Chapter: 677
“Vice-captain.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The man who had been waiting behind Beomdong responded with a rigid demeanor.
“I’m going to set up a trap, so get ready.”
“…!”
Operation Noose is underway. At Beomdong’s words, the man’s eyes lit up.
‘A noose…?’
What kind of being is he planning to catch with that?
It is the infamous noose of the Dragon Lord, which has never let anyone escape.
It was a tactic that guaranteed no one could flee unless they were monsters the likes of top ten experts from the Central Plains.
At this moment, the middle-aged man felt a shiver of anxiety.
‘Come on, taste the bitterness, you unlucky pup.’
Beomdong smiled to himself, recalling the eldest son of the Google family who was struggling.
Before long, Beomdong went to look for Soyeomra.
Crack—!
“Ugh!”
“Lift your head! I told you, if you close your eyes, you’ll end up dead. Why do you keep shutting them? Should I just gouge out your eyeballs so you can’t use them?”
Beomdong realized something was wrong.
“Keuhuuuuugh…”
Every time blood flowed from his mouth, shards of glass spilled out with it. The taste of blood mixed with shredded flesh created a nauseating rumble in his mouth.
He tried to move, but the moment his neck was grabbed, he felt utterly drained of his strength.
It wasn’t as if his blood vessels were being held, nor was he in a position where he couldn’t move.
He simply could not muster any strength.
“Seriously, that bastard Maeng-ui Mu-in is threatening those around him? Has he lost his mind?”
“Ugh… Ugh… Let go, let go right now… You’ll regret it… .”
“Are you still talking back?”
Clang—!
“Ugh!”
A jolt of pain surged through his head.
Guyangcheon picked up the glass in front of him and smashed it against his own head.
The shards did not fall to the ground but hovered in midair.
Among those, Guyangcheon snatched a rather large piece of debris.
Kwak—!
“Guh-uh!”
He slammed it onto the back of the man’s hand.
Though he instinctively wrapped his body in a defensive technique, Guyangcheon ripped through Beomdong’s attempts at protection like it was nothing.
Pick—! The shard embedded in the back of his hand was immediately pulled out.
Blood began to ooze from the wound.
Cheeeeek—!
“…!!!”
This time, Beomdong couldn’t even scream from the intense pain shooting through his hand.
Guyangcheon ignited a fiery blaze over the deep gash.
“Ugh… keueuk… . Ugh…”
As Beomdong gasped and writhed in agony, Guyangcheon seized his head and lifted him up.
And then, with his shining blue eyes, he locked gazes with Beomdong.
“You’ll be better off if you just behave. Why do you keep acting like such a jerk? If this keeps up, I’ll have no choice but to follow suit. No?”
He was smiling, calmly setting fire to Beomdong’s hand.
Looking at that grin, chills ran down Beomdong’s spine.
‘… I made a mistake.’
Using one’s position and power to intimidate those nearby?
Of course, that could hardly be expected to work.
But—
‘He’s this strong?’
A crucial part of this strategy was to provoke the opponent to anger with your words.
If they lost control and tried to subdue or threaten you, it would provide grounds to accuse them of intimidation, making investigations easier.
‘What the hell…’
Beomdong’s miscalculation was underestimating how far Guyangcheon would go.
Who would’ve thought that in the middle of Hanam, the leader of the Maeng clan would be tortured and maligned like this?
Cheeeeek—!
Beomdong shuddered and screamed as he felt his hand ablaze.
“Gaaahh!!”
The situation grew increasingly dire.
Beomdong had personally taken charge, convinced of his opponent’s strength.
He never imagined he would be overpowered like this.
He knew he was strong, but to think he was this powerful…!
Beomdong lamented in pain.
‘My energy isn’t moving properly. Could it be poison…?’
This was no situation where Beomdong could be treated so mercilessly.
He was, after all, a martial artist of considerable skill and someone who gained the title of Maeng’s leader, of all things.
But, it made no sense that he couldn’t use his energy just because his neck was pinned.
‘Damn it. When did this happen?’
Did they put poison in the tea he had just drunk? If so, when exactly? Was it at the start? No.
‘I definitely checked beforehand…?’
Had there been some trickery with the tea he prepared? He felt he had thoroughly checked.
So when exactly had the poison been slipped in?
Beomdong rolled his eyes against the pain tearing through his mouth and squeezing his throat.
Yet, even in such circumstances, he had to somehow endure.
No matter how much agony this caused him now, they wouldn’t kill him.
So, he had to hang on.
Outside, the members of Biryongdae were holding steady.
When executing a trap, personnel allocation was of utmost importance.
They were instructed to rush in if a signal was given or if a set amount of time passed without sign of the agent.
The agreed time would soon pass in a matter of seconds.
Then, the Biryongdae would appear to rescue Beomdong.
Just hold on until then. This was Beomdong’s train of thought.
“Master.”
Nahi approached Guyangcheon, who was burning the wounds of Beomdong, and inquired.
“What should we do about the rats outside?”
“…!”
At Nahi’s question, Beomdong felt a cold sweat break out across his back.
Rats? Is she referring to the Biryongdae?
If that was the case, they must be using stealth from a distance. How on earth did she know?
“Shall I remove them?”
Nahi asked casually, as if dismissing Beomdong’s shock.
Guyangcheon suddenly paused his actions burning Beomdong and nodded slightly.
“Hmm.”
A heavy silence filled the air for a moment.
“No, leave them be.”
Guyangcheon replied lightly.
“I was just about to tell you to handle it. Perfect timing.”
He turned to look out the closed window.
“Here they come.”
He sensed a familiar presence approaching from afar.
A presence that was both strangely recognizable and unsettling.
Half an hour had passed since Beomdong approached his target.
Amidst the tense atmosphere, a man stepped forward and spoke.
“Your Majesty, not much time is left until the appointed time.”
“…Alright.”
Jeongjin, one of the commanders of Biryongdae, nodded at his subordinate’s words.
As the leader Beomdong got closer to his target, the door suddenly slammed shut.
Everyone was thrown into a panic by this unexpected turn of events.
“Let’s stick to the plan. Prepare yourselves.”
Jeongjin maintained control over his subordinates, intending to follow Beomdong’s mission entirely.
Half an hour had gone by since the odd incident had occurred.
Once that time elapsed, they would mention the Maeng clan’s name and proceed.
That was the crux of the operation. As Jeongjin mulled this over, he bit his lip.
‘Is it really alright?’
He thought there shouldn’t be too much danger, yet they encountered blocked entrances and windows as soon as they entered.
Even within the building, there was an unsettling arrangement.
Clearly, something had to have happened.
Staring at the scene, Jeongjin contemplated whether to rush in immediately.
‘That’s none other than the great lord. Surely, this was anticipated.’
This must be part of an operation as well.
Jeongjin breathed deeply, reinforcing his belief.
The subject was said to be barely of age.
Though the leader was called a formidable fighter,
‘Even so, he is still not a significant match.’
He might be the leader of the information department, but his martial strength could be relatively lacking.
Even so, he was still a leader.
Beomdong was absolutely no weakling. Let’s trust and prepare.
That was how Jeongjin assessed the situation.
“Your Majesty, the time is now.”
His subordinate relayed the information, and only then did Jeongjin nod and draw his sword.
Swoosh—.
With his sword drawn, Jeongjin called out to those around him.
“Biryongdae, prepare for battle.”
As Jeongjin made his move, the surrounding martial artists began to shift into combat-ready positions one by one.
“The target is right in front of us…”
“It’s a sword.”
“Towards that sword… No. Huh…?”
Jeongjin froze at the words that suddenly came from beside him.
A chill ran down his spine, and instinctively he turned to the side.
Someone was standing there, in a spot that had been empty only moments ago.
‘What the…?’
Jeongjin widened his eyes as he looked at his opponent.
It was a small-statured woman.
She bore a club larger than her own body resting on her shoulder.
Yet her hair was absurdly short for a woman, hardly covering her ears.
“It’s a sword! A sword, right? This is definitely a sword, right?”
The woman kept staring at Jeongjin’s sword with an unnerving curiosity.
“It’s a sword! A sword!!”
“…What…?”
Just as Jeongjin was about to take protective measures against her bizarre behavior—
“But why are you holding a sword? Why are you holding a sword, sir? What are you trying to do? What is it? There’s a building around here… Oh, I shouldn’t say that. Thank you for the info.”
The woman began talking to herself.
“Shouldn’t you not be carrying a sword? I told you to come here, but it’s strange for you to show up with a sword. Don’t you agree? Yes, I think so too!”
She rambled to herself at length.
With each moment, Jeongjin felt the urge to scowl.
He couldn’t let himself get distracted. Without other options, he attempted to ignore her and press on.
“Damn it! I’ll just ignore you and go in…”
“Then, can I kill you?”
Whoosh—!!
“…!!”
Suddenly, a terrifying killing intent brushed against Jeongjin’s skin.
Instinctively, he drew his sword into action.
But even faster—
“Right. That’ll be okay,”
the woman moved first.
Shlick—
The club she had resting on her shoulder was now gripped in her hand, swinging around.
In that instant—
BOOM—!!!
A deafening explosion tore through the Biryong Tower.
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