Chapter 84 - Divine Beast

As though reading Mamorota's mind, Kaiji had already begun to snort. Mamorota stroked the wolf's neck.

Its fur stood on end as before—no, even more rigidly than before. At the end of Kaiji's gaze stood the blood-drenched madman. Kaiji was unmistakably looking at Dong Bongsu!

Only then did Mamorota realize that the object of Kaiji's hostility below the walls earlier had not been the black monster, but Dong Bongsu.

'Was that it...? '

It had been. Yes. So that was it.

Doubt became certainty in an instant.

An intense fighting spirit radiated from Mamorota. Sensing his yearning, Kaiji lunged toward Dong Bongsu like a thunderbolt.

Dong Bongsu had already noticed Mamorota and Kaiji watching him.

'Come on, then.'

In fact, he had been waiting. To him, Mamorota was the biggest lump of experience on this battlefield.

HUMMM.

A hazy shimmer rose over the Vagabond Sword. It was the Skill [Sword Qi]. Not stopping there, he also activated [Qi Circulation], the Skill he had been saving.

CLANG!

The Vagabond Sword collided with Mamorota's iron mace with a violent crash. The impact was so powerful that a circular wave of qi blasted every nearby Gray Wolf Corps warrior several zhang away and knocked the last trebuchet behind Dong Bongsu slightly askew.

One clash was enough to convince Dong Bongsu. Mamorota was a master a cut above Paitan, the Northern Ghost Corps commander he had crossed swords with a few days earlier.

SCREECH.

Sword and iron mace scraped against each other, the grating friction assaulting both men's ears. Mamorota opened his mouth, revealing his yellow teeth.

"Mamorota. Name?"

His Chinese was awkward and stripped to the bare essentials, but it conveyed his meaning well enough.

"Ear Ghost."

It was not his name, but the choice of words was equally adequate.

Dong Bongsu asked the same question Mamorota had, only with his eyes directed downward.

"Kaiji."

Mamorota immediately understood and answered.

"Kaiji..."

Dong Bongsu repeated Mamorota's answer.

Normally, he would never have said anything so seemingly pointless. If he opened his mouth to say something, that alone meant it had significance.

He had deliberately repeated the name Kaiji because the system's "peculiar error" had finally taken concrete form.

After displaying nothing but [Error! Error...!] for some time, the system was now showing different messages.

[Divine Beast ???

has been discovered.]

[The Divine Beast Quest has been activated.]

Perhaps it was because he was facing the creature up close?

The system had recognized Kaiji, the wolf Mamorota rode, as a [Divine Beast].

An unusual Quest acquired under unusual circumstances.

The Quest window flashed as though clamoring to be opened, and Dong Bongsu glanced toward it for the briefest moment.

"Hyaaah!"

Suddenly, Mamorota's iron mace began spinning like a top. Rather than using staff qi, he emitted waves of qi from his hand to impart rotation to the weapon—a technique called the Mighty Overlord Spin.

GRRRR!

The powerful, spiraling wind pressure generated by the iron mace sent Dong Bongsu hurtling backward.

Mamorota seized that opening!

THUD! CRACK!

He snapped the throwing arm of the last remaining trebuchet Dong Bongsu had been protecting.

Dong Bongsu had no chance to stop him. He had never seen or even imagined a technique that spun a weapon like that. Of course, his greatest mistake had been looking away, however briefly, while his weapon was locked against a powerful enemy's.

'Interesting. Just as I thought.'

When would he ever see the end of it? This was a world of inexhaustible beasts, on the fringes of the Central Plains. What far more interesting monsters might inhabit the Central Plains at its heart?

Despite the destruction of the last trebuchet's throwing arm, Dong Bongsu raised one corner of his mouth in a faint smile. Then he put the flashing Quest window out of his mind.

Kaiji was the Divine Beast. Not Mamorota.

There would be time enough to consider the Divine Beast Quest after dealing with Mamorota. Besides, right now he had to save the one remaining trebuchet.

He readjusted his grip on the Vagabond Sword with practiced ease. Holding a sword now felt far more natural than picking up a spoon or chopsticks. As though that were only to be expected.

WHOOOSH!

Mamorota set his iron mace spinning on its axis again and swung it at the final trebuchet. This time he aimed for the upright support holding the whole machine together. Once that was crushed, the trebuchet would effectively cease to function.

TAP-TAP-TAP!

Using [Qinggong Lv.8], Dong Bongsu shot toward Mamorota as fast as a bullet.

Mamorota's already prominent eyes widened further. Dong Bongsu was closing on him far faster than he had expected. Such speed, without any preparatory movement! It was beyond anything Mamorota could understand or imagine.

He hastily released the iron mace as it swung toward the support. It was already too late to withdraw the move. Still carrying its forward momentum and spin, the mace flew straight at the support, but the trade-off was that Mamorota could not retreat fully in time.

At that desperate, life-or-death instant!

Mamorota's body slid backward, evading Dong Bongsu's sword.

"Huff, huff..."

Kaiji, moving as one with Mamorota, had stepped back at the critical moment. Otherwise, Dong Bongsu's sword would have struck him squarely.

'That was a close one. But now all the counterweight trebuchets are destroy—!'

His life had been in danger, but he had gained something. Or rather, he had been certain he would.

But!

The rapidly spinning iron mace was flying somewhere completely different. By rights, it should have broken the upright support clean in two by now...!

THWACK!

"Aaaagh!"

The mace sliced through empty air instead, reducing the five or six Gray Wolf Corps warriors in its path to pulp.

"It... it vanished!?"

Indeed, just as Mamorota said, the trebuchet had evaporated an instant before it would have been smashed to pieces. In its place stood an impassive Dong Bongsu.

Looking at Mamorota, he spoke quietly.

"So Skills alone do have their limits?"

Skills? Mamorota had no idea what he meant. But one thing was certain: just before his iron mace could crush the counterweight trebuchet's upright support, Dong Bongsu had grabbed it with his hand.

And then...

It had vanished. The whole thing.

"I'd rather not use the Inventory Divine Art with so many people around."

Inventory Divine Art? Mamorota still had no idea what Dong Bongsu was talking about.

But Dong Bongsu had never been under any obligation to explain such things to him.

And now Dong Bongsu's turn began.

The Vagabond Sword thrust straight forward along the trajectory of [Direct Strike Yellow Dragon].

Mamorota could not block a sword bare-handed. He swiftly drew the broad-bladed, bow-curved saber at his waist and swept it diagonally from right to left, like sweeping with a broom.

The Vagabond Sword and the curved saber met violently at an angle like two strokes forming a peaked roof. Though Mamorota had drawn in haste, saber qi shrouded his blade, allowing him, with difficulty, to block Dong Bongsu's atta—!

PFFT.

A faint sound. Mamorota instinctively jerked his head aside. At that instant, a long, shallow cut appeared on his neck. Without the qi sense honed through long years of war, he would likely have died helplessly.

As their blades met and the distance between them narrowed, Dong Bongsu had shot a fragment of iron from his mouth.

It was a tactic truly possible for Dong Bongsu alone.

Nevertheless, Mamorota had thwarted his ploy.

Now the advantage lay with Mamorota. At close quarters...

Mamorota and Kaiji were two, while Dong Bongsu was alone. Moreover, Dong Bongsu had already wasted a movement on his carefully prepared surprise attack, and his outstretched sword remained twisted aside by the saber.

"Graaah!"

As expected, Kaiji reacted at once. It would never let a hunk of meat that had come right up to it escape.

Opening its enormous jaws wide, Kaiji lunged for Dong Bongsu's thigh. Then it snapped them shut.

CRUNCH!

The sound of Kaiji's honed, razor-sharp teeth sinking into Dong Bongsu's thigh was satisfy—!

Was it...?

Something had certainly sunk in.

But it was not Kaiji's teeth. Nor was Dong Bongsu the victim.

"Graaack!"

Kaiji howled and hastily backed away.

PATTER-PATTER.

Blood gushing from its palate and tongue eerily soaked the ground.

The attacker had been injured instead.

'Why?'

Once again, Mamorota could not understand the reason. All he could see was Kaiji suffering with two blade fragments embedded in its mouth. Without much hesitation, he pulled the two sword fragments from the roof and floor of its mouth.

"Graaah!"

Pulling them out hurt far more than having them driven in. Mamorota knew that well, but he had no time to hesitate. He knew Dong Bongsu would be right on their heels.

Sure enough, Dong Bongsu closed in again without missing the opening.

This time, it was [Sweep Away a Thousand Armies].

Despite its pain, Kaiji raised a forepaw and swept at Dong Bongsu's lower body, while Mamorota held his saber vertically to block the sword move.

In the north, this style of fighting, like their previous attack, was known as the Man-Wolf Killing Method.

When the wolf blocked, the rider attacked; when the rider defended, the wolf pounced on the opponent. Depending on the situation, both could attack or both could concentrate on defense. So long as they moved in concert, they could fight in far more varied ways than either could alone. Their power did not merely double—their offensive and defensive capabilities improved tremendously.

Even now, unless Dong Bongsu withdrew his sword and retreated, he would accomplish nothing and only suffer a blow himself.

Mamorota had blocked his sword, and now he had no way to stop Kaiji's claws—!

No. No.

Mamorota still did not know Dong Bongsu very well.

CLANG!

Having blocked Dong Bongsu's attack, Mamorota was flung from the saddle.

The Skill [Consecutive Strike] had activated.

And with that, the unity of man and wolf was broken.