The Girl Who Was the Mad Demon (4)
“Ugh….”
With a groan, Dokgo Jin opened her eyes.
Fuck….
A crushing pain bloomed through her abdomen. She lifted a hand and probed the injury.
Bones broken?
She flexed her arm a few times, testing. Nothing seemed fractured.
…Small mercies.
She pushed herself upright and took stock of her surroundings. There wasn’t much to see. A dark night sky, a scattering of campfires, and the crude wooden cage that held her—that was the whole of it.
Crazy bastards. They dare lock me in a wooden cage?
This was the Mad Demon Dokgo Jin, who had once smashed her way out of cages forged from Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. She grabbed the bars, fully intending to break free and walk out—and immediately understood her situation.
Fuck…. This goddamn Bone and Body Reconstitution….
With this piece-of-shit body, even escaping a flimsy cage like this was beyond her.
“Hngh…!”
No matter how hard she strained, the wood didn’t so much as creak. Dokgo Jin slumped back onto the ground.
“Ha, fuck….”
Was the Mad Demon of the age really going to suffer this kind of humiliation?
While she was still cursing her lot, someone approached.
“Huh? She’s awake.”
“Get me out of here right now, you son of a bitch.”
“…Mouthy little bitch for someone who looks like that, aren’t you?”
“…What?”
The bandit gave her an ugly grin, turned, and shouted over his shoulder.
“Hey! Wang Bong! That girl you dragged in is awake! Call the boss!”
“She’s up?!”
“Yeah!”
As the bandits traded jokes only they found funny and laughed at her expense, Dokgo Jin’s temper flared all over again.
“This motherfucker thinks he can treat me like shit….”
“Hey, miss. Don’t ruin that pretty face of yours with language like that. Be a good girl, yeah?”
“Haa…, fuck.”
Crack!
Dokgo Jin threw herself against the wooden bars and screamed like a woman possessed.
“You fucking bastard! I am going to kill you—I swear it! You piece of shit!!”
“Heh. I’m shaking in my boots. Sure, go ahead and kill me.”
She was still thrashing, rage rising so hot it almost felt like the old madness might come roaring back, when several lights suddenly appeared out of the darkness.
“…What the hell?”
“You’ve arrived, Boss!”
“Mm.”
“…”
The man who emerged with those lights was enormous.
…There’s someone as big as I used to be when I was a man.
A man draped in tiger hide, a massive axe the size of an ordinary adult male resting across his shoulder, came to a stop in front of her cage with a nasty smile.
“Hoh….”
“…”
Dokgo Jin, who had been raising hell only moments before, went quiet the instant she saw the axe-bearing man. Her senses—sharper now that she was a woman—were screaming a warning.
This bastard… has carved people up for breakfast.
Even walking, his stride and breathing stayed perfectly even. A thick reek of blood rolled off both the axe and his body. He was a different class of creature entirely from the bandit trash who’d been mocking her a moment ago.
“I heard you had a foul mouth. You’re being rather quiet.”
“…I’m holding it in.”
“Holding what?”
“…”
Grind.
What do you think, you bastard. I’m waiting for one single, thread-thin chance to kill you.
Dokgo Jin was certain that, given even a sliver of opportunity, she could still butcher ordinary bandit scum with this frail body. No—she was sure of it. However worthless this body might be as a martial artist’s vessel, she was still the girl who had once been the Mad Demon. The knowledge she had carried as the Mad Demon hadn’t gone anywhere.
But the man standing in front of her was another matter entirely.
A physique that would not be out of place among true martial artists. Judging by the stability of his footwork and breath, he had somehow lucked into proper martial training—more than a back-alley heretic like him deserved.
If I touch him carelessly, I’m the one who dies….
For the first time in a long while, she felt a genuine threat to her life—and the corner of her mouth curled up.
The bandit boss cocked his head at the sight.
“…Hm?”
“What do you want from me?”
“Heh heh heh. Do you even understand the position you’re in, girl?”
“I understand. I’ll give you what you want. In exchange, let me go.”
“Heh…, heh heh…, HAHAHAHA!!!”
The bandit boss threw his head back and roared with laughter, and the other bandits followed suit. Even as every one of them laughed at her, Dokgo Jin’s eyes never left the boss.
“Ah, heh heh. Hey, Wang Bong.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“You picked up an entertaining little wench. Catch.”
The boss unfastened an entire coin pouch from his belt and tossed it over. The bandit called Wang Bong caught it and bowed low.
“Thank you, Boss!”
The bandit boss waved him off casually and turned back to Dokgo Jin.
“You said you’d give me what I want?”
“That’s right.”
“What I want, is it….”
He put a hand to his chin, made a show of serious deliberation with a thoughtful hum, and answered.
“Hmm…. I want you.”
“You want my body, is that it?”
“That’s right.”
“Haa….”
Dokgo Jin let out a long sigh.
“Nothing else will do? I can give you money, if that’s what you want.”
“No. I’m curious about you.”
The bandit boss gripped the wooden bars, snorting through his nose as he spoke.
“You’ve caught my interest. At first glance you were just another pretty face. The world’s full of those.”
“…”
“But from the moment you opened your mouth, I haven’t been able to stop wondering.”
Crack. Crrrack!
He wrenched the wooden cage open by force.
“I want to know if you’ll still be that bold once you’re pinned under me.”
“…So you really are a crazy bastard.”
“Heh. Yes. That’s exactly the look!”
The boss seized Dokgo Jin’s chin and dragged his tongue across her face. A foul reek of breath and a nauseating stickiness smeared over her skin.
“A sharp-tongued bitch like you is the most fun to play with in bed.”
“What the hell have you been eating?”
“…Huh?”
“Your mouth smells like shit. Did you dig around in a latrine and eat it? Was it good?”
“…”
The bandit boss’s face went blank.
“I’ve never tried it myself. Care to enlighten me?”
“Heh…, HAHAHAHA!!!”
He burst out laughing—then seized a fistful of Dokgo Jin’s hair.
“Aagh!!”
A white-hot pain ripped through her scalp and she screamed, but the bandit boss paid it no mind as he dragged her along by the hair.
“Fun. This is really fun…! To run your mouth like that right in front of me—impressive!”
“Let go…! Let go, you son of a bitch!”
“Fine, I’ll let go!”
He flung her away like so much garbage.
“Heh. Ah… really. My lust has been boiling since earlier—hard to hold it back.”
“For all that talk, there’s nothing showing through your pants. Must be a pretty pathetic little dick.”
“HAHA!”
He laughed hard again—and then.
Crack!
“You crazy bitch…!”
“…”
He backhanded her across the cheek.
…Guess I hit the mark.
A coppery taste of blood filled her mouth.
“Ptoo.”
“…Follow me, you insolent little wench. Let’s see if you can still talk like that once you’re on the bed.”
“Pfft—khh…!”
Dokgo Jin let out a hollow laugh.
“With that tiny… no. With that little dick of yours? Me?”
“…”
“I wouldn’t even feel it going in. At least it won’t hurt.”
“You—!!”
The bandit boss grabbed her arm and hauled her along by force. Then, sensing the eyes of the camp on them, he muttered low.
“…What are you all staring at?”
“Sir?”
“Eyes down!!”
Splat!
He swung the axe. One bandit’s head burst like overripe fruit.
“Hhk!!”
“Ah—nothing, Boss! Nothing at all!”
“We’re sorry!!”
The man who’d been standing right beside them a second ago was dead. The remaining bandits shook like aspen leaves and slammed their foreheads into the dirt.
“Fucking bastards….”
The boss seized Dokgo Jin again and stalked toward his quarters, growling.
“You said earlier you’d do anything, didn’t you?”
“That promise doesn’t apply to men with tiny dicks.”
Crack!
Once more, the bandit boss struck her across the face.
“One more word… about the size of my manhood, and I cut your throat.”
“Heh.”
Dokgo Jin rubbed her swelling cheek and said,
“Can you hit the other side next time?”
“…What?”
“Getting hit in the same spot twice… feels like shit.”
“…You’re completely insane.”
“Just figuring that out?”
“I’ll see how long that arrogance of yours lasts.”
He grabbed her arm and threw her into his quarters.
“Kh…!”
“Hoo… hoo….”
Once inside, the bandit boss breathed hard and flung off the tiger hide. In an instant he stood naked before Dokgo Jin.
She bit down hard on the laugh that tried to escape.
Buried in hair. Can’t even see the damn thing.
The bandit boss truly did possess a pitifully small manhood. Small enough that she could almost understand why he’d lost his mind every time she mocked it. While she was still fighting down her laughter, he put a hand on her head.
“…Suck it.”
“…”
He pressed down, trying to shove her face into his crotch—and in that instant, Dokgo Jin raised a hand and called out.
“Wait!”
“…You still have something to say?”
“No. I have a question.”
“Heh. Go on, then. Begging for your life at this point, are you?”
“I never heard your name.”
“Does it matter?”
“It does. I’m a virgin.”
“Hoh….”
An intrigued smile spread across the bandit boss’s face. Dokgo Jin didn’t let the opening slip.
“It may not mean anything to a man like you, but a woman has the right to know the name of the man who takes her first night. Don’t you think?”
“Heh… fair enough.”
He pointed to the axe he’d set aside with his clothes.
“Blood Axe Ghost Jo Chang. That’s the name of the man who’s going to take your first night.”
“Blood Axe Ghost Jo Chang…. I’ll remember it.”
Dokgo Jin’s eyes lit up.
The single opportunity she had been baiting, needling, and hunting for this entire time—she was certain this was it.
“As the idiot who died drowning in his own lust.”
“…What?”
Shing!
Dokgo Jin flicked her arm. The soft sword bound around her wrist uncoiled into a supple blade. In the same breath she drove her arm forward like a striking snake, aiming for one of the body’s death points—the Huiyin acupoint between Jo Chang’s manhood and his anus.
“Hah!!”
“Ghk…!”
Jo Chang’s body convulsed as the blade pierced him. The soft sword the Lust Demon had lent her truly deserved to be called a divine weapon. Even without inner energy, even swung by a frail woman’s body, the blade Dokgo Jin wielded sank into Jo Chang’s flesh with almost no resistance.
“Kh…! You bitch…!!”
“Die, you piece of shit.”
Jo Chang gathered the last of his strength, trying to crush her skull—but Dokgo Jin’s hand moved faster.
Thrust!
“Ghk…!”
She twisted the hilt hard, and the soft sword tore through Jo Chang’s body a second time.
“Grrrk….”
His eyes rolled back. He coughed up a froth of blood and toppled backward.
Thud.
“Haa… haa…. Fuck….”
She yanked the hilt free. The soft sword, stained red, slid out of Jo Chang’s body.
“Ugh… fuck. This is disgusting, seriously….”
She flicked the blade a few times, but the blood refused to come off. She wiped it clean on the tiger pelt Jo Chang had discarded, then strapped it back around her arm.
Shing!
…It really does deserve to be called a divine weapon.
Edge sharp enough to pierce a trained martial artist’s body even with weak strength. Flexible enough to whip and bend, yet strong enough not to snap. And the ability to hide it like a simple armband in ordinary times.
I should ask if he can spare me one of these too.
It was far too fine a thing for the likes of the Lust Demon to keep, she thought, and glanced outside the quarters.
…Have all the bandit bastards gone back to their dens?
She closed her eyes briefly, drawing up her senses to map the positions of the bandits around the camp—and then.
“…Huh?”
Someone was approaching at tremendous speed, and her senses snagged on them.
Incredible lightness skill…. This isn’t just any master. Ice Palace…?!
The moment Dokgo Jin opened her eyes, the master of that extraordinary lightness skill arrived—shaking the earth with a thunderous crash.
BOOOOM!!
“Wh—what the hell?!”
“What’s going on?!”
Startled bandits rushed toward the source of the noise.
Who is it….
Dokgo Jin strained her ears, trying to identify the master. Then a familiar voice reached her.
“Pardon the intrusion. I’m looking for someone—have any of you by chance seen a red-haired young lady?”
It was the Lust Demon, Wi Ilcheong.