The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything - Chapter 333

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Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈

Chapter 333: Chasing Shadows (3)

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Thump.

I remembered the first time I was thrown into battle.

The ground was slick with blood and filth.

Martial artists lay abandoned and untreated, groaning in pain.

Whenever we hesitated, our incompetent superior would curse at us and even strike our own allies.

Thump.

The superior who had told us to obey orders vanished in the middle of the war.

I did not know whether that person had died or run away.

There was not even room to worry about that.

I searched for another superior just in case, but there was no one.

Thump.

Every commander who had demanded our absolute obedience was gone.

I did not know whether they had died or run away.

All I could do was hope for the former. Yes, it would be better if they had died.

Thump.

Enemies poured out from every direction, and we had no idea what to do.

Until then, we had been nothing more than meat shields who had never needed to know what to do.

Thump.

Demonic beings charged at us, swinging swords drenched in blood.

Beneath the setting sun, the entire world looked stained red.

It felt as though everything had sunk beneath a sea of blood.

Thump.

"...Senior..."

Thump.

I did not know what to do.

Just as I stood frozen in that blood-soaked battlefield, someone gripped my shoulder hard and shouted.

"Senior Brother!!!"

"...!!!"

What was that?

Just now...

When I turned my head, I saw Eunho clutching my shoulder, looking concerned.

Was that it...?

Had I lost myself?

Thump.

My heart would not stop pounding, as if what I had just experienced had truly happened.

Thump.

This was clearly different from my previous life.

I was not that Jin Sowoon from my previous life.

"Senior Brother, are you all right?"

Besides, I was not alone here.

Smack.

"...!!!"

I slapped both cheeks.

My cheeks stung, but my mind cleared.

"It is nothing. I was getting sleepy."

"...."

As I patted Eunho's shoulder to reassure them, the hunter approached.

"...Representative. There are still traces of the tracking incense..."

It was a question asking whether we would continue pursuing them.

The reason I had tried to join the main force despite my strained relationship with the lecturers was to prepare for the worst.

They were not lecturers from the Education Hall, but Hall Master-level lecturers from the Martial Alliance.

No matter how bad our relationship was, they should have been useful swords here.

'I was at fault for not expecting them to be such terrible people.'

They had even stepped down as Hall Masters because they cared for their juniors, so I had held out some hope. How could they be so different?

"We are not going."

"Pardon? The weather is not good. If it starts raining, we will not be able to follow the tracking incense anymore..."

"Do you not know what the red signal flares that went up at sunset meant?"

The red signal flares that had risen with the setting sun had faded by now.

They could not have gone up by chance.

"W-wait. Then what are you planning to do?"

An Orthodox Society member who had been listening to my conversation with the hunter cut in.

"If there is tracking incense, we should follow the lecturers right now!"

I did not look at them as I spoke quietly.

"We are not following the lecturers."

"What? Jin Sowoon, are you out of your..."

"Get a grip yourself!"

"...."

When faced with hardship, the easiest path people could choose was to run from reality.

Everyone who set foot on a battlefield for the first time found it difficult to turn away from that tempting choice.

But it was never the right answer.

"Do you still not understand? You saw those signal flares, yet you still do not understand? The lecturers are not coming. Even if we follow them now, it will be useless."

If I forced them not to make a foolish choice, they would resist.

This concerned their lives, after all.

"Jin Sowoon, who are you to give us orders?"

Just as expected.

I gave a faint sneer.

If this were clearly a wartime emergency, I could force them to obey. But nothing was certain yet.

"I have no intention of ordering you around. If anyone wants to go, go. I will not stop you. But if you want to stay, follow my orders from now on."

"...!"

"Article Four of the Academy regulations. If lecturers are absent during an emergency, Academy students shall follow the Academy Representative's orders."

"Th-that is..."

"I will give you one final choice. Anyone who wants to leave, leave."

With that, I turned away.

The people who had objected to me cursed, then began discussing things among themselves.

They soon spoke with the hunter and started gathering people.

I returned to my group in the meantime.

"We will camp here for the night. Overlap the watch shifts so we can keep a close guard. Give the injured as much first aid as possible, and make sure they can walk on their own by tomorrow morning."

"Yes."

"All right."

"Young Master Jin, you should rest too."

It was an abrupt thing to say, but Namgung Seonhwa took charge, assigned everyone tasks, and got them moving quickly.

By then, the people who intended to chase the lecturers had apparently finished organizing themselves. About twenty followed the hunter and set off.

'They picked out only the uninjured ones.'

They probably had not even considered taking the injured with them in the middle of the night.

"Is that really all right?"

When I turned around, Horse Nose was treating the injured while watching those people leave.

"Once they leave... half the people here will be injured."

Their thoughts were obvious.

They must have thought their best option was to reduce their numbers and chase after the lecturers.

It was the foolish choice of people who had never experienced real combat.

I looked at Horse Nose and asked, "Why did you not go?"

"...Did you not say that before?"

Horse Nose looked straight into my eyes.

"That you would do your best."

They lightly gestured behind them.

"What they are doing is not their best."

A laugh escaped me.

It was a surprisingly pleasant laugh.

"That is right. Moving now is not the best choice. But forcing them to stay is not the best choice either."

"...."

I looked at an injured student sitting in the distance and asked Horse Nose, "Can you get them walking by morning?"

"Jin Sowoon, do not underestimate Qingcheng Sect's emergency treatment..."

"Representative."

Horse Nose thought for a moment before speaking quietly.

"...Representative Jin."

Was Horse Nose really so unwilling to add an honorific?

"Fine. That is enough. Treat them properly, Horse Nose."

"My name is...!"

"I know. Jong Chuak."

"...!"

I smiled at Jong Chuak's frozen expression.

"If they can walk properly in the morning, I will call you by your name."

"...."

After giving Jong Chuak one last glance, I headed toward the newly joined students.

There was much to do even though night had fallen.

"Why did the lecturers leave you behind?"

"...."

That was the most important question.

The lecturers must have keenly realized during the divine spirit hunt that they could not afford to lack manpower. If they had vanished while leaving the Academy students behind, it could not have been because of the divine spirit.

They said they were going to the garrison to bring back people?

If they had not realized that abandoning Academy students in the middle of the Demonic Realm was even more dangerous, those bastards needed to be investigated by the Enforcement Hall.

Unless they were deliberately trying to weaken the Martial Alliance through some meticulous plan, they could never have done something this stupid.

That left only one answer.

"What made the lecturers move on their own?"

"...."

There was something else.

They only watched one another's reactions and avoided answering.

Hostile looks flashed across their faces, and it was clear they had no intention of speaking.

Did these bastards still not understand the situation?

"Do you know how many Academy student corpses we have seen on the way here?"

"...."

"Some of them were stronger than you. Do you want to become corpses while waiting here for the lecturers to return?"

"...."

"I already told you. In an emergency, you must follow the Academy Representative's orders. You saw how many red signal flares went up, did you not?"

After I threatened them like that, the expressions on their stiff faces began to crumble.

Right. They may have received every privilege possible as elites, but this was probably their first time caught in such chaos.

On top of that, the uninjured students had left with the hunter to search for the lecturers.

Of course their resolve would break first.

As expected, they reacted immediately.

"Jin Sowoon. Are you really going to leave us behind?"

"Representative."

"...Representative. Are you really planning to leave us behind?"

It was not polite speech, but it was not casual speech either.

I snorted.

"Why should I drag around subordinates who will not listen to me?"

"...."

Their faces turned even paler.

I let the amusement leave my face and added, "But if you follow my orders, I will do everything I can to keep you alive."

"...!"

"That is all I want."

The Orthodox Society members hesitated for a while.

After whispering among themselves, one finally spoke for the rest.

What kind of secret could be so important that they were acting like this?

"Lecturer No Jinha, um, so..."

"The lecturer bas... No, I mean, what happened to the lecturer?"

The speaker swallowed before finally forcing out the words.

"...Lecturer No Jinha was kidnapped by a divine spirit."

Damn it. No wonder they could not say it.

There was no ambush during the night, the thing I had feared most.

That did not mean anyone had rested comfortably.

We were in a forest thick with tension.

Monsters could emerge at any moment.

Our fellow Academy students had launched red signal flares.

No one could sleep peacefully with such anxiety hanging over them.

Snore.

Grrrgh.

Mmm... Mmm...

...Except for the Taeul Sect disciples and members of my group sleeping on one side.

"Are they just dull?"

"They have lived rough, so they must be fearless."

"Still, it looked like Namgung Seonhwa and Moyong Jaehwa slept soundly too."

"I saw Jin Sowoon tap their sleep acupoints..."

"...Is he sane?"

As the Orthodox Society members whispered about my group with hollow eyes, Hong Saryeon walked over to me.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"No."

"What on earth are you thinking? You put everyone else to sleep by tapping their sleep acupoints, then stayed awake yourself."

"I was waiting for something. It never came, though."

"What?"

The red signal flares.

A rescue signal from the Orthodox Society members who had left with the hunter.

But no signal flare went up throughout the night.

That meant they had either joined the lecturers safely, or...

"What were you waiting for?"

There was no need to show Saryeon the worst possibility.

"...Nothing."

That did not mean I planned to stop because my conscience bothered me.

Regret from my previous life was already enough.

"Go call the squad leaders. We need to leave now."

"Already? The sun has not even risen yet."

That was why we had to move now, while our opponent had let their guard down.

"Are we really moving with the injured? ...Representative Jin?"

"Representative... I do not know what you are thinking, but there are a lot of us. Would it not be better to select a separate detachment to make the trip and return?"

"Right. Taking everyone along will just be pointless hard slog, will it not? Representative... Jin."

Tsk.

What a load of bullshit.

Was it really so hard to speak respectfully under a chain of command? Or they could just challenge me outright. Instead, they were all using that awkward half-formal way of talking because they were watching my reaction.

"If you do not want to come, you can stay here."

"...."

But no one wanted to remain behind with the injured.

"Then shut up and follow me."

"...."

Once we had reached an agreement through conversation, we promptly prepared to depart.

There were so many injured that we could not form a proper formation.

I had not planned to do so in the first place.

Those with injured hands or arms carried people who could not walk, securing them with cloth.

I gave throwing weapons and stones to anyone who could use at least one hand so they could keep enemies at bay.

The strongest uninjured people took the vanguard, while the left and right flanks were arranged in order of strength.

Yang Japyeong stood directly behind the vanguard.

He needed to guide us if I had to rush out.

"Keep your pace steady. Moving consistently is more important than moving quickly."

"Where are we going, Representative Jin?"

"The garrison. We are going there."

"Without joining the lecturers?"

"Did they not say the lecturers' destination was the garrison anyway?"

"...."

The conversation did not continue, not because there was nothing more to say, but because a monster appeared.

"White-Faced Blood Spider!"

If there were monsters awake at this hour, most of them would be creatures like this.

I released sword force and rushed forward.

It was a creature that fired webs like cannonballs.

The webs were not poisonous, but once they stuck to someone, they were difficult to remove.

I deliberately performed the Taeul Eighty Thousand Divine Steps in a blaze of light.

Its eight eyes spun wildly as they followed the bright afterimage, and a round web slammed into the bare ground.

The moment it tried to find me again, I split its abdomen cleanly in two.

Screee!

After confirming its death and returning to the formation, the vanguard members who had rushed forward with me could not hide their shock.

"Sword force..."

"When did he get even stronger..."

Their mouths opened and closed in disbelief.

"Focus. This is not the time to worry about anything else."

"R-right."

"Understood, Representative Jin."

As the sun began to rise, more and more monsters appeared to block our way.

'This was definitely different from before.'

The monsters we had encountered until now had watched humans warily and refused to leave their territories. These monsters, on the other hand, charged as though humans were their sworn enemies, or as though we were prey.

Those assigned to the front were soon drenched in monster blood from head to toe.

"Damn it... I should have stood in the rear."

Of course, the rear was not safe either.

Some monsters waited until the Academy students passed, then ambushed the weakest point.

"Those damned monsters...!"

Not even two hours had passed since we set out for the garrison, yet everyone was visibly exhausted.

Still, no one suggested resting.

They had begun to feel it too.

As time passed, more and more monsters appeared.

Around four hours after we had started running, we stopped for the first time.

"These bastards..."

"Why are they here..."