The Red Dragon Martial Emperor - Chapter 201

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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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Red Dragon Sovereign, Episode 201

Chapter 201 — Go-mi’s Peril

‘Time is running out.’
Go-mi was frantic.
She’d hoped to hold the formation until Hwa Ryeong could summon reinforcements, but as the moments slipped away, maintaining it grew impossible.
Still, there was one mercy: she’d bought enough time for Hwa Ryeong to escape while the enemy’s gaze remained fixed on this place.
‘I can’t just wait here.’
Now she too had to find a way out of this gorge.
Like Hwa Ryeong, Go-mi scaled the cliff face, moving with stealth to slip past the formation’s edge.
But the excessive drain of her inner energy maintaining the array had taken its toll—her ascent was agonizingly slow.
Crack.
‘I cannot die here. There is too much left for me to do.’
Her teeth gnawed at her lip until it turned ashen. Yet in this moment, the first face that crossed her mind was not the Crown Prince Yi So, but Yi Hwan.
Every moment they had shared flashed before her like scenes from a lantern show.
A sudden ache.
Tears welled up unbidden.
Perhaps she would never see him again.

I only wish for this world to unfold as it should. If its end is eternal peace, I would welcome it gladly.

‘But I wanted to walk that path with him…….’
Thump.
Go-mi gripped a jutting stone and used it to propel herself higher up the cliff.
Had a quarter of an hour passed?
The formation finally shattered.
“There!”
“Chase her!”
The formation broke, and the enemy spotted Go-mi. Looking down, she saw several beginning their ascent up the cliff face. Others were heading north along the gorge.
Those were the true danger.
The northern slope was gradual enough that they would almost certainly reach her before those scaling the cliff could.
Go-mi threw everything into her climb. Her nails split, her skin tore and bled, but she couldn’t afford to stop for even a breath.
Mun I-jong, who had only just arrived at the scene, gazed up at Go-mi ascending the cliff and steadied his breathing.
Steam rose from his body in thick plumes—the toll of his relentless sprint to reach this place.
An aide spoke up.
“If she meant to flee, why wait until now to make her move?”
“She was buying time for whoever left first.”
Mun I-jong turned coldly toward the assassins who had already been stationed here.
“Did you know someone had already escaped this place?”
“……Sir?”
Crack!
The assassin reeled backward from the blow across his face.
Mun I-jong’s voice cut through the air like ice.
“Climb the cliff, fly if you must—do something! Now!”
“Yes, sir!”
The elite assassins at Mun I-jong’s side began to move.
Mun I-jong took the water pouch his aide offered and wet his throat, his eyes fixed on Go-mi.
‘At last I can finish this woman. Or perhaps… if I capture her alive, I might extract far more.’
Go-mi had long been a thorn in his side. To blind Yi Hwan’s eyes and ears, Go-mi had to die—and so he had made the effort. Yet each time he had failed, leading him to this very moment.
Each attempt had ended in failure, and now here they stood.
The thought that Go-mi, whom he had so desperately wanted dead, was now within his grasp kindled a new hunger—the desire to keep her alive and wring from her every secret about Yi Hwan and Yi So.
His aide spoke again.
“If we use the northern slope of the gorge, we can reach the cliff top easily. Shall we go that way?”
“I will head there myself. You take the men and guard the approach from the Imperial Palace. If the one she encountered on the way managed to shake off pursuit and succeeded in calling for aid, the Fourth Prince’s escort force may well arrive. Tell everyone: capture her alive.”
“Understood.”
Leaving nothing to chance, Mun I-jong watched his aide and men move into position before heading toward the gorge’s northern slope. As he moved, he glanced back at Go-mi—still quite a distance from the summit.
The assassins climbing the cliff face had closed the gap considerably.
‘This much should do it.’
Mun I-jong finally let out a breath.

* * *

The moment Go-mi hauled herself onto the cliff top, a sinister force came screaming toward her from all directions.
She threw her entire body into a roll to the side.
Rat-tat-tat-bang!
Through the billowing cloud of dust, the assassins of Hongwol came rushing forward.
Go-mi plunged straight into the forest without breaking stride.
It had been the narrowest margin. A moment’s hesitation would have meant capture.
Rat-tat-tat-bang!
She tore through the undergrowth, running and running still, all the while silently praying that Hwa Ryeong had escaped safely. She angled her course toward the path that led to the Imperial Palace.
Whee-shriek!
Sinister forces cut through the air from every side, and one of them grazed her shoulder.
But Go-mi could not afford to stop.
How much further did she run?
The dense forest gave way to open ground.
Go-mi glanced back. Two figures were in hot pursuit at the closest range, and behind them came at least thirty more.
Whee-shriek!
Another sinister force came hurtling through the air, this time grazing the side of her ribs.
A searing pain shot through her body and for an instant her strength drained away, but Go-mi clenched her teeth and ran with everything she had left.
That was when it happened.
“You won’t make it, girl.”
A figure blocked her path.
Go-mi fixed her gaze on the weapon energy coalescing at the tip of his blade, and recalled the technique that Yi Hwan had taught her.
A move she had never used in actual combat before now manifested through her sword.
Flash!
“…!”
Her opponent’s eyes went wide. He had been caught completely off guard by Go-mi’s thunderbolt of an attack with no preparation whatsoever.
Panic meant death.
Thwack!
“Ack!”
A severed head flew high into the air. Go-mi ran through, drenched in the falling blood.
The dead man had been a master in his own right.
But Yi Hwan’s technique exceeded the level of what he could withstand, making him a futile sacrifice to such a pathetic end.
Go-mi, too, had not come away unscathed. Having deployed a technique beyond her capacity while her strength was nearly spent, her vital energy became tangled and her breathing faltered for an instant. The disruption to her breathing immediately affected her speed.
In a heartbeat, the distance between her and those pursuing from behind had closed to within ten paces.
Go-mi’s eyes shot forward.
From both sides, figures were charging fiercely through the forest. She had to get clear before they could cut off her path.
But she had no confidence she could manage it.
Then it came. A sinister force struck from behind—a power of an entirely different magnitude, one that bore down on Go-mi’s entire body with crushing weight.
Without breaking her running stride, Go-mi twisted her body backward. At the same moment, she swung her sword with all her remaining strength.
Crash!
“…!”
Following the deafening sound, Go-mi’s slender frame shot into the forest like a kite with its string cut.
“Capture her alive! By the Grand Director’s command!”
The man who had attacked Go-mi lunged into the forest after her. That was when a beam of light erupted from within the trees.
“…!”
The man who had charged forward twisted his body in shock. The light passed inches from his chest.
The assassin’s eyes, wide with astonishment, fixed on Go-mi’s receding figure emerging from the forest—an image that pierced him like a blade.
“That wretched woman!”
Only then did he understand. Go-mi had used the impact to propel herself into the forest.
Drip-drip-drip!
Blood fell where Go-mi had passed. The assassins gazed upon it with grim satisfaction.
“Well, it’d be stranger if she came through without a scratch.”

* * *

“Ugh!”
Go-mi spat up blood that had risen to her throat as she ran. Her mind cleared for a moment, but her entire body grew heavier by the second.
Despair—a creeping monster—began to seep into her consciousness. Her body had already exceeded its limits, and her will was slowly fracturing.
The assassins who had finally caught up to her dropped down before her, blocking her path forward.
Swish-swish-swish!
“Why don’t you give up?”
“Hah…….”
Ragged breathing escaped through Go-mi’s parched lips, mingling with her exhale.
One of the assassins stepped forward.
“I’ll grant you this much—your persistence deserves recognition.”
He meant it.
“Surrender without resistance, and I’ll spare your life.”
“Ha! So your master ordered you to capture me alive, did he?”
The answer came from behind.
“I’m perfectly willing to give you that chance.”
Whoosh!
Mun I-jong descended into the arena on a gust of wind.
Go-mi turned her gaze slowly, fixing it upon Mun I-jong. Their eyes met and locked in the empty space between them.
‘This is wrong.’
Despair flooded through her. Yet the voice that emerged between her lips was ice-cold.
“I may die here, but can you truly afford what comes after?”
“Easily. As for your colleague who went seeking reinforcements—he should be dead by now.”
At these words from Mun I-jong, Go-mi’s despair deepened.
‘We’ve been discovered after all?’
“I encountered him on the way. Of course, you were more important, so I came here while my men pursued him. If you sent him to request aid from the Fourth Prince, I wouldn’t hold out much hope.”
As Mun I-jong spoke, inwardly he smiled. He’d said it to shake her resolve, and he could see in an instant how her eyes wavered.
“I’m giving you one last chance to choose.”
Mun I-jong stepped forward and continued.
“I hold your talents in the highest regard—indeed, I’ve wanted to kill you more than anyone. So choose life. Accept, and you’ll enjoy far greater glory than you have now.”
“Is this the Empress’s will?”
“For now, you should see it as my will.”
“You? A mere lapdog to the Second Prince? You dare speak to me?”
“……What?”
Ptuh!
Go-mi spat blood-tinged saliva and raised her sword with both hands. Even if she had to die, she’d fight to the end and take at least one of them with her.
“Stop spouting nonsense and come.”
Mun I-jong’s sharp, narrowed eyes grew even thinner.
“If you insist on refusing my offer, so be it. But don’t expect a merciful death. I’ll have your limbs severed and hung like dog meat at the Gold Guard Command Center.”
Shing.
Mun I-jong drew his sword. Since he meant to kill her anyway, he would finish her by his own hand.
Courtesy toward Go-mi? There was none of that whatsoever.
He believed Go-mi shared responsibility for his son’s death, and his true plan was to make her death as wretched as possible—a form of vengeance for his son.
‘I thought I’d keep her alive, extract information, and then hand her over to my men as a plaything.’
In truth, his sudden change of mind to capture her alive had been motivated by something else entirely.
Thrum.
Blood-red Sword Energy flowed along his blade—a mark of those who wielded Demonic Energy.
The crimson Sword Energy stained Go-mi’s eyes red as well.
In that moment, Yi Hwan’s face rose again in Go-mi’s mind.
‘Forgive me, Grand Prince.’
Emotion surged within her once more.
But she gritted her teeth and poured every ounce of remaining strength into her blade.
Mun I-jong advanced toward her slowly.
“A hunting dog who chooses the wrong master dies quickly. So don’t blame me for this.”
“That sounds like something you should tell your son.”
“……!”
Tremor-tremor…….
Had she touched his Reverse Scale?
Mun I-jong’s eyes wavered for a moment, then were consumed by a vicious killing intent.

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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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