Chapter 791: So That Was Why He Left Lord Soma Behind
Geom Mugeuk stepped into the darkness.
The moment he entered the fog, a suffocating heaviness surged in. His entire body felt heavy, as if his clothes had been soaked in water.
If the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Technique had not pushed that energy away, it felt as though he would not even be able to display half of his usual ability. Without a martial art that countered it, this was clearly an energy that would have a severe effect.
Geom Mugeuk raised all his senses to their limit and then moved forward.
Whiik.
Suddenly, something sprang out from within the darkness.
Shiiik. Puuk!
At a glance it had taken on a human form, but it was not human. Its neck was severed by the Black Demon Sword, and with a *puk*, it turned into smoke and vanished.
At that moment, someone’s voice was heard.
“If it were a real person, what would you do, swinging your sword so recklessly?”
The instant he heard the voice, Geom Mugeuk knew instinctively.
“So it was you, Dark Palace Master.”
“That’s right, it is I.”
It was neither spoken aloud nor transmitted through sound transmission. His words were being conveyed through this dark fog itself.
“How did you know it was me?”
“With an ill-fated connection like this, how could I not know?”
Something rippled within the fog.
Srrrk.
The Dark Palace Master revealed himself before Geom Mugeuk.
It was the first time the two had ever met.
“You look just as I imagined.”
“And how did you imagine me?”
“Old, ugly, and greedy…….”
Geom Mugeuk strode forward and placed his hand on his body. His hand brushed straight through him. He looked vivid and lifelike, yet he was an illusion.
“And a coward. You’d never show yourself unless you poured out all your underlings first, right?”
A peculiar smile formed at the corner of the Dark Palace Master’s lips. To hurl such insults from the very first meeting—just as the reports had said, exactly like the Young Cult Leader. Always striking where it hurt.
“Betraying bonds built over long years, exploiting people’s hearts. That’s your method, isn’t it? Have you ever once gone openly and said, ‘Let’s fight fair and square!’?”
Instead of taking the bait, the Dark Palace Master spoke words Geom Mugeuk had not expected.
“Young Cult Leader, shall you take a look at something done by a coward who could not be fair and square?”
As the Dark Palace Master spread his hand, a single scene unfolded beside him like an illusion.
“This is what it looks like outside.”
The image of Lee Ahn leaning against a rock appeared.
Blood was pouring relentlessly from her chest. No one was helping her as she lay dying.
Soon her figure receded, and the surroundings came into view. The unit leaders and members of the Tenebrous Ghosts Corps had all become corpses, lying dead.
Cha Iran had collapsed with her body severed in two, and beneath a half-shattered blue mask, Cheong Myeon lay dead. Seo Jin had died with hidden weapons embedded in her like a hedgehog, and Ji Han had died with his face buried in the flowing pool of blood.
Lee Ahn was suffering as she looked around at that scene.
“……I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
A gush of blood poured out from her mouth.
Watching that scene, Geom Mugeuk shouted.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
Geom Mugeuk roared in fury. He tried to grab the illusion by the throat, but he could not.
“Come out here, will you or not? You bastard, come out!”
The Dark Palace Master, who had been calmly watching the scene, spoke.
“You’re not agitated at all.”
At that, the eyes of Geom Mugeuk, who had been screaming at the top of his lungs, immediately became calm.
“You must have wanted to see me go mad, but sorry. As you can see, acting excited isn’t easy.”
Geom Mugeuk did not believe what had been shown to him at all.
“Why are you so sure it’s fake?”
“I didn’t raise her that weak. And there was a guardian who would never leave her to die like that. And most decisively, Lee Ahn didn’t look for me as she was dying, did she? If she’d said, ‘Young Cult Leader, I’m sorry I couldn’t serve you to the end,’ I might have gotten a little tense.”
A look of incredulity flickered across the Dark Palace Master’s eyes.
Then Geom Mugeuk spoke words the Dark Palace Master had not expected.
“Since you’ve already shown me, show me the real scene outside. I’m curious what everyone’s doing without me. Anyway, today either you or I will disappear from this world. We waited three hundred years and only just met—there’s no need to rush, is there? Honestly, you’re curious too, aren’t you? Who knows? Maybe watching Lee Ahn really die might drive me into a demonic deviation or something.”
The Dark Palace Master stared quietly at Geom Mugeuk, then swept his hand again.
The scene strewn with corpses vanished, and the real lakeside scenery unfolded before their eyes.
* * *
The attacks were concentrated on Lee Ahn.
If the plan had simply been to kill the leader first to crush morale, the attacks would not have been this persistent.
There was no doubt an order had been given to kill Lee Ahn no matter what.
However, they had overlooked one thing. She far exceeded the level they had anticipated.
Thanks to the attacks focusing on Lee Ahn, Cha Iran and the third squad members seized the chance to take down the ambushers.
Under normal circumstances, it would never have been an easy fight. The enemies were people raised without internal energy, solely to unleash hidden weapons. Moreover, they had been trained to conceal killing intent, making them difficult to single out.
They burst out from among ordinary people who were screaming and fleeing, suddenly unleashing hidden weapons.
In a battle where it was impossible to tell who was an assailant and who was not, Cha Iran and the assassins displayed truly top-tier skill. They, too, were adept at concealing murderous intent.
Meanwhile, the first squad and the second squad rescued the civilians.
Another ambusher sprang out and unleashed hidden weapons toward Lee Ahn.
Shikshikshikshikshik!
Chaengchaengchaengchaengchaeng!
The ambush attack had flown in suddenly, but Lee Ahn knocked every single one aside. Fearing that the projectiles knocked back might strike someone else, she did not dodge and instead deflected every one of them with her sword. It was truly a miraculous display.
Once again, the one who dealt with the person who had fired the hidden weapons was Cha Iran. The women who had once contended for The Greatest Beauty Under the Heavens—one blocked the hidden weapons, while the other killed the enemy.
Lee Ahn noticed merchants trembling beside a cart, unable to flee in time, and shouted.
“Go to where those martial artists are!”
At the moment she warned them, Lee Ahn felt a strange sense of unease.
She made eye contact with one of the merchants, but there was no trace of fear in his eyes.
Srrr.
A device for launching hidden weapons rose up from his cart.
It was the Gale Wind Rapid-Fire Cannon they had faced earlier against the Demonic Army.
Shiiik.
Lee Ahn instinctively unleashed sword energy, but it was blocked by an iron wall in front of it.
To harm the enemy, she had to strike precisely at the small hole that had been opened to see outside—the eyehole.
In that instant, Lee Ahn’s heart sank.
Even deflecting the hidden weapons mounted on the enemies’ arms earlier had been extremely difficult.
Yet the mechanical device mounted on the cart looked incomparably more powerful than those.
And there was not just one cart, but three. Including the carts to her left and right, a total of three Gale Wind Rapid-Fire Cannons were trained on her at once. Amid the chaos, they had waited for this single moment.
It was the worst possible situation, but Lee Ahn did not feel fear.
If she died here, all the civilians behind her, along with the subordinates protecting them, would die as well. As the leader, that was something she could never allow.
‘Block it. Lee Ahn, you can block it.’
She steadied her mind and exerted every ounce of concentration she had.
Shukshukshukshukshukshukshukshukshuk!
At the very moment the Gale Wind Rapid-Fire Cannons fired!
Something astonishing happened. Was it because she had exerted concentration beyond what should have been possible?
Everything around her began to move slowly.
Through the holes beyond the mechanisms, she could see the enemies’ pupils moving.
She could see hidden weapons pouring out from the mechanisms. One, two, three…… the continuous stream of projectiles appeared slow.
Hidden weapons were also being launched from the left and right, flying toward her.
At the instant her instincts delivered the answer as to how to evade these projectiles and which ones to deflect—
The slowly flowing time returned to normal.
Chaengchaengchaengchaengchaengchaengchaengchaengchaengchaeng!
Deflecting the incoming hidden weapons, she surged forward, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of a cart.
Shiiik!
She brought her sword straight down vertically.
Swiiish!
The iron plate that had not even been cut by sword energy, split apart, and the man behind it had his face cleaved in two as well.
“Haah.”
At the moment she exhaled the breath she had been holding.
The mechanism on the left had also stopped firing.
While it had turned its direction to attack Lee Ahn, Cha Iran had leapt over the iron wall into that position and driven a dagger into his neck. It was a movement so fast it was truly hard to believe.
Shukshukshukshukshukshuk!
The mechanism on the right was still firing into empty air.
Something like a pitch-black python surged up from beneath the cart, completely forcing its direction toward the sky. It was Seo Jin’s Ghost Art being unleashed.
The one who drove a dagger into the heart of the man who had lost his balance and was wildly firing into the air was Cheong Myeon.
Lee Ahn stared blankly down at her sword for a moment.
Experiencing time flowing slowly was astonishing enough, but the iron plate that had not been cut even by sword energy had been sliced as easily as radish.
She had no idea how that had been possible. This was something she would only understand later after asking Geom Mugeuk.
After a short while, the Demonic Army arrived at the scene.
For some reason, the explosive hidden-weapon attacks that had kept raining down suddenly stopped, allowing them to break formation and rush over.
And at the sight unfolding before their eyes, not only Jangho but even the Demonic Army soldiers wore expressions of shock. The situation had already been resolved.
All three mechanical devices had been completely smashed. And everywhere lay the corpses of those who had carried portable hidden weapons.
The third squad martial artists of the Tenebrous Ghosts Corps were retrieving the hidden weapons from their arms. They intended to recover everything and take it to the iron workshop.
On one side, ordinary civilians were being surrounded and protected by the first and second squads of the Tenebrous Ghosts Corps.
Jangho realized that he had underestimated the strength of the Tenebrous Ghosts Corps.
Lee Ahn could feel how urgently Jangho and the Demonic Army had rushed over.
“Lord Jang.”
“Leader Ahn.”
The two stood facing each other.
Jangho could feel it. The Lee Ahn who had shared drinks at the tavern before and the Lee Ahn now standing on the battlefield were so different that they might as well have been entirely different people in terms of ability.
“I’m relieved that you are safe.”
“Thanks to your concern.”
Jangho wanted to offer a word of encouragement to Lee Ahn, who had fought so admirably.
“Congratulations on your first real battle. If the Demonic Army is ever in danger, please be sure to come help us.”
It was praise from Jangho that could not have been higher.
“Thank you, Commander. We probably won’t have an occasion to help, but please call on us anytime.”
It was just when they thought everything had been settled.
Swaeaeaeaeaeak!
Something flew toward the two of them.
A Demonic Army soldier holding a shield at their side hurled himself forward to protect Jangho and Lee Ahn.
Jangho and Lee Ahn turned their bodies together and injected internal energy into the shield.
Bang!
All three of them were pushed backward, sliding away. Knowing from the sound alone that what was flying toward them was no ordinary attack, if the two of them had not joined forces, the Demonic Army soldier who had tried to protect them would have died from that power.
Creeeak.
The shield they were holding cracked, then shattered apart. The tactical shield that had never broken throughout the entire battle had been destroyed.
Thud.
Someone landed there.
The instant they saw him, everyone was startled.
He was a man of enormous build, his entire body encased in iron armor. With multiple chunks of metal attached to the armor, his bulk looked even larger.
Cha Iran recognized him. No, more precisely, she recognized what he was wearing.
“Divine Mechanism Iron Armor!”
The finest masterpiece created by that iron gate was precisely this Divine Mechanism Iron Armor. It was armor in which all of their techniques and capabilities had been fully concentrated.
“It can never be cut by sword energy or sword force.”
But that was not the only problem.
He had weapons mounted all over his body, on his shoulders, arms, and even his waist, golden-dragon weapons were attached. They were far more powerful than anything they had experienced before.
Lee Ahn could tell. The only weakness was to aim for the eyes of that iron mask protecting his face.
But judging from the opponent’s bearing, his martial prowess was anything but ordinary. He would never give up his eyes easily.
“You arrogant, demonic cult bastards. Did you think we’d be scared and run away just because you swarmed in like a pack of dogs?”
The iron-armored man slowly raised both arms. An unpleasant metallic sound rang out from the hidden weapons attached to his arms.
“Just how many of you do you think will survive here?”
Demonic Army soldiers holding shields surged forward, blocking the Tenebrous Ghosts Corps. Their eyes held no fear at all.
“Cult bastards, this place will be your grave—”
Before he could finish speaking, something flew in.
Without the slightest tremor or hesitation, it streaked straight forward and struck the eye of the iron mask dead on.
Puok!
It was faster than a meteor slicing through the night sky. It had flown in so fast that the sound arrived afterward.
Shiiiiiik!
Silence fell over the area.
Blood was flowing down from the iron-armored man’s eye.
The man who had looked ready to slaughter everyone at once began to collapse slowly.
Thud.
By the time he hit the ground, he was already dead.
Lee Ahn, along with everyone else there, turned around with stunned expressions. When they realized where that force had come from, they were horrified.
‘No way? From this distance?’
Far away, from behind a rock on a small hill, a single figure revealed himself.
He was none other than the Evil Smiling Demon, wearing a pure white mask.
From that great distance, the Blood Disaster Finger struck its mark with perfect accuracy.
It was no longer the Blood Disaster Finger of the past. It was faster and more precise.
Everyone could tell.
From the very beginning, the Evil Smiling Demon had been watching the entire battle. And the reason everyone had been able to finish the fight safely was also that he had been silently watching over them.
Amid the chaos, there must have been enemies the squad members had missed.
But the Evil Smiling Demon would not have missed them. The Blood Disaster Finger that flew in without a sound must have sent the reaper back.
Perhaps that battle had consumed far more mental strength than if he had fought directly himself.
Jangho realized that the one who had eliminated those who attacked them at the end was the Evil Smiling Demon. He understood that the man had been roaming freely across the battlefield, fighting alongside them the entire time without a sound.
With an expression full of emotion, Lee Ahn called out to him with all her strength.
* * *
“Lord Soma!”
At the same time as Lee Ahn, Geom Mugeuk also shouted.
Geom Mugeuk’s face was filled with emotion. When had he last felt this moved? Lee Ahn and all the squad members who had fought so brilliantly were admirable. Everyone had fought well!
In contrast, the Dark Palace Master’s expression stiffened. The scene that had been unfolding beside him like an illusion went *puk* and vanished, as if extinguished.
“Do not think this is the end.”
The illusion of the Dark Palace Master rippled. It was as if his fury was piercing straight through the illusion.
“Your Evil Smiling Demon will be trapped in eternal darkness today.”
When Geom Mugeuk showed no reaction, the Dark Palace Master asked,
“You don’t believe this either?”
Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“I believe it. Knowing that Lord Soma is there, you wouldn’t have sent only those people. You must have sent something very, very terrifying. You’d have to kill the person I cherish most, or take them hostage, to shake my heart no matter what. This matter is very important to you, isn’t it?”
Neither the weight of years etched into his deeply lined wrinkles, nor the threat filled with dark energy, could bear down on this conviction.
“That’s precisely why I left Lord Soma behind instead of anyone else.”
His faith in the Evil Smiling Demon was absolute.
“So that such tricks would never work.”