Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Terror (5)
The Chimera's cave.
I entered the small space opposite the entrance.
Scattered furniture came into view. I checked the furniture pieces one by one.
'As expected.'
I immediately left that spot.
"They just left."
The scattered furniture was a deception.
There wasn't any dust on the furniture, and there were surgical tools with blood that hadn't dried yet.
Upon hearing the news that we had come looking, they had fled in haste.
That was also the reason they had left the Magic Swordsmen behind.
The Witch was the first to exit the cave. She floated in the air and surveyed the surroundings.
So Iryeon and I searched for other traces inside the cave.
'This is unsettling.'
Looking at the magic circles densely carved on the cave walls made me dizzy.
With a thought that crossed my mind, I looked at So Iryeon.
"So Iryeon."
So Iryeon looked at me. Her pupils were shaking.
"Follow me."
I quickly grabbed her and exited the cave. I jumped high from the entrance and climbed onto the cliff.
"Phew, thank you. I suddenly felt nauseous."
So Iryeon, who had simply brushed off even curses, felt strong vertigo. This phenomenon occurred just from seeing the magic circle.
'I need to form Ganggi before entering.'
There was no such phenomenon during combat. After the battle ended and I released my Ganggi, the magic circle's power penetrated.
I entered the cave again.
I stepped on the area right above the cave entrance to slow my speed, and as I entered, I drew up my Ganggi.
Fortunately, the previous phenomenon disappeared.
I was looking around the interior again when the Witch came in. She flew up into the air and examined the magic circles on the ceiling.
"Hmm, impressive."
"What is?"
"This magic circle. Dozens of magic circles are connected as one."
"Is the dizziness also because of this magic circle?"
"That's right. The mana is completely tangled. I felt it when I used magic earlier too."
The Witch examined the magic circle for quite a while.
I left the magic circle to the Witch and examined the furniture and traces on the walls.
While I was investigating like that for some time, the Witch muttered as if talking to herself.
"Roltui will come back here."
"What?"
"Because he won't want to show me this magic circle."
The Witch was smiling. It was an expression of genuine interest.
"The core of that person's research is in this magic circle. He'll know that unlike other mages, I can interpret this if I see it. So he absolutely won't want to show it."
"Wait, that means..."
"He'll come before I finish looking at all of this."
An ominous thought suddenly occurred to me.
I immediately ran toward the cave entrance. Just then, an explosion sound came from outside.
'Damn it.'
I ran to where I had left So Iryeon. And I breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected, there had been an ambush. But they picked the wrong opponent.
Crack!
So Iryeon was tearing out the neck of one Magic Swordsman. And beside her was Cheong Ak-sal, who had joined after finishing off the Chimera.
The five attackers had become four.
"Cult Leader, I'll just handle this myself."
The opponents looked aged. This meant they were reincarnators.
'Four of them.'
Cheong Ak-sal and So Iryeon could handle it sufficiently. But now wasn't the place to indulge personal grudges.
'What?'
As I was about to order a coordinated attack, the body of the Magic Swordsman who had died first began to glow red.
Something was off.
And the bodies of the four standing in front also turned red.
In that state, they attacked us.
So Iryeon instinctively tried to counter.
"Fall back!"
Their attack method was abnormal.
It wasn't just mutual destruction—they were rushing in to die outright.
Just then, the body of the Magic Swordsman who had died first exploded. I hurriedly lowered my body and drew up my Ganggi, but there was no impact.
Instead, the torn blood and skin of the Magic Swordsman drew a wide magic circle around the area.
I quickly grabbed So Iryeon and moved outside the magic circle.
'Damn it!'
The four Magic Swordsmen jumped off the cliff. They were trying to enter the cave.
I also jumped down the cliff.
When I looked down from the cliff, the Magic Swordsmen had already entered the cave entrance.
'They're going to explode.'
They were trying to collapse the cave. It was the best way to hide the magic circle.
'But something's strange.'
If they were going to collapse it in the first place, they should have collapsed it beforehand. There was no reason to belatedly deploy even reincarnators like this.
'First, this.'
Just as I arrived at the entrance, a strong wind blew. The Magic Swordsmen who had entered the cave entrance were pushed back outside by the storm.
And their bodies turned completely red.
Since it was difficult to jump up again, I entered the cave entrance. But the Witch didn't recognize me and created another storm.
"Hey!"
When I shouted urgently, the wind stopped. And explosions occurred.
Kwang!
The four explosions occurred while the Magic Swordsmen were falling. Therefore, there was no major impact on the cave.
"Why did you come in?"
The Witch scolded me.
"Because you're in danger."
"Are you thinking of your older sister?"
I suddenly don't feel like answering.
But I still have to say what needs to be said.
"A magic circle was carved on top of the cliff."
The Witch immediately exited the cave. I followed behind her as well.
Seeing the magic circle carved on top of the cliff, the Witch immediately summoned ice.
As the ice erased the key points, the magic circle soon lost its light.
"They were in quite a hurry. To use such a magic circle."
The Witch spoke while erasing the remaining magic circles as well.
"I'll take some photos of the interior. It'll take some time."
She seemed unwilling to miss Roltui's magic circle. She had an expression like a martial artist who had obtained a secret manual.
If it helped the Witch greatly, I couldn't stop her.
I looked at So Iryeon and Cheong Ak-sal and said,
"Then I'll survey the surroundings, so So Iryeon and Cheong Ak-sal guard this place."
"Where are you going?"
The Witch, who had turned around, asked.
"That person called Roltui is definitely nearby."
"Why do you think so?"
"This cave is Kisan's operating room. That's why they couldn't collapse the magic circle and left. If Roltui had been here, they definitely would have collapsed the cave and fled."
The Witch nodded.
"The Magic Swordsmen appearing now—Roltui sent them to eliminate the magic circle."
"That's right. When did my little brother become so smart?"
Martial sects also have secret manuals they treasure like their lives.
They would never leave their secret manuals behind and flee. They either hide them and take them or burn them—one of the two.
If the magic circle was that precious to Roltui, they absolutely couldn't leave it like this.
The conclusion led to one thing.
'They weren't at this location.'
The Magic Swordsman who belatedly tried to blow it up proved this.
"They used a separate research lab, and it's definitely not far from here."
I looked at Cheong Ak-sal and asked,
"The last Magic Swordsmen—which direction did they come from?"
Cheong Ak-sal raised his hand and pointed in a direction.
"I'm going alone."
I immediately ran in the direction Cheong Ak-sal indicated.
While running through the forest, I organized the situation once more.
'There will be a magic circle.'
I focused on sounds and terrain. Then I discovered a suspicious location.
An area appeared where the trees in the dense forest grew in a row. When I entered inside, strong pressure was felt through both eyes.
I stepped back once.
The pressure disappeared.
'This is it.'
I looked around the surroundings.
'It's a magic circle.'
They made a magic circle with trees. This was the same as martial arts formations.
I climbed to a high place. The arrangement of the trees was visible at a glance, but I couldn't figure out the method to break it.
'The principle will be the same.'
With conviction, I stood in front of the point where a change had just occurred.
The best way to break a formation.
That was to break it from the edges and work inward.
Wind Dragon Palm.
I launched Wind Dragon Palm toward the straight-grown tree. As the tree was swept away, the scene before my eyes changed.
'Let's handle this quickly.'
There was nothing good about giving them time.
After confirming the change, I stepped on a tree and jumped up, then drove Falling Dragon Fist into the ground.
The ground twisted and the tree fell over. And I fell to the center of the formation.
The formation disappeared.
'These types have a characteristic.'
In modern times, this is called obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Those skilled in formations can't stand even a book sticking out slightly. Moreover, if they're a magic circle specialist, such obsessive-compulsive disorder would be even worse.
'There's definitely something right in the center.'
I went to the exact center of the location where the formation was deployed.
On the surface, there was no problem. But the feel of the ground touching my feet was different.
'The soil is different.'
It was a spot that had been dug up once.
When I swept it with my palm, it was clearly visible that even the color was different.
'There's something below this.'
I drove my fist into the ground without delay.
Kuung!
I felt a reverberation.
Convinced that something was there, I jumped high and drove Falling Dragon Fist into the same spot.
Kwang!
As expected, the energy wave made a sound of passing through the soil and destroying something.
Instantly, Magic Swordsmen sprang up from all directions.
I ignored them and struck the ground once more.
The surrounding soil was sucked downward.
A hole had formed.
Before the appearing Magic Swordsmen could approach, I examined the interior.
'Oh no...'
Ten people lying side by side on beds carved with magic circles.
They were the Sect Leaders of the Ten Alliance.
And Roltui was stretching out both hands, drawing magic circles around them.
Just as I was about to jump in, the Magic Swordsmen covered me.
'Tsk.'
They weren't at a level I could just ignore.
The ten Magic Swordsmen were all reincarnators.
Recalling the previous battle, I calmly changed positions. Once surrounded, there would be nothing good about it.
And I hurriedly looked for the shield soldier. As expected, I saw one person not holding a weapon.
I immediately ran toward him.
The moment he took out his shield, I caught his back with Yongcheon. But at the same time, nine spells also flew at me.
It wasn't at a level I could endure with Shield, so I had no choice but to fall back.
Kwang!
One of the Magic Swordsmen rushing toward me suddenly flew as if hit by a truck.
It was So Iryeon. And soon Cheong Ak-sal joined as well.
They had joined after hearing the sound of trees collapsing.
"As fast as possible."
There was too much danger to leave it to them and go. I judged it was better for the three of us to move together and handle it quickly.
"So Iryeon!"
I entrusted the shield soldier to So Iryeon.
When I drew the attack group's attention, Cheong Ak-sal suddenly appeared behind a Magic Swordsman with Blink and stabbed with a dagger.
Their previously hard skin couldn't block the sharp energy of the dagger Cheollu had made either.
When the first opponent's head fell, the Magic Swordsmen sensed danger and divided their numbers.
'These bastards.'
The result for those who divided their numbers while leaving me behind was always the same.
Total annihilation.
I attempted Absorbing Strike toward the five facing me. They exerted force and endured.
It was the intended situation.
When they were struggling to maintain their center, I aimed for one person's head with Yongcheon.
Instantly, the person next to the target thrust their sword at my side. I could catch one person, but I would also be injured.
It wasn't a situation to make a losing trade.
I stopped the attack and struck away the approaching sword with Gangkwon.
Just then, So Iryeon, who had dealt with the shield soldier, joined the battle.
She struck the back of the Magic Swordsman's head who had attacked me. From that impact, brain matter mixed with blood splattered on me.
While avoiding the brain matter and blood, I stabbed Gangkwon at the ankle of a nearby Magic Swordsman.
The opponent lifted his foot to dodge, but couldn't block So Iryeon's hand as well.
Kwang!
Another person's head burst.
With So Iryeon's coordinated attack, I could handle the Magic Swordsmen quickly. And finally, I swept away even those chasing Cheong Ak-sal in one stroke.
"Guard this place."
I moved to the ground I had first broken through. And without delay, I threw my body into the hole.
Thud!
That place was a square-shaped research lab.
It wasn't a natural cave but was artificially made with smooth walls. No magic circles were visible on the walls.
'They scraped them off.'
A pile of debris was stacked below the walls.
"Damn it."
The beds where the Sect Leaders had been lying and the mage Roltui were not visible.
I belatedly went to where they had been, but only magic circles that had lost their light remained.