Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 183 - Submission (1)
Chapter 183 – Submission (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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‘My lord… forgive me.’
Wi Maeng-cheon, the Second Sacred Mountain, who was possessing the body of his close aide Jong-im, apologized inwardly.
If it had been up to his own feelings, he would have liked to strike that bastard in the back for the sake of Jang Neung-ak, who had been his lord, but after becoming a shikigami and coming to understand the principle of karmic ties, he could not do so.
That was because the fate of a shikigami and that of its master were as one.
But even aside from that, the more he learned about Mok Gyeong-un, the more he even began to feel fear.
‘What in the world was that monstrous bird from before?’
Had he still possessed his old body, things might have been different, but facing that many absolute masters alone would have been extremely burdensome.
Yet thanks to that gigantic bird that had suddenly appeared, they had been able to subdue the martial artists.
Because of that, Wi Maeng-cheon grew even more afraid of Mok Gyeong-un.
‘What in the world is he?’
He had not known the man could even command anomalies that were not human.
How could there have been such an anomaly within the Heaven and Earth Society without anyone knowing?
Because of that, he had reached the point of becoming curious about what Mok Gyeong-un’s true identity actually was.
Meanwhile, before anyone knew it, Mok Gyeong-un vanished with a tremendous movement technique and appeared behind Jang Neung-ak, seizing his shoulder.
“You bastard!”
“Shh. Be quiet and relax your shoulder. If you keep moving like that, it feels like I might end up wanting to put strength into my hand and break it.”
-Shiver!
In an instant, goosebumps rose over Jang Neung-ak’s entire body.
That sneering voice of the bastard was filled with nothing but malice.
He had felt something like this somewhere before.
‘Eldest senior brother?’
That was right.
It was very similar to Na Yul-ryang, his eldest senior brother.
There was a similar chilling quality, as though something human was greatly lacking in him.
In the middle of that, Ho Jong-hyeok, holding the handle of the Annihilating Axe with one blade broken off, opened his mouth.
“Mok Gyeong-un. Stop.”
“Stop what exactly? Have I done something at all?”
“I do not know how you drew that fellow over, but do you think you can bear all the consequences of this?”
“That is not something you need to concern yourself with.”
“Concern? Even if you get what you want by threatening my lord’s life right now, do you think you can stop my master and all the forces supporting my lord from learning about this?”
“…”
“Stop even now. No matter how much stronger your martial power has become, this is a reckless act.”
As he spoke those words, the fingers of Ho Jong-hyeok’s hand, angled subtly toward the rear, moved.
Ho Jong-hyeok was sending hand signals.
The target of those hand signals was none other than the female guard behind him.
[Hold on to this.]
[What is this?]
[It is a rescue pellet.]
[A rescue pellet?]
[My master gave it to me.]
[If you mean your master, then the Axe-Breaking King?]
[That is right. He gave it to me for a contingency. Although I doubt there will be a chance to use it, just in case, I think it would be better if you, as my guard, carried it.]
[Will it really be all right for me to hold something like this…?]
[It is more effective if you are the one holding it. If a dangerous situation breaks out, then I and the other members of the Five Peaks Assembly will naturally become objects of restraint.]
It was a truly ironic thing.
He had entrusted it to her in preparation for just such a contingency.
The rescue pellet was something his master had given him in preparation for the eldest young master’s side, but as long as the Society Leader remained alive, he had thought there would be no need to use it.
Yet he had not imagined that such a thing would happen this quickly.
-Swoosh. Swoosh.
Ho Jong-hyeok sent hand signals that only the female guard could see.
They were hand signals they had agreed on beforehand.
-Gulp!
Seo Hye-in, the Fourth Sacred Mountain, who stood at an angle where she could see those hand signals, swallowed dryly.
She knew about this because Ho Jong-hyeok had told her, and that was why she had left the female guard here in preparation for just such a contingency.
‘If only the rescue pellet goes off…’
The Axe-Breaking King Ho Tae-gang would come here at once.
If that happened, Mok Gyeong-un would no longer be able to keep making such reckless threats.
For that to happen, they had to draw the bastard’s gaze even more.
So Seo Hye-in cut in.
“Mok Gyeong-un. Great Unit Leader Ho is right. A threat only has value when it can actually be maintained, so how exactly do you intend to keep this up?”
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze naturally shifted toward her.
Inside, Seo Hye-in rejoiced, but she did not show it.
All she wished was for Ho Jong-hyeok’s female guard to hurry and fire the rescue pellet.
To make that happen, she tried to continue speaking in order to hold Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze.
Yet,
-Crack!
Then came the sound of something breaking.
Had the rescue pellet been used?
‘Huh?’
Something was strange.
If the rescue pellet had been used, sparks should have shot upward because of the charge inside it.
And yet all she heard was the sound of something breaking.
Unable to keep up the act, Seo Hye-in finally turned her head toward the female guard.
At that moment,
‘What?’
Seo Hye-in could not hide her bewilderment.
That was because Ho Jong-hyeok’s female guard had snapped the stick of the rescue pellet.
Had this woman gone mad?
If she had understood Great Unit Leader Ho Jong-hyeok’s hand signals, then how could she do such a thing…
Just then,
“What is that?”
Mok Gyeong-un asked the female guard.
Then,
“It is a rescue pellet that can be used to ask the Axe-Breaking King for help.”
‘This bitch, don’t tell me!’
Seeing her answer so obediently, Seo Hye-in was about to burst out in anger and demand an explanation.
But before she could, Ho Jong-hyeok spoke first.
“…Chae-rin. Are you also that man’s person?”
From the moment she broke the rescue pellet, there was no choice but to suspect it.
At his question, the female guard, no, Guard Go Chan, who was possessing Ha Chae-rin’s body, shuddered and said,
“Ugh. This is so damned miserable I can’t stand it anymore.”
“Chae-rin?”
“Enough! I am done humoring you and your mood.”
At those decisive words from Go Chan, Ho Jong-hyeok’s face hardened.
He had liked her because of the rough, forthright reactions and manner she showed from time to time, different from other women.
That was why he had kept her close and had even intended to make her not just his guard but his woman.
But faced with a result like this, he could not help but feel empty.
Ho Jong-hyeok spoke in a voice full of lingering regret.
“Everything we shared until now was all false…”
“Yes. It was all false, so go do that pathetic, overconfident womanizing with some other women.”
“…”
At Go Chan’s torrent of scolding, Ho Jong-hyeok was left staring blankly as though he had taken some great shock.
Seeing him that way, Go Chan snorted.
If he had not become a shikigami, he would have escaped from this bastard long ago.
-It looks like that bastard had a lot built up inside.
-It does.
At the sight of Go Chan acting that way, Mok Gyeong-un gave a faint laugh.
He had thought Go Chan had grown rather used to it and was even enjoying being a woman, but apparently that was not the case.
At that moment Jang Neung-ak opened his mouth.
“…What in the world are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just when did you make contact with them?”
He truly could not understand.
There had been no method and no connection whatsoever by which either Jong-im, Wi Maeng-cheon’s close aide, or that girl could have gotten in touch with Mok Gyeong-un.
So by what means had he made them his own people?
No matter how he thought about it, he could not find the point of connection, when suddenly Mok Gyeong-un asked by his ear,
“Do you have any more trump cards hidden away?”
“…”
At that question from Mok Gyeong-un, Jang Neung-ak bit hard on his lip.
At the present moment, there were no more means left that could reverse the situation.
So Jang Neung-ak spoke in a voice driven by spite.
“Even so, there is nothing you can gain.”
“There is nothing good that will come from being stubborn.”
“Kill me.”
‘!?’
At those words, a strange light appeared in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
He had been curious about how Jang Neung-ak, driven to the edge with all his hidden cards broken, would react.
Inwardly, he had expected him to submit.
But contrary to that expectation, he came out even more strongly.
“As expected, even if a rotten fish is still a fish, there is a reason you became the Society Leader’s disciple.”
“Shut up. Even if you threaten me by force, what you can get is nothing. It will only last for a moment.”
“Hmm.”
“You are not stupid either, so you should know. Your threat means nothing at all unless I submit.”
“Well, that is true.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s ready acknowledgment, Jang Neung-ak frowned.
He did not know why this bastard was doing this when he clearly had to know that.
In any case, with no more cards left, the only way to make him give up was to remind him of the consequences to come.
But then,
“Still, Young Master will submit to me. Like a dog wagging its tail.”
“How dare you!”
-Crack!
“Kyaaaaak!”
At that moment Jang Neung-ak let out a scream from the pain of bones breaking.
“Ah, but I am sure I told you to relax your shoulder.”
Mok Gyeong-un said with a vicious curl at the corner of his mouth.
“Guh… y-you bastard!”
“My lord!”
Seeing Jang Neung-ak writhing in pain, Ho Jong-hyeok seemed to come back to his senses and shouted as he aimed the Annihilating Axe, now with only one blade left.
“Stop at once!”
“I think it would be better if you were the one to stop. Unless you enjoy watching the lord you serve suffer.”
“You truly are crossing the line.”
“Did we not cross that line long ago?”
Mok Gyeong-un said with a grin.
At that appearance so full of malice, Ho Jong-hyeok was left speechless.
What in the world was this bastard’s real objective?
If he provoked them this much, he would only be less able to obtain what he wanted, so why was he going this far?
Just as he was wondering that,
“You do not intend to submit of your own accord, do you?”
“Uugh… y-you bastard… as for you… I…”
“It seems it would be better to use possession than try to control you.”
“What?”
“Go to sleep for now.”
-Papapapak!
At that moment Jang Neung-ak’s acupoints were struck, and he lost consciousness just like that.
-Thud!
“How dare you!”
The moment Jang Neung-ak collapsed face-first onto the table, Ho Jong-hyeok roared in fury and swung the Annihilating Axe at Mok Gyeong-un’s head.
-Whoom!
Yet,
-Smack!
The blade of the Annihilating Axe was caught directly in Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.
“Your capacity to learn is lacking.”
-Crack crack crack!
As black energy gathered in Mok Gyeong-un’s hand, cracks spread across even the one remaining blade.
Ho Jong-hyeok hurriedly tried to unfold a footwork technique and force him to let go,
-Slide!
But Mok Gyeong-un’s body had already slipped in directly before him.
Seeing Mok Gyeong-un’s palm flying straight up under his chin, Ho Jong-hyeok gritted his teeth.
‘Damn it!’
* * *
‘…He has truly become a monster.’
Go Chan, possessing Ha Chae-rin’s body, sincerely clicked his tongue.
The real First Sacred Mountain Ho Jong-hyeok and the Fourth Sacred Mountain Seo Hye-in were lying on the floor unconscious and covered in blood.
The two had struggled and rushed in no matter what, trying somehow to resist, but the result had been miserable.
After only a few exchanges, they had ended up in that state.
Even Ho Jong-hyeok, who had reached the extreme of the transcendent peak, had tried to fight on by unleashing a hidden ultimate move, but even that had been useless.
All it had done was let him drag things out a little longer.
‘How can a bastard who has not even practiced martial arts for very long grow this strong so quickly?’
It was a reality too difficult to believe.
It felt unfair enough to make one think the world itself was unfair.
Then Mok Gyeong-un’s voice rang out.
“You two, please come over here.”
‘You two? Ah!’
Go Chan looked not only at himself, but also at the man who was presumed to be possessed as well.
Was he the one called Jong-im, the subordinate of the dead Wi Maeng-cheon?
Go Chan had faintly sensed spiritual power from him and thought he might be a possessing vengeful soul, and indeed his guess had been right.
But when had Mok Gyeong-un made him possess that body?
As he was wondering that, once Jong-im, no, the possessing Wi Maeng-cheon, came up into the pavilion, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“It is your first time seeing each other properly, is it not?”
“…”
“…”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Go Chan and Wi Maeng-cheon looked at each other with strange eyes.
The gaze was close to saying, So you are like that too?
“Rather than greetings, shall we deal with this first?”
“If by this you mean?”
Then Mok Gyeong-un alternately pointed at Jang Neung-ak, the Society Leader’s second disciple, who was slumped over and immobilized by acupoint strikes right in front of him, and at the real First Sacred Mountain Ho Jong-hyeok, unconscious and covered in blood, and said,
“One of you must possess these two. Which of you will go into the second young master?”
The moment those words ended,
-Smack!
Neither Go Chan nor Wi Maeng-cheon hesitated in the slightest, and both raised their hands at the same time with lightning speed.