The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

It wasn’t just one or two. There were at least dozens, no, it wouldn’t be strange if there were over a hundred.

I don’t know where they all came from, but those targeting us pounced from all directions.

Even the elite warriors of the Blood Flow Thousand Wolves Corps, who were not ordinary martial artists, flinched as if startled by their appearance and lost the initiative.

They moved to counter the swords of those attacking first, but once pushed back, the numerical disadvantage became even more intuitive.

Moreover, there were those with insufficient fighting ability here, like Harang and Joo Hwarin.

Protecting them while already lacking in numbers only led to a weakening of forces.

Although Yoo Doha alone was handling over five people, seeming to balance things out, that was only for a moment.

Because they kept pouring in, even Yoo Doha found it difficult to fill the gaps in the insufficient numbers.

“Kuaaak!”

Therefore, Hyuk Dojin had to move directly. As soon as he moved from beside me, the enemies around fell slashed.

Although they were people who showed strength not pushed back even against the Blood Flow Thousand Wolves Corps members, Hyuk Dojin easily subdued them.

They fell one by one with a thud, and sometimes three or four were cut in half instantly as lines were drawn on their bodies.

No one tried to approach him due to his overwhelming martial prowess. But against such a Hyuk Dojin, the leader-like man who had stepped forward earlier rushed in with his sword drawn.

I thought his rushing at Hyuk Dojin looked reckless, but that was a mistake.

He was a skilled person who was not inferior to Hyuk Dojin’s skills. He chased Hyuk Dojin fiercely at a speed invisible to my eyes.

While the clashing of swords rang out with clanging sounds elsewhere, a violent sound of something bursting erupted between the two.

It was sword energy.

To handle sword energy as smoothly as it required possessing skills several levels higher than mine now.

What I had weakly used when crossing swords with Na Yul, Seo Gwangho’s master from Diancang before, was precisely sword energy.

Even though it wasn’t complete sword energy, it felt like someone was draining my inner energy just from swinging it a few times.

While it’s understandable for Hyuk Dojin as a master of the Transcendent Demonic Realm to use it skillfully, who on earth is that man?

Who is he to wield sword energy and cross swords evenly with Hyuk Dojin?

At the moment anxiety washed over me, I hurriedly turned around at the sound from behind.

One man who hadn’t been blocked was rushing towards Joo Hwarin and Harang.

I hurriedly ran, drew my sword and blocked him, then turned around.

“Run…!”

Even if I wanted to tell them to run, there was nowhere to escape. Enemies were everywhere. It wasn’t safe no matter where we went.

Meanwhile, one of the Blood Flow Thousand Wolves Corps members collapsed with a scream. Another warrior blocked the gap left by him, but it was too big a gap.

Inevitably, Eun Do stepped up to fill that gap again, but it was only a matter of time before it was breached.

There were too many. They weren’t just rabble, but each person was a supreme master. Could there be a group capable of mobilizing so many masters?

Even while continuing to think, gaps widened and enemies poured in through them.

I could handle one or two, but more than that was overwhelming. I stepped back, surprised at the number of warriors that suddenly increased.

The swords swung by five people were attacks that had to be avoided by widening the distance.

But I couldn’t avoid it because there were people I had to protect, so I forcibly stood in the way.

Hyuk Dojin’s voice was heard from behind.

“Sowol!!”

He seemed to be trying to rush to me urgently as he turned his body, but the opponent didn’t miss that gap and thrust.

The opponent who was holding back Hyuk Dojin, who had been leisurely no matter who came until now. Hyuk Dojin, who had been trying to rush over, gave up coming and turned his body to press the opponent more fiercely.

When I rolled my eyes slightly, it seemed the opponent couldn’t defeat Hyuk Dojin, so he just held him back enough to prevent him from intervening in the fight by striking and retreating appropriately.

It was the same elsewhere. As time passed, minor injuries increased and stamina decreased. I too fought hard while gritting my teeth, but because my position was fixed, there was a limit to how I could deal with opponents.

Just as I felt a sweet taste in my mouth, one sword I had missed in my field of vision flew towards Joo Hwarin.

It happened in the moment I thought ‘oh no’. I hurriedly stretched out my arm, but it had already brushed past my side.

Joo Hwarin also closed his eyes tightly and lowered his body. It was too late to avoid. Just as I put strength in my eyes at the horrible sight about to unfold, a large arm moved and caught the flying sword.

“Hmm…”

Surprised at what had suddenly happened, I raised my head to see Daebok frowning as he looked down at the sword.

He was so nonchalant that it was unbelievable he had caught the sword with his bare hand. Blood should have flowed from his hand, but it didn’t. Rather, when he put a little more strength into it, the sword shattered.

“…”

Daebok sprinkled the broken sword fragments on the ground, turned his body and stood beside me, then slowly put his hands together in prayer.

“Amitabha Buddha.”

“Ami…?”

He nodded his head with a bright smile at my voice. He lowered his arms and spoke slowly.

“I was going to introduce myself again later after observing the situation, but I can’t just watch.”

As I stared blankly, wondering what he was saying, he spoke slowly.

“I am Ji Seok of Shaolin. I’m sorry for deceiving you.”

“Shaolin…”

“I snuck in secretly because I had something I wanted to ask you all, but to think this would happen…”

He looked around briefly, then slightly lowered his eyes.

“This too must be Buddha’s will.”

“Who the hell are you? Seeing your grown hair, you look like a renegade monk, so don’t get yourself killed unnecessarily and get lo…”

“A renegade monk? Haha, that’s a misunderstanding. This is a fur hat. Because of how it looks, some people think it’s hair, but all sorts of things were sold in Luoyang. I bought it thinking it might be helpful.”

“I don’t care what you bought right now, so stop talking nonsense and get lo…”

“It seems you need a conversation with Buddha.”

He made a light prayer gesture, then stretched out his arm.

At that moment, the man in front of Ji Seok flew back as if hit by something, spitting blood.

As I opened my eyes wide at that sight, Ji Seok smiled brightly.

“This unworthy body that hasn’t yet fully cultivated the Reverse Muscle Sutra can’t perfectly use the Hundred Steps Divine Fist, but three steps are possible anytime.”

The man who had looked back at his writhing comrade in the distance flinched, then immediately shouted.

“Kill him!”

“Hoho, although Buddha’s teachings are to refrain from killing, how…”

Ji Seok swung his fist towards the opponents rushing at him with a nonchalant face.

Without using much strength and without particularly massive inner power, the rushing opponents all flew back with their faces smashed.

“How about it? Even a mere Six Harmonies Fist, depending on how it’s used, its depth…”

“Stop babbling and die!!”

“Tsk.”

Ji Seok clicked his tongue softly and rushed forward. His appearance of swinging his fists and legs in the middle of the battlefield felt like a bear.

I stared at him blankly, then stood in the way of an opponent rushing in again.

With Ji Seok’s intervention, the balance seemed somewhat matched. But still, as time passed, we inevitably kept getting pushed back.

The fight dragged on. I swung my sword until the smell of blood rose thickly and the ground became muddy, but the numbers didn’t decrease. It felt like fighting something without form.

“Kuuuk!”

Eventually, as time passed, one by one bled. The wall that could hold out to some extent with Ji Seok’s intervention was breached, and although Ji Seok tried to block it, it seemed overwhelming.

“Ah, Miss…”

“It’s okay.”

I smiled forcedly at Joo Hwarin and reached out to stroke Harang’s head. I smiled faintly at the golden eyes staring blankly at me, and Harang tilted his head.

“Young Madam!”

A voice calling me rang out. When I turned my head forward, I saw three people breaking through the gap and rushing towards me.

I hurriedly drew up my inner energy and stood in the way, but it didn’t feel as light as before. Although they seemed to be at the same level, their swords felt heavy.

My stamina and inner energy were being depleted. I kicked one away with my foot and faced the other opponents while looking around. I gritted my teeth in the desperate situation.

‘Should I run away?’

If I sacrifice a few and run away, I could probably survive to some extent. But to shake off pursuit, unless they were considerably skilled, I would have to sacrifice either Yoo Doha or Eun Do, one of the two.

Hyuk Dojin had no way to help because of the opponent persistently clinging to him.

“Miss!!”

At Joo Hwarin’s scream-like voice, I raised my head to see a sword plunging down from above, having climbed up a tree at some point. I opened my eyes wide and stepped back.

But fatigue washed over my body due to the prolonged battle. The inner power I was drawing up refused to circulate as if blocked by something, and blood burst out.

“Kuuk!!”

Unable to die like this, I forcibly flipped my body backwards. A sword was deeply embedded in the place where I had just been standing.

I looked up after collapsing on the ground to see the opponent clicking his tongue as if disappointed. He immediately pulled out his sword. Those who had followed behind also approached towards me.

“Sowol!”

“Young Madam!!”

I could hear people’s voices, but they felt distant. I had no strength to stand in the way of those approaching. I tried to support my arm to raise my body, but even that was difficult.

I looked up with a frown. The opponent whose eyes were shining fiercely under the mask fiddled with his sword.

His sword rose high, and now drew the final line.

Is this how I die? Feeling like my life was flashing before my eyes, I closed my eyes tightly. But the pain didn’t follow.

“Aaaaagh!!”

Instead, a scream was heard from the front. When I slightly opened my eyes, Harang had somehow rushed in front and was biting and hanging onto the arm of the person at the very front.

“Ha, Harang…!”

“Grrrrrrr!!”

The opponent swung his arm trying to shake off Harang, who was biting down tightly and growling.

Harang didn’t let go even while being hit on the head. Finally, when he tried to cut him off by swinging his sword, Harang fell and sat down in front of me as if collapsing.

“You damn brat!!”

A clear and red tooth mark was engraved on the enemy’s arm, hard to believe it was from a child who looked about 5 years old biting.

The opponent, whose anger had risen to the top of his head from the intense pain, swung his sword towards Harang.

However, that sword never reached Harang.

Rather, Harang caught that sword with his mouth.

Along with a clanging sound, a startled voice burst out.

Harang glared at the opponent, then slowly stood up.

And the transformation began. Harang’s hair, which had reached down to his neck, grew longer and his body also glowed with a faint golden color.

His body, which had been about 5 years old, seemed to lengthen, and soon became larger than an adult male. Not stopping there, Harang’s body swelled upwards.

At that sight, I recalled what Man Do had said once:

-It’s a wolf cub. Harang, who lives in the Far North, is the guardian deity protecting the Gobi Desert. It lives for hundreds of years and can use mysterious magic. It’s a divine beast whose size is several times that of an ordinary wolf.

The noise around subsided at Harang’s transformation. When the golden light enveloping him disappeared, a wolf with dark blue mane was revealed.

In the distance where the full moon had descended, Harang’s mane emitted a deeper light than anything else.

A size and length twice that of an adult male.

The sword that had been too large in Harang’s mouth now felt like a thin needle.

When Harang bit down on the sword he had been holding with force, the blade shattered into pieces.

Harang turned his eyes to look at me. The golden eyes were directed precisely towards me.

Harang’s hind legs moved as if to cover me. Then he puffed up the mane all over his body. The neck visible above undulated. Soon the wolf’s head tilted up towards the sky.

On the dark night, under the full moon.

“Awoooooo!!”

The howl of the divine beast of the Far North echoed through the mountains.