Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 20
>Chapter Title: True Intent (4)
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“I’ll accept exactly seven survivors among you as my team members.”
‘!?’
The boys, who had been tense with anticipation over who Mok Kyung-un would choose as teammates.
They were dumbfounded for a moment by the words that came out of his mouth.
The dawn was about to break, and he was telling them to kill each other?
‘Th, this bastard?’
‘For real!’
From their perspective, they couldn’t help but be furious.
They had stayed up all night until now, desperately guarding the flag.
Yet he suddenly appeared and was toying with the situation, like pulling out a stone where a rolling stone had lodged.
No, it was even worse than that.
“You serious right now...”
Mok Yu-cheon, who, like the others, had been about to snap and lash out at Mok Kyung-un in anger.
But the moment he saw Mok Kyung-un’s face, his words caught in his throat.
‘Ha......’
That face, with the corners of the mouth lifted all the way to the ears, was enjoying the situation.
It was far from a playful joke.
It was the face of someone genuinely hoping they would kill each other.
-A chill!
With that certainty, goosebumps rose from Mok Yu-cheon’s spine throughout his body.
More than doubting if this was really Mok Kyung-un, it felt like gazing upon a being filled purely with malice.
At that moment, Mok Kyung-un opened his mouth.
“You all seem to have plenty of leisure. Dawn is about to break.”
The eastern horizon that Mok Kyung-un pointed to with his hand was already tinged crimson.
Everyone’s expressions turned grave.
It really seemed like the sun was about to rise soon.
‘Damn it.’
‘Do we really have to do what that bastard says?’
It was right then.
One boy, unable to contain his rage, finally screamed and charged at Mok Kyung-un.
“You son of a bitchhhhh!”
In the boy’s hand was the stone axe that Yeom-ga of Slaughter Gorge had thrown.
The boy, with eyes rolled back in fury, didn’t care if the sun rose or not.
He felt like smashing Mok Kyung-un’s head with this axe right now was the only way to vent, so it was an impulsive act.
However,
-Ching!
“Huh?”
Just three paces from Mok Kyung-un, the boy’s body was suddenly bound by iron chains.
“Wh, what is...”
A bizarre sensation as if his entire body was restrained.
He couldn’t comprehend it at all, even though nothing was visible.
Then, Gyu So-ha, the Green Spirit extending her hand toward the boy, spoke in a cold voice.
-Master. Shall I kill him?
Mok Kyung-un shook his head in response.
It wouldn’t be bad if Gyu So-ha killed him, but there was no need to reveal yet that his spirit beast had reached a level where it could kill someone.
Thus,
-Step, step, step!
“P-Please let me go. Th-this... this isn’t right.”
The boy bound by Gyu So-ha’s chains had regained his senses, his face pale as he trembled.
In response, Mok Kyung-un snatched the stone axe from the boy’s grip and raised it high, as if ready to smash down at any moment.
The boy pleaded in terror.
“Eek! I-I’m sorry... I was wrong. I’ll do as you say.”
“Burned hot like an iron pot and cooled off quick, huh.”
“Please spare me.”
“Then you should’ve targeted someone else, not me.”
With those words, Mok Kyung-un brought the stone axe down on the boy’s head.
-Crush!
“Gurk!”
A grotesque scream leaked from the boy whose head was crushed.
The expressions of the other boys watching the scene were indescribable.
They too had killed other boys from the first trial until now to survive, but that had all been murder for a purpose.
Yet Mok Kyung-un’s actions felt different in nature.
‘Cr, crazy bastard.’
He seemed to enjoy the act of killing itself.
A stark example was how he smiled so brightly while watching the boy die a gruesome death with his head smashed.
“........”
The boys, gripped by intimidation, no longer thought of doing anything to Mok Kyung-un.
That was completely beyond norms.
In this situation, the first to move was,
-Thwack!
-Crack!
“Gahk!”
Yeom-ga of Slaughter Gorge snapped the neck of a boy right beside him.
“You!”
The boys who had followed Yeom-ga couldn’t hide their shock and sense of betrayal.
Yeom-ga spoke in an irritated tone.
“Fuck. You gonna play friendship games after coming this far? If you wanna live, you’d better do what that guy says.”
“Kuhk!”
There was no way to deny it.
Charging at Mok Kyung-un would be pointless, so to survive now, they had to kill until only seven remained, just as he said.
-Papapak!
“Sorry!”
“Huh! Y-You...!”
The other boys also throttled or ambushed the boys next to them.
The slightly slower ones instantly became prey.
This wasn’t just Yeom-ga’s side from Slaughter Gorge.
“Die yoooou!”
The boys who had formed a semicircle and guarded the flag also charged at the boys beside them, not caring anymore.
-Pat!
“Die!”
“Y-You too?”
“Shut up! You think we have time for that?”
As much as they hated to admit it, Yeom-ga was right.
‘We came here to compete by killing each other anyway, what friendship now.’
They had to survive.
Cooperation and friendship meant nothing if they died.
They had to be within seven before dawn.
“.........”
Watching this scene, Mok Yu-cheon, who had Mo Ha-rang slung over his shoulder, bit his lip hard.
For a moment, everything felt futile.
They weren’t the righteous path, but for six hours, they had shared life and death to survive together, and now those comrades had turned on each other in an instant.
Just a moment ago, they had vowed to stick together until the end.
Thus, Mok Yu-cheon had thought that no matter where, people were people.
However.
“Die! Die!”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
“P-Please spare me. I-I helped too.”
“What do you want me to do!”
As if it had never happened, they were killing each other.
Everyone’s eyes had changed.
-Grip!
Mok Yu-cheon’s torn and ragged nails from the iron ball scramble dug into his palm.
This was all because of that guy.
Because of him, the united competition had turned into a blood-soaked inferno.
He had turned them all into beasts driven only by survival instincts, not humans.
He wanted to beat that guy down.
But,
‘........My energy gates.’
His energy gates were sealed, and Mok Kyung-un seemed to be using some strange sorcery.
Recalling the events at Timber Sword Manor, it was probably a barrier technique.
‘Damn it.’
He hated being dragged around by that guy, but there was no way.
In that moment, Mok Yu-cheon unconsciously glanced at Mo Ha-rang on his shoulder.
Then he shook his head, realizing his mistake.
‘No.’
For a fleeting instant, he had thought of killing her without knowing it.
What had gotten into him?
Just then, he spotted a boy approaching with murderous eyes.
“Hoo... hoo...”
“Ma Sang.”
Mok Yu-cheon called his name.
He was one of the three who had survived with him from the start.
Ma Sang’s hand now gripped one of the two stone daggers Mo Ha-rang had held.
-Grind!
Mok Yu-cheon ground his teeth.
Having bloodied his hands many times to reach here, he knew there was no persuading Ma Sang now.
Thus, this situation infuriated him all the more.
Then Ma Sang scanned the surroundings while breathing roughly.
And he spoke.
“........Yu-cheon. Cut off Ha-rang’s breath.”
“What?”
Mok Yu-cheon’s voice rose.
Thanks to Mo Ha-rang, they had escaped crises multiple times, and he hadn’t expected him to say to kill her without hesitation.
Moreover, hadn’t she gotten injured while trying to help a comrade?
“No. Leave Ha-rang be, and let’s fight each other instead.”
“Hoo... hoo... Quit the bullshit and kill her.”
“I said no.”
At Mok Yu-cheon’s words, Ma Sang shouted.
“You bastard! That girl can’t survive with her injuries anyway. If so, at least kill her so you and I can survive!”
Amid the near-scream, Mok Yu-cheon muttered heavily.
“I know. Fuck, I know.”
But he couldn’t.
If it were fighting each other to kill one, maybe, but he couldn’t cut off the breath of a girl whose mind was clouded like this.
Then,
“Then I’ll kill her.”
With those words, Ma Sang lunged.
Mok Yu-cheon hurriedly set Mo Ha-rang down and blocked Ma Sang.
Having already killed another boy, he had no hesitation in killing the injured Mo Ha-rang to survive.
-Papat!
Though his energy gates were sealed, Mok Yu-cheon was once called a genius.
He leaped toward the charging Ma Sang, grabbed his wrist with the Capturing Hand technique, and twisted it back.
-Crack!
“Let go!”
Mok Yu-cheon urged him to drop the dagger in Ma Sang’s hand.
“Let go, or your arm breaks.”
“Kuh... kuh...”
“Ma Sang. Calm down. Instead, let’s combine forces against the other team members...”
Before he could finish, Ma Sang sneered.
“Kuh... kuh... The sun’s rising, what are you gonna do? And even without me, it’s already too late.”
At those words, Mok Yu-cheon looked up.
There, a boy was charging at Mo Ha-rang, who lay collapsed in a big character shape.
It was another teammate.
The boy, with an apologetic expression, held a stone in hand, aiming to smash Mo Ha-rang’s head.
“Stop!”
Mok Yu-cheon yelled urgently.
But it was already too late.
‘Nooooo!’
The boy’s crude stone was moments from crushing Mo Ha-rang’s head.
It was right then.
-Ching!
‘!?’
Just as the stone was about to hit, the boy’s body froze in place.
“Wh-what is...”
A foreign sensation of something restraining his body.
This was that same thing.
-Thud!
“Ha... haa...”
Saved at the last second, Mok Yu-cheon collapsed to the ground, breathing raggedly as if hyperventilating.
The extreme tension had released suddenly, throwing off his breathing control.
If it had been just a bit later, Mo Ha-rang would have died.
Then the restrained boy screamed in fury.
“What the hell? You said you’d give us a chance to fight each other?”
Surely he wasn’t spouting nonsense about sparing the injured or a woman?
As he thought that, a sound came.
-Clap, clap, clap!
He could still move his head, so looking over, he saw Mok Kyung-un clapping.
Wondering why, Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly and said.
“Congratulations.”
“What?”
“The roster is full.”
At those words, the boy swallowed and looked around.
Mok Yu-cheon and Ma Sang, Mo Ha-rang and himself trying to kill her, and Yeom-ga of Slaughter Gorge with his two followers had survived.
‘Ah!’
In their frenzy to kill others and reduce numbers without tracking counts, they finally realized only seven remained.
Truly, the human heart was cunning.
“Haa...”
“We survived.”
Even those who had just tried to kill each other now wore relieved expressions with sighs of relief.
They were swallowed by the thrill of surviving the competition.
The thrill was so great that they completely forgot they had conducted this slaughter among themselves due to Mok Kyung-un.
‘Fun.’
The corner of Mok Kyung-un’s mouth twitched upward.
He felt a spark of interest in their behavior.
Just then, dawn broke.
As the crimson sun slowly peeked over, the mountains of Blood Hour Valley, shadowed in darkness, began to brighten.
Along with it,
-Papapapapap!
Soon after, warriors in red sashes appeared using lightness skills, as if they had been waiting.
The warriors scanned the area, confirming the flag and the survivors.
Then their expressions hardened upon discovering something.
‘!!!!!’
It was due to the massive monster wolf—no, beast—lying dead with its jaws torn open.
‘........Who the hell?’
This beast hadn’t been released to be killed.
It had been released for them to survive against.