KRAAANG—!
The body of the person slamd into the concrete wall went limp.
The head that had been twitching as if resisting inside a huge palm suddenly lost all strength, and then stopped moving entirely.
A low voice spilled from the one who had just crumpled a human being into the wall.
“...Was that the last of the intruders?”
Martial Alliance Leader Yeo Pilgeuk.
Anyone who saw him truly angry had no choice but to swallow hard.
The gentle face that used to smile like the kindly old man next door was nowhere to be found—only a cold-blooded martial artist remained, one who had beaten an intruder to death like swatting a bug.
“We’ve confird the identities of every martial artist inside the Alliance. We judge there are no further intruders... but we’re still rooting out the traitor.”
No Gucheon answered with an icy expression. A Martial Alliance elder and a leading figure among the pro–Alliance Leader faction, he was one of the core architects who had planned this license exam together with the leader.
Because the plan to abduct Yang Hayun inside the spell formation had been delayed longer than expected, helpers on the outside moved to buy ti for the assassins.
Fortunately, Yeo Pilgeuk sensed sothing was off and stepped in personally to suppress the intruders, but that had thrown the entire Martial Alliance into an ergency posture.
“Have you identified their objective?”
“After reviewing all monitoring, we believe they were targeting Yang Hayun of the Sun and Moon Gate. And... there’s a high chance Kim Muhyuk was swept up in this as well.”
As No Gucheon spoke, Yang Hayun and Kim Muhyuk’s profiles rose on the central monitor in Control Headquarters.
A late-bloom talent carrying the full expectations of the Sun and Moon Gate, one of the Eight Great Sects—along with a young man who might be the Sword Demon’s disciple.
But nowhere on any monitor showing the inside of the spell formation could either of them be found. It ant soone inside had tampered with the spellwork.
After scanning the screens at speed, Yeo Pilgeuk spoke with a hardened face.
“Get word to the spellcasters at once. Imdiately dismantle the spell formation and—”
“Alliance Leader! It’s bad!”
At that mont, an Alliance mber burst in as if breaking the door off its hinges, shouting in a frantic voice.
“T-the Mystic Hall spellcasters...!”
WHOOOSH—!
Without even listening to the end, the leader unleashed swift movent like he was taking flight and headed for the area where the spellcasters were gathered.
The central axis that controlled the massive spell formation the Martial Alliance had installed—there, among the spellcasters who should have been controlling the spells, several were foaming at the mouth and collapsed.
And beside them lay the corpses of assassins who had ambushed the spellcasters, been counterattacked, and turned into lumps of charcoal.
“There was an ambush. Assassins carrying extre poison ca here prepared for mutual destruction—”
Listening to the report, Yeo Pilgeuk personally examined the spellcasters’ bodies.
“...I will catch the culprit and make them pay the price. Rest easy.”
“A-Alliance Leader! There’s still poison on the bodies—”
“It’s fine. Step back.”
FWOOSH!
After burning away the lingering poisonous aura with inner power, Yeo Pilgeuk closed the eyes of the spellcasters who had died to the extre poison, one by one.
He rose and looked at the spellcasters watching with grave faces.
“Man Bakja. Can you dismantle the spell formation right now?”
Man Bakja—an upper-ranking spellcaster of Korea’s largest spell organization, Mystic Hall, and the one who had contributed most to building the exam site’s spell formation—answered with a dark expression.
“It’s impossible. If we take ti and dismantle it slowly, perhaps. But if we attempt it all at once in its current unstable state, sothing will go wrong.”
The anomalies inside the spell formation could go berserk, the terrain could warp and trigger disasters, and there was even the possibility of fatal damage to the sensory organs of the late-bloom talents inside.
The leader asked in a low, rumbling voice.
“How long do you need to dismantle it safely?”
“Even at minimum, two hours. If we had even one or two more highly skilled spellcasters, we could cut that in half, but...”
Saying the empty spaces left by the dead spellcasters were too great, Man Bakja added that he would hurry as much as possible.
“And communications with the Black-Whites?”
No Gucheon, who had co running after the leader, answered.
“The enemy interfered—every line is dead. And in my estimation, so of the Black-Whites are...”
“High probability of being traitors.”
Yeo Pilgeuk muttered with a hollow laugh.
He couldn’t even guess when assassins had infiltrated the Martial Alliance, or who stood behind them.
Cold fury gathered in his eyes.
“Then I’ll enter the spell formation alone if I have to. We find Yang Hayun and Kim Muhyuk at once, and—”
“Alliance Leader. No.”
“That is also difficult.”
No Gucheon and Man Bakja opposed him at the sa ti, blocking his path.
“If an expert like you forces entry, it’s no different from collapsing part of the spell formation. You’d be fine, but we can’t guarantee what effect it would have on the late-bloom talents.”
KRAAANG!
Yeo Pilgeuk’s fist smashed into the wall beside him.
Rage burst out at the fact that, with late-bloom talents in danger, he could do nothing.
“Then what—am I supposed to stand here and watch with my hands tied?”
Those late-bloom talents inside were practically the future of Korea’s martial world.
If even one of them ca to harm, Yeo Pilgeuk would never forgive himself.
He clenched his fist tight and stared at the screens—and then—
“Doesn’t look like things are going well.”
At the unfamiliar presence, Yeo Pilgeuk spun around in shock. A masked figure stood there, unmoving.
“An assassin! And one whose presence even I can barely catch!”
No matter how distracted he’d been by intruders and traitors, the fact that an assassin could enter this, the deepest part of the Martial Alliance, without anyone noticing until now was a stunning thing.
“How dare you!”
Moving with speed bordering on teleportation, Yeo Pilgeuk closed the distance and swung his fist to pass judgnt.
CLAAANG—!
Astonishingly, the other party blocked the single strike of the man called the King of Fists with a sword, and dispersed the force by retreating only two or three steps.
As if that weren’t unbelievable enough, the masked figure’s eyes softened as the figure spoke.
“Alliance Leader. Your temper hasn’t changed.”
“...Don’t tell ?”
At the strangely familiar voice, Yeo Pilgeuk—about to swing again—froze in place.
“That voice is...”
No Gucheon, who had drawn a sword as well, stared at the masked opponent with a startled expression.
As the leader and No Gucheon approached like they were bewitched, the masked figure lowered the mask slightly—only enough for the two of them to recognize.
“Alliance Leader. Elder No. It’s been a while.”
“Y-you...”
“Heh heh heh...”
Sword Demon Choi Geon.
The man who had once been Yeo Pilgeuk’s most trusted comrade—and the Martial Alliance’s hidden blade—had revealed himself again after more than twenty years.
“You! Where in the world have you been all this ti—!”
“Reunions later.”
Choi Geon’s expression turned serious as he continued quickly.
“I was watching from outside. The Alliance looked chaotic, so I figured sothing had happened and ca to check. I was also worried my disciple might’ve caused so huge incident...”
He gave an awkward smile for a mont, then hardened his face and went on.
“I’ve gotten the gist on the way in. The late-bloom talents are trapped inside the spell formation, and so assassins of unknown identity have been up to sothing, yes?”
“...Your disciple is in there too. Kim Muhyuk. That child, right?”
At No Gucheon’s question, Choi Geon nodded.
But for soone supposedly worried about a disciple in danger, his face looked almost too calm.
“Muhyuk will be fine. So let’s stabilize the situation as quickly as possible.”
Choi Geon turned to Man Bakja.
“I heard you’re short on spellcasters. If you need a truly capable spellcaster, may I recomnd one? All it takes is a call—close enough to co running imdiately.”
“...We need a spellcaster with deep understanding of spellwork who can also handle anomalies. Soone half-baked will only get in the way.”
“Then it’s the perfect person.”
At Choi Geon’s bold assurance, Man Bakja nodded reluctantly.
“Then we’ll take you up on it.”
“Then we’ll take you up on it.”
Who the masked person was didn’t matter; judging by the leader’s expression, the man seed trustworthy.
Choi Geon looked back to Yeo Pilgeuk and No Gucheon.
“What is the situation inside the spell formation?”
Choi Geon had once been the Martial Alliance’s fixer.
The world knew him best by the fearso alias Sword Demon, but at the sa ti, his swift judgnt and decisive handling of matters had earned him another na: the Martial Alliance Leader’s sword.
Though that was also why the Eight Great Sects, who had begun to check the leader’s power, made him a concentrated target.
“...I see. Understood.”
After hearing the full story and grasping it quickly, Choi Geon made a proposal.
“It’s difficult to intervene with the spell formation from outside right now, so how about asking the martial artists on-site for help?”
“Didn’t I just say it? Communications with the Black-Whites are cut, and on top of that we don’t even know who we can trust—”
“Alliance Leader.”
A great deal of ti had passed since those days, but Choi Geon’s gaze still burned just like it used to.
“Aren’t there hundreds of talented martial artists inside?”
Following Choi Geon’s finger, everyone’s eyes turned to the sa place.
There stood the late-bloom talents, gathered in one spot and waiting after the license exam had been halted.
“...I’d forgotten, for a mont.”
Yeo Pilgeuk stared at them blankly like a man who’d just been hit, then let a gentle smile form at the corner of his mouth.
“That those late-bloom talents are our greatest strength.”
The Martial Alliance leader’s narrowed view began to open again at Choi Geon’s advice.
Everyone there had co to prove themselves.
Not rely people the Martial Alliance had to protect, but martial artists who could carry justice through their own martial strength.
“Man Bakja. Can you deliver my words to the late-bloom talents inside?”
At Yeo Pilgeuk’s question—now sounding like the Martial Alliance leader he usually was—Man Bakja nodded.
“As long as it isn’t too long.”
“It’ll be brief. Connect it.”
Soon after, the leader’s voice was carried to the late-bloom talents through the spell formation.
*****
With an announcent that sothing had gone wrong with the spell formation, all exams were suspended.
The late-bloom talents who had been carrying out missions in teams were told to wait in one place until further instructions, and they gathered together on standby.
“What the hell is going on?”
“If it’s a spell formation problem, isn’t that a disaster...?”
“Where did all the Black-Whites go?!”
The late-bloom talents gathered in the plaza looked around with anxious eyes.
RUMMMMMBLE......!
The heaving landscape of the spell formation was obviously not normal at a glance, and the thunder and lightning striking down now and then were so vicious it felt like the world might end like this.
Of course, not everyone there was trembling in fear.
“Damn it. It was finally getting fun...”
Shin Kangheon grumbled irritably and raked both hands through his hair.
For a while now, he’d been scanning the crowd, looking for soone.
“But why isn’t Kim Muhyuk anywhere?”
Kim Muhyuk—the one he’d expected to compete with near the top—hadn’t shown his face even once since the exam began.
There was no way that bastard had fallen behind, but just when the feeling that sothing was off kept growing—
-A situation has arisen that makes it impossible to conduct the license exam normally. First, I apologize to all of you.
From the sky where thunder and lightning crashed, the voice of Martial Alliance Leader Yeo Pilgeuk began to ring out.
“Huh? That’s the Alliance Leader’s voice!”
“Please explain what’s going on!”
Over the startled crowd, the leader’s voice continued.
-From here on, I guarantee on my honor that what I say is the truth. Unknown assassins have infiltrated the inside of the spell formation.
At the explanation that followed, the murmuring swelled even louder.
So sucked in air in panic; others hunched with fear.
-The assassins’ target is Yang Hayun, a martial artist of the Sun and Moon Gate who is participating in the license exam. And we have determined that Kim Muhyuk, who ford a team with Miss Yang Hayun, has likely been caught up in this as well—
But more late-bloom talents were enraged by the fact assassins had dared intrude into the heart of the Martial Alliance, and at the words that a fellow examinee was being targeted, they tightened their grip on their weapons.
-So I wish to ask you for help. For the sake of comrades in danger—will you lend your strength?
-The enemy are experts capable of infiltrating the center of the Martial Alliance. You will be taking on great risk. There will be no disadvantage if you choose not to step forward, so decide carefully—
“So where is it!”
Before the leader could even finish, Shin Kangheon—along with Oh Jungmin, Song Junho, and many other martial artists—stepped out to the front.
“Where is Kim Muhyuk fighting?!”
Unable to keep listening quietly any longer, Shin Kangheon shouted up at the sky.
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