Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 276 - Blood Saint (2)
Chapter 276 – Blood Saint (2)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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-Tatatatatakt!
At the head of the group was Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol of the Office of Penal Service of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the department that oversaw all prisons within the imperial palace. Following behind him came four Hundred-Household Commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, as well as someone wearing a bamboo hat.
Even from the grave expression on Im Gyu-wol’s face as he moved, it was obvious that the situation was extremely urgent.
‘Damn it. I tried to catch one flea and now it looks as if I will burn down the whole house.’
Cadet Bae Ji-seok and Cadet Ju Un-hyang.
Trying to catch those two had become the starting point of this whole disaster when he changed the Forbidden Prison Battle Maps.
Even if he changed them, he should only have guided them into the mechanism formation traps, but instead, regardless of intention, he had led them toward a place that absolutely must never be approached.
‘One hundred twenty-six……’
That place was forbidden not merely as a prison cell itself, but even the surrounding area was off limits.
And for good reason, because it was extremely dangerous.
Even with her whole body bound, the monster called a remnant of the Old Blood Cult had bewitched the Embroidered Uniform Guards with bizarre illusion arts.
That was why, unless one was thoroughly prepared, it was a place one must absolutely never approach within the designated radius.
-Tak!
Having come down into the Avici Prison, Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol hurried on in his impatience.
If by even the smallest chance the inmate of Cell One Hundred Twenty-Six came out of her prison, it would be no different from the worst possible situation occurring.
Not only would putting things back in order be a problem, but as head of the Office of Penal Service, he himself might have to bear all responsibility.
So it had to be stopped before anything happened.
‘I must hurry.’
After running a long while at the front through the cave corridors of the Avici Prison, Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol suddenly frowned.
-Cha cha cha chaeng!
That was because the sound of clashing weapons was coming from one of the inner outposts of the Avici Prison.
So, wondering what had happened, he ran there and,
‘What in the world is this?’
The jailers guarding the outpost were desperately fighting someone.
But that someone was not the Prisoner One Hundred Twenty-Six they had feared.
To be exact, it was someones, and they were none other than several prisoners who ought still to have been confined.
“Kwahahahaha!”
“Die! Die!”
“How dare bastards like you keep us locked up?”
The prisoners, filled with killing intent, ran wild with bizarre madness until both eyes turned blood-red, and the jailers, who had learned martial arts, were desperately trying to subdue them.
-Clench!
Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol bit down hard on his lower lip.
He had no idea by what method they had escaped from their prison cells, but the situation had become more tangled than the scenario he had feared.
‘Damn it.’
Im Gyu-wol glanced back at the bamboo-hatted man behind him.
When their eyes met, the one lightly lifting the bamboo hat and shaking his head was none other than Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom.
Garrison Pacification Commissioner Mok Seom silently moved his lips.
‘Contain the situation. I will go farther inside myself.’
At those words, Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol nodded as if there was no helping it.
-Srrng!
Then he drew his sword and said,
“Subdue them.”
“Yes, sir!”
At that, Im Gyu-wol and the four Embroidered Uniform Guard Hundred-Household Commanders launched themselves at the rampaging prisoners.
* * *
Near the innermost part of the Avici Prison.
Her two eyes trembled.
‘That is right. From the fact that he did not fall to illusion even though he is so young, it is already certain.’
-Pachichichik!
As Mok Gyeong-un’s figure created afterimages and divided into two while charging at her, and while thunder and lightning wrapped her body and blue sparks burst out, she suddenly withdrew her thunder power.
Then,
-Pat!
She widened the distance and held out a hand as if telling him to stop.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un, who had been prepared to fight her seriously, raised one eyebrow and stopped.
“Why are you suddenly doing this?”
Only a moment ago she had been so unable to trust him that she seemed desperate to kill him somehow.
So why was she now withdrawing the force she had just released?
As he wondered this, she suddenly brought both hands together in a gesture of respect and said in a trembling voice,
“Dam Baek-ha, Six Blood Saint, offers her greetings.”
‘!?’
What was this?
She was even speaking respectfully now, unlike just moments before.
He could not understand why she was behaving like this at all.
Then she, still holding both hands together, raised her head and even spoke with reddened eyes.
“Might you perhaps be one of the Jin Family?”
“……What are you talking about?”
He could not understand at all what she meant by bringing up the Jin Family out of nowhere.
At this reaction from Mok Gyeong-un, she waved both hands and said, as if to tell him to lower his guard,
“I am the direct disciple of Dam Ye-hwa, the previous Six Blood Saint, who personally studied under that esteemed person. Though unintentionally I have lived a life too long for my station and kept this wretched life going, if you are of the Jin Family then to me you are as one above me, so please release your guard and tell me.”
“……”
At her respectful words, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.
It was still hard to understand what exactly she was saying.
Why in the world was she suddenly showing such an attitude?
‘What is it?’
In an instant, Mok Gyeong-un traced back the cause.
This had begun after he revealed demonic aura in order to fight her properly.
But demonic aura was his own unique power.
So it could not have been because of that.
Then,
‘……Wind God Steps?’
To confuse her, he had unfolded Wind God Steps, which he had stolen and learned from Mara Hyeon, the masked Thousand-Household Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Come to think of it, once he unfolded that step art, she had withdrawn her thunder power and changed her attitude.
The arrogance she had shown up until then had vanished completely.
At that moment, something flashed through Mok Gyeong-un’s mind.
It was,
[Do you perhaps bear the surname Jin?]
[The surname Jin?]
[That is right.]
[No.]
[Then perhaps the surname So…]
[All sorts of surnames are coming out. I am from the Mok clan.]
[The Mok clan?]
It was a conversation he had once had with the masked Thousand-Household Commander Mara Hyeon.
When he said he was from the Mok clan, Mara Hyeon had shown a strange reaction and then said this.
[Then you truly must have stolen and learned that lightness art.]
Recalling this, Mok Gyeong-un became certain that the reason her attitude had changed was because of the Wind God Steps he had stolen and learned.
Mara Hyeon too had suddenly asked him whether he bore the surname Jin.
What in the world was this surname Jin, this Jin Family, that merely using one lightness art changed attitudes like this?
He did not know the reason, but fitting together, as best he could, the words of the woman who had called herself Six Blood Saint Dam Baek-ha, it seemed that her master, the previous Six Blood Saint Dam Ye-hwa, had learned from that person of the Jin surname.
‘Does she take me for that person’s descendant and therefore behave so respectfully?’
At present, that was as far as he could speculate.
Just how great must the prestige of one bearing the surname Jin be, for the attitude of a monstrous woman like this to become so respectful?
At that, a strange light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
In any case, he knew nothing of the Jin Family, so he and this woman had no relation at all.
And if he went on talking with her, then she too would inevitably notice it before long.
‘Hmm.’
But Mok Gyeong-un’s way of thinking went far beyond ordinary boldness.
He judged that this situation could be exploited.
When she had shown killing intent toward him, he had thought there was no choice but to kill her, but if he soothed her appropriately, then just as before, she seemed to have value as a means of drawing attention away.
Before that, there was one thing he had to confirm.
So Mok Gyeong-un brought both hands together and spoke with the same formality she used.
“You said your name was Dam Baek-ha? Did you perhaps recognize me after seeing my lightness art?”
“Ah. Then does that mean you truly are of the Jin Family?”
Dam Baek-ha asked with shining eyes.
At this sight, Mok Gyeong-un confirmed once more that it was indeed because of the lightness art.
The reason he wanted to confirm that was simple.
It was to determine whether this lightness art belonged to the person of the Jin surname whom both the woman before him and the masked Thousand-Household Commander Mara Hyeon had spoken of.
‘I see.’
At that, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head and answered,
“I am sorry. You have placed your hopes on this because of the lightness art, but I am not of the Jin Family.”
‘!?’
At those words, Dam Baek-ha, whose eyes had been filled with expectation, frowned.
“If you are not of the Jin Family, then what in the world does that…”
“I mean exactly what I said.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s answer, Dam Baek-ha said in a tone that could not believe it,
“That cannot be. You are certainly of the Jin Family. Even just from the fact that you can endure the illusion art, Essentials of Illusory Intent, which that person transmitted, so easily…”
“It is truly so. Why would I deceive you in this?”
“……Could it be that you do not trust me?”
“It is not that…”
“If it is because I say I am the direct disciple of Lord Dam Ye-hwa, then I can even explain the secret of my long life. So please, do not suspect me and push me away. After the cult became what it did, I wandered for a very long time searching for the bloodlines of the Baek Family and the Jin Family. So please…”
“I truly am not of the Jin Family.”
“Sir!”
“However, the master who taught me this lightness art may know the esteemed person of the Jin Family.”
“……”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Dam Baek-ha’s gaze became complicated.
Up to now, from all the surrounding circumstances, she had been convinced that he was certainly of the Jin Family.
Yet he insisted so firmly that he was not, and she became both deflated and suspicious, wondering whether he simply did not trust her.
‘Hm?’
At that moment, a doubt suddenly arose in her mind.
So she asked in a somewhat heavier voice,
“You say that the one who taught you this lightness art knows a person of the Jin Family. Then does that mean your master too is not of the Jin Family?”
“Yes, that is correct. That person bears another surname. By any chance, do you know one who uses the surname Mara?”
Mok Gyeong-un asked this on the off chance.
It was certain that the masked Thousand-Household Commander Mara Hyeon had ties to the person of the Jin surname.
Otherwise he would not have asked about that surname when seeing him imitate the lightness art.
-Pajik!
At that moment, in the eyes of Mok Gyeong-un, who had Ghost Eyes opened, he saw Dam Baek-ha beginning to draw up thunder power.
The instant he said that he had learned the lightness art from one who used the surname Mara, her face turned cold and her attitude was about to change once more.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“The master with the surname Mara who transmitted the lightness art to me also told me that, if I should meet those of the Jin Family or the So Family, I must treat them with utmost respect.”
Of course, he had never actually said such a thing.
The man had only asked whether he bore the surname Jin, and then whether he perhaps bore the surname So.
So, just in case, thinking that the So surname might also be connected to this, he improvised this line.
And yet,
-Srrr.
No sooner had those words ended than the thunder power within her body subsided again.
Then Dam Baek-ha came close to Mok Gyeong-un, seized the front of his robe with both hands, and said in an agitated voice,
“Your master! Where is your master? Take me to that person at once.”
She was convinced that the man of the Mara surname spoken of by Mok Gyeong-un had ties to that person and to the bloodline.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to mention both the Jin Family and the So Family together.
Looking down at her, so emotionally stirred, Mok Gyeong-un’s face lay half in shadow while the corner of his mouth twitched.
‘Ah.’
This was enough.
She had been warmed up well enough that he could use her as he wished.