Chapter 54 - Besieged on All Sides

Their ramming attacks began again, rocking the flotilla's entire formation. But the remaining vessels were comparatively larger and sturdier than those destroyed earlier, and did not sink so easily under the impacts.

"Aaaaargh!"

"Kill every last one! Leave none alive!"

Someone's shout and a scream signaled the start of hand-to-hand combat. Deciding they had nothing left to lose, the wedding guests aboard the rear vessels climbed onto the swift ships that had rammed them. The pirates likewise boarded the Namgung Clan's sailing ships, plunging them into a chaotic melee.

There were some fairly skilled martial artists among the guests, and once the close-quarters fighting began, they easily drove back the pirates of the Yangtze Waterway Strongholds. The problem, however, was numbers. Enemy ships kept pouring in without end, while their own numbers steadily dwindled. At this rate, they would be wiped out before they even reached shore.

"Damn it... They've played us completely..."

Tang Wu let out a low groan as he watched the fierce fighting. He now understood all too clearly that they had been dancing in the enemy's palm from the very beginning. Not just Namgung Byeok and the Namgung Clan—even he had been stumbling about within the confines of their meticulous plan.

His only remaining hope was for that man to appear. He did not know whether the man was friend or foe, but he certainly did not belong to the Heavenly Demon Castle or the Yangtze Waterway Strongholds. The enemy of his enemy could, for now, be called a friend.

'If only he would appear, the two of us might be able to do something...'

Though events were unfolding with desperate speed, he decided to wait a little longer.

WHOOOOSH!

Another rain of arrows cut across the night sky and blanketed the flotilla. But with Tang Wu and the other experts concentrated there, the pirates' archery accomplished little.

Even so, their situation did not improve in the slightest. The boats had barely managed to turn toward land, and their progress was absurdly slow.

The shore lay roughly fifty zhang away. The enemy was right on top of them. Close-quarters fighting had already broken out at the rear, and enemy ships were gradually taking control of their flanks as well.

Knowing that there were quite a few experts on this side, the enemy deliberately left the encirclement incomplete, herding their boats toward the bank. Only the rear was engaged in hand-to-hand combat. By fighting there, they were sowing panic throughout the other boats.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the pirates had taken complete control of three sides. If they reached the bank now and the demonic troops blocked the remaining side, the encirclement would be complete. No one was rowing anymore, but momentum still carried the boats toward shore.

"Aaargh!"

CLANG! CLANG! SPLASH!

The clash of swords, sabers, and spears mingled with dying screams and the splashes of Namgung Clan servants jumping into the water, adding to the confusion.

For now, far more pirates than guests were dying, but the guests' numbers were dwindling too. It was obvious that if this continued much longer, they would suddenly be overwhelmed.

Tang Wu had waited all this time for that man to appear, but he could no longer stand idle. Nor could he leave Tang Hwa and Namgung Hye aboard this boat to fight the pirates at the rear.

It was time to make a decision.

If they stayed, they would either be captured and killed by the pirates or go down with the boat. Had he been alone, it would not have mattered. But beside him stood his granddaughter Tang Hwa and Namgung Hye, the granddaughter of his late sworn elder brother.

He clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood, then suddenly lunged at Namgung Hye and struck a pressure point to knock her unconscious. He tucked her under his left arm.

"Grandfather, why...!?"

Tang Hwa's mouth fell open in surprise. She had no idea what he was thinking.

Dong Bongsu, on the other hand, knew what Tang Wu intended. And he realized that the moment had finally come.

Tang Wu's impassive gaze met Dong Bongsu's cold eyes.

"I'm sorry. I have no choice now."

Tang Wu spoke to Dong Bongsu, who nodded without a trace of concern, as though it had nothing to do with him.

"It's all right. I think I'll feel more at ease that way, too. Please, go."

Even now, Tang Wu thought what a waste it was. Such a talented young man, able to read his intentions from his eyes alone, without a word. No, perhaps he had already predicted this from the way things were unfolding...

But as he had just said, he had no choice now.

He could not let Tang Hwa or Namgung Hye die. He hardly needed a set of scales to know which weighed more: the regret of wasting a talent, or the agony of a heart torn apart.

Only after hearing Dong Bongsu's words did Tang Hwa realize what her grandfather intended. Before the encirclement closed on all four sides, he meant to leave the boat with only her and Namgung Hye.

Her eyes suddenly met Dong Bongsu's. He was smiling—a relaxed smile that seemed to bid her farewell and urge her to hurry.

For the briefest instant, guilt flickered in her eyes. After all, Dong Bongsu had saved her life earlier. But it lasted no more than an instant.

The shore was a full fifty-odd zhang away. Even Tang Wu could not carry three people across in a single leap. No, he could never cross that distance in one leap even alone. To cross it with three people in tow? That would be difficult. And even if he could, what would happen once they reached land? Namgung Hye and Dong Bongsu, wearing Sosam's guise, knew no martial arts. Tang Hwa thought it absurd to expect him to break through the Heavenly Demon Castle's encirclement with those two in tow.

Her eyes quickly returned to normal. They held such a cold chill that one would never have guessed guilt had flickered there.

"Grandfather, hurry. There are people swimming over there."

As she said, quite a few people were swimming toward shore. They were mostly Namgung Clan servants and their families, with virtually no knowledge of martial arts. They had jumped into the water as soon as the fighting began. Though torches crowded the shore, even they felt that land was safer than the boats. Some of the strongest swimmers had already covered more than thirty zhang. Others, who had jumped in without even knowing how to swim, were already corpses floating on the surface.

Tang Hwa pointed at them, then launched herself into the air.

THWIP! TAP!

Tang Wu had intended to carry Tang Hwa under his other arm. Startled when she suddenly leaped out over Soho Lake, he immediately followed. But she was flying toward shore without any difficulty.

It was merely other people who lost their lives because of her.

She stepped on the backs and heads of people swimming desperately, leaping ever closer to land. With each leap, another person struggling to survive was crippled or killed, their head bursting apart. Those whose heads burst immediately were fortunate, at least: they died without even realizing it. Those whose shoulders or backs were crushed thrashed in the water and died slowly, never knowing why they were dying.

After crushing the head of the foremost swimmer as her final foothold, Tang Hwa plunged into the water. She was roughly five or six zhang from shore. There were no more human stepping-stones, and she knew that reaching land alone would only get her killed under the Heavenly Demon Castle fighters' concentrated attacks.

While she remained submerged, Tang Wu used the movement technique Treading Duckweed, Crossing Water, flying over her head and landing on the bank. He attacked the Heavenly Demon Castle fighters with one hand. Though he could not use both, he remained a peerless master.

Some fairly skilled martial artists were waiting there, but they were no match for him. A few moves killed the experts, and with them gone, the rest fell like bundles of straw.

While Tang Wu cleared a path, Tang Hwa swam ashore. She turned to glance once toward Dong Bongsu, now barely visible, then followed her grandfather into the thickets along the lake.

Immediately after Tang Wu and Tang Hwa left the boat in this fashion, experts began abandoning the vessels in droves. All flew toward the stretch of bank Tang Wu had passed through. His sweep had left a substantial gap in the Heavenly Demon Castle's forces there.

THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!

Each time another expert left a boat, people floating in the water became corpses. Most could not perform Treading Duckweed, Crossing Water, so they pushed off human footholds with all their strength, covering four or five zhang at a time. As though they had forgotten all about being orthodox or anything else, the wedding guests indiscriminately trampled the Namgung Clan's servants on their way to shore. Soon, having landed safely, they began grappling with the Heavenly Demon Castle fighters.

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

The fighting was fierce, and naturally, blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Of course, corpses littered the water as well. The end of those who had merely struggled to survive was, as it had always been in the Namgung Clan...

Nothing special.

Dong Bongsu watched it all calmly. Then he casually opened his mouth and let fall a single remark.

"How very human."

It was a cold remark, but to him, such things were human.

The true face people revealed when driven to the brink. Was that not what being human really meant?

The experts were abandoning ship at an ever-faster rate. In response, dozens of small pilot boats poured out of the Yangtze Current Ships that had merely been holding the flanks at a distance. These were what people commonly called skiffs, and their small size gave them unmatched speed. Moreover, the pirates' rowing skills (?