Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 60

-Mortal, you’re really…

Cheong-ryeong clicked her tongue.

She had wondered why he was joining as a teammate when it didn’t suit him.

But to think he had this kind of plan.

-Did you intend this from the beginning?

“How could I miss such a convenient opportunity?”

Mok Gyeong-un smiled and approached the last remaining person, no, corpse.

That corpse was the girl named Sohwa, the first one whose neck Mok Gyeong-un had twisted.

Mok Gyeong-un placed his hand on the girl’s head and chanted the oral secrets of the Art of Binding technique in his mind, absorbing the remaining death energy.

-Whoosh!

The absorbed death energy spread throughout his body.

Directly absorbing it like this allowed him to secure a larger amount compared to when it tried to disperse into the air during the iron ball struggle.

However,

‘I should go in order of who died first from now on.’

Absorbing in the order of who was closest resulted in a significant loss of Sohwa’s death energy.

It hadn’t completely disappeared, but it was less compared to the others.

‘Still, not bad.’

He had already secured a much larger amount of death energy than at Yeon Mok Sword Manor.

If he could just remove the Forbidden Gate Lock inserted in his qi channels, he could greatly expand his danjeon through qi circulation.

“Seems like coming here was a good choice.”

-Good choice? Don’t tell me…

At that moment, the sound of someone’s presence was heard from somewhere.

-Rustle!

Soon, someone revealed themselves.

It was a boy.

Seeing the boy approach with familiar eyes, Mok Gyeong-un chuckled and said,

“You could have just killed him, but you possessed him?”

“I thought it might be necessary, so I brought him.”

As soon as he finished speaking,

-Thud!

the boy’s body collapsed, and the blurry form of the evil spirit appeared.

Mok Gyeong-un said with satisfaction,

“Thank you very much.”

He had ordered one thing, but to have his intentions understood like this.

He couldn’t be anything but an excellent familiar.

Mok Gyeong-un approached the fallen boy.

After twisting the boy’s neck, he absorbed the death energy.

It didn’t take long.

Having finished all this, Mok Gyeong-un stretched his muscles with a refreshed expression.

“Phew. Feels good.”

-Mortal. What do you intend to do?

“What do you mean?”

-From the looks of it, you don’t seem like you’ll be satisfied with just these guys.

At Cheong-ryeong’s words, Mok Gyeong-un smiled.

Then, looking up at the mountain, he said,

“I should have a delightful mealtime until dawn. As much as possible.”

Anyway, according to the passing criteria, as long as he left at most seven people, that should be enough.

***

A damp and dark cave at the foot of the mountain.

-Sizzle!

The demon mask walked in with two warriors holding torches.

As soon as they entered the cave, the expressions of the two warriors stiffened.

That’s because from the moment they entered the cave, a strange energy stimulated their qi sense.

It was quite different from human presence or energy.

It was unpleasant and gave them goosebumps.

‘It’s suffocating.’

That was the state of mind of the two warriors.

However, the demon mask entered deeper as if he was used to it.

As he did so, a voice came from deep within the cave.

“Are you the Valley Master of the Corpse Blood Valley?”

“That’s right.”

“The fire is bright.”

At the voice coming from inside, the demon mask signaled the two warriors to stop.

“What?”

“You two wait here.”

“But…”

“Wait.”

“Yes, sir!”

Leaving them behind, the demon mask went deeper into the cave alone.

Inside, someone wearing a taoist robe with yin and yang symbols was standing.

As if he had been waiting, he clasped his hands together and bowed his head.

“You’ve come?”

The demon mask asked him,

“Are the preparations done?”

“Is there even a need to ask?”

“What is it this time? I heard they’re quite dangerous compared to last time.”

At these words, the man in the taoist robe smiled and replied,

“Of course they’re dangerous if released carelessly.”

“I suppose so. Are they the ones behind the iron bars?”

“That’s right.”

At the answer of the man in the taoist robe, the demon mask looked back.

But a strange sound came from there.

-Oink oink!

‘Hmm.’

It sounded like a pig’s cry.

There’s no way there would actually be pigs, so what could they look like?

The demon mask was curious and tried to peek at where the iron bars were.

Then the man in the taoist robe blocked him and said,

“It’s better not to approach too closely. No matter how controlled they are, even those who haven’t reached maturity are fierce beasts.”

“Fierce beasts…”

Beasts beyond beasts, was it?

The demon mask looked behind the man in the taoist robe.

There, something dangerous with rat-like eyes was staring intently at him.

“What did you call that thing?”

“It’s a Gal-jeo. Brought from the Northern Sea near Mount Beihu.”

Gal-jeo…

Even the name sounded ominous.

The demon mask turned around and said,

“Alright. Release them when you see the signal.”

***

Half an hour had passed since the flag defense battle began.

The mountain was vast, and perhaps because the flags were meticulously hidden, no one had discovered them yet.

But there was someone who found it first.

It was the boy from the Esoteric Realm Gate.

The boy’s name was Yeon Woo-ung, and as soon as he found the flag, he ran towards it with excitement.

‘Found it!’

If the flag had been a brighter color, it would have been easier to find, but the color was dark, and the location was cunningly concealed in the bushes, making it difficult to find.

But there was a reward for searching thoroughly without rest.

‘The pole is quite long.’

Yeon Woo-ung, who had approached close to the flag, grabbed the pole.

It was to pull out the flag and secure a suitable location.

However,

‘Huh?’

the flag, which he thought would be easy to pull out, wouldn’t budge from the ground.

The pole itself wasn’t that heavy, so why was that?

Puzzled, Yeon Woo-ung soon discovered the reason.

‘What?’

The bottom of the flag was connected to a large lump of iron.

The size was quite big, and even for Yeon Woo-ung, who had trained external techniques and had muscular strength, it felt quite heavy to lift.

‘Holding the pole and moving will be even heavier.’

In that case, he had to hold the iron lump at the bottom and move.

At first, he wondered why they had made the flag this way, but soon he thought it was rather fortunate.

If it was this heavy, it would be difficult for other guys to move the flag.

Since their internal energy was sealed.

‘This gateway might be easier than expected.’

He thought that among those who found the flags, there would be some who maliciously try to eliminate other flags or seize them to reduce the number of people passing.

But if the flag was like this, it would be difficult to carry and move, so there would be few who would go to the trouble of seizing someone else’s flag.

‘Good. Then I need to gather teammates and defend the location.’

He just needed to endure until dawn.

Meanwhile,

on a mountain ridge 200 zhang northwest of where Yeon Woo-ung from the Esoteric Realm Gate was.

There was someone who had discovered another flag, albeit later.

She was none other than the girl from the Demon Fire Hall.

The girl’s name was Mo Ha-rang.

“Ah…”

The joy of finding the flag was short-lived, and she too couldn’t hide her perplexity upon seeing the iron lump connected to the bottom of the flag pole.

‘Heavy.’

The iron lump was extremely heavy for her to lift.

It couldn’t be helped since her qi channels were blocked, and the martial arts she had learned were based on swiftness, so her muscle mass wasn’t thick, making it even more difficult.

‘Moving is impossible.’

Even if she tried to secure a good location with the flag, she needed teammates.

Defending the flag alone was a difficult task.

‘It would be nice if I could break the pole.’

[The flag must be in its complete state.]

There had been a warning beforehand, so the iron lump was also one with the flag.

In the end, the only answer was to wait.

However,

‘Huh?’

Mo Ha-rang, who had been fiddling with the upper part of the flag pole by chance, frowned.

It was because something was engraved on the upper part of the flag.

Without holding a torch and only relying on the moonlight shining through the bushes, it was difficult to see with the naked eye, but,

-Rub rub!

when she touched it with her hand, she could roughly tell what was written.

‘Yi Won Geom Se Ji Woo Yeok Hyeon… !?’

As she rubbed and deduced what the engraved text said, she could be certain.

It was the stance formula of a sword art.

And it was a bit different from ordinary sword arts.

‘Could this be?’

If her guess was correct…

-Tap!

‘Huh?’

Mo Ha-rang’s eyes narrowed.

The oral secrets had ended.

Up to this point, one might not feel anything particularly strange, but it wasn’t the case for her.

‘Incomplete.’

In her view, the oral secrets were incomplete.

If it was the stance formula of a sword art, there was no way it would end here.

Most martial arts aim to effectively subdue and kill the opponent, but conversely, they also serve the purpose of protecting oneself.

Mo Ha-rang closed her eyes.

-Swish swish!

A sword art was visualized in her mind.

It was a bit lacking to be called an advanced sword art, but the sword techniques weren’t bad.

However, according to these oral secrets, four gaps would be created.

It meant that there were exactly four spots that couldn’t be blocked with the available sword techniques.

‘… An incomplete sword art.’

This was strange.

If she wanted to overlook it, she could.

But they had engraved the oral secrets of a sword art on the flag pole right below the flag, which could be easily passed over without much thought.

Moreover, it was an incomplete set of oral secrets.

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t help but be bothered by it if she just passed it by.

Then, she suddenly had this thought.

‘Could it be?’

She hoped it wasn’t the case, but she felt she had to check.

She boldly decided to give up the flag she had barely found.

Still, as if she had some lingering attachment, Mo Ha-rang stared at the flag for a while, then broke the upper part of the pole where the oral secrets were engraved.

-Snap!

‘If it’s not mine anyway.’

There was no need to let other guys have it.

Mo Ha-rang buried the broken upper part of the flag in the ground out of sight and ran.

About two hours had passed like that.

Unlike before, there were people who found flags here and there, and teams were formed.

And naturally, as intended in this gateway, there were also confrontations when two teams simultaneously discovered one flag.

The two teams fiercely fought a bloody battle to claim the flag.

Their internal energy was absent, so it was almost like a brawl, but in the end, the victor was decided.

“Huff huff…”

The winning teammates exhaled rough breaths, covered in blood.

They newly realized how difficult it was to fight without internal energy.

A boy barely got up and surveyed the surroundings.

‘Ah…’

Out of the eight teammates, only five survived.

He had hoped no one would die, but that was just wishful thinking.

Fortunately, they had defended the flag, and they just needed to find three more teammates.

Whether that would be easy, he didn’t know.

“What should we do?”

“We have to defend the flag and wait, right?”

“Of course. We might lose the flag if we wander around.”

Everyone seemed to agree.

But one boy offered a different opinion.

“Wait a minute. If we just stay here and defend the flag, won’t we be at a disadvantage if another intact team appears?”

“Ah…”

That made sense too.

It was truly a dilemma.

But they couldn’t give up the flag they had barely claimed.

While they were thinking that,

“You found the flag?”

-Gasp!

Everyone’s gaze turned to where the voice came from.

Seeing someone standing there, they tensed up for a moment but soon felt relieved.

It was because they saw only one person standing.

‘Thank goodness.’

If it had been another intact team, they would have been in trouble.

As that one person approached and revealed his face, the expressions of the relieved teammates stiffened.

It was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.

The guy with the cruel hands, whom they were reluctant to accept as a teammate, had appeared.

“Stop right there! Don’t move! Who are you?”

A boy stopped Mok Gyeong-un from approaching and asked.

“Who, you ask?”

“Didn’t you join the team with some woman?”

This boy had seen Mok Gyeong-un join the team with Sohwa, the sole girl.

That’s why he was asking this.

At this, Mok Gyeong-un made a regretful expression and said,

“Ah. They were all defeated.”

“Defeated?”

“Yes.”

Mok Gyeong-un moved his eyes, glanced at the corpses around, and casually said,

“Our team also fought another team over the flag, like you guys, and they were all defeated, so I barely escaped.”

“You escaped alone?”

“Yes. With my tired body, I couldn’t face four of them alone.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the boys looked at him with suspicious eyes.

But it wasn’t just suspicion.

They had just experienced a similar situation, so they thought it could certainly happen.

To them, Mok Gyeong-un spoke in a gentle voice,

“Since we both lost teammates, I think we fit together, so if it’s not a burden, could you accept me?”

“…”

They hesitated at this proposal.

The reason they didn’t accept him as a teammate in the first place was because he was creepy.

That wariness wouldn’t easily dissipate.

So they whispered cautiously and discussed among themselves.

“What should we do?”

“That guy is a bit weird. Should we just let him go?”

“But then what about the flag? It’s barely been two hours.”

There were still more than two hours left until dawn.

If other guys attacked during that time, they would inevitably lose the flag.

Then they would have to find a flag again, but it would be difficult with just five people.

“… Let’s accept him.”

“Accept him?”

“Yeah. Anyway, even that guy knows that we have to cooperate to pass this gateway, right?”

“Well, that’s true. Because eight people are needed to pass.”

No matter how reckless he was, he would still think.

That they had to join forces and defend this flag to pass this gateway.

Considering this, no matter how much of a troublemaker he was, he absolutely couldn’t harm them.

Having become convinced like this, one of the boys said to Mok Gyeong-un,

“Alright. But remember, until dawn, we are one. If we betray each other, we’re dead. Keep that in mind.”

At the boy’s words, Mok Gyeong-un nodded.

But his lips were twitching as if holding back laughter.

‘Ah. This is too good.’

It felt like they were setting the table for him.