Volume 2 Chapter 11 – Demonic Path of the Underworld (3)

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“With this, eleven.”

By what art, the Dark Venerable’s voice was heard so clearly even from a distance.

Se-ah turned her head upon seeing him bring Geum-ju’s heart to his mouth.

It felt as if a gruesome sound of crunching was heard.

At that moment, her vision was dyed completely crimson.

And the world changed.

* * *

“Gyu! Answer if you hear my voice!”

Feeling her throat cracking from thirst, Se-ah shouted once again,

“Is no one here?!”

Her voice cracked dryly.

As she forced herself to swallow dry saliva, the smell of blood rose from her throat.

Because she had been shouting around in a state of woefully lacking moisture, wounds had formed in her throat.

She wanted to pour out a flurry of curses, but her throat hurt so much that she could not even curse.

“Haa.”

She sat down on the spot just like that.

Whether looking forward or backward, only endlessly stretching alleyways were visible.

Looking up at the sky, there was no sun, moon, stars, or clouds, only a crimson sky.

‘Just how much time has passed since I was trapped here?’

A day? Two days? At least, three days could not have passed.

Had it been over three days, by now she would have died of complete dehydration.

She wanted to use the survival tips she had learned somehow, but in this kind of environment, such survival tips were of no use at all.

Whether looking here or there, it was only a continuation of alleys composed of completely ruined buildings.

She had climbed a tall building at least, but everywhere her gaze reached was the same scenery.

By this point, she gradually felt certain of what situation she had fallen into.

‘This is a formation.’

And a very vicious formation at that, to the extent she had never even heard of it.

Honestly, it was on a different level from the formations she knew.

‘If not, what else could it be.’

The only thing she could do was walk forward with a shred of hope.

She walked again, and walked more.

Where had all her subordinates gone?

Were they alright?

Gyu… since she had internal energy, her situation would be better than hers.

Where had the Dark Venerable, the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon, gone?

Might that monster-like person appear and save her?

Numerous thoughts brushed past, and brushed past again.

Hope turned into anxiety, and anxiety turned into despair.

She could no longer even walk.

At some point, she realized that she was lying face down on the ground, unable to even get up.

‘Am I dying like this?’

Thinking that she would die like this, she felt somehow very wronged.

‘There were so many things I wanted to do…’

Countless regrets scattered one by one in her mind.

And what remained at the end was…

Her younger sister, the only blood relative left in the world, she wanted to see Jeong-ah once more.

‘We haven’t even properly caught up yet…’

She resented herself for having only poured out harsh words.

“Jeong-ah…”

If only she could see her one last time.

“Did you call, Sister?”

A woman was looking down at her.

She was a woman with snow-white skin, plump red lips, and a beauty that would make even another woman jealous.

“Jeong-ah?!”

Startled, Se-ah sprang up from the spot.

Then, she was surprised at herself for getting up as if nothing was wrong.

“Huh? What is this…?”

Toward her, Jeong-ah wore a comforting smile.

“It is fine now. It is just that this barrier is originally that kind of barrier.”

“A barrier?”

Jeong-ah nodded.

“Yes, they said this kind of formation is called a barrier.”

“But how are you here…?”

Just then, Se-ah discovered something strange about Jeong-ah.

“Jeong-ah! Your eyes are…?!”

Although Jeong-ah’s eyes originally had a very light hue, they were by no means golden.

On top of that, her pupils were vertically slit, just like a snake’s.

“There is nothing to worry about. It is nothing major.”

Jeong-ah smiled sheepishly, then grabbed Se-ah’s hand.

“Now, Sister. Hold my hand tightly.”

“No, w-wait a moment…!”

Holding Se-ah’s hand, Jeong-ah slammed headlong into the ruined wall of the ruin.

No, it looked as if she slammed into it, but she passed through the wall very naturally.

Cold air filled her lungs, and her body shivered from the chill.

When Se-ah opened her closed eyes, what spread before her was the very street they had been in before being trapped in the barrier.

“Jeong-ah, how did you…?”

Jeong-ah held her hand tightly and did not let go.

“We are not completely out of the area of influence yet.”

At those words, Se-ah had no choice but to hold her sister’s hand and walk along in the direction she was going.

“Come to think of it, what about Gyu? And the others?”

“Since you were the very last one, Sister. You do not need to worry.”

Jeong-ah walked forward without hesitation, reassuring her sister.

“Did you save the people? You said it’s a barrier, right? This started right as Geum-ju died, you see.”

To her questions that poured out frantically, Jeong-ah answered them all steadily one by one.

“Yes, I escorted everyone else to a safe place. Yes, it is called a barrier. No, she did not die.”

“What… did you say?”

Jeong-ah looked back slightly while walking and smiled.

“Since Master is tracking her down right now, let’s go quickly before it’s too late.”

Se-ah shouted toward Jeong-ah as she was dragged along frantically,

“No, why are we going there? If Geum-ju is alive, it’s dangerous! What if we encounter her first…?!”

At that, Jeong-ah stopped dead in her tracks.

“Jeong-ah?”

Jeong-ah looked at Se-ah and spoke.

“Sister, didn’t you have something to say to him?”

It was a voice with a strangely strong conviction.

“I…”

The golden-shining eyes felt as if they were piercing through her inner thoughts completely.

“…You are right. I want to have a conversation with the Eldest Young Master.”

Jeong-ah grinned.

“Now, now, then let us go quickly.”

Jeong-ah’s unhesitating steps began again.

However, unlike before when she was dragged along against her will, Se-ah walked in step with her.

“But, you know where the Eldest Young Master is, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

Jeong-ah replied as if it were nothing.

“Because I can see everything now.”

* * *

The main base of the Black Bone Gang.

“H-He’s coming!”

Along with a lumbering stride, the ghost walked in.

No one blocked the Dark Venerable wearing the white mask as he entered.

Everyone had witnessed the moment when those who were practically their main force were completely annihilated.

The only reason they were still at the main base was because they could not flee anywhere due to Geum-ju’s barrier.

“A-A ghost! An evil spirit!”

“Aaaargh!!”

Simply by walking, all the remaining forces of the Black Bone Gang scattered like grains of sand.

“It’s the Dark Venerable! The Dark Venerable will kill us all!”

Among them, some called out his name, which was no different from a grim reaper to them.

“D-Don’t flee! Anyone who flees, I will cut their throat!”

The executive’s shout dispersed in vain.

In an instant, only the middle executive was left standing blankly in the vast courtyard.

With lumbering strides, the Dark Venerable approached him.

“D-Don’t come!”

That was his last word.

So-hyeon stepped on him and passed, utilizing the technique of the Thousand-Jin Fall.

Bones shattered, and muscles tore.

A spray of blood scattered along his footsteps.

The Dark Venerable whistled.

It was that usual tune.

The tone, both dismal and mournful, wrapped around and swirled through the stronghold of the Black Bone Gang, which had fallen into a pit of confusion.

No one could escape.

Wherever he went, red footprints followed him.

He walked along the scent without hesitation.

And he reached the giant cavern beneath the main base.

And his steps stopped.

“…I was waiting for you.”

Before him stood Geum-ju’s chief manager.

His voice was dazed, yet somehow relieved.

Staring quietly at the white mask that ominously reflected the light, he bowed his head in greeting.

For some reason, he had been certain since long ago that this situation would come.

“If you mean Geum-ju, she escaped through the secret passage inside that small room over there. Although it is hidden by mechanisms…”

He answered words he was not even asked.

“Well, to someone like you, it wouldn’t matter anyway.”

The Dark Venerable was looking behind him.

“This is…”

The entire vast cavern situated behind the chief manager was filled with corpses.

“Geum-ju ordered all those without combat capabilities to be locked inside this cavern.”

After she left the main base to welcome the Dark Venerable, the chief manager had hurriedly returned here.

And what he could see was a sight where everything in his field of vision was dead.

The young ones, girls, boys, men, women, maids, servants, all were dead.

On the floor of the cavern, intestines and blood flowing from their split abdomens were dried up, drawing some highly ominous patterns.

It was the trace of a grand sorcery.

Just how painful that process was could be felt from the final expressions and final gestures of the corpses.

Not a single person had even closed their eyes.

“Only then did I feel that something was wrong, terribly wrong.”

Yeon So-hyeon’s gaze directed toward the corner.

There lay the corpses, one by one, carefully laid out.

It appeared that the old man had been looking after them until just before he arrived.

“They are all dead people, what use is all this now.”

“It is useless.”

The chief manager knelt on the spot and quietly closed his eyes.

It had been over a cycle since he was born in the slums and sustained his life through the back alleys.

During that time, he had seen many things he shouldn’t have, and the evil deeds he committed with his own hands were also countless.

Was he feeling remorse only now?

He was not.

He aided and abetted evil deeds and practiced them firsthand in order to survive.

And that excuse made him overlook even larger evil deeds and commit even larger ones.

For him to behave like this now…

‘Yes, it is merely a small whim of this old man.’

Thud.

The head, wearing a slightly refreshed smile, rolled on the floor.

“……”

The Dark Venerable’s gaze lingered for a moment on the smile remaining on his head.

And it lingered on the pain-soaked faces of those who had died and fallen, mobilized for the ritual.

They numbered in the hundreds.

What should they resent?

That they were born weak?

That they were born in an environment where it was difficult to find another path?

That they grew up in such a place where if someone struggled to survive, they would inevitably harm someone else?

The city of Luoyang, where such places are countless and such people are database-infinite?

The city center right opposite, which shone brilliantly, forgetting even the night?

And this world where such cities are praised as metropolises?

If you wish to resent, resent the unbenevolent heaven, and the earth.

“And hate me.”

Curse the Swordless One, who wanted to remain clean alone, sitting back with folded hands, writing poetry, playing instruments, and turning his eyes away from the world.

He did not think deeper than that.

If he were the Swordless One Yeon So-hyeon, maybe, but now he was the Dark Venerable.

Now he was not a thinker, but an executor.

He simply whistled.

The tune was still beautiful. And mournful.

In a place where no one was alive, the tune that no one listened to echoed softly.

For whom did that tune echo so mournfully inside the cavern?

He moved his steps again.

Still, blood came off his footsteps.

That blood was constantly coloring his footprints red as if it would never dry.

Beneath his white mask, dew glistened.

That dew was extremely hot.