novelraw Chapter 103 : Chapter 103
Chapter 103 : Chapter 103
Chapter 103 Stone Cavern(5)
Jaun and Mad Dragon headed toward the village, leading the rest of the personnel except for Muhyang.
Upon arriving at the village, Jaun sent a letter to the Murim Alliance, and Mad Dragon called people from the Sado Alliance branch to hand over the workers and the two Demonic Cult members.
Since they didn't have a sense of how long they would have to hold out in the grotto, the two people packed cooking tools, ample ingredients, simple bedding, and even the luggage they had left at the inn before returning to the grotto.
Rain poured down on their way back.
As the two people, who had climbed the stone mountain quickly using lightfoot arts, shook off their clothes and entered the grotto, Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong and Ban Cheol-hwi, who were guarding Muhyang, welcomed them.
“Welcome back. Ah. I thought I was going to die of hunger. Did you buy something to eat?”
Jaun set down the utensils he had brought in a corner and handed the warm food bought from the inn to Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong.
“Hehe. Thank you. Since we might not be able to eat proper food for a while, I should eat heartily.”
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong, who received the food with sparkling eyes, raised her head and stared intently at Jaun.
Feeling her gaze, Jaun took out several wine bottles from his robe.
“As expected. Young Master Jaun is the best!”
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong smiled brightly, snatched the wine bottles, and turned around.
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong led Ban Cheol-hwi under a torch and began to spread out the food.
Jaun, who watched that scene for a moment, walked toward Muhyang, who was sitting on the floor.
Muhyang, who was sitting with her hands tied behind her back, slightly raised her head to check Jaun and then bowed her head again.
Jaun sat down with a thud next to Muhyang.
“Until I am certain, I will consider you an enemy for the time being. If you do anything foolish, you die. Even if you try to escape, you will die. I hope such things do not happen.”
At Jaun’s words, Muhyang slowly nodded her head.
“You are from the Illusionary Maze Palace, aren't you?”
At Jaun’s question, Muhyang flinched in surprise and then slowly nodded her head up and down.
“Among the people who come to investigate this grotto, can other Demonic Cult members who reject the Blood Cult’s will be mixed in?”
“……No. As I said earlier, all cult members who reject the Blood Cult’s will are confined within the Demonic Cult and must only perform the assigned chores. Working outside the cult like me is a very unusual case.”
If things were as Muhyang said, it meant all the Demonic Cult members they encountered would be those who follow the Blood Cult’s will, so it seemed there would be no need to hesitate in taking action in the future.
Muhyang slightly turned her head and looked into Jaun’s eyes.
Fear wavered in her eyes as she looked at him while biting her lip hard.
Jaun spoke again.
“If you don't return, will the Demonic Cult send additional personnel in a few days?”
Muhyang was lost in thought for a moment and then replied.
“I don't know exactly. However, the Infiltration Squad in charge of Hunan Province will come to find us before long. We are supposed to report once a day…… and the time for the report has already passed.”
“What is the martial arts level of the Infiltration Squad?”
“It’s not that high. Since it’s currently a stage where they are only checking the progress of the grotto work, most are second-rate martial artists. The leader is about first-rate.”
“Are there more of these structures in other places?”
“Seeing that another squad went to inspect the north, there is likely one there as well. Though it is only my prediction.”
Jaun nodded and looked back once.
Mad Dragon, who had smelled the wine at some point, was sitting next to Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong and Ban Cheol-hwi, repeatedly bringing a wine bottle to his mouth.
Jaun, who watched the food spread out below for a moment, approached them, took some food, and set it down in front of Muhyang.
“I’ll untie you, so eat for now.”
When Jaun untied the rope that was bound around her hands, Muhyang, who rotated her wrists a few times, bowed her head politely.
After hesitating for a moment, Muhyang reached for the food.
Perhaps she had been quite hungry in the meantime, as the food quickly disappeared into her mouth.
After giving Muhyang some time to eat, Jaun asked.
“You handle the Demonic Cult’s Infiltration Squad that will visit this place yourself. Can you do it?”
Muhyang, who was bringing a dumpling to her mouth, paused and lowered her hand. Then, after thinking for a moment, she nodded with a firm expression.
“Yes. I can sufficiently handle an Infiltration Squad by myself. Since I have never properly shown my skills, they won't even know my martial arts level well.”
“Assigning the first Infiltration Squad to you is purely to give you a chance to prove your own words. So, handle them properly.”
“I understand. However, if the Infiltration Squad falls, the Main Unit will come after that, and as for the Main Unit……”
“What is assigned to you is only up to the Infiltration Squad. We will handle the Main Unit.”
“Then there is no problem. I have been looking for an opportunity to deal with the Blood Demons who defile the Demon God’s will anyway. I will handle them certainly.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Jaun slowly stood up from his seat, watching Muhyang, who was roughly stuffing dumplings into her mouth.
There was still much to find out from Muhyang in the future.
If about ten percent of the Demonic Cult's personnel were rejecting the Blood Cult’s will, he could even try a method of recruiting them as much as possible and then attacking and collapsing the Demonic Cult from both the inside and outside.
However, to do that, he had to thoroughly verify this person named Muhyang even more.
And dealing with the Infiltration Squad was a good opportunity to use as a first step.
Jaun, who looked down at Muhyang eating, stood up and headed toward the grotto entrance.
Then, after looking up at the rainy sky once, he spread his energy widely toward the front. Jaun, who sat leaning against the wall right next to the entrance, turned his head toward his group.
“I will stand the night watch today, so everyone please get some rest.”
“A man's word is as heavy as a thousand pieces of gold! No taking it back. In that case…… I should drink one more bottle of this.”
“Aack! I saved that to have before going to sleep later!”
When Mad Dragon quickly stood up with a wine bottle, Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong shouted as she followed him while he ran away with the bottle.
The two people, who had been running around inside the grotto for a while, were soon sitting side by side and tilting their glasses.
In the meantime, darkness descended outside the grotto, and Jaun slightly closed his eyes while listening to the sound of falling rain.
***
Dawn, when the day was just beginning to break.
Jaun slowly stood up from his seat.
Jaun, who raised his energy and checked the surroundings once more, nodded.
“Everyone wake up. Demonic Cult members are approaching. It seems they will arrive in half a Sijin. I intend to give Miss Muhyang a chance this time, so everyone go further inside.”
Mad Dragon, who woke up rubbing his eyes with disheveled hair, let out a large yawn and cracked his neck.
─ CRACK
“Is it six fellows?”
“Yes.”
Mad Dragon turned his head and looked once at Muhyang, who was dozing off while leaning against the wall.
“I really don't know why you are going this far. You could just kill them all. They are just small fry.”
Mad Dragon let out another large yawn as if it were bothersome and walked to the innermost corner to lie down with a thud.
Ice Rakshasa Pan Bing-yeong and Ban Cheol-hwi also rubbed their eyes, crawled next to Mad Dragon, and curled up to lie down beside him again.
Having confirmed that everyone had moved to the inner part of the grotto, Jaun tapped the shoulder of the dozing Muhyang.
“Miss.”
The startled Muhyang jumped up from her seat.
“The Demonic Cult members are coming. Get ready.”
At Jaun’s words, Muhyang, who was blinking her eyes, came to her senses and took a deep breath.
After loosening up by twisting her body here and there, Muhyang moved to the center of the grotto with her Seven-stringed Zither, took a seat there, and sat down.
‘Since I don't know what might happen…… it would be good for me to be around here.’
Jaun looked at Muhyang once and took a position about midway between the group and Muhyang, then slowly lowered his body.
After some time had passed, the presence of the Demonic Cult members began to be felt outside the grotto.
Those who cautiously approached the grotto entrance scanned the inside.
After scanning the grotto for a long time while hiding their presence, they slowly stood up when they didn't discover anything special.
“Ah, I'm all soaked. How annoying.”
“Damn it, to think it would rain of all things.”
“Shh. Everyone be quiet.”
A middle-aged man with a scar on his lip glared at the group and stepped forward while being wary of the inside of the grotto.
“Leader. Relax. We saw everything while coming. I told you there’s nothing special.”
─ CLANG
The middle-aged man drew a sword from his waist without giving any answer, and the rest of the personnel grumbled as they drew their own weapons.
The middle-aged man, who walked a few steps into the grotto, looked at Muhyang, who was sitting in the center.
“You. What are you doing sitting there? Why didn't you make any report? Where did the other two go?”
Despite the middle-aged man’s questions, Muhyang remained motionless with her eyes closed without any answer.
“Anyway, that unlucky bitch. I didn't like it from the moment they included a bitch who wasn't even chosen by the Blood God in this mission.”
The men grumbling from behind brushed off their mud-stained bodies.
“Quiet!”
The middle-aged man in the front, who restrained the men behind him again, scanned the inside of the grotto carefully with sharp eyes.
“I will ask again. What are you doing right now?”
The men behind him tapped the middle-aged man’s shoulder.
“Leader. Look over there. I knew it would be like this. This is absurd. Really.”
The men pointed with their hands at the wine bottles neatly gathered in one part of the grotto.
Since the wine bottles were gathered in a sunken area under the torches, the men could only discover them after entering further inside.
“These guys were just drinking and playing, but we made all this fuss since early dawn just because a report didn't come in for a day.”
The men lowered their weapons with expressions of disbelief.
The middle-aged man, who was staring blankly at the wine bottles and scanning the area around them, frowned and scratched his head.
“So you’re saying it's certain they were drinking and doing this? But why is she sitting there like that? Where did the other two go? And what about those workers?”
The middle-aged man muttered while shaking his head, but as expected, there was no answer from Muhyang. Eventually, the middle-aged man stared at Muhyang and walked forward slowly with his sword pointed forward and a very angry expression.
“Since you have forgotten your assigned mission and committed such an act, there will be no room for excuses.”
When the distance between Muhyang and the middle-aged man was about ten steps, Muhyang slowly raised her head.
“Hehe. I’m glad only the fellows I usually dislike have gathered and come.”
Muhyang smiled brightly as she slid off the cloth of the Seven-stringed Zither placed on her lap.
The men frowned as they looked at Muhyang, who suddenly raised her head.
“What did you just babble? Did I hear that correctly?”
The moment the middle-aged man took one more step, the sound of the Seven-stringed Zither—ting-a-ling—filled the grotto.
Muhyang’s hand began to move over the Seven-stringed Zither, drawing a beautiful trajectory.
“What are you doing now……”
As the sound of the Seven-stringed Zither surged toward them, only then did the complexions of the men turn pale as they noticed the energy contained within it.
The men, who hurriedly raised their energy, drew their weapons.
Muhyang’s simple hand movements began to become increasingly complex.
In an instant, the grotto was filled with a beautiful melody.
Muhyang’s hand, which had been playing over the Seven-stringed Zither for a long while, suddenly reached forward.
─ TWANG
At the same time, compressed sound waves were shot toward the men so clearly that the air could be seen wavering.
“Ugh!”
“Aaaaah!”
As if conscious of Jaun’s group, it was a sound art shot accurately toward the front.
The bodies of the men, who were hit by the sound waves in an instant, shook violently.
Every time Muhyang’s hand moved over the Seven-stringed Zither, the men’s clothing was snipped away, and streams of blood sprouted from those spots.
“Ke-…… heck.”
The men, whose entire bodies were instantly stained with blood, fell to the floor with a thud.
The middle-aged man, who remained standing until the end, gritted his teeth.
“You bitch…… are you daring to think of betrayal?”
“There was never a moment when my will was one with yours from the beginning, so it seems there is some misunderstanding.”
Hearing Muhyang’s words, the middle-aged man gritted his teeth and kicked off the ground.
Having surged up to Muhyang’s side in an instant, he quickly swung his sword.
─ WHOOSH
Confirming the man rushing in, Muhyang immediately pulled her body far back, and the middle-aged man’s sword cut through the empty air in vain.
Muhyang, who retreated to the back, lifted the Seven-stringed Zither and placed it on her lap again.
Her eyes burned with fire.