Chapter 17: Spider Demon-2
Chapter 17: Spider Demon-2
We ran across the treetops as if flying, entering the western forest.
Bae Jong-gwan shouted as he ran.
"Is it really okay for us to go alone?!"
At that, Bi Sa-yeong shot back with complete confidence.
"Why?! You scared?!"
"No, it's not that, but the jungle's been kind of dangerous lately, hasn't it?!"
"Heh! With the external arts and movement techniques of the three of us, a pack of Liver Demons is no problem at all now! Well, if things go wrong, we can always just run away anyway! And the Spider Demon is supposed to be in the eastern forest, right?!"
I'd been thinking the same thing.
Forget Liver Demons, these days even Owl Demons didn't scare me much.
Of course, those bastards only come out at night anyway, so there was no need to worry, but still.
And I already knew that she had been killed by a pack of Liver Demons in my past life.
So as long as it wasn't the Spider Demon, even if we couldn't defeat them, we had more than enough confidence to at least flee.
But apart from not fearing the demons, finding a single young lady's whereabouts in the jungle was never an easy task.
Even after running through the jungle for nearly fifteen minutes, we couldn't find anything special at all.
Even when I probed my past life's memories, nothing particularly came to mind except that while the squad leaders had gone east to search for the Spider Demon, an incident had occurred in the western forest.
"Lady Son!"
"Lady Son Ha-rang! Are you nearby?!"
We moved while calling her name, but birds just fluttered up here and there, with no notable results.
In the end, we stopped our steps and I spoke to my friends.
"Let's split up for now. Don't go too far — spread out while maintaining a set distance and search."
There was no guarantee that Lady Son was exactly here, but my friends nodded without hesitation.
Once again, I felt grateful for their trust.
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, a woman's tearing scream rang out.
It came from deeper in the forest.
"Kyaaaaaak!"
Startled, we exchanged glances and immediately launched ourselves forward. A woman's scream in this jungle — it seemed certain to be Lady Son.
"Let's go!"
My heart grew urgent.
Hearing a scream meant she must have encountered something.
Probably a pack of Liver Demons, but if by chance she'd run into Blood Cult demon heads....
Given that Blood Cult demon heads mostly possessed martial prowess at the first-rate upper level or above, it would certainly be difficult for us to handle them.
But when we arrived where she was, we had to let out sighs of both relief and lamentation at the same time.
The sigh of relief was because what had attacked her was not Blood Cult demon heads or the Spider Demon, but a pack of Liver Demons as expected.
And the sigh of lamentation was....
"Uwaaaaaat! Diamond Meteor!"
Bae Jong-gwan charged at the group of about twenty Liver Demons gathered together.
It was a tremendous body slam, like a boulder launched from a catapult.
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-pung!
"Kkeeeeek!"
"Kkiaaaaang!"
The clustered Liver Demons let out beast-like cries and went flying like pebbles.
And following behind him, I pounced on the remaining Liver Demons.
"Haap!"
Puh-buh-buh-buh-beok!
The Liver Demons that Bae Jong-gwan hadn't managed to finish off were struck by my fist and foot techniques and sent hurtling into the air.
Fist and foot strikes that fluttered like the wind and raged like a typhoon — it was the Gale Eighteen Strikes, the fist and foot technique of the Seonwoo clan.
Then, behind me, in the space that had momentarily cleared, Bi Sa-yeong landed in front of the woman who appeared to be Lady Son.
But seeing her, Bi Sa-yeong couldn't bring himself to touch Son and bit his lip.
"Damn it."
She was already dead.
Torn apart and devoured by the Liver Demons, she was in a gruesome state — her arms, legs, and even her torso ripped to shreds.
I heard Bi Sa-yeong mutter.
"We were one step too late."
Huh? One step?
In that moment, I felt something strange.
Considering we had clearly heard the scream just moments ago, it was true that we were one step late.
But....
"Hap!"
Puh-eok!
I kicked a charging Liver Demon, sending it flying backward, and took another closer look at her body.
Then, her gruesomely torn body caught my eye.
Bae Jong-gwan was in front of us, grabbing one Liver Demon's leg and swinging it like a club, battering the approaching creatures, so I had a little time.
But....
Something was off.
No matter how many Liver Demons there were, could they really tear apart and devour her that much in such a short time?
Then, as I carefully scanned her body, her neck, still completely intact, suddenly caught my attention.
For some reason, the Liver Demons hadn't touched her neck and face — and on that neck, there were four holes that looked like punctures from something.
...Four holes?
No way?!
I urgently shouted.
"Jong-gwan! Come back right now! We have to run!"
At my desperate voice, both Bae Jong-gwan and Bi Sa-yeong looked at me with puzzled expressions.
"We have to go right now! There's a Spider Demon nearby!"
The four marks on Lady Son's neck — those were bite marks of the Spider Demon, something I had seen in my past life as well.
A Spider Demon.
Why the hell was that thing here?
But now was not the time to question that.
We had to flee as fast as possible, even for a moment, before the creature returned.
However, having shouted at my friends to run and about to launch myself away, I froze stiff.
It was already there, on a tree in the direction we had come from.
A naked Miao woman with black skin was watching us and smiling.
Inside her mouth, four sharp fangs protruding prominently came clearly into view.
Unconsciously, I muttered.
"Oh, for fuck's sake...."
It was the Spider Demon.
The strongest demon currently in existence, said to be a match even for peak-level masters. The creature had already been targeting us.
Bi Sa-yeong, who had spotted the thing at about the same time as me, muttered with a pale expression.
"That thing... it's smiling at us? A demon, at that."
I swallowed hard too.
I couldn't even begin to guess how high its intelligence was.
But that wasn't the end.
At that moment, the thing smiled and opened its mouth.
"Kyaaaaaaaak!"
The sound that came from its mouth was a chilling woman's scream.
The very same scream we had heard earlier.
Bi Sa-yeong muttered with a face drained of spirit.
"That scream... that thing made it? To lure us?"
At this level, you might as well call it a fiend rather than a beast.
I gritted my teeth and spoke quietly.
"On three, we all run south. Okay, one, two, three! Run!"
Simultaneous with the words, Bi Sa-yeong and I shot forward — pang!
Bae Jong-gwan also threw away the Liver Demon he had been swinging by the leg and kicked off the ground.
We had confidence that in movement techniques alone, we wouldn't be outmatched even compared to peak-level masters.
So creatures like Liver Demons wouldn't even be able to follow our heels.
But....
Pah-bak!
When we kicked off the ground and launched ourselves south, the thing launched itself along with us.
And at a speed similar to ours.
Startled, I maximized my speed, but the creature maintained a set distance beside us, running at the same pace and smiling at us.
It was an utterly horrifying smile.
In the end, we had no choice but to stop our steps.
Bi Sa-yeong, his face deathly pale, asked me.
"This is insane. It's way too fast, isn't it? What do we do? Should we split up?"
The three of us splitting up separately....
Judging coldly, the creature's speed seemed about as fast as mine, but not quite up to Bi Sa-yeong's level.
So if the three of us split up, it did seem like we might survive.
That is, only about two of us.
But at least one person would end up as the sacrifice.
And that person would probably be....
Bae Jong-gwan abruptly opened his mouth.
"Run, my friends. I'll hold the thing off."
Behind him, as he smiled innocently as if telling us not to worry, I saw the Liver Demons charging toward us like mad.
"Kyarurururung!"
"Kyaaaaak!"
And when I turned my eyes forward, there was the Spider Demon, wearing a chilling grin.
At times like this, the choice for frontline personnel was clear. For the person with the higher chance of survival, another person would sacrifice themselves. That was the unwritten rule among frontline workers.
Knowing that, Bi Sa-yeong couldn't meet Bae Jong-gwan's eyes, just clenching his fists and trembling.
For even one of us to live, we had to abandon Bae Jong-gwan first.
And my friend Bae Jong-gwan, as always, smiled his usual simple smile and said to us.
"Take good care of my share too. You absolutely have to survive."
That bastard had been the same in my past life.
He sent me off when I was too weak to even buy time, stayed behind, and with the exact same smile as now, said the exact same thing.
Something surged up from deep inside me.
Blood burst from my tightly bitten lips.
Be cold, Seonwoo Jin. You have to be cold.
I examined the situation as coldly as possible.
The pack of Liver Demons nearly upon us from behind. The Spider Demon, for some reason not pouncing on us immediately but just watching as if toying with us.
A happy ending where the three of us here joined forces to overcome the crisis was absolutely impossible.
All the squad leaders had gone east, so there wasn't even anyone to call for rescue.
So clearly, someone had to stay behind and buy time for the remaining two — no, for at least one person to survive.
That's right. It was something that couldn't be helped.
Having made up my mind, I said to Bae Jong-gwan.
"Jong-gwan, I leave the Liver Demon pack to you."
At that, Bae Jong-gwan smiled good-naturedly and nodded.
"Alright, leave it to me and go. Hurry. You have to hurry."
But I spoke again, this time toward Bi Sa-yeong.
"Go, Sa-yeong. I'll handle the Spider Demon."
At that, Bi Sa-yeong, who had been hanging his head, snapped his head up to look at me.
Bae Jong-gwan also shouted in shock.
"...Wh-what did you say?"
I tried to analyze the Spider Demon as coldly as possible.
Why wasn't it pouncing on us right away?
I speculated that the reason was because it didn't want to lose any of the three of us.
If not three, then at least two.
So, in any case, if one stayed and two ran, it would chase after those two.
And if the two split up again, it would catch one of them and then come back to catch Bae Jong-gwan.
But there was no time to explain that now.
I slightly drew my sword and gripped the blade tight with my hand.
Blood flowed out, accompanied by a searing pain.
I flung that blood at the Spider Demon and shouted.
Hwa-ak!
"Go, Sa-yeong! Bring the squad leader! Before I die!"
"Kiiiiii!"
The Spider Demon's face contorted horrifyingly as it smelled my blood. No matter how clever it was, now that it had smelled blood, it could no longer contain its appetite.
My horrified friends shouted.
"Jin!"
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Now that the creature had smelled my blood, I could no longer run away.
Because it would come after me first and foremost.
At that, Bae Jong-gwan, realizing what I had done, launched himself and charged at the oncoming Liver Demons.
"Uwaaaaap!"
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-pung!
"Kieeeeek!"
"Keuaaaaang!"
Then he shouted toward Bi Sa-yeong.
"Sa-yeong, hurry! Bring the squad leader back and save Jin!"
Bi Sa-yeong gritted his teeth and let out a groan.
"Urrrgh!"
Tears were streaming down from his bloodshot eyes.
He kicked off the ground, launched himself, and shouted.
"Don't you dare die, you sons of bitches! If you die, I'll follow you too!"
I smirked and launched myself at the Spider Demon.
You idiot, you think doing something that stupid will make me forgive you?
"Kiaaaaaak!"
The Spider Demon was charging at me with speed matching a peak-level master.
"Haaaaap!"
I unfolded my sword technique with all my might.
It was the first technique of the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords — Divine Eagle Flight.
In an instant, a hazy sword image filled the space like vast wings unfurling.
But those wings were simply torn apart by a single swipe of the Spider Demon's hand, accompanied by a monstrous shriek.
"Kiiiiiik!"
Syu-ha-aak!
It was regrettable how easily my sword technique was neutralized, but I hadn't unfolded it to fight the creature in the first place.
The moment it neutralized my illusion sword, I had already leaped over its head and was running away.
Belatedly discovering me fleeing, the creature let out an enraged monstrous shriek and gave chase.
"Kiiiiiik!"
This had been my aim.
No matter how much its physical abilities surpassed a peak-level master, grasping what an illusion sword was would only be possible if it truly knew martial arts.
Fleeing with all my might from the Spider Demon on my tail, I cheered inwardly.
'I didn't stay behind because I wanted to kill myself, you know! I was confident in my plan!'
.......
Okay, honestly, that was a lie.
I just moved as my heart led me.
Why, you ask?
Because if, after having come back and sworn never to lose my friends again, I once again left a friend behind and ran, then my second life would also be a failure.
I didn't want to repeat such a life again.
