The Bound Saintess (Part 2)
‘…Huh?’
My neck snapped clean off, yet I felt nothing but a strange bewilderment.
It couldn’t be Jang Ik.
Jang Ik would never throw away a swing like this when facing a Void Shattering Venerable.
‘Does Jang Ik not know that even with his head severed he won’t die?’
I quickly righted my posture while my head was still tumbling through the air.
Then, the next instant—
Kwarrung!
A golden swarm of lightning erupted from inside the spatial veil.
A single Thunder Bee burst forth, snatched my severed head, and soared away into the distance.
‘…!’
‘So that’s it. This isn’t Jang Ik—it’s the master of the ninety-ninth floor!’
My expression darkened at once.
Now that I thought back, it had been odd.
We had already broken through to the ninety-ninth floor, yet the masters of ninety-six through ninety-eight had appeared, while the master of the ninety-ninth had never shown even a shadow.
‘So Jang Ik…?’
I searched for him.
And found him instantly.
Kwakgwa-gwang!
Ninety-ninth floor.
Jang Ik swung his wooden staff wildly, driving thousands of Thunder Bees back so they could not descend below.
Buzz…
A Thunder Bee carrying my severed head brushed past him, and our eyes met for a fleeting moment.
He clicked his tongue in utter disbelief.
“…You really got played. All of us…”
A little later.
I stood at the center of the ninety-ninth floor, surrounded by a swarm of Thunder Bees.
Before a colossal honeycomb the size of a continent, built by linking several planets, stood a colossal tree.
The Thunder Bee ferried me straight into the honeycomb.
The innermost, most secret chamber.
‘So I was just sliced for my head, and it turns out that was the ritual.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
To a Void Shattering Venerable, the “head” was meaningless.
Their core was a star; the head and “head” were nothing but labels.
Severing one head left them perfectly able to continue operating from the same place.
But this bee had taken my head intact and, at the same time, dragged my soul fragment along.
It had clearly performed a soul-binding ritual through the act of severing the head.
Uuuuuung!
Then I finally learned the identity of the bee that had brought my head here.
Zzip-zip-zap!
As lightning crackled, the bee dissolved into the form of a human.
Long hair.
Snow-white feet.
Dressed in a lightning-covered palace robe, she was a mature, beautiful woman.
The very image of a “mature form Golden Bird.”
The instant she transformed, her overwhelming presence pressed down upon the entire ninety-ninth floor.
Given that each floor was nearly its own dimension, she had flooded this dimension with her own aura.
I could immediately guess her realm.
‘Fissure Opening… True Immortal!’
The being before me was only a step away from Jinseon!
“…First, why did you cut off only my head and bring me here?”
I tested whether I could communicate with my physical body, subtly wielding Void Shattering and soul arts without revealing them.
The voice replied, [I saw Your Highness fighting the projection of Jeung-ryong. So I brought only the soul fragment and the head attached to it, thinking a full body would be too much for me to handle.]
“Your realm… is it only Jinseon?”
[In terms of the Venerable’s pure cultivation, it would be the same.]
“Why did you bring me here?”
[To escort you to the hundredth floor.]
“What is your relationship with the Golden Bird?”
Because she answered every question without hesitation, I kept pressing.
When the question turned to the Golden Bird, a chilling smile spread across her face.
[My root… in your terms… “Mother” would be the closest word, I suppose.]
‘…!’
I glared at her.
“…The reason you want to take me to the hundredth floor… is it because of your ‘Mother’?”
[That’s exactly right. Then…]
And at that exact moment.
Jjeoeoeong!
A thunderous roar erupted from somewhere distant.
From far away came the cry of a dragon, and suddenly I stood in the very space where Jang Ik and Yeo-hui were.
“Here…?”
Jang Ik sighed.
“I and Yeo created this space together. We used my mental space, yours, and Yeo’s bloodline to forge a temporary impregnable ritual chamber.”
Jang Ik’s wooden staff from our previous mental-space clash.
Using its trace, we had instantly linked our mental spaces, and with Jeung-ryong’s power Yeo had briefly set up this barrier.
Each feat was astonishing, and I could only admire it.
“Impressive. For now, I’ve been kidnapped by what appears to be a Fissure Opening-level Thunder Beast from the ninety-ninth floor.”
“I know. And that’s why I called you here. Yeo has something he wants to say to you.”
We hurried our discussion.
We had almost cleared the ninety-eighth floor, but the appearance of a Fissure Opening master at ninety-nine, plus my full-power abduction by that same master, left us with no time to waste.
Yeo opened his mouth at once.
“I was flipping through the old books and found records of the ‘Golden Bird’ you mentioned and the Trial Tower. It’s right here. The Golden Bird is the master of the Trial Tower in Noeseonghae. She is also the master of the hundredth floor—the final gate.”
“…As expected.”
Yeo’s expression grew grim.
“You said the Golden Bird helped you, right? But according to the old books, among the sub-human beings of the Lightning Venerable, the Golden Bird was especially cruel, vicious, and deceitful. She probably tricked you.”
“Ugh…”
“For now, I’m blocking the Thunder Bees from ninety-nine so they can’t descend to ninety-eight. The real problem is the hole between them will seal soon. If that happens, your soul fragment may be trapped there forever with that Fissure Opening master. So we decided to rescue you first.”
“Is there a way?”
Jang Ik nodded and drew his staff.
“I’ll stab you with my staff. Then, in the realm of soul, I’ll pull you and me to the ninety-eighth floor. All the Venerables present—me, Yeo, and the others—will pull your soul with everything we have. Respond well. Your soul will feel like it’s being torn apart, but endure.”
“Understood. Then I’ll ask Master first…”
“I know.”
I planted Asim-geom in Jang Ik’s mental space so it would be easy for him to pull me.
Jang Ik planted the ultimate technique of Hamseon-myulcheon in his own space.
We connected at once, and each of us grasped the “link” between us.
“Then I’m pulling…!”
And in that moment when Jang Ik, Yeo, and the other Venerables below tried to yank me—
Pach-ing!
Time seemed to freeze.
In that frozen moment, only I had awakened awareness.
‘What…?’
Tap-tap-tap…
The very space we had created in our mental realms.
An outsider had entered completely naturally.
She had snow-white, soft feet.
Dressed in a lightning-covered palace robe, she was a girl with platinum hair.
Yang Su-jin’s successor—Geum-jin-jo.
She smiled faintly at me and said,
[I have come to rescue you. Follow me.]
“…What are you doing?”
[First, come with me. This dimension was created with Jeung-ryong’s laws, so forcing entry was impossible. And resisting was difficult.]
“No, I’m not going.”
[No need to worry. You don’t even need to lift a finger.]
Tatak!
She snapped her fingers, and my consciousness returned to the ninety-ninth floor.
Before the Thunder Bee Queen who had been waiting for her true form.
The Bee Queen suddenly appeared and knelt before the Golden Bird.
[Your Highness, I kneel before you.]
[There is no need for formalities. The master has changed. I am now the true owner.]
Grabbing my hair, she lifted my head and set off.
The Bee Queen reached out as she passed, and a dimensional gate opened.
Squeak… squeak…
The Golden Bird opened the gate together with me and stepped through.
I found myself instantly at the hundredth floor of the Trial Tower in Noeseonghae.
Uuuuuung!
The hundredth floor of the Trial Tower felt like a rooftop.
On the desolate rooftop of a vast tower stood a colossal celestial chart.
I stared at its structure in surprise.
‘…Yeungsung?’
In our nineteenth loop we had seen the Yeungsung of Nambukbo, and the structure was strikingly similar.
Yet there were no bizarre, sacred patterns, and no terrifying pressure.
The celestial chart of the highest floor of the Trial Tower was simply a vast mechanical device that moved slowly and occasionally spat out clusters of light resembling constellations.
[How do you like it? It is the emergency escape route of all worlds created by my former master, who terrified the celestial artificer. A divine treasure forged to escape the wrath of the Heavenly Punishment Master. It was once a path that could take you anywhere. Now, without a true personality to inhabit it, it is nothing more than a huge lump of scrap metal. A prison where you cannot go anywhere.]
“…Why did you bring me here?”
[To gift you this magnificent divine treasure along with the authority to control the entire Trial Tower. Do you like it?]
“Then why go through all this trouble when you could have simply explained it from the beginning?”
[Hehe… You’re so pure. You’re the complete opposite of my master…]
The Golden Bird giggled and set my head on the ground.
[Let me introduce myself again. I am Geum-jin-jo. I am both the concubine and pet of Yang Su-jin, the combat weapon he forged—a Thunder Beast in full form. I am also the collective soul of every vengeful spirit in the Thunder Bird Gold Shaking Gate that was wiped out by his hand. And after his death I was sealed here at the hundredth floor of the Trial Tower in Noeseonghae, where I manage the tower while being slowly torn apart by it.]
She knelt before me and gently stroked my head.
[My master was so cruel. He took the sect I followed and, without the slightest hesitation, ground them into monsters. He used them as weapons until he had nothing left to say but “I’m going home,” then, when I clung to him begging, he tied my finger with his own and hurled me into Ilwol Cheonyeok. Afterward, through the Trial Tower, he had my entire body torn apart over an eternity, and finally erased me… Hahaha, ahahahaha!]
She burst into mad laughter.
[The reason the Trial Tower was called that was simple. Whenever the Heavenly Punishment Master chased my master, I suffered trials of death. That is why it is called the Trial Tower. It was not because I had to fight monsters from floor one to one hundred.]
Uddook…
She tightened her grip on my head.
Lightning poured into my brain and my skull throbbed.
[The children who ruled floors one through ninety-nine… were my body that had been torn apart by the Trial Tower, and the pieces that fell from it. The largest lump became the Thunder Bees below, and from them more pieces of lower realms kept falling. Layer after layer, my flesh is being decomposed until it is finally expelled outside Noeseonghae. My master planned to trap me here for an eternity and grind me to dust.]
“….”
[So I made a decision. One day, when someone completes my master’s will and reaches Noeseonghae, I will hand over my position and flee. I will escape, find the “home” where my master returned, turn every precious person he cared for into Thunder Beasts, settle the hierarchy, and become the true wife of my master… That is my decision.]
Uddeudeuk!
Her fingers dug into my skull.
[If I suffered that much, I certainly deserve it. If you have inherited my master’s will, I am your concubine. For this concubine, could you please lock me away here inside the tower for an eternity? There is no need to wait long. I will one day convince my master to destroy this terrible disassembly facility and rescue you.]
Her eyes were completely insane as she whispered.
Gradually, through her fingers, I felt a soul-binding at the level of soul arts locking my soul.
The chains of attraction that had bound Geum-jin-jo now entangled me.
“…So from the moment I met you, you could have just grabbed me and brought me here. Why go through the Trial Tower?”
[Only through that method could the ritual to bind you be completed.]
“Is that so. Then why cut off only my head?”
[To avoid trouble if you resisted. Don’t worry. It won’t hurt. Only a little shock to the head. When I leave, I’ll throw your main body into the tower for you to use later.]
“Then why are you poking my shoulder with a sword right now?”
I glared at her while growling at the pain.
[You’re making strange noises. Your very existence has been separated into head and below. You should not feel shoulder pain.]
“Damn it…! Shut up! Who the hell is poking my shoulder right now!!!”
I tried to distract her by shouting nonsense, intending to use Void Shattering for a counterstrike.
“My shoulder hurts! Don’t touch my shoulder! I’ll kill you!!!”
Even while shouting nonsense, I felt something strange.
‘…It really hurts.’
As she said, I was separated from head and below at the level of soul arts.
That was why my soul fragment was tied to the head and I felt no sensation in my main body.
Then why…?
My shoulder really hurt.
‘…Well, since it hurts, it might help distract her concentration a little.’
“Don’t touch my shoulder! My shoulder!”
[What nonsense are you spouting from earlier… Hah!]
And suddenly Geum-jin-jo looked down somewhere and her expression changed to panic.
‘Now!’
The mental distraction through my shoulder worked.
What remained…
Danak Sword Art.
Thirty-third Sword.
Sumi!
***
Ninety-fifth floor of Noeseonghae.
The place where Seo Eun-hyun, pretending to be Jang Ik, had been ambushed by the master of the ninety-ninth floor and lost his head.
Only Seo Eun-hyun’s main body floated there, surrounded by the Venerables who had restored their strength.
And Jang Ik, who had been blocking the Thunder Bees of the ninety-ninth floor, making a total of twenty-five Venerables gathered.
“Why have the Myeonggwi Realm allies disappeared?”
“That… I’m sorry. I can’t say.”
“It doesn’t matter. Can the Heaven-Sinking Venerable not break through the ninety-ninth floor?”
“The hole that was opened to the ninety-ninth floor has closed. The master of the ninety-ninth has deliberately sealed the barrier tightly. We would need all our strength just to create a gap.”
Yeo sighed.
“…In the Noeseonghae conquest, many sacrifices have been made… but to lose such talented individuals so pointlessly… It is a loss for the Gwanghan Realm.”
The other Venerables looked just as grim.
“To avoid the final catastrophe, he had to help us…”
“With only us Venerables, could we even break through the ninety-ninth floor master who seems to be at Fissure Opening level?”
“We must receive the help of the Saintesses.”
“But how? To have Saintesses descend here, we need mediators. Mediators that are extremely powerful and connected to the essence of the Saintesses themselves! Otherwise we would have to build altars over five thousand years for the Saintesses to descend, and the chance that such an altar would activate is only forty percent!”
And then—
Flash!
The main body of Seo Eun-hyun, who had lost his head.
From his left shoulder, an enormous sword light erupted.
At the same time, an enormous presence began to descend upon Noeseonghae.
Kugugugugu!
“This…!”
Gokgwang Venerable Geuk-gwang sensed the aura and immediately knelt, blooming flowers from his head and scattering petals.
The Venerables of the Gwanghan Realm all knelt in unison and performed the ritual.
Jjeoeoeok!
From Seo Eun-hyun’s left shoulder, a withered branch-like hand erupted.
Surrounded by pure white light, that hand tilted his main body and descended him into Noeseonghae.
Uuuuuung!
Noeseonghae trembled violently as though trying to expel the foreign substance, but the presence paid no heed and descended.
A withered branch-like being wrapped in pure white light.
She was the manager of the Gwanghan Realm.
Baek-woon, the Saintess.
[I greet the Saintess!]
The twenty-four Venerables chanted in unison.
Baek-woon nodded, then looked toward the distant upper floors.
The ninety-ninth floor and beyond.
[I don’t like the guy, but since he is a mediator for a fellow Saintess, help is required.]
She glanced at Gokgwang Venerable Geuk-gwang, clicked her tongue, and scolded.
[A pathetic being. Stop your foolish acts and assist me. How faint is your faith in him that you cannot even perform the role of mediator that a human being can?]
Geuk-gwang’s face flushed red, then slowly calmed.
After scolding him once, Baek-woon flew in a single stride to the boundary between the ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth floors.
The next instant.
[Suk-eok.]
Around her, white clouds flickered and she took the form of a colossal heavenly spear.
Jjeoeoeong!
Baek-woon swung the heavenly spear.
Her strike shattered the entrance of the ninety-ninth floor and opened a passage between dimensions.
Buuuuung!
Hundreds of millions of Thunder Bees rushed at her at once.
But Baek-woon opened her mouth.
[-----!]
Zziieeing!
A colossal lion roar shook the entire dimension, and hundreds of millions of Thunder Bees exploded and died.
Pach-jik!
Before her stood the queen of the Thunder Bees.
The one who had ambushed and kidnapped Seo Eun-hyun.
She looked at Baek-woon and laughed mockingly.
[Who are you? A ruined Baek-woon? I remember. That Baek-woon who begged to be spared in front of the Lightning Venerable now dares to use his authority right in front of me. Thinking back on those days…]
And immediately after.
Kwaduk!
Baek-woon’s hand seized the queen’s head.
Ppaedeudeudeuk!
The queen’s head was crushed to pieces in Baek-woon’s grip.
Wiieeeng!
The fragrance of camellias began to bloom around Baek-woon.
The Saintess of the Gwanghan Realm was drawing power from the very end of the distant universe.
[You pathetic thing. I was afraid of the Lightning Venerable, not some worthless like you. Do you think a half-ruined Fissure Opening being like you and the real True Immortal in front of me are on the same level?]
[U-uwu… uuuu!]
The queen of the Thunder Bees tried to flee, but she could not escape Baek-woon’s grip.
‘Soul…!’
The queen’s eyes filled with terror as she was caught in Baek-woon’s hand.
Baek-woon smiled wickedly and began to crush her.
[You spoke well earlier. Now beg. Beg that I spare your life. Like a dog licking my feet, beg that I spare your life after giving everything. If you do, I will only spare your life.]