Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Windless Killing Curtain (1)
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What I found was a torn human-skin mask.
Loose flesh. And the red seasoning smeared on the area presumed to be the mouth brought to mind the fat, middle-aged man my lord had mentioned.
“Has he already escaped?”
I felt a pang of regret, wishing I had been a little faster, but the situation wasn't all that bad.
Even if his face was already exposed, leaving behind a trace like this meant he was in a hurry.
“If I hurry now… Wait, what's this?”
While trying to predict the man's escape route, I was examining the human-skin mask from all angles, searching for any other clues.
But on the back, there was a drawing that seemed to indicate a location.
The lines were characteristically crooked.
“Could it be?”
*Sniff.*
Just in case, I brought the human-skin mask close to my nose and sniffed.
And just as I thought.
It had the thick scent of blood.
This wasn't just a simple drawing.
I surmised it was likely a message left just before death.
“I should call for Elder No.”
*Fwoosh!*
A signal flare shot up into the now-darkening sky.
A short while later, Elder No arrived.
“Great Guardian! Did you find something?”
“Yes, please take a look at this.”
*Ssk.*
Elder No took the human-skin mask from my hand and examined it closely.
“There's a picture drawn in blood on the back. It seems to point to a location. Do you have any place in mind?”
“Hmm, it does look like a place to my old eyes…”
Elder No turned the mask over and over, his expression one of trying to recall something just on the tip of his tongue.
Then, as if struck by a realization, he looked me straight in the eye and spoke.
“Ah! That's it! No wonder it looked so familiar…! This is a place only old folks like myself would know. It's been abandoned for decades.”
“Decades, you say? Then it could be their hideout.”
“We'll have to go there to know for sure, but this old man finds many things suspicious.”
“What might that be?”
At my question, Elder No began a lengthy explanation.
The place depicted in the drawing on the mask was a hall used long, long ago. Access had been forbidden due to an unfortunate incident that occurred there.
“What do you mean by an 'unfortunate incident'?”
“It's embarrassing, but even this old man was young and insignificant back then, so I don't know much.”
“Embarrassing? If it weren't for you, Elder, we wouldn't have any information at all. In any case, it seems we'll have to go there ourselves to find anything out.”
“Ahem, thank you for saying so. But while going there is an option, shouldn't we report to the Heavenly Demon first?”
“I agree with your sentiment, Elder, but doing so might alert them that their information has been leaked.”
At my words, Elder No's gaze returned to the human-skin mask.
The roughly torn edge. The crooked lines, as if drawn in a hurry.
Anyone could see it was a desperate situation.
“Very well. Then let's go for now… However, it could be a trap to make us rush and cloud our judgment.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
In truth, neither I, who said I'd keep it in mind, nor Elder No, who urged caution, felt any fear.
We were both absolute masters who had reached the pinnacle of the Profound Realm, and we had the Heavenly Demon behind us.
Even if it were a trap, it didn't feel like we would die.
No, to be precise, it would be fine even if we did die.
To die while carrying out a direct order from the Heavenly Demon was an honorable death in itself.
*Fwoosh!*
And so, I executed my lightness skill, following Elder No who took the lead.
‘About two hours remain before the fourth test ends. To finish before then… I hope nothing goes wrong.’
This was the Heavenly Demon who had accepted me, a former enemy, without a second thought.
I didn't want to fail in carrying out his command.
‘Yes, even if it means my death…!’
As I steeled my resolve.
Elder No, who was ahead, came to a halt.
Before him stood a dilapidated hall that looked like burnt firewood.
There was nothing around it, making it the perfect condition for someone to hide.
“I never imagined a place like this existed.”
“This old man had only heard of this place; it's my first time coming here in person.”
“Ah, Elder No. You can speak comfortably.”
On second thought, we would likely be spending a lot of time together, and it felt somewhat uncomfortable to have a white-haired old man humble himself before me.
Fortunately, Elder No readily accepted the offer, as if he had been hoping for it.
“Haha, thank you. Then, to commemorate becoming your elder, I shall take the lead.”
Without waiting for my reply, Elder No entered the hall.
Following him inside, I found the hall filled with nothing but a musty smell and swirling dust.
“This is different from what I expected. I thought there might be an ambush.”
“If there's an ambush, it will be below. The real place is the secret chamber underneath.”
‘A secret chamber?’
The question of what kind of secret chamber could be in a place like this arose, but as Elder No strode forward and infused a bit of his energy into the floor, its identity was revealed.
“What?!”
A structure that looked as if the hall had been planted upside down in the ground unfolded before us.
Of course, it looked just as old as this hall of smell and dust.
*Creeak.*
Elder No was the first to push open the large doors of the revealed secret chamber.
“Fortunately, it seems quite deep. We've concealed our presence, but it seems they haven't noticed us.”
Just as he said, even after opening the doors, no sound or presence could be felt from within.
It just felt like we had entered a cave.
And so, I followed Elder No into the secret chamber to search for traces of our targets.
As we descended the stairs, I listened to Elder No speak in a low voice.
“The unfortunate incident I mentioned happened right here in this secret chamber. I don't know what it was, of course, but what's certain is that even our cult, called the Demonic Cult, did not want it known to the public.”
“Whatever it was, I hope it has no connection to the Windless Killing Curtain.”
“…This old man thinks so too.”
I could feel that Elder No also desperately wanted to carry out the Heavenly Demon's command.
I didn't know what the unfortunate incident was, but a secret chamber of this scale suggested it was no ordinary matter.
The fact that our cult had deliberately buried it weighed on my mind.
‘This is an incident that even my family, which has served the Cult Leader since ancient times, has never heard of. No, they must have deliberately kept it from me. If it was something considered a disgrace by the leadership…’
Born into a renowned Guardian family, I had read countless history books on my way to becoming the Great Guardian.
Yet this was information I couldn't find in any of those many records.
It clearly meant the leadership had gone to great lengths to erase it.
If this had some connection to the revival of the Windless Killing Curtain, things could get very complicated.
‘In that case, I might not be able to resolve this before the fourth test ends.’
What couldn't two Profound Realm masters solve? Still, it was always wise to assume the worst-case scenario.
Just as we were nearing the bottom of the stairs, a strange sound slowly reached my ears.
“……!”
Elder No must have heard it too, as he stopped.
“Did you hear that?”
I nodded in response to his question.
We moved deeper into the secret chamber to listen more closely.
Still concealing our presence.
“……”
“……”
How far had we gone?
“…Aaargh!”
The sound came again. We instantly identified its source.
“Torture?”
To be precise, it was the scream of a man being tortured.
Considering the circumstances, it was highly likely the one screaming was the fat, middle-aged man the Heavenly Demon had mentioned.
“Let's go further…!”
Elder No muttered in a low voice and moved crouched in the direction of the sound.
Honestly, with two Profound Realm masters, we could have just barged in, beaten them up, and found out what we needed to know.
But we were not ignorant of the dangers of even the slightest possibility, so we were cautious.
*Ssk.*
Following Elder No, I pressed against the chamber wall and peeked out slightly.
Just as expected, a man was tied to a pillar, being beaten.
From his appearance, the torture didn't seem to have been going on for long.
‘Is that?’
One thing that stood out was the trace on his face of having worn a human-skin mask.
The probability that he was the man the Heavenly Demon spoke of increased.
But we didn't intervene right away.
The man holding a long club had just stopped the torture and begun to speak.
“Hooo, you stubborn bastard. So, you've had some assassin training, have you? But what're you gonna do? I'm a torturer who specializes in assassins. Why would a smart guy like you disobey our lord's command, huh?”
*Clatter.*
The self-proclaimed assassin-specialist torturer put down the club in his hand, picked up a branding iron from a nearby shelf, and continued.
“You were so proud of yourself for knowing how to make a few human-skin masks, and look at you now.”
Even as the torturer placed the branding iron in the brazier to heat it, the man being tortured showed no fear.
“I wasn't being proud; that was your inferiority complex. Heh heh, do you still think it's my fault that the Silent Kill Demonic Emperor doesn't favor you?”
“Ha! A man about to die sure has a lot to say!”
The torturer seemed quite enraged, picking up the branding iron before it was even fully heated.
But the man didn't shut his mouth.
In fact, seeing the reaction, he provoked him further.
“That ruined face of yours! Haven't I told you time and again? Not even my human-skin masks can fix that disgusting mug of yours!”
“Shut that mouth!”
In the end, unable to contain his anger, the torturer thrust the branding iron forward.
Being emotional, he needlessly closed the distance despite holding a long branding iron.
The man didn't miss the opening.
He kicked the rope on his legs, which he had untied at some point, toward the torturer's eyes, obscuring his vision.
And in that moment of surprise, he used a kicking technique to strike the man in the stomach.
The torturer was sent flying and dropped the branding iron.
The man caught the branding iron with his toes and used it to burn the ropes binding his hands.
Though it wasn't fully heated, the pain must have been considerable. His mental fortitude was impressive.
‘His dantian is probably sealed, too… Not bad movements. Did they not even seal his demonic acupoints for the torture?’
Usually, whether for torture or interrogation, it was common practice to seal the demonic acupoints.
But for some reason, it seemed they hadn't.
Whatever the reason, that one mistake cost the torturer dearly, reversing their positions.
*Crack!*
Having freed his hands, the man grabbed the club from the shelf and smashed the torturer's skull.
“Hoo, you fucking idiot. An assassin-specialist torturer, my ass. A bastard who can't even seal acupoints. Ptui!”
Spitting phlegm, he strode toward where Elder No and I were.
Thanks to our concealed presence, he seemed unaware we were hiding there.
‘This is our chance!’
Neither Elder No nor I were foolish enough to miss an opportunity that had rolled right into our laps.
We weren't as naive as that torturer with his head split open.
As if we had coordinated it, we split left and right in an instant and descended upon him.
No, given the speed and precision, it was closer to an abduction.
*Tuk, tutuk.*
“Ugh…!”
Before he even realized it, we sealed his mute and demonic acupoints simultaneously.
Thanks to that, the man, who realized a moment too late, tried to scream but couldn't.
Having successfully captured him, we questioned him about the man named Silent Kill Demonic Emperor from their conversation.
“Who is this Silent Kill Demonic Emperor? Is he the master of the Windless Killing Curtain?”
“……”
“We're different from that trash lying over there. If you wish, we can give you the most painful death in this world.”
The man, who had kept his mouth tightly shut at first, was terrified by the pressure from Elder No and me and nodded his head repeatedly.
Of course, that didn't mean we unsealed his mute acupoint.
We only unsealed a portion of his demonic acupoints, allowing him to write.
As I processed the explanation he wrote, I found the contents to be utterly shocking.
“It can't be…!”