Amidst the agonized screams and the glow of approaching torches, a warrior leaped down from the low hill and shouted urgently.
“Vice Lord! It looks like a Blood Cult ambush! They’re swarming from all directions! It seems one of our scouts was captured, and the rendezvous point has been exposed!”
“Damn it!”
Just as Seol had feared before we arrived, the location of the rendezvous hadn’t been compromised beforehand, but the enemy’s timing was eerily perfect, launching their assault just as we got here.
At the warrior’s cry, three or four more people rushed out of the wolf den, their faces twisted with shock as they turned to Swift Walker.
“Vice Lord!”
“What are your orders?!”
“Give us the command!”
Without hesitation, Swift Walker pulled out several sheets of paper and shoved them into Sword Master’s hands with a determined gaze.
“Sword Master, take this to the Lord of the Martial Alliance!”
“This is…?”
It was clearly compiled intelligence—likely a map based on all the information they had gathered about potential Blood Cult bases.
“This contains our deductions on the Blood Cult’s strongholds based on our collected intelligence. You must deliver it to the Alliance Lord at all costs!”
“But why ?! What about you, Vice Lord?!”
“If sothing like this happens, it’s the duty of us older warriors to ensure the young survive.”
“That’s—!”
His tone was one of sacrifice—one ant to ensure our survival.
Swift Walker surveyed our group, his expression tinged with bitterness before he spoke again.
“I won’t let the Twin Dragons, the Lone Phoenix, and the Lone Flower die here. You are the future of the martial world! We will lure them away—you must make it out alive! Now, follow my lead!”
“Yes, Vice Lord!”
“Let’s go!”
With that, he and his five subordinates charged forward, his voice ringing out once more.
“We’ll carve a blood path! Wait for the right mont, then head south!”
‘South? Not north?’
We should have been heading north—toward Yunnan. Why was he telling us to flee south?
I must have made a puzzled expression, because Hwa-eun grabbed my wrist and explained.
“He’s deceiving the enemy. The Blood Cult will expect us to escape north toward Yunnan, so they’ll focus their forces there. By having Swift Walker and his n head north as a distraction, we can slip away to the south while they’re occupied.”
‘Oh, that’s clever.’
Impressed by the quick thinking, I followed Hwa-eun as we reached the wolf den.
We kept our breathing quiet, waiting in the darkness, and soon, the sounds of clashing weapons, shouts, and screams began echoing from afar.
—Clang!
“The north! They’re breaking through the north!”
“Gahhhh!”
“The Martial Alliance forces are pushing north!”
Just as Hwa-eun had predicted, the torches surrounding the area wavered.
The flas shifted—converging northward as the Blood Cult forces turned their attention to Swift Walker’s group.
With their focus drawn elsewhere, the torches on the southern side began to thin out.
And just as we were about to move forward—
A massive shadow fell over , Hwa-eun, and Seol.
Darkness had already descended, and with the torchlight partially obstructed, our surroundings were montarily pitch-black.
Then I realized what had blocked the light.
It was Paeng Gyu-seong’s broad back.
His deep voice rumbled through the darkness.
“I’ll take the lead. Azure Dragon and Sword Master, stay close behind . So-ryong, follow after them. Dok-hwa and Lady Seol, cover the rear.”
A tank at the front—what a reassuring sight.
The three of us nodded, and Paeng Gyu-seong charged forward like a wild bear, tearing southward.
Azure Dragon and Sword Master followed right behind him.
—Shhkk!
As Paeng Gyu-seong plowed through the tall grass, it bent and flattened beneath his massive fra, creating a trail wide enough for all of us.
After about twenty or thirty ters—
His voice lowered as he muttered.
[Sothing’s coming.]
—Shhh…
—Step, step…
Just as he warned, there were sounds of movent from ahead—footsteps accompanied by the rustling of grass.
Without hesitation, Paeng Gyu-seong adjusted his path and barreled straight toward the approaching figures.
“There’s sothing approaching—wha—?! Martial Ar—”
—Splat!
“Gugh…!”
Without even slowing down, Paeng Gyu-seong bulldozed straight into the enemy at the front.
The rest of us burst through the trampled grass just in ti to witness a man, knocked completely off his feet, coughing up a spray of blood.
The torch he had been holding flew into the air, montarily illuminating the battlefield before plunging back into darkness.
The remaining Blood Cult mbers—about ten of them—froze in shock.
They had been taken by complete surprise.
Before they could react, Sword Master and Azure Dragon, who had been trailing behind Paeng Gyu-seong, lunged from the left and right.
The two of them seamlessly flanked the enemy, striking with practiced precision.
—Thwip!
—Slash!
For soone I had considered a bit of a fool, Azure Dragon demonstrated remarkable skill.
His spear shot forward, piercing a man’s throat clean through.
anwhile, Sword Master’s blade flashed under the moonlight, slicing down the enemies before her.
“M-Martial A—Ghhk!”
“Kuhhhh!”
“Th-the Martial Alliance—!”
—Tsssht!
One of the enemies, regaining his composure, reached for a signal horn to alert the others.
But before he could blow into it, a thin, silver streak pierced his forehead.
His eyes widened in shock before he crumpled to the ground.
Hwa-eun had taken him out with her poisoned needles.
In re monts, ten Blood Cultists had been dealt with.
Paeng Gyu-seong scanned the surroundings again, eyes locking onto an area where the torches had yet to reach.
“Good work! Dok-hwa, keep taking care of enemies like that if they try to raise the alarm.”
“Understood.”
A tank at the front, two lee attackers striking from the flanks, and a ranged fighter cleaning up the rest.
The coordination between Paeng Gyu-seong, Sword Master, and Azure Dragon was almost seamless.
And with Hwa-eun providing support, our unit was a well-balanced force.
As we pressed forward, the growing commotion from our skirmish began drawing torches toward us.
Noticing this, Paeng Gyu-seong imdiately picked up the pace, charging forward once more.
Our escape had only just begun.
***
After the first clash, we encountered similar ambushes twice more. By the third ti, it seed like we had finally broken through their encirclent.
The tall grass, which had reached head height, began thinning out.
As we erged from the dense field, we found ourselves facing an overwhelming sight.
A massive horde of Blood Cultists.
At least a hundred of them stood in the moonlight, their torches unlit, as if they had been lying in wait.
Just as we had aid to outmaneuver them, it seed they had outmaneuvered us in turn.
At the front, Paeng Gyu-seong, who had been leading our charge, abruptly halted.
“This is bad!” he muttered, clearly taken aback.
From among the cultists, a man stepped forward with a smug grin.
“Heh… so the northern attack was just a decoy, huh? Too bad for you.”
His gaze swept over our group, and his grin widened.
"And what do we have here? Three fine won? This might be enjoyable."
The sight of his tongue licking his lips filled with rage.
His eyes were locked on Hwa-eun.
Then, as if to add the final straw, he spoke the words that sealed his fate.
“Kill the n. Capture the won. And that one—” He pointed at Hwa-eun. “I’ll take her myself.”
Hwa-eun’s face burned with fury and humiliation.
I clenched my fists.
Now was the ti.
I didn’t need to hold back any longer.
‘Cho! These bad n need to be punished!’
The response ca instantly—a rush of impatience, followed by an urgent ntal command.
Move back. Now.
I turned to the group and shouted.
“Move back! It’s coming!”
“What’s coming?!” Paeng Gyu-seong exclaid.
Realizing what I ant, our group recoiled several steps just as the enemy leader and his n instinctively stepped back as well.
But after a few monts of stillness, seeing no visible change, the cultist sneered.
“Hah! You really thought we’d fall for that? I don’t know where you four extras ca from, but you’re not getting any help.”
Then he smirked wider.
“Those Martial Alliance squads that entered the restricted area? All nine of them should be having their blood drained in our underground cells by now.”
“What…?!”
“The first three we caught talked quite easily. Hahaha.”
At his words, Sword Master’s eyes flared with fury.
Then, as the cultist leader raised his hand to give the attack command—
—Plop.
A quiet sound.
A tiny drop of sothing hitting his hand.
—Plop, plop…
—Drip, drip, drip.
Slowly, droplets began falling from above, landing on the cultists.
“What the… rain?”
He looked up, puzzled.
And then—
His face contorted.
Not in confusion.
But in pain.
No. Not just pain.
It was dissolving.
“GRAAAAHHHH!!”
The droplets rained down upon the cultists, and where they touched, flesh lted away.
One by one, the Blood Cultists scread, clutching their faces as their skin began to slough off like wax under fire.
“Guhhhhk!”
“K-Kyaaaaaaaah!!”
A hundred agonized voices howled in unison, their collective suffering turning the night into a symphony of horror.
—THUD!
—Tsssssssshhhhh…!
Then, Cho descended between us and the cultists, emitting a furious hiss.
As if struck by a physical force, the remaining cultists convulsed, their bodies further liquefying into grotesque puddles.
‘H-Holy…’
Even I was left speechless.
Beside , Hwa-eun muttered in disbelief.
“The ruler of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts… the Skyborne Centipede, said to rain death from the heavens…”
She swallowed hard.
“M-My grandfather spoke of it… ‘The Rain of Death’… This is what he ant…”
Curiously, the grass, the cultists' clothing, and their weapons remained untouched.
Only flesh lted away, as if the substance Cho had unleashed targeted organic matter exclusively.
No known poison could behave like this.
This wasn’t just venom.
This was sothing beyond nature itself.
After ensuring that all threats had been eliminated, Cho slithered over to , tilting her head as if awaiting praise.
—Tssssrrr…
Still half-stunned, I reached out and stroked her head.
“Cho… don’t drool on your mom and dad, okay?”
—Tssr?
Grandfather had said that my body could handle Cho’s poison.
But honestly?
I wasn’t eager to put that theory to the test.
Even with my resistance to toxins, I had a gut feeling that if even a single drop of that thing touched , I’d have a hole punched straight through my body.
This wasn’t just venom.
This was sothing else entirely.
anwhile, Elsewhere…
The Blood Cult Elder Blood Gale Serpent, Maecho-gwi, stared blankly at the remains of his troops.
Or rather, what little remained of them.
Only their weapons and clothing were left.
Everything else had been… erased.
“…What in the na of hell…?”
It had taken a full squad of their strongest warriors—Blood Phantom Division—to subdue just six Martial Alliance warriors.
Yet here, in an instant, an entire hundred-man unit had been completely annihilated.
Back at the northern front, they had suffered so injuries from a new scattering poison the Martial Alliance had developed, but they had managed to recover with minor casualties.
But this?
This was beyond comprehension.
Among those lost was Blood Phantom Lord Gu Pung-so, one of the five strongest commanders under the Blood Cult.
Along with a third of his elite troops.
“Have the others arrived yet?” Maecho-gwi snapped.
“Not yet, Elder.”
“Tch… are they planning to break our agreent?!”
As his frustration mounted, a cold voice drifted from behind him.
“Now, now… there’s no need for such accusations.”
Maecho-gwi spun around, stepping back instinctively.
A pale woman stood behind him, clad in flowing black robes.
She smiled.
Despite himself, a shiver crawled down his spine.
He hadn’t even noticed her approach.
“I told you not to stand behind !” he barked.
Her smile widened. “Of course, Elder.”
Maecho-gwi clenched his fists.
The woman before him belonged to the faction that had clashed with them when the Blood Cult first relocated to this region.
At first, they had been enemies—devouring the border villages as they expanded their power.
But when they realized they shared a mutual hatred for the Martial Alliance, a fragile alliance was ford.
They called themselves the Five Lords of Venom.
Later, he had discovered they were the remnants of the Five Venoms Clan.
But that didn’t matter right now.
What mattered was the catastrophe that had just unfolded.
Maecho-gwi’s patience was at its limit.
He raised his hand, channeling his Qi into his poisoned dagger, and hurled it toward her.
The woman caught it effortlessly, twirling it between her fingers.
She then let a drop of its poison fall onto her fingertip… and licked it.
Maecho-gwi’s blood ran cold.
“…You still use Tiger’s Blood Poison? Didn’t we warn you that technique has a weakness?”
“Damn it… they figured it out?” he muttered.
They had kept the antidote for that poison a tightly guarded secret, known only to their highest-ranking mbers.
Yet the Martial Alliance had already discovered its counter.
Perhaps reestablishing their foothold in the Central Plains wouldn’t be as easy as they had thought.
As Maecho-gwi processed this grim realization, the woman tossed him a small vial.
Catching it reflexively, he frowned.
“…What is this?”
“The antidote to Tiger’s Blood Poison.”
His breath caught.
“You finished it?!”
“But of course. We keep our promises.”
Her voice was calm, but there was a trace of amusent in it.
She was referring to the botched Blood Cult attack on the Tang Clan—an operation that had been disrupted by a rogue elent.
Her people had suffered losses because of it.
And now, she was subtly reminding him of that debt.
Gritting his teeth, Maecho-gwi forced himself to bow.
“…We appreciate your cooperation.”
“Oh, I know you do,” she replied lightly.
Then, as if suddenly rembering sothing, she turned toward the lted remains.
When she saw what was left, her eyes widened.
Then—
She dropped to the ground, frantically searching through the remains.
Monts later, she gasped.
“This… this is…!”
Her voice trembled with awe.
“…The First Venom Lord! It may still be young, but it’s unmistakable!”
She whirled around, shouting orders.
“Summon the Toad Brigade! Bring out Roar! At once!”
Figures erged from the shadows, bowing deeply before disappearing into the night.
Sothing terrifying had just been confird.
And the Blood Cult was no longer the only ones hunting.
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