Chapter 31
He’s got the feel for it.
Watching Yoo Hyun-hwa crush the boss’s foot, Cheon Mujin smiled.
It was the secret technique of Changma — Crush (碎).
Even among second-rate fighters it was hard to use, and even a first-rate martial artist couldn’t easily pull it off skillfully…
A genius is called a genius for a reason.
Yoo Hyun-hwa had executed the move brilliantly.
Sure, she seemed to have overexerted herself and likely suffered some internal injury, but that sort of thing was just part of the daily grind in battle.
And with Baek Woo there, there was no need to worry too much about that side.
Pushing aside his concern for the teammates fighting the boss, Cheon Mujin refocused on what he needed to do.
First priority — clean up the monsters.
“Captain Cheon! Are you alright?”
Second priority — clean up the humans.
When preparing for a dragon-class monster, the thing Mujin valued most wasn’t just clearing out threatening groups of monsters.
It was rooting out the rats hiding inside Mu Pungdae.
The dispersal of the special squad was bait for that very purpose.
Honestly, he hadn’t expected the bait to work — but here they were, taking it.
Glancing at the figures making their way toward him while he casually dispatched a monster lunging from the side, Mujin’s fingers sent internal energy into the creature’s death points, ripping them apart and killing it instantly.
Squad 21, huh?
He remembered the squad leader — Gu Pyeong.
But it was only a passing memory.
In his previous life, Gu Pyeong had died during this monster migration, unable to withstand it.
Which meant one of two things — either Gu Pyeong’s death back then had been faked, or after this incident, he was discarded.
Of course, either way, Mujin’s task didn’t change.
Rooaaar!
A mid-tier monster, a Churagwi, came charging at him. Mujin’s hands stabbed into several vital points in its body.
The Churagwi, known for its regenerative ability, was difficult to kill by targeting vital points alone.
Its blood circulated too quickly, dispersing any invading energy almost immediately.
Which meant—
Grrk?
A simpler method was needed.
With the sickening sound of cartilage grinding, the monster’s head twisted around several times, its eyes blinking in confusion.
Even for a Churagwi, a neck twisted that many times was no different from being severed.
If its life force were intact, it might have regenerated slowly, buying itself a few moments — but—
Thud!
Since Mujin had already cut off its life force by striking its vital points earlier, even a Churagwi couldn’t survive instantly.
The moment he stepped off its collapsing body, he was already moving to deal with the next one.
The method didn’t change much — even if the enemy realized it and tried to counter.
Crunch!
They still couldn’t stop him.
Reading the Churagwi’s movements perfectly, Mujin slipped into its blind spot as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
By the time Yoo Hyun-hwa severed the boss’s arm and Baek Woo began pounding on it in earnest—
“Phew.”
—Mujin had finished clearing every last monster.
Dozens of them, all by himself.
Gulp.
The sound of someone from Squad 21 swallowing hard broke the silence, but no one dared comment.
They had seen with their own eyes how Mujin dealt with the monsters.
The battle was so clean — almost refined — yet it radiated a strange, spine-tingling pressure.
“Shouldn’t we go help them?”
“No. Let’s leave it — it’s a growth opportunity.”
A growth opportunity?
…That?
Three first-rate warriors against a mid-to-high-tier monster?
It wasn’t exactly suicide, but it was certainly reckless.
It was safe to assume at least one or two of them would be dead by the end.
And to just stand back and call that a growth opportunity…
It was a training policy without an ounce of mercy.
As Squad 21’s members shivered, feeling a chill in their bones, Gu Pyeong stepped toward Mujin.
“Captain Cheon, you’ve worked hard.”
“Captain Gu — this is our first time speaking directly, isn’t it?”
“You know me?”
“Of course. I’ve memorized the names of all my senior captains.”
He’d memorized them thoroughly.
Smiling, Mujin shifted slightly to let Gu Pyeong come closer.
Standing beside him, Gu Pyeong pulled a bottle from his robe.
“How about it? A drink at a time like this is unbeatable.”
“I’d be more than happy to.”
“Haha! It’s always good to find a friend who appreciates life’s pleasures, regardless of age!”
Laughing, Gu Pyeong poured the cheap liquor into a cup and handed it over.
As the distinct harsh scent of the cheap brew wafted up, Mujin accepted the cup.
And—
“But Captain Gu,” Mujin said casually.
“Hm? What is it?”
“The fact that you can’t even hide your killing intent while pouring a drink tells me assassination really isn’t your thing.”
With that, the bottle came whipping at Mujin’s head.
Smirking, Mujin knocked it aside, locking eyes with Gu Pyeong, whose expression had hardened.
“An assassin should be able to stab someone’s blind spot with a smile.”
Reading blind spots was Mujin’s specialty.
At Gu Pyeong’s level, approaching without a sword was no different from placing himself in Mujin’s hand.
With several key points already sealed, Gu Pyeong’s body froze.
“H-how… when…?” he forced out.
“When did I know? Of course, from the moment I returned. No matter how much Mu Pungdae values its comrades, they don’t value them above their own lives.”
This was the Demonic Sect.
Mu Pungdae was part of the sect’s martial force.
No matter how “good” they were, there were limits.
“The special squad captain gave the order to retreat — and yet you came here. That’s disobeying orders. You wouldn’t risk beheading just to save me, would you?”
With a smile, Mujin glanced at Squad 21 below.
Five members — more than Squad 13 had.
Squad size naturally varied with the captain’s abilities; Squad 21 had six including its captain.
“Do you all think you can handle this? I haven’t lost the competition yet, and the crime of trying to assassinate the Cheon family’s bloodline isn’t something a few lives can pay for.”
“We—we know nothing!”
“We were told that helping you would earn us merit, and that the disobedience would be overlooked — so we just followed!”
As they quickly knelt and pleaded, Mujin burst out laughing.
Well, that was about what he’d expect from the Demonic Sect.
“I hope those words are still true when you’re staring down a red-hot brand.”
Smiling faintly, Mujin pulled a dagger from his robe.
And—
Thrust!
He drove it straight into Gu Pyeong’s neck, then yanked it free.
Blood spurted, splattering over the heads of the kneeling squad members.
“If you want revenge, by all means, try.”
Turning his back on them, Mujin climbed atop the piled corpses and sat on the peak.
“If you can, that is.”
His gaze bore down on Squad 21.
The aura he released naturally rolled down over them, pressing heavily like the weight of a throne — the same throne the Demon King himself had once sat upon.
…Insane.
The same rank as me? This?
The fury from their captain’s death cooled rapidly.
Thoughts of revenge or escape — choices that would normally be obvious — shriveled under the primal fear crushing their bodies.
“If you’ve got no plans, then just stay put until this is over and we head back.”
* *
“What’s this—”
“Gu Pyeong tried to assassinate me. The proof is this liquor.”
“Was it poisoned?! I’ll find an antidote—”
“Hey now, I’m not a child. I didn’t drink it.”
…Though I’ve spent the last three months hiding like a scared child, I’m still an adult.
Do Woo-jin gave Mujin a strange look, then nodded with a sigh.
“If the captain says it’s fine, it must be. What about them?”
“We’ll take them back to camp. By now the others will have noticed their absence. It’s best to let the Lord handle them.”
Looking at his teammates — exhausted but glowing with the thrill of victory — Mujin smiled.
“Mission complete. Let’s head back.”
“Yes!”
“I’ll collect the monsters’ heads. Baek Woo.”
“Got it.”
While Baek Woo gathered the trophy heads, Do Woo-jin and Yoo Hyun-hwa bound the captured Squad 21 members.
Squad 13 quickly finished cleanup and left the battlefield.
About half an hour later, in the place where only death’s stench from the monster corpses remained, someone appeared.
“Wow… impressive. He really cleared them all.”
Even as he muttered in admiration, the man’s brush flew over the wooden tablet he’d pulled from his robe.
“Hmm… almost no external injuries. Has he refined his internal energy to the extreme? Even so, it’s absurd for a first-rate martial artist to handle this many…”
Inspecting the bodies with interest, the man soon noticed something unusual and stopped his brush.
“…Hoh. The monsters’ demonic energy is almost completely gone.”
That was truly strange.
A monster’s demonic energy was the same as the magic of the Demonic Lands.
If a human tried to absorb it, their body and mind would be wrecked.
Even power-mad demon cultists avoided absorbing it.
Sure, there were special ways to refine a little of it, but the efficiency was so poor that no one bothered.
“A Cheon bloodline who gathers monsters’ demonic energy, huh…”
Smirking, the man resumed writing.
This warranted close observation.
Grrr?
Lost in his notes, he didn’t notice the wolf-shaped monster approaching, drawn by the scent of blood.
The smell and its hunger provoked it into lunging at his throat—
Fzzzt!
With a sound like something igniting, flames erupted from the wolf monster’s jaws.
Yelp! Yipe!
The man stopped writing and smiled at the sight.
“So even these low-grade monsters are starting to wander in now.”
Clicking his tongue at the monsters’ intelligence, he packed away his brush and tablet before leaving.
The flames that started in the wolf’s mouth spread across its body until it was reduced to ashes — leaving no trace behind.
* *
I suspected it, but to think it was really true…
In Mu Pungdae’s camp, upon hearing Mujin’s report, the Mu Pungdae Lord nodded grimly, his expression a mix of irritation and anger.
“I’ll deal with the rest. You’ve worked hard — rest for today. The scouts to locate the dragon-class monster have already been dispatched.”
“Retreat is impossible?”
“That’s right. We can’t just turn back based on one man’s report and fear alone.”
The Lord personally trusted Mujin, but the higher-ups wouldn’t see it that way.
In running a martial force, personal and official matters had to be separate.
And if they just withdrew now, the rank and file would bear responsibility as well.
Plenty of them didn’t trust Mujin and would oppose retreat, so it was a non-starter from the beginning.
“If the dragon-class monster’s existence is confirmed and we learn it’s headed this way, we’ll abandon camp immediately and join up with another force.”
Of course, Mu Pungdae wasn’t the only unit in the Demonic Lands.
Other units from the sect also had camps far away — so far that they rarely saw each other, thanks to the nature of this place.
“Will we be leaving the Demonic Lands entirely?”
“Yes.”
Mujin nodded at the Lord’s answer.
Alright, in that case—
Thump!
His heart skipped — almost like it screamed.
“L-Lord!!”
At that exact moment, a soldier burst in, pale and drenched in cold sweat.
“A-a dragon-class monster has appeared! It’s only half a shichen away!”
