Swish
As if to answer him, Daeje smiled broadly and drew his sword from his waist.
“It’s too dangerous to advance right now.”
“How many times have I heard that? Do you want us to wait here forever? It’s been more than ten days already.”
“We already know that their forces are all gathered…”
Jegal Seongwoon sighed deeply in his mind.
‘Did the lord ever expect this to happen?’
Of course, he didn’t blame Eurius. But there was always a shadow behind a good thing.
Eurius had seized the weapons of the Yimugi on the Janggang River and sped up the troop transport, so the main force of the Cheokmadan had completed their preparations to attack Magyo in less than a month.
Jegal Seongwoon also thought that their opinions were not entirely wrong.
‘War is basically a quick and decisive matter. Dragging it out like this is not a good choice.’
The Cheokmadan’s troops that had moved westward through the Janggang River were composed of three divisions.
The first division was practically the main force of the Cheokmadan.
It was a vanguard unit that included a large number of Jungdomang’s main forces in the Cheokmamyeolsadae, which had performed brilliantly.
They were elite and had high morale from their previous achievements.
And skipping over the second division, the third division was Nokrimmaeng and Suromaeng.
They had joined Eurius and Nuada from the beginning, so there was no problem with control.
Jegal Seongwoon frowned as he thought up to that point.
‘But the second division is the problem.’
The ones he was arguing with right now were none other than this second division.
They were a unit made up of small and medium-sized factions and some prestigious families.
However, their overall quality was much lower than that of the first division.
But that made them more impatient.
“Are we here to do the cleanup?”
“If they do everything after Cheokmamyeolsadae, what’s the point of participating?”
They had relatively low martial arts skills, so naturally they had few achievements following Cheokmamyeolsadae.
They were thirsty for visible merits, so they naturally advocated for advancing.
However, Jegal Seongwoon and the other leaders of the Cheokmadan, who were military men, were adamant.
“As I said, the lord will come out soon. Let’s talk to him then. I’m against advancing right now.”
“I agree as the deputy head of Jungdomang. Advancing without the permission of Eurius Daehyup is only going to cause confusion in the command system.”
“Hehe… Don’t be impatient and wait calmly. Do you really think the lord will never come back?”
But when Jegal Seongwoon, followed by Namgoong Ilcheon and Jegal Woonhyeon, who were the most skilled in Jungdomang, expressed their opinions one after another, they had no choice but to back down.
“Ahem…”
“Well, if you say so, I’ll trust you for once.”
“…”
But knowing that they were not convinced, Jegal Seongwoon’s heart darkened again.
‘If this goes on, something might happen. I hope the lord comes out soon. I hope nothing happened to him.’
He looked anxiously at the building where Eurius had secluded himself.
***
Meanwhile, the situation was similar where the troops that had come down along the Janggang River had gathered.
Especially, the officers of the second division of Cheokmadan were very dissatisfied.
They sat indoors and complained again today.
First, a burly man grumbled.
“We’ve been waiting for almost a week, but there’s still no order?”
He was the head of a place called Sandong Akga in Shandong.
He was well-known in his region, but his reputation was much lower than that of the five great families.“Geez… What are they afraid of Magyo’s bastards for? It seems like there are only cowards up there.”
The same went for Jangmunin of Sanseo Odaepa.
His faction was also famous in his region, but not well-known in the whole Murim.
As Jegal Seongwoon expected, they underestimated Magyo.
The easy victories that Cheokmamyeolsadae had achieved had made them complacent.
It would have been fine if Eurius had been there, but it was nothing but unfortunate.
“We’re already gathered right in front of Magyo.”
“What if they prepare for a counterattack while we’re doing this? What are they trying to do?”
But nothing changed by them complaining. And they couldn’t disobey orders either, could they?
***
As they were grumbling, an unexpected news arrived.
Whoosh!
A middle-aged man with a goat beard suddenly burst into the barracks and opened his mouth hastily.
“I have information from the 1st Division. They say the forces of the Demon Sect have finally appeared from Mount Tian!”
“…!?”
“What!?”
They were startled and quickly asked.
“What did the 1st Division say?”
“Well…”
The middle-aged man frowned.
“They said they don’t know their exact intention yet, so we should wait.”
“Ugh…”
“How can they say that in this situation? What are they doing with the enemy in front of them?”
They looked at the man with a goat beard with a resentful expression.
“What’s the fuss… It’s no different from before, right?”
But he suddenly laughed grimly.
“Hehe… Is that so?”
“…!?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you see? The Demon Sect has moved, right? That means there’s a chance of a clash with them.”
“Huh?”
“Are you thinking of disobeying the order?”
The leaders of the 2nd Division stared at the man with a surprised expression.
They were very dissatisfied, but they were not so unreasonable.
“Tsk tsk… You don’t understand what I’m saying.”
“Hmm?”
The leaders looked at him with a puzzled expression.
His name was Nahansung, and he was the leader of Hao Moon, a famous intelligence organization.
“Explain yourself. What are you trying to say?”
Nahansung narrowed his eyes.
“Of course, if we attack them first, we would be violating the military order!”
“So?”
“But what if the Demon Sect attacks us instead?”
“…!?”
Then they realized what he was trying to say.
“You want to provoke the Demon Sect and make them attack us? Is that it?”
“That’s right!”“Hmm…”
They fell into a moment of hesitation.
If that happened, it would be an opportunity to gain merit by defeating the vanguard of the Demon Sect, but the problem was the enemy’s strength. But Nahansung said there was no need to worry about that either.
“According to the main text, the forces of the Demon Sect that came out this time are mostly from the Demon Shadow Division, with a few experts from the Blood Slaughter Division. They are within our reach!”
The Demon Shadow Division was the lowest-ranked military organization in the Demon Sect, good at intelligence but not having many top-notch experts.
The Blood Slaughter Division that came with them was also not the elite force of the Demon Sect.
“They probably came out to test the strength of our Chima Division. They are not very difficult opponents.”
Nahansung spoke confidently as if he had already defeated them. But it was a reasonable argument, so the other leaders of the 2nd Division also brightened their eyes.
“Then it’s a golden opportunity! But will they come to us?”
Nahansung laughed grimly again.
“Hehe… They won’t come to us, we have to make them come! Just trust me.”
***
Clang clang clang!
As soon as Scharnos drew his sword, he unleashed a fierce attack.
Merlin could not withstand his onslaught and kept being pushed back.
Clang!
The dozens of layers of shields that protected his body shattered like glass under Scharnos’s swordsmanship. It was an unbelievable power.
“…!?”
Merlin was startled and raised his staff to counterattack.
His counterattack was also fearsome.
He unleashed dozens of laser beams and caused explosions that covered hundreds of meters around him in an instant. But the Emperor Scharnos ignored all his attacks with ease.
Zing!
He dodged the laser beams by twisting his body.
Boom!
Swoosh.
He made the explosions disappear as soon as they occurred and appeared right in front of Merlin, swinging his sword.
Slash!
Merlin’s body was finally wounded for the first time.
After that, it was no different from a decided fight.
It was over in less than five minutes.
Gurgle!
“…!?”
Sizzle
Merlin’s head and torso were separated with an expression of disbelief and vanished without a trace.
“…”
Eurius stared at the video with a look of astonishment.
The reason he was surprised was not because the Emperor Scharnos was simply strong.
‘Wasn’t the Emperor Scharnos a knight? Where did he get that kind of ability? I’ve never seen it before.’
While he was thinking, the announcer’s voice echoed in the stadium.
[Thi… This is amazing! The first round of the final match goes to the challenger! Let’s hear from Merlin, the runner-up… What? He forfeited the interview?]
Meanwhile, the audience’s reaction was also noisy.
Buzz buzz.
[Who is the challenger?]
[How can someone like that suddenly appear?]
[Wow…]
[Merlin is disappointing.]
[The challenger is too strong!]
[Is this a scam?]
[Ah! I should have bet more for fun!]
[XX! I’m going to jump off the Han River bridge…]