Book 24 Chapter 11

Outposts

-paddle. right

"Lin is the captain of this match, and I'll take the lane this time."

To be honest, I've never really done anything to help the Missing Regiment win; I've just been sitting on the sidelines. Occasionally, he would venture out into the middle of the arena, but he would simply surrender and enter. This was because one of the seals of the Muklong Ring had been broken, so it was better to exert as little effort as possible. Still, the fact that they had made it this far without dropping out was due to the hard work of Na Yerin, who had honed her natural talent and senses to the point where she was now a master swordswoman, and Yun Mi, who had improved a great deal in recent years through countless experiences. But this time was different. She couldn't stay still after what she'd heard in the other side's waiting room earlier.

"Is that okay?"

This time, it wasn't a best-of-three match, but a survival of the fittest.

"Of course it's fine, who do you think I am?"

Yunbi smiled.

"I'll set the stage, so all you have to do is think about lean."

"Would you be okay with that, Yeonbi, if I lose?"

Choosing that tactic meant putting everything on one sword, Na Yerin's sword.

"If I lose here, it's all for naught."

"Gee, were you going to lose, Rin?"

"No, no. Of course not."

She was determined to win, not only for the sake of Yeonbi, but also for the sake of the spirit. She didn't think her words would work unless she could defeat the spirit with her sword first. She also held out hope that she might be able to restore the spirit's lost memories through this fight.

"That's a good idea. If we lose here, we don't know when we'll get another chance to get Rin's favorite Dingo lion's memory back."

"By the way……."

Then, with a big smile on his face, he pulled Na Yerin into a tight hug.

"I believe in Lean, so Lean believes in itself."

She was so grateful that he believed in her so completely. Moved, Na Yerin hugged Warak's body.

"Thank you, Yeonbi. I really appreciate it."

Scratching his temple, Fuel replied in a slightly panicked tone.

"Frustrated?"

"No, I like it just the way it is. It's not frustrating, not at all."

With a pat on the back, the Yeonbi cheered Na Yerin up.

"I can't let them have their way, and no matter what they do, they can never hurt Rin, and I won't allow it.

In order to do so, cleaning was a must. It was an unusually tense and emotionally taxing battle. There was no telling what mistakes might be made. Especially not in a match where the outcome depended entirely on swordsmanship. I didn't want Yerin to lose strength unnecessarily before fighting the spirit. It was better to eliminate as much anxiety as possible, and to that end, Yun Missouzer was, if you'll pardon the expression, a little uneasy. There was the matter of the man she'd met earlier, Yin Ming, and she couldn't rest easy unless she took care of it herself.

"And so, let's begin the much-anticipated semifinals. Unusually, both of the semifinalists are all-female groups. Alas, what a shame as a fellow man. Will there be a new wave of female powerhouses? We may be watching the scene. The winner of this match will finally earn the right to face off against the dreaded Bloodstain - if they can survive the showdown with him!"

The commentator shouted excitedly. The cylindrical arena was drowned out by the deafening roar, making it impossible to hear what anyone else was saying, but no one cared. Everyone was too busy shouting in the heat of the moment.

"You finally made it here, and there's your sister."

Na Yerin said, glancing at the other side of the queue. Finally, in a little while, we'll be facing off against the Dingo Lion. There was still no doubt in her mind that she was a Dokko. Now it was time to prove it, to the lioness herself.

"Well, I'll start with……."

The first to stand up was Yoon Jun-ho and Yoon Mi Sojer, who, as always, dressed as women. But she didn't take more than two steps. It was Yeonbi who stopped her, and she looked at him with a bit of embarrassment, as this had never happened before. He had always been the one to take the lead, to take people's strength out of the equation, and in fact to do it almost single-handedly. Then, when there was no other choice, Na Yerin stepped in. Whatever was wrong with her, Yan Bi, who hadn't looked well throughout the entire match, just sat quietly on the sidelines. They had defeated many strong opponents with just the power of two.

"Yun MiSojae needs to get some rest."

"Yeonbi, are you sure you're okay? You need to rest too, your internal injuries aren't even healed yet, are they?"

"Uh, have you noticed, Rin?"

"That's pretty much what you'd expect, you've got a really bad complexion, you're sweating a little bit, it's not your normal Yeonbi at all."

"Oops, I got caught. I didn't want to worry you too much, you must still be running on fumes."

Perhaps it was the after-effects of fighting her mother, the Frost Moon Sage Ye Qing, but Yun Che's condition was not very good. Especially her right arm, which she could barely use. She was still using her left hand to hold her right arm. He couldn't be okay. He was just not showing it.

"So if I say……."

But raising a finger to cover Na Yerin's lips, Yunbi smiled.

"It doesn't matter, Yerin focuses on the fights that only she can do, and I'll pave the way to that stage… well, my left arm is more than enough, in fact, it's overflowing. I won't be using my right arm."

Yeomdo picked up Chen Tianlin and stood up, walking straight to the center of the arena, where Meng Mu was already waiting for him. His face was tense and nervous. Arriving at his seat, Lian Bi glanced at Mongmu, then at Fang Mu and the spirit, who were waiting in the waiting area. Yanbi's gaze shifted to the spirit for a moment, then to Huanmu, then back to Mongmu. What's wrong? A puzzled look crossed Mon Mu's face.

"Miss, you can't do it alone, so you'll have to call another friend."

Yeonbi smiled and advised.

"What does that mean, no way?"

Yeonbi got the nod.

"I'm telling you to do it all at once because it's annoying."

"There you go, quack."

Yunbi stood still and waited for the fog to lift, looking very nonchalant.

"Are you ignoring us?"

Hwanmu, the cooler of the two, asked.

"No, I just don't want to let anyone interfere in Lean's fight, and I don't want to take a second swing at something that took one swing to fix."

"You mean you can take us out in a second? That's ridiculous. Don't be ridiculous!"

A short-tempered Mongmu yelled at the whale.

"Protect the chaetong, Mongmu."

Hwanmu spoke up from the side.

"Wow, did you hear that? You're surprisingly good at comprehension. Oh, that's definitely a compliment, so you can take it."

Yanbi smiled. Of course, the Dreaming Twins were not happy at all. He couldn't be happy.

"Don't regret it."

"Oh, that's such a clichéd line."

Originally, the people of the Black Isles valued efficiency and would not foolishly pass up the opportunity to fight two-on-one. If they got cocky, they'd show them the error of their ways. If he wanted to dig his own grave and strangle himself, there was no reason she couldn't help him cover it with dirt and tighten the elastic on the hangman's noose, and she was always ready to lend a hand with those things.

"I'll make you a deal: if you vote out two people, I'll vote out two people, and we'll be down to the last one. How about this?"

He said it as if Yeonbi was a whimsical idea.

"Don't be ridiculous! Why would we do that?"

The short-tempered Mongmu shouted again.

"That's because I'm a pain in the ass right now. I'm actually not feeling well right now, and I'm a pain in the ass to fight."

It was not a good idea to use jinqi recklessly. His body was half a step away from overflowing, like a glass full to the brim.

"What are you doing, mooning?"

I didn't skip my period because it was a big event or a final, but it was the kind of pain that Yeonbi will never know.

"Ugh, there's nothing a girl can't say, shame on you."

"Well, what the heck, you're a woman, right?"

"Anyway, what do you think of my suggestion, and I'd like you to get back to me quickly?"

Yeonbi hastened the answer.

"Give us time to think about it, but it's not going to work."

"Why?"

"Because we are her faithful handmaidens."

"Ho-ho, a faithful handmaiden, not a faithful watcher?"

Yeonbi asked with a meaningful smile.

"Outrageous!"

Mongmu bellowed.

"What are you so excited about, is there a sting somewhere?"

"Sting, for stinging, is……."

But Mongmu cut him off, stepping forward and speaking briefly.

"None."

Mongmu looked like he wanted to say something more, but when he saw the look on Huanmu's face, he clamped his mouth shut.

"Anyway, we're not abstaining, young lady, and we'll take care of you and the other two over there!"

Mongmu shouted confidently.

"That's absolutely, positively impossible, so it's better not to talk about it. You should know your stuff so you don't have to deal with it, and it's not a good habit to ramble on and on and on."

Said Yunbi, smiling a humanizing smile.

"You, you, you……."

Mongmu was so angry that he couldn't even speak, only stammered.

"Gee, I guess I said something so precise that you couldn't even find the words to rebut it, right? That's why you've got a smarty-pants friend next to you. It must be a real headache for your owner, too, because he has to put you out in pairs because you're not good for anything on your own. You're like chopsticks."

Yanbi's words were harsh, and each one scratched at Mongmu's insides. Each time Yanbi opened her mouth, Mon Mu's face turned red, then blue, then red again. Feeling that she couldn't leave him in charge any longer, Huanmu stepped forward again.

"Wow!"

The words that came out of her mouth were always short.

"Are you sure you're not going to abstain, you'll regret it?"

"It's not worth a damn."

"Hah, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to push myself……. I'm not even sure I can do it in moderation……. A competent person has a lot on their mind."

But I wanted to make sure to clean it up for Rin, who will be taking the stage in the future.

"You're going to regret that choice you just made."

"It remains to be seen who will regret it."

"We'll see, you don't believe me, I'm sure, unless a miracle happens."

And no matter what anyone says, miracles are miracles because they don't happen.

And there was another thing: even though he was laughing and talking in a nonchalant manner on the outside, anger was now bubbling like lava in Yan Bi's heart. If anyone wanted to harm Ye Lin, even if it was a woman, he would never forgive them.

This was not Yunbi's fight; it was Lin's fight. She could not intervene in this fight except to offer some advice. This was entirely a matter between siblings. It was a full knot of two people.

"If that's what it takes, I'm going to push myself a little bit, but I'm not going to die. I'm going to push myself a little bit, and I'm going to be fine, just a little bit.

Even though I told myself that, I knew it was all a lie, a deception. At times like this, I resent the coldness of my judgment. It doesn't allow you to just bury it.

"Probably not good after all.

"Let's go, Mongmoo! It's a dreamy world."

Just then, Huanmu called out in a cold voice.

"Sure. That's all I got. Let's smash it, Fang Mu!"

An excited Mongmu exclaimed. His opponent was also a powerhouse who had made it to the semifinals. They weren't the kind of people who could save their strength to fight.

"You'd better be careful, I don't know what's going on with my right hand right now."

Yeonbi frowned slightly, squeezing his right shoulder.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Mongmu shouted harshly. Hwanmu's caution to speak more gracefully fell on deaf ears.

"Well, you sure are a fast talker. See, I can move my right arm well enough, I just can't control it, so please be careful not to kill me, because if I do, I'll really kill you."

For a moment, the two shivered at the creepy flesh. The intangible flesh appeared like a flash of light and disappeared like an illusion, but the momentary exposure to it was enough to send chills down their spines. The epicenter of this life force was now smiling with a dark laugh.

"I'm not even sure if I have any mercy left in me right now, so I'd better be careful."

As far as she was concerned, the only victim was the spirit; all the others were accomplices and perpetrators. She didn't have a dime to spare for the perpetrator, even if it was a woman.

Especially now that she was clearly a woman. There wasn't much to keep her away.

The two-man combat art of the Dreaming Twins had a unique hypnotic effect. The goal was to disorient the opponent's mind by using a special, inconspicuous powder, special movements, and special sounds. In the confusion, the person caught in the crossfire would not know when they were caught.

The next thing you know, you're on the ground, but not this time. Yanbi was unperturbed by the two's relentless illusionist attacks, but that didn't mean that Fang Mu's acupuncture or Mong Mu's articulation techniques were working.

"Uh-oh, are you kidding me, try being more serious-ah-ah."

Yan Bi lightly blocked the two men's attacks with a gesture as if he were shaking the dirt from his palms. No matter how hard the Dreaming Twins tried, they could not penetrate the invisible gulf around her. Something was blocking their path, their touch, and their sneaky tricks were not working now.

"It's not fun if you're already showing your underbelly."

Yeonbi chuckled. It was a frightening laugh. They both read the life in the smile that spread across her face. And it dawned on them that all this time they had been being teased. It was Yanbi who had been toying with them, and now, for some reason, she was very angry.

"I could die!

The two men shuddered as they felt a vivid sense of crisis.

"Well, Yongke, you still have some mercy left in you. You're lucky to have been born a girl, because you don't usually get that chance."

Yanbi said, deflecting the still-rainbowing barrage of dreams.

"What do you mean?"

It sounded something like this

"It's Easy Sunda, you only have to choose one or the other, and whichever you choose, I'll honor your choice. Such kindness is rare. Now, let's see. Do you want to rummage around, even though it doesn't hurt, or do you want to live with the pain of rummaging around?"

Both are trailing, but there was only one trailing to choose from.

"Of course, the back……."

Before she could finish her sentence, Yan Bi's body moved, and the now-folded Xuan Tianlin flew toward the dreaming pair, and the terrifying matrix began.

"Because hitting them with your fist is too barbaric."

It was a gesture of kindness, but not a pleasant one.

Tuddle, tuddle, tuddle!

It was quite a scene to watch from the sidelines, and if it had been a man slapping a woman, there would have been a lot of screaming around. But they weren't sure how to react to a woman hitting a woman, so I was able to get my mileage out of it, albeit briefly, without anyone interrupting me.

"I didn't hit you in the face though, does it hurt much?"

But both of them were incredibly sore.

"……."

Writhing on the floor like shrimp struck by lightning, with their backs folded, that was all they could say. They were at a loss for words. They weren't even at full strength. The blood in their veins was trying to twist itself into a mess from the instantaneous use of their inner gong. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, he said coldly.

"Remember that pain now, because if anything happens to Yerin's body, it will make you feel a thousand times, ten thousand times, a billion times what you're feeling now. Of course, you're not the only ones, and so is the man called Eunmyeong, and if there's anyone else up there, so is he. So act wisely, because your next move could determine your fate."

It was an ultimatum, a final warning, and with those words, Yunbi returned to her seat, her face flushed.

The room was as silent as a puddle of cold water. No one spoke up. Until later, when Eugene, an underachiever who had come to his senses, shouted out the triumph of Yeonbi.

With the echoing cheers behind him, he returned to the waiting area where Na Yerin and Yunbi were sitting, wide-eyed.

"Why are you both squinting like birds shot out of the sky?"

"That's me……."

"Well, I don't know, why would that be?"

Neither of them had a good answer.

The two men were also surprised by the bird's aggressive behavior. Honestly, there was no grace in this one.

"Wouldn't that have been too harsh?"

Na Yerin asked in a cautious tone.

"Not at all."

There was no hesitation in her answer. Silently suppressing her anger, she really did think so, but neither of them knew why, and she wouldn't tell them.

"Okay, now it's Rin's turn, go tie your own knot, and I'll be right here waiting with baited breath."