Etranger

Episode 2. Book 3: Infiltration – Chapter 10

San and Biyeon made a decision after considering their options and responsibilities. They weren’t the type to hesitate. They also weren’t people who would run away when problems arose.

For them, a problem was something to solve, not something to let fester.

Their duty was to preserve the lives of their subordinates under any circumstances and they would carry out their duty in their own way. In their opinion, the degree of risk was the same for either option. After all, the battlefield would be decided by their decisions and actions. This case was no exception. 

The party advanced into the mountain. The mountain looked rugged and the surrounding forest was lush, but their path’s terrain was mostly gentle hills connecting to more gentle hills. In the meantime, a large river was roaring nearby, creating large sandbars.

Based on their designated path, they would have to eventually cross the water at least twice, opening themselves up to ambush. The path they took was a frequently traveled wagon road. The road itself was gentle, but the forest surrounding it on both sides was getting thicker.

The crew worked together to clear the obstacles that were difficult to pass or that had collapsed due to the heavy rains. Before departing, the crew realized that the tools the two captains had specially commissioned from the forge were very useful. Some of the tools were familiar, but the shapes were very different from what they were used to. In particular, large and small saws, oddly shaped small shovels, scissors, levers, various irons and chisels, rulers, and tools called compasses helped solve many problems in the field.

It was the afternoon, a little after 4 o’clock. The daylight time in the forest was short. The sun would soon set. San called for the convoy to stop and pitch camp in a relatively safe space. The place they chose had a stone cliff behind them and a collection of large trees in front of them, which would shield them from any arrow attacks. It was now time to scout. They would continue forward reconnaissance until they were safe from ambush…

San stood guard while Biyeon went on reconnaissance.

Biyeon was carefully advancing along the forest path. With light steps, she moved through the forest quickly. After taking a few steps, she disappeared into the dense forest, as if seeping through the tall branches.

She was receiving various signals. The forest’s breaths, pains, and screams were filtered and divided with her senses, creating patterns and cycles that she reinterpreted into a time series. It was as if she was recreating reality by piecing together various sources of non-visual evidence.

Unnatural sensations emanated from living beings. She sensed all kinds of hostility, boundaries, and tensions. Their movements and intentions were translated through her combat experiences and became part of a space-time map drawn inside her mind.

[Eighteen… fourteen, and two. Two of them are very different… I will try to talk to them.]

Biyeon stopped moving and stood tall in a clearing.

“Beings of this forest! Would you be willing to converse for a moment?”

Biyeon’s loud voice spread throughout the woods. After a while, supersonic waves of considerable power began to roar in the woods. Biyeon frowned.

Suddenly, she stretched out a hand.

Shh-Shh-

Two short arrows were caught between Biyeon’s fingers. The arrowhead was colored green. It was a poisoned arrow.

Biyeon kicked against a tree and turned backward.

Pa-Pat-

Four of the same arrows stuck onto the tree in short intervals. Biyeon looked up at the sky. Six Hawks, no, Avian People, were placing new arrows onto their bows.

‘Oh… kill first and ask questions later, huh? I guess you don’t have any intentions to talk…’

Two of them flew towards Biyeon’s back while two others shot arrows in front of her. The Avian people seemed relaxed as they floated in the air. There were no blind spots here. Moreover, there was no way for humans to counterattack beings in the air. But…

Toong-

Biyeon stepped forcefully on the end of a thick branch. As the branches staggered downward and sprung back upward, Biyeon soared into the sky.

She was flying faster than a swallow. One of the Avian people opened its eyes wide and followed her path. However, it flapped its wings too late. The enemy had already reached behind it. It hastily folded one wing and turned its body quickly. However…

Kwa-Jik-

It felt its shoulder become hot. Its body shook violently before losing its center of gravity in the air. With surprise in its eyes, it fell down in a spiral, aggressively trying to flap with one wing. It could see its other colleagues’ shocked expressions.

Another Avian person was staring at the human woman flying towards him. A white sword was shining in the woman’s hand. It looked like she was swimming in the air as she moved rapidly upwards. A flashing white line was soon created, followed by a ‘Su-Kuk-’ sound. The last thing the Avian person thought was the feeling that his neckline was slightly shifting.

Biyeon changed directions after her attack and bounced to another side.

The four other Avian people in the distance had dumbfounded expressions as they scattered into the air, widening the gap between them and this mysterious flying human. They forgot to load the arrows onto their bows as they swallowed their saliva.

They had already lost two of their colleagues. However, the problem they found themselves in was even more serious.

‘A human is floating in the air. Without wings!’

Biyeon stopped mid-air. She slightly bent her knees and slowly got up into a standing position. With her sword in one hand and small marbles in the other… she stared at the remaining Avian people with killing intent.

A strong wind was blowing downward from 30 meters above her, but Biyeon’s clothes and hair were strangely fluttering upwards. If she had applied Bernoulli’s law properly, the air current would flow from above, not from below. The falling evening sun created a red backdrop behind her.

“You refused to talk… and attacked unconditionally… The price for aiming for my life shall be paid by your lives. I’ve heard that’s the rule for your kind. Am I right?”

Biyeon’s voice rang out softly.

As if the four Avian people promised in advance, they fed arrows back into their bow. It was a fast and natural movement. It was the Avian warrior’s combat instinct to be able to shoot accurately even in the midst of rough wing flapping. The orders they received were unconditional attack and relentless killing. Other than carrying out their order, they were not allowed to think for themselves. No matter who the opponent was, they could not go against their orders. Even if they were to be annihilated…

Arrows flew in from her left. At the same time, small marbles flew out of Biyeon’s left hand. A small hole appeared on one of the Avian people’s eyebrows. Almost instantly, a marble popped out from the back of its head.

Biyeon made a kicking motion in the air and threw the next marble. The second target fell from the sky. However, along the trajectory of Biyeon’s movement downward, more than 10 arrows flew in from all directions with a slight time difference.

Chit-

Biyeon frowned. Over thirty Avian people rose up from the forest like a dark cloud. Biyeon constantly threw marbles while falling down.

Arrows with different speeds passed through the areas where she just passed.

Biyeon moved to her right, bending her falling body at a right angle. Ten arrows flew past where her body would have been if she didn’t take evasive action.

Five arrows flew in from her left and right. They were aiming at her projected position. Avoiding these arrows seemed impossible. Biyeon slowed her fall. She closed her eyes. Her right hand turned the tip of the knife downward and her left hand was raised with all five fingers straight up.

She entered into the 4th Stage of Acceleration. Her senses were being activated to the highest levels. In a slowing world, every pattern and every vector of the arrows flying towards her were quickly translated into a language for her body to react to. Her muscles and bones were reconstructed as she twisted them here and there. Before long, Biyeon lifted her sword and shook it to cover her right side. The arrow had already reached her body.

Tuk-Tuk-Tuk-

The five arrows near her right side were gently struck on their sides by her sword. Applying a little torque to her sword, the arrows slid narrowly past her body in different directions. She had changed their direction by tapping the incoming arrows’ sides, just enough to avoid being hit by the arrows.

Next, Biyeon turned over and swept the air with her left hand as if playing the piano. Arrows that were coming towards her from her left bounced off her fingers one by one. Their directions were changed at the last moment. The position and force of her fingers touching each incoming arrow shaft were so accurate that there was nothing more she could have done.

‘She can do that?’

Oslan, a Patrol Leader, was in the air with a bow in his hand and his mouth wide open.

What he saw was an art of controlling a large force with the smallest of forces! It was the ‘Bending Force’ that the Dong-Myung Clan was famous for. It was an Absolute Clan skill.

However, he had never seen a skill where one could seemingly swim in the air.

‘This is… no! Something is wrong!’

Before Oslan screamed, the human woman bounced up again from another branch. But this time, her speed was different.

Oslan closed his eyes. ‘Even if we know it’s coming… we can’t avoid it in time.’

Biyeon came in like a storm. She recognized that these species’ wings were terribly slow at quick lateral movements, so she decided to pick them off quickly with vertical attacks.

The trajectory of her sword, moving ceaselessly through space, was elegant, and her movement in the air was rather beautiful. Biyeon advanced on each Avian warrior by stepping on the shoulders and wings of their compatriots. Their bodies were constantly crushed by the tips of her toes. The white bodies that had ruled the sky were now littering the ground.

In the early summer evening’s red sky, white feathers fluttered around like petals.

Oslan kept his mouth shut. Biyeon was standing on the back of the only other remaining Avian warrior while staring at him. With one foot on its head and her blade slightly over its neck…

“It seems like you’re the boss here. Thanks to you, I almost died without knowing why. Now I’m wondering if I even need to talk with you. What’s your response? Why did you proactively attack? Do humans look funny to you when you see them from high above? Is even a word unnecessary?”