novelraw Chapter 102 : Chapter 102
Chapter 102 : Chapter 102
Chapter 102 Stone Cavern (4)
“Let’s take all those workers back to the Sado Alliance. For the time being, we can have them work at the Sado Alliance and provide them with ample wages. On the condition that they do not disclose what happened here.”
Jaun, who had been lost in thought, slowly nodded his head.
It was not a bad idea.
If they took the workers to the Sado Alliance and ensured their silence, what happened here would not leak out for a while.
“That’s a good idea. Like Mad Dragon said, let’s take all the workers to the Sado Alliance and protect them. And we should buy some time here so that the Murim Alliance and the Sado Alliance can prepare.”
“Buy time?”
At Mad Dragon’s question, Jaun replied.
“Yes. If these three people do not return to the Demonic Cult, the Demonic Cult will surely send people to investigate. We will stay here and beat down every Demonic Cult member who comes. Then, wouldn’t those guys also be confused and wander around for a while?”
At Jaun’s suggestion, the group smiled widely and nodded their heads simultaneously. It was a good strategy.
The Demonic Cult would have no choice but to spend time without understanding the situation here while repeating the cycle of sending someone and waiting, and then sending someone again and waiting.
In the meantime, Jaun’s group had to share what they found out here with the Murim Alliance and the Sado Alliance to find as many structures as possible.
Mad Dragon, who nodded his head, turned around and walked toward the workers with steady thuds.
“Raise your heads.”
Despite Mad Dragon’s words, the workers instead bowed their heads low and trembled.
To them, a martial artist of the Sado Alliance was someone they dared not even make eye contact with.
Mad Dragon, who smacked his lips with a regretful expression, spoke again.
“My alias is Mad Dragon. Not Yong-gwang-i. Mad Dragon of the Sado Alliance. Is there any fellow who has heard of my alias?”
Most of the workers tilted their heads in confusion, but the faces of several supervisors turned deathly pale.
“If-if you say Mad Dragon, could it be that person from the Alliance Leader’s Palace……!”
“Yes. The martial artist who belongs to the Alliance Leader’s Palace and one of the elders who leads the Council of Elders of the Sado Alliance, Mad Dragon, is indeed me.”
At Mad Dragon’s words, the faces of the workers and supervisors turned pale blue.
The Council of Elders of the Sado Alliance.
It was a place where the peak martial artists, who were the heavens above heavens that one could hardly see properly in a lifetime and who controlled the Jianghu while dividing it into three, belonged.
The workers lay flat on the ground and trembled.
One of the supervisors, who was completely terrified, suddenly stood up, knelt, and shouted while banging his head against the ground.
─ THUMP THUMP
“I-I am sorry! We committed a mistake by failing to recognize a high-ranking person all this time. Please…… just spare our lives!”
The words and actions they had spat toward Mad Dragon all this time flashed through the supervisors' minds.
No matter how much they thought about it, the only conclusion was death.
“Ple-please spare us!”
All the supervisors, who were extremely tense, threw their heads toward the floor while kneeling as a sign of apology.
An invisible energy momentarily blocked the supervisors' heads from rapidly slamming into the ground.
“That’s enough. Stop it. It was quite a fresh experience for me. Why would I kill the fellows who gave me such an experience? Tsk. It would have been fun to work with you guys a bit longer.”
Mad Dragon lowered his gaze toward his hands with a bitter expression.
Mad Dragon, who was clenching and unclenching his fists, let out a small sigh.
‘I lived my whole life killing and killing someone again.’
He killed those who tried to kill him, and he killed people he had never even met to climb higher.
To hold such a position in the Sado Alliance, he had to constantly kill someone.
Only then could he survive, and at that time, he thought such a way was right. Looking back, he lived that way for over ten years.
However, once he actually reached this position as the second-in-command of the Sado Alliance, only dryness permeated with blood and regret remained.
In the eyes of all the martial artists who looked at him, fear was reflected, and the bitter alias ‘Mad Dragon’ always followed him like a label.
‘I hated all of it.’
In the end, his lingering attachment to life also gradually disappeared.
That was the reason why he left the Sado Alliance and began to wander here and there in the Jianghu, immersing himself in martial arts.
Because in this life, where he couldn't even start a family, only martial arts remained.
As he practiced martial arts endlessly, he encountered a wall, and since there was nothing else in particular to do, he tried to overcome that wall.
During that time, he happened to be able to learn part of the mnemonic of the Mad Demon Rotation Scripture, through which he suddenly crossed the wall and reached the Realm of Rejuvenation.
‘I will probably never forget the day I abandoned my lingering attachment to life but ended up undergoing rejuvenation.’
He intended to just slowly play around with martial arts until he died to pass the time, but because he underwent rejuvenation there, the days he had to live actually increased.
Once he actually underwent rejuvenation, the remaining time felt too precious.
So he tried to find the will to live belatedly, but his heart was already worn out beyond repair, and he felt no interest in anything.
‘If it wasn't for that fellow.’
Meanwhile, he coincidentally met that brat named Jaun at the Alliance Leader’s Palace.
And thanks to that brat, a thing called ‘interest,’ which he hadn't felt in a long time, arose.
The purpose itself of shaking the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was also interesting, but he fell for the pluck of that child who spoke boldly while looking the Alliance Leader straight in the eye.
How far will that child, who is not even twenty yet, grow? And what kind of life will he lead?
He followed the child out of curiosity.
At first, it was also a bit annoying, but as time passed, it was quite enjoyable.
Then, from some point, he was learning how to live through the lives of these children.
‘Yes. It was quite enjoyable.’
The two months of grotto life he experienced while following the children were satisfying.
The workers looked at him not as his background or realm, but purely as a single human being.
While swinging the pickaxe, he thought of his father, and while working, eating, and chatting with the workers, he found the meaning of life.
Truly, it was fun.
Perhaps it seemed to be the most enjoyable time in his life.
Because of that, Mad Dragon decided to look after those who had presented him with an enjoyable time.
Mad Dragon, who had been lost in thought, raised his head and looked at the workers.
“I will give you three times the daily wage you are receiving now. Instead, forget everything that happened today. And live at the Sado Alliance for the time being. I will find work and lodging for you, so only go back and forth between the workplace and the lodging. Is there anyone who dislikes this?”
“There is no one!”
The workers and supervisors shouted simultaneously.
They had no power to resist even if he took their lives right now.
Since he said he would even provide work and lodging while it was already thankful that he spared them, there was no way anyone would oppose.
“The workers are settled, but what about those fellows?”
Mad Dragon turned around, looked at Jaun, and asked.
“I think it’s best to send them to the Sado Alliance and interrogate them. Can you call some personnel who can lead them?”
“Of course. I’ll tell them to send fellows right now who can escort the workers and transport those guys.”
Mad Dragon replied with a nod and began to drag the men rolling on the ground out of the grotto.
Jaun also walked toward Muhyang, who was paralyzed.
Jaun, who was about to reach out his hand upon reaching her, hesitated for a moment while looking into Muhyang’s eyes.
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong, who confirmed Jaun hesitating, walked quickly toward this side as if she found it strange.
“What are you doing? Huh? Why are her eyes like this again?”
In her eyes, which should have been full of hatred and anger, unknown sadness and desperation were contained.
Jaun tilted his head and asked Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong.
“Should I release the Mute Point for a moment so she can speak?”
“I’ll release it. Stand back.”
With a face full of caution, Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong stood close to Muhyang and slowly brought her hand toward Muhyang’s Mute Point.
─ TAP
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong’s hand brushed past Muhyang’s Mute Point.
“…….”
Even though the Mute Point was released, Muhyang did not say anything for a while.
After keeping her mouth shut for a long time as if agonizing over something, she eventually bit her lip as if she had made up her mind and slowly raised her head.
“…….”
Seeing Muhyang repeat the motion of mouthing something several times, the frustrated Jaun spoke first.
“If you have nothing to say, don't. We don't have much time either.”
As Jaun stepped forward to strike the points again, Muhyang shouted with a screeching voice and a face flushed red.
“Save me! There was not a single bit of my own will in the actions I took until just now!”
Jaun and Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong looked at Muhyang with startled eyes.
After staring blankly at Muhyang for a long time, Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong spoke with an expression of disbelief.
“……What are you? Aren’t you part of the Demonic Cult, which is nothing without conviction and pride? It’s the first time I’ve seen a Demonic Cult member put the words ‘save me’ in their mouth. I’m surprised.”
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong tilted her head once more.
A Demonic Cult member armed with firm conviction considered it a lifelong glory to sacrifice their own life to achieve the great task of the Demonic Cult.
Therefore, they didn't even attempt to persuade or win over Demonic Cult members.
It was because there was no way to break their will other than killing them.
It was to the extent that it was a tacit custom to immediately kill a prisoner from the Demonic Cult after a roughly formal interrogation without torture.
‘……What kind of situation is this?’
Jaun could not understand Muhyang’s behavior.
If she were a proper member of the Demonic Cult, such a reaction would absolutely never come out.
As Jaun stared intently into Muhyang’s eyes, Muhyang spoke again.
“……The true will of the Demon God is being defiled by those Blood Cult bastards. I am a cult member who does not agree with the Blood Cult’s will. That is why I don't want to throw away my life for such a thing. This is actually a matter of defiling the Demon God’s will.”
At Muhyang’s words, Jaun tilted his head.
“Does that mean there are still cult members within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult who do not agree with the Blood Cult’s will?”
“About ten percent of the cult members still reject the Blood Cult’s methods. The Blood Demons are using any means and methods to coerce and threaten us, but we are holding out without giving in until the end.”
‘Blood Demons, I see. It seems they call the Demonic Cult members who accepted the Blood Cult’s will that way in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.’
Jaun, who had been lost in thought for a moment, spoke.
“For now, I’ll check it.”
As Jaun, who took a step forward, grabbed Muhyang’s wrist firmly, Muhyang’s face turned deathly pale.
Having confirmed that she did not offer any particular resistance even while her body flinched, Jaun directly raised his energy.
In an instant, the massive Demonic Energy that filled Jaun’s body swept through every corner of Muhyang’s internal body.
‘Indeed, there isn't even a grain of Blood Qi.’
Jaun, who finished the check, let go of Muhyang’s wrist and stepped back.
“Wh-what just now was……”
Muhyang looked at Jaun with eyes of disbelief.
“How can you possess the energy of the Demon God? And such a massive one at that……”
Jaun didn't give any particular answer and just shrugged his shoulders.
“I’d like you to answer my questions first. How much do you know about the Blood Cult’s plan?”
“……I actually know almost nothing.”
Muhyang, who was hesitating, let out a sigh and continued speaking.
“If you don't follow the Blood Cult’s will, you end up being in charge of only chores. I came here today because a vacancy suddenly occurred. Since there aren't many who have learned sound arts, there was no one to replace me……”
Jaun, who had been lost in thought, asked again.
“You said there are cult members who have not accepted the Blood Cult’s will; among them, are there any people we might know?”
“Of course. Lord Sword Demon and Lord Mad Demon are representatively rejecting the Blood Cult’s will.”
Mad Dragon, who was returning inside after tying the two men tightly to the carts in the grotto, turned his head and looked at Muhyang.
“Lord Mad Demon?”
Jaun, who glanced at Mad Dragon, spoke.
“Since there is no time for now, let’s send only those men to the Sado Alliance. There are some things I want to check with this person.”
Jaun turned his head and stared intently at Muhyang.