WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 344: Life and Death (5)
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“Argh!”
“Ghk!”
“Brother Cho!”
Screams continued to ring out behind us.
The Academy students could not have been the only ones dying.
Even so, the fact that I could not hear any demonic beings screaming weighed heavily on me.
‘The Red Demon Unit!’
Damn it.
The Red Yin Demon Wolf Unit was dangerous enough, yet the Red Demon Unit had joined them as well.
I did not even have time to despair.
I could not be sure the Red Demon Unit was the end of it.
Would they honestly answer if I manfully asked whether they were the last of them?
‘Of course not.’
I tightened my grip on the Scarlet Radiance Sword, which had been hanging limply at my side, and moved forward.
I was no longer the meat shield from the past, too busy dodging and blocking swords.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
I evaded the swords and sabers rushing at me, driving my blade into their vital points.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
I passed the ones falling like scarecrows with their posts cut away and kept moving forward.
Advancing was entirely different from retreating.
In the past, even with countless comrades standing before me, I had trembled all over and forgotten even my rage.
Now, despite demonic beings pouring out killing intent and demonic qi as they rushed at me, my anger did not fade beneath despair.
No, an even greater fury surged from my grip.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I cut them down and kept advancing.
Believing that every step forward could save one more person, I moved forward again and again.
Slash. Slash.
Wounds opened all over my body.
My martial robes had long since become rags.
I could not fight with the grace of a sparring match in this chaos.
I had also long given up on avoiding every attack.
I only avoided vital points and deflected attacks that would kill me outright.
Even so, whenever that foul demonic qi struck me, it felt as though my organs were twisting.
“Ghk!”
I coughed violently and spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Unit Commander Jin! Are you all right?!”
Ilgak, five or six steps away, looked startled.
His once-shining scalp was now covered in blood.
He should worry about himself.
At least my internal injuries were not deep.
‘Even after taking that Red Sun Palm head-on, it was not fatal.’
It was another chance to realize just how different I was from my past self.
So I should return the favor.
Hummm...
I unleashed the Twin Heavens Sword Art, extending sword force roughly ten feet before me.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
True blades mixed with illusion swords devastated the area, sending the demonic beings’ arms and legs flying in every direction.
There was one good thing about them coming in groups. I did not have to pick a target.
Yet the way they immediately filled every empty space brought an indescribable sense of helplessness.
“Right. You’ll keep this up until we give in.”
The moment your heart broke, your strength broke with it.
And these bastards understood that better than anyone, using it to great effect.
“Let’s see who breaks first.”
Rumble.
Thunder and lightning roiled in my hand.
The Red Demon Unit members sensed something was wrong and hurriedly retreated.
I ran forward, step after step, and unleashed the Mad Heaven Divine Palm upon them.
Kwakakakakakakakakakwang!
Part of the forest exploded, leaving another barren gap.
Even I was sickened by its destructive power.
With this much force, even the bravest warriors would struggle to obey orders...
“...Fucking demonic bastards.”
Still, they filled the gap again as though their emotions had been stripped away.
They showed no hesitation. No fear.
No, their more aggressive attempt to seal the opening and rush in made the Academy students shrink back.
That damned persistence had brought down the Martial Alliance in my previous life.
Because I knew that, I gritted my teeth.
“Then again... You’re nothing but dogs. You don’t have emotions.”
I set the Scarlet Radiance Sword in its scabbard.
Then I took a sword-drawing stance.
Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms.
First Form.
Extreme Swiftness.
I did not use sword qi or sword force, yet it consumed nearly as much internal energy as the Mad Heaven Divine Palm.
At that moment.
The demonic beings greedily rushing toward me wavered slightly.
Space twisted, followed belatedly by the sound of something cutting through the air.
Ping.
Like an overflowing reservoir collapsing all at once.
Shraaaaaaak!
The charging demonic beings spilled blood and rolled across the ground.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
No matter how hard I tried to suppress it, I could not catch my breath.
I had trained so much, and this was all I could manage.
Was Master Baek actually human?
Tap tap tap tap tap!
Those demonic bastards were rushing in again without hesitation, as though they never tired.
‘Madmen.’
Then again, I was not in my right mind either.
It was time to use what Master Baek Haegwang had taught me while I repeatedly passed out during the break.
Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms.
Second Form.
Extreme Strength.
The formal defensive form of the Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms.
My sword swung at a speed no less than Extreme Swiftness.
Afterimages of sword qi remained in the air, densely blocking all eight directions.
Clang clang clang clang clang!
The demonic beings surrounding me desperately swung their swords to break through the sword screen, but thankfully, they could not pierce it.
‘Master Baek really is insane.’
Gritting my teeth, I performed the form I had used until now in reverse.
My fragile acupoints felt ready to burst from the violent flow of qi.
Sword qi flowing in the exact opposite direction from before erupted at a maddening speed, colliding with the existing barrier and exploding.
A defensive form that used the explosions created when sword qi clashed with sword qi.
Could this even be called a defensive form in the first place?
Kwakakakakakakakakakwang!
The sword qi of Extreme Strength devoured and pulverized everything around me except its user.
Solid weapons and fragile bodies alike.
And when even the sword qi unleashed by the demonic beings was caught in the explosion...
Kwakakakakakakakakakakak!
The storm of sword qi spread farther in every direction.
Broken weapons and exploding storms of sword qi reached even the demonic beings standing behind them.
Rumble rumble rumble.
The demonic beings who had rushed at us like arrows became nothing more than lumps of flesh.
“Urgh... Urgh...”
My dantian tightened fiercely.
Like I had pushed unused muscles to their limit.
The Eight Extraordinary Meridians and my acupoints felt overloaded, tugging at my entire body as if they would tear it apart.
“Blergh.”
What had Master Baek Haegwang been thinking when he created a sword art like this?
Only after vomiting blood again did the turmoil inside me ease somewhat.
I barely held onto my senses and looked around.
“Fuck, does the Demonic Cult not know the meaning of ‘enough’?”
Dozens of demonic beings had been reduced to mush across the ground, yet more still charged at us with expressionless movements.
How many more did I have to kill before we could move forward?
How many more?
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
I stared at the charging demonic beings and gripped the Scarlet Radiance Sword, but I could not put any strength into my hand.
‘At least my legs...’
After fighting like an unmatched warrior, was this how I would die?
I would be so dumbfounded and wronged that, even after dying, I would not be able to follow the reaper to the underworld.
I desperately forced myself to move, but my internal energy would not circulate smoothly.
‘Move! Move...!!’
My dantian, which had been settling down, churned again by force, and my internal energy began to flow.
Just as I tried to thrust my sword again...
“Argh!”
A scream rang out right beside me.
I turned in shock.
“Ghk...”
Geum Taejong of the Second Unit had taken a sword strike in my place.
I desperately unleashed the Lesser Heaven Sword Art, piercing the demonic being’s throat, then caught Geum Taejong as he fell.
“Cough...”
Blood kept pouring from his mouth. His condition was clearly serious.
“What are you doing?!”
“I told you... commanders should not stand at the front...”
“Just hold on a little longer. Just a little longer...!”
Blood streamed from the gaping wound, and pale bone was visible beneath it.
Before I could do anything, Geum Taejong looked at his own wound, spat blood, and grinned.
“...I’ll rest for a while. I cannot get too tired if I’m going to drink later.”
Before I could say anything, Geum Taejong shoved me away and collapsed to the ground.
Why?
Why?
Why had he thrown himself in harm’s way for me?
He would have lived if he had stayed still.
...I had never ordered anyone to protect me.
Before I had time to find an answer, demonic beings rushed at us again.
Clang clang clang clang!
The Scarlet Radiance Sword swung weakly, just as it had in the hands of Jin Sowoon from my previous life.
My mind was a mess, and my insides were even more tangled.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not gather strength.
‘Am I going to die here? At the hands of those demonic beings?’
Then I would move even if I had to force myself.
Crunch.
I bit my tongue.
The sharp, metallic taste jolted every nerve in my fading body awake.
The strength that had been leaving me returned to my hand, and my clouded mind cleared.
“...The Unit Commander is...!”
“...Protect the Unit Commander!”
“...Follow Unit Commander Jin... Charge!”
In the chaotic battlefield, I caught fragments of one person shouting and another answering.
But I did not pay attention.
No, I decided not to.
Why I had to advance.
Why I tried to save them.
Why I had to live.
I decided not to think about any of those reasons.
The moment I hesitated, an Academy student would die.
Each was someone their sect had carefully nurtured.
Someone’s child, someone’s sibling, someone’s fellow disciple.
They would die.
So I moved forward.
I kept moving without resting for even a moment.
Thinking about the reasons was a luxury.
“U-Unit Commander Jin!”
Ilgak’s face turned pale as he ran desperately beside me.
He had never shown fear until now.
I wiped away the blood obscuring my vision and raised my head.
Countless torches filled the path ahead.
I had killed so many of them, yet there were still this many.
What was so important about this forest that they went this far?
Or had they prepared all this to exterminate the Academy students from the beginning?
“Right... I knew this would happen eventually.”
After coming this far, it was time for them to show themselves.
We had inflicted enough losses on the demonic beings too.
They could not have intended to continue this war of attrition forever.
“Benefactor Jin... W-what do we do now?”
Felled trees and traces of the burned forest covered the area.
The enemy had erased every natural formation in the vicinity, as though preparing for the final battle here.
They had made a battlefield where they could fight at an advantage.
“What do we do? We break through.”
“B-break through?”
“By the way, shouldn’t some commander come out to talk if this is the final battle?!”
I shouted loudly, but no one stepped out from among the torches.
“Shouldn’t someone be boasting, ‘This is the Academy students’ graveyard! I’m the one who’ll bury you all!’? Is there not even anyone who can say something so bold? Are you all mute?”
The answer was the sound of weapons being drawn.
Shing. Shing. Shing.
As though an orchestra had begun to play, the sounds of countless weapons leaving their sheaths echoed all around us.
Only the reflections from swords and sabers in the torchlight revealed how many people stood in the area.
The greatest despair they could offer an enemy that had barely escaped a hellish battlefield.
“You’re the same as ever.”
The Demonic Cult’s way of fighting.
Their favorite tactic was to drive their opponents into a pit of frustration and despair.
Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.
The demonic beings advanced in unison, as though their feet moved to the same rhythm.
“U-Unit Commander!”
“Benefactor Jin... They’re coming!”
“C-Charge? Are we charging?!”
Even the Academy students, who had not retreated a single time until now, flinched.
Just like the Martial Alliance units had in the past.
“But you know.”
I was different.
“Did you think I’d fall for the same trick every time?”
I was no longer the meat shield from the past.
I immediately pulled a signal flare from inside my robes.
I had gathered every spare signal flare.
I fired the first flare at those standing in the center.
Fweee, boom.
The flare burst in a brilliant flash, lighting up the entire area.
Under the light, I saw countless demonic beings standing completely still.
The flare was quickly crushed beneath another demonic being’s foot, and its glow went out.
As they continued to advance...
Swoosh.
The sound of something cutting through the air passed over my head.
Then a tremendous explosion erupted where my signal flare had burst.
Kwakwang!
I immediately fired a second flare.
Fweee, boom.
The flare burst and lit up the area.
Swoosh.
As though answering it, the same explosion rang out again.
Kwakakwang!
The Academy students stared in shock.
“What is this...? Was that not a signal flare?”
Fweee, boom.
The third signal flare burst.
Swoosh, kwaakwang!
An arrow fell among the demonic beings.
The exploding arrowhead pierced their bodies, and the demonic beings collapsed one after another as blood poured out.
The Thunderclap Arrow Moyong Jaehwa had completed during the winter break.
It was still not comparable to Shattering Bow from my previous life, but it now possessed enough destructive power to be properly called a Thunderclap Arrow.
“H-how is this possible, Unit Commander Jin...?”
“Did you forget how Jaehwa held back the Blood Cult bastards alone in Sichuan?”
“...Then why did we not use this until now?”
“How could we use Jaehwa with those damned natural formations in the way? They cleared the forest in this area, so we can finally use him now.”
“...”
“Honestly, that bastard kept complaining about how badly he wanted to join the battle.”
It had been a dangerous gamble.
If they had continued their war of attrition, we would not have been able to use Jaehwa’s strength in Mukrim after all.
But they had not abandoned their habits.
Fweee, boom.
Kwakakwang!
Every signal flare that burst added more demonic beings to the pile of corpses.
A glowing target in the darkness was the best possible mark for an archer.
Moyong Jaehwa fired Thunderclap Arrows again and again at those still charging while evading the explosions.
Kwakakwang!
After three Thunderclap Arrows flew out, the demonic beings’ movements faltered for the first time.
I continued firing signal flares without stopping.
Fweee, boom.
Kwakakwang!
As if venting all the frustration he had built up, Jaehwa fired Thunderclap Arrows continuously without a hint of mercy.
An endless display of signal flares and Thunderclap Arrows painted the sky.
Amid the powerful explosions, screams finally began to leak from the demonic beings.
It was a moment of victory earned after terrible hardship, but no one cheered at the sight.
They only watched the enemy die in heavy silence, remembering someone who had died just as easily as those people were dying now.
Three signal flares shot out at once.
Hidden in a tree, Moyong Jaehwa began pouring out all his internal energy and arrows.
Kwakwang!
Kwakwang!
Kwakwang!
As arrows fell like meteors and exploded, the demonic beings began fleeing in confusion rather than charging.
At the same time, I sensed the power of Moyong Jaehwa’s Thunderclap Arrows gradually weakening.
“Get ready.”
With just over one gapja of internal energy, he had already pushed himself far enough to inflict this much damage.
We could not rely on the Thunderclap Arrows any longer.
Once they adapted to this unfamiliar weapon, they would begin attacking again.
“Charge!!!”
That was why we moved.
While confusion among them was at its peak.
So we would not miss that opening.
Whoosh, thud.
I faintly heard something land behind us.
Moyong Jaehwa must have returned to the unit.
I scraped my dantian dry and drew out internal energy.
Then I unleashed it on the demonic beings.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sword qi collided with sword qi, creating a storm of energy.
My blood, which had been cooling little by little, began to boil again, making my breaths rough.
After cutting, stabbing, pushing, and crushing our way forward step by step...
The number of demonic beings finally began to decrease.
“Arghhhhh!”
We pushed them back and kept pushing until we broke through...
At last, we made it through.
I raised my head and looked around.
Shwaaaaa.
No demonic beings remained.
The ones who had pursued us even after we pushed them back and cut them down no longer followed, as though an invisible curtain had hidden them away.
“Haa, haa, haa...”
Beneath our ragged breaths, strange cries echoed softly.
Screeeech!
Grrrrr.
Through the rank animal stench in the darkness, red eyes watched us warily, as though guarding against intruders.
It was the Demonic Realm.
“We made it!!!”
“Waaaaaah!”
“Waaaaaah!!!”
Mukrim’s land of certain death.
Though we had arrived in the place known as the land of death, the Life-and-Death Unit erupted in cheers.
Footnotes:
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