Return of the Sword Emperor - Chapter 19

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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 7: Proof (4)

Ha Jo Gyeong’s specialty was the Tracking Art, which meant his martial prowess was comparatively weak.
Had Dok Go Jin not refrained from using his full strength while being attacked by Gyeong Un San and others, Ha Jo Gyeong would have fallen to the enemy long ago.
With a single leap, Dok Go Jin descended beside Ha Jo Gyeong and flicked away the sword that was descending toward Ha Jo Gyeong’s neck.

“Danger!”

The man attacking Ha Jo Gyeong’s rear cried out in alarm upon seeing the sword aimed at his comrade.
Before his companion could react to the warning, Dok Go Jin’s blade was already upon him.
Crunch!
With a sickening sound, the neck of the man who had attacked Ha Jo Gyeong shot into the air.
Before his head even struck the ground, Dok Go Jin’s sword was already turning toward the man who had shouted the warning.

“Die!”

The man, having lost his ally, gritted his teeth and swung his blade.
Steel met steel in the void.
With a sharp crack, the man’s sword shattered cleanly.
Dok Go Jin’s blade, which had broken the enemy’s weapon, now carved through the man’s chest.

“Gah!”

A strangled cry escaped him as he staggered backward.
With no further need for restraint, Dok Go Jin spun to intercept a falling blade spinning through the air, then hurled it in a straight line.
Whish!
The blade flew like a shaft of light, embedding itself deep in the back of the skull of an enemy pressing Yu Geom Ha.
Dok Go Jin glanced at the enemy tumbling forward, then turned to the gasping Ha Jo Gyeong with a question.

“Are you all right?”
“I… I can manage.”

His words suggested otherwise—he was clenching his teeth against evident pain.

“You’ve done well. Fall back for now.”
“Yes. And… thank you for earlier, too.”
“For what?”
The Stone. Without it, things would have gone badly wrong.”
“You noticed, then?”
These men—I don’t know where they came from. But I knew for certain.”
“Your eye for detail never fails.”

As Dok Go Jin let out a soft chuckle, Yong Chul Seung, who had been steadily pushed back, suddenly bellowed.

“Hey! How long are you going to keep that up? Help me!”

Before his cry had finished, Dok Go Jin’s hurled sword cut through the air.

“Agh!”

When the enemy who had been giving him such trouble fell with Dok Go Jin’s blade piercing his Dantian, Yong Chul Seung’s expression turned to stunned disbelief.

“D-damn it! Much obliged.”

Yong Chul Seung turned his head sharply, a grim smile crossing his face as he regarded the equally shocked enemy before him.

“You’re dead.”
“Shut your mouth!”

Yong Chul Seung and the man lunged at each other with murderous intent.
Within mere breaths, Ha Jo Gyeong, Yu Geom Ha, and Dok Go Jin—who had extracted Yong Chul Seung from danger—began joining the fray in earnest.
Having lost more than a third of their forces in an instant, the Cheon Nang Dan reacted at once.
The squad leader Hwang Gun, who had been cursing while attacking Yu Seol Ran, redirected his men—including Woo Gon and Won Jong—to block Dok Go Jin’s advance.

“Why aren’t you sending that bastard out? Worried he’ll die?”

Yu Seol Ran laughed mockingly, pointing to the man joining forces with Hwang Gun.

“But you’re too late, you fool. By now you should’ve figured out who the most dangerous person here is.”
……

There was no need to question Yu Seol Ran’s words.
Before that brief exchange even ended, screams erupted from Dok Go Jin’s subordinates.

A groan escaped Hwang Gun’s lips.

Dok Go Jin had turned and was coming straight for him.
The panic in Hwang Gun’s eyes transformed instantly to terror.

“All right?”

“The Cold-Faced Yaksha.”
“That’s right. So don’t worry and go. Now!”

Watching her push her abilities to their limit as she bore down on her enemy, Dok Go Jin turned without hesitation.
That was when it happened.
Boom!
A collision that shook the entire battlefield froze Dok Go Jin in his tracks.

The Bok Ma Dan bore the burden of the most enemies, and naturally, Jeok Mu Hwa was the centerpiece of the center battlefield where they held their ground.
If Jeok Mu Hwa fell, the delicate balance maintained across the center battlefield would collapse beyond recovery, and that collapse would ripple through the Mil Geom Dan and the entire Escort Party.
Jeok Mu Hwa herself understood this well, which was why her battered body desperately struggled to right itself.

Dok Go Jin’s gaze shifted toward Nak Wol, who was moving to finish Jeok Mu Hwa’s life.
Compared to Jeok Mu Hwa’s wretched state, Nak Wol showed only slightly ragged breathing and no visible wounds on his body.

‘Nak Wol, leader of Cheon Nang Dan.’

Recognizing him, Dok Go Jin’s eyes flickered involuntarily toward Nam Goong Ho.
Freed from the joint assault thanks to Dok Go Jin’s intervention, Nam Goong Ho was now dominating his opponent like a fish returned to water.

‘Once you cut off his breath. But now it’s my turn.’

Just as Dok Go Jin, a cold smile on his face, began to move toward Nak Wol, an entirely unforeseen variable emerged.

“Argh!”
“Stop them—hold the line!”

Screams and panicked shouts erupted suddenly from behind.
Dok Go Jin snapped his head around.
His gaze fell upon figures slaughtering the guards who were protecting the prisoners.
Five middle-aged men dressed in elaborate, colorful garb—unlike Cheon Nang Dan, who wore uniform black martial robes.
Dok Go Jin could immediately sense that each of these five possessed martial prowess far exceeding Cheon Nang Dan’s strength.
In particular, two of the middle-aged men who were still observing without engaging were undoubtedly masters equal to or surpassing Jeok Mu Hwa and Jong Gak.

‘Who are these men?’

Bewilderment gripped him.
The ambushes that had occurred during the journey to Chamhoe Prison, and then Cheon Nang Dan waiting at Ye Su’s Reed Field—
there had been minor variables, but no significant shifts in the larger pattern.
This time was different.
The emergence of these five middle-aged men was warping the entire situation.
Dok Go Jin had not yet realized that the appearance of Ha Nam O Sal was a ripple effect caused by the changing composition of Mil Geom Dan and Bok Ma Dan.
Dok Go Jin’s gaze returned to the central battlefield.
Nak Wol’s steps toward Jeok Mu Hwa had halted briefly. He too had sensed the disturbance at the rear.

“Worthless rabble.”

Nak Wol twisted his head with a bitter smile.
That laugh mingled ease and irritation in an unsettling way.
Though the clash had only just begun, he could feel instinctively that many of his subordinates had already fallen. The thought that these losses might have been avoided had they fought together from the start made his teeth clench.
Then he felt an odd gaze upon him.
Nak Wol slowly turned his head.

“So it’s you.”

His voice dropped low as Nak Wol met Dok Go Jin’s gaze.
It was no mere confirmation.
It was the certainty that only one who could read the entire battlefield could possess.

“You’ve been irritating me since earlier.”

He glanced sideways at the left battlefield, where matters were being resolved, and bit his lip hard.
Dok Go Jin did not answer.
He was deliberating.
Should he save Jeok Mu Hwa and bring down Nak Wol while holding the center, or should he accept their sacrifice and protect the guards and escorted prisoners from these newly arrived enemies?
Neither choice was easy to abandon.
But the deliberation did not last long.
With Ha Nam O Sal’s sudden incursion and Dok Go Jin’s intervention giving her a reprieve, Jeok Mu Hwa slipped between them.
What was striking was that the person steadying her by the shoulder was none other than Yi Cheon Hu.

“We’ll handle this. Go—now.”
“What?”
“When Jong mentioned your abilities, I thought there was some exaggeration to it. No—I didn’t believe it. I knew you’d already surpassed the seniors despite being a newcomer, but what Jong described was something else entirely.”

Jeok Mu Hwa’s gaze flickered toward the left flank before returning.

“But there was no exaggeration. If anything, he underestimated you.”

A hollow laugh escaped Jeok Mu Hwa’s lips, yet something like resolve flickered across her face.

“I will hold this place, no matter what. Now go—find the guard contingent. Under no circumstances are you to let the prisoner escape.”

Reading the determination in Jeok Mu Hwa’s words—a will resigned to death—Dok Go Jin hesitated no longer.

“Hold on a little longer. I’ll return as quickly as I can.”

Jeok Mu Hwa said nothing, only fixed her gaze steadily upon Dok Go Jin’s face.
The skill displayed by Ha Nam O Sal, who had arrived so suddenly, was far from ordinary. Yet the way she carried herself made one believe, even knowing that.

“Wait for me.”

The instant Jeok Mu Hwa’s words ended, Dok Go Jin’s body form vanished.

* * *

“…….”

There had been several attacks during the journey to Chamhoe Prison, but Deung Bi believed they were not the main force sent to rescue him.
Their skill and numbers were far too trivial to be considered a main force, and they bore no affiliation with Ma Do Ryeon.
As expected, the true strength—Cheon Nang Dan—revealed itself.
The ambush had failed, true, but the subordinates who judged that Cheon Nang Dan’s full force could sweep away the Escort Party in a heartbeat laughed with unbridled joy. Deung Bi could not laugh.
Though they were outnumbered, in terms of individual skill, Cheon Nang Dan’s strength was undoubtedly overwhelming.
Yet there was one presence that troubled him.
Dok Go Jin—the newcomer to Mil Geom Dan.
At first, Deung Bi had paid him little attention, but Dok Go Jin had swiftly made his presence known.
And the skill he displayed during three successive attacks left Deung Bi stunned.
Though his Martial Arts had been crippled, he had not lost the discernment to gauge an opponent’s strength. Deung Bi could see through to the level of skill Dok Go Jin possessed.
Among all those in the Escort Party, not a single one could match him.
As feared, the left flank crumbled in an instant.
Then, as Dok Go Jin moved toward the center to face Nak Wol, Deung Bi envisioned the worst possible outcome.
But an entirely unforeseen variable appeared.

‘Who are these people?’

Deung Bi’s eyes, fixed upon Ha Nam O Sal with his torso held rigidly upright, began to gleam.
It mattered not who they were.
If Ha Nam O Sal possessed strength enough to sweep through the Escort Party so mercilessly, they would surely be capable of facing Dok Go Jin.

“Kkhekhekhe!”

Hope at last—hope of escaping this humiliating situation.
A laugh like that of a beast poured forth from Deung Bi’s lips.

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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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