Iron Fiend Appears (2)

Wuuuuum!

Dok Su-gwang had to struggle with everything he had not to lose his grip on his shuddering spear shaft.

The pain in his hands felt like his palms were being ripped open.

But more than the pain, what overwhelmed him was shock at the monster before him.

A demonic being.

A Han demonic being, not a Miao Tribesman—and one that used martial arts on top of that.

It was something he had never even imagined.

And now that demonic being charged at Dok Su-gwang, sending both palms crashing down on him, not even caring that the spear tip was pointed at its own body and simply shoving it aside with brute force.

Dok Su-gwang still had not fully regained control of his spear. There was no way he could block that attack.

His face went pale as he pictured the outcome.

“Kh…?!”

But it seemed his life was not meant to end yet.

At that exact moment, several Fifth Squad members hurled themselves at the creature and brought their blades down on it.

“Captain!”

“You bastard!”

Their swords struck cleanly at its neck and arm.

With a metallic shriek, they bounced away.

Claaang!

“Urgh!”

“What the—?!”

Their attacks had done no damage, but they had at least managed to disturb the creature’s motion.

Thanks to that, Dok Su-gwang barely managed to roll aside and avoid the twin palms. He shouted frantically.

“Fall back!”

Even without his order, the squad members, well-accustomed to demonic beings, had already begun to retreat the instant their swords bounced off.

But the creature moved first.

Pa-bak!

It launched itself like a wild beast, pouncing on them.

Its speed rivaled that of a peak master.

In an instant, its twin palms were right in front of the Fifth Squad members. They screamed.

“Urgh!”

“S-so fast…!”

The next moment, its explosive palm strikes slammed into their chests.

Boom!

“Ghk!”

“Guk!”

It was over in the blink of an eye.

The two members whose chests had caved in could not even scream.

The rest of the Fifth Squad cried out in shock.

“Yeongu!”

“Jigyun!”

Only Dok Su-gwang did not shout the names of the dead. Instead, he yelled at the survivors.

“Get back! It’s coming!”

He was exactly right.

Having butchered two of them, the creature immediately changed direction and leaped into the rest of the squad.

Pa-bak!

“Damn it!”

Dok Su-gwang gritted his teeth and threw himself at it.

There was no way ordinary squad members could face a demonic being that used martial arts, with durability beyond a mid-rank gan-gwi—perhaps even beyond a lord-class demon.

No matter what, Dok Su-gwang had to stop it himself.

Boom!

“Scatter!”

“Haaap!”

It sent out another blast of palm force, but this time the squad scattered in all directions and managed to avoid it.

Seeing that, Dok Su-gwang relaxed only slightly, then swung his spear shaft at the creature’s legs.

“You bastard!”

Whoooom!

If he could not pierce its hide with his own power, he at least intended to knock it down and throw it away.

They just needed to buy time until reinforcements who could wield external qi arrived.

But the next moment left Dok Su-gwang horrified.

“What?!”

Vwooom!

The creature lifted its body lightly, like a trained martial artist, and avoided the sweeping spear shaft.

Then, twisting in midair, it turned itself and crashed down toward him.

It moved like a beast.

Dok Su-gwang cursed and flung himself aside.

“A demonic being can do that?!”

Boom!

He barely dodged its twin palms.

But the attack did not end there.

Whooom!

A kick came flying toward his stomach.

The creature had pivoted in place and whipped its leg toward the side where Dok Su-gwang had thrown himself.

Thuuud!

“Ghk!”

Dok Su-gwang managed to interpose his spear shaft, taking the kick on the wood. Even so, he shot backward like a fired shell, slamming into the ground.

Thud!

Crash!

The pain in his head was blinding.

If he had not put the spear in the way, every bone in his body might have been shattered.

But there was no time to sit still.

Grinding down the pain, Dok Su-gwang immediately lifted his head.

He saw the creature charging at him like a wild beast.

They were already at point-blank range—far too close to dodge.

“Urgh!”

His eyes went wide.

Its twin palms, reaching for him, filled his vision.

This was the end.

Right then—

“Haaaap!”

“Die!”

“You bastard!”

Three Fifth Squad members flung themselves at the creature, swinging their weapons with everything they had.

It was a suicidal charge, with no thought for self-preservation.

Thud! Thud-thud!

Their reckless rush knocked the creature just slightly off-balance.

At the same time, a powerful palm blast grazed past Dok Su-gwang’s ear.

Boom!

He swallowed hard.

It felt like catching a whiff of wind from beyond the crack of hell’s door.

“Damn it!”

Dok Su-gwang threw himself aside with all his strength.

If he let this chance slip, he would die.

Pa-bak!

He rolled across the ground and shouted.

“Everyone pull out, now!”

But when he turned his head after frantically flinging himself away, he could only watch.

The creature’s “Tiger Claw Hand” tore through the squad members who had not yet escaped.

Fwashaak!

“Aaaagh!”

“Captain!”

Crunch!

“Ghk!”

It took only a fraction of a second for its claws to rip open two chests and then blast another man’s head apart with a burst of palm force.

Dok Su-gwang screamed.

“No!”

The remaining squad members stared in shock at the carnage.

But they could not afford to do that.

Moving like a machine, the creature swung its body and charged straight at the survivors.

Dok Su-gwang snapped out of it and cried out in horror.

“Move!”

The others also shook themselves awake and threw themselves aside with everything they had.

But the creature was much faster.

In an instant, it was already right behind Vice-captain Jang Yeoyeon, who had leaped away.

Dok Su-gwang hurled himself after her, shouting.

“Jang Yeoyeon! Behind you!”

She looked back in alarm.

The creature was already upon her.

Terror filled Jang Yeoyeon’s eyes.

“Ah…!”

At that moment—

“Haaaap!”

Someone pounced on the creature like a flying leopard.

A brilliant blue sword-gang.

Seeing it, Dok Su-gwang shouted with relief.

“Han Gyoseong!”

It was Han Gyoseong, the “Blue Wind Sword Dragon,” a swordsman praised as a prodigy even within the Qingcheng Sect.

Officially, he was named the strongest among all the Thirteenth Unit’s squad captains. Now his blue sword-gang swept across the creature’s body, and the surviving members raised a cheer.

“Blue Wind Sword Dragon!”

“First Squad Captain!”

“We’re saved!”

Han Gyoseong’s blade was wrapped in a shining, solid blue sword-gang like a sword of light.

Not even the hardest demonic being—a lord-class demon—could withstand sword-gang like that.

But their faces froze again in the very next instant.

Craaaang!

Han Gyoseong’s sword-energy bounced off the creature’s body instead of cutting through it.

Everyone went rigid.

“…What?”

“That can’t be!”

The idea that Han Gyoseong’s vivid sword-energy could not pierce the creature’s skin and was no different from Dok Su-gwang’s spear-qi was beyond belief.

Not even a lord-class demon had such defense.

Yet even in the face of this absurdity, Han Gyoseong could not afford to be shaken.

The creature, briefly staggered by the impact, immediately rushed at him and released another burst of palm force.

Boom!

“Tch!”

The timing was sharp—a swift attack unexpected from something that had just taken sword-gang head-on.

But Han Gyoseong reacted in time, whipping his blade to cut through the palm force.

Clang!

“Grrrrr!”

The creature kept coming.

Its momentum was as vicious as a wild beast’s, but unlike other demonic beings, it used actual martial forms in its attacks.

Its chain of blows flowed with a speed worthy of comparison to a peak expert.

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

Han Gyoseong moved as if dancing, his body swaying and turning as he knocked aside the creature’s strikes. His movements were so smooth and natural they were almost beautiful.

The assault was fast, but utterly fixed in pattern, with no variations in its forms, making it manageable for him.

clang-clang-clang-clang!

‘The force behind the palm blasts is manageable. At most, it’s like a top first-rate—no higher. But its speed is peak-master level. Is that because it’s a demonic being?’

Retreating lightly and turning away the attacks, Han Gyoseong quickly gauged his opponent’s level and then switched back to offense.

“Haaaap!”

His sword-gang twisted for an instant like a storm of blue wind.

Qingcheng’s ultimate art—Blue Wind Sword Technique.

That wild flurry of sword strikes crashed down like a raging gale, battering the creature from every angle.

clang-clang-clang-clang!

“Grrrrrrrr!”

The creature tried to defend itself.

It flailed its arms desperately as if to bat aside the blade, but it was pointless.

No matter how much it swung, it could not fend off the blue sword-gang that hammered it in a relentless shower of blows.

Kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah-BOOM!

The magnificent sight had the Fifth Squad members cheering.

“As expected of Captain Han!”

“Crush it, First Squad Captain!”

But while they shouted in unison, Dok Su-gwang’s face remained stiff.

The creature’s skin, even after being pummeled dozens of times by sword-gang, had not suffered a single scratch.

Han Gyoseong, who was pressing the attack, felt the same.

‘The sword-gang isn’t biting at all. How can this be? Could this thing really be…?’

Suddenly, he recalled what Seonu Jin had told him a month earlier, before leaving.

Its sword-gang won’t work on it, and it uses martial arts. It’s Han, not Miao. That thing might be the “Iron Fiend” I’m warning you about.

Unlike Dok Su-gwang, who had wholly dismissed Seonu Jin’s warning, Han Gyoseong had taken his advice to heart and made a habit of always carrying Hwagolsan—Tang Yeo-eun’s special preparation—whenever he went on patrol.

The problem was that this was not a patrol.

He had rushed out for emergency support and had brought only his sword, leaving the Hwagolsan behind.

Still maintaining his offensive, Han Gyoseong shouted toward Dok Su-gwang.

“Dok Su-gwang! I think this thing is the Iron Fiend Seonu Jin spoke of! Hwagolsan! Where’s the Hwagolsan Lady Tang gave you?!”

Dok Su-gwang flinched slightly and answered.

“I—I didn’t bring it!”

“What?!”

“How could I trust that guy’s nonsense and carry something that dangerous around?!”

“You idiot!”

That was when the creature changed.

It suddenly stopped trying to block Han Gyoseong’s attacks.

It no longer tried to defend itself. Instead, it began to just take the blows with its body and attack Han Gyoseong in return.

As if it had learned, from experience, that the strikes did not matter—and so abandoned the martial artist’s instinct to defend, choosing instead to simply trade.

“Grrrrrr!”

As Han Gyoseong hacked at it with sword-gang, the creature hurled palm blasts straight back at him.

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

The power of those blasts was nothing compared to the sword-gang—but unlike the creature, who was fine no matter how much sword-gang it took, Han Gyoseong could not afford to take the palm force head-on.

There was no question who held the advantage.

Han Gyoseong soon had no choice but to retreat desperately, dodging the creature’s attacks.

He could no longer continue his offense.

If the creature opened its mouth like other demonic beings, he could at least target that. But it kept its mouth firmly shut.

“Damn it…”

The only small mercy was that the creature still had not landed a clean hit on him. Its movements might have been peak-master level, but Han Gyoseong was a true peak master.

Even so, the difference was barely a hair’s breadth.

To him, the wild, beast-like flurry of attacks now felt more threatening than when it had been using recognizable forms earlier.

Sweat beaded on his brow as he slipped past the creature’s blows by the narrowest of margins.

He shouted:

“Dok Su-gwang! Send another signal! Tell them to bring Hwagolsan!”

Dok Su-gwang grimaced.

“How are we supposed to signal that?!”

“Then send someone! Or do you all plan on dying here?! If sword-energy doesn’t work, even the unit leader won’t be able to do anything!”

Just then, the creature suddenly halted its assault on Han Gyoseong.

“?!”

Retreating in a hurry, Han Gyoseong took the brief stop to widen the distance.

Then he saw the creature’s gaze swing toward the others.

No way—

He shouted urgently.

“Everyone move!”

But at the same time, the creature had already leaped. It flew toward the Fifth Squad members watching from the side—the weakened ones, who had ended up much closer while observing the fight.

For a moment, Han Gyoseong felt like he had been clubbed in the back of the head.

At some point during their fight, the distance between him and the squad members had shrunk.

They had all moved as they fought, bringing the spectators closer.

Did it plan this from the start?

It was absurd.

How could a demonic being, whose intelligence was supposed to be lower than an ordinary beast’s, manage that?

“Ah?!”

“Move!”

The Fifth Squad members panicked and tried to leap away.

They had relaxed and simply watched once Han Gyoseong arrived.

They had trusted the old axiom that demonic beings never changed their target once they locked onto one.

And that belief decided their fate.

Stab.

“Ghk!”

“Guk!”

This time, the creature did not fire palm blasts.

It drove both hands straight through two chests and pulled their bodies in.

It was completely different behavior from before—and what it did next left Han Gyoseong and Dok Su-gwang aghast.

Stab. Slurp-slurp. Gulp.

“W-what?!”

“Don’t tell me…!”

Holding one corpse in its left hand, the creature sank its teeth into the neck of the other Fifth Squad member clutched in its right and began to suck.

It drank the man’s blood and inner power, just like a lord-class demon that grew stronger by feeding on humans.

“You monster!”

Han Gyoseong roared and hurled himself at the creature.

Dok Su-gwang did the same.

Their hearts pounded with urgency.

If this creature really grew stronger through blood-drinking like a lord-class demon…

If it had deliberately decided it could not overwhelm Han Gyoseong as it was, and so chose to strengthen itself through feeding…

Then this thing was a monster beyond anything a lord-class demon could compare to.

“Haaaap!”

“Taaap!”

BOOM!

CLANG!

Han Gyoseong’s sword-energy and Dok Su-gwang’s spear-qi smashed into the creature’s back as it fed.

Even staggering slightly, it did not turn around. It just kept drinking.

“Die!”

“Yaaaaap!”

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

Blow after blow struck the creature’s back.

But curled up over the corpse, it kept draining its victim dry.

Then it moved on to the next one.

Their attacks did not harm it at all, and it never stopped.

Finally, Han Gyoseong shouted as he continued to pound on its back.

“Everyone run! Go tell the Unit Leader what this thing is! And tell them to bring Hwagolsan now!”

The remaining Fifth Squad members, who had been staring in stunned horror, snapped back to themselves.

“Y-yes! Understood!”

Only three remained now.

Counting Dok Su-gwang, there were only four.

Han Gyoseong watched the three members turn to flee, then shouted at Dok Su-gwang as well.

“Dok Su-gwang! You run too! You’re in danger!”

Dok Su-gwang had been wondering himself whether he should escape.

But those words made the man with the fierce pride flare up instead.

“What nonsense is that?!”

“You can’t fight this thing! Don’t you get it?!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Don’t you dare look down on me…!”

That was when the creature—unmoved no matter how hard they had beaten on its back—finally stopped feeding and raised its head.

It looked first toward the fleeing Fifth Squad members.

Then its gaze slid slowly over to Dok Su-gwang.

Its eyes shone with even denser blood-red light than before.

When that red gaze fixed on him, Dok Su-gwang’s words died in his throat.

The pressure was on a completely different level from before. His entire body felt stiff.

“Grrrrrrrr!”

The creature growled and lunged straight at him.

“Damn it!”

Dok Su-gwang thrust his spear as hard as he could.

CLANG!

As expected, it did nothing.

The creature simply kept pushing forward, impaling itself on the spear and driving toward him, reaching to grab him.

“Dok Su-gwang!”

Han Gyoseong flung himself at its flank in desperation.

He had to save him somehow.

But in that moment, Dok Su-gwang clearly saw it—the creature’s mouth twist into something like a bloody smile.

Then it suddenly spun its body, taking Han Gyoseong’s descending sword-energy head-on.

Thud!

And in the same motion, its arm wrapped around his blade and seized it.

Clack!

“?!”

For a moment, Han Gyoseong stared in blank disbelief at his trapped sword and his own body, caught and immobilized, then at the demonic face grinning at him.

The creature’s target had been Han Gyoseong from the start.

It had only pretended to attack Dok Su-gwang to lure him in.

Han Gyoseong should have released his sword and retreated immediately.

But he hesitated for a heartbeat.

The ingrained habit of a prestigious-sect disciple who regarded dropping one’s sword as defeat—and the experience of a man whose superior skill had always carried him through danger.

In his eyes, the creature’s massive palm grew larger and larger.

Without thinking, he murmured:

“Master.”

And then—

KWA-BOOOOM!

A thunderous explosion erupted right in front of his nose.

It sounded like a meteorite had slammed into the earth.

“…What?”

Stunned, Han Gyoseong could only stare blankly at the sudden event that had saved his life.

Something huge had come flying in like a cannon shell and smashed into the Iron Fiend.

But it was too big to be a shell.

It was as large as a human body, and it had moved so fast that even Han Gyoseong, a peak master, had hardly registered it.

Was it really a meteorite?

Thinking that, he looked in the direction the demonic being had flown—and froze.

In front of the crater where the creature lay buried in the forest, someone was dragging himself to his feet, gasping for breath.

He grinned brightly and muttered.

“Whew… I barely made it.”

A handsome face wearing a refreshingly bright smile. Seeing him, Han Gyoseong spoke without realizing it.

“Seonu… Jin? How…?”

Seonu Jin, who had used Exploding Advance Step to hurl his own body into the Iron Fiend like a battering ram at the last possible instant, watched as the thing clawed its way back out of the trees and bared his teeth in a fierce grin.

“Been a while, Iron Fiend.”