Ice Dragon of Namgung - Chapter 94

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 94
Namgung Geom went directly to the Clan Leader’s Hall and met with Namgung Pae.
He then asked to make a trip to Cheonju Mountain himself.
“Didn’t I already tell you it cannot be done?”
Namgung Pae spoke with finality.
“The warriors from the Biryong Division who went to Cheonju Mountain weigh on my mind.”
Namgung Geom did not yield.
Their gazes locked in midair, taut as drawn strings.
Heavy silence filled the Clan Leader’s Hall.
Namgung Pae sighed, then spoke.
“Do you not consider the danger to yourself?”
“I will gladly bear any risk for the warriors of our clan.”
At Namgung Geom’s answer, Namgung Pae’s brow furrowed.
“And I am not as weak as your concern suggests. I have the skill to protect myself.”
It was no arrogance.
It was a confidence that Namgung Geom’s Martial Arts Mastery more than justified.
“Moreover, even if the Society has prepared an ambush, they would not have accounted for me. So there is little danger in my going.”
There was merit to Namgung Geom’s final argument.
Had he gone to Cheonju Mountain from the start, the Society would have marshaled their full strength accordingly.
But Namgung Geom remained in the clan, and the Society would have prepared their ambush excluding him.
In that case, there was likely no master strong enough to threaten him.
The danger would be proportionally reduced.
And if Namgung Geom went to Cheonju Mountain, the danger to the Biryong Division warriors would diminish as well.
If he did not go now, and the warriors suffered grievous losses in the attack—
Namgung Geom’s resentment would be inescapable.
“Very well. I permit you to go to Cheonju Mountain. But you must take the Black Shadow Three Swords with you.”
Namgung Pae granted permission on one condition.
“If the Black Shadow Three Swords go, who then guards Jeonseomyo?”
The likelihood of Jeonseomyo being targeted was low, but he could not be certain.
Still, someone had to remain to protect it.
“Do not concern yourself with that. Does the main house lack a single person to guard one shrine?”
Namgung Pae’s words held truth.
“Understood. Then I shall depart at once. And please keep my departure secret.”
If word of his movement spread, Namgung Geom could not predict how the Society would respond.
Of course, time would make a proper response difficult, but it was better not to take chances.
“Do not worry about that. Just guard yourself well.”
“I will be careful.”
Namgung Geom bowed to Namgung Pae and left the Clan Leader’s Hall.
He then departed the Namgung Clan at once with the Black Shadow Three Swords, heading toward Cheonju Mountain.
* * *
The warriors of the Biryong Division had found a master of the Black Cat Technique on Cheonju Mountain.
And they were on their way back to the Namgung Clan with him.
The warriors who had moved out from the Biryong First Division numbered twenty in all.
Though few in number, they were the most skilled unit within the division.
They did not hurry on their return to the Namgung Clan.
The true purpose of this operation was not to deliver the master to the clan.
The real goal was to lure out and capture whoever sought the master.
Arriving at the Namgung Clan too quickly might deny the enemy a chance to strike.
So to draw them out, they had to stretch the journey as long as possible.
But dragging it out indefinitely would raise suspicion, so careful timing was essential.
The Biryong First Division moved with heightened vigilance.
Since they could not know when or from where an attack might come, they could not afford to relax.
As a result, exhaustion mounted quickly.
“We rest here!”
Sensing the fatigue settling over his men’s faces, the unit commander halted their march and ordered them to rest.
In this state, they would struggle to fight at full strength.
Proper rest was necessary.
“Move out again!”
After they had rested sufficiently, the unit commander ordered them forward once more.
And how far had they gone?
The scout moving ahead suddenly gave a signal.
It was a warning of suspicious activity—enemies nearby.
“Everyone, hold position!”
The unit leader halted the column and assessed the situation carefully.
“An unidentified force has established a position ahead.”
“How many of them are there?”
“It appears to be over a hundred.”
At the scout’s words, the unit leader’s expression hardened.
This was Namgung Clan territory.
For a force of that size to move through here, they would need to notify the Namgung Clan first and obtain permission.
Otherwise, they would be considered enemies.
If they had notified the Namgung Clan, word would have reached the Biryong First Division as well.
But the Biryong First Division had received no such notice.
Which meant these people had entered Namgung territory without the Clan’s permission—making them hostile.
And their target was likely the sorcerer the Biryong First Division was escorting.
“What are your orders?”
One of the unit members asked.
“We break through!”
“Their numbers are too great.”
“It’s better to strike before we’re pursued.”
The members of the Biryong First Division drew their blades with grim resolve.
They were specialists in infiltrating enemy positions and annihilating them.
Retreat was not in their nature.
“Start by taking them out with Bipoklei!”
As Namgung Hwan, the commander of the Biryong First Division, issued the order, the senior members reached into their robes and withdrew iron spheres the size of fists.
These were Bipoklei—devices that exploded on impact and scattered shrapnel in all directions.
They were weapons commissioned by the Namgung Clan from the Sacheon Tang Clan, one of the Five Great Clans, and were virtually the exclusive property of the Biryong Division.
The Biryong Division relied on Bipoklei primarily when they needed to devastate an enemy position.
With sufficient Bipoklei, eliminating a hundred enemies would pose no problem.
But the Biryong First Division carried only five Bipoklei.
The Sacheon Tang Clan had placed restrictions on the sale of Bipoklei.
Part of this was due to the rarity of the materials and the difficulty of manufacture, which kept production low.
But the larger reason was to contain the Namgung Clan’s power.
The Namgung Clan boasted the greatest military strength among the Five Great Clans.
If they were able to use strategic weapons like Bipoklei without restriction, the Namgung Clan would far outpace the other Four Great Clans.
Though the Five Great Clans were united under the banner of the Jeongcheon Society, they remained competitors within that framework.
From the Sacheon Tang Clan’s perspective, they had no choice but to guard against the Namgung Clan becoming too dominant.
So they sold only the minimum quantity.
In any case, for this reason, the Biryong First Division could only use five Bipoklei.
Five Bipoklei.
It was not enough to eliminate all of the hundred enemies.
But if deployed properly, they could cut the force in half at the very least.
“Let’s move!”
At Namgung Hwan’s command, the Biryong First Division advanced without hesitation.
“You should take shelter for now.”
Namgung Hwan spoke to the man disguised as a sorcerer.
He was a member of the Western Sword Unit.
“I wish to fight alongside you.”
“Your identity will be compromised. Just stay clear.”
Namgung Hwan had his say and immediately launched himself forward.
His unit was already in motion.
There was no time to waste here.
The man moved reluctantly in the opposite direction.
His heart yearned to fight beside the Biryong First Division, but protocol dictated he obey Namgung Hwan’s orders.
Namgung Hwan quickly caught up with his unit members.
The senior members carrying the Bipoklei led the charge.
Ahead, he could see the enemies waiting in formation.
They were not even attempting an ambush—they waited openly, and with such confidence.
They believed they needed no stratagems against the Biryong Division.
“Whoever you are, let me show you the terror of the Biryong Division.”
Namgung Hwan gritted his teeth and shouted to the senior members.
“Show them what real heat feels like!”
“Leave it to us!”
The senior members rushed toward the enemy ranks.
The enemies gazed down on them with contempt until they spotted the Bipoklei in the senior members’ hands—then their expressions hardened.
“Bipoklei! Take cover!”
The man at the front cried out in alarm, but it came too late.
The senior members hurled the Bipoklei infused with Inner Power into the enemy formation.
Boom!
The moment the Bipoklei detonated, those nearby were caught in the initial blast and incinerated on the spot.
But the weapon’s devastation did not end there.
With the explosion came a torrent of steel pellets that tore through the enemies in all directions.
Crack-crack!
The pellets, driven by the blast force, pierced through the enemies’ bodies without mercy.
Ahhhhh!
More than a dozen enemies collapsed, their bodies riddled with holes, spewing blood.
Without losing momentum, the steel pellets that had penetrated the first wave of bodies continued through to those behind them in rapid succession.
Crack-crack!
Even more enemies fell, their bodies perforated, blood fountaining from their wounds.
Counting those incinerated in the initial blast, over forty men had been felled by the Bipoklei.
The enemies’ faces showed shock and bewilderment at the devastating power of the weapon.
It was then that the Biryong First Division descended upon them.
“Don’t leave a single one alive!”
“Slaughter them all!”
The Biryong First Division pressed their attack, riding the momentum of the Bipoklei assault.
The enemies, recovering their wits too late, met the Biryong First Division’s onslaught.
Though initially overwhelmed, the enemies rallied by deploying a Combined Strike, reversing their disadvantage.
In terms of martial skill, the Biryong First Division held the upper hand.
But the enemies possessed numerical superiority.
When they leveraged their numbers to execute their Combined Strike, the Biryong First Division found itself unable to claim easy dominance.
From behind, several figures emerged.
Among them, a broad-shouldered man of massive frame, carrying Dual Axes across his back, caught sight of the Biryong First Division and spoke.
“So this is the Biryong Division of the Namgung Clan—fierce as wolves, they say. Your reputation precedes you.”
Namgung Hwan’s eyes narrowed as he studied them.
At a glance, their overwhelming presence marked them as masters.
Most notably, the man bearing the Dual Axes possessed an aura that was far from ordinary.
“Who are you and where do you come from?”
Namgung Hwan demanded to know their identity.
“Do you remember the Hwangcheon Gang?”
the man with the Dual Axes asked.
Namgung Hwan had heard that name before.
If his memory served, they were a heretical sect based in the gold mines of Anhui Province.
They had amassed wealth through loan-sharking and human trafficking.
Their tyranny had been boundless—they loaned money at extortionate rates, and when borrowers could not repay, they seized their assets. That alone was not enough; they sold men into mines and labor camps, and women into brothels.
Unable to tolerate their brutality, the Namgung Clan had moved to punish them. When the Gang Leader fell, the Hwangcheon Gang was dismantled.
Yet now that name had surfaced once more.
The man with the Dual Axes would not have invoked the Hwangcheon Gang without reason.
Now that he thought of it, at the time, the young son of the Hwangcheon Gang Leader had never been found.
That had been twenty years ago—if the Gang Leader’s son still lived, he would be roughly the same age as the man standing before him.
“Surely you are not…?”
“Indeed. I am the son of the Hwangcheon Gang Leader, the one who fell to the Namgung Clan’s hand.”
“Then your coming here is for revenge against the Namgung Clan?”
“Yes. I have waited twenty years to exact revenge upon the Namgung Clan.”
The man with the Dual Axes spoke as though deeply moved.
“You come with the remnants of the Hwangcheon Gang to exact revenge on our main family? Your ambitions are audacious indeed.”
Namgung Hwan replied with a scoff.
The man with the Dual Axes smiled with ominous meaning.
“You’ll see soon enough. For now, I’ll start by killing you.”
The man gripped the Dual Axes and stamped the ground.
Boom!
The floor couldn’t withstand that force and shattered outward, and the man’s body hurtled forward like a tiger diving through the air.
It was movement that belied the mass of his frame.
Before Namgung Hwan could register his shock, the man’s axe came crashing down as if to cleave the very space between them.
Namgung Hwan clenched his teeth and thrust his sword upward.
Crash!
A groan tore from Namgung Hwan’s lips.
The moment the man’s axe collided with his blade, his body convulsed with the impact.
The Axe Force transmitted through his sword ravaged his insides in a single, catastrophic blow.
Whoosh!
Before he could even absorb the shock, the man’s other axe—held in his opposite hand—came hurtling toward Namgung Hwan’s neck.
Namgung Hwan twisted desperately, raising his sword to block the second blade.
Crash!
Another impact slammed into his core.
Blood sprayed from his mouth as he was hurled backward.
The man pushed off the ground and stormed after him.
“Die already!”
Closing the distance in a heartbeat, the man brought his axe down in a merciless arc toward Namgung Hwan’s skull.
Weakened by the earlier impacts and wracked with Internal Injury, Namgung Hwan had no strength left to mount a defense.
‘Is this the end?’
Namgung Hwan sensed his own death approaching.
But in that instant, a chilling wind—glacial and bone-numbing—swept across the space.
That icy wind transformed in a heartbeat into a brilliant Sword Aura that collided with the man’s axe.
Crash!
In just two strikes, the very axe that had inflicted Internal Injury on Namgung Hwan was sent flying from the man’s grip.
And a figure descended before Namgung Hwan.
Namgung Hwan recognized him instantly.
“The Crown Prince!”
It was Namgung Geom, the Crown Prince of the Namgung Clan.
Namgung Bing-Ryong
Author |
Baek Wol-Geom
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(주) Samyang C&C
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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