Chapter 196
Chapter 196: The True Tower's Report (3)
"You will pay the price……"
Dong Mu-toe was still standing tall and motionless at the peak of Rainbow Peak.
His words had stopped in the same way.
It was because the 'target' had broken through the second formation in an instant.
His black long robe fluttered in the wind.
The embroidered tassels of Formation Tower's insignia on his back absorbed the sunlight and gave off a heavy, sunken grayish-white sheen. By now, it was clearly recognizable as platinum-colored.
Of course, Dong Mu-toe didn't particularly care whether he was treated as a Trigram Leader or just an ordinary formation Taoist.
So long as it alleviated his boredom and allowed him to experiment with new formations, it didn't matter what the commission was.
And.
Unexpectedly, this Bronze Formation Contract job was already satisfying him.
Look there.
The target had already broken through not only the Cold Yin Ice Wind Formation, but the Scorching Hell Net Formation as well.
Of course, even having broken through the Scorching Hell Net Formation, they were still inside the formation, so saying they were trapped would be the right expression—but even that alone meant the target was already giving him more than enough amusement. Of course, since the opponent gave no response whatsoever—nine times out of ten a mute—his interest had been slightly diminished, but that was no great problem.
Had they not entered, that would be one thing.
But the moment they stepped inside the formation, that person was already as good as dead.
He was merely curious how many formations this little source of entertainment would manage to unravel.
Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell.
A masterwork—the total culmination of everything he had conceived from the moment he first began learning formation arts until now.
— Ha ha ha. Impressive. But the Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell has only just begun. It is a hell with no escape, where eight layers of formations from eight directions close in upon you. Not even an Immortal can break free. If you manage to shatter this, I shall become your slave for li-fe!?
Dong-
[The quest target has voluntarily made a 'vow'……]
[A vow made to a hero, under the blessing of goddess Lumina, carries binding force……]
A mechanical sound heard only by a certain someone.
Separately from that, Dong Mu-toe's hazy eyes lit up with clarity.
The third formation, Ten Thousand Thunder Heaven-Collapsing Formation.
A thunder formation in which countless lightning bolts pour down from the sky.
Originally the domain of the Thunder Formation Division, but reinterpreted in his own way into a supremely powerful formation—or so he had believed.
The sky inside the formation had certainly split open.
Hundreds and thousands of lightning bolts had poured toward the target.
And every single one had struck, and they were striking now, and it was obvious they would continue striking going forward.
Yet there was no reaction whatsoever……
No, it wasn't merely no reaction.
A strange transparent barrier coiled around the figure and then proceeded to absorb every single bolt of lightning that occurred.
"……How is something like that even possible?"
As if to mock Dong Mu-toe's murmur, the target's sword swept a circular arc downward and sliced clean through the formation core of the Ten Thousand Thunder Heaven-Collapsing Formation.
"……Insane."
The fourth formation, Thousand Rock Crushing Kill Formation.
A crushing formation that draws upon the earth's energy to move the rocks on all four sides.
The entire mountain shook.
The ground rumbled, and strange jagged boulders began to move as if alive.
Dozens of massive rocks bore down on the target from all four directions.
It wasn't simply a matter of dying if struck.
The vibrations produced by the rocks themselves paralyze one's sense of balance.
It renders you unable even to stand, then crushes you to death in a defenseless state.
Boom! Boom! Kaboom!
The rocks collided, and,
Clouds of dust surged upward.
But the target was still pressing forward……
No, it wasn't that.
They had already destroyed the fourth formation's core and were entering the territory of the fifth formation, the Bewilderment Formation.
The corner of his mouth, which had been trembling with bewilderment, slowly curled upward before long.
'Regardless, it's fine. Now it's over.'
Because the first through fourth formations were, frankly speaking, nothing more than appetizers.
Cold energy, heat energy, lightning, rock.
In the end, they are all in the domain of physical force.
If one is strong, one can endure it; if one is stronger still, one can break through.
But the fifth formation is different.
The peerless formation arts created by the first Grand Zenith Position, the Bewilderment Formation.
A formation that became one of the cells of Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell, utilizing the principle of Illusion-Emptiness-Reality-Confusion.
A mental assault formation that dominates the five senses to create hallucinations and auditory illusions, seeping in like the wind to disturb the mind.
No matter how strong a person may be, the mind is something that cannot be hidden.
Fear, rage, regret, desire, guilt.
The darkness that every human being inevitably carries.
It draws that out and amplifies it dozens of times over.
Even masters widely acclaimed throughout the Martial World had fallen to their knees before this formation.
There was once a man who bore the epithet Sword Emperor, who grew so horrified by his own illusions that he slit his own throat.
There was once an elder of the Blood Sacrifice Sect who went mad, crushed by a guilt he had hidden all his life.
'A person cannot overcome their own self.'
That was the truth Dong Mu-toe had come to understand while studying this formation.
'No matter how strong you may be.'
His eyes lit up.
'The darkness within you will be even stronger.'
That target had killed countless people up until now.
They would likely carry in their heart the intent to take even more lives going forward.
All those deaths.
All that resentment.
All that malice.
Starting now—it would all consume that figure whole.
'This should be entertaining.'
Dong Mu-toe folded his arms and settled into a spectator's pose.
He would be able to savor this one slowly, at last.
Because no matter how swift and powerful a predator, it is inevitably prey to the monster that is its own self, lurking deep within.
'If they are human……'
This formation is something that can never be passed.
No matter who among humans it may be.
***
"……"
Dong Bong-soo momentarily stopped in his tracks and looked all around.
It was because he sensed the 'substance' of the newly entered formation drawing close.
Whizzzzzzzz……
He immediately scattered Super True Energy Sense in all directions.
The busy sounds of ants deep underground diligently guarding their queen, the smell of corpses still burning in the flames, the energy of the previous formations mixed like winter and summer blended together, the natural energy this mountain exudes……
All manner of sensations seeped in as though melting into his super-senses. But no particular danger factor was detected.
Immediately, he instead extinguished all of the Super True Energy Sense entirely.
Human beings possess the instinct called intuition.
Certainly the five senses account for 99 percent of all sensation.
But the remaining 1 percent.
There are times when that one mile of intuition and sixth sense stands above all rational perception and the five senses combined.
More than seeing, more than hearing, more than smelling, more than feeling.
Sometimes even more than the soul's eye like [Spirit Eyes].
Right now his survival instinct was telling him.
That 'something' was coming.
And then, just as he arrived at what he judged to be the formation's origin point.
Moan… moan… moan—
Whimper… whimper… whimper—
Screee! Screee! Haaah! Screee!
The wailing and sobbing of ghosts, seeping in to engulf all four directions.
It wasn't merely a sound that came.
At the same time, countless grayish-pale things that defied counting appeared around Dong Bong-soo and began to orbit.
"……"
Along with that.
Grit—
The cord of tension was sharply drawn taut as great force flooded into his jawbones. Simultaneously, the blood vessels all across his body bulged out heavily.
In his right eye, capillaries swelled as though about to burst, and eyes already bloodshot grew even more bloodshot. It seemed as though at any moment the veins might erupt through his skin and pour out blood like a waterfall. It was as though his eyes themselves might melt away, dissolving into a pool of blood.
"……"
An agonizing pain that made him want to collapse and lose consciousness swept over and embraced his entire body all at once. Even for Dong Bong-soo it was unimaginable—a sensation as though hundreds of iron stakes had been driven into his very soul and thousands of hammers were pounding away at them.
[Why did you kill me?]
A voice that drove itself into the soul like a stake.
Ghost's Wail—wail that seemed to have crawled up from Hell itself.
But the moment that voice was heard.
The trembling of his cheeks, which had been shuddering violently, instead went still.
Black began to slowly return to the bloodshot eyes where veins had erupted mercilessly.
[Why did you kill me?]
[Why did you kill me?]
[Why did you kill me?]
…
..
.
The 'substances' that his intuition had seized upon thrash wildly around Dong Bong-soo like mad things leaping around.
[Why did you kill me?]
Dong Bong-soo passed through the shimmer.
Because I had to.
The distorted shimmer quickly gathered into another face and stood blocking his path.
The faces of those killed when he induced the suicide epidemic.
[Why did you kill me?]
[Why did you kill me?]
He passed through again.
Because I had to.
The northern enemy soldiers killed at the time of the Ear Ghost.
[Why did you kill me?]
[Why did you kill me?]
The illusions continued without end.
He kept passing through without pause.
Because I had to kill, and kill again.
The lingering shadows that had been scattered into fragments reassembled themselves one after another into hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.
Children, adults, the elderly, men and women of every age……
Every one of them wore a different face, but the emotion flowing from their eyes was the same kind.
Resentment.
Those who had distorted and passed by rallied to surround him once more.
Now fully materialized, they reached out their hands to him, grabbed at him, and murmured.
[Why did you kill me?]
[Why did you kill me?]
[Why did you kill me?]
[Why did you kill me?]
Why, why, why, why……
The resentments flowed and encircled him.
The wraiths screamed, clinging to and pulling at his arms, his feet, his face, his entire body.
[You should die too.]
[You should die too.]
[You should die too.]
[You should die too.]
***
The peak of Rainbow Peak.
Dong Mu-toe's expression had stiffened.
'……What is this?'
It was strange.
The Bewilderment Formation had certainly been activated.
Tens of thousands of grudge-bearing souls had swarmed around the target.
And yet.
'Why isn't it breaking down?'
Normally, it ends the instant the grudge souls appear.
No matter how strong a person, when they face the faces of those they have killed, they waver.
Whether guilt, fear, or revulsion.
They feel something.
And those feelings amplify and shatter the mind.
Yet that figure.
Was passing through them.
Through the grudge souls.
With no reaction whatsoever.
No.
They could be seen growing stronger.
Whatever this person's mind was made of…… the more faces of those they had killed they passed through, the stronger they were becoming.
'Impossible……'
Dong Mu-toe's fingers trembled.
'That's impossible.'
For a human being.
For a human being, it's impossible.
'……Insane.'
Dong Mu-toe's eyes trembled.
For the first time.
An emotion arose within him—something he could not tell whether to call reverence or excitement.
'That is not a human being.'
***
"No."
All manner of cruel agonies could be felt, but he was emotionless.
On the contrary, the more it came, the more emotionless he became. The more numb.
Because.
He had to be.
Because he had to live.
Because he had to survive.
Because he would survive.
You are dead, and I will go on living from here on and grow stronger.
Because that is what a 'hero' is supposed to do.
"If you want to kill me, you should have resurrected instead of conjuring up these worthless delusions."
Shhhhk—
Dong Bong-soo's sword suddenly flashed.
In an instant a sharp sword wind swept through and blew away every illusion.
Along with the Bewilderment Formation's formation core.
Whooooosh……
The grayish-white wraiths like heat shimmers vanished every last one, and the endlessly stretching sky once more registered into the neural pathways of his retinas.
And.
He could see it from afar.
The source of all this chaos.
"Found you. Little Star Candy."
