Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: Part 3. Every Action Bears Responsibility (2)
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“Urgh!”
The leader's mouth gaped wide as his body shuddered violently.
It felt as though his entire body was being torn apart, the agony overwhelming him. But the pain was only just beginning.
Damho pressed down firmly on the man's left knee.
Crack!
The cartilage in his knee shattered.
“Gaaah!”
The leader's agonized groan echoed into the night sky.
Damho placed one foot on the man's chest and knelt down, gazing into his eyes.
“Who sent you?”
His voice carried no emotion, utterly indifferent. Yet the leader could sense the fury simmering beneath it.
“Kh!”
A metallic rasp escaped the leader's lips—a sound like mocking laughter mixed with ragged breaths, eerie and unnatural.
“If I talk... will you let me live?”
“No.”
“Keh heh! I figured as much. That's why I've already given up on surviving.”
Grind!
The leader clenched his molars. They cracked, releasing a hidden poison that flowed down his throat.
His face turned pitch black in an instant. It was a fast-acting lethal toxin.
A smile curled at the leader's lips.
“I may die, but your end won't be pretty either. Your hell is just beginning. Everyone connected to you will become a target. Hah hah! Can you imagine it? You'll be utterly isolated.”
Even as his breath faded, the leader spat curses. But Damho's gaze remained utterly unmoved.
“Before you die, know this.”
“What?”
“I will uncover your identity. And then I'll slaughter everyone linked to you. Your wife, children, parents—anyone with even a drop of your blood. I'll hunt them all down and make their deaths miserable.”
“You?”
The leader's eyes bulged wide.
His mind was clouding from the poison, but Damho's words were enough to jolt him back to clarity.
“Which of us will be faster?”
“Grrrr!”
Damho's unimaginable response made foam bubble from the leader's mouth.
The toxin wreaked havoc, plunging him into excruciating pain. But what hurt more was the certainty that Damho meant every word.
From what he had seen of Damho's actions so far, the man always followed through. No matter the circumstances.
Only then did the leader realize he had picked the wrong fight.
“N-No!”
He reached out to grab Damho. But his hand had long since gone limp.
The light faded from the leader's eyes. Even in death, he clung to one final regret.
“P-Please... spare my family...”
“Then answer me. Where?”
“D-Demonic... Cult. Save my family...”
With those words, the leader's breath stopped.
To the very end, his thoughts had been of his family.
Damho peeled off the dead man's mask, revealing the fierce face of a middle-aged man.
He committed the face to memory.
“You alright?”
Choyeonu arrived late with the news, asking the question.
He wore an expression of utter disbelief. This had happened inside the Sakju Branch itself.
Thousands of warriors were guarding the place without a single gap, yet dozens of attackers had struck the annex without anyone noticing.
The surviving assailants had already fled into the night.
“Where the hell did these bastards come from?”
“Can you identify him?”
“If we draw up a portrait from memory, we'll find out for sure.”
“Find out. By any means necessary.”
“Got it.”
Choyeonu nodded.
Damho walked toward Immortal Hyeonso. Jongriyeon was already by his side.
Immortal Hyeonso's face was deathly pale. Even with Damho's arrival, he remained unconscious.
“Where's my master?”
“We saved his life. But...”
“What?”
“The dagger was coated in deadly poison.”
Damho's face hardened at Jongriyeon's words. She hurriedly continued.
“We pulled it out quickly, but a good amount of toxin had already entered his body.”
“Can you detoxify it?”
“It'll take time, but yes. However...”
Jongriyeon hesitated, unable to finish.
“Tell me.”
“However, we need to induce a coma before the poison reaches his brain and heart.”
“A coma?”
“Exactly—forcing sleep into a comatose state. Lowering body temperature and slowing bodily functions weakens the poison's activity. Then we treat him during that time.”
“How long?”
“I can't say for sure. But I'll do everything I can.”
Jongriyeon stared straight at Damho. Her eyes shone with unshakeable confidence.
Damho nodded.
“I'm counting on you.”
“Don't worry. They call me the Divine Healer for a reason.”
“Mm.”
With Haesowol's help, Jongriyeon carried Immortal Hyeonso inside.
“Waaah! Grandpa!”
“Grandfather!”
The children followed, sobbing as they went. Watching them, a thick killing intent flickered in Damho's eyes before vanishing.
That's when Ungyeong approached.
“I'm sorry. It was my failing—I couldn't protect my martial uncle. I have no face to show you.”
“......”
“I'm truly sorry.”
Ungyeong bowed his head. His face was filled with self-recrimination for failing to protect Immortal Hyeonso.
Damho silently regarded him.
He knew Ungyeong had done his utmost. There was no blame for him.
Damho's anger was directed inward—at himself for letting his guard down simply because they were in the Sakju Branch.
His heart burned with rage. But his mind remained coldly calm.
Cold fury sharpened the senses.
That was Damho's state now.
Damho stepped out of the annex. Choyeonu followed.
“Where are you going?”
Damho didn't answer Choyeonu's question. He simply walked on in silence.
His gait was the same as always. His expression unchanged.
“Gasp!”
“Ugh!”
But the warriors who saw his face recoiled in terror. It was chillingly frightening.
“Friend, calm down.”
Sensing the ominous aura, Choyeonu tried to restrain him. But he couldn't stop Damho's steps.
“Halt.”
Instead, the Sakju Branch warriors blocked his path. Tension was etched on their faces.
“This is the Branch Chief's residence. No one enters without his permission.”
“Out of my way.”
The warriors guarding the Branch Chief's quarters froze at Damho's words. Fear filled their eyes as they looked at him.
They had stepped forward out of duty, but if Damho went berserk, they had no means to stop him. He had been seared into their minds as a terrifying existence.
Damho brushed past the frozen warriors and entered the Branch Chief's residence.
“Well, this is something!”
Choyeonu, following behind, clicked his tongue.
Boom!
The door shattered, and inside, Branch Chief Gong Son-jung and the others stared at Damho in shock.
“Wh-What's the meaning of this?”
“Who are you?”
“What?”
“Did you collude with them?”
“What?”
Gong Son-jung's face drained of color under Damho's aura.
Just meeting his gaze made needles prick his entire body, his heart shrinking in dread.
“How dare you cause a ruckus here? Can't you compose yourself?”
At that moment, a Daoist seated across from Gong Son-jung bellowed. It was Immortal Hyeongyeom.
Damho's gaze turned to him. A terrifying aura erupted from Immortal Hyeongyeom. True to his title as Huashan's greatest swordsman, it was sharp as a blade.
“Urk!”
“Hmph!”
Those in the room groaned under the pressure of his aura. Caught between Damho and Immortal Hyeongyeom, their faces turned ashen.
Damho looked straight at Immortal Hyeongyeom and spoke.
“We were attacked in the annex.”
“We just heard.”
“How could that happen?”
“What do you mean?”
“Countless Murim Alliance warriors were stationed everywhere, yet the enemy struck here. Is that possible?”
“That is...”
Immortal Hyeongyeom trailed off at Damho's words.
Thousands of warriors blanketed the Sakju Branch inside and out. Their defenses were airtight. For Damho and Immortal Hyeonso to be ambushed by dozens in such conditions defied logic.
Damho's eyes gleamed coldly.
“It's one of two. Either an inside collaborator, or they were already mixed in with the Murim Alliance from the start.”
“......”
Everyone in the room, including Immortal Hyeongyeom, stiffened. No one could misunderstand Damho's implication.
A traitor among them, or infiltrators hidden in plain sight.
Chills ran down their spines.
Damho stepped toward Gong Son-jung.
“Which is it?”
“What?”
“Did you aid them?”
“N-No. Why would I...”
Gong Son-jung flailed his hands in panic.
Damho fixed him with a cold stare.
“Find it. Wherever the breach is.”
“How insolent. Threatening a Murim Alliance Branch Chief.”
Immortal Hyeongyeom could no longer hold back and roared. Damho's disregard for him and his intimidation of the Branch Chief fueled his rage.
A murim without discipline and order was no different from a beast's jungle where might makes right. Damho's actions denied murim's hierarchy and authority.
It was tantamount to rejecting Immortal Hyeongyeom's world.
Killing intent from Immortal Hyeongyeom surged toward Damho. In that instant, Damho's head snapped toward him.
His already dark eyes darkened further.
“Stay out of it.”
“Did you think you'd get away with disrespecting your elders?”
“And if I don't?”
“I'll teach you manners. Foolish brat, thinking your puny strength can crush the world.”
Immortal Hyeongyeom's fury exploded, his blade-sharp aura crashing toward Damho like a tidal wave.
In that moment, Damho clenched his fist.
The oncoming aura slammed into an invisible wall, scattering in all directions with a thunderous boom.
“If you want to fight that badly, I'll oblige.”
Boom!
With Damho's chilling voice came a deafening thunderclap.