Chapter 101: Naga Grounds-4
Chapter 101: Naga Grounds-4
The point at which Madam Min began her move was the following morning, a little later than Seonwoo Jin had anticipated.
That was because she lacked the confidence to do it with her own hands, and so she had waited for the physician to arrive.
As a result, Physician Yang, who had been conspiring with Madam Min and slowly feeding poison to the Na Clan Lord, could not help but be flustered by Madam Min's sudden demand.
"You are saying... to prepare a poison that can kill the Clan Lord, right now?"
With that, Madam Min, who had grown haggard overnight, answered urgently with sunken eyes.
"That's right. Right now! We must kill the Clan Lord right now! If things go wrong and that wench actually brings the Eccentric Physician here, everything we've done might be exposed!"
"Wha-what?! You're saying she's bringing the Eccentric Physician?!"
That news was nothing less than a bolt from the blue for Physician Yang as well.
He too knew well just how brilliant a physician the Eccentric Physician was, and just how eccentric a person he was.
His complexion, too, turned as pale as Madam Min's in an instant.
But even so, Physician Yang did not immediately agree with Madam Min's words.
"B-but if you use a large dose of poison all at once, it leaves traces on the human body. The skin color and the degree of decay..."
With that, Madam Min grew irritated, as if frustrated.
"Then we can just bury it right away! If we waste time over something like that and get caught, are you going to take full responsibility, Physician Yang?!"
"Th-that is..."
In the end, Physician Yang had no choice but to prepare the poison as Madam Min wished.
It was because the two were already bound by a shared fate, and both were desperate.
Physician Yang mixed all the poison he carried into the herbal decoction he had brought, then entered the Na Clan Lord's room together with Madam Min.
Sweat was pouring down his pale face.
With that, the Na Clan Lord, lying in his bed, greeted him with a welcoming smile despite his visibly sickly face.
"Physician Yang, you've come. Welcome."
"I-I greet the Clan Lord. H-how has your r-recovery been?"
"These past few days, I have felt my body improving somewhat. It seems Physician Yang's medicine is finally taking effect, hehehehe!"
"Ah, i-is that so."
Even in this unremarkable conversation, Physician Yang was stammering excessively.
Madam Min secretly frowned at Physician Yang's awkward behavior, and the Na Clan Lord finally asked Physician Yang with a puzzled expression.
"You look especially pale today. You seem to be sweating more than usual as well. Is something the matter?"
"N-no, no. I'm just feeling a bit unwell..."
As Physician Yang forced a smile and made his excuse, the Na Clan Lord sighed and asked.
"Huh, then shouldn't you be taking my medicine today, Physician Yang?"
That was nothing short of a horrifying suggestion.
Physician Yang, startled out of his wits, asked back.
"Wha-wha-what?!"
"Hm? Why are you so surprised? I merely said that since my body is not so bad today, you may take the medicine in my stead."
"Ah, ah, ah, th-that..."
Physician Yang's face turned as pale as a sheet of white paper, and he could not continue speaking.
With that, Madam Min, who had been watching from behind with an equally anxious expression, hastily interjected.
"Hohoho! My lord! What a fine jest! How could you tell Physician Yang to take your expensive medicine? They say every person has a different constitution and one must not casually switch medicines—something terrible could happen, could it not?"
With that, Physician Yang also hastily nodded his head.
"Th-that's right! Because constitutions differ, one cannot casually take another person's medicine! That is exactly it!"
At the two people's vehement reaction, the Na Clan Lord nodded as if he understood.
"Hmm, is that so? I understand. Then give me the medicine."
But what the two, in their haste, could not notice was that the Na Clan Lord's eyes were gleaming sharply as he spoke those words.
Through the two's reactions, the Na Clan Lord was able to confirm that the medicine brought today was indeed poison.
Having already received an explanation from Na Seo-yu, he had pretended not to know and was testing the two.
And now, through the two's vehement reaction, he could confirm that this medicine was poison.
And it was the same for Seonwoo Jin, who had been watching while concealed.
Seonwoo Jin, who had been hiding like a bat clinging to the corner of the room's ceiling, slowly prepared to emerge.
His plan was to leap out and seize the evidence the moment Physician Yang handed the decoction to the Na Clan Lord.
That was when it happened.
Just as Physician Yang was taking out the decoction with trembling hands and pouring it into a bowl, a loud voice suddenly rang out from outside.
"Clan Lord! Madam! There's a terrible emergency!"
"Aigo!"
Clang!
It could not have been a more uncanny coincidence.
The sudden loud voice from outside had startled Physician Yang so badly that he spilled the decoction.
"Oh, no!"
"Oh, dear!"
Madam Min's expression contorted upon seeing that.
He had said he poured all the poison he had into that decoction, and now he had spilled it...
But she did not know.
That the expressions of the Na Clan Lord watching that scene, and of Seonwoo Jin who was hiding, had also contorted.
"Clan Lord! Madam!"
Even in the midst of that, the urgent voice still rang out from outside.
Madam Min, irritated, threw open the door and shouted.
"What in the world is all this commotion?!"
With that, the faces of two people standing outside could be seen. One was a warrior of the Na Clan, and the other appeared to be a warrior not belonging to the Na Clan.
Madam Min, who had been about to berate them with an enraged face, abruptly stopped speaking when she saw the face of the outside warrior.
It was because his face looked so terribly pale, utterly drained of blood.
As Madam Min looked at his face with a puzzled expression, the Na Clan warrior spoke first, in haste.
"A terrible thing has happened, Madam! They say the people of the Jo Clan and the Gok Estate have been massacred!"
The Jo Clan was at the southernmost part of Heungui in Guiju Castle, and the Gok Estate was situated a little further north—both were minor-to-mid-sized sects of a similar scale to the Na Clan.
Moreover, the Gok Estate was also located not far from the Na Clan.
At the warrior's unexpected words, Madam Min furrowed her brow and asked.
"What is this sudden nonsense? Why would those two sects, which were perfectly fine until recently, suddenly be massacred?"
With that, this time the outside warrior explained, trembling.
"M-monsters. At dawn, a warrior from the Jo Clan suddenly came to our Gok Estate..."
According to his account, delivered with a face as if his soul had left him, two warriors of the Jo Clan who had come to the Gok Estate at dawn had apparently requested help with utterly terrified faces.
They had trembled in terror, saying that three monster-like beings had suddenly come to the Jo Clan and massacred everyone.
But the people of the Gok Estate who heard that story could not wholly believe them.
So since it was still dawn, they had told them to compose themselves and wait a moment, intending to discuss it at their leisure—but not long after, those very beings had come to the Gok Estate as well.
Those monster-like beings, composed of two men and one woman...
The warrior from the Gok Estate, as if recalling that scene again, spoke tremblingly, almost sobbing.
"Those devil-like bastards tore people apart and sucked their blood like beasts. They didn't spare anyone—women, children, all of them... uuuugh..."
At the sight of the weeping warrior from the Gok Estate, Madam Min momentarily frowned as she watched him before speaking.
"I cannot make any sense of what you are saying. How could a mere three people annihilate the Jo Estate and the Gok Estate, and how could people who are not even beasts tear people apart and drink their blood? It seems your mind is a bit...."
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, screams began to echo from the direction of the Na Estate's main gate.
"Uwaaaaak!"
"Wh-Who are you?! Kuaaaaak!"
"Y-You bastard, uwaaaaak!"
At this, the weeping warrior of the Gok Estate jerked his head up and shouted in a terror-stricken voice.
"I-It's them! They followed me here!"
He then ran wildly and began climbing the Na Estate's wall like a madman.
He seemed to intend to flee over the wall.
"W-We have to run! We have to run now!"
Madam Min could not help but be flustered by the sudden situation.
"Wh-What in the world...."
But even in that moment, the screams continued without ceasing.
"Kuaaaaak!"
"Uwaaaak!"
The screams were far too desperate, suggesting something catastrophic was unfolding.
Madam Min urgently shouted to a warrior of the Na Estate.
"What are you doing?! Go and ascertain what is happening and report back to me at once!"
"Yes, yes! Understood, Madam!"
At that moment, the words the warrior from the Gok Estate had spoken earlier flashed through Madam Min's mind.
'A mere three people annihilated everyone at the Jo Estate and the Gok Estate? They tore people apart and drank their blood?'
Unknowingly, she swallowed hard.
If that story were true, she herself was in no position to be standing around.
For there was no reason that those who had annihilated the Jo and Gok Estates could not annihilate the Na Estate as well.
Only a single thought surfaced in her mind.
'I must flee, quickly, quickly.'
Then, her son, lying in his bed, abruptly came to mind.
"My son, my son Seo-hwang...."
Madam Min hurriedly ran toward her son's room.
She did not even care what might become of the Na Clan Lord or Physician Yang, who were in the room.
Meanwhile, Seonwoo Jin, who had been concealed in the room, and Na Seo-yu, who had been hidden on the roof, both cast off their concealment and burst out.
At the sudden emergence of Seonwoo Jin, Physician Yang let out a startled scream of horror.
"Uwaaaaak!"
But there was no time to pay him any mind right now.
Na Seo-yu urgently shouted to Seonwoo Jin.
"Seonu Gongja, could it be?!"
Seonwoo Jin nodded with a stiff expression.
"It appears so. Of all times, now...."
He bit his lip in frustration.
On the day he first arrived at the Na Estate, after confirming that the Iron Ghost had not yet come, Seonwoo Jin had immediately gone to the nearby Hao Gate to inquire if he could obtain fire-bone powder.
At that time, the Hao Gate had said that while they didn't have it on hand, it could be obtained if sufficient funds were available, so Seonwoo Jin had paid the price and ordered it.
The Hao Gate had said it could be procured by today and told him to come pick it up in the afternoon....
Of all things, the fiends had appeared before he could go retrieve it.
Truly, it was a lamentably unfortunate situation.
But Seonwoo Jin soon decided to abandon his lingering attachment to the fire-bone powder. Longing for what was not currently present would do no good.
He immediately assessed the situation and spoke to Na Seo-yu.
"Na So-jeo, please escort your father and evacuate elsewhere for now. I will hold off the fiends."
At those words, Na Seo-yu exclaimed in shock.
"What?! B-But those fiends are...!"
Na Seo-yu had also heard well that the fiends were monsters impervious even to sword qi.
So she could not help but know that if Seonwoo Jin went alone, it would amount to nothing but a meaningless death.
But Seonwoo Jin smiled confidently as he spoke.
"Do not worry, Na So-jeo. Judging from the screams I am hearing, the fiends have not all arrived yet. It seems only one has come ahead."
Currently, the screams were not simultaneous but could be heard one person at a time.
Hearing this, Seonwoo Jin was certain that only one had arrived so far.
"If it is just one, it is absolutely no match for me. I may not be able to kill it, but neither can it kill me. And if I should happen to be in real danger, I can simply flee. Surely you do not doubt my speed? So please, do not worry about me, and move the Clan Lord to a safe place."
At Seonwoo Jin's confident expression, Na Seo-yu stared at him for a moment before finally nodding.
To her mind as well, that certainly seemed to be the best course.
"Understood. Then I leave it to you, Seonu Gongja. And... please, take care of yourself."
Seonwoo Jin nodded with a smile, then launched himself toward the main gate, while Na Seo-yu re-entered the room.
She then approached the Na Clan Lord carefully and spoke.
"Father, it seems the demonic beings of the Blood Cult have attacked. I think you must take shelter away from here for now."
But the Na Clan Lord chuckled weakly and shook his head.
"How could I, a clan lord, abandon this place and flee? Seo-yu, you must escape quickly."
Na Seo-yu let out a sigh.
It was because she had fully anticipated that her father, given his character, would say exactly this.
But she could not obey those words.
Na Seo-yu bowed her head and apologized to the Na Clan Lord.
"Father, forgive me."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
Tap!
"Huk!"
Na Seo-yu immediately approached him and, without hesitation, pressed his acupoints to put him to sleep.
She then asked Physician Yang, who was standing beside her at a loss for what to do.
"I intend to move father outside now. What do you think, Physician?"
At this, Physician Yang shook his head and said.
"Ah, that is not advisable. The clan lord must absolutely maintain stability. If he is moved recklessly, his condition could worsen...."
It was then that Na Seo-yu cut him off and asked.
"Is that because of the poison you administered, Physician?"
"Wh-What?!"
Physician Yang could not help but startle, feeling as though his heart might drop. How in the world did she know that fact?
But when he looked into Na Seo-yu's eyes in shock, he had to be even more shocked.
Her eyes were fixed on him, radiating a chilling, murderous light.
Seething with killing intent, Na Seo-yu spoke to Physician Yang.
"If anything at all happens to my father, you will regret not having taken your own life. I will make certain you live to witness hell."
Under the thick, clinging killing intent and Na Seo-yu's terrifying glare, Physician Yang's body trembled as if convulsing violently.
Faint-hearted to begin with, there was no way he could possibly withstand the killing intent of a first-class supreme martial artist.
Just as Physician Yang, unable to even breathe properly and turning pale as death, was on the verge of fainting, Na Seo-yu withdrew her killing intent and spoke again.
"Now, I am going to move father outside. How should I do it?"
At this, Physician Yang reflexively cried out.
"A stretcher! We must fashion a stretcher! Then we can move him carefully!"
Na Seo-yu gave him a cold instruction.
"Then make one."
"Yes, yes! So-jeo! Understood!"