Chapter 69: Chapter 69

Chapter 69Killing Valley → Vermilion Slaughter Valley

Esoteric Gate → Esoteric Realm Gate

Also, I noticed some terms being mistranslated in chapter 67. In fact, Gyu Soha is a green spirit (4th-level), whose strength almost reaches to a Blue spirit. And, as you all know, Cheong-ryeon is a Blue spirit (5th-level).

To remind everyone about the spirit levels, here’s a recap, from lowest to highest (at this point).

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

***

“Ah……There’s an empty spot in that garden.”

The boys were dumbfounded by Mok Gyeong-un’s mocking words.

Who could have predicted that someone would throw a rock and kill a teammate in such an urgent situation?

Mok Gyeong-un spoke again to the shocked boys.

“What will you do?”

“………”

The boys were at a loss for words at this question.

At most, there were only two hours left until sunrise.

If they were lucky and someone showed up, they could replace the dead boy. But if no one appeared…

“shit.”

“What should we do?”

The boys muttered softly.

They were angry that a boy who had shared life and death with them had died, but they had to think rationally.

They couldn’t fully blame him, as he too had made what he thought was the right decision.

“There are still two hours left.”

“That’s true, but what if no one comes?”

“………”

“He’s right. Let’s just accept him.”

“But……”

“Do you think that guy will give up?”

“Still, even if it’s just this once, we have a sense of loyalty to this guy who’s been with us…..”

At that moment, they saw Mok Gyeong-un picking up another rock.

He wasn’t just picking up one, but grabbing as many as he could hold.

The boy who was speaking swallowed dryly and said,

“……Let’s accept him. That bastard picked up rocks.”

“That crazy bastard.”

If they didn’t accept him, he looked ready to throw rocks at the other boys too.

In the end, they had no choice but to accept Mok Gyeong-un as a teammate.

Mok Gyeong-un smiled brightly as if nothing had happened and said,

“Thanks everyone. You’re all so kind.”

‘Son of a bitch.’

They all cursed Mok Gyeong-un inwardly.

If only he hadn’t shown up now, they could have gotten a result satisfactory to everyone.

They had learned what teamwork was by uniting as one.

But now, they had to begrudgingly accept this crazy bastard in order to pass the gate.

-Swoosh!

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un placed his hand on the flagpole.

One boy suppressed his emotions as much as possible and said,

“Be careful. Even with two hours left, the flag must remain intact.”

“I know.”

“If you know, then don’t touch it.”

Despite the boy’s words, Mok Gyeong-un didn’t stop touching the flag.

The boy was angry but couldn’t say anything more.

Seeing the monstrous strength Mok Gyeong-un displayed in the steel bead competition and how he almost pierced someone’s face with a rock just now, the boy didn’t have the confidence to pick a fight.

‘…….Let’s see what happens once the Golden Gate Lock are released.’

According to the information, the Golden Gate Lock would be removed once they got past the initial part of the gate.

When that happened, he was determined to deal with this guy one way or another.

As he was thinking this, Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.

“By the way, did you find any other flags besides this one?”

“Other flags?”

The boy shook his head at Mok Gyeong-un’s question.

They had been lucky.

After finding this flag, two teams had attacked them, but they had defended it to the end.

“We never lost and protected this flag.”

The boy spoke with pride in his voice.

At this, Mok Gyeong-un sighed.

“Whew.”

“What? What’s with that sigh? You lost not only your flag but also your teammates.”

One boy finally couldn’t hold back and confronted Mok Gyeong-un about this.

Then Mok Gyeong-un shook his head and approached the boy.

The boy flinched for a moment but then stood his ground.

“What! What are you trying to do? Are you in a bad mood? But it’s the truth. And although we had no choice but to accept you, to pass the gate, fighting is unnecessary, at least…”

-Smack! Crack!

At that moment, the boy’s neck was twisted.

Without finishing his words, the boy collapsed with his life extinguished.

‘!!!!!’

The other boys were stunned.

“T-This crazy bastard, is he really insane?”

“No matter what, this is too much. The sun will rise soon, so what will we do if you kill a teammate like this? Are you in your right mind…”

-Thwack! Crack!

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un’s hand struck the neck of the shouting boy.

With the sound of muscles and bones snapping, the boy’s neck was bent at an angle as he let out a dying groan and passed away.

Having already killed two, the boys couldn’t hide their consternation.

‘H-He’s lost it.’

‘what the …. is he doing?’

Did he really have no intention of passing the gate?

As they were thinking this, Mok Gyeong-un reached out towards another one of them.

-Smack!

“Eek!”

One boy was caught, unable to dodge in time.

The other boys’ minds went blank.

The only thought in their heads was that in order to survive, they had to run away no matter what.

So without helping the captured boy, they fled.

Mok Gyeong-un threw a rock with all his might at one of the fleeing boys.

-Thwack!

“Urk!”

The flying rock pierced through the back of the head of one of the running boys.

Naturally, the boy who was hit in the head died and collapsed on the spot.

-Thud!

Mok Gyeong-un picked up another rock, but the remaining three had already scattered and entered the bushes.

‘Getting all of them will be tough. Then…’

“Just deal with two of them for me.”

With those words, Mok Gyeong-un threw a rock with full force towards the bushes.

From within the bushes, a scream of anguish was heard, followed by the sound of someone collapsing.

It seemed he had hit his mark.

The captured boy, trembling with fear, said,

“W-Why are you doing this? You know what will happen if we can’t pass the gate. If you kill teammates like this…”

“You guys won’t be able to pass anyway.”

“What?”

“I said you won’t pass.”

“W-What kind of nonsense is that? If only you hadn’t done this…”

“You were so focused on protecting it that you didn’t properly examine the flag.”

“What are you…”

-Smack!

Mok Gyeong-un grabbed the confused boy’s head with both hands.

The boy begged for his life,

“S-Spare…”

-Crack!

But Mok Gyeong-un snapped his neck without changing his expression.

Then, grabbing the pole of the flag stuck in the ground, he crumpled it with one hand and muttered,

-Crunch!

“Things have gotten a bit pressing.”

There was only one hour left.

In that time, he had to find a different type of flag.

The characters engraved on this flag were identical to the ones Mok Gyeong-un had memorized.

***

Same time, halfway up the mountain.

With not much time left until sunrise, two teams were facing off in a battle.

“Huff…Huff…”

Rough breathing could be heard from all around, as everyone seemed exhausted.

Peculiarly, this confrontation was particularly different from other typical flag defense battles.

That’s because both sides had flags.

One side had firmly planted their flag into the blocked mountain wall and formed a semicircular formation to protect it, while the other side had two people guarding their flag as they carried it around, with the remaining six targeting the semicircular formation.

‘This isn’t good.’

On the defending side were Mo Ha-rang of the Demon Fire Hall and Mok Yu-cheon, the youngest of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor.

Mo Ha-rang, who had set out to find a new flag, somehow ended up joining Mok Yu-cheon’s team and had been defending the flag until now.

Seeing how bright the sky had gotten, there wasn’t much time left until sunrise.

If they were lucky and someone showed up, they could replace the dead boy. But if no one came…

“shit.”

Mok Yu-cheon cursed inwardly as he glared at the opposing team.

The shirtless boy wielding a stone ax with unique patterns all over his body was Yeom Ga of the Vermillion Slaughter Cave.

‘That bastard.’

Mok Yu-cheon glared at him and cursed inwardly.

He didn’t understand why they were targeting the flag.

Because one of the boys guarding the flag had a broken flagpole tucked into his belt.

That meant…

‘They already found both types, so why are they doing this?’

It was completely incomprehensible.

If they kept fighting like this and even one teammate was taken out, they would fail the gate.

Taking on such a risk just to reduce their numbers by one seemed like a foolish decision.

Mok Yu-cheon whispered quietly to the boys next to him and Mo Ha-rang.

“Let’s hold out just a little longer.”

At those words, the boys and Mo Ha-rang nodded.

Once the sun rose, this kind of behavior would become meaningless.

However, Yeom Ga of the Vermillion Slaughter Cave faction sneered at their strategy.

‘You think you can just hold out?’

If that’s what they thought, it was a miscalculation.

They had a surefire strategy.

It had already been proven effective by wiping out three teams using this giant wolf monster.

Yeom Ga raised his left hand.

Then…

“Waaaaaaaahhhh!”

“Yaaaaaaaahhh!”

The two boys guarding the flag suddenly began screaming loudly.

Not only them, but the boys who were fighting also raised their voices and shouted even louder.

‘What the?’

‘Crazy! Why are they suddenly doing that?’

The defending side couldn’t understand why they were acting this way.

They were screaming way too loudly.

Since they were halfway up the mountain, their shouts echoed through the surroundings.

‘What kind of ploy is this?’

Mo Ha-rang of the Demon Fire Hall glared at Yeom Ga of the Vermillion Slaughter Cave, who was smirking.

As soon as that scrawny bastard raised his hand, they started doing this.

There had to be an ulterior motive behind it.

‘………’

In the end, she decided she couldn’t just leave them be.

Rather than simply focusing on defending the flag, she thought it would be better to kill one or two of them.

That would make them back off.

She gripped her sharply honed stone dagger tightly and said in a low voice,

“Don’t any of you step outside the semicircular formation, no matter what.”

“What, you can’t mean…”

Mok Yu-cheon urgently tried to dissuade her, but…

-Swoosh!

Mo Ha-rang had already dashed towards one of the boys.

Although her energy points were blocked, everyone knew of her incredible dagger skills that defied imagination for a woman.

So when she made her move, they stepped back to maintain distance.

This was the moment.

‘I’ve been waiting for this!’

Yeom Ga of the Vermillion Slaughter Cave didn’t miss this opening and charged at the boys forming the semicircular formation.

Mo Ha-rang changed directions in response.

‘I knew it.’

She had also anticipated this.

She was the strongest one among them.

She figured someone like Yeom Ga would try to lure her away before targeting the semicircular formation.

-Whoosh!

Mo Ha-rang threw her sharply honed stone dagger at Yeom Ga’s back as he was running.

Then one of the boys from Yeom Ga’s team threw himself to block it.

-Stab!

“Urk!”

The stone dagger lodged between the boy’s left chest and shoulder.

But thanks to this, Yeom Ga was able to swing his stone ax down at the head of one of the boys in the semicircular formation without hindrance.

“No!”

At that moment, Mok Yu-cheon slid and aimed for Yeom Ga’s legs.

Yeom Ga chuckled at this and threw his body to the side, hurling the stone ax.

‘Huh?’

Yeom Ga’s real target wasn’t the boys.

‘This is bad!’

It was none other than the flag they were protecting.

The hurled stone ax spun as it flew towards the flagpole.

It was sheer luck.

The stone ax grazed the flagpole and bounced off.

Although it got a little nicked, thankfully the flagpole didn’t break because it was only grazed.

Seeing this, the boys felt relieved.

“Phew.”

If that had snapped, they would have had to switch from defending the flag to trying to take the flag from them at all costs.

‘I’ll kill him!’

-Swoosh! Tap tap tap!

Mo Ha-rang of the Demon Fire Hall dashed towards Yeom Ga.

Compared to the other guys, this one in particular had to die now.

He was the most troublesome, using his wits and not hesitating to resort to any means necessary.

“Demon Fire Hall girl. Are you saying you want to take me on?”

Yeom Ga, who had rolled and gotten back up after throwing the ax, took a fighting stance as Mo Ha-rang charged at him.

Putting aside the fact that she was a girl, she was one of the opponents he most wanted to face off against.

Right at that moment…

-Thump! Thump!

A strange sound was heard from somewhere.

The two people who were charging at each other stopped in their tracks.

The boys from the two sides who had been confronting and fighting also stopped.

-Thud! Thud!

The sound of the ground shaking.

It felt like something massive was approaching.

The day had brightened considerably, so they could see a giant shadow forming between the bushes.

Then the boys on Yeom Ga’s side moved in unison as if they had been waiting for this.

They ran towards the two boys who had the flag, as if taking shelter.

-Rustle rustle!

At that moment, a massive creature appeared from behind them.

‘!!!!!!’

Everyone’s faces stiffened.

-Slurp!

The creature that appeared, drooling profusely.

It had blue fur on its head, pointed ears, and sharp hook-shaped claws.

Its appearance resembled a wolf, but its size…

“W-What is that?”

“what the …. is this?”

It looked nearly three times larger than an ordinary wolf.

It was a monster that seemed like it could swallow even an ox whole in one bite, emanating a tremendous pressure.

Seeing this, Mok Yu-cheon broke out in a cold sweat.

‘It…It got even bigger.’

While wandering the mountain and struggling, he had encountered that monster.

He was lucky to survive it, but compared to when he saw it then, it had gotten much bigger.

What is happened happened in the meantime?

“T-That’s the monster wolf.”

Another boy who had been on the same team as Mok Yu-cheon spoke in a voice filled with fear.

Two of their teammates had fallen victim to that thing, so they knew better than anyone how dangerous it was.

-Tap tap tap!

At that moment, Yeom Ga ran and stuck close to where their flag was.

Seeing this, the boys forming the semicircular formation on Mo Ha-rang’s side had puzzled expressions.

They were closer to that monster than Mo Ha-rang’s team.

In this situation where they should abandon the flag and flee for their lives, they were sticking close to the flag as if determined to defend it at all costs.

‘What’s going on?’

As they were finding this strange, the unthinkable happened.

-Swoosh!

The monster wolf, which they thought would attack Yeom Ga’s team first, avoided them and moved.

And then, it approached not Mo Ha-rang and the boys forming the semicircular formation in front of the mountain wall, but Mok Yu-cheon and the boys?

‘What the?’

‘Why?’

They couldn’t fathom the reason.

Why was that monster passing them by and targeting Mo Ha-rang’s team?

Was it discriminating between people?

‘The flag?’

But there was one person who roughly guessed the reason.

It was none other than Mo Ha-rang.

Mo Ha-rang found it odd that despite the appearance of such a monster, they weren’t on guard and instead stuck close to their flag.

So on a hunch, she shouted,

“Stick close to the flag!”

At that moment, the monster wolf charged at them, who were backing up towards the flag, at a tremendous speed that didn’t match its massive body.

“Ahhh!”

“Eek!”

“R-Run!”

Everyone frantically threw themselves aside as the monster wolf charged, regardless of whether they were close to the flag or not. However, one boy ended up getting trampled by the monster wolf.

-Thud!

“Ack!”

Blood spewed from the trampled boy’s mouth. Not only was the weight of that giant body a factor, but the hook-shaped claws dug into his back and tore his internal organs.

“shit!”

Seeing this, Mok Yu-cheon twisted his body, stopping mid-escape. His instincts were telling his legs to run away, but that boy had accepted him as a teammate and they had shared life and death together. That’s why he couldn’t just abandon him and flee.

-Smack!

Mok Yu-cheon picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at the monster’s face.

-Thwack!

The monster wolf, hit in the face with the rock, jerked its head around.

-Kwueeeek! Kwueeeeek!

It let out a pig-like squeal, and the moment they heard it, goosebumps shot up all over their bodies. The monster wolf stared directly at Mok Yu-cheon.

‘shit.’

Had he done something foolish? Should he have just run away instead?

Right as he was thinking this…

-Swoosh!

At that moment, someone leaped high, landed on the monster wolf’s back, climbed up to its neck, and tried to drive a sharply honed stone dagger into its eye. It was none other than Mo Ha-rang.

However…

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Before Mo Ha-rang’s dagger could pierce its eye, the monster wolf violently swiped at the area above its head with the opposite front paw. She tried to jump off and dodge, but it grazed her back. Flesh was torn from her back where it was caught by the hook-shaped claws, and blood instantly soaked her back.

And then…

-Thud thud thud!

She tumbled several times.

“Ha-rang!”

After tumbling, Mo Ha-rang staggered and tried to get up. But having suffered such an injury with her energy points sealed and no protection, it was nearly impossible for her to easily get back on her feet.

-Thud!

One of her knees sank to the ground. Seeing this, Yeom Ga’s teammates huddled around their flag and laughed mockingly, feeling elated. Was this what they called borrowed murder? They had already turned three teams into food for that monster wolf using this method.

‘Don’t feel too resentful, Demon Fire Hall wench.’

Yeom Ga of the Vermillion Slaughter Cave curled his lips into a cruel smile. Here, there was no such thing as being fair and square. The true winner was the one who survived till the end by any means necessary and eliminated their rivals.

-Growl growl!

The monster wolf walked towards her, baring its fangs. It wasn’t a simple beast. As if intending to fill her with terror, this monster wolf was slowly taking one step at a time.

“Huff…huff…”

‘The sun will rise soon.’

Mo Ha-rang bit her lower lip as she looked up at the sky. With only about an hour left, was she going to lose her life like this without passing the gate? Her vision was blurring from the blood loss from her back.

-Thud!

-Thud!

-Thud!

The monster wolf approached right in front of her. Mok Yu-cheon and another boy could be seen shouting and desperately trying to distract it, but it was too late. This monster wolf’s next prey was her.

‘Do I…look…tasty to you?’

-Grit!

Mo Ha-rang clenched her teeth and tried to stand up. Even if she died, she thought she had to stab this monster wolf’s flesh at least once so she wouldn’t die feeling resentful.

Right at that moment… As if it had been waiting, the monster wolf tried to throw itself at her.

-Swoosh!

‘Come!’

That’s when it happened.

-Smack!

The monster wolf’s body suddenly stopped mid-lunge.

‘!?’

Rather than stopping of its own will, it was as if it was bound by something, with its two front paws lifted and fixed in place. She had no idea what was going on.

“W-What?”

“What’s happening to it?”

As everyone looked on in bewilderment, something bizarre appeared in Mo Ha-rang’s blurring vision. Numerous chains had burst out from the ground and were restraining the monster wolf’s entire body.

-Clang! Clang!

-Kwueeeeeeek!

The monster wolf howled and tried to break free, but the chains constricted it even more tightly, preventing it from moving.

‘What the?’

What is happened were these chains? As she was wondering this, a voice was heard from somewhere.

“Ahhh. What a relief. To think everything I need is gathered here.”

At that voice, she turned her head. There, she saw someone walking over with the corners of his mouth turned up.

‘That guy is…’

It was none other than Mok Gyeong-un. But right next to him, what was that transparent yet blurry figure?

-Shudder!

It was a girl with chains wrapped around her entire body and half her hair white. The moment their eyes met, goosebumps shot up all over Mo Ha-rang’s body.