What I'm planning to do here is basically similar to what I had Senior Brother Un Cheol and Senior Brother Un Shik do in Chengdu. Assassinate the enemies and eliminate them. When I occasionally encounter multiple opponents, I display my true power. I don't run away from them—instead, I leave a strong impression that they cannot catch . As this continues, the Four Evils Alliance warriors will inevitably fall deeper into fear. They will gradually stop trying to catch and instead try to avoid . When they encounter , they might not even try to fight but instead flee. That will be the mont when the Four Evils Alliance collapses. Fundantally, an organization crumbles when each mber prioritizes their individual advancent and safety over the organization itself.
"There! He appeared! Catch him!"
I discovered a group of about ten n and rushed at them. I didn't just charge recklessly. I first confird that there were no other warriors nearby who could help them, and that no one was lying in ambush around them, before attacking.
Clang!
I imdiately drew the Red Dragon Sword and deflected the sword of the man who swung at as soon as I appeared. He hadn't expected his sword to be so easily deflected, so he lost his composure and didn't even think to dodge my counterattack.
Swish!
I didn't miss that opening and cut his throat. He clutched his neck and fell to the side.
"Argh!"
"Die!"
Two n standing right behind him scread and raised their swords above their heads, then brought them down toward . Instead of retreating backward, I stepped forward with my movent technique, getting right in front of them. Fundantally, a sword becos ineffective when the bodies get too close.
Thud! Thud!
I received their arms with my shoulders and stepped back, then drew my sword horizontally in a wide arc.
"Ugh!"
"Argh!"
Their abdons were slashed open horizontally, and they fell to the side, spilling their intestines. In the blink of an eye, three warriors had died. Seven warriors still remained standing, but none of them dared to rush at . Still, the oldest-looking man among them stepped forward with trembling legs.
"G-Great Hero, who are you to kill our comrades like this?"
He spoke quite boldly, but he couldn't hide the tremor in his voice.
"Are you curious about who I am?"
"I am."
"Why do you want to know?"
"Then we could understand why you're doing this."
"Do you really want to know why I'm killing you Four Evils Alliance bastards?"
"P-please tell us. Then we can also co up with a solution."
"A solution?"
"If we find out what made you angry, we can just stop doing it!"
The older Four Evils Alliance warrior spoke almost pleadingly at the end.
"Then let ask you one thing."
"A-anything, please ask."
His expression relaxed very slightly. He seed to think that I was willing to have a conversation. However, I had no intention of continuing to talk with him. I was certain that they would have no answer to my next question.
"Why did you do that to the Ei Sect?"
"...!"
"The worst people in the world are those who play with food. You should have either shot flaming arrows to burn the Ei Sect, or fought like true warriors and conquered them through combat, accepting death if necessary. But to starve opponents to death—and they were warriors at that.... Why did you do such a thing?"
"That's...!"
"You can't answer, can you? Then what can we do. You have to die."
Whoosh!
I kicked off the ground and deployed the Nine Palace Sword Technique with full force toward his chest, which was now vulnerable with confusion.
Boom!
He reflexively raised his sword to block, but my Nine Palace Sword Technique split even his sword as it cut through him. The man fell, spraying blood, and the remaining warriors, who had held onto a shred of hope, suddenly looked shocked as I cut down the man I had been speaking with. They looked sowhat pitiful, but I couldn't spare them. They might look like frightened lambs before now, but in reality, they were wolves who had tornted innocent people.
"Argh!"
"Ugh!"
After a few screams, I cut down all those standing there. Cutting down ten people as quickly as possible, without giving them a chance to escape, is not an easy task. I wiped the faint sweat from my forehead and threw myself toward another location. To make the Four Evils Alliance warriors fall into the terror of death, I need to move even more diligently.
"Mmm...."
Just before leaving the scene, I heard one warrior who hadn't died yet groaning, but I didn't bother going back to finish him off.
'Survive. I need soone to spread word of my existence. If you die, there's nothing I can do about it.'
Now whether he lives or dies is up to his luck. If soone finds him before he dies and gives him ergency treatnt, he might survive. If no one cos to this place before he dies, he'll just die. Even if he dies, there's nothing I can do. After all, I plan to continue attacking others in this way, leaving one person alive by a narrow margin each ti. And if those who survive testify about ... that's actually what I want. I hoped that rumors about would spread among them.
* * *
"Great Leader! The Fifth Squad has been completely annihilated!"
"The Twenty-First Squad was also found dead in the valley!"
"The Third Squad, which went down to buy rice, barely survived, but all the rice was stolen!"
"The Sixteenth Squad lost both their food and their lives. All the money we gave them to buy food has disappeared!"
Chang Yun was overwheld by the flood of reports. All the news he heard was bad news, bad news, bad news.
"According to the testimony of the survivors... the culprit is suspected to be Ei Sect warriors!"
He couldn't understand at all. After they had missed the Ei warriors who had raided their food storage at Miwoobong, they had greatly strengthened their guard. But not a single Ei warrior had been allowed to pass from above. Yet they were continuing to be attacked—sothing was very wrong.
'There's... a hole in our siege?'
His confusion was understandable. The siege was completely constructed, no warriors had been allowed through from above, yet they were continuously being attacked from below the siege.
'The food we've lost so far must be several cartloads. There must be quite a lot of provisions already stored in the Ei Sect.'
Fundantally, the food was ant to feed several tis more Four Evils Alliance warriors than Ei monks. Moreover, most of the Four Evils Alliance warriors were vigorous young n with hearty appetites, eating several tis what ordinary people eat. So they had filled the storage warehouse generously, but it had been emptied. The amount of food the Ei warriors had taken so far was quite substantial—even if they ate their fill starting today, they could eat for at least a month.
"Strengthen the guard... We must strengthen it further. I don't know where the Ei bastards are coming from, but we need to seal it off more."
He spoke as if muttering to himself. But his subordinate, who was listening to him, spoke.
"G-Great Leader. But that's a bit difficult in the current situation."
"Difficult? What do you an?"
"The warriors' anxiety and discontent seem to be reaching the heavens."
"Anxiety? Discontent?"
"The anxiety is partly because of the rampaging Ei warriors, but also because of the mysterious expert."
"You an that expert who appears alone and slaughters everyone?"
"Yes, exactly that expert."
"What about him?"
His subordinate spoke with an enigmatic expression, as if asking if he really didn't know.
"When they encounter him, everyone dies or nearly dies, don't they? So they're praying to heaven that they don't et him during patrol or duty. And... so have even deserted the ranks and fled. They say they don't want to die."
"Tsk...!"
He clenched his teeth. Desertion—that was infuriating, though he couldn't entirely dismiss their feelings. In fact, as the person responsible here, he should step forward and find that mysterious expert. He should find him sohow and either fight him, ambush him, or eliminate him—that's his role as the person in charge. But his own martial arts were weak, and he was too afraid to do so. So he couldn't really bla those who were abandoning their posts out of fear for their lives.
"Then what about the discontent?"
"Of course it's about food. Those who have overco their fear of death and stepped forward courageously are frustrated because the als are so ager."
"They're discontent even though they know the current situation?"
Chang Yun had cut the food rations given to the warriors to less than half of what they originally received. If he didn't restrict the rations like this, all the remaining food would be consud in just a few days—that was obvious. This had already been going on for four days. At first, he hadn't planned to restrict rations for this long. He had only intended to do so until the warriors he sent down to get food returned. But... the warriors weren't returning properly. When he sent ten squads, five or six were either completely annihilated or had their food stolen. In this situation, he couldn't stop the restricted rations.
"Although they understand the situation, the general mood is that food must be provided sohow. They say that without food, they have no strength and can't fight."
The Four Evils Alliance warriors weren't completely starving—they had just eaten insufficiently for a few days—yet the atmosphere had beco this harsh. They didn't think about how the Ei Sect had nearly starved for almost a month. They only magnified their own suffering compared to others.
"Sigh.... Still, try to calm them down as best you can. There's no other way...."
"Yes. For now, I'll do my best to keep them stable. But in a few days...."
He trailed off, but Chang Yun understood what he ant. In a few days, even the food they had now would run out. Consumption far exceeded supply.
"Sigh...."
Chang Yun let out a deep sigh and continued.
"So, when do you think 'that person' will arrive? Our last hope is to wait for him, isn't it?"
"That's the good news, at least."
"Good news?"
"He should arrive at Ei Mountain in about four days."
"R-really?!"
Chang Yun jumped up from his seat with joy. Now he understood why his subordinate had maintained a sense of relief on his face even while delivering such desperate news. Ultimately, their predicant was due to a difference in martial arts ability that numbers couldn't overco. So if they could call a few experts here and win against the opponent, it would be easily resolved.
"Good. Until then, prepare thoroughly to receive him. Even if we have no food, secure food in advance to offer him. If we don't have at dishes, catch wild animals and prepare them. Pick mountain vegetables and give him a proper reception."
"Yes. Understood. I will do exactly that."
His subordinate nodded with a determined expression, sharing Chang Yun's sentint.
"Once he arrives, everything will be resolved. So please co quickly... Alliance Leader...!"
The 'person' he was waiting for so desperately was none other than the Four Evils Alliance Leader himself. The Four Evils Alliance Leader was the one with the most outstanding martial arts in the Four Evils Alliance. He believed that if the Alliance Leader ca here, all the problems would be resolved.
(End of Chapter)
Reviews
All reviews (0)