WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 337: Despair
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Profound Mystery Pavilion.
A classified document repository located in the deepest part of the Martial Alliance.
No one knew who managed it or how information found its way inside. Yet it was a place coveted by anyone who sought power.
After all, it contained every kind of important information, from the private scandals of major figures in each sect to countless other secrets.
I had been able to expose Green Bamboo Fort's dirty secrets when they provoked the Iron Sword Sect because of the information stored within Profound Mystery Pavilion.
Those records alone made the place valuable enough, but its true worth lay elsewhere.
Information on the martial arts of the Central Plains.
For five hundred years, the Martial Alliance had relied on countless sects, and those sects had relied on the Martial Alliance in turn. Information on their martial arts had been gathered piece by piece from fights, sparring matches, demonstrations, and battlefields.
Those fragments were then assembled into a complete picture of each martial art.
That was Profound Mystery Pavilion's most important duty.
Once enough fragments were gathered to form a larger picture, it became possible to analyze a martial art and identify its strengths and weaknesses.
Information so dangerous that the Nine Sects One Gang, the Five Great Clans... no, any sect would be shaken to its core if they learned of it.
I didn't know why Profound Mystery Pavilion collected such information, nor did I need to know.
Those records were fated to remain hidden within Profound Mystery Pavilion forever, never revealed to the world.
‘At least, until today...’
Amid the screams, Ilgak's voice rang out clearly.
“Benefactor Jin!!!”
The enemy had attacked with every preparation in place, at a moment none of us had expected.
We, on the other hand, had no unit organization, no strategy, and no response prepared.
“Whew...”
The situation was clearly hopeless, but I slowly took a deep breath.
I pulled every record from Profound Mystery Pavilion out of the library in my mind, analyzing and rearranging them.
I wasn't looking for the best solution.
The moment we allowed ourselves to be ambushed, the best solution had already vanished into the distant Northern Sea.
What I needed to prepare for was the worst.
“Benefactor Jin! The enemy is closing in!”
Hoping an unbuilt battle line would hold was no different from hoping a candle before the wind would not go out.
“Ghk... They're putting out the fires!”
“They're hiding in the darkness again!”
Building a defensive line wasn't what we needed to do now. We needed to aggressively disrupt the enemy formation.
“Benefactor Jin...!”
The classified records of Profound Mystery Pavilion, along with my memories of war.
I recalled how the Martial Alliance's armed forces fought, and how the Demon Wolf Unit fought.
“Benefactor Jin!!!”
A countermeasure slowly began to take shape.
“Ilgak. How many Eighteen Arhat Formations can you set up?”
“What do you mean? The Eighteen Arhats are originally from the main temple...”
“Some lay disciples have learned the Arhat Formation too! Including them!”
Ilgak's eyes darted around, as if startled that I knew that. At last, he answered.
“Three. We can operate three, but they won't be complete...”
“Doesn't matter. Start right now!”
“What are you...?”
I immediately turned away.
There was no time to hear an answer. I had to find someone else at once.
“Is anyone from the Wudang Sect here?!”
“...”
A Wudang disciple silently raised a hand from one side.
“How many disciples can deploy the Taiji Seven Stars Sword Formation?”
“...What are you thinking?”
The question was so stupid that a curse slipped out before I could stop it.
“Fuck, do you think this is the time to ask questions?”
“...”
“Follow me if you want to live. Otherwise, you can all die.”
“...Sixteen.”
“That makes two formations. Exclude the two who learned the Whirlwind Sword Art, then set up the formations and support Shaolin Sect. Have the two Whirlwind Sword Art users fight between the Eighteen Arhat Formations.”
“If they stay between the formations, they might hurt our allies instead...”
“The ones who learned the Whirlwind Sword Art will gain strength from it instead, so just do it!”
There was no time. I raised my voice until the veins stood out in my neck.
“Next, Mount Cang Sect! Where is Mount Cang Sect?!”
“We're here!”
Once Wudang's Taiji Seven Stars Sword Formations were set around Shaolin Sect's Eighteen Arhats, it became much easier to withstand the enemy's fierce pressure.
“How many of you learned the Sun-Shooting Sword Art?”
“Most of us have.”
“Then support the Wudang Sect.”
One by one, I put everyone in position, stacking them up like bricks.
There was no time to practice coordination, so I had to rely on each person's individual ability.
It didn't matter if they failed to work together perfectly.
Getting injured was still better than dying at the enemy's hands.
“...What are you thinking, Representative Jin?”
“Cheol Sunjik. You know this isn't the time for questions. Nam Hwaseong!!!”
“I'm here!”
The Twelve Peak Alliance formed up around the Samwon Sect.
The One Pillar Sect and Shura Sect supported the Samwon Sect, while the Jukhyeon Sect acted as the spearhead.
Next came the Five Great Clans.
Thank goodness Namgung Seonhwa was here.
Without asking a single question, she relayed my orders exactly and formed the battle lines.
Once defenses had been established in all three directions, the cries of agony echoing throughout the camp gradually began to fade.
The formation's structure was simple.
Those in the vanguard focused entirely on defense. The left and right wings supported them while attempting counterattacks.
The rear guard served as an assault force pursuing extreme efficiency, periodically inflicting massive damage on the enemy.
It was a tactic from the distant future, one that would never be attempted in this era.
After repeated defeats in the Orthodox-Demonic War had reduced the Martial Alliance to one quarter of its former strength, it adopted a grand strategy that transcended sect boundaries.
That strategy unfolded ten years ahead of its time.
“Watch out! You're within the sword's range!”
“Damn it, I should've memorized the sword paths of the Demon-Subduing Sword Art if I'd known this would happen.”
Our coordination was still rough, and quite a few people were struck by allies' attacks.
Still, no one was being absurdly dragged into the darkness and killed by Demon Wolf Unit members anymore.
“Our sect's defensive formation fits perfectly with the Samwon Sect's fist formation... It feels strange.”
“Talk later. There are still people who haven't joined us!”
“Damn it... Can't I step out for a moment and get them?”
The casualties gradually began to concentrate around the outer edge of the formation.
Once the formation had settled into place, the Demon Wolf Unit members, who avoided the bright light, found it difficult to respond to us. Their attention turned toward those who had yet to join the formation.
“Geumpyo! Once the formation moves, bring those people back.”
“Will you give us a signal?”
“You'll know when you see it!”
I immediately rushed toward the Orthodox Society's formation.
“Ilgak! Are you coordinating a little better now?”
“Benefactor Jin! It's still difficult. More people are being hurt by allies' blades than anything else.”
“Really? Good enough. We advance.”
“What do you mean...?”
“I told you earlier. We're counterattacking.”
“...”
Ilgak looked at me as if I were insane, but there was no other choice.
No matter what anyone said, the Orthodox Society was the most skilled group here.
In a crisis like this, what I could trust wasn't loyalty or faith. It was skill alone.
That was why the Orthodox Society had to lead the counterattack.
“Let's go!!!!”
“Benefactor Jin...”
“Let's go!!!!”
At my thunderous shout, the formation began to move forward.
Our target was the southeast, where the largest number of stranded personnel were concentrated.
As the formation started moving, the Academy students wavered badly again.
“Hold your posture! Shorten your strides! Then you won't hurt your allies!”
As expected, the Orthodox Society members knew exactly what each of them needed to do.
They forced themselves to maintain the formation, even if all they could do was imitate a sword formation.
That became the power protecting the formation and the foundation that allowed the ranks to advance.
“Gaaah!”
“Urk!”
“Ghk!”
People were injured as they clashed head-on with the blades of the Demon Wolf Unit, but no one died.
I moved one step ahead of everyone else.
“Damn it... Jin Sowoon! Are you planning to charge out alone?!”
“Benefactor Jin! Don't worry! We'll catch up!”
Slash, slash, slash.
I kept slashing and advancing ahead of the vanguard.
I couldn't deal with all of them, but that was fine.
The Orthodox Society's elites following behind would deal with the remaining Demon Wolf Unit members.
All I had to do was unleash as many attacks as possible and throw them into disarray.
Rumble.
Then I launched the Mad Heaven Divine Palm at full power.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwa-kwaang!
I could vividly feel my internal energy being drained away, but the effect was certain.
Part of the forest had been blown away entirely.
A Demon Wolf Unit member hastily twisted aside to avoid the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
I launched myself at them.
Slash, slash, slash.
This time, I wasn't satisfied with hearing screams. I did my best to kill them.
My objective was to drive them back.
‘Red Wolf! Where is Red Wolf?’
I didn't know how many of them there were or what they were plotting here, but every enemy who had appeared so far belonged to the Demon Wolf Unit.
Clangclangclang!
If I caught their leader, their Unit Commander, dealing with the rest would become much easier.
“Urk!”
“Gaaah!”
I tore through the endlessly charging Demon Wolf Unit members, running forward and forward.
Swoosh!
My eyes flew open at the powerful presence.
I circulated the Taeul True Scripture with all my strength and swung the Scarlet Radiance Sword with everything I had.
Bang!
Our sword forces collided, but I failed to cut him down.
The opponent was also an expert at the sword force level.
As the white smoke cleared, a red-clad figure unlike the other black-clad figures appeared.
“Red Wolf...”
As I spat out his name through clenched teeth, the eyes visible above the mask widened slightly.
That was all.
As though Red Wolf knew exactly what he had to do, he moved immediately.
Swoosh!
The blade was slightly shorter than an ordinary saber, perhaps so it could cut and thrust at once. Its thrust came with terrifying speed.
When I took two steps back to create distance, Red Wolf pressed closer, unwilling to give me any room.
‘So that's how it is.’
I threw out the Myriad Blossoms Invincible Fist at the approaching enemy.
Thud, thud, thud.
A bell-like sound rang out as fist and saber collided.
I had imbued my fists with qi force.
This was strange. Red Wolf showed no trace of blade force, yet he was blocking my qi force with ease.
Was he obsessed with extreme efficiency?
If one managed their power well, bloated qi force that consumed enormous amounts of internal energy would only wear its user down.
Red Wolf was targeting me according to his own plan. Just what one would expect from the commander of the Demon Wolf Unit.
“But that's your plan.”
An extreme efficiency fanatic would always lose to someone who could overwhelm him with sheer volume.
“Try blocking this efficiently too!”
I unleashed the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art, creating six Ten Thousand Swords. Then I layered sword force over them, trapping Red Wolf in a literal storm of qi force.
Pupupupupupung!
Just as when I had called his name, Red Wolf's eyes widened. The thin black qi force surrounding his saber swelled massively.
You couldn't help being swept along by your opponent in the end.
Kwakwa-kwaang! Kwakwaang!
Even amid the enormous explosions, savage blade force poured out.
Fuck, I almost got stabbed.
As the explosions faded, Red Wolf rose abruptly from the deep crater, his right hand gone.
“Die, you bastard!”
The instant I unleashed the Lesser Heaven Sword Art wrapped in sword force, Red Wolf's body sank into the ground like water.
‘Damn it!’
I never expected Red Wolf to have learned the Demonic Cult's Four Death Ghost Steps.
Having slipped past my sword, Red Wolf escaped the crater and immediately began fleeing.
“You think I'll let you get away?!”
Just as I used the Peerless Wanderer Divine Art to pursue him, someone grabbed the back of my collar and yanked me backward.
‘And I didn't notice?!’
A chill ran down my spine.
I quickly threw off my outer robe, slipping from the grasp, then swung the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
Yet nothing touched the tip of my sword.
‘Fuck, what was that...?!’
I turned around in alarm and saw my outer robe dangling from the Flying Dragon Claw at the edge of my vision.
“Eunho?”
“Senior Brother, they're withdrawing.”
At Eunho's words, I looked toward the Demon Wolf Unit members. They were definitely retreating in haste.
“It's a relief. Your plan worked exactly as intended, Senior Brother.”
“...”
They were just leaving like this?
I was only getting started.
“Senior Brother...”
After making so many corpses here, they intended to run away without suffering any real losses?
Creak.
I clenched my teeth so hard that blood seeped from my lips at their cowardly conduct.
“Senior Brother... There are many injured and dead.”
Yet Eunho had already stepped in front of me.
Eunho's hand tightly gripped my robe.
As if Eunho would not let me go anywhere.
“And we... still haven't prepared anything.”
I understood Eunho's meaning better than anyone.
Chasing them with the Academy students now would be no different from madness.
After steadying my breathing, I turned around.
“First, identify the injured and dead. Then form scouting parties from those who are unharmed and send them out. We need to find out exactly how prepared those bastards are.”
I engraved the knowledge that the days of revenge were near deep into my heart.
#
Fifty-three dead.
Thirty-seven seriously injured.
Eighty-eight lightly injured.
The remaining injured could not yet be accounted for.
By the time dawn broke, the confirmed situation was devastating.
It wasn't strange for this many casualties to occur in a large-scale battle.
But each of them was an elite from their sect, someone who had received enormous support. The actual loss was even more severe.
The problem was that there was no way to treat the seriously injured right away.
If time continued to pass, they too would become part of the death toll.
“Representative. What we need most right now is food and basic medicine.”
“How short are we?”
“...”
Jang Woojae fell silent.
Only when I looked at him did he finally speak in a heavy voice.
“...We don't even have enough left for a week.”
The most devastating loss from the previous night's attack was the supplies destroyed by fire.
Everything had been stored inside the tents, after all.
A month's worth of supplies prepared for the Great Journey, along with another month's worth for emergencies.
Most of that enormous stockpile had been destroyed in a single night.
We lacked food, and we even lacked the medicine needed to treat the injured immediately.
“It's as though they deliberately left us with exactly this much.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. What about the scouting parties?”
“The ones who returned early had nothing to report. They likely didn't go far because they didn't know when the enemy might appear.”
This was one of the Academy students' problems.
Most had been raised as elite talents, which made them less versatile.
In other words, we had formed a unit by gathering only people fit to be commanders, leaving us short on people capable of properly serving as its hands and feet.
They had all learned how to issue orders efficiently, but lacked the skills needed to function as useful rank-and-file unit members.
“Let's wait until the other scouting parties return and check then.”
Just as I was about to stand up, the camp erupted into commotion.
“Move! Move!”
“Make room! Is there anyone here who knows medicine?!”
“Bring water!”
At the uproar, Jang Woojae and I naturally met each other's eyes. We quickly moved toward the disturbance.
Past the gathered Academy students, two students I had not seen the night before sat on the ground.
Their faces were blue, and they shivered as though struck by chills despite the hot weather.
‘Ha...!’
I knew at once.
‘Demonic qi.’
The severe poisoning symptoms that occurred when someone became contaminated by demonic qi.
I asked the person standing nearby.
“Where did these two come from?”
“W-We met them while scouting today and brought them back.”
“How far from the camp were they?”
“To be honest... we didn't go that far.”
I immediately turned and shouted behind me.
“Does anyone know where these two were assigned to scout?!”
One of the Academy students listening raised a hand.
“The southernmost area. I remember them complaining that they had drawn the farthest location.”
They came here from the southern end without a guide?
I needed to hear what they had to say.
I asked the two people staring blankly into space while shaking nonstop.
“Hey. Can you hear me?”
The scouting party answered instead.
“They can't answer at all. ...I don't even know if they understand what we're saying.”
Extreme fear, killing intent, and demonic qi had probably mixed together and ruined their minds.
If the demonic qi was this strong... what kind of terrifying monsters had come here?
Hummm.
I took one of their hands and slowly poured in the Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force.
The violently trembling hand gradually began to still.
Then their entire body slowly began to calm down.
At that moment, something caught my eye.
‘What's this?’
Looking more closely, I saw frostbite marks scattered across their skin.
Mukrim's temperature was no different from the sweltering height of summer.
What could possibly cause frostbite in a place like this? I began to think, but the thought quickly vanished.
Color was returning to their blue face, and the blood-red hue was fading from their eyes.
“Uh... Uh...”
The survivor seemed to have finally regained his senses and looked around in shock.
“W-Why am I here...?”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“How did you get here?”
“Huh?? Jin Sowoon...? Why are you... here?”
“You went to the southern end, right? Where are the others? Did someone help you along the way?”
At my questions, he began repeating the same words as if chanting a spell.
“The others... The others...”
His eyes rolled as though trying to recall something, then he suddenly sprang to his feet.
“T-The others... The others... Surrounded... I ran... I ran away... I have to run away...”
The survivor, who had abruptly stood, lifted his head and stared at me.
“J-Jin Sowoon... Jin Sowoon... Why are you here??”
Then he began trembling again, his face twisting into a pale grimace.
I quickly tried to take his hand to pour in the Jade Clarity Celestial Phenomenon Force, but he violently shook me off.
Then he shouted in a voice overflowing with killing intent.
“H-Have to kill...!”
“Kill? What?”
Someone who appeared to be the survivor's friend asked, and the survivor shook for a long time before letting out a shriek.
Then, with a trembling finger...
“K-Kill...”
He pointed at me.
“J-Jin Sowoon. We have to kill Jin Sowoon! We have to kill Jin Sowoon...! We have to kill Jin Sowoon!!!!!”
Footnotes:
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