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“Sa, save me…”

Still, I held onto a glimmer of hope until I actually saw them.

“…….”

I stared down at the figure stuck to my feet—a bandit, crawling and begging for his life with one arm lost.

It’s not strange for someone to beg for their life; everyone values their existence, after all. There are things that can only be enjoyed while alive. They just don’t want to let go of that.

…But.

Isn’t it odd to beg for one’s own life after pulling off such despicable acts?

Look around.

I surveyed the place mixed with excrement and mud. Inside the building known as ‘the livestock pen,’ emaciated women crawled on all fours.

There was a reason they were on all fours. The bandits had severed their tendons to prevent them from escaping.

Because of that, they couldn’t stand properly and naturally had to crawl, all while the bandits laughed at them.

It was a display of pure lust. Those incapable of even that had been taken further inside. I realized those sights were not much different from what I had seen in Shaolin.

Human flesh.

These beasts were butchering humans. They judged certain civilians as worthless and resold their flesh for meat.

“…….”

Did the entire Green Forest’s Seventy-two Strongholds know…

No. That can’t be. Their subordinates would know exactly what they were doing.

Still, they likely turned a blind eye. They might even have condoned it. Or perhaps…

They could have given the orders.

All three possibilities were fundamentally wrong. Disgust rose in my throat, filling me to the brim, making it impossible to even curse.

“Sa, save me… please… good person…”

I smashed their head.

Chunks of flesh splattered everywhere.

The women huddled in the corners screamed. I walked slowly towards them.

Their bodies were nothing but skin and bones. Not only that, some now seemed unable to make any sound as they just moaned weakly.

It was a horrific sight that could make one call it a human farm. Some of them were so shaken they had lost their teeth.

All gone. Why?

…Simply because they were used as mere playthings.

“Wow. These fucking bastards. It’s even worse than I imagined.”

“Grururur…”

The head of the Seventy-two Strongholds dangled from Gu Ok-gyeong’s blood-soaked hands.

I examined the condition of the women. Luckily, none seemed to have injuries that would lead to immediate death.

Could the severed tendons be healed…?

That was something to check later. There was something else that needed to be done right now.

“…Huh? You want to do it?”

I approached the owner of this mountain stronghold. I didn’t answer Gu Ok-gyeong’s question.

I simply stared blankly at the captured head.

“Name.”

“No, Green Forest… will chase you…”

—Crack.

I broke one of his fingers. Not simply breaking it.

I poured internal energy into it and crushed the nerve surrounding that finger entirely.

His eyes rolled back. I had no intention of letting him die just yet.

I poured Cheongeop to heal the broken parts. The shattered remains were repaired by the healing energy…

As a result, he trembled and spit out saliva from the pain.

“Ah… Ah…”

Just enough to keep him from dying.

To allow him to continue feeling agony.

I took hold of his finger again.

“Name.”

“Do, Dong-gwak-woo…”

“…Hey. You okay?”

Gu Ok-gyeong asked.

I shook my head.

“Not at all.”

I was angry.

Watching these beasts commit such inhumane acts with no hesitation…

A surge of resentment rose from deep within me.

If one is human, they are supposed to possess emotions. Even if they don’t know justice, shouldn’t they at least not cross the line?

But these guys crossed it.

They far surpassed it.

“Dong-gwak-woo.”

“…Yes, yes…”

With a blood-spattered answer, I quietly asked.

“Are other mountain strongholds doing the same?”

The answer came slowly.

“Y-yes! W-we’re not the only ones doing this! We thought we could all survive together…!”

“…….”

“It was the Green Forest King who ordered it! We were just following orders! Please, let us live! We won’t do this again! Never again!”

Regret.

Good. Regret is a very good thing. Because people can change.

…But.

“If you were going to say that…”

Haven’t you already walked too far to turn back?

I raised my hand. I gently gripped his neck.

“You should have done it before I came.”

—Snap!

The broken neck lay on the ground. Having heard the answers I needed, there was no value in asking further questions.

The Green Forest’s Seventy-two Strongholds.

A place where beings not even fit to be called beasts gathered.

“…Jeok-un?”

I asked Gu Ok-gyeong, who cautiously called out to me.

“Did we say we were just going to buy time?”

“…With some trouble, we were just gouging the Green Forest’s Seventy-two Strongholds, right?”

“What about beyond that?”

“Huh?”

“You wanted that anyway. Answer me. Gu Ok-gyeong. What beyond that?”

“If we’re talking beyond that…?”

I dusted off the blood caked on Gumang. I put it back in its sheath and turned my head.

“…All of it.”

The Green Forest’s Seventy-two Strongholds.

Yeah, you guys probably think you’re hot shit. You have numbers and an incredible amount of masters.

Power enough not to lose hold of your authority. And that is the foundation for doing such things without being pointed at by anyone.

But from today, that won’t be the case.

“I’m going to erase all of it.”

Those creatures unfit to even be called ‘humans’ must be managed by ‘humans.’

Whether it be Sapa or Jeongpa or the Demon Cult.

Wherever…

Such deeds cannot be forgiven.

At least not by me.

“…Crazy.”

Gu Ok-gyeong trembled. She stuck close to my side as I walked slowly.

“Are you serious? You’re really going to go that far?”

“Yeah.”

“…You crazy bastard…!”

Gu Ok-gyeong’s lips twitched.

“Fuck! Good! Let’s wreck everything! Just the two of us!”

. . .

King of Green Forest Kwak Cheon-geuk released the kids.

And he thought it would soon come to an end.

But something felt off.

“The, the pursuit team has been annihilated!”

“…What?”

Since things went awry from the start, everything began to spiral out from there.

The pursuit team, the elite appointed to confirm positions to open the Heavenly Net…

Had all been wiped out.

Kwak Cheon-geuk sensed something was wrong. He hurriedly sent other subordinates.

This time, even more elite ones.

Ones he could trust with all his might. And he issued a separate warning.

“Do not attack immediately upon discovery, just observe from a distance. If it seems ambiguous, track their position from a hundred paces back.”

He clearly said that.

He didn’t even say anything wrong.

Yet the second pursuit team was destroyed.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

One mountain stronghold had been buried as a stronghold. Not a single survivor.

“What the fuck?!”

Kwak Cheon-geuk immediately contacted each stronghold leader. The nearby strongholds were to temporarily disband and merge into one.

While it was somewhat an extreme measure, he thought it was the right thing. Since the enemy’s location was unpredictable, strengthening the defenses would be the solution.

With double the manpower, there would be double the capable fighters as well. So there should be a different outcome…

“…What? Two mountain strongholds were annihilated simultaneously?”

“Y-yes!”

The owner of the Green Forest’s Seventy-two Strongholds.

No.

Now the owner of the Green Forest’s Sixteen Strongholds wiped his face.

Two strongholds couldn’t handle just two masters at once? What kind of bullshit is this?

Is there really two of Hyun-kyung’s masters roaming around?

“Should we request support from the Sado Clan…!”

“They’re investing their men in the Heavenly Net! Do you think they’ll come to our aid?! And if we say just two people are handling the Green Forest’s Seventy-two Strongholds, who would fear us?!”

We have to resolve this ourselves. Kwak Cheon-geuk gripped his axe tightly for the first time in a while.

“I’ll catch them personally! Starting from the annihilated stronghold, I’ll track their traces! Gather all the best kids and strike! Move!”

In the process, an additional six strongholds were destroyed. All combined, this had occurred within a mere week.

The speed of movement was abnormal. The level of force was abnormal.

Is the enemy really just two? There’s no way two could do all this damage, right?

“Let all the kids loose! Block all the business spaces! And relay that every nearby stronghold must be searched thoroughly! If anyone dies, report it to me immediately! We’ll capture them!”

Another ten strongholds were obliterated.

Kwak Cheon-geuk’s expression darkened.

The pillars of his house were breaking. Yet still…

He couldn’t catch a single trace.

“This… this makes no sense…”

Twelve strongholds were shattered.

And finally, the outlines began to appear.

“I found a trace!”

“Move!! Relay orders to capture them by any means!!!!”

Finally, the two masters who had begun to come into view.

The King of Green Forest was moving with his crème de la crème.

To catch the enemy.

. . .

“…What? Who the hell sneaked in?”

They were killed.

“Kekeke. Should I bring home a few women today? I heard the daughter of that esteemed family is quite the beauty…”

They were killed.

“This is how you do it. You gotta shake your waist like this for longevity, you know? Want to test that today? There’s a new girl who’s sassy even after having her tendons severed; the more a girl like that fights back, the more worth it it is.”

They were killed.

“Human flesh, you know? Surprisingly tasty? I stole a couple I was planning to sell, want to share?”

They were killed.

“I’ll get sloshed. Those bastards. They’ll pay their protection fees when the time comes… whining when starving… the ones with the cash only moan more, you know?”

They were killed.

“The younger, the better? You have no idea what you’re missing. Anyway…”

They were killed.

“He was all about revenge for his father or whatever. But as soon as I started cutting off his fingers, he couldn’t say a word except scream. Just the way that bastard was… trying to act tough, thinking he was our opponent.”

They were killed.

“…E-excuse me, good person?”

They were killed.

“Sa, save me…”

They were killed.

“…Why… why is it like this…”

All of them were killed.

I whispered to the owner of the slaughtered stronghold.

“I’d like to ask one thing.”

Not a single stronghold was different.

All that existed were trash.

“Why go to such lengths?”

“Ah… ah…”

I broke their neck and watched the blood.

I continued moving until the straw hat was stained red with blood.

I wiped out the stronghold. I freed the slaves within.

But…

While I could heal people with Cheongeop, I wasn’t able to heal their hearts.

Most remained mute or became fools, drooling endlessly.

I took up the sword instead. I swung it for those who couldn’t wield it.

The bodies piled up, but I felt no guilt.

What I killed were not humans, but beasts.

“…Fucking… crazy bastard!”

In the pile of corpses, Gu Ok-gyeong laughed uproariously.

“Ahhh!! I love you! Jeok-un! I really mean it!”

“You’re getting blood on me. Back off.”

“Who cares? I’m covered in blood too. Ugh. You’re incredible when you want to be?!”

“I just struck a beast down.”

“…I want more. Want to be my personal physician? Ah, no, how about I just follow you?”

“Stop spouting nonsense and move. I’m planning to smash another stronghold today.”

“Ugh. Such a merciless tone. You’re focused, I see? Good. Good, good, good… Let’s sweep everything away!”

In the meantime, the bandits finally revealed themselves as they pursued us.

A tremendous number, enough to be called a heavenly net. But we had already breached that before.

Escaping was nothing. I was faster than them.

…However.

This time, I had no plans to escape.

“Gumang. Bai Ya. Black Pearl.”

I called out to the three spirits. The two spirits descended upon the tip of my sword, centered around Cheongeop.

The howling souls. That created a more solid existence within me.

The magic energy I could now wholly control flowed down through Gumang. The blood energy stabilized it, while the magic energy added destructive power…

An icy chill that freezes all things.

A fire that burns everything away.

The four gathered at the tip of my sword, merging into one, a color darker than blood.

“…Thank you.”

The White Night dyed the night sky white.

The Black Day painted the day black.

The Gumang made them return who had been forgotten by all.

And now…

With the red clouds capable of bleeding colors, even within me.

The four energies combined into one. And that became the fangs directed at those who chased us.

“Thanks for the trouble of finding us.”

I bared my teeth toward the horde.

To chew them all to pieces.

 

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