Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 172 - Jo Tae-cheong (3)
Chapter 172 – Jo Tae-cheong (3)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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-Flinch!
The girl stared at Mok Gyeong-un with startled eyes.
‘What is this person? He noticed that demonic power before even I did?’
Among all manner of demons and monsters, once some of them reached the rank of demon beast, plenty became cunning enough to gather in and hide their own demonic power.
If such demon beasts deliberately concealed their demonic power, it was difficult for ordinary occult practitioners to detect it, so she could not hide her surprise that he had noticed it first.
‘Could he possibly be an occult practitioner above Square Moon rank?’
At first she had taken Mok Gyeong-un for a martial artist.
That was why she had helped him, thinking that if she saved his life, maybe she could get some help from him.
But after stripping away the outer shell, it turned out he was not a martial artist but someone from the same line of work.
If that was the case, then perhaps they might actually be able to communicate well.
The girl whispered.
“You’re good at sensing demonic power, aren’t you?”
“Am I?”
“I only just noticed that demonic power myself. If you’re this sensitive to demonic power, then your skill isn’t that of an ordinary occult practitioner. I wonder which pavilion you came from…”
“Shh.”
“Mm.”
At that, the girl held her breath once more and shut her mouth.
Even while talking this and that, she was quite good at doing what she was told.
At that moment Blue Spirit said to Mok Gyeong-un,
-Is it Earth Ram?
-Earth Ram?
-The one that tried to crush you under its hoof earlier.
-Ah… It seems there is another one besides that.
-Another? Ah! Qinyuan.
-Qinyuan?
-Yes. Like Earth Ram, it too is one of the demons and monsters of Mount Kunlun. In some ways it is far trickier and more dangerous to deal with than Earth Ram.
-Two demon-beast-rank demons and monsters…
This was a more troublesome situation than he had expected.
He had fought monster-rank demons and monsters before, but this was his first time facing those above them, the demon-beast rank.
So it was hard to estimate just how much power demon beasts possessed.
Of course, having broken through the wall and entered the realm of transformation, he did not think he would be pushed back by demon beasts.
He was simply being cautious.
At that moment the girl clicked her tongue and said in a small voice,
“Two? Then I guess the rumor was true after all.”
“A rumor?”
“Yes. There was a story that that man, Three Eyes, commands two demon-beast-rank demons and monsters as shikigami.”
At her words, a strange light flickered in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
This girl seemed to have far more information than he had expected.
So Mok Gyeong-un asked,
“By the way, how did you get in here?”
“Pardon?”
“From what I heard, you’re not from Origin Kill Pavilion, and you said it was Sea Immortal Pavilion, was it? If you’re from there, why are you here dressed like that?”
“Uh. W-well, about that…”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, the girl suddenly grew restless.
That was because she was someone who should not originally be here, and she was in a position where her identity must not be exposed.
She had to come up with some excuse, but unable to think of anything appropriate, she hurriedly changed the subject.
“W-what about you? You’re just as suspicious.”
“Suspicious?”
“Yes. You’re not from Origin Kill Pavilion either. And that Three Eyes guy tried to kill you with his shikigami, didn’t he? How are you going to explain that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Pardon?”
“I simply tried to kill him because he first came after my life.”
“Ah. So that was the reason… Pardon? Wait a second. You tried to kill Three Eyes?”
The girl asked back with wide eyes.
“Is there something wrong with that?”
“Rather than wrong, I’m just surprised you tried to kill him.”
“Is that something worth being surprised about?”
“Of course it is. Do you have any idea how dangerous that aberration is? And you tried to kill him all by yourself?”
“Is he really that dangerous?”
“Naturally. At the hands of that Three Eyes, three hundred occult practitioners who tried to subdue him were gruesomely slaughtered in a single night.”
‘!?’
Three hundred occult practitioners had died?
Was his spell power really strong enough to deal with that many occult practitioners by himself?
No, to begin with, since he was powerful enough to subdue and seal a spirit beast alone, perhaps it was only natural that ordinary occult practitioners could not handle him.
“If I hadn’t helped you earlier, you might have died.”
“Ah. Then I really am grateful.”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, she said with a sulky face,
“…That sounds awfully dry for a thank-you.”
“Surely not.”
“Whatever. Anyway, you really have guts. To think you were planning to kill that kind of monster alone. Even I, with the protective talisman my master gave me, can do no more than watch from a distance.”
At the girl’s words, Mok Gyeong-un let out a faint chuckle.
Without meaning to, she had just said why she was here.
As if realizing that, the girl’s face turned red and she stamped her feet.
“Ugh. Is it really okay to pry information out of someone like this?”
“I didn’t pry it out. You said it yourself.”
“No, that’s…”
“Shh. Let’s stay quiet. If you keep being that noisy, I think the demon beasts outside will notice.”
“…”
At that, the girl stopped stamping her feet and tightly shut her mouth.
If she made a commotion, there was a risk the demons and monsters would hear them.
Mok Gyeong-un said to her,
“Anyway, you’re saying you were watching that man called Three Eyes under your master’s orders.”
“…That’s right.”
Since she had already let it slip with her own mouth, what would be the point of lying now?
The girl answered obediently.
“Was it for revenge, perhaps?”
“Revenge?”
“Yes. You said he killed a hundred occult practitioners.”
If there were that many occult practitioners, might there not have been some connected to the girl or to the person she called her master?
At this, the girl shook her head.
Mok Gyeong-un, puzzled, asked,
“If it’s not revenge, then why exactly are you watching that man called Three Eyes?”
“Because he’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
“I don’t know the details either. I only know that my master said Three Eyes would soon throw the workings of heaven into disorder, so I’m just carrying out my orders and keeping watch.”
“The workings of heaven?”
The workings of heaven were the heavenly current.
In occult arts, that meant something like fate, or the principles and flow of the world.
It was said that those workings had to proceed in their proper course, and that if they were thrown into disorder, the world itself would be endangered.
“Yes, the workings of heaven. Anyway, I’m here not for some private reason, but for the greater cause. So don’t think of getting in my way.”
“Did I get in your way?”
“Things got tangled like this because I tried to save you. Do you know how hard it was for me to infiltrate this place?”
The girl said that while indicating her maid’s clothes.
He could roughly guess by what route she had infiltrated the place.
“Ah… I see.”
“…Is that all you have to say? Hah. I should’ve just left you to die.”
The girl clicked her tongue as she spoke.
Mok Gyeong-un let out a faint chuckle, then asked,
“Come to think of it, I don’t know your name.”
“My name? Ah, you’re right. My name is… No, if you’re going to ask a lady’s name, shouldn’t you reveal yours first?”
“Mok Gyeong-un.”
“Mok Gyeong-un?”
“Yes.”
“Mok is unusual. I’m Yeo Su-rin.”
“Yeo Su-rin? That’s a pretty name.”
“Pretty?”
“Yes.”
“A-as if I’d like you just because you said something flattering like that.”
Though her words said otherwise, she shyly covered her reddened cheeks with both hands.
-She is an awfully simple girl.
-She really is.
She seemed to be the type whose emotions showed very easily, just as they appeared.
Of course, Mok Gyeong-un did not particularly care about that, so he immediately turned the topic and got to the point.
“Miss Yeo. Earlier you said this was the kitchen, but how far is it from Origin Kill Pavilion’s main hall?”
“Pardon?”
“Judging by how quickly the demons and monsters pursued us, it doesn’t seem very far.”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Yeo Su-rin answered with interested eyes.
“You’re quick to notice, aren’t you? That’s right. This place is roughly a hundred zhang away from the main hall.”
“A hundred zhang?”
It was neither a particularly long distance nor a particularly short one.
So Mok Gyeong-un asked,
“Earlier, that… the art that makes an entrance. Couldn’t you use it to go farther?”
“Hah. Do you think that’s easy? I can only barely do this because of the artifact my master gave me.”
Yeo Su-rin showed him the two connected rings fitted on her fingers.
They were silver rings, each set with two luminous green gems.
Seeing the extraordinary aura flowing from them, he could understand why she called them artifacts.
“Did you use that to make a smoke gate that shortened the distance to here?”
“That’s right.”
“It looks very convenient.”
“Even if it looks convenient, it has a few drawbacks.”
“Drawbacks? What are they?”
“If you don’t designate a medium in advance for the place you want, then instead of a hundred zhang you can only go a mere twenty-some zhang.”
“Twenty-some zhang? That shortens it a lot.”
It was not even half. It had been reduced to nearly a fifth.
“That’s why I said it has a few drawbacks.”
“I see. Are there other drawbacks too?”
“Other drawbacks? Besides that, if you use it twice in a row or so, you have to wait at least one gak before you can use the artifact again.”
“Hmm.”
It certainly did seem to have several restrictions in exchange for being convenient.
Well, if an artifact like that had no limitations of distance or time, it would probably be a more dangerous object than anything else.
Still, if used well depending on the situation, it seemed as though it could be extremely useful.
‘A pretty decent item.’
Perhaps sensing his gaze, Yeo Su-rin took off the ring she was wearing and tucked it into her bosom as she warned him,
“Just so you know, don’t get greedy for it. This is an artifact only I can use.”
“You can’t use it?”
“That’s right. If it gets more than one zhang away from me, the spell power will weaken and it will shatter. So don’t go coveting it for no reason, that’s what I’m saying.”
‘Ah…’
At Yeo Su-rin’s words, Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue inwardly.
For a moment he had considered killing her and taking it, but if that was how it worked, then it was meaningless.
He had wondered why she was explaining her artifact in such detail to someone she had only just met.
She was telling him because she had some degree of safeguard in place.
Which meant,
‘…She could also be lying about some of its weaknesses.’
She was talkative and her temperament shifted back and forth, but this woman was not stupid.
Occult arts were no different from an extremely complex field of study, and if one did not at least have the basic intellect to support it, it was impossible to master.
Judging from that, he assumed she was certainly hiding things as well.
It was Mok Gyeong-un’s belief that the more full of openings someone looked, the more one should be on guard.
At that moment Yeo Su-rin said quietly,
“It feels like one gak has passed.”
“Ah? Then you can use that.”
“Yes. It seems the demons and monsters are still searching for us outside, but let’s move in increments of twenty-some zhang at a time. Fortunately there are buildings nearby that are within twenty-some zhang of each other, so if we take some time, we should be able to get outside Origin Kill Pavilion.”
“I see.”
“Three Eyes is furious now, so I think it’s best not to catch his eye for a while.”
With those words, Yeo Su-rin put the artifact back on her index and middle fingers.
And just as she was about to use the artifact by pouring spell power into it,
“Wait a moment.”
“Pardon?”
“Can this do this too, by any chance?”
“What do you mean by this?”
At her question, Mok Gyeong-un’s lips twitched upward as he said,
* * *
-Smack!
The head of Jo Ui-gong of the Square Moon rank rolled across the floor after being kicked.
Jo Tae-cheong, who had kicked his head with his foot, opened his mouth with a somewhat excited face.
“It was the same bastard.”
Then, as the muscles of his face rippled, a hoarse voice soon came out.
“So it was.”
Occult practitioner Jo Ui-gong, bound in the pavilion lord’s office.
He had intended to find out through the Blood-Dissolving Worm who had set the Chain of Commanding Words on him.
But Jo Ui-gong had died with his neck severed.
That led to one conclusion.
‘It was one man.’
All of this had been done by the same bastard.
Manipulating his greedy junior disciple Jo Ui-gong to try and control Origin Kill Pavilion in his absence, being connected to a resentful spirit above the Blue Spirit rank, and even brazenly coming to seek his life. It had all been the work of the same man.
-Crack, crack!
As his face returned to normal, Jo Tae-cheong curled the corners of his mouth and muttered,
“It’s been a while since a hunt felt worth the trouble.”
All this time he had hidden within the shadows and concealed himself.
And yet someone had dared to touch a man like him. The fool had completely lost his fear.
It seemed he would get to enjoy a hunt for the first time in a long while.
‘If you can run, then run. In the end, you’ll still be in the palm of my hand…’
-Slash!
It was at that moment.
Jo Tae-cheong’s two pupils shook.
Something black and sharp pierced up through the floor and swept past his right elbow.
And with that came a burning sensation…
-Thud!
His right arm fell to the floor.
“Ghk!”
Jo Tae-cheong’s face twisted from the tremendous pain of having his arm cut off.
In that instant he was dumbfounded.
He thought the man had fled, but he had come back?
‘This bastard?’
The man was unbelievably cunning.
Ordinarily, if an assassination attempt failed, one would hide to save one’s life or keep trying to flee.
But this one had appeared again and, keeping his distance from the floor below, sniped at him.
What kind of bastard was this?
-Crunch!
‘I’ll kill you.’
As Jo Tae-cheong glared at the floor, the muscles of his face bulged, and his forehead began to split open.
But then,
-Wooooong!
‘!?’
A strange spell power came from above.
Jo Tae-cheong unconsciously started to raise his head,
-Whoosh!
And someone dropped upside down from above and stabbed the splitting forehead with a dagger as fast as lightning.
-Thunk!
‘!!!!!!!!!!!’
Black blood and a white liquid oozed out from the splitting forehead.
In that gap, the one who had dropped from above turned a somersault in midair and landed on the floor.
-Thud!
The one with his face covered like a mask in black cloth was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.
“Whew.”
Mok Gyeong-un looked at Jo Tae-cheong, staggering with the dagger still buried in his forehead, and curled his lips into a thin smile.
‘Ha…’
Through the round smoke gate opened near the ceiling of the fourth floor, Yeo Su-rin stared blankly at that sight.