Chapter 185 : Crisis, Comes

Chapter 185: Crisis, Comes

Pung Haryang sat in silence.

He had come into this place to command, yet the thought that his subordinates were dying outside weighed unbearably on his heart.

He wanted to rush out at once and fight with them, but he could not. The moment he dispelled the formation in order to leave, the three hundred lives inside this place would be forfeit with him.

He could not lighten the burden on his heart by sacrificing them all.

Baek Yong had assured everyone that this place they were in could never be breached.

Even so, their faces remained dark. If anyone carried a heavier burden of guilt than Pung Haryang, it was them. The people fighting outside were their fathers, their husbands, their sons.

“Let us try not to worry too much.”

“Yes. They will all come back safely.”

“We have to keep our heads straight first.”

So they tried to comfort one another.

The young girl who had clung to Songhwa earlier spoke in a trembling voice.

“Sis, I wanna see dad.”

The girl’s name was Oki. Songhwa stroked Oki’s hair to soothe her.

“You will be able to see him soon.”

Originally, Songhwa had been living in the inner compound of the Black Way Alliance headquarters under special protection. She was the woman loved by the Chief Strategist Dan Woobin. It was easy to imagine how lavishly she had been treated.

However, she wanted an ordinary life. So she had left the inner compound and taken up residence in the outer compound where the regular warriors of the Black Way Alliance and their families lived.

If she was going to spend her whole life with Dan Woobin anyway, she believed she should get to know the people of the Alliance well, and she wanted to grow close to them.

If she had stayed in the inner compound as before, she would have died in this surprise attack.

When the warriors of Night’s Moon were ambushed, everything nearby was wiped out, and her original quarters had not been far from that place.

In the end, the choice to live among the people of the Alliance had saved her life.

Songhwa got along well with her neighbors. She had a strong will and firm backbone, traits that matched well with the temperament of the Black Way Alliance folk.

Oki, who lived next door, lived alone with her father. Her father was a low-ranking warrior of the outer compound and always came home late at night. So Songhwa had taken care of them often, and Oki treated her like an older sister.

“But, sis.”

“What is it?”

“Over there.”

Oki pointed with her finger. There stood a boy who looked to be about the same age as Oki.

“What about him?”

“I have never seen that kid before.”

At her words, Songhwa looked at the boy again.

The boy was walking toward Pung Haryang. The guards nearby glanced his way, but they did not think much of it.

Even if Oki had never seen him, it was not as if she knew every child in the Black Way Alliance, so there was nothing strange about that.

Even so, Songhwa felt that something was wrong.

She had loved children since she was young. Back in her hometown, she had always taken care of the neighborhood kids. Because of that, she knew children better than anyone.

She could not put it into words, but that boy felt different from any child she had ever seen.

She could not take her eyes off him.

At that moment, a sharp dagger slipped down from the boy’s sleeve.

“Watch out!”

The boy was “Child” of the secret organization, merely wearing the shape of a small child.

Ssshhk! Slash!

The dagger swung by Child tore a deep line across Pung Haryang’s back.

Songhwa’s warning had come a heartbeat late, but if Pung Haryang had not twisted his body on sheer instinct, his head would have flown instead.

Pung Haryang turned and thrust out his palm, intending to strike. Yet as soon as he saw that his attacker was a small child, he hesitated.

Child did not miss that opening. He slipped straight into Pung Haryang’s guard.

Thud!

Child’s blow sent Pung Haryang rolling across the floor.

He had wavered for an instant, but the real issue was that the dagger had been coated with a deadly poison. His body would not move as it should.

The guards were a step late as they lunged in from all sides with their swords.

Swish, swish!

Two guards fell in succession beneath Child’s attacks. He wore the body of a child, but his skill had already reached the Transcendent Peak Realm.

He was heading for the mechanism next to the door.

Pung Haryang, collapsed on the floor, coughed blood at the corners of his mouth and shouted.

“Stop him! He has the iron token, the iron token!”

The iron plate that had been in Pung Haryang’s breast was now in Child’s hand. He had slipped in close earlier and stolen it.

The guards threw their bodies forward to block his path.

Child’s movements were as quick as lightning. He slipped between the warriors like a squirrel.

A hidden weapon flew from Baek Yong’s hand. At that signal, the guards all hurled their own hidden weapons.

Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!

Blades flying from every direction sank into Child’s back and side.

He was covered in wounds, yet he paid them no mind and hurled himself toward his goal.

Clack!

The iron token slid into the mechanism.

Baek Yong let out a cry full of despair and rushed at him.

“No!”

Boom.

The floor began to tremble.

Men rushed in from every side to attack, but Child, soaked in blood, kept slashing with his dagger.

In that final frenzy, another three guards fell.

Yet it did not last. Swords pierced his body.

Thud, thud, thunk!

Two more guards were cut down in the process, but Child also received multiple mortal wounds and died on the spot.

Baek Yong ran to the mechanism and tore the iron token back out.

Grrrrrm.

But the tremors did not stop.

He looked back at Pung Haryang with a groan.

“We are too late. The formation has opened.”

“Reactivate it.”

“It is impossible to deploy an already opened formation again at once. They will be here in a moment.”

Despair flashed across every face. Their strongest martial artist, Pung Haryang, had also taken a fatal wound. He used his inner Qi to keep the poison from spreading, which left him in a state where he could hardly move a finger.

At that moment, Songhwa shouted.

“Move things and block the door.”

At her words, the people nearby began to carry anything they could.

With three hundred people all moving at once, boxes piled up in front of the door in an instant.

However, Baek Yong and the guards only stared blankly at the sight.

If the enemy knew how valuable the goods in here were, they would not break them carelessly in order to come in.

But the attackers were Peak and Transcendent Peak Realm martial artists. How much time could such a barricade really buy? Perhaps a few minutes? Maybe a quarter hour at most. It was all pointless.

Pung Haryang let out a long sigh and spat blood.

Baek Yong hurried over and helped him up.

“Are you all right?”

“I am fine.”

Pung Haryang’s gaze went to the people hauling the boxes. Soon, all of them would be dead. He sighed and spoke in a strained voice.

“…I will have no face to show the Alliance Leader in death.”

Baek Yong sighed as well.

“The Alliance Leader will know there was nothing you could do.”

Just then, they heard the door opening.

“Everyone fall back.”

At Baek Yong’s command, they retreated.

All of them stared tensely at the stack of boxes.

Then it happened.

Men vaulted over the boxes in a single leap and entered the space.

Swoosh, thump, swoosh.

The piled boxes only served as material for mockery.

Black Sand laughed and said,

“What kind of idiotic stunt is this?”

Bamboo landed behind him and added,

“I am embarrassed for you guys.”

Then Earth spoke this time.

“If we wanted you all dead, we could have killed you last night. Every one of you. But we did not.”

Baek Yong asked with a cold stare.

“Why not?”

Pung Haryang spoke in a trembling voice.

“Is it because you wanted to enter this place?”

Earth smiled in satisfaction and replied.

“Indeed.”

The operation had been planned with the utmost care. It might have looked like senseless slaughter, but that was not so. They had always intended to herd the people in this direction, slowly and at their leisure.

They had deliberately refrained from killing ordinary villagers along the way. They needed to mix Child in among them.

When the guards had opened this place in order to take in the people, they had kept their eyes on the adults. It had never crossed their minds that there might be an enemy among the children.

Rain appeared after them. He looked around once and gave a short order.

“Kill them all and gather the goods.”

Rain’s expression looked sour.

His expression didn’t seem too good. This was killing people who did not even know martial arts, even if they were part of the Black Way Alliance. There were women and children as well.

Yet given the nature of this operation, they could not leave any of them alive.

Rain turned his back. He could not bear to watch them die.

He sighed as he looked at the stack of boxes.

He vaulted lightly outside.

Water was waiting outside the warehouse.

“I knew you would come straight out, Senior.”

Rain walked past in silence, and she followed behind him.

As she followed, Water spoke.

“They say having too much feeling is its own illness.”

She was telling him not to dwell on it. Even so, Rain did not answer.

Water spoke again.

“They also say a man is no true man if he is not ruthless.”

Rain stopped walking.

“No matter how much I try, there are things I can never get used to.”

“There is no need to get used to that.”

Rain looked at Water. He could feel that she was speaking from the heart. She was colder than anyone, yet at times like this he felt he did not really know what kind of woman she was.

“Of course, that side of you is part of your charm, Senior.”

She smiled and added,

“Leave it to the people who are good at that kind of work.”

She looked back at the building in the distance. Once everything inside was dealt with, the outside would be handled quickly. Everything was proceeding exactly according to plan.

Baek Yong and the guards planted themselves in front of Pung Haryang, steeling themselves to the end, but the difference in strength was far too great.

Pung Haryang spoke to them.

“Protect the others, not me.”

“But my Lord.”

“Hurry.”

At his firm gaze, Baek Yong nodded.

“Yes, understood.”

Baek Yong had already accepted his own death. If they were all going to die anyway, then sending Pung Haryang off with a fine last stand would be something at least.

He led his men and stood in front of the gathered people.

The first man to step out from the enemy side was Joy. In his hand was a disk about the size of an adult’s head, shaped like a cogwheel. Its edge was sharpened to a blue gleam. It was clearly no ordinary throwing weapon.

He raised the weapon and pointed at someone. It was a slender woman standing toward the back. The guards realized he intended to kill her and moved to place themselves in front of her.

Whirrrrr.

The cogwheel-shaped weapon tore through the air. One guard raised his sword to block it.

In that instant, the weapon bent sharply.

Slash.

The body of the woman behind them split open and she collapsed.

The weapon curved wide through the air and flew back to Joy’s hand. He looked down at the bloodied weapon and grinned.

The guards who had tried to protect the woman had wretched expressions. Joy had toyed with them on purpose.

“Kekekekeh.”

True to his name, he looked genuinely delighted.

Joy raised the weapon again and pointed at two more people. These were also standing behind the line of warriors.

He was openly declaring that he would kill them next.

Swiish.

The weapon flew. The two who had been marked fell dead.

Once again, the guards who had tried to protect them could not block it. No, they had not even managed to touch it. It was worse than dying while trying to stop the blade.

Joy smirked again, and the men behind him chuckled as if they were enjoying the show.

One of the guards could not endure it any longer and leaped at Joy.

“You filthy coward!”

But a moment later, he was nothing but a lump of meat rolling across the floor. Fist had stepped up and killed him with a single blow.

Joy pointed at someone else.

This time it was a small child.

It was none other than Oki.

Songhwa wrapped her arms around the terrified girl.

“Please show mercy and spare the children!”

At her plea, Joy grinned. None of the men behind him told him to spare the child. There were those among them who disliked this method of toying with people before killing them instead of simply slaughtering everyone.

However, none of them stepped in to stop him. The order had already been given to kill them all, and nobody wanted to clash with a madman like Joy in order to argue about how it was done.

Looking into Joy’s eyes, which gleamed with killing intent, Songhwa sensed her own end.

Swiish.

The weapon screamed through the air, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

‘I’m sorry, Bin.’