“Kuha…! I killed him!”
I just killed that bastard Guk-hyeon! And I did it using my new technique, Ghost Spirit One Sword!
This is a new technique that I developed over the years. When I use Spirit Strike, I can gather my spirit energy and explode it to increase my destructive power. But Ghost Spirit One Sword takes that explosive force and uses it as thrust to stab forward.
I came up with the idea here.
What if I combined the two techniques?
When I unleash Ghost Spirit One Sword, I raise my spirit energy again and detonate it just as I stab. It worked wonderfully. I broke through Guk-hyeon’s superior swordsmanship and landed an unexpected hit, slicing off his finger!
At first, Guk-hyeon even demonstrated his reflexes by blocking my Ghost Spirit One Sword instinctively. Without the Ghost Spirit Torrent Break, I might have been the one to suffer losses.
He probably didn’t expect the energy to explode from the sword.
I won with this!
“Kuahhhhhh!”
Along with the thrill of victory, joy erupted as I realized my new technique had worked. I roared and reveled in this liberation.
Those damn Tiger Unit bastards. I wanted to toy with them. Especially the one who showed his true colors right in the middle of the battlefield without leaving a trace. This brought me immense pleasure.
“Geunhyeop! Well done!”
“Good job!”
The two women approached me, praising my success.
“D-Daeju!”
“Guk-hyeon is dead…!”
Though Guk-hyeon was dead, the situation was not over. The Yuan cavalry were still showing up, and the remaining members of the Tiger Unit were still alive.
I needed to pull myself together.
There was a lot to do.
“Those Tiger Unit bastards. We have to eliminate them all.”
“I understand. Whether this outrageous situation is due to Guk-hyeon’s personal missteps or the entire Tiger Unit’s corruption, it no longer matters. We have no choice but to eliminate them all.”
Serin, the daughter of the Namgoong Clan, was very calm and cold.
“O Jade Flower Sword! Please spare us!”
“We’re just—!”
“Guaaaaah!”
The disoriented Tiger Unit members begged for their lives as they clashed among themselves, barely holding off the cavalry.
“No words are needed. Our conflict can only be resolved with one side’s death.”
“O Jade Flower Sword!”
“Let’s go, Geunhyeop. After we eliminate them, we can slip away from the cavalry.”
“Sounds good.”
“Nooooo!”
The remnants, having lost their commander, could do nothing. Under Hayoung’s protection, we dodged the cavalry while advancing toward the Tiger Unit, and they ended up crumbling under the combined onslaught of the cavalry and our attacks.
“Save meeeeee!”
They all fell.
“Hey! Come back quickly! We have to escape before we’re surrounded!”
“Serin! Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
As soon as we took down the Tiger Unit, we dashed toward the densely packed trees. Even though the skeletal cavalry were chasing us, their numbers were small, so we could retreat without much trouble.
Once we regained a bit of composure, Serin spoke.
“By the way, Geunhyeop. About that last move.”
“Ghost Spirit Torrent Break. It’s a technique linked to Ghost Spirit One Sword. I combined it with Spirit Strike to explode my spirit energy, and as you can see, it succeeded splendidly. Hehe.”
“I see. Well done.”
Serin’s expression softened.
“You must have worked hard on your training, and that was the result. You developed your unique martial arts very well, with detailed research on its characteristics… Certainly, Guk-hyeon would never have anticipated this.”
“Exactly.”
Using spirit energy in the first place is hard to foresee. But with an additional special move added on top of that, it was impossible to handle.
This is why martial artists are blindly obsessed with hiding their trump cards.
“But I’m a bit worried.”
“Huh? About what?”
Hayoung tilted her head in confusion.
“Because we took down the Tiger Unit? It’s fine. There are no survivors. Who knows if we did it or not? We can just say we were ambushed by the cavalry during a reconnaissance and the Tiger Unit fought valiantly but was ultimately defeated.”
I planned to do just that.
“But what if the corpses lead to our trail?”
“That won’t happen.”
Serin shook her head.
“Won’t the undead swarm in soon? The bodies of the Tiger Unit will disappear without a trace.”
“No, I mean there’s the possibility they could be resurrected as undead.”
“Aah, I see? You don’t need to worry about that. Because—”
“They weren’t killed by undead.”
Hayoung interjected and explained.
“We killed them. That means they can’t come back as undead. They’ll simply become a meal.”
“Oh, is that so?”
I was learning something new here.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.”
“That’s right, Geunhyeop.”
Having discussed that, we moved on.
Now let’s head back.
“Oh, Geunhyeop. We’ll report on the situation with the Tiger Unit somewhat carefully.”
“Carefully?”
“Yes. The Tiger Unit attacked us with very unpleasant and sinister intentions… but if we tell the truth, I doubt anyone will believe it. Instead, we would only attract suspicion.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s quite unjust, but I think the Wulin Alliance would prefer a narrative that the Tiger Unit displayed great bravery and saved us from danger.”
“Yeah.”
It would also be troublesome if we unintentionally drew the Wulin Alliance’s ire.
Considering what that bastard Guk-hyeon would say, if we brought up the grudge between the Tiger Unit and us, the Wulin Alliance might send out a pursuit squad, thinking those bastards dared to tarnish our honor or something.
Let’s conceal the grievances we had with the Tiger Unit as Serin suggested. There’s no benefit in revealing such matters.
“Alright. Let’s do that. There’s no point in bringing up grievances. It would only lead to suspicion over the Tiger Unit’s annihilation. Let’s agree on it being an unfortunate accident that occurred during reconnaissance.”
“Agreed!”
“Yes. I will do that.”
As we returned, we synchronized our accounts of the situation.
However, one thing still bothered me. Guk-hyeon and his minions, to be precise, those who had acted alongside us, were all wiped out, which was fine.
But the unit leader, Gongson Tan, and some of the other Tiger Unit members were still alive, operating elsewhere. They would likely know of the relationship between the Tiger Unit and us.
What if those bastards testified about something… What should we do?
Hearing my worries, Serin replied.
“Don’t worry. It’s just the opinion of a destroyed unit leader who wasn’t even present, isn’t it? Besides, I’m the Jade Flower Sword of the Namgoong Clan and Wi Hayoung is a master of the Mosan Sect.”
“That holds some trust.”
“Exactly. Moreover, if Gongson Tan raises suspicion about the annihilation, it would only be an insult to both the Tiger Unit and us. For them to claim that the Tiger Unit lost to us would only prove they are an incompetent group themselves, and it’s no different from declaring their hostility toward the Namgoong Clan and Mosan Sect.”
“Ah.”
Thinking about it, Serin’s reasoning was spot on.
“What the hell is this Wulin world…?”
Everything is so twisted with face-saving and politics. Nothing is direct; it’s all said in circles.
What a bothersome world this is.
—
In the eerily ominous forest, the stench of corpses pervaded a den of ghosts, where a beautiful woman draped in winged attire stood.
“Oh my…?”
The Four Fairies, Cheongmi, tilted her head at the scattered bones before her. She felt an exceptionally strange power emanating from the bones of the corpses devoured by the undead.
“…What is this?”
The Four Fairy reached out with her delicate white hand and caressed the bones.
“Mmm.”
A smile crept onto her lips.
It was a smile that could enchant anyone who beheld it, but her aura was cold and ominous. If a lady like her smiled, you’d definitely think there was a very bad reason behind it.
As she collected the bones, her body began to levitate.
The movement of her winged attire was reminiscent of a fairy’s silhouette, but no one could call her a fairy who creates and commands countless corpses.
“Hehe… I wonder who wielded this kind of power?”
The Four Fairy could feel her once cold heart racing.
“I must look into this.”
—
“The Tiger Unit commander has fallen. I assumed he was the most capable among them, but I was mistaken. Understood.”
The Golden Guard nodded indifferently and issued a command.
When I emerged, I felt a bit dazed.
Hearing the report that the Tiger Unit had fought bravely and been annihilated, and to think such light sentiment would remain? It seemed he didn’t care at all. He barely paid any attention even to the much-sought-after intelligence we gathered about the Yuan cavalry.
“I reported everything, yet he seemed unfazed. He barely even acknowledged the information about the Yuan cavalry.”
“Is that so?”
Upon hearing my words, Serin crossed her arms in suspicion.
“It doesn’t seem like a trivial matter… but I do think I’ll want to investigate this further later. It doesn’t look like it’s over yet.”
“Indeed? I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Yes. Be careful, Geunhyeop. But I don’t understand why he overlooked the information about the cavalry.”
Lying on the bed and gnawing on some pastries, Hayoung chimed in.
“Isn’t it because the reinforcements are coming? The Ming Empire’s forces will sweep everything away, so other matters probably don’t matter that much to him.”
“No, but then why did he give orders to scout early and examine the area?”
“Who knows? How would I understand the thoughts of the Golden Guard?”
“…”
I had no words.
True, the Golden Guard was notorious for being impossible to understand. As the Emperor’s intelligence unit and powerful warriors, we rarely encountered them.
Ever since they arrived here, they hadn’t made any notable moves.
What are they planning?
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