“The Righteous Alliance scum are fleeing! Should we pursue them?”

“No, let’s end it here for today.”

Sa Yeohan shook his head and rejected his subordinates’ opinions.

They all looked puzzled.

“But… won’t it be troublesome if they regroup and attack us again?”

The best time to inflict the most damage on the enemy was when their formation collapsed and they ran away.

The enemy had many experts, but they also had a secret weapon on their side.

If they had chased them, they could have caused a lot of casualties.

However, Sa Yeohan did not order a pursuit.

The reason was that he was reluctant to expose his secret weapon.

“Call them back. It’s all part of my plan.”

Nodding.

His subordinates agreed and hurriedly ran to summon the people he called.

A short while later.

“Congratulations on your victory. I heard from the sect leader, but your military strategy is amazing.”

“It’s all thanks to your cooperation. I’m grateful to you.”

“Hmm…”

The people brought by his subordinates were dressed in yellow.

At the front of them was a middle-aged man with a rare brown beard for an Easterner, stroking his chin.

“But… you called us here because you need our help again, right?”

The middle-aged man’s eyes flashed.

Unlike the friendly greetings they exchanged just before, this time he exuded a wild aura.

Sa Yeohan flinched at his momentum.

‘He’s truly worthy of being one of the experts from Sagong Family, the most valiant among the three great families.’

“Ahem! Actually, you must have been disappointed that I didn’t order a pursuit.”

“Huh?”

He cleared his throat and opened his mouth, and the middle-aged man looked puzzled.

“So you didn’t chase after those Righteous Alliance bastards because you had another intention.”

“Of course.”

Sa Yeohan nodded and began to explain his scheme.

***

Time passed and it was late at night.

The camp of Cheokmadan, who pretended to retreat from Magyo for the first time, was silent.

There were many wounded and everyone was tired.

By chance, the place where they set up their camp was deep in the mountains.

Only the occasional sound of crying grasshoppers and patrolling soldiers could be heard.

But then!

Swoosh.

Splash.

The sound of something being pushed or poured out was barely audible, buried by the surrounding noise.

The source of the sound was underground.

[Are you sure we hit them right?]

[There’s no doubt. This is their rear.]

[Good job. Call the experts who will infiltrate.]

[Yes!]

The middle-aged man in yellow smiled contentedly and looked around. Surprisingly, they were underground, tens of meters below Cheokmadan’s camp!

Moreover, they had made a huge cavity in the ground to accommodate a large number of troops.

The tunnel leading to the cavity was also quite wide. It was enough for an expert to use their skills.

They had completed this unbelievable scale of tunnel in just one night.

Normally, digging a tunnel required a lot of manpower and skilled specialists.

The ground could collapse suddenly and if they didn’t dispose of the soil quickly, they could easily be discovered by the enemy.

Crucially, there was no way to tell the direction underground.

If they dug out the soil without thinking, they wouldn’t know if they were going down or up.

But how did they manage to make such a huge tunnel in such a short time?

This was their family’s ability.

The middle-aged man in yellow was the head of Sagong Family, one of the three great families, and his name was Sagong Heonwon.

Swoosh

The ground around him swayed and widened the earthen tunnel.

By the time they finished digging the tunnel, there was someone watching them from above.

“He’s here!”

Eurius exclaimed inwardly with delight.

His prediction had hit the mark perfectly. There was no other ability that could handle so much soil.

“It seems they are using the divine artifact of the White Tiger.”

Among the four divine beasts, the attribute of the White Tiger was earth and metal! With the power of the divine artifact, they could build a huge earth fortress or dig a tunnel in one night.

Eurius had stabbed the enemy’s attention by attacking from the sky, and they had counterattacked by using the ground.

“And if they have such an ability, they must have a powerful offensive method besides defense.”

That was the tunnel. There was nothing more useful than this tactic if the enemy did not notice it.

“But it’s useless if I know it in advance!”

Eurius smiled smugly and stared at the ground quietly.

Rustle

His senses caught the sound of footsteps moving stealthily below tens of meters. As soon as he realized that the enemy had started moving, Eurius bent his waist and touched the ground with his hand.

The moment his light movement ended!

Pop!

Clang!

“…!?”

One of the experts who was diligently moving underground died on the spot.

“What is it?”

“Is it an enemy?”

The experts of Magyo who were moving underground panicked without making a sound. But the mysterious attack was not over yet.Papap!

“Ugh!”

“Gasp!”

Two more people died as if an invisible blade had sprouted. The dark tunnel was soon filled with a thick smell of blood.

“A mysterious attack? What are you talking about?”

Sagong Hwanwon, who received the report, looked at the ceiling of the passage with a dumbfounded expression. How could they be attacked suddenly in a tunnel tens of meters underground?

“It’s true! The number of dead is already… Gasp!”

Pop!

A bloodline was drawn on the neck of the subordinate who was reporting, and he spurted blood and died on the spot.

“…!?”

Sagong Hwanwon felt a creepy killing intent from the ceiling at that moment.

“Damn it!”

There was no reason to hesitate once he confirmed it. He soared up to the ceiling.

Kwaaaa!

The soil and rocks where he passed became mushy and pushed away in all directions. The other experts of Sagongga followed him.

Bang!

Sagong Hwanwon pierced through tens of meters of soil and rocks and soared to the ground.

Thud!

“You’re that bastard! Did you do this attack?”

The first thing he saw when he came out was Eurius smiling brightly.

“I’ve been looking for you moles. You should have stayed above ground, shouldn’t you?”

“Damn you!”

Sagong Hwanwon clenched his fists and thrust them forward with an angry expression. The other experts of Sagongga also stretched out their arms and supported him with their power.

Swoooosh!

Surprisingly, waves rose even though it was not the sea. The ground shook and a mountain of soil rose up to tens of meters high. This was how they made a huge earth fortress!

“I’ll bury you alive myself!”

The mass of the small hill-sized mound of soil was enormous. There was no way a human could survive if they were crushed by it.

Swoooosh!

Swoosh

But Eurius’s response was simple. He drew his sword from left to right. A blue line was slightly drawn in the air.

Boom!

A pile of dirt weighing hundreds, thousands of tons collided with the trajectory of Eurius’s sword.

And the result was…

“Huh?”

Bang!

The pile of dirt exploded and collapsed, scattering in all directions.

“Ugh!”

Sagong Heonwon felt the earth and rocks that were moving according to his will escape his control and was shocked.

“How can this be…”

This was spatial cutting. A proper cutting sword, not an incomplete one, cut everything. The combined power of the experts, including Sagong Heonwon, was blocked. It was cut off in the middle.

Boom!

“Get out of the way!”

The weight of the piles of dirt that lost their control and poured out was enormous. If they were careless, they would be buried alive!

And Eurius’s sword did not miss them as they fled.

Slash.

His sword drew a circle in the air. And the bodies of the enemies who entered the circle were all cut in half.

“…!?”

“Damn it… Retreat to the ground!”

As half of the experts were killed in an instant, Sagong Heonwon ordered a retreat with terrified eyes.

The power that Eurius had temporarily cut off also returned.

“Retreat!”

Boom!

They all dived back into the ground. Swimming through the ground, Sagong Heonwon regained his calm expression.

‘I have to report this to the sect leader! I never heard that this bastard was such a monster!’

As far as he knew, Eurius was at a level where he could be easily suppressed by two of the three great families. He never dreamed that this would happen.

‘I have to order the experts in the ground to retreat too…’

“Do you want to play mole hunting again?”

“…!?”

He heard Eurius’s voice clearly in his ear. At the same time, he felt a burning sensation in his chest.

Splash!

“What is this…”

Sagong Heonwon widened his eyes and looked at the ground. There was nothing but the dirt he had dug up. How did he get attacked?

“Could this be… the legendary realm of…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

What Eurius had unfolded was the sword of mind. This was different from before.

Splash!

“Aaah!”

“Phew…”

Eurius killed the last expert who jumped into the ground and sighed. The sword of mind that had no distance restriction was convenient, but it also consumed a lot of force for him.

‘It’s not perfect because I learned it by simple acquisition rather than training.’

He had not only learned the knowledge of the player during his year of training. He also learned the next secret technique left by Sharnos Grandmaster by combining the two divine devices.

It was said that one needed a player’s aptitude to master more than five levels of non-class skills, but according to Huanglong, that restriction would be lifted as one completed the Death God Body.

[So if you want to solve your doubts, you should first collect more skills diligently.]

“…”

“Waaaaaaah!”

Eurius, who was thinking for a moment, snapped out of it at the sound of a cheer.

“It seems that the side entrusted to the military was successful.”

He started to walk towards the direction where the cheer came from.

***“Indeed… if the enemy has such an ability, there is a high possibility that they will dig tunnels and launch a surprise attack next time.”

Jegal Seongun, who heard the explanation, agreed with a slightly excited expression.

The biggest weakness of tunnels was that they were useless if one knew about them in advance.

If they just placed experts near the area where the enemies would pop out, they could easily stop them. Or they could pour boiling oil on the entrance of the tunnel and set it on fire, and almost annihilate the enemies.

“I will prepare a way to block the tunnels right away.”

“Wait!”

“…!?”

Eurius stopped Jegal Seongun, who was about to leave in a hurry.

“It’s easy to stop them now that we know their intentions. But the problem is what happens after that.”

“Ah…”

He immediately understood Eurius’s words.

The goal of Cheokmadan was not defense, but annihilation of Magyo.

Even if they wiped out the attackers this time, the situation would not improve if they had no way to break through that huge earth wall.

“Why don’t we use the tunnels that the enemies made for us?”

“You mean to counterattack through the tunnels.”

“That’s right.”

At this point, Jegal Seongun showed a worried expression.

“But the enemies must be well aware of that point. I wonder how you will do it, sir…”

Eurius’s idea was to quickly dispose of the attackers and then launch a counterattack through the tunnels! But as mentioned earlier, the weakness of tunnels was that they were useless if one knew about them in advance.

If the attackers lost contact with them, they would know that something went wrong. Would they just let it happen?

But Eurius’s solution was surprisingly simple.

“Why don’t we just secretly take care of the ones who made the tunnels?”

“But they are underground, aren’t they?”

“I have a way to hook them up.”

“…!?”

***

As Eurius boasted, the experts of Sagong Family who dug the tunnels were annihilated in an instant.

They were so quickly destroyed that they had no time to inform their comrades below.

And through that tunnel, Cheokmadan’s experts poured in like water.

“Waaaaaaah!”

“General! The Jeongdomaeng bastards are trying to counterattack through the tunnels!”

“What!”

Sagong Han, who led the tunnel plan, was so shocked that he jumped up from his seat.

“What is Sagong Family Head doing! He should block the tunnel!”

“That’s…”

Of course, there was no way for them to come back after being wiped out.

They had dug the tunnel so deep and wide for a perfect surprise attack, but it turned out to be poison.

They had no ability to fill up such a large tunnel with dirt without skills.

“Kuh…”

Blood flowed from Sagong Han’s tightly bitten lips.

He quickly rummaged through his bosom.

‘I still have one silk pouch left by the sect leader. With this, I can turn things around!’

Chae-chae-chang!

Puh-ung!

The fortress was already in a fierce battle, but Sagong Han opened his last silk pouch.

“What is this?”

Saying Han’s expression changed rapidly as he read the note inside.

He turned his head toward the direction of the main temple of the Demon Sect with a horrified look.

“Leader!”

Swoosh.

“…!?”

Before Saying Han could react, his neck was severed from his body.

Eurius had pierced through the guards and killed him in an instant.

‘I guess he was the leader. He seemed to be trying something, so I killed him. Should I have interrogated him first?’

Eurius finished off the remaining guards and stared at the silk pouch and the note on the floor.

‘What is this?’

He read the note first and looked at the severed corpse with a slight surprise.

“So he was the military commander of the Demon Sect.”

The content of the note was also astonishing.

[Military commander, you have done well so far. Personally, I hope you don’t have to open this last pouch. … (skipped) …]

In the end, it was clear that the leader had foreseen Saying Han’s death and given him this third note. But that was not the most important thing.

The bottom part of the note was not written for Saying Han. There was a map drawn in detail and a brief message along with it.

[To the crown prince of the Western Continent…

You have done well to come this far. If you have any questions for me, come alone to the place marked on the map. I will answer you obediently.]

“…!?”

***

“The remaining ones seem to have fled to the main base of the Demon Sect!”

The cleanup of the battlefield did not take long.

In terms of numbers, there were more experts on Cheokma’s side, and the trump cards of the Demon Sect, the experts from the three great families, had all lost their lives at Eurius’s hands. It was a natural outcome.

Eurius quickly gathered his commanders. They seemed to have been waiting and offered their opinions.

“Shouldn’t we quickly reorganize our formation and attack the main temple of the Demon Sect?”

“Our morale is at its peak. I’m afraid we’ll miss a good opportunity if we don’t take advantage of this momentum.”

Their opinions were quick and decisive!

They were all very confident since they had not suffered much damage. Eurius agreed with them.

“I think it’s better to attack right now.”

“That’s a wise choice.”

The commanders’ faces brightened at his words.

The main temple of the Demon Sect, which had never been invaded for two hundred years! It was a great honor in the martial world to conquer that place.

“But there’s no need to reorganize our formation.”

“…!?”

“What do you mean?”

His intention was soon revealed.

***