< Episode 121: Great War (3) >
As the warriors of the Justice Alliance with shields lined up in battle line advanced Sihyeolgokju Lee Ji-yeom who was watching them spoke in a low voice to his guard Gochan who was possessing the body of Wi So-yeon the youngest disciple of the deceased Cheonjihoeju.
“It was a good thing to raise the morale of our troops but it was reckless.”
“but….”
“Please go back inside.”
Lee Ji-yeom pointed to a place where there was a large rock.
Gochan who was trying to make an excuse soon nodded his head and walked towards there.
Then he slipped into the hole next to the rock.
Then Lee Ji-yeom approached and pushed a large rock to the side to cover the hole.
-Drurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
“Whoa.”
After erasing the marks from the rock with his feet Lee Ji-yeom sighed and shook his head.
He who received Mu Qingyun’s orders was the only one who knew the importance of Wei Xiaoyeon’s existence.
Therefore in order to protect Wei So-yeon he took the opposite approach and brought him to the battlefield instead of the Cheonjihoe headquarters.
The hole she entered was one of the ambush sites and safe houses hidden throughout Hundred Thousand Mountains.
It was a reverse idea to target the darkness under her lamp but thanks to her coming out so openly the enemies were able to figure out her location.
‘It’s going to be difficult.’
-Sreung!
Lee Ji-yeom shook her head and drew her sword preparing to face the enemy.
Meanwhile King Pabu Hotaegang who was on the highest peak in the battle line waved his ax and sent a signal.
Then the archers holding her bow focused their true energy on the fingertips that pulled the string.
-Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo!
Thousands of shield warriors of the Justice League were quickly approaching.
The war between the Murim people could also be said to be similar to the battle between armies up to the point of direct hand-to-hand combat.
The side that occupies the high ground or defends the enemy with arrows stone spears etc.
‘Not yet?’
The flag warriors who delivered Hotae River’s signal looked at his ax with tense eyes.
Enemies are approaching but there is no signal to fire yet.
-Wheeeeeeee!
I focused on the wind blowing from the Hotae River.
Because the arrow was loaded with magic it flew much farther than what ordinary archers shoot but it was waiting like this because of the direction of the wind.
Since the direction of the wind was still towards them he would not have much effect if he tried to shoot the arrow now.
Therefore he had to wait until he was further within range.
-Doo doo doo doo doo!
In this way the shield warriors of the Justice Alliance approached to a distance of about four hundred paces.
Then the strong wind began to calm down little by little.
‘Now!’
At that moment Ho Taekang thrust his ax forward.
At the same time the flag was waving and the archers as if waiting fired arrows at the shield warriors of the Justice Alliance.
-Ch-Cha-Ch-Cha-Ch-Cha-Ch-Cha-Ch-Cha-Cha!
As thousands of arrows loaded with true energy flew at incredible speed the warriors of the Justice League who were advancing forward stopped.
“Shield up!”
-Chachachachachachachachacha!
At the commander’s shout they formed a line of five raised their shields and lowered their posture.
And they breathed energy into their shields.
Hwang Bo-seong the head of the Hwangbo family who commands the shield warriors grinned.
‘The specially produced shields this time are not easily pierced by arrows loaded with true energy. ‘Try to shoot as many times as you want.’
The purpose of the shield warriors in the front line was one.
The goal was to quickly exhaust the enemy’s arrows.
“Don’t let down your guard and grit your teeth!”
Thousands of arrows rained down and struck the iron shields they were holding.
-Pupupupupupupupupup!
‘It’s not as big a deal as I thought…huh!?’
But the sound of hitting the iron shield was strange.
The tip of the arrow was also made of iron so when it hits it it should make a sound like a crack but it feels like something hitting leather or cloth.
-Pupupupupupupupupup!
I felt something was wrong but I couldn’t lower my shield because the arrows kept raining down on me.
That was right then.
-Shoooooooo!
Something like smoke began to rise around me.
Sensing something strange Hwang Bo-seong the head of the Hwang Bose family looked at the arrowheads that had fallen on the floor.
‘!?’
However their points were not sharp iron.
They were really bundles of leather or cloth and smoke was rising from them.
‘no way?’
But then the warriors holding the shields started coughing here and there.
“Cluck cluck!”
“Knock knock. So many breaths….”
Some people were even seen clutching their necks as if they were unable to breathe.
Hwang Bo-seong the head of the Hwangbo family saw this and shouted in surprise.
“It’s a solo dance! It’s a solo dance! Retreat!”
The smoke flowing out was none other than poisonous smoke.
Blood was suddenly flowing out of the mouths of those who were coughing and many of them fell down one after another with their faces turning bright blue.
“Cover your nose and mouth with a cloth and hold your breath!”
Hwang Bo-seong shouted this and covered his nose and mouth with a cloth to block the poison trying to enter through his skin.
However it seemed to be more toxic than I thought and my skin stung severely.
-Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo!
At first the shield warriors who were running in line were poisoned by the poisonous smoke and before they knew it they were all retreating to the rear in a panic.
Those in the back line were less exposed to the poisonous fire and escaped safely but they were not in the front line.
-dump! dump! thud!
“Kekkek!”
“Off.”
More than half of them were already poisoned and dying.
“Damn it!”
Likewise Hwang Bo-seong of Hwang Bo-seong who was retreating and widening the distance seemed to be unable to bear his anger and shouted at Hundred Thousand Daesan.
“You cowardly bunch of idiots! “How dare you use poison!”
Poison was implicitly prohibited in confrontations and wars between the Murim people.
More than the effect of the poison it was because it was a weapon specialized only for killing rather than a fair fight between warriors and there was an impression of cowardice.
Therefore the Justice League naturally assumed that they would not use poison.
however
“What is cowardly in a war where people die and kill each other? It is truly childish to say that force is not enough so pushing in groups is okay but poison is not.”
“Hahahahahahaha!”
Hearing the sarcastic shouts of the King of the Pabu Taegang ridicule erupted from all over Hundred Thousand Mountains.
‘Damn it!’
Hwang Bo-seong became even more enraged at the sound of laughter he heard.
Seeing less than half of the thousands of people retreating King Baek Sa-ha raised his eyebrows.
“Hehehe. “It is self-reliance and self-improvement.”
At his words Amjong Joo Hwan-ya-seon also nodded his head and agreed.
“If you wanted to keep the poison in check you had to somehow bring in Sacheondanga whether it was Bongmun or something. These people are truly foolish. “Hohohohoho.”
The only political faction that dealt with poison was the Sacheon Party.
However they were defeated by Mok Gyeong-un and sent to Bongmun.
Therefore the Justice Alliance had to fight the war without the Four Heavenly Party Gates.
Since they were members of a political faction who valued the cause their attempt to strictly adhere to the rules they had established was holding them back.
“Those guys are using poison. “Huh.”
Hong Won-seok the Ark of Openness clicked his tongue as he saw the retreating allies coming.
Other officers of the Justice Alliance also could not help but feel indignant as they watched the shield warriors retreating from the beginning.
-Wow!
“Are you saying he’s coming out here?”
They did not expect that the absence of Cheondoksu (千毒手) one of the Eight Saints and Sacheondangmun would have such a huge impact.
However it was not until the war broke out that they realized.
The truth is that poison can only be suppressed with poison.
“Now that things are like this we will have no choice but to abandon attrition warfare such as exhausting arrows and approach quickly and engage in close combat.”
“That’s right. “If we have to fight in close combat they won’t be able to use poison because of the damage they will cause.”
Gu Cheol-ja a member of the Hwasan faction also expressed agreement with Jin Sok-ja a member of the Cheongseong faction.
Although most of the executives of the Justice League agreed with their opinions they were concerned about the assassination of the Hangsan faction.
“Amitabha Buddha. “Even if you block yourself with a cloth and hold your breath until you get that close our troops will continue to suffer damage so what are you going to do about it?”
“I can’t help it. “It’s not like we can just sit there and ignore it because we’re afraid of poison damage.”
“one….”
Then Danmok In-ho the head of the Danmok family stepped forward and opened his mouth.
“Just in case we at Danmoksega have prepared some poisoned liquor. How about using it?”
“You mean blood poison?”
Poisonous liquor (避毒珠).
It was a bead with detoxifying properties.
It can be used as a simple medicine and it has strong detoxifying properties so if it is used to light a fire it has the effect of pushing away and blocking poisonous fog.
“Oh! “How long will you be there?”
“About a hundred.”
“You have over a hundred of those precious things?”
“Yes.”
“But is it okay if I use it like this?”
“We are using it for the justice of martial arts so how can we argue whether it is valuable or not?”
“That’s it. That’s it! Thanks to Danmokse’s foresight we were able to reduce the damage to our troops!”
Justice Alliance executives appeared relieved at the large quantity of poisoned liquor.
Jeong Hyeon-moon the Lord of Justice who was twitching the corners of his mouth as he looked at this turned his gaze to Hundred Thousand Mountains.
‘Hmm.’
Since the Sacheondangmun was visiting I was prepared to prepare it but I didn’t know that they would already use poison.
No matter how minor it may have been he believed that since the Cheonjihoe was also martial-oriented it would not use poison from the beginning unless it was completely cornered.
However seeing that he wrote this without hesitation it seemed like he was greatly influenced by someone.
Is he really a guy?
It was a time when I wondered if they would take over the atmosphere of the beginning of the war.
-Doo doo doo doo!
The ground began to shake.
-Roaring!
As the shaking gradually grew the gazes of the turbulent warriors of the Justice League all turned backwards.
There I saw numerous cavalry corps filling the plain in a straight line.
‘what?’
‘Is that already possible?’
The expressions on the faces of all Cheonjihoe warriors who had been cheering at the retreating lines of the Justice League hardened.
The number of fast-moving horsemen seemed to reach nearly 10000 and this was written on the flag waving at the front.
Evil alliance
* * *
The plan of the ancient gold technique Taegongbongcheonstyle (太空封舛式)
Mok Gyeong-un’s face unable to move as he was trapped in the extremely slow passage of time was becoming more haggard than before.
Even though time passes slowly it does not mean that the mind also flows slowly.
But Mo Gyeong-un’s eyes were still alive.
The thought that he had to somehow get out of this place was holding on to his mind.
But this wasn’t easy.
The completed Taegongbong Cheongsik was literally so close to perfection that no cracks could be found.
So even if I tried to destroy it with strong will I couldn’t do anything about this space itself with the sword of my heart.
‘If you don’t have free capabilities can’t you cut down?’
In the space within the Taegongbongcheonsik time barely passed so it was not possible to even gather gratuitous capabilities.
Since this ability was not supported there was a limit to demonstrating sharpness through will alone.
‘What should I do?’
Mo Gyeong-un became increasingly anxious.
As time passed I became more worried about Cheongnyeong’s safety.
Knowing his feelings even though his clone was almost dead Mokgan continued to look at himself and maintain a maniacal smile.
‘….’
Isn’t this really going to do what he wants?
Am I going to end up stuck like this unable to do anything?
Am I going to lose my youth like this?
Repeated questions to ourselves.
Gradually Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes became clouded with deep darkness.
Ordinary people tend to become mentally weak when they become anxious.
However this nervousness awakened the deep darkness that had been deeply dormant in Mok Gyeong-un.
-Rarrrrrrrrrrrr!
Suddenly black flames flickered in Mok Kyung-un’s eyes.
< Episode 121: Great War (3) > end
ⓒ Hanzhongwolya
