North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 4

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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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4. The Hunt of the Pack

Boom…!
A tremendous metallic sound tore through the silence of the Snow Plain.
The north gate of Bing Palace closing.
The tremor created as that gate—forged from ten-thousand-year ice—locked into place traveled all the way down to Airak’s feet.
It was not merely the closing of a door. Thirty years ago, the thread of connection he had severed, stepping away from love—all those years he had waited endlessly, unable to forget—now snapped forever.
Airak did not turn to look behind him.
Hundreds of gazes bore into his back.
The rough breathing of the Bing Palace warriors, mingled with awe and dread, faded beyond the ice wall. Now there remained for him only the endless expanse of white and the wind that tore like flaying skin.
Wheeeee…!
The bitter gale gripped his Wolf Hide Cloak roughly and shook it.
A murderous cold that no ordinary human could survive for even two hours. A frost that would freeze blood vessels until they burst.
Yet he did not even draw his collar closed.
Cold was no longer within the realm of sensation for him. His skin was paler than snow, his breath colder than the wind itself. The snowflakes settled on his brow would not melt—his body temperature had long since transcended the bounds of humanity.
Step. Step.
Where his feet touched, the ice crystals turned a faint blue.
The North Sea Frozen Spirit Technique.
A martial art that froze the body’s very passage through time.
In exchange, he had maintained the appearance of a youth despite being past fifty, but he had lost the warmth of a living man. Though truthfully, he had not met another person in all those thirty years.
‘Wait for me.’
He walked, and walked on.
Thud.
Airak’s steps stopped. With no warning, movement cut off as if nailed in place.
The Snow Plain responded.
Hiss.
Ten paces ahead—a dark form rose from the snowfield.
It was not alone. A shadow stretched from behind the rock to the left, and a clump of snow fell from a dead tree to the right.
The shadows seeped out like ghosts.
One, two, three, four.
Four men knelt, encircling Airak.
Garkan spoke first, in the tongue of Airak’s people.
“The wolf walks with us. The hunt walks with us.”

The other three answered in unison.
“With us.”

It was a brief ritual.
But thirty years of waiting were contained in those few words.
Thirty years.
A span in which mountains changed their face three times over.
When Airak, then a youth of twenty-two, had left their presence, Garkan was eighteen; Arko was fifteen; Taikan was twelve; and Harku was only ten.
Now they had all passed into middle age and stood at the threshold of old age.
Deep lines carved their faces, white frost settled on their beards. Skin cracked from the North Sea’s merciless bitter winds. Scars inscribed by dozens of battles. The heavy weight of decades endured upon frozen earth was etched across their bodies.
Yet their eyes had not changed. Blind loyalty. Suppressed savagery.
“Tribe Chief….”
Garkan spoke first.
“Thirty years have passed.”
……
“A long time.”
Airak’s gaze slowly swept across the four men.
Garkan. A giant with a dense beard.
Arko. A hunchback with a hunched spine.
Taikan. Long arms bearing the keen eyes of a raptor.
And Harku. A scarred man with a shaved head and a sword-mark tattoo carved upon his face.
“…You’ve all grown old.”
Airak opened his mouth.
A brief word. Yet they understood the weight of feeling it carried.
Harku smirked.
“Tribe Chief, you haven’t changed. You look exactly as you did when I was ten years old.”
…….
“It’s lonely, honestly. I’m the one who’s aged.”
“Harku.”
Garkan rebuked him quietly. Harku shrugged.
“What do you mean, brother? What am I supposed to do about being lonely? Thirty years, brother. Thirty years.”
“The Tribe Chief had to undergo his training.”
“Honestly, wasn’t the training just an excuse? He went into the Extreme Yin Cavern because Karani bested him. But still… not a single word of contact in thirty years…”
Taikan cut in coldly.
“Harku. Thirty years ago, your mouth was the same shape. How is it you’ve never learned to filter what you say?”
“What? You have something you want to say too, brother?”
“No. It’s just strange that you haven’t changed through all those long years.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“No.”
Arko twisted his hunched back and chuckled.
“The youngest is still the youngest after thirty years. Same hard head.”
“What did you say, brother?”
“I’m just stating facts.”
“Ah, come on……!”
“Enough.”

Airak raised his hand. The bickering stopped abruptly.
Silence fell. Only the sound of wind rushed through.
Airak looked at each of the four men in turn.
Something flickered in his eyes. The weight of years… and a tender ache for things that could not be undone.
“…What of the others?”
Airak asked.
Garkan’s face hardened. A heavy silence descended.
“…I will report, Tribe Chief.”
Garkan knelt and lowered his head.
“These thirty years… much has transpired.”
…….
“The North Sea’s winters have been brutal six times over. The Bing Ma attacked three times. The Bing Shu invaded four times. Only some twenty of us have survived.”
The Airak people wage war against nature itself.
Open a door and freeze to death in the bitter cold—the Bing Ma. If the Bing Ma strikes three times… when it comes, it doesn’t retreat for over a month. During that time, not a single soul can step beyond the doors.
The Bing Shu is a black bear.
A massive creature that even polar bears cannot match.
When the Bing Shu attacks the Airak people, it is because food grows scarce. It charges to devour us. Its hide is so thick that blades cannot pierce it, its speed surpasses even the flying tiger, and its strength… there is no need to speak of that. Even the Martial Arts of the Airak people offer no defense against such a creature.
Airak listened in silence.
“Those who have transcended the realm of Ülhan… there are only we four, Tribe Chief.”
Ülhan.
The limit of Martial Arts as the Airak people understand it. Only by surpassing this threshold was one truly recognized as a warrior.
“And the rest?”
“…They are dead.”
Garkan’s voice trembled.
“Surkan fell in battle against a Bing Shu. So did Byikan. Orkun was taken by the Bing Ma….”
With each name spoken, Airak’s gaze grew darker.
“Stop.”
…….
“I understand.”
Airak closed his eyes.
The wind blew. Cold air stirred his Wolf Hide Cloak.
Thirty years.
While he trained alone in the ice cavern, his people bled and endured. While he severed all ties with the world and pursued Martial Arts alone, they died.
“I am sorry.”
Airak spoke.
The eyes of all four widened.
“Tribe Chief….”
“I should have been there with you.”
“No!”
Harku surged to his feet, only to be held back by Garkan.
“Why are you apologizing, Tribe Chief? You were training to become stronger!”
…….
“We died because we were weak, not because of you!”
Taikan spoke for the first time. His voice was cynical and rough.
“The youngest speaks true, Tribe Chief. We fell short, nothing more.”
…….
“But this time.”
Taikan’s raptor-like eyes flashed with sudden intensity.
“We go together.”
Airak lifted his head.
“…You knew.”
“We’ve grasped everything that transpired at Bing Palace.”
Taikan spoke without inflection.
“How could Karani—the Lord of Bing Palace—be murdered? And within Bing Palace itself?”
“Why is that impossible?”
Airak’s question held no jest. Cold light poured from his eyes as he asked. He wasn’t asking because he didn’t know the answer. He thought it was impossible too. Yet he asked because Taikan was the coldest and most logical mind among his people.
Taikan gave a soft laugh and answered.
“First… did you examine the cause of death?”
“Nothing but Central Plains Martial Arts.”
Airak spoke with measured calm.
Four pairs of eyes flickered at once.
“The Central Plains? The southern lands?”
Harku licked his lips as he asked.
“Yes.”
“They came all the way here? But why?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to find out.”
Taikan narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
“This confirms it beyond doubt. This is deliberate murder. Has Bing Palace ever exchanged with the Central Plains? Not in the last thirty years, I’d wager. So they wouldn’t know our location—and how many among the Central Plains would know where Bing Palace lies? And if the Lord’s Martial Arts surpass our own, then whoever crushed him must have been masters of considerable skill. This was premeditated. A direct assault.”
“There’s a rat inside?”
“Likely.”
“What was their purpose in killing Karani?”
Airak’s eyes burned with cold fury.
“That’s what troubles me. No matter how I turn it over, I can find no reason to kill the Lord of Bing Palace.”
Silence.
Arko twisted his hunched back as he asked.
“Precisely… what did you observe in the wounds?”
“Not Northern technique. Sword marks traced with killing intent. The Swift Sword of the Central Plains.”
“And signs? They must have left something.”
“Clean work. Masters, all of them.”
Taikan asked while running his fingers along his bowstring.
“How many?”
“At least seven. Perhaps eight.”
“Eight men against a single lord….”
Anger crept into Garkan’s voice.
“Cowards.”
“Their cowardice changes nothing.”
Airak’s eyes glowed with terrible cold.
“I’ll kill them all regardless.”
Harku grinned wickedly.
“Hah. Hearing you speak like that, Tribe Chief—it gets my blood singing.”
“…Your blood singing?”
“Yes. It’s been so long since anything this thrilling came along. I’m curious what Central Plains blood tastes like.”
“You’re insane.”
Taikan clicked his tongue. Harku didn’t care.
“Says you, who’ll spend the whole time in the Central Plains shooting arrows from high ground.”
“That’s my role.”
“Dull.”
“Fighting shouldn’t be fun, youngest.”
“Why not?”
“Because you die. Chief, give your order.”
Garkan opened his mouth heavily.
Airak looked at Garkan. Then Garkan placed his hand over his heart and spoke.
“I won’t ask the reason. Thirty years ago or now. We follow only the Chief.”
…….
“Wherever your blade points, Chief, that is our battlefield. Always, as it has been.”
Arko lowered his already hunched back further.
“I’ll burrow like a rat, Chief. Into their secrets, their weaknesses, their very roots.”
Taikan plucked his bowstring.
Twang!
A sharp, cutting sound.
“Not a single fly within ten li will escape my eyes, Chief. Just give the word.”
Harku grinned and caressed his Twin Daggers.
“I keep it simple. Who do you want me to kill?”
Airak’s lips curved slightly upward.
This was his pack. Thirty years had passed, yet they remained unchanged—loyalty that would endure age, sickness, death itself. The wolf does not abandon its pack.
“We head first toward the Central Plains Border.”
Airak gave the order.
“No need to rush. We go slowly. Gather intelligence in the meantime. Merchant houses, escort agencies, vagrant rumors—everything. Anything that might be a clue to the murderer.”
“And if, by chance, I cannot join you in between… where is the final gathering point?”
“Jade Gate Pass. In a fortnight.”
Airak’s fingertips pointed toward the southern horizon.
“Go. We do not miss our prey.”
Snap!
Arko dissolved into shadow. Taikan bounded away like a monkey into the forest. Harku bolted across the Snow Plain on all fours like a wild beast.
It was instantaneous.
Only Airak and Garkan remained.
Garkan grasped his Iron Chain and took his place behind Airak’s back.
“Chief.”
…….
“It’s been a long time.”
“Yes.”
“…I’ve missed you.”
Airak’s steps halted.
The wind blew. A cold wind stirred the hide cloaks of the two men.
“I have too.”
Airak spoke.
“I’ve missed you as well.”
Garkan’s eyes grew red. But he said nothing. He simply walked behind his Chief, silently guarding his back.
Two trails of footprints stretched long toward the south.

* * *

At that very moment.
On an ice wall far away, figures in white camouflage held their breath, lying in wait.
Bing Shadow, the secret reconnaissance unit of Bing Palace.
The squad leader lowered his Thousand Li Spyglass and swallowed dryly.
“…They’re moving. Southern advance beginning.”
He withdrew a Carrier Pigeon from his breast.
[Wolf, moving south. Pack of five. Pursuit commencing.]
The white bird flew up into the grey sky.
The march of death had begun.
Whiiing!
The wind blew.

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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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