“Give me an excuse.”

“…”

Sa Yeo-han, the leader of the Demon Brain Sect, hung his head low and did not dare to look up at the leader of the Demon Sect.

He felt really wronged.

His plan that he had spent decades on was shattered in just over a month.

His plan was perfect.

He had already infiltrated or captured many of the influential figures in the Righteous Alliance, including the leader.

He had also set up numerous traps in various places that could deal a fatal blow to the Righteous Alliance.

‘If it weren’t for that damn Demon Slayer Unit or whatever it is!’

Sa Yeo-han felt more despair than anger.

Even if he had personally told them, they wouldn’t have been able to clear those traps faster than this.

Amazingly, the Righteous Alliance, which had organized the Demon Slayer Unit, was destroying the spies and captured forces at a terrifying speed.

‘Could it be that the Righteous Alliance bastards also infiltrated our sect?’

Of course, that was impossible in the Demon Sect.

Even he, who was considered the best brain in the sect, couldn’t imagine such a thing.

That’s how absurd this failure was.

“I’m sorry…”

“Is that all you have to say?”

The leader of the Demon Sect observed him with a surprisingly calm tone. But Sa Yeo-han knew very well what would happen if he was deemed useless.

“Of course not! I have another plan!”

“Hmm…”

The leader of the Demon Sect looked unimpressed, but he didn’t kill him right away, which meant he was willing to give him another chance.

“Tell me what your plan is.”

‘Phew…’

Sa Yeo-han let out a sigh of relief inwardly and opened his mouth.

“The response of the Righteous Alliance was unexpected, but it could also be an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“Yes. That group called the Demon Slayer Unit has almost all of the main forces of the Righteous Alliance gathered there, right?”

As Sa Yeo-han explained, the Demon Slayer Unit had become a place where only the elites of the elites were gathered, as each sect competed to send their members to gain merit.

There were so many applicants that it was a headache to select them.

“Is your goal to attack them?”

“Yes!”

Sa Yeo-han answered with a confident expression.

“According to the information I obtained, that Demon Slayer Unit is targeting this place.”

He pointed his finger at a part of the map.

The sect that was located there was called Daewoongmun, which had been captured by the Demon Sect a long time ago, but it didn’t have much power.

However, Sa Yeo-han’s real target was not there.

Swoosh.

His finger moved slightly upward from there.

It was where a huge river that divided the Hwan Empire horizontally was located.

“The Jang River?”

Sa Yeo-han nodded vigorously at the leader’s question.

“I plan to turn them all into fish food in the Jang River.”

***

Meanwhile, Eurius was also preparing for his next plan.

“It feels like we’ve cleared most of the big places.”

“It’s thanks to you, my lord. Thanks to the achievements of the Demon Slayer Unit, the number of experts who have joined our alliance is gradually increasing.”

The War of Righteousness and Demons was often a fight between so-called prestigious sects and the Demon Sect.

Small and medium-sized sects didn’t have many experts, and losing them in a fight against the Demon Sect would be a huge loss, so they usually didn’t send their core experts.

But as the deeds of the Demon Slayer Unit became known, the atmosphere gradually changed.

There was no better opportunity than this to make their sect’s name known if they participated even a little bit.

The Righteous Alliance was now overflowing with experts from all over the place.

Eurius’s eyes sparkled as he heard the situation.

“Then it’s time to prepare for a full-scale war?”

They had enough power gathered and most of the spies from the Demon Sect were cleared.

It was time for a full-scale war with the Demon Sect.

“Of course. I’m planning to let the Demon Slayer Unit rest for a while in our alliance after this Daewoongmun subjugation.”

Jegal Seongun agreed with his words and seemed to think for a moment.

Soon, he opened his mouth with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“Actually… I had some news to report to you, but I was late.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s about the Noklim Alliance that I told you before.”

“Oh!”

Eurius’s eyes widened.

It was one of the news he had been waiting for the most.

“Are you sure he’s there? I heard the description was similar, but…”

“Actually, things got a little complicated. I thought it would be resolved when the messenger who went to Noklim came back.”Jegal Seongun lowered his head as if he had no face.

Eurius looked at him with a puzzled expression and replied.

“What happened with that group of bandits called Noklim?”

“It’s a trivial matter that I’m ashamed to call a problem to you. I didn’t expect this situation to happen either.”

“Tell me more in detail.”

Jegal Seongun started to explain with a somewhat absurd expression.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the Janggangsu Alliance before.”

“I did. If Noklim is a group of mountain bandits, then Janggangsu is a group of water bandits, right?”

“That’s right. The problem occurred during the process of subjugating both factions.”

“…”

After listening to the explanation, Eurius muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

“So… you’re saying that the bandits who steal on land and the bandits who steal on water are fighting each other and things are not going well?”

“You summarized it well. They have a pretty deep-rooted relationship, but if you just conclude, that’s it.”

“Sigh…”

The bandits who steal in the martial world could be largely divided into two categories: mountain bandits and water bandits. Mountain bandits were none other than Noklimchilshipicha… Noklim Alliance.

And there was a big river called Janggang that crossed the vast land of Hwan Empire from east to west. The people who stole on this river were called Janggangsuropalsipcha! Or simply Suru Alliance.

“Unlike us, they have surprisingly wide influence. Especially on Janggang, Suru’s power is great.”

Unlike Noklim, who usually designated one mountain and claimed their business(?), Suru had a lot of legitimate businesses, and that was the control and management of the waterway and ships.

“If you want to use Janggang, you have to deal with them whether you like it or not. Most of the skilled boatmen and ships on the river are connected to them.”

And Janggang, which crossed the east and west of the empire, was also the fastest and most efficient transportation method. The headquarters of Magyo, Cheonsan Mountain Range, was located at the western end of the continent and surrounded by rugged mountains, so it was not an easy place to go by land unless you were an extraordinary master.

“So we tried to contact Suru early. It was essential to use the waterway through Janggang to move the masters belonging to Chekma Unit efficiently.”

“But it fell through?”

“It may seem like a trivial fight to you, but they are also martial artists and their prestige can be easily underestimated once it is broken in the martial world. Especially in their case, where they move people by force.”

“Hmm…”

That’s right!

The problem this time was the rivalry between Noklim and Suru. They were both bandits, but strangely they hated each other very much. Perhaps it was because of their difference in business style(?).

“Hmph! We mountain heroes don’t live by pretending to be legal like those fish in Janggang. They are not bandits but merchants!”

“Tsk! It’s amazing that there are still land dogs who are old-fashioned and talk about heroes and tolls on mountains.”

This was their difference in opinion. Jegal Seongun sighed after explaining this far.

“Whew… I didn’t expect things to happen because of such trivial problems either. Suru was at least solvable with money…”

According to his explanation, Suru promised to cooperate as much as possible with Chekma Unit if they paid money. But Noklim was the problem.

“They said they would never ride on Suru’s ship, who is their competitor. If they don’t ride on the ship, there is no point in bringing them in.”

As he mentioned earlier, it was too difficult to move by land to Magyo’s headquarters unless you were an extraordinary master.

The best option was to borrow Suru’s ship and go by waterway, but they said they would never ride on it even if they died.

“Well, they are mountain bandits after all? If we press them with force…”

“It might have been worth considering ten years ago, but their power is not to be underestimated. Especially the leader of the Seventy-Two Branches, King Yooksangyong, who was once among the Four Great Masters of the orthodox sects. They are not strictly a faction, so they could easily side with the evil sects.”

[Land Dragon King, Jin Yeo Hae].

He was a person who had broken through the realm of superhumans and was one of the Four Great Masters of the orthodox sects, as a disciple of Shaolin ten years ago. But one day, he suddenly disappeared and reappeared as the leader of the Seventy-Two Branches of Nokrim, shocking all the martial artists.

And the other leaders of the Seventy-Two Branches who received his martial arts were also full of outstanding masters, so Nokrim was evaluated as a group that could not be underestimated in the current martial world.

Finally, after hearing all the explanations, Eurius nodded his head.

“So, if we persuade the leader to board our ship, the problem will be solved.”

“It’s not as easy as you think.”

At this point, Eurius chuckled.

“Then I’ll go and persuade him myself while I’m looking for someone.”

He had just heard that he had found one of his colleagues in Nokrim. It was a good opportunity even if it wasn’t for this problem.

***

The current location of Nokrim was not far from Jeongdomaeng.

They were originally summoned by the emperor and responded to the summons nominally.

And now Eurius was sitting face to face with the leader of Nokrim.

“I’m Jinyeo.”

“Your name is Eurius, right?”

[Jinyeo]

Job: Fist Master, Superhuman (Grandmaster)

Strength: S+ Agility: S Intelligence: B+ Mental Power: A+ Force Aptitude: A+ Force: S

Disposition: Stubborn, Eccentric, Blunt

[Trait]

Martial Arts (S+)

Diamond Indestructible – It is a secret technique of the fourth stage. The strength of your body increases depending on your proficiency.

‘He’s a mid-level superhuman among superhumans. It won’t be too hard to suppress him.’

Eurius checked Jinyeo’s stats and prepared himself in case of emergency.

‘Apparently, these heretics value strength more than manners. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just force him to follow me.’

But Jinyeo asked him a question before he could open his mouth.

“Your name is Eurius, right?”

“…!?”

Eurius looked at him with a bewildered expression.

He was not surprised by the question, but by the fact that Jinyeo’s blunt expression changed slightly to a regretful one.

“It seems like I found him properly.”

Jinyeo didn’t wait for Eurius’s answer and turned his head and shouted.

“Nu Daehyung! I found him right!”“Daehyung?”

Eurius muttered unknowingly.

What does that mean?

Clatter.

At that moment, the door opened and a familiar presence entered the room.

He recognized that presence and Eurius smiled happily.

“Nuada! You were with them!”

The one who came in was a young man with a large physique!

It was Nuada, who had been separated by a storm.

They hugged each other and shook hands with joy.

After they vented their emotions for a while, Nuada opened his mouth first.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t join you sooner, friend.”

He looked a bit sorry for joining now.

It was rare for him to show such an expression.

Swoosh.

In the meantime, Jinyeo stood up.

“…!?”

Eurius raised his eyebrows again before he could ask anything.

He clasped his hands and bowed.

“I congratulate Daehyung on meeting his friend again.”

‘Come to think of it, he’s been calling him Daehyung since earlier.’

Eurius stared blankly at Nuada.

He sighed and explained.

“Phew… Actually, the reason why I found my friend so late was related to this… They kept asking me to become the leader of the mountain tribe or to hand over the chief’s position. It was annoying.”

‘Ah…’

Eurius nodded inwardly.

The information he had heard was that there was a Westerner who looked like Nuada and had a good reputation among the Nokrim people. But he didn’t know that he had reached such a high position that the chief would offer him his seat.

“The details are…”

“That can wait.”

Eurius guessed roughly how this relationship came about.

Of course, he was not uninterested in the process, but that was not what he was most curious about right now.

He turned his body toward Jinyeohae.

“First of all, thank you for helping my friend. But I have something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“…!?”

Eurius was slightly surprised.

Wasn’t his tone of voice much more polite than before?

“If you are a friend of Daehyung, you are also my superior. But that doesn’t mean I will obey your orders or become your subordinate. Don’t worry too much about it.”

At that, Eurius nodded and opened his mouth.

“Why did you refuse our offer? I would appreciate it if you could take the boat with us.”

“That’s not a difficult thing to do. The water dogs of Suromaeng are annoying, but this time it’s also the emperor’s order.”

“Hmm?”

Unexpectedly, Jinyeohae had no objection to taking the boat. But another question arose from here.

“Then why did you refuse at first?”

Then Nuada opened his mouth with a sheepish expression.

“That was because of my request.”

“You?”

“If you go west by boat, wouldn’t you miss the chance to meet him?”

“Aha!”

Eurius nodded his head.

It was a reasonable argument. But now that he had joined them, there was no problem.

‘It’s surprisingly easy to solve.’

As he relieved himself, Nuada spoke to him again.

“There is also another reason why I didn’t take the boat.”

“Hmm? What is it this time?”

“Phew… It’s embarrassing, but…”

Nuada sighed and a trace of fear flashed across his face. Eurius was surprised to see him make such an expression that looked like he had nothing to fear in the world.

‘What could be the reason?’

Nuada opened his mouth again.

“I heard that the place called Janggang is not a river, but a huge sea where dozens of boats can float in a row.”

As he said, Janggang was a huge river that was tens to hundreds of meters deep and could cause big waves if the wind blew hard.

Except for the fact that the waves were not high, there was not much difference between the wide part of the river and the calm sea.

‘Wait a minute, sea?’

Eurius recalled the nightmare-like memory of his first voyage.

‘Surely Nuada is…’

“Ah!”

“Did you notice?”

Nuada looked genuinely scared.

The thing that the lord who ruled over the northern part of the Western Continent feared most was…

“Seasickness?”

“…”