Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Chapter 5: Special Abilities (5)
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“Huh, not just a yokai, but a real monster.”
Gyeong Nambang kept pushing back, yet his excitement never waned.
Jungwang, watching them, could only think of the words *utterly helpless*. There was nothing he could do. All he managed was to shield Seol and Hyang, protecting them from getting caught in the clash between two monstrous experts as he retreated.
In the meantime, he spotted the White Bone Witch creeping closer. The three Skull Masks behind her were narrowing the gap as well.
Jungwang noted that the White Bone Witch wasn’t charging straight in.
*Why?*
She had no intention of fighting. She wanted to keep this standoff going.
She was waiting.
She had called someone “Gold Diviner.” He had no idea who that referred to, but it clearly wasn’t Gyeong Nambang. The man had just barged in out of nowhere. Some guy claiming to be one of the Five Strong had kicked off this fierce battle over something as absurd as chasing skirts.
Thanks to that, they were still alive.
If that was luck, then it was luck.
Gyeong Nambang might have been an unwelcome intruder to everyone else, but his arrival had saved the Heaven-Destroying Squad’s skins and bought them time. With Gyeong Nambang tying down Hwangpo-goe with his Five Strong-level might, the White Bone Witch and her Skull Masks had lost their numerical edge. If it came to a desperate fight, they weren’t without a chance of winning.
*There has to be an opening in there!*
Jungwang thought.
This was when he missed Oho the most.
Oho was a man of both brawn and brains.
The Heaven-Destroying Squad wasn’t just a bunch of muscle-headed brutes, but when it came to untangling a mess like this, the Stealth Squad elders were undeniably sharper.
*The Skull Witch isn’t pushing the attack like before. No more taunts either. She doesn’t want any more surprises. She—no, they—don’t want us breaking formation. In other words, they want us to keep protecting these women.*
Jungwang refused to give up and kept thinking.
His thoughts broadened.
*The Skull Witch demanded these women. Gyeong Nambang targeted them the moment he saw them. There’s no reason another wouldn’t. These women are the key. They have been from the start.*
They were the spark that had ignited everything.
The Heaven-Destroying Squad represented the Six Divisions’ elite. They might not match the Stealth Squad’s razor-sharp instincts, but given enough time to think, they were plenty clever. Even without Oho, Jungwang reached the conclusion.
*If the fight erupts, everyone’s hands are tied. If another shows up gunning for the women, we’re done for. So who? Who’s left?*
The odds of another random like Gyeong Nambang popping up were next to nothing.
He’d reached the core without Oho, and Oho’s final words provided the answer.
“The Flame Jade Merchant Guild is a long-time trading partner of headquarters. Yeom Seoksan, the guild master, seems to still be kicking, but he’s probably being hunted by those fiends. If you find him, help him out. If you link up, protect him.”
That was what Oho had said at the end.
*Yeom Seoksan!*
The Skull Witch—the White Bone Witch—was waiting for Yeom Seoksan. He didn’t know why she called him Gold Diviner, but the situation made it certain.
With the conclusion came resolve.
If the enemy wanted something, smash it first. Oho might have handled it differently, but the Heaven-Destroying Squad had only one way.
Jungwang spoke up.
“We’re moving too. Fight through!”
Long blade lights gleamed with moonlight at Jungwang and the two beside him.
The three great swords were aimed once more.
“Enemy formation, advance! Clear the path!”
Jungwang shouted.
* * *
*Open your eyes.*
He heard the voice.
But his sealed eyelids refused to part.
Instead, something hot poured into his mouth.
It felt like swallowing a fireball. No, it wasn’t. Soon, his teeth and lips tingled as if he’d bitten into ice.
It hurt, yet it was refreshingly cool. A bizarre sensation. The clash of senses shook his mind.
*Blood…!*
He realized what had entered his mouth was blood.
He thought he should spit it out.
A deep-seated revulsion in his mind demanded it.
But that was just a thought.
He couldn’t resist. For a being born as he was, it was impossible.
A wave of scent followed the heat.
He smelled iron.
He couldn’t tell if it was entering through his nose or lingering in his mouth.
An indescribable shock surged through his body.
He surrendered completely to the sensations.
It wasn’t his first time. He’d felt this before.
It was nostalgic like a primal memory, burdensome like a distant future.
Close to ecstasy, yet somehow entirely different.
Perhaps it was the same at its core. The sensation touched the essence of his very life.
*Gasp!*
A fierce first gulp was followed by a brutal shock rattling his brain.
Only then did his eyes snap open.
But what he saw wasn’t the present reality.
An overflowing past crashed in, trying to shatter the barriers in his mind.
*A barrier?*
For the first time, he became aware of the wall.
In his mind stood a blood barrier—iron walls—erected by someone else.
Crimson waves crashed against it, foaming with the spray of vast history. He saw black death engulfing the world. He saw countless beings fighting for survival, walking together yet apart.
“Get up.”
Cheonwi heard the voice again.
It was cold as ice, yet not merely chilling.
The visions filling his sight warped and faded. Cheonwi knew nothing of Blood Race rituals. But he instinctively knew the voice’s owner was using some special power.
The fragments of the past flooding his brain shattered into pieces.
In their place lingered only a fierce satisfaction surging through his body. A fullness laced with eternal thirst.
Cheonwi let out a long breath and closed his eyes again.
He felt his body growing lighter.
Wounds were healing. The pierced holes sealed, organs returning to place.
Clang!
A sharp metallic ring struck his eardrums.
It was the sound of a metal shard lodged in his body falling to the ground.
The shard was small, but it hit like thunder. His senses had amplified tremendously. He could probably hear a bug crawling.
Then, his awareness latched onto one fact.
*My arm!*
The stump of his severed arm itched.
His sense of touch rippled with exquisite detail.
He sensed his body’s position, the ground’s texture, even the faintest air currents. Strangely, pain barely registered.
Cheonwi’s eyes flashed open.
Pitch darkness lay before him, but he saw the world as if in broad daylight.
His revived vision brought another shock.
His new pupils seemed to absorb even light humans couldn’t see.
The first thing he saw was the towering rocky ceiling.
Smooth stone formed a vast cavern. Water dripped faintly from somewhere distant. It was a sizable cave. In one corner, a cluster of bats huddled. They felt oddly familiar. One might expect them to scatter at signs of life, but the tiny creatures stayed still as if holding their breath.
His scattered, heightened senses converged, letting him fully perceive his body.
He lay sprawled in a 大 shape across a massive boulder.
Cheonwi raised his upper body. With one arm missing, he wobbled to steady himself.
Finally, he truly tasted it.
His resurrecting sense of taste was overwhelmingly intense.
His mouth tasted sweet.
No fine liquor could match this flavor.
His lips and chin were stained red. He wiped it with the back of his hand and licked it. Even a single drop unleashed tremendous power. An indescribable shock raced from tongue and lips to his brain. The aroma itself was ecstatic. His vision spun.
For a timeless instant that felt eternal, Cheonwi sat frozen.
Soon, the sensory wave ebbed, and his mind cleared.
Then, he was startled.
“!!”
Someone sat on the rock right in front of him.
His perception was at its peak. Yet he hadn’t noticed her presence.
She appeared not as a person, but a black shadow. As if space itself had been carved into human shape, utterly devoid of presence.
Yes.
She had no qi. That explained it. Even with senses multiplied several times over, he detected no life force.
Just like Cheonwi.
No other explanation fit.
“You…”
Cheonwi swallowed the word *witch* that followed and didn’t say it.
It was her.
Black hair, black clothes, manifesting before him as a black shadow.
Terrifying, yet longed for.
He didn’t know why he felt that way.
She wasn’t a first-time sight. Each glimpse must have shocked him, terrified him.
Memories he couldn’t recall muddled his mind.
She rose to her feet.
She wore a vast black raincoat-style robe. Not typical women’s attire. Stark black, without a single flower pattern. Her small, pale face lit the darkness. Large eyes, sharply high nose.
She looked terribly young. Not youthful—childlike.
The mismatch amplified the eeriness. Like a ghost leaped from a painting. In her pale hand, she held a severed human arm, making it all the more grotesque. A familiar arm—Cheonwi’s arm.
Splash!
She tossed the arm at his feet. The arm that had plunged into the water with him. Still damp, the forearm rolled across the ground, splattering water and blood from the cut end.
Cheonwi stared rigidly at his own arm by his feet.
It seemed ready to twitch at any moment. Just looking made his shoulder and stump throb.
“Attach it.”
She said.
Her voice was clear and pure.
His sharp mind refused to work properly.
He knew it was because of the lingering sweetness in his mouth.
And he fully realized.
He had drunk her blood.
Perhaps.
Not for the first time.
He needed to snap out of it.
He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and jerked his head up. She had already turned away. Her pale face vanished into the shadows. Black hair, black robe melting into the dark.
“How…?”
His single question carried layers of meaning.
Her reply was concise.
“Remember.”
Short, yet.
Like Cheonwi’s question, it held many meanings.