Chapter 58

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Chapter 58: Heaven and Earth Net (2)

“This is quite something. It’s really giving me a headache.”

Yang Jeonghak, the leader of the Murim Alliance, narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ground.

Shortly after he began his pursuit, his subordinates started calling out to him.

The reason was simple: it was because of the footprints that were now visible on the ground.

There were dozens of sets of footprints branching out in all directions.

The size of the footprints and the weight they left on the ground were almost identical.

As a result, even Yang Jeonghak himself was having a hard time telling which ones were real.

If you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest.

This was the perfect example of that adage.

Just then, Cheon Guyang scratched his head in annoyance.

“…They even matched the weight so precisely? This bastard didn’t just do this impulsively. He had a plan all along.”

“…That’s right. And the bigger problem is…”

“That they completely mixed their own footprints with those of the dead. This is going to be a real pain.”

Yang Jeonghak nodded in agreement.

He divided his men into groups of fifty and sent them out in all directions.

They were also instructed to follow the footprints that had already been left behind.

This way, even they would be unable to track them.

The ground was covered in a mess of footprints leading in all directions.

‘There’s no way to tell them apart.’

It really meant that they had been thoroughly trained.

Yang Jeonghak tilted his head in confusion.

“…Is it even possible to train the dead so precisely?”

“…The Heavenly Demon might have an about that.”

“…”

Baek Hakseong also stared at the ground with a hardened expression.

Then he spoke.

“It is possible to provide such training. However… for that, the level of the undead must be high. At least they should be at the level of a strong corpse.”

“So, you mean Baek Socheon’s level is that high?”

“No. It was the first time I’ve seen this kind of undead, but the energy I felt wasn’t that strong. Such low-level undead are usually impossible to train.”

“But he did it, didn’t he? How did that happen?”

“…I don’t know either.”

“Damn it. At this rate, we have no choice but to split up our forces as well.”

At Cheon Guyang’s words, the other two nodded.

“Are we going to search in all directions?”

“…There are definitely directions they wouldn’t have gone, but we don’t know the direction they escaped. We can’t overlook even a single possibility.”

The two men nodded at Baek Hakseong’s words.

He’s a cunning one.

On the contrary, it was possible that he had feigned an attack and moved in a direction they wouldn’t have gone, or, albeit with a very low possibility, that he hadn’t moved at all from this place.

This was a matter of the thread of Socheon’s life.

They couldn’t afford to overlook even the slightest risk.

Yang Jeonghak, stroking his chin, said.

“Then let’s split up into groups of seven hundred. We’ll chase after them all. Each group must include at least two elder-level figures.”

There was no objection to this proposal.

They had heard information about the Dragon Phoenix Tournament from Cho Wonhui, who had come in third place.

The theme was to kill everyone until they were the only three left.

The most outstanding young men in the Murim world participated. Not a single one of them was mediocre.

They all possessed skills and status that would make them stand out in any other setting.

But the strongest men who had come in first and second place ran away.

In fact, the first-place guy was reportedly capable of controlling thousands of undead.

Sending out groups of only mediocre fighters would not only be a waste of time but would also increase the chances of them being caught and eaten alive by the undead.

At the very least, there had to be two elder-level figures in each group to buy them some time.

Fortunately, all three of the groups that had conquered the Murim world were gathered here.

This level of deployment was not difficult.

The only problem was whether to mix the personnel and where to assign the search directions.

“The Demonic Cult will take this place.”

Cheon Guyang’, looking at the map, pointed to the front and said.

At his words, the faces of the other two crumpled up.

“Heh, you bastard.”

“Are you treating our Alliances like idiots?”

If the two bastards had escaped, the front was the most likely possibility. This was because they could change direction at any time from there.

On the other hand, the directions towards the periphery were somewhat limited in terms of where they could move if they were surrounded while escaping.

“So what do we do?”

Cheon Guyang asked with a wrinkled face.

Yang Jeonghak gave the answer.

“Starting from the end direction here, mix them up. In the order of the Unorthodox Alliance, the Murim Alliance, and the Demonic Cult. Sa, Mu, Ma, Sa, Mu, Ma. This should work, right?”

“Are you going to send them out one group at a time like that? It’ll be lucky if they don’t eat each other’s shit, let alone communicate.”

“On the other hand, if we send them out in one direction as you suggest, the groups assigned to the other directions besides the front will be dissatisfied. Isn’t that right?”

“Ahem.”

Cheon Guyang let out a dry cough. It was certainly a valid point.

“And it’s going to be difficult to catch those two with one group. If they’re spotted, they’ll need support from the surrounding groups. This way, all three groups will be able to chase after them.”

The two men nodded.

With this arrangement, if one group spotted the two, the only place they could ask for support from the surrounding area would be the other two groups.

Even if they ask for help from their own group that has fallen far away for a long time.

‘They’ll notice.’

If one group rushes towards one place, won’t the bastards next to them notice and chase after them?

In terms of fairness of opportunity, it was the best arrangement.

Of course, if they looked at it in terms of efficiency, the story was a bit different…

Efficiency is something to consider only when it seems like you can’t catch it.

‘We can’t miss it.’

The thoughts of the three were the same.

There was no option to not catch them in the first place.

There must be some distance to the escape point.

Was the escape point close in the first place?

‘Then they wouldn’t run around like this and run away.’

If it was close, it would be normal to just run like crazy without wasting time on such nonsense.

Of course, since they are cunning bastards, there is no possibility that they will not do such a thing even if it is close…

That was something that couldn’t be helped. In the first place, how can you catch an escape that is close? So they didn’t think about that case.

‘We will definitely catch them.’

Nearly 30,000 tracking troops.

And there were cities in any direction the bastards were going anyway.

Of course, it had been a long time since they had sent a notice to the city gates. To block traffic for a few days and not let anyone pass.

The front and back were blocked.

It will take a little more time, but the hunt will be successful.

“Now that we’ve coordinated our opinions, let’s get started. Time is of the essence.”

“Good.”

The three nodded.

Thus, the tracking teams were formed.

* * *

The human body has its limits.

This was true even for the most outstanding Awakened. After crossing several mountains in a row for a day, their breath was coming in ragged gasps.

He looked at Seo Yerim.

She looked tired.

Her stats were higher than his, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel fatigue.

‘We need to rest for a bit.’

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They had been running for a whole day. He had also scattered the fifty skeletons that were following them in all directions, which would have caused confusion in their pursuit.

They must have bought some time.

He looked around.

There was a suitable cave nearby.

“Whew. Let’s go rest there for a while.”

So he went into the cave with her and sat down. Chewing on an energy bar, he looked at the map that popped up.

[Progress: 20%]

[Remaining Distance: 80%]

‘We’re about 1/5 of the way there now.’

In other words, at this rate, they would have to run four more times to reach their destination. Even some of the roads they would have to take passed through cities, according to the map.

And the cities were in an area under the influence of the Murim Alliance.

It was inevitable that things would get complicated.

Seo Yerim seemed to be thinking the same thing, as her face was contorted in a complex expression.

“It seems like we’ve succeeded in throwing off their pursuit to some extent… but are we going to go straight there?”

A straight route.

Going straight through a city.

The map showed that it was about the size of a city.

The advantage is that it is the fastest way to move.

The disadvantage is…

‘They must have spread the bounty posters by now.’

The flyers are dozens of times faster than a person running. They must have already been spread all over the place.

Going straight ahead, it was safe to say that it would be difficult to pass quietly.

“I’m thinking about it. But if we turn back, we’ll be caught even faster.”

Going straight ahead or going around in a circle.

Of course, a straight line is much faster.

They would have even had to climb a mountain to go back.

The physical exertion was overwhelming.

“I don’t think they’ve caught on to our direction yet. So wouldn’t it be better to go around and hide?”

“There’s a problem. The skeletons are released from the summon if they are more than a certain distance away.”

Of course, that range was much wider than one might think.

The problem was that the distance between the skeletons and them was rapidly widening as them ran straight ahead.

‘… at best, half a day?’

The summons will be released one by one, starting from the farthest away.

“…Whatever we do, the search area will eventually narrow down.”

“I didn’t think we could go all the way anyway. And the skeletons are slow. They’ll be caught up to in no time.”

Of course, the skeletons on their side had fairly high stats due to bone exchange, Death Lord, and equipment effects, but they are inevitably slower than martial artists who have eaten rice and learned martial arts.

Even more so, they were not in a state of full armor and carrying bags.

‘I did give them orders secondarily, though…’

He had given them the orders to scatter and hide one by one when they saw a mountain or cave.

This was to make it as annoying as possible.

The problem is.

‘It’s just buying time after all.’

Conclusion.

The search area will be narrowed down anyway, and there is no way to avoid being tracked.

Seo Yerim’s face darkened.

“We ran all day and only got 20%… so it will take at least four more days… How long can we stall for time with the skeletons?”

“I guess all 30,000 troops will be divided up. It should only take a day for all of my summons to be killed.”

“A day. Then it’s 40% at best.”

“That’s because we’re taking the mountain roads. If we can go straight through a city, we can double the progress. Maybe we should ride horses? We might be able to go even faster.”

“At least 50%…”

Seo Yerim’s eyes glazed over, as if it seemed like a pretty sweet goal.

She took a sip of water and said.

“The problem is… that they’ve caught on to our direction and that we can use a means of transportation on flat ground.”

They can’t ride a horse on a mountain road.

Of course, the martial artists had to run on their own two feet.

But they were the only ones who will have a hard time?

No.

The pursuers will also have a hard time.

But on flat ground?

They have nothing to hold them back.

They can ride horses or carriages.

They might even be able to easily switch to fresh horses every now and then.

On the other hand, for them, everything from finding a horse to riding it along the road is a burden.

The bounty must have been set ridiculously high, so there will be reports coming in from all directions the moment something looks suspicious.

“Hiding in a mountain valley altogether… oh, no, that won’t work. The gate will explode…”

“Yes. If it explodes, we’re all dead.”

The gate explodes?

It means that the clear has failed.

Then all the challengers inside will die

A-rank dungeons give three months for the first clear.

But it’s already been about a month?

Only two months left.

Can they survive?

No.

“Even if the structure is designed to prevent death, there’s not much point in holding out. Do you think they’ll give up on finding a way out after a few years?”

“…No.”

“Anyway, we have to make a choice now.”

Seo Yerim nodded and said.

“Let’s summarize. Going around will delay our discovery a bit, but we’ll eventually be pinpointed anyway. And it’s slower.”

“Yes.”

“Going through a city will get us there faster, but the pursuit team will be all over us like a pack of dogs. Right?”

“There’s one more thing to consider, isn’t there?”

“…?”

“Aren’t there cities along the way, not just in front of us? So there is that!!”

“…So there will be pursuit from the front as well as the back?”

“That’s what makes it an A+ gate, right?”

“Ugh… this is tough.”

Kim Minwoo nodded.

Recommended party size: 30.

There was a reason the recommended party size was so high.

“Still, the level of difficulty shouldn’t be that high in the front. The elites must have already been pulled to the Dragon Phoenix Gathering.”

“…What do you want to do about that?”

“From my experience, the best thing to do in this situation is to just run straight ahead without looking back.”

“You mean we should push through the city?”

“Yes. If we go around in circles and get caught by the three old men, we’ll end up in a five-piece dismemberment ending.”

Seo Yerim shivered at those words.

“…Okay. Let’s go head-on.”

Just then.

—Coo.

Whitey flew into the cave.

Then, he started pecking at the ground with his beak.

There were seven in total.

And an X was drawn next to it.

Finally, he started scratching the ground with his claws.

Eight sticks were drawn.

“Oh, my little one. You’re so smart. Daddy will give you a snack.”

—Coo!

Whitey, his eyes rolled back, ate the offerings. Then, he started giving me sly glances as if asking if there was any more.

“I’ll buy you a lot of snacks when we get out. Just be patient for now. Got it?”

—Coo!

Whitey nodded vigorously.

He really was a smart divine beast.

He looked at Seo Yerim.

“There are about seven hundred pursuers. The distance is about eight hours. Fortunately, the three old men aren’t included.”

“…Whitey told you that?”

“My divine beast does this kind of thing. So, let’s get up.”

He stood up with Seo Yerim.

Before more tails were added.

This was the only time they could break through the city.

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