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Chapter 342. Life or Death (3)
"Wait! Why are we going this way?"
Would you look at this guy. Still dropping the honorifics.
"Commander."
"......Why are we going this way, Commander...... sir. This is the opposite direction from the entrance?"
I answered Go A-ryeom, a former disciple of the Kunlun Sect now serving as a soldier of the First Battalion.
Wе b̌ nóv̊ e l̀ Еn̈ um ӓ
"The exit isn't only in the east."
Assuming that the way in is the way out—that's the most obvious line of thinking.
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The deserters led by the Kongtong Sect had also chosen the eastern entrance.
"......Then where are we heading?"
"West, obviously."
"......W-west?"
Е nū ṁа . і d
"That's right."
"But that's......"
"Correct. Where the Demonic Reaches are."
There was a question that had nagged at me the entire time I drew up the plan.
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"Why" did they do this?
I was certain their goal was our annihilation.
Е́ n̆u m̌а̌ . і̃ d
Then "why" were they moving the way they were?
There had to be more efficient, more effective methods available.
They didn't need to rely on frivolous things like the Divine Spirit's curse. They could have charged at us head-on like the madmen of the battlefield, attacking like man-eating demons without a second thought.
And yet.
"Why" didn't they?
The answer was surprisingly simple.
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Spirit veins.
The reason they hid themselves until we gathered at the center of the encampment.
The reason they herded survivors and flung them into the camp.
The reason the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare currently deployed had thinner killing intent than the one they normally used—all of it came down to the same thing.
They couldn't be completely free from the flow of the spirit veins either.
No—it was possible that the spirit vein's energy was diametrically opposed to the demonic qi those bastards emanated.
È n um̈ а
Under that assumption, several things fell neatly into place.
The demonic beasts that had never attacked unless their safety was threatened—suddenly becoming aggressive.
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The decision to deploy the Silent Sound Demon Wolf Unit, which had relatively weak demonic qi, despite having already drawn up a plan for total annihilation—it all fit perfectly.
That was why we were headed for the Demonic Reaches.
The road ahead would become harsher and more grueling, but the enemy would suffer just as much.
To attack us, they would have to contend with the demonic beasts as well.
W̊ e̊b̀ nõ v̂e l Е n ŭ ḿ.а̌
This was the first handful of ashes I'd prepared to ruin their feast.
"D-demonic beast!"
We hadn't even reached the Demonic Cult's encirclement yet, but we encountered a demonic beast that had been steeped in killing intent.
"I-its eyes are blood-red?"
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Whether from prolonged exposure to killing intent that had driven it into a nervous breakdown, the One-Horned Divine Serpent charged at us the instant it spotted us.
THUD THUD THUD!
Е̇ núma. і̆ď
CRASH! CRASH!
Having gathered those with the greatest destructive power and deepest inner arts, we reduced the One-Horned Divine Serpent to paste in an instant. But fighting wasteful battles like this drew no kind words.
"Are we only going to fight today and tomorrow?! Hold back a little!"
The real enemy wasn't the demonic beasts.
Besides, if they wasted this much inner arts obliterating every creature beyond recognition, more than half the First Battalion would be unable to stand before the day was out.
"There's no rest in between. For at least three days, you won't have time to sleep or circulate your qi. Keep that in mind."
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"Sir!"
The reply came sharp and military.
Now they finally understood what kind of situation they were in.
"......"
We simply ran.
Ran, and fought demonic beasts when they appeared. Through that process, the soldiers began finding their rhythm with one another.
Е̊ nuṁа
The reason I had demanded unconditional obedience from the academy students in the first place was to implement an assault formation.
The assault formation used in the latter period of the Great Righteous-Demonic War.
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Not a unit assembled through political maneuvering—
but a tactic designed for a unit built to truly fight, to truly escape.
And the core of this escape strategy was this: minimize casualties while getting as many people out alive as possible.
To that end, I issued one absolute order.
W eb́n̈о̌v е̌ ľ Ӗ ň u m̀а̇
[Never stop moving.]
The same applied when encountering the enemy.
If you couldn't kill them, leave them and keep running. The people behind would handle the rest.
That was what the formation was for. That was what the battalion assignments were for.
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I didn't know how many would die.
Even in my previous life, I'd never organized a unit with soldiers this unskilled.
W̃ẽb n̄ ov̈ е̄ l Е́ń ù m̂a
But I believed in them.
I'd gathered the elites of every sect in one place.
If they showed even a fraction of the skill they'd bragged about, we could escape with truly minimal sacrifice.
How long had we been running?
Il-gak, drenched in the blood of demonic beasts, called out to me in a rush.
"Young Master Jin!!"
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It's Commander, I told you.
I raised my head and saw the shadowy figures of Demonic Cult minions flickering through the forest.
"All battalions, prepare for combat!!!"
Not just the First Battalion, which had been clearing the path—every battalion drew their weapons.
"Let's go!!!"
At my cry, the Third and Fourth Battalions took the left and right flanks respectively.
Е́n̊ u m а̌
Unlike the First Battalion soldiers, whose abilities were evenly developed across the board, the Third and Fourth were composed of those who each possessed one lethal finishing move. They became the arrowhead piercing through the enemy's encirclement.
CRASH—CRASH—CRASH!
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BOOM! BOOM!
With an ear-splitting series of explosions, the two forces collided.
For the academy students, it was their first large-scale battle.
Naturally, casualties mounted with alarming speed.
Ẅ е bn о v̌е l̂ Е n û m̊а̄
"GAAAH!"
"GHRK!"
In an ordinary martial duel, you'd begin with a starting stance, probing your opponent with feints to gauge their level.
But.
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"KHRGH!"
If you couldn't shed that habit, you'd never survive a battlefield.
Е ń umа̌. i d̄
One-strike kill!
You had to take the opponent's life in a single move.
Because the next move would be theirs to take yours.
'I told them over and over......!'
A lifetime habit wasn't going to vanish overnight.
And in a frantic situation with countless enemies swarming them, keeping one's composure was no easy feat.
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'I need to conserve my inner arts.'
There was no time for lengthy calculations.
If casualties mounted, the survival rate would keep dropping.
RUMBLE......
An untamable vibration writhed within my palm.
"Snap out of it, you bastards!"
E.n umӓ . id
With a roar, I unleashed the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH!
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A path blasted open in an instant, but just as water refills a hole, Demonic Cult minions plugged the gap.
"Forget feints! One-strike kills only! If you can't break through, we all die here!"
"Push through!"
"Push!!"
W е̌ b̂ no̊ṽе̄ l Е n̄u m а
The soldiers of the Third and Fourth Battalions screamed at the top of their lungs.
The support squads of the Fifth and Sixth Battalions filled the gaps wherever Third and Fourth soldiers fell.
The Life-or-Death Unit became a single arrow, driving into the encirclement.
I swung the Minor Heaven Sword Art.
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Just as I had in my previous life.
Swung wildly.
Wĕ.b̆ n ӧ v е̇ľ Е̇ n̂ u̇ mа́
With the single-minded will to survive.
Only this time, something was different.
The results.
In my previous life, the Minor Heaven Sword Art had barely managed to block the demonic practitioner's sword.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Now, it cut down the demonic practitioners with Sword Force.
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Instead of being drenched in the blood of my comrades, choking on it—
I was drenched in the filthy blood of the demonic practitioners.
One step.
Then another.
Forward.
Unlike my previous life, where every step had been backward.
W̊ е̇ b n̆ о v̆е l̊ Е̊ñ.ū m ӓ
And for the first time, I realized something.
At the tip of a sword swung while retreating, there were always fallen comrades.
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But at the tip of a sword swung while advancing—there were only fallen enemies.
"Let's gooo!!!"
I unleashed the storm of emotion threatening to burst inside me through my voice.
Like tangled, dense vines.
Е̂n̆ ü ṁ а̌
Like a solid iron wall.
The enemies who hadn't budged an inch—slowly, cracks began to show.
The scenery of the Black Forest, previously invisible behind the densely packed enemy, began to faintly emerge.
"Let's goooo!!!"
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I glanced sideways to see Nam Hwa-seong, drenched head to toe in blood, bellowing like a bear.
The Second Battalion had already found their spirit. In unison, they echoed his roar.
Ẽ n̂ ü m а
"Let's go!!!"
"Let's gooo!!!"
"Kill them!!!"
The First and Second Battalions pushed forward simultaneously.
The arrowhead sharpened further, and the encirclement began to buckle.
And then.
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"They're falling back!!!"
"Let's gooo!!!"
At last, the bastards began retreating.
I drew out the Taeul True Scripture at full power and executed the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula.
Six sets of Ten Thousand Swords materialized, and as the Twin Heaven Sword Formula unfolded, a tremendous storm of blades began sweeping in all directions.
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CLANG—!
Еǹ u̇ḿа̂.
The enemy, sensing the crisis, broke their battle formation and unleashed the demonic qi they had been concealing.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
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The Ten Thousand Swords and the demonic qi clashed, detonating in a chain of massive explosions. Following that, Il-gak's Mahayana Brahma Divine Art surged forth, filling the area with blinding radiance and thunderous blasts.
Then, one after another, the First Battalion soldiers poured out their ultimate finishing moves.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH!
The area was reduced to scorched earth, as if swept by a Thunderbolt Bomb.
Е̂ n̈_ú m á.і̆ d̄
Those Demonic Cult members who failed to retreat in time were caught squarely in the barrage, and at last, a hole was punched through the encirclement.
"Run!!!"
What had been a small gap widened further as the Third and Fourth Battalions cleared the perimeter while charging ahead.
By the time the enemy shook off the aftershocks and rose to their feet, the Fifth Battalion and the remaining soldiers attacked them as they broke through the encirclement.
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"Haah! Haah! Haah! Haah!"
"Khrgh! Haah......!"
Eň umа̀
Gasps tore from their lungs as breath surged up their throats.
This was their first taste of an inferno like this.
Plenty of them had drained their stamina completely.
They had endured a staggering ordeal in an instant, and the toll was immense.
But we couldn't stop.
The moment we stopped, we'd be surrounded again.
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For now, we could only be grateful that we'd shaken off the killing intent of the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare and escaped.
I reminded them once more of the one absolute order.
"The Demonic Reaches! Just run until we reach the Demonic Reaches! We'll slow down after that!"
I didn't promise rest.
False hope would only make them push their bodies, only to collapse all the faster.
I simply made them understand that we were doing everything we could, thrashing and flailing through the despair—and that thrashing was the only thing we needed to do, the only thing we could do.
Е̂ñ u mǎ .і.d́
To keep their bodies moving ceaselessly, with no room for any other thought.
"Y-Young Master Jin. Those people from earlier......"
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See, this is exactly why people who let their minds wander always cause trouble.
"Il-gak. Everything waits until this is over."
"......"
Anyone with half-decent instincts had probably already figured it out.
Ėṅ ǔ m̂ӓ. id
What kind of martial arts those enemies had trained in.
It was too deliberate, too vivid to dismiss as a mistake or a coincidence—this demonic qi was thick and unmistakably repulsive.
"Right now, who the enemy is doesn't matter at all. Staying alive no matter what—that's the only thing that matters."
Did anyone think the encirclement was the end of it?
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If so, the deserters wouldn't have fired that red signal flare.
There would be countermeasures for whatever came next, and countermeasures after that.
We b̀n̄ о vе̂l̀ Е̃ ñ_ūm̈ а
I turned my head to look at the Fifth Battalion. The battalion where most of my squad members were assigned.
As I ran, my eyes met Eun-ho's.
Fortunately, his expression was solemn and serious.
Even Eun-ho couldn't perfectly mask his feelings.
'Please be all right......'
With that thought, I banished all further concern for my squad from my mind.
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If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to save them all.
What I was about to say was hardly appropriate for people who had just been through hell, but some things had to be said regardless.
"Don't stop! Survival is straight ahead!"
"""Sir!"""
Unlike when we had first set out, answers rang out from every direction.
A single clash had been enough to teach them.
W е b.n o v̇е̂ľ E ñumа̌
What sect they belonged to, what position they held at the Academy—none of it mattered anymore.
The same went for me.
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Not this life's Black Flame Dragon.
It was time to become the previous life's meat shield.
***
"Three jang ahead! Five-jang radius centered on that thicket!"
Wé_b n̂о vе l Ĕnǔ m̈ а̇
At my shout, the First Battalion soldiers readied their palm force in unison.
"Fire!"
On the signal, they simultaneously discharged their palm force.
Not too strong, not too weak.
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The Natural Formation shattered in one blow, clearing a path for the academy students.
Revealing our position to the enemy was a risk, but what choice did we have?
E ǹ ům а
Without doing this, there was no way to lead this many people forward.
"Haah, haah, haah!"
As expected, several people collapsed from exhaustion after destroying the Natural Formation.
Just then.
"Time to rotate!"
Second Captain Nam Hwa-seong's shout rang out, and the First Battalion soldiers fell back.
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It was nothing compared to proper Qi Circulation, but a drop in the bucket was still something.
Without using movement arts, they could at least recover a small amount of inner arts while jogging at the rear.
"......Jin So-un, fall back!"
Nam Hwa-seong spoke to me with worry in his voice.
Of course I wanted to rest too.
I was using Moving Circulation, but I'd burned through far too much inner arts breaking the encirclement.
E̊ n̄ ům̈а. і́ d́
But......
"Don't give orders to your Commander. Impudent bastard."
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The real concern was finding the path.
"......There are pathfinders too. You can rest a little."
And right now, the forest was crawling with Demonic Cult bastards.
Reading the spirit veins alone would be manageable, but we also needed to be prepared for demonic practitioners who could leap out at any moment.
Ё n̆ u m а̂
The Southern Fist Sect members were actually somewhat lacking in sensory perception on that front.
So I had to hold this position.
"I'm fine. Don't worry."
"Shit, if you collapse, that's on you. I'll leave your ass behind, just so you know."
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"You do realize you can't say 'shit' to your Commander, right?"
"If you want to discipline me, make damn sure you survive first."
W éb n о̇ ṽе l̃ Е̄ n̆ u m а
What a funny bastard.
The strangest way to show encouragement.
Il-gak and the First Battalion soldiers fell back, and Second Battalion soldiers began filling in beside me.
"Anyone who still has energy, step forward. We need to smash through the Natural Formations."
"You all right, Commander? You look like hell."
"Maybe you should go rest in the back for a bit. You've been pushing way too hard since earlier......"
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Probably because I was caked head to toe in the blood of demonic practitioners and the carcasses of demonic beasts.
"I'm still fine. Don't worry."
"Stubborn as a mule......"
Such defiant insubordination toward the Commander.
Just as I was deliberating whether to dole out punishment on the spot, the fellow pulled a small wooden case from his breast.
"You've got a gash on your shoulder. It won't heal right away, but put this on it for now. If it gets infected, you might have to lose the arm."
Е̊n̆_u mā .і d̄
Sure enough, there was a long sword wound across my shoulder.
When had I gotten that?
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I accepted the wooden case.
"I'll put it to good use."
"......If the Commander loses an arm, he can't lead from the front anymore."
Saying that, he ran half a step ahead of me.
W еb̃ńoṽе̇l .En̂ u m̊ ã
Why can't Righteous Path Association people ever just be honest?
'Focus!'
Now was not the time to get distracted.
I gripped my sword, channeled inner force, and swung.
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Smashed through Natural Formations, cut down demonic beasts, and kept moving forward.
THWACK! THWACK! CRASH! CRASH!
W̌е̂ḃ n ӧ v̈еl̆ Е́nûmа
The First and Second Battalions took turns clearing the path.
Without a moment to recover their spent stamina.
How long had we been running when I sensed it—a sickening presence.
"They're coming," I called out in a low voice.
I hadn't thought for a moment that the enemy would give up just because their encirclement was broken.
Of course they'd have prepared their next move.
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"......Haah, haah, haah."
The face of the man running at the very front went deathly pale.
He seemed unable to breathe, his expression contorted in pain, and veins bulged grotesquely across his skin.
'This is......'
Demonic qi poisoning.
I had seen it countless times in my previous life.
Ё n̄ ûm̀ӑ
'Even accounting for exhaustion, poisoning symptoms this severe......'
Were there more dangerous enemies out there than I'd estimated?
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As night fell over the Black Forest, the darkness that descended was far thicker than usual.
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