North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 28

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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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28. The Stray’s Deal

In the deepest chamber of Beihai Binggong.
The frost-laden office felt unusually oppressive today. In the darkness where not a single candle burned, rough breathing could be heard.
“Cough…!”
Dark blood spilled from between Mukara’s lips.
The blood scattered across the floor froze instantly on the palace’s frigid surface, blooming into grotesque flowers.
“Palace Master!”
Hyeongdangjoo rushed forward.
“Are you all right?”
“…Step back.”
Mukara raised her hand, waving him away.
Her eyes burned with madness.
“The Okmun Gate?”
“Sealed as you commanded. A thousand men stationed there.”
“Will a thousand be enough?”
Mukara swayed, muttering to herself.
“He… he ground the Snow Maidens to dust with a single finger….”
“Palace Master, you must rest first….”
“Rest? There’s no resting this away!”
Mukara cried out. The force of her words brought more blood welling up.
“Cough…!”
With trembling hands, she dragged a blank sheet of paper toward her from the desk.
Another drop of blood fell upon the white expanse.
The cold rising from the icy floor froze it solid in an instant.
Hyeongdangjoo held his breath, his head bowed.
The Palace Master’s fingertip traced slowly along the paper’s edge. That edge turned red where it touched the blood. Upon it, not a single character was written. Instead, from her robes she drew forth a heavy Jade Seal.
“Palace Master, that’s….”
“The seal of the Beihai Binggong’s Palace Master.”
Mukara pressed the seal into her own blood. A bold, vivid impression bloomed across the center of the page.
“What are you doing….”
“I’m sending it to Majeon.”
“Majeon?”
Hyeongdangjoo’s face hardened.
“To those strays?”
“Strays will do. To catch a wolf, you call in strays.”
Mukara gazed at the shadow kneeling motionless in the darkness.
“Take it.”
The shadow accepted the scroll silently.
“Deliver it to Majeon’s leader.”
…….
“To whoever strikes down Airak’s leash, I grant the Geuk-eum Sarin-gwae—Beihai Binggong’s forbidden secret.”
“The Geuk-eum Sarin-gwae?!”
Hyeongdangjoo gasped.
“That’s the innermost secret of Beihai Binggong! If you surrender it to outsiders….”
“I know.”
Mukara clenched her teeth.
“A murder technique—invisible threads of bitter cold that shatter an enemy’s bones and flesh. To hand it to Majeon is to place Beihai Binggong’s neck in their grip.”
“Then why….”
“As long as Airak lives, I am no true Palace Master, even crowned as one.”
Mukara’s voice cracked.
“The shame of calling strays to catch a wolf… but… Airak is beyond my reach. Yet Majeon—they have a way. They’re brainless. Without thought, no conscience stands in their…”
“Palace Master….”
“Go.”
Mukara commanded the shadow.
“Now. At once.”
The shadow vanished without a sound.

The Far Northern Edge of North Sea.
Across an endless plain of snow, where ten-thousand-year-old glaciers stretched without horizon, thousands of horses exhaled their rough breath into the air like rising mist.
This was no fortress.
A moving tomb. A living catastrophe.
A roving encampment of Majeon.
Between leather tents scattered in all directions wafted the reek of unidentifiable meat and horse dung. Chunks of frozen human flesh were stacked beside the tents like stores of grain, and above them ravenous crows circled, uttering their ill-omened cries.
Cackling laughter leaked from between the tents.
The sound of someone flaying hide, someone crushing bone.
Snow trampled beneath hooves had turned a dark red. The air was foul. With each breath, the taste of iron clung to the tip of the tongue.
“Lord.”
Bugwan stepped into the tent.
“An envoy has come from Beihai Binggong.”
“Beihai Binggong?”
The lord of Majeon—the man known as Hwang Ya’s Agui—turned his head.
Strung along his saddle like medals hung the ears of the strong he had cut down, one after another.
“What’s his business?”
“It would be best to hear it from him directly.”
“Send him in.”
The envoy entered and knelt. In his hand he held a blank sheet marked with a seal stained in blood.
“What is this?”
The lord took the blank sheet.
“There are no characters.”
“He said to deliver the message by word.”
“Speak.”
“Kill Airak.”
The envoy spoke with his head bowed.
“The price is the Geuk-eum Sarin-gwae.”
The lord’s hand stilled.
“What did you say?”
“The Geuk-eum Sarin-gwae. A secret technique of Beihai Binggong.”
…….
A cruel smile played at the lord’s mouth.
“That woman has lost her mind.”
“My lord?”
Bugwan asked.
“What is the Geuk-eum Sarin-gwae?”
“A technique I have coveted my whole life.”
The lord fingered the ears hanging from his saddle.
“A killing art that shatters the bone and flesh of enemies with threads of invisible cold energy. With that alone, I could rend even Beihai Binggong’s fortified walls like paper.”
“She would surrender such a thing?”
“Yes. How terrifying must this Airak be?”
The lord looked down at the envoy.
“Airak. They called him the Undefeated Warrior of North Sea, didn’t they?”
“Yes.”
“What did this man do to bring Mukara to such a state?”
“He killed Han Bing Sam Su.”
“Han Bing Sam Su?”
The lord’s eyebrows rose.
“Those three?”
“Yes. And the Snow Maidens besides….”
“The Snow Maidens too?”
“A single finger reduced them all to dust, it is said.”
The lord burst into laughter.
“Ha ha ha! Amusing!”
“My lord?”
Bugwan asked with a puzzled look.
“The Undefeated Warrior is said to be a monster. Surely this is dangerous?”
“Dangerous?”
The master sprang to his feet.
“I am the Hwang Ya’s Agui who feeds on monsters. If he’s a monster, then I’ll devour him and become an even greater one—that’s all there is to it.”
“But….”
“Think about it.”
The master seized Bugwan by the shoulders.
“What happens if I kill Airak?”
“You receive the Geuk-eum Sarin-gwae.”
“And then?”
…….
“If I kill Han Bing Sam Su, eliminate the Snow Maiden, and then kill Airak—after that comes Beihai Binggong.”
The master’s eyes gleamed with avarice.
“With that much power, I could sweep Beihai Binggong away.”
“Beihai Binggong as well?”
“Yes. Mukara made a mistake. She put a blade in my hands.”
“How magnificent, master.”
Bugwan gasped in admiration.
“To think so far ahead….”
“This is what it means to be the Hwang Ya’s Agui.”
The master stroked the ears dangling from his saddle.
“Devour the strong and become stronger still. That is the way of Majeon.”
“Yes!”
“Come here, Milsa.”
The master looked down at Milsa.
“Go and deliver a message.”
…….
“Airak will die. And Mukara—if she wishes to honor the promise, let her. If she wishes not to, she can forget it entirely…tell her that.”
“Sir?”
Milsa lifted his head.
“In any case, that secret technique, Beihai Binggong, and everything in this entire North Sea will become my own domain. Hahahaha!”
“Master, but what of your promise to Beihai Binggong….”
“A promise? Hahahaha!”
The master burst into laughter.
“When have strays ever kept a promise? We are the kind who tear and steal whatever we desire.”
The master stepped out of the tent.
“Gather!”
His roar split the Snow Plain.
“All Demon Soldiers, assemble!”
In an instant, thousands of outlaws mounted their horses. Their eyes blazed with a hunger for blood, a feral madness.
“Master, which direction?”
Bugwan asked.
“South.”
The master mounted his horse.
“Time to collect the leash from this Undefeated Warrior bastard!”
“Forward!”
“Kill!”
“Plunder!”
The roars erupted. Hoofbeats thundered across the Snow Plain, shaking the earth itself.
Three thousand raiders.
The northern wolves had begun their descent.
Hooves tore at the skin of ten-thousand-year-old ice. Beneath, the bones of someone buried in the frozen deep crumbled with the tremor. Black banners snapped and billowed as if they would tear free.
The demons had begun to move toward slaughter.

At that same moment, at the exit of Geumyeok.
Airak and his company were traversing the Snow Plain.
“Chieftain.”
Garkan matched his stride and spoke.
“The Beommyeongdo continues to sing.”
“I know.”
The Beommyeongdo hanging at Airak’s waist trembled softly. Like a living creature.
“It hungers for blood. It has starved for a hundred years.”
“Frightening, isn’t it?”
Harku glanced at the Beommyeongdo and spoke.
“A blade that thirsts for blood.”
“All Fate Blades are like that.”
Arko explained.
“They feed on their master’s killing intent and grow. After a hundred years of starvation, it’s bound to be crazed.”
“Are you all right, Clan Chief?”
Taikan asked.
“I’m fine.”
Airak answered calmly.
“I’m used to this much killing intent.”
The group walked on for some time.
“Clan Chief.”
Taikan stopped and pointed ahead.
“There’s something out there.”
“What is it?”
“Smoke. From the direction of Okmun Gate.”
Airak turned his gaze. Beyond the distant horizon, black smoke rose into the air.
“A blockade signal.”
Arko’s eyes narrowed.
“Interesting, isn’t it? Moving Han Bing Sam Su, employing the Snow Maiden… and now sealing off Okmun Gate. In all the North Sea, only Beihai Binggong could do something like this… and even within Beihai Binggong… heh heh!”
“Deputy Palace Master Mukara.”
“What will you do about it?”
“Leave her be. I knew from the first day that Mukara was connected to Karani’s death.”
“Yet you didn’t cut her down?”
“Mukara is merely a hunting hound. I’ll deal with her later.”
“What about that position ahead? It doesn’t look like a single warrior—it seems like an entire army is arrayed there.”
Garkan spoke, his brow furrowed.
Airak gripped the hilt of the Beommyeongdo.
“We’ll cut through.”
The Beommyeongdo rang out sharply at his waist—a cry that sensed its master’s resolve.
Arko chuckled softly. Garkan pulled his shoulders back. Harku slowly drew his hand across the hilt of the Twin-bladed Sword.

At that same moment, on the Snow Plain near Geumyeok.
A single shadow with silver hair moved swiftly across the white expanse.
Serian.
She ran following the footprints left in the snow. Her speed, enhanced by Gyeong-gong, surpassed the wind.
Days of unbroken pursuit.
Deep shadows lay beneath her eyes.
“…….”
Serian stopped in her tracks.
The enormous corpse of a beast lay upon the snow.
A Black Bear—the corpse of an Ice Beast that had lived more than a century. Beside it, the marks of battle were unmistakable.
“This is….”
Serian examined the Black Bear’s remains. A wound across its chest. A clean, severed cut. Ice crystallized around the wound’s edge.
“The mark of an ice blade.”
Her eyes gleamed.
“Airak passed through here. To kill an Ice Beast… he grows stronger still.”
Serian resumed running, following the footprints once more.
The prints in the snow were fresh. Not far ahead.
Before long, five shadows came into view in the distance, crossing the Snow Plain.
“……!”
Serian stopped and fixed her gaze upon the shadows. The man at the lead. Eyes of grey. A blade of dark radiance slung across his shoulder.
“Found you.”
Serian murmured softly.
A faint smile played across her lips. The end of a long pursuit. At last, her quarry was within reach.
“Airak….”
Serian turned the name over in her mind.
“At last we meet.”
Yet she did not rush forward at once.
Keeping a deliberate distance, they began to follow Airak’s party in silence.
The time had not yet come. They would have to wait for the right moment.
Serian’s breath rose in white plumes.
Airak’s figure shrank to a distant point before her eyes.
Heat bloomed in her chest—not merely from the exertion of her Gyeong-gong, but from something else entirely. The wind swept through her silver hair.

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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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