Sapaeryeon is invading! (5)

“Push forward!”

“We’ve seized the advantage. Drive them back in one go!”

His ears rang with the shouts echoing from all directions. But compared to the surging waves of energy, mere sounds were nothing. Under the aura emitted by Sapaeryeon’s warriors, Baek Cheon felt as if his skin was being torn apart.

“Ah…”

Thud!

Baek Cheon, struck by someone pushing off the ground behind him, fell flat on the spot. However, the person who had shoved his shoulder didn’t even glance at him and dashed forward. He seemed unaware that he had even pushed Baek Cheon.

“Ugh.”

With stiff hands, Baek Cheon barely pushed himself up and looked ahead with a devastation in his heart.

‘So this is how it is.’

Those who block and those who charge. People gathered, forming waves and crashing into each other. In the face of such an immense flow, Baek Cheon was nothing more than a speck of dust.

‘This is what war looks like from behind…’

Until now, Baek Cheon had always been at the forefront. Stepping out first, he led those who followed. So he didn’t know what war looked like while watching from behind.

Perhaps, without realizing it himself, a sense of superiority had secretly hidden within him.

Believing that fighting at the front lines meant enduring greater pain, he thought he had the right to lead others.

But only now, having become merely a crippled warrior from someone who led the battlefield, could he painfully realize.

The horrors of war experienced by those who can’t decide anything on their own. How devastating and terrifying a war that merely sweeps them up and consumes them is to such people.

However, there was no time to be lost in sentiment. He had something he had to do.

Baek Cheon gathered strength in his legs and moved forward.

‘I must stop it!’

He doesn’t have the power to stop this war. He doesn’t have the ability to change the course of the battle. Perhaps once he had such power, but the current Baek Cheon had lost it all.

However, there was still something he could do.

It wasn’t easy pushing through the frenzied warriors, but even so, Baek Cheon pressed forward, extending his hand forward.

“Wait!”

He resisted those who shoved past him, rushing ahead like moths to a flame. With his injured arm and his inner energy that kept faltering – it was all insufficient to stop them, but he had to try anyway.

“Get out of the way, you crippled bastard!”

At that moment, someone kicked Baek Cheon in the stomach, seeing him just as a nuisance.

“Ugh!”

A wheezing sound escaped from Baek Cheon’s mouth.

Even though it wasn’t an attack filled with malice, for the current Baek Cheon, the impact was significant enough to momentarily stop his breath.

However, instead of collapsing, Baek Cheon gritted his teeth and continued moving forward.

“Sect…”

Baek Cheon’s gaze was fixed on the back of one man. Even amidst the tumultuous, hellish chaos, this man still showed a cold, indifferent back. Perhaps a man who no longer possessed anything that could boil over.

“Sect Leader!”

Baek Cheon shouted towards him until his throat felt like it would burst.

His voice was likely drowned out by the surrounding noise, but perhaps his intent got through, as the man standing alone turned around.

From the masked man’s demeanor and gestures, not even a fragment of emotion could be felt. Baek Cheon opened his mouth.

“Sect Le…”

Jin Songwon waved his hand dismissively. Then, those who had been pushing Baek Cheon from both sides moved aside, and a narrow path opened up for him.

“Ugh!”

However, Baek Cheon couldn’t even walk all the way forward before collapsing where he was. Jin Songwon looked down at him with an expression full of disdain.

“How utterly foolish. You certainly had your chance.”

“Huff…”

Baek Cheon let out a ragged breath. Then, covering his mouth, he forced himself to stand up.

“Run away. There’s still a chance. As long as you’re alive, you can do anything.”

The calm voice was strangely out of place in this horrific battlefield. If one were to witness the very definition of a dissonance, it would be this scene.

Indeed, Jin Songwon seemed like someone who had already transcended life and death. Therefore, even if this place were hell, he wouldn’t mind.

But Baek Cheon couldn’t do that.

“Do you intend to continue?”

“…”

“Are you really going to have your disciples attack Cheonumaeng? You know, don’t you!”

“If you do that….”

“If we do that?”

When Baek Cheon couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence, Jin Songwon completed it for him.

“Oh, that it will become irreversible?”

“…”

“It seems you’re mistaken, it’s been a long time since things became irreversible.”

“But…….”

Jin Songwon’s eyes gleamed darkly.

“This is as far as I indulge you.”

He approached Baek Cheon and grabbed him by the collar. Despite his truly cold demeanor, Jin Songwon hesitated for a moment before letting out a slight chuckle.

“Try to survive with whatever skill you have. If you can.”

He lifted Baek Cheon up and threw him far back. Lacking the strength to resist, Baek Cheon flew helplessly through the air and crashed into the ground.

Thud!

An impact as if his spine snapped surged through him.

“Ugh…”

The world flashed black and white. Clutching the center of his chest, where a piercing pain like being stabbed by an awl spread, Baek Cheon struggled to stand up.

“Ugh.”

He knew it himself. This was arrogance.

They had already thrown everything away. There was no way a few of his words could change their minds.

‘Even so… I have to do something.’

Even if it was nothing more than a meaningless struggle, he couldn’t just stand by and let the situation spiral further into a catastrophe.

Baek Cheon staggered and dragged his heavy legs once again.

❀ ❀ ❀

“Hmm.”

Jang Ilso gazed upon the unfolding scene as if savoring it.

People thrust their blades into one another, cursing each other with unprecedented hatred.

Curses, resentment, and madness overflowed. The most primal depths of humanity were laid bare here.

How many could leisurely watch such a scene?

Even delving into the history of ‘villains’ who have repeatedly quarreled, fought, killed, and pillaged, how many have orchestrated such a spectacle?

“Hahahahaha! Isn’t it amusing, Gamyeong-ah?”

Jang Ilso laughed as if watching an enjoyable performance while pointing ahead.

“Take a look.”

His eyes, which had shone wickedly while mocking everything in the world, were now immersed in deep pleasure.

“Even those things who acted superior, those things who pretended to be noble – they all end up the same.*”

They forget their cause and struggle desperately, focused solely on killing whoever approaches. The righteousness they shouted about so loudly is forgotten as they flee from their enemies. They push their comrades forward to avoid death. Some collapse to the ground, pale as ghosts, unable to overcome their fear.

Their true faces were truly unsightly.

“Hahahahaha! What a sight! Ahahahaha!”

While Jang Ilso laughed heartily, Ho Gamyeong’s expression hardened grimly.

The effect was better than expected. Even Ho Gamyeong hadn’t anticipated they would be pushed back so easily.

‘Some stratagem? No, they didn’t have time for that.’

A strategy only has meaning if it comes to fruition. No matter how great a strategy they devise, if the troops don’t move as intended, it’s just an empty echo.

Undoubtedly, Cheonumaeng didn’t have time to prepare in advance.

Then, are they truly collapsing like a sandcastle?

“Their military strength is…”

“Surely that can’t be the case, can it?”

Ho Gamyeong turned back to look at Jang Ilso. Jang Ilso was wearing a meaningful smile.

“Humans are treacherous beings. Yesterday and today are different, and their front and their back are not the same too.”

“It’s hard to understand.”

“Do you think the righteousness they shout about is fake?”

“…”

“No, it’s probably genuine. There must be many who truly stand for that righteousness and greater cause. But there’s an implication hidden behind that righteousness. It is: ‘as long as I can bear it.’”

Ho Gamyeong swallowed dryly.

‘In the end, they want to achieve their goal but don’t want to make sacrifices?’

In fact, there’s nothing to ridicule. Anyone would be the same. Even Ho Gamyeong himself couldn’t be sure he’s any different.

‘Then, there’s only one reason this is happening.’

Ho Gamyeong carefully observed the long, stretched-out front line.

‘The number of people who stepped forward to the front is excessively large.’

Among all those people, how many are truly prepared to risk their lives for the Central Plains?

If they were conscripted soldiers, it wouldn’t matter whether they had the resolve or not. After all, even in wars fought by ordinary soldiers, there aren’t that many who fight risking their lives for victory and glory.

However, there is one critical difference between a battlefield where armies fight and this battlefield here.

“…They can run away.”

Unconsciously, Ho Gamyeong muttered his thoughts aloud.

Soldiers have no way to escape. Even if they are terrified and look for an escape route, all they see are countless allies charging towards the enemy, and ahead are the enemies charging towards them. If they could break through those forces and escape, they wouldn’t have remained mere soldiers in the first place.

But martial artists are different. Martial artists can, if they wish, leap over the heads of the allies behind them and run away forever.

Unless there is a watchman, like in Saparyeon, who will stab through the hearts of those trying flee.

Of course, being martial artists, they wouldn’t hesitate from the start about whether to run away or not.

But just the mere possibility that they could escape is enough. The desire to live. The thought that they might win without having to risk their lives. Doubts about whether this death is truly worth it. Thus arises a momentary hesitation.

All of this combined will make the tips of their swords heavy. On this battlefield, that alone holds significant meaning.

And the one who created this is….

Ho Gamyeong’s gaze turned to Jang Ilso.

A full frontal charge seemed recklessly foolish at first glance. It looked like a mindless war of attrition with no tactics or strategy in sight. Even Ho Gamyeong harbored some doubts for a moment. But was this a move chosen after considering all that?

“Ryeonju…”

“No. No, Gamyeong-ah. Not yet.”

“…Yes?”

Jang Ilso smiled enigmatically.

“They wouldn’t be just at this level. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have struggled all this time. You know that.”

“…”

“How they’ve been fighting. Why we haven’t been able to defeat them until now. It wasn’t because of those incompetent and insignificant things who can’t even manage their own subordinates and are floundering in confusion.”

Ho Gamyeong’s gaze turned towards the battlefield.

‘That’s right.’

He too had momentarily forgotten, intoxicated by the heat of the battle.

Who it was that led Cheonumaeng.

What exerts power on the battlefield is neither grand position nor great fame. In a battlefield where lives are staked, even orders become insignificant.

Just as Jang Ilso does, there’s only one that can lead people on that battlefield.

Kwaaaang!

A tremendous roar erupted from a corner of the frontline that had been pushing the enemy like raging waves. Jang Ilso’s eyes flashed sharply.

“That’s it.”

He smiled brightly, as if it were a scene he had anticipated. Excitement surged in his pale eyes.

“It seems I’ve gone mad, Gamyeong-ah. To find this entertaining.”

As his grin spread unnaturally, his face twisted like that of an evil spirit [악귀]. His gaze was fixed precisely on one spot. Before he knew it, the vast battlefield had entirely vanished from his sight.

Jang Ilso’s entire vision was filled with just one person – his adversary.

“Now it begins. Yes, finally.”

As the swirling dust settled, a lone figure stood tall in that spot.

Black martial robes of Hwasan and the red plum blossom engraved on his chest.

“Right, Maehwa Geomgwi?”

It was Hwasan Geomhyeop Chung Myung. His cold gaze pierced through the crowd, landing precisely on Jang Ilso.

A hero and an antihero.**

The battlefield surrounding the two began to blaze fiercely.