-What the hell is that?
-My first time seeing it too. Even after being pierced in the head, he is alive…
Short Sword and Iron Sword also seemed surprised.
What was the true identity of this monster? The part of his chest rubbed by the finger burned.
-If it is the Blood Demon Sword who lived longest among us, he might be able to tell us something.
Iron Sword had some truth in it. The guy who has been around since the foundation of Blood Sect must have seen a lot. But now that wasn’t the problem.
“Kuaaak!”
Chak!
“Kuak!”
He quickly tilted his head to the side, and the fingernails brushed passed by. There was no difference in the body movements from those who learned martial arts.
It wasn’t a standard martial arts body movement and the reflexes were almost catching up to my speed.
‘A First-rate Warrior.’
If this was the case, how could the men including his grandfather even oppose the man? It was impossible to stop this monster who had the speed and movement while approaching me like a skilled warrior.
-Wonhwi! I think you should cut its throat.
-Right. Let’s see if it moves without the head!
I was thinking the same thing. If it didn’t die from the head being hit then to cut the head.
I immediately moved and tried to crouch in order to cut his head as he continued to swing the nails. And then I swung the sword at the guy’s neck.
At that moment, the guy suddenly jumped back.
Papak!
Then, as if to protect his neck, he covered the front of the chest with both hands.
-That has to be its weakness!
Seeing that he dodged the attack for the first time, it was a weakness.
‘Then!’
I moved like a hawk toward him and used my silver thread too.
“Grrrr!”
The monster wildly swung his arms and flung the body back but in the first place this technique was meant to pierce the opponent like a hawk.
I dug into the gap and swung the sword aiming for the gap in his arms.
‘Blood Heavenly Sword.’
The sword dug right into the gap and slashed the neck.
Chak!
It cut right through the neck. However, I couldn’t cut through the bones and stopped halfway.
‘It is so hard.’
I never knew bones could be this hard. Even if the space was small enough to land a strong swing, I could feel that it had bones that were stronger than humans.
“Kuakuk!”
Did it even feel the fear of having the throat slashed?
This monster urgently grabbed onto the blade with both hands and the power was so great that I felt lost.
The blade was trembling as it moved from the throat.
“Damn it!”
I, too, grabbed the sword with both hands and continued to apply force into the throat, but someone hit the blade with a stone axe and stopped that monster
“Haaah!”
And with that the blade of the sword slashed through the bones and the head got cut off.
Chak!
The head of the monster rolled on the ground and the headless body moved its arms struggling.
‘How is it alive even without a head?’
This thing had such a strange body.
“Die already!”
Pak!
I kicked the monster’s torso with the foot.
The body of the monster who was kicked staggered as it got pushed and eventually it fell down. And despite wriggling it couldn’t get up.
-It is really so stubborn. If it wasn’t one but many….
Do not jinx it! I am already anxious here.
“Phew…”
I turned my head and looked at the one armed man. The man helped me despite having the nails torn into his body and I tore off a long hem of the cloth and wrapped it around the waist.
“Kua! Gently… gently…”
The one armed man frowned in pain.
“Haa… Haa… It doesn’t know how to use martial arts. To see that monster finally fall.”
“Have you tried to slit the throat?”
“It was difficult to avoid its nails, let alone aim for the neck.”
Well the speed and strength of the monster was surely strong. To hold out without martial arts against such a being was too though, it truly was like suicide.
“Just what is this monster? From the outside, it looks like a human.”
“I don’t know, it is my first time seeing such a being too.”
“And grandfather doesn’t know either?”
“Even he doesn’t know. But there was a former taoist among the deceased and before dying he spoke about this and made a fuss calling it a gangshi.”
“Gangshi?”
-What is that?
Gangshi.
Literally meant a standing corpse.
The elders only spoke of this as stories to scare the kids. And I heard that taoist origins were known to make the dead into gangshi so they could walk back to the homes they belonged to.
-I remember. Come to think of it, the previous owner joked in a drinking party about gangshi.
‘You heard of this?’
-I don’t remember when the talks came out. But at that time the taoist of Mount Hyeong came up and said that there was a taoist sect which was quite proficient in sorcery skills. I heard that they could treat dead bodies with talismans or something.
‘Is that true?’
-I don’t know if this is true but it was a story they spoke about when drinking.
Right. At drinking times the parties involved would speak a lot of stuff. And it was amazing that such things existed in warriors.
‘What is the martial arts sect?’
-f I remember right, I think I heard it to be Mount Mo.
Mount Mo?
-You know about it?
Who wouldn’t know? Mount Mo was known to be a famous taoist sect among the members of Martial Arts sect.
They didn’t exist now but the reason they went extinct was something I knew about.
-Why?
During the persecution of Martial Arts sects, there were many which sided with the Royal family and one of it was Mount Mo.
-Uh? Then an ally hit on the back of its head.
Right. That was what happened.
If it had been successful the Mount Mo sect would have changed everything but then the Emperor from that time backstabbed and even his plan failed.
In the end Mount Mo sect which hated other Martial Arts sects was stigmatized and ceased to exist. Although they didn’t exist now, it was hard to believe that the story of Mount Mo sect being involved in bizarre acts like this, was something I was learning for the first time.
-It might not be that, so just hear it. And in the first place I heard gangshi would move by jumping on two feet and acting ridiculous.
I thought so too.
I heard that the gangshi which were turned from corpse moved according to the one who controlled them but this one we faced was more like a living monster.
‘I don’t know.’
That wasn’t important now, so I asked.
“Were there any more monsters in here?”
“None I know of. And we were chased by just this one.”
I sighed in relief. Even if one more came out, I didn’t have the qi to act on it. It was likely good that there were not many more.
“Can you move?”
“I can.”
He said it but it didn’t see like he would move so I began to support him from the shoulder.
“Let me guide you.”
Wheik!
Among the items he brought with him was a tree root torch. I wondered why he tied the leather around it, but it was to prevent it from getting wet.
Supporting him on one side, holding the torch I moved down the aisle as guided and after going a little in, a huge cavity like space appeared.
-It is pretty wide?
This wasn’t that wide but for a cavity to be this wide was surely big, this was three times the place where the roots were gathered. And with this it felt like many could come and stay here.
‘A lot.’
So many caves could be seen around and it could be divided again once entered. It felt like one would have to spend a lot of time to stay here to get used to the place.
“There.”
The one armed man pointed to the cave in the northwest direction. I picked him up and headed there. And while moving he glanced at the second cave and said, “We shouldn’t go there”
“The monster came from there?”
“Yes.”
The one armed man responded bitterly and I could understand it, he had lost his comrades.
“Rest in peace.”
I bowed my head in that direction. Perhaps the man felt grateful to my actions; he too bowed his head.
That was the moment I was about to enter the cave.
Tatatat!
A number of footsteps could be heard and the guy too turned his head
And from the second cave on the right side, monsters with white skin and yellow eyes emerged.
‘…!?’
There were five of them and it seemed like more were coming from the sound of it. It was then I asked him
“You said it is just one?”
“I-it was one!”
Damn it.
With these many we would lose. It was unreasonable for us two to handle so many. I glanced at my wrist. The cloth was stained in blood.
“Run away!”
The guy told me but I shook my head and pushed him into the cave
Puak!
“W-what is this!”
“Make sure to get the herbs!”
With that I screamed and jumped in.
“Here! Here!”
Short Sword said
-You idiot! Are you this excited to die!
Was there anything more to do? Even if I brought the man in, he would be fighting and lose before long. So even if I run by leaving him, it would be a situation with the missing herbs since I had no idea about their location.
Drawing their attention and letting him get the herbs was the right thing.
“Kwaaaa!
“Grrrr!”
Could it be the aftermath of my screaming? They all rushed at me.
“Right! In here! Here!”
Fortunately, the space here was large so there could be a lot of hide and seek being played and I looked back, only to notice that the number had grown to 8.
“Kwaaak!”
Even that wasn’t enough, and the other guys kept popping out.
‘This is insane! They keep on growing in number!’
It was impossible to deal with all of them. At least if I could use innate qi, it would help a lot more.
-12… 13… 14…
Iron Sword was counting the monsters and my heart was beating fast.
-15
‘Stop counting!’
I was dying of anxiety here. If this happened, I wonder if I would get caught before the herbs were even brought
-Be careful! And look up!
Papapak!
When I looked up at the cry of Short Sword, I saw two monsters were running by sticking to the ceiling.
