Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 107 - Master of Corpse Cadavers (3)
Chapter 107 – Master of Corpse Cadavers (3)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The red line drawn across the floor inside the entire cave chamber.
Mok Gyeong-un, glancing at it, said to the white-haired middle-aged man,
“Is the proposal you made earlier perhaps still valid?”
-Proposal?
“Yes. In truth, if you think about it, you came out thanks to me.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the white-haired middle-aged man’s lips twitched, and then he let out a savage laugh.
-Hahahahaha. I came out thanks to you?
“In the end, yes.”
-You are a laughable fellow. How can your purpose, which was to satisfy your own greed, be called a favor?
“You were trapped for thousands of years and then released. If you are an elder who has lived that long, could you not let that slide in good humor?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the white-haired middle-aged man snorted.
To him, Mok Gyeong-un was at most an insect crawling on the ground.
Just as a human does not look at an insect with emotion or pay it special attention, the white-haired middle-aged man felt nothing particular at the words Mok Gyeong-un spoke.
But it was not that there was nothing interesting.
-You truly are a peculiar fellow.
“Pardon?”
-Why is it that you have no fear?
“Fear?”
That was the white-haired middle-aged man’s question.
Just earlier as well, Mok Gyeong-un had been put in an isolated situation, and yet he did not fear him in the least.
Even though it was a situation where terror should have risen at the thought that he could die at any moment.
The white-haired middle-aged man narrowed his eyes and came closer as he said,
-Do you not fear death? Or are you under the illusion that even in a situation like this, you will not die?
“Who knows. I think I can at least say it is not the latter.”
-Not the latter?
“Yes.”
-Then are you saying you do not fear death?
“Everything that lives is bound to decline anyway, so what meaning is there in fearing that?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the white-haired middle-aged man thought him peculiar.
Even beings like himself, who lived eternal lives, feared extinction.
And yet a mortal who was fated to perish did not fear death.
At this, the white-haired middle-aged man held out his hand and said,
-Really? Then I should test whether you truly do not fear death.
-Whoosh!
The white-haired middle-aged man lightly waved his hand.
At that instant, Mok Gyeong-un’s left arm, which had been hanging in the air, bent backward outright.
-Crack!
An arm twisted completely beyond its range of motion.
It was hideous beyond words just to look at.
-M-master!
At the sight of Mok Gyeong-un’s left arm bent backwards, Gyu So-ha cried out.
But the person concerned, Mok Gyeong-un, only let out a slightly rougher breath and showed no special change in expression.
At this, one eyebrow of the white-haired middle-aged man rose.
‘He endured this?’
No matter how strong his patience, he had expected at least a small groan to escape.
Yet it was entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Vault Keeper Yang Mu-won, who had been watching this, hurriedly tried to run somewhere.
“Mechanism formation… mechanism formation……”
Yang Mu-won muttered.
He was trying to activate the mechanism formation installed inside the treasure vault.
‘I need to activate the mechanism formation and quickly send a signal requesting help from the main fortress.’
A peerless expert of that level was not something he could handle with his own strength.
But the mechanism formation installed in this treasure vault had been designed to handle even hundreds of intruders and supreme experts.
So he was heading toward the activation device for the mechanism formation, when
-Srrk!
“Huhk!”
His spine turned cold and he felt something seeping into his body.
As he was a master near the peak of the absolute level, he had sensed since earlier that there was some invisible chill nearby.
But what was this unpleasant sensation?
-Crack! Crack!
“Kgh!”
Vault Keeper Yang Mu-won’s body shook violently as if he were having convulsions.
Then his eyes rolled back.
The blood vessels on Yang Mu-won’s face bulged out black.
Then red blood seeped into those upturned eyes, and soon his face returned to normal.
‘That was close.’
The one who had taken over his body was none other than Blue Spirit.
She had heard the sound Yang Mu-won was muttering and thought, ah, this is bad, so she possessed his body.
She knew of the mechanism formation installed in the treasure vault of the main fortress.
That was why, if it was the same mechanism formation she knew, or one even greater, then if it were activated for no reason, Mok Gyeong-un, who was now trapped, would be placed in danger.
“Haa… haa…”
To Mok Gyeong-un, who was steadying his breath, the white-haired middle-aged man said,
-Since you can endure even this so easily, it would be better to tear it off than merely break it. This time, one of your legs…
“Tearing it off is your freedom, but how exactly will you go outside once I die?”
-Outside?
“Yes. From the look of it, even someone as strong as you seems unable to cross that red line.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the white-haired middle-aged man silently looked at the red line drawn on the floor.
Then he opened his mouth again.
-You speak as if you are about to open that for me.
“……If we can only reach a proper agreement between us.”
-Agreement? It sounds as though, if I spare you, you will remove that thing.
“Let us say that is so.”
If he had been in the superior position, he would have tried to steer this into a deal from which he could gain even a little benefit, but the opponent was a spirit-beast-class strange entity that could kill him at any moment.
Knowing that provoking it for no reason would do no good, Mok Gyeong-un intended to receive only the minimum price needed to preserve his life.
Then the white-haired middle-aged man gave a short laugh and said,
-You are the one who says death does not frighten you, so why do you seek the preservation of your life as the price?
“……There is something I must do.”
-Something you must do?
“There is someone I have to kill.”
-Revenge, is that it?
“……”
There was no answer, but it was clearly an affirmation.
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the white-haired middle-aged man came to his side, took hold of his chin, and lightly lifted it.
-So in other words, for the sake of revenge you want to prolong your life however little.
“Of course, everything depends on your choice. If you want to kill me, then I die, and if you accept my bargain, you may be able to leave even this cave chamber.”
-To leave this place……
The white-haired middle-aged man stared fixedly at Mok Gyeong-un.
In truth, his mood was close to the utmost peak.
That was only natural, because he had been sealed inside that hanging scroll for no less than thousands of years.
And yet now he had come out from within it.
He had gained freedom.
Now if he could even shatter that red prohibition…
-Tempting. Is the only thing you desire the salvation of your life?
“…Yes. It does not seem like a situation where I can ask for anything more.”
-You grasp your place quickly. Good.
-Ssk!
The white-haired middle-aged man lightly inclined his head.
Then Mok Gyeong-un’s body, which had been floating in the air, dropped to the floor.
-Kung!
“Hoo… hoo…”
Fallen to the floor, Mok Gyeong-un clutched his left elbow, which had been turned the wrong way.
No matter how great his tolerance for pain, an arm turned backward from its proper direction could not possibly fail to hurt.
‘For now……’
-Crack, crack, crack!
Mok Gyeong-un twisted the arm that had bent backward back to its original direction.
His face reddened slightly, but again he gave no sign of pain.
‘It will take time to recover.’
The bones around the cartilage near his elbow had cracked and splintered when it bent, so he could not move it properly.
Mok Gyeong-un looked at the line drawn on the floor.
‘One time.’
He would have only one chance.
He had proposed a deal, but he had never truly intended to release the thing.
If he removed that red line, which seemed to be a barrier, there was no telling how this vicious spirit beast would act.
That was why Mok Gyeong-un inwardly repeated the first form of the Eight Forms of Mind-Breaking.
Even if only for an instant, if he could create a single opening…
-Whiik!
At that instant Mok Gyeong-un’s arm rose upward on its own.
‘!?’
Then his body too began moving on its own.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un frowned and said,
“What are you doing?”
-But tell me, human. Is there really any need for me to make such a bargain with you?
“……”
-When I can simply move your body like this.
-Whik, whik!
As the white-haired middle-aged man waved his hand, Mok Gyeong-un’s body moved on its own as if he were some puppet doll.
‘This has gone wrong.’
Mok Gyeong-un let out a faint sigh.
He himself was also not one to trust others easily, but it seemed this spirit beast was the same.
Moreover, it had not simply lived through thousands of years for nothing, as it did not grant even the slightest opening.
It seemed that this time, he might really have to steel himself.
‘Grandfather.’
Perhaps I may not be able to take revenge…
At that moment Mok Gyeong-un saw Blue Spirit leaving Yang Mu-won’s body.
At the sight of that,
-Grit!
in that instant, the light in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes grew cold.
Why had he, if only for an instant, thought that he would be unable to avenge his grandfather?
Did dying mean he could not take revenge?
There were Blue Spirit and Gyu So-ha, the Green Spirit, who were trying to take revenge even after death as vengeful spirits.
Had his resentment toward the one who killed his grandfather amounted to no more than this?
“Ha…..”
Anger at himself and ridicule.
As that swelled, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes came alive as though they were about to blaze.
“Hoo.”
Mok Gyeong-un drew up the death aura inside his body.
Compared with the vast demonic aura of the white-haired middle-aged man, it was no more than a drop in the ocean, but what if he concentrated it into one place only?
Just like the death aura condensed in his dantian.
-Gooooooo!
The energy in his lower dantian and middle dantian gathered into his right hand alone.
As all the death aura concentrated in one spot,
‘What is this fellow doing now?’
The white-haired middle-aged man frowned as he looked at Mok Gyeong-un’s right hand.
That was only natural, because Mok Gyeong-un’s right hand had by now turned black as pitch.
‘More… more……’
The aura of death, concentrated into one and given form.
It bore a color entirely different from sword energy.
At the sight of it, Blue Spirit’s eyes widened.
‘An aura more compressed than sword energy and concentrated into one place.’
It was none other than astral qi.
Seeing it, she could not hide her astonishment.
Although Mok Gyeong-un had gained enlightenment regarding qi in the treasure vault, he was still remaining in the absolute stage.
Yet astral qi, possible only upon reaching the supreme-absolute stage, had formed.
How in the world had this happened?
‘That color, what in the world…?’
What was strange was that normal astral qi shone blue like a star of the Northern Dipper.
But the energy condensed in Mok Gyeong-un’s hand carried a black light as though it could swallow everything.
Was it a phenomenon caused by the aura of death condensing?
-Kwaaaaaang!
At that instant, the hand that had been bound by demonic aura was freed.
At the same time, Mok Gyeong-un brought his blackened hand down toward the floor, and with a deafening blast, fragments flew in all directions.
-Papapapapapap!
But those fragments did not touch the white-haired middle-aged man.
As if an invisible barrier had formed, the fragments were blocked and burned away as they were.
-Srrk!
Then, in an instant, the white-haired middle-aged man disappeared and reappeared by the entrance of the cave chamber where the red line had been drawn.
-Ssk!
The white-haired middle-aged man extended a hand forward.
Then from within the cloud of fragments, Mok Gyeong-un, with his black hand thrust forward, was thrown backward as he rushed like a spear.
-Paaang!
“Kgh!”
The flung-back Mok Gyeong-un struck the bookshelf and dropped to one knee on the floor.
Black blood flowed from the mouth of Mok Gyeong-un, who had suffered internal injuries.
He had increased destructive power by concentrating all the death aura in his body into one hand, but in exchange, the amount of energy left to protect his body had grown small.
‘I cannot close the gap even a little.’
Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue as he looked at the white-haired middle-aged man blocking the entrance.
For an instant he had thought it might be possible, but it had not worked.
As that was going on, the white-haired middle-aged man looked at Mok Gyeong-un as though he found him interesting and said,
-Truly strange. I failed to notice it before, but how does a living man possess so much of the energy of the dead?
The white-haired middle-aged man had not perceived this while Mok Gyeong-un was circulating it only inside his body.
But once the energy concentrated in the hand and took on form, he realized it had little to do with the true qi that Taoists or immortals trained through methods of nourishing life.
-Strange. Strange. I ought to examine your body myself.
-Ssk!
The white-haired middle-aged man made a pulling gesture toward Mok Gyeong-un.
Then, Mok Gyeong-un saw a huge hand-shaped mass of vast demonic aura trying to seize him.
It was right then.
-Shwaaaaaaa!
-Smeeeer!
In an instant, the entire room was covered in blood.
Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes shook at the sight.
‘Domain of Ghost Intent?’
A space made of blood.
This was Blood Boundary, Blue Spirit’s Domain of Ghost Intent.
-Chwarrrrrrrrr!
The moment he recognized it, the blood whirled up like a surging column and in an instant trapped the white-haired middle-aged man.
Behind that vortex of blood, Blue Spirit could be seen.
‘Why?’
Mok Gyeong-un looked at her with an expression that said he could not understand.
Why had she come in here at all?
No matter how high Blue Spirit’s own rank was, she could never reach a strange being that had attained the class of a spirit beast.
Then why had she come in?
And while he was thinking that, she shouted toward Mok Gyeong-un.
-Run!
-Pat!
Hearing that, Mok Gyeong-un threw himself toward the entrance without even taking time to think.
He could not let the chance she had created go to waste.
It was at that very moment.
-Chwaaaaaaaaa!
The vortex of blood spread in all directions in an instant and vanished as if burning away.
The white-haired middle-aged man wore a contemptuous expression.
-A foolish thing to do. Petty…
-Srrrrrrrr!
-Do not take me lightly, spirit beast.
At that moment, Blue Spirit’s whole body was covered in blood, and she became like a human shape made entirely of blood.
Then the spirit power spreading from her grew incomparably stronger than it had when she had unfolded Blood Boundary.
It far surpassed Blue Spirit’s own rank.
Seeing this, Gyu So-ha muttered in a shocked voice.
-Gu… poison?
-Papapapapapapang!
The droplets of blood floating around all shot toward the white-haired middle-aged man at once.
At the same time, Blue Spirit, transformed into a blood avatar, embraced the white-haired middle-aged man from behind and held him so he could not move.
However,
-Ssk!
As the white-haired middle-aged man lightly moved the hand not bound by her,
-Whiririririk!
the blood droplets flying in from all directions stopped midway.
Then they lost strength and fell to the floor.
‘Even to this extent……’
The eyes of Blue Spirit, like pools of blood, shook.
She had detonated all her spirit power and for an instant could produce power close to the rank of an Indigo Spirit, and yet even that did not work on this spirit beast.
Then the white-haired middle-aged man said as though he found it decent,
-I thought you were an ordinary petty ghost, but your power is far greater than that of most high-ranking strange beings. If I take your aura, my hunger should be eased a little.
With those words, he took a deep breath.
Then Blue Spirit, who was holding that thing in an embrace, writhed as though in pain.
-Suuuuuuuu!
-Ahk!
Her spirit power was being absorbed at a terrifying rate.
Despite that pain, Blue Spirit moved her lips and said,
-I…… will…… go…… in……
Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed as he watched this.
‘Why?’
Even if she was a shikigami, why was she trying to sacrifice herself for him?
Why was she trying to save him this much when he would not even move according to her wishes?
Once she herself was extinguished, everything would become meaningless, so he could not understand it.
Did she believe that if he survived, he would take revenge to the end in her stead?
There was no way that was it.
Then why was she going this far?
Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes met hers, which had lost strength and returned once more to human form.
Eyes carrying complicated emotions.
Why did the eyes of one sacrificing herself for another bother him so much?
‘……How troublesome.’
Mok Gyeong-un, whose lips twitched in a faint smirk, shouted.
“I think it would be best if you remained trapped in here.”
-Thrust!
With that shout, in an instant Mok Gyeong-un drove his hand toward his own chest.
-!!!!!!
Seeing that, the white-haired middle-aged man could not hide his bewilderment.
-You!
He had never expected that Mok Gyeong-un would suddenly stab into his own chest in an act akin to suicide.
At this,
-Pak!
Though the white-haired middle-aged man was holding Blue Spirit, who had weakened as her spirit power declined, he shoved her aside and ran toward Mok Gyeong-un.
“Cough!”
-Kung!
Mok Gyeong-un coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed backward.
-You mad human bastard!
That fellow needed to stay alive so that red line could be removed and he could leave this place.
The vengeful spirits had no way to erase that thing.
That was why the white-haired middle-aged man could not help but become urgent.
-Tak!
Bending one knee and lowering his stance, the white-haired middle-aged man approached Mok Gyeong-un and seized his right hand to pull out the hand he had thrust into his own chest.
It was at that very moment.
-Suuuuuuuu!
-Huh?
At that instant, the palm he had seized stuck fast as if adhering to him, and his demonic aura began draining away at a terrifying speed.
Blood smearing his mouth, Mok Gyeong-un gave a grim smile and muttered,
“Cough, cough… it is really hard just to get you to take my hand once.”