The Kidnapping Of Her Highness The Princess (2)

Deung Myeong and the experts of Jieun Territory arrived at the imperial army’s guard line. At Deung Myeong’s hand gesture, the experts of Jieun Territory eliminated the imperial sentries standing guard one by one. The way they moved without making a sound looked quite different from when they had been chased by Neung Je-gang.

There was one difference between martial artists and soldiers. It was inner energy. When it came to swinging spears and swords, there was not much difference between martial artists and soldiers. But martial artists, one way or another, at least learned a simple breathing method that could cultivate inner power.

However, soldiers were different. Only after entering the army did they finally learn how to swing spears and swords. They had no chance to learn breathing methods, and even if they did learn one, it was nothing comparable to those of martial artists, merely a method of breathing.

But sometimes, very rarely, there were those who joined the army after learning martial arts first. Though they were martial artists, they had turned their backs on the martial world, and with outstanding skill, they would soon distinguish themselves and receive promotion after promotion.

However, even among such people, there were those who did not reveal themselves at all. They were people who, for some reason, sought a place to hide, joined the army, and lived quietly as low-ranking soldiers.

Gongson Gyeong-in was such a case. He was not Han Chinese. From the perspective of Han Chinese, he was a barbarian and of an outsider race. So even if he had skill, it was difficult for him to seize an opportunity for promotion.

But Gongson Gyeong-in had no particular regret over not succeeding in life. He did not even care that he had already spent ten years as a low-ranking soldier. As long as the army fed him on time, he lived satisfied with that. He was waiting to live his whole life like this and pass away. He wanted to die somewhere that was not the martial world.

“Damn it!”

But there was no one in the world who would knowingly offer up his neck and wait when someone was clearly coming to cut it off.

No matter how much he wanted to live like this and die, he wanted to die while fiercely swinging a blade on a brutal battlefield, struck down by the blade of someone whose identity he did not even know. He wanted to die in an instant, without even feeling himself die. Without pain.

“Should I blow this or not?”

Gongson Gyeong-in hesitated while holding the whistle. Since he was standing guard, if he discovered an abnormal sign, he had to blow the whistle. But if he blew the whistle now, it would disrupt his plan to live merely as a low-ranking soldier.

After the matter was over, he would be called here and there, and perhaps he might even be promoted for having discovered infiltrating enemies. To other people, promotion was a good thing for success, but to him, it was no different from an increase in tasks that would only tire his body.

Whrrrrrrrrr.

In the end, Gongson Gyeong-in blew the whistle. The whistle used in the army produced a sharp, powerful sound.

“Then again, just because I make a contribution doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily be promoted.”

That was exactly why he blew the whistle. When he had first entered the army, while he had still not adapted, he had unknowingly made a few contributions. But because he was a foreigner, he had been left out of the promotion candidates. The achievements he had made were often taken by his immediate superior.

At that time, he had congratulated that superior like a bluntly good-natured man. For a while afterward, had his nickname not been Fool?

So there was no guarantee he would be promoted because of this incident. Even if this was an army with strict military discipline.

After blowing the whistle, Gongson Gyeong-in launched himself toward the camp and fled. Martial arts once learned were not easily erased. Moreover, was not the thing Gongson Gyeong-in had prided himself on none other than his lightness skill?

The enemies who saw him fleeing rushed in, but the distance between them did not narrow at all.

“Go quickly.”

The moment Deung Myeong heard the whistle, he swiftly gave an order. The experts of Jieun Territory, who had been about to chase the soldier who blew the whistle and fled, stopped short. This was not the time to move just to kill one soldier.

“Rather, this is fine. Since we’ve been discovered anyway, we can start sweeping through them from here.”

Deung Myeong muttered to himself and drew a flexible sword from his waist.

Chwiririk.

The limp flexible sword stood straight the moment it was drawn and emitted a sharp, cold gleam.

The imperial army camp lit up brightly.

“By now, there should be a commotion at the Martial Alliance too, right?”

Deung Myeong did not know that only the Soul-Hunting First Tiger had infiltrated the Martial Alliance. He believed that the entire Soul Hunters had gone to attack the Martial Alliance.

Dududududududu.

Cavalry rushed out from the imperial army camp. Even martial artists found heavily armored cavalry troublesome to deal with. They were beings who wore iron armor not only on their bodies but on their horses as well, so it was difficult to injure them with ordinary weapons.

“This works out well. Those fellows had been troublesome anyway.”

Deung Myeong smiled with satisfaction as he watched the heavily armored cavalry charging toward him. He remembered that because of those few men, the Necromancer Cultists had suffered heavy losses in the early battle.

The heavily armored cavalry that had been charging stopped, perhaps having sensed something strange. They looked around. They were checking whether there might be an ambush.

“Did they not clearly say there were several of them?”

“It seems he said that because he feared being punished for fleeing.”

It seemed Gongson Gyeong-in had fled back and reported that several enemies had invaded. That was why the heavily armored cavalry had rushed out.

But when they actually came out, there was only one man standing firm with a single sword in hand. They could not sense any sign of an ambush nearby either.

In truth, this kind of situation was more serious than one with an ambush. A fierce dragon did not cross a river unless it was fierce. If he lacked confidence, there was no way he would see the heavily armored cavalry and stand firm without fleeing.

“I do not think that is it. If we go back, it will be obvious that it was a lie. Would that fellow really have told such a lie?”

“That is true as well. Then the others?”

“They must be hiding somewhere or have gone elsewhere. Have one man at the rear return and report that the enemies went elsewhere.”

“Understood.”

One heavily armored cavalryman turned his horse’s head and ran toward the camp.

“That will not do.”

Deung Myeong muttered softly, then shook the flexible sword in his hand once and ran forward.

“Stop him!”

Deung Myeong’s movement was like lightning. The moment he launched himself, he had already arrived in front of the heavily armored cavalry.

The time the cavalry displayed its power was not when they were standing still. True cavalry power was carried when they charged forward with horses galloping fiercely. In that sense, the current heavily armored cavalry had eliminated their own advantage.

Using the momentum with which he had run forward, Deung Myeong launched his body, leaped over the confused cavalry, and kept running. What he was aiming for was the one man returning to the imperial army camp. In order to successfully kidnap the princess, it was best that the separate movements of Jieun Territory not be discovered.

“Be careful!”

The cavalry captain shouted in alarm. He had felt uneasy, and sure enough, the man was a martial arts expert. And not just any expert, but a supreme expert that could not be seen in the military.

Flash.

Light flashed behind the cavalryman running alone. A spray of blood, invisible as it was buried in the darkness, scattered into the air. Receiving that spray of blood with his whole body, Deung Myeong slowly descended to the spot.

There was not even a scream. The horse did not know that its master’s body had been split in half and kept running forward.

Grin.

“Killing after so long feels refreshing.”

Deung Myeong raised his sleeve and smelled the blood sprinkled over his body. It was blood that had not even cooled yet. Since it was the blood of a person who had just died, a thick bloody scent wafted up strongly.

“Perverted bastard!”

In the meantime, the heavily armored cavalry reorganized their formation.

“Hyah!”

They spurred their horses vigorously. The iron spikes protruding from the horse armor glittered under the moonlight.

Dududududududu.

“Yaaah!”

The cavalrymen charged as if to trample Deung Myeong flat. Anticipating that Deung Myeong might launch himself into the air, they firmly gripped their horse-chopping blades so they could swing them at any moment.

Deung Myeong brought his sword in front of his body and held it upright. The opening stance of the Taicheong Sword, called the pride of Kunlun, unfolded. It was the sword art Deung Gak had taught with all his heart and blood.

Pararararak.

Sword energy rose from Deung Myeong’s flexible sword. To cut through heavy armor, the power of the sword itself was insufficient. Moreover, was not the flexible sword a representative weapon lacking strength?

The sword energy that rose in a shimmering manner pierced the eyes of the heavily armored cavalrymen clearly. Since it was night and there was only faint moonlight, that light must have been even more distinct.

“Aaagh!”

“Khaak!”

Screams burst out endlessly. At the sharpness of the flexible sword that cut through horse armor and iron armor and dug into their bodies, the cavalrymen helplessly screamed and sprayed blood. As horses collapsed, they crushed the cut bodies of the cavalrymen. It was a horrific scene that occurred in the span of a momentary flash of light.

In the space the sword swept past, neither horses nor people survived. The terror of sword energy was that it cut through horses and people at once, making it impossible to distinguish which were a horse’s intestines and which were a person’s intestines.

“Keep running straight!”

The cavalrymen who had fortunately survived did not dare turn back and attack again. In a single clash, they had failed to touch even a hair on the enemy. And nearly half of the cavalrymen lay in blood. How could they possibly face such an enemy?

The only people in the imperial army who could deal with the enemy were formally trained generals or the Eastern Depot operatives who had accompanied the princess. They had to call them. Thinking this, the cavalrymen ran desperately toward the camp.

Pararararararak.

But they could not return to the camp smoothly. The cavalrymen who turned around at the sound of wind tearing right behind their ears felt cold metal pass across their necks. And that metal flowed into the necks of their comrades who were running ahead, then shot out through the opposite side.

Parararak.

The metal made a noisy sound again, drew a large semicircle, and flew backward.

‘What is it?’

The moment they brought their hands to their necks, wondering about the identity of what had passed by their necks, they soon realized. Their hands were too far away. And in their field of vision, horses drenched in blood were running on indifferently. And soon, they could see nothing.

Chararararak.

Deung Myeong snatched the flexible sword that flew back through the air. The flexible sword trembled with a parararak and stood upright. He carefully examined the blade of the flexible sword.

“There are no chips. There is no blood on it either.”

Checking the condition of one’s weapon after using it was a Kunlun tradition. Though Deung Myeong looked, in words, as if he had left Kunlun behind, his body still had not escaped Kunlun’s framework.

Click.

Deung Myeong wrapped the flexible sword around his waist again. Then, as if he were taking a leisurely stroll, he headed toward the imperial army camp again.

The imperial army camp, which had already seen the cavalry annihilated, was noisy as if someone had disturbed a beehive. The cavalry they had trusted most had been annihilated. Although many cavalrymen still remained, the enemy did not seem like someone against whom they would have any particular clever method.

The soldiers were terrified. Against an enemy who split iron armor like paper, their shabby and old armor was as good as nonexistent.

It was then. In their terrified gazes, they saw people appearing. The people they normally had to look at with jealous eyes, the experts of the Eastern Depot’s Secret Institute who had joined the war following the princess, passed the soldiers and stepped forward.

“Waaaah!”

The soldiers cheered. Because there were people who would fight in their place, they raised their hands toward the sky and shouted hurrahs.

It was the Eastern Depot. The absolute powerholders they had only heard about. Status and rank both lost some of their force before that very Eastern Depot. Figures from that Eastern Depot had blocked the enemy.

The soldiers thought fear was now over. They thought that no matter what kind of monster the enemy was, resolving it was now only a matter of time. And now, instead, they watched the confrontation between the Eastern Depot and the enemy with eyes full of excitement. It was a vivid battle between experts that they would later tell their families about.

Cha-jang-chang-chang.

The attacks of the Eastern Depot Secret Institute experts began. Since they were overwhelmingly greater in number, no one thought they would lose. But had the heavily armored cavalry fallen because their numbers were small? The soldiers of the imperial guards could clearly feel that battles were not fought by numbers.

One, then another, the Eastern Depot experts collapsed in succession, spraying blood. Even amid the splendid collisions of sword energy, the ones spraying blood were always the experts of the Eastern Depot’s Secret Institute. Their corpses remained on the ground like footprints following Deung Myeong’s steps.

The imperial army camp became quiet. Knowing that if the Eastern Depot collapsed, they themselves would have to fight, they could not open their mouths.

From Deung Myeong’s flexible sword, sword energy reaching a full three jang surged up. The morale of the imperial guard soldiers who saw that sharp light fell to rock bottom.

“Have they still not succeeded?”

Deung Myeong found it strange that the signal from the experts of Jieun Territory had not gone up. The signal they had agreed to shoot up if they succeeded in kidnapping the princess had still not appeared.

“Did they fail?”

They had not even decided on a signal for failure. They had not considered failure from the beginning. Since he had decided on it, he had assumed the princess would naturally fall into his hands.

“Shall I have another round?”

Deung Myeong looked at the imperial army camp. One could tell at a glance that the imperial army was terrified right now.

“Fools.”

Right now, they did not realize how strong they themselves were. No matter how strong Deung Myeong himself was, he could not fight and win against all of them, who numbered in the tens of thousands. But because they were only worried about their individual lives, they did not dare charge in.

“Certainly, if soldiers are controlled with the Spirit-Command Mind-Seal Technique, there would be no concern of them becoming like that.”

Deung Myeong once again resolved that he would make his own army into one that knew no fear. Did they not possess an effective secret art capable of making that happen?

But then, in the distance, his eyes saw a streak of light soaring high into the air. It was the signal. The signal they had agreed to send when they succeeded.

Swoosh.

Deung Myeong turned his body. Since the kidnapping of the princess had succeeded, there was no need to take any more risks. He knew his own ability well. Alone, he could not win against the entire imperial army anyway.

“Still, this was a good opportunity to learn the level of the Ming Empire’s imperial guards. Later, I’ve even gained confidence that I can sweep away the Ming Empire and place the Central Plains beneath my feet.”

He had set out to kidnap the princess, but he had obtained an unexpected gain. Even if these men were not the elite army, seeing hope was encouraging.

“But with this much, have I repaid the damage caused by that figure who passed through Seon-yeong during the day?”

That was right. Was tonight’s matter not originally a backlash against that? Though it was excessive retaliation that overflowed far beyond measure.

“Moreover, since I have killed the army’s morale, they will not dare provoke us first now, will they? Well, since the princess is in our hands now anyway, this war will be our victory.”

Deung Myeong gained quite a lot from a single sortie. Had the Soul-Hunting First Tiger not been driven into a situation where he could not escape, just as Deung Myeong intended? It was a refreshing night.

Deung Myeong put away his flexible sword again and disappeared into the darkness. After he had completely returned, a group of people flew through the air and ran from the imperial army camp. They were other Eastern Depot operatives. Because the camp had been so quiet, they had thought the matter had been resolved, but when the comrades who had gone out did not return, they had come out to check.

And they discovered them. The corpses of their comrades, cut and severed, rolling on the ground.

It was a moment when they resented themselves for having been rolling about inside the tents, unaware that their comrades were dying.

“Uwaaaah! Come out! Which bastard was it?!”

Someone shouted, but the enemy did not appear again.

“Hmph! I heard the Eastern Depot was scary, but they were nothing special, were they?”

“Would they be anything special? In front of a real expert, they’re the same as us anyway.”

“Why are they shouting after the enemy left? When the enemy was here, they didn’t even show the tips of their noses.”

The murmuring voices of the imperial soldiers reached the Eastern Depot operatives’ ears. The Eastern Depot operatives were angry, but they could not say anything. Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, it was true that the Eastern Depot’s Secret Institute operatives had died without being able to use even a bit of strength.

They could only feel bitter that the opportunity to avenge their comrades had disappeared.