"Oww! Be gentler, gentler...!" Geo Sangwoong groaned as hands tightly bandaged the wound on his waist.
"A little spit would fix that. Stop being such a baby," Ya Suhyeok scolded as he tied off the knot without looking up. Contrary to his blunt words, his expression was dark. Geo Sangwoong's wound was deeper than it looked. Blood already seeped through the freshly tied bandage, staining the strips of torn uniform a deep, spreading red.
"You brat. Easy to say when you're not the one who's hurt."
"Who told you to show off by charging to the frontlines and getting yourself stabbed?"
"What an attitude..."
Silver Tiger licked Geo Sangwoong's pale cheek and whimpered, "Whine..."
"Don't worry, little guy! This is nothing." Geo Sangwoong grinned, patted Silver Tiger's head, and pushed his heavy body upright.
The juniors standing guard nearby watched him with open concern.
"Let's get moving. We'll be safe once we get inside the Branch Estate."
Geo Sangwoong, Ya Suhyeok, and the students in their squad had been fighting the whip-wielding Third Eccentric of the Infernal Eccentric Trio. However, the sudden collapse of the gorge had shaken their encirclement loose, and the Third Eccentric, whom they had nearly captured, managed to escape in the chaos.
After that, a free-for-all had erupted across the canyon.
Geo Sangwoong's composure shone through the pandemonium. He calmed his shocked juniors, quickly read the situation, and found a path to safety.
RUMBLE!
Thunder echoed again from deep inside the gorge, noticeably louder than before.
Geo Sangwoong's eyes gleamed. Only one person from the Azure Dragon Academy could produce such a thunderous sound.
That's where the Ak Clan Branch Estate is. We're heading in the right direction.
"Over there!" he cried out. "We're joining up with Mr. Namgung Su!"
RUUUMBLE!
The thunderous bursts came intermittently, and the intervals between them grew shorter like a precursor to something major.
"Senior, let me take the lead from here," Ya Suhyeok suggested, but Geo Sangwoong stubbornly shook his head.
"Stop being so stubborn! Can you even fight properly like that?"
Angry, Ya Suhyeok tried to push him back and forge ahead, but a powerful grip seized his shoulder from behind. His eyes widened in shock. Geo Sangwoong's grip was so strong that even he, who was born with superhuman strength, couldn't shake it off.
"Ya, Suhyeok," Geo Sangwoong said in a low, firm tone as he pulled his junior back, demonstrating extraordinary fortitude despite his severe injuries. "At times like this, the senior should shield their juniors. Get behind me."
"But..."
"When you become a senior yourself, you can take the lead."
Ya Suhyeok bit his lip hard and glared at his friend.
"Purr..." Silver Tiger mewed anxiously, glancing between the two giants.
In the end, Ya Suhyeok sighed and backed off. This was not the time for arguments. "...Damn it. If you get hurt any worse, I'll knock you out and carry you myself. Just so you know."
"Gahaha! I'll take you up on that then!" Geo Sangwoong laughed quietly, took the lead, and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Let's go!"
Ya Suhyeok glared at that broad back, sighed deeply, and followed.
Geo Sangwoong had not kept the lead simply because he was the senior, nor because he doubted Ya Suhyeok's skills. The job at the front was not just about fighting. It required the adaptability to distinguish friend from foe in thick dust and react accordingly. Among the Five Young Azure Dragons, he believed he was the best suited for that.
If the silhouette ahead was an enemy, he would avoid it. If he thought it might be an ally, he would confirm before letting them approach. His eye for people and his sense of the situation, inherited from his merchant father, had pulled him through crisis after crisis.
SWISH!
Geo Sangwoong halted and stared hard at a silhouette in the dust. "...Enemies. Prepare for battle."
Being a sizable group, fighting was sometimes unavoidable. Whenever it was, he was at the forefront, throwing himself into the enemy ranks like a cannonball.
CRASH! CRACK! CRUNCH!
The martial arts of the Bandit King smashed and broke the enemies apart. With each battle, the Savage Tiger Fist grew stronger and more precise.
The Blood Cultists were relentless, though. They swung their weapons until their last breath, and on a body tough as armor, the wounds still accumulated. With every engagement, more students were injured. Those too badly hurt had to be supported or carried.
The Monochrome Bears, leading from the front, were becoming drenched in blood.
"You okay, Suhyeok?"
"I told you to worry about yourself first, Senior."
Ya Suhyeok's body was covered in countless wounds too, though fewer than Geo Sangwoong's. Still, the two of them conversed nonchalantly between ragged breaths.
"...I wonder if the other seniors and Jicheon are okay."
"I last saw Wonkang with Dokgo Jun, and Cheon and Min were together, so they should be fine. They're not the type to go down easily."
"True..." Ya Suhyeok nodded, as if to shake off his anxiety.
RUUUMBLE!
The thunder was growing closer. Just a little further and they would reach Namgung Su. The Monochrome Bears quickened their pace, herding the exhausted students forward.
"Fufufu! I've finally found you."
"...!"
At the familiar voice, both of their expressions hardened at once.
A grinning man stepped out of the dust cloud ahead, a blood-soaked whip in his hand. It was the Third Eccentric, the one who had broken through their encirclement when the gorge collapsed, and the one who had carved the deep wound into Geo Sangwoong's side.
To make matters worse, he was not alone. Blood Cult martial artists spread out around him, surrounding the students.
The Third Eccentric flared his nostrils and laughed grotesquely. "Sniff, sniff. I wanted to kill you bastards with my own hands, so I followed your scent."
He had a habit of applying tracking incense to his whip, a strange quirk that involved letting enemies escape only to hunt them down and kill them slowly. When the gorge collapsed, he had fled without a second thought, but he had not forgotten the grudge of nearly being killed by the Azure Dragon Academy brats. The moment he linked up with the Blood Wolves, he began his own pursuit.
"First, I'll catch and kill those two. Anyone who interferes will be torn to shreds by my whip."
CRACK!
The whip struck the ground, carving a clear mark.
"Do as you wish." A man who appeared to be a high-ranking Blood Wolf nodded. His subordinates maintained the encirclement, weapons trained on the students, their attitude suggesting they would simply watch until the Third Eccentric settled his grudge.
"Damn it..."
"We were so close..."
Geo Sangwoong and Ya Suhyeok exchanged a quick glance. No words were needed. They both reached the same conclusion at once.
To minimize the damage, they had to kill the Third Eccentric quickly, even if it meant absorbing some hits.
The moment the decision was made, the Monochrome Bears stomped the ground simultaneously.
BOOM!
The stomp lacked its usual force, but the fighting spirit blazing in their eyes was fiercer than ever.
"Ha! You arrogant brats. Did you think I'd fall for that again?"
The Third Eccentric cackled and swung his whip savagely. He had struggled against the Azure Dragon Academy's encirclement before because it was a joint attack formation of several dozen students. Now it was just two prodigies. Even with his own internal injuries, toying with a couple of brats would be a simple matter.
"Kehfufu. First, the pale one. I'll take one of your arms."