Chapter 180: Blood Demon
Chapter 180: Blood Demon
At that time, after Hae Cheong-yeon had bid them farewell, saying she had made some unknown wager with the Blood Demon, Guyueumma Jigieum had ordered his subordinate to take Na Seo-yu and Sak Mu-heun deep into the forest and then release their pressure points.
And that subordinate had said this:
'The Supreme One has given his command, so no Blood Cultists will dare attack you. However, as warned earlier, you must return quickly. The command of the Supreme One will not reach the mindless demons. Also, do not even think about coming back. Unless you wish to render meaningless the sacrifice that the Sword Saint's daughter made for your sake.'
After that, he vanished again like a ghost.
Afterward, Sak Mu-heun and Na Seo-yu had begun making their way back toward the Flying Dragon Squad together.
At least, that was the case until about one hour had passed.
But when roughly an hour had gone by, Sak Mu-heun had suddenly stopped in his tracks and said this to Na Seo-yu:
'Na Sojeo, from here on, return alone.'
He wore a resolute expression, as if he had come to some decision. Having noticed his resolve through that expression, Na Seo-yu tried to dissuade him.
'Sak orabeoni, please don't do this. I want to save Cheongyeon too, but if she is with the Blood Demon, that is impossible. So it would be better to go back and together with the others...'
But Sak Mu-heun's resolve was firm.
'I swore an oath to my master on my life that I would protect Cheongyeon. So even if it means my death, I cannot return like this. Please understand.'
'Sak orabeoni...'
That was when they were having that exchange.
Suddenly, someone burst out of the forest laughing.
'Kehelhelhel! What a pitiful situation! Since you say you cannot return like this, let this Elder Du Dang lend you a hand!'
The one who appeared was a scruffy-looking one-armed man of small build—none other than Du Dang, who was now right before Na Seo-yu's eyes.
Startled by Du Dang's sudden appearance, Sak Mu-heun and Na Seo-yu immediately drew their swords and aimed them at him.
But the moment she looked into his eyes, Na Seo-yu could feel her mind suddenly growing hazy.
And it was only then that she could remember.
That the Black Blood Illusion Demon Du Dang was the one who possessed the Blood Cult's greatest Soul Captivation Art.
Na Seo-yu's memories had ended there.
But judging by Du Dang's expression, it seemed that was not where the story ended.
Na Seo-yu swallowed dryly and asked Du Dang:
"Don't tell me you cast the Soul Captivation Art on us...?"
At that, Du Dang burst into loud laughter with a bright expression, as if he were thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Keuhehehehehe! You're quite quick on the uptake! Did I not say earlier? That you returned here on your own two feet."
"Th-that...!"
As Na Seo-yu was unable to continue speaking, her expression one of despair, Du Dang smiled sinisterly and opened his mouth again.
"And... if I were you, I would be more interested in something a bit more productive. For example, what is going to happen to you from now on, and suchlike."
At those words, Na Seo-yu asked in a trembling voice:
"What are you going to do... to us?"
Then Du Dang, as if he had been waiting for the question, clenched his fist and answered with flashing eyes.
"We are going to make you into perfect beings. Into peak-level masters with the bodies of demons, that is. We have decided to call such beings Blood Demon Persons."
"...Blood Demon Persons?"
"Yes, Blood Demon Persons. All of the demons up until now were nothing more than test subjects for creating Blood Demon Persons. It was an experiment that took a long time. After well over ten years of research, we have at last succeeded in creating the perfect demon!"
Na Seo-yu was now consumed by terror.
No matter how much he dressed it up with words like perfection, in the end, he was saying they would turn them into demons.
The thought of herself becoming a demon and attacking her comrades—the mere imagining of it was so horrifying she could not bear it.
Du Dang gazed at Na Seo-yu, who had turned deathly pale, with burning eyes and said:
"Through hundreds and thousands of failures, we discovered that young peak-level martial artists are the most suitable for creating Blood Demon Persons. Yes, young peak-level martial artists just like you, and just like that fellow over there. Keuheuheuheuheu! So how could I possibly let you slip away? Euheuheuheuheu! Euhahahahaha!"
Watching Du Dang burst into maniacal laughter, Na Seo-yu could do nothing but fall into despair.
Consumed by deep terror, she screamed.
"No! Save me! Please, someone save me!"
But it was utterly useless.
No matter how loudly she screamed, no one came, and Du Dang simply continued to laugh loudly as if it were none of his concern.
And a moment later, having stopped laughing, Du Dang opened his mouth with an expression full of rapture.
"Now then, shall I make some preparations so that we can begin work as soon as that corpse fellow returns? You, the man there—I know you have already come to your senses as well. I will release your demon blood, so the two of you can have a chat to keep from getting bored."
Having said that, Du Dang left the room in an instant.
Even after he had gone, Na Seo-yu cried out loudly.
"Save me! Is no one there?! Please, just...!"
It was then.
Abruptly, Sak Mu-heun's voice reached her.
"It is no use, Na Sojeo."
"Sak orabeoni!"
As Du Dang had said earlier, it seemed he too had already come to his senses.
Sak Mu-heun spoke in a dark voice.
"This place seems to be a Blood Cult den. So even if Sojeo cries out, no one who would help will come. Rather, as Du Dang warned earlier..."
It was then.
From outside, someone's voice could suddenly be heard.
"Euheuheuheu! A woman's voice! A woman's scream!"
"Euhahaha! A fresh woman's scream—I simply cannot endure it!"
"But the woman inside there is the one Father Hwanma brought back."
"Hmph! What does it matter? Father Hwanma just went down to the storage shed! What could possibly happen just from laying a hand on a woman who's going to be used as material anyway?"
"Euheuheuheu, that's right, isn't it?"
The voices were coming from right outside the room.
Realizing what consequences her scream had brought, Na Seo-yu was so startled that she immediately shut her mouth.
Du Dang's words from earlier—that beyond this room were only those who would become beasts upon hearing a scream—had not been a lie.
But no miracle occurred where they simply went away just because she had now shut her mouth.
"Euheuheuheuheu! There she is!"
"Ooooh! She's pretty! A pretty woman!"
"Keuhahahaha! How many months has it been since we've seen a woman!"
"At last, today we'll relieve the pent-up frustrations of months!"
"I'm first! I'm first!"
A group of demon heads were scrambling over each other to enter the room.
And with Na Seo-yu herself as their target.
Na Seo-yu felt her mind go utterly blank.
"Ah, no."
In Na Seo-yu's head, a memory from the past suddenly surfaced.
The memory of when she had first entered the frontlines not long before, when she had nearly been abducted and assaulted by demon heads.
Back then, fortunately, Seol Pung had saved her.
But here and now, Seol Pung was not here.
There was no way he could make it to this place.
Now, the five demon heads entered her field of vision, her head unable to move.
Having surrounded Na Seo-yu, they were all gazing at her with the exact same look in their eyes.
It was the look of beasts filled with greed.
Na Seo-yu screamed desperately.
"No! Get away! Help me!"
But her reaction only excited them further.
The demon minions burst into joyful laughter.
"Ehehehehe, her screams sound so good!"
"So thrilling! I love it!"
"Uhahahaha! It's good now, but how much better will it get?"
Beside her, Sak Mu-heun also shouted desperately for Na Seo-yu's sake.
"Stop! You demon bastards! We are people brought here by the Black Blood Illusion Demon Du Dang! If you do this, do you think you'll be able to face Du Dang unscathed later?!"
But the demon minions merely burst into laughter at that as well.
"Kehehehehe! What a luxurious worry! The Elder Hwanma is not someone who interferes in every little thing like this!"
"Right! Maybe if it were the Elder Shi Ma, but no!"
"And from what I heard, the Elder Shi Ma seemed to have completely left the Muhwangchong earlier!"
"Kehehehehe! Then there's nothing to hold us back!"
"A feast it is!"
They now approached Na Seo-yu, drool streaming from their mouths.
Na Seo-yu's fate hung by a thread, like a lantern flickering in the wind.
She shed tears and screamed.
"Ah, no! Seol Pung! Save me! Seol Pung!"
But Seol Pung did not appear.
Instead, someone else appeared.
A voice suddenly rang out.
"What are you doing there?"
It was the voice of a young woman.
At that voice, heard so abruptly, all the demon minions stopped what they were doing and looked over in startled surprise.
The angry-sounding voice then asked the demon minions.
"I asked what you are doing. Surely you aren't trying to do the same bad thing to her that you once tried to do to me?"
The demon minions, looking slightly daunted, hurried to make excuses.
"Ah, no. We were just looking for a moment."
"Th-that's right! And we weren't trying to do it to you, were we?! These are our enemies!"
"Correct! Why are you interfering when it wasn't directed at you?!"
But the woman behind the voice answered firmly.
"Father said they would become my friends. So you are now trying to do something bad to my friend."
"Ah, no! That's a matter for later. Right now it's still...!"
That was when it happened.
The woman moved beside Na Seo-yu in an instant and said,
"Since you tried to do something bad to my friend, if I kill you, my father will praise me, won't he?"
Na Seo-yu could not help but be shocked by the woman who suddenly appeared in her vision.
Because she was a completely naked woman.
A beautiful, stark-naked woman, without a single thread on her body, was glaring at the demon minions and radiating killing intent, as if utterly without shame.
The demon minions, startled, all scrambled to the opposite side in a huddle.
They exchanged opinions aloud, even while their gazes mindlessly roamed over the woman's naked body and drool dripped from their mouths.
"Uh, what do we do? Sh-should we just go?"
"No, that's a bit... Can't two or three of us just suppress that bitch and the rest enjoy ourselves?"
"You're talking trouble. Are you saying that because you don't know that if you touch that bitch, the Elder Hwanma will be truly furious?"
"Right. Besides, how do you subdue a bitch that acupoint sealing won't work on, let alone energetic force?"
"Damn it, then you're saying we have to just back off like this?"
While they were exchanging opinions verbally like that, the woman suddenly began to emit white energetic force from both hands.
Hwaaaak!
It was an energetic force of pure white, as dazzling as her naked body.
Seeing that, the demon minions flinched in fright and hurriedly shouted.
"W-wait! We're going! We said we're going!"
"Right! We're leaving right now!"
"We won't do anything, so stop!"
"We're leaving! Leaving now!"
In an instant, the demon minions detoured far around her and fled the room.
Their movements were truly like a gale.
Seeing their movements, Na Seo-yu couldn't help but be shocked.
Because she realized that they were all transcendent peak masters, far beyond any comparison to herself.
She suspected they were all at the transcendent peak level.
A moment later, once all the demon minions had left the room, the naked woman smiled brightly and dispelled the energetic force in her hands.
Then she turned to Na Seo-yu, smiled brightly, and greeted her.
"Hi? Nice to meet you! I heard I would soon have a friend, and I was so happy I came right away to see you. Thanks to that, I was able to stop them from doing something bad."
She would have a friend?
What did that mean?
Na Seo-yu felt puzzled by her words but decided to express her gratitude first.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, miss, a terrible thing was prevented. Thank you so much."
The woman answered with a bright smile.
"It's nothing to thank me for. They tried to do that to me before, too. So I tore two of them apart back then. There used to be seven, now there are five, but they're still like that. Don't worry too much. Once you become my friend, you'll be able to tear apart ones like them easily too."
Then, with a puzzled expression, she suddenly looked toward Sak Mu-heun and said,
"Huh? But why does that friend have his eyes tightly shut? Did he hurt his eyes or something?"
Sak Mu-heun flinched in surprise and answered.
"Ah, no. It's, it's not that, but your clothes..."
Apparently, Sak Mu-heun had his eyes closed.
Na Seo-yu could guess that Sak Mu-heun had been startled by her nakedness and closed his eyes.
It was entirely understandable.
But the naked woman tilted her head as if she couldn't understand and asked.
"Clothes? What about clothes? My father said my body is very beautiful. Do you not think it's pretty? Are you closing your eyes so tightly because it looks ugly?"
At her question, Sak Mu-heun answered with an even more flustered voice.
"Ah, no, that's not what I meant! That is..."
But he couldn't continue, as if he couldn't find the right words.
Seeing that, Na Seo-yu could once again confirm that this woman was no ordinary person.
No matter how free-spirited a woman of the Blood Cult she might be, something was off.
It seemed this woman lacked basic common sense.
Na Seo-yu suddenly asked her.
"You said earlier that we would become your friends. What does that mean?"
The woman smiled brightly and answered.
"Ah, you were curious about that? It means you will become Blood Demon people."
"...Blood Demon people?"
She had heard about Blood Demon people from Du Dang earlier.
He had clearly said they were peak-level masters with the bodies of demons...
Na Seo-yu asked her in a trembling voice.
"Th-then what about you?"
The woman answered with utterly innocent clarity.
"Yes, I am a Blood Demon person. The first Blood Demon person. I am also a tool to assist the Supreme One and create a world under the Blood Cult's dominance."
Na Seo-yu could no longer speak.
So, apparently, this meant that she and Sak Mu-heun would become like that woman.
Someone like her, who felt no shame walking around completely naked and matter-of-factly called herself a tool for the Blood Cult's dominance.
Despair was steadily filling the hearts of Na Seo-yu and Sak Mu-heun.