The Enigmatic Horde
Swish!
A chilling sound of flesh being torn echoed across Mount Myobang.
The guards of the Mong Family Villa collapsed without even managing a single strike.
The mysterious horde had appeared near Mount Myobang barely an hour earlier.
Until then, nothing had seemed amiss.
But their numbers gradually swelled, and they began climbing Mount Myobang in unison.
Naturally, the Mong Family Villa's guards moved to block them.
After all, the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly was being held at the Mong Family Villa, so it was only right to exercise the utmost caution.
Though the number of guards had been doubled, they were swept away in an instant.
Upon receiving the belated report, Mong Yu-baek flew into a rage, summoning all his guards and declaring the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly over.
He then personally led the guards to form a defensive line around the Mong Family Villa, preparing to meet the invaders.
"So? You still know nothing about them?"
"My apologies, Villa Lord. Truly... we could not determine where or how they came from."
One subordinate bowed deeply, delivering the report with a heavy heart.
Mong Yu-baek realized the situation was turning dire.
The guards' morale had already hit rock bottom.
Mong Yu-baek slowly drew his sword and stepped forward, gazing down the mountain.
The mysterious horde was slowly advancing toward them from below.
'What is this energy...?'
Feeling the blatant aura they exuded, Mong Yu-baek trembled slightly.
It was inexplicably repulsive.
An ominous energy, as if the living dead were crawling upward.
Moreover, even from that distance, the stench of blood wafted strongly toward them.
'Perhaps...'
Mong Yu-baek sensed it instinctively.
This battle could very well be his last.
Each of them was radiating an immense, unfiltered energy.
"Everyone, draw your swords."
Yet, contrary to his inner thoughts, he firmly rallied his subordinates.
Regardless of how bleak the situation was, he was the master of the Mong Family Villa.
Furthermore...
'Yeo-rin.'
Having lost his children long ago, his only remaining blood relative was Mong Yeo-rin.
Watching her grow had been the joy of his life, and his lifelong wish was simply for her to grow up healthy.
But now, even that could no longer be guaranteed.
"If we retreat, everything we sought to protect... will die at their hands. Is that what you want?"
At Mong Yu-baek's cry, the subordinates' eyes changed.
It was not only the guards gathered here.
Their families and children were all together in one place.
In other words, retreating meant the annihilation of their defenseless loved ones.
Sensing the shift in his men's gazes, Mong Yu-baek turned around.
In the distance, a man who appeared to be their leader was walking toward them.
Mong Yu-baek walked to meet him as well.
Mong Yu-baek and the mysterious man.
They faced each other with about ten paces between them.
"This is the land of the Mong Family Villa. Do not do something you will regret and turn back now."
"......"
The man remained silent.
Instead, he looked Mong Yu-baek up and down, then smiled with a mocking grin before drawing his sword.
Swish!
Startled, Mong Yu-baek hastily twisted his body, but the man's sword was a fraction faster.
Blood sprayed, and Mong Yu-baek staggered before collapsing to the ground.
A shallow sword mark was etched beside his neck.
'I didn't even see it.'
Mong Yu-baek's pupils wavered.
He had not seen his opponent's sword.
However, he could not show such weakness in front of his subordinates.
Mong Yu-baek rose to his feet as if nothing had happened.
"Tsk tsk."
The man immediately noticed Mong Yu-baek's condition.
"No need to pretend you're fine, old man. You won't live much longer anyway."
"......"
"You should consider it fortunate to die cleanly by my hand."
With those words, he raised the sword he held.
A murky, ominous energy surged forth.
It was questionable how a human could harbor such dark and utterly repulsive energy.
"Grandfather!"
At that moment, Mong Yeo-rin's voice rang out from behind.
Hearing it, Mong Yu-baek quickly retreated, narrowly avoiding the man's sword.
"Yeo-rin!"
He shouted urgently, his face pale.
"Why are you here? What were you all doing!"
Mong Yu-baek scolded angrily.
Like the other promising youths, Mong Yeo-rin had been sent away to escape quickly.
At least, that was what he had believed. So why was she here?
"How could I leave? This is my home!"
She shouted, glancing around.
The mysterious horde had now approached close enough to fill their entire field of vision.
"Haa."
Mong Yu-baek felt dizzy.
Evacuating her now was nearly impossible.
The entire Mount Myobang was likely already surrounded by them.
"Who are these people...?"
Contrary to her appearance, Mong Yeo-rin was a remarkably resilient woman.
Instead of crying, she extended her hand to a subordinate, received a sword, and asked Mong Yu-baek.
"I don't know. But they are undoubtedly extremely dangerous. Why did you come back?"
"How could I leave you behind, Grandfather? I can't go."
Mong Yeo-rin forced a smile and took his hand as he looked at her with regret.
Having lost her parents at a young age and been raised by Mong Yu-baek, he was both parent and friend, as well as teacher, to her.
"Hoo."
Now that it had come to this, there was no other way.
They had to hold them off as best they could.
"Prepare yourselves."
As the man moved, the horde charged forward in unison.
Mong Yu-baek drew his sword and charged toward the front lines.
It was the beginning of the brutal war that would later be known as the Myobang Bloodbath.
* * *
Whoosh!
I quickly scanned the surroundings.
"There are many of them."
The enemy's numbers far exceeded those of the Mong Family Villa's guards.
Moreover, the biggest problem was that their skill far surpassed that of the villa's guards.
"What should we do? Wouldn't it be better to slip away and request reinforcements from the Ju Family?"
The Mong Family Villa had deep ties with the previous head of the Ju Family—my grandfather.
In their youth, the two had roamed the martial world, accumulating countless righteous deeds and spreading their chivalry far and wide.
"No."
By the time reinforcements arrived, the Mong Family Villa would already be annihilated.
"Young Hero, is there no other way?"
Byeok Gong asked with a grim expression.
He had stepped forward boldly, but the enemy's numbers were no small matter.
Most shocking of all was the man leading the front.
"It seems he is the leader commanding this horde."
At Byeok Gong's words, I nodded silently.
He was directing the horde, forming a battle formation to counter the Mong Family Villa's guards.
Facing them head-on was already difficult enough, but with a formation and tactical response, the villa's guards were in dire straits.
"I'll take him down."
I had chosen my target.
Capturing the leader who held command would create a gap in their leadership.
Muyoung, Byeok Gong, and Mong Yu-baek could buy enough time.
In the meantime, I planned to capture him and uncover his identity.
"Let's go."
Whoosh!
The moment I finished speaking, I launched myself forward.
Crackle!
The instant I drew my sword, sword qi erupted from the tip with a thunderous roar.
Controlling the sword qi that curved and flew in all directions, I descended directly toward the man at the front.
Boom!
Several of the horde caught in the sword qi were sliced apart and sent flying.
"......Whoa."
The man let out a small sigh of surprise.
"It's you."
He muttered with a smile, as if he knew me.
"You won't answer even if I ask who you are, will you?"
At my words, the man nodded.
"Of course not."
"Then I'll have to make you spit it out."
Boom!
I advanced another step.
Exploding the energy gathered at my feet, I closed in on him with the Gale Moon Slash.
Crackle!
I lightly circulated my inner energy.
Jade Heaven Descending Dragon Qi, First Form.
Azure Dragon Descent.
Like a soaring dragon descending to earth, it seized the man's entire attack range with explosive force.
"Oh ho."
The man looked at me with surprised eyes.
Then he grinned as if amused and thrust his sword toward me.
A crimson sword qi surged from his sword tip and lashed out like a whip.
Whoosh! Slash!
It carried tremendous power.
I quickly twisted my waist to alter its trajectory.
But the man's sword was persistent.
The crimson sword qi possessed the property of bending like a whip, curving back toward me whenever I dodged.
"You scoundrel! Have you still not left?"
Mong Yu-baek's scolding voice came from afar, but there was no time to respond.
'He's too strong?'
An opponent I had never seen before.
People I had neither seen nor heard of even in my previous life.
It was certainly strange that I had never heard their names despite their overwhelming strength.
'And not just individuals, but a group.'
In the end, I realized I could not match him by simply stalling for time.
I had to break him properly.
"It's been a while."
I executed the Second Form of the Jade Heaven Descending Dragon Qi.
A form I had only used against existences beyond the Twelve Demon Lords even in my previous life.
"Jade Heaven Mountain Breaker."
A compressed strike that ruptures rock and ground with the dragon's energy.
It was a form with the power to pierce through the opponent's defenses and shake the enemy from their roots.
Crackle!
The sword tip trembled violently.
It seemed burdened by the immense power of the Jade Heaven Descending Dragon Qi.
'Baekrenjeonggang...'
Still, it should be able to withstand swinging the form once or twice.
I advanced one step and thrust my sword exactly three times.
'White Dragon Sword Scripture.'
First Form, White Dragon Emerges from the Sea.
A dragon blooming from the sword tip soars from the sea to the sky, delivering an ascension strike.
Kwaaaang!
A massive dragon bared its fangs and opened its jaws wide.
Seeing this, the man snorted and lightly waved his sword.
Slash! Slash! Crackle!
The dragon's body was sliced apart.
The energy of the Jade Heaven Descending Dragon Qi shattered upon contact with the crimson sword qi, raining down like fragments.
"Insane..."
For the first time, a groan escaped my lips.
An existence with absurd martial prowess.
"You're strong."
The man then spoke to me.
Just as I acknowledged him, he acknowledged me as well.
"I can see why they sent you here."
"Sent me? Who?"
"Want me to tell you?"
The man's crimson sword qi surged forth.
Soon, an even deeper blood-red energy rippled and rose around him.
Boom!
The moment sword met sword, the air tore apart.
The stench of blood and iron burst forth simultaneously as the crimson energy exploded outward.
The sword qi that curved and lashed out like a whip left no room to dodge.
Dodge, and it bent; block, and it coiled around.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The azure dragon of the Jade Heaven Descending Dragon Qi roared and rose, but the man's crimson sword severed the dragon's neck.
Fragments of shattered energy surged back along my arm and struck my palm.
The back of my throat burned, and the metallic taste of blood spread in my mouth.
"You've got good eyes. Minimizing the damage? By bending your arm at the last moment?"
The man's smile deepened.
With every step he took, the ground cracked and dust rained down like a downpour.
I retreated half a step, then another.
A trajectory that seemed to drive his feet toward the cliff.
But the man's lips curled upward first.
"Foolish. Didn't you know that from three steps ago, my feet were already stepping on your shadow?"
In that instant, his sword shot forward.
A crimson flash came not from the front but from the side, twisting toward my neck.
I twisted my sword in a split second.
A metallic clang exploded, and I used the recoil to launch myself backward, widening the distance.
My chest heaved violently.
One wrong move, and my head would have flown off.
"Good."
Energy gathered in my middle dantian.
The very foundation symbolizing the Ju Family was the dragon.
The energy of the Jade Heaven Descending Dragon Qi filled the tip of my sword.
Crackle!
The sword developed cracks.
Even the Baekrenjeonggang, one of the Eight Heavenly Metals, could not withstand this immense energy.
The man moved as well.
As the crimson sword tip tore through the sky, the blue sky above turned blood-red.
A crimson sky swirled and twisted around him.
The air cried out.
Energy surging from both sides divided the battlefield.
An oppressive force that took one's breath away approached even from afar.
"I'll kill you."
The crimson sword and the roar of the massive dragon tearing through the heavens.
In an instant, they split the world apart.