Just like Kanghyok, Yoni has never experienced a war.
But she felt that something was wrong when she discovered they put out the torch without any reason.
When she looked out, she couldn’t see any sentry standing nearby.
“Master, master!”
She urgently shook and woke up Kanghyok.
“What’s the matter?”
“Something went wrong here.”
Yoni gave him a sword with a hardened face.
“Do I need this right now?”
“Yes, let me go out first and check out what’s happened.”
She cautiously opened the door not to make any noise.
Kanghyok was on his toes, with his heart pounding strongly.
‘Damn it! I should not have come here.’
When he looked around, he realized that Dolsok, Makbong and Yoju had not come back yet.
While he sat there with a blank look, Yoni went out and quickly looked around the yard.
The soldiers keeping watch in the yard were all asleep.
‘Did I overstep some place?’ she thought.
After she looked around the room Kanghyok was in, she was about to climb a wall for further examination.
At that moment, she saw somebody in front of her.
“You!”
A Japanese raider was standing before her, holding a sword stained with blood.
The sword was a very short one, apparently a dagger, with which he must have beheaded the guard.
He darted toward her, wiedling the dagger.
Avoiding his attack swiftly, Yoni shouted loudly, “Enemy! Ambush!”
The moment she shouted aloud, there were heard noisy sounds of them brandishing swords as well as screaming here and there.
Obviously, the Japanese raiders had come to seize the village where General Shin’s soldiers and Kanghyok’s entourage were camping out at.
After she avoided his stabbing for the second time, Yoni beheaded him quickly.
And then she shouted, “Master! Hurry up!”
Kanghyok quickly put on shoes and got close to her.
With his bag in one hand and a sword in the other, though, he found it hard to move swiftly.
Lowering her body, she looked out from the wall.
Though the sword fighting was done for now, several houses in the village were being burnt down with fire.
Kanghyok heard the sound of sword fighting nearby.
When he turned back instinctively, he saw Makbong fighting hard, with Dolsok and Yoju behind him.
“Hey, Makbong is here!”
“Where?”
“I see you, master!” shouted Makbong out of joy.
Makbong wanted to cut off the raiders before him quickly, but couldn’t because they outnumbered the friendly soldiers on his side.
Yoni, along with Kanghyok, tried in vain to approach Makbong several times.
Though Kanghyok brandished the sword, he couldn’t do so nimbly because of the bag he was holding.
“I think we are better off getting out of here, master!” Yoni shouted at Kanghyok after beheading another raider.
“What about Makbong, Dolsok and Yoju?”
“They’ll be safe as long as Makbong protects them.”
“Damn it.”
Kanghyok regretted that his entourage had camped out in a house some distance away from General Shin’s main force.
Many of the soldiers sleeping in the yard were killed by the raiders.
Though other soldiers who survived were helping Yoni fight with the raiders, they would most likely be killed in the current situation.
Kanghyok made the quick decision.
“Sure, let’s get out of here!”
“Let me clear the way. So, don’t lose sight of me.”
“No problem!”
Raising her head, she turned to the direction where the Japanese raides first came. from
There were not as many there because most of them concentrated on attacking General Shin’s main force.
As she was a nimble gladiator, she could easily behead ordinary Japanese raiders.
“Son of a bitch!”
Some of the raides tried to push their spears from behind, but she was much nimbler and faster to kill them.
“Just get close to me, master!”
“Sure, sure.”
Nodding his head absentmindedly, Kanghyok hid behind her.
Though he practiced taekgyon martial arts with her, he could barely take a step in actual fighting like this.
He took out a sword, but didn’t know how to brandish it properly.
‘I can’t put it back. Dang it!’
Beheading another raider, she said, “We’re almost out of this damned place.”
Red blood had splashed into the woods when she cut off the raider’s head.
Once Kanghyok and Yoni escaped into the woods, it would be hard for the raiders to follow them.
“Stop there!”
Somebody charged toward them, shouting at Kangyok and Yoni.
At a glance, the man was wearing a black helmet, and looked like he was not an ordinary raider.
He quickly threw himself over, brandishing a sword.
Yoni barely stopped it, moving back a few steps.
“Master, run into the woods now!”
“What?”
“Just run!”
At that moment, Kanghyok felt she wasn’t as confident as before.
He took turns looking at the raider and Yoni.
Obviously, the raider seemed to be the better fighter, given the way he held the sword.
Kanghyok felt he might not be able to see her ever again once he ran away.
‘Dang it.’
When he looked around, some of the soldiers who fought with them up to now were running away into the woods.
‘How ungrateful they are! Son of a bitch…’
They could survive up to now thanks to Yoni’s brilliant fighting.
Every time her sword clanged against the raider’s sword, she gave a moan.
It would only be a matter of time before she would be killed.
‘What should I do?’
If he ran away like this, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
But he couldn’t jump into the fighting, which would put his life into peril immediately.
‘Wait a moment.’
Suddenly, he recalled what Preceptor Samyong told him before he parted ways with him.
He said both of them would be reunited clearly.
He even said Kanghyok would be safe in any circumstances.
Kanghyok now felt much more calm.
When he looked at Yoni again, she was in a pretty dangerous situation.
“I’ll kill you!” the raider shouted at her, brandishing his sword violently.
“Run quickly, master!” shouted Yoni.
Though Yoni desperately defended herself, she was now in an adverse condition.
Huh?’
Kanghyok suddenly felt something icy in his bosom.
It was a stone that Preceptor Samyong gave him.
Kanghyok instinctively knew why he gave him the stone.
The raider, who had been looking for her vulnerabilities persistently, cut her calves lightly with the sword.
Blood gushed out from her thighs at that moment.
Though she didn’t bleed much, she still fell back.
And the raider also stopped to give her a final stabbing.
Yoni closed her eyes as if she knew it was her last moment.
At that moment Kanghyok picked the stone and quickly threw it at the nimble raider.
The raider gave a shrill cry after Kanghyok’s stone hit straight his Adam’s apple.
After hitting the mark, the stone fell off his armor.
“You bastard!”
Yoni seized that golden moment to stab him in the neck.
Red blood was gushing out from that black spot of his neck that was hit by the stone.
Yoni’s face and whole body was stained with blood.
“Are you alright?” asked Kanghyok. Then he rushed to her, who fell down, bleeding from her thighs.
“Let me tie them first and then let us get out of here.”
“Yes, master.”
Kanghyok took out bandages from his bag and bound her wounded thighs with them.
Though several raiders were pacing up or down nearby, they didn’t dare approach.
Kanghyok and Yoni had to hurry up because the raiders would try to attack once they found she was wounded.
“Let’s go. Can you walk?”
“Yes, master.”
Though she said that confidently, she could barely take a step because the cut was that deep.
“Let me carry you on my back.”
“What?”
“Hurry up.”
“Yes… master.”
She cautiously got carried on his back now.
She was much lighter than he thought.
‘Yoni is a woman, after all.’
He couldn’t believe she was a woman when she strongly cut off the raiders one by one.
Putting his sword back into the sheath, he ran with her on his back, holding the bag.
It was pretty difficult for him to move forward quickly because of the thick wood.
Though small twigs scratched his face, he didn’t stop.
He just ran and ran until he stopped at a safe place.
The sun was beginning to rise when they arrived there.
There was nobody nearby.
Only Yoni, whom he carried with his bag, was breathing silently.
He laid her down on the grass cautiously.
“Let me examine your wounds.”