Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 685

Splat!

Red blood splattered across the earth.

Wolves scaled the cliff face of Cheongmok Cliff, with others rapidly approaching from the left and right.

Their numbers exceeded five hundred.

Moreover, each one was clad in a dark red robe, making them appear much larger than ordinary adult men.

‘There are too many.’

Dongkwon, the Fourth Elder of Jongnam, was shaken.

‘They are numerous and strong. Where did these guys come from?’

Swish! Clang!

Several swordsmen unleashed sword energy towards the cliff.

As the wall crumbled, three members of the Blood Wolf Corps fell.

Dongkwon shouted,

“Don’t target the wall! If the wall breaks, it will be disadvantageous for us!”

Thud!

No sooner had Dongkwon finished speaking than a dozen Blood Wolf Corps members stepped on the broken cliff and ascended at an incredible speed.

Their movements were truly remarkable. It was as if they were beasts.

Even if one had mastered peak martial arts, not everyone could move like that. It seemed the Blood Wolf Corps had been fundamentally trained to move easily even in such terrain.

Clang!

Just as Dongkwon drew his sword to strike them down,

Boom!

With a sudden, intense explosion, something massive flew over the Cheongmok Cliff.

Dongkwon’s eyes widened.

‘A net?!’

Three enormous nets, each large enough to cover over ten yards in all directions, were flying towards them. They were moving incredibly fast, as if fired from a cannon.

What was eerie was the material of the nets.

They were much thinner and denser than ordinary nets. It was so dark that they were hard to see properly. In the dark night, they were difficult to spot without the eyesight and sensitivity of a peak expert.

‘I have to cut them down!’

Just as Dongkwon was about to execute the Starry Sky Sword Technique, [a powerful sword technique],

Flash!

As a red glow flickered, three heavy spear winds were fired, targeting the center of each net.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The spear winds exploded with a bang. The three nets that had been fired spun in place and then flew far away.

Dongkwon turned around.

Hwang Seok-tae, retracting his Crimson Dragon Spear, said,

“Do not try to cut the nets carelessly! You must push them away or burst them to block their approach!”

He had spent more than half his life in group battles. He knew from experience how tough those kinds of nets were.

Dongkwon asked,

“Can’t they be cut with sword energy?!”

“That’s why I’m telling you not to cut them! If you’re not careful, they might still come at you even when cut!”

Dongkwon immediately understood Hwang Seok-tae’s words.

‘I made a mistake.’

The Black Path Faction had greatly developed such hidden weapons. Some were even more vicious than the Tang Clan’s hidden weapons. [Tang Clan is known for their expertise in hidden weapons and poisons].

To try to deal with them using common sense was nothing short of a mistake. Dongkwon refocused his mind.

It was then.

Boom!

A powerful palm force was fired towards the top of Cheongmok Cliff.

The cliff shook, but the movements of the Blood Wolf Corps members climbing the cliff remained unchanged. Their movements, like spiders clinging to the wall, were nothing short of another divine skill.

“It has begun.”

Hwang Seok-tae’s eyes flashed.

Although it was a cliff, Cheongmok Cliff was not very high. If it were a seasoned first-rate expert, they could climb it in the time it took to drink a few cups of tea, without anyone hindering them.

The fact that the Blood Wolf Corps’ ascent had been blocked to this extent was thanks to the threatening sword techniques of the Jongnam swordsmen.

But now, the battle had changed.

‘This level of palm force is comparable to that of a Jongnam elder.’

Hwang Seok-tae saw three experts gathered together.

They were subtly mixed in with the fierce momentum of the Blood Wolf Corps, making it difficult to gauge their level. But Hwang Seok-tae’s keen eye saw that these three were the leaders of the five hundred Blood Wolf Corps members.

And they were shaking the defenses here with their intense palm techniques in the air.

Bang! Bang!

While weaving through the wolves, they unleashed palm force from time to time, shaking the Jongnam sword formation.

“Ugh!”

Dongkwon fiercely swung his sword.

Flash!

It was as if he had brought the stars of the night sky down to the ground. A net of shining sword energy was fired into the heart of the Blood Wolf Corps.

At that moment, a huge sword unleashed an overwhelming movement.

Clang!

The sword energy of the Starry Sky Sword Technique vanished as if washed away.

Dongkwon’s eyes widened.

The wolves were swarming, making it hard to tell who was who. But there was a powerful expert among them who had scattered his sword energy in an instant.

‘This can’t be!’

It didn’t end there.

Was it that if you received something, you had to give something back?

Flash!

A large spear was fired through the air.

It was so chaotic that it was impossible to tell where it had come from. What was clear was that the power and speed of the flying spear were immense.

“Hap!”

Fifth Elder Shinhyu used the Heavenly Evasion Palm Technique to deflect the flying spear.

Thud!

Shinhyu’s eyes widened.

He thought he had deflected the spear, but that was not the case.

The spear, which had only slightly changed direction, pierced the abdomen of a swordsman waiting in the rear. The swordsman groaned and collapsed.

‘This…!’

It was a terrifying penetrating power.

It was common sense that the faster an object was, the easier it was to change its trajectory with a small force. But this spear was different. It was so fast and yet armed with such powerful force that even the power of the Heavenly Evasion Palm Technique could not greatly alter its trajectory.

The faces of the swordsmen waiting in the rear were filled with panic.

Hwang Seok-tae shouted,

“Move the injured to the back! Don’t panic! This is a battlefield! You must clearly recognize that anything can happen at any time!”

Hwang Seok-tae’s resonant voice awakened the swordsmen’s minds.

Even though a comrade had been fatally wounded, they must not panic because of it. They had to control their anger and suppress their sadness.

“Control your minds! The moment you waver, it’s over!”

Hwang Seok-tae, who had encouraged the swordsmen with his heartfelt cry, looked at Dongkwon.

Hwang Seok-tae nodded slightly.

Dongkwon shouted,

“Dragon’s Roar!”

Swoosh!

A path opened in the center of the widely spread formation, and middle-aged Taoists appeared.

Flash! Thud!

As if waiting for it, a spear was fired, and one of the Taoists fell. A thick spear was embedded in the chest of the fallen Taoist.

Dongkwon gritted his teeth and shouted,

“Release!”

The middle-aged Taoists swung their hands.

Squeak!

With a cool and sharp metallic sound, dozens of throwing knives flew in a curve towards the center of the cliff.

The direction they swung their hands was diagonal, but the throwing knives flew in a curve towards the center of the cliff. It was a hidden weapon technique that was hard to believe even when seen.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Fifteen members of the Blood Wolf Corps screamed and fell below.

There were over a hundred enemies climbing the cliff. Fifteen of them might not seem like much.

But the attack was not over with just that one time.

“Next!”

The middle-aged Taoists who had thrown the knives retreated, and other Taoists filled their places.

“Release!”

Squeak!

An even greater number of throwing knives than before were fired all over the cliff.

Thwack! Clang!

Again, about twenty enemies fell below. Half of them were not dead, but half of them had throwing knives embedded in their spines or necks and could not avoid instant death.

Light flashed in Hwang Seok-tae’s eyes.

‘Impressive.’

It was Jongnam’s Dragon’s Roar Throwing Knives technique. The throwing knives, with three holes in the center of the blade, were characterized by the cool sound they made when flying and their unpredictable attack power.

The Nine Great Sects were a treasure trove of countless martial arts. There were sects like Jongnam that possessed throwing knife techniques, and there were also Taoists who practiced poison arts, though there were few who had learned them.

They usually did not reveal the martial arts they had learned, but in situations like this, they were the ones who could play a bigger role than anyone else.

‘It would have been better if they had applied poison.’

Hwang Seok-tae, having heard about the Dragon’s Roar Throwing Knives, had advised Gu Yun to apply poison to the knives.

But Gu Yun had refused.

‘Even in an emergency, we cannot apply poison to our throwing knives. It may seem frustrating to you, but that is our line.’

It was as Gu Yun had said. Hwang Seok-tae was frustrated with them. Not using poison in a battlefield where life and death were at stake because of face was clearly a luxury.

At the same time, he understood Gu Yun’s words. He understood the word ‘line’.

They were strong because they adhered to their own firm principles even in moments of crisis. All of the Nine Great Sects would be like that, and there were such sects even in the Black Path.

Hwang Seok-tae shouted,

“Back to formation!”

Swish!

The Taoists who had thrown the knives all retreated to the rear, and the center of the formation that had been opened was filled with swordsmen again.

It was then.

Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!

From the rear of the Blood Wolf Corps, dozens of fire arrows were fired.

Dongkwon and Shinhyu’s eyes widened.

“This!”

They were flustered, but for a moment, they tilted their heads.

The fire arrows were not fired at the sword formation on the cliff. Rather, their range was so long that they passed far beyond them.

‘Why?’

At that moment, Hwang Seok-tae shouted,

“Swordsmen in the rear, deflect the arrows!”

No sooner had he spoken than the swordsmen unleashed sword energy.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Three out of ten arrows were shattered and fell to the ground. The remaining seven out of ten fell near the Jongnam headquarters.

Boom! Boom!

With a tremendous explosion, huge flames erupted.

“Explosives! They’re explosives!”

They were arrows with explosives attached. To be precise, they were a type of hidden weapon called hand arrows, with oil and gunpowder pouches attached.

Hwang Seok-tae yelled,

“I told you not to panic! Don’t retreat to the rear! Hold your positions!”

Whoosh!

At that moment, the wind blew. It was a headwind blowing from the direction the Jongnam swordsmen were facing the Blood Wolf Corps.

‘This!’

That’s right.

Unlike arrows, there was a limit to how many hand arrows could be fired.

They did not fire them at the swordsmen but fired them far away to create a fire. And that fire, hit by the headwind, transmitted heat towards the Jongnam forces.

It was as if they had sealed off the battlefield itself.

Hwang Seok-tae quickly looked around.

‘As expected.’

An undeniable panic had settled on the faces of the swordsmen.

It was not an emotion that could be controlled by words. Some of the swordsmen’s faces were even distorted with fear.

‘They chose to shake the morale here rather than inflict actual damage.’

It was a bold strategy.

‘It won’t end there.’

As Hwang Seok-tae had predicted.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

While the Jongnam swordsmen were panicking, the three experts finally leaped up the cliff at an incredible speed.

‘They know exactly what they’re doing!’

This was what a war between martial artists was like.

Morale was important, the quality of the troops was important, and the environment was important. Strategy and tactics? Of course, they were important.

But martial artists, with a clear gap between experts and novices, valued the timing of the moment much more than military strategy.

What kind of timing?

It was the timing when an expert could be deployed to change the flow.

Clang!

A powerful force exploded from a huge sword blade that pierced the cliff diagonally.

The edge of the cliff, a width of two yards, crumbled. The Jongnam swordsmen were all flustered by the destructive sword technique.

And beyond that.

Finally, the real experts appeared.

It was the first squad leader, wielding a huge sword as big as a person’s body, the second squad leader, wielding a huge bow, and the fourth squad leader, equipped with bladed arm guards.

Each one was a true expert who had broken through the Martial Ancestor realm. The enemy leaders, who had read the flow of the battle and seized the right moment to appear, had finally ascended to Cheongmok Cliff.

The first squad leader, Hwahan, shouted,

“I will kill you all…”

It was then.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Hwahan, who had blocked the vortex of tremendous sword energy, lost his balance and fell off the cliff.

A smile spread across Hwang Seok-tae’s face.

The face of Yongho Jin-in, who had appeared in front of him, was covered in soot.

“Wasn’t the frequency a bit too late?”

“It was late!”

“Too harsh for a first meeting.”

Hwang Seok-tae shouted,

“Withdraw the formation!”

No sooner had he spoken than the Jongnam swordsmen retreated, and Dongkwon, Shinhyu, and Yongho Jin-in leaped out, swinging their sword palms at the second and fourth squad leaders.

“The three elders, attack the archer!”

Hwang Seok-tae quickly closed the distance and swung his spear at the fourth squad leader.

Clang!