A Grim Discovery in the Halls of the Mountain
“It’s finally over.”
A woman who had just finished something wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
“But why does this take so long? It’s irritating.”
The woman, who had lightly brushed her hands, scowled as if she’d suddenly become annoyed and slapped the boy beside her with all her might.
Crack! Flesh peeled away from long nails, blood flowing, yet the boy showed no reaction.
The man watching the group stopped her.
“That’s enough. He’s a precious body.”
“You told me to do it, but does this guy deserve it? Hmph, except for his pretty face, he doesn’t seem useful at all?”
“…He’s the son of the Machine Duke.”
“Oh my! Is that true? The Machine Duke we know? Eung, now I see why you were surprised. It’s just like you!”
As the man explained, the woman’s eyes, which had been widening with anger, soon narrowed horizontally in a sharp glare.
“Yes, so handle him carefully so he doesn’t get hurt. Stop beating him up thinking it’s just venting your anger.”
“Understood. But I heard the Machine Duke dotes on his late son terribly. Why is such a guy here?”
“That’s none of our concern. What we must remember is that we should use him as a bargaining chip to obtain the Ouparts from the Machine Duke. It’s the perfect chance to score big if we do it right—stay alert.”
“I thought we’d wasted our time with nothing, but we’ve found the most precious thing here. From now on, you’ll follow us quietly… No, just follow us from behind. It’s best to keep you close so no one spots you.”
“…”
Following the woman’s order, Junior stood with a blank expression and silently trailed behind the man and woman.
* * *
Inside the peak, it was like a kind of labyrinth disguised as a mountain.
Here, rooms of every different size existed—no matter how small, at least dozens.
Some rooms were as small as a single house, others as vast as a huge square. But if forced to find a common point, every single one was a perfect cube shape.
Additionally, each room had from one to six passages connecting to upper, lower, and all four directions.
The passages connecting rooms had seams, suggesting they were assembled from a few large parts.
“Ugh! Damn, today I see the corpses I’ll probably see for the rest of my life.”
While constantly monitoring Teraden’s movements and pursuing Junior, the foul stench wafting from the passage made Teraden wrinkle his nose.
Every passage and room they passed through was greeted by gruesome, severely damaged corpses scattered haphazardly.
The one saving grace was that the passages were pitch black and time was short, so they had no chance to absorb the horrific sight and passed through quickly.
“Wait a second.”
Teraden, leading the group at the front, suddenly stopped. All eyes turned to him.
“Why stop suddenly?”
“It seems I need to say something again.”
“What?”
“You all saw the corpses along the way here. We could end up losing our lives like them if we’re careless. So, everyone steel your resolve. Got it?”
Unusually serious, her tone made them nod with tense faces.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Passing through the passage filled with half-rotten corpses, they entered the next room—a long, rectangular space with straight sides.
“There’s nothing here. But don’t get careless. Something strange might be lurking, so be careful…”
“This time, what’s waiting for us…”
*Squelch.*
“Eh…?”
Before Haru and Teraden could finish their words, Blanser’s face when stepping on the floor twisted like he’d bitten something rotten.
The floor made a sound as it sank, confirming he’d triggered a trap.
*Zaaaah—!*
Before the floor could fully sink, the right wall shot open, and hundreds of sharp objects were fired simultaneously.
“Waaah!”
“Arrows! Take cover—!!”
Even if surprise arrows were fired, dodging them wasn’t difficult. But the problem was that, with a slight gap, arrows rained down from all directions—right, left, below, and above—like a torrent.
*Zaaak! Zaaaah—!*
“What the hell are these?!”
“Eh…”
“Maru, watch the arrows! Blanser, don’t just stand there—dodge!”
“Yes, Oppa!”
“Ugh, why are there so many?!”
*Paba babak!*
After fending off or dodging the endless hail of arrows, looking up they saw Blanser, unable to avoid the arrows, was covered in them like a hedgehog.
“Hey, Blanser you…”
In the unexpected situation, Haru hurriedly approached and checked Blanser’s condition. He was surprisingly fine.
Looking closely, the arrows hadn’t pierced his body. They had torn his clothes but, luckily, only scratched him without going through his tough muscles.
He hadn’t failed to dodge; he simply didn’t need to.
“But the arrowheads are too rusty. If iron like this is rusted, at least disinfect the scratches.”
*Puuuk.*
Blanser pulled out the arrow that had pierced his clothes without much effort and tossed it on the floor.
“Huh? No, hyung. I’m probably fine. Since I was little, my teacher made me eat a lot to boost my immunity, so poisonous things don’t work on me.”
“What the hell… did you eat?”
“Well, I ate all the poisonous bugs—like venomous spiders, centipedes, poisonous frogs, and snakes.”
“Stop gossiping and come help me up!”
At that moment, Teraden’s voice came from somewhere below.
“Teraden?”
Looking around the voice, no sign of him was visible anywhere.
In that moment of panic, Maru, who had been relatively close, called out.
“Oppa! Over here!”
Approaching where Maru was, Teraden was clinging precariously to the middle of a deep pit.
Apparently he’d tripped a trap while rolling to dodge arrows.
“Why are you only doing this to me?! I’m going to lose it, seriously!!”
“Just wait a bit, I’ll save you soon.”
Teraden safely climbed out using Blanser’s Stone Earth Ineung.
“Teraden, are you okay?”
“Hyung, are you all right?”
“Thanks to you, I lived. Thank you. Ha, I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Wiping off the dirt stuck to his body and clicking his tongue, Teraden suddenly pointed at Blanser’s lower half.
“Hey, wait. But you have an arrow stuck in your side. Isn’t that dangerous?”
Blanser repeated the exact words Haru had said to him to Teraden.
“Wow, you ate all the poisonous ones? So what didn’t you eat?”
“Well, probably everything alive except people.”
“Even that guy who fed his only disciple such things is amazing, and you happily ate it too. You’re really something, aren’t you.”
After a short break, it was time to pass through the passage again.
*Urrurrurlung—!!*
A mysterious tremor came from far away.
“What the hell is causing this shaking?”
The entire mountain sometimes trembled like the whole thing was vibrating, but the reason remained unclear.
Anyway, paying attention to the shaking, they crossed the space with traps and the passage connecting to it, heading to the next one.
The next space that appeared was unlike the last—a wide space shaped like a cube.
Unlike the previous empty room, a massive iron grate hung in the center, dividing the space in half.
Approaching cautiously, something was writhing in the darkness beyond the grate and coming toward them.
The number was quite large, making caution impossible to ignore.
“What are those? They look like training dummies in the National Academy. Not like an amusement park—everywhere we go, weird things keep popping out.”
As Teraden said, the things that emerged from the darkness were machines modeled after humans—robots, known as dummies.
But they differed greatly from those in the National Academy.
First, we must note that the architect of this relic, Arirang’s disciple, was quite different from the Seven Stars.
While Arirang and the Seven Stars each wielded the powers called Gweonneung, the disciple did not handle Gweonneung like them.
Yet he managed to claim a portion of the Seven Stars’ legacy because of his unparalleled intelligence and the technology built upon it.
Even after a thousand years, humans still couldn’t reproduce his technology, which is why they revered his inventions as Ouparts.
The dummies before us now, however, looked utterly crude, and their weapons were extremely weak.
That’s why they couldn’t possibly be the work of the Seven Stars.
Well, the fact that they were still working normally after a thousand years was surprising, but still.
“Hehe! I want to move, but my joints are all rusty and I can’t. It’s a disaster?”
Teraden, stuck behind the iron grate, creaked and barely moved the machines.
*Krik. Kiriririck.*
I’m not sure if it was because of Teraden’s provocation, but the machines responded, scanning their surroundings as if searching for something, then groped the corners of the floor.
“Eh, eh? What are you trying to do? That’s not it. Stop. Calm down.”
Teraden, who had stepped on the wrong spot and suffered once, jumped in fright and tried to calm them down calmly, but the machines couldn’t understand human speech.
The dummies, ignoring Teraden’s words, pressed something in a corner.
*Dr, rrruruk—!*
Then the iron grate, which had been shaking briefly, slowly rose while shaking off old dust with a creepy sound.
“Hey, this damn thing. Dealing with these will take too long. What now?”
“Still, since Maru is pointing at the other side, we have to go through.”
“They don’t seem very strong anyway, so we can rush and break a few, then cross…”
In the moment Haru tried to move to quickly deal with the dummies, something unfamiliar happened.
[The opponent’s level gauged. Overall Cheneung coordination is highly recommended. Difficulty adjusted. LV. 7/10]
“Eh…?”
*Weeeng, weiiiiing!*
““…””
Along with an unknown sound, a sound like something was being adjusted echoed loudly through the entire space, and soon the dummies completely transformed into brand-new machines.
The repaired dummies bore no resemblance to the previous clumsy ones.
Feeling the emptiness, Teraden smiled faintly while looking at Haru.
“…Hey, it’s over. We need to get ready to run.”
That’s what happens. They were made by the Seven Stars—how could they be crude?
It’s doomed.
“Run—!!”
At Teraden’s shout, they turned and ran, and
[Chase began.]
“Why did it suddenly change like that?!”
“It might be because of the hyung?”
“Ah! I can’t curse at the Seven Stars!!”
The machines began chasing them closely like an enraged bull herd.