Chapter 108

Chapter 108
### Chapter: 108

### Chapter Title: White Pig (2)

—

‘This is becoming a nuisance.’

Cheol Woo, who had fearlessly dived into the surging river, knitted his brows.

The current was moving with far more violence than it had seemed from the ship’s railing after several days of downpour, and the water was murky. With all manner of trash swirling in the depths, even maintaining his vision was a struggle.

Nevertheless, he remained unconcerned. The difficulty of the environment was a burden his rivals had to share as well.

‘They’re closing in.’

He felt a distinct ripple approaching from the direction of the enemy vessel. It was using the flow of the river to descend at a rapid pace.

Cheol Woo forced his eyelids open as wide as possible, and the distorted silhouettes of his adversaries began to materialize.

‘One, two, three…’

Their numbers exceeded his initial guess.

The White Pig Band, which had been charging forward with total resolve, suddenly stopped dead upon seeing Cheol Woo. They clearly hadn’t anticipated a lone man waiting to ambush them beneath the waves.

However, their shock quickly dissolved into mocking grins.

On the riverbank, things might be different, but in the depths of the water, they were certain they were peerless.

When the second-in-command of the White Pig Band, Bu Seolgon, made a sharp gesture toward Cheol Woo, eight of his followers darted forward and spread out like the wings of a bird. They synchronized their movements, aiming their weapons directly at him.

These were specialized crossbows, reconfigured for underwater combat.

Eight metal bolts tore through the heavy water toward Cheol Woo.

They moved with a laughable sluggishness compared to an arrow through the air, and their effective range was severely limited, but their target was equally slowed by the environment. Distance was no protection here.

The members of the White Pig Band were certain these bolts would run Cheol Woo through in a single volley.

Cheol Woo watched the oncoming projectiles with a look of pure contempt and reached out his hand.

Even against the massive drag of the water, his arms moved without hindrance.

To his own standards, it felt as slow as a slug’s pace, but for an observer underwater, the speed was nothing short of miraculous.

As he snatched six of the eight bolts right out of the water, a look of pure dread washed over the faces of the attackers—and even those watching from the rear. What terrified them even more was that the final two bolts, which he hadn’t bothered to catch, struck his chest only to bounce away as if hitting solid iron.

‘A true expert.’

Bu Seolgon felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he watched Cheol Woo dismantle the opening salvo so casually. He finally understood why this man had the audacity to jump into the Yangtze alone. He possessed absolute faith in his own martial prowess.

‘But the water is my domain!’

On dry land, he might be outclassed, but submerged in the river, Bu Seolgon was confident he wouldn’t fail.

With a sharp snap of his fingers, Bu Seolgon gave the order, and the paused skirmish erupted again.

The crossbowmen began firing in a frantic rhythm, while the remaining bandits swarmed him from every direction like a pack of predators.

Confronted by a rain of bolts and enemies closing in with sharp blades, Cheol Woo considered it a stroke of luck that he had dived in rather than attempting to call down his lightning.

He threw the bolts he had just intercepted.

Augmented by the concentrated power of the Overlord Blood Victory Aura, these projectiles traveled at twice the speed of the crossbows. Their impact was devastating, shattering incoming bolts and maintaining enough force to keep moving.

The moment he let them fly, he felt a surge of murderous intent coming from below.

Catching the flash of a blade near his feet, Cheol Woo tucked his knees to his chest.

As his frame curled and he initiated a tight spin, he found himself face-to-face with the hidden attacker.

Beaming a terrifying smile at the shocked bandit, Cheol Woo lunged.

His massive, heavy hand clamped onto the face of the man who had been charging with his knife.

Another wave of killing intent descended from above, so he straightened his posture and immediately triggered the Thousand-Pound Drop.

Using the immense weight of his sinking body, he locked his legs around the throat of another bandit trying to strike from underneath.

The skull held in his palm and the neck trapped between his thighs shattered and snapped at the exact same moment.

*Crunch!*

It wasn’t the noise, but the sickening vibration traveling through the liquid medium that caused the White Pig Band to freeze in horror.

Cheol Woo surged toward the nearest survivor.

The terrified man paddled frantically to get away, but Cheol Woo’s speed was superior.

Grabbing the man’s ankle, Cheol Woo surged his internal energy through the grip. The struggling bandit coughed up a cloud of blood and went still.

The eyes of the White Pig Band were wide with horror, having watched three of their own die in the blink of an eye.

Cheol Woo surveyed the area with a look of pure arrogance, a dark smirk playing on his lips—until a realization struck him.

He had packed the thrown bolts with internal energy, expecting to wipe out at least a handful of them. Yet, only one additional enemy had fallen to the projectiles. Even considering the water resistance, the result was poor.

His aim had been perfect. The lack of casualties meant these men were capable enough to parry or evade.

‘They have some skill.’

Cheol Woo looked at the reorganizing White Pig Band with newfound interest.

Not one of them seemed to be struggling for air despite the intense activity. Their movements were graceful, and in terms of raw swimming speed, some were actually more fluid than he was.

‘They are true masters of aquatic warfare.’

He didn’t waste time thinking. The archers, who had scattered, were already preparing a fresh barrage.

‘Tsk, they already know these bolts won’t kill me.’

They weren’t even trying to close the distance properly anymore.

Cheol Woo’s disappointment grew as he watched the bolts being fired in patterns designed to corral him rather than hit him. His brief moment of respect evaporated.

‘If you won’t come to me, I’ll bring the fight to you.’

His boredom returned. He no longer cared about their techniques; he just wanted to end this and return to the deck.

Just as he picked a target to strike, something caught on his toes.

Then, something grazed his wrist.

‘What is this…?’

Before he could process the sensation, a sharp, cutting pressure tightened around his face, throat, chest, and limbs.

He forced his restrained arm up to see what was holding him.

Nearly invisible and incredibly thin, countless strands of translucent wire were coiled tightly around his limbs.

‘When did they…? The bolts!’

He realized then that the “missed” shots weren’t mistakes. The wires had been attached to the projectiles. The sheer amount of thread wrapping around him was staggering. It was a trap that had likely been set the moment the first bolt was fired.

‘I fell for it.’

Cheol Woo gave a self-deprecating grin. Naturally, he wasn’t afraid. He was far too powerful to be restrained by mere string.

The moment he began to circulate his energy to burst the bonds, a new presence rushed toward him. Its velocity was incredible. And it was massive.

The strange beast closed the gap in a heartbeat.

Recognizing it as a freshwater dolphin unique to the Yangtze, Cheol Woo stared in momentary wonder. He’d heard the crew mention these creatures living only in this river, but seeing one mid-attack was a shock.

Even more startling was seeing Bu Seolgon mounted on its back.

Holding the dolphin’s dorsal fin with one hand and a foot-long dagger with the other, Bu Seolgon lunged forward, aiming for a lethal finishing blow.

A genuine sense of danger washed over him.

The knife wasn’t the problem. His skin could repel a master’s blade without a mark.

The issue was the dolphin itself.

Engaging such a creature underwater while wrapped in wire was a nightmare scenario.

Even with full mobility, a human trying to outmaneuver a dolphin in its home element was a losing battle.

No matter how fast Cheol Woo was, he couldn’t match the natural agility of the beast. Furthermore, the sheer mass of the animal made it a living battering ram.

He made a split-second choice.

Feeling the impending collision, Cheol Woo activated the Thousand-Pound Drop with everything he had.

Though the wires bit into his skin and more than a dozen bandits were pulling from the other end to keep him suspended, the difference in raw internal power was insurmountable.

Cheol Woo’s body plummeted toward the river floor like a lead weight.

The dolphin whistled past, its nose nearly grazing his scalp as it surged upward.

Having evaded the strike by a hair, Cheol Woo continued his descent. The panicked White Pig Band strained against the wires, but they couldn’t stop his momentum. Instead, Cheol Woo found purchase on the riverbed, spun his torso, and yanked with a sudden, violent force, dragging the majority of his attackers toward him through the water.

Channelling the Overlord Blood Victory Aura, Cheol Woo flexed, snapping every wire binding him simultaneously. Then, he took a deliberate step forward with his left leg.

*Boom!*

A massive shockwave rippled out, kicking up a colossal cloud of mud from the bottom.

*Rumble!*

The water around Cheol Woo began to boil and churn.

The faces of the White Pig Band distorted in sheer terror as they felt the vibration through their bodies. they paddled frantically, trying to flee the immediate vicinity.

Cheol Woo aimed his left hand at the returning dolphin and his right at the retreating bandits.

Overlord Sixteen Punches—a technique that delivered sixteen devastating strikes in a single breath.

It lacked the elegance of his land-based execution, but every punch generated a lethal, localized whirlpool.

The White Pig Band fought with everything they had to dodge the homing vortexes, but it was useless.

Not a single man got away; every one of them was sucked into the swirling currents and crushed by the pressure, their lives ending instantly.

Bu Seolgon, still on the dolphin, was caught in the middle.

The dolphin managed to survive the impact of the vortex through its immense bulk and vitality, wobbling but staying afloat. However, Bu Seolgon had been torn from its back and pulverized.

Having settled the debt in one go, Cheol Woo floated upward, satisfied with the carnage. But he had made the grave error of forgetting that a beast could seek revenge for its rider.

Just as he sensed a movement and turned his head, a tremendous force slammed into his side. Water flooded into his mouth as he gasped in surprise.

As a dazed Cheol Woo tried to clear his head from the impact, the dolphin, which had looped around, came charging back with feral rage.

‘You animal, I won’t let you do that twice.’

Gnashing his teeth, Cheol Woo threw a punch at the beast. But the dolphin, having already felt the sting of his fists, nimbly rolled out of the way.

Cheol Woo lunged and hooked his fingers into the passing dolphin’s fin—his grip digging in like iron hooks.

The animal thrashed in pain, attempting to throw him off, but Cheol Woo held fast and hauled himself onto its back.

“Heh heh heh! Die, you fish!”

With a savage laugh, Cheol Woo began raining blows onto the dolphin’s head.

Letting out high-pitched shrieks, the dolphin convulsed wildly before finally surging toward the surface at a terrifying speed.

—

Ever since Cheol Woo had disappeared into the river, the atmosphere on the ship had turned deathly silent.

The Yangtze Waterway Alliance had established a perimeter on all sides, holding their ground, but everyone on board knew things had taken a turn for the worse when they saw the White Pig Band dive in.

“They have no intention of letting us surrender peacefully.”

Sima Geon walked over to Dam Po and spoke.

“W-what are we supposed to do?”

Having been briefed by the veteran captain on the tactics of the Yangtze Waterway Alliance, Dam Po was shaking with fear.

“I’ve told you already. We will take care of the combat, so go hide in the living quarters.”

“Y-yes, of course.”

Realizing that the Yangtze Waterway Alliance wasn’t interested in negotiations, Dam Po didn’t linger.

“Captain, keep the vessel moving as close to the edge as possible, just as I instructed.”

“With those ships boxing us in like that, I don’t see how we can.”

The captain glanced at Dam Po with clear annoyance. He seemed to hold Dam Po responsible for ignoring Sima Geon’s earlier warnings and getting them trapped.

“Don’t fret over that. Just focus on your steering.”

“Fine. I’ll do what I can. So…”

The captain’s voice trailed off as he turned. He began barking orders at the remaining crew to clear the deck and get below.

As the captain ushered the men away…

The surface of the river exploded in a massive fountain of spray.

It was the dolphin.

Breaking through the water in a violent leap, it flew nearly as high as the ship’s deck. But the onlookers weren’t staring at the animal; they were staring at Cheol Woo, who was perched firmly on its back.

“Kuhahaha!”

His wild laughter, sounding like a victory cry, echoed across the Yangtze as the dolphin, having used the last of its strength for the breach, fell back into the water with a lifeless splash.