its own accord. Fortunately she appeared unconcerned by such weakness; she simply waited for him to continue.
“What will you do?”
“…I’ll go.”
“Understood. We shall make ready. The development of Divine Beast Transformation is nearly complete; it would be good to show them our true power.”
She took a step as if the matter held no interest for her, then spoke without the slightest emotion or inflection.
“Even with that, you cannot defeat him.”
The Sword Demon stated a plain, undeniable fact. Red Oni felt neither humiliation nor insult. He had already tasted that man’s power to the point of nausea at Baekdu—an irresistible, overwhelming force identical to the Sword Demon’s own.
“I expect as much. He is your equal, after all. But the others are not. The latent blood of the Sacred Beasts within our kind will be a clear threat to them.”
“If you say so, then fine.”
Step. Step. Step.
The Sword Demon walked past him and vanished into the darkness. Only after her presence had completely disappeared did Red Oni finally manage to draw a full breath.
“…Damn it! Monsters, the lot of them…”
The world was full of the strong—far too full. There were far too many who could crush someone like him as easily as an insect. And still, to survive, he had no choice but to bow his head… unlike the rest of his bloodline who had already died.
“…Hah. Fine. Whatever. As long as this affair is finished, I’ll gain power. That’s all that matters.”
“We will settle this swiftly.”
The next day.
After the council, the conclusion they reached was exactly the one Yang Jamun had expected: a lightning campaign. Crush the Beastman Alliance and stop Tenma’s resurrection before the Heavenly Demon could fully return.
“Based on the intelligence extracted from the prisoners, the one we must watch most carefully is the being called the Sword Demon.”
“I know the Sword Demon. I’ve crossed blades with her once.”
At my words every gaze in the tent snapped toward me. Even Namgung Doryong, the head of the Namgung family—who I thought was still seething after I had roughed him up—was watching me with faint interest. Of course the most agitated was Zhuge Hyeon, head of the Zhuge family.
“W-why did you never mention such a thing?!”
“No one asked, did they?”
“E-even so… information on the enemy…”
“Ah—Father…!”
Zhuge Hyeon pressed his fingers to his temples as if the world were spinning. Beside him, Zhuge Sohyeon steadied her father’s arm and spoke in his place.
“C-could you tell us about the Sword Demon? Her appearance, her combat ability, and what she uses?”
“No trouble at all.”
I nodded and described the Sword Demon I had met.
“First, I encountered her in Jo.”
“In Jo?”
“That place was under a national isolation order, was it not?”
“I had business there, so I asked the Emperor of Yeom to get me in somehow. Thanks to him I managed to reach Jo and tried to finish what I came for. In the process I… coincidentally made contact with the Beastman Alliance.”
Calling it coincidence was generous—I had gone looking for them—but there was no need to spell that out. If I admitted I had deliberately sought them, I would only invite endless questions about how I knew a Beastman Alliance officer would be there.
“While I was fighting their officer Red Oni, someone appeared to save him—or for some other reason, I still don’t know. That was when I exchanged blows with the Sword Demon. She uses a sword, true to her name. But it seemed to be a special blade.”
“A special sword?”
“It absorbed my Gang-gi.”
Shock rippled through the entire tent.
“A-a sword that absorbs Gang-gi?!”
“She carries such a weapon?”
I wondered why they were so startled, then remembered: these people were ridiculously dependent on Gang-gi. The only ones who truly tempered the body were the Shaolin. Everyone else trained their flesh to a certain point and then poured everything into internal energy, reinforcing the body with qi. The fact that the ultimate expression of that internal energy—Gang-gi—could simply be blocked was a genuine nightmare for them.
“A sword that drinks Gang-gi… that is grave news. True to the name Sword Demon, her mastery of that blade must be profound.”
“Exactly. She could probably take all your heads in one swing.”
I agreed with the Shaolin abbot’s assessment. The others all looked as if they had bitten into something foul, but what could they do? It was the truth.
“You’ve been rather full of confidence since yesterday. Care to prove that skill of yours?”
Namgung Doryong, still smarting from the beating I had given him, spoke with thorns in his voice. The subtext was clear: Just give me one opening…
“No need to rush. You’ll see it soon enough.”
“?”
Namgung Doryong tilted his head, not understanding.
“Looks like the other side had the same idea.”
“The same idea…? Don’t tell me—!”
Zhuge Hyeon was the first to catch my meaning. Despite his earlier fluster, he had been listening carefully to every detail about the Sword Demon; he reached the correct conclusion first and shouted to the others.
“The enemy is—!”
BOOOOM!!!
But the enemy’s assault was a step faster. A savage crash of destruction rolled in from outside, and the camp erupted into chaos.
No intention of sneaking around, huh…
Honestly, even I couldn’t have predicted an ambush while we were sitting in a strategy meeting. If I could do that I’d be a fortune-teller. What let me sense the attack was the pure, crystal-clear fighting spirit still locked onto me.
I knew exactly who was radiating that killing intent.
The Sword Demon.
But to walk so brazenly—so openly—straight into the heart of the enemy camp? Was it a deliberate tactic, or was she simply charging in because she wanted to fight me and nothing else?
Either way, perfect.
[Let’s go settle the score from last time right now!]
Holy Sword Makina’s voice rang out eagerly inside my mind.
Yeah. Time for a little payback.
“Lucy. Stick with Baekryeon and Baekho and support them.”
“Yes~ Leave it to me~”
“Baekryeon, Red Oni might have come with her. Baekho still hasn’t fully recovered her original power, so don’t charge in deep just for revenge. If you can’t finish him cleanly, wait for the next chance. The war’s only just begun—you’ll get plenty of opportunities to face him.”
“Mm. Understood.”
I assigned everyone their roles and rose from my seat. I wasn’t the only one who had finished deciding. Every person here led a great family or a major sect; even when startled, their judgment was swift.
The Emperor of Yeom rose quietly.
“Prepare to receive them. Troop deployment as previously arranged. Variables on the battlefield will be left to each individual’s discretion.”
His voice carried far more mature power than when I had last met him.
“Then, beneath the name of flame, let us show the enemy our strength.”
“Beneath the name of flame!”
With that cry everyone burst from the tent. Only my party, the Emperor of Yeom, and Juzaku remained.
“It seems we will be in your debt once again.”
“We’re already in the same boat. No need to keep score.”
“Haha. That is most reassuring.”
The Emperor smiled gently. Behind him, Juzaku glared at Baekho with a sulky expression.
“Baekho.”
“What is it, Juzaku?”
“There is a clause that we must not interfere in human affairs. And yet you intend to involve yourself in this?”
“…Regrettably, I am already deeply entangled—by their design.”
That was true enough. The Beastman Alliance had gone to Jo specifically to target Baekho, destroyed the Baek family, dragged her out, and captured her. This was self-defense, exactly as Juzaku herself had once defined it.
“So do not worry overmuch.”
“…Hmph. Fine, then.”
“Save the catching-up for later. Let’s move.”
At my words Baekho nodded. Juzaku watched Baekho’s back as she followed Leon out of the tent, her gaze lingering until the very end.