Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 273 - Underground Forbidden Prison (4)
Chapter 273 – Underground Forbidden Prison (4)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Office of Penal Service, Embroidered Uniform Guard.
The expression of Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol, who had been staring blankly at the hurriedly altered Forbidden Prison Battle Map, hardened.
“This is bad……”
Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom, who had been drinking tea gracefully while looking at him, asked in puzzlement,
“What is wrong?”
“G, Garrison Pacification Commissioner. A problem has arisen.”
“A problem?”
“Because I altered the map too hastily……”
“Do not drag it out. Speak quickly.”
“If they move according to how it was twisted, the path will lead into the special sector of the Avici Prison.”
“The special forbidden sector? Surely not… you mean the one-hundred-twenty range of sectors?”
Mok Seom had passed through the post of head of the Office of Penal Service before becoming Garrison Pacification Commissioner.
That was why he knew the underground prison in greater detail than most of the Embroidered Uniform Guards of the Office of Penal Service.
The Avici Prison itself was already called the worst prison of all, but among it, the prison cells after the one-hundred-twenty range were places that even Embroidered Uniform Guards with long experience had to be careful of.
The latter half of the one-hundred-twenty range was so difficult to manage that there were even rules one absolutely, no, unconditionally had to follow.
“Bring me the map.”
“……Yes.”
So Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol carried the map to him.
As he looked at the altered map, Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom’s gaze stopped at a certain point.
“This is bad……”
The same words that Im Gyu-wol had spoken now came from his mouth as well.
He had only drawn a few lines through a part of the Avici Prison, yet the map’s route now led into the latter portion of the one-hundred-twenty range, a place one absolutely must not enter.
If they followed this map…
‘One hundred twenty-six……’
If it was Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six as he remembered,
“Is the remnant of the Old Blood Cult still alive?”
“……That is correct.”
“Hah.”
At Im Gyu-wol’s answer, Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom clicked his tongue.
“That is a truly persistent life.”
“Yes……I too can in no way understand it.”
“This is not something that belongs to the realm of understanding.”
“……You speak correctly, Garrison Pacification Commissioner. I was handed down that it has been nearly thirty years since food distribution there was cut off, yet even now, whenever one merely goes near that place, one hears the sound of something scratching. That is why measures were taken so that no one goes near the area, but how a human can endure for decades without eating anything at all…”
“If that question could have been solved, our seniors above us would have solved it long ago.”
Prisoner of Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six.
No one knew the exact name, but that prisoner’s identity was one of the Six Blood Saints of the now-destroyed Old Blood Cult.
No one knew when the prisoner had first been confined to the prison.
However, among all the inmates in the underground prison, this was the one known as the oldest of all, and as one of the three who had to be especially guarded against.
Unlike ordinary prisoners, the inmate of Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six was classified as so extremely dangerous that even performing meal distribution was difficult.
That was because of the bizarre ability possessed by the prisoner.
That ability bewitched the human mind merely by stimulating things such as sight and hearing, and because of it many disasters had occurred, so it was said.
Yet besides this ability, there was another strange epithet used to identify this prisoner.
That epithet was none other than Undying.
Those above had found the impossible vitality of Prisoner One Hundred Twenty-Six interesting and had tried to investigate it, but they learned nothing.
Judging that there was nothing to be done about the obstinacy of Prisoner One Hundred Twenty-Six, who kept the mouth sealed shut despite torture and interrogation, the higher-ups eventually issued an unofficial order meant to break her will.
That order was none other than to cut off food distribution and prevent the prisoner from taking in nourishment.
One of the greatest desires of a human being is food.
They thought that if they blocked off that desire for food, then her obstinacy and her will could be broken, but something happened that no one had expected.
Despite taking in no nourishment whatsoever, she did not starve to death.
She was still alive.
Those above were astonished by this fact and blocked any information about it from spreading anywhere.
The number of people in the imperial palace who knew this astonishing truth was very small, and among the Embroidered Uniform Guard it was limited to those who had once served as heads of the Office of Penal Service.
Even now, the ordinary Embroidered Uniform Guards of the Office of Penal Service still believed that minimum food distribution was being carried out to Prisoner One Hundred Twenty-Six.
Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom looked at the map and opened his mouth in a grave voice.
“This has become troublesome. If it were Cell One Hundred Twenty-Nine, one could say that approaching it is merely courting one’s own death, but if by any chance they so much as approach Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six…”
Before he could even finish speaking, Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol stood up and said,
“Garrison Pacification Commissioner. I will go down personally. If it is not that bastard Bae Ji-seok, then I can resolve it at my own level.”
“……No. The cadet is not the problem. If the worst comes to pass, even you will not be able to do anything at your own level.”
With those words, Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom rose from his seat.
* * *
Somewhere inside the Avici Prison.
As he looked around in every direction, Cadet Ju Un-hyang tore only a tiny strip from his sleeve and held it to the torch.
Then it burned away and smoke rose.
‘Ah……’
When he held his breath, the smoke drifted toward the passage on the right among the four branching corridors.
Ju Un-hyang looked at the right-hand corridor.
The direction in which the smoke flowed was, at least, a possible one.
So he moved that way.
Along the way, his shoes became completely tattered, and he was forced to take off even the other one and use it as well.
Had it not been for his innate true qi, the soles of his feet would have been injured on the wet and chilly cave floor.
It was as he continued forward aimlessly like that.
-Save me! Please save me.
At the cry for salvation heard from somewhere, Ju Un-hyang pricked up his ears.
Had someone, like him, fallen into one of the mechanism formation traps?
The only likely person was Yeom Gyeong, who had been assigned with him to the inside of the Avici Prison.
At that, Ju Un-hyang ran toward the place from which the voice was coming.
There he found a place where the floor had sunk deeply in with a diameter of about two zhang.
-Save me! Please! Please!
The voice was coming from below.
Ju Un-hyang at once held the torch down toward it.
In the wavering torchlight, deep beneath the sunken pit, he saw a figure hanging helplessly, transfixed through the thigh by what looked like a thick rope.
At that, Ju Un-hyang shouted toward the figure,
“Is that you, Yeom Gyeong?”
But at this cry from Ju Un-hyang, the figure gave no reply at all.
Ju Un-hyang frowned.
Could it be that his voice could not be heard?
He found this strange, when once more a voice came from below,
-Save me. Please!
Could it really be that fellow?
Judging by the voice, the speaker was pleading almost desperately.
It seemed that he would have to rescue him first.
So while wondering how to do it, Ju Un-hyang looked around beneath with the torch.
However, when he illuminated the bottom, he saw that besides the person dangling from the rope there was also a skeleton that looked like old remains.
It seemed that someone had fallen there and died.
‘Did they fail to dispose of the body?’
They had said that the mechanism devices were maintained from time to time, yet apparently they had not inspected everything.
However, something could be seen protruding above on the side opposite the hanging figure.
He had not noticed it because it had been hidden by the shadow cast by the torch, but,
‘A sword hilt?’
A sword of peculiar shape was embedded in the wall.
It was a form where the smooth blade led directly into the hilt, and something like a rope was tied to that hilt as well.
That seemed close enough that he could simply reach down and pull it out.
‘I can use that.’
Having made his decision, Ju Un-hyang moved to the opposite side and reached down.
It was just barely out of reach, but eventually he caught hold of the sword hilt embedded in the wall.
He was about to pull it out, and it was right then.
-Thump!
His heart pounded violently and his innate true qi roiled.
“Huhk.”
At the same time, Ju Un-hyang’s entire body convulsed while gripping the sword.
He could not control the trembling, and countless fragments of noise poured into his head and turned it upside down.
[Kill! Kill him!]
[Why, why are you doing this?]
[Please save me. Please……]
It was not one or two voices.
The voices increased one after another, as though they numbered in the dozens or hundreds.
At the same time, Ju Un-hyang’s eyes shook.
He had clearly seen someone he thought was Yeom Gyeong hanging below, but there was no one there now.
It was as if he had seen a hallucination.
As he was bewildered by this,
[Give me your body!]
[Die! Die!]
‘Kgh!’
The noise, enough to make the spine go cold, further muddled his mind.
The sounds were all filled with killing intent and resentment, eerie beyond measure, and they began rapidly to invade Ju Un-hyang’s mind and body.
‘I……have to……let go……’
Ju Un-hyang tried to remove his hand from the sword hilt.
But it would not leave his palm, as if it had adhered there.
Rather, with him still gripping the hilt, the blade slid out from the wall.
If it had been a blade embedded there long enough for a corpse to become a skeleton, then it should long since have rusted, yet amazingly the blade remained intact and even gave off a sword light.
‘Let go! Let go……’
Ju Un-hyang used all his strength in trying to tear the sword away from his hand.
But it was useless.
The innate true qi in his middle dantian burned hot and resisted this eerie force, but the screams and vengeful spirits contained in this mysterious sword were far too intense.
Soon, the trembling in Ju Un-hyang’s hand holding the sword came to a stop.
Then, as he raised his head, a strange gleam flowed from both his eyes.
-Swoosh!
His gaze transformed, and Ju Un-hyang then picked up the torch with one hand while still holding the sword in the other and walked toward somewhere.
As he went there, warnings had been written in red letters on the walls to either side.
[No Entry Within Thirty Steps]
It said one must not approach within thirty steps.
Yet Ju Un-hyang ignored this warning and continued forward.
The instant he stepped into the area corresponding to those thirty paces, a bleak wind began to blow inside the prison.
-Whoooosh!
The torch flared violently.
The shadow touched by the firelight rippled like waves.
Though a bizarre phenomenon was occurring, Ju Un-hyang paid it no heed and kept walking ahead.
Then he stopped in front of a prison cell.
[129]
One hundred twenty-nine.
It had been engraved in thick strokes above the prison bars.
This was that very cell which the prison roster had warned people absolutely not to approach.
At that moment, Ju Un-hyang raised the sword and swung it toward the bars.
-Chak!
Sharp sword energy wrapped around the blade, and with a clang the thick iron bars were severed.
Ju Un-hyang kicked the cut section with his foot, and the broken bars toppled into the prison cell.
-Boom!
Without hesitation, he stepped inside.
In the wavering light of the torch, he saw some grotesque thing leaning against the wall.
As Ju Un-hyang looked at it, the corner of his mouth rose in a sinister smile.
* * *
“Hm?”
Mok Gyeong-un, having passed through the mechanism trap zone with absurd ease, tilted his head slightly and looked somewhere.
Originally it had had nothing to do with his plan, so he had intended to simply pass by, but one prison cell was standing open.
Above the entrance of that open prison cell there was engraved this:
[126]
One hundred twenty-six.
Seeing that, words Mong Mu-yak, his subordinate, had once spoken came back to Mok Gyeong-un’s mind.
[The prison cell where the Sacred Fire Leader is held is Number One Hundred Thirty. But just in case, I think it would be best if I tell you this as well.]
[What do you mean?]
[It would be best if you avoided Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six and Cell One Hundred Twenty-Nine if at all possible.]
[Why?]
At that question, Mong Mu-yak had told him of the warning he had seen.
If he remembered correctly, Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six was the one where one of the Six Blood Saints of the Old Blood Cult was imprisoned.
It was written there as a warning that one must not approach within ten paces, and that even when approaching for meal distribution, one had to cover both the eyes and ears.
‘Eyes and ears?’
Why would such a warning exist?
For a brief moment he had indeed felt a spark of curiosity, but since it had nothing to do with his objective, he had quickly cast it from his mind.
After all, there would be no need for him to enter Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six.
And yet,
‘Did that person open it?’
The prison cell, which should have remained tightly shut, was open.
And inside that prison cell, someone had gone in and was doing something.
That someone was none other than that cadet called Yeom Gyeong, the disciple of Mount Hua.
He wondered what exactly the man was doing, and saw that Yeom Gyeong was pulling something out from the body of a bound figure whose eyes were blindfolded and whose mouth was gagged.
-Pahk!
The instant he pulled them out one by one,
-Gooooooo!
The force of the bound figure surged violently upward.
An odd light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes as he watched this.
That was because to Mok Gyeong-un, whose Ghost Eyes had awakened, force itself was visible in concrete form, and what he now saw possessed a nature unlike anything he had ever before seen.
-Pajik! Pachichichik!
It was producing blue thunder and lightning like roots spreading through a violent downpour.