Chapter 30
Chiryongwon wandered along while drinking, weaving unsteadily enough to make anyone watching feel uneasy.
And yet, somehow, miraculously, although his feet drifted left and right, he kept striding forward in great, confident lengths. He was plainly moving sideways, but he was as fast as Lee Dohyun sprinting at full speed.
So that’s a Great Yokai.
Yokai and Great Yokai.
They were only one rank apart, but the difference was enormous.
When Dohyun followed after him, he found Chiryongwon standing before the formation he had mentioned earlier, lost in thought.
“Hmm.”
He had stopped at the entrance, before the place hidden by the array, and Dohyun watched him with interest, curious to see what he would do.
Then, unlike what Dohyun expected, Chiryongwon raised his liquor bottle and struck at the air.
“Hic-!”
...?
Dohyun could not understand it.
The formation was intangible.
His thoughts stopped dead.
Woom-
The space rippled like water.
This is insane...
A sight that was visible, yet impossible to believe.
As the rippling formation seemed to open the entrance by itself, it revealed what lay within.
A swamp appeared in view.
A swamp thick with black mud, and one from which a poisonous, noxious mist was already rising.
The moment he saw it, Chiryongwon’s brow furrowed.
“Ugh... ruins the taste of my drink.”
He said that, but immediately tilted the bottle again.
Gulp-
“And the smell’s awful too...”
He staggered forward and took a step.
Plop.
His foot landed on the mud, but it did not sink even a little.
Watching that, Dohyun hurried after him.
Every move a Great Yokai made was a lesson.
He’s handling spiritual energy in his feet like that, and it’s making his body lighter?
Observing the flow of spiritual energy through the Dragon Eye, Dohyun saw a current he had never encountered before.
So he copied the movement and walked on.
One step. Another.
They moved toward the edge of the swamp.
“Ugh. Damn insects.”
Muttering under his breath, Chiryongwon stopped at the place Dohyun had assumed was the center of the formation.
Before the core, the knot of clustered power.
Chiryongwon narrowed his eyes.
A strange glimmer passed through those tiny pupils.
Dohyun held his breath and watched.
The core.
That thing that looked like a bundle because countless lines had been braided together.
It was a point even Dohyun’s own skill could not touch, and in truth, he could not even tell how to touch it in the first place.
“Hic-!”
The swaying hand of a drunkard passed through the center of the core.
The mass formed from dozens of interwoven lines came undone in an instant before that wavering hand.
...
Even admiration had run dry by now.
Just when Dohyun thought he could not afford to blink and miss a single moment, one line of energy, hidden beneath the bundled threads, was exposed.
Dohyun’s eyes narrowed.
...There it is.
This was no accident. The skill that had revealed it was deliberate.
With a flushed face, Chiryongwon smiled.
“Acha!”
He moved his hand again.
Snap.
Crackle-
The hidden line broke.
Hah...
Centered on that severed line, clusters of formation threads began to appear again across the swamp.
Dohyun watched, slightly surprised.
It was hidden all along?
As he muttered to himself, Chiryongwon spoke as if to no one in particular.
“Lucky me...”
Then he took another swig of liquor.
Gulp.
“But... are you not an insect? Or maybe a human? Your head works a little too well...”
He staggered forward and walked toward the heap he had apparently identified as the core.
When he reached it, he swept a hand through the air.
Tap. Tap.
Knots loosened, hidden things were exposed.
Untied, connected, knotted again.
The concealed structure revealed itself.
So this is the true shape of the formation?
Dohyun silently stared at the lattice of lines filling the air above the swamp.
It’s huge.
It looked almost like an artwork floating in the void.
Much deeper and wider than he had expected.
When he was still trembling at the sight of formation work as a discipline, the center of the swamp suddenly split open in the air.
Dark bluish energy seeped through the gap.
Dohyun’s eyes flashed.
Poison miasma.
The instant he recognized it, it exploded upward.
Fwoooosh-!
Black smoke burst into the air.
Chii-ik-
Acidic poison smoke.
It was so strong it stained the swamp itself.
Kiee!
Behind him, the goblin warriors following Dohyun raised their weapons.
“Geoung! Geoung says he’s coming!”
Geoung and the warrior unit were wearing masks for swamp poison fumes, but that poison was acidic. A simple mask would not be enough.
Fall back.
“Geoung? Geoung falls back.”
After pulling the troops away, Dohyun held his breath.
The poison stabbed at the lungs, but compared to the scale needed to melt dragon scales, it was far too weak. Even the poison that entered his body was nothing that could seriously damage a dragon’s body, and it was quickly neutralized.
The problem was...
...It’s rigged to blow once the formation is released.
This poison was planted with intent. The most dangerous part was Chiryongwon.
“Kek—”
After drinking the acidic poison, Chiryongwon grimaced.
“What is this now... cough.”
When he coughed, the poison around him scattered.
“Tch... they even laid poison here...”
He lifted a hand, then stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
“Ugh... this means I’m taking a loss.”
Briefly, he stretched his palm toward the ground.
Then he flipped it over.
Kwaang-!
Crushing force slammed down over the swamp.
The black poison miasma was driven into the ground and torn apart.
In an instant, the air cleared.
“Annoying...”
Chiryongwon clicked his tongue.
Dohyun watched him closely.
The drunken posture was unchanged.
But after witnessing that last move, it was hard to dismiss him as a mere drunk.
“Where is it...”
Tap.
As if searching for something, Chiryongwon looked around, then flicked his finger into the air.
Ting-
An unseen line snapped.
Ting. Ting.
Again and again, the threads broke.
The flow of the swamp collapsed.
For a moment, the mist dispersed, and slowly the sun began to shine down from above.
The swamp that had been traced and concealed was drying out bit by bit.
It was still here after all.
The eggs of the Chungyo race, hidden by the mist and the formation, finally revealed themselves.
But Chiryongwon paid them no mind.
He frowned instead.
“...Should’ve known better than to use my strength. Hic.”
He stamped his foot.
Crack-crack-crack—
The center of the swamp split open.
Beneath it, flags came into view.
Five half-torn flags.
Tools used by human cultivators to set up formations.
Dohyun sharpened his focus and watched.
For an instant, Chiryongwon turned his head slightly, and his gaze flicked to the side.
Dohyun felt that glance, but said nothing.
His attention had already shifted to the formation tools Chiryongwon was lifting.
“Hmm.”
After recovering them, Chiryongwon took another drink.
Gulp-
“Ahh. Tsk, just as I thought, they were damaged.”
He came closer to Dohyun, drinking again in disappointment.
Then he gave Dohyun a sidelong look.
“Dragon child of the holy bloodline, aren’t you curious about human things?”
Silence.
...
Puzzlement entered Dohyun’s eyes.
“Yes, young dragons are curious. But this forest doesn’t know much.”
He swallowed again before continuing.
“...The ones in this forest don’t know dragons either.”
Dohyun lifted his head to meet his gaze.
The eyes of the clever monkey were flushed red.
“But humans know dragons quite well.”
He shrugged.
“If you’re curious, I can put you in touch with them once...”
Hic.
Baring his white teeth, Chiryongwon said, “Well, if you want it.”
Dohyun said nothing.
This was not a direct proposal.
After a moment, Dohyun turned his head and looked at the trees.
Then Chiryongwon snorted with laughter.
“That one won’t care.”
Lowering his voice, he added, “...He won’t stop you, either.”
He shrugged.
“Probably means you can do as you please.”
Dohyun considered one possibility.
Implicit consent.
That was enough.
But it was not enough to judge the matter fully.
...
Dohyun did not answer.
He stayed silent.
Chiryongwon still looked as though his offer was not finished.
He grinned and gave the bottle a shake.
“If you want to call them...”
He waved a hand lazily.
“There should be a red tree in the west side of the forest where the monkeys always gather.”
After saying that, he tied the bottle to his waist and clasped his hands behind his back.
“Haaah. Hard work makes me sleepy.”
He let the yawn drag on as he wandered off again in a crooked zigzag, yet he moved incredibly fast.
Staggering forward a few steps, Chiryongwon’s presence seeped into the forest and vanished.
Still thinking over it beside the ruined swamp, Dohyun turned and gave his order.
Clean it up.
The goblin hunters moved.
They set to work with their shovels, clearing away the Chungyo eggs they had not managed to deal with before.
As they worked, they imagined the evening’s egg soup and kept digging.
Everything was put in order, and time began to pass again.
They revisited the earlier points and checked the swamps as well. Once the formation was gone, the swamp became little more than slightly darkened earth in the forest.
They began clearing the twenty Chungyo sites again.
There were so many that, if they worked tightly for a week, they would be able to finish everything.
“Kko-kko, it’s shrinking.”
Gyetoo said it looked like the work would be finished sooner than expected.
But he had still said it would take at least several years.
As expected...
They had killed the Chungyo at twenty sites.
Again and again and again.
And yet the numbers still did not fall as much as he had calculated.
...There isn’t just one.
This was not the end.
As expected, the number of nests was not one, but many.
Then the calculation was right.
Dohyun’s eyes flashed coldly.
Gyetoo.
“Kko-kko?”
He asked Gyetoo, who was watching him quietly, whether he knew the warriors of the other sites.
“Of course.”
Tell me the places they hunt.
Dohyun was not thinking of the forest’s map itself, but of the relationship between the twenty Chungyo sites and the nests’ locations.
If this goes well, I might be able to find another nest.
“...Very well. Dragon, call them.”
Watching Gyetoo move off after saying that, Dohyun started laying out the strategy as he headed back to the Dungeon.
Nests...
Did only those exist?
The thought passed through Dohyun’s mind that there might be Chungyo with intelligence as well.
Formation and poison.
He ran through dozens of possibilities for how the Chungyo hiding inside this forest might respond.
In the end, I’ll have to circle around and find their main base, then wipe it out.
Thinking that, he confirmed it with his own eyes, then gestured.
The goblin warriors hurled their spears.
Thunk-!
A Chungyo moth was struck in midair and fell.
So they’re watching us.
He looked out over the forest, his gaze turning cold.
Finish them.
At his words, the goblin warriors moved with their spears raised.
Thwip-! Thunk-!
More moths fell from the trees, and hidden spiders were discovered.
They had noticed Dohyun as well and awakened.
Dohyun thought briefly.
They were beginning to target him in secret.
Find them.
And then.
Eliminate them.
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