Book 27 Chapter 16
Nameless, awaken
—BIRYUNYEON’s Wrath
I am afraid.
I am afraid of that.
Of that looking at me.
That shining in golden light—
Those two pupils!
I want to run away. I want to escape.
To a place where that golden gaze doesn’t reach!
But I cannot escape from that gaze.
The golden pupils won’t let him go.
No matter how much I run and run, I cannot escape.
Please… please…!
He writhes in agony and sobs. A scream bursts out.
It feels like my whole body is burning.
My body turns to ash, and my mind returns to nothingness.
I disappear. My self, my “I,” begins to disappear.
A vast, endless void opens its maw.
Endless oblivion reveals its terrifying form.
It swallows.
It turns black. Everything turns black.
In that dark space, only two lights remained.
Two shining golden pupils.
They glare at me.
Always! Forever!
“Uaaaaaaaaaak!”
With a heart-rending scream, Nameless’s eyes snapped open.
“Captain, are you awake?”
“Huh? So-ok? Why am I lying here?”
Nameless seemed utterly unable to comprehend why he was lying on a bed in the medical ward of the Fourth Division.
“You forgot? That’s because you lost consciousness.”
“Lost consciousness? Why me? I’m not even injured!”
As far as he remembered—though his memory was so poor that it couldn’t be relied upon—he had never been hit by an opponent’s attack. So why had he fainted? Come to think of it, he did have a terrible headache.
“You suddenly collapsed, by yourself.”
Jang So-ok was equally bewildered. How surprised she had been at first, thinking her captain had been attacked.
Nameless tilted his head, completely unable to understand.
“By myself? No, why me?”
“W-well, I don’t know either. Rather, I’m the one who should be asking.”
How shocked Jang So-ok had been when her captain suddenly collapsed. At first, she had even suspected he’d been ambushed with a poisoned weapon.
“That’s….”
Putting the story together, it seemed he had fainted from being unable to endure that terrible headache.
What were those scenes he saw before he fainted?
And the dreams he had after fainting? Those eyes?
They were clearly things that were not in his memory. Although his memory was unreliable, the feeling was incredibly foreign, yet familiar.
“Ah, come to think of it, where did that person go?”
“That person, who are you referring to?”
“The young man with the long bangs.”
Nameless asked, mimicking covering his eyes by grabbing his bangs.
“Ah, that person? If you mean him, he’s already gone.”
“Where to?”
Only then did Jang So-ok say, as if she had been waiting.
“He said he was going to escape.”
“Damn it! No, that won’t do!”
Nameless sprang to his feet and shouted.
“What is it, Captain? You’re saying he shouldn’t escape?”
Unable to contain her curiosity, Jang So-ok asked.
“Of course. You absolutely cannot just let him escape, never!”
For the first time, her captain was thinking such a diligent thought, Jang So-ok found it strange.
“Umm… Now is not the time. Let’s go, So-ok.”
“Where to?”
“Of course, we have to chase after them. The battle isn’t over yet. I have to fight that person a lot more. A lot!”
As expected…
It seemed his purpose wasn’t to stop their escape, but something else.
“How can a captain of the thirteen divisions of Macheon go where you please? Do not forget your position.”
Whenever Nameless had bizarre and outrageous thoughts, it was the sub-captain’s job to put a brake on them. But…
“Then I’ll just quit being a captain.”
He said something incredibly outrageous as if it were nothing.
“Y-y-you’re q-quitting being captain?!”
Jang So-ok exclaimed in utter shock, her mouth agape like a goldfish.
“It’s impossible! Absolutely impossible! What about the members of our Sixth Division? Are you abandoning us?!”
“Ugh… No, it’s not abandoning, I’m just quitting. They can just pick a new captain, right? If you want, So-ok, you can do it too.”
Eventually, a grand shout erupted from the bewildered Jang So-ok.
“How can that be possible! The captain of the Sixth Division hasn’t changed in tens of years! Who would acknowledge a new captain now?!”
“Is that so?”
“Of course it is!”
Now he would give up, right? Jang So-ok expected as much. But that expectation was shattered in an instant by his next words.
“Then I’ll take a leave of absence.”
“Leave of absence?”
“Yep, a paid one.”
* * *
Tang Sam wept, clutching his sister’s corpse.
Tears flowed from the eyes of Jin Ling, his close friend. Nam Gung Sang also couldn’t hold back his tears. So much had happened in such a short time. No Hak, who had lost an arm, had managed to survive thanks to emergency treatment but had lost consciousness and couldn’t even shed tears.
“……”
However, Biryunyeon did not cry. Not a single tear fell from his eyes. Instead, all expression had vanished from his face. As if he were devoid of all emotion. Or as if all emotion had been frozen.
Na Yerim had never seen Biryunyeon’s face like this before. It wasn’t his usual bright, relaxed, and mischievous face.
It was simply frozen cold.
Just like… his past self.
And he stood there, silently gazing at Dang Munhye, who could never open her eyes again, and her disciples and fellow disciples weeping around her.
Silently.
‘What is it? This terrible unease?’
Nam Gung Sang, who had been wiping away his tears, felt an inexplicable anxiety boiling in his chest just by looking at his senior disciple.
Is this what it feels like to stand before an erupting volcano?
In his expressionless face, as cold as a blizzard, molten lava seemed to be boiling.
Cold rage.
There seemed to be no other words to describe Biryunyeon’s state at that moment.
Crackling.
Just looking at him made his skin sting. It felt like invisible needles of killing intent were piercing his skin. All the fine hairs on his body stood on end. His chest churned.
At that moment, if not for the loud noises coming from around the ship, Nam Gung Sang would have been unable to move.
By now, a dozen small, high-speed boats were churning white foam on the water, chasing them like the wind.
They didn’t even have time to calmly express their condolences for Dang Munhye’s death.
The pursuers had caught up.
Those pursuers were none other than the ‘Ten Generals of the Ghost Gate,’ who guarded the gates of Macheon Pavilion. They were riding high-speed boats, cutting through the water at incredible speeds, forming a net around the envoy.
The pursuers were not only the Ten Generals of the Ghost Gate. Even the sub-members of the thirteen divisions of Macheon, with swift skill, launched boats and raised anchors, chasing closely behind.
Seeing the narrowing encirclement, Nam Gung Sang turned pale. No, the faces of all the envoys, including Nam Gung Sang, turned pale.
They had paid too great a price to get on this boat.
They didn’t have the strength left to break through this encirclement.
Despair began to fill the hearts of the disciples of Cheonmu Academy.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
The pursuing boats rowed closer, drawing nearer. The envoy’s boat only had a sail, no oars. Even if it had oars, with this number of people, it would be impossible. With their current numbers, moving the boat forward was the limit.
“Waaaah, Waaaaaaaah!”
As the pursuers drew closer, the shouts grew louder.
Biryunyeon, who had been standing expressionless, twitched his eyebrows for a moment.
Someone died, my disciple, my fellow disciple, a girl died, and what is all this shouting about? Is there some kind of celebration?
“Sh—u—t—u—p!”
A roar burst from Biryunyeon’s lips.
It was such a loud sound that it echoed through the lake and around the ship.
Clang!
The Dragon Ring, worn on his left ankle, came loose and fell onto the deck with a thud.
Biryunyeon’s bangs fluttered, revealing his bandaged eyes.
Suddenly, silence fell.
“The wind has stopped.”
Nam Gung Sang and the others, who had been flustered, looked around and murmured.
The wind that had been pushing the boat’s sail had stopped. The leaves flying on the lake fell straight down and lay still. The surrounding boats, which had been moving with sails, also stopped.
Something is wrong, people instinctively felt something was wrong.
“The atmosphere is swirling…”
The surrounding wind began to surge violently.
His skin stung.
Nam Gung Sang’s gaze turned to his senior disciple without him realizing it.
Something was about to happen.
Swish.
Wind began to blow around the ship.
At first, it was a gentle breeze that barely rustled a single leaf fallen on the lake. But the wind soon began to create ripples in a circular path around the ship. Riding the trajectory of the ripples, the leaves began to move towards a boat.
The ripples formed a perfect circle around the ship.
Biryunyeon raised his right hand to the sky.
At that moment, the leaves that had hit the ship’s hull soared high into the sky.
Along with the dragon that Biryunyeon had subdued.
Along with the howling wind.
And simultaneously, five Flying Thunder Blades were launched from Biryunyeon’s hand.
A mighty wind struck Nam Gung Sang and the disciples of Cheonmu Academy. Nam Gung Sang quickly fixed himself with the Heavenly Thousand Jin techniques. Otherwise, he felt like he would be blown away.
Flying Thunder Blade (飛雷刀)
Final Secret Technique (最終秘傳奧義)
Chapter of Wind and Thunder (風雷)
Spiral Blade (螺旋)
One-Handed Wind God (片手 風神)
Activation (發動)
It swept through the surroundings all at once, forming a giant vortex. A vortex of incomparable size to the one generated earlier.
Its size was almost the same as when the fiery karma that enveloped Hongmaegok in Hwasan Branch was gathered to create a pillar of the fire dragon. However, this time, it was not a pillar of fire.
Water Dragon’s Flip (水龍 飜)
Ascension (昇天)
Splashhhhh!
The water from the lake surged into the sky all at once.
As if a dragon were ascending.
The ascending water dragon erected a giant pillar of water between the sky and the earth.
The giant vortex, entwined with the vast water of the lake, swept through the twelve guardians and pursuing ships that had gathered around Biryunyeon’s boat.
The pursuing ships, caught in the giant whirlpools and eddies, capsized one after another.
It was truly a ‘calamity.’
‘Is this human power?’
Nam Gung Sang, clinging to the railing, felt like he would be blown away, even in the center of the storm, and was horrified.
This was not something generated by individual strength. It was a technique that could not possibly be realized by a human body.
Of course, the full power of the Wind God was not solely based on the secret technique displayed by Biryunyeon and his true energy.
The Flying Thunder Blade merely provided the initial cause for rotating the natural wind, merging with nature.
As it merged with nature, it grew larger and larger. Like spinning a giant natural top.
The secret technique of the Flying Thunder Blade could be said to be a whip that spins the giant top of nature.
It assimilates itself with the cycle of nature and accelerates that cycle. It doesn’t overcome it; it utilizes it.
That, indeed, is the ultimate secret.
The beginning of humanity’s transcendence.
And the power of that top was truly terrifying.
Everyone was swept up in the vortex of the Wind God, shattered, broken, and blown away.
Where the Wind God had swept through, only scattered debris floated.
Only silence remained there.
The disturbance that blocked Dang Munhye’s path was completely silenced.
“Munhye, this is a requiem sent for you.”
Biryunyeon murmured, gazing at the sky.
Swoosh!
The water that had surged into the sky fell as rain onto Biryunyeon’s face.
Biryunyeon simply endured the rain hitting his face.
Endlessly. Endlessly.