Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 41 - Dangerous Visit (3)

Chapter 41 – Dangerous Visit (3)

===================

Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

Though she possessed a fiery disposition, Ha Chae-rin had nevertheless received harsh training and education from Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek, one of the Four Great Assassins of the Central Plains.

The basics of assassination lay in gathering information and making preparations.

That was why she began investigating in various ways regarding Mok Gyeong-un, the target she had to kill.

But when she actually looked into him, this Mok Gyeong-un was no different from an immature young master.

She heard that his martial talent was so lacking that he was no more than third-rate and was not acknowledged even by the other brothers of Yeon Mok Sword Manor or by its retainers.

‘Yet how did such a fellow kill intermediate assassin Number Twenty-Nine?’

From here, she could infer two possibilities.

One was that the true culprit might be someone else.

The one who had leaked this information to them was someone from the same Yeon Mok Sword Manor, but another young master who had to take part in the succession struggle.

That was entirely possible.

And second,

‘Did he hide himself for the sake of this day?’

She had considered that less likely than the first.

Because he was only seventeen, and if he was in a situation where he had to compete for succession, there would have been no reason to hide his strength.

The fact that the Manor Lord of Yeon Mok Sword Manor had fallen ill was a recent development.

That was why she had been all the more certain.

‘…….This is completely outside what I expected.’

For an instant, Ha Chae-rin doubted her own eyes.

Though born with a woman’s body, she had reached the peak realm under her grandfather’s full support and instruction.

Even she could not perform the method of grasping objects through the void.

Yet a third young master of the Mok family whom she had regarded as a mere immature brat at seventeen could do this?

Ha Chae-rin’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Mok Gyeong-un.

‘But why?’

If he possessed internal power deep enough to perform grasping objects through the void, then he would have reached at least the utmost limit of the transcendent peak realm.

Yet by qi-sense, he was no more than third-rate no matter how one looked at him.

Exactly as the information had said.

‘Strange.’

He had shown grasping objects through the void, yet by qi-sense he was third-rate.

But the atmosphere he gave off was peculiarly sinister beyond measure.

Because of that, she could not gauge him at all.

Perhaps he had simply concealed his energy so that she could not feel it.

“Y-Young Master……”

At that moment, Guard Gochan called to Mok Gyeong-un in a voice close to relief.

Which made sense, because if things had been even slightly slower, his throat would have been slit and he would have lost his life.

But the danger was not over.

-Pak!

“Ghk!”

Ha Chae-rin seized Gochan by the throat and dragged him toward herself.

The startled Gochan tried twisting his body to break free, but because there was too large a gap in internal power level, he could not resist.

Holding onto Gochan, she said to Mok Gyeong-un,

“If you do not wish to see your guard die, I would advise you not to move, Young Master Mok.”

‘……..’

At those words from her, Gochan let out a faint sigh.

That was because Ha Chae-rin knew absolutely nothing about that fellow.

He had indeed just saved him, but from the start, that fellow was not the type to dance to anyone else’s tune.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.

“Who are you?”

At that question, Ha Chae-rin laughed lightly and said,

“There is no reason for me to tell that to the young master. More importantly, I would like you to step back a little.”

She was keeping Mok Gyeong-un in check.

Had it not been for that act of grasping through the void just now, she would not have been this cautious.

But it was necessary to prepare for the worst.

She found it difficult to gauge Mok Gyeong-un’s exact martial level, and now that the situation had reached this point, a normal assassination had already gone out the window.

‘Should I retreat?’

She had just thought that far when she felt the throat she was gripping tremble slightly.

She noticed Gochan’s mouth moving.

At once, she gripped his throat even harder.

-Clench!

“Keh!”

“Uncle Go, it really looks like you’ve decided to become enemies with this side. Seeing you pull even this kind of stunt.”

At those words, Gochan found it absurd even amid the pain.

Who was it that had tried to kill him first, and yet here she was talking about becoming enemies.

“An assassin of the Flying Assassin Sect? Hooh. So you were an assassin?”

-Grit.

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, she wore an irritated expression.

With a short summary, he had exposed her identity quite nicely.

“Ah….you fucking bastard.”

For an assassin, there was hardly a worse outcome than not only failing an assassination, but also having one’s affiliation exposed.

Now that things had turned out this way, she had to kill Mok Gyeong-un one way or another.

No, from the beginning, even if she retreated, her goal was to kill him after changing methods.

Since he had been designated as a target of Hundred Days, Hundred Kills, if she failed to kill him, she could neither receive the title of one of the Four Great Assassins nor become the sect leader of the Flying Assassin Sect.

‘Should I settle it here?’

Though she still could not be certain of Mok Gyeong-un’s martial level, she did have one hidden measure.

That was the Extreme Killing Needle attached to the wrist ring.

Because it had been specially made, it could only be used once, but if it was used within the distance of three jang, it was difficult for even fairly high experts to block with protective qi.

She had been told to use it the moment she felt a danger to her life, but this might not be a situation in which to be stingy.

‘If I lower my guard, this side could be the one that suffers.’

Without relaxing her tension, she slowly lowered her left hand slightly.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“Please let him go.”

“What?”

“If you let Guard Gochan go, then this once I will just let you leave. It is a very rare thing for me to simply let go someone who is after my life.”

‘What?’

Gochan was inwardly astonished.

He had never thought that this devil-like fellow would say he would let go the assassin who had come after his life in order to save him.

Had he not been no more than a piece for that bastard to use?

He had naturally expected to be abandoned, so it was truly unexpected.

‘Let me go? Ha!’

On the other hand, at those words from Mok Gyeong-un, one of Ha Chae-rin’s eyebrows rose.

His attitude, as though he were bestowing mercy, rubbed her the wrong way.

But at the same time, she also thought it worked out well.

That fellow had made a mistake.

To let go an assassin who had come after his life in order to save one guard was proof that he did not regard Gochan lightly.

Dragging Gochan backward by the throat, she said,

“Young Master Mok. You seem to value your guard quite a bit.”

“No. Not particularly. Shall I say it’s just my whim that I do not want to let someone useful like Guard Gochan die right now?”

“A whim. Heh.”

With a scornful laugh, she said to Mok Gyeong-un,

“Well then, if you wish to save this man according to that whim, step back more than ten paces and kneel. Then, once I have left the manor grounds, I will release the guard.”

At those words, using the blind angle hidden from view, she turned the wheel on the wrist ring and loaded the Extreme Killing Needle.

She had already imagined the coming situation several times in her head.

The moment Mok Gyeong-un tried to step back, she intended to use Gochan as a shield to shove forward, then fire the Extreme Killing Needle from the concealed blind angle.

“Now step ba…..”

‘!?’

It happened at that very moment.

She discovered that Mok Gyeong-un’s gaze was not directed at her, but slightly behind her.

At the same time,

-Start!

Feeling a strange sensation from behind, she hurriedly changed the ring and launched Jade-Glow Flying Needles.

-Pupupupuk!

Yet there was nothing behind her.

‘What?’

She had clearly felt something approaching from behind just a moment ago.

It had been a chilling sensation, so what in the world….!?

-Pak!

“Keh!”

In an instant, she yanked back Gochan, whom she had been gripping by the throat, and twisted her body to one side.

At that moment, a dagger brushed right past her right side.

Seeing Ha Chae-rin dodge it, a strange light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

‘She’s faster than Mok Yu-cheon.’

And her senses were sharper as well.

Blue Spirit, who had aimed for Ha Chae-rin’s back, said,

-A peak-realm expert’s senses are incomparable to those of a first-rate expert. This one’s ghostly aura is too strong, so approaching within one jang isn’t easy.

That seemed to be the case.

Mok Yu-cheon too had repeatedly glanced toward Blue Spirit’s position during the entire time he had been receiving the oral recitation.

It seemed that once one reached the peak realm, because handling qi became smooth, one also reacted sensitively even to spiritual energy.

Then Ha Chae-rin said to Mok Gyeong-un with sharpened eyes,

“Young Master Mok. So you had an accomplice.”

“……….”

She was certain.

That chilling sense of estrangement she had felt from behind.

She did not know what it was, but there was no way her senses could be wrong now that her vigilance had risen sharply.

And she learned one more fact.

‘It was weak.’

The dagger Mok Gyeong-un had thrown just now had little force in it, even if it had been sudden.

If a peak-realm or stronger expert had thrown it in earnest, then in that opening she would have had her shoulder ripped away.

Something was strange.

It had been a perfect chance, yet he had let it pass.

‘Could it be?’

Perhaps the grasping-through-the-void he had shown earlier was not Mok Gyeong-un’s own skill.

Perhaps that strange existence that could not be caught by qi-sense had helped him.

Once her thoughts reached that point, the corner of her mouth slowly rose.

If Mok Gyeong-un was not truly the kind of expert she needed to be wary of, then she could kill him for certain.

‘The Extreme Killing Needle!’

In that fleeting moment, killing intent rose from her.

Sensing it, Mok Gyeong-un spoke in a chilling voice.

“That would probably be your worst possible move.”

“No. Not at all!”

With those words, Ha Chae-rin shoved Gochan straight toward Mok Gyeong-un.

-Papapapapak!

And when the distance closed to nearly three jang, she struck Gochan’s back with her left palm.

-Paaang!

A bursting sound rang out.

“Kuh!”

The Extreme Killing Needle that pierced through Gochan’s back flew straight toward the middle of Mok Gyeong-un’s brow.

The power of the Extreme Killing Needle, flying at tremendous speed, was enough to pierce even the protective qi of fairly powerful inner school experts.

However,

-Whiirik!

The flying Extreme Killing Needle veered upward in its path and instead pierced through Mok Gyeong-un’s raised right palm.

-Thuk!

‘!?’

Ha Chae-rin’s eyes widened.

How could the path of the flying Extreme Killing Needle have changed?

That very moment, while she stood there puzzled,

-You should have just left when I said I’d let you go, sentient creature.

Startled by the voice of a woman sounding at her left ear, she threw herself to the right and fired Jade-Glow Flying Needles.

But there was nothing there.

-Pupupupupuk!

The voice had clearly sounded right by her side.

Yet why was nothing visible?

As she stood there in bewilderment, something pulled her body with tremendous force toward the floor.

-Pak! Bang!

“Agh!”

A dying scream burst from Ha Chae-rin’s mouth as she slammed against the ground.

Startled, she began circulating qi and raised her power to the utmost.

Then she tried to create rebound force and shake off the power pressing down on her body.

However,

“Hup!”

At that instant, something unbelievable occurred.

-Bubble bubble!

Blood pooled around her as she was pressed to the floor, staining the surroundings red.

At the same time, a foul smell of blood rose up and choked her breathing.

Having never experienced anything so bizarre in her life, she could not understand what was happening.

-Kkadeuk! Kkadeuk!

‘!!!!!!!’

For a moment, she doubted her own eyes.

Dozens of crimson hands were bursting out from the ground, grabbing her arms and legs and pulling at them, and it felt as though her heart would burst.

She was so terrified that even a scream would not come out.

-Squirm, squirm!

All she could do was twist her body as best she could.

Looking at Ha Chae-rin like that, Blue Spirit sneered.

-Since this is to be a body this one will use, I will leave as few wounds on it as possible.

She was enjoying herself.

As he watched Blue Spirit and Ha Chae-rin writhing in fear, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head from side to side.

“I told you it would be your worst move.”

He had clearly warned her.

Because she had been threatening him while gripping Guard Gochan’s throat, he had even given her a chance to live.

Yet in the end, she let that chance slip away.

“Cough, cough.”

Mok Gyeong-un looked over Gochan, who was turning increasingly pale and losing warmth.

Blood filled his mouth, and blood flowed continuously from the hole in his chest.

It seemed his heart had been pierced, so there was no hope whatsoever.

Looking at him like that, Mok Gyeong-un said with indifferent eyes,

“What a pity. I thought we’d be able to remain together a bit longer.”

He had done his best in his own way to save him.

But his luck had truly run out.

Looking down at the dying Gochan, Mok Gyeong-un continued,

“You worked hard. I won’t forget Guard Gochan’s efforts.”

“Cough……don’t…..want to……die…….”

Gochan muttered something with difficulty.

It was the desperate desire to live from a human being who was dying.

Looking at him steadily and without emotion, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“Your attachment to life is strong.”

“Cough cough……..please……..”

As he watched the eyes that were gradually growing cloudy, Mok Gyeong-un let the corner of his mouth twitch and muttered,

“There might be a way for us to stay together a little longer.”

With those words, he drew something from his waist.

Something was written on it in red ink, but as Gochan’s sight grew dimmer, he could not see it clearly.

Mok Gyeong-un pressed that talisman to Gochan’s forehead.

Then he placed his palm over the heart area and said,

“According to the Six-Person Spirit Descent Art, resentful souls are born not only through strong resentment, but also through delusion and death aura overflowing in the place where one meets death.”

The moment he finished speaking,

A cold and baleful energy surged from Mok Gyeong-un’s palm.

-Gooooooo!

————————————

————————————