Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 59 - Corpse Blood Valley (4)

Chapter 59 – Corpse Blood Valley (4)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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On a whim, Mok Gyeong-un stretched his arm slightly toward the empty air in the direction from which the death aura was flowing and recited the formula in his head.

It was the Form of Attachment.

[Do you feel it? That is the subtle mystery possessed by the Form of Attachment. It can pull anything and make it cling. Even qi is no exception.]

Blue Spirit had definitely said that.

Though the distance was great, so many boys were dying that the energy of death filled the surroundings.

At this level, it might well be possible.

‘Mujeolmangnyeoseo ihyeongwisimyang muojeongeogeosang musanghyeongwijeon magaryanghaeggeo yeokhaemugeukhyeol.’

Even though the Forbidden Gate Lock had sealed his qi gates, the Form of Attachment was not a concept deployed through internal power.

This was a special force that came only from the formula itself.

A hand extended toward empty air.

The corner of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth twitched as he concentrated.

-Suuuuuu!

It was an attempt begun from the light thought that if it failed, then so be it.

Fortunately, that test proved correct.

The death aura surging all around began to be drawn into Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.

It was an enormous quantity of death aura.

‘It is adhering.’

Originally, he had thought that only the death aura in the immediate vicinity would be drawn in.

But a curious thing happened.

As the death aura around Mok Gyeong-un was sucked in, the unique current created by that pull caught the aura spreading in all directions and carried it along.

It seemed he might obtain even more death aura than he had at Yeon Mok Sword Manor.

As he watched the boys still carrying out their bloody struggle, Mok Gyeong-un said inwardly,

‘Kill and kill more.’

The more those boys killed one another, the more it benefited him.

There was one gaze watching Mok Gyeong-un in puzzlement.

It belonged to the demon-ghost mask.

‘…What is he doing?’

Most eyes were directed toward the valley where the struggle over the beads was taking place.

But the demon-ghost mask had happened to look toward the front of the incense burner and noticed Mok Gyeong-un alone, stretching out a hand slightly toward the valley.

‘Hm.’

He had no idea what the boy was doing.

So he heightened his perception and looked at Mok Gyeong-un.

But he could feel nothing at all.

‘Am I overreacting.’

Then again, with the Forbidden Gate Lock sealing his qi gates, there was no way he could do anything.

It was a situation where he could not even circulate his qi.

Even so, there was no helping that the action bothered him quite a bit.

As that thought passed, the warrior beside him said,

“The incense stick is almost burned down.”

Time was almost up now.

In the meantime, the number of boys who had come in had passed slightly over four hundred.

And among those still fighting and dying among themselves in the valley, nearly two hundred had already died, while the remaining two hundred were locked in bloody struggle.

-Chiieee!

The incense stick was burning down precariously to the lower line.

The demon-ghost mask raised his hand.

At that, the red-belted warriors who had been waiting all around the edge of the valley all drew the weapons at their waists at once.

-Sreung! Sreung!

Seeing that, the boys still struggling over the iron beads in the valley grew even more desperate.

If they did not hurry, they would die.

That awakened the stubbornness sleeping within the boys and their fierce desire to live.

“Die, die!”

-Kwachik! Kwachik!

“Move!”

-Clench!

“Aaagh! Y-you bastard, you are biting me?”

They smashed heads with stones, and if that was not enough, they even used their teeth and bit down.

It was desperate to the point of being pitiable.

Even those seated before the incense burner after fighting to the death could not simply look on as though this were someone else’s problem.

Because this was only the beginning.

Yet among those, one boy stood out.

“Aaaaaah!”

-Udeudeuk!

“Kuhk!”

As though he had awakened to something, one boy who had not stood out until now was suddenly killing the boys around him indiscriminately.

It was Mok Yu-cheon.

Unable to accept killing when they bore no personal grudge against one another, Mok Yu-cheon had only set his goal on finding an iron bead somehow and standing before the incense burner.

But the situation drove even Mok Yu-cheon to the edge of a cliff.

“Haa… haa…”

From the moment he found an iron bead, boys bent on killing him to steal it, and an incense stick almost completely burned down.

That situation ultimately turned even Mok Yu-cheon into the same kind of person as the others.

‘Damn it! Damn it!’

He did not know how many he had killed, but in the end Mok Yu-cheon drove back every boy who had aimed for his iron bead and managed to reach the incense burner.

When he arrived, he raised the blood-stained bead high.

“Pass!”

The moment he heard that shout, all tension left him and he collapsed to the ground.

The first thought that came to Mok Yu-cheon, collapsed as he was, was this.

‘I lived… I survived.’

Relief sharp enough to feel cold.

He had somehow survived that hellish moment.

The fear that he might die had brought him a fierce desperation to live.

But then, when he looked at his blood-soaked palms, self-loathing came over him as well.

‘…What… did I… do?’

He had certainly done it to survive, but what was this?

He felt as though he had become a beast in an instant, rather than a human.

As that thought came, the cry of the demon-ghost mask was heard.

“The incense stick is fully burned. Kill them.”

“Yes!!!!”

No sooner had the order fallen than screams burst continuously from the valley water.

The boys, with their dantians sealed, could not resist at all.

* * *

The warriors counted the boys sitting in rows before the incense burner.

And that number was determined.

The total number of surviving boys was four hundred sixty-eight.

It could be said that nearly forty percent had died.

‘Sixty percent… not bad.’

But the demon-ghost mask had little interest in those who had died.

Rather, if around sixty percent had survived the first gate, he considered that not bad for a first culling.

Once the count was finished, the demon-ghost mask addressed the boys before the incense burner.

“To those who have passed the first gate, I sincerely offer my congratulations.”

“………”

The boys merely listened in silence.

Though only two gak had passed, they had done every possible thing to survive and were now exhausted.

Looking at them, the demon-ghost mask continued.

“Since you obtained iron beads, you likely already know. The numbers written on the iron beads are all different. Learn them well. That is what you will be called here.”

“……..”

-“Then we will begin the second gate immediately.”

-Murmur murmur!

At those words from the demon-ghost mask, the boys who had been catching their breath stirred.

They had thought perhaps they would at least be able to rest now.

But the moment the first gate ended, the second was to begin right away?

Especially for those who had passed only when the incense stick had nearly burned down, it could not help but be painful.

‘Damn it.’

The same was true for Mok Yu-cheon.

Setting aside his self-loathing, he had not even recovered his strength yet, so if he had to do something like this again, how long could he hold out?

Ignoring such reactions, the demon-ghost mask pointed with his hand toward the mountain beyond the valley and said,

“The second gate is to endure on that mountain until dawn.”

‘Until dawn?’

It was late at night right now.

It had been sunset when they had set out for this place.

After walking for about three shichen without rest, they had undergone the first gate for two gak.

Taking that into account, it could be said that roughly three shichen remained until dawn.

‘This time, do we only have to endure?’

If that were all, then it could be called easier than searching for iron beads.

Though there had been maniacs in the competition, if they simply found an appropriate place and hid there, they could preserve strength and even rest.

Because the Forbidden Gate Lock was still in place, they would not be able to use their awareness of qi, so it seemed fully possible.

Most of them appeared to have thought something similar, as their eyes showed relief.

But there was no way it would be this simple.

The demon-ghost mask said,

“I will now explain the restriction tied to that.”

‘Restriction?’

What did that mean now?

-“There are forty flags planted on the mountain. The number that may stay at each flag is exactly eight. Until dawn, exactly eight people must remain at that place.”

-Murmur murmur!

At those words, everyone stirred once again.

As expected.

There was no way this would proceed easily.

“The number may neither exceed nor fall short of eight. If such a case occurs, you die.”

“………”

Silence spread.

Hearing the restriction, everyone was thinking about the point of this gate.

The same was true for Mok Yu-cheon.

‘There are nearly five hundred people here. But with only forty flags, that means only three hundred and twenty can survive.’

Once again it foreshadowed a bloody competition.

But there was a difference this time.

Once one found a flag, eight people had to cooperate and hold it for about three shichen.

‘Group cooperation!’

Everyone grasped the point of this gate.

-Naturally, there would be many variables, but depending on how they cooperated, they could create conditions allowing them to endure more efficiently.

-Slide!

At that, everyone’s gaze naturally shifted from the demon-ghost mask to one another.

There was no need to first search for a flag and then form a squad there.

If they gathered the strongest and most useful squad members right here, then they might be able to get through this gate easily.

‘If that is the case…’

Their eyes turned toward those at the very front before the incense burner.

They had passed the first gate first and still had stamina to spare.

To come under them or recruit them was the only way to seize the most favorable ground.

‘Hm.’

It was not only those who had passed late who were thinking along those lines.

Those who had passed early were also calculating in their own ways.

The Crimson Kill Valley boy who had passed second also looked around and pondered.

‘I passed the first gate quickly and succeeded in conserving stamina, but if the second gate starts right away, then according to the restriction I may not be able to relax for even a moment.’

If that happened, he might not be able to rest all night.

With few flags and the need to maintain headcount, all sorts of troublesome situations were sure to arise.

‘So this is a situation where we may have to stay awake all night.’

But if the third gate followed immediately after that, then preserving stamina was, after all, the key.

In a situation where they could not use qi circulation, that was huge.

If internal power had not been sealed, they could have rotated and circulated qi to recover their strength, but now this was almost an extreme situation.

‘…It may be best to avoid situations where we have to fight needlessly.’

That was the only way to preserve stamina intact.

Seen in that light, it was better to take the strongest and most useful people as allies.

The Crimson Kill Valley boy looked to his left and right.

Mok Gyeong-un, and the muscular boy from Mirrored Scenery Gate.

‘Hm.’

These were the ones who had passed the first gate earliest alongside him.

Rather than searching far and wide, it would be efficient for those with the most stamina to join together and pass this gate with ease.

‘I thought I would eliminate them in the second gate, but…’

For this one time, it seemed better to join hands.

The Crimson Kill Valley boy glanced slightly toward Mok Gyeong-un at his left.

He meant to extend a hand first and build a cooperative relationship.

But then,

‘!?’

He saw Mok Gyeong-un’s lips twitch.

That gaze, as if he found this situation interesting, made it look as though he were enjoying it.

To the point that the sight itself felt unpleasant.

‘…No good.’

He simply did not want to extend a hand to this boy.

For some reason, his instincts were telling him so.

That among all the people here, this was the one who had to be eliminated first.

While he was thinking that, Mok Gyeong-un spoke first in a whisper.

“Would you like to work with me?”

What?

Had this boy also judged that it would be advantageous to become his ally?

But after seeing that expression just now, any desire to work with him had vanished.

“………No.”

At that, Mok Gyeong-un shrugged and smacked his lips.

‘What a pity.’

He had wanted to kill him first.

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