The Predator of Massacre.
Lee Sungmin had heard what Volander mentioned.
Sima Ryunju himself stated that there were 3 beings he felt uncomfortable about, with regard to his chances in fighting against them.
Wudang of the Sword, The Divine Spirit, and the Predator of Massacre.
Yet Heoju believed and told Lee Sungmin, that the actual Predator of Massacre, was fictional.
Above the 5 Black Stars in terms of power, and would be the apex of their organization, was this being called the Predator of Massacre. In the time period Heoju was alive and active, up until even the present, this being had never made its appearance.
“……The Predator of Massacre?”
“Didn’t Heoju tell you?”
Asked Volander.
The distance between Volander and Lee Sungmin was close. If either of them decided to, they could attack the other any time. However, Volander did not show any intention to attack and neither did Lee Sungmin.
“I’ve heard of it.”
“The Predator of Massacre is…”
Volander’s eye sockets narrowed.
“It has never appeared before. It’s not a monster that existed in the first place, but a monster that will emerge someday. The stories that are passed down about it are interesting… You see it’s about a human that turned into a monster, but didn’t actually fully cross the line between the two until the very end.…it’s said to also consume and take the traits of the entities it consumes and have a completely overbearing and dominant aura that rules above all other species.”
“And you figure that’s me?”
“I think it’s quite possible.”
Volander grinned.
“Look at you. You’re both human and not human at the same time. Your body is already turning into a monster’s from the inside, not a human. Your mind seems to still retain its humanity but can you still consider that being human?”
“I can.”
“Believe what you will. It doesn’t really matter in the end since it’s your decision, what you do with your humanity and not mine, but….”
Volander grinned.
“You even have the energy of a Dragon. Among the existing human beings living in Eria, there is no human being with the power of a Dragon as far as I know. Wouldn’t that make your existence quite similar to the description describing the Predator of Massacre?”
“That’s still just a hypothetical reasoning. Nobody even knows if the Predator of Massacre is real.”
“That’s true. There’s never been an actual sighting or news of it surfacing on the continent as of yet.”
Volander took a few steps back, saying so.
“In any matter, you stimulate my curiosity in many ways. It’s been a long time since I felt this way.”
“…What are you doing here?”
Lee Sungmin asked a question, not bothering to continue amusing Volander’s superstitions. Volander then shrugged as he returned to his seat.
“I was just out sailing.”
“For what purpose?”
“I’m looking for a Dragon.”
Volander replied. It was an unexpected answer, so Lee Sungmin opened his eyes wide and stared at Volander.
It was because he didn’t think that Volander was actually lying since his seriousness could be felt in his tone. Volander shrugged his shoulders as he received Lee Sungmin’s shocked gaze
“Are you surprised?”
“……a little—it’s a very unexpected answer.”
“Myself included, every single Death Knight on this ship is cursed. Whether they sold their souls willingly or not to a demon, the fact of the matter remains the same.”
Volander muttered as he lifted the helmet he was wearing off of his head.
There was no head where the helmet was taken off. A pair of flickering dark and golden lights were floating around where it normally would be.
“This ship’s Death Knights, including myself, have lived for too long a time. We will not die unless we are killed. After one of us dies, their soul will become forfeit, and they will suffer from eternity.”
Volander, then, changed his gloomy words as he continued to speak.
“But I don’t want to resign to my death like that, so I’m looking for a Dragon. They say Dragons are beings of supreme magical knowledge and might. They say that most of the magic in the world originates from the Dragons themselves.”
“And a Dragon can solve the curses placed on your souls?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t met a Dragon yet.”
“Are you saying there’s a Dragon in the sea here?”
“The Dragon race was last seen 100 years ago as they mysteriously disappeared.”
Volander replied.
“But this sea is one of the last places the Dragons were last seen. We have plenty of time anyway since we will not die of age. If we wander around this sea, someday……maybe We’ll be able to meet a Dragon.”
Volander muttered like that and looked at Lee Sungmin again.
“I was curious about you because you were emitting such a strong and dominant Aura filled with the energy of a Dragon. So I had a little bit of expectation, but in the end, it was simply useless.”
Volander sighed and let out a slight smile.
“I want to ask you one last question.”
“What is it?”
“Are you interested in joining Predator by any chance?”
“Not at all.”
Lee Sungmin answered without any hesitation. The words caused Volander to laugh as if he knew Lee Sunmin would reject him on the spot.
“I forget you think of yourself as a human being…… I shouldn’t have asked you about it. But someday, if you change your mind. I can help you out in joining us at that time.”
“I don’t need any kind of favors like that.”
“You might need it someday. Probably when you completely turn into a monster and there are no traces of your humanity remaining. The humans closest to you will abandon you first. Humans and monsters can’t coexist in harmony, you of all people should know that.”
Lee Sungmin stared at Volander with his mouth shut. Volander continued to speak at the fierce eyes of Lee Sungmin.
“Just as humans feel stable when they are around other humans, the same can be said for monsters. By that time, I’m sure you’ll be hoping to enter Predator.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Whoa there! I wouldn’t completely dismiss the possibility. It just so happens that the position for the King of Monsters is empty right now. It’s been vacant ever since Henemy’s heart was ripped right out of his chest by Yana, the Nine-Tailed Fox.”
Lee Sungmin decided he no longer had any reason to continue listening to Volander.
Volander did not stop Lee Sungmin, who turned around with a jerk.
Lee Sungmin left Volander’s room and passed through the dark and creaky hallway to the deck. The Death Knights could not be seen.
[The King of monsters.]
Heoju murmured to Lee Sungmin in a quiet voice.
[You’re not a Death Knight, vampire, werewolf, nor are you a Lich. If you join Predator, there’s no faction other than the monsters.]
“I don’t want to join them though.”
[I’m not trying to persuade you to join them at all. What I’m saying is, you don’t have to be enemies with them. If you fight against Beyond the Heavens, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to grab help from Predator.]
Heoju’s words actually seemed quite plausible to Lee Sungmin. First of all, Lee Sungmin was planning on going under the wings of the Sama Order. But not even the Sama Order as an organization could stand up to Beyond the Heavens in size. It did not mean that Sima RYunju was not inexplicably powerful, but as a group the Sama Order could not fend off from all the organizations under the control of Beyond the Heavens.
But Predator was different.
Volander alone was stronger than Guan Zun, and considering only the sheer quality and power of the enormous troop of Death Knights led by Volander, it was easy to say that Volander and his troop itself could easily destroy a couple of sects and factions by themselves.
But Lee Sungmin didn’t want to enter Predator yet.
However, at the recommendation of Volander, it did feel like there was one more option.
If Volander, one of the 5 Black Stars, maintained a friendly relationship with Lee Sungmin, there would be less stress and revolt if he joined Predator later on.
Lee Sungmin jumped from the deck of the ghost ship down to Zod’s ship.
On the deck, there remained the body of Baek-Myung and the two maids he had brought from the rowboat.
Zod and others were so scared that they were frozen in fear and trembling madly. Lee Sungmin approached Zod, who reeked of urine.
“Move the ship.”
“Yes, yes…… yes?”
“I said move the ship. I am still going to Belador as scheduled.”
“Well, are you sure they don’t mind you leaving?”Zod asked gazing with his trembling eyes to the Ghost ship.
“Yes.”
When Lee Sungmin nodded, Zod gulped and looked to the captain beside him.
The captain, who had a rough and scraggly beard, hesitated but then ordered the crew on the deck to start moving the ship.
The raspy deck of the caravel creaked loudly at the sound of sailors running around.
As this happened, the darkness around the caravel began to fade.
Volander’s ghost ship completely disappeared within seconds like it was never there in the first place.
The sunlight poured onto the crew and ship and the sky was perfectly clear.
The ship started again, but the atmosphere was still tense.
It was also the first time that the captain and sailors of the caravel, who had been sailing for a long time, had ever seen a ghost ship that could only be heard of in storybooks.
In the tense atmosphere, Lee Sungmin gathered the bodies of Baek-Myung and his two maids.
“What, what are you doing?”
Without answering Zod, Lee Sungmin silently searched the bodies of the three.
As Lee Sungmin thought, Baek-Myung, the pirate known for body modification, was indeed famous in these waters.
Although he and his pirates were slaughtered and exterminated when they crossed paths with Volander’s ship, there were treasures filled with rubies, gold, silver, and other jewelry armaments within the spatial pocket of Baek-Myung.
The thing was, Lee Sungmin was not strapped for cash these days to need these treasures.
However, it was only a waste to throw away all this money that was ownerless, into the sea.
Some mercenaries found out what Lee Sungmin was doing and wandered around him, but they could not dare to approach him and talk about what he was going to do with the treasure.
After packing away the subspace pocket of Baek-myung, Lee Sungmin threw three bodies of the pirate, and his two maids, into the sea.
The mediator who attacked Lee Sungmin earlier was watching him with his lips sealed shut.
He was rather boastful in front of Lee Sungmin and the other mercenaries prior to starting the voyage since he was a Peak Realm martial artist, but when faced with Lee Sungmin’s real and frightening skills, he realized just how much of a fool he was.
Since the meeting with the ghost ship, no problems had arisen later on in the voyage.
Several times, Lee Sungmin saw the remains of a pirate ship floating in the sea. It seemed to have been sunk after encountering Volander’s Ghost ship that was floating around the sea aimlessly in search of a Dragon.
***
Two months later, The voyage had finally ended as Zod’s caravel entered into the port of Belador.
Lee Sungmin already wanted to jump off the ship, but he couldn’t.
Belador was the largest port city in Eria, and the entry process was just as difficult and scrutinizing.
The entire city had partnered with the Wizard Towers to detect which ships and people were coming through by the sea route.
No matter how skilled Lee Sungmin was, it was impossible to enter Belador without being captured by a tracking magic.
‘It’s troublesome, but bearable.’
For that very process, Lee Sungmin had bought the C-Class mercenary badge from Erebrisai. It would have taken a few more months for him to get to Belador if he had chosen to traverse over to here by land.
For being able to arrive in Belador in only two months by boat, he could bear this much trouble.
“Don’t be going around speaking any nonsense, got it?.”
On the deck were Zod, the sailors, and the mercenaries. Lee Sungmin looked at them and warned them.
Those who received Lee Sungmin’s attention, who were lost in thought, immediately sobered up and shut their mouths.
It was a verbal warning, but everyone knew the real meaning behind his words. They would die as soon as they said something they saw on the ship.
The mere presence of having a merchant guild mediator on the ship quickly passed most of the procedures.
Lee Sungmin watched Zod talking to the port manager at a distance.
If he spoke one word out of turn, his head would fly off his shoulders immediately.
Knowing the fact, Zod’s body flinched as he received Lee Sungmin’s fierce gaze.
The whole process eventually finished. The mercenaries and sailors began to unload the goods on the ship.
Lee Sungmin didn’t have much luggage to carry because of his own subspace pocket that he kept hidden during the trip. By the time the sailors began to unload the goods, Lee Sungmin had already gotten off the ship.
This was because Lee Sungmin no longer had to act as a mercenary hired on that ship, thus why he departed from the ship quickly.
‘It’s not that far from here to get to the Forest of Fairies.’
He would probably arrive by the next full moon at the latest. Until arriving at the Forest of Fairies though, Lee Sungmin was planning to continue using the name of the C-Class mercenary, Jeong Hyun-soo.
Unlike the south, the western side of the continent was influenced heavily by the 5 Great Families and Orthodox factions within the Murim Alliance. In Belador specifically, it was home to one of the great 5 Families, The Namgung Family.
‘Heewon..’Lee Sungmin recalled Namgung Heewon.
The last time he saw him, Lee Sungmin did not hear about Namgung Heewon’s escape from the Forest of Temptation.
Although Lee Sungmin came to Belador, there was no reason to see Namgung Heewon since their relationship as sworn brothers had ended a long time ago.
Maybe it would even be a strained relationship whenever they met next, since there were rumors spread throughout Eria that Murong Seojin and Zhuge Taeryong were killed by him.
The thing was, Lee Sungmin also knew that Namgung Heewon had loved Murong Seojin with all his heart. Even after she married Zhuge Taeryong, he still loved her in his heart from a distance.
It was highly possible that Namgung Heewon believed what the Murim Alliance had said about him. But… if possible, Lee Sungmin truly wished to clear up their misunderstandings with each other. But, Lee Sungmin could not afford to do that while he was here.
Lee Sungmin left the port thinking about their relationship. However, contrary to what he thought, he could not leave Belador immediately.
Lee Sungmin stopped walking and looked at the sight that was in front of him with shocked eyes.
In the middle of the spacious square, there was a cage made of iron that was built like it was made to hold wild animals.
In the cage, a man, dressed in clothes that were no different from rags, was sitting with his arms tied into the air, bound by ropes to the edge of the cage.
Lee Sungmin dropped his jaw slightly as he recognized the pale-looking and incredibly malnourished man being held prisoner inside the cage.
It was Namgung Heewon.