novelraw Chapter 118 : Chapter 118
Chapter 118 : Chapter 118
Chapter 118 Blood Price (1)
After leaving the Prison, Jaun quickly climbed the stairs and headed toward the entrance.
The martial artists guarding the entrance discovered Jaun late and gaped in surprise.
"Uh…… uh?"
"Th-the Heartless Soul Stealer and the Ice Rakshasa have escaped from prison?!"
Signal flares were simultaneously shot into the air from the martial artists' robes.
─ BANG! BANG!
The martial artists, who hesitated and retreated, carefully drew their weapons, but no one dared to block the path of Jaun and the Ice Rakshasa.
Jaun checked the surroundings once and turned his body toward the Alliance Leader’s Palace towering in the distance.
"Let's go."
While filling his empty Dantian by drawing in the surrounding energy, Jaun slowly moved his steps toward the Alliance Leader’s Palace.
The Prison was located on the outskirts of the Outer Court.
Dozens of martial artists followed behind Jaun as they watched him and the Ice Rakshasa pass through the Outer Court and enter the Inner Court.
It was an unusual atmosphere.
Martial artists, who instinctively felt that an incident had occurred, began to gather one by one.
By the time Jaun passed the gate of the Inner Court, went through the small garden, and reached the Crystal Path, more than a hundred onlookers were already watching him.
'Whew.'
Jaun stopped his steps for a moment before the Crystal Path lying ahead and turned back to look at the Ice Rakshasa.
"Young Hero Jaun."
The Ice Rakshasa, with a tense expression, bit her lip hard. Jaun, who gave a grin toward the Ice Rakshasa, reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Don't worry and just watch."
Jaun, who reassured the Ice Rakshasa, stepped onto the Crystal Path.
After catching his breath for a moment, Jaun walked quietly over the Crystal Path amidst a heavy silence.
By the time he had passed about halfway across the Crystal Path, he saw the figure of the Alliance Leader walking over the Crystal Path from the opposite side.
The energy flowing from the body of the Alliance Leader, who walked with steady THUD THUD steps over the Crystal Path, weighed down on the path.
─ CRACKLE
It was a massive momentum, enough to cause the edges of the Crystal Path to crack.
The onlookers standing nearby retreated with pale faces and bowed their heads.
"W-we greet the Alliance Leader!"
"We greet the Alliance Leader."
The Alliance Leader was staring piercingly only at Jaun, paying no heed to the greetings of the other martial artists.
Jaun, who felt the energy, looked back at the Alliance Leader with a cold gaze.
The dark red demonic energy pulled up from Jaun's body slowly wrapped around the Ice Rakshasa.
Having protected the Ice Rakshasa from the Alliance Leader's energy in that way, Jaun began to walk toward the Alliance Leader again.
─ CREAK
─ RUMBLE
As the distance between the two people grew closer, cracks began to form here and there on the Crystal Path, and dust spread in all directions due to the clash of momentum.
The onlookers covered their eyes and retreated little by little.
In the atmosphere full of tension, Jaun and the Alliance Leader stopped, looking at each other from a distance of about twenty steps.
"……Hmm. You fellow, did you escape from prison? I didn't think you were a guy reckless enough to commit such an act."
The Alliance Leader opened her mouth first.
"I've been backstabbed so properly that I can't see anything anymore. Still, I didn't know that the leader of an organization would commit such a cowardly act."
At Jaun's words, the surrounding onlookers began to murmur.
The Alliance Leader glanced around and burst into a smirk.
"You've managed to turn the situation in your favor quite well. But if you thought I would be swayed by such things, you are mistaken."
The Alliance Leader cracked her neck with a CRACK and took a step forward.
"Ice Rakshasa. Insubordination and disobedience. Add to that the crime of aiding and abetting jailbreak."
At the Alliance Leader's words, the Ice Rakshasa flinched.
"Han Jaun. As a member of the Demonic Cult, not the Murim Alliance, the crime of deceiving the Sado Alliance and bringing confusion using false information. And leading a jailbreak on top of that."
At the Alliance Leader's words, the onlookers began to murmur once more.
"Eh? What does that mean? The Heartless Soul Stealer is a member of the Demonic Cult?"
"Didn't they say he belonged to the Demon Study Hall of the Murim Alliance……? What on earth is going on?"
The Alliance Leader shrugged her shoulders once and opened her mouth again.
"I don't think my actions were that wrong in such a situation? Since there is no reason to show courtesy to a spy of the Demonic Cult."
It was a response that showed her experience.
With just one word from the Alliance Leader, suspicion and a faint hostility rose in the gazes of the surroundings.
Jaun burst into a smirk.
"Instead of a proper apology, you're coming out like this?"
Thick demonic energy erupted from Jaun's body and began to flow over the Crystal Path.
Looking at Jaun's cold eyes, the Alliance Leader exhaled a small sigh and took a step back.
"Let's talk for now. It seems there has been a misunderstanding. I don't want to blow things up unnecessarily."
"Misunderstanding, I see……."
Jaun looked at the Alliance Leader with a chilling gaze.
"I almost died while receiving the combined attack of two elders of the Sado Alliance. Just what kind of misunderstanding can there be here?"
At Jaun's words, the surroundings became noisy again.
Looking at the demonic energy that was growing increasingly thick, the Alliance Leader bit her lip hard.
This place was the heart of the Sado Alliance.
Even though it was a situation where he might have to antagonize everyone in the Sado Alliance if things went wrong, Jaun's momentum did not diminish at all.
If it were the Jaun she had seen until now, he should have retreated about two steps in such a situation.
But he did not.
The Alliance Leader squinted her eyes at Jaun's suddenly changed and unfamiliar appearance.
She thought he would quietly let it pass without much resistance because there was the primary goal of the Blood Cult, but her expectation was wrong.
'……Has there been a change in his state of mind.'
The Alliance Leader stared fixedly at Jaun and then exhaled a small sigh.
From the Alliance Leader's perspective, it was beneficial to recover her relationship with Jaun.
Since she had already failed after trying to secretly eliminate Jaun, the gazes of thesurroundings, including the Murim Alliance, were quite bothersome for her to take action against Jaun again.
Furthermore, in case a joint operation with the Murim Alliance had to be conducted to stop the movement of the Blood Cult, Jaun was the only person who could connect the two organizations.
'And if a situation arises where this fellow stops the Blood Cult and becomes the ruler of the Demonic Cult……?'
The Alliance Leader, who continued her thoughts, clicked her tongue.
Looking at it from various angles, there was no benefit given to the Sado Alliance by antagonizing Jaun in the current situation.
'I should have handled him properly in one go.'
She regretted her past of having rushed through the matter while being swept away by momentary emotions in a state where she wasn't properly prepared.
The fear of the Heavenly Demon.
Everything started from there, and in the end, it had tangled the matter like this.
Looking into Jaun's eyes with a bitter expression, the Alliance Leader slowly opened her mouth.
"If you had properly revealed your identity from the beginning, such a needless misunderstanding would not have occurred. This happened because information was not sufficiently exchanged."
"Ridiculous talk."
Jaun looked at the Alliance Leader as if it were absurd.
"Cut it out with those petty excuses."
Jaun's eyes burned fiercely.
The Alliance Leader looked into Jaun's eyes and then smacked her lips again.
"……Fine. If it were resolved at once, how would it be a misunderstanding? For now, let's hear what it is that you want. Just what do you want that you broke out of the Prison and caused such a scene."
"Since you tried to hold our lives in your hands, I think it would be fair if I were to take your life as collateral this time."
At Jaun's words, the Alliance Leader's expression hardened.
The Alliance Leader, who stared fixedly at Jaun, opened her mouth with a stiff face.
"Taking my life as collateral, you say. Are you trying to get your hands on some secrets of the Sado Alliance? Heh. Arrogant brat. I treated you nicely because you were cute, and now you're trying to climb all the way to the top of my head."
The Alliance Leader clicked her tongue and shook her head from side to side.
"Coming out in this way will not be good for you either?"
The Alliance Leader's hand slowly went into her robes and came out.
A small dagger between her hands flashed as it reflected the light.
"Y-Young Hero Jaun."
The Ice Rakshasa, who confirmed that the Alliance Leader had drawn her dagger, gripped Jaun's sleeve from behind with a pale face.
Energy gradually flowed out of the Alliance Leader's body and began to fill the Crystal Path.
'Even if it's dangerous, I can't retreat. I can never face the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult with people who can betray at any time behind me.'
It might seem reckless at a glance, but the calculations had already been completed in Jaun's head.
'Trying to kill me again would be putting the Sado Alliance in danger. If that happens, her position will inevitably be shaken, so she must have many worries.'
Looking at the situation, it was not an easy task for the Alliance Leader to touch Jaun in such an open place.
A situation where a great threat would be added even to the safety of the Sado Alliance if something went wrong.
Knowing that it was such a situation, Jaun decided to play his winning move in this spot.
Opposing the Alliance Leader's energy, thick demonic energy began to spread from Jaun's body as well.
As the Reverse Heaven Asura Art shook Jaun's body, the thickly spread demonic energy piled up layer by layer over Jaun's body.
"If you can eliminate me, then go ahead and try."
Wrapped in a massive demonic energy all over his body, Jaun began to walk slowly toward the Alliance Leader.
The gazes of the Alliance Leader and Jaun met fiercely in the air.
─ THUD
─ WHIIIIING
─ THUD
─ WHIIIIING
Each time Jaun took a step, the quiet Inner Court was filled with bone-chilling friction sounds.
It was the sound of Jaun's energy and the Alliance Leader's energy clashing.
As an unbearable energy wave clashed around the two people and grew its territory, the onlookers all retreated more than dozens of steps.
"The Heartless Soul Stealer was…… at that kind of realm?"
"……Did he not bring out all his true skills during the Life-and-Death Tournament?"
"Was there a martial artist who reached such a realm at that age?"
The onlookers, who felt the momentum Jaun had pulled up with full intent, could not close their mouths.
'……The flow of demonic energy has changed.'
The one who was surprised was Jaun as well.
Jaun's energy, which had absorbed a significant amount of the energy left by Wi Jeong-cheon through this incident, was a layer deeper than before.
It was still a rough and fierce demonic energy, but for some unknown reason, it felt much easier to handle.
It was as if the demonic energy were moving in advance after reading Jaun's intent.
'At this level, it would be worth a shot even if a fight breaks out.'
The stability of Mind–Energy–Body.
Jaun, who had overcome a large wall mentally and physically through this incident, realized that through the growth of his mind and body which had been lacking, a foundation had been created where he could properly move the energy Wi Jeong-cheon had planted.
Jaun, who once again felt the demonic energy racing through his whole body like a great river, gave a grin.
The energy of Jaun, who had gained confidence, rapidly grew its momentum and filled the Crystal Path to overflowing.
The corners of the Alliance Leader's mouth, who felt Jaun's energy pushing toward her massively all over her body, began to convulse slightly.
'An unbelievable realm considering his age. This is indeed…… the martial arts of the Heavenly Demon.'
The Alliance Leader, who was looking at Jaun, bit her lip hard. She felt the instincts she had forgotten until now slowly lifting their heads.
'Haah. This…… at this rate, my body is itching so much I can't stand it.'
The Alliance Leader's breath began to quicken little by little.
Aware of this, the Alliance Leader shook her head vigorously from side to side.
'No. I must think rationally.'
Considering the political situation, it was correct to moderately accept this child's anger and soothe him.
Her plan, which she had thought of until a moment ago, was not much different either.
However, Jaun's energy far exceeded the Alliance Leader's expectations, and that energy was touching the Alliance Leader's instincts that she had tightly suppressed and hidden.
'This…… at this rate, I'll end up wanting to see you being broken and crushed, rolling on the ground.'
The Alliance Leader's eyes began to turn bloodshot.
It was the instinct of a predator.
The blood-colored path she had walked to reach the position of Alliance Leader.
The joy, pleasure, and excitement she had felt in situations filled with the opponent's thick scent of blood.
Those emotions, which were primal yet ghastly beautiful and stimulating, which she had forcibly suppressed, surfaced little by little and tickled her body.
'If this child is the opponent, I might be able to feel those emotions once more.'
The thirst she had been laboriously suppressing until now spread rapidly through the Alliance Leader's head like a wave.