Translator: Nox
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: We Need Something on Our Backs
#1
Final day of the martial exchange.
All remaining teams were placed on a large map — a forest with scattered hills and streams.
Everyone was given one objective:
**Last flag standing wins.**
No time limit. No allies.
Every team was now an enemy.
Chaos reigned.
Some teams moved aggressively.
Others fortified positions.
A few tried to form temporary alliances.
Team 13?
They vanished.
“Should we really be hiding?” Yi Baek whispered.
“No,” Hyeon-do said. “We’re not hiding.”
“Then what are we doing?”
“Hunting.”
#2
They moved like shadows.
Seok-hyeon scouted terrain.
Mo Seo-hwa laid traps.
Namgung Jin cleared brush and created diversions.
Yi Baek stayed alert, spear in hand.
And Hyeon-do?
He directed every movement — like a chessmaster.
By midday, Team 13 had already eliminated two enemy teams.
Silently.
Cleanly.
Without revealing their flag location.
Zhegall Yeong-yeong, observing from the monitoring station, narrowed her eyes.
“Team 13... they’re not just good. They’re *systematic*.”
She recognized the pattern.
Every move was calculated.
No energy wasted.
No action without purpose.
“They’re moving like a veteran squad.”
The elder beside her — a former Zhegall strategist — nodded.
“That leader... Peng Hyeon-do. He’s dangerous.”
Yeong-yeong said nothing.
But she agreed.
#3
Later that day, Team 5 approached Team 13’s hidden camp.
They thought it was a weak point.
A lone tent. A half-buried flag. A single figure in sight — Yi Baek.
Too easy.
They attacked.
Only to realize too late—
The real trap was behind them.
[“Strike!”]
Lightning surged from the treeline.
Hyeon-do exploded from cover, saber roaring with thunder.
[Thunderflash Fang!]
[Three-Step Pulse Break!]
The first three attackers dropped instantly.
Seok-hyeon and Jin cut off the escape route.
Seo-hwa deployed paralyzing mist.
The ambush was flawless.
By the time Team 5 reacted — it was already over.
Their flag was taken.
Team 13 disappeared again.
#4
Sunset.
Only three teams remained.
The final showdown was inevitable.
They met in a valley — a clearing surrounded by cliffs.
All three flags visible.
A tense triangle.
Team 2: spear-focused, highly mobile.
Team 6: defensive specialists, heavy armor types.
And Team 13 — surgical and unseen.
A moment of stillness.
Then chaos erupted.
Team 2 rushed Team 6.
Team 6 held firm.
And Hyeon-do waited.
Then, as both teams clashed—
“Move!”
Team 13 struck from above.
They’d climbed the cliffs during the chaos.
From the ridgeline, Hyeon-do dropped into the fray like thunder itself.
[Skybreaker Descent!]
The shockwave scattered both teams.
Yi Baek and Jin followed, disabling flags.
Seo-hwa secured the center.
Seok-hyeon raised their own flag.
It was over.
#5
Back at the pavilion, silence.
Then applause.
Even the coldest elders nodded.
Zhegall Yeong-yeong stood and approached Hyeon-do as he exited the field.
“You win.”
“Of course.”
She handed him a sealed scroll.
“A formal invitation. From the Zhegall Sect. Consider it.”
Hyeon-do took it.
“I will.”
【To be continued in Chapter 17】
