Urban Vagabond: Reload

I was the first to arrive at the rendezvous, and I made contact with No Gucheon, who was controlling the scene.

“...You’re here.”

No Gucheon greeted me with a face full of worry.

He was clearly concerned about the Martial Alliance Leader, who had fallen underground when the ground suddenly gave way.

That was the first thing I asked too.

“Have you heard from the Martial Alliance Leader?”

“We lost contact right after the collapse. Either it goes deeper down there than we thought... or he’s in a situation with no room to spare.”

No Gucheon said it while staring at the Dark Flame that was still shooting upward with ferocious force.

If he’d followed his heart, he would have gone in himself to help Yeo Pilgeuk right away. But if even he left, there would be no one here to stay behind and command the scene.

He turned to me and asked,

“You intend to go in there, don’t you?”

“I’m going in with my master. A few of my crew members too.”

“......”

For a moment, No Gucheon wondered whether he ought to stop what sounded like the reckless plan of a young rising star, but soon he nodded.

I was a pinnacle expert. A martial artist capable of doing my share, and someone who had already solved dangerous missions more than once.

Even if he handed it off to someone else right now, he probably didn’t think there was anyone better than me.

“I’ve locked the surrounding area down thoroughly. At the very least, the press won’t catch wind of this place for a few hours.”

The place where I’d arranged to gather with my crew members.

It was the underground parking garage of the apartment complex where most of the Black Heaven Society executives’ families lived.

Using information obtained through Blood Tiger Gang, we had learned that a long secret passage was hidden here, one that could be used to escape from the Black Heaven Society’s main base.

If you look at it the other way around, that means we can infiltrate from this side to that side.

My original plan had been to finish our individual assignments, gather here with the crew, and then infiltrate the Black Heaven Society through the secret passage.

Then I was going to quietly obtain information related to Red Worm and the Cult... and slip back out.

But the situation had changed, so the plan had changed too.

Top priority was confirming whether the Martial Alliance Leader and the sect leaders of the Eight Great Sects were alive.

Second was stopping the Black Heaven Society’s society leader so the Dark Flame Demonic Art wouldn’t spread.

“I’ve already roughed out the plan on the way here. Once the rest of the crew arrives—”

“Three already have.”

Choi Geon dropped Hwang Suksu and Han Jaechun to the floor like pieces of luggage he’d been carrying under each arm, and the two pale-faced men finally let out the breath they’d been holding.

“I-I flew. I’m telling you, I was flying through the sky just now.”

“If you’re going to say it’s heavy to carry us, don’t just throw us from rooftop to rooftop like that... My heart is still...”

“Tsk, tsk. Martial artists, and your guts are this small.”

The next to arrive were Kim Bokja and Apricot.

“I’m not the latest one, right?”

TA-DA!

Kim Bokja had a scroll case slung over one shoulder like a shoulder bag, something I hadn’t seen before.

Feeling a powerful wave of spellcraft energy from the unfamiliar case, I asked,

“What’s that?”

“Oh, this? My master gave it to me. I explained it was urgent, and he told me to take it for now.”

“Your master? Since when? You didn’t have a master this morning.”

At Hwang Suksu’s dumbfounded question, Kim Bokja lifted her chin slightly.

“You all know Dr. Man, right? One of the only five Grand Spellcasters in Korea. He totally fell for my talent and begged me to let him take me as his disciple.”

“...Dr. Man?”

I listened to Kim Bokja’s story with a startled look.

The person who had sent me back into the past had become Kim Bokja’s spellcraft master in this life. Fate really was a strange thing.

Lastly, Shin Kangheon joined the crew while making his presence known as loudly as possible.

THUD! WHOOOSH......! THUD! WHOOOSH......!

Every place his footsteps landed was left smoldering with lingering embers. It looked as if a fireball were walking toward us.

“No, it’s just that I still can’t control it properly yet. I almost burned up the car while I was driving here.”

Shin Kangheon walked toward us, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, while flames licked all over his body.

“You...”

While I was staring at him in surprise, Choi Geon walked up to him first and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“You brat! Looks like you’ve made a great breakthrough! Congratulations!”

“Hahahaha! It’s nothing much. You know, the sort of awakening that comes to the protagonist in a moment of crisis?”

Choi Geon looked genuinely happy for him, and Shin Kangheon grinned.

Watching that, I couldn’t help smiling too.

Flameblade Shin Kangheon. For a second there, I thought I was looking at that version of him.

Of course, compared to Flameblade Shin Kangheon, he was still far too immature.

But the Shin Kangheon of now felt like he had even greater potential than back then.

It was one of the positive changes I had created in this life.

“What about Shin Junhyun?”

“I saw Martial Alliance people on the way here, so I handed him over. And... just like we thought, he was a fake.”

“...You okay?”

“More or less.”

I looked at Shin Kangheon’s face, which seemed both relieved and not.

The detailed conversation could wait until all the urgent business was over. We could talk all night then.

“I’ll explain the current situation first. For now, the flames are presumed to be the Dark Flame Demonic Art, and underground—where the Martial Alliance Leader and the sect leaders fell—we expect a powerful spell formation to be laid out...”

After telling the crew gathered there what I knew about the Dark Flame Demonic Art, I assigned each of them their roles.

“Sorry, but Hwang Suksu and Han, I need you to stay here on standby. Elder No will tell you what he needs done.”

The two nodded without complaint. They knew their skills weren’t enough to go with us.

“Apricot, you stay here too. If you go in, there’s a chance you’ll be affected by the demonic art. It’s too dangerous.”

The Golden Winged Bird’s flames could be a huge help in a fight, but the energy of the Dark Flame Demonic Art was still too dangerous for Apricot, who was only a baby.

KYYAAAAH....

Apricot looked dejected, but realizing the situation was urgent, it hopped over onto Han Jaechun’s shoulder.

“This operation will only be me, my master, Kim Bokja, and Shin Kangheon going in. If a fight breaks out, the formation will be that my master takes point—”

After the brief explanation ended, the four of us stood in front of the secret passage leading to the Black Heaven Society.

“Wait! Take this too, just in case!”

What Hwang Suksu hurriedly pulled from his coat was the synthetic azure crystal milk he’d pocketed while looting Black Heaven Society branches.

He shoved the azure crystal milk into my pocket and said,

“You said your internal energy will burn away if you go in there, right? No point saving this till it turns to shit, so drink it the second you need it. You three got that too, right?”

The three of us looked at Hwang Suksu’s worry-filled face, the last thing any of us had expected to see, and nodded with a laugh.

No Gucheon also stepped up to Choi Geon and said,

“Go help the Martial Alliance Leader. He’s definitely overdoing it again.”

“Don’t worry.”

Choi Geon wore a confident expression as he looked over his disciple and my crew members.

“The friends here are the most dependable ones out of any special operations team I’ve ever worked with.”

“Then let’s go.”

At my words, the four of us entered the secret passage.

*****

“KHOOUGH......!”

The sect leader of the Supreme Pole Sword Gate staggered backward, coughing up blood.

His long beard, once a point of pride, had been scorched by the flames, and even his deep internal energy—which had once seemed inexhaustible—was now mostly spent.

Having barely held on until now, he finally dropped to one knee.

“That thing... that monster that won’t die no matter how many times you kill it...”

With those words, the sect leader of the Supreme Pole Sword Gate lost consciousness and collapsed.

“Hahahahahahahahahaha!”

The Black Heaven Society’s society leader threw back his head and laughed madly, with holes punched through his chest and neck.

Inside his split-open chest, a heart engraved with forbidden blood arts was still pounding even with a hole through it.

“...He’s already no different from a dead man.”

“Now I finally understand for certain why the Ten Great Demonic Arts are so infamous.”

“This won’t end like this.”

The remaining three were in just as bad a state.

Their stamina had long since been drained by the repeated battle, their internal energy had bottomed out from the Dark Flame, and the extreme poison flowing out of the spell formation could not be endured even with top-grade antidote pills.

By contrast, the Black Heaven Society’s society leader was still radiating the same momentum as before, even though his entire body had been crushed and broken.

“Kahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

He was no longer something that could be called a living human being.

A monster that had lost its reason and did nothing but repeat destruction.

What continued to move the body wrapped in Dark Flame Demonic Art was the horrific spell formation engraved into the underground chamber.

WHUMMMMMM—!

An undying spell formation created by pouring in precious miracle elixirs and spellcraft tools gathered over decades at tremendous expense.

Until every trace of power inside it was exhausted, the Black Heaven Society’s society leader would not stop.

“If only we could have destroyed this damned spell formation...”

“Give it up. We tried several times already. It can’t be done by force.”

At Yeo Pilgeuk’s words, Na Ilcheon slowly shook his head.

If even one true expert in spellcraft had been here, the outcome might have been different.

But regretting it now would do nothing.

“...It isn’t that there’s no way. We don’t all have to die here.”

It was Na Ilcheon who said it first.

No one had voiced it until now, but all of them knew there was one method left.

If we escape this pit even now, we can live.

At the very least, if we just drag that monster outside...

The area affected by the spell formation was limited to this underground pit.

If they went outside, the Black Heaven Society’s society leader would lose the spell formation’s support and self-destruct in less than a few minutes.

But in those few minutes, even the civilians above would be swept up and killed by the Dark Flame.

The Black Heaven Society’s society leader had undoubtedly calculated even that when he dropped them into this place.

“......”

“......”

“......”

Because they knew that, they had not been able to carry it out even while knowing it was an option.

But the moment Na Ilcheon said it aloud, someone had to step up.

“I’ll stay behind and buy time. The two of you go up, evacuate the people, gather the elite, and kill him!”

BANG!

Yeo Pilgeuk planted his foot hard into the ground as he spoke. His eyes were those of a martial artist who had already decided to sacrifice himself.

But Na Ilcheon, stroking the blade of the Namcheon Sword, also shook his head.

“You misunderstood me. I was saying that I would buy time. So the two of you should go.”

The Glacier Priestess of Sun and Moon Gate did not yield either.

“...Sun and Moon Gate will not be humiliated by those who practice demonic arts ever again.”

Over the image of the Black Heaven Society’s society leader, she saw Jang Jinmyeong superimposed there.

Running away had never been an option for her from the beginning.

“What, are we going to settle this with rock-paper-scissors in a situation like this?”

“Heh-heh. That wouldn’t be so bad.”

“At this rate, we should just wake up the sect leader of the Supreme Pole Sword Gate and throw him up there.”

Just as the three, now resolved to die together if necessary, were simultaneously drawing out every last shred of strength they had—

SHHHK!

One wall of the underground chamber split open, and from inside it Choi Geon walked out, wearing a Blue Wolf mask.

[Well now, that’s enough to bring tears to your eyes. Sorry, but let’s postpone the melodrama until later.]

“...You?”

Choi Geon brushed past Yeo Pilgeuk with a SWISH and swung his sword at the Black Heaven Society’s society leader.

SHHHAAAK!

Instead of blood, the Black Heaven Society’s society leader sprayed Dark Flame and let out a savage roar.

“KRAAAAAAAAH!”

Flames lashed from the arm he swung like a whip, and the entire spell formation began glowing a dark crimson.

WHOOOOSH!

The flames filled the entire area with heat intense enough that no one below the level of a master who could coat their whole body in protective qi would have been able to endure it.

But Shin Kangheon stepped into it without hesitation and shouted, wearing a Blue Wolf mask just like Choi Geon.

[Leave this to me!]

The dreadful heat went beyond scorching his skin and began to burn it, but Shin Kangheon paid it no mind and accepted the Dark Flame.

HSSSSSS—

As steam began to rise from his body, the fire energy of the Dark Flame that had been trying to burn him instead began seeping into his skin.

“That child...”

Even with the mask on, the Glacier Priestess recognized who Shin Kangheon was, and her eyes widened.

The young saber fighter she had judged to possess talent greater than Jang Jinmyeong’s, and so had allowed to learn Blazing-Yang Art.

Only a few months had passed.

And yet the martial artist standing there had grown beyond recognition in that short time.

[URAAAAAAAH!]

Shin Kangheon gripped the saber with both hands and raised it high into the air, and the Dark Flame inside the spell formation began winding itself around his blade.

“He’s already... awakened the Blazing-Yang Art.”

Watching Shin Kangheon control the Dark Flame, the Glacier Priestess became certain.

When it came to wielding flame, he was the greatest talent born in Korea in the last several decades.

[I can’t hold this for long! Hurry!]

After Shin Kangheon controlled the Dark Flame and weakened the blaze, it was Kim Bokja’s turn.

She stepped into the spell formation, closed her eyes, and began unleashing spellcraft in earnest.

FRRRA-RA-RA-RAK—!

A scroll shot out of the scroll case and unfurled long behind her back, and all kinds of complex letters and geometric figures began floating over it.

[Whoever made this, it’s not bad... but it still won’t beat a genius recognized by a Grand Spellcaster.]

When Kim Bokja opened the eyes she had closed, blue ghost fire flared up.

“Break—!”

RUMBLE......!

The spell formation engraved into the underground chamber began shaking from end to end.

The lethal poison that had been pouring out stopped, and the power of the spell formation that had been continuously pouring internal energy into the Black Heaven Society’s society leader also began to weaken.

And finally—

[You three, get out through the passage we came in through.]

Kim Muhyuk, wearing a Blue Wolf mask, stepped forward past Yeo Pilgeuk and the sect leaders.

In his hand was a cursed sword giving off an ominous presence every bit as dreadful as the Dark Flame.

[We’ll take it from here.]

The Martial Alliance Leader and the sect leaders of the Eight Great Sects stared blankly at their backs.