What is it you desire? (3)
The warriors of the frozen land were strong.
Every day, they faced the sharp claws of beasts, and faced cold that sliced into the flesh. They had grown up in a land where one could not survive unless they staked their life day after day. And so they had lived with the pride that they were tougher and more steadfast than anyone else in the world.
But now, facing the beings that were drawing near, the warriors of the frozen land thought…
That the strength they had believed in might, perhaps, have been no more than snow on a snowy mountain that had never once met spring or summer.
“Hrrrrrrrrraaaaaagh!”
The withered, emaciated intruders, small enough that they barely seemed likely to reach their shoulders, came charging in with monstrous shrieks.
The hands gripping their spears so firmly trembled of their own accord. Yet before they even had time to calm that trembling, the demons came crushing down, their eyes glowing red.
“Kaaaaaaak!”
Kagagang!
Bodies that had fought steadfastly for long years reacted by instinct, thrusting their spears towards the enemy’s withered frames.
But the spears that had pierced bears as large as houses, that had split even the ice of the frozen lands in midwinter, absurdly left only small scratches on those bodies, that resembled ancient trees.
And then…
Kwadeudeudeuk!
A hand came flying in and tore a man’s head clean off.
“Huh?”
The sight was so utterly absurd as to seem almost comical, that it instead pushed back the terror that had been welling up in everyone’s hearts.
Kwadeudeudeuk!
An arm was ripped away.
Udeuk!
A leg that had been thrust out was torn apart, and a spear that had been driven forward snapped. The battle formation the warriors of the frozen land had gritted their teeth and raised could not hold back the enemy’s advance for even a single moment.
And so there was only one thing left.
One-sided slaughter.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
Torn-apart bodies flew through the air, and hot blood sprayed in every direction.
But the true despair that came upon those whose flesh was being torn apart as they died was not the death looming before their eyes.
A sight entering their fading vision. Between the trees of the frozen lands, rising like spears stabbing towards the heavens, black demons were pouring forth without end.
“Ugh……”
That sight was more terrifying than the death immediately before them. A black tide made of people was swallowing up the frozen land in an instant.
Anyone would know by instinct. Nothing would survive this.
If that scene, as though it had painted the very epitome of annihilation, were to spread across the whole world, every living thing would rather long for death.
“Aaaaargh!”
The fiend lunged forward, thrusting a bare hand through a man’s chest and crushing his heart in its grasp. As if even that was not enough, he seized the cooling corpse with both hands and tore it apart wildly to either side.
“Khaaah!”
As if something vicious deep inside him had exploded, the fiend let out a booming howl.
And at that moment, a spear brimming with ferocious inner energy rammed into the fiend’s wide-open mouth.
Craaack!
“At least……”
The spearhead burst out through the fiend’s neck. The impaled one trembled violently, then crumpled where he stood. But before that body could even hit the ground, the spear, ripped back out through its throat, swept forth again like a storm.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
The fiends struck by the spear brimming with immense inner energy were flung in all directions like pebbles kicked away.
“Huaaah!”
Elder Jan. No, Jang Gogyeong [장고경(長膏耕)] let out a desperate roar.
His body was so old that he scarcely had the strength left to continue living, yet the vast internal energy he had cultivated throughout his lifetime still lived and breathed within him.
“Do not face them! Everyone, run!”
“E-Elder…….”
“Hurry! They are not opponents you can stand against!”
Jang Gogyeong’s spear thrust out fiercely once more.
He could not tell whether his heart was pounding as though it would burst because of his decrepit body, or because of the fear he had never managed to shake off to the very end. The only thing certain was that, in this moment, he must not think of what came after.
Perhaps the reason he had continued to train in martial arts and build his inner energy without rest even after that day had been for this one moment.
To overcome the part of himself that instinctively shrank back, Jang Gogyeong let out another desperate roar.
“You vicious Demonic Cult bastards! Today, I will settle the resentment of the past!”
Jang Gogyeong’s spear pierced through the charging cultist in a single blow.
A strike he had been unable to unleash in the past. His own miserable self, when he had had no choice but to throw everything away and flee. The resentment he had piled up layer upon layer exploded from the tip of his spear.
At this moment, even his flesh seemed to have regained the youth of the past. No matter how many enemies there were, it felt as though he could fight like this forever.
But that was merely Jang Gogyeong’s illusion.
“Pathetic.”
Jang Gogyeong’s wrinkled eyes flew open as though they would tear apart.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
Together with that short, irritable voice, a black fist-force came flying towards Jang Gogyeong’s front. The force, which had been no larger than a small fist, swelled in size in an instant and swallowed Jang Gogyeong whole in a single breath.
Jang Gogyeong instinctively thrust out his spear to defend himself, but the force that came flying in, making a mockery of his long years of training, shattered his spear at once and crushed his body.
“Kraaaaaaaaaaagh!”
Letting out a wretched scream, Jang Gogyeong was sent flying through the air and slammed into the ground.
“Kuh…. Kkeheuk.…..”
A single strike. It had been only one strike. The bones throughout his entire body had been shattered, and all of his major blood vessels had burst.
The reason his breath had not been cut off at once despite such terrible injuries was because the inner energy Jang Gogyeong had accumulated over long years in this pure land was that deep and profound.
“Kkeuh…….”
With a limp, unresponsive arm, Jang Gogyeong somehow tried to push himself upright. Then, through his heavily blurred vision, he saw someone approaching slowly.
Step.
A rough voice, like the growl of a beast, reached his ears.
“Old man. You are from the Central Plains. A survivor of the Holy War [성전(聖戰)], are you?”
“Khuuuk….”
Jang Gogyeong could not even answer. He merely raised his head with all the strength he had. It was less from a will to confirm his opponent than from sheer stubbornness, refusing to lower his head to that man in the moment of his death.
“Bi.. shop……”
Even though he could not see the other’s face clearly, even though there was no great difference in his attire from the others, he simply knew. What the status of the one approaching him was.
Now that he had confirmed even the presence of a Bishop, he had no choice but to feel it all the more keenly. Those devils truly had returned to this world.
Step. Step.
The Bishop, Heavenly Executioner, who had come right before him, reached out, seized Jang Gogyeong by the collar, and lifted him up into the air.
Then, as if spitting his words, he spoke to the dying man.
“A man of the Central Plains, all the way out in this distant frozen land. Was this the place you reached after fleeing like a rat? Cowardly wretch.”
“…”
“You thought you could escape us by doing this? Foolish brat. We are death, and at the same time, we are the end. You will never escape us.”
“Kuhh…….”
Jang Gogyeong, who had painfully coughed, smiled, showing his blood soaked teeth.
The man before him, more terrifying than a ghost, had his throat in his grasp, but what did that matter now? He already had one foot on the boarder of the underworld.
“The ones who hid like rats… weren’t it… you…?”
“Hm?”
Heavenly Executioner’s expression twisted slightly. Jang Gogyeong continued.
“Kuhuhuhu… How amusing. Demonic fiend, huh. If only I had known sooner… That more than I, who hid myself away in this distant frozen land… you bastards were the ones who had been more frightened… if only I had known.”
“Nonsense. We were not afraid. We merely endured, waiting for the time to come.”
“I’m… sure you did. Kuhuhuhu.”
Jang Gogyeong mocked him with all the strength he had.
Heavenly Executioner, who had been staring at him for a brief moment, tore his head off without another word.
Thud.
Heavenly Executioner looked with displeasure at Jang Gogyeong’s head, which still held a faint smile even in death, then flung it away.
“A rat already as good as dead, still running its mouth.”
He had likely intended to provoke him somehow, but Heavenly Executioner was not particularly bothered. Now that they were advancing into the Central Plains, the fact that he had encountered a rare survivor of the Holy War felt rather strangely significant.
“So this is simply the continuation of a war that never ended.”
He liked it.
Yes, the Cult had not been defeated. They had merely waited. And now, from this moment on, they would begin again. The war they had failed to finish.
Heavenly Executioner turned his head.
The followers of the Cult. Those who had endured in that bitterly cold land by tearing into their own flesh were finally moving.
South, and farther south. Leaving the land where the cold sliced into flesh, towards the Central Plains overflowing with abundance. To turn that very Central Plains into a barren earth no different from this place.
Yes. That is how it would be. It could not be otherwise.
“The Heavenly Demon’s return. Ten Thousand Demons Pay Homage.”
Because their God had finally returned.
Because their God had commanded it so.
Having completely dispelled the doubts that had filled his chest, Heavenly Executioner looked towards the distant south and wore a smile filled with ecstasy.
“The Heavenly Demon’s return. Ten Thousand Demons Pay Homage.”
The whole world would come to know. That their end had finally arrived.
⠀
“Huuuk! Huuuk! Huuuk!”
Kharkhan ran. He ran and ran again.
His heart was pounding as though it would burst from his throat and out of the body, but he did not stop for even a moment.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
Even when screams rang out from behind him, he did not look back.
Because he knew. That even if he looked back, even if he turned his body around, nothing would change. To turn back now and try to stand against them would be nothing more than a fleeting comfort for a single moment. If he truly wished to change something, he had to run until his breath gave out.
“Huuuueuk.”
The tears never stopped.
Every single scream he heard now was the final cry of someone close to him. It was the sound of the villagers with whom he had spent his whole life dying.
Kharkhan, who had thought he was not particularly deeply attached to them, could now understand. That even without sharing some great affection, even without exchanging warm words, people could rely on one another simply by being there. That this was how they lived.
Those people, the ones who had supported his life, were now falling beneath the enemy’s demonic claws.
And so Kharkhan ran.
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”
He bit down on his wrist hard enough for his teeth to sink into flesh, swallowing the sobs threatening to burst free.
‘Please.’
A cold wind brushed across his face, which was smeared with tears. Kharkhan silently cried out, his face twisted.
‘Please, somebody help us. Please…’
❀ ❀ ❀
Chung Myung turned his head sharply.
“….What is it?”
At the sudden movement, Baek Cheon asked, puzzled. But without answering, Chung Myung simply stared towards the distant north. When he remained that way without moving for a long while, Baek Cheon called to him again.
“Chung Myung-ah?”
“…”
“Why are you acting like that all of a sudden?”
“No…”
Chung Myung muttered blankly.
“I thought I heard something.”
“A sound?”
Baek Cheon asked back, tilting his head.
“What sound?”
“…..Something like a scream.”
Baek Cheon furrowed his brow and followed Chung Myung’s gaze, staring north together with him. But soon, he slowly shook his head.
“I didn’t hear anything.”
Chung Myung let out a long breath and nodded. It seemed he had imagined it. He had been unusually sensitive lately, his nerves constantly on edge.
“The sun is already setting.”
Baek Cheon murmured as he looked at the sky, now tinged red with dusk. Just a short while ago, it would have been bright outside, yet night was already upon them. Feeling how much shorter the days had grown, Chung Myung said quietly.
“Is it winter, huh?”
Now that he thought about it, the wind brushing against his fingertips was quite cold. The cold had come a little earlier than last year. Chung Myung closed his eyes.
“It feels like it will be a long winter.”
A cruel season was coming.
Perhaps the harshest winter there had ever been.
Special Spinoff Chapter 42 >>>
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