Chapter 107: Roar (6)
Translator: bjgoofy
As soon as Seol Noona tore the guy apart, she rushed to Hyung-nim.
He had suffered a serious wound, his side pierced by the bastard’s hand, so she had to check the injury quickly.
“Hyung-nim, are you alright!?”
“Grrk... F-Forget about me, check on Sword Phoenix and Spear Dragon first...”
He had taken the worst injury, a hole in his side, yet he told her to check on the other two before himself.
Truly, a man possessing all the virtues of a tank.
I immediately shouted toward Hwa-eun and Seol Noona.
“Hwa-eun, Seol Noona! Sword Phoenix and Spear Dragon!”
“Got it! Ryong!”
“Understood, Soryong.”
At my request, Hwa-eun rushed to Sword Phoenix, and Seol Noona began checking Spear Dragon’s injuries.
However, the two had only passed out from being struck by the Blood Cult Elder’s fists and palms. The most severe case was Hyung-nim.
“They’re being cared for by Hwa-eun and Seol Noona. Now, quickly!”
I reassured Hyung-nim and checked his wound.
“You pressed your acupoints to stop the bleeding.”
“Well done.”
Though his side was pierced by someone’s hand, it didn’t seem like any internal organs were damaged.
According to Hyung-nim, he had blocked his own acupoints to prevent blood from pouring out. So for now, I applied some wound medicine to his side and tried to tear his clothing to wrap the wound.
Just because he was preventing blood from flowing out didn't mean it was complete hemostasis.
The wound was so large that blood was still oozing out slowly without stopping.
-Rip!
But once I tore the clothes, what came into view was fabric heavily caked with black grime.
He hadn’t been able to wash or even do laundry due to his intelligence work over the past few weeks, so of course the clothes were in bad condition.
Above all, I remembered that people in the Central Plains originally didn’t bathe often.
Sichuan, being a hotter region, seemed to bathe more frequently, but over in Huangshan, where the Namgoong Family was located, people rarely bathed.
Let alone the far north, where Hyung-nim lived.
‘This... this might cause an infection...’
It was a worrying situation where infection was likely.
But tearing up my own clothes wasn’t a good option either, since we’d been running for two days and mine were also soaked in sweat. I had to come up with another method.
Then I heard a sound.
-Kishi?
Yohwa had approached beside me as I treated the wound, and just then, a good idea struck me.
“Yohwa, wrap Hyung-nim’s belly with thread!”
-Kishishi!
Spider silk was the best kind of fiber for the human body with no rejection reaction.
On top of that, it had great elasticity, so wrapping the body with it would surely help apply pressure and stop the bleeding.
Even in my previous life, the most expensive surgical implants in medicine used spider silk.
“You... you mean spider thread?”
It was Hyung-nim’s first spider thread experience, and he looked flustered. But as Yohwa wrapped his side tightly with silk, the faint bleeding quickly stopped.
“It’s done!”
Thanks to its elasticity, Hyung-nim would now feel like he was wearing a compression bandage.
Hyung-nim himself admitted the spider thread wasn’t bad.
“This... the wound’s compressed, so I feel like I can move more easily.”
“Then let’s move quickly.”
“Yes, we should.”
With the treatment finished quickly, we had to hurry and move.
While Cho was keeping the warriors in brown leather clothes at bay, we had to get out of here.
If we wasted any more time here, other enemies could show up.
Some of them might break through Cho and come our way, but strangely enough, they only kept her in check and didn’t approach us at all, it looked like they were just stalling for time.
Even though the Blood Cult Elder had died, they didn’t show any different reaction, nor did they look surprised.
“Please help Spear Dragon. I need to support Hyung-nim.”
“Understood. Are you alright?”
I asked the now-conscious Spear Dragon to help me support Hyung-nim, and then I directed my thoughts toward Cho.
‘Cho, keep them from approaching but just pressure them lightly and follow us. Do not come down, no matter what.’
Then I felt Cho’s acknowledgment, and just as we were putting distance between us while she kept the brown leather-clothed enemies at bay.
Suddenly, we heard a strange sound from far away.
-Wooong. Wooong.
A buzzing sound that resonated in the chest began to echo from the distance.
It was like a deep sound from a bass or drum that made the chest thump heavily, and it closely resembled the flapping of wings from the bees we’d shaken off earlier.
As the sound began to echo, the voice of what seemed to be the leader among the brown leather-clothed ones rang out.
“It’s Gweong! The Toad Unit has stalled them enough, fall back!”
‘Gweong?’
If it's Gweong, then it must refer to that sound, and Toad Unit.
As I pieced together these fragments of information about their identity, the warriors in brown leather outfits swiftly retreated.
Judging by how they were pulling back, it clearly wasn’t a good sign. So, just like them, we also decided to widen the distance.
“Let’s go, now!”
Just as I shouted while looking toward the river.
“Soryong! The sky!”
“The sky?”
At Hwa-eun’s cry, I looked up in the direction she pointed, and in the distant sky was a black and yellow dot.
That black-and-yellow dot was getting closer, and with it, the sound was growing louder.
-Wooong! Wooooooong!
Then came a pounding pain in the head and a reverberation in the chest.
“Aaaagh!”
“Ugh...”
Hyung-nim clutched his bleeding side and collapsed, as if his wound had reopened. I barely suppressed the nausea rising in my throat, and Hwa-eun’s urgent voice reached me via sound transmission.
[Th-that’s one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures, Strange-Crying Tiger Hornet! Soryong, protect your ears with internal energy! Otherwise your qi and blood will be twisted and you won't be able to move!]
‘Ten Great Venomous Creatures!? Strange-Crying Tiger Hornet? If it’s “Tiger Hornet” then...’
That desperate shout came not aloud but via sound transmission, likely to avoid the sound itself.
Following Hwa-eun’s advice, I drew up my internal energy to shield my ears. The noise vanished, and the nausea began to subside.
And then, at that moment.
A powerful wind rushed down from the sky, and I covered my face with my hand and looked up. What I saw was a massive hornet.
A huge hornet-like creature hovered midair above us.
‘N-no way.’
Looking around, I saw Hyung-nim, Spear Dragon, Sword Phoenix, and even Seol Noona, all clutching their ears and crouched on the ground.
The only ones still barely conscious were me, Hwa-eun, and Yohwa, who stood beside her.
That giant hornet-like creature slowly descended next to the already-dead Blood Cult elder.
The thug of the insect world, the tyrant, the big brother himself, the giant hornet had arrived.
***
As the massive hornet, the size of a passenger car, landed on the ground, a woman wearing a flowing black dress leapt down from its back.
A woman with a gothic vibe and a strangely alluring presence.
“....”
The woman moved her lips in our direction.
She seemed to be speaking to us, so I released the energy protecting my ears, and her voice became audible.
“...Oh dear, he’s dead. I suppose it’s only natural if he was practicing that kind of trash martial art? A technique that’s helpless against minor blood poisons? Pathetic.
Why did we even form an alliance with people like this?
And I even made an antidote for him, so why on earth did he die?"
I thought she was on the same side, yet she hurled insults at the dead Blood Cult elder.
As Cho, who had been far away, quickly flew toward us, the woman smiled at the sight and dipped her fingers into the elder’s blood, bringing it to her lips.
Then, like a ghost, she identified the poison mixed in with the blood.
“This is... hornet venom? Both are bleeding poisons, but to think he’d be vulnerable to all types of bleeding toxins.
Well, I guess that makes sense, considering they’re filthy creatures who suck others’ blood... Looks like I’ll need to reconsider this alliance with the Blood Cult.”
The woman, who clearly wasn’t in her right mind, kept rambling on to herself, but Hwa-eun and I couldn’t move a muscle as we watched her carefully.
That massive hornet was clearly on guard against us.
Even more than that, Hwa-eun had warned me that the seemingly insane woman was terrifyingly strong.
[Soryong, be careful. She may not be as strong as Grandfather, but she’s on par with my Father.]
-Tsururur....
But then, like a dog growling, Cho crept forward with a low rumble, standing in front of us as if to shield us, glaring at the hornet.
It was then.
The woman, having finished her monologue, casually crushed the Blood Cult elder’s face with the tip of her foot and smiled at us.
"For First Poison Lord to follow a human, how interesting."
"First Poison Lord?"
“Ah, I believe the Central Plains call it the Flying Celestial Centipede, don’t they?”
It seemed First Poison Lord was what she was calling Cho, who had stepped forward to protect us.
It looked like more conversation was about to follow, but then the woman’s smile vanished.
She turned to the hornet and shouted,
"Capture it!"
Then the hornet immediately flew at Cho, who was standing guard in front of us.
It zipped past between Hwa-eun and me, tangled with Cho, and the two tumbled back.
“Cho!”
-Wooong!
-Tsrururur!
Unlike earlier, the hornet’s wingbeats now only sounded like noise, unable to produce the same effect during battle.
Cho’s furious screech rang out as the fight shifted into the air, with the two tangled and battling midair.
I couldn’t help but feel anxious about the fight.
Cho was undeniably a powerful venomous creature, but if that thing was a venomous beast based on a giant hornet, Cho would be at a disadvantage.
Cho had only gone through her fourth molt, still a young creature, while a hornet was a thug among insects, armed with a strong and thick shell, sharp mandibles, and venom.
It had a shell far tougher than Cho’s, meaning Cho’s fangs might not even pierce it.
I quickly turned to Yohwa, who had been quietly waiting beside Hwa-eun.
“Yohwa! Help Cho!”
-Ksshit!
Yohwa revealed her hidden body and shot out spider silk toward the two entangled in the low sky.
-Pyut!
The silk struck one of the hornet’s wings.
Yohwa moved her legs swiftly, dragging the creature down, and Cho, now freed from its grip, rammed into it.
“Human-Faced Spider!”
The woman was startled when Yohwa revealed herself.
“Y-You’ve even tamed a Human-Faced Spider? Just what are you!?”
Seeing my children move at my command, the woman looked at me in disbelief and questioned my identity.
When I didn’t answer, her hand reached downward, and the spear that Spear Dragon had dropped was sucked into her hand.
“No need to speak. I’ll make you talk.”
Expecting her to come charging at Hwa-eun and me, we both took defensive stances, but instead, she suddenly thrust the spear into the abdomen of Spear Dragon, who lay at her feet.
-Puk!
“Kyah!”
But the voice that rang out was a delicate scream.
To our shock, the spear had pierced into Sword Phoenix’s back as she had covered Spear Dragon with her body.
“S-Sword Phoenix! W-Why!?”
Whether he regained consciousness from the scream or had already been awake, Spear Dragon’s eyes widened as he realized what had just happened.
Sword Phoenix gently caressed his face and looked down at him with a pitiful expression.
“Y-You fool...”
Then her eyes slowly closed.
“Sword Phoenix! You! Aaaaargh!”
“You’re loud and annoying. Be quiet, you buzzing fly.”
-Thwack!
Spear Dragon's eyes rolled back as he rushed at the woman, but he lost consciousness again from a hand chop to his neck.
The woman seemed to have lost interest because of Sword Phoenix, who died in place of Spear Dragon, and threw away the spear while saying.
"Well, what does it matter who you are? What matters is that you’re the master of the First Poison Lord and the Human-Faced Spider. I like you. Be mine.”
‘What?’
The woman suddenly telling me to become hers.
When I looked at Hwa-eun with bewildered eyes at the sight of the clearly insane woman, an angry voice burst from Hwa-eun's mouth.
“How dare you say such a thing to my fiance!”
She’d told me to be careful around the woman, but now that the woman had claimed me for herself, she seemed unable to contain her fury.
The woman tilted her head with a puzzled look.
“Fiance?”
Then, in a flash, she closed the distance to Hwa-eun and aimed a palm strike at her chest to pierce through.
“That fiance won’t be around much longer, though.”
Hwa-eun quickly leapt back, but the woman’s claws were already rushing toward her chest.
-Bang!
Just then, two bursts of blue light shot out from under Hwa-eun’s skirt and struck the woman hard.
“Gyaaah!”
-Kukku!
-Kuuu!
Ice and Snow had been hiding under Hwa-eun’s skirt and revealed themselves the moment she was in danger.
The woman staggered backward, sliding across the ground, and frost spread across her arms and chest.
She stared at us in shock, her voice stammering.
“F-Fourth Poison Lord!?”
Whether from fear or the shock of it, her hand trembled uncontrollably.
“Snow, Ice, well done!”
As I praised Ice and Snow, the woman’s eyes widened even more.
“You’ve tamed the First Poison Lord, the Fourth Poison Lord, and even the Human-Faced Spider?”
By now, I realized who the woman was.
She arrived on a venomous hornet, the ones who retreated earlier referred to themselves as the Toad Unit, and she mocked the Blood Cult Elder.
And now she was referring to Cho and the lizards as the First and Fourth Poison Lords.
The woman was likely a descendant of the Five Poisons Sect.
Having been struck by Ice and Snow, it was clear we had the upper hand. Looking at Hwa-eun, I spoke.
“The adopted son of the Beast Palace and the only son-in-law of the Tang Family, Soryong.”