The golden energy emitted by Hwang-ho solidified into the form of magic and was restructured into a massive barrier.

The golden barrier spread through the air at a speed so fast that even the two factions could hardly follow it with their eyes.

Even against the weak sheep, the assassin, who had been hiding and slashing with his sword, could never break through the barrier created by the clan leader.

"Quick decision. Are you thinking of running away?"

While the Sheep was distracted by the golden barrier, Hwang-ho sensed the movements of the enemy and responded accordingly.

If Hwang-ho had been tricked by an assassin’s invisibility spell, he would have been taken down by an external enemy long ago, during the age of myths when the corrupted darkness could hide in the Great River's dark waters.

“Didn’t the order come down to prioritize the annihilation of the target, even if someone intervenes? Either the sheep isn’t worth killing, or the person who’s pulling the strings has decided to spare you, one of the two.”

Despite the enemy attempting to escape, Hwang-ho appeared calm.

Perhaps he was wary that the enemy might try to strike at the sheep again while pretending to run away, but all he did was reinforce the barrier.

From the Sheep's perspective, it was fortunate that whatever the enemy was doing—whether fleeing or dying—meant they would simply be gone.

However, it was strange that the aggressive clan leader was watching without interfering.

“Remember how we completed the encirclement just recently but missed the enemy? That’s why I’ve been more cautious this time.”

Swish!

Amid the difficulty of seeing due to the golden light emanating from the barrier, the sheep saw a blue light shooting through.

It was too fast to fully follow with the eyes, but the afterimages were visible.

Following the blue traces that remained between the golden light, the martial artist with a Tae-ho-kwon uniform appeared.

Cheong-ho, with his eyes closed, was striking the air.

His refined movements gave the feeling of watching a martial arts demonstration.

‘No, he’s not just striking the air. I can hear something. He’s fighting something!’

The Sheep, still unsettled and on the verge of tears, managed to keep her gaze focused ahead.

Though the sheep's vision wasn’t great, her hearing was sharp enough to discern good music easily, and even in this situation, she could tell that Cheong-ho was indeed fighting something.

‘Cheong-ho is fighting with his eyes closed.’

Since the enemy was invisible, it seemed that Cheong-ho had decided that limiting visual information wouldn’t matter. With his eyes closed, he fought on.

Though it would be easy to lose balance when fighting without sight, his fists were aimed precisely at vital spots, and the energy flowing through his body and supporting his firm legs showed his strength.

The outcome was clear in an instant.

Boom!

When Cheong-ho grabbed something and slammed it into the ground, the earth cracked, and dust flew into the air.

As the dust settled, the figure of an assassin wearing opaque and glossy armor was revealed.

Cheong-ho pressed down on the assassin's neck with one hand, effortlessly subduing him, and opened his eyes.

“There are more of them.”

Cheong-ho said this calmly.

The sheep were once again struck with fear upon hearing that there was not just one assassin.

“Is that so? I can help.”

“Forget it. My disciples will handle it.”

Cheong-ho's words sounded very reliable, but the sheep pressed their ears against the barrier that protected them, trying to listen to what was happening outside.

Indeed, they could hear the sounds of the clan members hunting the assassins from a distance.

It seemed the clan had anticipated the sheep would be attacked and had made a wide encirclement to close in on the enemy without alerting them.

‘I need to ask what’s going on. After all, I’m the leader.’

The Sheep forced herself to stop crying and stood up before speaking to Hwang-ho, who was waiting and looking at her.

She hastily stitched up the wound on her neck using the wool from her coat, relying on the regeneration abilities unique to her kind to stop the bleeding and heal the flesh a little.

She then spoke to Hwang-ho, who stood waiting as if he had been expecting her.

“Why are you so late? If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve come earlier! It was so painful and scary!”

She tried to speak with dignity, but the fear and frustration from what she had just gone through made her voice crack, and tears almost slipped out again.

Seeing the Sheep scold him while still teary-eyed, Hwang-ho furrowed his brows in disbelief.

However, when their eyes met the anxious sheep watching from behind the barrier, he immediately softened his expression.

"Right, being a leader means you have to be a little shameless, especially in front of those who trust you."

“Hwang-ho, you’ve always been shameless.”

“Haha! I’ve been trying to be just that in front of you.”

At Cheong-ho’s words, Hwang-ho burst into laughter.

Despite the tension, he couldn’t help but think that the sight of the two tigers was quite satisfying. However, right now, the Sheep had far too many questions to just sit back and watch.

“So, how did you come? Why are you helping us? Is it because of the 12 Zodiac barrier?”

At the Sheep’s question, Hwang-ho and Cheong-ho recalled their conversation with Jo Yi-shin.

Before this incident, Jo Yi-shin had confirmed many things, one of which was the presence of the sheep tribe on Jeju Island.

“Even in the replay that the seniors watched, and in the Plmago I played, the sheep tribe didn’t appear.”

“Then they wouldn’t intervene. No need to think too much about it. As long as they stay hidden within the 12 Zodiac barrier, the sheep tribe will be safe.”

This was the shared belief of the Jin tribe, including Hwang-ho.

Just like how the barrier at Eun-gwang High had been disturbed on Christmas Eve, it wasn’t impossible to break a barrier.

However, doing so required considerable costs, manpower, and resources, and it didn’t seem worth it to attack the sheep tribe.

Jo Yi-shin, however, thought differently.

“Then, let’s test it.”

“Test it on the sheep tribe?”

“Yi-shin, what exactly do you want to test? Don’t bother with your hands, I’ll ask the leader of the sheep tribe directly.”

In fact, Hwang-ho agreed with Cheong-ho’s suggestion.

Cheong-ho’s rough and coercive methods were surprisingly useful and simple.

Unfortunately, Jo Yi-shin didn’t agree with this approach.

“To find out the true intentions of the sheep tribe, it’s better to test it. Luckily, Teacher Im Yeon-hwa and Senior Woo Gi-hwan will be going to Jeju Island, so I’ll ask them to handle it.”

Jo Yi-shin’s experiment was as follows:

Though the sheep tribe was weak, they likely had some means to detect when a major event occurred on Jeju Island.

Therefore, if Im Yeon-hwa sincerely fought and almost killed Woo Gi-hwan and his group, the sheep tribe would learn of it.

It was clear that Im Yeon-hwa was strong enough to defeat the sheep tribe, and there was no reason to save Woo Gi-hwan’s group.

In such a situation, Jo Yi-shin wanted to find out whether the sheep tribe would intervene, and if they did, how they would do so.

As a result of this experiment, it was confirmed that the Sheep tribe had planned to intervene by coming out of the barrier and putting everyone to sleep.

“Yi-shin’s experiment turned out to be very significant.”

“Significant? All we learned is that the sheep tribe is a little foolish and weak, but still has some conscience to protect humans. I don’t know... but seeing White Tiger chuckling makes me think there’s more to it.”

Hyeok-ho, who had recently shown up due to the cooperation between Eun-ho and Woong-nyeo, was puzzled as he listened to the meeting’s content.

Though he couldn’t read Jo Yi-shin’s mind as quickly as Baek-ho, Eun-ho quickly grasped the meaning behind it.

“In the Plmago, the leader of the sheep tribe likely planned to intervene after seeing Yeom Jun-yeol or the students’ crisis. Especially, he might have tried to put Yeom Jun-yeol to sleep after inducing his rampage.”

Considering how much time it took to induce Yeom Jun-yeol’s rampage, the leader of the sheep tribe could have understood the situation.

Even if they hadn’t witnessed the scene where Cheon Dong-ha or Ma Jin-seung died in the distorted 99th Valley, they could have seen Yeom Jun-yeol surrounded at Yongduam.

The Sheep tribe might have believed that by putting Yeom Jun-yeol, who had gone on a rampage, to sleep, everything would settle smoothly without having to fight anyone.

However, there were no signs that the Sheep tribe had intervened in the Plmago or replay.

“The black hand was likely waiting for the Sheep tribe to come out of the barrier. Perhaps after dealing with the sheep tribe, they killed Yeom Jun-yeol. If they killed him too quickly, there would have been no chance for intervention, so the Sheep tribe wouldn’t come out.”

“However, if something happens to the Sheep tribe, one of the Jin tribe might...”

“We don’t know. The sheep tribe fears nightmares and doesn’t communicate with others. It would affect the 12 Zodiac barrier, but if they simply kept the Sheep tribe alive or replaced them with another sheep, it would be hard to detect. Just like how we couldn’t know about the situation with the Do tribe until we saw Ok-to-yeon alive.”

After hearing the explanation from Eun-ho and Hwang-ho, Jeok-ho fell silent.

In the replay, Jeok-ho didn’t know what had happened to the Do tribe until he saw Ok-to-yeon in person.

The Sheep tribe, who lived hidden in the barrier, was even more secluded, and no one had even considered this potential flaw.

Jo Yi-shin had already suspected that the Sheep tribe might intervene for the students and had prepared strategies accordingly.

“The Sheep tribe is weak, but as part of the 12 Zodiac alliance, they mustn’t fall into the hands of the black hand, considering their attributes.”

“Attributes?”

“The black hand craves sacrifices. The sheep is an ancient sacrifice. If all the sheep tribe were sacrificed, they would gain immense power.”

And Jo Yi-shin added one more thing.

“Also, the Sheep tribe has the power to put others to sleep. If the black hand induces rampage in students other than Yeom # Nоvеlight # Jun-yeol, the Sheep tribe could use that power to stop it.”

Jo Yi-shin’s next move was to rescue the Sheep tribe and use their power to stop the rampage of the others.

Hwang-ho condensed the entire process and omitted several parts when explaining to the Sheep tribe.

“My benefactor has devised a plan to save you. I merely carried out that plan.”

“Why do you keep calling them your benefactor? If I listen to you, it sounds like that benefactor saved our Sheep tribe.”

The Sheep tribe had stopped crying, but their voice still carried a hint of sobbing as they said what needed to be said.

Hwang-ho, having heard this, was starting to get a headache, thinking about how more members of the Jin tribe would start referring to their benefactor.

At that moment, the Sheep tribe suddenly had a realization and spoke in shock.

“Ah, right! Hwang-ho, your schoolmates are about to rampage! I came out of the barrier to put them to sleep. I’ll go quickly!”

The Sheep tribe, seemingly energized, tried to run, but Hwang-ho blocked their path.

The Sheep tribe couldn’t understand why he was stopping them when they were trying to save their schoolmates.

At first, they thought Hwang-ho was just faster and had grabbed them to lead them there, but that wasn’t the case.

“The benefactor’s plan was to use your power. If the students rampage, you’ll use your power to calm them.”

“Then I should go quickly!”

Hwang-ho’s expression was heavy and dark.

Seeing that, the Sheep tribe felt their heart drop.

“But if multiple students rampage at the same time, I’ve decided to follow the plan of someone I respect. My benefactor’s plan is very kind, but it would waste energy if we just moved according to it. I don’t want to go against my benefactor’s will, but...”

“Wha—what are you going to do then? Are you going to abandon the students? They’re from your school!”

Even as the Sheep tribe protested, Hwang-ho remained motionless.

Jo Yi-shin’s plan was excessively kind, unlike Eun-ho’s, which was either cold or ruthless.

Hwang-ho decided to follow the will of the one he respected, not Jo Yi-shin.