Chapter 129. Scars (1)

For how long had I been advancing, destroying the formation using my second eye?

A familiar sight came into view.

Beyond the skeins of qi prevalent in the air, things like will-o’-the-wisps were floating around.

As soon as I confirmed this, I gave instructions to my companions.

“Assassins. Prepare yourselves.”

I thought it was rather fortunate.

The second eye wasn’t something I could open at will just because I wanted to.

To be precise, it required a level of concentration that reached its limits.

I was inwardly anxious about whether I could maintain it until we got out of the formation.

But I thought that if a life-or-death battle continued, the eye might stay open for longer.

Clang!

While my companions were each drawing their weapons, the assassins were quickly approaching us.

Soon after, hidden weapons stealthily flew in from between the dense bushes.

Each of us swung our weapons to deflect the hidden weapons or used footwork to dodge them.

“I-I’ll block them!”

Nam Geon simply endured, appropriately blocking only his seven orifices.

I also swung the Restoring Name Sword to deflect the hidden weapons.

Clang!

Pretending to deflect the hidden weapons, I also stealthily sent out a single strand of sword qi at a time.

The stealthily advancing sword qi pierced a vital point of an assassin.

Swish!

A faint cutting sound was heard from beyond the bushes.

Once again, hidden weapons flew in, and the figures of assassins dressed in green were occasionally seen between the bushes.

When they were hiding their bodies in the fog, they wore white, and now that they were fighting in the forest, they seemed to be dressed in green.

The Tang Clan bastard shouted in a tone full of anger and threw poison needles.

“Do you think you’re the only ones who use hidden weapons!!”

Nam Geon, who was deflecting the hidden weapons with his whole body, also launched himself at the assassins who were peeking out from between the bushes.

“F-found you!”

I shouted hastily.

“Be careful!!”

Considering the movements of the assassins I had fought so far, it was strange that they would show themselves so easily.

As expected, my prediction was correct.

Nam Geon launched himself at the assassins.

The ground he stepped on suddenly collapsed, and Nam Geon’s body sank below.

Soon after, with a heavy sound, dust and dirt scattered.

THUD!!

I hastily launched myself towards the pitfall Nam Geon had fallen into.

A dry laugh escaped me.

“Heh.”

There, dozens of sharp bamboo spears were laid out.

That is, they were bamboo spears that would have originally been sharp.

But they were all crushed and broken by Nam Geon’s body.

Nam Geon, who had fallen hard, was pushing away the wreckage of the scattered bamboo spears and getting up.

“Are you alright?”

“I-I covered my face with my hands. Hyung-ah. I’m okay.”

As long as he protected his seven orifices well, it seemed that an ordinary trap could not harm Nam Geon.

Thanks to Nam Geon falling into the trap, no, thanks to seeing Nam Geon dismantle the trap, I got my bearings.

“I will take the lead. Nam Geon, you will follow behind me and destroy all the traps. You two, follow the path Nam Geon has cleared.”

I had to take the lead anyway to find the artifacts maintaining the formation.

Behind me was Nam Geon. My junior sister took the rear position to prepare for a surprise attack from an assassin from behind.

The physician who would somehow save us as long as we didn’t die, the Tang Clan bastard, was in a formation where he was protected in the center.

I deflected the hidden weapons thrown by the assassins.

Clang!

Occasionally, I cut down the assassins who popped out from between the bushes as I advanced.

Swish!

Then, I would also swing the Restoring Name Sword towards the place where the flow of qi was converging.

Crack!

Sometimes it was a sturdy tree, and sometimes it was a rock the size of a human torso.

To be precise, it was the talismans and the like that were hidden there.

They were invisible before, but their forms were revealed after I shattered the artifacts.

There were also many traps laid around the artifacts that maintained the formation.

The ground collapsing was a common occurrence, and as soon as one touched something like a string, a net would pour down, or a bundle of arrows would fly in.

Tuk.

Swwwoooosh!

I focused only on evasion.

And Nam Geon followed me, destroying everything I evaded.

BOOM!

Crack!

Beyond bamboo spears, something similar to a battering ram, carved from a huge log, also flew in.

Fwoooosh!

But even the battering ram could not pierce Nam Geon’s body.

Thwack!

“Th-this one h-hurt a little!”

It seemed he was sturdier than a castle gate.

For how long had we been advancing, destroying everything in our path, be it formations, traps, or assassins?

Suddenly, our vision cleared up.

We had come out of the lush forest. It also seemed we had come out of the formation.

A small basin where only ankle-high grass grew appeared.

Scattered throughout the basin were several strange objects that seemed to be used for training.

Beyond that basin, a cave entrance was visible.

“It seems that cave is where the assassins and the children are staying.”

I nodded at the Tang Clan bastard’s words.

After striding towards the cave, I infused my internal energy and shouted towards the cave entrance.

“If you don’t come out right now, I will set this place on fire!!”

I threw the tree branches I had gathered since I saw the cave entrance at the entrance.

Then I tore out the low-growing blades of grass in the basin and set them on fire.

The Tang Clan bastard, with a pale face, came over and whispered in my ear.

“A-are you crazy?! There are children inside!”

It was a relief.

Although he was saying something foolish, he was whispering it instead of shouting it out loud.

“They don’t know that our purpose is the children. To rescue hostages safely, you have to act as if you’re not interested in the hostages.”

The assassins were guys who had their emotions castrated.

Against such guys, shouting ‘We’ve come to save the children!’ was no different from asking them, ‘Please take the children as hostages!’

“Also, it’s a foolish thing to go into a cave like that, which is obviously teeming with traps and formations.”

“Can’t you just break the formation again?”

“Until now, I’ve been lucky. Not anymore.”

As soon as I left the lush forest, my second eye closed.

Because the forest was quite large, it could be said that I was rather lucky. It meant that my eye had been open for quite a long time.

In fact, because I had maintained it for a long time while leaving the forest, my head and eyes felt strained.

While chatting with the Tang Clan bastard, the fire that had spread along the blades of grass also caught onto the tree branches.

Flames and pungent smoke rose.

I swung both my arms vigorously, even infusing my internal energy.

To send more of that pungent smoke towards the cave.

Nam Geon also joined in.

“I-I’m strong!”

As he swung his arms with that large frame, the smoke flew towards the cave like crazy.

The Tang Clan bastard also seemed to have given up and started waving his arms, and my junior sister also came over.

While we were setting the fire and sending the smoke into the cave together, my junior sister asked carefully.

“Senior Brother. What if they are escaping through another exit?”

“Given the location of the cave, the other side is likely a cliff, so the possibility is low. Even if there is one, it would be difficult to descend the cliff with the children.”

If there was no reaction even after playing with fire for a while, I could just go in then and take out only the children.

It would be a pity if I couldn’t kill the assassins, but I would have achieved my initial objective.

In fact, if I were alone, I probably would have charged in alone regardless of traps or anything.

Because I didn’t want to miss a single one of the assassins.

But I couldn’t push my companions into such an obvious trap.

Please let there be only one entrance here.

Praying that all the assassins would come out and die at my hands, I pushed the smoke for a short while.

Hidden weapons suddenly flew from the cave entrance.

I quickly swung the Restoring Name Sword to deflect the hidden weapons that flew through the pungent smoke.

Clang!

In the meantime, hidden weapons poured out in succession.

As we retreated with our companions, deflecting or dodging them, a small noise was heard from inside the cave.

A sound like metal clinking. And a noise of someone muttering in an unpleasant voice like scraping metal.

“As swiftly as the statutes and ordinances command.”

Along with the voice that followed, a stream of water shot out from the cave entrance.

Tssssssss.

The fire that had been set at the cave entrance was extinguished in an instant, and then the assassins poured out through the cave entrance.

“This time it’s black robes.”

It seemed they were preparing for an ambush inside the cave.

As I was thinking that and observing the assassins, my face contorted without me realizing it.

Children were mixed in here and there.

Their faces were covered with black cloth, but I could tell just by their stature.

It was undoubtedly a scheme to use the children who were being trained here as cannon fodder.

I hastily sent a sound transmission to my companions.

– There are children mixed in. We must subdue them alive.

If I said it out loud, there was a risk that they would become hostages beyond being cannon fodder.

My companions seemed to understand my intention and, instead of replying with their mouths, just nodded with grim expressions.

While we were observing the assassins, one last old man emerged from the cave entrance.

His attire was similar to that of the old man called First Moon whom I had killed before.

It seemed that old man was the Moon Elder in charge of this place, Fourth Moon.

That old man asked in a voice like scraping metal.

“How did you find this place?”

“Go ask King Yama. Ah, before you go, you’ll have to tell me where the Moon Lord is.”

“……It seems you know too much.”

The Moon Elder, who muttered in an indifferent tone, slammed the staff laden with cursed objects on the ground and said.

“Kill them.”

As soon as his command fell, the assassins all rushed towards us at once.

I also used my movement art and charged straight toward that Moon Elder.

If I left him alone, it seemed he would cause some troublesome things like formations again.

Perhaps to protect the Moon Elder, an assassin blocked my way and swung a dagger.

Swish!

While cutting down his neck, another assassin lunged in from the side.

His stature looked to be in his early teens.

“Tsk.”

Twisting my upper body minimally to dodge the child’s attack, I simultaneously thrust out my left hand and struck several paralysis points.

Papapapak!

It seemed dangerous to subdue only the children too obviously, so among the assassins, I subdued some by only striking their acupoints even though I could have killed them.

It was a troublesome process in many ways.

In the meantime, a noise was heard from behind as my companions and the assassins clashed.

Leaving the rear to my companions, I first advanced straight towards the one called Moon Elder.

That damn old man, as expected, was diligently shaking his staff and muttering something.

If my second eye had been open, I would have seen a scene of qi skeins fluctuating around that old man.

I continued to swing my sword as I advanced while observing the Moon Elder’s tricks.

Right after cutting down the assassin in front of me, a clumsy sword strike flew in from the right.

A crooked sword path. As if lacking the courage to aim for a vital point, it was a strike swung at the forearm.

I turned my head and looked at the one who had thrust the dagger.

A small frame. It was clearly a young child.

Just as I was about to lunge in to subdue him after easily dodging, a dagger flew from behind, aiming for my heart.

A stealthy movement that could only be felt when it came close.

I instinctively twisted my body and swung the Restoring Name Sword at him.

I had to hastily change the sword’s path in the middle of swinging to kill.

The one who had launched the surprise attack also had a small frame.

But it was a little too big for a child.

Should I say her frame was similar to my junior sister’s now?

Seeing only her stealth and swordsmanship, I had expected her to be a fully grown assassin.

The hastily turned Restoring Name Sword grazed past the assassin’s mask.

Swish!

Then, the hidden face was revealed.

As I had expected. The one who had launched the surprise attack was a girl who looked to be around my junior sister’s age.

Even though the sword’s edge had grazed right past her face, the girl, without a single sign of surprise, swung her dagger again.

And it was aimed precisely at my vital point.

A clean movement without any superfluous actions. An indifferent expression. Even the cruel technique of aiming only for vital points.

It was not a level that could be reached in a day or two of training.

Although she looked young, she already seemed like a completed assassin.

Should I kill her?

As I was pondering that, a strange sight came into view.

The girl was standing in front of the clumsy child from a moment ago.

Although she was still observing my vital points with indifferent eyes, the words that came out of the girl’s mouth were unexpected.

“He’s not your opponent. Stand back.”

Then, the clumsy assassin who was behind her stammered and muttered.

“S-sister…….”

A faint smile escaped my lips.

It seemed she was trying to kill me to protect her younger brother.

“Hehehe. How nice.”

It was truly a good sight to see.

So good that it made me want to kill every single one of those bastards who brought such a loving pair of siblings and raised them as assassins.

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