I Will Make Sure That Name Is Engraved (4)

“Don’t let her get away!”

“We must kill her!”

Members of the Ten Thousand People Clan chased Yu Yiseol desperately.

The screams that tore their throats and the poison in their eyes were no different from the battle inside the gorge.

But the expressions on their faces and their momentum were clearly different.

More desperate. More frantic. The light on their faces could only be described as desperation and recklessness.

Fwaaah!

The Ten Thousand People Clan members struck the ground with force, determined to chase down Chung Myung, catch up, and drive a sword through his throat, to end his breath completely.

“Get her!”

This would be their last chance. They must not let it slip.

By nature, the Ten Thousand People Clan does not fear enemies. They do not fear war or death. That is what it means to be the Ten Thousand People Clan, a pride each member holds in their heart.

But that pride was shattered to pieces in the face of what they had seen Chung Myung do in the gorge.

So at this point, everyone could only know.

That if they let him go here, they would have to fight him again someday, maybe far in the future, or perhaps sooner than they expected.

They had watched Chung Myung annihilate the Blood Sword Squad with their own eyes. The nightmare of facing an uninjured Chung Myung again was something they didn’t even want to imagine.

They must kill him. They must.

There was no need to discuss or debate. The moment Chung Myung was hoisted onto Yu Yiseol’s back, everyone’s will here naturally united.

By any means, at any cost, they had to kill him!

“Aaaah!”

The Ten Thousand People Clan members surged at Yu Yiseol with overwhelming force. It looked less like people chasing a person and more like a flood swollen by a storm sweeping over the valley.

Thak!

Yu Yiseol drove her foot into the ground desperately.

There was no need to argue that her divine art was Mount Hua’s finest. But her inner strength had been drained by long fighting. And with the unconscious Chung Myung slumped on her back, her steps were inevitably heavier than usual.

“Dieeeee!”

A Ten Thousand People Clan member who had caught up to Yu Yiseol screamed and swung his sword.

At that exact moment, Yu Yiseol realized the battle she was about to endure would be clearly different from anything before.

Blades began to slice through the air with terrifying momentum.

Not toward her head, but toward her back.

Pa-at!

Kaaang!

Her swiftly extended sword struck down the incoming blades.

Grit.

She clenched her teeth.

It was a blade strike she wouldn’t have needed to block if she were alone.

No, she shouldn’t have blocked it.

To forcefully deflect a blade that was off-center from the body’s axis requires more than core strength. The impact on the wrist is greater than one imagines.

But now there was no other choice.

Swaaaak!

The blade coming from the side was the same.

Normally she would avoid such strikes with minimal motion to reduce waste, but now she could not. It wouldn’t end just because her body remained unharmed.

Yu Yiseol twisted and moved as much as possible to dodge the thrusting blades. Her movement, unlike usual, threw off her center and shattered the balance she had always maintained.

Her movements were always supple and graceful.

But this was not innate. It was woven strand by strand through relentless, repeated training, and at its foundation were the two words: balance.

Once that balance collapsed, Yu Yiseol could no longer be fully herself.

“Hah!”

A rare groan burst from her mouth. Her sword then cleaved the air like a ray of light.

When evasion is difficult, there is only one way: strike before you are struck.

“Kraaah!”

Yu Yiseol’s thrust drove without fail into a Ten Thousand People Clan member’s heart.

Though her sword path was different from usual, even that twisted trajectory made her blade powerful.

But the enemies were as desperate as she was, perhaps even more so. Using the man with a pierced heart as a stepping stone, they leapt at Yu Yiseol like earth sliding down in an avalanche.

“Dieeeeeee!”

Screech!

A blade that had fallen toward Chung Myung’s head sliced just barely in front of her shoulder. The blade itself missed, but the blade qi nonetheless cut Yu Yiseol’s skin.

She didn’t even have time to feel pain. Yu Yiseol, flung almost prone, planted her hand on the ground and spun quickly.

Kwahng! Kwahng!

Soon there were explosions where she’d just been; the earth bucked and rose. Had she been a moment slower in moving, her body would by now have been nothing but minced meat.

Flying stones and shards struck her body or left scratches. But Yu Yiseol, unaware of any wounds, was busy swinging her sword with all her strength.

Taaang!

With a whip-like slice through the air, the waists of three Ten Thousand People Clan members pouring down upon her were severed in an instant. Hot blood and bits of entrails spilled out.

Yu Yiseol gripped the ground hard with her hand and hauled her body up in a single motion. Her nails were turned up and broken, but she had no time to notice.

The instant her body was pulled upward, two blades flew straight toward where her legs had been.

Taat!

Yu Yiseol pushed off the ground and turned to stand while looking back. Running forward while looking ahead would have been faster, but she couldn’t do that; there was no way to protect Chung Myung from blades flying at her back that way.

She was fleeing, yet she still had to face the enemy. Blades crowded toward her, and she endured that brutal situation with her whole body.

Yu Yiseol swung her sword like lightning to deflect attacks, but even she found it difficult to block all the blades raining down at once.

Screech!

A blade that grazed her upper arm sliced through muscle in an instant, leaving a wound deep enough to show bone.

Screech!

A blade that brushed her flank also cut the skin, leaving a deep gash.

Kwaaang!

The blade she met head-on didn’t cut her body, but it violently twisted the wrist that held her sword. A blood vessel in her wrist burst, and the bone throbbed as if it would shatter.

She was not the only one who now had freedom of movement. In a narrow gorge, the number who can attack at once is limited. But once outside the gorge, within the reach of blades, attacks can come from anywhere.

It had been impossible from the start to dodge and block all those attacks while carrying someone on her back.

But instead of despairing, Yu Yiseol tightened the sash securing Chung Myung to her back.

‘Protect him.’

This was not done because she could, nor because she wanted to.

Perhaps the one who best understood Chung Myung’s words at Mount Hua was Yu Yiseol.

This was the thing she had to do.

Yu Yiseol had no doubt about that thought. Even if it cost her life, she must ensure Chung Myung survives.

Fwaaah!

Covered in dirt, Yu Yiseol briefly turned ahead and struck the ground with all her strength. With Chung Myung on her back, her body shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow.

Seizing the opportunity, a blade flew and sliced her calf. Drops of blood scattered into the air.

But the distance between the Ten Thousand People Clan members and Yu Yiseol had widened significantly.

“Pursue them!”

“Don’t bother with the woman! Aim for Mount Hua’s Sword Saint! You must kill him!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

The frantic cries rang out again and again.

They had to kill Mount Hua’s Sword Saint Chung Myung. They would take his life at all costs.

Ho Ga-Myung looked down indifferently at the corpse of Gwi Yang, lying fallen and cooling.

Gwi Yang’s eyes, which had not even been able to close before his breath stopped, still held the terror he felt just before dying.

After giving him a brief glance, Ho Ga-Myung passed by without a word and moved forward.

‘He was a captain.’

A troops and a squad are different. And a captain and a squad leader are even more different.

It is acceptable for a squad leader to die at the enemy’s hands, or for a squad deployed in an operation to be destroyed. Everything requires sacrifice and cost.

But losing a troops, and losing a captain, is another matter.

A dan of the Ten Thousand People Clan is the core of their forces, and if limited to those Ho Ga-Myung can control, that value rises even more.

Such a troops had been annihilated, and Gwi Yang, who led that troops, was dead. It could not be anything less than a major incident.

Yet even this time, Ho Ga-Myung’s face showed not the slightest flicker of agitation.

His gaze was now fixed on Yu Yiseol fleeing ahead, more precisely, on Mount Hua’s Sword Saint on her back. Ho Ga-Myung’s stare at the unconscious Mount Hua’s Sword Saint was chillingly cold.

He had sacrificed Gwi Yang and the Blood Sword Troops to render the Mount Hua’s Sword Saint unconscious.

Others might call it madness if they heard, but Ho Ga-Myung believed this sacrifice had yielded results beyond his expectations.

Of course, Gwi Yang would not have thought so, but from the start Ho Ga-Myung had never once believed someone like Gwi Yang could bring down Chung Myung.

What dragon would be bitten by such a thing?

But fortunately, Gwi Yang had performed beyond his abilities. Or perhaps Chung Myung had been unable to display his full power; that might be true, but the result was the same.

If the dead Gwi Yang could hear, he’d jump out of hell. But Ho Ga-Myung valued Gwi Yang at exactly that level. It was regrettable to lose even one captain who could somewhat be reasoned with, though.

‘The Blood Sword Troops and the like…’

If he could kill Chung Myung, he could offer up any number as sacrifices.

Now all that remained was for him to swallow up those floundering, headless ones as he wished.

The forces led by Mount Hua’s Sword Saint were strong enough to make even Ho Ga-Myung risk his life, but without the Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, those men were nothing but rabble.

“Are you ready?”

“We’ve been deployed as you ordered!”

“If even a single thing goes wrong, your life won’t be enough to pay for it.”

The adjutant answered with a bloodless face to the cold voice.

“I will remember.”

A furtive but clear killing intent flashed in Ho Ga-Myung’s eyes.

‘Two moves, no, three moves?’

Now only about three moves. In terms of time, only a moment.

Within that moment, the fate of Mount Hua’s Sword Saint would be decided, exactly according to the steps he’d set.

Ho Ga-Myung lightly curled and opened his fist.

‘Stay calm.’

He could not allow the slightest variable until the end.

This was a strategy in which he had staked everything. From Southern Island Sect to now, he had aimed solely for the life of Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, and the fruits of that plan were gradually approaching.

“A headless beast can simply be driven where you want.”

Ho Ga-Myung suddenly wondered what expression Jang Ilso would make when confronted with the Mount Hua’s Sword Saint’s severed head.

‘Perhaps this is my petty rebellion.’

He dismissed the base fantasy that had briefly surfaced in his mind and let out a light sigh. His gaze, however, grew darker and darker.