It’s different from before. (5)
“Kaaaaaaaah!”
“Aaaaaaah!”
The disciples of Hwasan fled in terror at the howls ringing out behind them.
Of course, until just moments ago, they had been driving back those very demonic cultists now charging at them. But the situation had changed. Battered and torn to shreds by Heavenly Executioner, they were in no condition to hold out any longer.
If that many demonic cultists swarmed them in their current state, they would literally be trampled to death without so much as a squeak.
“Run faster!”
“I know!”
The disciples of Hwasan gritted their teeth and ran.
“These bastards are scary as hell, seriously!”
Jo Geol shouted with tears welling in his eyes.
Of course, demonic cultists had always looked vicious enough that no one would want to run into them in the dead of night. But facing them when you still had the strength to fight and facing them when you had none left were two entirely different experiences.
Until moments ago, it had felt like being surrounded by a pack of wild dogs, but now it was more like watching a rabid tiger rampage right before their eyes.
“Kyaaaaaaagggh!”
“Aaagh! Why is this happening to me?!”
So they had no choice but to run as fast as they could.
But there was another unfortunate fact. Not all the disciples of Hwasan had enough strength left to flee after such a grueling battle.
“Haha. Amitabha.”
Hye Yeon smiled, his face smooth and serene. The sight of blood continually spurting from his wide, bright smile was utterly grotesque.
“Amitabha, my ass! You can still chant at a time like this?”
“It is precisely at a time like this that one should invoke the Buddha. More to the point, there is something I must say.”
“Something you must say?”
Hye Yeon smiled with the serene expression of a man who had attained enlightenment.
“This humble monk can go no farther.”
Thud.
With those final words, Hye Yeon pitched forward and fell flat on his face. Yoon Jong, horrified, quickly caught him and hoisted him onto his back.
“Hey, you! You could at least have said something…!”
“…Life and death are one and the same [여일(如一)], so there is nothing to fear….”
“I’m telling you to pull yourself together.”
“This humble monk does not fear death. I cannot be a burden to you all, so leave me here…….”
“What are you babbling about, you precept-breaking fraud of a monk!”
“Cough!”
Perhaps the words about breaking his precepts had struck harder than his physical injuries, for Hye Yeon coughed up a great mouthful of blood.
“S-Siju, do you have no heart?”
Hye Yeon was close to tears. Yoon Jong ignored him, adjusted him on his back, and shouted.
“That’s right. But I do have hair! Unlike someone.”
“…You really are a fellow disciple of Chung Myung Siju.”
Those damned Hwasan bastards.
Yoon Jong could somehow manage to run with Hye Yeon on his back. The problem was that he was not the only one injured.
“Hm.”
Yu Iseol, who had been running in silence, toppled forward as though posing for a painting.
“Saagooooo!”
Tang Soso screamed at the sight of her sprawled in an uncanny position, like a wooden puppet whose strings had been cut.
“Sago, wake up!”
“…..I’m fine.”
“What do you mean, fine! You just lost consciousness.”
“I’m fine. I just saw a river. For a moment.”
“That’s the Sanzu river*!”
Tang Soso quickly hoisted Yu Iseol, who had returned after glimpsing something she was never supposed to see, onto her back. In her panic, she started running in a frantic scramble, but somehow, Yu Iseol’s upper body flailed wildly from side to side, getting tossed about like a scarecrow carelessly loaded onto a cart.
“…She’ll die at this rate.”
“It looks like she’s never carried anyone on her back before.”
“I never knew Soso had a grudge against Sago.”
“What are you people talking about?”
“Carry her properly on your back, your back. Think of supporting her with your back. Don’t hold her up with your arms! Right now you’re just holding her behind you. That’s what you’re doing!”
“What’s the difference?”
“Ah……”
Meanwhile, demonic cultists behind them had drawn much closer.
“Aaagh! Shut up and just run!”
Baek Cheon gritted his teeth as he ran.
He was in terrible shape himself, but as their Sasuk, he could hardly let those brats carry him on their backs. He’d sooner drop dead than burden them any more than he had to.
Even now, the demons kept howling behind them. The sound was bone-chilling.
Humans were strange creatures indeed. When he had charged into battle with his life on the line, he’d felt that even if those monstrous hands crushed him to death, he would have no reason to complain. Yet if he died while fleeing like this, he felt he’d be so bitter about it that he wouldn’t even be able to close his eyes in death.
Which meant he had to escape alive, no matter what… But perhaps it was just his imagination, because demonic cultists pursuing them seemed to be getting faster and faster.
“….Ah. It is we who are slowing down.”
“What? What did you say?”
“Nothing. It’s… better if you don’t know.”
Knowing would only make you miserable, Geol-ah.
“Kyaaaaaaaagggh!”
“Uryaaaaah!”
Yoon Jong swung his sword in terror at demonic cultists who had come right up behind him. At the sight of those wild, flailing swings, Jo Geol’s eyes blazed.
“What are you doing?! What happened to that thing you did earlier?”
“That thing earlier? What?”
“That one move you used to punch a hole in Heavenly Executioner’s body!”
“You lunatic! I can’t just use it whenever I want!”
“How does that make any sense? You used it, Sahyeong!”
“Ugh.”
He could hardly get into an argument with someone who was practically at death’s door.
“If you’ve got time to spout nonsense, run!”
“I’m seriously going to die!”
Jo Geol groaned and pushed his legs harder.
But their pursuers were demonic cultists. At first glance, they seemed like mindless husks, but every one of them was an expert trained in formidable demonic arts. They were hardly opponents the disciples of Hwasan could easily outrun with burdens on their backs.
“Here they come again!”
“Soso, help me!”
“Yes, Sahyeong!”
Tang Soso and Yoon Jong spun around in an instant and exchanged glances. With one person on each of their backs, they unleashed their swords with all their might. Plum blossom sword energy bloomed brilliantly from the tips of their swords, forming a wall that barred the charging demonic cultists’ path.
“Did that do it?”
“Th-Those!”
But it lasted only a moment.
Demonic cultists slammed into the wall of plum blossoms without slowing their charge.
“Eek.”
There was not a trace to be found of the lofty, masterful exchanges they had engaged in against Heavenly Executioner. And for good reason, as demonic cultists pursuing them were breaking through by instinct, using the simplest yet most effective method imaginable.
Countless streams of plum blossom sword energy pierced the bodies of demonic cultists who charged in first, turning several who had been perfectly intact into bloody lumps of flesh in an instant. But at the cost of those lives, the ones following behind were able to surge forward without the slightest hindrance.
Kaaaaaaaah!
Driven into an even greater frenzy, demonic cultists charged ferociously like bulls with their tails on fire.
With their decisive strike rendered useless in the blink of an eye, Tang Soso and Yoon Jong immediately turned and fled once more, quite literally without so much as a backward glance.
“Those crazy bastards!”
“It is efficient, though.”
“No one calls throwing away human lives efficient! What the hell is a Taoist doing saying that!”
“Do something, Sasuk!”
“…I’m telling you, running is all I can manage.”
As Yoon Jong tore at his hair, a horrific howl erupted right behind him. He reflexively turned his head to see a ten or so demonic cultists launching themselves through the air at him.
‘Damn it!’
Of course, an attack of this scale would hardly leave him helpless. But to counterattack, he would have to stop running.
With no other choice, Yoon Jong was just about to thrust his sword.
“Honestly.”
“Huh?”
Something slipped into Yoon Jong’s field of vision. Faded green scholar’s robes, a thoroughly battered headpiece, a hand protruding from a wide sleeve, and even a fan.
“What a sorry sight.”
Thruuuuum!
The charging demonic cultists were hurled backward in an instant, as though struck by some invisible force.
A moment later, Im Sobyeong landed lightly in front of Yoon Jong.
Yoon Jong’s face lit up as though he’d encountered the Buddha himself in the depths of hell.
“N-Nokrim King!”
“You’ve come!”
“Hmm, you lot….”
Snap.
Im Sobyeong opened his fan and raised it to cover the lower half of his face. Though his mouth was hidden, his exposed eyes betrayed his smile. With a smug grin, he spoke leisurely.
“Without me. Yes, without Im Sobyeong, you really can’t do anything properly, can you? Haha. I knew this would happen.”
“…”
“Do not worry. I am here now. The very embodiment of competence. The apostle of salvation. Im Sobyeong has arrived. A round of applause, everyone.”
Silence fell for a moment. Then a torrent of furious protests erupted.
“What was that, you bastard?”
“You were nowhere to be seen when we were fighting for our lives, and now you have the nerve to say that! You good-for-nothing bandit bastard with no sense of loyalty!”
“You got a death wish? You sure?”
“Huh?”
Im Sobyeong tilted his head.
“Oh, dear. How forgetful of me! There was something urgent I had to attend to back there. Well then, I’ll be on my way…”
“Thank you for coming!”
“We knew we could count on you!”
“Please save us!”
“Long live Nokrim!”
“…Yes. That’s more like it.”
Im Sobyeong nodded, finally looking satisfied. Being ungrateful was, after all, a defining trait of these ignorant Taoist bastards. Didn’t they need to be taught how to say thank you every so often if they were ever to become decent human beings?
“Now, leave this to me. A few dozen demonic cultists will take but a moment…”
Im Sobyeong channeled his energy into the fan in his hand and looked ahead.
Demonic cultists came swarming into view. One horde, two hordes. Then three, four, uh…. Five… six…
“Uh… excuse me, what is this…?”
Im Sobyeong glanced back to find that Hwasan bastards had already abandoned him and were running for all they were worth. Jo Geol, bringing up the rear, was even looking back and applauding him.
Was that supposed to mean they were thanking him for dying in their place?
The moment he grasped the situation, Im Sobyeong’s feet moved faster than lightning. Sprinting with all his might, he caught up with the disciples of Hwasan in no time.
“What are you doing?”
“There are far too many of them.”
“You saw them all before coming over!”
“N-No. When I first arrived, plum blossoms were swirling everywhere. So I couldn’t see them all.”
“And yet you acted like you were going to do something?”
“W-Well, I specialize in fighting individual opponents, so fighting large groups is a bit… Ahem.”
“Is that something Nokrim King should be saying? When bandit mob fights are your specialty?”
Im Sobyeong clamped his mouth shut.
As a former Confucian scholar, he had enough to say to fill an entire book, but anything he said now would only make him look pathetic.
“What were you doing in the first place that you couldn’t thin their numbers at all?”
“Fighting the Bishop? Heavenly Executioner, the one you swore would never show up because he was too badly injured, came strolling right up and started throwing punches! Huh?”
“…There are always unforeseen variables in the affairs of this world.”
“Then why is everything you’re so damn certain about always full of unforeseen variables!”
Even with his silver tongue, Im Sobyeong was rather short of excuses this time.
Heavenly Executioner might be a fiend, but as far as he knew, Chung Myung was no less fearsome. No, if he judged them objectively and someone asked which of the two looked more like he had crawled out of hell, wouldn’t he find himself leaning towards saying Chung Myung?
And yet, after fighting that lunatic to the brink of death, Heavenly Executioner had come back for another fight. Was the Demonic Cult made up entirely of monsters?
“Enough of that. Do something.”
“D-Do what?”
“You studied military strategy, didn’t you? Military strategy!”
“That’s meant to be used against people.”
“You useless bandit bastard!”
“Aaagh. Behind us! Behind us!”
Im Sobyeong whipped his head around. Dozens more demonic cultists were already surging towards them, climbing over one another in layer upon layer like waves.
“Huh?”
At that moment, Baek Cheon thrust his foot out without hesitation. The movement was as swift as lightning.
Thwaaack!
“Aaack!”
Having sent Im Sobyeong flying towards demonic cultists with a single kick to the back, Baek Cheon turned around again as though nothing had happened.
“What are you doing? Run!”
“…At this point, which of us is the bandit?”
It was a question no one dared give a straightforward answer to.
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*삼도천(三途川) – Sanzu river, or the River of Three Crossings. Mythological river in Buddhist tradition with the concept similar to the river Styx, a river in the underworld.
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