The next morning, Baek Mu-Seon and Hanjo made their way to the area Gyeom told them about. As they approached the abandoned building the Namgung elites filed out. They all stood in formation. Kwan and Gyeom stepped out with Blue, Ilho, and Jinhu right behind.
Baek nodded toward the Sword Saint. Gyeom nodded back, then Kwan stood in front of the formation and spoke.
"I have hunted monsters with all you for a decade. I have watched you risk your lives for one another without question, or fear. Today will be no different. Kwan paced back and forth with his arms folded behind him.
"Medics, remember your priority are the wounded, not the fallen. Understood?
A few men yelled. "Yes sir."
"Good, today we take the fight to the monsters. Too long have we relied on Namgung Hyeon and the Alliance to clear these monsters from our lands. Today Namgung will send these beasts back to whatever hell they crawled out from." Kwan unsheathed his sword and raised it in the air. "Today Namgung rises to meet the darkness. For Murim!"
The elites roared in unison. "For Murim!"
Baek approached Gyeom as Kwan inspected the lines. "A fine warrior he has become."
"Yes." Gyeom exhaled. "It's a shame this will be his final raid as Namgung. It is time he rejoined his family."
Hanjo snuck up behind the two elders, his prayer beads clanking, palms pressed together. "Amitabha. Buddha has seen fit to bring another Tang to Silent Edge."
The formation marched at Kwan's command. "Your brother is kind of badass." Ilho chuckled as he elbowed Blue.
"Yeah, we should get him to join us too." Jinhu watched as Kwan led the march.
"It would be nice, but he won't. Not yet. He said he's spent so much time with those guys." Blue pointed to the elites. "They are like his brothers. I know that feeling too." He looked between Jinhu and Ilho.
"Amitabha, our leader thinks about more than how to get in trouble constantly."
Jinhu looked back. "About time you damned monk. You come to steal my thunder huh?"
The boys laughed. Ilho looked at Blue. "Don't get too soft on us now. If you do leave though, just know we are coming with you." Ilho smiled.
"Uh huh." Jinhu muttered.
"Amitabha." Hanjo chimed in.
As evening struck the men all finally saw it in the distance. A red portal, crackling with energy. Hovering just above the ground. The area around it was dead. No grass, the ground was cracked and dry.
Kwan looked back at Blue. "You ready Mr. system?"
Blue nodded, and Kwan gave the signal. In an instant Murim was gone, what appeared before them was a wasteland. Suffocating heat and a sky that glowed blood red. Lava poured from peaks, rivers of flame twisted through the scorched terrain. The air was heavy, thick, and made it hard to breathe properly.
Above, bats the size of horses shrieked, red winged with razor sharp claws. Lesser demonkin crawled along the cliff walls, their skin etched with black glyphs, markings seared into their flesh like brands. They moved in packs, sabers in hand. Their screams echoed between the mountains and into the plains.
"This place..." Ilho muttered, eyes wide. "It's like we walked into a nightmare."
"No, this is hell." Gyeom unsheathed his sword. "EVERYONE BE ON GUARD, STAY IN FORMATION!" He ordered his men.
The first wave had come fast...dozens of red-skinned demons pouring from the rocks. Blue, Ilho, Jinhu, Kwan, Hanjo, and Gyeom’s elite battled in a brutal rhythm, their coordination the only thing keeping them alive. They fought like this for an entire day. With each battle, the system pinged.
[Corruption Level: 90%]
[Corruption Level: 84%]
[Corruption Level: 77%]
They pushed deeper, but the terrain shifted as they did. The heat grew unbearable. The skies turned darker. At the base of a smoking ridge, they encountered him, a boss.
The demon emerged from the shadows, seven feet of obsidian muscle wrapped in armor. His curved horns scraped the roof of the cavern as he stepped forward, saber dragging molten sparks along the stone floor.
His voice rumbled. "You've wandered too far, tiny men."
Blue stepped forward. "Care to give us directions then?"
Jinhu and Ilho flanked him, weapons raised.
From the rear, Baek and Gyeom observed silently. The monk folded his arms. "They should be enough."
"If not, we will step in." Gyeom grinned.
The demon lunged. Ilho moved first, blade flashing toward the demon’s knee, but the monster barely reacted. The attack bounced off his leg with a metallic clang, sending Ilho staggering backward.
Jinhu leapt in from above, aiming for the shoulder joint, but the demon twisted mid-swing and caught his arm with one hand, slamming him into the ground with the other. The stone cracked beneath the impact.
Blue stepped in, sliding beneath the demon’s swing with Flowing Steel. His movement was so fluid, the enemy barely tracked it. In a single breath, his form shifted. Edge of Dusk. A razor arc carved across the demon’s midsection. This time, the blade cut deep...armor cracked, and scorched flesh hissed.
The demon roared in pain and fury, but Blue was already gone, sliding behind Ilho. Kwan stepped forward.
Kwan didn't charge, he vanished as he leaped into the air. He dropped like lightning, blade-first. A perfect vertical strike ripped through the demon’s shoulder to hip.
The demon reeled, but he was still standing. Blood gushed from its side, but he kept swinging wild and wide. Ilho dove in again, blade flashing toward the achilles... this time connecting. Jinhu slammed a gauntleted fist into the demon’s face, knocking his head sideways.
Kwan took the opening, he dashed forward, stepped onto the demon's chest. "Looks like you've come too far, ugly bastard." He plunged his sword into the demon's throat.
The beast gurgled on his own blood.
"You're strong, but not strong enough." The demon laughed as blood spewed from its mouth. "My brothers will finish what i could not. And you will all die... screaming." The demon went limp under Kwan's boot.
Blue remembered the first dungeon, 3 massive orcs. They come in threes he thought to himself. He looked to Gyeom and Baek. "We need to kill the other 2 dungeon masters, my system still cant locate the anchor, it is the only chance we have to close this gate."
Ilho sat down hard, panting. Jinhu didn’t even try to hide the defeat on his face.
“We barely scratched him.”
“You and Blue did all the work…”
Blue sheathed his sword and walked toward them, kneeling beside Jinhu.
“Bullshit.” Both looked up. “You held your ground,” Blue said. “You got back up. That’s what matters.”
Kwan stepped down from the demon’s chest and nodded. “None of us win alone. If Ilho hadn’t landed that leg strike, I wouldn’t have had an opening.”
Blue looked between them. “You’ve both grown. You’re not where you want to be yet, but you’re not where you started either.”
Hanjo joined them, still calm. “The battlefield remembers perseverance more than glory. You fought well.”
Ilho wiped blood from his cheek. “...Guess we’re not hopeless.”
“Not even close,” Blue said, smiling faintly.
Gyeom clapped. "We will set up camp here for now. Roaming patrols, three at a time. We will move forward after everyone has rested."
The next morning came. Deeper into the gate they marched, the flames grew quieter. The landscape shifted...cooler, darker, but no less hostile. The silence was eerie, unnatural.
On the edge of a cliff overlooking the men marching forward, twin demons stood. One lean and whip-like, the other a towering behemoth of muscle. Their armor bore runes of binding and war, and their blades, one jagged, the other curved like a crescent moon.
“Humans,” the thin one hissed. “I told you they’d come.”
“Too soon,” the brute growled. “But no matter. We end it now.”