Chapter 480 Groundwork (5)

SHRRRRR!

The Flood Dragon Chain swept through the air with a movement that was both graceful and majestic.

Even the sound of its interlocking links striking one another was remarkably clear and pleasing to the ear. From another perspective, it almost sounded like the hard scales of a dragon scraping together.

And at the end of the chain, the White Dragon Axe flashed like a dragon's fang, tearing through the air.

Yeon Hojeong flicked his wrist from side to side.

SHRRR! SHRRRRR!

The Flood Dragon Chain attached to the White Dragon Axe—the White Dragon Chain—writhed at its master's command, sweeping left and right without pause.

It seemed almost alive. The sight of the White Dragon Chain twisting and turning like a living dragon, thrusting its head in every direction and letting out an imaginary roar, was nothing short of magnificent.

After watching its movements for some time, Yeon Hojeong's eyes gleamed.

SHRRR.

He gave his arm a gentle pull. The Flood Dragon Chain shortened, drawing the White Dragon Axe neatly into his hand.

Without turning around, Yeon Hojeong spoke calmly.

"Long time no see."

A smile played across his face.

"I've been busy taking care of one thing after another. Actually, I was planning to come see you today—"

THWACK!

"Gah!"

The unexpected blow forced a startled grunt from Yeon Hojeong.

"Oh, you were planning to, were you? What a load of bullshit, you rotten bastard."

Rubbing the back of his head, Yeon Hojeong turned around in disbelief.

Je Gal Ahyeon stood behind him.

"Have you lost your mind? Did you seriously just hit me in the back of the head?"

"Am I not allowed to?"

"Well, look at you."

"Look at me? What happened to your manners? Did you sell them at the market? Is that any way to talk to your big sister? You looking to get yourself killed?"

Her language seemed to have grown considerably rougher since he'd last seen her.

Yeon Hojeong frowned.

"I'm still your superior, you know."

"So what? You want me to treat you like one?"

"Yes."

"Of course. I'll treat you exactly as you deserve, Supreme Commander."

"..."

"What seems to be the problem, sir? Why are you staring at me with those big, stupid eyes?"

Yeon Hojeong's expression turned awkward.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, you don't know? And what makes you think I owe you an explanation?"

"..."

"What?"

"Have you lost some weight?"

"You little shit!"

Je Gal Ahyeon began raining blows down on Yeon Hojeong's head.

He had no intention of simply standing there and taking it, but he suspected she would genuinely take offense if he dodged. Instead, he bent his arms and raised them to shield his head.

Dull thuds echoed across the training ground.

WHOOOM! THWACK! THWACK!

Yeon Hojeong's eyes widened in shock.

Her blows were growing heavier. She had begun circulating her Inner Qi.

"Hey! Stop it! That's enough!"

"I AM holding back, you bastard!"

"Goddamn it! What's your problem?!"

"I JUST TOLD YOU I DON'T OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION!"

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

WHOOSH!

Yeon Hojeong quickly put some distance between them.

Je Gal Ahyeon's eyes widened.

"Oh, look at that! Now you're using martial arts against a delicate little strategist?"

"Delicate, my ass."

Je Gal Ahyeon was skilled in palm arts. Her blows hurt far too much for him to simply endure them.

Besides, although she was surrounded by so many geniuses that her own abilities tended to be overlooked, her martial arts were among the finest of her generation. If she had put just a little more Inner Qi into those last few blows, she might actually have given him a concussion.

Yeon Hojeong's expression hardened.

"Assaulting a superior officer is a serious offense."

"Oh, really? Now you're going to use military law against me? Aren't you clever?"

"Hey, that's not what I—"

"A serious offense, huh? I like the sound of that. If I'm going to end up in the Brain Prison anyway, I might as well go in for murder instead of assault."

"Calm down. Just calm down, and let's talk this through. What the hell is wrong?"

Killing Intent suddenly flashed in Je Gal Ahyeon's eyes.

Yeon Hojeong flinched before he could stop himself.

He had fought on battlefields where Killing Intent ten times more vicious than this filled the air. But no matter how weak or strong it was, Killing Intent directed at him by someone he knew was unsettling in an entirely different way.

Feeling strangely intimidated, Yeon Hojeong decided that a little flexibility in the knees wouldn't hurt.

"Hey, come on. I really don't know."

"I know you don't. That's why you need a few more hits, don't you think?"

"I'll pass. Anyway, it's not as though I've done anything that would make you this angry..."

Yeon Hojeong's eyes suddenly wavered.

"Anything that would make you angry..."

Wait a minute.

Now that he thought about it...

"...Hmm. Actually, I might have."

The mocking grin vanished from Je Gal Ahyeon's face.

Her expression went completely blank.

It was terrifying. He almost wished she would start screaming and swearing at him again. This expression made her look like an outright demon.

Yeon Hojeong scratched his head.

"Don't tell me you're still working on those formations...?"

"DIE!"

WHOOOOOSH!

The Je Gal Clan's secret art, the Great Heavenly Star Palm Art, erupted from her hands.

Yeon Hojeong dodged her palm strike with an expression of utter alarm.

"Hey! Calm down first!"

"CALM DOWN?! DO I LOOK LIKE I'M IN ANY MOOD TO CALM DOWN?!"

BOOM! BOOOOM!

Explosive sounds rang through the air, one after another.

They sounded almost like drums bursting, but the force behind those strikes was enough to topple a massive tree.

Even Yeon Hojeong wouldn't emerge unscathed if he took one of them directly with his bare body. Yet he could hardly open his Divine Core and unleash the Four Spirit Qi against her.

If he did that, Je Gal Ahyeon would truly lose her mind.

"Wait!"

WHAP!

Yeon Hojeong seized both her wrists.

He was about to apologize when his expression turned horrified.

Je Gal Ahyeon's eyes, mere inches from his face, were blazing with madness.

Come to think of it, her eyes were horribly bloodshot. It was easy to see just how much she had suffered over the past several weeks.

The bloodshot eyes weren't simply the result of her anger. She had been straining them by researching formations day after day, barely getting any sleep.

But that was one thing.

This was another matter entirely.

Holy shit!

Yeon Hojeong's hands trembled as he struggled to hold her wrists.

Her strength was monstrous.

She was exerting force that should have been impossible given her level of martial arts. Whether fueled by Killing Intent, hatred, or rage, Je Gal Ahyeon was proving just how terrifying the human body could become when the mind was pushed to its absolute limits.

In the end, Yeon Hojeong made his decision.

D-damn it.

He spoke rapidly in a low voice.

"Forgive me!"

"Forgive you for wha—!"

THWACK!

Je Gal Ahyeon's eyes rolled back in her head. Her body went limp, and she collapsed on the spot.

Yeon Hojeong let out a heavy breath.

"Oh, hell..."

He had only intended to quickly seal her sleep point, but the instant he released her wrist, the hand she swung through the air had shown signs of unleashing force emission.

In the end, he'd instinctively struck the back of her neck and knocked her unconscious.

It had been a reflex.

Yeon Hojeong looked down at her.

Je Gal Ahyeon lay sprawled on the ground, the whites of her eyes showing. Her expression was so terrifying that even a ghost might have fainted at the sight of it.

"...Think she'll cool off a little?"

Or would she wake up considering him her mortal enemy?

******

"Phew. I think I've finally cooled down."

Je Gal Ahyeon had spent roughly an hour unconscious on a wooden platform. When she finally opened her eyes, she stretched her arms and legs before sitting up.

Yeon Hojeong stood against a nearby wall with his arms crossed. He cleared his throat and turned his head away.

Je Gal Ahyeon frowned and glared at him.

Still, perhaps because she'd finally gotten some proper sleep, the madness that had filled her eyes earlier was gone.

"..."

A little time passed.

Je Gal Ahyeon was the first to speak.

"Aren't you going to apologize?"

"I'm sorry."

Yeon Hojeong answered immediately, as though he'd been waiting for the question.

"I should have sent you a letter first, but things were so hectic in the field that I never managed to set aside the time. Of course, I received the letters you sent. I should have replied right away, but every time I tried, some damned bastard would go and cause another disaster, and then I'd have to deal with that, and before I knew it—"

Je Gal Ahyeon couldn't help chuckling.

Watching him uncross his arms and launch into one rambling excuse after another, she felt the last of her fury drain away.

"Enough. Stop."

"...And if that bastard Manho had just moved a little faster, I might have—huh?"

"I said stop. And why are you dragging Manho into this? He hasn't done anything wrong."

Yeon Hojeong gave an embarrassed smile.

"Well, he was the first person I thought of who'd be easy to blame..."

"You're a disgrace as a Supreme Commander. What kind of commander dumps his own responsibilities on a subordinate?"

"I figured he might be understanding enough to forgive me."

"Shut up and follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"..."

"Ah! Of course. Yes, absolutely. We should go. I need to see it."

Acting with an eagerness quite unlike him, Yeon Hojeong hurried over and threw an arm around Je Gal Ahyeon's shoulders.

She frowned.

"Get off. You're heavy."

Yeon Hojeong smacked his lips and lowered his arm.

He'd thought she'd calmed down, but she was clearly still rather touchy.

Je Gal Ahyeon sighed deeply.

"Seriously, you know? If you're going to assign someone a job, you should at least tell them how far you expect them to take it and when they're supposed to stop. I know you were busy, but still..."

She continued grumbling without pause.

And Yeon Hojeong had no choice but to listen quietly.

Before leaving the Martial Alliance, Yeon Hojeong had asked Je Gal Ahyeon to improve several formations as much as she possibly could.

The assignment ranged from the smaller formations used by the Evil-Smiting Corps and Demon-Sweeping Corps to large-scale mechanisms and formations capable of encompassing the entire Martial Alliance.

It had been an absurdly demanding request to place on one person.

Nevertheless, Je Gal Ahyeon had spent all this time studying, dismantling, improving, and rebuilding those formations.

The problem was the complete breakdown in communication.

When Yeon Hojeong had departed with the Righteous Justice Corps, he hadn't even stopped by to see Je Gal Ahyeon.

Leaving aside their personal friendship, he had departed without giving her clear orders as her commanding officer.

That had been an exceedingly harsh thing to do.

It was particularly cruel given Je Gal Ahyeon's personality. Once she took on a task, abandoning it halfway was simply unthinkable.

Her determination to see everything through to the end, combined with the total lack of communication, had driven her anger to unimaginable heights.

For all this time, she had essentially been running a race without knowing where the finish line was.

Most people would have given up halfway through. Those who didn't might well have been driven to the brink of madness.

It was a testament to Je Gal Ahyeon's extraordinary mental fortitude.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason she was angry.

"Next time, just tell me what's going on."

"I will."

"I don't know what you think of me, but I'm not just the daughter of the Martial Alliance's chief strategist. I'm the strategist of the Evil-Smiting Corps before anything else. I'm fighting for the Corps in my own way, too."

Yeon Hojeong felt utterly ashamed.

Je Gal Ahyeon wasn't this angry simply because she'd been overworked.

She felt excluded.

And Yeon Hojeong understood her feelings all too well.

"This won't happen again. I promise."

Being busy was no excuse.

In fact, the busier and more overwhelmed someone became, the more important it was to make sure the essential things were properly taken care of.

Countless capable people had brought themselves to ruin through precisely this sort of negligence.

Yeon Hojeong had learned a valuable lesson from his mistake.

I've already risen to a position where that kind of responsibility falls on me.

Yangcheon had once described him as the very heart of the Martial Alliance's contemporary political affairs.

It hadn't been an exaggeration.

Yeon Hojeong himself might deny it, but the truth was that the Martial Alliance had reached a point where a single word from him, backed by his determination, could send the entire organization into turmoil.

And the more influence he gained, the more carefully he needed to look after his own people.

Seeing the increasingly solemn expression on Yeon Hojeong's face, Je Gal Ahyeon's features finally relaxed.

"All right. I'll let go of everything that's been bothering me."

For all her temper, she had always been refreshingly straightforward.

Je Gal Ahyeon swept away the resentment that had driven her to the brink of madness and put it behind her.

"So, what are you going to show me first? The improved formations for the Evil-Smiting Corps? Or the Demon-Sweeping Corps? Or perhaps the mechanisms and formations designed to cover the entire Martial Alliance?"

"No. Those can wait until later."

Je Gal Ahyeon's expression grew serious.

"Do you remember when we fought the Divine Flame Cult's warriors?"

"Of course."

"We were planning to set up formations throughout that area, remember? Partly so we could get a better understanding of the terrain."

"That's right."

"Well, I discovered something while investigating the region. You could call it the fundamental axis underlying the Divine Flame Cult's formations."

A sharp gleam flashed in Yeon Hojeong's eyes.

"Then that's the first thing we need to see."