It seemed I wasn’t the only one surprised.
The soldiers, along with the fighters from the Murim Alliance.
Everyone was unable to hide their flustered expressions when something sprang out from the cave inside the mountain lodge.
It was a massive wolf with two sharp horns on its head, the Double Horned Wolf, and a grotesque monster with four arms, the Gwi.
Double Horned Wolf.
A monster that not only despises people but also other monsters, viciously trying to bite whatever flesh is nearby.
Gwi.
A monster with an insatiable appetite, determined to devour everything around it.
The Murim Alliance fighters, stunned by the sudden appearance of the two monsters, shouted urgently as the Double Horned Wolf charged.
“Form the great monster formation!!”
The Double Horned Wolf and Gwi were assessed to be much more dangerous than the Evil Monsters. Therefore, it was time for the majority to fight for safety.
Hongryeon and Chaejin shrugged and stepped forward.
“Sayoon! Protect the innkeeper!”
“Yes!!”
At Hongryeon’s shout, Sayoon stuck close to me. Meanwhile, the Double Horned Wolf lunged at Chaejin, and Gwi opened its gigantic mouth and thick arms, leaping at Hongryeon.
“Hah!!”
With a low battle cry, Chaejin’s blade gleamed. As her sharp and swift attack inflicted a deep wound on the Double Horned Wolf, Hongryeon powerfully struck Gwi away with her great sword.
While the two nullified the fierce monsters’ attacks in one strike, I spoke to Wiyeol.
“Take care of the rest. And if possible, capture the bandit leader alive.”
“Understood.”
We weren’t the only ones flustered by the rampaging monsters.
However, unlike us, they seemed more startled by the rampage than by the monsters themselves.
This meant they were already aware that they were among monsters, and I judged that we could learn more from the bandit leader.
At that moment, the soldiers and Murim Alliance fighters, alongside Wiyeol and Gi Noya, quickly launched their attacks.
“Uaaaahk!”
“Curse it!! They’re experts!!”
Despite their attempts to resist, it seemed difficult for bandits to fend off the assaults from the experts, Wiyeol and Gi Noya, who had joined.
While being pushed back for a while, one of the bandits spotted me at the back and grinding his teeth, shouted.
“Curse it! You too!!”
As a gap opened, the rushing bandit swung his sword at me. But—
-Chaeaaeng!!
Sayoon’s sword deflected the sword. Now a true expert, the bandit, overwhelmed by Sayoon’s sword strikes, didn’t have a chance to say anything before her sword flashed, and the bandit clutched his neck.
“Grrkk…”
With a gurgling sound, the crumbling bandit fell to the ground. Kicking him away, Sayoon lightly swung her sword, spraying the remaining blood onto the ground.
With a swift kick, Sayoon sent him flying far away, then lightly swung her sword, splattering the blood left on the blade onto the ground.
“Looks like the author is kinda like the boss.”
Could it be that, watching from behind, she was able to grasp the situation?
Sayoon pointed to one of the thugs.
A thug wielding a great sword, rallying the others, and occasionally launching fierce attacks at the Murim Alliance’s warriors and soldiers.
He was a big guy and seemed to have quite a bit of internal energy—a strong opponent.
“You filthy bastards!!”
As Hongryeon and Chaejin’s attacks finally turned the Twin Fangs and the Demon into ash, the thug leader shouted hoarsely.
“It looks like the hero of the Green Forest needs to reveal his true power!!”
These days, anyone and their dog can call themselves a hero. The guy who shouted roughly started to puff up.
Muscles bulging, and his face growing a bit more grotesque…
“Do you know what that is…?”
“It’s Yacha Art.”
One of the martial arts from the Saafa faction appearing in Heavenly Bright Moon, it’s a technique that enhances the body, increasing both attack and defense.
And the one who mastered it was Nam Yacha, the leader of Yajun of the Green Forest.
So, indeed, these thugs were from the Green Forest, and that guy was Gwangyeok-gyu.
“I heard there’s a little bug among the trash of the Green Forest who has mastered Yacha Art. You’re Gwangyeok-gyu, aren’t you?!”
Gi Noya laughed mockingly. But Gwangyeok-gyu merely scoffed at the mockery, twirling his great sword.
“Do old men want to sniff perfumes behind folding screens!!”
With a fierce roar, Gwangyeok-gyu started charging. In response, Gi Noya fired a celestial strike, and he leapt into the air, the powerful energy within his great sword aiming to strike down.
– Tuuuu-WOOOOOM!!
But his attack failed. Chaejin’s energy strike landed squarely on his side.
Since he was using Yacha Art, he didn’t suffer major wounds, but it seemed the pain was quite significant.
He grimaced and glared at Chaejin.
“You filthy bitch!!”
Hmm… sharp guy.
When Chaejin asked me to walk around with her wearing a leash, I did think she resembled a puppy.
“I won’t kill you.”
Chaejin smiled and spun around, causing Gwangyeok-gyu to tremble in response.
“You bitch!”
Gwangyeok-gyu flung his energy toward Chaejin and charged at her. Just as he was about to employ another technique, Hongryeon moved swiftly and struck his body.
“Kurghh!!”
It was the power of Hongryeon’s attack. Gwangyeok-gyu, hit squarely, fell back but quickly got back up, staring at her with a twisted, demonic face.
“Am I a fly?”
“You little bugs…!!”
A bit too pretty for bugs, don’t you think?
It didn’t take long to clean things up. We had the advantage in numbers, and we had more skilled fighters on our side too.
“Well, our side had more numbers, and we had more experts too.
Plus, in the beginning, when the evil monsters were rampaging, Hongryeon and Chaejin managed to hold them back, shifting the momentum in our favor, so we were able to capture them all without much damage.
‘For a leader of the Green Forest’s Eighteen Branches, your subordinates sure are few.’
After dealing with two top-notch fighters, Wiyeol and Gi Noya also joined in, and in the end, Gwangyeok-gyu was captured alive.
Feeling ashamed as he kneeled bound, he ground his teeth, and Wiyeol coldly remarked,
‘Could it be that you were chased away?’
When Gi Noya chimed in, Gwangyeok-gyu’s face twisted in response.
‘Did we hit the nail on the head?’
‘Seems like not quite…’
I pondered while looking at Gwangyeok-gyu and then asked,
‘Who commissioned you?’
Gwangyeok-gyu flinched. His eyes subtly shook. So, they were indeed moving based on some commission.
‘You must have learned the Sleepy Haze Technique.’
‘……’
There was no answer.
I instructed the martial artists of the Murim Alliance to check the cave where the monsters had emerged earlier, and upon their return, I inquired,
‘What was inside?’
‘There were monsters… and human corpses. Among those human corpses…’
The martial artist of the Murim Alliance gulped.
‘There were corpses that looked like bandits too.’
‘I see…’
Even if you could control monsters with the Sleepy Haze Technique, they still needed to eat. And Sangsang and Agwi were known for eating a lot, as strong as they were.
To feed those monsters, they would have had to catch either more monsters or people.
I spoke to Gwangyeok-gyu,
‘Did you feed the other members of the Green Forest?’
‘Hah, members? Why would those guys be family?’
Gwangyeok-gyu’s lips curled in a sneer.
I expected this.
Though they called themselves the Green Forest’s Eighteen Branches and claimed we were all brothers, at their core, they were bandits.
In the end, they could turn on each other whenever it suited their interests.
‘They were the ones who first attacked our Yajun Branch. That’s why I fed them to the monsters.’
Gwangyeok-gyu grinned at me mischievously.
‘Does the illustrious Shinsan Seonja not understand the logic of survival of the fittest?’
‘It’s not that I don’t understand. And if that’s the Green Forest’s way, I have no intention to blame it.’
‘Hmm?’
‘If they want to eat each other, what can I say? I’m just curious.’
I looked at Gwangyeok-gyu and asked,
‘Who taught you the Sleepy Haze Technique?’
Grinning, he replied.”
“Your mom taught you… Kyaah!!”
A sword from Chaejin pierced his arm. Following that was Hongryeon’s kick. Crushing his leg completely, Hongryeon grabbed his hair and said,
“Arrogant little brat. Want me to rip out your tongue?”
“Ku, kukuku…”
Even with a hole in one arm and a broken leg, Gwangyeokjun just laughed. Well, for someone who holds a position in the Green Forest Eighteen Swords, he’s impressive.
“Where did your subordinates go?”
“Yeah… they went to my mom…”
“Why bother asking? He won’t answer anyway. Come on. That punk is mine.”
Gi Noya smiled slightly while Wiyeol stepped forward with a blank expression.
Just as Gwangyeokjun twisted his lips and tried to bite his tongue upon seeing the torture tools in their hands, Chaejin knocked out his jaw with a single blow and said without a hint of laughter,
“Let’s see how long you can hold out.”
Is he really clueless, or is he just refusing to speak? From my perspective, it’s the former, but anyway, there’s almost nothing to extract from Gwangyeokjun.
In the end, it just turned out to be a waste of time, but there was no harm done.
I shook my head as I looked at the blood-soaked Gwangyeokjun, who was already dead.
“Let’s collect the bounty.”
Since Gwangyeokjun was at least an important figure in the Green Forest Eighteen Swords, the bounty would be considerable. We should treat those who suffered for this.
I spoke blandly as I looked around. It might be random, but they were in the process of forming a party, so they must have something useful.
Let’s gather what we can, burn the rest, and head to Yangweseong.
I gave instructions to the others, and they started moving busily.
By the time they gathered what they needed and returned,
I tilted my head at what Sayoon was holding.
“What is that?”
“Uh. I found it in the hidden place in the biggest house over there.”
“A hidden place? You found something like that?”
Everyone was surprised, and Sayoon scratched her cheek.
“Yeah. By coincidence…”
“Wow, Sayoon really achieved something! But what is it?”
Hongryeon patted her head, took the book she was holding, opened it, and tilted her head.
“This looks like a code or something?”
Upon receiving it, I saw letters scrawled all over the pages that I couldn’t read either.
“What should we do?”
“Hmm… It seems like a code used in the Green Forest…”
As Gi Noya grumbled that we had no way of knowing, I shook my head.
“If we can’t decipher it, we can hand it over to someone else.”
“Someone else? Who?”
“Hao-mun.”
They are usually good at this kind of thing.
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