If we don’t kill everyone, we can’t leave?
Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King looked at each other.
“It means we’re to kill even the person we came here with.”
The Sword King’s expression hardened at once, and anger poured out of him.
“What kind of damn formation is this?”
Bang!
The Sword King kicked the signpost without mercy. The shattered signpost scattered everywhere. As if that was not enough to vent his anger, he even yanked out the stake of the signpost and snapped it into pieces.
Geom Mugeuk, on the other hand, watched the Sword King in silence.
“Aren’t you angry?”
“You got angry enough for me as well.”
“We absolutely hate this kind of thing.”
The Sword King, who had been raging like that, seemed to calm himself for a moment.
Shhng!
He smoothly drew his iron sword.
Swoooosh.
Geom Mugeuk tilted his head back. Formless sword qi brushed past his face.
The Sword King spoke with his sword drawn.
“Shall we do it now?”
“No, why are you taking your anger out on me?”
The instant he drew his sword, the air around them changed completely.
Geom Mugeuk could feel it. The Black Demon Sword wanted to cry out. Ever since meeting the Sword King, he had kept the Black Demon Sword suppressed.
‘Not yet.’
Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“I won’t do it.”
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk saw it. For the briefest instant, a certain emotion flashed through the Sword King’s eyes. It was unmistakably close to relief.
“If we don’t? Then what do you propose?”
Then Geom Mugeuk said something utterly unexpected.
“Then we just don’t leave.”
“What?”
“Let’s not leave. Let’s live here.”
Geom Mugeuk looked up at the sky and shouted. It was a cry directed at the one who must have created this place.
“Hey! We’re not leaving!”
At that, the Sword King could not hold back and burst into laughter. He might not have meant it sincerely, but the way he did not lose his composure even in a situation like this truly pleased him.
“You really are…”
The Sword King did not finish his sentence.
Geom Mugeuk looked around in every direction, then said to the Sword King,
“Please lend me one of your shoes for a moment.”
“Are you about to say something that will make me throw my shoe at you?”
“No. If that were the case, I’d have asked for both.”
With a look that asked, What on earth is he trying to do? the Sword King handed over the shoe hanging at his waist.
Geom Mugeuk closed his eyes for a moment as if praying for something, then threw the shoe upward. The shoe rose high into the air and fell to the ground. Looking in the direction the shoe pointed, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Let’s try going this way.”
The Sword King shook his head in disbelief. He had never imagined Geom Mugeuk would tell their direction by tossing a shoe.
“Why not use your own shoe?”
“It would get dirty.”
When Geom Mugeuk shook the dirt off the shoe and returned it, the Sword King finally said what he had held back earlier.
“You’re a madman.”
At last hearing those words, Geom Mugeuk smiled happily.
“Why are you smiling when I called you a madman?”
“Most of the people who called me a madman ended up on good terms with me.”
“Whoever said that must have been a madman too.”
Geom Mugeuk laughed even louder and began walking.
After sheathing his sword again, the Sword King followed after him. Was it because they did not have to fight right away? The Sword King’s expression looked at ease.
“I’ll have to correct what I said earlier. We may end up taking the longest to break this formation since it was first created.”
“In any case, we’ll be the first and last to enter this formation.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
It did not seem likely that this formation had been installed anywhere else.
The two of them continued walking. The end of the wasteland was blocked by a tall cliff.
“So this is as far as the world created by the formation extends. The other directions are probably all blocked by cliffs after walking about this far too.”
The Sword King could tell that Geom Mugeuk had walked in order to confirm the extent of the formation.
‘What exactly is he trying to do?’
He clearly seemed to have some kind of plan. Then Geom Mugeuk once again said something unexpected.
“It’s getting dark, so let’s spend the night here.”
As he said that, he picked up dry branches lying nearby and lit a campfire. He looked like someone who had forgotten that they were inside a formation.
If it had been anyone else, the Sword King would have asked what kind of lunacy this was. No, to begin with, there was no need to compare him to others. Anyone else would never have come down underground with him in the first place.
The campfire rose.
Sparks crackled and flew up into the air with the smoke, and the dried rocks and grass were dyed by the flickering firelight.
“Well, one day should be fine!”
The Sword King flopped down beside it. Watching him, Geom Mugeuk also lay down comfortably on the other side of the campfire.
“What do you mean, one day? We can rest for a whole year. Let’s take a break.”
The Sword King’s face, too, took on an expression that said, Yes, let’s do that. It had been truly a long time since he had rested. He had never imagined that rest would be inside a formation, and with the Young Cult Leader of the Demon Cult at that.
“Hasn’t your life been one where you’ve run without rest? Rest well.”
“How do you know I’ve run without rest?”
“Because you met me. I’ve also been running without rest. Those who run recognize others who run.”
A faint smile formed on the Sword King’s lips.
The two of them lay there like that and looked up at the sky. As time passed, the color held by the sky changed. When the light of twilight had completely darkened, a new light began to embroider the sky.
“The stars that day… I liked them too.”
Geom Mugeuk turned his head and looked at the Sword King. What had he thought while looking at the stars that day? Whom had he remembered?
“Why did you join hands with them?”
He was clearly different from the other Twelve Zodiac Kings Geom Mugeuk had seen so far.
If it had been before, he would never have told him. But today was different.
“I owed a debt.”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze deepened as he looked at him.
“It must be a great debt.”
The Sword King nodded slightly as he lay there.
Then he tossed out a single sentence.
“Nothing changes.”
Contrary to his words, regret flashed through the Sword King’s eyes. If they had not met as enemies? The Young Cult Leader of the Demon Cult was certainly someone who made him think such thoughts.
Then Geom Mugeuk’s voice came from beyond the campfire.
“Don’t decide that in advance. It is your life, Instructor, and my life. We can decide our own lives.”
After a brief pause, Geom Mugeuk added,
“And debts can be repaid.”
The Sword King gave no answer.
As the campfire died down like that, the night only grew deeper.
* * *
There was a new report from Tongcheongak.
The master of Hwangnyong Martial Hall had come to the dueling platform leading underground, and they said an extraordinary expert had appeared there. In particular, at the report that his fists were wrapped in bandages, the Fist Demon’s eyes gleamed.
He had heard that two absolute masters had joined forces in the last battle at Cheonhwaru, so this time as well, another expert must have come out in support.
“Not only that, experts who appear to be their subordinates are gathering at Hwangnyong Martial Hall one after another.”
The bastards had begun to move in earnest.
After finishing the report, Ian conveyed her thoughts to the Fist Demon.
“It seems they’re waiting for the Young Cult Leader to come out. The fact that they’re guarding the entrance without going underground means that whatever is happening down below right now is that important. Or else, they trust the person who went with the Young Cult Leader.”
The Fist Demon, who had been nodding silently, made a decision. His gaze turned to the Ilhwa Sword Venerable. In this kind of situation, the decision a man called the Fist Demon made was precisely this.
“We will wait for the Young Cult Leader.”
It meant they would wipe out the bastards and be the ones to greet Geom Mugeuk when he came up to the surface.
A smile formed on the Ilhwa Sword Venerable’s lips.
“I was waiting for you to say that.”
Unlike that smile, her eyes shone as coldly as her sword.
Ian had expected her father to make such a decision.
Because this was surely the reason Geom Mugeuk had called the Demon Venerables. Because he must have believed they would take care of it on their own without being told.
Yes, if one had to choose the word least suited to the title Demon Venerable, it would be safe house. The two of them had only been staying for a while for her and Seojin’s sake.
But she had not expected even this decision from her father.
“You come with us too.”
She had thought he would not take her because it was dangerous.
“A martial artist should be on the battlefield. Just as the Young Cult Leader is underground right now.”
This was the Fist Demon’s view of life.
He also knew well that the more precious a child was, the more hardship one had to make them endure. Holding them close was actually easy. Sending them out was the difficult thing.
“Father! Thank you.”
Ian expressed her gratitude with a bright face.
The Ilhwa Sword Venerable opened the door first and looked back at the two of them.
“Let us go. We cannot allow enemies to stand above the Young Cult Leader’s head.”
* * *
The next morning, when Geom Mugeuk opened his eyes, the Sword King was standing alone, looking at the rising sun.
“You may be the only person who could sleep so soundly in a situation like this.”
“I haven’t been able to sleep lately because you’ve kept me so tense, Instructor.”
Geom Mugeuk stretched broadly and stood side by side with the Sword King.
“If you had killed me, you would have broken the formation and left.”
“Don’t we at least have enough loyalty not to stab each other while we sleep?”
“Of course. That’s why I slept soundly.”
Of course, part of the reason he slept was because he trusted the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art he had mastered to completion.
“What a shame. I wanted to fight you on that dueling platform.”
Their gazes, which had been fixed on the rising sun, turned toward each other.
“You intend to kill me.”
“I cannot be the one to die.”
“Now, think whether you’d feel relieved after killing me or feel regret. I’ll confess first. If I kill you, Instructor, I think I’ll regret it for a long, long time. I’ll regret it and remember it for the rest of my life.”
“You’re running a scheme until the very end.”
The two looked at each other and smiled.
“Even if we fight when the time comes, let’s at least see the final room together before we do. You know, don’t you? How hard I dug.”
“I know. But this damned formation…”
In that instant, the Sword King flinched and stopped speaking. He had sensed that Geom Mugeuk had some kind of plan. That premonition was correct.
“We don’t have to fight here.”
“How?”
“As you must have sensed, I have some basic knowledge about illusions and formations.”
And the solution to this problem was truly in the most basic of basics.
“In illusions and formations, there must always be a method to break them. That is my first principle.”
The Sword King nodded with an expression that said he knew that much too.
“But the method to break a formation cannot, from the start, be killing the person who entered the formation with you. Because that would violate the premise of the foremost principle: that if you break the method, you can live.”
“!”
Geom Mugeuk had precisely seen through the thing that must not be missed.
“That signpost was a trick.”
“!”
“In a situation where you’ve defeated the enemies, yet the formation has not been broken, if a signpost like that remains, of course you would think you have to kill even your companion. It’s the formation of the final gate, so surely it must be truly cruel, right? It’s a trick aimed at that very mindset.”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward the sun rising in the distance.
“The remaining enemy is hiding somewhere here. If we eliminate that last one, then we will have eliminated everyone.”
The Sword King was truly surprised and impressed. If they had not seen through this trick, the companions who had come together would have killed each other. If the Young Cult Leader’s words were true, then this formation was a truly vicious formation that toyed with people’s hearts.
Ah! So that was why he went all the way to the end of the formation to find out how large this place was!
“Then why didn’t you say this yesterday?”
“I wanted to light a campfire with you once, Instructor. Isn’t this all a memory too?”
The Sword King said nothing. He had been about to say, half in jest and half in earnest, Weren’t you trying to pry my secret out of me? But from Geom Mugeuk’s expression now, he could tell. He had truly only wanted to camp with him for a day.
If he had been trying to pry out his secret, he would have persistently tried to learn it somehow. But yesterday, he and Geom Mugeuk had spent most of their time looking up at the night sky.
This time, the Sword King himself took the shoe at his waist and threw it upward.
Picking up the shoe that had fallen to the ground, he said,
“Let’s search from this side.”
And there really was one.
Moreover, it was not far from their starting point. Astonishingly, the remaining enemy was a single person.
“I’ll cut him down.”
Emotion was carried in the Sword King’s hand.
Since one remained, they had thought a truly strong enemy would have been left behind, but that was not the case. He was on the same level as the martial artists who had come in the first of the three attacks.
That was why this formation was even more infuriating. All they had to do was find and kill such a weakling. But by the time they learned that fact, they would already have killed all the companions who had come with them.
Geom Mugeuk could feel it. The person who created this formation was mocking humans, and martial artists. It was a formation in which that malice could be felt vividly.
When the Sword King cut down the opponent, the formation finally began to break. It was the moment they cut down everyone the formation had spoken of. Those who had entered the formation were not included in that “everyone.”
Ssssssssss.
When the formation disappeared, the two of them were standing in a dark passage.
Clank.
Far away, the door at the end of the passage opened.
The Sword King looked at Geom Mugeuk with complicated eyes.
“We passed another gate thanks to you.”
The Sword King began walking toward the door first.
“Still, I cannot give you half this time. This is a place where you either gain everything or gain nothing.”
Following behind him, Geom Mugeuk said,
“It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
The two stopped before the door at the end of the passage.
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward the top of the door. A single pattern was drawn there.
It was not the pattern he had seen on the walls or in the rooms of the previous passage.
This was a pattern he was seeing for the first time.
And yet it drew Geom Mugeuk’s gaze more intensely than any picture he had seen so far.
With a square at the center, six small circles surrounded it.
Each circle was a different color.
Black and white, blue and red, and yellow and purple.
‘No way?’
The square in the center looked like the secret coffer, and the six circles around it looked like the orbs the secret coffer absorbed.
When Geom Mugeuk stared fixedly at the pattern, the Sword King asked,
“What is it?”
“I take back what I said earlier.”
Slowly opening the door, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Give me everything in this room.”