Return of the Sword Emperor - Chapter 55

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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 20: Escape (1)

“Corpses.”

At Yeop San’s cry as he led Dam Hoon and pursued the Milkgeom Dan, the members of the Heukwol-dan who had been moving swiftly froze in unison and tensed, eyes darting to their surroundings.

“Tch. Pathetic as rats.”

A cruel smirk played at the corners of Dam Hoon’s mouth as he surveyed the corpses of Sanjuk scattered in all directions.
Whether they had attempted to mount a defense to buy time or simply tried to flee, one thing was clear: they had failed to escape, and this was the result.

“Bah! I never expected anything better.”

Dam Hoon spat carelessly toward the bodies and turned away.
Chuk Yung had already circled the perimeter and was returning.

“And them?”
“Still moving south along the road, sir.”
“Along the road? No detour?”

Dam Hoon’s expression shifted to one of surprise as he repeated the question.
Given that they had exposed their tracks in the clash with the Sanjuk, he had naturally assumed they would either slip into the wilderness or circle around rather than stay on the path.

“Yes, they continue as before.”
“Look at this lot. They’re practically begging us to chase them. Ha! Their confidence reaches the very heavens.”

Laughter spilled from Dam Hoon’s lips, his expression transforming into something demonic.

“We’ll give them what they want. What was your name again?”
“Yes? Yes, Vice-Leader.”

Yeop San, who had been assigned the task of guiding the way at Ma Wook’s command, quickly bowed his head.

“Is there a shortcut?”
“There is, but…….”
“Where?”

At Dam Hoon’s question, Yeop San’s gaze drifted almost unconsciously toward the Cliff on his left.
It was a steep slope where even beasts could barely tread, but going that way would certainly save considerable time.

“Lead the way.”

At Dam Hoon’s command, Yeop San squeezed his eyes shut.
His fingertips trembled slightly as he began to move.

* * *

‘Hmph. From the look of it, they’ve already infiltrated quite deep.’

Ho San-dong, the Leader of the Outer Hall who had first detected the Milkgeom Dan’s intrusion and fired the Signal Flare, bit his lip hard as Signal Flares streaked across the sky from all directions.

‘Just as I feared—they’re after Ho Gul. If that’s the case, then these are men of the Jeongmu Maeng…….’

Watching the Signal Flares shift color by the moment, it seemed that pursuit of the enemy had already begun.
Ho San-dong surveyed his surroundings.
Byeong Cheoм and Mok San-heum, who had been patrolling with him, along with a handful of Sanjuk from nearby Sentinel Posts had assembled, but their forces were meager compared to the main strength of the Sanchae.
“Get your wits about you and keep your eyes sharp. They could be fleeing toward us at any moment.”
Ho San-dong rallied his men.
But his true thoughts were otherwise.
Ho San-dong had no lack of desire to capture the intruders and claim merit for it, but when he considered the skill of the enemies he’d observed at the Sentinel Post attempting to breach Heukgol Chae’s main stronghold, he couldn’t shake the doubt that they could truly stand against them.

‘Don’t come. Don’t come.’

Ho San-dong prayed and prayed that the enemies’ escape route would not lead through where he stood. The momentum with which he’d fired the Signal Flare moments ago, charged with fury, had already dissipated a thousand li away.
That was when it happened.
A tremor so faint that he could only feel it by pushing his senses to their absolute limit reached him.

‘Damn it!’

Ho San-dong barely swallowed the curse and immediately signaled with a glance.
He had desperately hoped the enemies would not come, yet his actions were swift.
Byeong Cheoм, catching Ho San-dong’s gaze, fired the Signal Flare without hesitation.
The Signal Flare, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, soared into the empty sky and bloomed in a brilliant burst.

“…….”

Jong Gak, who had belatedly sensed the enemies’ presence, stared up at the sky with a deflated expression.

“From the moment we hurried our movements, it was unavoidable. And since those fools from before didn’t light torches, there was no way to detect them in advance either.”

Yu Seollan approached with heavy breath, and a bitter smile crossed her face as she observed the bandits peeking their heads out from behind a massive boulder.

“Our position has been completely exposed now, so it seems the time has come to make a real choice. Whether to attempt a breakthrough by force or find another way.”
“Quite right. But first there are some things we must deal with.”

Jong Gak gripped his sword tightly and advanced.

‘Fight or retreat!’

Watching Jong Gak approach, Ho San-dong hesitated, unable to make a quick decision.
He had no confidence they could win even if they fought, and even if they tried to flee, something about the situation suggested they wouldn’t let him go easily.
Ho San-dong, clenching his teeth, stepped boldly into view.
As Byeong Cheoм and Mok San-heum followed him, the wavering bandits had no choice but to grip their weapons.

“Your courage deserves praise.”

When the bandits—whom Jong Gak had naturally expected to flee—blocked his path instead, he commended their bravery with a cold smile.

“Attack!”

At Ho San-dong’s shout, the bandits rushed forward as one.
Though their momentum was fierce, they and Jong Gak had never been on the same level to begin with.
With nothing more than a light sweep of his blade, two bandits who had charged at him head-on collapsed helplessly.
The bodies of the bandits attacking Jong Gak went rigid. They trembled with fear, unable to perceive how their comrades had even breathed their last.
The one who grasped Jong Gak’s skill most precisely was Ho San-dong, who alone tracked the arc of his sword.

‘No, no… the gap is too great.’

He, whose father was among the top five swordsmen of Heukgol Chae, instinctively felt the depths of Jong Gak’s mastery.
As Ho San-dong began to retreat without thinking, his subordinates too became paralyzed with fear, uncertain what to do.
In the moment when the terror of death consumed them utterly, the fighting ceased.
Ho San-dong was the first to leave the field.
Byeong Cheoм and Mok San-heum, quick to read the situation, threw themselves toward escape at once.
The bandits, who had not anticipated that Ho San-dong and his men would flee without a word, flinched—and in that moment, Jong Gak’s blade swept through them.
As three bandits collapsed clutching their necks, Jong Gak’s sword flashed like light toward the frantically fleeing Ho San-dong and his men.

“Gahhh!”

Byeong Cheoм, his chest pierced through, fell with a harrowing scream.
Mok San-heum, who had bragged about being as close as a blood brother, bolted forward without a backward glance.
Then came a sharp, piercing sound—the air itself splitting.
But the direction from which it came was strange.
Jong Gak and the rest of the party following behind all turned their heads in unison to the left.

“Ugh!”

At that very moment, Mok San-heum, who had been bounding through the undergrowth off a boulder, jerked violently like a fish skewered on a harpoon and plummeted downward.
Crack-crack-crack!
The trees on the left cliff shattered with a thunderous roar as a dark figure descended like a tempest.
The vegetation caught in the gale he unleashed writhed about as if possessed.

“Ah!”

A look of rapture flashed across Ho San-dong’s face—as though he had encountered a buddha in hell itself.
His clothes were disheveled from scrambling up the cliff, but the aura radiating from his entire being was so intense it overwhelmed everything around him.

“At last I’ve caught you, you wretched rats!”

Dam Hoon laughed as he wrenched the blade lodged in Mok San-heum’s ribs free.
As crimson blood traced down the sword, gleaming unnaturally red in the moonlight, Ho San-dong let out a jubilant cry and charged forward.

“It’s them! These are the intruders who…….”

Ho San-dong’s body lurched suddenly as he was still speaking, spittle flying from his mouth.
His eyes widened in incomprehension as he toppled backward, and beads of blood formed in a fine line traced across the nape of his neck.

“Contemptible vermin.”

Dam Hoon sneered dismissively and turned his slow stride toward Jong Gak.

“Vice-Leader, that man…….”

Yu Seollan stepped up behind Jong Gak, her expression hardened as she fixed her gaze on Dam Hoon.
Though Milkgeom Dan had clashed with him only a few times, those encounters had never ended well—and his face was one she could never forget.

“So the ones who came to support Heukgol Chae were Heukwol-dan.”

Jong Gak’s eyes, fixed on Dam Hoon, were colder and sharper than Yu Seollan’s.
His history with Heukwol-dan was far deeper than anything she had experienced—and the problem was that he now faced them in the absolute worst possible circumstances.

‘Of all times.’

As figures of Heukwol-dan emerged behind Dam Hoon, and more than thirty enemies came into view in mere moments, Jong Gak’s expression darkened involuntarily.

“Hmm, judging by your expression, you seem to know me.”

Dam Hoon regarded Jong Gak and Yu Seollan with arrogance, then tilted his head slightly.

“Now that I think of it, your face looks familiar.”

As if the memory eluded him, Chuk Yung furrowed his brow and approached, sighing softly.

“Have you forgotten again? This man is the Vice-Leader of Milkgeom Dan.”

Chuk Yung placed particular emphasis on the name Milkgeom Dan.

“Milkgeom… Dan? Ah! That’s right! I was wondering who it was, and it’s those wretches!”

Dam Hoon’s reaction to the name Milkgeom Dan was violently animated.
The Heukwol-dan harbored no fonder memories of the Milkgeom Dan than the latter had of being entangled with them—and that was saying something, given what Jong Gak and Yu Seollan had endured.

“Hyeol Lyeon-su! I don’t know if that bastard still draws breath, but debts must be paid one way or another.”

Dam Hoon pressed his side, as though merely conjuring the man’s face was enough to resurrect the pain.
The sensation of a blade drilling through his ribs—scalding, relentless—remained vivid even now.

“Lucky enough to have crawled out alive, and still you spout impossibilities. A wretch like you was never fit to stand before such a man in the first place.”
“Shall we begin by tearing that mouth of yours apart?”

Dam Hoon bared a chilling smile and raised his blade; Chuk Yung flicked a glance toward his men.
The Heukwol-dan began to shift position, tightening their encirclement.
The path was narrow and the surrounding woods dense enough to make forming an encirclement difficult—but the same constraints bound the Milkgeom Dan, who needed an avenue to slip through the net.
As the enemy tightened the noose, Dokgo Jin lowered the Amhyang Dae member he had been carrying to the ground.
Yu Seollan’s brow creased for a moment, but with a resigned nod, she too laid down the members she bore; Yu Geomha and Namgung Ho followed suit, their expressions grave as they eased their own charges onto the earth.
The Amhyang Dae members, who had survived torture only to be dragged through an escape, had already fallen unconscious long before the group came to rest.

“Ju.”

Dokgo Jin called to Ju Gangwoo, who was trembling with fear.

“Yes?”
“Come here.”

As Ju Gangwoo approached hesitantly, Dokgo Jin gestured toward the fallen members.

“I entrust them to you. Likely nothing will happen, but stray arrows have a way of flying where one least expects them.”
“Understood.”

Ju Gangwoo nodded without a moment’s hesitation.
He did not know the full measure of Dokgo Jin’s skill.
Yet it was Dokgo Jin who had ventured into Ho Gul—the most perilous place imaginable—alongside Yu Seollan to rescue the Amhyang Dae members; it was Dokgo Jin who had demonstrated a Divine Technique by intercepting a Signal Flare mid-flight that a brigand had launched. Moreover, throughout their entire movement, Ju Gangwoo had sensed something unmistakable: everyone in the Milkgeom Dan, even Jong Gak who led them, treated Dokgo Jin with a subtle wariness.
All of them, without exception.
For Dokgo Jin to entrust the burden he carried to someone else required no further explanation.

‘Was a beast slipping its leash?’

It was a question he could not answer with certainty—and yet it felt, in some indefinable way, as though it might come to pass.

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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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