Chapter 437: Sleeping Dragon Mountains
Chapter 437: Sleeping Dragon Mountains
I told Ko Yeonju everything I was thinking, holding nothing back. After hearing the whole story, she was lost in thought for a moment before narrowing her eyes and speaking.
“That makes sense. To be honest, I thought something was a little strange, too.”
“You think so, Yeonju?”
Ko Yeonju crossed her arms and narrowed her brow slightly.
“Yes. Back in the city, I just had a vague, unsettling feeling, but the fact that someone was following us is definitely suspicious. And a few things are starting to add up…”
“Things are adding up?”
Ko Yeonju subtly bit her lip. When I asked again, puzzled, she stared straight at me.
“Soohyun. Nothing is certain yet. We only have two pieces of the puzzle right now: the caravan led by that user, Kim Sujeong, and their contract with Mercenary. And the unknown users who were following us.”
“So you’re saying we need more information.”
“Yes… Hmm. This might be a bit difficult. It would be nice if our opponent was an idiot, but that’s unlikely. And like you said, we have to operate while avoiding as much outside contact as possible.”
“User Ko Yeonju. If it’s too much of a burden, you don’t have to go back. You can focus on the rescue for now, and I’ll handle it myself later.”
Seeing her subtle lack of confidence, I offered what I thought was the next best option. But her eyes widened for a second, and she shook her head as if the idea was absurd.
“Hehe. No, it’s not that. I was just whining a bit. Why are you taking it so seriously?”
“Because this isn’t as simple as it looks. If you and I are right, our opponent attacked us from the shadows, not in the open. If the truth comes out, it’s tantamount to a declaration of war on Mercenary. This could even escalate into a war between clans.”
“I understand what you mean. But still, it’s ridiculous for you to get directly involved in something like this. The Hall Plain’s underworld is a much filthier and more hideous place than you can imagine, Soohyun.”
“No, I also…”
“Soohyun. Shh…”
I wanted to say, “I know how to play in the underworld, too,” but I had to shut my mouth. Ko Yeonju had already raised her lovely thumb to my lips. Feeling the soft touch of her skin gently brushing against them, I glanced down at her.
Ko Yeonju smiled softly and said in a sweet voice, “Don’t worry. I can handle this on my own, so you just focus on coming back safe and sound.”
“…Will you be okay?”
“Of course. It’s not like we’ve been sitting around doing nothing for the past two years, right?”
“That’s true… All right.”
I gave a calm nod.
As Ko Yeonju said, we hadn’t been idle. Neither of us was magnanimous enough to simply let those who tried to slander and undermine Mercenary get away with it. We already had a few plans prepared in the shadows, so this might be a good opportunity to crush them completely.
“Oh, my. Three minutes are already up? I’ll get going right now. Mwah.”
Ko Yeonju gave a wink and planted a light kiss on my mouth. Then she licked her lips and gave a bashful smile.
Feeling a bit awkward, I scratched my head and spoke in a low voice.
“Yeonju. I’ll say it again, you must not let them find out.”
“It’s fine. They call me the Shadow Queen, you know. Hehe.”
“…Be careful.”
“You too, Soohyun. I’d hate to become a widow before I’m even thirty.”
It was a typical Ko Yeonju farewell. After saying her goodbyes, she took a few steps back and abruptly vanished into the fog. As I felt her presence slowly fade into the distance, I turned and headed back toward where the clan members were waiting.
“…Hm.”
On the way, an inexplicable smile escaped my lips.
I wonder… I’m curious to see who it is.
Through my conversation with Ko Yeonju, I was now almost certain that someone was scheming against us. If so, who could it be? Just who had the gall to wage an underground war against Mercenary?
I fell into quiet contemplation.
Back in the modern world, there was a game I used to enjoy playing.
It was called War of Legends. It was a game where ten players, split into two teams of five, would choose heroes and battle each other. The heroes I usually picked were support types, specialized in helping and nurturing my allies. A support’s early-game role is to protect and raise an allied hero who is weak at the start but can exert enormous influence in the mid to late game.
While laning with an allied hero, a roaming-type hero from the enemy team would often wait near the lane. Their goal was to coordinate with the enemy hero in the opposing lane to hinder my ally’s growth. To prevent this, it was essential for the support to secure vision in the areas where a roaming hero might be hiding.
There was one thing I never understood while playing War of Legends. Occasionally, when an enemy roamer was hiding in a spot where I had already secured vision, my ally would type in all-chat that they knew the enemy was there and tell them to leave.
I truly couldn’t understand it. The longer the enemy roamer waited, the greater the advantage for our entire team. The enemy team’s experience was wasted, their pathing was wasted, and our team’s range of activity opened up significantly. So why would they give up that advantage just to let the enemy know they’d been spotted? All they had to do was pretend they didn’t know.
Anyway.
My request for Ko Yeonju to remain undetected was based on a similar line of thinking.
If you know, you can prepare. But if you don’t, you either won’t prepare, or your preparations will be comparatively weak.
My earlier offer to Ko Yeonju to step in myself was by no means a lie. She couldn’t have known, but having spent my entire first playthrough operating in the shadows, underground warfare was the type of combat I was most confident in. In my second playthrough, I’d been operating in the open, so I hadn’t had much chance to display my abilities, but now that things had come to this, the story was different.
Soon, the figures of my clan members began to appear through the milky white fog, and I calmly composed myself. I made a firm resolution.
For now, I would enter the Sleeping Dragon Mountains, just as they wanted.
But the moment I finished my business and returned to the city, I would show them what a real underground war looked like.
*
After parting with Ko Yeonju, I moved to the front to lead the clan members. Normally, the archers should have taken the lead, but since we had to press on, it was an unavoidable choice. I was quite familiar with the surrounding geography, so there would be no need to stop and search for the path.
The fog, faint in the morning, grew thicker as time passed. It was now difficult to see even twenty meters ahead with the naked eye.
I enhanced my vision to carefully survey the terrain, trying to recall the path I had taken in my first playthrough. I would have normally just pushed through, but even I couldn’t be entirely confident in a place like the Sleeping Dragon Mountains.
Then, I suddenly felt a strange sense of unease. Just moments ago, we had been walking on a wide plain with gentle slopes, but at some point, I felt the rough, uneven texture of the ground beneath my feet.
I took a few more steps before slowly raising my hand to signal a halt. The quiet footsteps stopped all at once.
“Clan Lord. Is something wrong?”
At Shin Jaeryong’s quiet question, I looked around and replied, “I believe we’ve entered the Sleeping Dragon Mountains.”
“What? But we haven’t seen any mountains…”
“Look at the ground beneath your feet.”
“Beneath our feet… Ah!”
A few of them let out soft gasps, having quickly noticed the difference. The ground was no longer a beautiful field but was dotted with patches of overgrown thickets.
“We haven’t fully entered the mountain range. We’re probably at the entrance… no, just before it. In any case, we’ve completely left the plains of fog, so it’s correct to consider this an unexplored region from now on.”
“Orabeoni. Should I use a Miracle? To ask it to find you and Baek Hangyul…”
It was Ahn Sol’s voice. But I immediately shook my head. A Miracle was certainly an attractive solution, but for now, it was an ability I had to conserve as much as possible. I didn’t know what state Ahn Hyun and Hangyul were in.
“No. It’s fine. We need to save the Miracles until we find them. Besides, I have another way to find their location.”
“What? You have another way?”
I nodded silently at Ahn Sol’s question. Then I approached Shin Jaeryong and gazed at Hangyul, who was sleeping as if dead.
“User Shin Jaeryong. I’ll take Hangyul from here.”
“Pardon? But Clan Lord, you’re at the head of the group…”
“It’s fine. I plan to bring him along with me at the front.”
“…Bring him along?”
Shin Jaeryong asked again, his face a mask of confusion. But when I held out my hands, signaling him to hand the boy over, he did so, tilting his head in puzzlement.
“Hangyul-ah. Wake up. Hangyul-ah?”
After taking Hangyul, I whispered in a quiet voice. As I gently patted his back, I saw his eyes slowly flutter open. Hangyul looked at me with hazy eyes, then his gaze fixed on a certain part of the mountain range. I gently set him down.
“Huh?”
“What, what’s happening?”
At that moment, the clan members gasped again. Until now, he hadn’t even been able to walk, blinking as if he would collapse at any moment, but as soon as he entered the Sleeping Dragon Mountains, he stood up on his own. And though he was staggering slightly, he was taking small steps forward. Toward a specific direction in the mountains.
I had a rough idea of the reason.
When I first saw Hangyul, I had checked his status with my Third Eye. I learned that his current state was that of an empty shell, or half of one. In other words, his body was soulless. If my guess was correct, Hangyul had become one of the Dead due to a special field effect in the Sleeping Dragon Mountains.
Of course, I didn’t know the detailed circumstances. But one thing was certain: Hangyul hadn’t completely become one of the Dead yet. The moment he was fully consumed by the mountain range and became one of them, the faint thread connecting his body and soul would have snapped.
That would mean Hangyul’s death.
“His heart is still beating…”
I placed a hand on Hangyul’s chest. He paid me no mind, continuing to walk steadily toward some unknown point with unfocused eyes. After entering the Sleeping Dragon Mountains, where his soul resided, it was the body’s instinctive movement to reclaim itself.
If we follow him, we should at least be able to find Hangyul.
The best-case scenario here would be to find Hangyul and rescue Ahn Hyun at the same time. But my intuition warned me that things wouldn’t be that easy. If Ahn Hyun was simply missing and not one of the Dead like Hangyul…
Then we’ll really have to enter the ruins.
With that thought, I gestured with my head toward Hangyul for the clan members who were still standing around blankly.
“For now, we will follow Hangyul. We’ll be entering the mountains soon, so I want everyone to be on maximum alert.”
The clan members immediately snapped to attention, their expressions tense as they carefully scanned their surroundings. Their faces were still filled with disbelief, but they seemed to accept the current situation and were ready to focus on the rescue.
A moment later, I quietly gave the signal to move out.
“I will be in charge of protecting Hangyul, so the rest of you, monitor your assigned directions. Let’s move out.”
And it was at that very moment.
“Orabeoni. It’s tonight.”
Just as I was about to follow Hangyul, a quiet voice drifted into my ear.
Puzzled, I immediately turned around to see Ahn Sol staring intently at me. She glanced once at Hangyul, then continued, her eyes gleaming with a sharp light.
“I think… we have to find them by tonight.”