Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 62 - Flag (3)
Chapter 62 – Flag (3)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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-Sentient being, honestly, you really are…
Cheongryeong clicked her tongue.
She had wondered why he was joining a squad that did not suit him at all.
But to think he had such a plan in mind.
-Were you planning this from the start?
“How could I miss such a convenient opportunity?”
Mok Gyeong-un gave a faint smile and approached the very last remaining person, or rather, one corpse.
That corpse was the girl called So-hwa, the girl whose neck Mok Gyeong-un had snapped first.
Placing his hand on the girl’s head, Mok Gyeong-un recited in his mind the mnemonic formula of the Form of Attachment and absorbed the remaining death aura.
-Shuuuuuu!
The absorbed death aura spread throughout his entire body.
Compared with when it had tried to scatter into the empty air during the struggle over the iron beads, it was certainly possible to secure a greater amount by absorbing it directly like this.
However,
‘From now on, I should do it in the order they died first.’
Because he had absorbed it in the order of those closest to him, much of the death aura of the girl So-hwa had dissipated.
That did not mean it had vanished completely, but it was less than that of the others.
‘Even so, it is not bad.’
He had already secured far more death aura than he had back at Yeon Mok Sword Manor.
If only he could remove the Forbidden Gate Lock embedded in his qi gates, it seemed he would be able to expand his dantian much more through circulation.
“It seems I did well to come here.”
-Did well? Surely you are not…
As that was happening, the sound of a presence came from somewhere.
-Rustle!
Soon someone revealed himself.
It was a boy.
At the sight of the boy approaching with familiar eyes, Mok Gyeong-un let out a short laugh and said,
“You could have just killed him, yet you possessed him instead?”
“It seemed it might be needed, so I brought him.”
The instant those words ended,
-Thud!
the boy’s body collapsed, and the hazy form of the Demon Monk appeared.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un said in satisfaction,
“How very kind.”
He had ordered only one thing, and yet it had grasped his intentions like this.
It truly could not help but be an excellent shikigami.
Mok Gyeong-un approached the collapsed boy.
And after twisting the boy’s neck, he absorbed the aura of death.
That did not take very long.
After finishing all of this, Mok Gyeong-un stretched and loosened his muscles with a refreshed expression.
“Hoo. This is nice.”
-Sentient being. What do you intend to do?
“What do you mean?”
-From the look of it, I do not think you will be satisfied with only these ones.
At Cheongryeong’s words, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly.
And then, looking up the mountain, he said,
“Until dawn breaks, I should have an enjoyable mealtime. As much as possible.”
In any case, according to the standard for passing, all he had to do was leave seven people or more alive.
* * *
A damp and dark cave at the foot of the mountain.
-Hwarureureuk!
The evil ghost mask walked into the entrance of the cave together with two warriors carrying torches.
The expressions of the two warriors who entered became completely stiff.
That was only natural, because from the moment they entered the cave, a strange aura had stimulated their senses.
It was quite different from the presence of people or the aura of humans.
It was unpleasant and enough to make their skin crawl.
‘This is suffocating.’
That was how the two warriors felt.
However, the evil ghost mask strode deeper inside as though completely used to it.
Then a voice was heard from deep within the cave.
“Is that the Master of Corpse Blood Valley?”
“It is.”
“The fire is bright.”
At the voice coming from inside, the evil ghost mask held out a hand to the two warriors, signaling them to stop.
“Pardon?”
“You two wait here.”
“But…”
“Wait.”
“Yes!”
Leaving them behind, the evil ghost mask entered the depths of the cave alone.
Inside stood someone dressed in a daoist robe upon which yin and yang had been drawn.
As though he had been waiting, he joined both hands and lowered his head.
“You have come.”
To him, the evil ghost mask asked,
“Is everything prepared?”
“Naturally.”
“What is it this time? I heard they are considerably more dangerous than the last ones.”
At those words, the man in daoist robes answered with a smile.
“Of course they are dangerous if simply released.”
“I imagine so. Are they the ones in the iron bars at the back?”
“That is correct.”
At the answer of the man in daoist robes, the evil ghost mask looked toward the back.
Then a peculiar sound could be heard from there.
-Ggwek ggwek!
‘Hm.’
It sounded almost like the squeal of pigs.
There was no way actual pigs would be there, so just what did they look like?
Out of curiosity, the evil ghost mask tried to peer toward the place with the iron bars.
Then the man in daoist robes blocked him and said,
“It is better not to approach too closely. No matter that they are controlled, even those that have not reached adulthood are still ferocious beasts.”
“Ferocious beasts…”
Something beyond mere animals, was that it?
The evil ghost mask looked past the man in daoist robes.
There, some dangerous thing with rat-like gleaming eyes was staring straight at him.
“And what was that called?”
“Galjeo. It was brought from the North Sea near Bukho Mountain.”
Galjeo…
Even the name alone sounded ominous.
Turning his body, the evil ghost mask said,
“Good. When I give the signal, release them.”
* * *
Half a siju had passed since the start of the flag defense battle.
The mountain was so large, and the flags had apparently been hidden so carefully, that no one had yet discovered them.
However, there was one who discovered one first.
It was a boy from the Mirrored Scenery Gate.
The boy’s name was Yeon Mu-ung, and the moment he discovered the flag he rushed toward it in delight.
‘Found it!’
If the flag had been brighter in color, it might have been easy to spot, but it was black, making it dark, and its location was also cleverly hidden by the brush, so it had not been easy to find.
Still, there was a reward for searching tirelessly through every nook and cranny.
‘The pole is quite long.’
Yeon Mu-ung, having come close to the flag, seized the pole of the flag.
It was because he intended to pull it out and occupy a suitable position.
However,
‘Hm?’
The flag, which he thought would be easy to pull out of the ground, would not come free.
The pole itself was not very heavy, so why was that?
Soon Yeon Mu-ung realized the reason.
‘What is this?’
The lower part of the flag was connected to a large lump of iron.
It was quite large too, enough that even Yeon Mu-ung, who had cultivated external martial arts and possessed a muscular body with great strength, found it quite heavy to lift.
‘If I hold the pole and move it, it becomes even heavier.’
In that case, he would have to carry it by the iron lump beneath.
At first he had wondered why they had made the flag like this, but soon he thought it was rather a good thing.
If it was this heavy, the other bastards would also have difficulty moving the flag.
After all, internal power was sealed.
‘This stage may be easier than expected.’
Among those who found flags, he thought there would certainly be some who maliciously tried to destroy other flags or snatch them in order to reduce the number of those who would pass.
But if the flags were like this, moving them would be difficult, so there would likely be few who would go so far as to try to seize someone else’s flag.
‘Good. Then I should gather my squad members and defend the position.’
He only needed to endure until dawn broke.
Meanwhile,
on a mountainside some two hundred jang northwest of where Yeon Mu-ung stood,
there was another who found a flag, although later than he had.
She was none other than the girl of Mo Hwa House.
The girl’s name was Mo Ha-rang.
“Ah…”
Her joy at discovering the flag lasted only for a moment, and she too could not hide her dismay upon seeing the iron mass connected beneath the pole.
‘It is heavy.’
The lump of iron was extremely heavy for her to lift.
There was no help for it, since her qi gates were sealed, and because the martial art she had learned itself was based on speed, she lacked thick muscle mass, making it even harder.
‘Moving it is impossible.’
Even if she wanted to seize a good position while carrying the flag, she would need squad members.
It was difficult to defend the flag alone.
‘It would be nice if I could break the pole.’
[The flag must remain intact.]
Because there had been that warning beforehand, the iron lump too was one body with the flag.
In the end, waiting was the only answer.
But then,
‘Hm?’
Mo Ha-rang, who happened to be fiddling with the upper part of the flagpole, furrowed her brow.
That was because something had been engraved on the upper part of the flag.
Because she did not have a torch and only moonlight filtering through the bushes shone on it, it was hard to see clearly with the eyes,
but,
-Sseuk sseuk!
touching it with her hand, she felt she could roughly tell what was written.
‘Iwon geomse jiu yeokhyeon…!?’
As she traced the writing with her fingers and inferred the phrase that was carved there, she became certain.
This was the opening form of a sword technique.
And it was somewhat different from an ordinary sword technique.
‘Could it be this?’
If her guess was right…
-Tuk!
‘Huh?’
Mo Ha-rang’s eyes narrowed.
The mnemonic phrase ended.
At first glance one might think there was nothing very strange about this, but not for her.
‘It is lacking.’
In her view, the mnemonic phrase was incomplete.
If it really was the opening form of a sword art, it should not have ended there.
Most martial arts are meant to effectively subdue and kill the opponent, but conversely they also have the purpose of protecting oneself.
Mo Ha-rang closed her eyes.
-Chwak chwak!
A sword art was drawn in her mind.
Its level was poor for an upper-level sword art, but the sword moves themselves were not bad.
However, if one followed this mnemonic phrase, four openings would appear.
That meant there were exactly four points that the sword forms it contained could not defend.
‘…An incomplete sword art.’
That was what felt strange.
It could have been ignored if one wished.
But on the part of the pole just beneath the flag, where one might easily pass over it without much thought, they had engraved the mnemonic phrase of a sword art.
And not merely that, but an incomplete mnemonic phrase.
No matter how she thought about it, it could not help but gnaw at her too much to simply pass by.
Then a thought suddenly struck her.
‘Could it be?’
She hoped not, but it seemed she had to confirm it.
She boldly decided to give up the flag she had only just found.
Still, perhaps because it pained her to do so, Mo Ha-rang stared at the flag for a long while, then broke off the upper part of the pole where the mnemonic phrase had been engraved.
-Chaenggang!
‘If it cannot be mine anyway.’
There was no need to let the other bastards have it either.
Mo Ha-rang buried the broken upper part of the flag out of sight in the ground and then ran off.
* * *
After about two gak had passed like that,
unlike before, there were now people here and there who had found flags or gathered squad members.
And naturally, just as this stage had intended, there were also clashes when two squads found one flag at the same time.
The two squads fought a fierce bloody battle in order to seize the flag.
Because internal power was sealed, it was almost a brawl with bare hands, but in the end victory and defeat were decided.
“Huff huff…”
The victorious squad members, covered in blood, let out ragged breaths.
With internal power sealed, they were once again realizing just how exhausting it was to fight.
One boy barely managed to lift his body and looked around.
‘Ah…’
Out of the eight squad members, only five remained alive.
He had hoped no one would die, but that had been nothing more than wishful thinking.
The one fortunate thing was that they had defended the flag and only needed to rescue three squad members.
Though whether that would be easy was another matter.
“What do we do?”
“Should we not defend the flag here and wait?”
“That would be right. If we wander around for no reason, the flag might be taken from us.”
Everyone seemed to agree.
However, one boy offered a different opinion.
“Wait. If we stay here just defending the flag and another intact squad appears, would that not put us at a disadvantage?”
“Ah…”
That too was true.
It was terribly troublesome.
But they could not abandon the flag they had only just secured either.
It was while they were thus troubled.
“So you found a flag?”
-Start!
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the place from which the voice had come.
At the sight of the person standing there, they all relaxed in an instant after having tensed.
That was because they saw only a single person.
‘That is a relief.’
If it had been another intact squad, they might have been put in a disastrous situation.
As that one person came closer and his face was revealed, the expressions of the relieved squad members hardened.
It was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.
That brutal fellow whom they had been reluctant to accept as a squad member had appeared.
“Stop right there. Do not move from there. Who are you?”
One boy blocked Mok Gyeong-un from coming any closer and asked.
“What do you mean, who am I?”
“Did you not join the squad that had that woman in it?”
This boy had seen Mok Gyeong-un join So-hwa’s squad, the one with the single girl.
That was why he asked.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un put on a regretful expression and said,
“Ah. They all went down.”
“Went down?”
“Yes.”
Mok Gyeong-un moved his eyes slightly over the corpses around them, then said calmly,
“Our squad also fought another squad over a flag just like you did, and everyone went down, so I barely managed to escape.”
“You escaped alone?”
“Yes. In my exhausted state, I could not fight four men alone.”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, the boys looked at him with suspicious eyes.
However, they were not only suspicious.
Because they too had just gone through something similar, they thought it was entirely possible.
To these people, Mok Gyeong-un said in a gentle voice,
“Since both of us are in the position of having lost squad members, I think it counts as a match. If it is not a bother, could you accept me?”
“………”
At this proposal, they hesitated.
The reason they had not accepted him as a squad member in the first place was because they had found that fellow unsettling.
That wariness would not fade easily.
That was why they carefully whispered among themselves in consultation.
“What do we do?”
“That bastard is a bit much. Should we just send him away?”
“But then what about the flag? It has only just been one siju.”
There were still more than two siju left until dawn broke.
If other bastards attacked during that time, they would inevitably end up in a situation where the flag was taken away.
Then they would have to search for a flag again, and with only five people, that was impossible.
“…Let us accept him.”
“Accept him?”
“Yes. Since even that fellow wants to pass this stage, he must know that we have to cooperate with one another at least for now, does he not?”
“That is true. Eight people are needed to pass.”
No matter how reckless the fellow was, he should be capable of thinking.
He should know that they needed to join forces and defend this flag in order to pass this stage.
If that was taken into account, then no matter how much of a bastard he was, he absolutely would not be able to harm them at least.
Having thus convinced themselves, one of the boys said to Mok Gyeong-un,
“Fine. But remember that until dawn breaks, we are one. If either side betrays the other, it is a dead man’s life. Remember that.”
At those words from the boy, Mok Gyeong-un nodded.
However, his lips were twitching as though he were suppressing a smile.
‘Ah, this is too good.’
It felt as though they were setting the table for him of their own accord.