Episode 86: Encountering the Black Mist (2)
Light Novel: Volume 4 Chapter 4
Manhwa: Chapter 67
Chapter 4. Encountering the Black Mist (2)
Lee Gwak gave up on the Silver Sword Squad.
An ally who is not on the same page is just as fearsome as a brave enemy. Lee Gwak clearly realized that truth through this experience.
Each member of the Silver Sword Squad might possess great martial prowess, but they were not familiar with this type of battle.
In contrast, the unidentified enemies knew how to fight properly. They shrunk the movement range of the Silver Sword Squad by firing arrows from a distance, then tore them apart and isolated them one by one.
Watching them pounce on the isolated warriors of the Silver Sword Squad in groups of twos and threes like hungry beasts until they finally brought them down was horrifying enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
Lee Gwak and Squad 13 broke away from the battlefield while protecting Lim Sobo.
Their decision was quick, and their actions were even faster.
They spurred their horses into a mad dash.
The Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad noticed their escape too late and gave chase, but they could not match the breakneck speed of horses that had already gained momentum.
The place Lee Gwak was headed for was none other than Iron Coffin Gorge.
There was no way to shake off the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad by normal means anyway. In that case, just as Lim Sobo had suggested, making a stand and making a barricade at Iron Coffin Gorge was the best option.
“Oh… Brother!”
Lim Sobo’s lips trembled as she rode her horse.
She hadn’t expected Lee Gwak to so boldly abandon the Silver Sword Squad.
The Lee Gwak she knew was a warm and compassionate person. He was not the type of person who would abandon someone so easily. That’s why she didn’t think he would give up the Silver Sword Squad so quickly.
But there was not a trace of hesitation on Lee Gwak’s face. His gaze was resolute.
She had always seen Lee Gwak as a man who always wore a faint, gentle smile. So it felt strangely unfamiliar to see this side of him.
‘Maybe… this is Brother Gwak’s true self…’
The thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Lee Gwak’s mind was clearer than ever.
Though his heart pounded hotly, his rational mind remained calm and unshaken.
Even Lee Gwak himself was surprised by it.
‘We can’t protect everyone with just a siege.’
In that short clash between the Silver Sword Squad and the enemies, Lee Gwak was able to glean quite a bit of information.
First, that the ambushers were extremely skilled in this kind of operation. Second, that their strength was far greater than expected.
And lastly, the third, there was someone orchestrating all of this from behind the scenes. And that person had yet to appear on the battlefield.
By observing the subordinates, one could tell the nature of their leader.
The ambushers cruelly mocked the Silver Sword Squad before hunting them down. No doubt, their leader shared that same disposition.
Lee Gwak suddenly looked behind him.
He couldn’t see his pursuers with the naked eye. But Lee Gwak knew. That they were tracking them from afar.
Like bloodhounds following a scent, they were tracing the faint tracks left behind by Lee Gwak and his group.
It was impossible to shake them off by normal means.
Just as Lim Sobo had said, they had to take refuge in Iron Coffin Gorge first.
Lee Gwak and Squad 13 rode like mad and finally arrived at Iron Coffin Gorge.
Lim Sobo swiftly leapt off her horse and addressed the members of Squad 13.
“We’ll set up the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation. Quickly, gather straight tree trunks and stones. We need twenty stones about the size of my body.”
“Understood.”
Squad 13 answered and immediately began moving.
Meanwhile, Lim Sobo pulled several iron stakes engraved with strange characters from her robes. These small stakes were the key components that would serve as the medium of the formation.
She quickly scanned the terrain and handed the stakes to Cheon-wol.
“Drive these into the ground two inches deep right here.”
Cheon-wol drove the iron stakes into the ground as she instructed.
Some were driven deep, others into what seemed like strange and arbitrary spots. Cheon-wol did not know the logic behind it, but he obeyed Lim Sobo’s orders without a word.
By then, Squad 13 had gathered the rocks and wood.
They placed them at the spots Lim Sobo had marked. At first glance, it looked haphazard, but a profound principle lay beneath that seeming disorder.
“Phew! Now, if I just drive this into the Heavenly Center…”
Lim Sobo planted the final iron stake into the heart of the formation. At once, thick mist billowed up at the entrance of Iron Coffin Gorge.
“This is a formation?”
“Whoa!”
Squad 13 was startled by the sudden fog.
Lim Sobo spoke to them.
“Quick, get inside. It’s a makeshift formation, but it’ll buy us some time.”
“Alright!”
“Everyone, get in.”
Squad 13 hurriedly entered Iron Coffin Gorge. But Lee Gwak remained still and did not move.
Seok Yi-cheon shouted at Lee Gwak.
“What are you doing? Hurry and get inside!”
“Go on ahead. I still have something to do.”
“…Got it. Come in quickly.”
At Lee Gwak’s resolute words, Seok Yi-cheon entered the mist with a helpless expression.
Now alone, Lee Gwak lifted the hem of his brown windbreaker and began searching for something. A moment later, what emerged in his hand was a set of tiny steel needles.
They were items he had obtained from the Yin Family Weapon House before arriving here.
The Cloud Mist Ghost Formation was a formation that combined illusions and mazes as its base. Although it had some lethal power, it was minimal and its true value lay in scattering the enemy’s senses and buying time.
Lim Sobo had set up the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation solely to buy time. She never believed it could actually block or harm the enemy.
“If it were a standard Cloud Mist Ghost Formation, that would be true but…”
Lim Sobo didn’t know much about it, but Lee Gwak was very familiar with the Unmugui Formation. Although he wasn’t as skilled and deeply versed as her to be able to deploy it in an instant, he knew the general concept and how to break it from Lim Ji-moon, Lim Sobo’s younger brother.
When it came to formations, Lim Ji-moon was a genius even Lim Sobo couldn’t match.
At one point, he had casually explained to Lee Gwak how to utilize the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation.
Lee Gwak pulled down a tree branch that stretched toward the sky. He tied a steel needle to the end of the curved branch and secured it with a piece of string he had prepared in advance.
In some places, he scattered the needles across the ground and in other places, he planted them atop rocks.
In an instant, he had used up nearly half of the steel needles he brought. Yet Lee Gwak left without hesitation.
Right after he vanished into the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation, a group of people appeared. They were the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad, who had been tracking their trail.
At the forefront of the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad was him.
“Tch! They’ve set up a formation already? How cheeky.”
He said the words with a sneer, but his eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
The annihilation of the Silver Sword Squad had taken mere moments. The Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad brutally slaughtered the Silver Sword Squad like a pack of wolves tearing through a herd of sheep.
But by the time they finished slaughtering the Silver Sword Squad, Lim Sobo and Squad 13 had already escaped the battlefield.
It was something that neither he nor the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad had expected. The fact caught them off guard and almost amused them.
“She’s quite the cunning wench. Quick to make decisions, too.”
Not only had they chosen to retreat, but they had even set up a formation. This meant that her decision was not made on the spur of the moment.
“But this makeshift formation won’t stop us.”
He gestured to his subordinates.
Then, the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad charged into the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation all at once.
They had no way of knowing what dangers lay within. An ordinary person would naturally be terrified. However, there wasn’t a shred of hesitation in their actions as they jumped into the formation.
As soon as they stepped into the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation, the scenery changed. A world of pale gray mist unfolded, and their sense of direction became distorted. Still, they pressed on without pause.
The best way to break through a formation was to understand its principle and then eliminate the mediums powering it one by one.
But people with that level of mastery over formations were rare. The same was true for the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad. So they chose the next best option.
That was to break through the formation with brute force.
It was impossible for one person, but not for a group of dozens.
Shhh-shh-shhk!
The group clustered together, driving through the pale mist in a wedge formation.
They had mastered a highly specialized internal energy technique.
The Heart-Soul Unified Technique.
It was a demonic art that allowed dozens of people to share their senses as one.
Because dozens of senses were being shared simultaneously, their perception range broadened significantly and became exceptionally sensitive but there was a downside.
That was the erosion of one’s humanity.
Even the sect that originally developed the Heart-Spirit Unified Technique did not recommend its practice. But the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad had no hesitation in learning it. That was because its effectiveness was great enough to outweigh the side effects.
By sharing their senses through the Heart-Spirit Unified Technique, they were able to navigate through the thick mist without losing their way.
At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before they broke through the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation.
It was then that something unexpected happened.
Thwuk!
“Gah!”
A martial artist at the front, breaking through the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation, let out a low groan. A sharp steel needle was now jutting out from the top of his foot.
He had stepped on one of the needles Lee Gwak had set.
That was the signal.
Pew-pew-pew!
Steel needles flew through the air like hidden weapons, striking at the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad.
The Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad, whose senses had been entirely focused on breaking through the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation, was caught off guard by the sudden ambush and unable to react.
In the end, three or four martial artists suffered serious wounds from the needles.
“To think we’d fall for such crude traps…”
He frowned as he looked at his wounded subordinates.
Under normal circumstances, they would never have been caught by such a primitive trap. But when combined with the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation, it became significantly more threatening.
In the end, they had no choice but to slow their advance because they had to pay attention to the traps set by Lee Gwak. As a result, by the time they finally made it out of the formation, a considerable amount of time had passed.
Before they could even catch their breath, they attempted to press forward but another trap formation blocked their path.
While they were wasting time inside the Cloud Mist Ghost Formation, Lim Sobo had set up another formation.
For the first time, expressions of frustration appeared on the faces of the Black Deathly Ghost Mist Squad.
He gritted his teeth.
“That little wench…”
* * *
When Lim Sobo deployed a trap formation, Lee Gwak used his knowledge of mechanisms to set traps. Given the limited space and materials, the traps were inevitably crude but because he placed them at critical locations, their effectiveness was greatly amplified.
“Hoo!”
Lim Sobo let out a sigh and collapsed on the spot. Her entire body was soaked in sweat.
She had exhausted her mental energy by deploying five trap formations in quick succession.
It might have looked simple from the outside, but in truth, it required extremely complex and precise calculations. Because of that, her brain had been pushed to its absolute limits.
It felt like her brain was melting, and Lim Sobo could barely stay conscious. But she held on through sheer force of will.
Beside her, Cheon-wol looked on with a worried expression.
“Can I lean on you for a bit…?”
At her words, Cheon-wol silently offered his shoulder. She leaned on Cheon-wol’s shoulder and breathed heavily.
Lee Gwak said to Lim Sobo.
“You’ve worked hard. Get some rest now.”
“Brother…”
Lim Sobo barely managed to lift her head to look at him. Her eyes were filled with exhaustion as she looked at Lee Gwak. She was on the verge of fainting from mental exhaustion.
“Close your eyes for a bit.”
“You think… we can hold out?”
“We’ll hold out.”
Perhaps comforted by his answer, a faint smile formed on her lips. Then she lost consciousness.
Cheon-wol quickly caught her collapsing body.
“Sobo!”
“She just drained all her energy. She’ll be fine.”
“Brother?”
“Take good care of her.”
“Yes, sir!”
Cheon-wol nodded vigorously.
Lee Gwak left the two behind and walked over to the other squad members.
Squad 13 looked completely drained as well.
They, too, had exhausted their strength following Lim Sobo’s orders. Only Ki Jinhwi still looked unscathed.
Lee Gwak looked at them for a moment, then turned his gaze to the front.
Before him was a pitch-black curtain of darkness. It was an illusion conjured by the formation Lim Sobo had deployed.
It was the final trap formation meant to protect Lim Sobo and Squad 13.
If even this trap formation collapsed, there would be nothing left to protect them.
Ki Jinhwi approached Lee Gwak.
“Squad leader! How long do you think we can hold out?”
“At shortest, half a day. At most, a full day.”
“Damn it.”
Ki Jinhwi sighed deeply at Lee Gwak’s answer.
He scratched his head for a moment before looking at Lee Gwak again. Lee Gwak noticed the change in his eyes.
His gaze had sharpened as if he had become a different person entirely. Gone was the usual playful expression.
“Squad leader!”
“Speak.”
“Are you just going to sit back and watch?”
His question carried a lot of meaning.
Lee Gwak silently stared at the trap formation.
His eyes pierced into the space beyond that pitch-black darkness.
The enemies were drawing closer, breaking through the trap formations one by one.
Lee Gwak realized he had come to a crossroads.
Should he live as a dog hiding its teeth, or live as a wolf baring its sharp fangs?
And Lee Gwak made his choice.
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