Episode 17

We were running as if flying through the treetops, heading into the western forest.

Bae Jong-gwan shouted as he ran.

“Are we really okay going alone?!”

To which Bi Sa-young replied confidently,

“Why? Scared?”

“No, it’s not that, but the jungle’s been pretty dangerous lately, hasn’t it?”

“Hmph! With the three of us and our external martial arts and spiritual techniques, a pack of lesser demons is nothing now! And if things get bad, we can always run! Besides, the main demon is in the eastern forest, right?”

I agreed with her.

Lately, I wasn’t afraid of lesser demons—or even the more powerful ones.

Of course, the main demon only came out at night, so there was no need to worry about it now.

And I already knew that she had been killed by a pack of lesser demons.

So, as long as it wasn’t the main demon, even if we couldn’t defeat them, I was confident we could at least escape.

But setting aside our fearlessness toward the demons, searching for a single missing person in the jungle was no easy task.

Even after running for a while, we found nothing unusual.

Recalling my past life, I only remembered that the leaders had gone east to search for the main demon, and that something had happened in the western forest.

“Son So-jeo!”

“Son Ha-rang So-jeo! Are you nearby?!”

We called her name as we moved, but only startled birds took flight here and there—no sign of her.

Eventually, we stopped and I said to my friends,

“Let’s split up for now. Don’t go too far—keep a certain distance and spread out to search.”

Even though there was no guarantee she was exactly here, my friends nodded without hesitation.

I was grateful for that trust.

Then, suddenly, a woman’s piercing scream tore through the air.

It came from deeper in the forest.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Startled, we exchanged glances and immediately sprang into action. A woman’s scream in this jungle—it had to be Son So-jeo.

“Let’s go!”

My heart raced.

A scream meant she’d encountered something.

Probably a pack of lesser demons, but what if it was the main demon’s minions?

Since most of the main demon’s lieutenants wielded first-rate or higher martial power, it would be impossible for us to handle them.

But when we arrived, we sighed with both relief and despair.

Relief because it wasn’t the main demon’s minions or the main demon itself attacking her—it was, as expected, a pack of lesser demons.

Despair because…

“Ughhh! Diamond Meteor!”

Bae Jong-gwan charged at a pack of about twenty lesser demons.

His body slammed into them like a boulder launched from a catapult.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Kyaaaah!”

The demons scattered like pebbles, howling like beasts.

I followed, attacking the remaining demons.

“Hah!”

Wham! Wham!

The demons Bae Jong-gwan hadn’t finished off were sent flying by my palm strikes.

My fists moved like the wind, fierce as a typhoon—the Sunwoo family’s signature technique, the Gale Eighteen Beats.

Behind me, Bi Sa-young landed in front of the woman who looked like Son So-jeo.

But seeing her, Bi Sa-young bit her lip, unable to touch her.

“Damn it.”

She was already dead.

Her arms, legs, even torso were horribly torn apart by the demons.

Bi Sa-young muttered,

“We were a step too late.”

Huh? A step?

At that moment, something felt off.

Sure, we were late, considering the scream we heard earlier.

But…

“Haap!”

Thud!

I kicked a demon charging at me, sending it flying backward, then looked more closely at her body.

Bae Jong-gwan was swinging a demon’s leg like a club, fending off the others, giving me a moment.

But…

Something was strange.

No matter how many demons there were, could they have torn her apart that badly in such a short time?

Then, as I scanned her body, I noticed her neck was still intact.

Oddly, the demons hadn’t touched her neck or face—and there were four distinct holes in her neck.

Four holes?

No way!

I shouted urgently,

“Jong-gwan! Get back here right now! We have to run!”

My desperate voice made Bae Jong-gwan and Bi Sa-young look at me in confusion.

“We have to go now! The main demon is nearby!”

The four marks on Son So-jeo’s neck were bite marks I’d seen before—those of the main demon.

The main demon.

Why was it here?

But there was no time to question that.

We had to escape before it returned.

Just as I shouted for my friends to run and prepared to move, I froze.

Perched in a tree in the direction we’d come from was already it.

A naked Miao woman with dark skin was watching us, smiling.

Four sharp fangs protruded clearly from her mouth.

I muttered without realizing it,

“Damn it…”

The main demon.

The strongest demon alive, one even top masters struggled to face. It had already set its sights on us.

Bi Sa-young, who had spotted it too, whispered with a pale face,

“Look at it… it’s smiling at us? A demon, and it’s smiling.”

I swallowed hard.

I couldn’t even guess how intelligent it was.

But that wasn’t all.

Then it opened its mouth wide, smiling.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

The sound that came out was a chilling woman’s scream.

The same scream we’d heard earlier.

Bi Sa-young muttered, stunned,

“That scream… it was her? To lure us here?”

At that point, it was less a beast and more a yokai.

I gritted my teeth and quietly said,

“On three, we all run south. One, two, three! Go!”

At once, Bi Sa-young and I sprang forward.

Bae Jong-gwan threw off the demon he’d been holding and pushed off the ground.

We were confident that with our spiritual techniques, we could hold our own even against top masters.

So those lesser demons wouldn’t even come close to catching us.

But…

Crack!

As we pushed off the ground heading south, the demon also launched itself alongside us.

At nearly the same speed.

Startled, I pushed myself to run faster, but it kept pace beside us, maintaining the same distance, smiling at us.

A smile so chilling it sent shivers down my spine.

In the end, we had no choice but to stop.

Bi Sa-young asked me, her face pale,

“This can’t be. It’s too fast. What do we do? Should we split up?”

The three of us splitting up…

If I was honest, its speed was close to mine, but not quite as fast as Bi Sa-young.

So if we split, maybe two of us could survive.

But at least one would be sacrificed.

And that person was probably…

Suddenly, Bae Jong-gwan spoke up.

“Run, friends. I’ll hold it off.”

Behind him, I saw the pack of lesser demons charging at us like mad.

“Kyarrgh!”

“Kyaaah!”

And when I looked ahead, there was the main demon, grinning eerily.

In moments like this, the choice for those on the front lines was clear: one sacrifices themselves so the others might live.

That was the unspoken rule among frontline fighters.

Knowing this, Bi Sa-young couldn’t meet Bae Jong-gwan’s eyes, her fists clenched tightly, trembling.

To save even one of us, we had to let Bae Jong-gwan go first.

And my friend Bae Jong-gwan, as always, smiled simply and said,

“Take care of yourselves for me. You have to survive.”

He had done the same in our past lives.

Too weak to hold the line, he sent me away, then stayed behind with that same gentle smile and those words.

Something welled up inside me.

Blood trickled from my clenched lips.

Stay calm, Sunwoo Jin. You have to stay calm.

I assessed the situation as coldly as I could.

The pack of lesser demons was almost upon us, and for some reason, the main demon wasn’t attacking immediately, just watching us playfully.

There was no way the three of us could work together to overcome this happily.

The leaders had all gone east, so no one was coming to help.

So someone had to stay behind and buy time for the other two—or at least one—to survive.

It was unavoidable.

Having made up my mind, I said to Bae Jong-gwan,

“Jong-gwan, take care of the lesser demons.”

He smiled kindly and nodded.

“Alright, leave it to me. Hurry and go.”

But then I turned to Bi Sa-young.

“Go, Sa-young. I’ll handle the main demon.”

She lifted her head sharply, looking at me.

Bae Jong-gwan was shocked and shouted,

“W-what did you say?!”

I tried to analyze the main demon as calmly as possible.

Why wasn’t it attacking us right away?

I guessed it didn’t want to lose any of the three of us.

If not all three, then at least two.

If one of us was going to be left behind while the other two ran away, that bastard would chase after the two who fled.

And if those two split up, he’d catch one of them first, then come back for Bae Jong-gwan.

But there was no time to explain all that now.

I quietly drew my sword and gripped the blade tightly with my hand.

A sharp, searing pain shot through me as blood began to flow.

Sprinkling that blood toward the demonic beast, I shouted,

“Go! Sa-yeong! Bring the squad leader! Before I die!”

“Kiiiii!”

The creature’s face twisted horribly as it caught the scent of my blood. No matter how clever it was, once it smelled blood, it wouldn’t be able to hold back its savage instincts.

My horrified friends cried out,

“Jin!”

“What are you doing?!”

Now that the beast had caught my scent, there was no way I could run.

It would prioritize chasing me first.

Realizing what I’d done, Bae Jong-gwan threw himself into the oncoming horde of demons.

“Uaaah!”

Puff-puff-puff-puff-puff!

“Kieeeek!”

“Graaah!”

Then he shouted toward Bi Sa-yeong,

“Sa-yeong, go! Bring the squad leader and save Jin!”

Bi Sa-yeong gritted his teeth, groaning in pain.

“Ugh…”

Tears streamed down his bloodshot eyes.

He pushed off the ground and shouted,

“Don’t you dare die, you bastards! If you die, I’m coming with you!”

I grinned and lunged toward the demonic beast.

You idiot. Do you really think I’ll forgive you for something that stupid?

“Kyaaaah!”

The beast charged at me with the speed of a top-tier master.

“Hah!”

I unleashed my sword technique with all my strength.

The first strike of the Thirteen Divine Blades: Divine Response Ascension.

In an instant, a pale, misty sword aura spread out like massive wings, filling the space.

But those wings were easily torn apart by a single furious swipe from the beast.

“Kiiiiiik!”

Shuaak!

It was frustrating to see my sword technique broken so easily, but I hadn’t deployed it to fight him.

The moment the beast shattered my phantom blade, I had already leapt over his head and was running away.

Spotting me fleeing late, the beast let out a furious roar and gave chase.

“Kiiiiiik!”

That was exactly what I wanted.

No matter how much his physical abilities surpassed even the top masters, understanding the nature of a phantom blade required true martial skill.

I ran with all my might, dodging the beast on my tail, cheering silently in my heart.

‘I’m not staying behind because I want to die! I was confident in the plan!’

……

Well, to be honest, that was a lie.

I was just acting on impulse.

Why?

Because after coming back and swearing never to lose my friends again, if I left one behind once more, my second life would be a failure too.

And I wasn’t willing to live that kind of life again.