Chapter 182: An Unexpected Meeting
Chapter 182: An Unexpected Meeting
Seol Pung muttered to himself without realizing.
"What about that guy?"
Seonwoo Jin answered him, his own eyes wide with surprise.
"It seems to be that one. The one we saw in the Poison Forest."
At that, Jeung Chil frowned and asked.
"What? You know this bastard?"
The sight that met their eyes was a Black Panther the size of a tiger fleeing with dozens of demons trailing behind it.
No, it was a little doubtful whether that was actually fleeing.
This was because the Black Panther didn't seem to be sprinting to widen the distance; rather, it appeared to be adjusting its speed as if deliberately letting the demons follow.
It felt less like running away and more like it was luring the demons in.
At that moment, Jeung Chil asked again irritably, as if whispering.
"Ah, I asked if you know this bastard or not?"
Seonwoo Jin answered his question for the time being.
"Yes, that Black Panther is probably the same one we encountered before in a poisonous land called the Poison Forest. It was a beast the size of a tiger, with venomous claws, and possessed combat power rivaling a peak-level master. Thanks to it, we even fought together when dealing with the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord Ji Gwang-ok."
"Eyyy? A leopard with combat ability on the level of a peak master? Fighting the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord Ji Gwang-ok?"
Jeung Chil looked back at the Black Panther charging over from that direction, his expression one of disbelief.
Then he spoke with amazement.
"Hoo, it certainly doesn't seem like an ordinary wild beast. Its speed and movements are astonishing. Besides, is that thing luring the demons right now?"
At his question, Seonwoo Jin, who had been thinking something similar just moments ago, was about to smile and shake his head.
No matter how clever that thing was for a leopard, the idea that it would deliberately go as far as to lure demons seemed to be crossing a line.
But just as Seonwoo Jin was about to open his mouth, Mukrang spoke first.
[That's right.]
'...Yes?'
[That bastard is genuinely luring the demons.]
At Mukrang's affirmation, Seonwoo Jin was at a loss for words.
'H-how can you be certain of that?'
Then Mukrang answered as if it were obvious.
[Because that thing keeps sending its will to the demons. It is commanding them to follow it.]
'...Yes?'
[It's probably guarding something. Perhaps cubs or a mate, and it appears to be luring them away to draw the demons away from it.]
Seonwoo Jin went utterly blank.
Was that really true?
No, even if it was true, how could he understand that?
Then Mukrang explained in a faintly amused voice.
[Humans may have grown so accustomed to something called language that they have forgotten how to read will. But consider. Even lowly creatures without language convey their intentions to each other. Perhaps the humans of the past were no different from those lowly creatures.]
Listening to that, Seonwoo Jin's jaw dropped in amazement.
Because he understood what Mukrang was talking about.
'Are you saying... you can read the will of animals?'
[It is not that I can read the will of all animals. However, one of that creature's level makes it sufficiently possible. That fellow seems to be a creature that has risen to the grade of a spirit beast? A monster? Something of that level.]
It was nothing short of an astonishing revelation.
To think you could grasp another being's intentions through will rather than words.
If such a thing was truly possible....
Several possibilities for utilizing that ability instantly flashed through Seonwoo Jin's mind.
At that moment, Seol Pung asked in a whisper.
"The distance is closing. What are you going to do, Jin?"
Then Jeung Chil answered dismissively, as if asking what was so obvious about that.
"What do you mean what to do? We know it has nothing to do with us, so we should turn back. It doesn't even seem to be heading exactly our way from the looks of it, right?"
Given the urgency and the need to avoid commotion, that was certainly the logical course of action.
But Seonwoo Jin's choice was different from Jeung Chil's.
After briefly scanning the surrounding presence and confirming there were no other entities nearby, Seonwoo Jin quickly whispered.
"We sweep away the demons. We wipe them out as quickly and quietly as possible."
At those words, Jeung Chil scowled deeply and asked.
"Eyyy? Didn't you say we weren't going to cause a disturbance?"
Seonwoo Jin grinned and replied.
"That is why we must do it as quickly and quietly as possible."
And then he immediately threw himself toward the demons.
Pabak!
Seol Pung did the same.
Pabak!
Looking at him charging after Seonwoo Jin without raising a single question, Jeung Chil grumbled and launched himself as well.
"What's with these young brats having no objection? Are they under some kind of soul possession or what?"
Swish!
The Black Panther, which had been running while luring the demons, flinched for a moment when Seonwoo Jin's Shin hyung suddenly shot forward like a gale from ahead.
But when Seonwoo Jin's gaze and the Black Panther's yellow eyes met in the air, Seonwoo Jin grinned at the beast.
Then he shot past the Black Panther straight toward the demons.
Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance, Second Form.
Dark Moon.
Hwaaaah!
In an instant, within a world draped in a dreamlike veil, Seonwoo Jin's sword spewed forth a hazy, cloud-like sword qi.
Sail Sword Technique, Seventh Form.
Black Sky Sword Rain.
Shuaaaaaah!
As a rain of sword qi began pouring down from within the hazy clouds, the demons he passed by were instantly pierced and sliced apart, turning to utter devastation.
Chwaaaah!
"Kyaaaah!"
"Geueeegh!"
It didn't matter whether the demons were of the Liver Demon or Spider Demon type.
Even the Iron Shield Demons were collapsing as their heads were pierced by a single streak of sword qi.
At that moment, Seol Pung, who had passed the Black Panther from another direction, crashed into the demons.
Kwaaaang!
"Kkiaaaak!"
"Kkieeeeegh!"
The demons that collided with Seol Pung bounced away in all directions like grains of sand.
Their entire bodies were torn apart by Seol Pung's Fierce Tiger Claws, which blazed with red energetic force.
Seol Pung pierced through the demons as if running through an empty field.
Behind him, the chopped and torn corpses of the demons scattered, creating a cleared path.
Jeung Chil, who joined the fray a little late, couldn't help but frown.
The two had already advanced while largely shredding the demons, leaving him with no choice but to handle the cleanup.
He grumbled again.
"These young punk bastards don't know how to serve a great senior!"
But even as he voiced complaints with his mouth, his hands never rested.
Pwishusyuk!
From his grumbling hands, throwing weapons shot forth like shafts of light, piercing the heads of the remaining demons around him.
With three warriors boasting transcendent peak martial prowess joining the fight, the several dozen demons were subdued in an instant.
Throughout this, the Black Panther could only watch Seonwoo Jin's group fight with a dazed expression.
Thinking it was amazing that the Black Panther could wear a dazed expression—and that he himself could read it—Seonwoo Jin slowly approached the creature.
Then the Black Panther suddenly launched itself toward Seonwoo Jin.
Pabak!
'An attack?'
Seonwoo Jin frowned and had no choice but to begin swinging his sword at the beast.
But Mukrang urgently stopped him.
[Wait! It's not an attack. Hold on.]
Seonwoo Jin hesitated at those words, and sure enough, the Black Panther landed right in front of him and began to growl as if in desperate urgency.
"Kreurrrr."
The beast looked back and forth between Seonwoo Jin and the direction it had come from, using its entire body to try to convey some intention.
He couldn't know precisely what it was trying to say, but at the very least, he could recognize that its eyes and actions were extremely earnest.
Then Mukrang spoke.
[Yes. That's how you begin to read its will. This creature is now telling you to come with it. It's asking you to please help.]
After hearing that, it did indeed seem to carry that meaning.
He suddenly asked Mukrang.
'By any chance, are you also able to convey my will back to that creature?'
- Hmm, if I were to move your body, it might be possible. Would you like me to do that?
His tone was slightly playful.
He seemed to be saying that while he could read Seonwoo Jin's will in his current state of residing only within his mind, he couldn't convey his own — not unless he took control of Seonwoo Jin's body, anyway.
Seonwoo Jin chuckled as he answered.
'I can't use my two remaining chances like that. That's a shame. Understood. I'll give it a try myself.'
Seonwoo Jin locked eyes with the Black Panther, pointed at himself with his hand, then pointed in the direction the Black Panther had been looking and slowly asked.
"You want us to go that way together?"
Just then, Jeung Chil, who had been finishing off the demons and approaching, happened to see this scene and snorted derisively.
"Ha! Now you've stooped to trying to have conversations with beasts? You're absolutely desperate to become some kind of freak... Huh?!"
But Jeung Chil, who had been mocking him, was caught off guard and startled.
At that moment, the tiger-sized Black Panther, as if it truly understood Seonwoo Jin's words, had bobbed its head up and down while bounding like a kitten.
Jeung Chil stared blankly, his face stunned, and asked.
"Wh-what is this? Is he really talking to a beast?"
Beside him, Seol Pung let out a purely admiring exclamation.
"Communicating with a Black Panther! As expected, Jin really is remarkable."
But Seonwoo Jin, not paying attention to his companions' reactions, kept his eyes locked with the Black Panther and nodded.
"Alright. I'll go with you."
As he spoke and rose to his feet, the Black Panther darted off in that direction, then looked back as if urging him to hurry.
Seonwoo Jin then spoke to his companions.
"Let's go. That fellow seems to need help, one way or another."
With those words, Seonwoo Jin and Seol Pung immediately launched themselves forward. Behind them, Jeung Chil, his face a mask of utter incomprehension, shook his head and followed.
"Weird. That bastard's too weird."
A short while later, Seonwoo Jin and his companions, who had followed the Black Panther, immediately understood why it had been trying to lure the demons away.
The place they arrived at was a small earthen hill.
Whatever the Black Panther wanted to protect was apparently inside a small burrow in that hill.
But over a dozen demons had been continuously digging into that burrow.
Jeung Chil suddenly muttered.
"Excluding the demons that fellow was luring away earlier, there were still this many left. That more than explains why it was trying so desperately to draw them off."
Seonwoo Jin nodded at those words and muttered as he watched another Black Panther circling the burrow.
"That one seems to be the female."
Unlike the Black Panther that had come with them, a Black Panther about the size of a normal leopard was prowling around the demons, trying to draw their attention.
But the remaining demons were mostly Ju-gwi that possessed intelligence.
They didn't seem to have much interest in that Black Panther.
Only two or three Ju-gwi threatened and chased the Black Panther away, while the rest didn't even spare it a glance, focusing solely on widening the burrow and digging deeper into the earthen hill.
"Kyaaaaang!"
The moment the large Black Panther arrived, it roared sharply and lunged at the Ju-gwi.
Seonwoo Jin followed right behind it and spoke to his companions.
"Alright, let's finish this quickly."
They were three masters capable of displaying transcendent peak-level martial prowess.
Dealing with a mere dozen or so demons took only an instant.
Peoseok!
When Jeung Chil crushed the head of the last Ju-gwi, not even five breaths had passed.
With all the demons dealt with, the tiger-sized Black Panther and the female Black Panther intertwined as if embracing, rubbing their bodies together and licking each other, sharing the joy of their reunion.
Then, the male let out a low cry toward the burrow, and from within, three small Black Panther cubs crawled out one after another.
They were black cubs about the size of puppies.
Upon seeing the cubs, Jeung Chil let out an involuntary exclamation of admiration.
"Eoigu!"
Although they were the young of wild beasts, the still-small Black Panthers were unbelievably cute.
It was like looking at baby kittens.
And seeing blood trickling from the leg of one of the cubs, he could guess why the demons had been so fixated on them.
Seonwoo Jin marveled at their adorable appearance and muttered to himself without realizing it.
"That fellow became a father in the meantime."
Seol Pung also nodded absently and muttered.
"That's why it must have moved here from the Poison Forest. To raise its cubs."
Jeung Chil, regardless of what anyone said, was utterly captivated by the cuteness of the Black Panther cubs.
Then, suddenly coming to his senses, Jeung Chil scowled deeply and spoke.
"Saving these cute creatures was worthwhile, but isn't this hardly the time for it?"
Seonwoo Jin nodded at his words.
And stepped forward.
It was time to attend to business.
As Seonwoo Jin approached, the cubs and the female instantly became wary of him and scurried to hide behind the large Black Panther.
Seonwoo Jin carefully bent his knees, lowering his body, and slowly conveyed his words to the Black Panther.
"We're trying to enter a cave in that direction. Is there another entrance besides the one guarded by people? If you know of one, could you tell us?"
Seonwoo Jin kept his eyes locked with the Black Panther.
And pointing toward where the cave was, he tried his utmost to convey his meaning slowly and with sincerity.
It was an act born of faith that, as Mukrang had said, if this creature was truly a spirit creature, it would understand his intent.
The Black Panther, which had been silently watching Seonwoo Jin for a moment, simply turned its head to look at its mate.
"Ah...."
Seonwoo Jin couldn't help but be disappointed.
Because it seemed his will hadn't gotten through.
Watching with wide, incredulous eyes, Jeung Chil snorted.
"Hmph! I knew it. Do you think a mere wild beast can answer such a complicated question? To waste precious time asking that creature just to..."
It was at that moment.
The Black Panther growled something at its mate and cubs as if giving them instructions, then turned its head back and launched its body in the direction Seonwoo Jin had pointed.
Then it looked back at Seonwoo Jin, seemingly asking why he wasn't following.
At the Black Panther's behavior, which looked exactly as if it had understood his words, Jeung Chil could no longer speak and his jaw dropped.
He absolutely couldn't believe the situation unfolding before him.
But in truth, Seonwoo Jin also found it hard to believe.
Because he couldn't be sure whether it had truly understood his intent and was going there, or if it was just heading in that direction by chance.
That was when it happened.
Mukrang laughed as he spoke.
- Congratulations. You've had your first experience communicating your will with a spirit creature. Your intent was conveyed admirably. The fellow is telling you to hurry up and follow.
Only after hearing Mukrang's confirmation could Seonwoo Jin smile brightly.
He then spoke confidently to his comrades.
"Let's hurry. It seems we've found a side path."
Jeung Chil asked Seonwoo Jin with a dazed expression.
"Y-you bastard, what are you? What did you just do?"
Seonwoo Jin grinned as he answered.
"Isn't it obvious that the best shortcut is to ask the locals?"
"W-well, yes, but that isn't exactly a 'local'...."
But no one paid any attention to Jeung Chil's muttering.
Seonwoo Jin and Seol Pung launched themselves after the Black Panther, and Jeung Chil, looking as if he were bewitched, took a small sip of small flask liquor from his gourd bottle and followed them in a daze.
Some time later, the five people, excluding Dakam, were able to infiltrate the interior of the Muhwangchong through a collapsed gap on the opposite mountain side of Ghost Laugh Valley, guided by the Black Panther.
The progress was far swifter than even Seonwoo Jin had anticipated.