Heaven-and-Earth Dragnet (4)

A twist on a familiar problem is hard to anticipate.

Choosing to lay a trap instead of running had worked beautifully. Setting up chains and lying in ambush had wiped out the Lee family's warriors.

The fifty warriors who had survived the trap were no different. For all the family's swagger, they controlled only a single city. None of the remaining fifty were above first-rate. As thousands of skeletons swarmed them, they floundered and died one after another.

Only Lee Wonpyeong, at the very pinnacle of the first-rate rank, was putting up a fight against Seo Yerim.

'Not that he can win.'

Even elders from the three factions would struggle against Seo Yerim. Someone at Lee Wonpyeong's level could, at best, buy himself a little time. I walked over and plunged my blade into him.

"Ghurk!"

In the end, Lee Wonpyeong fell too.

[Your level has increased by 1!]

"Thanks for stalling for me. That got me another level."

"I'd barely get any experience for killing him anyway."

She shrugged.

"So, how many levels did you gain altogether?"

"I went from 130 to 135."

"Five levels in one fight? Wow. Those were the days."

"The perks of being a lowbie."

Even the weakest of the Lee family's warriors had strength equivalent to level 150. With so many of them dying in droves, it was hardly surprising that Kim Minwoo had shot up in levels.

Seo Yerim was another story. Experience gains dropped drastically as the level gap widened, and she was a high-level awakener approaching level 400. Killing every warrior here would barely earn her even 1% experience. That was why we'd agreed beforehand that she would leave the experience to me, and why she'd drawn out her fight with Lee Wonpyeong.

'The skeletons gained a ton of levels too.'

Immediately after leaving the city, I'd unsummoned most of the skeletons roaming in every direction. Our location was already exposed, so scattering them would soon lose its purpose. In a few hours, all three factions' forces would converge here.

I'd left about five skeletons in each group, unsummoned the rest, and called them all here. Thanks to that, their average level had reached 65. Considering they had to split the experience among thousands, the skeletons were enjoying the perks of low levels too.

On top of that:

[Repeated combat experience has further improved the skeletons' weapon proficiency!]

[Melee Weapon Proficiency has reached E!]

[Melee Weapon Proficiency (E): Increases damage dealt with all melee weapons by 20%.]

'Sweet as hell.'

With their improved weapon proficiency, the skeletons had grown even stronger.

Just then:

COO.

Snowy appeared, clutching the carrier pigeon's corpse tightly in its talons.

"Who does my Snowy take after to be such a good little bird? Your daddy?"

COO.

I gently stroked Snowy's head.

With all the carrier pigeons taken care of, it would be quite a while before word got out.

'Time to split up the horses.'

Until now, the Lee family's pursuit had made that awkward. Even if we split them up, getting caught would expose our direction. But things were different now. The entire pursuit party had been wiped out.

What if I split the horses into pairs and pulled the decoy trick again?

'That should give them a headache.'

We'd been heading straight north, but nothing said we had to keep following that route. The pursuers would have to consider every possibility.

The skeletons companionably climbed onto the horses.

"Try moving."

They wobbled awkwardly, then companionably fell off together. They'd never ridden horses before, so there wasn't much to be done.

Well, what choice did I have?

"Tie each other on with rope."

The remaining skeletons wound ropes around the mounted ones. That should keep them from falling.

After tidying up the battlefield reasonably well, I looked at Seo Yerim.

"Let's go."

We rode off.

* * *

The Unorthodox Alliance leader, the Heavenly Demon, and the Martial Alliance leader.

The three masters did not move lightly. They simply held their position at the very center.

The reason was simple. If they picked a direction and set off, only to hear of a sighting on the opposite side, they would arrive too late. But if they stayed in the center? They might not arrive first, but at least they wouldn't be far too late.

That was why, when news of the pair's appearance arrived soon afterward, the three raced toward Hanrim City at breakneck speed, spending mana without restraint.

It wasn't long before they found the tracks and bodies of the Lee family's pursuit party.

The Martial Alliance leader clicked his tongue at Lee Wonpyeong's cold corpse.

"Tsk. They fell into a trap. Every horse was tripped. Laying chains and waiting in the dead of night... What a nasty piece of work."

Gu Yangcheon snorted.

"It wasn't impossible to spot. If they'd stayed alert and been careful, they wouldn't have suffered this badly. It's obvious. They charged after him in a blind rage and walked right into it."

The Unorthodox Alliance leader's face hardened as he examined the corpses' fingers.

"They had five carrier pigeons. The scent left on their hands tells me they even released them."

"But we received no message... You're saying they brought down all five pigeons in flight?"

The Martial Alliance leader's expression stiffened. That was no feat for someone of ordinary skill. It meant the fugitives had a trick up their sleeves.

"... It seems so. But... I can't tell what they used."

Gu Yangcheon narrowed his eyes.

"Listen. He's your son. You don't even know that?"

"... Hah. One day, he suddenly began acting like a different person. I'll be honest. I don't know much about him either."

When the pair had gone to hunt the Human-Faced Spider, he had assigned an elder to them, but the man hadn't followed them into the mountain. His role had been to prevent interference before they entered, not to help hunt the spider.

The Alliance Leader hadn't wanted them to cheat either, so he'd only ordered the elder to watch over them on the journey there and back. The mountain was the Human-Faced Spider's playground. No one would be mad enough to follow them in there to interfere.

'... Should I have had him follow them all the way?'

If he'd witnessed the hunt, they could have obtained solid information about the pair. Now, the lack of information on Baek Socheon and Choi Aengaeng had become a bitter regret.

Baek Socheon was good with a sword and controlled the dead. Choi Aengaeng was a maid who was good with a sword. That was all he knew.

At least within those limits, he could think of no plausible way for them to bring down carrier pigeons in flight.

Launching sword energy?

If they could take out five flying pigeons that way, they would already be at a level comparable to the three leaders. It made no sense.

The men searching the area gathered around the three leaders.

"There are no unusual traces nearby apart from hoofprints."

"No carrier pigeon corpses?"

"No, Alliance Leader. We saw none."

The three sighed. This made tracking them even more difficult. If carrier pigeons could be intercepted, the odds of receiving reports dropped dramatically too.

If there was one saving grace...

"At least we don't have forty directions this time."

The group had split into twenty trails. The number had been cut exactly in half, though whether that counted as good news was debatable. Yang Jeonghak spoke with a grim expression.

"... First, we'll have to deploy all our search parties along the main roads."

"Yes. If they're on horseback, they're bound to be spotted. But will search parties be enough? Judging by the evidence, that maid toyed with this fellow like a plaything."

Gu Yangcheon pointed at Lee Wonpyeong.

A glance at the body was enough to tell. He had been a master at the pinnacle of the first-rate rank. Not a scrap of mana remained in him; he'd evidently fought with everything he had. He had gritted his teeth and fought until his mana ran dry.

Then Baek Socheon had easily stabbed him to death. One look made it clear. These two were exceptionally skilled.

"... Then you're suggesting we mobilize the authorities too?"

"It's been nearly two days already. This looks dangerous to me. They're on horseback, so they'll be conserving their stamina too."

"..."

"What are you so scared of? If the three of us demand it together, even the emperor's grandfather would have to obey, let alone the emperor."

"Hmm..."

Yang Jeonghak deliberated.

The authorities had bowed to the martial world for quite some time, but having them mobilize troops for a private matter was still a considerable burden. Command of the military belonged to the emperor, after all. And he was the leader of the supposedly orthodox Martial Alliance.

His position differed from that of the unorthodox factions or the Demonic Cult. For starters, the public would curse him to hell and back. Worse, helping them in this matter would harm the authorities' own interests. The martial world kept producing supreme masters who went around beating them down. Wasn't this merely another extension of that?

Fortunately, Baek Hakseong voiced an objection in his place.

"No. The authorities might end up helping them instead. It could work against us. Knowing their disposition, they might simply let the fugitives pass unhindered."

"Ha! Let them pass? You think I, Gu Yangcheon, would sit back and watch? I'd smash every last one of their heads."

"... Regardless, forcing them to take an active role could backfire. Push people too hard and they're bound to lash out. Let's simply maintain the blockade. It's not time yet."

"... Bullshit. What will you do if they actually escape?"

"It hasn't even been two days. If we haven't caught them by tomorrow, I'll seriously consider it too."

"Fine, that's your answer. What about you, Yang Jeonghak? Don't tell me you're going to cast some noble lone vote against it."

"... Let's do as the Unorthodox Alliance leader suggests."

"Hmph! Fine. Then let's pursue them for now."

* * *

We galloped onward.

Along the way, we encountered another search party. I summoned skeletons to grab the horses' legs. The terrified horses thrashed wildly. In an instant, Seo Yerim's arrows pierced their riders' heads.

A slaughter followed.

'There's no end to them.'

Day three.

Security was tight, but we broke through another city in the end.

'My head's spinning.'

I'd barely slept for three days straight. At most, I'd snatched brief naps on horseback. Only being an awakener had kept me going. An ordinary person would have passed out by now.

Still, there was one saving grace.

[Distance traveled: 96%]

[Distance remaining: 4%]

We were almost there.

'The search parties helped a lot.'

The ones coming at us from ahead were weak, but they rode fresh horses. That gave us an endless supply. We'd used those to confuse our pursuers some more.

I'd gained quite a few levels too. In just a single day, I'd reached 145. That was how much fighting we'd done.

The problem was the chilling messages that had appeared when our progress passed eighty percent.

[Your progress has exceeded 80%!]

[Your destination is revealed to the Martial Alliance leader, the Heavenly Demon, and the Unorthodox Alliance leader!]

[The authorities begin to intervene!]

From that point onward, government soldiers had begun swarming us like packs of dogs.

'If there's one bit of good news...'

They didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about stopping us. They were just going through the motions. They'd pretend to block us, then yell, "Aaagh! Run!" and clear the way. Sometimes they even saw us and simply let us pass.

'Nice one, Your Majesty.'

Apparently, he wanted us to get far away from here. That was a real blessing. If even the soldiers had actively blocked our path, honestly, we'd never have covered another 5%, let alone 16%.

'He must have a lot of pent-up resentment.'

Normally, fear of the consequences alone would have made them work hard to stop us. The current emperor apparently had plenty of grievances against the martial world.

COO!

Snowy flew over and curled its toes once. I looked at Seo Yerim.

"Bad news."

"How close are they now?"

"About an hour away, apparently."

"... This is driving me insane."

"Tell me about it."

They were going to catch us. I could roughly see how it would play out. I'd expected it to some extent. Surely I wasn't going to clear the gate without encountering those three old monsters even once.

And sure enough, I wasn't.

"You're not about to pass out yet, are you?"

"... I can hold on."

"Let's take some potions. Then we'll dismount and run."

Horses were transport for conserving stamina. At full speed, awakeners were faster. We had little stamina left, but we had to gain whatever distance we could.

The final sprint.

Seo Yerim and I gulped down potions indiscriminately. All our stats rose by 50, our movement speed increased, our bodies grew lighter...

Potions costing over a hundred million won a bottle vanished down our throats. We piled on every kind of enhancement.

[You have consumed too many potions in a short period. Overload is setting in!]

'Not enough.'

Even now, my stats were far below Seo Yerim's. The three old monsters had probably started running at full speed too, so we'd meet them in less than an hour. This wouldn't let me stand up to them.

'Then I'll have to bet on it.'

Life came down to one big gamble.

After one round of enhancements, my Strength and Agility were in the high 400s. I took out all my Strength and Agility potions. I was done with the other stats. I had to push these two way up.

How high?

'At least 800 each.'

I'd need that much to have any hope of buying time against those old monsters.

I downed more enhancement potions.

[You consume a Strength Enhancement Potion (Top-Grade)!]

[You are overloaded! Stacked effects are reduced by 50%!]

[Agility Enhancement Potion...]

[You consume a Strength Enhancement Potion (Top-Grade)!]

[You are overloaded! Stacked effects are reduced by 50%...]

[Agility...]

Seo Yerim was horrified to see Kim Minwoo chugging potion after potion.

"Are you insane? You'll get addicted! You'll cripple yourself for life!"

"I have to. Otherwise, those old monsters will slice us apart."

I kept drinking.

Overload reduced potion effects by 50%. A potion that should raise a stat by 50 would raise it by 25 instead. It also rapidly pushed you toward addiction.

And once you became addicted?

Potion effectiveness plummeted completely. For life. Withdrawal symptoms came as a bonus.

I'd become addicted once during the Death Lord's test.

'It was fine then because that body was fake.'

This was my real body. That was why I normally wouldn't take any more potions in this state. It was madness.

But now was the time for madness. Time to play Russian roulette.

'If there's a bullet in the chamber, well, life's going to get rough.'

At least gambling was far better than being cut down helplessly.

Then, the moment I'd drunk five Strength potions and five Agility potions:

[You have consumed too many potions in a short period! You are becoming addicted to potions...]

[The effect of the title 'Living Only for Today' activates!]

[You resist potion addiction!]

The title's potion addiction resistance had kicked in. I drank another ten bottles, five of each.

[You have consumed too many potions in a short period! You are becoming addicted to potions...]

[The title 'Living Only for...]

[You resist potion addiction...]

'Just once more.'

The moment I drank another ten bottles, five of each:

[The title 'Super Lucky Guy' activates!]

[You resist potion addiction!]

[You have resisted addiction three times!]

[You acquire the title 'An Absolutely Insane Gambler'!]

Lucky.

Now we were talking.