Chapter 398: Rise to the Five Strongest Warriors (1)

Around five miles away from the Jin Castle were the Bihyeon mountains.

Several trees were standing on the peak of the mountain.

Among those trees was a person who elegantly tiptoed on a branch of the tallest pine tree.

It was an unidentified man wearing a long black robe and a bamboo hat.

He was standing on a branch for around half an hour and was looking at some place, not taking his eyes off of said place.

The direction of Jin Castle was the place where the man in the black robe was looking towards.

‘It is too far away so I can’t get a good look.’

This man was being looked at by another man from below.

A man with bandages on his face was standing right underneath the pine tree.

Even without standing on the branches, just being on the peak of the mountain was enough to see the vast land below.

However, everything was so small that even the people looked like fine dust.

‘Is he really able to see the Jin Castle?’

He had a strong belief in his skills, but no matter how hard he focused, nothing could be seen well.

Seeing Jin Castle felt strange.

But seeing that the man on the branch’s gaze never fell off of Jin Castle, it seemed like he could see something.

It was a moment of wondering what he could actually see.

Bang!

‘Huh?’

The man on the branch soon came down from the pine tree.

He didn’t just come down normally, he smashed the tree to reach the ground.

“Bl-Blade Lord.”

Shockingly, the true identity of the man on the branch was Blade Lord, the head of the Blade God Six Martial clan.

He had personally come to this place to observe the battle which took place in the castle.

Blade Lord opened his mouth and spoke to the flustered man in bandages.

“We are heading back.”

When he revealed his intention to head back, the bandaged man’s eyes were filled with confusion.

Had the great event proceeded according to the original plan, Blade Lord wouldn’t have had such a neutral reaction.

“Blade Lord. If there was a setback in the plan, how about we send in our slaughter squad?”

“… it was an utter defeat. No matter who we send, we won’t get the desired results.”

“De-defeat?”

The man in bandages couldn’t hide his shock.

The plan was something that everyone put in lots of effort into for a long time.

From manipulating the eldest prince of the Imperial Palace to planting the spies in the clans of Yulin, everything was the groundwork for this day.

“Huh… how could that happen…”

If this was a failure, then the wrath of Blade Lord couldn’t be expressed in words.

The bandaged man trembled in fear.

A calm voice responded to the bandaged man who was extremely scared.

“It doesn’t matter. I managed to obtain something more important.”

After hearing those words, the eyes of the bandaged man lit up.

The reaction he received was completely different to what he initially thought he would see.

Blade Lord’s voice seemed elevated, pleased even.

To the man who was puzzled, Blade Lord spoke.

“Because I finally found him.”

“Him?”

“The Demon God!”

The eyes of Blade Lord, who looked through the bamboo hat, flashed.

A few hours later.

The noises in the Jin castle, which were full of screams and wails of the warriors, finally subsided.

Inside the Jin Castle, which was devastated by the war, it reeked of blood.

People couldn’t help but frown at the number of corpses lying on the castle floor.

The number of veterans who died were close to 600 and the number of the wounded was well over 1000. It could be called the largest battle that took place in the past ten years.

And the winner of the battle were the allied forces of the Demonic Cult and Yulin.

The leaders of the Forces of Evil and the Forces of Great Heaven‘s organization were the only ones who survived this brutal battle.

“Kuek! Kill me! I said kill me!”

“Goodness. How could I ever kill you? You will have to pay for the evil deeds you committed.”

People tried to commit suicide because of their subordinates who died, but they were caught before they could kill themselves. Yulin always had their eyes on the Forces of Evil.

Unlike the Forces of Evil, the battle of the Blade God Six Martial clan ended rather terrifyingly.

It wasn’t because the warriors of the Demonic Cult had no mercy.

“… they are awful people.”

“They didn’t leave anyone behind?”

The Six Swords, including Ko Wanghur and Bakgi, trembled at the sight.

The corpses they were looking at had their heads blown off.

Most of the warriors of the Blade God Six Martial clan died on the battlefield, but the warriors of the Demonic Cult succeeded in capturing eight of them, as well as one master.

However, all of a sudden, their heads swelled up and exploded at the same time.

Something that was planted in their heads seemed to have activated at the same time which is the reason why they all died together.

‘They are quite thorough.’

That even made the Great Guardian Marakim go stiff.

The behavior of the Blade God Six Martial Clan was very strange. Whoever led them made absolutely sure that nobody is ever able to get caught or leak any information.

What was the information that they were afraid of revealing?

‘But even they must not have expected this.’

His two eyes looked at someone.

Crrk!

There was still an old man with a bald head with a flinching body due to the shocks. Not only was his hair gone, even his eyebrows had burned to a crisp.

The pain and agony that man was going through was truly terrifying.

Both of his arms were torn apart and black blood was dripping out of the corners of his mouth.

Noh Do-kyung the Fire Sword Master.

“This… this monster…”

Noh Do-kyung, who looked like a person who lost his reasoning and soul, kept muttering those words.

What was worthwhile was when everyone’s heads began to explode, Chun Yeowun succeeded in removing the worm from his head.

The dried up black blood was proof of that.

‘How far ahead does the power of the current Lord reach?’

As he had always felt, Chun Yeowun was quite different from the other Lords.

He couldn’t figure out where the limit was.

He began to expect that his wishes of witnessing the second Chun Ma might end up becoming true. Maybe Chun Yeowun really was the second generation Chun Ma.

Meanwhile the Yulin and the Demonic Cult were in conflict over one last issue.

Nam Gung-kyong who survived.

Hu Bong managed to cut off the arm of Nam Gung-kyong who tried to escape.

Coincidentally Leader Moyong Kang was on top of the castle wall too. That’s how he was able to stop Hu Bong.

“He was caught by us. Even if we are in an alliance, you need to follow the rules. How can you force us to hand over our prisoner to you?”

The Yulin didn’t want to give up Nam Gung-kyong.

It was already a shock knowing the role of Nam Gung-kyong.

Nam Gung-kyong was a leader of the organization, something which he created behind the backs of Yulin, and was secretly joining hands with the Blade God Six Martial clan in the battle.

‘If we let them take him, the secrets within our Yulin factions will be revealed.’

‘Besides, if we hand him over to the Demonic Cult, the probability of finding information and misusing it would increase. We shouldn’t let this happen.’

‘… the information from the organization needs to be used only for the sake of Yulin factions.’

All the people of the Forces of Great Heaven died in battle.

And the only surviving man of the organization had to be killed on the spot as he was an enemy. He couldn’t be used as a prisoner.

“You people caught him?”

“Yes.”

Hong Pilwoo responded.

To them, Hu Bong was someone who was aiming to take away the life of Nam Gung-kyong.

It was funny for Hu Bong to hear that the Yulin leaders were trying to take credit for catching the wounded man.

“Excuse me, Leader Nam Gung-kyong. Didn’t you run away because I cut your arm with my sword?”

Hu Bong asked Nam Gung-kyong, who was bound by ropes and held captive.

At that, without even making eye contact, Nam Gung-kyong mumbled.

“There was no such thing.”

“Hah! The cut on your arm must have burned too, can’t you get yourself to remember that? You are one hell of a spineless man.”

Hu Bong’s face turned red as he slowly began to get annoyed.

If it wasn’t for the sake of alliance, his hands, which were twitching, would have already killed the man.

“I was caught by leader Moyong Kang and Hong Pilwoo, I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Nam Gung-kyong spoke awkwardly as his real identity was revealed.

However, Nam Gung-kyong had no other option but to side with the Yulin.

‘I should never get taken in by those men.’

The Demonic Cult would rip him open to know everything about the organization and his death would be the obvious result. He would be tortured so they would get the information they wanted.

“Still, weren’t you the one who got him, Hu Bong?”

“Lord.”

When Hu Bong was getting annoyed, Chun Yeowun came towards them after capturing Noh Do-kyung.

Unlike when dealing with Hu Bong, the moment Chun Yeowun appeared, the Leaders turned stiff.

‘Even if it is the Lord of Demonic Cult we shouldn’t just hand him over.’

‘His power is not normal.’

They were both terrified in their hearts because they were looking at a monster with their very own eyes. However, the loss they would face from losing Nam Gung-kyong was too great.

‘Great Leader!’

Hong Palwoo, a leader, glanced in the direction of Great Leader Yi Mok, asking for help.

And he came forward, as it was only appropriate for the leaders of each side to have a conversation.

‘Hmm…’

Nam Gung-kyong sent a telepathic message to Yi Mok.

[I apologize! If I get taken over, the information of the organization and the secrets within the faction will all fall into the hands of the Demonic Cult… if that happens, not only the Forces of Justice but the entire Yulin will be in great danger, are you fine with that?]

The reason why the leaders were going so far to protect him was because they heard the same message from Nam Gung-kyong too.

While contemplating what to do, when he heard that voice, Yi Mok seemed to make up his mind.

‘There is truth in the words of Nam Gung-kyong.’

It felt dangerous to let the Demonic Cult know more about the information of the Yulin faction.

Even then, the battle just proved that the Demonic Cult was a lot stronger than before.

‘If we let him get any more powerful, balance within the three major factions may be completely disrupted.’

Great Leader Yi Mok, who was struggling, finally decided to help.

To not let Nam Gung-kyong be taken. That was the decision Yi Mok came to.

Pak!

Yi Mok, who made up his mind, stepped out in front of the leaders and spoke to Chun Yeowun boldly.

“Lord Chun, you can understand this, right?”

“Excuse me?”

“Even if your man managed to injure the leader, in the end, it was our two leaders who caught him, making sure that he didn’t escape. Considering this, you cannot deny that his life should be given to us. I can’t…”

“Phew.”

Before Yi Mok could finish speaking, Chun Yeowun sighed and pulled something with his hand.

Woong!

“Huk! B-body!”

The body of Nam Gung-kyong, who was behind the leaders, floated into the air and flew in the direction of Chun Yeowun.

Yi Mok grabbed him in the process.

Pak!

“Wh-what is this!”

He was getting angry due to the sudden action of Chun Yeowun.

Chun Yeowun didn’t even care and pulled him.

Woong!

‘What strength!’

The power was thrilling to feel.

Nam Gung-kyong was caught between the power of two major heads of Wulin, the Great Leader and the Lord of the Demonic Cult.

“Gre-great Leader! Don’t let go!”

However, even when Yi Mok tried to forcefully hold him, the gap in sheer power was too wide.

After not being able to hold on for too long, the clothes of Nam Gung-kyong suddenly tore off.

Tear!

“G-great leaderrrr!”

“This!”

Wheeing! Tear!

“Eiik!”

Nam Gung-kyong’s body soon flew around and got into Chun Yeowun’s hand.

Nam Gung-kyong, whose head was in Chun Yeowun’s hand, went pale not knowing what to do!

“W-what is this?”

“Leader Nam Gung-kyong!”

Chun Yeowun looked at Yi Mok and the leaders of the Forces of Justice with a cynical smile.

“You were saying that he belonged to the person who caught him, so this person’s life is now in my hands, right?