I had Hongbi on my head and was wrapped by Yeondu as we sped northwest.

Just before reaching Dai Viet’s coastline, glittering lights on the far northern shore caught my eye.

“Lights?”

That was about where we had met the Three Sovereigns last time.

If they had already finished up and left, lights like that shouldn’t be visible; it sparkled as if the city were full of people.

No lights were visible anywhere around here or to the south.

The moment I saw that, the First Army came to mind.

The First Army they said we had lost contact with.

While I was sunk in the mental landscape they would certainly have pressed much farther south, but if they had retreated, come back north, and were at that position again?

And if, for some reason, their feet were tied?

It was possible.

There was no way lights would be visible in a city already cleared and left behind.

Even if they were the lights of those we had liberated, that many lights was strange.

Also, the Blood Cult bastards might have pushed back up from the south and occupied it again, but it wasn’t a location that particularly helped in striking the Central Plains.

Just in case, I decided to swing by.

If the First Army was there, I had to save them somehow.

Right now our forces were inferior.

It was right to save as many living people as possible.

I told Yeondu to head toward the glittering lights, and through the mental landscape I asked Cho, who would be following behind, to fly toward the city as well.

“Yeondu, let’s go that way!”

—Shaa. 『Understood, So-ryong-nim.』

『"Cho, Dad’s here near the coast, you’ll see lights—will you fly that way?"

—Tsurur. (I think I know where. Dad. I can feel the direction.)

"You can feel the direction?"

—Tsrut. (Yes.)』

Could it be because I had opened the Five Gates?

Cho said she could feel my direction.

It was curious, but I decided to figure it out later; as we quickly flew over the side where the lights glittered, what we saw was countless tents surrounding the city.

And crowds surrounding the city.

They were soldiers in blood-red uniforms.

‘Blood Cult bastards.’

At a glance they were clearly Blood Cult bastards.

I wondered if the city had been occupied again, but then realized they were encircling the outside, not inside the city.

When I looked within, I saw the sight of exhausted soldiers in the ruined, burned-out city.

It was the First Army.

They were not currently under attack, but it was clearly a siege.

Figures hiding wedged among broken buildings and stone works here and there in the city.

Some were on watch, some were laying down the weary like corpses and sleeping.

And there, sitting cross-legged and circulating their qi, I saw the three of the Five Evils.

They must have fought a grueling battle; Wheel Lady Heo Muha’s wheel was stained with blood and had turned completely red, and her clothes were the same.

Staff King Gam Muncheong had one eye bandaged with cloth.

The axe lying beside Axe Lady Seop Biyu had its blade chipped here and there.

It looked like a very hard fight.

Their vitality seemed greatly spent; ordinarily, once I arrived overhead they would have noticed, but they hadn’t sensed me at all.

When I slowly descended and came to a stop ten-odd meters above, Wheel Lady Heo Muha finally opened her eyes and sprang to her feet.

“Young Brother!”

“Wheel Lady, Elder! What is going on here?”

Only then did the other two open their eyes.

“How have you come back here?”

“The purpose you went for... it seems you did not accomplish it?”

They were glad to see me, then, seeing my appearance, perhaps realized I had ultimately failed to achieve my aim, and looked slightly disappointed.

To deal with the Blood Demon I had to reach the Life-and-Death Stage, and I had not.

Hey, Seniors, the one most bummed right now is me, you know?

I grumbled inwardly but spoke with a calm face.

“Yes, I could not find the last remaining spirit creature.”

“A winged spirit creature—no wonder it was not easy to find.”

“That’s true.”

At Staff King Gam Muncheong’s words, the other two nodded.

When I made a face asking what had happened, Wheel Lady Heo Muha explained.

“On the Alliance Leader’s orders we began retreating, but we discovered enemies massing.

We captured a few and interrogated them; they said the total strength was one hundred fifty thousand.

We thought if we struck them here to cause a commotion, we could delay their invasion of the Central Plains, so we chose to do that, but after cutting down several groups, we were eventually swarmed and ended up like this.”

“The general decided that unless we seized their ankles here, there would be no hope.”

“And the general?”

“He fell in battle.”

“Mm.”

They had received the order to retreat, but after hearing that as many as one hundred fifty thousand were headed for the Central Plains, the general here had made his decision.

Even if everyone died here, they would drag for as much time as possible.

He must have been a very loyal general.

After a silent salute in my heart, I asked,

“Then are those encircling the town their entire force?”

If we had pinned all the enemies here, that would be very nice.

No matter how much those Blood Cult bastards had learned martial arts, the road from here to Yunnan, on foot, took fifteen days.

So in the meantime General Maeng Gyu-seong could arrive.

But the news was not good.

“No. The force besieging here is about fifty thousand.”

“Then the remaining hundred thousand have surged toward Yunnan!?”

Startled at Staff King’s words, I shouted.

Little wonder: the First Army had carried out an operation here to buy time, but it had gone awry, and it seemed the remaining hundred thousand had invaded the Central Plains leaving fifty thousand as rear suppression.

If the originally planned one hundred fifty thousand had invaded, the rough ratio would have been 15:2—about 7.5:1—but now Yunnan’s Third Army had to overcome a 1:10 difference.

It was a ruinous difference either way, but the figures were different, weren’t they?

So I couldn’t help looking shocked, but fortunately hopeful words followed.

“No. The fifty thousand at the very rear are only now coming up, and the ones who went to strike Yunnan are fifty thousand.”

Fortunately, not all one hundred fifty thousand had concentrated yet, and the hopeful news was that only fifty thousand of them had headed for the Central Plains’ border.

In that case, it was worth forming a back-to-the-river formation at the Beast Palace.

After thinking a moment, I asked Senior Staff King,

“How many friendly troops remain now?”

“About five thousand. There are five Blood Cult elders at the Fire Realm; because of those bastards’ blood-drinking, many of our Imperial Guard experts have gone down. Damn it, they don’t get tired.”

“Poison?”

“It already ran out long ago. We cut down two elder-class of the Blood Cult, and that was all.”

If I left here, we would be gnawed to death in attrition by the Blood Cult masters who were strong in protracted war, and everyone would be annihilated.

So I had to help this side somehow.

Isn’t there some method?

I was racking my brains when Senior Wheel Lady Heo Muha spoke with an annoyed look.

“If only the elders weren’t there, none of them are any big deal.”

It might just have been a saying, but since it sounded like if we handled the elders we could manage, I tilted my head and asked,

“‘No big deal,’ you say?”

“The final third form of this lady’s Illusory Wheel Method, frankly, doesn’t suit facing an equal or superior master. It’s an absolute art that scatters innumerable wheels to the surroundings, and they even keep splitting and spreading.

But if a master bats them away, the illusions break or the splitting stops and the power weakens. If there are no masters to bat them away, I can mow down the lesser ones like bundles of straw.”

From the sound of it, she had learned a technique for mowing masses.

It sounded like if we just cut off the head, we could try it.

So that’s how it is?

Thinking it over, it seemed there might be a way.

“I think I can do something about the masters.”

“Young Brother has a way?”

“Yes, and I also have a way to sow confusion among them and reduce their numbers.”

“What way?”

At the elders’ words, I looked up at the sky and said,

“Ah, there she comes.”

Cheong-yu Sojeo was arriving, riding Cho.

***

I entered the mental landscape to do upgrades.

I would do the upgrades I had been putting off.

Because it was before a fight.

Also, cutting off the head was something I could do well, but no matter how confident Wheel Lady was, it was five thousand against fifty thousand, a tenfold difference.

No matter what divine arts she practiced, to overcome this we also needed reinforcements.

I entered the mental landscape and arrived before the bas-relief stone tablet of Cheong-yu Sojeo.

I had already decided what to upgrade.

At Cheong-yu Sojeo’s tablet I placed my hand on her horn.

「Enhance Dominance.」

This was an upgrade that expanded the range within which Cheong-yu Sojeo could unfold the Picture and the range within which she could summon snakes.

Without thinking of anything else, I chose that immediately.

It was the best upgrade for reinforcements.

The Blood Cult bastards were ones who used blood.

Wouldn’t they be rat poison to the blood-toxin types?

Those who were bitten would be excluded from combat strength, so one snake was the same as one warrior.

And for Juhwang I chose to increase the abilities related to earth, and for Yeondu, just in case, I chose flight speed.

It seemed we would have to spend a day or two here, so we would make up for the delay with speed.

Cho was currently faster than Yeondu, but if I was to bring Juhwang and Cheong-yu Sojeo, I couldn’t take Cho with me.

When I finished the upgrades and came out of the mental landscape, I saw Cheong-yu Sojeo’s horn had grown another span.

It even emitted a faint light.

I asked Cheong-yu Sojeo a favor.

“Cheong-yu Sojeo, please summon snakes. As covertly and as many as possible.”

“Understood.”

When Cheong-yu Sojeo closed her eyes, the light pouring from the morning sun and the light emanating from her horn met and created a dreamlike atmosphere.

Dai Viet—Vietnam—was a tropical region.

Soon snakes began to gather from all around, and even from the sea.

***

The Blood Cult elders timed breakfast to the rising dawn sun and intended to punish the Central Plains bastards who had recklessly invaded the Blood Cult’s land.

But disturbances began to break out here and there in the camp.

“Ghhh!”

“What kind of snake!?”

Snakes appeared here and there, and those bitten began to crop up one after another.

What had started as a few poisoned victims quickly rose from a dozen to hundreds.

“What is this!?”

“Could it be that bastard of the Sacheon Tang Clan has shown up!?”

When the elder from the Five Venoms Sect among the Blood Cult elders sensed the anomaly— 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

In the distance came the sound of something exploding.

—Kwarreung!

—Bang!

As something erupted in succession, screams and shouts began to rise from one side of the camp.

“A—a master! Inform the Elders!”

“Block him!”

“Gyaaaah!”

“What on earth is happening!”

“Some master barged in, and we can’t stop him!”

“What!?”

Soon came a warrior’s report: some master had barged into the camp and was slaughtering the warriors without mercy.

Could it be one of the Five Sovereigns?

Was it a final struggle at death’s door?

As they were thinking that, a ringing shout came.

“Sacheon Tang Clan’s So-ryong is here! Come on, then! You mosquito-like /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ bastards!”

“So-ryong!?”

“It is that bastard after all!?”

At the word that the one to be most wary of had charged in alone, the elders’ eyes took on a look of rapture.

If they captured that bastard here, there would be no one to hinder their blood river world-domination.

Hasn’t he always been the problem?

The six elders of the Blood Cult and the thousand-man grand captains under them all decided to strike him.

“Go! We take that bastard here!”

We met him in the central clearing of the camp.

Contrary to expectation, he was a Manifestation Realm master, but when fifty thousand-man captains formed a wheel formation and attacked and the six elders coordinated, his hands began to grow quickly bewildered.

“Khgh.”

Then, when he was struck on the shoulder by a wolf’s-tooth club of one elder and fell back—

Suddenly the ground shook.

—Urrrrung.

Dust rose in choking clouds.

As everyone faltered at the “earthquake,” the guy swiftly rose into the sky riding a snake.

“Damn it!”

“We almost had him!”

“An attack by spirit creatures may come. Extermination Unit, prepare!”

It was a frustrating situation in which the guy had escaped.

On top of that, spirit creatures even showed themselves.

Caution was needed, but the Blood Cult had anticipated attacks by spirit creatures and had formed an Extermination Unit dedicated to facing spirit creatures.

When they had decided to strike him, they had already prepared that Extermination Unit.

So, brimming with confidence that they could face any spirit creature, the Blood Cult elders were wearing self-assured expressions when—

One elder discovered a single large frog at the spot where the guy had risen, where the dust had cleared.

“A frog?”

As everyone tilted their heads at the suddenly appearing frog, the elder from the Five Venoms Sect shouted,

“Be careful! It’s the World-Destroying Golden Toad! Anything within about ten meters vanishes!”

At the words that anything within about ten meters would vanish, everyone had just widened the distance slightly from the creature.

With the frog’s croak, a black energy detonated.

—Kwaaa.

—Puhwaaak!

It wasn’t ten meters—it was over three hundred.