Jin Hagun and the Demon Extermination Unit were engaged in a bloody battle at the final gate of the Blood Road Maze Formation.
“Watch the left!”
Jin Hagun swung his sword and blocked the hidden weapon flying toward him. From behind, a long spear shot out swiftly, grazed past Jin Hagun’s ear, then withdrew again.
All manner of mechanisms flew in from every direction, targeting the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit. As time passed, the mechanisms attacked with ever greater strength and speed.
“Hurry!”
Jin Hagun’s shout was directed at Jeong Gyeong.
Amid this asura-like chaos, Jeong Gyeong, the Demon Extermination Unit’s formation specialist, was striving to find the life gate of the trial. This gate had to be solved by using the Five Elements’ cycles of mutual generation and mutual restraint.
Stepping stones inscribed with the characters of the Five Elements lay across the floor.
First, it had to be solved using the cycle of mutual generation, and then the cycle of mutual restraint.
“Wood drains the energy of earth, and earth blocks the flow of water.”
Jeong Gyeong stepped in order from Wood (木) to Earth (土), then to Water (水).
The problem was that the formation did not allow this easily.
“Get down!”
At Jin Hagun’s shout, the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit all dropped flat at once.
Whirrrrrrrrr!
An enormous rotating blade passed over their heads at terrifying speed.
Truly, it was clear why this maze formation bore the name “Blood Road.”
“Fire (火) melts metal (金), and metal cuts wood.”
If he was even a little late in stepping onto the floor, he would fall into a death gate. Then they would have to risk their lives to escape again.
‘Done!’
Just as Jeong Gyeong threw himself forward to step on the final stone—
Shwaaaaaak!
A blade aimed for that very moment flew toward Jeong Gyeong. In his joy and excitement, he had been too hasty.
‘No!’
It was too late to dodge, and despair seized him. Even if his neck was cut off, he only hoped his body would continue forward and step on that stone!
Kaaang!
The rotating blade brushed past him. Jin Hagun had rushed in and struck the blade away. There was no time even to exchange thanks.
Jin Hagun charged back in the opposite direction, and Jeong Gyeong threw himself toward the final stepping stone.
After circling through the Five Elements, the instant he stepped on the final Wood (木) stone—
With a clank, every mechanism stopped. One warrior of the Demon Extermination Unit stared at a blade that had barely halted right before his eyes.
The mechanisms that had filled the space with clanging metal from every side began returning to their original places.
Srrrng.
A door hidden in the wall opened. At last, they had opened the life gate of the final trial.
Everyone looked around at one another and exchanged glances. None of them knew how many times they had truly crossed the threshold of death.
“You worked hard.”
Jin Hagun praised Jeong Gyeong.
“Not at all. If it weren’t for you, Unit Leader, we truly would have lost many comrades.”
All the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit nodded in agreement. Jin Hagun’s performance in this formation had been that outstanding. It was an opportunity for them to see him anew.
“Let’s get out for now.”
They had not yet killed Cheongoe, who had deployed the formation. Since the formation had been broken, once they passed through that door, he would show himself.
Just as they were about to enter the door, Cheongoe’s voice rang out.
“To break through all the way to the final gate without a single sacrifice… truly impressive.”
His voice echoed, making it impossible to tell where it came from.
“The Demon Extermination Unit. You are indeed worthy of being called the pride of the Martial Alliance.”
Jin Hagun felt an ominous chill. Even though they had broken through the final gate, there was leisure in the bastard’s voice.
“But it would be a shame to let you go just like that, so I prepared a parting gift.”
Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.
More than ten doors opened from every direction. Beyond them were long corridors, and at the end of each corridor, people were bound. Some places held one person, while others held several.
“Please save me!”
“Please, help us!”
“Please, at least save my child!”
Dozens of blades were aimed above their heads. They trembled in terror, not knowing when those blades might fall.
Cheongoe’s voice sounded again.
“It won’t be easy to save them.”
Jin Hagun could tell. Each corridor where those people were trapped had dangerous mechanisms hidden within it.
Srrrrrrk.
In front of the life gate ahead, something rose from the floor. It was the scale that showed the time limit, the same as they had seen at the previous gate.
“If you fail to leave through that life gate within the time limit, you will have to break through the Blood Road Maze Formation from the beginning again—only this time, it will be even stronger. Horrifying, isn’t it? Perhaps not all of you will make it this far alive as you did now.”
If the maze had grown stronger, there would be many casualties. Even getting here like this had been far from easy.
“Everyone you fail to save will die. Now then, how many can you save? Who will be chosen by the proud Demon Extermination Unit?”
It was a statement that meant everyone else would die. Cheongoe was behaving like a true devil.
“You will live with guilt for the rest of your lives!”
Along with Cheongoe’s laughter, the scale began to operate, and time started flowing.
Judging by the speed at which the scale tilted, there was not much time.
Inside the corridors, everyone shouted for them to save them.
“There are eight people in that room. We should save the places with the most people first.”
“No. There’s a child in this room. We should save this side first!”
The warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit each reported the situation in the rooms.
Their gazes turned toward Jin Hagun. Deciding whom to save was an incredibly difficult choice. By his order, someone would live, and someone else would die. Even as this happened, the scale continued tilting.
Then Jin Hagun spoke quietly.
“There’s no need to agonize over whom to save.”
At Jin Hagun’s words, everyone looked at him in surprise.
Jin Hagun strode forward and closed, with his own hands, the door of the life gate through which they were meant to escape.
Boom.
After closing the door, Jin Hagun turned around and said to his subordinates,
“We save them all, and then we start this formation over from the beginning!”
“!”
Because it was a decision they had not expected, everyone looked shocked.
Jin Hagun went from room to room and shouted to them,
“We will save all of you, so please wait calmly!”
At that, sighs of relief came from each corridor.
Jin Hagun spoke again to his subordinates of the Demon Extermination Unit.
“Someone may call this decision foolish. Some of us may die. Perhaps all of us may die. But I believe this choice is what makes us different from the Demonic Cult and the evil sects.”
A look of apology crossed Jin Hagun’s face. He respectfully cupped his fist and bowed his head to his subordinates.
“I am sorry for not giving you the chance to choose. I will make my apology in the underworld.”
The warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit looked at one another once.
Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.
They all drew their swords at once and shouted,
“Exterminate demons and shatter evil! The path of chivalrous righteousness!”
From the very beginning, they had no intention whatsoever of defying the decision of their leader, Jin Hagun. If the leader of the Demon Extermination Unit told them to die, then dying was what the Demon Extermination Unit did.
Just as they were about to enter the first room to save the people—
Sssssss.
Everything around them began to vanish. The open doors, and the people who had been waiting desperately.
Now they were in a different plaza.
Incense burned in every direction, and the walls and floor were filled with all manner of incomprehensible characters.
At the center sat Cheongoe.
The look in Cheongoe’s eyes as he stared at Jin Hagun was filled with disbelief.
“You truly chose to close the life gate with your own hands?”
Blood streamed from his mouth.
The instant they saw that, Jin Hagun and the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit understood. The formation had been broken. And as the formation was destroyed, Cheongoe had suffered severe internal injuries.
Closing the door of the life gate with one’s own hands.
Astonishingly, that choice had been the method to completely destroy this Blood Road Maze Formation.
The room with a child, the room with many people to save—all those various situations had been traps. They were meant to make them agonize over whom to save, so they would fail to see the essence.
“You truly stayed in this maze formation to save people you don’t even know?”
To that question full of doubt, Jin Hagun answered calmly.
“It may be surprising to you, but to us, it is only natural.”
Cheongoe did not believe him. Looking at him as though he were a hypocrite, he asked again,
“Leader of the Demon Extermination Unit, were you always this kind of person?”
Jin Hagun could not answer that question. He found himself thinking that he did not really know either. Had he truly been this kind of person? Or had something changed him?
“Someone once told me, ‘You will become a magnificent Alliance Leader.’ So I am trying to become one.”
Jin Hagun drew his sword. Then the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit also drew their swords in unison and aimed them at Cheongoe.
Whooooo.
Though no wind blew, the sound of wind arose. Light burst forth from the bizarre patterns and characters on the floor.
Shiiik!
Jin Hagun released sword qi. But as if he were cutting through an illusion, the sword qi passed right through Cheongoe.
At that moment, Hwang Ju, who was skilled in sorcery, shouted,
“You must enter the circle he is sitting in and cut him directly!”
Indeed, Cheongoe was seated at the center of a circle filled with incomprehensible spells.
Just as Jin Hagun was about to launch himself toward him—
Swaaaaaaaaaa.
A terrible evil energy swept in like a storm.
Cheongoe had drawn up the last of his internal energy to unleash his secret sorcery.
Heart Demon Black Shadow Art!
In that instant, the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit flinched. Some spat curses, and some screamed.
Illusions appeared before all of them. They were the people and events hidden deepest within their hearts. Things they all wished to conceal.
“Everyone, recite the verses of the Righteous Heart Art!”
It was a mind cultivation art unique to the Martial Alliance, one that protected the heart from wicked sorcery.
As they recited the Righteous Heart Art, the illusions in their hearts vanished and reappeared over and over again.
When the Demon Extermination Unit resisted with the Righteous Heart Art, other patterns and characters around Cheongoe began to glow. This time, they shone in many brilliant colors.
Srrrrrrk.
Then shadows holding swords rose from the floor.
Hwang Ju shouted again,
“They are shadow ghosts! Extinguish the candles on all sides!”
The Demon Extermination warriors swung their swords as one and faced the shadow ghosts. When their blades collided with the shadow swords the ghosts swung, the sound of metal rang out.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Those beings might have been illusions, but the swords they held were real.
Even as the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit fought the shadow ghosts, they recited the Righteous Heart Art and struggled to extinguish the candles. The shadow ghosts attacked them desperately, trying by any means to stop them.
As battles erupted in every direction, Jin Hagun was advancing toward Cheongoe.
Shwaaaaaaaaaa.
An immense evil energy battered him.
His skin was tearing, and it was so difficult that he could barely breathe, but Jin Hagun recited the Righteous Heart Art and silently moved forward.
The shadow ghosts that tried to attack him were blocked desperately by the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit.
The closer he drew to Cheongoe, the more illusions appeared, shaking his heart. The illusion of his grandfather disturbed his mind.
—I do not regard you as my successor! Do you think you are qualified to inherit my position?
His grandfather glared at him with terrifying eyes. It was such a vivid illusion that his heart ached with resentment.
Jin Hagun recited the Righteous Heart Art and continued forward. The next person to appear was his younger sister.
—Brother, you are a hypocrite. All this effort to uphold chivalrous righteousness is ultimately for the purpose of becoming the Martial Alliance Leader, isn’t it? Why do you think your chivalry has become exhausting? It is because of this impure purpose.
He knew this too was an illusion created by sorcery, but it hurt his heart.
Clang, clang, clang!
The sound of swords clashing rang by his ears. He thought that if the warriors of the Demon Extermination Unit had not been blocking for him, he would have been bewitched by these illusions and allowed those attacks to land.
This time, the figure of the child he had once saved appeared again.
—Even if it meant giving up the position of Alliance Leader, would you still save me?
Then, immediately, an image arose of people pointing fingers at him after he failed to become the successor.
—Just how incompetent must he have been, for his grandfather to be the Alliance Leader and yet still not inherit the position?
And what hurt his heart most in all these illusions was this:
‘Is the desire to become the Martial Alliance Leader all there is in my heart?’
That must be why it was burrowing into that feeling and attacking him. That fact disappointed him in himself. The fact that his desire to become Alliance Leader lay in the deepest part of him.
Like a money-grubber who had sold his soul for wealth, like a lecher who had sold his soul to lust—had he sold his soul to power?
He knew that making him feel this way was what the illusion was aiming for. Even knowing that, he was tormented. No, because he knew, he was tormented all the more.
Hiiiiiii.
The closer he drew to Cheongoe, the more the wicked energy reached its peak. His head swam and dizziness overtook him. He wanted to simply sink to the ground and give up on everything.
If there was a Jin Hagun suffering like that, then in another corner of his heart—
‘Don’t make me laugh! I’ll never lose to some sorcery like this!’
There was also a Jin Hagun gritting his teeth.
That Jin Hagun kept thinking of one person. He did not know why that person was Geom Mugeuk, but in this extreme moment, he needed him.
—I’ll overcome it too, just like you.
Then Geom Mugeuk’s answer seemed to ring out. If it were him, he would say something like this at a time like this.
—I told you not to try too hard. Trust only as much as an arm’s length, and do only as well as an arm’s length.
Thinking of Geom Mugeuk, Jin Hagun gritted his teeth and stepped forward.
He walked and walked. And at the moment he took another step, prepared even for his body to be torn apart—
The terrible demonic energy pressing down on him vanished all at once, as if it had been a lie. The distracting thoughts tormenting his mind vanished with it.
And before his eyes, Cheongoe was vomiting blood in great heaves. His internal injuries were too deep; there was no turning back now.
Jin Hagun had overcome Cheongoe’s Heart Demon Black Shadow Art by his will alone.
Cheongoe looked up at him venomously.
“You’ve staked your life on becoming Alliance Leader, haven’t you? Your chivalrous righteousness is nothing but a tool to become Alliance Leader.”
Even at the moment of death, he sought to leave a wound on his opponent. Jin Hagun said nothing to that malice.
Shiiiiik!
Thuk!
Jin Hagun’s sword pierced Cheongoe’s heart.
Without pulling out his sword, Jin Hagun spoke without looking back at his subordinates.
“What he said may be true.”
He honestly told his subordinates what he had not said to the man.
A brief silence flowed.
Then someone behind him spoke.
“What’s wrong with staking your life on it?”
When Jin Hagun turned his head to look back, it was Jeong Gyeong. He thought Jeong Gyeong was saying such a thing because Jin Hagun had saved him several times while breaking through the formation.
Hwang Ju took up his words.
“I would rather you did. I hope that desire comes before chivalrous righteousness or goodwill.”
Was it because of what he had shown within the formation?
Even at the words that he wanted the position of Alliance Leader more than chivalry, the warriors of the Demon-Exterminating Squad showed no particular agitation. Rather, some even said this.
“I don’t think ambition is bad either. I want to accomplish a great cause with someone like that.”
Perhaps because they thought it was the first chance they had ever had, even those taciturn men who seemed unlikely to speak each said a word.
“You have done so well until now. How could you do any better?”
“I think anything beyond that would be greed.”
“If you are too perfect, it makes things difficult for us.”
Jin Hagun had truly never imagined his subordinates would say such things to him. He had not known they held such thoughts.
Come to think of it, we have never once spoken openly and honestly. Even though we have shared life and death like this.
After silently gazing at his subordinates for a moment, Jin Hagun turned back to Cheongoe.
Cheongoe’s wide-open eyes had completely lost their light.
“Yes. I have staked my life on becoming Alliance Leader.”
Jin Hagun pulled out the sword embedded in Cheongoe’s heart.
Spurrrt.
Jin Hagun did not avoid the blood that sprayed over his body.
As the lifeless Cheongoe slowly collapsed sideways, the surroundings began to change.
Thud.
The place where Cheongoe fell was the courtyard of Cheonhwaru.
And so, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Jin Hagun and the Demon-Exterminating Squad returned.