***
The pursuit began.
Those being chased were Tang O and the congratulatory guests, and those chasing were the water bandits of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds and the demonic soldiers of Heavenly Demon Castle.
And one more person.
Dong Bong-su.
***
The Namgung Family's ships had already all sunk.
The Namgung Family servants who rowed the ships' oars and served as stepping stones for the escapees had all died completely. Among the congratulatory guests, those with relatively inferior skills were also annihilated.
Only about a hundred people survived.
However, those who had survived until now were all people who carried some weight on their shoulders within their own spheres of influence, so they weren't easily taken down. That said, their future was absolutely not bright.
That was because the Yangtze water bandits and Heavenly Demon Castle members were persistently pursuing them from behind. No matter how many they killed, they chased endlessly. Moreover, the masters mixed among them here and there were nothing short of calamity for the survivors.
If there was any fortune, it was the fact that there was one supreme master on their side.
Tang O broke through the encirclement spread along the shores of Chaohu Lake even while carrying Namgung Hye on his back. The problem was that the direction he broke through was toward the mountain, but even so, going up there was currently the only path to survival.
The survivors instinctively followed the path Tang O had opened. With this, the survivors at least didn't have to face difficulties because of enemies appearing from the front. Though the fact that they were being chased remained.
Water bandits were still steadily coming up from the Chaohu Lake direction, and from the north direction, demonic soldiers continuously appeared to obstruct their progress.
"Die!"
Water bandits whom they would never have encountered on land under normal circumstances. Their shouts chilled the survivors' livers and gallbladders.
Aaaahhh.
One person who had fallen to the very back due to injuries was sacrificed again.
And one person in front of him, and another in front of that person...
Despite fleeing with all their might, the number of survivors kept decreasing. The unfamiliar terrain was probably slowing their feet, and it was likely because their bodies were exhausted to the limit from the continuous pursuit.
In contrast, the water bandits and demonic soldiers were very vigorous.
The reason was that they were using numerical superiority and the advantage of being two groups to conduct relay warfare. Once the water bandits would strike and withdraw, then next the demonic soldiers would charge and fall back. Though it might seem like nothing much, this was creating a big difference.
Just running away consumed tremendous stamina, and their internal energy was being depleted as well, so if this state continued, before long all the survivors would be annihilated.
Clang, clang!
Aaaahh!
The pursuit became more intense as time passed.
Now the survivors' movement speed had noticeably slowed.
At some point, the water bandits and demonic soldiers were no longer taking the form of alternating attacks. They were now following right behind the survivors and attacking them simultaneously. As the advantage seemed to have shifted, they were trying to put an end to the pursuit.
In response, the survivors who were relatively more skilled masters, compared to those who had fallen behind, ultimately abandoned the other survivors who had fallen back and just went up the mountain.
For them, it was an unavoidable choice.
If they stayed here and tried to save the others who had fallen behind, they would all die anyway. In that case, at least those who could live should live. They thought that way and rationalized their actions in that manner.
Thus, they once again succeeded in preserving their own lives at the cost of others' lives.
And.
The weak were abandoned once more.
Those left behind naturally became good prey for the pursuers.
Grrrhhh, thud thud! Crunch!
The water bandits and demonic soldiers rushed at the survivors left behind like evil spirits. The congratulatory guests who had already become exhausted couldn't endure any longer and died one after another.
Among them, there was one water bandit moving peculiarly. He was someone whose face was completely smashed, and he attacked survivors while mixed in between water bandits and demonic soldiers.
An interesting fact was that when his attacks succeeded, he would leave without lingering to attack other survivors. And those attacks were never fatal. At most, they were only light scratches on the body.
Among the water bandits and demonic soldiers already caught in the madness of battle, no one noticed his such behavior. They merely thought someone was busily coming and going while fighting diligently.
The Broken-Faced Man was as always mixed in among others attacking a survivor.
.
.
.
A survivor had already become soaked in blood. Whether it was blood he shed or blood of the water bandits and demonic soldiers was unknown, but his entire body was covered in bright red. Perhaps because of that, the sharpness from the beginning had completely disappeared from his sword that had been full of strength. Even so, he still possessed enough sword energy that enemies couldn't easily approach.
Nevertheless, his fate was already as good as decided. That was because the water bandits and Heavenly Demon Castle members were occupying all directions from which he could escape.
"Raaaaahhh!"
Was it a final struggle?
He leaped toward where the water bandits were while letting out an incomprehensible scream.
Thud‑thud‑thud‑thud!
In an instant, over ten swords pierced Gi Dae-hyo's body. That guided his life to hell's threshold. If he just took one more step inside, he would never be able to return.
Among the swords piercing his body was the Broken-Faced Man's. The Broken-Faced Man's sword was again far from a finishing blow, merely grazing Gi Dae-hyo's forehead.
Drip.
Blood gradually oozed out through the wound on Gi Dae-hyo's torn forehead. Gi Dae-hyo raised his head while enduring the stinging pain.
"Guh..."
At that, Gi Dae-hyo and the Broken-Faced Man came to face each other.
In Gi Dae-hyo's eyes appeared the opponent's face that was completely mangled. Though he couldn't recognize the face at all, Gi Dae-hyo felt the Broken-Faced Man seemed familiar somehow. However, he couldn't clearly recall where he had seen him.
Because.
Crunch.
One whose neck is cut can no longer think anything.
The water bandits and Heavenly Demon Castle members who completely made Gi Dae-hyo into a rag soon departed toward the next target.
The Broken-Faced Man Dong Bong-su put away his extended sword and quietly spat out one word.
"Fifty."
Fifty.
This word of Dong Bong-su's meant the number of class change quest completions. Dong Bong-su had eliminated as many as fifty enemies Level 10 or above in the midst of the pursuit.
Among those he killed, there were some whose level was exactly 10, but most were above that, and some even exceeded 15. At that level, Dong Bong-su's level should have already risen long ago, so what was going on?
His face was still difficult to recognize due to the grotesque sword wounds, and naturally there was no occurrence of Holy light from leveling up either. In other words, his level was still 10. Unchanged. When he was Level 7, he killed a Level 16 enemy and rose as many as 3 levels...
What was going on?
The secret lay in group hunting.
Dong Bong-su had naturally joined other water bandits in attacking and killing congratulatory guests during the pursuit. Just like killing Gi Dae-hyo moments ago.
Originally, Dong Bong-su's plan was to follow along as if present yet absent, killing enemies to the extent his identity wasn't revealed.
But.
In the process of pursuing, he learned one more new characteristic of the New Murim Online system. He noticed that when multiple people killed one person, experience points came in only according to how much damage was dealt. And no matter how much that damage was, when the survivor died, the quest completion count went up by 1—this fact was a very important bonus.
Any kind of wound was fine. Whether throwing stones or making a fingernail-sized wound with a sword. As long as it wasn't 0 damage for the system to recognize. Anyone Level 10 or above whose 'blood was shaved' by Dong Bong-su became a target for quest completion.
From the moment he noticed this, Dong Bong-su roamed the battlefield trying to scratch as many survivors' bodies as possible. Through this, Dong Bong-su could steadily carry out the class change quest while receiving almost no experience points.
[First Class Change Quest: Wanderer]
Tester-exclusive class.
Quest completion condition: Achieve 100 Kills of enemies Level 10 or above.
Current quest completion (completed/total): 50 / 100
Without emitting Holy light—without revealing his identity—he had eliminated fifty people. Now fifty people until class change.
And.
The pursuit wasn't over yet.
Dong Bong-su crossed over Gi Dae-hyo's corpse whose neck and body were separated and resumed the pursuit.
***
The Chaohu Lake area below the mountain was working as busily as the mountainside where the frantic pursuit was taking place.
According to the original plan of the General Chief of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds, the congratulatory guests should have been annihilated here. However, unexpectedly, quite many congratulatory guests succeeded in surviving and were currently fleeing.
Because of that, the Yangtze River Ships docked at the shores of Chaohu Lake differently from what was originally planned. Among them was one ship that looked twice the size of the other ships, and aboard that ship was the General Chief of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds.
Standing upright at the bow of the ship receiving reports from the vice-chiefs of each stronghold was one bearded man, and he was precisely the General Chief Yangtze Dragon Hero Sa Sa-ho.
The reports were made in the order Sa Sa-ho designated, and when only one person's turn remained, Sa Sa-ho turned his body and headed toward the cabin for some reason.
"Follow me."
The last remaining vice-chief followed him onto the cabin without much reaction. The cabin rising high in the middle of the ship served the same role as a command tent on a battlefield.
Sa Sa-ho, who climbed there, spoke while looking down at Chaohu Lake with his back to the vice-chief.
"You're late."
"Did you notice? Water Shadow?"
The vice-chief, no, Transformed Shadow Do Heo-ok said.
-x-X-x-
Sa Sa-ho... Water Shadow quietly continued speaking.
"I received word from Gray Shadow that you would come. So I was waiting. Otherwise, I wouldn't have recognized you."
"Haha. I see. Even so, you recognized me well."
"No matter how skilled you are, you couldn't act exactly like them without knowing the vice-chiefs well."
"Hahahaha."
Transformed Shadow laughed again, affirming Water Shadow's words.
He stood beside Water Shadow while maintaining his smiling face. Unlike Water Shadow who was looking down below, Transformed Shadow looked at the rising sun.
After staying like that for a moment, he spoke as if tossing out words.
"You said you drove Tang O into Seonjoong Mountain?"
Water Shadow answered while still looking down below.
"The peak of Seonjoong Mountain."
"Then doesn't that mean once they cross the mountain, pursuit is no longer possible?"
"Seonjoong Mountain is half mountain, half valley. They can neither climb nor descend on the opposite side from Chaohu Lake."
Transformed Shadow had heard after coming here that the congratulatory guests had been driven into the mountain. At first he didn't understand, but hearing Water Shadow's story now, he seemed to know why.
"Half mountain, half cliff... They'll be helplessly driven to the edge of a precipice. They must be climbing hard trying to find a way to live, how unfortunate. So then, is it land or water?"
Though it was a question without context, Water Shadow somehow understood and answered.
"Land. If it were water, I wouldn't have driven them that way in the first place."
"I see."
After the conversation progressed that far.
Silence came between the two again, but it wasn't very long. That was because there was still something Transformed Shadow didn't understand.
"But were there really no supreme masters besides Tang O?"
In fact, this was the reason that made Transformed Shadow come this way instead of toward the Namgung Family, but Water Shadow didn't know that fact.
"There weren't any."
Hearing Water Shadow's short and firm answer, Transformed Shadow shook his head and muttered to himself.
"That can't be... The reason for causing such a commotion must have been to leave the Namgung Family, so why hasn't he appeared even in a situation cornered like this...?"
Transformed Shadow's words had no subject. However, Water Shadow could sufficiently guess that the subject's protagonist was referring to another supreme master who should have existed besides Tang O.
As Water Shadow guessed, the target Transformed Shadow was talking about was 'the protagonist of the Three Holy Lights.' Surely by this point, he should have revealed his identity and slaughtered the water bandits and demonic beings, yet that person still wasn't thinking of rising from below the surface.
But it couldn't be that Water Shadow and Gray Shadow had missed him either. The Heaven-and-Earth Net was perfect. They controlled all routes leading to the Namgung Family. Though the Namgung Family was a great family, the manor wasn't so large that blockading it would be difficult with the personnel they had.
So did they miss him after all?
'No. That can't be.'
Transformed Shadow shook his head again.
If they had missed him, they should have been able to notice that existence precisely because they missed him. To escape the Heaven-and-Earth Net, he would have had to break through in some direction. That alone would have been possible only by revealing his identity.
"All directions—east, west, south, north—are completely blocked... yet he disappeared without a trace."
Where on earth was that person?
While Transformed Shadow was worrying about that person's whereabouts, Water Shadow, who was still looking down at Chaohu Lake, spoke as if in passing.
"I don't know who you're looking for, but if that person was someone like you, I might have missed him."
"...!"
At Water Shadow's words, Transformed Shadow felt as if he'd been hit on the back of the head with a hammer.
Right, Water Shadow's words were correct.
Why hadn't he thought of that? If it were me... if the opponent were me, could I catch myself? There's no law that says someone like me can only be me, right?
"Hahaha. I see. That's it. That's why both the Namgung Family and you missed that person."
That person can change his appearance freely like himself.
Transformed Shadow was certain of it. Then wouldn't everything fit together perfectly?
He even thought that person might be superior to himself in transformation arts. Because he had recognized himself when no one else noticed.
But.
If so, then how would they catch that person now? There was no way. Transformed Shadow had confidence he would never be caught by anyone. Then the opponent would be the same.
Right now, there were few things Transformed Shadow knew about that person. That he was inside Seonjoong Mountain, and that he was probably transformed into a water bandit or Heavenly Demon Castle member.
After much deliberation, Transformed Shadow reached one conclusion. A method the opponent absolutely couldn't endure without revealing himself.
That was precisely.
"Kill them all."
At Transformed Shadow's low muttering, Water Shadow's gaze finally moved from Chaohu Lake to him.
Transformed Shadow faced him and spoke forcefully again.
"They're all people who will die anyway once the First Stratagem ends. Nothing will change if they die a bit early. Isn't that right, Water Shadow? Hahaha."
"..."
Water Shadow understood what Transformed Shadow was saying only after thinking for a moment. And he thought. That it was fortunate to be on the same side as Transformed Shadow. No, that it was fortunate he at least pretended to be on the same side.
Water Shadow looked down at Chaohu Lake again, and Transformed Shadow looked at the still red sun and laughed heartily.
Do Heo-ok's laughter. What exactly did it mean?
***
Day broke.
However, the pursuit taking place on Seonjoong Mountain was still ongoing.
Since many survivors including Tang O were still alive, considerable time would have to pass before the pursuit ended.
Dong Bong-su was performing the class change quest as a member of the pursuit force. However, from the time the quest completion count reached 80, he couldn't complete any more.
"Damn it! Why aren't they reinforcing the pursuit personnel?"
A hook-nosed water bandit standing beside him said.
As he said, the reason the pursuit had become sluggish at some point was because the deployment of follow-up forces that had been continuously reinforced was cut off.
Though there weren't many congratulatory guests left alive now, they were all masters. Naturally, many sacrifices followed in hunting them down.
In severe cases, dozens would die to barely behead one person. In such a situation, since no additional personnel were being supplemented, the pursuit force's progress had no choice but to be hindered.
That wasn't the only strange thing.
'The other side has no reinforcements either.'
The Heavenly Demon Castle side also wasn't actively pursuing. No, they couldn't. What was happening on this side was happening identically on that side. The Heavenly Demon Castle pursuit force side was also having difficulty pursuing because replenishment wasn't being carried out.
The escapees took advantage of the loosened pursuit to quickly chase after Tang O.
The pursuers were still chasing behind them, but they could no longer easily tie down their feet.
Dong Bong-su was bothered by the fact that reinforcements had been cut off. He thought while matching steps with the other water bandits as they climbed up the mountain.
He had to know the reason. Nothing in the world happens without a cause. If a crazy person killed someone, being crazy itself is the cause and motive for murder. Cause and effect always interact.
A cause always exists.
From that perspective, the delay in reinforcements was definitely strange. Wasn't Do Heo-ok and his gang's purpose to kill the Namgung Family and everyone invited there? Why were they slowing their hand just before annihilating their targets?
Despite repeated thinking, Dong Bong-su couldn't figure out the reason.
Ominousness stimulated survival instinct. Intuition sometimes preceded reason. Dong Bong-su thought now was precisely such a time.
'What should be done in a situation like this?'
The eternal, unchanging truth regardless of time or place—the roadmap in such situations was always decided.
'When you don't know, avoid it.'
If the pursuit ended normally, he would ultimately have to become a member of the water bandits. However, it was impossible to completely blend into the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds with this face. When he washed the blood off his face and scabs formed as the wounds healed, his face would become somewhat identifiable. When that time came, a situation could arise where he couldn't advance or retreat anyway. Moreover, there would be limits to voice modulation. Perhaps even before his face roughly healed, someone might appear who would recognize he wasn't Kang Dal-hui.
He would have to escape this place when the appropriate time came anyway. Dong Bong-su decided to advance that timing a bit and leave here immediately.
Right when he made that decision.
"Damn! They're finally here. Anyway, whether it's the upper brass dawdling around, they're all the same whether officials or bandits."
The hook-nosed man who had been complaining about the lack of additional personnel since earlier said.
Dong Bong-su also turned his head following him and looked down the slope below. Certainly, as he said, water bandits were climbing up.
People's heads were stuck together so densely following the steep slope below the mountain that it looked black. Though they couldn't completely secure the view because thick trees stood densely, even at a glance there seemed to be more than all the personnel reinforced until now combined.
'Too many.'
Dong Bong-su suddenly thought that. His ominous premonition was ignited once more. Moreover, there was one more fact that poured oil on it.
Clearly the color of the clothing they wore was the same as the water bandits', but the characters for Yangtze carved on their chests were reversed left and right.
"What are those things? Why are they all wearing their clothes inside out?"
As the hook-nosed man said, the newly deployed water bandits all appeared wearing their clothes inside out.
'If it were one or two people I wouldn't know, but everyone wearing their clothes inside out? That means...'
Uniforms such as ceremonial dress, military uniforms, school uniforms are effective and meaningful only when they're uniform. That was because it showed proof of being the same group. But now they had deliberately worn the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds' uniforms inside out to create a different uniform.
The meaning of that was self-evident without even examining it.
Wham‑wham‑wham!
As soon as that thought occurred, Dong Bong-su was already charging forward.
-x-X-x-
That moment.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
"Wh-what!? Raaaaah!"
The newly appeared water bandits began wildly swinging weapons like swords and axes at the water bandits on this side. Over ten water bandits who had fallen to the very back were slaughtered in an instant.
Those who had been relieved thinking they were allies couldn't block the blades that suddenly flew at them at all.
Among them, the one standing at the very front of those wearing their clothes inside out appeared distinctly exceptional in both valor and martial arts at a glance.
"General Chief?"
"Why is the General Chief doing this to us...?"
"What on earth!?"
The General Chief of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds, Yangtze Dragon Hero Sa Sa-ho, that is, Water Shadow, beheaded one more panicking water bandit's neck and shouted.
"Don't leave a single one—sweep them all away!"
At Water Shadow's command, most began attacking, but a minority still hesitated, seemingly reluctant to attack allies.
Water Shadow immediately killed such people and shouted again.
"Those who step back will have their heads fly off according to the Law of the Yangtze!"
The Law of the Yangtze.
It was the absolute law that water bandits had to follow. Among them were two things: absolute obedience to superiors, and never step back in battle. What Water Shadow was saying right now was precisely those.
Though it was difficult to understand the General Chief's command right now, they had to follow. That's what an absolute law was. There was no room for likes or dislikes. If they wanted to question it, they had to wait until after finishing the battle. Right now there was no choice.
The water bandits hesitated no longer.
From that moment, the water bandits wearing their clothes inside out began indiscriminately attacking the water bandits who had been the pursuit force.
Now the water bandits who had been pursuing the survivors became the pursued by other water bandits instead.
Looking at just the current situation, they faced an even worse situation than the survivors fleeing up above. Those at least had the front open and could flee freely, but the pursuit force water bandits' feet were bound between the congratulatory guests and the other water bandits attacking them.
Truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
Naturally, the pursuit forces quickly fell into chaos.
At least it was fortunate in misfortune that the congratulatory guests who had survived until now, though bewildered seeing the current situation, fled up the mountain as quickly as possible. As they moved away, they could distance themselves from the General Chief and water bandits trying to kill them.
But a similar thing was happening among the Heavenly Demon Castle members too. The Heavenly Demon Castle members who had been the pursuit force were also being hunted down by Heavenly Demon Castle members wearing their clothes inside out.
A difficult-to-understand confrontation situation unfolded. And that situation couldn't last long. The balance of power had been tilted to one side from the beginning.
Dong Bong-su, even in the urgent midst, surveyed all directions then launched his body toward an empty space. That was the side face of the mountain slope. It was a judgment that if he could just keep going that way, he could circle the mountain and escape to the opposite side.
"Kill them! Don't let a single one escape!"
However, that direction was already being occupied by water bandits wearing their clothes backwards as they climbed up. One fairly agile water bandit among them rushed at Dong Bong-su like lightning.
Bam‑bam‑bam!
Dong Bong-su didn't bother avoiding him and mercilessly cut him down. It was possible because there was still margin until level-up.
Bam-bam-bam-.
Dong Bong-su immediately used the skill Circulating Energy then displayed Lightness Arts and turned direction upward. Behind and to the left were already occupied by swarms of water bandits, the right by Heavenly Demon Castle members. However, the front, that is, up the mountain, couldn't be considered safe either. There were the surviving congratulatory guests there.
But there was no other path Dong Bong-su could choose. Following behind the congratulatory guests who were quickly moving away seemed better for now.
He ran while maintaining a precarious distance where the congratulatory guests' attacks could just barely reach or not. It was the only thing he could do now.
However, he still didn't stop thinking. Now was the time to find another survival method.
Meanwhile, when the water bandits and Heavenly Demon Castle members fell into strange internal conflict. Tang O finally reached the peak of Seonjoong Mountain.
"...!"
As soon as he arrived at the summit, he stopped his feet. It was absolutely not to take a brief rest.
"G-Grandfather! This is...!"
The terrain was blocking their footsteps.
The peak of Seonjoong Mountain was wide and flat like a plate meticulously hammered by a heavenly deity. If only it had stopped there, but the heavenly deity had split the mountain in half. As if a divine axe had split the mountain exactly in half, a valley stretched out in a straight line. There was a mountain on the opposite side that looked exactly like this mountain, so clearly the two mountains were originally one. Probably if viewed from above, it would look like a large plate split in half and scattered to both sides. However, the distance from here to that precipice over there looked like over a hundred meters at a glance. It was a far distance that absolutely couldn't be jumped over in one go unless one was a bird.
Only then did Tang O seem to understand why the demonic soldiers had focused more on blocking him from turning direction sideways rather than climbing up the mountain.
The enemies probably knew well about the terrain here from the beginning. So it was certain they had deliberately driven him and the survivors here.
Tap‑tap‑tap…
Tang O stood at one end of the cliff with a bewildered expression.
A small stone piece inadvertently kicked by his foot fell below the cliff. It pierced through clouds hanging on the mountainside and disappeared far below.
"..."
Tang O and Tang Hwa blankly looked down where the stone had disappeared. The stone's whereabouts were unclear, but they already knew. That the stone had probably already shattered into pieces, split into dozens or thousands of fragments.
"Grandfather... What do we do now?"
Tang Hwa collapsed with a thud, perhaps feeling dizzy.
Tang O had no answer. Not that there was any sharp solution in this situation anyway.
Click—tack.
While the two were in a daze like that, the survivors who had been chasing Tang O appeared at the summit of Seonjoong Mountain. Looking at how they were all covered in blood from head to toe, it was easy to guess what hardships they had gone through.
Along with their exhausted rough breathing, the sounds of swords and spears clashing were also gradually approaching. It seemed the pursuers had almost reached the summit along with the survivors.
There were about twenty survivors. As soon as they arrived, they came one by one to stand beside Tang O.
"..."
They too, like Tang O, lost their words in an instant. They thought they had reached the end of the path to survival after a thousand hardships, but that path was also a path to death... how futile must it be?
"Are these everyone who came here?"
Tang O asked, forcing himself to be calm.
"That's right... Great Hero Tang."
A tall man standing beside him answered. His voice lacked vitality as if he had almost given up on living.
"Then who are those fighting down below?"
Tang O's ears still heard someone approaching this way while fighting fiercely. His question was asking about their identity.
The person who had just answered replied again.
"Water bandits and demonic soldiers."
At the incomprehensible answer, Tang O asked again.
"Are you trying to joke with this old man now? I'm asking who is fighting against the water bandits and demonic soldiers. Looking at how quite noisy it is, it seems like at least several hundred?"
"No... How could I joke with the Great Hero in a situation like this? Though it may be difficult to understand, right now those fighting against the water bandits and demonic soldiers down there are water bandits and demonic soldiers. Newly appeared other water bandits and demonic soldiers are attacking the water bandits and demonic soldiers who were chasing us."
"...!"
Tang O lost his words again. It was such an absurd matter separate from the current desperate situation.
'Internal conflict among water bandits and demonic soldiers.'
The timing of the internal strife occurring was utterly absurd. And for such a thing to happen simultaneously on both the water bandits' and demonic soldiers' sides.
It was hard to believe. However, since it was the words of someone who had been chased until just now, he couldn't not believe it either.
A bit of vitality returned to Tang O's face.
'A good opportunity!'
Taking advantage of the enemies' internal conflict, they might be able to break through the encirclement once more and go down the mountain.
However, the man who read Tang O's such intentions said.
"It will be useless. The General Chief of the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds and the Heavenly Demon Castle leader were on the side that came up behind. The water bandits and demonic soldiers who were initially pursuing us will be annihilated without enduring long."
As soon as his desperate answer ended, several blood-soaked water bandits climbed to the summit where they were. Their number was at most about ten, and there wasn't a single demonic soldier. The demonic soldiers who had been the pursuit force had probably already been annihilated.
The water bandits' appearance was even more wretched than the survivors who had climbed up earlier. Especially, the face of the one standing at their very front was so terrible it couldn't be looked at with eyes open.
Dozens of crossed sword wounds had completely mangled his face, and on top of that, dried blood was stuck in several layers, making it a complete mess. His nose was about half cut off and dangling, and his ears were torn, constantly pouring out blood.
The peculiar point was that despite being hurt so severely, only his eyes were intact.
His eyes were strangely emotionless, strange eyes difficult to find again in the mortal world, but no one noticed that point.
He, Dong Bong-su, as soon as he climbed onto the cliff clearing, headed toward the other precipice edge where Tang O and others weren't standing.
Tang O and the congratulatory guests, since they didn't come toward their side, just remained standing there on guard and didn't launch attacks. Dong Bong-su had acted that way knowing it would be so anyway. Whether it was them or themselves, they were all like cornered mice anyway. If mice fought each other, it would only give the fisherman's profit to the cat.
Strangely, the water bandits who barely survived naturally followed behind Dong Bong-su when he moved. That was because they instinctively knew they could climb to this place by following behind him.
In fact, unlike what Tang O and the other survivors saw, Dong Bong-su had moved while exquisitely maintaining distance between the pursuers and survivors, so he could climb to this place without fighting at all. The water bandits who had followed beside him now all instinctively realized that too.
Whooosh—
The updraft coming up along the thousand-year cliff licked past Dong Bong-su's gruesomely peeled forehead as he looked down below the cliff.
Even the slightest brush of wind sent unbearable pain thrilling through his entire body. Nevertheless, there wasn't the slightest change of expression on Dong Bong-su's face. He could do so because he knew how important now was.
Dong Bong-su was driven to a point where he absolutely couldn't escape, but he still hadn't given up on life. Because it wasn't over until it was over, until it was really over, he would do his best.
Dong Bong-su continued looking down below the cliff.
The sheer vertical rock wall, and the clouds on the mountainside blocking the view, and the bottom whose end couldn't be seen.
Everything was desperate, but his impression of looking down below was quite different from Tang O's.
If Tang O looked below the cliff and saw despair, Dong Bong-su looked below the tall steep cliff and rather glimpsed the possibility of survival.
"..."
Dong Bong-su's eyes sparkled transparently while looking below the cliff.
-x-X-x-
"Hahahaha!"
Were they waiting for that moment?
Finally, Water Shadow and Transformed Shadow arrived there with loud laughter.
Transformed Shadow's current appearance, which was clean unlike one who had been through fierce battle, was Silver Naked Lecher Paga Blood, precisely Gray Shadow.
He laughed even more loudly and mocked Tang O.
"Hahaha. Tang Great Hero. You seemed to flee so hard your tail might fall off, yet you could only come this far?"
"Who are you?"
Tang O didn't know he was precisely Do Heo-ok. Even the Heavenly Demon Castle members couldn't recognize he wasn't Paga Blood, so it was impossible for Tang O to distinguish his transformation either.
Transformed Shadow laughed once more and said.
"Since you'll soon receive King Yama's reception anyway, why is such a thing so important? Hahaha."
"You bastard!"
Tang O was indignant at Transformed Shadow's mockery, but didn't rashly step forward. No matter how hot-tempered he was, he knew well what the current situation was like.
At that, Transformed Shadow stretched his lips thinly, then shouted loudly once more.
"Come out! Hurry and come out to show that rat-like appearance! Let's see the face of what kind of great rat you are!"
Now the direction Transformed Shadow's gaze turned wasn't toward where Tang O and the other survivors were. It was toward the water bandits occupying one corner of the cliff on the other side from them.
Only then could Dong Bong-su understand why they had made such an unreasonable move—slaughtering allies.
'They were looking for me.'
Well, it was inevitable.
When the Namgung Family was turned upside down by the light from leveling up, would they be any different? They too must have definitely been paying attention, and since they couldn't identify that identity despite several encirclement attacks, they must have used even this final method.
The corners of Dong Bong-su's eyes curved lightly.
It was interesting. There had been interesting things several times since coming here, but never as fun as this time.
Critical moments and a continuous series of such situations.
Layer upon layer of mountains—that itself stimulated Dong Bong-su's interest endlessly. Added to that, even the extremely 'human' tactic of backstabbing him.
Indeed, this New Murim Online was definitely a game just for him.
Dong Bong-su grasped the Novice's Sword in his hand without anyone knowing.
"Don't want to come out? Then I'll personally smash that excellent head of yours and check."
When there was no answer from the water bandits' side, Transformed Shadow stepped forward.
Dong Bong-su had already figured out he was Do Heo-ok. Just as when he transformed into Do Heo-ok, a mistake that wasn't a mistake was visible at least to Dong Bong-su. Do Heo-ok still didn't know that sometimes being too perfect wasn't complete.
And.
That this mountaintop also wasn't a perfect cliff's edge either.
Sssshhh…
Precisely when Transformed Shadow took one more step toward the water bandits.
Dong Bong-su's sword moved soundlessly. At the same time, the water bandits who had been guarding against Transformed Shadow in front of him all lost their necks at once. Because Dong Bong-su was closest to the cliff, the water bandits all had their backs to him. So there was absolutely no way to block him.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Over ten water bandits' heads fell on the summit of Seonjoong Mountain.
Right at that moment!
Flash!
The Holy light that had swept through the Namgung Family before once again covered the summit of Seonjoong Mountain.
At the sudden flash, Transformed Shadow stopped advancing and hastily retreated backward. That was because there might be powerful energy like that of Solar Divine Art carried in the light.
So he even unfolded Body Protection Rigid Energy in haste, but his such effort was futile. The flash just passed by warmly like spring sunlight. He would have thought it was a bundle of rigid energy, but it was merely light emitted as Dong Bong-su leveled up, so it was inevitable.
Even so, since it was certain the light was powerful enough to make it difficult to open one's eyes, Transformed Shadow continued to be on guard while watching where the light poured out.
The moment light burst forth, Tang O also stood blocking Tang Hwa's front while extremely tense.
To him too, the radiance at the moment of level-up didn't seem ordinary. However, after he too realized no energy was carried in the light, he just watched that direction quietly.
He carefully put down Namgung Hye who had been tucked under his side behind himself while raising his physical senses to the maximum. If things went wrong, she could fall below the precipice, but he judged it was better to put her down as safely as possible now rather than holding her.
On the other hand, Water Shadow was startled by the occurrence of an unexpected event and went back down the path he had climbed. The light Dong Bong-su poured out was that surprising and sudden.
Still, at least these three were the only people who responded appropriately to that situation. The rest couldn't grasp at all how the situation in the arena was unfolding or what they should do.
What the remaining water bandits, Heavenly Demon Castle members, and survivors knew was just that one of the water bandits suddenly beheaded other water bandits, and then unexpectedly intense light burst from his body. They had only confirmed that with their two eyes.
Whoooooosh—
An untimely silence came to the unsettled summit of Seonjoong Mountain. At that, only the sound of the powerful wind at the summit lightly drummed people's ears. However, unlike closing their mouths, everyone's gazes were watching one place as if they had made a promise.
Precisely the origin of the flash—Dong Bong-su.
Though afterglow of light was still spreading from where he had been standing, it wasn't to the degree that visibility couldn't be secured at all. Moreover, since it was broad daylight, sunlight was slowly swallowing the flash.
A moment later.
Finally, even that afterglow completely disappeared.
But.
What disappeared wasn't just the light.
"He's gone..."
Someone muttered.
His words filled the gap in the silence and stuck in people's ears instead of the wind. Everyone who heard it agreed with those words, and they had no choice.
Dong Bong-su, and the water bandits killed by him, all disappeared together with the light at once. Only the empty cliff's edge remained alone, abundantly filling people's vision, but nothing existed there anymore. Just that state with no one there, as if it had been that way from the beginning.
However, among these, three people—Transformed Shadow, Water Shadow, and Tang O—saw faintly how Dong Bong-su disappeared. Though the light was extremely intense, they witnessed a faint shadow moving quickly within it.
The shadow they saw definitely jumped below the cliff. However, what was strange was the fact that even the other water bandits' corpses disappeared without a trace. They just... just disappeared like that, as someone's muttering moments ago.
For a brief time, the three's thoughts about it diverged, but ultimately unified into one. They thought the water bandits' corpses had evaporated without a trace due to powerful Yang Rigidity Energy.
Though that flash might have felt warm where they were standing, close up there it would have been hot like volcanic lava, or perhaps like being beside the sun floating in the sky. They couldn't think differently. The element of a game wasn't included at all in their common sense.
However, even so, one big question remained.
Why did that person jump into the precipice? With such great martial power, why did he give up so easily without even trying to fight?
It was a question that commonly arose in the three's heads.
Transformed Shadow felt regret because of that, Tang O felt futility because of that, and Water Shadow felt relief because of that. Though they were different emotions, they all didn't doubt Dong Bong-su's death. No matter what master, if they fell below the tall steep cliff, they couldn't avoid death. They die the moment they touch the bottom of the dark abyss. They must. That was also their common sense.
Though they didn't say it to each other like that, once again they reached consensus.
However, there's always such a thing as exceptions in the world and existences that destroy common sense.
Isn't that why the world is interesting and worth living?
***
Thud, thud, thud…
The strong updraft blowing along the cliff made his robe hem flutter, and the cold mountain wind brushed his face.
Certainly Dong Bong-su was falling. However, he was falling in an aspect completely different from what Transformed Shadow and others expected. He was definitely descending toward the ground, but wasn't falling as fast as fully receiving gravitational acceleration.
The reason was.
Thud, thud, thud…
It was related to this sound periodically echoing in midair now.
Thud.
As always, Dong Bong-su strongly extended one fist and both feet downward simultaneously.
At the same time, one corpse popped out from his other hand that wasn't doing anything. Of course, it was by Inventory Divine Arts.
The corpse completely crushed with a dull sound.
KABOOM!
With an explosion sound, the corpse naturally fell down below even faster, and Dong Bong-su's accelerating speed decreased by the amount of impact the corpse received.
It was a simple physics law that could be calculated with just mass and velocity, and the law of action and reaction, conservation of momentum, was being applied precisely even in midair of this cliff.
Thud, thud, thud… Boom...
Various dull sounds ring periodically along the cliff face.
That was because Dong Bong-su repeatedly performed the same action as before at regular intervals.
If the interval was too long, his body accelerated too much making it difficult to control his limbs, and if too frequent, the corpses and objects in inventory might run out before even reaching the ground.
Dong Bong-su proceeded with the work carefully, as 'calculated' earlier. His composure was still maintained even in midair.
'I've come down five hundred meters now. The remaining distance is about one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred meters.'
Thud, thud, thud… Boom...
-x-X-x-
'The estimated altitude of Seonjoong Mountain roughly guessed right before jumping from the mountaintop is approximately 1,700~2,000 meters.'
This calculation was made according to the slope of Seonjoong Mountain and the distance traveled that he felt while pursuing the survivors.
Mountain paths aren't straight, so they're difficult to figure out by feel alone. However, if one draws a straight line between the starting point and ending point, some estimation becomes possible. Because steep paths and less steep paths were mixed, the margin of error was large. However, if he proceeded with work adjusted to the maximum of 2000 anyway, ultimately that risk could be minimized.
In fact, Dong Bong-su's calculation started from when Transformed Shadow and Water Shadow attacked him and the pursuit force from behind. The new way out he thought of then was precisely jumping from the mountaintop.
From right after making that judgment, he steadily stuffed rocks, stones, torn body parts of the dead, and whatever else he could into his Inventory. Of course, he only targeted things that got in his way so no one could see.
This method was something he absolutely couldn't even attempt if his body were an ordinary person's. Everything was possible because his strength, endurance, agility, and so on were far superior to ordinary people and because he had Inventory Divine Art.
Above all, what made him confident of this method's success was that memories from modern times remained.
Pythagorean theorem, Newton's law of gravity and action-reaction, equations of motion, and so on.
With just basic mathematical and physical calculations, Dong Bong-su could jump from the cliff with confidence in survival.
'Judging from experience so far, there may be exceptional other martial world physical laws... but the basic physical laws aren't much different here either. Gravitational acceleration has slight differences according to altitude, but that's only very slight. Not worth considering. It's fixed at approximately 9.8 m/s². Assume this is roughly 10. If there's almost no air resistance, my speed right before touching the ground becomes 720 km/h. Fast enough to exceed half the speed of sound. Of course, there's terminal velocity so it won't accelerate all the way there... but even though I've become much stronger from leveling up, there's no way my body can withstand this impact. My physical body can probably endure a fall speed of at most 50~60 km/h. If survival is possible even after taking big damage... up to 100 km/h, with my current body, I might perhaps be able to endure. Perhaps I can withstand impacts slightly stronger than that.'
Inside Dong Bong-su's head, the calculations and assumptions he made earlier were repeating again. No matter how much Dong Bong-su thought, since he was performing various tasks simultaneously, those assumptions and calculations had no choice but to be simplified as much as possible.
'However, to descend while decelerating to this degree, one corpse per second is consumed. If free-falling without air resistance, the time to reach the bottom is about 20 seconds. But if descending while decelerating as calculated, that time increases dramatically. Estimated time minimum 1 minute to maximum about 2 minutes. Therefore, the corpses and objects needed are... since all the objects' weights inside the Inventory aren't constant... minimum 60, maximum about 120... perhaps more needed than that. If I consider here again that there's air resistance, fewer than this might be needed.'
One hundred and twenty objects with enough inertia to support his body weight.
Dong Bong-su's Inventory didn't have that many corpses and objects. There were small stones, miscellaneous wood, corpse fragments he stuffed in earlier, but these wouldn't help much with deceleration.
'However.'
Dong Bong-su still had more trump cards.
That was precisely the method of using the cliff slope.
Thud, thud, thud…
In Dong Bong-su's eyes as he steadily reduced speed and fell downward, the place he wanted finally appeared.
'It's here.'
Dong Bong-su kicked one rock he took out from Inventory toward the cliff. Then he stuck to the cliff just like that. Since he had already almost eliminated his falling speed, Dong Bong-su could stick to the cliff relatively easily. This was possible because there were gaps between the cliff where hands and feet could be inserted. Above all, the important fact was that the cliff's slope was tilted very slightly toward the bottom.
Dong Bong-su slowly went down below the cliff as if rock climbing. Then when the slope tilted upward again making it difficult to place his feet, he floated his body in midair once more and fell downward. Then when space to place feet on the rock wall was discovered again, he took out objects from Inventory, gave propulsion in the opposite direction, and back toward the cliff...
Dong Bong-su repeated that.
When the wall surface had an upward diagonal slope, he struck objects and corpses, reducing speed with that reaction. Then when a place appeared where the wall surface's slope leaned even slightly downward like a slide, he stuck to the cliff and went down.
This was Dong Bong-su's strategy, and until now it was successful. If he did this, he could go down below while reducing consumption of corpses and objects to the minimum. If he had the ability to immediately retrieve objects as soon as striking them with feet or hands, he could perform this task more easily, but that was an ability he couldn't do. The moment he struck an object, immediately the distance between him and the object widened, so putting the used object back into Inventory was impossible. If this were possible, he could even do Walking on Air, but it wasn't possible from the start.
What made him confident of this strategy's success was when he looked down below the cliff from Seonjoong Mountain's peak. What he focused on was the fact that columnar joints made of basaltic rock continued, then at some point a schistose layer mixed with granite and basalt appeared.
The vertically sheer straight cliff had transformed at some point into a fault-structure cliff connected horizontally in layers. Probably since the mountain was high, multiple layers seemed to have been generated separately by era. Because of this, Dong Bong-su could jump below the cliff right away without much hesitation.
Though he had never done it before, he thought he could do it.
He actually did it and was doing it.
He even slid down below the cliff. Occasionally very smoothly cut rocks that appeared among the columnar joints, and some of those slopes were also very suitable for sliding down.
Screeeech-screeeech-screeeech—
What he used as a sliding mat was corpses. The corpses' skin peeled off from friction, blood splattered, and bones were ground down. But the more that happened, the more Dong Bong-su could go down below.
Then when accelerating excessively causing the corpse to be completely ground down or when it seemed difficult to endure more, Dong Bong-su kicked the wall with his feet, floated his body into midair, then returned to the cliff. In this case, naturally the corpse that became a rag was used to return to the cliff. Upon returning to the cliff, he laid a new corpse slide and slid down again.
It was a very dangerous and difficult method, but Dong Bong-su carried it out calmly. Like that, he step by step increased distance from the sky more and more, and by that much got closer to the ground.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!.
Another corpse was ground on the cliff and became a rag. And by that much, Dong Bong-su's survival possibility increased.
At some moment when Dong Bong-su had almost reached the ground like that.
"Aaaahhhhh!"
A scream that someone let out while falling below the cliff was received in Dong Bong-su's ears.
'Finally came.'
The moment Dong Bong-su heard the sound, he was already leaping that way. In his hand at some point was the Novice's Sword, and as always it cut through midair grotesquely concisely.
Slash!.
The falling person might have thought like this perhaps—still, what if an opportunity awaited below the cliff if he jumped down? If he didn't have even such a small hope, he wouldn't have jumped at all. However, what waited for him was Dong Bong-su's cold blade.
His head and body separated in midair and departed on a journey toward the ground again. On the other hand, Dong Bong-su who cut him in two summoned one rock, kicked it, and returned toward the cliff. Then he muttered lowly.
"87."
[First Class Change Quest: Wanderer]
Tester-exclusive class.
Quest completion condition: Achieve 100 Kills of enemies Level 10 or above.
Current quest completion (completed/total): 87 / 100
Until class change, just 13 people.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Dong Bong-su began going down below the cliff again. While waiting for the next victim.
***
Moments ago, atop Seonjoong Mountain.
Whoooosh—
Transformed Shadow stood at the cliff's edge where Dong Bong-su and the water bandits had been standing and looked down below. Naturally, nothing was visible. At most what was visible to his eyes was only white clouds hanging on the mountainside.
"Why did he...?"
An empty question with no counterpart was swept by the updraft and scattered across Seonjoong Mountain's summit.
Transformed Shadow slowly turned his body and swept over Tang O and that rabble clustered at the cliff on the opposite side. Then his eyes met Tang O's.
"Regrettable, but I'll have to be satisfied with you."
Transformed Shadow said calmly. Then without any hesitation, he launched his body that way.
Using that as a signal, Water Shadow and the water bandits, Heavenly Demon Castle members attacked Tang O and the other final survivors all at once...
The 87th victim of the class change quest became the first among them to jump off the cliff.
And.
Soon more people would jump down below. Pinning hope on the thread-like survival possibility.
***
New Murim Online 8th Law: When multiple people kill one person, the amount of experience points Dong Bong-su obtains is proportional to the damage he inflicted on the deceased. (More research is needed on the efficiency of first hit or last hit.)
-x-X-x-
Swoosh—
Dong Bong-su's sword shot up toward the sky once again. The sound of it slicing through the air was light.
Thunk—
However, the result was anything but light. The Novice's Sword embedded itself squarely into the crown of the last surviving congratulatory guest's head. Already unconscious from the terror of falling, he transformed entirely into experience points.
Whoosh—
Level up once more.
Intense light scattered from his body, and the dark, damp space below the cliff temporarily brightened.
Dong Bong-su quietly watched the light spread outward. As expected, it didn't reach as far as it had at night. Following the cliff upward, when it reached the sunlit area, it simply merged with the sunlight. A faint afterglow remained, but it was impossible to imagine it piercing through the clouds at mid-mountain level and climbing all the way to the cliff's edge.
Thud. Sluuurp—
Dong Bong-su pulled the sword from the corpse. Even as he did, his gaze remained fixed on the cliff top throughout.
'There are still some left.'
Prey.
Good prey that would become experience points. They were still there. An opportunity obtained with difficulty—it wouldn't be lost through a moment's carelessness, would it?
Above all, Tang O still hadn't jumped down. Dong Bong-su was waiting for him.
No, no.
'I should say I'm looking forward to it.'
A wounded beast cornered would surely jump down below the cliff to save its young. Though injured, if he killed him, he could achieve tremendous 'power leveling.'
Thunk, thunk, thunk….
While waiting for him, Dong Bong-su's sword repeatedly sliced through the air. The congratulatory guests accelerated to terminal velocity couldn't possibly dodge the Novice's Sword he threw. Not only was it difficult to open their eyes due to the powerful wind pressure, but most had already lost consciousness.
The terminal velocity heading downward. The speed of the sword Dong Bong-su threw upward.
When the Novice's Sword actually struck their heads, the relative velocity vector was truly tremendous, and the force went without saying.
Thunk—
Once again, with a light sound, one body became a sword skewer and fell to the ground.
Paradoxically, by Dong Bong-su's sword piercing through their bodies, they were able to preserve their corpses intact. Had they simply hit the ground, they certainly would have been smashed to pieces. However, whether they could be preserved intact to the very end remained to be seen. Dong Bong-su still had more plans remaining after all.
"98."
Dong Bong-su muttered lowly, counting the next number.
Only two more now.
Class change was right before his eyes.
But after quite a long time passed after that, no more free experience points fell. Nevertheless, Dong Bong-su still held his position.
'Not yet, not yet.'
Within those lowly repeated words was faith in Tang O. Rather than believing in Tang O himself, he believed in Tang O's strength and his resoluteness.
If it were him….
'He wouldn't easily fall to Do Heo-ok.'
Moreover, he wouldn't simply let Tang Hwa and Namgung Hye be captured by Do Heo-ok either.
Then the final move he could make was, as expected, one. Just as he had done until now, just as others had done.
Dong Bong-su continued to wait.
A long while later.
That faith was ultimately rewarded.
Flap-flap-flap—
At some point, a faint sound of cutting through air was heard, and simultaneously, something rapidly falling was caught in his pupils. Its color was brown, and the sound of striking the air was the sound of robe hems rapidly fluttering.
A middle-aged man in a brown robe. Even without checking, it was certain.
A brief but intense encounter. It was Tang O.
Clang—!
Dong Bong-su drew his sword again and took his stance. In that brief moment, Tang O had descended dozens of meters more. His falling posture was the same as the previous survivors—head toward the ground, legs toward the sky.
However, there were a few differences. Tang O wasn't falling alone but was holding someone in his arms. Though, contrary to Dong Bong-su's expectation, it was one person rather than two, which was a notable point. Another difference was that despite the tremendous wind pressure, Tang O had his eyes wide open, looking straight down.
Naturally, Dong Bong-su and Tang O came face to face with each other.
***
Tang O was shocked.
'Tang Sam!?'
The fierce updraft struck his eyes painfully as if they would burst, but his vision had no particular problem. At first he was shocked that there was a survivor, and then he was shocked that the person was Tang Sam.
Tang Sam, that is, Dong Bong-su, had already returned to his original appearance through leveling up, so there was no way Tang O wouldn't recognize him.
Even in this desperate moment, the two words 'how' and 'why' were engraved in Tang O's mind.
'How are you here?'
'Why are you gripping that sword like that?'
Of course, he couldn't hear an answer.
Swoosh—!
Instead, Dong Bong-su's answer to Tang O's questioning gaze was….
The Novice's Sword.
Quite naturally so.
The sword that left Dong Bong-su's hand flew toward him at tremendous speed. Tang O didn't know it, but all of this was merely happening as already determined.
"...!"
The startled Tang O hastily unleashed palm force to strike away the flying sword.
However, his body wouldn't listen. Through the long fierce battle, his True Energy had already run dry, and the wounds he'd received from Transformed Shadow and Water Shadow were also serious. Moreover, as his body was accelerated, his arms were also accelerating downward. His hands pointing upward couldn't even move downward at all. To unleash palm techniques, he needed to bring his elbows as close to his body as possible, but that was impossible, so unleashing palm techniques was impossible from the start.
Death.
It had been predetermined.
Tang O had abandoned thoughts of survival from the moment he jumped down the cliff anyway. He had thrown himself only with the desire to save Tang Hwa.
Perhaps if he sacrificed himself, wouldn't he be able to save his granddaughter? That thought.
However, that plan was now thwarted, and an unexpected crisis struck doubly. Tang O hurriedly twisted his body over as much as he could.
That moment!
Thud—!
The cold blade dug into the back of his head.
Squelch! Shluck!
The sword immediately pierced through Tang O's head, penetrated between his mouth and nose—his philtrum—and shot toward the sky. And at that moment, Tang O experienced a final lucidity. At the same time, much of the acceleration applied to his body by the force in the sword was negated.
Tang O squeezed out all his remaining True Origin Energy and shot Tang Hwa high into the sky. Palm techniques that weren't possible with True Energy alone became possible when pouring out True Origin Energy.
Thanks to this, Tang Hwa's body could decelerate, mostly negating the speed that had been accelerating until then, but conversely, Tang O's body plummeted toward the ground even faster.
Whooooom—!
Tang O's body, monstrously accelerated, plunged rapidly.
He fell so quickly that his body reached the ground where Dong Bong-su stood before the sound could even travel there. This meant Tang O's body had become even faster than the speed of sound, which in turn meant the True Origin Energy Tang O had poured out at the last moment was tremendous.
Dong Bong-su urgently threw his body aside to avoid Tang O's corpse.
Thud—!
"Grandfather!"
The moment Tang O, unified with the sword, embedded into the ground, Tang Hwa, who had witnessed it precisely from midair, cried out.
Along with that, the final lucidity that had appeared in Tang O's eyes vanished, and holy light poured brilliantly from Dong Bong-su's body.
Ten times.
Dong Bong-su, having defeated Tang O, had achieved a whopping 10 level ups.
However, Dong Bong-su found this strange. He had thought he would level up far more from killing Tang O.
Ten steps of level ups. Of course it was tremendous progress, but it fell short of expectations.
"Too few."
He approached Tang O's shattered corpse. And then he could soon understand. Tang O's completely crushed body had been on the verge of death from the start. What he had done was merely deliver the final blow. Even then, it seemed experience point distribution had occurred as Tang O saved Tang Hwa with his True Origin Energy.
"Is this what they call 'last hitting?'"
He didn't enjoy games so he didn't know the details, but he seemed to have heard something called that somewhere. The terminology didn't matter anyway.
If that was the case, he was reasonably satisfied.
If he 'power leveled' this much from killing Tang O who was dying anyway, wasn't that enough?
Dong Bong-su paid no more attention to the dead Tang O.
Thud.
Tang Hwa finally fell to the ground. Thanks to Tang O's sacrifice, she was able to descend safely to the ground. Though she didn't land properly due to the light that had erupted from Dong Bong-su's body.
Dong Bong-su merely watched Tang Hwa stagger to her feet. He just stood there quietly.
Tang Hwa stood up and shook her head vigorously. She probably hadn't fully recovered from the shock of falling yet.
Her hand touching her forehead was stained red with Tang O's blood. Because she and Tang O had fallen from the same position, it couldn't be helped.
"Ah! G-Grandfather!? Sob!"
The first thing she did after coming to her senses was to embrace Tang O's fragments and cry.
Then she saw the Novice's Sword protruding through Tang O's mouth—or what she thought was probably that part.
She jumped in shock and raised her head.
Naturally, her eyes met Dong Bong-su's.
He was quietly watching her from a distance of about 2 meters. He appeared so composed that it looked as if the two had been together from the start.
However, Tang Hwa couldn't be that way.
"Y-You! How are you here!?"
An entirely expected reaction.
Cliché. Dong Bong-su could of course predict Tang Hwa's very next reaction as well.
"Why...? Why!? Grandfather?"
Step.
Instead of a formulaic answer, Dong Bong-su simply took one step toward her.
-x-X-x-
Tang Hwa instinctively stepped backward. She herself didn't know why she did so. No, she didn't even realize she had done it in the first place.
She was just... scared. In her mind, the fact that Dong Bong-su had been an insignificant groom and that he was the one who had just killed Tang O had already disappeared, replaced only by fear.
She was terrified and repulsed by Dong Bong-su's indifferent eyes watching her.
Step, step.
Dong Bong-su approached two more steps.
Tang Hwa retreated backward by the same amount.
Creak.
Dong Bong-su pulled out the Novice's Sword embedded diagonally in the ground.
What was thought to be Tang O's head, pierced through by it, came up along with it.
Thunk.
Dong Bong-su raised the sword above his head as it was, then drove it diagonally into the ground.
Tang O's head split in half, and the Novice's Sword completely separated from Tang O's corpse.
Drip drip drip.
Blood and brain matter flowed out of Tang O's split head, dirtying the ground.
"Not bad."
"..."
What did he mean by 'not bad'...?
At those short, incomprehensible words, Tang Hwa trembled. No matter that he was dead, Tang O was her grandfather. This atrocity should not be forgiven, but she couldn't say anything.
Dong Bong-su quietly wiped the blood on the Novice's Sword against the brown robe Tang O had been wearing. The clothes were so dirty they weren't much help in cleaning the sword.
Then at one moment, he raised his head and looked at Tang Hwa.
"This won't do."
'What won't...?'
Tang Hwa questioned Dong Bong-su's words, which she couldn't understand again. And that was her last.
Shlick.
Dong Bong-su's body suddenly moved and passed by Tang Hwa. Following that, Tang Hwa collapsed and fell on top of Tang O's corpse.
At the same time.
Woooom!
Brilliant golden radiance poured from Dong Bong-su's body. It was distinctly different from the light during level ups.
[Quest Complete.]
[You have class changed to Wanderer.]
[According to the class change....]
...
.....
....
...
He had finally changed class. With that, several overlapping hologram message windows appeared before his eyes.
Dong Bong-su didn't read the messages and immediately closed all the windows. Because he thought the pursuit wasn't over yet. He thought that if it were Do Heo-ok, to ensure perfection, he might even send a pursuit team here.
However, this was purely a thought Dong Bong-su had because he didn't know the structure of this mountain in detail. In reality, this ground he was standing on wasn't simply the lower part of Seonjoong Mountain.
Both sides of this cliff were covered with tremendously high rocks and thick vegetation befitting a valley, refusing human footsteps for hundreds of years. Added to that, the front and back were blocked by the real cliff he had just jumped down from, making access even more difficult. Even if Do Heo-ok wanted to give chase, it was impossible from the start.
However, Dong Bong-su recalled that Tang O had used True Origin Energy to save Tang Hwa at the last moment, and began to move busily to eliminate any possibilities that might exist.
He first went around the area organizing the corpses. It was work to match the number of corpses that had fallen and the scattered corpses.
At the same time, he organized the items in their possession and took everything useful. Among them were Tang O's Dragon Phoenix Golden Needles, and there were also several secret martial arts manuals. That didn't mean he swept everything clean. Leaving just enough not to raise suspicion was basic among basics.
He found all the corpses and items he had used when falling down and put them back into his Inventory.
Next, he crushed the corpses of those whose heads had been pierced by his sword. He particularly skillfully shattered the parts with sword wounds. They had to look exactly as if they had burst from the impact of the fall.
Before long, all the work was finished.
Dong Bong-su finally drew all the fragments scattered on the ground in his mind as a final check.
Then he assembled them one by one in his imagination. He could then create exactly as many corpses as the number who had fallen. Among those corpses, of course, he himself was included.
Among the corpses, there was one dressed as a water bandit, and that corpse was his stand-in. Since it was already completely destroyed, no one would be able to recognize what person it originally was.
Perfect crime.
Dong Bong-su was convinced of that and quickly left the spot. His movements were more than twice as nimble as when he fell. Though he hadn't checked his newly acquired abilities yet, he could feel firsthand that there had been a dramatic increase just in his stats alone.
Grin.
A crack appeared at Dong Bong-su's mouth. He was smiling.
There was one murderer here. He had survived.
And....
He had finally come out into the world.
***
The Martial World began to surge. The origin of the waves was Anhui Province.
The extermination of the Namgung Family, Anhui's foremost prestigious sect under Heaven.
Who on earth could have brought about the downfall of the Namgung Family, undisputedly the head of the Five Great Families of the Central Plains, in a single day?
When this rumor first circulated through the Martial World, no one readily believed it.
The Namgung Family was a prestigious family among prestigious families boasting hundreds of years of history, and their martial arts were still evaluated by the world as worthy of competing for supremacy under Heaven. Moreover, Namgung Family Head Namgung Byeok was counted as one of the greatest masters of the current generation.
However, before long, martial artists learned that this shocking incident was true.
Murim missives that hadn't been issued in decades were delivered to all regions of the Central Plains. Written on them was a statement about holding a Murim Grand Conference due to the extermination of the Namgung Family, and the seal of the Murim Alliance Leader was clearly stamped on them. The murim missives embroidered with golden thread on red silk spoke to the gravity of the matter by themselves alone.
Though hard to believe, the great tree called the Namgung Family had fallen. It was certain they had suffered not sealing but extermination.
The Murim Alliance headquarters in Zhengzhou welcomed representatives from each sect under security stricter than usual. A murderous atmosphere hung in the streets, and the expressions of martial artists were uniformly hardened.
Soon representatives from the Nine Sects and One Society and the remaining four great families excluding the Namgung Family gathered in Zhengzhou. No, more precisely speaking, representatives from all five great families had gathered. A survivor of the exterminated Namgung Family had also attended the Murim Grand Conference.
The one person who survived that terrible calamity.
It was none other than Namgung Hye, the second daughter of Namgung Family Head Namgung Byeok. Her face was pale and wounds that had not yet healed remained all over her body, but her eyes alone burned with the will for revenge.
She had cut through the villains' fierce attacks and finally reached Zhengzhou.
As the sole survivor and witness, she testified at the Murim Grand Conference about the full account of the Namgung Family's extermination disaster.
The force Namgung Hye identified as the villains was.
Heavenly Demon Castle. And she said the Eighteen Yangtze Waterway Strongholds had supported their flank.
All the representatives from each faction attending the Murim Grand Conference were shocked. To think that the identity of the villains they had been doubting was really Heavenly Demon Castle. Everyone present there instinctively realized that a hundred years of peace had finally been broken.
After Namgung Hye's testimony, the Murim Grand Conference began in earnest.
Some said they couldn't understand why Heavenly Demon Castle would suddenly commit such an act and argued for caution. The logic was that it wouldn't be too late to act after conducting a thorough truth investigation. However, those making such claims were only a minority.
Though the people gathered here were figures of the Orthodox Faction, that was merely a mask they wore on the surface—these people were fundamentally all martial artists. They were outlaws who moved under the absolute law of fist for fist, blade for blade, and above all, blood for blood!
In particular, the Tang Family, having lost Tang O and Tang Hwa, had their eyes turned over. They looked as if they would take action alone if the Murim Alliance didn't move.
Also, separate from the Tang Family's belligerence, Sichuan Province was adjacent to Tibet. Frankly speaking, Tibet was Heavenly Demon Castle's front yard, and Sichuan was Tibet's next-door neighbor. If this incident was truly the prelude to Heavenly Demon Castle's plan to advance into the Central Plains, then needless to say, Sichuan Province would be included in that first target.
The Kunlun Sect and the Kongtong Sect also felt the same sense of crisis as the Tang Family. If Sichuan was Tibet's next-door neighbor, then Qinghai and Gansu Province were close enough to Heavenly Demon Castle to be called Xinjiang's neighbors and back-door neighbors.
The remaining sects didn't particularly speak up either, but most agreed with the hardline policy.
The destruction of the Namgung Family was an extremely serious matter from the Murim Alliance's standpoint. If the Murim Alliance didn't step forward for such a serious matter, it was clear as day that the Murim Alliance's influence over the entire Martial World would decline.
If Heavenly Demon Castle had actually moved to plot for the Central Plains, the entire Martial World needed to unite with the Murim Alliance as its center. For that reason as well, the Murim Alliance had to actively take action.
In the end, the conference didn't last long before it ended.
Murim Alliance Leader Hyeoncheon Jinin immediately deployed the forces of the Demon Subduing Hall and Evil Conquering Hall among the Three Halls to Anhui Province. With two military organizations mobilized, naturally all four of the subordinate Four Direction Divine Squads were dispatched to Anhui Province.
The Murim Alliance Leader didn't stop there, but sent missives to affiliated sects in all provinces surrounding Anhui—Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan—to support the Four Direction Divine Squads.
Going further, Hyeoncheon Jinin also dispatched hundreds of masters to Gansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan. This was because he thought the main force of Heavenly Demon Castle might advance into the Central Plains while the Murim Alliance was focusing on Anhui Province.
However, even until then, Heavenly Demon Castle remained quiet. Then, when the Murim Alliance's forces advanced deep into the borders of Gansu and Qinghai, they urgently dispatched hundreds of masters to Gansu and Qinghai to check them. However, there was no actual clash between the two sides, merely mutual checking.
Meanwhile, as decided at the Murim Grand Conference, bloody retribution began.