Chapter 213
“Halt!”
“Halt!”
“Chwik! Whoa, whoa!”
The orc cavalry stopped their horses over an area covered by dry leaves. They stood before a dense forest, a disadvantageous terrain for cavalry. On top of that, a red barrier enveloped the entire forest.
“Chwik. This is indeed beyond you all,” Tasha remarked as he nodded, sensing the presence of the humans hiding in the forest covered by the red barrier. Several individuals exuded powerful auras, and one was especially sharp, making Tasha’s senses tingle. He mumbled, “That must be the clan leader.”
However, the presence he had felt was that of Li Xiu Xian, the Thunderclap Spear.
Tasha continued, “Chwik, but not enough to match me, Tasha Sahahun, master warrior of the Hawk tribe.”
He unsheathed the scimitar at his waist, placed it over his left shoulder, and assumed a stance as he drew out immense mana and Battle Force.
“Hup!”
[Activating Unique Skill: Tu’s Heroic Soul.]
Tu was the ancestral heroic soul passed down through the generations of the Hawk tribe, and Tasha was its thirteenth successor. A purple orc heroic soul around four meters tall appeared behind Tasha, assuming the same stance as him. It was formed from the Hawk tribe’s unique Battle Force application technique and Tasha’s mana.
“Chaaa!” Tasha cried, swinging the scimitar like a whip from left to right, and Tu’s Heroic Soul did the same.
[Activating Unique Skill: Hawk’s Flight.]
The slash looked like a giant hawk, flying toward the forest as if it could split the world in two. The attack easily destroyed Clan New Age’s masterpiece, Nameless Goddess’s Protection, and razed the entrance of the forest. The traps and the defense line that the humans had set up to ambush the enemies once they entered the forest were reduced to nothing.
The clansmen of One Tree, Dongming, and New Age panicked from the emergence of someone powerful enough to level the forest.
“Assume Paulo Formations!”
“No! That attack will come flying at us again if we stick together!”
“Even if we scatter, we’d be defeated one by one by the cavalry!”
“Then we should use the trees as cover and—”
“Didn’t you see that attack just now? What use is that?!”
Tasha apathetically mumbled, “That was quite the barrier, chwik.”
He had planned to raze the entire forest and have the cavalry charge through it, but the barrier had dampened the majority of his slash’s power.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. I will make the hawk fly as many times as it takes.”
Xiu Xian repaired their formation and clenched his spear as he stared at the orc pulling on his horse’s reins. The aura of Tasha, silently staring into the forest on his black war horse, was overwhelming. The chillingly powerful mana he exuded sent warning blares throughout Xiu Xian’s brain. The one orc was enough to eradicate them all.
“A... High Ranker!” he shouted.
“Shit! A High Ranker? What the fuck? I never would’ve signed up for this if I knew this would happen!” Jan DaCosta shouted as she wiped the blood off her mouth. Her calm demeanor from earlier was nowhere to be found.
“Commence the decapitation ritual, Museci. Let the Great Subutai, the God of War, know of our battle,” Tasha commanded once he confirmed the enemies’ loss of morale.
“Chwik! Understood!” answered Museci, the captain of the pursuit squad and the one who had captured Seong-Tae, as he grabbed Seong-Tae by his hair and got on his horse.
It’s finally time for revenge! he thought as he shouted, “Chwik! Look, humans! This is the fate of those who dare get in the way of us warriors of the plains!”
“U-urgh...” Seong-Tae groaned.
Museci raised Seong-Tae high for everyone in the forest to see. He looked terrible; he was covered in cuts, and he was more flesh than skin. Both his ears were severed, making his cheeks and neck bloody from the blood that poured out from the areas.
Orcs highly valued their ears for hearing the sounds of the plains. Hence, touching or mocking their ears was taboo. Museci had given Seong-Tae the ultimate humiliation by cutting off Seong-Tae’s ears for burning his face.
“That’s... Na Seong-Tae!’
“He was alive!”
“Motherfuckers!”
The One Tree clansmen expressed rage as they witnessed Seong-Tae’s state. The feelings of apology, guilt, and self-justification, which had been shoved to the corners of their minds, amplified their rage.
“Chwik! Commence the battle! Quench your thirst with this blood, Great Subutai!”
As Museci was about to unsheathe his scimitar and behead Seong-Tae, the camouflaged Hwa-Yeon rose from the dry leaves and thrust her spear toward Museci’s heart.
“Haaaaah!” Hwa-Yeon shouted.
[Activating Skill: Dextrous Hands.]
[Activating Skill: Piercing Strike.]
“Chwik?!” Museci, flustered by the sudden attack, let go of Seong-Tae and quickly pivoted. The spear missed his heart but pierced his right shoulder. “Chwik!!!”
Hwa-Yeon let go of her spear and caught the falling Seong-Tae. Once she heard Museci falling off his horse, she grabbed what looked like black beans from her pocket, threw them behind her, and ran toward the forest with all her might.
“Haaaaah!”
She heard fire bombs exploding behind her, and the light from the flames elongated her shadow in front of her.
I’ve bought time! All I need to do now is reach the forest—
“A shrewd one you are,” someone said from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.
A chill ran down Hwa-Yeon’s spine, and she instinctively activated a skill most familiar to her to change directions.
[Activating Skill: Small Steps.]
However, a hand was already waiting in the direction that she had turned to. Tasha had broken through the wall of flames in an instant and had grabbed Hwa-Yeon by the neck.
***
“Kurgh!” Hwa-Yeon grunted.
“Chwik. Were you waiting for the perfect chance to rescue your comrade?”
“Kurgh! Urgh!”
Tasha stared at the human woman struggling to escape his grasp while not letting go of the man in her arms. Her expression was filled with animosity, and she glared at Tasha as if cursing him. She was covered in bruises the color of dry leaves.
“Chwik. I see. You couldn’t infiltrate our camp, so you waited for us to leave it.”
Hwa-Yeon had studied the terrain and the environment and used it to her advantage. She had hidden inside the dry leaves between the forest and the plains, not making a sound, even while being stepped on by horses tens of hundreds of times. She had slowly moved through the leaves while the orcs were preoccupied by the opponents before them and swept along by the excitement of a battle.
“You have impressed me, chwik. Your method was closer to that of a hunter than a warrior, but your courage is worthy of respect.”
“Grrrk!”
“In light of that respect, I will kill you with my blade,” Tasha remarked as he raised his scimitar.
“Grrr!” Hwa-Yeon, her face turning red from suffocation, threw Seong-Tae backward with all her might.
Seong-Tae, his eyes swollen, stared at the dangling Hwa-Yeon. “Urgh... You... Moron...”
“RUUUN!”
He saw her saying something even while being choked, but he couldn’t gather sound waves into his ears now that his auricles were cut off.
What? I can’t hear you, bitch! Why did you do something so reckless?! Seong-Tae shouted inwardly.
He wanted to stretch his hand toward her, but didn’t have the strength.
“Chwik, I wanted to send you to the afterlife together, but I suppose you’ll have to go on your own,” Tasha said as he swung down his scimitar.
Hwa-Yeon stared at the scimitar, resembling a crescent moon falling.
It’s like... that goddamn moon in Seoul... I suppose even the shittiest of memories become valuable when your life reaches its end, Hwa-Yeon thought.
Just then, she heard Tasha’s confused voice. “Chwik?”
It became much easier for her to breathe. Tasha had let go of her neck. Tasha suddenly gripped his scimitar with both hands and blocked an attack that he couldn’t ignore.
“Chwik! Who’s there?!”
It was a diamond-shaped framea, spinning intensely as it pushed Tasha back. A chain whip then split through the air and wrapped Hwa-Yeon and Seong-Tae simultaneously.
Tasha’s eyes blazed as he shouted, “Not a chance!”
He summoned Tu’s Heroic Soul and swung down the purple scimitar vertically between Hwa-Yeon and Seong-Tae to sever the chain whip. Having no choice, the silver-grey chain whip wrapped only Hwa-Yeon and pulled her out.
Tasha destroyed the spear and turned to where the chain whip had disappeared.
“Chwik?”
He saw four people—two humans, one centaur, and one orc. The orc was Gurun, his target, but he only glanced at Gurun for a moment. His entire focus was on the human with black hair and eyes standing at the front of the group. The human had fourteen mystical iridescent wings on his back, and he apathetically stared at Tasha.
“It must have been you, human,” Tasha remarked.
A dry voice filled the surroundings. “You are running far too rampant in human territory, orc.”
***
“Kurgh! Cough!” Hwa-Yeon clenched her throat as she coughed violently on the ground.
“Chwik, Hwa-Yeon—” Gurun said as he was about to head toward Hwa-Yeon, but Seong-Hwi grabbed his shoulder.
“Stay still, Shin Jun. Right now, you are Gurun. Horse, take that woman to the rear and get someone to treat her,” Seong-Hwi said.
“I, Ibiso the Tempest, accept the first command of Master Cheon Seong-Hwi, whom I have sworn my absolute allegiance! It is an honor to have earned the chance to show you my four fast legs—”
“Hurry the hell up,” Seong-Hwi said as he glared at Ibiso.
“N-neigh!”
Ibiso quickly grabbed Hwa-Yeon and raced to the rear.
Pwoo! Pwoo! Pwooahhh!
Bulgasal’s trunk returned from its chain whip form to its original form, and it dashed toward Seong-Hwi in tears. The end of its plump, caterpillar-like silver-grey trunk had been severed.
Pwoo! Daddy! It hurts!
“Stay inside. I’ll avenge you,” Seong-Hwi remarked as he widened his hoodie pocket.
Pwoo pwoo! Punish that piggy!
Bulgasal hopped into the hoodie pocket.
“Take good care of that, Avison. Shin Jun, bring out your best acting,” Seong-Hwi said.
“Haha, you got it. Can’t you see that I’m carrying it as if it were my grandson?” Avison replied as he patted the backpack on his back.
On the other hand, Jun hesitated to answer as he stared at Ibiso, laying Hwa-Yeon down where the One Tree clansmen were.
Seong-Hwi asked, “What’s wrong? Is your clan so weak that it won’t function without you?”
“Chwik, no, but please keep your promise. His survival is confirmed,” answered Jun, who had disguised himself as Gurun with the Myriad Cheoyong Mask he had borrowed from Seong-Hwi, as he turned back to the front. He stared at Seong-Tae, whose survival had not been confirmed until now, barely breathing on the ground.
“Has your spirit weakened after seeing the result that your decision has made? You abandoned him, did you not?” Seong-Hwi asked.
“I... did not abandon him. Chwik, I simply chose the least-worst option. You’re the one... who taught me that.”
“I did indeed, but... I can’t say that I’m not disappointed. I wished you were different from me,” Seong-Hwi said as he turned to Jun, who was walking the same path Seong-Hwi had in his past life.
Do you know what everyone says after being worn down to that extent? Seong-Hwi said inwardly.
“What makes me... Chwik, so different from you? I am not omnipotent. I can only despise the fact that I am not a god.”
Yeah, that’s exactly it, Seong-Hwi said inwardly as he stared at Jun with a smile.
Jun, who had sincerely believed in the power of many since the Dark Forest, was now looking for an omnipotent god. Seong-Hwi wondered if Jun had reached the same conclusion as he had.
“There is no such thing as an omnipotent god in the Mirror World, but there are humans who wish to be omnipotent,” Seong-Hwi answered as the Wings of Evolution shone brightly, and he slowly floated upward. He then said, “Like myself.”
The wings flashed, and he disappeared.
***
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
Voltaire