Chapter 8: Demon-2
Chapter 8: Demon-2
It was the moment when the monster's hand was about to pierce Hae Cheong-yeon's chest.
Something flew in from the side and slammed into the monster's body.
Kwaaaang!
Only after the monster was bounced away did Hae Cheong-yeon realize that it had been a chair from the inn.
Seonwoo Jin had swung a long, sturdy inn chair and struck the monster with it.
"My lady! Are you alright?!"
Only then did Hae Cheong-yeon regain her senses and answer in a daze.
"Ah, I am fine. But that person..."
The other ronin who had followed Seonwoo Jin discovered a ronin who had been killed instantly, his chest pierced by the monster, and let out a wail.
"Brother Yang!"
"Yang Ga!"
Then, faces contorted with rage, they were all drawing their blades when Seonwoo Jin stopped them and shouted.
"Get inside the inn first! Hurry!"
The ronin protested at his words.
"What are you saying, young master! That bastard got Yang Ga!"
"It'll follow us anyway! We can't face it outside!"
At that moment, the monster that had been struck by the chair and bounced away lunged at Seonwoo Jin again.
"Kiaaaaa!"
Having regained some composure, Hae Cheong-yeon swung her sword and blocked the monster in front of Seonwoo Jin.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In the meantime, Seonwoo Jin shouted again.
"Quickly, inside the inn! That thing...!"
Just as he was about to yell something to them, Hae Cheong-yeon was in danger again.
The monster charged in without a care for being struck by the sword, and she simply could not contend with it.
"Eeeick!"
Even worse, as she was forced to retreat, Hae Cheong-yeon momentarily stepped on a stone and lost her balance.
It was despairing.
"Aack!"
The moment the monster lunged and swung its hand, a strong hand suddenly appeared from behind Hae Cheong-yeon, clamping tightly over her mouth and around her waist before yanking her to the side.
"Mmph!"
It was Seonwoo Jin.
He had covered her mouth and pulled her waist hard to let her escape the danger.
But after making her evade the danger like that, Seonwoo Jin stopped in place and moved no further.
As if frozen, he simply stood there without stirring.
Hae Cheong-yeon's heart grew urgent.
It felt like the monster would pounce at any second.
So even with her mouth blocked, she was about to shout at him, asking what he thought he was doing, when she suddenly realized one fact.
The fact that when they stopped moving, the monster's movements also stopped.
Observing from within Seonwoo Jin's embrace, the monster, instead of falling upon them right beside it, was only turning its head this way and that as if searching for them.
Suddenly, the fact that the monster had kept its eyes closed the whole time earlier flashed through Hae Cheong-yeon's mind.
And she realized.
Perhaps that bastard's eyesight...
It was then.
"Seonwoo young master! Are you alright?!"
When the ronin shouted from inside the inn, the monster whipped its head around and threw itself toward that direction.
***
I absolutely couldn't believe it.
How had that thing crossed the frontline and come all the way here?
The moment I saw the creature's movement—charging in and taking the sword qi with its body without a care—I realized at once.
The fact that it was a demon of the Blood Cult.
Of the various types of demons the Blood Cult produced, this one was the kind they specifically called an Owl Demon.
An owl ghost—a demon specialized in attacking people at night.
Suddenly, I recalled a story I'd heard when I first went to the frontline, about a single Owl Demon crossing the frontline and raiding a civilian home.
That must have been this bastard.
The more dark the surroundings, the more dangerous it became. As the Owl Demon, a monster impervious to blade and sword, threw itself toward the inn, my heart grew impatient.
I had not yet managed to inform the others that they must not make a sound.
I hurriedly released Lady Cheong-yeon and began running toward the inn.
Though it had been only a short time, I could not let them die after I had parted my heart to them.
I had even prepared gifts to give them when we parted tomorrow...
"A monster!"
"Waaaaack!"
"Aaaack!"
Horrible screams were already ringing out from inside the inn.
When I urgently leaped inside, it had already become a complete shambles.
Jeom So-i and Warrior Lee were already dead.
Warrior Lee, who grumbled day in and day out but always looked after things meticulously when no one was watching...
Even now, the relatively skilled Warrior Jang was swinging his blade at the Owl Demon, but he looked as though he could be slaughtered at any moment.
"Uwaaaap!"
With a shout, I charged in and struck the bastard with a long inn chair.
Puh-uhk!
After the creature was hit by the chair and bounced away, I shouted immediately.
"Everyone stay silent!"
But it was not going to get quiet right away.
"Aaaack! Save me!"
The innkeeper was screaming.
"You son of a bitch, even your molars!"
The ronin were shouting in fury.
My heart grew anxious.
If I couldn't silence them somehow...
At that moment, the creature that had gotten up again was about to throw itself toward the source of the noise.
Toward Warrior Jang.
"Uwaaaaaa!"
I let out a wild cry and overturned the table where our food had been sitting.
Crash! Clatter!
Clang!
While the food and bowls on top scattered in all directions and shattered, causing the Owl Demon to falter and lose its bearing, I shouted loudly in time with the sounds.
"Everyone shut up!"
For a moment, the people fell silent.
The Owl Demon also halted its movement for a moment, its ears twitching.
That was fortunate.
I had to seize this chance.
I picked up a small chair placed beside the dining table and flung it far away.
Then the chair that had risen into the air struck the ground with a noisy clatter.
Kudangtang!
I shouted in time with the sound.
"That thing...!"
I threw another chair.
Kudangtang!
"...can't...!"
One more.
Kudangtang!
"...see!"
Now there was nothing left nearby that I could throw.
Please, they had to understand at least this much.
Still, seeing the expressions on the ronin' faces, it seemed they had at least somewhat understood.
But the innkeeper was not among them.
He was about to open his mouth toward me with an expression of utter incomprehension.
My heart dropped.
No!
It was then.
"Haaap!"
With a martial shout, Lady Cheong-yeon charged at the Owl Demon.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
As she pummeled the Owl Demon's body with dazzling sword light, she shouted to me.
"Speak now!"
I could not have been more grateful.
Not only had she been gracious enough to follow me into the inn instead of fleeing on her own—she had also done something this shrewd.
There was no time to waste.
I hurriedly shouted.
"The bastard distinguishes people only by sound! So absolutely do not make a sound! Don't even breathe audibly!"
I saw the innkeeper clamp his own mouth shut upon hearing my words.
At that moment, Lady Cheong-yeon was being steadily pushed backward.
I was about to rush to help her but paused abruptly.
To avoid being detected by the thing, I must not make a sound, but merely having everyone stay silent was of no use.
Though not as sensitive as its ears, that creature could also track scent.
So if it could not hear anything, it would attempt to find people by smell.
Before that, I had to find some way to deal with the creature.
Just then, the things placed on the counter beside the innkeeper—who was trembling as he blocked his mouth—suddenly caught my eye.
Puh-uhng!
Kudangtangtang!
After striking the bastard with the long chair and sending it flying, I sent a hand signal to Lady Cheong-yeon, telling her to stay quiet.
She also nodded and closed her mouth.
The Owl Demon, which had slammed into the wall, got up and began to turn its head this way and that, its ears twitching.
Then it slowly stepped forward.
The creature was a Miao tribesman with dark brown skin.
A naked Miao man, striking for his crudely built body and an enormous dangling genitals.
In the early days, the Blood Cult bastards would often take the native Miao tribes living in Yunnan and make them into demons before sending them.
And at that time, we had not yet realized.
The fact that they were nothing but test subjects.
That it wasn't as if there were no demons made from proper martial artists.
And when demons made from martial artists appeared...
As the creature slowly approached us, Lady Cheong-yeon looked at me with tense eyes.
It seemed like she was asking what to do now.
I carefully lifted two objects I had placed on the table beside me, and threw one of them over to the creature's side.
Hwiiik!
Jjarang! Jjararang! Jjang! Chang! Chang! Chang!
It was the basket filled with iron coins.
As it fell with a clamorous crash, iron coins bounced out all over.
In time with the sound, I quickly moved my body.
I closed about half a zhang toward where the creature was.
Lady Cheong-yeon seemed startled to see me do that, but made no sound.
Then I threw the remaining one behind the creature. This time it was a porcelain bowl full of beans.
Crash! Tadang! Tang! Tatang! Tang! Tang! Tang!
When the creature turned its body backward at the sound of the bowl breaking and beans clattering, I was able to approach right up to the back of its head.
Good, this was it.
I absolutely must not make a mistake.
Right now, if I even brushed against that monster's hand, my frail body would be torn apart.
I swallowed dryly and slowly raised my hand.
Then I began to bring it toward the creature's head, which was looking around.
It was then.
The innkeeper could not hold back and sneezed.
"Eh-hetchoo!"
The Owl Demon reacted to the sound and whipped its head around, and its face came to face my direction.
Its eyes-closed face had drawn so close it seemed about to touch my face.
My heart felt like it would burst.
I could see that the creature was about to lunge forward—toward where I was.
Ah, dammit!
Clenching my teeth, I reached my hand out just like that, bringing it to the creature's face.
***
Hae Cheong-yeon's heart had felt like it would burst as she watched Seonwoo Jin throw objects and approach the monster.
Though he seemed to know the monster well for some reason, what kind of reckless act was this?
If he even so much as made a misstep and produced a sound, what was he going to do...
Then when the innkeeper sneezed, she nearly screamed as well.
She was so angry that if he had been beside her, she might have cut him down with her sword.
She caught sight of the monster turning and coming face-to-face with Seonwoo Jin.
So shocked, the scene before her eyes seemed to go white.
The monster was attempting to lunge toward where Seonwoo Jin was.
It was that moment.
Seonwoo Jin recklessly reached his hand toward the monster's face—and then pried apart its eyelids.
What on earth?!
Flustered and frantic, just as she was about to open her mouth to shout, the monster suddenly began to let out a horrific scream.
"Kkiaaaaaaack!"
It was a completely incomprehensible situation.
He had done nothing but pry its eyelids open, yet the monster was clutching its own eyes with both hands and writhing as if in agony.
That monster, which hadn't even been wounded—let alone shown any pain—from sword qi...
Suddenly, a hypothesis surfaced in Hae Cheong-yeon's mind.
Could it be because it saw light?
At that moment, Seonwoo Jin, who had at some point moved behind the creature, grabbed it by the waist and hoisted it up before shouting to Hae Cheong-yeon.
"Lady Cheong-yeon! Its mouth! Inside its mouth!"
In that instant, her gaze went to the creature's wide-open mouth, from which it was screaming.
She felt she could understand Seonwoo Jin's words at once.
Right—even if the body was impervious to sword qi, if it was inside the mouth...
Leaping toward the creature and thrusting her sword was an instinctive action.
"Haaap!"
Shunk!
At last, it pierced!
Hae Cheong-yeon clenched her other fist tightly.
Because Seonwoo Jin had lifted the creature's body upward, the sword had thrust deep into the roof of its gaping mouth, toward the brain.
But even though its brain had been destroyed, the creature did not stop moving.
Rather, screaming, it began to thrash even more violently.
"Kkiaaaaaaack!"
Seeing the monster—a naked man with a grotesque, dangling genitals—thrashing right in front of her, not dying even after being stabbed through the brain, Hae Cheong-yeon now felt dread.
It was an instinctive revulsion that arose as a woman.
"Uuughh!"
Her face contorted and the strength was about to leave her sword-gripping hand when someone firmly held the hand that gripped her sword.
It was Seonwoo Jin.
Having grasped the sword together with her and nodded as if to say she had done well, Seonwoo Jin began to twist the sword lodged inside the creature's mouth with all his strength.
Still, he kept his hand atop hers, gripping the sword together.
The creature thrashed about for a while longer before finally dying.
Inside the inn, now a complete wreck, the people had no choice but to stare at that dead monster in a daze for a long while.