Chapter 24
Danli Yeonmuk and Pae Maseong no longer made the Blood Flesh Herbs explode.
In my opinion, Pae Maseong still seemed to have some internal energy left, but Danli Yeonmuk seemed to be getting into danger.
Still, he probably would have held on and done it, thinking that if he didn't, no one would, but since his team members came, there was no reason to exhaust his strength anymore.
He approached me and let out a small sigh.
"You saved me."
I didn't think that was an exaggeration.
It would depend on the person, but if it were Danli Yeonmuk, he probably would have fought the Blood Flesh Herb until he died on the spot.
So, the words that I had saved him were accurate.
A few of Danli Yeonmuk's team members died after their bodies were pierced by the branches of the Blood Flesh Herb.
Pae Maseong tried to save them, but he didn't use his full strength.
Right now, we only had to deal with the Blood Flesh Herb, but there might still be martial artists of the manor left in Mohwa Mountain Manor.
It was important to save our internal energy and fight now.
It meant that the work here was not the end.
If Yeon Cheongha, Danli Yeonmuk, or Pae Maseong tried to use too much strength, I was going to say something, but they didn't go that far.
It seemed that they didn't want to because they were already fed up.
There was no need to threaten Danli Yeonmuk's team members anymore.
Now, they had no choice but to actively step up and destroy it to avoid being attacked by the Blood Flesh Herb.
"Protect the Blood Flesh Herb!"
At that moment, such a sound was heard from one side, and people in pale yellow martial arts uniforms ran out.
I wondered what they had been doing until now, but it seemed they had been waiting for our internal energy to be exhausted.
It seemed cowardly, but it was a well-thought-out plan.
If they just knew how to propagate the Blood Flesh Herb, that would have been the best strategy.
They could make us pour our strength into it and easily win against us who were exhausted.
And then, they could use the remaining Blood Flesh Herb to grow it again, so it would be difficult to find a better method.
I looked at Danli Yeonmuk.
I was trying to see if he could deal with them, but Danli Yeonmuk gripped his sword tightly.
I felt a tension in his expression that had not been there before.
He was always someone who felt somewhat at ease, but at that moment, I saw impatience and anxiety.
I thought that he had never been in a situation like this before.
Yeon Cheongha's situation was even worse than Danli Yeonmuk's.
Looking at Pae Maseong, he was holding his sword naturally and lightly, without a single breath being disturbed.
It was to the point where I thought he looked happy to be able to properly warm up after a long time.
Seeing that, I thought, 'As expected of Pae Maseong.'
"You two, please wait and recover even a little of your internal energy."
When I said that, Yeon Cheongha and Danli Yeonmuk looked at each other.
They had faces that said, 'Is it really okay?'
"You have to trust us. Those guys might not be all of them, so you have to protect us from the guys who come after them."
Once I said that, the two of them nodded.
It seemed that it was much easier to accept if I said it that way.
"Let's go, Pae Maseong. You take the right seven-tenths."
As soon as I finished speaking, Pae Maseong disappeared.
Now, he didn't even use sword ki and just swung his sword.
He was trying to fight with only his techniques, using as little internal energy as possible, but since his techniques were so accurate and strong, there was no one who could avoid it.
It was common for the waists of two or three people to be cut at once with a single sword strike.
I stared blankly, wondering if that was normal, and then turned my head towards Yeon Cheongha.
Then, both Yeon Cheongha and Danli Yeonmuk had the same blank expressions and were shaking their heads.
When Pae Maseong entered the group of martial artists and went on a rampage like that, the battle line collapsed in an instant.
Those who had thought that they could just pick up the victory that had fallen on the ground would have realized that the situation had suddenly changed.
If it turned out like this, I didn't think I needed to step up, so I saved my stamina.
"What should we do with this place now, Socheong?"
At some point, Yeon Cheongha approached and asked me that.
Danli Yeonmuk also came to my side and waited for my words.
I wondered why they were asking me that, but the two of them seemed to think that I should naturally say something.
After looking at the two of them, I turned my head and saw that on one side, Pae Maseong was fighting the martial artists of Mohwa Mountain Manor, and on the other side, Danli Yeonmuk's team members were destroying the Blood Flesh Herb.
The two of them seemed to believe that they were carrying out that work because of me.
I had no plan after that, but after hearing the two of them, I thought about it for a moment.
There were corpses of people who had eaten the Blood Flesh Herb everywhere, and there were people who had been captured by the people of Mohwa Mountain Manor.
Until now, when the people who had eaten the Blood Flesh Herb died, the poison in their bodies would spread, and eventually, a fire would start and flames would erupt.
Thinking that those who were sent out would not return, they had put poison in their bodies, but this time it seemed they had not.
I thought that the poison would be somewhere in Mohwa Mountain Manor.
Since numerous shocks had been applied everywhere during the fierce battle, the place where the poison was hidden also seemed to be unsafe.
"I think the way to eliminate future troubles is to have people evacuate and turn this place completely into ashes."
At that, Yeon Cheongha and Danli Yeonmuk nodded.
Then the two of them ran side by side to the place where the people were trapped.
We had to find the place where the poison was hidden, but they didn't even say anything about it, as if they thought that Pae Maseong and I would do it.
Pae Maseong's work was almost over anyway.
Pae Maseong showed no signs of fatigue and seemed to have plenty of strength left.
On the other hand, a considerable number of Danli Yeonmuk's team members who had been fighting a life-and-death battle with the Blood Flesh Herb were spitting blood and collapsing.
The Blood Flesh Herb also seemed to have made its last struggle to survive.
If those people had survived, they might have held a grudge and resentment against me, but it seemed to be for the better.
It was also related to fame.
As time passed, they would also find out how unsightly they had acted here, and it would bother them that I knew about it.
Seeing that, it seemed that the current result was better than if they had tried to destroy the Blood Flesh Herb together with all their might from the beginning.
If that had been the case, I would have felt a little uncomfortable watching them die now.
"Let's evacuate the people and set fire to each building, Pae Maseong. I don't know where the poison is hidden, but they say poison is weak to fire. We have to be careful because there could be a big explosion."
"Okay. You be careful too, Socheong."
From then on, we searched every nook and cranny of the innermost building, looking for anyone who might be trapped inside.
And we warned them that the building would soon explode and that they should get out and run away immediately, and then we set it on fire.
As we set fire to the buildings in order, a huge explosion occurred in one place, and the building exploded, sending debris flying in all directions.
The fire spread quickly, and later, without us having to go around and tell them, the people who had been hiding in the buildings poured out.
Wondering if there were people who were trapped and couldn't get out on their own, we moved faster and searched every nook and cranny, but there were no more trapped people.
After that, huge explosions occurred in a few more places.
The later explosions were even bigger.
Yeon Cheongha and Danli Yeonmuk, who had come closer, also seemed to have realized that the poison had been hidden there.
"It would have been difficult if we had tried to find it, but you're certainly bold."
Yeon Cheongha said and laughed.
"I would never have been able to do this. I would have had lingering attachments, thinking that I could use that poison to my advantage."
I also thought that was probably right.
But at some point, the words 'penny wise, pound foolish' often came to mind.
After watching a catastrophe come from unnecessary greed a few times, it seemed that I was now able to just let go of small greed.
It seemed that it was much easier to accept if I thought that it was not my share from the beginning.
"Now that things are somewhat settled, how about you go back?"
Putting out the fire was not our job.
Some places had subsided on their own because there was nothing left to burn, and in other places, the people who had been trapped and released worked hard to put out the fire.
When I first saw them, it seemed that it would not be strange if they died right away, but I couldn't know about a person's life.
Hadn't those who seemed to live much longer than them become cold corpses?
Yeon Cheongha also looked around and nodded.
Since he had finished what he had come here to do to some extent, it seemed he had no more lingering attachments.
Danli Yeonmuk's expression was not good.
Until he came here, he would not have expected this result.
Now, none of his team members were left by his side.
Not a single person was left, so the only person from the Danli family was Danli Yeonmuk himself.
The people there were already going around the various places in Mohwa Mountain Manor and finding things that had not been burned.
Now their looting had begun, but that was not something we had to be concerned about.
Yeon Cheongha glanced at me.
"How about we take some too, Socheong?"
"I don't think there's anything wrong with that."
At that, Pae Maseong came to our side.
He seemed to be trying to move with us, and from then on, we headed to the manor lord's residence.
There were others who had been aiming for the manor lord's residence, but when we appeared there, they stealthily watched us and then retreated.
They seemed to be trying to yield that place to us, thinking that if it weren't for us, they might not have been alive.
But the harvest was not much.
It was because the fire had been so fierce that it had burned everything thoroughly.
Perhaps feeling sorry for us coming out almost empty-handed, a few people tried to give us what they had found.
But since our situation seemed to be better than theirs, I did not accept it.
When Yeon Cheongha and Pae Maseong also refused, they repeatedly thanked us and bowed their heads.
"Since you have narrowly escaped with your lives, do not fight among yourselves and go down to the village safely. There are many people waiting for you."
When Yeon Cheongha said that, one person asked him.
"Would you tell us your esteemed name? We should at least know who we are indebted to."
At that, Yeon Cheongha laughed.
"We are nameless people."
There was no way an assassin of the Heavenly Demon Sect could say his name.
(End of Chapter)