This fight, is enough to win this war.
Returning to his place, Seol-Hwi had a satisfied smile. The negotiations were successful. The answer was not concrete now, but the sect leader of the Wudang Sect could not possibly openly welcome unknown people.
Firstly, he did not protest it or show a stubborn attitude either. And that was good enough.
As Long as this level of luck was on his side, if the Wudang Sect was attacked, the allies would intervene to help. Of course, at that time it did not matter if he used demonic arts… It is not something Seol-Hwi has to care about but something which the Wudang Sect Leader had to care about.
First of all, he caught this opening in the situation which could be intervened when a crisis occurred.
Now, if only I can know the movements of the First Disciple and Mount Hua…
It would be the end. If they hit the back the moment they chose to attack Wudang, then everything would come crashing down.
The books he read in the library were now helping him in many ways. The most important thing was to avoid any two-pronged attacks coming at them.
If attacked from both sides, no matter how strong they were or how talented the warriors were, they would fall in an instant.
Without looking far away, the greats of the sect would be destroyed. Because Mount Hua has instigated and absorbed the small and medium sects around.
If an atmosphere was given where a fight was likely to break out right in front, the defense behind will be lax.
Even though the Hidden Truth Corps’ forces are inferior, the number is high.
In the past, the surprise was enough to confuse the enemy. When a fight was happening, even holding a torch behind the enemy would give them a fright. In that situation, the captains under the Fourth Disciple, including himself, if a handful of them could attack, even the forces under the First Disciple would collapse.
Join hands with Wudang? He did not want to go there. Even if focused on defending, the enemy who has to be dealt with front and rear at the same time were guaranteed to be defeated. In the end, the issue of who prepared better for this war was more important than who had superior strength.
It was not about fighting or winning, it was about having a plan which makes you win.
I hope that this doesn’t get to Shaolin…
But it was an unfortunate thing. Although he tried to join hands with Wudang, he could not afford to do anything if Mount Hua and the First Disciple attacked Shaolin first.
However, Seol-Hwi and those who inquired into the surrounding situation also saw the possibility as low. The most important thing was to win a fight.
In order to break down a sect as big as Shaolin, they would have to use all their strength. And Seol-Hwi also thought of attacking the End Demon with a small number of troops…
Unless we intend to mutually destroy each other, it wont work…
As for the First Disciple, the subordinates who walked with him wanted death. This would soon lead to loss for the Earth Demon. And what was the goal of the End Demon, to be the next sect leader?
To conserve as much strength as he could until he headed back to the sect and fought with the Earth Demon.
If he decided on Shaolin as the target, everyone would notice. And it was a situation where we could act.
In this way, Seol-Hwi checked the various possibilities one by one and went to his place, but one possibility he did not think of popped into his mind.
<You made a causal breakthrough in the meeting with the sect leader of the Wudang Sect.> <We will inform you of the result.> Changes in the awareness of the Wudang Sect Leader. -Recognizes the external forces and discusses the issue with elders. -Complications arise about the potential unknowns, tilted in your favor, but the thoughts remain.
What is this now?
It was because of the system text which popped up ahead in front of him. It was not just the actions of Seol-Hwi, but the results of how Wudang would move in the future.
Plus, a warning of how the future relationships would be.
<You can cause two more changes in the future.> *End Demon *Goo Jong-myung
Two?
Words which spoke of cause and effect. It was said that there are two chances left now. And upon thinking about it, Seol-Hwi had not thought about how deeply the system was invested in this.
Like any missions so far, the system spoke on what you had to do and acted according to it.
But the phrase which came at the end was what pushed him into shock.
<We will present two changes in the future. If you twist the relationships three times, the system will intervene and the next Simulation will start.> *See below -Depending on the outcome of the power struggle, the success or failure of the mission will be divided. -In this mission, Seol-Hwi cannot directly intervene in the fight. -If player Seol-Hwi kills even one of those whom he considers as enemies. The Simulation will be triggered right then. -If the Simulation result fails, player Seol-Hwi will be considered as dead.
“Fuck… what nonsense is this!”
Seol-Hwi ended up cursing at this. He could not intervene even when his life was at stake? What kind of situation was this? Even if he killed someone who was an enemy, the Simulation gets triggered?
This was something which never happened before.
“Wait. Then, this time…”
Seol-Hwi’s eyes frowned as he came to his senses.
Right, the purpose of these missions was not to win the battles.
His movements only stopped at the level of influencing things to come. And according to the cause and effect which was created, the system intervened and created a result according to the situation.
“No, then. Come to think of it, this choice is…”
Only then did Seol-Hwi fully come to his senses. What he chose in this life was the “most difficult stage.” That meant the tasks would be very difficult too. Come to think of it, the mission before was close to impossible to achieve too.
Could it have been avoided if Seol-Hwi did not reach Profound Demon?
“Damn…”
Seol-Hwi grabbed his head.
Causation—
He felt dizzy trying to solve this mission which was unlike anything he had seen before. As the AI warned, the system had stepped in and was forcing him to watch people die.
Two days later.
The Hidden Truth Corps, who were active in spying, sent a report to Seol-Hwi.
-For some reason the troops of the First Disciple are not moving. We are watching from a distance fearing that moving closer would be a mistake.
-Mount Hua people are gathering from all over the nation to increase their number. Their main base and forces are expected to have over 1,300 members.
-At the place, the Mount Hua Sect’s people are spreading rumors that people should support Mount Hua. And those who don’t know the happenings of Murim are bound to support Mount Hua.
-The attitude of the Murim Alliance is also ambiguous. In the midst of the disappearance of a few great sects, they are still keeping their neutrality.
-Three members were lost and their traces were found near the Mount Hua Sect from the point where they were supposed to send reports. Appears to have lost life during the mission. In addition, we saw the nails of hands and legs plucked out.
“It seems like the First Disciple has understood our movements. How do we respond?”
After completing the report, Seo Ryeong carefully turned to him and asked.
Fingernails and toenails, signs of torture. The quick witted ones destroyed any traces, but those who got captured ended up speaking the truth.
They did not doubt their loyalty to the troops, but torture was a different thing to handle.
“Hmm.”
The Mount Hua Sect openly revealed their intention to fight, while the End Demon went and held his breath, waiting for the right moment.
Judging from the situation, it seemed like they were confirming a two-pronged attack… There was a risk of their plan being ineffective.
“Commander…?”
When Seol-Hwi stayed silent for a long while, she turned to him.
“…”
“…”
But he did not answer. Thanks to that, the silence which was uncomfortable continued.
What is he thinking…
Seo Ryeong struggled a little.
Two days back, after coming, the face of Seol-Hwi seemed lost in thought. First she thought that maybe the negotiations with Wudang had failed. But that was not the case, as he said the attempt was a success.
Then why? Why have such an uncomfortable expression on his face?
Currently, the hidden troops were running on half troops only. And there were many elites of theirs. Until Seol-Hwi acted, the troops were nothing but leaderless. So he would have to decide on how to act.
“…Then what do we do?”
When the silence continued, Seol-Hwi spoke like he was talking to himself.
“What do you mean?”
When Seo Ryeong asked, the eyes of Seol-Hwi had this gloomy shine.
“It feels like I am getting caught up in a plan someone else made. It feels like a situation which seems unlikely to change no matter what. It feels like no matter how hard you try, the situation won’t change. Something… like I am looking for the wrong answer.”
“…”
Seo Ryeong was silent.
It was not Seol-Hwi talking to her but trying to sort things out.
“Seo Ryeong. What do you think? Be honest.”
Which made her a little surprised. The commander was asking her. Those all felt strange.
Destiny, honestly, choice—
And mysterious stories which she could not respond to without a thought.
Does the commander have any secret way to read the heavens?
Someone has to pose a problem and find an answer. But the answer was that it stretched in multiple directions.
“In that case…”
Seol-Hwi was not him. There must be a reason for telling such a strange story.
Seol-Hwi waited quietly while she pondered.
What will Seo Ryeong do?
He had experienced working with her a couple times and had a sense of it. Perhaps some insight. No matter what it is called, she was a woman who can understand.
And one of the virtues of a commander was to listen to the thoughts of the others when you could not come to a decision.
“As said, it might be a situation where there is no way out at all.”
“…Right?”
When the face of Seol-Hwi had disappointment at her words.
“But I don’t think that’s the pitfall of the problem.”
“Uh?”
At the word pitfall, Seol-Hwi tilted his head. Seo Ryeong bowed his head and said,
“What is the problem which you spoke of? Rather than having this fixed answer, I think maybe we should create an answer for ourselves.”
“Make an answer?”
Seol-Hwi asked her.
“Right. Perhaps, if it was me, I would try to turn over the plan. For example, breaking through the taboo restrictions which you shouldn’t cross.”
“Shouldn’t cross…?”
“The taboo saying that if you attack someone who judged you as an enemy, fate falls into line. Normal people would try to avoid a fight in such cases. But what if that is what ‘destiny’ wants?”
“…!”
“Entering the opponent’s plan is strategically terrible. Flipping it is an option. In that case, your role wont be considered as win or loss, but you can also feed the ‘destiny’ which made the plan.”
“Hmm.”
Seol-Hwi rubbed his chin.
This was a unique thought. If it was an unfavorable fight, be prepared and go against a head on fight. It made sense to seek advice.
As Seo Ryeong said, he had tried to move within the range required by the system. And the system would be happy to oblige. It was not too bad to go against it at all.
And now that he thought about it, no matter how bad things go, in the end, one of his lives would be cut short.
“Then let us go.”
“Ugh…”
As if she did not want to disturb the thoughts of Seol-Hwi, Seo Ryeong backed away, and seeing that, Seol-Hwi mumbled.
“Surely… I was so worried about things like causation and things which put restrictions on me.”
He did not know what the system was doing, but it was putting limits on the choices of Seol-Hwi. One by one, the methods which could be used were limited, there was no choice but to make a forced choice.
As Seo Ryeong said, move within the plan. And if he moved right within the range, he would not have to escape the system.
In the first place, he had to move in a direction he had not even thought of. But how?
What should he do if he did npt want to go the way he was expected to and tried to do something else only to push it to an obvious direction, and then frustration comes up?
“Ah!”
There suddenly a person came to mind.
One person, independent of the system—
Cheon Miryo.
Normally, she was someone who would not have moved for decades in the frozen lands. Her existence was not recognized by the system except for the day they first met.
“Then… would it be possible?”
He would be able to come to the front and create openings in this dense net. However, this is a gamble.
The moment Cheon Miryo appeared, the system would perfectly recognize her. And then the system which had an effect just within the land of the Demonic Sect would be over.
Because he was showing power throughout the Central Plains.
