Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Amidst the agonized screams and the glow of approaching torches, a warrior leaped down from the low hill and shouted urgently.

“Vice Lord! It looks like a Blood Cult ambush! They’re swarming from all directions! It seems one of our scouts was captured, and the rendezvous point has been exposed!”

“Damn it!”

Just as Seol had feared before we arrived, the location of the rendezvous hadn’t been compromised beforehand, but the enemy’s timing was eerily perfect, launching their assault just as we got here.

At the warrior’s cry, three or four more people rushed out of the wolf den, their faces twisted with shock as they turned to Swift Walker.

“Vice Lord!”

“What are your orders?!”

“Give us the command!”

Without hesitation, Swift Walker pulled out several sheets of paper and shoved them into Sword Master’s hands with a determined gaze.

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

“This is…?”

It was clearly compiled intelligence—likely a map based on all the information they had gathered about potential Blood Cult bases.

“This contains our deductions on the Blood Cult’s strongholds based on our collected intelligence. You must deliver it to the Alliance Lord at all costs!”

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

“If something like this happens, it’s the duty of us older warriors to ensure the young survive.”

“That’s—!”

His tone was one of sacrifice—one meant to ensure our survival.

Swift Walker surveyed our group, his expression tinged with bitterness before he spoke again.

“I won’t let the Twin Dragons, the Lone Phoenix, and the Lone Flower die here. You are the future of the martial world! We will lure them away—you must make it out alive! Now, follow my lead!”

“Yes, Vice Lord!”

“Let’s go!”

With that, he and his five subordinates charged forward, his voice ringing out once more.

“We’ll carve a blood path! Wait for the right moment, then head south!”

‘South? Not north?’

We should have been heading north—toward Yunnan. Why was he telling us to flee south?@@novelbin@@

I must have made a puzzled expression, because Hwa-eun grabbed my wrist and explained.

“He’s deceiving the enemy. The Blood Cult will expect us to escape north toward Yunnan, so they’ll focus their forces there. By having Swift Walker and his men head north as a distraction, we can slip away to the south while they’re occupied.”

‘Oh, that’s clever.’

Impressed by the quick thinking, I followed Hwa-eun as we reached the wolf den.

We kept our breathing quiet, waiting in the darkness, and soon, the sounds of clashing weapons, shouts, and screams began echoing from afar.

—Clang!