Chapter 122
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Falling Behind (2)
Crack!
The iron bars blocking the Thunder Prison and the corridor shattered.
Four Thousand Four stood up without hesitation and strode into the corridor. He came to a halt in front of the Thunder Prison on the opposite side.
There were no guards in the cell block.
Everyone locked inside was like him—sealed at their pressure points, unable to move. There was no need to watch them with bulging eyes. Beyond the cell block lay a labyrinth. Escaping the cells didn't mean you'd escaped.
Four Thousand Four had heard all this with his own ears.
The fact that no one was in the cell block—at least, no one moving—was told by the sounds reaching his ears.
He could roam the cell block freely without worry.
Crack!
He snapped the iron bars of the facing Thunder Prison cell.
Two people were inside. Both lay still as corpses. They had already inhaled the smoke pouring from the ceiling and were lost in vivid hallucinations.
'Kuh! Grk! Kuh!'
They cried out in silence.
Those in the Thunder Prison couldn't speak. They barely breathed. But Four Thousand Four heard them. He heard their desperate struggles against crossing into death.
"Rest easy."
He grabbed the neck of one lying there and pressed hard on the Brain Gate Acupoint.
One life departed the world of the living.
The dead man wore a faint smile at the corners of his mouth, as if finally freed from his bonds, feeling light at last.
Shiiik!
An arrow came flying. Faster than imagination could grasp, monstrously overwhelming.
"Hut!"
Four Thousand Four sensed the danger and twisted his body in haste. But the arrow wasn't something he could dodge. No matter if he used footwork or movement arts... it was at least two steps faster.
'It's gonna hit!'
Before the sensation even fully registered, a single fist strike slammed into his right side like a piercing spear.
Shiiik! Thud!
"Kuh!"
Four Thousand Four let out a groan as he tumbled far away.
He was excellent at ambushes. He had secret techniques to approach silently and strike fatally. But when attacked with such methods, he had no martial art to defend against them.
This fight had been decided from the start.
Four Thousand Four hadn't read his opponent. The opponent had watched him.
It was different from all the countless fights Four Thousand Four had waged so far. This time, it unfolded in the exact opposite situation.
"Stop!"
The man's cold shout came only after Four Thousand Four rolled across the Thunder Prison floor.
Hornet Lord's... arrow... Hornet Lord's attack felt like an arrow. Not an ordinary arrow, but one forged of steel. Too fast and powerful to know how to guard against.
This was Hornet Lord's true martial prowess.
"Nngh! They're people you were gonna kill anyway."
Four Thousand Four tried to rise but slumped back down.
From his struck side, he felt the lingering power of Hornet Lord's strike. It still felt like his side was being battered. Not just his side—his five viscera and six bowels felt paralyzed too.
"We'll kill them if we kill them. They're not for the likes of you to touch."
"Heh heh heh! You think they can survive after breathing this smoke?"
Four Thousand Four pointed a finger at the smoke still billowing thickly from the ceiling.
"You're fine, so why would they be?"
"Who knows? Heh heh! Why am I fine, I wonder?"
Four Thousand Four tilted his head, baffled.
He had definitely been affected by the smoke. Even a brief inhalation had made his head spin with dizziness. He'd even circulated his qi to seal his breathing.
The smoke would surely poison him.
Yet to guide those trapped in the Thunder Prison to the afterlife, he'd released his qi. So by now, he should be poisoned too. He should be seeing hallucinations like the others in the Thunder Prison.
Really... why wasn't he poisoned?
"Nineteen in total."
While Hornet Lord held Four Thousand Four in place, the warriors scoured every corner of the Thunder Prison. To count the dead.
Nineteen—the number Four Thousand Four had killed.
"Criminals who mastered the Death Verdict of Lord-Criminal Bonds."
Hornet Lord ground his teeth and glared at Four Thousand Four.
What an odd fellow... Immune to Poison Gate Acupoint Strikes, overcame even Ultimate Soul Smoke.
"We'll restrain him."
Hornet Lord's subordinates spoke up, iron shackles in hand.
Hornet Lord nodded.
There was no way to subdue Four Thousand Four otherwise. All that was left was to bind his hands and feet with shackles.
Clank! Clank!
Heavy iron shackles clamped onto Four Thousand Four's wrists and ankles.
In the meantime, the smoke filling the Thunder Prison vented out through the ducts.
The Thunder Prison, thick with pale gray smoke, grew much clearer.
Four Thousand Four clearly observed the faces of those who entered.
Hornet Lord and the rest... seven in all. He watched them.
Before the smoke cleared, he'd only heard sounds. Now he could see them. The Thunder Prison was still shrouded in pitch darkness, where even neighbors couldn't see each other, but he saw.
After his Crown Acupoint opened, his eyesight had sharpened.
No, it wasn't just improved eyesight. If there were light in the Thunder Prison, he could identify objects with his eyes. There'd be a clear difference between seeing and not seeing. That would be a matter of vision.
But no light seeped into the Thunder Prison.
It wasn't a vision issue. The reason he could see objects in the darkness, discern the warriors led by Hornet Lord... it was the Death Verdict.
- Those who see the world with their eyes see what is visible. Those who see the world not with their eyes but with something else see beyond the world.
He'd thought it nonsense.
What else do you see the world with if not your eyes? "Seeing" is just "seeing with eyes" with the "with eyes" omitted. You can't see with anything else.
After touring the Nineteen Hells, his thinking changed.
Objects aren't seen only with eyes. You can see with ears too. Perceiving through sound equals seeing with eyes.
He understood up to there. But strictly speaking, perceiving through ears is mere inference. It's thought. Matching what you hear to what you imagine the object to be.
Now it was completely different. He saw with his eyes. Truly with his eyes. Even without light.
How could such a bizarre thing happen?
He knew only that what was written in the Death Verdict had come true. Even he himself couldn't comprehend the changes happening in his own body. A strange situation indeed.
The warriors who shackled his hands and feet dragged him deep into the Thunder Prison.
"What about the bodies?"
"......"
Hornet Lord stayed silent.
"Got it."
The one who'd asked muttered to himself and directed his subordinates.
The nineteen corpses that Four Thousand Four had killed were carried out by them.
"We'll kill you."
Hornet Lord said to Four Thousand Four.
"Stay quiet in the meantime. Unless you want to see Greensquad die."
Pfft!
Four Thousand Four let out a bitter chuckle.
Greensquad was no longer his charge. Especially if something like this happened again, he'd unhesitatingly play the role of death's assistant. Even if it put Greensquad in danger.
Greensquad... the old man... and himself. Their top priority to each other was death's assistant.
Hornet Lord spoke.
"Oh! Should I tell you? Why Greensquad got captured."
"......"
"You have a charge, and Greensquad has one too. Greensquad can't die even if he wants to. It's not because of you. That guy doesn't care if you live or die. He only cares about his charge. So... he declared your death. Told him you're dying, so Greensquad won't meet you. Let's see if Greensquad cares only about his charge until the very end. Heh heh heh!"
Hornet Lord laughed.
"That's exactly your worth. Whether Greensquad meets you or not... I'm curious. Ha ha ha!"
"Kill him without mercy if he acts even slightly suspicious."
"Understood."
"What do you understand? I'm saying collapse the entire Dark Prison. Got it?"
"Pardon? The entire thing?"
"Yes. If that bastard pulls anything funny again, collapse it all and bury everyone."
"Understood."
"If a collapse happens, no one comes out alive."
"Of course."
"Right. If you can't even manage that, go die."
The voices of superiors and subordinates carried from outside the Thunder Prison.
They spoke loudly on purpose. For those inside to hear.
Their words didn't sound like lies.
Grrrrumble! Boom! Rumble! Gush gush gush...!
The sound of mechanisms turning echoed. Then, as if floodgates opened, water poured.
Of course, no water entered the Thunder Prison. Only the sound.
Probably water used for collapses.
They'd bound Four Thousand Four's hands and feet tight. Still uneasy, they planned for total collapse.
They saw Four Thousand Four as extremely dangerous.
Yet they kept him alive and imprisoned... What did they hope to get from Greensquad?
Regardless... these were lesser hornets.
One of their orders was to wipe out Vanguard's group. They'd even sent cleaners for it. It failed, but still.
They'd send more cleaners.
Would Vanguard be safe? Jaja? Hanbi? Cute little Fox?
Pfft!
Four Thousand Four let out another bitter chuckle.
Who was in a position to worry about whom right now? Fire was scorching his own feet.
Silence returned.
Nothing had changed, except the nineteen breathing sounds were gone.
No, much had changed. Before, no one guarded the Thunder Prison. Now they did. Gazes from outside prickled his skin. Vividly sensed.
Among them, he focused on one gaze.
'An incredible master...'
Eight pairs of eyes watched the Thunder Prison. Eight people. Seven clung close to the prison.
Only one gaze stayed distant.
That gaze was profoundly still. Almost nonexistent... Four Thousand Four had to concentrate to barely detect it.
'Huuup... Hoooop...'
Four Thousand Four became aware of the subtle gaze. He tried matching his breaths to it.
Of course, he couldn't feel the breathing of someone far away, outside the Thunder Prison. What he sensed was intuition. Not seen with eyes, not heard with ears. Felt.
So he couldn't follow the breaths.
His own breaths were feelings too.
'Long!'
Four Thousand Four held his breath.
Hard to match the opponent's rhythm. In the time he took three breaths, the opponent took only two.
Maybe this sensation was manipulated to his benefit. If so, the opponent was two or three times the master he'd gauged.
On par with Hornet Lord.
Who? Who on Hornet Lord's level was watching him?
"Huuup! Hooooop!"
He regulated his breathing, chasing the sensation.
Following like this revealed gaps between breaths. Normal ones were steady, but those trained in special arts had varying intervals.
This one was different too.
Sometimes very short. Sometimes suffocatingly long.
Short bursts or long drags. Even just watching, not fighting, the breaths varied. Yet utterly calm. Like a windless lake.
'Whoever it is... interesting person.'
To alleviate boredom, Four Thousand Four chased the opponent's breaths. Continuously.