Chapter 177 Underwater Battle
“It’s nothing much, just that the next waterway is a bit dangerous,” Kyodang said, glancing at Nuada.
“Heh… That guy will have a hard time when he enters the Three Gorges,” he added.
“Three Gorges?”
“Yes! It’s a scenic spot, but also a notorious rapids area in the Yangtze River.”
The Yangtze Three Gorges was a waterway surrounded by countless cliffs. The river width narrowed, making the current faster, and there were many reefs that could sink a boat if one was careless.
“We’ll slow down a bit, but the boat will shake a lot because of the rapids,” he warned.
“Hmm!”
Nuada’s face turned pale for a moment at the thought of the boat shaking more than it was now.
“Anyway, just know this. We’ll pass by at night, but we have good sailors in our water force, so we won’t have any trouble!”
Kyodang said that and went back to his boat.
Jinyeohae tilted his head.
“The Three Gorges are indeed beautiful and dangerous, but why do we have to pass by at night? It’s suspicious.”
He thought for a while and hardened his face.
“We’d better be careful. It would be a relief if nothing happens, but something feels fishy.”
Splash!
And a few hours later, as he said, the boats carrying the Cheongma Moksa Corps entered the Three Gorges. It was getting dark and it looked very dangerous, but the boats proceeded into the gorge.
Eurius nodded as he saw the boat speeding ahead on the current.
‘It’s definitely suspicious.’
He knew that Kyodang was not someone who would care about the safety of the group. Why did he kindly inform them beforehand when he could have just notified them after entering?
Soon, the surroundings were completely dark. The only sound was the rough water hitting the boat.
Nuada went into the cabin to rest, and the other boats also slept or rested, except for the guards.
Not long after, the incident happened.
Boom!
First, the boat carrying Kyodang and the Water Force members tilted sharply and screamed.
“Reefs!”
“I didn’t hear that there were any in this section?”
Bang bang bang!
At the same time, the same thing happened to the other boats. The boat that Eurius was on also tilted in an instant and water poured in.
Clang!
Eurius’s eyes lit up as he saw the water hitting the bow. The boat carrying the Cheongma Moksa Corps was dozens of ships, but how could so many boats stop at the same time, no matter how wide the reef area was?
‘I expected it, but they seem to have prepared well. If I’m not careful, I might be fine, but the others could suffer a big loss.’
It was essential to use the Yangtze River to transport troops anyway. Eurius knew Kyodang’s sinister intentions, but he went along with it because the situation was urgent, and he was confident that he could suppress him without much damage.
But except for the torches on the boat, the situation was dark!
“This must be Kyodang’s scheme.”
Jinyeohae and Nuada, who ran out in a hurry, looked around for Kyodang.
Clank!
The answer came from the bottom of the hull.
Splash!
Blue water began to rise from the bottom of the boat. Jinyeohae’s expression became serious and he spat out a word.
“Underwater battle! They’re trying to drag us into the water and kill us.”
“Keh heh heh…”
Kyodang smirked as he darted through the water at a terrifying speed. It was dark and hard to identify, but the dragon tattoo on his body was made of a special material that emitted a faint light.
It looked like black scales had sprouted on his body. This was why he was nicknamed the Underwater Black Dragon. Not only was his appearance bizarre, but he was also the best in the martial arts world in water skills.
‘Even if they are superhuman-level experts, they can’t beat me in the water! And this place is the Three Gorges, so I have a contingency plan.’
Of course, Kyodang didn’t think he could kill the Cheongma Moksa Corps, which had many excellent experts, by simply facing them in the water. He deliberately lured them into the Three Gorges instead of attacking them at night because he had something else in mind.
Swoosh.
He pulled out a sword that looked like a small hook from his bosom. The hook, which was made to cut through the water, emitted a sharp light and pierced the hull of the boat that Eurius was on.
Bang bang bang!
He laughed wickedly as he saw the boat tilt sharply.
Crackle!
“Huh!”
“What’s going on?”
Similar sounds were heard from elsewhere. His subordinates also jumped into the water and drilled holes in the bottom of each boat.
“Keh heh heh…”
In a few minutes, the boats carrying the Cheongma Moksa Corps would all sink. And once they entered the water, it would be his world.
Splash!
Clang!
As he expected, people jumped into the water from the boat with holes. He wouldn’t miss them.
Zing!
As soon as he felt the presence of someone jumping into the water, he stabbed his hook in that direction. A creepy aura shot out, cutting through the water. The sword’s momentum usually died in the water because of the pressure, but Kyodang’s sword was even faster on the water.
Clang!
“Huh?”
How dare he block his attack in the water? Kyodang opened his eyes wide and looked over there.
“…”The one who blocked his stab was a giant man. He crossed his arms and took a defensive stance.
‘The bandit leader! It’s him. Today is your death day!’
Kyodang’s expression became even more vicious and he shot towards Jinyeohae like a fish. He would have hesitated on land, but he was confident in the water.
But Jinyeohae didn’t intend to take his attack quietly. He calmly stretched out his fist.
Rumble!
A loud noise erupted and a stream of intense water rushed through the water. The target was Kyodang’s head.
“…!?”
Kyodang quickly turned his head and avoided the water. If he hadn’t, his head would have exploded.
‘Baekbo Divine Fist!’
Jinyeohae was a top talent among the disciples of Shaolin, and he had learned the Baekbo Divine Fist, which was the ultimate skill of Shaolin. If he approached him carelessly, his head would burst in an instant.
On the other hand, Jinyeohae was also not free to move in the water. If he allowed him to approach, he could be riddled with holes by Kyodang’s hook-like sword.
‘He’s tougher than I thought.’
A sense of urgency passed between the two leaders of the bandits and the water force.
***
What was Eurius doing at this moment, after diving into the water with the others?
Splash!
“Argh!”
“Gurgle!”
The enemies who were caught by Eurius’s sword were cut in half and sprayed blood in an instant. He swung his sword at the enemies who rushed at him from all directions in the water.
Most of them were experts who had mastered the art of swimming like the Cult, but none of them could stop Eurius.
It was because of the intangible divine armor. It was a divine device that specialized in manipulating water, so he had no trouble breathing in the water and could even move quickly by riding the current.
‘Monstrous bastard!’
‘Die!’
Zing!
They resisted with sharp weapons that were made for underwater use, but it was useless.
“Aaargh!”
The dark blue water turned crimson in a moment. Eurius, who had dealt with dozens of enemies, had the goal of preserving the ships as much as possible. What he didn’t expect was that they would give up their ships.
‘Strange. The ships are a big asset for them too. Did they have so much money that they could sink them all?’
Anyway, if all the ships sank, the plan to use the river would be delayed considerably. So Eurius was dealing with the scum who were drilling holes in the ships.
“Ugh!”
After he finished off the last enemy who was drilling a hole in the ship, Eurius turned his body.
‘I saved half of them.’
Thanks to his quick movement, only about half of the ships were damaged. This shouldn’t cause much trouble for the transport.
‘Then I have to deal with that Cult bastard.’
He had no damage except for some broken ships, but he couldn’t let the wicked one go.
‘As Jin-ye-hae said, I have to teach him a lesson… Huh?’
Eurius was thinking that far when he suddenly felt a familiar presence.
‘What is this?’
***
“Sniff!”
One of the men who were looking at the ships that stopped in the distance smelled the scent that was carried by the breeze. He was an old man with a stocky build.
“The water rats failed. The ones who jumped into the water are all dead. Tsk!”
“Did you trust those guys in the first place?”
The one who snorted at him was also an old man, but he was skinny unlike the stocky old man.
“No? But they should have sunk all the ships at least! Compared to their boastful words, they are…”
“Why don’t we sink them again now? It’s not a difficult thing to do.”
A murderous look flashed in the eyes of the skinny old man who smirked. The stocky old man shrugged his shoulders.
“You’re very excited. Then let’s start before they come to their senses.”
They both stretched their hands forward.
***
‘What is this?’
Whizz!
Eurius quickly jumped out of the water. He climbed on one of the intact ships and looked up at the sky.
Roar!
“Ugh!”
Eurius felt his strength drain as he looked at the whirlwind in the sky.
[It’s the presence of the Blue Dragon. They seem to be able to mass-produce people with the power of divine devices.]
Hwang-ryong had already guessed his speculation. He couldn’t recover the divine devices from Hwang-gung. He guessed it like this.
[Think of it as a receiver.]
‘Receiver?’
[Yeah, they seem to know how to transmit the power without exposing the divine devices.]
‘Then it’s useless to knock them down now…’
Boom!
The whirlwind had reached the river and was sucking up the water. The water that rose to the sky was sprinkled like raindrops in all directions.
Splash!Eurius called out to someone as he was hit by the raindrops.
“Can’t we pull the ships back?”
“Leader! It seems that it’s not a simple reef.”
The experts of Jeong-do-mang, including Nam-gung-il-cheon, tried to move the ships, but the ships didn’t move as if they were fixed by something.
“…!?”
Clang!
The thing that fixed the ships was a thick iron chain!
They had stretched the iron chains between the many reefs in the Sam-hyeop and lured the ships to get caught. It was a brilliant scheme that could only be done by the Dragon.
One, they lured them to the Sam-hyeop and pretended to be caught by the reefs and sank the ships.
Two, even if they failed, the ships that were caught by the iron chains couldn’t move.
Three, they finally deployed the power of the Cult and caused a storm to wreck all the ships.
Eurius and the Cheok-ma-myeol-sa-dan were stuck in the middle of the river and couldn’t go anywhere.
‘Is that the location?’
Beyond the iron chains that were installed, a large ship with a dragon head appeared. It was the Black Dragon Ship that carried the people of the Cult.
“Tsk! The Cult bastard who likes to show off, I wondered why he didn’t ride the Black Dragon Ship, but it seems that he was robbed by the Cult.”
Je-gal-seong-un clicked his tongue and looked at Eurius.
“What are you going to do? We don’t have much time.”
If they abandoned the ships and fled, most of the people would save their lives. But the plan to transport the goods using the river would be a bubble.
‘What should I do…’
Eurius thought for a moment. The enemy was freely controlling the wind on the sturdy ship, and he had to face them in the water. It wasn’t a good situation considering what he had experienced in Hwang-gung.
‘Even if I knock them down, the ships will be all broken.’
It was better to move the experts now than to lose all the ships and kill those bastards.
‘Did they say it was the Black Dragon Ship? There must be a way if I can do something with that ship. For example, sink it…’
Flash!
‘Wait?’
Eurius seemed to have thought of something. He quickly opened his mouth to Je-gal-seong-un.
“In case of emergency, swim to the shore. I’ll fight for now.”
“Understood.”
Splash!
Without waiting for an answer, Eurius dived into the water again.
***
Zing! Zzzz!
Dozens of sharp flashes cut through the water and shot out. It was the Cult’s hook. He and Jin-ye-hae had been unable to reach a conclusion for more than ten minutes.
‘Heh… The bandit is pretty good in the water.’
The news of his subordinates’ annihilation had not reached him yet, so the Cult was leisurely pushing Jin-ye-hae back.
Clang!
He was occasionally counterattacking with his sharp fists, but he was mostly helpless against the Cult. It was because he couldn’t move rashly due to the huge difference in mobility.
But the Cult couldn’t do anything to Jin-ye-hae, who had reached the realm of superhumans, even in the water, so they naturally fell into a stalemate.
Swoosh.
Knowing that well, the Cult dived into the water again. He was planning to ambush him in the dark water.
“…”
Jin-ye-hae narrowed his eyes and looked for him, who could pop out at any time.
“Heh…”
The Cult sneered and slowly closed the distance. But what he waited for was not Jin-ye-hae.
‘I found him.’
Splash.
Zap!
The Cult felt a creepy presence and turned around.
‘Ugh!’
Behind his back, Eurius was already there.
‘When?’
But he had no time to relax. He flipped his body and stabbed his weapon.
Zing!
But Eurius behind him calmly took his stab with his body.
Slurp.
‘Gasp!’
Eurius didn’t do anything, but the attack was blocked, so the Cult panicked and tried to pull out his body. And at that moment!
Boom!
“Aaagh!”
The Cult screamed and flew out of the water to the surface. It was Eurius’s sword of the mind that bounced him out of the water.
Before he knew it, Eurius had grabbed his collar.
“Cough… Cough…”
He coughed up blood-stained sputum, and Eurius whispered to him.
“You came up with an interesting scheme this time.”
“Sa… Save me…”
“There’s only one way for you to live.”
Eurius cut off his attempt to excuse himself. He gestured with his eyes to the Black Dragon Ship in the distance.
“Sink it yourself, and I’ll spare your life.”
“…!?”