There was a good reason why Dok-gosong was different Dong-bang-ryun from the 200 years ago. Something existed within his head that blocked the fit caused by the Emperor’s Blood Demon Art’s…..

‘Seven Sect’s Beating Gold Technique. It had been suppressed by the Emperor’s Blood Demon Art’s demonic energy, but it hadn’t completely disappeared. It was a restrictive spell made by the Shaolin high monk, who had boasted the strongest naegong. The qi he had injected into Dok-gosong’s body was still there without any alteration, and it was blocking the demonic aura to a certain degree. However, he had nothing to worry about.’

The Emperor’s Blood Demon Art’s demonic aura increased exponentially as one slaughtered. Sah-joonhwan clearly knew about this fact. Currently, Dok-gosong was continuously killing people. Dok-gosong was faithfully following his orders.

“The bastard will most definitely have a fit, so there is no reason to act hastily. So how was Zhong-ri-ryung’s behavior? Did you see anything suspicious?”

The elder shook his head from side to side.

“I didn’t see anything different. He is still following the sect leader’s orders faithfully.”

“Of course, he better do as I say if he wants to hold onto his life and also save his family.”

Sah-joonhwan smiled. Truthfully, the Patriarch of the SWG was a spy he had secretly embedded in there. He was there to watch every movement of Dok-gosong. At the same time, he was a spy directed to take reins of the SWG once Dok-gosong had a fit.
However, he wasn’t someone who served Sah-joonhwan originally, so he had to be a bit cautious.
This was why he had purposefully kidnapped his children as hostage, so he wouldn’t change his mind. Sah-joonhwan looked at the elder, while nodding his head.

“Above anything else, you have figure out the bastard’s location at all times. If the bastard has a fit inside our sect’s headquarters, then everything will go up in smoke…..”

“I’ll bear it in mind.”

The elder bowed deeply towards his lord.

(TLN: back to present)

It was a day when the darkness was heavy. The top city of Truvania, Feldrian, was completely immersed in darkness. It was so dark that not even a single light was able to leak into the night. It was a complete darkness where even the moonlight was covered up by the clouds. This was the type of day where the enemies liked to ambush them. Therefore, the guards on the Feldrian castle wall were very nervous.

“Please let us be safe today…..”

The low voice leaked out from one of the many watchtowers. Feldrian was shaped like a typical walled city, where it was completely surrounded by the castle wall. They had installed the watchtower alongside the wall to detect the approaching enemies.

“Shit. I can’t even tell what is in front of me, because of the darkness…..”

One soldier looked outside through an opening in the watchtower, and he complained softly.
His beard was bushy, and his haggard face was was flowing with filth. Inside the tower there were 5 soldiers. One could tell they have been living there for a long time by looking at their appearance. The soldier in the corner spat out a word as if he was tossing it.(TLN:its a figure of speech) The long halberd was leaning next to him.

“By looking at the situation, I don’t think there will be a shift change today.”

“I guess so? If it is a moonless night like today, the orc’s guerilla unit will fly against us.”

“Nevertheless, haven’t we been here for an entire week? It would be nice if we could at least wash our bodies…”

However, the soldiers knew that this request would never happen. They barely had any water to drink so a wash was wishful thinking.

“Shit. Let’s stop. Hey, McMillan. My eyes are about to fall out from looking outside. It’s your turn to look out.”

“Ok. Passat.”

The bushy beard soldier was leaning against the wall. He was called McMillan, and he hurriedly switched places with the other soldier. The crest that was reluctantly embedded into the top of the armor indicated that he was the one with the highest rank. Passat handed the crossbow to McMillan, and he sighed while deeply reclining against the wall.

“Tsk tsk tsk. The only news we hear about is defeats…. At this rate, what will our fates be like?”
“…….”

All the soldiers, who were listening, kept their silence. Although, they were in the rear, they could already guess that the progress of the war was not going well. Still, they were fortunate since they weren’t inserted into the front line, where there were constant casualties. Their comrades, who had lived with them previously, were deployed there, and there was no way to know if they survived. Passat got his complicated emotions off his chest, and he started to complain.

“At this current time, the front and back line doesn’t exit.”

Originally, Feldrian was a region that was seen as the back line. Even though they were continuously losing against the battle against the orc army, the battle line was very far from this place. However, the the orc army had sent an extensive number of raiding parties to take advantage of this fact and the had penetrated into Feldrian. They liked to attack on a night like today when there was no moonlight. This was why they couldn’t relax in this situation.

“Those brutes! They volunteered for the raiding party even though their death is almost guaranteed…..”

“You really don’t know anything about them. The orc bastards do not fear death. One could say the orc race is the closest to death amongst the races of Truvania.”

Even though he was being rebuked, McMillan’s gaze didn’t leave the empty air outside of the castle. The orc raiding party used the sky to infiltrate the city. The bastards used a monster that existed on the Truvania continent to ambush them. They rode on top of wyverns, which was known to be the king of the sky. The problem was the orcs previously used the wyverns to directly invade the downtown of Feldrian. Immediately after the orc raiding party was inserted, they started killing indiscriminately and a lot of civilians died in the early stages. Before the guards could be mobilized, numerous people were indiscriminately killed, whether they were women or men.

Of course, the raiding orcs were all slaughtered, but their objective were achieved. The citizens were extremely shaken by this event. Of course, the orcs knew that the infiltrated troops wouldn’t survive, but they still continued to send their raiding forces. For that reason, the soldier had to be vigilant towards the skies the wyvern flew in.

“I guess those bastards are fine throwing away that much troops since their reproductive capability is strong….”

McMillan’s hollow eyes looked towards the sky. He was curious as to the future of the human race, which he was a part of. At that moment, Passat, who he thought was asleep spoke.

“I wonder if that guy is doing well on sentry duty?”

“Which guy?”

“Ah! The bastard who looks like a monster. I heard that bastard is a mercenary from another continent.”

At those words, McMillan’s face was filled with an extreme amount of curiosity. It was about the guy who was assigned to the guard only 15 days ago. His face was so hideous that he had drawn interest from the others. Moreover, the weapon he carried was one that normal soldiers didn’t use, so they were extremely curious.

‘He only uses a spiked gauntlet, which is a knight’s ancillary item….”

They were very curious as to where we was from, but they couldn’t understand each other. They couldn’t hastily start up a dialogue with him. Moreover, the person who had brought him was none other than the Ikarot’s palace magician Benitez. Also, they had received orders to tightly monitor his actions , so it was inevitable for their curiosity to be amplified. McMillan understood all this, so he nodded his head and replied back.

“I guess he is doing well as a guard.”

The order was to carefully watch over him, so he doesn’t run away. Therefore, he was placed on top of the tower as a sentry. Of course, the exit from the tower was guarded rigorously by them, so there wasn’t any worry that the foreigner would try to run away.

After 15 days, there wasn’t any sign of something being wrong. Occasionally, he would come down after the shift had changed. However, he just ate and slept. There weren’t any conversations made between them. Passat suddenly grimaced.

“The bastard really has a unique appearance. If it wasn’t war time right now, then he would have made a good mercenary with that look.”

“Stop it. We are only seeing it from our perspective. Who knows? Maybe he is considered handsome in the place he used to live.”

“I don’t think that’s likely?”

They were just making conversation between each other when someone knocked on the watch tower’s door. This caused the soldier’s faces to be filled with a healthy glow.

“Finally, they are here to relieve us.”

Passat approached the door, while being pleased. For safety sake, he opened the small slot on the door to look out. Only his eyes were visible. The people outside were all acquaintances here to take the next shift, so Passat hurriedly opened the door.

“What took you so long?”

Passat spoke with an annoyed tone, and the soldiers, who had entered, replied back indifferently.

“Do you think we came here after playing around? The fatigue duty was so hard that we were waiting for the shift to change until our eyes were about to fall out…. After taking a day off, you’ll suffer like us and you’ll understand our sentiments.”

Passat face immediately crumpled.

“Shit. It’s fatigue duty again?”

“What can we do? The draft age was raised up to 40 year old, so we are the only ones left. Even the women are being used for fatigue duty.”

After complaining, Passat had no choice, but to start collecting his weapon and gears. McMillan and the other soldiers also packed each of their equipments. McMillan suddenly turned around as if a thought had come to him.

“We have to get a word to the foreigner. He must be suffering inside the small watchtower….”

“Shit. You do it yourself.”

After hearing Passat’s words, McMillan climbed the ladder leaning against one side, and he climbed up towards the watchtower. The watchtower was built very high, so one would be able to monitor a wider range.

“Ooh-cha.” (TLN: its an expression of exertion, like a grunt)

McMillan used the strength in his arms to propel his body upwards. His eyes saw a dark space that was barely 1 meter wide. His eyes saw a small body standing close to the window, which he was looking out of.

Like them, he was wearing a chain mail on his upper body. The fact that he wasn’t holding any weapons made him unique. He just wore two spiked gauntlet, which had a thin blade attached to it. McMillan’s eyes softened a bit when he saw this figure.

‘I thought he would be asleep….’

McMillan quietly called him.

“Hey. It’s time to change shift.”

He saw the other person turn his head in the darkness. He stared at McMillan’s face without budging an inch.

“Shit. How do I explain this?”

He was momentarily helpless, but McMillan busily used his hand gestures to convey his intentions. As if his effort wasn’t wasted, soon the foreigner nodded his head and got up. Once McMillan gestured for him to follow, he descended the ladder. Passat was stretching his whole body when he came down to the guard house.

“Ooh-ahh! This time I’ll be able to wet my throat a bit with alcohol. Uh-hu-hu-hu.”

“Maybe? Will there be any alcohol left for you to drink? We’ll be lucky if it isn’t entirely placed under requisition……”

McMillan landed on the floor while speaking pleasantries. The small figure descended the ladder after him. Once he stood up, the shift-change soldier’s eyes became wide.

“What, what is that bastard?

“Hyahh! His feature looks rotten.”

Passat shrugged his shoulders when he saw them being surprised.

“What do you think he is? He is the foreign mercenary assigned to our guard team. Doesn’t he look really weird?”

“Hey, let’s go. We’ll have to rest a little.”

McMillan couldn’t stand it any more, so he encouraged them to leave faster. They were being stared at like a monkey on exhibit in a zoo. They broke from the guard’s gazes, and they stepped out of the guard house.
After coming down from the castle wall, the soldiers milled around for a while. Most of the soldiers were near the castle wall, because of the orc raiding parties. Even their lodgings were located on the castle wall. A squad of soldiers were guarding the front of the wall with their eyes wide open. The soldiers, who had finished their duties, were in the back sleeping.
McMillan and his group were careful not to step on them, while descending. It was a situation where the war made everyone’s nerves fray at the edges. In this situation, McMillan knew if an altercation was started then knives would be drawn. Passat asked a question after he got off the wall.

“Where are you taking that guy?”

“Well, I’m going to eat then sleep at the guard’s barrack. I’m pretty sure we’ll be pulled into fatigue duty tomorrow.”

“Yeah? Then I’ll head in first.”

Passat gave a long yawn, and he started walking unsteadily. The other soldiers looked on jealously at his figure. It was well deserved, because he was a conscript with a family and a home here. He lucked out in not being dragged into the battle field, and he was living a life of luxury. McMillan and the other soldiers were basically all alone.