You can do it. (4)

The momentum of the Red Dogs, who had been charging in without a second thought, suddenly faltered. Yoon Jong did not miss this change.

‘What’s going on?’

With the Red Dogs surging in right before his nose, he couldn’t confirm exactly what had happened. But one thing was certain – something had happened back there.

Yoon Jong swiftly slashed his sword across the empty air. Even the Red Dogs, who had been rushing in with their eyes rolled white, seemed to realize the situation had changed and stepped back.

“Phew.”

Only then did Yoon Jong let out the breath he’d been holding.

‘That was close.’

Without this fleeting respite, they might have collapsed even faster than expected. Calling it a respite was generous – it was only enough for a few breaths – but to him now it was like nectar trickling into a mouth parched for months of drought.

Yoon Jong glanced at Baek Cheon.

“Sasuk. Do you know what’s going on?”

Baek Cheon clenched his teeth slightly, remaining silent for a moment before speaking.

“Right now, this takes priority. We have to end it here, so this never happens again.”

So that people like Diancang will never arise again.

Swallowing the rest of his words, Baek Cheon raised his sword.

“Yoon Jong-ah.”

“Yes, Sasuk.”

“…Let’s finish this quickly and return to Hwasan. I miss the main sect.”

At those words, Yoon Jong, too, smiled faintly. 

“I feel the same, Sasuk. Once this is over, I won’t take a single step outside the mountain gate for a while.”

Yoon Jong and Baek Cheon burst into laughter at the same time.

The crisis wasn’t over yet. They might very well lose their lives here. But just the mention of the main sect was enough for them to smile even in this situation.

Baek Cheon gripped Chung Myung’s shoulder tightly.

‘We’ll go back together.’

For now, that was enough.

Baek Cheon and Yoon Jong drove their swords with all their strength at the onrushing Red Dogs. At their tips, plum-blossom sword energy, resembling the plum blossoms of Hwasan, burst into full bloom.

⠀⠀

“Urk!”

A low groan slipped out. He ultimately managed to hold back a scream, but that sound, which could not hide the trace of pain, bored into the Blood Palace Lord’s ears.

‘Damn it!’

At the sudden shift in the enemy’s momentum, the Blood Palace Lord’s face contorted.

The Just Sects’ bastards, having heard the news of Jang Ilso’s defeat, were running rampant as if the battle had only just begun. And these were men who should have been exhausted to the bone.

“Cult Leader!”

One of the Blood Palace warriors hurriedly called for him.

“Cult Leader, do we continue fighting like this?”

The Blood Palace Lord’s expression hardened. Thick despair that he could not bear to ignore seeped into the blood warrior’s voice. 

Jang Ilso’s defeat was a variable he had not accounted for.

No matter how strong Hwasan Geomhyeop might be, the opponent was ‘that’ Jang Ilso. No one would have imagined that Jang Ilso of all people would fall to that greenhorn.

“C-Cult Leader!”

Fwoosh!

The Blood Palace Lord swung his hand like lightning. The head of the blood cultist who had pressed him got separated from his body and shot into the air.

“…Be quiet.”

The blood cultists who had been about to cry out at the sight shut their mouths and bowed their heads deeply.

Without so much as a glance at them, the Blood Palace Lord clutched his own face. The feel of the bandages at his fingertips suddenly became excruciatingly unbearable. That was how taut his nerves were.

‘The chance of victory?’

None.

With Jang Ilso fallen, assessing the remaining force was meaningless. Sapaeryeon may be an unprecedented coalition of the Evil Sects that has built a force to be remembered in the annals of Gangho, but…

‘Sapa is, in the end, only Sapa.’

Those who have lost their leader have no reason to fight to the death. Once word spreads that Jang Ilso has been brought down, even those who were resisting on the last of their resolve will all throw down their weapons and flee.

‘If only that accursed Paegun had beaten that brat, things would have been the other way around!’

Unable to contain his rage, the Blood Palace Lord ground his teeth.

Staking the cult’s fate on Jang Ilso had, in the end, been the losing move.

Had it been the Blood Palace Lord of the past, he would have turned away without a second thought. He had no sense of loyalty that would keep him in a fight with nothing to gain.

“Cult Leader. Why do you hesitate? This is their fight…”

“Shut up. Before I tear your mouth apart.”

“…”

But the Blood Palace Lord now could not so easily make that choice.

Because Demonic Cult’s Bishop might be watching all of this.

Cold sweat ran down his back. Would he truly permit the Blood Palace to withdraw like this?

No, there was no way.

A man who treated people as less than insects might, for the mere reason that they had acted against his will, crush every last ant without leaving a single one alive. Not only those here, but even the Blood Palace warriors left in Qinghai.

He was more than capable of it. Who knows better than the Blood Palace how vicious the Bishops of Demonic Cult are?

“I-If this continues, we’ll be annihilated!”

“…”

The problem was that there was no answer even if they stayed here. If the Palace Lord and their elites were lost here, the Blood Palace – already fallen as far as it could fall – would have no way to continue existing.

Either way, the only path left for the Blood Palace was destruction. If not that, then the fate that awaited them was to become the Bishop’s slaves, begging for his mercy.

The Blood Palace Lord bit his lower lip until it bled.

“For now…….”

The Blood Palace Lord, about to speak, flinched and turned his head.

“Wait.”

A thought occurred to him. That there might be a measure here that could gauge the current state of affairs. 

Narrowing his eyes to the utmost, the Blood Palace Lord glared at the black mass in the distance.

⠀⠀

Clang!

Jo Geol’s sword, colliding with the cultist’s hand, was knocked backward.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of dismay on Jo Geol’s face. Rather, he drove the enemy harder, thrusting his sword even faster than before, his lips curling into a grin.

“Well now, your momentum is not what it used to be, is it?”

“…”

Even at the blatant provocation, the cultist only stared at Jo Geol with emotionless eyes.

Strictly speaking, Jo Geol was wrong. The cultists’ momentum had not changed in the least. They were aiding Sapaeryeon, but they were not from Sapaeryeon themselves. They had no reason whatsoever to be shaken by Jang Ilso’s defeat.

The ones who had changed were Jo Geol and the swordsmen of Hwasan. Chung Myung’s victory had breathed strength into them.

“It’s too late to regret it now.”

Jo Geol charged at the cultists again with fierce intensity.

Claaang!

The sword and the pitch-black hand collided once more. Almost at the same time, Jo Geol’s blade shoved the hand aside and sank into the cultist’s shoulder.

Slash!

Blood spurted from the split shoulder. Even for a demonic cultist, that blood was no different from that of ordinary people.

“Grrk.”

Even with a sword buried in his shoulder, the cultist did not so much as twitch an eyebrow as he slashed at Jo Geol with his claws. Retrieving his sword, Jo Geol leaped back and like a bird landed lightly.

“That won’t do.”

A look of triumph glimmered on his face. Just a little, just a little more and…

It was in that moment.

“…..Huh?”

Suddenly Jo Geol’s body staggered.

“Huh? Wha..?”

Losing his balance, he collapsed where he stood. Flustered, he stared blankly at his own legs.

‘Poison?’

No, that wasn’t it.

He was simply exhausted. He had already been pushed to his limits long ago. Like a taut thread stretched to the breaking point, the tension that had barely held him together snapped the moment he thought they had regained the advantage.

“Th-This……”

Jo Geol drove his sword into the ground. He had to force himself up somehow. He knew they still needed his strength if they were to hold them back.

But no matter how he tried, his legs wouldn’t obey his will. With a face gone pale, Jo Geol glared at the cultists.

If they came at him now?

The cultists, too, seemed to have grasped Jo Geol’s condition, and started at him with sharp eyes. Just as a wave of dismay crossed Jo Geol’s face, one of them suddenly turned his eyes towards the distance.

Not taking his eyes off from that place, the cultist spoke, flat and without a trace of emotion.

“We’re going back.”

“What….?”

Jo Geol couldn’t help but be taken aback.

The ensuing situation only deepened the unsettling feeling further. At those dry words, the cultists all turned as one, leaving not so much as a sliver of hesitation.

That unnatural sight sent a chill down Jo Geol’s spine.

“Stop. You bastards!”

Jo Geol shouted reflexively. One of the cultists glanced back at him. Still, not a trace of emotion or expression showed.

Jo Geol ground his teeth.

“Who says you get to just go back? Who’s letting you leave?”

The cultist stared at Jo Geol with eyes empty of any emotion, then slowly opened his mouth. A voice came out, sounding akin to crumpling wet paper.

“The orders we received were to follow that man’s command.”

His gaze had come to rest where Jang Ilso’s corpse – now hidden from the view amid the Red Dogs – lay.

“There is no longer anyone to give orders, so we go back. That is all.”

“What kind of crap…! After doing this, did you think you could just walk away clean?”

The cultist did not reply. As if he hadn’t even heard, he ignored Jo Geol and simply continued on his way.

“Stop, you son of a bitch!”

Trying to spring up in a fit, Jo Geol staggered and collapsed back down.

“Geol-ah!”

His fellow disciples rushed over and propped him up.

“Are you all right?”

Jo Geol clutched his own knee instead of answering. His trembling knee wouldn’t steady no matter how he tried. His strength had already been spent.

“Damn…..”

“Calm yourself.”

Baek disciple, who had hold of his shoulder, glared at the cultists with a rigid expression and asked.

“What shall we do? We can still pursue them.”

Jo Geol’s tightly closed lips quivered. The cultists withdrawing from the battlefield were not moving all that fast. If they wanted to catch up, it wouldn’t be impossible.

They ought to give chase at once. They couldn’t just let the ones who had killed so many walk away. It was the most natural thing.

But in the end, Jo Geol could not bring himself to say the words.

“No….. No, Sasuk.”

They could pursue, but in doing so, they would incur enormous losses.

Having lost the strength to fight at the vanguard, he could not drive others to their deaths. Bearing this humiliation now was purely because he was weak.

Jo Geol clenched his fist until his knuckles went white.

“For now… For now, let’s just let them go.”

“Geol.”

“…..Please do that. I beg you.”

At Jo Geol’s words, the swordsmen of Hwasan finally nodded. They all knew that out of everyone here, Jo Geol was the one who most wanted to chase those bastards. When even Jo Geol bowed his head to ask for it, they had no choice but to set aside their personal fury for the moment.

Crunch.

Jo Geol gripped the ground as if trying to crush it.

He knew it too. There are times when, instead of throwing yourself into emotion, you must hone your reason to a razor’s edge. There are times when patience matters more than anything.

But the price of growth was bitter beyond measure. Biting his lip until it was nearly crushed, Jo Geol glared at the retreating cultists with the eyes of a beast.

“Next time we meet… it will never end like this.”

It was both a resolve and a vow carved into his very bones.