Chapter 167: God is Great (4)

“So it was a trap,” muttered the Black Tiger Vice Leader as he scanned the fanatics who were once again advancing on them from all sides.

That's when Il-mok was finally able to roughly grasp the situation.

‘Those aren't the same bastards who attacked us earlier.’

Not a single one of them had blood on them. Hell, if they'd been chasing from behind, there's no way they could've surrounded us like this.

They'd herded us into running in one direction, then waited here for us.

Once Il-mok figured that much out, a new question naturally popped into his head.

‘But who the hell were they setting this trap for?’

If they were just targeting some random Demonic Cult combat unit, there'd be no point in setting up an elaborate trap like this.

The fact that they went to the trouble of herding us onto an escape route and setting a trap must mean they had a specific target they expected to come this way.

Even with the Demonic Cult's surveillance network getting weaker lately, who could possibly be worth bringing hundreds of people into Demonic Cult territory to hunt down?

The question didn't take long to answer.

From among the enemies approaching on all sides, someone pointed directly at Il-mok and said something to a middle-aged man who looked like their leader.

"We must kill him (علينا قتله).”

“Why is it me again?”

This was getting old.

And it wasn't just because of these damn fanatics swarming him nonstop.

Ever since his master had kidnapped him, he couldn't figure out why so many people kept targeting him.

‘Fucking Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.’

He swallowed the curse he couldn't voice out loud.

"Allahu Akbar!!"

With that battle cry that made him want to puke just hearing it, waves of energy began to stir once more.

The sorcerers began casting their spells, shouting yet another unintelligible cry as they charged.

"For the Holy War (الحروب المقدسه)!”

Even as flames shot out from behind, aiming for their back, their eyes didn't hold even a trace of fear.

Just madness masquerading as faith.

“Snap out of it!”

"Form up! We need to break through no matter what!"

To prevent their own side from being swallowed by the enemy’s madness, Chu Il-hwan and the Black Tiger Vice Leader roared with voices laced with internal energy.

"Follow me!!"

"Instructors and assistant instructors, protect the disciples and follow!"

After giving their orders, the Vice Leader and Chu Il-hwan boldly charged straight ahead.

They started cutting through, slicing off the heads of fanatics who were practically begging to die and burning bodies with black lightning.

But the situation wasn't looking good.

Except for the Vice Leader, all eight Black Tiger Corps members were wounded from the previous battle, and most of the Hall of the Demonic Way disciples barely had any real combat experience.

Even among those you could call experts, only the Vice Leader and the Demonic Way’s instructors could fight at full strength.

At least the Vice Leader and Chu Il-hwan were raising hell at the front and opening a path, but maybe their intent was too obvious.

"Over there (هناك)!”

The fanatic bastards started converging toward the direction where the Vice Leader and Chu Il-hwan were breaking through.

As the path narrowed and the fanatics' coordinated attacks got more vicious, someone's shout erupted from among the panicking Disciples experiencing their first chaotic battle.

"We need support on the northwest side!"

The one who shouted was Gwak Sul.

For some reason, in this horrific situation he'd never experienced before, he could see the path.

And as it happened, there was one other disciple present who saw the very same path.

Swoosh!

The moment Gwak Sul shouted, Il-mok's sword sliced through the fanatics' vital points as he launched himself northwest with his lightness skill.

It was a strange feeling.

The moment he realized that the monster he'd never considered a fellow disciple could see the same path as him, an inexplicable confidence washed over him.

And as Il-mok cut through the fanatics and carved out a path, he shouted back at Gwak Sul.

"Keep giving orders!"

Gwak Sul hesitated for a moment.

‘M-Me? Take command in a situation like this?’

But at Il-mok's follow-up shout, his eyes quickly found their focus.

"Follow Disciple Gwak Sul's orders!"

Right in the middle of a battlefield echoing with screams and clashing metal, he ironically felt calmer.

In this crisis where they faced annihilation, the strategist who'd broken out of his shell started running his mouth nonstop.

His orders weren't just about simple commands or merely pointing out directions.

"Disciple Dokgo Pae! Don't hesitate! Break through! Show them the power of the Dokgo’s Nine Swords! Black Tiger Corps seniors, support Disciple Dokgo Pae as he charges!"

"Disciple Jeong Hyeon! Intercept their commanders and spell-casters! Those of you near Disciple Jeong Hyeon, your top priority is to protect her!”

Recalling the positions of his allies, the formation of his enemies, and the unique characteristics of each friendly warrior’s martial arts, he shouted out a constant stream of the most necessary commands for every single moment.

***

Dokgo Pae's head kept replaying what Il-mok had said to him earlier.

"The seniors can't fight properly because of us, you stupid bastard!!!"

He was furious.

Not at Il-mok.

He was furious at his own incompetence, and having to run away in the real combat situation he'd been dying for.

Yeah, if he was going to die on the battlefield because of his own weakness, he was ready to accept that.

But...

‘Me... Dokgo Pae, the eldest son of the Dokgo family, is nothing more than a hindrance to our own forces?’

A descendant of a great warrior. A being that stood at the forefront to pierce through the enemy’s frontline. That was what life should be for a man with the surname Dokgo.

Yes, just like the Black Tiger Corps's Vice Leader and Instructor Chu Il-hwan who is cutting through up ahead right now.

But he couldn't get there.

‘Right now, I cannot break through like those two.’

Because he was incompetent.

So Dokgo Pae just swung his greatsword out of habit.

Running down the path carved out ahead, just blocking the heretics coming at him.

Without even realizing it, a Heart Demon began creeping into his mind.

"Disciple Dokgo Pae! Don't hesitate! Break through! Show them the power of the Dokgo’s Nine Swords! Black Tiger Corps seniors, support Disciple Dokgo Pae as he charges!"

Then, a voice that was all too familiar to him cut through the haze.

Gwak Sul.

That scrawny guy who was way too weak for a Demonic Way disciple. The classmate he had taken under his wing simply because he had a decent head on his shoulders.

And lately, the strategist who always gave him directions during tests.

Even while drowning in his own sense of powerlessness, he moved according to a habit that had been drilled into him over the past few months.

"Haaa!"

Following Gwak Sul's orders, he started charging forward with the full power of the Dokgo Nine Swords.

Immense power gathered in his greatsword.

Crack!

The fanatic’s body was torn apart in a way that couldn’t be described as a clean cut, but rather as a messy, crushing blow.

‘This isn't right!’

Dokgo Pae gritted his teeth.

The first form of the Dokgo Nine Swords he'd gained insight into last time, the Army-Piercing Hegemon Sword, wasn't such a pathetic technique.

Dokgo Pae recalled that day's memory and raised his great \sword again.

The technique was now so completely ingrained in his body that even without conscious thought, his internal energy flowed naturally through its pathways.

When that flow reached its peak, the force-laden sword traced the most optimal path as it swung.

Slice!!

It completely bisected both the fanatic’s curved blade and body that blocked his way.

"I am the eldest son of the Dokgo Family, the great Dokgo Pae!"

Free from his Heart Demon, Dokgo Pae roared in frustration as he pressed forward.

That's right.

The Dokgo Nine Swords wasn't about holding position or protecting someone.

It was an art meant only for advancing.

The Dokgo Nine Swords only ended when there were no more enemies to pierce through or when he died.

"Die!!!"

From some point on, Dokgo Pae was focused on one thing and one thing only.

To swing his sword.

Thoughts about his incompetence, anger, shame—all of that was meaningless.

The only thing that mattered was breaking through.

‘Stronger! Faster!’

And the only meaningful thought was figuring out how to swing his sword stronger and faster to break through.

Meanwhile...

"Huh."

As Dokgo Pae started charging straight ahead, the expressions of the four Black Tiger Corps members around him changed.

“As expected of the Dokgo Family.”

"What incredible talent."

In this brutal melee, Dokgo Pae's sword was getting steadily stronger with each swing.

The Black Tiger Corps members exchanged glances, nodded, and launched themselves forward to support Dokgo Pae as he charged ahead alone.

They'd decided to follow the orders of Gwak Sul, who was just a student.

It wasn't just because of Il-mok's orders.

Under normal circumstances, perhaps it would have been different. But since they had been injured in the last battle while protecting the students, they realized it was more efficient to let Dokgo Pae take the front line.

***

Jeong Hyeon felt like she was about to have a breakdown.

Over a hundred enemies swarmed from every direction.

All of them screaming incomprehensible battle cries with eyes full of madness.

Worse, because the enemy charged without any regard for their own lives, the Demonic Cult’s formation was being forced to become tighter and tighter.

With people constantly entering her personal space, the side effects of the Ghost Spirit Divine Bow were threatening to consume her.

She'd barely managed to escape when Black Tiger Corps Leader Ouyang Hyeok broke through and opened a path.

"Allahu Akbar!!"

But then more fanatics surrounded them again, shouting their incomprehensible battle cry.

Already pushed to her limit, her face had turned completely pale.

With her bow-holding arm already hanging limp and her face half-dazed, Gwak Sul's orders didn't even register in her ears.

Just as her consciousness began to fade and the world started to blur…

"Disciple Jeong Hyeon!"

Someone's shout right in front of her jolted her fading consciousness back.

"Eek!"

Jeong Hyeon, who'd regained even a bit of awareness, screamed. She was someone who got startled when people approached within three feet, but somehow, Instructor Eun Ryeo had gotten right up to her face and was calling her name.

But the shock was fleeting.

“Snap out of it!!”

At Eun Ryeo's desperate cry, Jeong Hyeon felt confused.

She'd relied on Instructor Eun Ryeo for over a year, but she'd never seen this expression before. The always-calm Instructor Eun Ryeo now had a complex face mixing pity and desperation.

"Listen carefully! The people around you are not here to hurt you! They are here to protect you! Trust them! You must not be afraid, do you hear me?!”

Still not fully free from the Ghost Spirit Divine Bow's influence, Jeong Hyeon couldn't properly process Eun Ryeo's words.

It felt like having her head underwater, hearing sounds from above the surface.

Seeing Jeong Hyeon still looking dazed, Eun Ryeo gritted her teeth.

‘This won't work.’

The most efficient method would be to abandon Jeong Hyeon. Even at this moment, being tied down to Jeong Hyeon was causing losses to their fighting strength.

But Eun Ryeo couldn't bring herself to do it.

Maybe it was because of the Demonic Art's side effects, but as an instructor, she couldn't abandon her student.

That said, she couldn't stay tied down here forever either.

‘I need to find a way! I need to get Disciple Jeong Hyeon out of her Heart Demon as fast as possible!’

Maybe because it was a battlefield where lives hung in the balance, various memories flashed through Instructor Eun Ryeo's mind like a slideshow.

"!!!"

She suddenly remembered something Physician Seo Jae-pil had told her before.

—Come to think of it, among the methods for treating side effects, pushing the mind to its extreme limits can be quite effective too. Young Master Il-mok called it shock therapy.

Time was running out. Without even hesitating, Eun Ryeo reached out and grabbed Jeong Hyeon's face.

Then she forcibly turned the flinching Jeong Hyeon's head to look in a certain direction.

"If you keep spacing out like this, Disciple Il-mok might die!"

As Eun Ryeo's hands turned her head, the sight of Il-mok locked in bloody combat with the fanatics burned into Jeong Hyeon's pupils.

Watching Jeong Hyeon's pupils dilate instantly, Eun Ryeo bit her lip.

‘Please.’

Eun Ryeo didn't like Il-mok. She thought he was playing with Disciple Jeong Hyeon's feelings.

But in Eun Ryeo's opinion, Il-mok was the person Jeong Hyeon treasured most within the Hall of the Demonic Way.

She gambled that maybe, to save someone like that, Jeong Hyeon would snap out of it.

And at some point, relief and worry mixed in Eun Ryeo's eyes.

The dazed Jeong Hyeon was slowly raising her bow.

It wasn’t that she had broken free from her Heart Demon. Rather, due to the side effects of the Ghostly Spirit Divine Bow, everything simply felt like a dream to her.

‘I have to protect him.’

What Jeong Hyeon saw unfolding before her eyes overlapped with what she'd seen in her mental world.

The scene of her intercepting the assassin who had been targeting Il-mok, which she had witnessed before in her mental world.

Creeeeak.

The tension in the bowstring she'd pulled back out of habit stimulated her muscles.

Thwip!

And in that moment, that sound she had heard a thousand times—the crisp snap of the taut bowstring finally escaping its suppression—was the very thing that shocked her blocked mind back to awareness.

Thwack!

Jeong Hyeon's arrow embedded itself in the forehead of a fanatic who'd been thrusting his spear at Il-mok.