Nothing Has Changed. (2)

Those who had been camped outside the gorge eyed the scene ahead with startled expressions.

The enemies who had walked into the gorge of their own accord and leapt into the poison like rats were now clawing their way out of that slick trap.

How many had been stationed inside the gorge to stop them? Yet those bastards turned them all into corpses and finally reached this place.

“Sto-stop them!”

Someone cried out in urgent panic.

But even the one shouting knew it was meaningless. How could they possibly stop those who had not been stopped before reaching here?

At that moment, the one who surged forward first drove home that thought.

“Hyaaahhh!”

Jo Gul, leaping like a maddened stoat, formed dozens of sword shadows and pierced the rushing attackers in an instant.

Thud!

A vast world poured into Jo Gul’s eyes as he landed.

“We’re out! Damn it! We broke through!”

Joy surged through his whole body. Those who followed him likewise rushed out of the gorge one after another.

“Waaaaaaah!”

“Damn it!”

“We’re alive! We’re alive!”

Those especially excited by the situation were the Southern Island disciples.

A narrow gorge, enemies still blocking the way no matter how they broke through, and even the Ten Thousand People Clan trailing behind.

It seemed utterly hopeless. More than half of them thought this gorge would be their grave. Yet to be alive and set foot on wide open ground again filled them with indescribable emotion.

Outward, further outward.

Those who had regained the light ran, drunk on joy.

“Commander.”

The aides looked at Ho Ga-Myung standing beside them with eyes full of various meanings.

“Hmm.”

A low, composed murmur escaped Ho Ga-Myung’s mouth as he had entered the gorge and watched the situation ahead.

“They got through.”

There was no other way to think about it. His plan to seal the gorge and annihilate the enemy had utterly collapsed.

He didn’t know whether to praise the enemy or blame his own shortcomings.

And Ho Ga-Myung’s choice was neither.

“Don’t stop, keep moving! The enemy is still behind us!”

“Yes, sasuk!”

At Baek Cheon’s shout from behind, Jo Gul answered at the top of his lungs and dashed forward.

‘End of the day, he’s incredible!’

He was briefly carried away and forgot the situation, but Baek Cheon remained cool-headed. With someone like him commanding, even the Four Sects Alliance couldn’t stop the Mount Hua party.

Perhaps even escaping this Southern Lands region might not be as difficult as they feared.

“Where! Where are we going, sahyung!”

“Are you asking me? Run north!”

“Where’s north?”

“Damn it! Follow the way I’m going!”

“Yes!”

Jo Gul quickly fell in behind Yoon Jong, who was running ahead, and looked back to signal the Southern Island disciples the direction.

“Everyone, this way…”

But then.

A strange sight unfolded before their eyes.

Contrasting with the hellish gorge, things began to stir and reveal themselves all across the vast forest ahead.

‘What…’

Could it be an ambush?

Even amid bewilderment, they quickly turned their heads and analyzed.

Isn’t it an ambush that strikes when people are most relaxed? It’s a sweat-inducing move, but calmly considered, they could handle this.

Besides, those bastards revealed themselves too early and their positions were already exposed, so they could prepare.

Jo Gul was about to warn them to beware of the ambush ahead when something caught his eye.

In hands revealed across the forest were horn bows.

In an instant, a scream like thunder erupted from Jo Gul’s mouth.

“Get downwwww!”

But qi-infused arrows flew indiscriminately even faster than that shout.

Thud-thud-thud!

The powerful arrows, launched at tremendous speed, mercilessly pierced the Southern Island disciples who had been shouting in joy.

“Ugh…”

“Aaaaaaaah!”

One whose face was pierced fell with a stifled moan, and another, impaled by an arrow, screamed in agony.

“Damn it!”

Jo Gul swore, unable to contain the rising rage.

Those who had broken through that hellish gorge reduced to this so futilely!

“Sahyung!”

“It is still okay! It’s only a few!”

The bow is a weapon difficult for most martial folk to use.

Even in the Four Sects Alliance, overflowing with numbers, there couldn’t be many who could shoot force-infused arrows at speeds that skilled fighters couldn’t even react to.

Especially considering they were mobilized suddenly. At most maybe ten. If they stayed calm and responded…

Then Yoon Jong widened his eyes. His gaze was directed at the sky.

The vast sky they finally faced after breaking through the gorge was… turning black.

It wasn’t storm clouds. It was hundreds, thousands of arrows flying out of the forest.

A cry of despair burst from Yoon Jong’s mouth.

“D-dodge! Right now!”

But they couldn’t.

The Southern Island disciples were half-stuck at the gorge’s exit, unable to fully get out. Those still trapped in the narrow gorge couldn’t free their bodies. And that rain of arrows was targeting them mercilessly.

Baek Cheon and Namgung Do-Wei reflexively leapt up and swung their swords frantically to deflect the arrows.

They weren’t the same powerful arrows as before, but there was no way just the two of them could fend off the arrows pouring down like rain.

Nearly half of the incoming arrows maintained their speed and rained down over the Southern Island disciples’ heads.

“Ugh!”

“Aaaaah!”

The poison-tipped arrows pierced their bodies without mercy.

Wretched screams burst out all around. Because the attack came suddenly when they had relaxed, the damage was severe.

Seeing comrades fall impaled by arrows, fear spread quickly in the eyes of the other Southern Island disciples.

“S-sahyung! Are you okay…”

Thud-thud.

“…Ugh.”

An arrow flying horizontally lodged into the temple of one who was frantically looking around. It was a powerful arrow of a different class than the regular ones from above. The Southern Island disciples could only be helpless.

In an instant more than ten people collapsed.

Those who had withstood all manner of enemy attacks without major losses suddenly suffered more than a dozen casualties from a single strike.

They had barely broken through the hellish gorge!

An unparalleled despair blossomed in everyone’s chest.

“We have to, h-hurry out!”

“What are you doing up front? Keep running!”

“Don’t stop! The Ten Thousand People Clan is coming from the rear! Move fast!”

At the gorge’s exit, the Southern Island disciples began to entangle and trample each other.

Some couldn’t run because the way ahead was blocked or they didn’t know when a powerful arrow might strike; others had to get out of the gorge by any means. None would yield.

In the end chaos erupted as the Southern Island’s disciples shoved and pulled at each other.

“What are you doing, you bastards!”

Southern Island Sect’s senior disciple Gwak Hwan-So shouted.

“Don’t panic! It’s just arrows! If you calmly deflect them, it’s not impossible to stop them! You are the Southern Island disciples!”

Another rain of arrows rose into the sky.

Gwak Hwan-So gritted his teeth and leapt up. Not comparable to Baek Cheon or Namgung Do-Wei, but he thought he had to step up and try to handle the situation.

As Baek Cheon and Namgung Do-Wei followed him, ready to lift themselves again, someone suddenly sprang over his head.

“Sect leader!”

Geum Yang-Baek and the elders had already rushed forward, despite their frail bodies, to shield the disciples from the arrow rain.

Rat-tat-tat! Ratatatatat!

The clamor of arrows and blades colliding rang out loudly. Their weak bodies had arrows embedded here and there from momentary misses, but the Southern Island elders didn’t utter a groan.

This time the Southern Island Sect’s disciples gritted their teeth and deflected the falling arrows. Not a complete defense, but the casualties were clearly reduced compared to before.

Sssing!

Geum Yang-Baek violently swung his sword and knocked away a powerful arrow. The shock stung his wrist. This arrow was certainly of a different caliber than the previous ones.

“Sect leader!”

“Acting Sect Leader! I’ll take this spot!”

“Yes!”

Baek Cheon, without even nodding, charged forward.

To resolve this, they had to quickly deal with those firing the powerful arrows. If they couldn’t kill them, they couldn’t advance from here.

“Yoon Jong! Jo Gul! Spread out and take the ones shooting arrows!”

“Yes, sasuk!”

Jo Gul and Yoon Jong replied at once as if they had expected it. The two rushed toward where the powerful arrows had been shot. Or tried to.

Kraaaaang!

A booming blast like thunder erupted. At the same time, something dark flew toward the Southern Island Sect’s disciples.

‘Cannons?’

An elder reflexively swatted a flying shell with his sword. But if a sword could stop a shell, what reason would cannonry have to exist?

Boom!

The sword split in two as the dark shell slammed into the elder’s body. There was no time to scream. The dying elder was flung back, spewing blood from seven orifices.

Kraaaang! Kraaaang!

The blasts continued in succession.

Of course, there weren’t many. No matter the Four Sects Alliance or that this was Guangdong territory, they couldn’t have mobilized dozens of banned cannons. So there were only a few cannon pieces spewing fire.

But the combination of those few cannon pieces, the simultaneous rain of arrows, and powerful arrows that seemed aimed to snipe key commanders made it little different from hell.

Arrows flew over Jo Gul’s head and continuously struck the Southern Island disciples.

It’s not hard for him to run forward and fell enemies, but in doing so those behind him could suffer near-total destruction.

To win they must attack. But to attack they’d have to rip their own flesh off first. What else could they do in a situation like this?

“Jo Gul!”

Baek Cheon’s roar cut into Jo Gul’s ears amidst the chaos.

“Don’t hesitate!”

“B-but…!”

“I’m right behind you!”

No more words were needed.

Baek Cheon’s eyes were full of stubborn certainty. The moment Jo Gul saw it, his feet had already driven into the ground.

Certainty began to fill Jo Gul’s eyes as well.

He was Mount Hua’s assault captain. Holding back did not suit him. The way he could help them was to fell the attackers as quickly as possible.

“You bastards!”

Jo Gul shouted fiercely and shot forward like a beam of light.