Episode 18
Crack!
“Kiiiiiik!”
The creature and I were moving at almost the same speed.
Maybe it realized it couldn’t catch me, because it suddenly stopped chasing and turned back.
It seemed like it was heading back to Bae Jong-gwan.
“Damn it!”
A sharp pain shot through the back of my head.
This beast had an annoyingly quick sense of the situation!
In the end, I had no choice but to turn back as well.
If I ran away completely, Bae Jong-gwan would die.
Right now, Bae Jong-gwan was swinging his whole body, fending off and trampling the Gan-gwi.
From the way he looked, it was like watching a massive bear taking down a pack of wolves.
The Gan-gwi’s teeth and claws couldn’t pierce Bae Jong-gwan’s tough body, and their brute strength was no match for his power.
But how long could that last?
Bae Jong-gwan wouldn’t be able to kill all the Gan-gwi, and over time, he would grow weaker.
So I couldn’t let the Ju-gwi reach Bae Jong-gwan either.
I lunged toward the Ju-gwi and shouted, “This way, you damn spider!”
As if waiting for that, it leapt at me.
It really had been waiting for this moment.
Shuhaaak!
“Ugh?!”
Its sharp claws slashed toward my chest.
There was no time to dodge.
Thunk!
The claws seemed to pierce through my chest.
Or at least, that’s what it looked like.
But what it actually pierced was my afterimage.
At the last moment, instinctively, I slipped my body away from its claws, breaking free.
Cold sweat ran down my back as I pushed forward, speeding up and running again.
Thanks to the Cheonpung Bo-beop technique from Bijungmun.
The ingrained, unconscious use of Cheonpung Bo-beop had saved my life.
Of course, I wasn’t completely safe yet.
“Kiiiiiik!”
With a face twisted in pure rage, the Ju-gwi started chasing me again.
Even in this desperate moment, I silently thanked Bisa-yeong.
‘Saying thanks, Saya! You saved me! If you bring the chief back before I die, I’ll call you “brother”!’
Screaming inside, I plunged back into the chase.
It was a strange pursuit, circling around Bae Jong-gwan, who was fighting off the Gan-gwi.
“Kiiiiiik!”
Some time passed.
Bae Jong-gwan was still playing the monster among the Gan-gwi, and I kept circling around them.
The Ju-gwi, who had nearly caught me several times but only grazed my clothes, now looked like it had lost its mind in rage.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
Now, I felt like I could understand the meaning behind the creature’s screams as it chased me.
‘If it catches me, it’ll kill me.’ That was probably what it meant.
So, looking at the situation so far, it wasn’t all bad.
I hadn’t killed the Ju-gwi or the Gan-gwi, but at least the status quo was holding.
But inside, I was far from okay.
The pressure to change something was weighing heavily on me.
Bae Jong-gwan’s movements were slowing down.
He was getting tired.
And honestly, so was I.
I thought I was good at sustaining the divine technique, but pushing myself to the limit like this was draining my stamina in a different way.
At this rate, even if Bisa-yeong arrived at the Thirteenth Generation and brought the chief here, I doubted I could hold out that long.
I needed another plan.
‘What do I do? How do I turn this around? What advantage do I have over that thing?’
I compared myself to the creature coldly.
Only its overwhelming abilities came to mind.
Physical prowess beyond even the top masters.
Skin so tough that even a sword wouldn’t easily pierce it.
Sure, a sword might get into its eyes or mouth, but a creature that could rival the best masters wouldn’t just take that.
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t even have time to swing my sword.
If it caught me, I’d be dead instantly.
If I had to find any advantage, it was that I could think strategically—and that it hadn’t fully adapted to the Hwan Sword yet.
But I wasn’t confident I could use the Hwan Sword more than twice more.
If I used it once more, it would probably adapt.
I cursed silently.
‘Damn it! Better to meet the Hyo-gwi at night than the Ju-gwi in broad daylight!’
Then suddenly, a thought struck me.
‘Wait, Hyo-gwi at night, Ju-gwi during the day?’
I pictured the terrain around us.
There had to be something here…
Maybe a way.
It was a gamble, but…
Still, at least there was something to try.
I grinned despite the urgency and glanced back at the Ju-gwi trailing me with its beastly face.
‘Alright, first things first.’
I changed direction.
Thud!
A Gan-gwi that Bae Jong-gwan had just thrown was rolling on the ground.
As I suddenly charged toward the creature, the Gan-gwi instinctively swung its arm at me.
Whoosh!
I lowered my body to the ground, slipping past the attack like air, and successfully slipped past the Ju-gwi’s side.
Long live Cheonpung Sinbeop.
Glancing back, I saw the Ju-gwi was just about to collide with the Gan-gwi.
Good!
I clenched my fist, but it was useless.
Pwah!
The Ju-gwi tore through the Gan-gwi’s body in an instant and immediately resumed chasing me.
Startled, I sped up again.
“Waaah!”
Shuak!
I felt its arm brush past the back of my hair.
Goosebumps rose.
Damn!
I thought I could put some distance between us, but one Gan-gwi wasn’t enough.
Gritting my teeth, I searched for my next target.
Alright, this time!
I charged into a group of three Gan-gwi.
As I ran straight at them, three arms swung wildly, aiming for me.
“Kraaang!”
My mind sharpened to a razor’s edge, intensely focused.
The arms’ trajectories were so clear it felt like time slowed.
Let’s do this!
I tilted my body sideways, slipping past an arm swinging down diagonally from my left.
Whoosh!
Next came a horizontal slash.
Shuuwuung!
I ducked low to avoid it, then sprang up like a dolphin.
Crack!
At that moment, the third Gan-gwi’s claw grazed my toes.
Shhaak!
‘Made it!’
I cheered silently.
I had slipped through the attacks of three Gan-gwi by the slimmest margin.
This was something I hadn’t even attempted in my previous life as a top-tier master.
At least in terms of divine techniques, I had definitely improved.
And just as I expected, the Ju-gwi couldn’t pass through the three Gan-gwi so easily.
Pwah!
“Kyaaaak!”
“Kkyaaaak!”
Thud!
It easily tore two of them apart with its claws, but the collision with the last one slowed it down.
That was my chance.
Using the brief opening, I slashed its hand with my sword and splattered blood across its face.
Chaaak!
The creature, its face drenched in my blood, now followed me like a completely enraged beast.
I grinned and leapt forward.
Good! Come and get me!
I kept running deeper into the forest.
The furious creature no longer thought about returning to Bae Jong-gwan; it was focused solely on chasing me.
“Kiiiiiik!”
Its terrifying scream felt like it was right behind my head.
Just a little more! Just a little further!
Soon, a rocky mountain came into view.
This was the place I had aimed for.
With the creature behind me, I flew up to the mountainside and without hesitation, dove into a cave halfway up.
“Entering!”
I shouted loudly as I pressed deeper inside.
I already knew it was a fairly deep cave.
“Kiiiiiik!”
The creature’s screams echoed throughout the cave.
The reverberation drowned out my own sounds, which I was oddly grateful for.
The deeper I went, the more the light disappeared.
Complete darkness.
I took a deep breath and then sliced my palm, letting the blood drip as I wildly splattered it against the cave walls.
I kept moving forward.
The Hyo-gwi was active at night, but the Ju-gwi was a daytime hunter.
So naturally, the Ju-gwi’s main sense wasn’t hearing but sight.
But in a place like this, where there was no light, it would be left with only its sense of smell.
Just like now.
Bang! Kraaang!
I heard the Ju-gwi smashing the cave walls.
It must have charged at the wall where I had splattered blood.
I smiled.
I had successfully thrown off its senses.
Now it couldn’t see me.
Well, of course, I couldn’t see it either, which was the problem.
I stopped moving, closed my eyes, and stood still.
Then I tried to calm my mind as much as possible.
In my previous life, I had trained my senses by walking around with my eyes closed, like Seolpung Jo-jang.
I wanted to become a Jo-jang who could perceive the surroundings as clearly as the palm of my hand, day or night.
Of course, I had failed back then.
My senses had sharpened a lot, but I could never quite reach the level of a Jo-jang.
And in this life, I hadn’t even started training yet.
There were too many other things to work on.
Standing still, I slowly extended my bleeding palm forward.
Then I tried to sense the creature’s movements.
Putting my life on the line for something I’d never succeeded at before was reckless, no doubt.
If I failed again, I’d probably die.
‘But what other choice do I have?’
I thought, and smiled.
Bang! Bang bang!
The sound of that thing smashing through the cave walls was getting closer and closer. I swallowed hard.
Sun Woo-jin.
Stay calm. Don’t rush.
If you rush, you’ll fail for sure.
I tried to slow my breathing and focus on sensing it.
Its position, its movements, even its shape.
But all I could picture in my mind was darkness.
Pitch black, utterly empty darkness.
And now, it seemed to have stopped charging toward the scent of blood. The closer it got to me, the less it smashed the walls.
So I couldn’t even tell where it was by sound anymore.
Where is it? Where could it be?
Had it already pinpointed my location?
A jumble of thoughts swirled chaotically in my head.
I exhaled slowly.
I tried to wash away all my impatience and distractions with my breath.
And just like Captain Seolpung had told me before, I focused only on blending with everything around me.
Calmly, comfortably.
Like the air, like the rocks.
Then, in that moment—
I felt something moving toward my palm.
It was reaching out, trying to stab its claw into my open hand.
I flinched.
Quickly, I pulled my palm back and thrust the sword I held in my right hand forward with all my strength.
Thrust!
I felt it sink deep into something.
Then, a horrible scream tore through the air.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
It was the creature’s scream.
I’d done it!
A surge of overwhelming joy flooded my mind.
There was only one place on its body I could stab with my sword.
And I’d succeeded in driving the blade into its eye.
I did it. I really did it!
For a top-tier fighter with incredible physical ability and reflexes like that thing, stabbing its eye with my skill was basically impossible.
At least, in the light.
But I’d dragged it into the darkness where it couldn’t see me—and made it happen.
I felt like I was going to lose my mind from happiness.
But I held back my triumphant shout, dropped the sword, and immediately stepped back. The creature was thrashing wildly.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Carefully avoiding its flailing, I dashed back toward the cave’s entrance.
I could clearly feel it writhing in pain on the cave floor behind me, not chasing after.
The cave had felt so vast when I entered, but I was back at the entrance in no time.
The sunlight streaming in from outside never felt so precious.
As soon as I stepped out, I ran straight to Bae Jong-gwan.
He was panting hard, clearly exhausted, but when he saw me, his face lit up with a bright, pure smile—like sunlight itself.
I shouted at him with all my strength.
“Jong-gwan! It’s time to go!”
Then, charging at the lesser demons that were closing in on him, I slammed my body into them with all my might.
“Hah! Iron Starfall!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
This time, I didn’t leave him behind. And the fact that we could finally leave together almost brought tears to my eyes.
Really… I was so relieved.
Jong-gwan and I ran without looking back, leaving the lesser demons behind, and headed back to the Thirteenth Unit.
There was no way those demons could catch us while we were running like this.
On the way, we met Bi Sa-young, desperately running alongside Captain Seolpung.
His face was twisted and tear-streaked, but when he saw us unharmed, he looked stunned for a moment before scowling and cursing.
“You bastards! You really… you really…!”
Then, bowing his head low, he sobbed.
“…Thank you. Thank you, you damn bastards.”
Jong-gwan and I smiled warmly and embraced him.
Having survived thanks to the sacrifices of friends many times before, I could understand exactly how he felt.
After Bi Sa-young pulled himself together, we returned to face the lesser demons.
This time, I could watch Captain Seolpung’s massacre with a calm heart.
Every time he swung his sword, the lesser demons’ heads exploded one after another, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.
The creature I’d left in the cave was still writhing on the floor, it seemed.
Captain Seolpung had gone in alone to finish it off, and when he came back, the only thing he carried was the sword I’d stabbed into its eye.
I decided to keep my fight with that creature a secret.
No one would believe that someone of my rank had fought it, and more than that, I didn’t want to draw too much attention while my skills were still lacking.
In the end, I gained neither glory nor fame from this.
But I was more than satisfied.
Because the next day, I could train my external martial arts as usual with my friends, Bae Jong-gwan and Bi Sa-young.
That ordinary daily life felt more precious than anything.