Tatatk.
With faces covered with masks, we were moving to the southwest. The Six Blood Valley was in a mountain range surrounded by peaks.
This meant there were many mountain paths spread out in many directions, but some of them were safe to move on. The path we were taking now was something prepared over a long period of time.
Since the path was steep and difficult to see, it could be described as the safest way out.
-But wasn’t the leader the one in the most danger?
‘It has to be dangerous.’
It had to be the most dangerous because the powder was sprayed over the body. In order to divert the attention of the enemies, Gu Sang-woong made a leader who was skilled with stealth pour the powder over him.
-A death mission.
Right.
If the person wasn’t lucky, then it would be death for him. In the end, it was a mission that required sacrifice. By now, he has to be luring the enemies into a dangerous place. And if they find out…
-He commits suicide?
Even if he doesn’t want to, he will have to do it. It would be better than torture from the enemies.
-I am afraid that this happens everywhere.
‘Well.’
Even if it wasn’t Blood Sect, any sect would sacrifice someone in this situation. Better to give one up to save many.
It might be cruel, but this was Murim.
-Well, I hope he doesn’t get caught.
Their mission should be going well since there have been no problems till now. Because Baek Ryeon-ha was moving with us, and there was no blockage on the other path. We had Gu Sang-woong with us, and he was a commander of the Six Blood Valley, so he had better knowledge of this place.
Gu Sang-woong moved ahead of us and most of the sides were being guarded by Jang Mun-wong. In the middle of the procession were two more leaders of the Six Blood Valley including Hae Ack-chun, and the twins escorting Baek Ryeon-ha.
-What was she eating again?
‘Who?’
-Baek Ryeon-ha.
As she asked, I looked toward the woman who was lifting her mask to eat beef jerky secretly.
She seemed to have lost weight, but her craving for food hadn’t died. For her to eat like this in such a situation, her condition mustn’t have been cured.
At that time, perhaps conscious of me seeing her, she lowered her mask and hid her jerky.
I already saw it. Why bother hiding it now? Wait, did you start eating again?
-She secretly munches whenever she has time.
I narrowed my eyes. How many bags of jerky did she have?
“I want to eat it too.”
“Don’t look at her idiot.”
Seems like I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. When Song Woo-hyun asked, Song Jwa-baek quietly scolded him in a whisper.
After discovering who Baek Ryeon-ha was, he was being more cautious.
“…”
Perhaps because of all this, Baek Ryeon-ha took out 3 pieces of jerky and without a word handed it to the twins and me.
Did this mean take one and shut your mouths?
‘Hmm.’
But I wasn’t really hungry. But the taste felt good against the mouth.
“Eat quietly. You people.”
Hae Ack-chun who was ahead of him looked back with an annoyed voice. And Baek Ryeon-ha apologized,
“I am sorry, Uncle Hae.”
“…”
From then on, Hae Ack-chun said nothing.
We had been going down the mountain quickly for about half an hour.
-…
Sounds rang in my ear. I frowned and looked for its origin point.
Almost the same, no, faster than me, Hae Ack-chun looked in the same direction, and he hurried to the front.
Pat!
Soon, Gu Sang-woong, who stood ahead, raised his hand to stop us.
“What…uh!”
Song Jwa-baek mumbled, not understanding what was happening. I covered his mouth and pointed to the direction the weird sound was coming from, and sent him a Voice Transmission.
[An ambush on that side.]
His eyes widened in surprise.
[How do you know that?]
It seemed like he was more shocked at me noticing it than the enemies being there. I, too, couldn’t feel the presence due to the power difference, but it was the sound of the sword I heard.
[Can’t you see that teacher ran over there and made us stop?]
I tried to make sense. The boy needed an excuse that worked.
Anxiety rose in Baek Ryeon-ha’s eyes. Hae Ack-chun was the only one who had found their presence, and she must be worried about how many people were ready to ambush her. And I heard.
[Come to the front with the two leaders there.]
Me and two leaders were called forward. So I sent the same information to leaders Hae Ok-seon and Yang Kangil. They nodded. When I was going ahead, Baek Ryeon-ha asked,
[Only three were called?]
[Yes. Just us three.]
At those words, she looked a bit relieved.
Maybe she thought that the ambush wasn’t too huge. Listening to the sound of swords, I could hear five swords, but if there were enemies who used no weapons and just used hand-to-hand combat, then it would be tough.
When we went ahead, Hae Ack-chun was talking with Gu Sang-woong.
[Teacher]
When I called him, he said,
[Seven people are hiding behind the hill over there right now. It seems that one person is pretty skilled, and the others are first and second-rate warriors.]
That said, two people were using different weapons from swords. Fortunately, the number of people ambushing was low. With this number, it had to be a scout team rather than a proper ambush.
[We hit first. I will handle the skilled one so the rest of you can take care of the other guys. You cannot waste time. Remove them right away.]
If we took too much time, they could inform others, so this made sense. Hae Ack-chun would handle two, and Gu Sang-woong would also handle two, giving the three of us one each to handle. And the signal was given as we headed for the hill.
Shhh!’
Hae Ack-chun raised his hand gently, a sign to stop. It felt like they were trying to figure out the presence. As we waited for them to take the signal down, the two moved.
Phat!
As the two went over the hill, a huge crashing sound was heard, and the sound of weapons clashing could be heard. At the same time, I moved with the other two leaders.
We went over the hill to see Hae Ack-chun fighting with those who wielded swords and Gu Sang-woong with those who used hand-to-hand combat.
Phat!
Me and the leaders aimed for the rest of the ones left.
‘It is decided.’
A swordsman in a blue belt with sharp eyes. He seemed to be pretty fine. It would have been difficult to deal with this one guy in my previous life, but not now.
Chang!
“Kuak!”
I neutralized his movements in three hits. He was completely overwhelmed by my skills, and I went for the chest with the fourth step without even using any technique.
Puak!
“Kuak!”
He threw himself back to avoid having a fatal wound, so he clenched his sword. I covered his mouth and knocked him down. And tried to slice his throat.
-No!
Until I heard a sound in my head. The sound of his sword. Scream not to kill its owner.
‘Ah!’
All of a sudden, a good idea came to me..
Tatatak!
I picked up the sword after sealing the blood points of the man.
‘You can hear me?’
Hearing my voice, the sword seemed shocked.
-W-what? A human can talk to me?
‘What do you mean by what? you can hear me talking.’
-It is true!
The sword was reacting the same as any other. Well, no human could hear them normally. This was bound to shock them. But I didn’t have time, so I asked.
‘You don’t want your owner to be hurt, right?’
He did beg me, so I asked.
-Please don’t kill my owner. If he dies, I will be abandoned.
That was bad. I felt bad for him.
‘Then tell me about your owner’s identity and where his colleagues are hiding.’
-Ah, no. I cannot cheat!
He refused, as if he knew where I was going with this. Even if the swords could be communicated with, I couldn’t subdue their ego. Basically, each sword serves its own owner.
-Are you from the Blood Sect?
Rather he was questioning my identity.
-He said that all the members of the Blood Sect have to be killed for the sake of peace in Kangho as they are cruel ones.
With these words, I could roughly guess their identities.
Seeing their cause, they had to be from orthodox sects.
‘Really? Then I cannot do much.’
I lifted him up and aimed at the neck of the fallen man.
-Yah, that is too cruel.
Short Sword, who didn’t speak till now, said, from their standpoint, this was like them stabbing their owner to death. I thought it would work.
-No! I will tell you! Pl-Please don’t do that!
The sword stepped back.
Seeing that he was openly ready, he must really not want to kill his owner. And he gave me all the information he knew.
-As I said it all, you will save my owner’s life, right?
He asked, and I put him down.
-Thank you. You seem to be a good person of the Blood Sect.
‘I will not touch the neck.’
-What?
Saying that I stabbed the guy in the heart with Iron Sword. The swordsman’s body was wriggling, then turned stiff.
-Yah! You fucking human trash! How…
The sword cursed at me.
‘Sorry. The only consideration I can give you is not to let us kill him.’
But the sword continued to curse. Well, it couldn’t help it.
I used it and killed its owner. After all, its owner was here to kill me, and I doubt he would have shown me mercy.
-Still, you could be considerate.
Short Sword said with a bitter voice.
I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to either. As I was feeling bad, Hae Ack-chun came over.
“I told you to end this quickly. What are you doing?”
Looking around, everyone seemed dead. All of them seemed weaker than I thought, so they were dealt with quickly.
“Seeing how you hesitate to kill, you have a long way to go,”
Ahh.
I guess talking to the sword got misunderstood like that.
“Ugh!”
I heard a small groan and looked at Gu Sang-woong bending over someone. Hae Ack-chun clicked his tongue.
“Tch. A fail?”
Gu Sang-woong nodded his head.
“He bit his tongue.”
Hearing what he said, he too aimed to know their identity, but the result was unsuccessful. Hae Ack-chun shook his head in disappointment.
“Nothing can be done. Let’s hide the bodies and cover them behind the bushes and head back”
“Alright’
It was time for everyone to dispose of these corpses. I said to Hae Ack-chun,
“I figured it out.”
“What?”
“These people are warriors of the Tianjin clan and Haeyeon Sect.”
‘…!!’
At that, everyone, including Hae Ack-chun stopped and looked at me with shocked eyes.
