The Hidden Myth of Ji Dara

Chapter 37 - Heroism & Grief

For an ordinary mortal, such an attack from a vicious weapon as this could cause massive injuries, and when such an injury is then coming from a cultivator, little needed to be said about how much injury Dara [who had no cultivation] had sustained at this point…

But since there was still the probability of living up ahead, Dara picked himself up and continued to flee…

But after fleeing from these dozen or so human-monsters, Dara came to a dead end; a cliff he never knew existed…

Shraa!

Dara who had been fleeing for his life had no choice but to stop for his dear life as his foot drew a five meter line on the ground before he stopped just at the tip of the cliff, sending several tiny stone debris falling down the cliff as he focused his senses on the sounds the stones were making as they tumbled down into the abyss looking pit…

Tapow! Tapow!

Dara heard two splashing sounds as his eyes shot up in shock;

'Water!'

'Flowing water!'

He almost jumped in joy forgetting about the people who were hot on his heels, and just as he turned around, he noticed that he had been cornered at the cliff edge…

"Eleven?"

Dara made a quick head count of his pursuers until he saw them part ways to reveal a twelfth who seemed to be their leader, wearing a rag looking cloak with a similar bamboo hat…

The leader simply growled and pointed at Dara as all of the rest of the Obuns moved in for the kill, the first of them all holding a scythe which had a long chain attached to its end…

Dara blanched in sheer trepidation; these human monsters all had cultivation and the only edge he had over them had been stripped off, he pushed his hand forward as he tried not to look at the incoming Obun who looked like the grim reaper, with his black colored, blood soaked scythe;

"Get away from him!"

A girl bellowed just as the scythe reach about two inches from Dara's neck, and by the time the Obun looked over to check who the intruder was, its vision elevated slightly, before rolling thrice mid-air and finally coming to a stand-still…

The Obun had shock plastered on its face as his body seemed to have grown about ten times larger than before, but then he noticed that the body he was looking at was now headless…

The moment that happened, the leader who had seemed uninterested at everything suddenly looked up with a deep growl…

Clang! Jiang!

Puchi!

Slash! Splurt!

Dara who still had his eyes shut, anticipating his death finally opened his eyes and saw three dead Obuns on the floor; one headless, one split in half, and the last still having black blood spurting out of his neck like a fountain…

Then he saw a 5 foot tall, light skinned girl, with a pony tailed hair, holding a glaive with black putrid blood still dripping from its blade…

"Head East… Save yourself…" The girl said with bated breaths, obviously she was exhausted after rushing over to help Dara;

"Big sis!"

Dara spoke as his sister touched him in the on his chest and added with a smile;

"Be a good boy, go…"

Then she pushed Dara of the cliff;

"Noooo!"

Dara yelled as he tried to grab onto the shrinking image of his 14 year old sister, but after ten seconds of free falling; Kaboom! Dara sank into the flowing water… 

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The little girl swirled her glaive as she prepared to strike the fourth Obun only to have her glaive get tangled by its chains;

Clank! Clank!

The little girl tugged twice, but was unable to free up her glaive, as two other Obuns sent slashed their scythes at her flanks, but with a massive tug, the little girl jerked the Obun with the tangling chain towards her as she jumped into the air and completed a flip, causing both scythes to cut through the thin air, as the Obun with the tangling chains fell face first into the ground…

The two Obuns who had just missed were instantly joined by two more of their partners as they all attacked the girl at once from every direction…

Puchi!

The little girl stabbed her glaive into the fallen Obun's chest and wielded it like a pole-vault, as she spun around mid-air, delivering four vicious kicks into the each of their faces, in one fluid move…

Boom!

Dara thrusted out of the water as he gasped for a deep breath of air before swimming frantically towards the foot of the 20 meter tall cliff with the intention of climbing back to help his sister…

Roar!

One of the Obuns swung his scythe upwards from below, as the little girl used the pole of her glaive to block downwards, only to find out that it was a distraction…

The curved shaped scythe hooked her glaive as she saw the three other Obuns leap into the air with their scythes swinging downwards to chop her into pieces…

But with an instant maneuver, the little girl aggressively pulled the Obun towards her as she moved about three steps backwards causing the blades of the other three Obun's to land on their partner instead, as she freed her glaive and beheaded all three with a single, long, vicious slash…

Three kicks, two stabs and another perfect 360 degree slash ensured that the rest of the Obuns joined their partners in death;

Rooaarr!

She heard a deeper roar that was stronger than that of these dead Obun's combined and looked up ahead to see their leader bolting towards her with a level of ferociousness that bordered on total madness;

Zoom!

The Obun leader jumped into the air and slashed his twin swords with uncommon fury;

Boom!

The little girl raised her glaive over her head in a blocking stance, but was still blasted about five meters backwards, tumbling head over heels by the sheer force behind that strike…

But she quickly steadied herself and look to her opponent once again only to find him mid-air already descending with a similar move…

Knowing that there was no way she could successfully block an attack of such ferocity again, she rolled to the side, evading the attack which landed on the ground and left a two feet deep gash…

~Ugh~ ~Argh~ ~Huff~

Dara clawed and pulled at the small stones protruding from the cliff surface as he climbed as fast as he could, but after that much fleeing and hard fall, he was left with little to no energy in his body, but kept climbing with the fear of the unknown and anxiety of his sister's safety…

"~Sister~"

"~Sister~"

The ten year old Dara kept crying as he climbed to the top of the cliff, and when he got to the top, the first sight that greeted him was the bloodied glaive his sister was using to fight, only that his sister was nowhere near the weapon…

Dara looked around in shock and saw the corpse of dead Obuns and just further ahead was his sister, crouching on the grounding with a bloodied forehead and total exhaustion written on her face…

Behind her stood the Obun leader with his twin swords in hand;

"Sister!"

Dara cried as his sister looked at him with her ever present smile which she always wore regardless of the situation, something which to Dara was a beacon of hope that as long as she was around, things would definitely get better…

But now, there was something about the smile; it had this tinge of exhaustion within it, an exhaustion that stems from the depths of her soul;

"~Head East… Run~"

Dai; Dara's sister managed to say as the Obun Leader kicked her, sending her tumbling forwards as she threw up a mouthful of fresh blood…

Scrunch! Grunch!

The sound of metal piercing through skin and the crushing of bones rang out as Dara gasped at the sight in front of him; the Obun Leader had just stabbed his sister from behind, before plunging its sword deeper into her body;

"Sister!"

Dara blanched in trepidation as he rushed over to his sister with the little ounce of energy left in his body…

"Sister!"

The Obun Leader dislodged his sword from her back as Dai struggled to breathe, apparently, her lungs had been pierced and blood was rushing into her lungs, causing her to choke on her own blood…

"Sister!"

Dara was already shedding rivers of tears as he cried out to his only kin with a voiced laced with agony;

"~Run… Quick…~"

Dai urged slowly as her life force seemed to gradually ebb away, until she finally went quiet with the ever encouraging smile still plastered on her face…

~Aargghhhhh!~

Dara burst into uncontrollable tears as he grabbed his sisters face;

"Sister!"

"Sister!"

He called out in deep pain, but her body was already growing cold and become paler and paler by the second, as blood kept flowing out of her…

"By the decree of Lord Ru, you both are to be beheaded…"

The Obun Leader actually spoke as it struggled to sit down near a huge boulder, but Dara simply froze in shock…

These human-monsters are said to have lost every sense of reasoning, but here he was standing in the presence of a live one who actually made a sentence…

A correct one at that;

"The dead cannot be resurrected little kid, accept my condolences…"

"Now, come here…"

The Obun Leader continued despite seeing the stunned look on Dara's face;

"Take this…"

He threw the sword in his hands towards Dara, and it was only in that moment that Dara finally thought;

'Where is his second sword?'

Then the Obun Leader turned around and added;

"When you are done take me to see the doctor, and I will give you a painless death…"

Then Dara who had been searching for the second sword finally saw it lodged into the Obun Leader from the back…

Sharp! Shrap! Chrap!

Dara vengefully stomped his way towards the weak Obun Leader, planted his foot on his back, and shoved out the sword;

Shraa!

"Argh!"

The Obun Leader yelped in pain as he began to bleed from his back at a spot where his hands couldn't reach…