Ch.66Chapter 66 – Completing All Preparations (1)

“Great Master, if… if it’s not too presumptuous… could I know what kind of enemy is coming?”

While preparing to arrange battle formations while looking at the map, Zhuge Hong suddenly seemed curious as she tapped my shoulder and asked.

“A massive deity made of goat horns, hooves, and countless tentacles. You could call it a god from another world, a different dimension.”

I told Zhuge Hong the truth. One of the important aspects of setting up formations was knowing who you were trying to contain and for what purpose.

“Bing-yeon, is what you just said true?”

“If what you’re saying is true, aren’t we in danger too?”

“Things seem to be getting interesting.”

The other martial artists couldn’t hide their shock after hearing my statement.

They must have already realized I wasn’t lying, considering they were converting their sect into a fortress for this battle.

“You all won’t be participating in the fight.”

I began speaking to the others as if telling them not to worry. Just seeing an Outer God manifest would drive them mad or make them suicidal.

“Why? Wouldn’t having us there be more advantageous? That’s why you gathered us…”

“You won’t be able to withstand the Outer God’s mental attacks. You’ll either go insane and try to kill your comrades, or beg someone to end your life.”

“……”

The others were left speechless at my serious statement.

They seemed to realize why I, someone who rarely showed myself in the Central Plains while living on borrowed time, had asked for help in this manner.

“Great Master, approximately how large is this enemy…?”

“Large enough to block both the sky and sun, turning day into night.”

“T-then I think we need to make the pillars I mentioned earlier larger and sharper…!”

Only Zhuge Hong’s eyes sparkled as she grinned excitedly. She was properly adjusting the scale and type of formation now that she knew it was an Outer God.

Zhuge Hong was a genius in formations and strategy. The Zhuge Family was traditionally skilled in these areas, which is why I had kept the same setting as in other martial arts novels.

“The pillars should be the central support to block the Outer God’s descent, like holding up a massive sun…!”

“Are there any other countermeasures? I think it will inhabit a young girl’s body before revealing its true form.”

“Y-yes, there are…!”

I told Zhuge Hong about how it was possessing Seol-hwa’s body, and immediately she began drawing large spirals on the map, creating something like a maze.

“This way… when it’s in human form, it will lose its sense of direction and wander aimlessly!”

“So you’re setting up formations outside the sect as well to confuse its location… That’s quite a good method.”

“Hehehe, r-right…?”

Zhuge Hong nodded her head vigorously like a broken doll. She seemed desperate for praise.

“What if the enemy sends small black goats made of tentacles? How should we deal with that?”

To prepare for every possibility, I began explaining to Zhuge Hong about the Black Sheep, “Old Young,” known as the children of Shub-Niggurath.

“How big would those be…?”

“Probably larger than a house. Imagine monster-sized creatures shaped like mountains moving around trying to eat people.”

“T-then… we should prepare separate traps. Using the natural terrain as much as possible…”

Despite these explanations, Zhuge Hong maintained her sharp intellect, trying to find countermeasures.

Though she stuttered and seemed to lack confidence, her skill with formations was so exceptional that few in the martial world could match her.

“Thank you very much. Is there anything you’d like in return?”

I made a fist-palm salute to express my gratitude to Zhuge Hong. She smiled bashfully while scratching the back of her head.

“I-if possible… could you tell my father that I’m capable when I put my mind to it?”

Unlike in the original story, Zhuge Hong had lost opportunities to prove herself and was being neglected by her family, so family recognition seemed most important to her.

With her help, even if beings from another world invaded this martial arts world, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

“I understand. Is there anything else you want? I was originally planning to give you some silver…”

“T-that’s not necessary…! It’s been so long since I’ve had such an extensive conversation about formations with someone! Taking money would make this feel like a business transaction…!”

Zhuge Hong waved her hands frantically, refusing the silver I offered. If she needed neither money nor fame, what did she want?

I rested my chin on my hand and pondered.

Bi-wol and my other disciples enjoyed having their heads patted, but there were too many eyes watching here.

“…Friend!”

“Pardon? What did you just say?”

“If you become my friend, that would be more than enough…!”

Zhuge Hong’s proposal was unexpected.

She simply wanted to be close friends. Despite our age difference, that wasn’t something people in the Central Plains martial world concerned themselves with.

Even in real history, there were many cases of notable figures with age differences becoming friends.

“I-I’m not very sociable, so I can’t even remember the last time I had such an enjoyable conversation…!”

Looking at Zhuge Hong trembling with fear of rejection, I gazed at her with sympathetic eyes.

“I-is that not possible…?”

“Why wouldn’t it be possible? If you want a friend, I’ll be one.”

Since I needed the Zhuge Family’s help with the formations, having a friendly relationship with her was better than being adversaries.

“T-thank you…! Ehehehehehe…”

I nodded readily to show my agreement, and Zhuge Hong made a strange laughing sound as she expressed her joy.

* * *

“In that case, spreading my poison along the paths where the enemy will wander would be effective. Paralytic or hemorrhagic poisons would work best, considering their large size.”

The first to speak while looking at the formation plan nearly completed with Zhuge Hong’s help was Dang Mun-hyeok, known by the title Poison Dragon.

As the head of the Tang Clan of Sichuan, he was an expert in all kinds of poisons and hidden weapons.

While there’s a common misconception that poisons are ineffective against large opponents, even elephants can be killed with very small amounts of the right poison.

“Since there are treacherous mountains nearby, we could use that to our advantage. We could lure those young sheep monsters there and cause an avalanche to wipe them all out at once.”

The next to speak was Hyeon-hwa, the sect leader of Mount Hua Sect. Thinking of his own sect located in high, steep mountains, he tapped his finger on the mountain range next to the Ice Dragon Fate Sect.

“…That’s a good method, but I’m not sure if the enemy will fall for such an obvious trap!”

“Didn’t you say we’d use formations to make them lose their sense of direction? Let’s expand the size and extend the formations beyond the sect grounds.”

Zhuge Hong and Hyeon-hwa exchanged opinions. He was drawing the spiral larger than she had originally planned.

“Like this.”

“That could be dangerous… It will take a lot of time to prepare…!”

Zhuge Hong sighed anxiously at the sight. Since I had told her the Outer God would attack soon, she was worried about not meeting the deadline.

“…We can create many sword traps to minimize manpower requirements.”

At that moment, Namgung Do-hun, the Infinite Sword Emperor of the Namgung Family, offered another solution. He was so powerful with swords that none could match him.

If Namgung Do-hun created sword traps, they might actually be able to inflict damage on Shub-Niggurath.

“Bing-yeon, if we fail to defeat the Outer God, wouldn’t the entire Central Plains martial world be in danger?”

He shared his concerns with me. Based on my description of such a powerful enemy, he probably realized his own sect wouldn’t be safe either.

“I don’t think so. That being is only targeting me and my disciples.”

However, judging from Shub-Niggurath’s actions so far, that possibility was extremely low.

If this Outer God, who was also an avid reader of this novel, had wanted to kill everyone, it would have done so already rather than holding back until now.

‘Guiding events toward the ending it desires… That’s what Shub-Niggurath wants.’

That’s how I understood the Outer God’s intentions.

After all, even when it failed to kill my disciples at the Dragon and Phoenix Tournament, it accepted the result and retreated.

Otherwise, it could have devoured people right there and then.

Outer Gods are frightening because they’re incomprehensible, terrifying because they’re unknowable. I seemed to understand why Shub-Niggurath had deliberately spared Seol-hwa.

“Well then, since we’ve more or less sorted things out, let me propose a compromise.”

I gathered all the opinions from the martial artists to create a plan to fortify the Ice Dragon Fate Sect.

* * *

While Bing-yeon was planning with the martial artists, one of the disciples who had been diligently training sensed something strange.

“What’s wrong suddenly, Senior Bi-wol!”

Bi-wol suddenly turned around. She instinctively felt that something unsettling was happening where her master was having discussions.

“…Looks like there’s a woman trying to be a thieving cat.”

Bi-wol bit her fingernails, showing jealousy toward Zhuge Hong who had become friends with her master.