Chapter 20: Poison Forest-2
Chapter 20: Poison Forest-2
The youth's story, as I had roughly understood it, was this.
When many of the Myo tribe were being dragged away by the Blood Cult, they had been saved thanks to an old man named Dokno, and they had been able to live safely in the jungle ever since. But now, that Dokno was vomiting blood from a critical illness.
From the brief explanation, I deduced that this old man Dokno was a martial artist, and that his symptoms likely pointed to a qi deviation.
And so, the Myo youth had come all the way to the frontline specifically to seek help from those who had learned martial arts.
"Please, I beg you to help. Tokno is our benefactor. And without Tokno, all of us siblings will surely die."
Faced with this unprecedented situation, Seol Pung was hesitating over what to do.
Just then, Ju Tae-gyeong, who had caught up and rejoined the group that had stopped, scoffed and spoke.
"What are you agonizing over? It's obviously a lie. In the first place, does it make any sense that Myo tribespeople who haven't even learned martial arts could be living in that forest full of demons?"
Regardless of how much the squad members disliked him, his point did have its merits.
But the Myo youth immediately cried out, indignant.
"That is a lie! The scent Tokno gave chases the monsters away! We were safe thanks to Tokno!"
At those words, Seonwoo Jin, who had been concentrating deeply on something, reacted.
"Scent? What scent do you mean?"
Then the youth held out a crudely made sachet.
"The monsters hate this scent! If you have the scent Tokno gave, the monsters won't come!"
A peculiar smell indeed came from it, but that alone wasn't enough to confirm whether his words were true.
At that moment, Seonwoo Jin's eyes lit up as he spoke to Seol Pung.
"Let us go, squad leader."
"Huh?"
"Isn't this single sachet enough of a reason to make it worth going? And besides...."
Then, Ju Tae-gyeong cut in with a fierce expression.
"What bullshit is this?! You want to go inside there for the sake of a sachet we don't even know is real or fake? And even if it is real, what value does it have for us?! We who are supposed to hunt down and kill demons, you want us to use an incense that demons avoid?!"
But Seonwoo Jin merely scoffed, ignoring him as he continued speaking to Seol Pung.
"Squad leader, they said they have been living inside the forest. That means they know the geography of the interior. If we don't intend to merely stand guard here forever, shouldn't we also come to know the geography of the inside?"
The moment they grasped the meaning of Seonwoo Jin's words, everyone was at a loss for words.
He was talking now not of defense, but of offense. That someday, in order to strike the Blood Cult, we would need intelligence on the interior.
It was an unprecedentedly bold idea, one no one else in the Thirteen Squads had ever considered.
At Seonwoo Jin's statement, which broke the established rigid thinking, everyone could only swallow dryly.
Even Ju Tae-gyeong, who had been about to erupt in rage at being ignored, was left stammering.
"Th-that's.... What kind of crazy talk is that?! Haven't the Blood Cult and the Murim Alliance signed a mutual non-aggression treaty?! You think you can just...!"
Seonwoo Jin then gave a bitter smile and retorted to Ju Tae-gyeong.
"Ah, so we signed a mutual non-aggression treaty, which is why we get attacked by demons every day. And weren't you a disciple of the Jeomchang Sect? I never knew a Jeomchang disciple would say such a thing."
The moment the name of the Jeomchang Sect was brought up, Ju Tae-gyeong grabbed his sword hilt, feeling his sect had been insulted.
"You dare?!"
But Ju Tae-gyeong couldn't actually draw his sword, because of the words that immediately followed from Seonwoo Jin.
Seonwoo Jin had spoken with a pitying look.
"Wasn't it your sect's long-cherished wish to strike the Blood Cult and reclaim the Jeomchang Sect's main mountain? Are you satisfied just standing guard here for a thousand, ten thousand years? That's astonishing."
Ju Tae-gyeong couldn't utter a single word.
Having silenced Ju Tae-gyeong with a few sentences, Seonwoo Jin looked back at Seol Pung and asked.
"What do you say, squad leader?"
His eyes said that if the answer was no, he would go alone.
Seol Pung thought for a moment before asking the Myo youth again.
"How long does it take to get there?"
Then the youth, who had been watching the back-and-forth with a tense face, answered immediately.
"Half a day! If we hurry fast, we can arrive in half a day!"
Seol Pung furrowed his brow at his answer.
"Half a day, so a full day for the round trip. That's a bit problematic. We have to be back by the afternoon patrol the day after tomorrow at the latest, but if we arrive and attempt treatment, we might run out of time. And there's no guarantee treatment will even be possible."
Ju Tae-gyeong, who had been silent, also cut in again.
"And it's also an unauthorized absence from duty. Abandoning one's post without leave is grounds for severe disciplinary action. You haven't forgotten that, have you?"
Then Seonwoo Jin chuckled and said to him.
"Don't worry, I wasn't asking you to come along."
"What?!"
"Squad leader, we don't all need to go, do we? We select only the fastest and run as swift as possible. Just the three of us: squad leader, myself, and Sa-yeong. The squad leader and I can take turns carrying this youth on our backs."
Recently, Seonwoo Jin's movement technique had reached a level that even Bi Sa-yeong, who had taught him the Bi Sect's Divine Movement Technique, acknowledged.
In fact, when it came to maintaining speed while wearing a heavy weighted vest, he was sometimes even better than Bi Sa-yeong.
Seol Pung nodded, thinking it a decent plan, and Seonwoo Jin continued.
"And as for the matter of abandoning one's post."
Having said that, Seonwoo Jin turned back to the Myo youth and asked.
"There must be many demons—monsters, that is—there, right?"
"Yes! Yes! Many! But as long as you have this scent!"
"No, what I want to know is the types of those monsters. Among them, is there a monster that grows stronger by sucking the vital energy of people? A monster that moves silently like a spider, attacks people, and sucks their vital energy."
"Yes! There is! The big ones are very dangerous!"
A demon that silently ambushes people, sucks their vital energy, and grows stronger over time—the soldiers on the frontline called that thing Ju-gwi, the Spider Demon.
Having heard enough, Seonwoo Jin grinned and spoke to Seol Pung.
"They say there's a Ju-gwi. We've caught its trail, so shouldn't we pursue and deal with it?"
At that, Seol Pung also grinned and replied.
"A genius, really. This is something we absolutely have to go do."
The principle was that a Ju-gwi, a demon that constantly grew in power, had to be dealt with the moment it was discovered.
That principle even took priority over any other duty.
In the end, it was decided that Seol Pung, Seonwoo Jin, Bi Sa-yeong, and Cheongyeon would go there and back.
This was because Cheongyeon had volunteered to go, saying she herself was every bit as fast as Bi Sa-yeong or Seonwoo Jin.
And since she was the strongest fighter in the Seventh Squad after Seol Pung, everyone had no choice but to accept.
Before leaving, Seol Pung spoke awkwardly to Na Seo-yu.
"I leave the rear to you, vice squad leader. I'm sorry for making you manage the squad in my stead so often."
Na Seo-yu answered with a warm smile.
"Please go carefully and come back. I will be waiting."
Seol Pung, overwhelmed by awkwardness, couldn't meet her eyes and immediately turned his head away.
Beside them, Ju Tae-gyeong was glaring at Seonwoo Jin and speaking.
"You bastard, even if you come back exhausted from this trip, I won't postpone our duel. You're not running away to avoid the fight, are you?"
Seonwoo Jin chuckled and answered him.
"The delusion is strong. Compared to this task, my duel with you bears no great significance to me. Don't get it twisted."
"What?!"
Sneering at the grinding Ju Tae-gyeong, Seonwoo Jin launched his body forward. On his back, he carried the Myo youth.
***
"Whoaaaa! Very fast!"
The Myo youth on my back shouted aloud.
Squad Leader Seol Pung, myself, Bi Sa-yeong, and Miss Cheongyeon were racing over the trees as if flying, just like during our dawn training.
The evening was growing dim, the dense jungle increasingly thick around us, but our speed did not decrease in the slightest.
"Amazing! It's like we're flying!"
The Myo youth, who had introduced himself as Dakam, seemed to be fundamentally a very bright and amiable person.
Even though he had been pleading for help, being carried like a piece of luggage after having his acupoints sealed and being unable to move his whole body probably wasn't something to be all that happy about, but he was enjoying himself like a young child.
Watching him, I recalled my past life.
I had met him in my past life as well.
Back then too, just like today, he had come to us with that earnest look, asking for help.
'And we had refused his request.'
Nothing particularly bad had happened as a result. It had just been one of those things that passed by.
But a long, long time after that, the Poison Snake Demon had appeared.
A demon that was like a crystallization of poison, where mere proximity could poison a person.
Our squad members, who had known absolutely nothing about it, had lost more than twenty people poisoned by a single Poison Snake Demon we encountered for the first time.
And among them was her.
'Na So-jeo.'
None other than Na Seo-yu, our squad's vice-leader and my first love....
It had all happened while Squad Leader Seol Pung was separated from us, gone to rescue Ju Tae-gyeong and his cronies who were in danger.
Neither the physician stationed at the Thirteen Squads nor Lady Dang Yeoeun, the daughter of the Tang Family, had been able to neutralize that poison at all.
So, as we stood by helplessly watching our comrades die, Squad Leader Seol Pung had charged into the jungle alone.
This was after hearing Lady Dang Yeoeun's theoretical suggestion that if the Poison Snake Demon's venom had derived from the jungle's poison creatures, then the antidote would also likely be nearby.
And two days later, he had returned with several plants he had plucked, calling them antidote herbs gathered on the advice of the Myo tribe. Lady Dang Yeoeun had used them to immediately create an antidote and test it.
As a result, they had barely managed to save a few of their comrades who were still alive.
But among those few, Na So-jeo had not been included.
It had already been too late.
Her death had affected us greatly.
'It was after that incident that Squad Leader Seol Pung changed, and I changed too.'
Squad Leader Seol Pung completely abandoned his former gentle, kind appearance and became a cold, ruthless person, and I had immersed myself in training as if I would grind my body to dust.
Eventually, he became the Gale Flying Dragon, and I was able to reach the peak of the first-class upper level.
Of course, I had no way of knowing if the Myo tribesman who gave Squad Leader Seol Pung advice back then was this youth.
But I thought to myself: if even the tiniest possibility existed, I had to try anything.
After running for about an hour, the sun set completely and the jungle turned pitch black, forcing us to slow our pace.
Squad Leader Seol Pung could discern objects in the dark as clearly as in broad daylight, but for me, Bi Sa-yeong, and Miss Cheongyeon, it was still too much.
'Thankfully, even the starlight is bright enough.'
We descended to the ground and let the Myo youth Dakam off. For the sake of guiding us, he now had to take the lead.
I spoke to Bi Sa-yeong on a whim.
"Sa-yeong."
"Huh? What?"
"We need to practice perceiving things with our eyes closed, like the squad leader."
"Tch, you think that's possible? I'm already dying from exhaustion, and the list of things to train just keeps growing."
He grumbled, but he didn't say he wouldn't do it. That meant he felt the need for it too.
Miss Cheongyeon said nothing, but I'd already sensed before that she was already undertaking such training. I had done similar training in my past life too, after all.
Moreover, while I hadn't achieved much then, since the Ju-gwi incident, I had made considerable progress.
Just then, Dakam gave us a warning.
"Please stay close to me. This spot has many venomous snakes and bugs, so caution...!"
That was when it happened. Before his words could finish, something shot out of the forest like an arrow.
Siiik!
Flying in like an arrow from the pitch darkness, the thing was truly threatening.
Neither Bi Sa-yeong nor I could even properly react.
"Ugh!"
"What the?!"
But Squad Leader Seol Pung was different.
Thwip!
As if he had been waiting for it, Squad Leader Seol Pung lightly snatched it and, looking at the thin snake hissing in his hand, murmured.
"This is... the Three-Colored Death Adder?"
At that, Miss Cheongyeon was the first to show interest and ask.
"What? The Three-Colored Death Adder?"
"Huh? Wasn't it said to be an incredibly rare poison creature?"
Squad Leader Seol Pung answered, lightly catching another one as it flew in.
Thwack!
"Apparently not here."
Those who worked on the frontline had been educated to a basic degree of knowledge about poison creatures through booklets distributed by the Tang Family.
In that book, the Three-Colored Death Adder, which displayed three hues and flew like an arrow to bite its target, was described as a rare venomous snake that martial artists who used poison arts would even use as a throwing weapon.
Dakam approached with an admiring look and said.
"So great, as expected. No one but Tokno could do that."
Squad Leader Seol Pung asked him.
"Are these common here?"
"That snake? Yes, we see them often. Not yet, but if we go a bit further, there's a poison swamp, so there are many other things too."
Miss Cheongyeon nodded constantly at Dakam's words, taking the snake from the squad leader and examining it from various angles.
The atmosphere about her was such that if only her eyes could be seen, light would have surely been shining from them.
Anyway, according to Dakam, about an hour further from here, there was a massive swamp called the Poison Forest, which was originally a forbidden zone that the Myo tribe would never enter.
But Dakam's dwelling was beyond it.
It seemed they had no choice but to live near there once their fellow tribesmen began being hunted by the Blood Cultists.
I asked him on an impulse.
"Is the reason the demons don't go there also because of the many poison creatures?"
"Yes, Tokno said so. He said the monsters were originally made to hate the poison scent. But he also told us to be careful because eventually, some that spray poison will come out too."
Hearing that, the squad leader and I exchanged glances.
It seemed that old man Dokno knew the demons in extraordinary detail.
No, if the demons he said would eventually emerge referred to the Poison Snake Demon, then he knew not just extraordinary detail, but an excessive amount.
His true identity suddenly intrigued me even more.
Perhaps....