Return of the Mount Hua

You can do it. (3)

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“Uh……”

Jo Geol blinked. Even from a distance, he could see it clearly.

Jang Ilso, collapsed, no longer able to support himself on his own two feet, and Baek Cheon, propping up Chung Myung’s limp body.

“Uh, uh….?”

On the battlefield, this sight could only mean one thing.

“We… won.”

Jo Geol covered his mouth for a moment, unable to believe what he’d just uttered. His eyes shook violently.

“We… won! We won, I tell you! That damn bastard actually won! Uaaaaaaaah!”

Jo Geol screamed until his throat tore.

It wasn’t simply because he was happy that Chung Myung had won.

The duel between Chung Myung and Jang Ilso meant far more than merely deciding victory and defeat between two men. Everyone here knew that for certain.

Fwish.

Jo Geol’s sword slashed menacingly through the air.

He felt in every fiber of his body the cliche phrase, ‘morale is rising,’ and let out a fierce growl.

“Now it’s your turn, you damn bastards!”

A triumphant light rose in his eyes.

“He really did it.”

Namgung Dowi let out a hollow laugh.

“Honestly… what an incredible person.”

The fallen figure of Jang Ilso came into view.

The death of Paegun.

So many had desperately wished for it, yet at the same time, no one had truly imagined it would come to pass. Not even Namgung Dowi.

And yet Chung Myung went and did it.

“My mind is burning.”

He was glad that the one who had done it was Chung Myung, but precisely because it was Chung Myung, he couldn’t simply be glad. Once again he realized he might have to spend his whole life chasing that person’s back.

But now was not the time to be swept up in competitive spirit. Namgung Dowi suppressed his rising emotions. One of the things his father had taught him was that those who spend their lives only looking into the distance can, in fact, never go far.

“Dojang.”

Instead, Namgung Dowi turned his gaze to the person right in front of him. He saw shoulders trembling, very slightly, almost impossible to notice. It was Tang Soso.

She was standing a few steps ahead of Namgung Dowi, staring at Chung Myung – and perhaps at Jang Ilso, who might already have drawn his last breath.

What must it feel like to finally witness the fall of your father’s nemesis?

It was hard to guess. Namgung Dowi, too, had lived through the death of the Black Dragon King, but that had been of a different sort. So all he could do was try to read her feelings from the trembling of her shoulders.

“Are you all right?”

Namgung Dowi addressed her carefully. Before he could add another word, a trembling voice slipped out of Tang Soso.

“Honestly…….”

“Yes?”

“Do they think their bodies are rag dolls or something… They’re all the same, really.”

There were far too many emotions tangled in her voice. So many that it was impossible to take them all in.

In that moment, Tang Soso sharply turned her head towards Namgung Dowi.

“What are you doing?”

“…Yes?”

“Move at once. Before they rush in to strike at our exhausted Sahyeong!”

“Ah? R-Right.”

Flustered, Namgung Dowi nodded repeatedly, then immediately pushed off the ground. Tang Soso, who took in both the sight of Namgung Dowi running ahead and Chung Myung beyond him, looked up at the sky for a brief moment.

Should she say something?

Forget it. What she had to do now was not mourn the dead. It was to protect even one more of those who were still alive. Tang Gunak… her father would have wanted that more.

“So, crying comes later.”

Muttering, Tang Soso clenched the needle case she carried in her robes. Now was her turn to save lives.

⠀⠀

Baek Cheon pulled Chung Myung in close.

Chung Myung was barely clinging to consciousness. He should have already passed out, but some impossible willpower was desperately keeping him awake.

And Baek Cheon knew the cause of that lingering sense of crisis that Chung Myung just couldn’t let go of.

Fwish.

Supporting Chung Myung with one arm, Baek Cheon pointed his sword forward. At the tip of his sword were the Red Dogs, staring back at them in a daze.

“This…..”

Riddled with scars, as if testifying to the horrors of war, their fierce faces were surging with emotions never before seen in the Red Dogs.

A strong sense of denial, despair. And… emptiness.

They had lost their way.

Those who had lived following only the light named Jang Ilso – now that they had lost him, it was no different from losing the meaning of life.

So it was hard to guess. What sort of reaction would hunting dogs, loyal only to their master, show when that master was gone…?

“U… uuu…… uaaaaaaaagh!”

“Well… Yes, that figures.”

Baek Cheon let out a brief, dry laugh.

Having witnessed Jang Ilso’s death with their own eyes, the Red Dogs now screamed in unison, as if they’d all gone mad.

“Paegun! Paeguuuuuuun!”

It would have been nice if despair had robbed them of all will, but those damned bastards would never do that. In that case, where that rage would turn was all too obvious.

Perhaps reacting to the suddenly surging frenzy and killing intent, Chung Myung’s shoulders jerked. Baek Cheon pressed those shoulders down hard.

“Just sleep, you wounded brat.”

Huuuummm.

At last, Baek Cheon’s sword let out a clear ring.

“From here on, this is our job.”

Whether he heard those words or simply ran out of strength, Chung Myung’s body finally went limp. Glancing down at him, Baek Cheon’s expression hardened.

‘I will get him out of here alive, no matter what.’

Protecting a single unconscious person amid the rampaging Red Dogs was never going to be easy. But Chung Myung had done something just as hard. As someone who, in his own right, was called Sasuk, he couldn’t show weakness before his Sajil who had accomplished a greater feat.

“Uaaaargh! You bastard! I’ll kill you!”

The Red Dogs charged at Baek Cheon like madmen. 

“Hmm…….”

Their movements were so wild and frenzied that even the word ‘all at once’ didn’t do it justice. But precisely because of that, it was terrifyingly threatening.

Baek Cheon let a faint smile touch his lips.

“No matter what, this is… way too many, isn’t it?”

At the overwhelming charge of the Red Dogs rushing from all sides, he could only let out a helpless chuckle. Who would have thought so many of them would come, aiming for Chung Myung.

It just meant their anger at Chung Myung for killing Jang Ilso ran that deep. Not exactly good news for Baek Cheon.

“Phew…….”

Baek Cheon clenched his teeth.

‘I will hold out as long as I can.’

After that, they would surely come – his comrades. Baek Cheon wasn’t the only one who wanted to protect Chung Myung.

“So come on, then!”

As Baek Cheon roared, his sword spewed red sword energy. As if that crimson energy only excited them further, bloodlust flooded the eyes of the ones charging in.

“Hiiyaaaaaa!”

Letting out screams no longer even sounding human, the Red Dogs swarmed in from all sides. Just as Baek Cheon raised his sword without hesitation…

Vooooom!

Someone landed right in front of Baek Cheon.

“Huh?”

A figure wrapped in a black kasaya.

“Monk!”

“Amitabha!”

Hye Yeon’s fist burst forth in the middle of the Red Dogs without the slightest restraint.

Boooom!

“Aaaaaargh!”

The Red Dogs, who had lost all reason and were charging in, were helplessly knocked back, unable to even respond properly to Hye Yeon’s sudden appearance and attack.

“Sasuk!”

“Yoon Jong!”

Right behind him, Yoon Jong dashed in and took his place at Baek Cheon’s side.

“What about Chung Myung?”

“….He’s still all right.”

Yoon Jong checked Chung Myung out of the corner of his eye. He was definitely breathing. Once he confirmed this, Yoon Jong nodded and resolutely raised his sword.

“Hyaaaah!”

No need for words. He immediately began cutting down the Red Dogs that were charging in.

They had to protect him.

Though Jang Ilso’s death had decided the course of this war, if they lost Chung Myung, even a victory would not be a victory. Everyone knew that. 

They had to protect him – even if it cost them their lives.

Hye Yeon, holding back the Red Dogs, was like a wall. Though his grievous injuries were steadily worsening, Hye Yeon ignored his own condition and focused solely on facing the enemy.

Yoon Jong and Baek Cheon also swung their swords with all their strength at the foes rushing in from every direction.

“Paeguuuuuun! Uaaaaaaaah!”

But the Red Dogs’ fury was greater than expected, and there were far too many for just three to handle. Before long, Baek Cheon, Hye Yeon, and Yoon Jong were pressed so hard they had to stand shoulder to shoulder.

“Dieeeeeee!”

The Red Dogs swung their blades without caring for their own lives. Their rage had stripped their attacks of any finesse, but the murderous intent and determination more than made up for it.

To say they disregarded death would be insufficient. Perhaps they had chosen death. Such desperate and horrifying attacks came one after another.

Slash!

In no time, vivid wounds were carved all over the bodies of the three.

Hye Yeon, fighting bare-handed, was no exception, nor was Yoon Jong with his sword. Baek Cheon, who was facing the most enemies because he was with Chung Myung, saw his white robe quickly stained red.

Even so, the three of them kept the enemy’s claws from so much as touching Chung Myung’s body.

“You damned bastards! If you’re that heartbroken, just grab Jang Ilso’s corpse and get the hell out!”

Yoon Jong shouted as he swung his sword.

“Damn it! Sasuk, at this rate it’s too dangerous. I’ll open a path, so at least get Chung Myung out first…”

“Nonsense! To me, you’re also someone I have to protect, you damned Sajil.”

“This is no time to be saying things like that!”

“It’s fine!”

Moving like a flash of light, Baek Cheon instantly cut down the Red Dog charging at them, slicing through his neck. The blood at his sword’s tip sprayed out violently.

“We’re not the only ones here.”

“What?”

Baek Cheon’s gaze turned past the Red Dogs, looking further beyond. A hint of regret flickered in his eyes.

“There are others here… who lost even more than they did.”

It was silence, rage without voice. And so no one knew how terrifying it was, and no one paid attention.

Rrrrip.

Seeing the Red Dogs turn their backs on them, someone finally grabbed his mask and tore it off.

“This…..”

The face finally revealed beneath the mask was twisted like a demon’s.

The one once called Jin Songwon. But now nothing more than a nameless fiend. His beard, soaked with blood, trembled.

“How dare you… show us your backs?”

Jin Songwon’s mind flashed white – and then black – with pure rage.

They had lost everything to the Red Dogs. Jang Ilso had taken everything from them. And now those Red Dogs were showing them their backs.

What could be more wretched than this? What sight could be more humiliating?

The wraiths who had lost everything and survived only on their hatred for those men all erupted in fury at once. Bloodshot eyes blazed on every face.

“Kill them.”

Jin Songwon muttered the words. Yet that small voice struck cleanly into the ears of the disciples of Diancang, lost to their fury.

“And then die.”

A chilling cry burst from Jin Songwon’s mouth.

“Let their last memory be of us! Make it so they cannot forget us even when they fall into hell! Thoroughly and mercilessly! Kill and kill again!”

Clang!

Jin Songwon thrust his sword out roughly.

“See you again in hell.”

“Huuuuuaaaaaaah!”

No sooner had he spoken than the swordsmen of Diancang dashed at the Red Dogs like beasts smelling blood.

Jang Ilso’s dogs, still left in this world. Diancang surged forth like wolves hunting those dogs.

No matter how deep the Red Dogs’ despair, it could not surpass that of Diancang. No matter how great their rage, it could never be greater than Diancang’s. In truth, all that remained for them was rage and resentment.

So Diancang unleashed it all – every drop of hatred – upon the accursed dogs of Jang Ilso, who had dared to show their backs.

“Uaaaaaaaah!”

The swordsmen of Diancang, turned into demons, sank their blades like venomous fangs steeped in resentment into the Red Dogs’ backs without hesitation.

“Graaaagh! Y-You filthy wretches!”

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

The Red Dogs, struck in the back, raged and swung their blades wildly.

But the swordsmen of Diancang made no attempt to avoid them. A blade driven into their necks? That was what they longed for.

To keep living through this hellish existence was nothing but punishment for them.

With no reason to avoid death, the demons burst into mad laughter even as their heads flew, driving their swords into the Red Dogs’ hearts to the very end.

Under that mad assault, the rear of the Red Dogs’ ranks collapsed in an instant.

“Leave not a single one alive! Kill them all! Every last one!”

The swordsmen of Diancang, turned into demons, mercilessly pierced the Red Dogs. The Red Dogs, unable to find any other outlet for their fury, likewise tore the swordsmen of Diancang to pieces.

Over the ground where Jang Ilso’s blood had yet to cool, the blood of Red Dogs and Diancang soon poured down, hot and heavy.

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