Have You Ever Seen Hell? (3)

“Hiaaaah!”

A ripping scream and shout like something from hell filled the air.

It was absurd.

A jackal was still a jackal.

They could not head toward the path guarded by the tiger.

Considering the difference between the Southern Island elders’ martial power and the strength possessed by the Ten Thousand People Clan warriors, calling this a fight between a tiger and jackals was an understatement.

Logically and rationally, the jackals should have stopped and retreated.

But the pack, driven mad, did not stop charging even with the tiger’s teeth sunk into their napes.

Kwa-dd-deuk!

A charging Ten Thousand People Clan warrior’s body was sliced apart sideways in an instant.

Yet the warriors behind, even as their comrade’s body was cut apart before them, hurled themselves faster through the spilling blood and entrails.

“Kahaaaah!”

The Ten Thousand People Clan warriors, eyes rolled back as they unleashed inhuman screams, poured all their inner power into swinging their blades.

Kaaaarng!

The internal qi-filled blades collided with the swords.

The Southern Island sect’s elder’s face twisted involuntarily.

It wasn’t that hard to block the blade.

The elder’s internal qi was on a different level from the Ten Thousand People Clan members.

But because the blade was packed with force, there was no avoiding the heavy impact to his wrist.

“Damn…!”

The Southern Island sect’s elder, eyes blazing, shoved the blade aside and thrust his sword, piercing a Ten Thousand People Clan warrior through the chest.

Kwa-dd-deuk!

“You filthy worm… Guh!”

Then the blade that had pierced the warrior’s chest suddenly passed through and mercilessly drove into the elder’s lower abdomen.

“Ugh…”

His body trembled. His dantian had been destroyed.

“Elder Gwan!”

“T-This!”

Gwan Jo-Yeong’s eyes flashed with shock and rage.

‘My comrade…’

Paaaat!

Soon after, a succession of blades flew and instantly severed Gwan Jo-Yeong’s neck.

“You damned bastards! Uaaaaah!”

The Southern Island Sect’s elders screamed as if seized by seizures and unleashed their swords fiercely.

Their momentum was like a tsunami striking a storm-tossed sea.

Blue sword qi surged forth and struck the charging Ten Thousand People Clan warriors at once.

Kwagagagagak!

The mad warriors swung their blades wildly at the sword qi, but no blade could hold back a wave.

Bodies swept by the sword qi were instantly turned into pieces.

It was a scene so horrific it was hard to bear watching.

Still, the Ten Thousand People Clan warriors facing that sight did not lessen their ferocity at all.

If anything, they accelerated, unleashing attacks on the Southern Island Sect’s elders instantly.

A jackal cannot hunt a tiger.

But humans weaker than the jackal can hunt humans stronger than the tiger.

It’s a trait unique to humans.

Because humans are the only beings who can throw away their lives like rags.

Pook!

Even with a sword lodged in their heart, they stubbornly keep swinging their blades.

Seok!

Even as their belly is split and intestines spill out, they don’t clutch their wound but seize and bite the leg of the person before them.

“Aaaah!”

Kwa-dd-d-deuk!

Ecstasy filled the eyes of the one who finally drove the blade into the elder’s chest.

A truly chilling smile spread across his face.

He twisted the plunged blade to widen the wound.

“Guuuaaah!”

A scream tore from the elder’s mouth from a pain he’d never experienced in his life.

Before such extreme pain, all his accumulated training felt meaningless.

The elder, possessed by rage, swung his sword in a flash.

The sword plunged into the smiling man’s face.

It was no masterstroke.

A desperate, flailing stab.

Soon the man with a pierced face fell over.

But what difference did it make to the fate of someone with a pierced heart?

Blades kept flying toward the collapsing man’s back.

The sight of his back being ravaged as he fell was truly miserable.

“Th-These madmen…”

For a moment, fear clouded the elders’ eyes.

This was neither duel nor sparring.

It was a war where any tactic was acceptable so long as it cut the opponent’s life short.

The madness of war mocked, ridiculed, and trampled the martial skill they had honed proudly their whole lives.

Having barely bought a moment to catch his breath, an elder raised his head in utter despair.

The narrow gorge was packed thick with Ten Thousand People Clan warriors.

It seemed like a black river was flowing.

Of course, the Ten Thousand People Clan could not stop the Southern Island elders’ tsunami-like sword qi.

But the elders also had no way to stop that river of death flowing into the gorge.

They cut one throat after another, dozens, and yet dozens more rushed forward.

Their morale, hoisted high, seemed to be swept away down to their toes by that vicious current.

“Ugh…”

No matter how many came, he was certain they could stand like a wall.

After all, no matter how many enemies there were, only three could charge at once.

Even counting over the head, they’d not exceed ten.

Besides, he wasn’t defending alone.

If the elders who had fought in unison stood together, he believed they could hold like seasoned formations until their internal qi ran out, even against tens of thousands.

But… fear suddenly flooded the eyes of the elder before him.

As the boiling fury and anger subsided, reality began to appear.

Countless corpses lay before him. The enemies stepped on and leaped over those bodies without hesitation as they surged forward.

And among that pile of bodies were the corpses of elders who had died earlier.

“Ugh…”

The Southern Island Sect’s elder’s feet, once firmly planted in the earth, faltered and glanced backward for a moment.

He knew. What had to be done. Why this place had to be held.

But knowing it in his head didn’t make it easy to risk his life to do it.

Moreover, the Ten Thousand People Clan’s reckless frenzy was enough to crack the elders’ steadfast resolve.

“Do not fall back!”

Geum Yang-Baek quickly shouted, sensing that mood.

But restoring momentum once shaken was little different from rebuilding a ruined sandcastle.

The effect was immediate.

“Aaaaargh!”

A swung blade drove into the retreating elder’s thigh.

There was a world of difference between meeting the enemy full-on and awkwardly holding back with your waist pulled back.

It was a wound he wouldn’t have suffered had he been able to fully exert his skill.

But the Southern Island Sect’s elders were not in a situation where they could display all their abilities.

“Move aside!”

Geum Yang-Baek leaped over the elders’ heads in an instant.

Shouting would not easily reverse the situation.

So it was right for him to step in personally.

Brief thought, quick action.

Geum Yang-Baek charged forward, eyes rolled back, piercing the throats of charging Ten Thousand People Clan warriors one after another.

It was truly a dazzling swift blade.

With that one attack, Geum Yang-Baek proved the Southern Island sect leader’s ability.

The warriors whose throats were instantly pierced crumpled like rotten straw.

‘Next…’

Seok!

But in that moment Geum Yang-Baek flinched. His gaze went to the wrist holding his sword.

Even as a Ten Thousand People Clan warrior with a pierced neck collapsed and died, he stubbornly swung his blade, leaving a long slash on Geum Yang-Baek’s arm.

Geum Yang-Baek’s eyes trembled faintly.

‘Relentless…’

Of course, it was only that he had some remaining strength.

A pierced neck didn’t mean instantaneous death.

But at least at that moment… it felt as if the dead were swinging blades.

“Yiik!”

Paaaaat!

As if to shake off the clinging unease, Geum Yang-Baek slashed wildly at the air with his sword.

Again, his swift blade cut down not only the vanguard enemies but those following them in one sweep.

“Kraaah!”

“Aah!”

When the sword qi pierced through their ally’s back and suddenly into their own bodies, the Ten Thousand People Clan warriors screamed.

The unexpected attack made the impact greater.

Those charging in froze for a moment, and that hesitation brought about an even greater massacre.

“Move aside quickly! You bastard!”

Puuuuk!

On the backs of those who had halted in surprise, a comrade’s blade was driven in.

Those whose spines were severed at once collapsed forward, foaming at the mouth.

Those behind drew blades from those backs, trampled the falling bodies, and advanced.

Guilt? There was none.

Once a force starts running, nothing can stop it.

Had they not stepped on their ally, the ones behind would have trampled him instead.

“Uaaaaah!”

A dozen sword qi forms surged at the man charging with a primal scream.

He raised his blade to guard his throat and heart, stomped the ground, and dove into the sword qi.

Pook! Pook! Pook!

Sharp sword qi pierced his upper body repeatedly.

Red blood welled up, but the Ten Thousand People Clan warrior, having kept his head protected, swung his blade fiercely.

Chwaaah!

Blood sprayed from the blade tip onto Geum Yang-Baek’s torso.

The blade didn’t actually touch Geum Yang-Baek’s body.

It only cut the space an inch before him.

But the heat of that blood still washed over Geum Yang-Baek.

“Grrr…”

The Ten Thousand People Clan warrior who had used his last strength collapsed forward.

Watching him claw at the ground fiercely until his last breath, Geum Yang-Baek felt a chill run down his back.

Paaaaat!

At that moment, something black flew toward Geum Yang-Baek.

He reflexively lifted his sword to block the flying object.

The flying things spun and in an instant wrapped tightly around Geum Yang-Baek’s sword.

‘Chain sickles?’

Geum Yang-Baek widened his eyes.

Seizing the opportunity, the Ten Thousand People Clan warriors rallied and charged with tremendous cries.

“Kill them!”

“Pull him down!”

Geum Yang-Baek pulled his sword hard, but it didn’t budge, tangled in a dozen chain sickles.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you sons of dogs!”

But the one who responded instead of Geum Yang-Baek was none other than Tang Pae.

Tang Pae leaped above Geum Yang-Baek’s head, smashed a poison vial, and hurled a poison bomb with all his might.

Perhaps thanks to the elders’ efforts giving them a moment to breathe, the poison smoke he produced quickly enveloped the enemies like smoke rising over a massive flame.

“Kill them all…”

Tang Pae, who had been about to shout at the top of his lungs, suddenly fell silent as if his throat had been choked.

‘That…’

His bloodshot eyes fixed beyond the poison smoke.

A sphere the size of a child’s head was flying toward the poison smoke he had created.

Tang Pae realized.

What was flying into the poison smoke now, and what consequences that would bring.

“D-d-dive! Ge-get away!”

Kwaaaaang!

With a colossal blast like the sky collapsing, an enormous explosion erupted in the center of the gorge.

Kururururung!

The narrow gorge and the nearby cliffs shook as if they might collapse at any moment.

And then.

Whiiiiing!

The devastating blast wind generated by the explosion swept the poison smoke Tang Pae had made away in an instant.

The poison storm, which could melt everything, surged toward Southern Island, not the Ten Thousand People Clan.