novelraw Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99 Stone Cavern (1)
“Ohhh. Newbie, how did you do that just now? Can you show us once more?”
The laborers, who had swarmed him in an instant, egged Gu Ma-jin on, and Gu Ma-jin, unable to wipe away his smile, spat PTUI PTUI on both hands.
“Watch closely. Stone has a grain, and the key is to strike that grain with force.”
As Gu Ma-jin’s pickaxe fell to the ground once more, the rocks shattered into pieces with a loud noise.
The supervisors who were watching from the side also whispered among themselves with surprised eyes.
“And you see. For a stone with a grain formed like this, hitting the top takes quite a bit of time, so it is better to attack from the side.”
When Gu Ma-jin’s pickaxe fell again and shattered the rock into pieces, loud applause erupted from the surrounding laborers.
“Whoa……! To think it works like that? It is strength, but also striking the impact point accurately. This is not the skill of a novice!”
As the laborers offered sincere praise, the corners of Gu Ma-jin’s mouth began to rise little by little.
I, who was watching his pickaxing closely, nodded.
‘It is pickaxing that contains deep enlightenment.’
I had heard that Gu Ma-jin used a great saber, but seeing even this simple pickaxing made me imagine the exhilarating movements of the saber he would produce.
That was how clean Gu Ma-jin’s pickaxing was, without any unnecessary movements, creating maximum destructive power with minimum strength.
‘It is pickaxing so well-refined that I cannot find any more points to fix. That being said…….’
I stared blankly at Gu Ma-jin’s face, whose mouth was already rising to his cheekbones.
‘Is being praised for being good at pickaxing something to be that happy about?’
A transcendental master who had mastered his own unique saber technique to the extreme and was even blending in the strengths of other martial artists was here now, pickaxing and finding joy in it.
─ BOOM!
“Ohhh!”
─ BOOM!
“Whoa!”
I burst into a faint smile.
Looking at him again, Gu Ma-jin was truly enjoying this time.
‘Perhaps it was not easy for him to interact with people since he occupies the position of the second-in-command of the Sado Alliance.’
It suddenly occurred to me that it had probably been a long time since Gu Ma-jin had received such heartfelt cheers from someone.
Looking at Gu Ma-jin, who was continuously pickaxing and crushing the surrounding rocks with a smile, I looked around the Stone Cavern once more.
‘No demonic energy is felt yet. But…… no matter how I look at it, it is a strange structure.’
It was unusual to hollow out a perfectly good stone mountain to create such a Stone Cavern.
If they were making a shrine or a Buddhist hall, rumors would have spread long ago.
I could not find the reason why they were creating a space of this scale in such a remote place, and in secret at that.
‘Let us observe a bit more for now.’
Having etched the structure of the Stone Cavern into my head, I approached Gu Ma-jin, who was still pickaxing.
“Shouldn't you step down from the position of work foreman at this rate?”
“……I agree. His skill is something someone like me could not even reach the feet of.”
─ CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
Amidst the laborers' cheers, Gu Ma-jin, who was looking around, discovered me and motioned with a dignified expression.
“Un-ja. Why are you spacing out? You should be capturing your brother's magnificent figure in your eyes.”
The droplets of sweat on Gu Ma-jin’s forehead sparkled as they reflected the torchlight.
Even if he did not put internal energy into it, the fact that a trained martial artist was sweating like that meant Gu Ma-jin was truly pickaxing with all his heart.
“Brother Yong-gwang. What do you mean? I was looking closely, capturing it all in my eyes.”
When I replied sincerely after feeling Gu Ma-jin’s sincerity, he wore a satisfied smile.
At that moment, one of the supervisors who had gathered around Gu Ma-jin to watch his pickaxing spoke up.
“Now, now. We have seen enough, so let everyone begin working properly.”
At the supervisor's words, the laborers offered praise to Gu Ma-jin once more and moved to their respective assigned areas.
“Did you say your name was Yong-gwang? You, please take charge of this area. It seems the stone is hard, as the speed here is not very good.”
At some point, the supervisor's tone had also changed.
Guided by the supervisor's kind direction, Gu Ma-jin moved to a corner.
Gu Ma-jin’s shoulders were raised so high that his neck could barely be seen.
‘He is an unpredictable person.’
I followed behind Gu Ma-jin with a laugh.
─ CLANG
─ CLANG
Gu Ma-jin and I, having taken our positions, began pickaxing.
The stones in the area assigned by the supervisor were certainly denser in structure than the stones elsewhere.
As the laborers who had taken their positions began pickaxing one by one, the Stone Cavern was soon filled with loud noise.
‘It is extremely noisy.’
The sound of pickaxes echoing from everywhere was enough to cause a headache.
However, I shook my head and began to focus silently on pickaxing.
─ CLANG
─ CLANG
As I repeated the same task amidst the loud noise, my mind began to clear up at some point.
The path of the pickaxe filled my vision, and as I controlled my strength minutely to match that path, I felt as if I were practicing martial arts.
Particularly, because the stone structure in the place assigned to Gu Ma-jin and me was dense, we could only break the stone properly by striking the connection points accurately.
By repeating the task of breaking the stone by striking the connection points accurately with the necessary amount of force, I even felt an unknown exhilaration at some point.
As Gu Ma-jin and I began to break the stone with focus, a visible difference was created compared to the other workers.
The supervisors nodded with satisfied expressions as they watched Gu Ma-jin and me break stone at an incredible speed.
Just how much time had passed?
The two of us, who had been focusing on the work of breaking stone for a long time, only stopped pickaxing after hearing the ringing of the bell signaling the break.
“Phew. This is very refreshing.”
“Is it not? I feel like I have finally come to understand my father's heart a bit today.”
Gu Ma-jin replied while wiping the sweat covering his face.
“……Thank you. It was a quite meaningful time for me.”
Gu Ma-jin had a quite relieved expression.
I, who patted Gu Ma-jin’s arm once, gave a grin and pulled him toward the center of the Stone Cavern, where a break area was prepared.
As soon as Gu Ma-jin approached, several laborers excitedly threw questions at him.
It seemed the laborers had also felt many things while watching Gu Ma-jin’s pickaxing.
Gu Ma-jin began to answer all the pouring questions with the utmost sincerity.
‘He has the ability to explain quite profound stories quite easily.’
Gu Ma-jin’s answers were concise but contained the essence.
I could feel many things from Gu Ma-jin’s words as he taught the laborers.
****
Someone poked my side as I was listening intently to the conversation between Gu Ma-jin and the laborers.
When I turned my head, Ice Rakshasa was blinking one eye and pointing outside with her finger.
As I stood up and stood close to Ice Rakshasa, she whispered quietly.
“Let us go out for a moment and talk.”
I, who nodded at Ice Rakshasa’s words, approached the supervisor.
“Could we take a rest outside the Stone Cavern for a moment? It is too stifling inside.”
The supervisor, who turned his gaze as if it were bothersome, confirmed my face and readily nodded.
“Oho. You are one of the new ones. Go ahead. It seems the work speed has doubled thanks to you all. I will specially allow a rest outside.”
I, who bowed my head slightly to express gratitude, headed outside the Stone Cavern with Ice Rakshasa.
The two of us sat in a clearing slightly away from the Stone Cavern and began to talk.
“Young Hero Jaun. This place, it seems the purpose is to amplify sound after all.”
“Amplification of sound?”
When I asked back with a bewildered expression, Ice Rakshasa nodded.
“Young Hero Ban said he has the same thought. The same goes for the excessively many holes in the ceiling. It is certain that this place was built for the purpose of amplifying the sound created inside and pushing it outside. Like a bell.”
“A bell……?”
I did not understand.
This was a place with few people, and the nearest manor, the Gold Clothes Sect, was a ruin where not a single person lived.
Just what kind of sound would they create here, and why they would need to amplify that sound, I could not even get a grasp of it.
“Why would they do such a thing?”
“Well. I do not know even that much.”
Ice Rakshasa gave a shrug and stretched her body out while yawning.
“Wahahahaha!”
At that moment, the sound of Gu Ma-jin and the laborers laughing echoed from inside the Stone Cavern.
A sound that felt clearer than if they were laughing right next to me.
Ice Rakshasa and I simultaneously looked at each other.
“It seems correct, does it not? It is already at this level even though the progress is only about halfway.”
I also nodded at Ice Rakshasa’s words.
I did not know what other purpose was hidden, but for now, it was certain that this Stone Cavern functioned to amplify sound.
Even the effect was better than expected.
If the Stone Cavern were finished and a louder sound were made inside, I thought the sound could echo even to the southern part of Hunan Province.
Since the surroundings here were perfectly flat, there were no obstacles to absorb the sound.
‘Delivery of sound…….’
The two of us agonized over it for a long time, but we could not find out what the purpose was.
“Let us observe a bit more for now. Please continue to look, as there might be another purpose besides the amplification of sound.”
Ice Rakshasa nodded at my words. Having finished the conversation, the two of us walked back into the Stone Cavern.
****
“Ahem. The weather is truly good.”
Jingling the forty copper coins held in his hand, Gu Ma-jin headed toward the inn with a light step.
After finishing the work, Gu Ma-jin felt like a quite different person compared to this morning.
I, following behind such a Gu Ma-jin, recalled the structure of the Stone Cavern in my head once more.
I looked back at every structure carefully from the beginning, but I could not discover anything particularly suspicious.
“In that case, is sound the only clue?”
At my monologue, Gu Ma-jin turned his head and asked.
“Sound. What do you mean by that?”
Gu Ma-jin, who had focused solely on pickaxing, did not know the contents of what Ice Rakshasa and I had talked about.
“According to what Miss Pan and Young Hero Ban confirmed today, that Stone Cavern was designed for the purpose of amplifying sound.”
“It is a Stone Cavern with a hollow interior, so naturally the sound would echo. Do you have to confirm that to know it?”
“It was not simply to that extent. Young Hero Ban, can you explain?”
Ban Cheol-hwi, who had spent a strenuous day, nodded with an exhausted face.
“When looking at the blueprints, the sound echoing from the center of that Stone Cavern is reflected and amplified as it bounces off the interior of the cavern, and the amplified sound is designed to go precisely toward the holes in the ceiling. It was not a coincidence, but designed that way with a clear purpose.”
“Are they trying to play music inside? For what use would they amplify sound in such a remote Stone Cavern?”
“That is exactly the part we are agonizing over. I did some calculations with Young Hero Ban earlier, and if the Stone Cavern is finished, it seems the sound will be delivered at least to the southern part of Hunan Province. However, I have no idea what the meaning is behind delivering sound from so far away.”
The expression of Gu Ma-jin, who was lost in deep thought after hearing my words, froze hard in an instant.
“Sound, sound. Perhaps…….”
“Did something come to mind?”
At my words, Gu Ma-jin, who was contemplating with a serious expression, cautiously opened his mouth.
“Could it be, they are trying to use the Blood Bell?”
As soon as I heard that, I stopped in my tracks and carefully chewed over Gu Ma-jin’s words.
Sound.
And the Blood Cult.
If it were the combination of these two words, there was a high possibility that Gu Ma-jin’s thought was correct.
“You mean that cursed bell that makes a bizarre sound?”
“Yes. That cursed item that makes those who use the Blood Cult’s martial arts experience a hallucinatory state and explodes their potential, even if just for a moment.”
Gu Ma-jin looked at me with a serious expression.