Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 66

It was on the verge of completing its transformation, so it was gradually regaining its reason.

Of course, even though reason had returned, it was still consumed by madness, so it couldn’t help but feel endless hunger.

That’s why it indiscriminately devoured whatever it encountered.

The only thing it could devour was the vengeful spirits in the same predicament as itself.

For over a decade, it ate and ate these vengeful spirits trapped under this cliff, screaming and suffering.

It wasn’t like this from the beginning.

When the vengeful spirits were devouring each other, it only ran away and hid out of the desire to survive.

However, the desire to live eventually led to an explosion of resentment and madness.

Consumed by madness, it had been devouring indiscriminately for over a decade, but amidst that repetitive cycle, something different intervened.

It looked at the entity bound by chains as if puzzled.

‘Human?’

Could it be a living being?

For a long time, this place had been filled only with vengeful spirits.

Periodically, new vengeful spirits would be added, but never had any living being appeared.

But for a living being to appear in this hell-like place?

Tremble tremble!

It couldn’t contain its excitement.

This ravenous hunger born from madness couldn’t be quelled with just dead vengeful spirits.

But a living being appearing like this was enough to stimulate its curiosity.

‘Be afraid.’

Thus, it tried to bestow fear and terror upon him.

The fear and dread emanating from a living being was a great source of nourishment for a vengeful spirit.

However,

“It seems like our opinions coincide.”

what the …. was this human?

He was smiling in this situation.

And that smile contained enough malice to be quite unpleasant.

If even a little force was applied, his limbs bound by chains would be torn off, yet his relaxed attitude was utterly unpleasant.

Haha, if that’s the case, I shall enjoy the sight of you suffering as I tear off your limbs one by one and devour you.

Clang!

Mok Gyeong-un, who had been bound by chains, was forcibly dragged by its gesture.

Knowing that strength was useless anyway, Mok Gyeong-un didn’t resist at all.

In the process, he still had a smile on his lips.

It became even more enraged because he was so nonchalant.

Thus, it pulled the chains right in front of it and said:

– I will tear off all your skin, peel your flesh one by one, and devour you down to the bones.

At its threat, Mok Gyeong-un smirked and said:

“You have quite a noble hobby.”

– Noble?

Impudent human.

To act relaxed right in front of it.

Fine. Then let’s see if you can still do that after experiencing pain.

Puck! Swooosh!

In an instant, one of the chains pierced into Mok Gyeong-un’s left shoulder.

Whether his liver was sticking out or he was numb to fear didn’t matter.

If he experienced pain, it would eventually be different.

However,

“Is this all?”

His expression didn’t change at all, and he was still smirking.

If this wasn’t enough, fine.

As it gestured, the chains filling the ground like wriggling snakes moved as if alive.

Clang! Swooosh!

Puck puck!

One chain pierced Mok Gyeong-un’s right shoulder, and two others pierced his thighs.

As if that wasn’t enough, one dug into his abdomen.

Puck!

It wouldn’t be pain that could be endured with just willpower.

The chains felt extremely cold and hot, accompanied by pain that seemed to burn and freeze the moment they touched flesh and organs.

Everything originated from the mind.

This human would be tasting the worst pain he could experience…

‘!?’

What was with this bastard?

His expression still hadn’t changed at all.

Rather, he was staring intently at it while snorting.

How could a living being bound by the shackles of flesh endure this pain so nonchalantly?

As it was astonished, Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.

“Do you think I’ll be afraid or in pain from something like this?”

– …

“You’re doing something pointless.”

– Grrrrrr!

As soon as Mok Gyeong-un’s mocking words ended, the entire space violently shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

It was greatly enraged.

How dare a lowly being ridicule it?

Fine. Then as you wish, I shall devour you alive.

Swooosh!

The chains pulled, and Mok Gyeong-un’s body with his limbs bound was dragged right in front of it.

Then it opened its mouth wide.

The mouth that opened between the gaps in the chains was far from human.

Having been transformed by devouring countless vengeful spirits, hundreds of sharp thorns protruded, and violet smoke flowed from inside its mouth.

Grrraaargh!

Its mouth widened enough to swallow Mok Gyeong-un whole.

Swooosh!

The chains piercing his body loosened one by one.

With a clank, Mok Gyeong-un’s body approached the inside of the creature’s mouth.

Swooosh!

It was around the time when his head to his shoulders nearly reached the gaping mouth.

At that moment, something foreign fell from Mok Gyeong-un.

Plop!

It thought it was just blood or flesh falling off and didn’t pay much attention.

But the moment it passed through its throat,

Sizzle!

Its throat felt like it was burning with pain.

Kuk! You! What did you!

“You shouldn’t let your guard down just because you caught everything.”

The ring on Mok Gyeong-un’s finger was no longer visible.

That’s right.

What had entered through its throat was the ring containing the spell made by diviner Jo Ui-gong.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un made a hand seal with one hand and shouted loudly.

Crack crack crack!

“Commanding the Ink supreme-ruler’s Mantra, the Divine Obscurity Responds to the Spirit, Forming the Myriad Phenomena, the Divine Obscurity Subdues Demons Like a Thunderbolt, Urgent Urgent As Commanded!”

It was the Imperial Ink Divine Spell.

The moment that shout resounded, a bright light burst out from inside its mouth.

Woooo!

It was a spell that invoked a supreme-ruler into the ring containing the spell and caused a strong force to explode, subjugating the vengeful spirit.

Since it was a ring containing a spell and it exploded from the inside, its power was,

Aaaaaargh!

Enough to make even it, who had been endlessly transformed, suffer from the exploding spell power.

However, this wasn’t enough to subdue it, whose grade was high.

Its body, which had been suffering, temporarily distorted but still retained its form.

Swooosh!

But thanks to being momentarily weakened, the chains binding its body scattered and disappeared.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un launched his body towards its mouth that was opening in pain.

– !?

what the …. was this?

Jumping into its mouth with his own feet?

It tried to chew up Mok Gyeong-un, who had jumped in, without missing this opportunity.

Just then, Mok Gyeong-un reached out his hand towards its throat.

Puck!

And,

‘The mortals are not eternal, and the two forms are like a dream. The five aggregates are all empty, and the myriad phenomena are like an illusion.’

He chanted the mnemonic of the Art of Binding.

It was a gamble.

The most direct way to absorb the death qi of this huge lump of resentment.

It was targeting the inside of its body.

From the outside, there was no other way because he was bound by chains.

However,

Swoosh!

Mok Gyeong-un’s body, performing the Art of Binding, was sucked deep into its mouth as if pushed by weight rather than absorbing its qi.

As if there was a hidden space inside its mouth, Mok Gyeong-un’s body fell deep inside.

Swoooosh!

Into the darkness like a bottomless pit.

Mok Gyeong-un’s body was sucked towards its origin.

In the process, fragments of its memories flowed in like a montage.

[Big brother! Big brother! I will always be with you.]

[I will support our family as your right-hand man. Don’t worry.]

A brightly smiling younger brother following him.

And a strict father.

[This is for the long-cherished wish of our society. The successors of the other Five Kings have all agreed to participate, so you must also take the lead and join.]

[I will keep that in mind.]

Soon, a familiar place appeared in the memories.

As if repeated numerous times, this place visible in the darkness was the valley where the steel marble competition took place.

[Huff huff… Big brother…]

[Take it.]

[But isn’t this the one you found?]

[You go ahead first. I can find another one quickly.]

[Big brother…]

And another memory continued, crawling.

Someone strikes the back of his head with a sharp rock.

Gasping for breath, he turns his head, and there, the younger brother who had been brightly following him was looking down at him with a cold gaze.

[Y-you… How…]

[Damn bastard. If only you die, everything will be solved.]

[You… You…]

[You always acted superior, pretending to sympathize with me just because you had everything…]

[I… I wasn’t…]

[You were just born before me, that’s all.]

With those words, the younger brother struck its face with the rock.

As if not satisfied with just once, he struck several times and then disappeared.

Along with it, a surging emotion of anger was felt.

Soon, the following vision was quite different.

It seemed to be a memory continuing after death rather than a memory from when it was alive.

Let me eat. Let me eat you.

Die! Die!

I said die!

Vengeful spirits rushing in like crazy.

Feelings of extreme fear and despair were felt.

It gradually intensified.

Why… Why me? Why do I have to be eaten like this even after dying?

Did I live just to suffer this much?

Am I meant to be eaten?

I…

I… can’t… be… eaten…

I… will… devour… everything!

Its madness exploded as it was being bitten and eaten by those vengeful spirits.

Uwaaaaaa!!!!

The resentment of madness was so strong that it felt like it would be devoured in an instant.

At the same time, an unimaginable amount of death qi rushed in through his palm, and the screams of countless resentments echoed in his head.

I will devour you too!

Its madness was conveyed.

Mok Gyeong-un felt like his head would shatter from the heart-wrenching wails, but he didn’t stop the Art of Binding.

‘The mortals are not eternal, and the two forms are like a dream. The five aggregates are all empty, and the myriad phenomena are like an illusion.’

***

Crunch! Swooosh!

The vengeful spirit’s head was crushed and eventually incinerated into ashes in the air.

The owner of the hand holding the crushed head was none other than Cheong-ryeong.

Cheong-ryeong, emitting a blood-red gaze, shouted at the whirlpools narrowing in as if to surround her:

– If you’re desperate to be annihilated, come at me as much as you want. You young ones.

At her shout, the whirlpools stopped moving as if hesitating.

She thought they were finally feeling fear after she had annihilated about seven entities equivalent to the yellow spirit level, but,

Swooosh!

At that moment, a tremendous amount of death qi spread in all directions.

At this, she frowned and looked.

‘Could it be?’

The origin of this was none other than the huge whirlpool.

Cracks suddenly appeared in that whirlpool nearing the end of its transformation, and all the power it had been condensing burst out.

These whirlpools had stopped moving in response to this.

And they all moved towards that thing trying to reveal its form as the cracks widened and split.

– shit!

She had barely diverted their attention, but it was quite troublesome.

If it was like this, there was no point in deliberately deploying the Ghost Realm, the Blood Boundary.

At that very moment.

Swooosh!

Swooosh!

Countless chains emerged from the split cracks and indiscriminately restrained the whirlpools approaching it and the numerous vengeful spirits nearby.

Their strength was so great that the vengeful spirits undergoing transformation couldn’t move an inch.

Even the few entities reaching the green spirit level were the same.

Aaaaah!

Kuk!

Even they couldn’t resist the chains and soon,

Swoosh!

They were sucked into the place where the cracks had opened while still bound.

She could instinctively guess why this phenomenon occurred.

‘Is it trying to be completed?’

Finally, the gu poison was about to be born.

It was trying to fill in the lacking parts by devouring whatever it encountered and transform into the most ideal, no, the worst form.

Just then, a thick chain flew towards her.

Not satisfied with devouring the whirlpools, it was targeting Cheong-ryeong.

– In the end, it failed?

She muttered while looking at the flying chain.

The red thread connecting them was shaking violently.

This was a phenomenon indicating that the life of the master was in a critical state.

If the red thread kept shaking like this and incinerated, she would also be annihilated in the same way.

Swooosh!

The chain tried to coil around her body.

Then she swung her long pipe.

At that moment, the tip of the chain that was about to touch her crumbled and started burning up.

Poof!

Cheong-ryeong’s body also followed the crumbling chain and launched towards the whirlpool where the cracks were opening.

Swooosh!

Swooosh!

Numerous chains spewed out to catch her, but,

Puck! Puck!

They were all repelled by the long pipe she swung.

Eventually, she passed through the place where the cracks had opened and entered inside.

In the center of the place where the qi of resentment was swirling like a torrent as if a storm was raging, an entity covered in chains was visible.

The screams of the resentments that had been dragged in first echoed in her ears like a resonance.

Run away. Run away. Run away.

The resentment has reached its end.

A being with deep despair’s blue malice is being born.

Green malice.

It meant that its grade had reached the green spirit level.

Originally, it was the worst vengeful spirit that could only be born after a hundred years or when that deep resentment continued, but it was artificially being completed into a gu poison by making them devour each other.

Swoosh!

As even the screaming vengeful spirits were sucked in, the chains covering the entity became thicker.

At this, she snorted and muttered:

– The young one is being presumptuous. As if someone hasn’t experienced that.

Along with that, as Cheong-ryeong set foot on the ground, blood droplets surged upward from the center.

With each step, it spread in all directions.

Then, as it collided with the realm of the chained entity, the space rippled here and there, and blue flames rose like tree roots burning.

Crack crack crack!

Cheong-ryeong’s blood-red eyes gradually deepened.

– If you don’t hand over that kid, you will be annihilated here the moment you are born. You young one.

Goooooo!

The qi greatly intensified.

Right at that moment. As Cheong-ryeong was about to take another step, the chained entity suddenly twisted its body back and forth.

Condensed qi of resentment was strongly spewing out through the gaps.

Clang! Clang!

Was it doing that because the gu poison was about to be completed?

As she was thinking that.

The chains surrounding the creature tightened around itself.

As if strangling itself.

‘What?’

The process of transformation was exceedingly bizarre.

As she wondered, cracks suddenly appeared on the chains that had been constricting.

– Crack!

A single crack.

It became two and slowly, rapidly multiplied.

Soon, the cracks reached the point where the chains shattered and clattered to the ground.

Was the completed gu poison finally revealing itself?

– Swoosh!

Cheong-ryeong raised her long pipe and prepared to face it.

At that moment, as all the chains fell off, a figure revealed itself.

It was none other than,

– Kid!?

Mok Gyeong-un.

Her eyes narrowed.

– Gooooooo!

The tremendous death qi emanating from his body was condensed as if it would explode at any moment.

Could it be that the completed gu poison had taken over his body?

Cheong-ryeong spoke with a voice tinged with anger, aiming her long pipe.

– Foolish thing. Were you finally devoured?

At that question, Mok Gyeong-un’s lips twitched, then he opened his mouth while looking at Cheong-ryeong.

“I wasn’t devoured, I devoured it.”

‘!!!!!!’