Chapter 54. Besieged on All Sides
The withdrawal of the experts accelerated more and more.
As if keeping pace with that, dozens of small ferry boats poured out from the Yangtze pleasure boats that had been holding their positions on the flanks from afar.
The ferry boats were what people commonly called skiffs; being small, their speed was unmatched. Moreover, the oar technique of the water bandits was at a considerable level, so their speed was multiplied even further.
They moved swiftly and began retrieving the corpses floating everywhere on the water. At the same time, they fought the experts who came flying in as if on wings.
Unlike the experts who had succeeded in landing smoothly at first without much interference, the experts hindered by the ferry boats found it far more difficult to approach land. Even so, the water bandits did not stubbornly block the experts. When they felt the opponent was too difficult, they boldly abandoned their boats and jumped into the water. Rather than forcing themselves to fight, they handed over the handling of the experts to the Heavenly Demon Castle members on land.
Now the battle was raging everywhere Dong Bong-su looked, and its ferocity was enough to resemble defending a city gate during a siege.
All around was truly a feast of death itself.
"Uaaagh!"
"Gaaah!"
"Save me!"
"Kill them all! Kill every last one of them!"
"Die! You bastards! Just die already, you sons of bitches!"
Piiiiiiiiiiik!
Screams, curses, the sounds of combat, and the ear-splitting cries of the goshawk echoed everywhere.
A fragment of hell was unfolding in all directions.
"...…."
To Dong Bong-su's ears, all those sounds felt like the old songs of the State of Chu.
Besieged on all sides.
The Hegemon-King of Chu, Xiang Yu, suffered his final defeat here at Gaixia in Anhui, surrounded by the army of Liu Bang, the founder of Han.
"My strength could uproot mountains, my spirit could cover the world, yet fortune turns against me, and my black steed will not advance. If my steed will not advance, what then can I do? Yu, oh Yu, what shall I do with you?"
In despair, Xiang Yu recited such a poem.
In response, his beloved consort Yu sang the following song.
"The Han soldiers have already taken all the land, from all sides I hear only songs of Chu. The great king's will and spirit are spent. How could this lowly concubine wish to go on living?"
With that song, Consort Yu took her own life, and Xiang Yu broke through the enemy lines and followed her at the Wu River.
Dong Bong-su felt that the present situation was exactly the same as back then.
Tang Wu was Xiang Yu, and he himself was Consort Yu.
Enemies were swarming everywhere, and dreadful screams surrounded them on all sides like the songs of Chu.
If there was a difference, it was that Xiang Yu had abandoned his Consort Yu-like companion and left.
Above all, the real difference was this.
Xiang Yu and Consort Yu chose suicide, but Dong Bong-su had absolutely no intention of doing so. No—he was even laughing softly in this situation.
Clang! Thud! Slash!
"Uaaagh!"
At some point, warriors wearing clothes marked with the words "Yangtze Waterway Fortresses" had climbed onto the ship he was riding, fighting the few remaining celebratory guests.
All the experts had already left the ship. The celebratory guests remaining here were far too few, both in quality and quantity, to escape this crisis.
They fought back, reluctant to simply bare their necks and die, but their swords and blades no longer carried spirit.
Resignation, and death. Those two words occupied their minds.
Except for one person.
'Now is the time.'
Dong Bong-su quietly drew the novice's sword.
He slowly walked toward the stern, the opposite direction of the ship's movement.
"Die!"
Two water bandits charged at him.
Slash.
With yesterday's enlightenment and level-up, he had advanced to a new stage. There was no way low-rank water bandits could be his match. Dong Bong-su's silent sword severed their tickets to the underworld in a single stroke.
Seeing that, the other water bandits rushed at him all at once.
Wooooong—.
A powerful energy burst from Dong Bong-su's body.
The skill Circulating Energy and Performing the Technique was activated.
Shaaaarak. Slash, thud!
With his combat power boosted by Circulating Energy and Performing the Technique, and the subtlety of Windless Sword Art added, the Three Talents Sword Art was truly terrifying. Before Dong Bong-su even moved a few times, the heads of more than ten water bandits were sent flying.
Spray. Thud. Roll-roll-roll.
Blood gushed from necks, bodies collapsed, and heads rolled across the deck in sequence.
At the same time, a ringing sound echoed in Dong Bong-su's mind.
[1st class change quest: Wanderer]
Tester-exclusive class.
Quest completion condition: Achieve 100 kills of enemies Lv. 10 or higher.
Current quest progress (completed/required): 1 / 100
It seemed that among the water bandits he had just killed, there was one who was level 10 or higher.
One percent.
That sound was the bell announcing the start of the class change quest.
And also,
The sound announcing the beginning of the hunt.
Shing. Splash.
Dong Bong-su swung the novice's sword downward, shaking off the blood. His eyes had already sunk into perfect indifference.
He calmly looked around once more.
"...…."
All eyes—those of the water bandits on board and the remaining celebratory guests—were fixed on him.
But Dong Bong-su was not looking at them. He was checking where the next wave of water bandits would be coming from.
Looking far away, he saw the fast boats that had hesitated to approach because of the experts slowly drawing closer. They must have judged that there was no longer a need to deploy ferry boats little by little to harass the celebratory guests.
'I need to finish this before they arrive.'
Dong Bong-su's gaze returned to the water bandits on deck.
Only a few were still fighting the remaining celebratory guests, while most were surrounding Dong Bong-su at the center. They had realized that he was the strongest person left on this ship.
Watching that, Dong Bong-su let out a single indifferent smile—and began to dance.
Flash.
"Gaaah!"
Slash.
"Kuh!"
There was no need to worry about Tang Wu or anyone else's reactions now. His sword was truly ruthless. Without a single wasted motion, each swing mercilessly cut or pierced the vital points or necks of the water bandits.
On top of that, his unconventional techniques enabled by Inventory Divine Art were highly effective. The water bandits were already weaker than Dong Bong-su, and when swords suddenly appeared in his left hand, right hand, or even from his mouth, they had no way to endure it.
Before long, the heads of all the water bandits who had boarded the ship in the first wave were severed and rolling across the deck.
"Th-thank you."
To the other celebratory guests who had managed to survive thanks to his actions, he looked like a savior. The skilled experts had already abandoned the ship for their own safety, yet this lone expert remained and fought—how could they not be grateful?
A few celebratory guests approached him to offer their thanks.
"Elder Tang completely..."
They thought Dong Bong-su was a warrior of the Tang Sect. After all, he had been standing beside Tang Wu the entire time before Tang Wu left. When Tang Wu abandoned the ship, they had fallen into despair, but now they believed it was fortunate that he had left behind such an expert.
But.
Dong Bong-su already had nothing to do with the Tang Sect.
The name Tang Sam was erased from his mind the moment Tang Wu left this place.
The novice's sword in his hand moved once more, slowly and silently.
Slick. Thud. Roll.
"...…."
Another headless corpse was created. The celebratory guest who had been thanking Dong Bong-su crossed the river of death in the exact posture he had been speaking in. His head lay on the floor, and the mouth attached to it was still moving its tongue, as if trying to finish its sentence.
"Why...?"
After a brief silence following Dong Bong-su's sudden action, the celebratory guest standing directly behind the dead man instinctively asked him the reason.
And then.
Slash.
His neck fell just the same.
"U-uaaah!"
Only then did the people realize that Dong Bong-su had not been killing the water bandits for their sake. Terrified, they scattered in all directions.
Dong Bong-su did not bother chasing them immediately. The space on the ship was limited anyway, and the only place they could flee was Chaohu.
He calmly looked at the Yangtze pleasure boats approaching from this direction.
'About a hundred meters.'
That was enough.
Considering the enemies' slowly advancing ships, it would take them about twenty to thirty seconds to reach this place. At that distance, even if they could not perfectly identify his face, they could at least clearly see the scene of him fighting the celebratory guests.
After confirming that, Dong Bong-su chased down the more agile celebratory guests and swung his sword. Unfortunately, most were below level 10, so they were of little help for the class change quest.
Even so, Dong Bong-su did not stop moving. Those struck by his attacks, like the water bandits, could not endure for long against his Windless Sword Art combined with Inventory Divine Art, and all lost their lives.
Those not attacked fled in terror to the corners of the ship, then jumped into the water. But they, too, would not last long. The lake water at night was nearly as cold as seawater.
Splash!
Left alone, Dong Bong-su flicked the blood off his sword in the same motion as before.
Then he quietly stepped into the cabin.
The cabin was already empty, filled only with silence. The faint moonlight entering through the cabin window was the only thing greeting him.
Then!
The clothes he was wearing had changed without him noticing.
In the moonlight, five clearly embroidered characters stood out on his chest.
They read, "Yangtze Waterway Fortresses."
To break free from a situation of being besieged on all sides, the method he chose was to wear Han clothes and sing Chu songs.
And to make that deception even more certain, Dong Bong-su slashed his own face with his sword. Soon, dozens of sword scars covered his face, and Dong Bong-su lost his original appearance. It burned and stung terribly, but there was no more reliable method than this. Among the water bandits approaching this ship, there might be someone who recognized the faces of the bandits who had arrived earlier.
This was to prevent that.
It was night anyway, so no one would be able to clearly recognize him. And they had already witnessed the scene of him fighting the celebratory guests. Whoever he was, they would be certain that the final survivor on this ship was a water bandit.
Lastly, he took out the name plaque of the water bandit whose body type was most similar to his among those he had killed earlier and checked the name.
Engraved clearly on it was the name Kang Dal-hee.
The moment Dong Bong-su engraved those three characters into his mind,
He became Kang Dal-hee.
Tap, tap.
Not long after shaking off the blood, it gathered again on the blade. Blood flowing down his face ran along his arm, pooled at the tip of the sword, and dripped to the floor.
Dong Bong-su caught a glimpse of his own face reflected in the blood pooling on the floor. Because of the sword wounds, his original face was completely unrecognizable.
"Good enough."
He said so quietly, then exited the cabin.
Tap. Thud.
Whether it was perfectly timed, or whether Dong Bong-su had matched the timing precisely after seeing the Yangtze pleasure boats approach, the water bandits' fast boat finally reached the ship Dong Bong-su was on.
"Hey, you. Are you okay?"
That was the first thing one of them said to Dong Bong-su. His entire body was drenched in blood, and his face was completely ruined.
Dong Bong-su raised his hand and wiped the blood flowing down his face again. As the blood spread further, his face became even more of a mess.
He casually wiped away the blood covering his eyes once more and quickly swept his gaze across the deck.
There were conspicuously many naked corpses, but no one paid them any attention. Among them would be the real Kang Dal-hee, but no one would ever know that he was dead.
"Uaaah!"
Boom, kaboom!
Clang, clang-clang!
Even now, the final screams of "Chu" continued to echo endlessly around them.
Kang Dal-hee—no, Dong Bong-su—slowly wiped the blood-stained sword on his clothes, met the gaze of the water bandit still staring at him, and said this.
"I'm fine."
And just like that, Dong Bong-su succeeded in surviving once again.
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