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The northern part of Olkhon Island is where the North Sea Ice Palace was located. Of course, it was no longer the place with tiles and the fantastic structure of Chinese culture, but modern buildings making up a town that is now a ghost town.
The town in North Sea Ice Palace did have civilians, but the important items and people had been moved using the tunnel for the past seven days. As a result, it was now vacant.
The North Sea Ice Palace, which suffered from various hardships such as the Turtle Dragon incident and the world war in the past, secretly built a tunnel to escape from the place.
In a tunnel connected through the lake's northwest side to the exit, five hundred soldiers from the North Sea Ice Palace were armed and surrounding the place. Interestingly, in those five hundred, one hundred had Russian Defense guns.
Click!
The soldiers who were stationed there were pointing their guns to the exit.
“Я еще не видел это.”
(I haven’t seen them yet.)
The special unit leader reported to someone with a wireless earphone walkie-talkie. That someone was a blonde middle-aged man at a location where soldiers and courtiers from the North Sea Ice Palace had established a makeshift base camp behind the siege. He was also was wearing the military uniform of the Defense with the rank of a Major.
The Major put his hand on the radio.
“понимаю. Будьте очень осторожны.”
(I see. Be vigilant.)
After giving the order, the Major turned his head and looked at someone. That person seemed like a middle-aged man with sagging eyes who looked like he was in his early 50s with long padded clothes and a furred hood.
He was Dan Kyeong-gak, the Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace.
“Lord Dan. Happy now?”
The Major asked in a displeased voice. In response, the Lord bowed his head a little.
“Thank you for the consideration you’ve shown, Major Verno.”
“Tch tch. We're being forced to perform a difficult task when we could have just knocked down the tunnel with one shot.”
Major Verno, a member of the defense department.
The North Sea Ice Palace people watching him weren't very pleased.
In particular, as if expressing dissatisfaction, Dan Young-soo, the young master of the Palace, stared at Major Verno and the grey-haired man in sunglasses with arms folded next to him.
‘Crazy bastards. Destroy the tunnel? Is that an idea that even comes out of the human mind?’
If the tunnel collapses, two hundred people on the island would be deserted at once. And these defense people wanted that.
Dan Young-soo heard something in his mind.
[Handle your expressions.]
It was the Lord of the Palace.
[But father, aren’t their demands too high? No matter how far apart we stay and the blood has diluted, they are still the same as us. They share the same roots as us. And to kill them all is–!!]
[I understand. However, after the massacre in China, they don’t like the Murim anymore. Especially if one is related to the Sky Demon Order.]
Like the People’s Republic of China, the massacre event involved the Prime Minister of Russia, who opposed the federation government. Since then, the Russians have hated the people of China.
[Still, this is too much. Surely that Modve….]
[Uh!]
[Phew… that person’s thing might have worked.]
Modve Radev, the Commander of one of Russia's four major armed forces.
Modve, one of the most powerful armed groups, inked an arrangement with the Ministry of Defense at a young age and wielded considerable power.
[That Modve doesn’t dislike the outsiders because they are related to the Sky Demon Order, but he is afraid of the change that could happen, the change of four armed groups to five armed groups if they enter Russia officially.]
Until now, the position of the North Sea Ice Palace was vague. They weren’t entirely Russian or Murim.
However, if they were now officially incorporated into the Ministry of Defense, this time, the North Sea Ice Palace would be strong enough to be called one of Russia’s five armed groups.
Furthermore, if the outsiders' force of roughly 200 people is added, this man's position, Modve's, would be jeopardized.
[It's not like the Palace doesn't know. The only solution is to limit the amount of damage we will sustain.]
Dan Young-soo nodded his head. He also knew now that his father wanted this. He hated the outsiders as hybrids, yet he stood back and waited for them to come because his power would increase significantly.
‘I need to learn a lot from my father.’
Dan Young-soo considered his father a great leader. Either way, there was one thing that mattered.
The crucial question was whether or not the North Sea Ice Clan's Leader would accept the proposition.
[But Father… Do we have to put in such a proposal? In a way, they too are the people who share the same blood and roots from us.]
At Dan Young-soo’s words, Dan Kyeong-gak said firmly.
[Only the Lord of the Palace should learn the Cold Ice from Heaven techniques.]
This was something that only the Lord of the Palace should learn, and the outsiders were always considering them to be a part of the Sky Demon Order.
Those who weren’t directly the descendants of the Palace but just allies were learning their technique and using it, from the point of view of the Palace Lord, it couldn’t be tolerated.
[We aren’t after their lives, just the martial arts.]
[But to waste such great levels of martial…]
Instead of their lives, they were going after the dantian. However, for a Murim warrior, a destroyed dantian is equivalent to death.
‘But if they accept it, they will be a part of the Palace.’
On this point, the father and son had different opinions. One values efficiency, the other respects the father, but his thoughts didn’t go well with him.
‘The Palace Lord is Father…’
So he had no choice but to follow.
[But Elder Ha hasn’t contacted us. Is it because of the lava?]
Elder Ha was the 3rd Elder. They did give him a walkie-talkie, but the man didn’t contact them back, which made them think it was because of the lava.
They had no idea what was happening. It was then….
Whisper!
The was a sudden commotion happening outside the camp.
One of the escorts rushed in to report.
“Lord! I think you should come outside.”
“Out? Did something happen?”
“They have appeared outside.”
“They?”
“T-those outsider bastards!”
“What?”
At the puzzling words, Major Verno stood up. He hadn't heard anything about people coming through the tunnel, but they suddenly appeared outside? Everyone in the camp gathered.
The guards, escorts, and soldiers surrounded some people in the middle.
“Dan Cho-jin!”
There were three men there. They were the Clan Leader, his son, and someone they saw for the first time.
But that wasn’t the problem.
“This… What the hell is this?!”
The face of the Palace Lord Dan Kyeong-gak was red in anger. There was something round in the hand of the new person, and it was none other than the head of the 3rd Elder with his chin pulled out.
“How did they get out?”
Contrary to him, Major Verno and Modve Radev were puzzled.
To them, it didn’t matter how they died inside the island. They just couldn’t understand how they got out.
Taktak!
Major Verno tapped the radio with his finger.
“This is Alpha. How did they get out?”
A platoon soldier answered it while putting down the gun in his hand.
-Click! Beta here. They didn’t come out from the tunnel.
“Didn’t come out from the tunnel?”
-They suddenly flew in from the sky.
“What? Do they have special abilities…”
It was when Dan Young-soo intervened.
“Not that.”
“… What do you mean? Young Lord?”
He answered.
“Perhaps they all came in through light footwork through the air?”
“Light Footwork? The technique of running fast in murim?”
“Yes.”
Dan Young-soo was convinced that these people used it. The Palace Lord was a Supreme Master-level warrior, so he could do it. However, Dan Cho-jin, who was almost on par with him, wasn’t that perfect.
“Father.”
“Uhh! It's those bastards again!”
The Palace Lord, Dan Kyeong-gak, was angrier seeing the dead head of the 3rd Elder, which was why Dan Young-soo tried to calm him.
“Father. Please hold back. Now they seem to have given up on all those proposals and seem to have come here for revenge.”
“Revenge?”
Dan Young-soo came to that decision. From the beginning, it was assumed that only two people could escape.
However, seeing the head of the Elder, it seemed like they chose to sacrifice themselves rather than abandon their identity and clan, but this was unexpected.
‘But who is he?’
Along with the two men was a young man.
Grunt!
“You are dogs in the end. Are you here to get revenge by killing everyone here?”
Dan Kyeong-gak stepped ahead in anger. He shouted using his internal energy.
“You bastard! Dan Cho-jin! How dare you, a hybrid, touch the Elder! Your limbs will be cut off for you to come to your senses!”
The soldiers had to cover their ears from the loud voice. The voice was as ferocious as a lion.
“As expected, so great.”
Major Verno mumbled in admiration. In response, Modve Radev said,
“That is nothing, Major. All murim warriors can do that.”
He did say that, but he was also shocked.
He knew that the old man was the Palace Lord and that he was strong, but not this strong.
At that time, Dan Cho-jin, the Clan Leader, shouted in reply.
“That is what I want to say! How can you force your fellow people into such a situation!”
Normally, he would be terrified of the Palace, but now he was just filled with disappointment.
Major Verno frowned at the voice, which didn’t fall in comparison.
“Well, that one is a dangerous person too.”
“I think the same. Just kill him.”
At Modve’s suggestion, Major Verno nodded. But Dan Young-soo tried to dissuade them.
“Wait a minute, Major Verno. The Palace Lord has to talk….”
“Talk what? Hasn’t your request been granted already?”
Major Verno refused to listen. He touched his earphone and gave the orders.
“This is Alpha.”
— Click! Orders, please.
“Kill them.”
— Roger!
As soon as the words fell, about a hundred soldiers loaded their guns.
Click!
This made Dan Cho-jin and Dan Cho-ja bewildered. They followed Chun Yeowun to break apart from the Palace for good, but they didn’t know that the Russian Defense Ministry would be here.
Dan Cho-jin shouted in a hurry.
“Stop! Do you know who is here!”
Which made Major Verno laugh.
“You’re all so funny. Who came? Huh! Who is here?!”
Then he gave the order again.
Them moment he commanded, the soldiers began to scream.
“Shoot!”
Tatatatang!
Hundreds of soldiers fired their guns at once.
“Kuak! Gear up!”
Dan Cho-jin and Dan Cho-ja drew out their swords and raised the cold energy at once.
They were strong, but they couldn’t block all the bullets coming.
However….
“What? This is?”
An amazing thing happened.
Bullets fired by hundreds of soldiers had stopped in mid-air less than a meter away. As they continued to fire, the bullets came to a halt.
‘The bullets?’
The soldiers were shocked at what had happened before them.
“W-what is this?”
Major Verno was confused as the Palace Lord who was next to him.
However, he was also not in the right mind to explain.
‘No. Could this power be that one?’
He never thought anyone could have such vital internal energy.
Even he, who reached the Supreme Master level, couldn't stop a bullet with energy alone.
Tatatang!
And with that, the soldiers who were shooting stopped; they had run out of bullets.
They quickly changed the magazine and shot again, but Chun Yeowun turned his palm lightly and waved his hand.
It was then…
Papapak!
“Kuak!”
“Ack!”
“Ugh!”
Bullets that had stopped flew back to the soldiers and hit them. The entire unit was baptized instantly, and they fell with screams of pain.
‘!!!’
A moment of silence.
When hundreds of soldiers fell, Major Verno panicked and yelled.
“Tt-that monster! Who is he?”
The Palace Lord answered.
“I don’t know him.”
“Lord Dan! If you don’t know, who here will know? Damn it! This shouldn’t happen. Quickly tell your men to stop that monster!”
Chun Yeowun’s monster-like ability to annihilate soldiers at once made Major Verno lose his mind. As that was happening, the Elders of the North Sea Ice Palace came ahead and shouted.
“Warriors of the Palace! Kill them!”
The guards pulled their weapons at the same time. They, too, were shocked at what happened, but they had the numbers to take down three people.
At that time, Chun Yeowun leisurely walked ahead, raised his palm, and lowered it.
“Kneel.”
After that..
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Euk!”
“M-my body!”
Not a single warrior could move ahead and harm them and kneeled. The faces of the guards were confused at this. They were forcibly brought down to their knees!
“H-How can this….”
“No!”
The Elders of the North Sea Ice Palace were losing words.
Four hundred guards of their Palace were on their knees right in front of their eyes. This was an impossible situation.
Dan Cho-jin walked and shouted.
“The Chun Ma of the great Sky Demon Order has arrived! Won’t the Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace come and kneel?”
At that cry, the eyes of Dan Kyeong-gak and Dan Young-soo widened.
‘Chun Ma?’