Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 105

Chapter 105
Amidst the cries of pain and the bobbing light of nearing torches, a fighter jumped down from the small hill and yelled out in alarm.

“Vice Lord! It’s a Blood Cult trap! They’re closing in from everywhere! One of our scouts must have been taken; the meeting spot is compromised!”

“Hell!”

Just as Seol had worried earlier, the rendezvous point itself hadn’t been leaked, but the enemy’s attack was perfectly synchronized with our arrival.

Hearing the warrior’s shout, three or four more people burst from the wolf den, their expressions shocked as they looked to Swift Walker.

“Vice Lord!”

“What should we do?!”

“Give the order!”

In one swift motion, Swift Walker produced a few papers and pressed them into Sword Master’s hands, his look resolute.

“Sword Master, get this to the Lord of the Martial Alliance!”

“What is this…?”

It was clearly a compiled report—most likely a map detailing all their gathered intelligence on suspected Blood Cult headquarters.

“That document holds our conclusions on the Blood Cult’s main bases, drawn from everything we’ve learned. You must deliver it to the Alliance Lord, no matter what!”

“But why me?! What will you do, Vice Lord?!”

“When things turn dire, it falls to us veterans to make sure the younger generation lives on.”

“You can’t—!”

His words carried the weight of sacrifice—a choice made to guarantee our escape.

Swift Walker’s eyes swept over our group, his face marked with a grimace before he continued.

“I will not allow the Twin Dragons, the Lone Phoenix, and the Lone Flower to fall here. You represent the future of our world! We will draw them off—you must survive! Now, do as I say!”

“Yes, Vice Lord!”

“Move out!”

He and his five followers then rushed ahead, his voice carrying back to us.

“We’ll open a path with our blood! Wait for your chance, then run south!”

‘South? Not north?’

Our destination was Yunnan, to the north. Why was he telling us to go south?

I must have looked confused, because Hwa-eun took hold of my wrist and clarified quickly.

“It’s a trick. The Blood Cult will assume we flee north toward Yunnan, so they will concentrate their strength there. By charging north as a diversion, Swift Walker and his men will pull their attention, allowing us to escape to the south.”

‘Oh, that’s smart.’

Admiring the clever tactic, I moved with Hwa-eun as we reached the cover of the wolf den.

We held our breath in the dark, waiting, and before long, the distant clang of steel, shouts, and cries began to echo through the night.

—Clang!

“The north! They’re breaking through to the north!”

“Gahhhh!”

“The Martial Alliance forces are heading north!”

Just as Hwa-eun foresaw, the ring of torches surrounding us wavered.

The flames shifted—converging north as the Blood Cult redirected their focus toward Swift Walker’s group.

With their attention pulled away, the southern perimeter began to thin.

Just as we prepared to move—

A huge shadow fell across me, Hwa-eun, and Seol.

Night had fallen, and with the torchlight suddenly blocked, everything went dark for a moment.

Then I understood what had caused the shadow.

It was Paeng Gyu-seong’s massive back.

His low voice vibrated in the darkness.

“I’ll lead. Azure Dragon and Sword Master, stick right behind me. So-ryong, you follow them. Dok-hwa and Lady Seol, guard the rear.”

A frontline tank—what a comforting presence.

The three of us nodded, and Paeng Gyu-seong surged forward like a raging bear, crashing southward.

Azure Dragon and Sword Master stayed tight on his heels.

—Shhkk!

As Paeng Gyu-seong plowed through the field, the high grass bent and broke under his bulk, clearing a wide path for the rest of us.

After twenty or thirty meters—

His voice dropped to a murmur.

[We have company.]

—Shhh…

—Step, step…

Just as he said, there were noises from ahead—footsteps mixed with the sound of rustling grass.

Without a second thought, Paeng Gyu-seong changed direction and charged headlong toward the source.

“There’s movement up ahead—what the—?! Martial Ar—”

—Splat!

“Gugh…!”

Without slowing, Paeng Gyu-seong slammed directly into the lead enemy.

The rest of us broke through the crushed grass in time to see a man thrown backward, vomiting a fountain of blood.

The torch he was holding flew upward, briefly lighting the scene before darkness swallowed it again.

The other Blood Cult members—around ten—stood frozen in shock.

They had been caught completely off guard.

Before they could recover, Sword Master and Azure Dragon, who had been following Paeng Gyu-seong, attacked from both sides.

The two moved in perfect sync, striking with deadly efficiency.

—Thwip!

—Slash!

Azure Dragon, whom I had sometimes thought foolish, moved with impressive grace.

His spear shot out, cleanly piercing a man’s throat.

At the same time, Sword Master’s sword gleamed in the moonlight as she cut down opponents.

“M-Martial A—Ghhk!”

“Kuhhhh!”

“Th-the Martial Alliance—!”

—Tsssht!

One enemy, shaking off his surprise, moved to blow a signal horn to alert the others.

But before he could sound it, a slim silver flash struck his forehead.

His eyes went wide with shock before he collapsed.

Hwa-eun had silenced him with one of her poisoned needles.

In seconds, ten Blood Cultists were neutralized.

Paeng Gyu-seong scanned the area again, his gaze fixing on a gap where the torchlight hadn’t reached.

“Well done! Dok-hwa, keep stopping anyone who tries to signal.”

“Understood.”

A tank leading, two close-range fighters flanking, and a ranged specialist covering the rear.

The teamwork between Paeng Gyu-seong, Sword Master, and Azure Dragon was nearly flawless.

And with Hwa-eun providing support, our group was a balanced and effective unit.

As we advanced, the noise from our fight started attracting more torches toward us.

Noticing this, Paeng Gyu-seong immediately sped up, charging forward again.

Our escape was only beginning.

***
After the first fight, we ran into two more ambushes. By the third encounter, it felt like we had finally pushed past their surrounding forces.

The tall grass, which had been up to our heads, started to become shorter and less dense.

As we broke out of the thick field, we were met with a daunting view.

A huge mass of Blood Cult members.

At least a hundred of them stood silently in the moonlight, their torches unlit, as if they had been waiting.

Just as we had tried to outsmart them, it appeared they had anticipated our move.

At the front, Paeng Gyu-seong, who had been leading our charge, came to a sudden stop.

“This is trouble!” he grunted, clearly surprised.

A man stepped out from the crowd of cultists, wearing a smug smile.

“Heh… so the northern push was a diversion, was it? A shame for you.”

His eyes moved over our group, and his smile grew wider.

“And what have we here? Three lovely women? This could be fun.”

The way his tongue slid over his lips filled me with pure anger.

He was staring right at Hwa-eun.

Then, as if to make things worse, he spoke the words that decided his fate.

“Kill the men. Take the women alive. And that one—” He pointed directly at Hwa-eun. “—I’ll handle her personally.”

Hwa-eun’s face flushed with rage and shame.

I tightened my fists.

The time for holding back was over.

‘Cho! These evil men need to be taught a lesson!’

The answer was immediate—a surge of restless energy, followed by a sharp mental command.

Get back. Now.

I turned to the group and shouted.

“Fall back! It’s coming!”

“What’s coming?!” Paeng Gyu-seong yelled.

Understanding my meaning, our group leaped back several paces just as the enemy leader and his men also instinctively retreated.

But after a moment of nothing happening, the cultist sneered.

“Hah! Did you really think we’d buy that? I don’t know who you four are, but no one is coming to save you.”

Then his smirk returned.

“Those Martial Alliance teams that entered the forbidden zone? All nine should be having their blood drained in our dungeons by now.”

“What…?!”

“The first three we caught broke easily. Hahaha.”

Hearing this, Sword Master’s eyes burned with fury.

Just as the cultist leader lifted his hand to order the attack—

—Plop.

A soft sound.

A small drop of something hit his hand.

—Plop, plop…

—Drip, drip, drip.

Slowly, drops began to fall from above, landing on the cultists.

“What is this… rain?”

He looked up, confused.

And then—

His face twisted.

Not in confusion.

But in agony.

No. More than agony.

It was dissolving.

“GRAAAAHHHH!!”

The droplets fell on the cultists, and wherever they landed, flesh melted away.

One by one, the Blood Cultists screamed, grabbing at their faces as their skin sloughed off like melting wax.

“Guhhhhk!”

“K-Kyaaaaaaaah!!”

A hundred tormented voices shrieked together, their collective agony transforming the night into a chorus of horror.

—THUD!

—Tsssssssshhhhh…!

Then, Cho dropped down between us and the cultists, letting out an angry hiss.

As if hit by a physical wave, the remaining cultists shuddered, their bodies dissolving further into grotesque, formless puddles.

‘H-Holy…’

I was left utterly speechless.

Next to me, Hwa-eun whispered in stunned disbelief.

“The sovereign of the Ten Great Venomous Beasts… the Skyborne Centipede, known to bring death from the skies…”

She swallowed hard.

“M-My grandfather told stories… ‘The Rain of Death’… This is what he described…”

Strangely, the grass, the cultists’ clothes, and their weapons were all untouched.

Only living flesh melted away, as if the substance Cho released targeted only organic matter.

No ordinary poison worked this way.

This wasn’t merely venom.

This was something unnatural, something other.

After confirming that all threats were gone, Cho slid over to me, tilting her head as if looking for approval.

—Tssssrrr…

Still partly in shock, I reached out and petted her head.

“Cho… please try not to drool on your mom and dad, alright?”

—Tssr?

Grandfather had claimed my body could endure Cho’s poison.

But honestly?

I wasn’t eager to test that theory.

Even with my poison resistance, I had a deep feeling that if a single drop of that substance touched me, it would burn a hole straight through my body.

This was no simple venom.

This was something entirely different.

Meanwhile, Elsewhere…

The Blood Cult Elder, Blood Gale Serpent Maecho-gwi, stared blankly at what was left of his troops.

Or more accurately, what little remained.

Only their weapons and clothing were left.

Everything else had been… removed.

“…What infernal sorcery is this…?”

It had required a full squad of their most powerful fighters—the Blood Phantom Division—to capture just six Martial Alliance warriors.

Yet here, in a flash, an entire unit of a hundred men had been utterly destroyed.

Earlier, on the northern front, they had taken some losses from a new dispersal poison the Alliance used, but they had managed to regroup with minimal losses.

But this?

This was unimaginable.

Among the dead was Blood Phantom Lord Gu Pung-so, one of the Blood Cult’s five top commanders.

Along with a third of his elite force.

“Have the others arrived yet?” Maecho-gwi snapped.

“Not yet, Elder.”

“Tch… are they planning to betray our agreement?!”

As his anger rose, a cool, calm voice came from behind him.

“Now, now… there’s no cause for such distrust.”

Maecho-gwi whirled around, stepping back on instinct.

A pale woman stood behind him, dressed in loose black robes.

She smiled.

In spite of himself, a chill went down his spine.

He hadn’t sensed her approach at all.

“I ordered you not to stand behind me!” he shouted.

Her smile widened. “Of course, Elder.”

Maecho-gwi clenched his fists.

This woman was part of the faction that had fought them when the Blood Cult first moved into this territory.

Initially, they had been enemies—consuming the same border villages as they fought for influence.

But when they found a common enemy in the Martial Alliance, a shaky truce was formed.

They called themselves the Five Lords of Venom.

Later, he learned they were the surviving members of the Five Venoms Clan.

But that was irrelevant now.

What mattered was the disaster that had just occurred.

Maecho-gwi’s patience was gone.

He lifted his hand, focusing his Qi into his poisoned dagger, and threw it at her.

She caught it easily, spinning it between her fingers.

She let a bead of its poison drip onto her finger… and then licked it.

Maecho-gwi felt his blood turn cold.

“…You’re still using Tiger’s Blood Poison? Didn’t we tell you that method has a flaw?”

“Damn it… they found the counter?” he muttered.

They had kept the antidote for that poison a top secret, known only to their inner circle.

Yet the Martial Alliance had already uncovered a way to neutralize it.

Maybe reclaiming their place in the Central Plains would be harder than they’d hoped.

As Maecho-gwi digested this bitter truth, the woman tossed him a small bottle.

He caught it on reflex, scowling.

“…What is this?”

“The antidote to Tiger’s Blood Poison.”

He caught his breath.

“You completed it?!”

“Naturally. We honor our agreements.”

Her tone was even, but there was a hint of mockery in it.

She was referring to the Blood Cult’s failed assault on the Tang Clan—a mission ruined by an unpredictable variable.

Her people had paid a price because of it.

Now, she was gently reminding him of that owed debt.

Clenching his jaw, Maecho-gwi forced himself to bow.

“…We are grateful for your assistance.”

“Oh, I know you are,” she replied airily.

Then, as if something just occurred to her, she turned toward the dissolved remains.

When she saw what was left, her eyes went wide.

Then—

She dropped to the ground, desperately sifting through the residue.

A moment later, she gasped.

“This… this is…!”

Her voice shook with reverence.

“…The First Venom Lord! It might be young, but there’s no doubt!”

She spun around, barking orders.

“Call the Toad Brigade! Release Roar! Immediately!”

Shapes emerged from the darkness, bowing deeply before vanishing into the night.

Something terrifying had just been confirmed.

And now, the Blood Cult were not the only hunters.