The Assault Begins
As an unfamiliar presence entered the forest, even the birds fell silent.
Not a single insect cried out.
It was as if the woods had held its breath.
The forest stood unnaturally still, taut as a drawn blade.
Four people moved through it.
Three martial artists in dark robes swept the woods with their hands resting on the swords at their waists.
Crunch.
"So this is the place from the rumor—the one where the spirit beast was seen."
A human in his early twenties, dressed in a daoist robe, said this while waving around an old disc that looked like a hunting compass.
Of the figures standing to the left, right, and front of the man with the disc, the one in front—someone with a heavy, stern face—lowered his head slightly as he gripped his sword hilt and answered.
"Yes. It is said that the White-Yellow Life Tree was here."
"Hey, relax. What are you so scared of that you're already reaching for your sword?"
"But, Young Master. This place is—"
"Tsk. Don't call me Young Master. Call me Clan Head."
"Y-yes... Clan Head. This is a forest where yokai live, and if there are spirit beasts here..."
"You're not scared just because it's a yokai forest, are you?"
The martial artist who had been answering twitched an eyebrow for a moment, but since his head was bowed, the man in the daoist robe did not see it.
"Well, I get it. You're just a lowly martial artist, while I'm a cultivator."
"...Yes."
The young man curled one corner of his mouth.
"Let's find it quickly. I even brought a treasure from the main family this time to get that spirit beast."
He swept the disc in his hand from side to side, examining it carefully.
Watching the needle tremble faintly, he turned his glare on the stern man and snapped,
"What is this? It's not reacting at all. Jang Musa, are you lying to me?"
As if angered, the man pulled a talisman from his robes and spoke sharply, and Jang Musa's face hardened with embarrassment.
"T-that can't be."
"Then what's this? Hah. Now I see why our clan fell. A mere martial artist lying to a cultivator."
"But according to the informant..."
"Are you trying to ignore the Chasing Spirit Disc I just brought from the main family?"
"N-no, absolutely not. I would never disrespect the clan."
The middle-aged martial artist was speaking when he suddenly turned his head.
He pivoted, and his foot moved.
A blade flashed.
A green head dropped to the ground.
"I was watching."
The man in the robe stared at it and asked,
"A goblin?"
A small yokai was called a goblin. To a martial artist who worked with blood and qi, it was less than a wild beast.
Then the second hand on the disc began trembling violently and pointed to it.
The middle-aged martial artist glanced at it and said carefully,
"Judging by the spirit of the White-Yellow Life Tree, it seems the goblin took it."
"I know that. Still, if the aura is still clinging to it, they didn't eat it—they must have carried it back to their nest."
The man in the robe frowned for a moment, then spoke as though pleased and gestured with his hand.
"Dispose of it."
As soon as the words fell, rustle.
The silence in the forest was broken.
The undergrowth shook with sudden movement.
"Jung-gyeok, Jin-ban. Take care of it."
When the middle-aged martial artist ordered the two slightly younger men standing to either side, the faint scrape of blades sounded at once from both scabbards.
Their forms blurred and slipped into the woods in a single instant.
Keek.
Kek.
Brief cries echoed through the forest.
The goblins were cut down before they could even react.
The one holding the disc clicked his tongue.
"Hey, this is taking too long."
"N-not at all, Cultivator-sama..."
As he spoke, he suddenly whipped around and slammed something in the brush with his scabbard.
Crack—!
A small green yokai collapsed.
"Damn goblin. When did you get here?"
The middle-aged martial artist busied himself, avoiding the daoist-robed man's eyes.
"As expected, for the reconstruction of the main family..."
"Captain Jang, we've dealt with all the enemies."
While he muttered to himself, the other man named Jung-gyeok and Jin-ban came over, cleaning their blades.
"Good work. Did you find the nest?"
"Uh..."
"We couldn't find it."
At Jin-ban's answer, the man in the daoist robe narrowed his brow.
"Worthless martial artists."
At the man's words, the middle-aged martial artist's fist trembled, but he kept his expression as apologetic as possible.
"Even goblins are intelligent enough. Since we happened to capture one, figuring out the nest should be easy enough."
Trusting his long experience, the middle-aged martial artist naturally pointed to the fallen goblin.
"Jin-ban, make it open its mouth."
"Does a goblin even know how to talk?"
"If it can't talk, make it gesture."
"Yes."
Listening to that, the cultivator said,
"Hurry up. That sort of goblin can't be allowed to eat the spirit beast."
The middle-aged martial artist answered respectfully and stepped back.
The cultivator toyed with the goblin while the others handled other matters.
The two martial artists stood guard.
The remaining one moved behind the clearing to do something unpleasant.
The martial artist called Jin-ban looked down at the goblin and said,
"Hey, goblin. You understand me, right?"
At that, the goblin scowled.
Crack.
"That's disgusting."
A bone broke.
"You still have plenty more."
A brutal interrogation began.
One finger after another shattered.
Then the toes.
Crk, crk.
The goblin clamped its mouth shut and said nothing.
Even after all four limbs had been broken, its eyes were still full of hatred.
Every large bone in its body was crushed.
"Huh? This goblin's tougher than a human."
Jin-ban, looking annoyed, began twisting the goblin's broken limbs again.
The goblin's yellow eyes turned red.
"So just breaking it isn't enough."
He drew a dagger from his robes.
Then he sliced a line across the goblin's forehead.
"I'll draw you plenty of pictures."
He broke things, then drew, and kept at it for a long while.
Then a voice came from behind him.
"How in the world is it taking this long?"
It was the martial artist called Captain Jang.
A dissatisfied expression appeared on his face.
Jang Musa looked down at the goblin's eyes.
"The goblin's eyes aren't dead yet."
"No, I mean..."
"Tsk. So all you know is how to torture by breaking bones."
"I'm sorry."
Just as Jin-ban was swallowing his excuse and about to speak, Jang Musa strode over.
"Move aside."
When Jin-ban stepped back, Jang Musa placed a hand on the goblin's body and, with a look of disgust as though touching filth, said as if demonstrating something,
"This is Breaking Tendons and Crushing Bones."
Jin-ban muttered too quietly for anyone to hear.
"Tch... I can't do that because I'm only a 7th-rank martial artist."
For a brief moment the raised hand moved.
Crack.
With his hand still resting on the goblin's chest, the bones and muscles of the broken limbs twisted wildly on their own.
It was a sight worse than death.
But the goblin didn't scream once.
Jang Musa sneered.
"For a goblin, you're uselessly..."
He paused, then continued coldly,
"Fine. I'll turn up the intensity."
Just as he was about to continue,
"Jang Musa!"
The cultivator's shout rang out, and Jang Musa's face twisted with killing intent, but he changed his expression smoothly a moment later.
"You called, Clan Head!"
He ran over and stood before the cultivator.
"Well? Any results?"
"W-well..."
"Hah. For the strongest martial artist in our clan to be this useless—our family is truly finished."
"No, sir!"
He protested, but the man did not listen at all.
Instead, he pointed at the disc.
The tip of the needle had stopped, as if fixed to one point.
Jang Musa saw it too.
And said with annoyance,
"Hey, I found it. So just lead the way, you incompetent swordsmen."
"Yes."
Answering, he called the martial artists behind him.
"Jung-gyeok! Jin-ban!"
""Yes!""
When they replied, Jin-ban pointed at the goblin he had been torturing and asked,
"Captain, what about this one?"
"Leave it. We don't have time."
"Understood."
Jin-ban laid his blade against the goblin, now smeared with blood and filth from the torture, and left it there with obvious reluctance before walking away.
"It'll die anyway."
He didn't want to dirty his sword any further.
Following the cultivator, the three martial artists left the spot.
**
Dungeon.
From the entrance inward, Lee Dohyun was building traps and ambush points at various positions along the path.
Inside, goblins were digging into the earth and using the Transmutation Platform to make stone spears.
Whenever a good piece of stone came out, it was immediately placed as part of a trap.
Along with the standard pitfall traps, all kinds of structures designed to restrict an intruder's movement were being constructed.
Based on long experience, Dohyun divided the invasion routes and drafted the layout, then looked up at the opaque wall blocking the entrance.
That wall will disappear soon.
Not much time remained before the barrier vanished.
Less than an hour now.
This is the most dangerous moment.
Dohyun knew it.
This time was the most dangerous of all.
It always was at the beginning.
"Dragon, why is that formation being taken down?"
I'm not the one taking it down.
"Right. Dragon, you don't know formations."
And you do?
"Dragon, aren't you being a little too dismissive of me?"
Then show me the formation.
"Why would I?"
Watching that exchange, Dohyun clicked his tongue.
So he didn't bite.
"Dragon, you really do think I'm an idiot."
At Heok-o's answer, Dohyun fell silent and said no more.
Instead, he looked at the traps at the entrance and forced down his unease.
The beginning is always the hardest part.
Once the preparations were finished, the barrier finally vanished.
The goblins stared at the disappearing shield and froze for a moment.
Now it began.
A strange tension spread through the dungeon.
To check whether an enemy was coming from outside, Dohyun tried borrowing the vision of a scout goblin to inspect the surroundings.
But every goblin disappeared from sight except one.
...!
In his field of vision, a goblin was crawling forward.
Blood trailed along the floor behind it in a long line.
Yet it did not stop. It kept moving.
Its eyes were fixed on one thing only.
The dungeon.
What happened—
As Dohyun stared and tried to ask the goblin what was going on,
BOOM—!
The entrance collapsed.
They were coming in.