novelraw Chapter 50 : Heaven-Shattering Martial Sect (1)
Chapter 50 : Heaven-Shattering Martial Sect (1)
Crack!
“…Incredible.”
Against the backdrop of the desert scorpions shattering like statues, Go Dugyeong’s applause echoed.
Twenty desert scorpions were neutralized in a single exchange. How many among the instructors could have broken through this situation at once?
Although more than half were still alive due to the lack of power, it was an excellent skill.
“This should be useful enough. I’ll keep my promise. However, only those who won’t fall behind can go. I hate babysitting.”
I nodded my head. It was enough just to be able to go out with Go Dugyeong and track the intruders.
“What happened to the others?”
“Follow me.”
Go Dugyeong pointed to one side of the cave. There was another passage through a crevice that one wouldn’t know unless they looked closely.
After following for a long time, a wide space unfolded along with the sight of the students who had collapsed.
In the center, the unconscious Peng Geun-u, Gu Dong, and Lee Huimun were surrounded by giant insects.
“Only two have not been caught yet.”
At those words, I thought of the two students who were not in this place. Baek Cheong and Baek Hasin.
“Originally, I was going to subdue you first and then catch the other two. But I feel like I’ll only be at a loss. So you persuade them.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve lured them this way, so they’ll be here soon.”
Before I could even answer, I felt a faint vibration and the giant insects chasing something.
Fwoosh!
Baek Hasin and Baek Cheong burst out of one of the caves.
“Huh?”
In that moment, they saw me and let out a single word.
“First, calm down and listen.”
I swallowed a sigh and walked in front of them.
* * *
“So you did that to protect us because of the intruders?”
“To be precise, it was protection and exam failure.”
As Go Dugyeong added, Baek Hasin made a subtle expression and pretended to understand.
“If you want to stay, stay. I’ve given orders to the servant insects, so it will be safer than most fortresses.”
“No.”
Baek Hasin shook his head.
“Well, you seem useful enough, so I’ll take you.”
Just as the four-person group, including myself, was about to be completed. A voice as if talking in its sleep was heard from one side.
“Ugh…”
Peng Geun-u narrowed his brow.
“Ha, look at this. I stuck him with a paralysis needle, and he’s already trying to get up?”
Go Dugyeong approached him, checked his condition, and said.
“Hoo, this guy. Was he trying to overcome a wall in the midst of that? Well, there are things you realize in extreme situations.”
It seemed that Peng Geun-u had tried to grow a step further when his life was on the line.
“Certainly, with this kind of physique, the giant insect’s paralysis needle would have been no match.”
Go Dugyeong, who had been thinking for a moment, pressed his acupoints and then woke Peng Geun-u up.
“Gasp! Where is this?”
Peng Geun-u shot up his upper body. Go Dugyeong, who had finished a moderate explanation, ordered.
“You guard this place. It’s your role to protect the students. Because you have to control anyone who wakes up in the middle.”
Peng Geun-u, who was glancing at us who had been assigned a separate mission, showed a displeased expression, but he was not so stubborn as to be obstinate in a state where he was even injured.
Because protecting the fallen students was also a sufficiently important mission.
“I understand.”
Finally, leaving behind Peng Geun-u who had nodded his head, just as we were about to step out, I casually looked around.
‘But where is Baek Ra-uk?’
A guy like a pawn of the Demonic Cult. Since the Demonic Cult was one of the forces that could be related to the intruders, I couldn’t help but be curious.
As I looked among the students, as I had glimpsed earlier, the guy was lying on one side, sleeping.
‘It doesn’t seem like he’s pretending to be asleep.’
I had my suspicions, but I wasn’t certain. As far as I knew, the main culprit of this incident was not the Demonic Cult.
“We’re leaving.”
We began to move, following Go Dugyeong. After passing through a cave twisted like a maze and sometimes passing through a hidden passage, we were finally able to get out of the cave.
What was spread out in front was a part of a huge mountain. To the extent that you couldn’t take in its full size up close.
“This is the entrance to the Holy Mountain. Originally, the existence of this place shouldn’t even be known, but I’ve brought you here at my discretion, so keep it to yourselves.”
He warned. The reason he had made us close our eyes or ride on the giant insects on the way here seemed to be for the security of this Holy Mountain.
“Then let’s start exploring.”
As Go Dugyeong spread his arms and muttered something, the hundred or so giant insects that had been following along the cave split up in all directions and spread out on the Holy Mountain.
“You guys can go back now. Go down the mountain and follow the canyon to find an instructor. You’ve passed the exam.”
Pass. It was Go Dugyeong’s own recognition.
“And also, tell the little kid from the Peng family that he passed. If he endured that much, he’s qualified.”
With that, Go Dugyeong turned his feet towards the middle of the Holy Mountain.
Now there were two choices. To go down the mountain as it is, hear the declaration of passing the exam, and be guaranteed safety from Instructor Jeongmuk. Or to chase the intruders with Go Dugyeong.
My choice was set.
“Wait a minute. I’ll go with you too.”
“Doesn’t the truth of the matter not matter anymore? You’ve already achieved everything you wanted anyway.”
When Go Dugyeong asked back as if he didn’t understand, I put on a thick face and answered.
“Apart from passing the exam, if there really are intruders, isn’t it the duty of a Martial Academy student to stop them?”
“That’s right.”
Like a protagonist, Baek Hasin cut in, and as Baek Cheong also grinned as if in agreement, Go Dugyeong waved his hand as if he were annoyed.
“Stop it, this is no joke. They’re guys who broke through the academy’s security. They’re at least at the instructor level.”
“So shouldn’t we join forces even more?”
As we persistently clung to him, Go Dugyeong shrugged his shoulders as if to say, do as you please.
“Do as you please. I’m not responsible if you die.”
A silent permission. And so, we were able to move, following Go Dugyeong. The King of Insects who was running as if taking a light stroll. I barely managed to follow him with the Spirit God Steps.
Now the remaining problem was how to tell them where the enemies were aiming.
“Why did the enemies invade?”
I deliberately approached Go Dugyeong and asked. It was to give information by casually adding my opinion.
“They must have thought there was something to gain. This place is important in many ways.”
“Like the legacy of the Heaven-Shattering Demon?”
Go Dugyeong slowed down for a moment.
“Sometimes there are those who risk their lives, believing in such absurd things.”
“The act of invading itself is absurd. And those are the guys who are dangerous.”
“Hmm, that makes sense.”
Go Dugyeong emitted a strange qi wave, as if he had a point. He was rearranging the movements of the giant insects.
‘Done.’
The King of Insects is not a great man who would completely change his strategy with just a single word.
However, from the direction of moving after considering all the possibilities, it would now be closer to paying attention to the points related to the Heaven-Shattering Demon as the center of the forces.
‘That’s enough.’
Because it would be easier to notice an anomaly.
And the reaction came back quickly. Go Dugyeong suddenly started to run at a high speed.
‘That’s a considerable speed!’
Just because he was the King of Insects, you couldn’t see his own martial strength as weak. A speed that was difficult to follow.
At least Baek Cheong was following far behind and acting as a guide in the middle, so I was able to at least pretend to be chasing, but if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to track him at all.
‘Perhaps it’s right to back out around here.’
As far as I knew, a considerable skilled person was behind this invasion.
If it became a situation of fighting against a monster at the level of the King of Insects, I might get caught up and die just by being around.
It wasn’t for nothing that the King of Insects had threatened me earlier.
‘I’ll stop helping here.’
It was important to know my place. I only looked at the direction Go Dugyeong was going and then called Baek Cheong and Baek Hasin, who were advancing far ahead.
“Come back! Let’s regroup for a moment.”
The two, who had advanced to an area where my vision could no longer reach, came back after a while.
“Cheonwu, you have weaker stamina than I thought, huh?”
“Why did you call us?”
I thought for a moment. It’s not very persuasive to back out now after saying I’d help.
“I’m saying we should move carefully from now on. The fact that the King of Insects rushed out first means that he’s a master of a considerable level.”
With that, I brought out the strategies I had been thinking of in my head, such as a three-person formation, but just then, a loud noise was heard from afar.
Boom!
The direction where Go Dugyeong had disappeared. Even though it was a considerable distance, the aftermath was faintly felt even here.
A fight between at least super-peak level masters.
“This is not a place for us to interfere.”
I declared. Although I was embarrassed by the words I had blurted out for the sake of accompanying them, grasping the reality came first.
If we were to interfere now, we would be lucky not to be cut in half by a stray sword strike. That would just be a dog’s death.
“It’s better to go and join Instructor Jeongmuk.”
“…Your words are a bit different from before?”
“I said let’s fulfill our duty as students, not that we should be reckless.”
Craaaash!
A loud noise continued in the distance. I couldn’t help but feel with my skin how fierce a battle was taking place.
“Do you really think we can do something there?”
It was a battlefield where we couldn’t even interfere at our current level. Baek Hasin, who had been thinking for a moment, nodded his head.
“That makes sense. We might not be of any help.”
I, who had sensed an ominous feeling from that resolute tone, cut in.
“Yes, so…”
“But I don’t want to back down without doing anything, just based on a guess. Because I came here to overcome such powerlessness.”
I got goosebumps at that upright gaze.
‘Damn it.’
Baek Hasin is a guy like this. A guy who has to taste it to know if it’s shit or bean paste. So he’s amazing, but he’s an annoying guy.
It’s hard to stop him like this. Because he’s stubborn.
I turned my gaze and looked at Baek Cheong. He was watching our argument with an interested face.
“What’s your opinion?”
Just then, Baek Hasin asked Baek Cheong for his opinion. Because he was the biggest power here. There was a high possibility that the scale would tip depending on Baek Cheong’s choice.
“Hmm, I think it would be good to check it out once. If we can help, we help. If not, we go down as Cheonwu said.”
It seemed he had chosen the side that looked more interesting. At this, Baek Hasin concluded.
“Then let’s go for now. Cheonwu, if you really don’t want to, you can go down first. Because this is my choice anyway.”
‘Damn it, do you think I can just send you?’
Baek Hasin had a role as the protagonist.
As such, I couldn’t easily send him to a dangerous area overflowing with variables. Because if he died, that would be the end in the original work.
‘He must live, no matter what.’
In the end, I sighed from my side and raised both hands.
“I’ll go too. Instead, we’ll move as stealthily as possible.”
Since it had come to this, I had no choice but to participate directly and coordinate.
And so, we began to run towards the place where the loud noise was coming from.
Rustle! Rustle!
As I was running, I turned my head, and the giant insects that had been scattered in various places were passing by us and going to Go Dugyeong.
A full mobilization of the giant insects. Seeing this, I could tell that the opponent was not an easy opponent.
And so, when we arrived at the middle of the Holy Mountain, a magnificent sight was spread out on the side of the hill.
In the fierce battle where hundreds of giant insects were gathered like a vortex and rushing in, there was a super master who was swinging his sword like crazy, and a group of other masters who were assisting him.
‘They’re all clad in a thick sword qi.’
It meant that all of them were at least at the peak level or higher.
In the midst of that, the King of Insects, who was alone, was performing at an unbelievable speed.
Whether it was shooting the bugs hidden in his sleeves like a dagger and exploding them with his sword qi, or using the giant insects as a shield to avoid the offensive, or hiding among the giant insects and then suddenly popping out to launch a surprise attack.
He was showing a battle worthy of his moniker, the King of Insects.
‘It’s so complicated and fast that it’s overwhelming just to follow with my eyes.’
And even the clothes that Go Dugyeong was wearing seemed to be a part of the bugs, as they were simultaneously playing the role of a protective qi and a blade.
In the midst of that, a giant bee that was floating in the air like a drone shot a stinger or fell as if to surround them, risking its life, and took a few masters with it.
A chaotic battle that was chillingly elaborate.
In the end, it seemed that the enemy also had a hard time handling the offensive of the hundreds of giant insects that was being carried out as if it were a hunt.
The super master, who had broken through the giant insects and had retreated, blew a small flute.
“Peeeeee-.”
At the high frequency that spread far, containing his internal energy, the martial artists scattered sporadically as if they had promised.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Go Dugyeong disappeared beyond the forest, chasing the super master with the giant insects. In the meantime, the other masters who were surrounded by the giant insects were either hunted down as they were or broke the encirclement and barely escaped.
The problem was that some of them were heading our way.
Their number was a whopping two. No matter how injured they were, if it was two masters of at least the peak level, the story was different.
“We’ve already been discovered. Get ready.”
I drew my sword, looking at the enemies who were looking this way and raising their swords.
The two masters who were rushing in quickly. Soon, we and they clashed.
Clang!
Baek Cheong took one, and Baek Hasin and I took the other.
“This is going to be dangerous.”
Baek Cheong is pushed back by the internal energy. At the same time, we, who had blocked by crossing our swords in an X-shape, also began to be pushed back.
‘Is the opponent at least at the mastery level?’
Similar to Mo Yonghan, whom I had fought in the friendly match.
I and Baek Hasin, who had been in a hilt-to-hilt fight, deflected the opponent’s sword and then retreated.
Perhaps because he had been injured while escaping from the rampaging giant insects, the opponent was in a state where he couldn’t lift one arm. Nevertheless, we couldn’t rush in recklessly.
‘An incredible qi wave.’
From the fiercely ringing sword qi, the momentum was considerable. The guy lowered his sword and then widened the distance between his two legs.
He had been using a fast sword until just now, but now he was taking the starting stance of a heavy sword.
‘He’s figured out that both Baek Hasin and I are using a fast sword. As expected.’
A killing intent was contained in the opponent’s gaze.
I knew of a group of this type that quickly changed their sword form according to the situation.
‘The Heaven-Shattering Martial Sect.’
A group that claimed to have inherited the will of the Heaven-Shattering Demon, but was treated as a heretic and could not become a martial arts faction due to its radicalism.
And one of the dark forces that was secretly active in various parts of the martial world.
(End of Chapter)