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| Chapter 309 |
"Huah!"
Gumyeon stretched and went outside.
The biggest benefit of being a member of the inn was being able to have meals there. Although it was a shabby room, it meant that Gumyeon had his own space to protect him from wind and cold. And he could eat relatively well, even though most of the food was leftovers from the guests.
That was also why Gumyeon became a member of the inn.
Just being able to sleep comfortably without having to worry about hunger was enough for Gumyeon. But he hadn't forgotten about his younger siblings who were still sleeping on the streets.
Gumyeon had a bag in his arms.
It was a bag full of leftover food collected carefully while watching the innkeeper's eyes, in order to feed his younger siblings.
"Hehe! They'll love it."
Gumyeon smiled, imagining his siblings' happy faces when they see the food.
Suddenly, someone popped out from the other side of the alley.
"Hyung!"
Recognizing the person, Gumyeon dropped the bag and ran over.
The person lying on the ground covered in blood was Tae Mu-sang.
"What happened? Hyung!"
Quick, we have to get out of here," said someone.
"What are you talking about?"
"He's following us."
"Hyung!"
"He killed the kids. Among, Cheongyu, Jinha... all of them."
"What?"
Gumyeon's eyes shook.
All three children knew Gumyeon.
Although they often caused trouble with their mischievousness, they were basically good children. And they were Gumyeon's younger siblings who loved and followed him very much.
Taemusang took Gumyeon's hand.
"No time to explain. He's chasing us."
He led Gumyeon away.
As Gumyeon ran after him, he looked back.
At that moment, someone appeared from the alley where Taemusang had popped out.
He held a sword dripping with blood.
Even in the darkness, his cold gaze was clear.
His eyes were fixed on Taemusang and Gumyeon.
"Looks like there's one more rat."
His voice was very low. But strangely, it pierced Gumyeon's ears so clearly.
The opponent deliberately lowered his voice to speak.
So Gumyeon could hear him.
"Grr!"
Gumyeon felt chills up his spine.
He ran with Taemusang with all his might.
The man ran after them.
He swung his sword wildly in the air. Then the blood on the sword splattered everywhere.
It made his appearance even more terrifying.
Gumyeon had no time to ask Taemusang what was going on.
They had to escape now.
But Gumyeon instinctively realized that they could never escape like this.
Those children who died at the hands of that man, Among, Cheongyu, and Jinhwan, were all thin and lightweight. They were so fast that even Black Smoke couldn't catch up with them, just like a flying squirrel.
If those three children were killed, it would be impossible to escape from that man's pursuit, even if he and Taemusang fled together.
"Hyung!" Black Smoke called Taemusang.
Taemusang just turned his head to look at Black Smoke. He was already at the brink of exhaustion from running away since the harbor, so he had no energy to answer.
Black Smoke spoke briefly, "Let's go to the inn."
It was a vague statement, but Taemusang understood Black Smoke's meaning immediately.
Taemusang nodded his head and put more strength into his legs.
Tatatuk!
The sound of footsteps coming from behind gradually grew louder. It meant that the person was getting closer.
Cold sweat poured down their backs like crazy.
Their hearts beat violently, as if they were about to burst out of their mouths.
Shiak!
A sharp piercing sound came from behind.
Almost instinctively, Black Smoke and Taemusang twisted their bodies to avoid the man's sword. However, they couldn't completely dodge it.
They both suffered long cuts on their backs. Fortunately, the wounds were not severe enough to hinder their movements, but the intense pain almost made them stumble and fall.
"Argh!"
"Son of a bitch!"
Geomyeon and Taemusang tried to balance themselves and ran again.
A man's voice was heard from behind.
"Persistent little mice."
His voice was filled with irritation.
It was inevitable.
The nighttime pursuit was an unexpected event.
Their original purpose was to come in quietly at night, achieve their goal, and leave quietly.
A nighttime pursuit was not part of the plan.
It was all because of Taemusang.
"For the sake of one or two little mice, I have to go through all this trouble."
The man's eyes, watching the backs of the two, emitted a sinister energy.
He vowed to tear the two apart if he caught them.
Swish!
His sword once again cut through the darkness.
Once again, Geomyeon and Taemusang narrowly avoided the sword.
"Their senses are extremely sharp."
It was a movement that couldn't simply be attributed to luck.
Occasionally, there were children with highly developed senses like that.
If they were born into a good martial arts school or a warrior family, they would have been praised as excellent talents.
It was never easy to see two such children in one place.
"What a waste!"
If it were a different situation, he would have surely taken those kids. If they didn't like it, he would have even kidnapped and trained them to become useful warriors.
He himself was a warrior made through such a process.
"Let's finish this now."
"The youthful energy in the man's eyes had become even stronger.
They had reached the end of the long chase.
The movements of Tae Musang had noticeably slowed down, and the movements of Geumyeon had also become dull as they fled together.
Even if they had extraordinary senses and physical abilities, it was impossible for them to completely defeat a martial artist who had mastered martial arts.
Instead, they deserved praise for delaying the time for so long.
Crack!
The man slammed onto the ground.
It was a movement that was incomparable to anything before.
He charged forward at a frightening speed, crouching his waist like a swallow flying above the water.
"Dodge!"
Geumyeon yelled loudly, pushing Tae Musang to the left.
As a result, Geumyeon allowed the man's sword to pierce her waist.
Swoosh!
With a gruesome cutting sound, Geumyeon's waist was split open.
"Ahh!"
Geumyeon screamed and writhed on the ground.
Blood poured out from her waist.
If time passed just a little longer, her life would be cut short.
"Is...is it the end?"
Geumyeon's vision became blurry.
She had lost too much blood, and her eyes could no longer focus.
Even in this state, she managed to find Tae Musang.
Thanks to Geumyeon, Tae Musang narrowly avoided getting hurt, but he didn't look well either.
He had already been injured, and he had used up all his strength to get to this point.
Now, he didn't even have the strength to move a single finger.
"Damn it!"
Tae Musang yelled in frustration."
The feeling of guilt for not being able to protect three children while fleeing, and the remorse of dragging them into danger, made him angry. The same went for Gumyeon
Although he did not know the man's identity, the self-blame for not being able to protect Taemusang
Gumyeon gathered all his strength and shouted, "Who are you? Who do you think you are to do this to us?"
"You bastard! It would be better to kill you for sure. If I survive, I will destroy you all. I will find you and kill you all."
Even Taemusang's young voice, which was barely audible from exhaustion, spoke up.
It was not just the level of desperation of someone trapped in a corner.
'This guy will cause big trouble if we let him live.'
He also had the sense of a martial artist.
He could distinguish whether the boys' rebellion was just a bluff or whether they truly had the will to fight.
The man who had approached the boys brandished his sword high in order to finish them off.
An ordinary person would have closed their eyes at the sight of that man, but the two boys' reactions were different.
They stared at the man with open eyes, as if they were trying to take in every detail of his features.
The man, impressed by their hostility, swung his sword down.
Clang!
"Kwah!"
At that moment, a metallic sound rang out and the man let out a frustrated groan.
'What?'
The man had grabbed the hand that was holding the sword with his left hand.
Ziiing!
The sword was vibrating violently.
To the man, it felt like someone was screaming.
"Who are you?"
The man yelled, barely suppressing the vibration of the sword.
The sword wasn't vibrating on its own. Something had given it a strong shock.
Before the man could figure out what had hit his sword, the object that had deflected his sword disappeared into the darkness.
'A master!'
He didn't even know the identity of the object that had hit his sword, and he didn't even realize that an unknown entity had intervened.
The opponent was a master.
The man looked around warily and spoke, "This is a private matter between me and those kids. I don't know who you are, but don't meddle in other people's affairs and go your own way." It was a polite threat. He wanted to intimidate his opponent with a threat since he felt that he might be in trouble.
The man raised his inner strength and expanded his senses to the extreme. However, he felt no sense of danger in his perception.
"Where are you?... Where are you?"
Just then, a cold voice suddenly came from directly behind him.
Chills ran down his spine.
In an instant, the man felt a shiver run through his whole body. He could feel the opponent's breath vividly behind him. He was in a heightened state of sensory perception, sensitive enough to detect the movements of ants passing by outside. Yet, he couldn't sense the presence of his opponent at all.
"What?"
A drop of cold sweat ran down his spine.
At that moment, the man made a decision.
Whish!
He spun his body around like a top and swung his sword.
The sword cut through the darkness like a flash, but he felt no sensation of hitting anything.
The opponent had dodged it.
It was like the movement of a ghost.
Then, a polite voice was heard from behind him.
"You have bad habits."
"What?"
Swish!
In an instant, his hand holding the sword was cut off.
"Aargh!"
The man screamed in agony, clutching his severed wrist.
He turned around in pain, but he couldn't see the presence of the person who cut off his wrist.
It was like he was possessed by a ghost.
Suddenly, his gaze fell on two people, Yeon and Tae-mu, who were grinning at him like fish on water.
He could see his own reflection in their pupils, and the figure of another man standing behind him like a ghost.
"What?"
Chills ran down his spine.
No matter how fast or good a martial artist was, they couldn't move faster than someone who turned around and looked at them. That was common sense. However, his opponent was moving at the same speed as him, ignoring common sense.
It was doubtful whether a human being was capable of such movements. However, he could not continue his thoughts any longer.
Swoosh!
Something sharp pierced through his throat and passed...
As his tendon snapped, he knelt down and collapsed.
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