“Dae Han Min Guk!”
Punch, punch! Punch! Punch, punch!
“Ohohohoh!”
Punch!
“Ohohohoh!”
Punch!
Eshnunna couldn’t believe her ears. It sounded like Chi-Woo was hitting something other than wet floor whenever he swung his club.
Bam, bam! Bam,bam,bam!
“Korea!”
Bam, bam! Bam,bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam!
“Korea!”
Chi-Woo struck down his club rhythmically and shouted. Eshnunna heard that Chi-Woo had chanted scriptures and brandished a piece of yellow paper drawn with red symbols when he dealt with these beings. This time, Chi-Woo did take out a piece of paper, but it was stolen and shredded to pieces as soon as he gripped it in his hands. Her heart had pounded violently, thinking everything must have gone wrong. However, the situation completely changed once he took out a burnt club.
‘…Huh?’ She suddenly realized that the pressure that had been pressing her down like it was about to eat her alive was gone. The evil energy that had taken over the area and made it difficult to even breathe had disappeared without a trace as well.
“Whew…” After floundering around passionately with his club, Chi-Woo finally stopped and wiped his forehead. He looked at the dark shape wiggling beneath his feet like a bug and rotated his shoulders. ‘That’s enough for a warm-up.’ His opponent was stronger than a vengeful spirit, but compared to the lumpy beings further inside the greenhouse, it was a weakling.
‘Should I try to lure them out first?’ Chi-Woo looked into the greenhouse before glancing below him. He smirked and tightened his grip around the club. He soon commenced a fiery dance of club swinging.
—Kkieeeeh!
The spirit turned around and squealed like a pig getting beheaded. Its cries made clear the pain it was under. Chi-Woo stopped swinging his club momentarily to look forward. After a brief hesitation, he beamed and got back to swinging the club. This time, he aimed only for the spirit’s head.
—…
There wasn’t even a scream this time. The black shape was completely helpless and became noticeably fainter. Seeing this, Chi-Woo cupped his jaw with his right hand and beckoned the spirits to him with his left, his lips widened into a smirk. He was clearly returning the provocation he first received, and it was effective.
Whooooosh…!
A sudden whirlwind shook the grass on the ground. A gush strong enough to tilt a tree swept past him. Anyone would be able to tell it wasn’t wind, but some other forces. Chi-Woo saw a flurry of faint shadows poured out from the inside of the greenhouse. The shadowy beings swirled around the space and shortened the distance between them at great speed.
‘They’re fast.’ Chi-Woo gulped. He quickly reached inside his bag and prepared himself. His hair whipped around in the violent currents of air, and before he realized it, the spirits that had popped out from the greenhouse were inches away from him. Chi-Woo scattered a fistful of talismans into the air, which flew high and swirled around Chi-Woo. One of the dozens of talismans soon caught on fire and burned until it turned to ashes. This was the opportunity he needed.
“Take this!”
He struck his club where the ashes of the burnt talisman landed.
“This is a sword from the heavens!” he yelled.
Bang!
Eshnunna had been watching everything unfold from a distance, dazed. The sudden explosion sent a shuddering shock down her spine. There didn’t seem to be anything there. Perhaps she was imagining things, but she thought she saw a blackish vapor rising to the sky. Following that, another talisman caught on fire. Chi-Woo swung his club relentlessly at the area.
“Let me hear your cries, bow!”
Bang!
“Burn up, arrowhead!”
Bang!
Every time he struck a blow, it seemed to be doing critical damage on the beings, causing them to explode and scatter away.
“Failure is what makes a man!” Chi-Woo made one last wide swing with a satisfied smile.
“As expected of a holy item, it’s super effective!”
Eshnunna watched as Chi-Woo whirled his club around and around in confusion. Something was strange. She couldn’t understand anything, but the nonsense Chi-Woo said in between his swings completely baffled her. She heard from her sources that Chi-Woo had defeated the broken beings while chanting meaningful words, but right now, it didn’t seem like his passionate cries made any sense whatsoever.
Satisfied with his work, Chi-Woo picked up the talismans that were still salvageable from the ground. ‘I have to be careful about saving these things.’ The talismans he currently had were all gifts he had received. Chi-Woo didn’t know how to make them. Since it was a finite resource that he had no way of acquiring more at the moment, he couldn’t use them recklessly. Moreover, his precious club couldn’t be used in all situations, so it was all the more reason for him to be careful.
“Let me see. Since I exploded four of these guys, there will be one, two, three, four…seven left…?” While counting his talismans like Korean won bills, Chi-Woo flinched. He suddenly felt a chilling sensation all over his body. It was an indescribable, eerie sensation that brought chills all over his back.
“Urgh…Uh….” It seemed Chi-Woo wasn’t the only one who felt it. The middle-aged man’s legs jittered before he collapsed to the ground. Eshnunna had also turned pale.
“…What?” Chi-Woo’s expression darkened. It was the first time he had experienced something like this. It was a sensation beyond his imagination. He had expected the spirits to have gathered and clumped together, but not to this extent. This was a bit dangerous—no, very dangerous.
‘Was I too full of myself?’ He had been excited to finally use the club after a long time, and every time a spirit exploded under his strike, it boosted his confidence further. However, it was too late by the time he realized his mistake. Soon, they heard murmuring all over the forest. Since they spoke in the language of the dead, Sauh, he couldn’t understand what they were saying. However, he could clearly feel their rage.
“Uhuh….Uhahahah!”
The middle-aged man had already lost half of his consciousness and shrieked. Eshnunna scrunched up her face and blocked both of her ears. A ringing sound filled the space.
----------------------!
An incomprehensible clamor exploded out from the inside of the forest. The numerous sounds combined into one and exerted tremendous energy, like a gargantuan entity’s powerful howls, like the battle cry of an army of not hundreds of but thousands of soldiers. Their presence dwarfed the spirits he had just defeated in both power and number, and Chi-Woo took a couple of steps backward.
The evil spirits jeered. They swept the surroundings and moved in a frenzy and danced. They must be excited by the thought of ripping and destroying Chi-Woo soon. Chi-Woo began to feel overwhelmed by his current situation. There was a long-standing saying that no hero could put up with being ganged up; even if a soldier was carrying a machine gun, they couldn’t withstand the force of thousands of people rushing them with spears. No matter how powerful his club was, Chi-Woo didn’t think he could survive thousands of evil spirits swarming up to him and refusing to let him go.
Chi-Woo kept retreating until his back hit something. When he instinctively turned around, he saw Eshnunna looking down at the ground with eyes wide open. Her lips were trembling, and her hand that was holding the torch shook. She looked completely terrified. In all honesty, it was a display of great courage that she hadn’t burst into tears and wet herself like the middle-aged man had.
Eshnunna looked up with tearful eyes despite the fear weighing down her entire body. Had her true inner nature come out due to the extreme situation they were in? Despite everything, Eshnunna was looking at Chi-Woo with concern, and only then did Chi-Woo regain his focus. He calmed down and felt slightly embarrassed. He had talked big by claiming that he would be able to deal with this problem, and yet he failed to follow that with action. He told her he was going to earn her trust and asked her to give him an opportunity to prove himself. He needed to keep his word at all costs. This was his chance.
‘There’s not much time.’ If the being in the middle sent out an order to the other spirits, he’d be overwhelmed by their powers before he could do anything, and there would be nothing left of his body. He needed to take action before that happened.
‘The World’s Milestone!’—
…was not available because the cool-down period was not over.
Chi-Woo opened his bag and searched through it. This wasn’t something that could be solved with chicken’s blood, beans, red beans, salt, or other materials. Chi-Woo found a bundle of talismans and quickly flipped through them.
This was not it. Not that either. Chi-Woo paused when he found a particular talisman, and his eyes glistened.
‘It’s…’ Chi-Woo pulled it out. It was a special talisman that his mentor had told him to save until the very last moment and to treat it like one of his kidneys. Honestly, Chi-Woo was hesitant to use it since his mentor had told him again and again until his ears hurt to treat it like his most precious belonging. However, this was not a time for him to be stingy. One misstep could mean his death, and a talisman was never too great a price to pay given the circumstances. He needed to survive this in order to live a long, fulfilling life, so there was no other option.
Chi-Woo decided to take a special route instead of a standard one. If he was comparing this situation to a game, rather than steadily leveling up by defeating weak monsters, he was a newbie trying to face a middle-level boss as soon as he received a special. If he completed this mission, he would be able to receive compensation beyond his wildest dreams. And in order to receive those compensations, he needed to use up something equally valuable. Chi-Woo did not hesitate any longer.
He already made sure that the talisman’s effects were greater here while rescuing Ru Amuh. If his predictions were right, then…
“Wait a moment.”
“Ah.”
Chi-Woo grabbed Eshnunna’s arm as she stood in a daze. He used the torch she was holding to light the talisman.
Crackle!
The edge of the talisman caught on fire. The fire quickly spread and consumed it whole. Since the talisman was mixed with powder created from chicken blood and peach tree oil, it burned very well. Once the talisman burnt to ashes, Chi-Woo lowered his head and put his hands together.
Eshnunna still looked confused. In her perspective, Chi-Woo had taken out a strange piece of paper once again and burned it. And now he was quietly praying. She couldn’t help but wonder if he had given up. However, Eshnunna was clever enough to catch on to the subtle change that happened around them.
The murmuring had stopped momentarily. Eshnunna distinctly felt a change in the still silence. Murderous and hostile emotions were replaced by confusion and shock. The spirits were noticeably baffled. Eshnunna looked back at Chi-Woo to gauge the situation, and her eyes widened. His face had gradually become clearer as the darkness around them was slowly dispersed by the moonlight. Eshnunna looked up without thinking, and what she saw shocked her further; she gulped at the sight in front of her.
If this was not an illusion or a dream, she would say the clouds were separating, revealing the moon and allowing its rays to shine on their surroundings in a focused beam. It looked as if the sky was lighting up a path for someone to come down from heaven.
“Ah…Ah…?” The middle-aged man, who had been crying the whole time, looked bewitched by a spirit. “What is the sound? Did an army suddenly appear? A-am I the only one hearing this?”
He wasn’t. Eshnunna had heard the same thing.
Da-dum-da-dum. There was the majestic chorus of percussion, followed by the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground. Chi-Woo slowly opened his eyes. He quietly steadied his breathing and looked up. The sky had split apart, and a general was descending from heaven. Not by himself, of course, but with his loyal soldiers.
Heavenly Generals could be divided into three groups. The first was generals that led heavenly soldiers. The second was generals who were effectively gods. And the third was spirits that possessed the dignity and ability of a general. All three groups protected the gods they served, and were in charge of defeating mischievous and evil spirits. The general that Chi-Woo called upon was of the first group.
Soon, a huge crane landed on the ground, followed by countless soldiers. Chi-Woo looked up at the crane that towered over him. And he saw a figure with thick eyebrows like a pair of furry caterpillars, two sharp eyes like those of religious statues, and a long beard. He wore armor that looked like a brigandine all over his body, and his cape fluttered in the wind. With his large hands that were the size of cast iron lids, he held a blue guandao decorated in gold.
Chi-Woo straightened his posture as he faced the dignified and grand giant who had descended down from heaven with his loyal soldiers. Cupping his hands together, he bowed deeply and said, “It’s been a while, Sir White Horse Heavenly General.”