Shaolin Temple after the Demon Cultists had withdrawn.
“The wounded, come this way!”
“Amitabha... May you be reborn in the Pure Land...”
Naturally, the side that had suffered the greatest blow in this incident was Shaolin Temple.
Not only had the warrior monks defending the grounds taken heavy losses, but no small number of scholarly monks had been caught up in the fighting and harmed as well.
On top of that, had not Ju Gangin, the imperial descendant who had entrusted himself to this place, been kidnapped by the Demon Cultists?
Because of that, Shaolin’s leadership was in no state to do anything but hold meeting after meeting. ‘Naturally, the Martial Alliance gathering will be canceled as if it never happened. They’ll likely tend to the wounded as best they can, then each return to where they came from.’ As everyone was busy trying to bring the chaos under control, someone approached Hugo, who alone had been lost in thought.
“Young Master Ha, so this is where you were.”
It was Namgung Soran, the cherished jewel of the Namgung Clan, who had roughly wiped away the blood and dust and straightened her clothing as neatly as she could.
Carefully approaching his side, she took a light breath, then deeply bowed at the waist.
“In the confusion, my greeting has come late. Thank you for saving my life. Had you not helped me, Young Master, I would likely no longer be of this world.”
Her tone was far calmer than the bright, innocent manner he had seen until now.
Then again, countless people who had been beside her only a short while ago had died in this incident, so it must have been no small shock for someone like her, raised delicately like a flower in a greenhouse.
“Please, don’t mention it. It was only natural that I do so.”
Hugo responded to her gratitude with courteous modesty.
And once that became the beginning of a brief conversation with her, people began gathering one by one around them.
They all had one thing in common.
Every one of them, to a greater or lesser degree, had received help from Hugo.
“Once again, thank you, benefactor.”
“Ah, truly, you were incredible back then. At that moment, I thought a heavenly general had descended!”
“I owe you my life. If ever there is anything I can do to help you in the future, please contact me at any time.”
Unlike the others, Hugo had not been affected by the Demon Cultists’ bizarre methods, so he had been able to continue performing steadily without fluctuation in his abilities. That had been no small help to the nearby young talents, most of whom were only around the first-rate level.
Had he not, in the end, even reached the transcendent realm and roamed the battlefield freely, playing a brilliant role?
Given the situation, it did not take long before even those with other intentions began approaching Hugo.
“Now that I think of it, young hero, will you be returning to the Jegal Clan?”
“As repayment for your grace, my family would like to invite you, benefactor...”
In a way, this was a development that had been predicted in advance.
Hugo... or rather, Ha Seunghun, was a once-in-a-thousand-years genius who had reached the transcendent realm at barely over twenty years of age.
In this age, where martial might was valued above all else, it was only natural that people would flock to him, hoping to establish ties with such a talent in advance.
Moreover, was he not merely staying with the Jegal Clan as a guest retainer due to a slight connection, rather than being formally affiliated with any force?
Then, if somehow they could draw him over to their side...
The eyes of the young talents who approached with such thoughts gleamed.
If they could bring him with them, it would be of no small help in solidifying their standing within their own factions.
That tendency was especially pronounced among a few of the women. ‘If I can secure that man...’ ‘He might help my elder brother in the succession struggle. Then perhaps I, too...’ His ability was beyond reproach, the character he had shown in an extreme situation was admirable, and his appearance was also exceedingly handsome.
On top of that, he had no particular ties, so as a candidate for a son-in-law to be brought into the family, there could be no better conditions.
Just as a strange atmosphere began forming among the women harboring such thoughts, Namgung Soran quietly stepped forward and moved closer to Hugo.
As if to block the gazes the women were directing at him.
While silent checks passed between several of them, the young talents gathered around began exchanging various words.
“Still, this is worrying. The Demon Cult has risen... Surely this is not the end?”
“Would that not be so? Rather, we should see this as the beginning. I only hope there will not be great damage.”
“They are fiends who even attacked a gathering held at Shaolin Temple. How long must they have been preparing...? I fear all under heaven may fall into misery.”
And most of the topic that naturally flowed from there concerned the Demon Cult, the instigator of this attack.
Every one of them expressed concern for the calamity to come.
Of course, that was an entirely natural reaction, but... ‘Ah, that’s already over.’ Hugo, the only one who knew the truth, smiled awkwardly.
He kept his mouth firmly shut amid the others’ serious discussion of countermeasures.
How could he reveal it in the current situation?
That the cult leader of the Demon Cult, which had just broken its long silence and begun to move, had become a guest of no return immediately after the first attack, before he had even made it back. ‘Well, for the time being, everyone will be cautious and their activities will shrink... But after some time passes, things should be fine, so it won’t matter.’ In the end, just as a crisis had arrived, its root cause had been eliminated without anyone knowing, and peace had come to the world.
Of course, the leaders of each faction would suffer, unable to know what the Demon Cult bastards were scheming, but even so, that would be far better than something actually happening. ‘More importantly
— that is not what matters right now.’ Hugo’s somewhat relaxed expression sank into seriousness.
In the process of organizing the information he had obtained through the Heavenly Demon, there was something he had come to understand vaguely about their plans. ‘Based on that, I need to decide how I’ll move from here on. First, I want to make contact with Golden Crow Island.’ The reason the Demon Cult, which had remained silent for a long time after the imperial palace bloodbath, had only now begun acting in earnest was entirely because of them.
Of course, they simply had not stepped onto the front stage; even during that time, they had been active in the shadows, working behind the scenes in various regions and absorbing other hidden forces such as the Blood Cult. ‘I also need more detailed information about the Child of the Dragon.’ The sickly young man who had entrusted himself to Shaolin Temple because of symptoms with an unknown cause, the imperial descendant Ju Gangin.
In truth, the Demon Cult’s greatest objective in attacking this place had been to secure him.
Aiming to overturn the orthodox murim in time with the day of the gathering had merely been something they attempted along the way.
‘The Child of the Dragon and Ju Gangin, and also...’ And he knew one more person who had the same symptoms as that imperial descendant. ‘Jegal Hyemi.’ ...It seemed he would have to return to the Jegal Clan first.
As quickly as possible.
***
The fact that Hans had personally stepped in and swiftly dealt with the Heavenly Demon was a far greater incident than expected.
If this were a game, it would be like hunting down the final boss, who had briefly appeared as an event in the tutorial, by going so far as to use cheat codes.
From the Heavenly Demon’s perspective, it would be filthy and unfair, but from this side’s perspective, there could be no development more efficient.
However, despite having captured the enemy’s leader, there was not all that much information he could obtain immediately. ‘As expected, there are limits to freely rummaging through the mind of a master who has reached the Profound Realm.’ Was that not why, even with the Thousand-Slaughter Demon Emperor in the past, all he had managed was to pour the Abyss into his body and soul and salvage a few fragmentary memories?
But the Heavenly Demon was a master even above him, so there was no need to speak of the difficulty.
Of course, compared to that time, Hans had also grown further, and above all, the “Orb of the Mind,” which supported mental-type abilities, had been added, so there seemed to be some possibility, but... ‘In any case, that Beoncheon Society leader bastard is no help in anything.’ This time, the divine power lodged within the Heavenly Demon’s body had interfered with him carelessly stirring up his mind, so he could not pour his full strength into it.
No matter how much Hans had gained a slight resistance to the divine power of the Beoncheon Society’s leader, there were limits to that as well.
To begin with, that resistance, at present, was only enough to slightly reduce external damage, so it was not of much help in such delicate work. ‘Still, it’s fortunate there was at least some harvest.’ After all that hardship, he was able to obtain several pieces of information.
One of them was that the Heavenly Demon was not merely a puppet of the Beoncheon Society, but a settler from Earth who had been arranged far longer ago.
‘For at least several decades, at that. In the early stages, he used his unique skill to establish himself, and afterward, he mainly trained in martial arts to prepare for after the system’s support disappeared.’ The process mobilized for that was systematic enough to make one marvel, even from only fragmentary information.
It was enough to clearly understand why the Beoncheon Society had so many powerful figures.
At that, Hans shook his head and clicked his tongue. ‘This is almost like... supporting and raising scholarship students at the organizational level. If other worlds are included, how many more cases like this might there be?’ Since they must have selected and invested in people with talent suited to it from the start, there could be no more fitting expression.
And one more thing he was able to learn was the importance of the “Child of the Dragon.”
From the moment he had felt doubt about the symptoms they had, he had guessed that something unusual was involved, but the result he roughly grasped through the Heavenly Demon far exceeded those expectations.
Of course it would. They were people directly connected to the god of this world. ‘...Well, even if the god of this neighborhood is the hands-off type, there’s no way he would stay still when the world has ended up like this.’ They were beings arranged by the chief god of this world, the Ganghwan Realm.
Seeds of hope born for the restoration of this world, which was crumbling after the Dragon Heart, the source of mystery, had been torn away.
Though that was the limit of what he could immediately learn from the Heavenly Demon, and thus he could not know the detailed circumstances, Hans did not particularly concern himself with such trifling matters.
“Khehehe, then shall I go right away?”
He could hear the rest from other bastards who would know.
“I suppose I should start with their headquarters.”
This was a matter tied to a clue for the restoration of the Ganghwan Realm, for which he had been devising various methods all this time.
There was no way the bastards who had turned the world into this state had kidnapped them for no reason, so he needed to act quickly before those things did anything foolish again. ‘And while I’m at it, I’ll recover the kidnapped Ju Gangin as well.’ He had no intention of going around searching one by one for the kidnappers who would be moving in secret.
If he simply waited quietly at their final destination, they would crawl in on their own one by one, so why go through the trouble of wasting time like that? ‘The coordinates aren’t certain, but... I know roughly where it is. If I sweep through that vicinity, it’ll show itself.’ In addition, the main altar of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was the largest headquarters of evil in the Ganghwan Realm, so there should be plenty of materials prepared to create the highest-grade jiangshi.
Naturally, there would also be countless artisans with related knowledge.
“Heh—killing two birds with one stone.”
Hans, the corners of his mouth twisting into a bizarre smile, slowly rose from his seat.
Then he turned, gauged the angle and distance to the place he had to go,
Screeech—!
And with a sharp noise like air being sliced apart, his body shot forward across the blue sky.
Carrying within his subspace the corpse of the one who had been the strongest in the world until just recently.
***
Yungjung Mountain, where the Jegal Clan was located.
At the foot of that mountain, a man with an enormous build appeared.
“Tch, as expected, I’m already too late.”
That man, the Mad Demon Harley, roughly looked around and lightly clicked his tongue.
He had gone so far as to use “Hero’s Footsteps” to rush over, yet the devastated surroundings hinted that a storm had already swept through this place once.
Trees and boulders torn up and strewn everywhere, the remains of a forest burned and left half-charred, even scars from weapons left all over the place.
From the entrance of the mountain to the central area where the Jegal Clan was situated, the countless formations installed in several layers had... ‘All been destroyed.’ Harley’s eyes narrowed.
His steps, which had been heading forward slowly, gradually quickened.
Amid the smell of burning coming from all over the forest, a familiar scent he had smelled until just recently was mixed in. ‘The smell of blood.’ And the smell of death, where despair, grief, and resentment were all mingled together.
Harley climbed to the top of one peak and looked in the direction where the Jegal Clan’s headquarters lay. ‘There are... not so few survivors. It seems they managed to repel them somehow.’ He could sense the auras of familiar people moving busily inside the buildings.
Though they appeared to have suffered grievous damage, as expected of those specialized in defense, they seemed to have somehow succeeded in repelling the intruders. ‘But I can’t sense Jegal Hyemi’s presence. Is she hidden within another formation inside? Or else….’ …Or else the attackers had achieved their objective and withdrawn without resistance.
Even while harboring such doubts, Halli did not approach rashly, instead surveying the surroundings with eyes as sharp as a hunter’s.
Right now, they had just suffered a sudden attack and were at the height of their nerves.
If Halli, an outsider with an extremely distinctive appearance, barged in under these circumstances, it would only make things unnecessarily exhausting for both sides. ‘Hm?’ Sniff, sniff.
—In the midst of that, Halli’s keen sense of smell detected a subtle sense of incongruity.
Something hidden within the stench of the battlefield, where the dregs of every kind of emotion mingled together.
The instant he sensed it, his body moved like a thunderbolt.
Swaaaak—
In a single moment, his hand crossed several kilometers and plunged into a thicket.
Crash!
“Hrk?!”
With the sound of something shattering, a middle-aged man in an old Daoist robe was dragged out by the scruff of his neck.
Then the corners of Halli’s mouth split wide, revealing savage teeth like saw blades.
“What are you? Why were you hiding here? Are you connected to the bastards who attacked this place?”
“Uh, y-you are…?”
“Hmm, you’re slow to answer. As expected, it’d be easier to tear off one arm first and start the conversation after that.”
“P-please, wait just a moment!”
At the cold mutter from the short-tempered Halli, the Daoist, his face pale, hurriedly waved both hands and opened his mouth.
“I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding! I’m from the Mosan Sect… that is, I belong to Geumodo! Yes! I have absolutely nothing to do with the Demonic Cultists! If anything, you could say they’re my enemies!”
“Huh? Geumodo?”
“Uh… It seems you’re not affiliated with Geumodo. Still, aren’t we of the same kind? For now, could you let go of this and let’s talk calmly…”
At the sudden barrage of out-of-nowhere terms, Halli momentarily paused.
Perhaps taking that as a positive reaction, the Daoist whose collar was still in his grip let out a relieved sigh and continued.
“Whew, I am Cheonggwan, serving under Lord Azure Dragon. I had come outside on a mission and happened to witness the calamity that befell the Jegal Family, so I was just about to report it to the higher-ups…”
Seeing how he put particular emphasis on the words “Azure Dragon” as he spoke, it seemed that was probably a fairly reliable backing.
Not that it stirred even the slightest impression in Halli, who knew nothing about it.
Halli looked the middle-aged Daoist held by the collar up and down with a peculiar gaze. ‘Same kind, huh… Well now, this is quite the coincidence.’ Come to think of it, the scent coming from this Daoist named Cheonggwan was subtly different from the humans of the Ganghwan Realm he had encountered so far.
Apparently, this man was also a yokai who had concealed his true identity and hidden himself in the human world.
It was an unexpected encounter he had not anticipated at all, but… ‘Good. This will save time.’ The corners of Halli’s eyes curved gently, and the corners of his mouth rose as he found himself having picked up a yokai by chance.
Then, feeling satisfied, he casually flicked his tongue and licked his lips without much thought.
“Eek! I-I don’t taste good! I-I’m from freshwater, so I smell rather fishy, and…!”
After that, it took a little more time to clear up the misunderstanding.
It seemed this yokai friend was more timid than expected.