novelraw Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132. Stirring (2)
SHIVER, SHIVER......-
The surface of the bloody water pooled on the floor began to tremble shallowly.
It wasn't the air trembling, nor the floor trembling, nor this building trembling.
That bloody water itself was trembling.
The Intestine Hunters were flustered.
“What......?!”
“Why is this......?”
“Hey, is this really dead......”
WHOOSH!
At that moment, something surged up from below the surface of the bloody water.
“Aaargh!!”
The Intestine Hunters screamed and stepped back.
One even collapsed entirely.
However, even at that moment, their response was instinctive and agile.
Scalpels, bone saws, hammers.
They quickly picked up the weapons lying around them.
Like that, they held weapons in their hands, and their gazes were fixed toward the something that had sprung out from the bloody water.
“...What is that?”
What sprang out from under the bloody water was a person.
An adult male with a face they saw for the first time.
His hair was dark red and long, and his apparent age was around his early to mid-30s.
However, the strangest thing was that there was not a single drop of blood on his body.
Even though he sprang out from under the surface of the bloody water, blood did not stain him at all.
And this mysterious man began to look around calmly.
Then he soon fixed his gaze on one place.
Chae Hong-gyu, Johnny Paul, Sven.
Without even giving a glance to the Intestine Hunters, the man approached the corpses of the escapees.
“Right, eventually you guys too... No, rather, should I congratulate you since you found peace? In a world like this, life itself would be misery.”
Apart from the eeriness that seeped out faintly, the man’s voice was too comfortable and gentle.
The man closed Chae Hong-gyu’s open eyes and spoke.
“Goodbye, my disciple. May the Great Mother bless your path ahead. I pray that we meet again after the distant cycle ends.”
SWISH-
At that time, a dark red energy escaped from Chae Hong-gyu’s body and was sucked into the man’s hand.
The mana that was imprinted inside Chae Hong-gyu’s body was returning to the man.
Just then.
“What are you doing......?”
To the question flying toward the back of his head, the man turned his head slowly.
The Intestine Hunter asked again.
“I asked what you are doing?!”
“I am merely retrieving the power I bestowed upon my disciple.”
“Then who are you?”
“Those who know me call me the Red King.”
“Red King......?”
“The head of Eclipse Hall, the only legitimate eldest son of the Great Mother, the King of Mugan. Yes, this should be a sufficient explanation, right?”
“Sufficient my ass.......”
It was annoying that he was only babbling incomprehensible sounds, but the Intestine Hunters could not even get annoyed any further than this.
Because what ability that man used was completely unknown.
So the Intestine Hunters tried to calm their excitement and attempted to resolve the situation with conversation for now.
“...Well anyway, how did you enter here... No, why did you enter?”
“Are you asking the reason to a bereaved family member who came to see their dead family?”
“......!”
“Twelve apostles came to Korea. They were all my family. Yeong-go, Alex, U-seok, Jade, Do-yeol, Jae-byeok, Francis, Jensen, Eun-tae, and even Hong-gyu, Johnny, and Sven here. But... what happened to all of them?”
“.......”
“You know. They died. All of them. It is a fact you can easily confirm by entering the World Federation Government website.”
The Intestine Hunters swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
They had the illusion that the parched roof of their mouths was pulling their facial skin.
Tension.
The Red King shot a word into the middle of that tension.
“...And you people were cutting open the bellies of my dead family members.”
“S, sorry......!”
The Intestine Hunters immediately prostrated themselves flat and began to beg.
Because the low killing intent emanating from the Red King dug into their whole bodies like thorns.
The Red King spoke.
“Of course, I am in a position considering death as a blessing. But these children were deprived of even the duty to enjoy the blessing and ended up lying coldly like this. Regarding that itself, I will not blame you. However, you people... tried to insult these unfortunate corpses again with the tips of your knives.”
“S, sorry......!”
“There is no need to beg. From the moment I revealed my name, your ending was decided.”
“Wha......!”
The Intestine Hunters noticed the meaning of those words at once.
That ‘That man has no intention of keeping us alive.’
And the threat to survival was enough to overcome fear.
DASH!
The Intestine Hunters kicked off the ground and stood up.
And each of them rushed in, swinging the weapons held in their hands toward the Red King.
At that moment.
THUD!
“Kugh......!”
“Guk......!”
“M, my body......!”
All three Intestine Hunters were slammed into the floor just like that.
But what the Red King did was just stare at them quietly.
Did some intangible force exert pressure on them?
No.
This was not pressure applied from the outside.
Their bodies had moved on their own, escaping their will.
The Red King looked down at them and spoke.
“As long as blood flows in your body, you cannot be free from my power.”
“Guk......!”
After suppressing them like that, the Red King moved his gaze to the corpses again.
“...Anyway, with this, all the apostles in Korea are dead.”
The Red King frowned for a moment and then relaxed his expression again.
“Of course, the Great Mother’s plan does not go awry due to something like this. However... that does not mean the abnormality of this situation is resolved.”
The Red King turned his gaze toward the fallen ones and spoke.
“Nowhere else in the world have apostles died off at this speed. It means only Korea is a particularly exceptional case. Of course, there is a probability that this is a simple coincidence. But... at least in this case, there are too many suspicious parts to dismiss it as a coincidence.”
“Kuh......”
“Probably there exists an irregular-class strongman who professionally hunts apostles; this is my conclusion. Explaining it that way is the neatest for now. So I ask you.”
“......?”
“By any chance, do you know about a person called Leman White?”
From the Red King’s mouth, Riman’s name popped out.
“Le... What did you say?”
“For now, it is certain that that friend is the one who killed Francis. I intend to grab a clue from there... but looking at your eyes, it seems you know nothing.”
“T, th, I w, will find out right now! Somehow......!”
“No, there is no need for that. Even if you move, what good information would you fetch? So what I have to do now is... Right, Eun-tae died.”
Kim Eun-tae.
The necromancer who handled one of the worst six evil spirits, ‘Yukra’.
“As Eun-tae died, the Simryugwi that Eun-tae harbored was also exorcised. Then probably the remaining five evil spirits will start to stir. Right... Let’s try to organize the board again from them.”
The Red King, still spilling incomprehensible words.
And what happened the very next moment was also something incomprehensible to the eyes of an ordinary person.
SPLAT.
The Intestine Hunter’s body burst.
Like a poorly made balloon, parts of his body started to swell irregularly here and there, and then burst and scattered just like that.
Seeing one colleague shattered to pieces, the remaining ones screamed.
“Aaargh......!”
“Aaaaargh......!!”
On the other hand, the Red King casually brushed off the flesh stuck to his sleeves, tap tap.
“If it were the old days, it would have been much cleaner... As expected, the aftermath of losing power is a bit significant.”
“S, save me......!”
“Save me! Plea... Aaargh!”
CRUNCH CRUNCH......!
Here and there on the bodies of the remaining ones also started to swell wildly.
And the flesh could not endure that pressurization.
POOF!
POP!!
Torn skin and blood scattered in all directions.
After killing three people like that, the Red King opened the door and went out of the room.
Outside the room, several Intestine Hunters were moving busily.
They immediately revealed wariness as a person they saw for the first time came out of the morgue.
“Who are you?!”
Of course, he could not hear the Red King’s answer.
Because his whole body, including ears and eardrums, burst and scattered.
SPLAT!
A sudden killing without any omen.
Panic began to spread in an instant.
“What......!”
“Shoot!!”
People raised their guns.
Someone turned their back and chose to flee.
Some froze just like that.
Everyone faced this panic in their own way.
But the ending for all of them was the same.
POP POP POP POP!
Humans burst and scattered like firecrackers.
And the Red King walked across between them with steps neither slow nor fast.
“...Right now, you might resent me.”
POP POP!
“But I can assure you of one thing. The death I give you is the best gift I can bestow.”
CREAK......-
After killing all the people inside the building.
The Red King came out of the building and looked up at the sky.
A sky covered thickly with smog like wet plastic was above his head.
“...Now not much time is left, Mother. The day you will tear this filthy sky and descend.”
WHIRRR......
At that moment, red fog wrapped around the Red King’s body.
When the fog scattered, the Red King was not in that spot.
* * *
A week passed.
And Riman was endlessly sprawled on the bed.
Because to relieve the accumulated and piled-up fatigue, he had to pour out about a week entirely.
“Ugggh......”
Riman stretched long.
Now the creaking of his joints had disappeared a bit.
As his body became a bit okay, only then did his brain start to move.
“Right, let’s do that first.”
Riman picked up his phone and called somewhere.
And a while later.
“The call cannot be taken right now, so you will be connected to voice mail......”
At the tedious mechanical sound heard from over the receiver, annoyance rose up in Riman quietly.
“No, why does this guy keep his phone off?”
This was Riman’s apartment.
Riman put down the phone along with an annoyed voice.
The call just now was to the Sword Saint, Lancelot.
And it was already the 20th call he made.
20 calls over two days.
Even so, Lancelot was not even thinking of turning on his phone at all.
“The Korean side is all cleaned up... So answer the phone, you Sword Saint bastard.......”
Riman and Lancelot were in a relationship bound by a magical contract.
The contents of the contract were quite lengthy to prevent misuse, but summarizing it was simple.
Riman cooperates with his best effort in the Mugan escapee elimination operation, and if he violates this, Lancelot kills Riman.
And if the killing of all escapees is confirmed, Lancelot grants amnesty to Riman.
So Riman had kept contacting Lancelot.
To make it known that he was running with his best effort like this.
“What is it? Did Lancelot, this guy, perhaps die?”
No way.
The title Sword Saint isn’t something you pick by drawing a gacha.
Because it was a title certified by the World Federation Government that he uses the sword the best in the world.
So Riman couldn’t even imagine that Lancelot might have died.
Right now, the only way that guy could die that came to mind was natural causes.
That guy was that much of a monster.
Of course, if he deliberated deeply, a few ways to kill Lancelot did come to mind... but applying them was severely difficult.
“Ah.”
At that moment, another person’s phone number flashed through Riman’s mind.
Why didn’t I think of this?
Riman called Kyle immediately.
Lancelot’s closest younger brother and disciple, Kyle Carlson.
Fortunately, Kyle answered the phone immediately.
“What?”
A low-pitched voice shooting back bluntly without preamble.
This bastard was definitely Kyle.
“It’s me, Riman.”
“So why.”
“I called your brother but he wouldn’t answer at all, so I called you.”
“...Then tell me. I’ll pass it on.”
“The escapees on the Korean side are all cleaned up. Twelve people.”
“What......?”
Kyle was speechless.
“You caught twelve people......? No, are those twelve the end? There could be more in Korea?!”
“There aren’t. Within Korea, these twelve are the end. If you can’t believe it, I will organize the investigation process from beginning to end and send it to you.”
“.......”
“So pass it on well to Mr. Lancelot. That I am running diligently like this, so tell him to prepare to release this dog collar.”
“No.”
“What?”
Riman’s tone sharpened slightly at the end of his sentence.