Chapter 110
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Abandonment (5)
The greatest flaw in the Sevenfold Valley had been exposed.
The Sevenfold Valley was a death trap, but it was passive. It didn't actively kill people.
First and foremost, it had to be triggered.
There was no way to kill someone who didn't move.
Did Muyoungbi know about the Sevenfold Valley? Was that why he was holding out without budging?
No one could survive without water or food.
How was Muyoungbi enduring? Where was he getting water and food?
Fwudududuk!
A messenger pigeon flew in to the Second.
It was inquiring about the situation in the Sevenfold Valley.
Warriors from the Heavenly Annihilation Division had already arrived at the base of the mountain. All preparations were complete to retrieve Ilgwang Yusoo. But... the Sevenfold Valley hadn't activated yet.
'Damn it!'
Ilgwang Yusoo scowled as he surveyed the death valley.
He had been staring at this tedious sight for a full fortnight already.
A fortnight... a full fortnight. The human limit for surviving without water or food had long passed.
The Observer still held up his thumb.
It meant movement had been detected, that the enemy was there, but it wasn't enough to trigger the Sevenfold Valley—something audible to the Observer's ears but not a major motion.
This bastard definitely knew about the Sevenfold Valley.
The Cleaner held out the messenger pigeon.
The Second shook his head. It wasn't time to accept it yet. If he did, the Heavenly Annihilation Division warriors would charge up, and they'd all meet their end.
The Cleaner sent the pigeon back.
This was the first one. The second would arrive in another fortnight.
After that fortnight, it'd be exactly one month trapped in the death valley—the point when the valley's supplied water and rations ran out.
More than anything, refusing rescue for a full month signaled that the situation had turned dire. It meant the Cleaners were being driven toward death.
The pigeon would return once more after another fortnight.
One month and a fortnight... Far too long for the Cleaners to hold out. Unless they could live on air alone, starvation was the most likely outcome.
Yet if they still refused it... the Heavenly Annihilation Division would withdraw.
From that point, the Cleaners would have to escape the death valley on their own. Starve to death or risk it all climbing down the cliffs—one or the other.
Ah! There was one more option. Breaking through the Sevenfold Valley's mechanisms head-on.
Ilgwang Yusoo sent back the first pigeon. They could still hold out plenty. They had ample water and rations. The one in trouble was Muyoungbi, not them.
The Sevenfold Valley's second flaw had been exposed.
When the enemy didn't move like this, there was no way to confirm their status.
The Observer held up his thumb.
"It's certain!"
Ilgwang Yusoo spat out irritably in a curt tone.
This wasn't an environment where anyone could just sit still without moving. Yet he was doing exactly that—and holding strong, no less... Were they supposed to believe it? Maybe the Observer had misheard.
The Observer's ears were always accurate.
Even though his martial arts were too poor to suit a Cleaner, they kept him close because he reported facts precisely. In short, he could "see" what was invisible.
Seeing the unseen was as good as having the eyes of a god.
He had no interest in those strong only in martial prowess.
He could handle the fighting himself. He just needed a couple of guys to throw punches for him. The rest were support: trackers, cleaners, aftercare experts...
The Observer couldn't have misheard.
Yet irritation boiled over. It couldn't be the Observer's fault, but he was annoyed at him anyway.
Cautiously, the Observer spread his fingers.
Three fingers.
"Got it."
Ilgwang Yusoo jerked his head away irritably, then froze like a stone statue.
Wait... three fingers?
He whipped back around.
The Observer was still holding up three fingers.
Definitely three.
"You, you!"
Too urgent for words to come out.
The Observer nodded as if understanding the question, even flashing three fingers repeatedly.
Thirty paces!
The bastard had closed to within ten paces.
Yet the Sevenfold Valley's mechanisms hadn't triggered. Not even for a tiny pebble's movement, but they stayed silent.
"Listen again!"
At the command, the Observer sat cross-legged and perked his ears.
Everyone fell silent. All eyes on Muyoungbi, they held even their breaths.
The Observer opened his eyes. Then spread his fingers.
Three fingers!
"How is this possible?!"
Ilgwang Yusoo was dumbfounded instead.
The mechanisms hadn't activated while the bastard moved thirty paces.
'This guy's a real ghost!'
Ilgwang Yusoo felt his mouth go dry. Thirst surged fiercely.
The second messenger pigeon arrived.
The weather had been hot when they entered the death valley, but now mornings and evenings were bitterly cold.
A whole season had already passed.
Yet the bastard wasn't moving from thirty paces away.
The valley's water supply had run dry. Food-wise, about ten days' worth remained—they'd been rationing anxiously as days dragged on.
Now he didn't even ask the Observer.
The Observer didn't report unless something special happened.
"What do we do?"
A Cleaner mumbled incomprehensibly.
Ilgwang Yusoo waved him off.
Send it back. They couldn't lure Heavenly Annihilation Division warriors into active mechanisms.
"If we send this, we're in trouble too."
Normally, the Cleaners' mumbles didn't bother him—he understood them fine. But now even that grated. Why couldn't they just speak properly? If their tongues were half-cut, they shouldn't talk at all.
"Send it back."
Ilgwang Yusoo scowled deeply as he spoke.
How the hell was that bastard enduring? They had prepared everything and were struggling—how was he surviving trapped unprepared?
Thinking of Muyoungbi made Ilgwang Yusoo's head throb.
The Sevenfold Valley did stir occasionally. Day or night, it'd trigger—and they'd jolt to alert each time. But it wasn't the bastard moving. Some unlucky mountain beast had wandered into the mechanisms.
Snakes died. Squirrels died.
Deer and boars, needless to say.
Any life entering the Sevenfold Valley lost its life. Human or beast, all perished.
Except that one. Only Muyoungbi survived.
Fwudududuk!
The second pigeon flew off toward the cliff base.
"How much water left?"
"Squeezing tree sap, we can last a fortnight."
"Food?"
"About the same."
"I need to see him. Figure out a way to spot the bastard."
"Understood."
The Cleaner replied.
This particular Cleaner was an expert in the River Chart and Luo Book, skilled in military tactics, familiar with most formations, and knowledgeable about poisons.
Since getting trapped in the death valley, he'd been studying the Sevenfold relentlessly.
For over a month, he'd obsessed over why the guy between the Fifth and Seventh didn't move—and why, when he did, the Sevenfold mechanisms didn't activate.
But he'd uncovered nothing so far.
The Sevenfold Formation was too profound for a mere gluttonous scholar's insight. A formation crafted with the Heavenly Annihilation Division's full commitment—could it be grasped overnight?
Still, he had to keep researching.
"Urk!"
The usually still Observer shot to his feet.
"What?"
Ilgwang Yusoo tensed up too.
The Observer flashed two fingers, then thrust them forward.
The bastard was moving. Not deeper in, but escaping outward.
"Distance?"
The Observer splayed five fingers wide.
Just yesterday, he'd been at thirty paces. Now fifty.
Fifty paces... A dizzying distance even without obstacles.
The bastard had already covered twenty paces. And the Sevenfold mechanisms hadn't stirred.
'Fifty paces...'
Second Ilgwang Yusoo scowled, peering into the distance.
He'd guessed the bastard was between the Fifth and Sixth. But at fifty paces, he'd passed the central pillar—now between the Fourth and Fifth.
Did that... even make sense?
"What the hell are we even fighting?"
Ilgwang Yusoo muttered to himself.
Muyoungbi's movements surpassed anything he could imagine.
Muyoungbi retreated ten paces a day.
The next day, he was sixty paces out; the day after, seventy.
After that, even the Observer gave up listening.
He'd retreated beyond what the Observer's ears could catch. Or rather, unscathed at seventy paces, why not a hundred?
The bastard had escaped safely.
No. The Second still had one final move.
As predicted, he should be eighty paces out by now—between the Second and Third.
"Collapse it."
The Second growled through gritted teeth.
"Collapse?"
"We can't let him escape. Collapse it!"
"Understood."
The response came surprisingly smoothly.
Everyone had anticipated it. From when Muyoungbi started retreating unscathed, when the Sevenfold didn't activate... They'd known this moment would come.
And now it had.
A Cleaner offered Ilgwang Yusoo a gourd bottle.
No one drinks on the eve of battle. Drinking meant the fight was over.
Ilgwang Yusoo took the bottle and gulped it down.
One gourd, one bottle—emptied in a single go.
The Cleaners began drinking too. One by one... The liquor stored with rations, saved for this final moment, to toast the dying.
"Beginning."
Ilgwang Yusoo nodded.
The Cleaner hurled himself forward without hesitation.
He shot toward the valley's depths, racing like an arrow toward the valley mouth below.
As if the Sevenfold would stay quiet.
The Sevenfold began mercilessly destroying the charging man.
Shiiit! Puffuffupupuk!
The mountain moved. Trees moved. Rocks moved. The whole world went mad.
The innermost Sevenfold erupted.
The shockwave swept even to the cliffs.
"Kuhk!"
One Cleaner took a boulder to the head, skull shattering. But that was just the start. Boulders and countless hidden weapons stormed like a tempest.
The Sevenfold Valley held enough hidden weapons to slaughter ten thousand.
They'd triggered mechanisms more than sufficient for an army.
"Kuhk!"
"Guhk!"
Cleaners fell one by one, two by two.
Ilgwang Yusoo watched the dying without flinching.
All would perish. Every life in the death valley would be erased. Cleaners, himself... and Muyoungbi. They couldn't let him escape.
"Heh heh heh! Heh heh heh heh!"
Ilgwang Yusoo let out a cruel laugh.