Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Feigned Naivety
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So Gun-ak's act of pretending to be naive and falling right into the scheme had lulled Horant into complacency. As a result, Horant now found himself with his pressure points sealed by demonic blood arts, utterly unable to move.
"Wh-what have you done?!"
So Gun-ak grabbed Horant by the head and twisted it toward himself.
Horant ended up in a bizarre pose, his head half-turned sideways while his hand still gripped the doorknob. His neck was wrenched at an extreme angle—not enough to kill him, but it should have been stiff and sore. Yet he felt nothing from it.
Horant's eyes, wide with unmistakable panic, reflected So Gun-ak's grinning face.
"You're more innocent than you look."
"What did you do to me?!"
Horant realized he'd been completely fooled.
'Is this guy a mage?'
He hadn't sensed even a hint of magic being cast. If it wasn't magic, how could anyone paralyze his body like this?
"Your corpse puppetry intrigues me, but I've got urgent business right now. We'll talk details later."
With that, So Gun-ak began searching the mansion for a room or cell suitable to lock Horant in.
At that moment, Horant shouted desperately.
"Macaron! Grab that wench!"
"Kurrr."
Horant had already spotted So Gun-ak's companions through the scouting crows he'd sent out.
The dullahan Macaron tucked its drooling severed head under its arm and charged out of the castle at full speed. It was faster than any corpse puppet So Gun-ak had ever seen. Still, it wasn't fast enough to outrun him.
As So Gun-ak tried to move while still holding Horant's head, the necromancer yelled again.
"O wretched dead! Rise!"
At Horant's command, what had looked like piles of building rubble began to twitch and stir.
Splash!
Bony hands burst from the ground. Soon, pure white skeletons clawed their way out, blocking So Gun-ak's path.
"Wh-what the hell?!"
So Gun-ak drew the longsword from his waist and slashed at the charging skeletons. They seemed to collapse as their bones separated, only to reassemble and stand back up moments later.
They were low-grade undead monsters—skeletons.
So Gun-ak had the skill to create basic corpse puppets himself. As the cult leader's disciple, he'd even been taught the incantations for the Secret Cult's supreme technique, the Yin Blood Death Spirit Art.
To him, crafting even higher-level puppets seemed entirely feasible with more study. The existence of these boneless, skeletal puppets came as a shock, shattering his preconceptions.
Shocking as it was, the bare-boned skeletons weren't all that powerful.
They crumbled under his swings, and once their bones were fully crushed, recovery slowed—they lay still for a while.
But their numbers filled the open space, numbering around a hundred, and the dullahan had already bolted outside the castle walls.
'Mu-yeong! Charge!'
So Gun-ak called out inwardly to Mu-yeong. Bound to the hell horse by sorcery, a mere act of will was enough to issue commands.
In the meantime, he'd pinpointed the skeletons' weakness.
Thud, crack!
Once their skulls split, the skeletons stopped regenerating, crumbling back to lifeless bones. It took less than five minutes to turn all hundred into a heap on the ground.
So Gun-ak advanced on Horant. He'd planned to capture him and slowly pry out the secrets of his corpse puppetry, but killing him outright might be better.
Even now, the orc horde was closing in, and So Gun-ak didn't have much time left.
As So Gun-ak approached, Horant rolled his eyes frantically, racking his brain. He never imagined his painstakingly gathered hundred skeletons would shatter so pathetically. Worse, the dullahan Macaron he'd sent out showed no sign of returning.
'Why the hell isn't that bastard coming back?!'
Ignorant of the situation outside, Horant was on the verge of madness. By then, So Gun-ak had closed in right before him, shoving his face close while Horant remained frozen in that ridiculous pose.
"Looks like you want to die."
So Gun-ak's expression was deadly serious, sending Horant's heart plummeting.
Then, a welcome sound rang out.
"Kurrr."
Turning his eyes, Horant saw the dullahan Macaron had dragged back Irina. She hung limply over its shoulder, apparently knocked out.
"Good job, Macaron!"
Horant flashed a triumphant grin.
"I know she's with your group! Release me now if you want her alive!"
So Gun-ak hesitated. Macaron wasn't human, so throwing a hidden blade wouldn't kill it. And doing so might endanger the hostage Irina.
Nor could he simply kill Horant regardless of her fate. He needed Irina's help to set up the formation. All the materials were in her subspatial storage.
With no choice, So Gun-ak complied.
"Release the woman."
"Kuhaha! Why would I? If you want her alive, free me first and keep quiet about it!"
So Gun-ak ground his teeth. He should've killed Horant on sight instead of getting greedy for his puppetry secrets.
There had to be a way. He needed to bide his time, watch for an opening.
"I need to check if she's alive."
"Hmph, fine. Macaron, wake her up."
Macaron dumped Irina unceremoniously onto the floor, then yanked her up roughly by the hair.
"Aaaack!"
Irina's eyes snapped open in pain, only to widen in terror at the dullahan gripping her hair.
"Kyaaaaack!"
So Gun-ak frowned. From her state, it looked like she'd fainted from fright, not injury.
"Irina, what happened? Where's Mu-yeong?"
Irina struggled to grasp the situation. One thing was clear: the dullahan wasn't about to kill her right away. Still, having her hair clutched by the gruesome thing made her voice tremble.
"Mu-yeong suddenly bolted off, so I fell behind. Before I could catch up and remount, th-this dullahan showed up."
The picture came together. So Gun-ak approached Horant, who glared with bulging eyes.
"Oho, what's this? Come any closer, and I'll kill the wench right now."
"You'd die first."
"Macaron! If I die, slit her throat immediately!"
"Kurrr."
Macaron let out a guttural roar, gripping its own head like a mace, poised to swing down.
So Gun-ak mouthed words at Irina. They moved like speech, but the sound reached only her ears.
-This guy's a necromancer. He's sealed by me right now and can't move. I don't know much about necromancers, so nod or shake your head to answer my questions.
Irina gave a slight nod at the ticklish whisper in her ear. She had no idea how a non-mage like So Gun-ak was using message magic, but she wasn't in any state to care.
-If I seal his mouth, can he still command the dullahan?
She shook her head. So Gun-ak scowled in frustration. Apparently, he could issue orders other ways, like So Gun-ak did with Mu-yeong.
-Can you escape on your own?
Tears welled as Irina shook her head. If she could have, she would've already.
"Wh-what's this scheming about? Hurry up and free me! Or the wench dies now!"
So Gun-ak wavered. Sacrificing Irina might be an acceptable loss. Regrettable, but not heartbreaking.
Without her, though, he couldn't finish the formation, leaving no way to stop the orc horde. The Lights Magic Tower would fall, and his subordinates with it.
He could seek another tower, but would they comply? And was there another mage as knowledgeable as Tower Master Rodian, who could spot the Dimensional Barrier Stone at a glance?
Abandoning Irina here to find a new mage was a gamble. Freeing the unpredictable necromancer to save her was another.
"I don't care if I die! Don't release him!"
Irina's cry was sincere. She wasn't afraid to die, but losing So Gun-ak would doom the tower. He was more vital against the orcs than she was.
So Gun-ak sighed. If he'd meant to abandon her, he'd have killed Horant already. Decision made, he released the necromancer's pressure points.
Freed, Horant sprang away to hide behind the dullahan Macaron.
"Ahh, you should've let me go sooner."
He rolled his stiff neck, sore from the prolonged twist.
Horant grinned slyly at So Gun-ak, realizing he held his opponent's weakness.
"Now release her."
"Keke, so you can grab me again? No way."
So Gun-ak considered just killing Horant then and there. But he swallowed his rage.
"What do you want?"
"Open that door."
"There's a trap inside the mansion, huh."
Horant kept luring him deeper. Highly suspicious. He didn't bother denying it.
"I've gotta have some insurance, right? Open it! Or she dies now."
So Gun-ak's gaze met Irina's tear-streaked face. She'd even forgotten her hair was gripped, shaking her head furiously.
"Don't do it! You must live for Lights' sake! I don't matter if I die!"
She was loyal to the tower—her words rang true. She'd stayed, ready to die rather than return to the Rami Kingdom.
True or not, he couldn't let her die. That was So Gun-ak's call.
He grasped the doorknob. An aura emanated from within, but its nature eluded him.
Creeeak.
As the door swung open, Horant's smile deepened.
Flash.
Light leaked through the crack. So Gun-ak flung the door wide. A burst of radiance engulfed him.
'Ugh.'
His body stiffened rigidly—he knew the trap. A binding magic circle that paralyzed the whole body. He couldn't even twitch an eyelid.
But it could've been worse. Having escaped a Dimensional Barrier Stone once via the Fire Worship Cult's bizarre soul-swap sorcery, this binding seemed breakable somehow.
"Uhaha! Good, good."
Horant approached, inspecting So Gun-ak. Utterly immobilized by the binding magic.
"How's it feel?"
His victorious smirk faltered into a startle; he dashed inside the mansion. No telling how So Gun-ak might escape, so he planned to hurry back with a mental magic to bind him in servitude.
In truth, So Gun-ak knew how to break acupoint seals himself. Not fully sealed like pressure points, but by calmly observing his inner energy flow, he grasped the binding's principle.
He adapted an acupoint-breaking technique to circulate his inner power.
'Got it.'
The heavy pressure on his eyelids lifted. He could blink now.
Then, prepared Horant returned.
"Heh, you're one guy I can't drop my guard around for a second."
He'd noticed the faint eyelid flutter—So Gun-ak was gradually breaking free. Horant thrust out the staff he'd fetched.
Jingle.
The staff resembled those used by Shaolin mendicants, adorned with rings at the head that chimed crisply as they clinked.
'Like prayer beads.'
So Gun-ak roughly gauged the magic Horant was casting. Keeping him paralyzed rather than killing him showed Horant wanted him alive.
Jingle.
Horant chanted an unintelligible incantation, shaking the staff rhythmically.
"No! Don't! So Gun-ak, don't meet his eyes!"
Irina saw through the magic and screamed. But So Gun-ak hadn't fully shaken off the binding yet.
"Kekeke, too late!"
The incantation completed. Horant was delirious with glee. Turning a knight into a slave!
Black energy flowed from the finished staff into a black orb in his other hand.
Essence of life.
Forged from a hundred sacrificial deaths, the bead embodied both life's essence and death's concentration. A priceless treasure, one of a kind even for him.
Sacrificing it would subjugate So Gun-ak, then killing the slave to resurrect him as a death knight.
A fallen knight revived as a death knight doubled in power. So Gun-ak, who'd crushed a hundred skeletons effortlessly—what a mighty death knight he'd make! Horant could hardly wait.
"With this essence of life as sacrifice, I bind you as my slave!"
As Horant intoned darkly, the essence shriveled. Black energy exploded, enveloping them. Horant locked eyes with So Gun-ak.
'Huh?'
But So Gun-ak's eyes curved slyly. Almost like he was smiling.