Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: The Time of the Wild Eye
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The underground was so dark that nothing was visible right in front, and the passage was narrow enough for barely one person to squeeze through.
‘This?’
Hwang Bo-seung’s face hardened like stone.
The underground passages were too cramped to make use of their numerical advantage at all.
‘That bastard.’
Hwang Bo-seung clenched his fist.
Those who had entered first ahead of him had scattered out of sight. He stared straight ahead for a moment before taking a step forward.
Once he vanished, a black shadow appeared shortly after. It was Yo Pung. She was clad in night travel clothes—a tight black outfit that clung to her entire body.
The night travel clothes were the only memento her mother had left behind. Her mother had not been strong, but she was a martial artist. No, to be precise, an assassin. She had mastered the assassination arts handed down from her ancestors and even worked as one in her youth. Had she not been injured, she might still be doing it to this day.
She had gone out on a job and returned so gravely wounded that she lost her martial arts entirely. The man who treated her was her father. That fateful encounter led to their marriage.
This was the place where Yo Pung’s family—expelled from the White Wolf Clan—had clung to life until the very end. It was here that her mother had passed away.
“Light a fire!”
Hwang Bo-seung’s voice echoed from somewhere in the darkness.
“There’s no fire. All that awaits inside is death.”
She muttered softly to herself before standing beside the passage through which Hwang Bo-seung’s group had entered. She struck the right wall hard, and the entrance collapsed in a heap.
―What are you doing?
―Taking off my clothes.
―Why your clothes?
―Fierce beasts fight bare.
―Fierce beast? Bare?
―The Wild Beast Blood Demon Art unleashes its full might only when nothing covers the body.
―Sounds like it has functions beyond just pushing the senses to their limits.
―When is a beast at its most terrifying?
―At night.
―Exactly. Nothing is scarier than encountering a starving beast in the dead of night. I am that beast. A lion of death that moves without a sound.
―Gasp!
―What?
―Those eyes?
―They’re called the Wild Eye. Perfect mastery of the Wild Beast Blood Demon Art lets you see as clearly as daylight even in pitch blackness.
―We’ve run plenty of night ops before. Why didn’t the Wild Eye show up then?
―The Wild Beast Blood Demon Art wasn’t complete back then.
“Kraaak!”
A scream pierced the darkness.
The cries echoing in the sealed underground carried an even more desperate, terrifying ring.
“I’m going to kill every last one of you.”
Yo Pung murmured softly before launching herself forward.
“What’s going on?”
Deputy Leader Yang Baek-mun shouted.
“The bastard’s hiding in the dark…… Keuk!”
Another scream rang out.
“Stay alert! The bastard’s hiding in the dark!”
Yang Baek-mun shouted again.
“Aaak!”
But it was no use. The underground was too dark. In such a cramped space where they couldn’t see a thing, there was little they could do. They shuffled along in terror, only to be run through by weapons lunging from the front or the side.
Clack!
Ak Muyoo lay flattened against the ground.
Clamped in his mouth was a single dagger he had picked up at the old Absolute Flesh Heaven site. Dressed only in his underclothes, he crept forward slowly.
The underground tunnels sprawled like a spiderweb, with the enemies scattered into each branch. The passages were too narrow for two to stand side by side. Weapons couldn’t be swung. Thrusting was the only option. It was terrain that favored close-quarters experts.
Close combat was Ak Muyoo’s specialty.
Ak Muyoo, sprawled like a beast, pushed off the ground with his hands and feet. His form shot diagonally upward. As he rose, he released the dagger from his mouth. He snatched the falling blade and thrust it forward. Directly ahead stood a single Warrior Squad member, gripping his weapon with a tense expression. Even as the dagger shot toward him from point-blank range, he failed to notice. Ak Muyoo’s movements were that stealthy.
Puk!
“Keuk!”
The man let out a scream.
“I-it’s him!”
Someone behind cried out.
Puk!
This time, the dagger plunged into the shouter’s heart.
“Kuhk!”
The man screamed before collapsing forward.
“Thrust your weapons in!”
Someone bellowed.
“Sak!”
The latest victim had his knee sliced open.
“Aak! Uwaak!”
The man clutched his knee, howling in agony. His scream reverberated through the passages, swallowing every other sound. Even the faint noise of Ak Muyoo moving. It was too subtle to detect anyway—but now it was completely drowned out.
“Krak!”
“Aak!”
Amid the chain of screams, the Warrior Squad members continued to fall. Those who screamed were the exceptions; the rest died in one strike. Most perished instantly, while some went without even a cry.
“Thrust no matter wha…… Keuk!”
A scream burst from the lips of the one issuing orders. It was Ji Nam-woo, one of the Warrior Squad captains. A dagger was embedded in his throat.
“H-how…….”
Paht!
Right then, two glass marbles appeared before Ji Nam-woo. The marbles drifted to either side of his ears.
“You lot were too hasty.”
‘He’s right. Way too rushed. We should’ve scouted the underground first—checked for light, if it was fightable terrain. But we charged right in. That was the mistake. …… Fucking idiots.’
Hwang Bo-seu and Hwang Bo-seung’s faces flashed in his mind.
“It’s because of you. All you…….”
Ji Nam-woo’s eyes slowly closed.
In that moment, the dagger buried in his throat slid free.
Ak Muyoo backtracked the way he had come.
It was time to let the clock tick. Fear would spread like a plague—some would panic, others descend into hysteria. After traversing a fair distance, he halted in a space about ten feet across. It had once served as a room. He pushed against the inner wall, and a section slid inward. A door crafted to mimic the wall perfectly. From inside, he shoved it back into place, rendering it indistinguishable.
Stairs led downward into the space.
He descended the stairs to another door.
A faint light leaked through the cracks.
Ak Muyoo pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was illuminated by the luminous pearl he carried. Yo Pung had already arrived.
“You’re here.”
“Yeah.”
Ak Muyoo approached Yo Pung. She stood before a rippling spring, scooping water with a gourd to wipe the blood from her night travel clothes.
The thing a stealth practitioner had to be most wary of was smell. Assassins shaved not just their heads but their armpit and pubic hair, scrubbing their bodies clean, all to eliminate body odor. Neglect the sweat-prone spots even slightly, and the stench gave them away to the sensitive.
The smell of blood was another assassin’s lifespan-shortener.
“How’s my body?”
Yo Pung stood before Ak Muyoo.
“Amazing.”
“Not my figure—check if there’s still blood on me, you punk.”
“None on the front. Turn around.”
Yo Pung turned her back.
Ak Muyoo fetched the bloodwind cloth and wiped the moisture from her back. Once done, he handed her the cloth.
“Let’s wash the blood off you first. Drop the underclothes.”
“Drop them?”
“You can’t fight dripping wet.”
As Yo Pung scooped water with the gourd, she spoke.
“Mind wiping me down?”
“Who’s gonna see? Just strip, kid.”
“Ugh!”
Grimacing, Ak Muyoo shed his underclothes.
“How many’d you take out?”
Yo Pung glanced at his body before splashing water over it.
“Seventy.”
“Sixty for me.”
“135 total, leaves about 350.”
“Half a day should do it.”
“So long as they don’t bolt outside.”
“Even if they make it out, no water means hell’s their only destination.”
“You drained their water?”
“All the camels’ water. And their guards.”
“Good work.”
“Any blood here?”
“What the hell are you doing right now?”
“Sis is bathing her lil’ bro. Oh, covered up, so probably not.”
With the gourd, Yo Pung washed the blood from his thighs and knees.
“You’re being too good to me.”
“You handed over the White Wolf Heaven-Earth Cataclysm. This is nothing. Hell, even if it was sleeping together, it’d be a steal.”
“…….”
“Whatever you ask, I won’t refuse.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m always ready.”
“Not getting suddenly too generous?”
“Compared to what I did for a scrap of third-rate martial arts? Hardly generous. I could be your slave for years. Front’s done. Turn.”
Ak Muyoo turned around.
Yo Pung splashed the icy underground water over his back.
“Never regretted it?”
Yo Pung asked.
“What?”
“Becoming a martial artist.”
“Am…… I a martial artist?”
“You live your life tangled up with them. That makes you one.”
“Regret’s a privilege for the chosen.”
“That so?”
“The successful—or those on the verge—think, ‘If I’d chosen differently, things might be better now.’ But someone charging ahead like a racehorse has no leisure to look back on the road traveled. Sure, they reminisce sometimes, but only to build momentum for the run. Not to rethink their choices.”
“Hearing it laid out, it makes sense.”
She washed him thoroughly before drying him with the bloodwind cloth.
Ak Muyoo donned his underclothes again and retrieved his dagger.
“Let’s go.”
“Right.”
The two ascended.
The underground once more howled with bloodwinds.
‘Damn it.’
Hwang Bo-seung spat a curse.
He was on the verge of losing his mind. Pitch black, not a step ahead visible, no sense of direction. Screams kept coming from within. Two enemies against hundreds of allies—every scream was one of his own.
Worse still, there was no way out. The entrance they’d used was collapsed. Hell, it wasn’t even clear if that rubble had been a passage.
The entire Warrior Squad was trapped underground. And now, they were being hunted by those two vermin lurking in the dark.
“Kraaak!”
“Aaak!”
The screams resounding in the depths sounded all the more wretched and terrifying. Hwang Bo-seung shuddered despite himself.
“I’ll slaughter you, Black Wind. I’ll kill you!”
Hwang Bo-seung bellowed.
It was a mistake. Yelling in an enclosed space was as good as announcing his position. The echoes made pinpointing hard, of course. But the foe was Ak Muyoo, whose every sense was honed to the absolute limit.
“Seung-ah, where are you? I’m over here…… Kraaak!”
“Father?”
Hwang Bo-seung roared and bolted backward. The men blocked the way forward.
He dashed into a recent clearing. A “clearing” barely ten feet across.
He halted abruptly.
“Black Wind, you bastard.”
Hwang Bo-seung ground his teeth. He sensed the thick killing intent in the darkness. He couldn’t see the face, but he knew it was Black Wind.