The Heavenly Demon Tests Them (5)
I looked down at the fox spirit lounging lazily on the grass. “Baru. I intend to head to the final location. What will you do?”
“I shall remain here a while longer!”
So watching people struggle was that entertaining? Well, if she was enjoying herself, there was no point in stopping her. I left Baru to her own devices, climbed a nearby tree, and stepped out into the empty air.
The final gateway to Hakigi was a sheer cliff. True to its name as a place built by immortals for their own amusement, Hakigi sat atop a rocky peak. It had never been designed with human climbers in mind, which meant there was no path to walk. To reach it, one had to scale the vertical rock face with bare hands.
Considering the physical abilities of the applicants, simply climbing upward wasn’t particularly difficult. But there was a problem.
Climbing a wall with both hands occupied was practically the same as shouting, Please attack me.
From high above, I watched several applicants already scaling the cliff. The ones in the lead seemed to have agreed to ascend Mount Hua together. Since reaching the top fifty was all that mattered, cooperation made more sense than pointless fighting.
However, those who had only just escaped the forest appeared to have very different thoughts.
Anyone who had just fled the haunted woods let out a sigh of relief, believing they had finally broken free of the ghosts. Then, once they calmed their minds and looked up, they saw the climbers ahead of them. They realized they were behind. Even if they chased after the leaders now, they would inevitably arrive later.
That was when the calculations began.
How many people are already ahead? If I follow them, can I even make it into the top fifty?
They had suffered too much in the forest to accept an honest defeat and simply fall short. All that hardship, only to hand the qualification to someone else? No. That was unbearable.
They had endured the same trials, yet they were the ones who had to fail? Absolutely not.
By the time they reached this point, at least one of the players would inevitably think the same thing:
If I knock the people ahead off the cliff, I can take the lead.
And right on cue, someone acted on that thought.
One player picked up a rock and hurled it with all his strength at those climbing the cliff. He wasn’t particularly skilled at throwing—the stone struck an awkward spot—but the power behind it was undeniable.
The stone slammed into the cliff with a deafening crash.
The loud impact drew everyone’s attention. Human nature is truly treacherous. Starting something is difficult, but following someone else’s lead is shockingly easy. One by one, more people began hurling stones.
Even if the Mount Hua players were clumsy at throwing, the sheer number of projectiles guaranteed that some would find their mark. Climbers began to get struck and plummet one after another.
Good. The scene I had been waiting for was finally complete.
Now you all must make a choice.
Will you knock down every other competitor to climb in safety? Or will you gamble by scaling the cliff while completely defenseless?
Either option would be far from easy.
“Did it?” I muttered. “I put quite a bit of effort into showing them the strange nature of Mount Hua.”
Players had access to map functions, so they rarely experienced the mountain’s eerie atmosphere. The terror of a mountain begins the moment you lose your way. No matter how far you walk, you feel like you’re circling the same spot. Every rustle in the bushes makes you wonder if something is watching. You start sensing phantom presences all around you. Even birdsong begins to sound ominous. That is when you truly feel the mountain’s strangeness.
I had gone through considerable trouble to let them experience that, yet it came across as bullying?
The viewers refused to believe me no matter how earnestly I explained myself. It was truly saddening to see my noble intentions distorted like this. I wouldn’t claim there wasn’t the slightest ulterior motive, but my original purpose really had been exactly what I said.
“Whether you believe me or not, I created this section to teach you just how harsh Mount Hua can be.”
The applicants currently scaling the cliff to Hakigi while being harassed by others were undoubtedly learning firsthand how treacherous this mountain truly was.
“Experiencing it with your own body is far more helpful than listening to me talk about its dangers a hundred times. What a considerate examiner I am.”
As the old saying goes, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. Those who had personally experienced Mount Hua’s strangeness and peril would recall this moment when they later learned its principles and achieve true enlightenment.
They might resent me now for creating such a test, but someday they would surely feel grateful.
“That is also welcome. If anyone wishes to vent their grudge, they may come at any time. I will gladly face them.”
If people sought revenge against me, that wouldn’t be so bad. Who knows? Perhaps someone capable of actually threatening me might appear.
I turned my gaze away from the chat window and looked down at the base of the cliff. Those who had fallen while climbing and those who had caused their falls were now facing off against each other. Mount Hua players were confronting Mount Hua players.
At first they had banded together to face the external threat of the rankers. But now things were different. Once they became competitors, there were no more allies.
“Now then, let us watch in comfort.”
Han Min-jun, who had been scaling the cliff, spotted a rock flying toward his hand and quickly shifted his grip. The stone that struck the cliff face left a small crater, proof that it had been infused with inner energy. If it had hit his hand, he would have suffered a serious injury.
He turned to see who had thrown it. It was one of the Mount Hua players. Since Min-jun had once served as an instructor for other players, he remembered the man’s face. The feeling was probably mutual.
“Aaaargh!”
A scream came from beside him. One of the climbers had fallen. He had been ascending alongside Min-jun at the front of the pack, yet he was now plummeting after being pelted with stones by fellow Mount Hua players.
“Min-jun hyung! I don’t think we’re gonna make it like this!”
Min-jun agreed with his comrade’s desperate shout. Ignoring the barrage and continuing upward was impossible—the cliff leading to Hakigi was simply too high. Without interference, they could have reached the top in minutes. But right now, even a few minutes felt like an impossible luxury.
“What the hell is wrong with those guys?!”
“They must’ve lost their minds after meeting the ghosts!”
It hadn’t been like this at first. When Hwaryeong had declared that they should start killing each other, the Mount Hua players had respectfully sent Min-jun and his group ahead first. They had even said that the reconstruction of the new Mount Hua needed people like them.
But now? After suffering through all kinds of horrors in the forest, those same people were filled with malice. It seemed they couldn’t stand the thought of handing over their hard-earned spots to others.
Did Lady Hwaryeong anticipate this? If she planned all of this on purpose, I might actually start respecting her!
Min-jun dodged another incoming rock and thought to himself. At this rate, they would all fall together. They were barely holding on for now, but the number of stone-throwers only kept increasing. Sooner or later, they would reach their limit. And it didn’t seem like they could reach Hakigi before that happened.
Someone needed to descend and stop the people throwing stones. A sacrifice was necessary. And if a sacrifice had to be made, it should be him.
“Go on ahead.”
“Hyung?!”
Han Min-jun released his grip on the cliff and landed lightly on the ground, drawing his sword.
“I didn’t expect you all to repay our efforts in this manner.”
“This is a competition, isn’t it?”
“We let you go peacefully at the beginning. Be satisfied with that.”
As Min-jun approached, the stone-throwers also drew their weapons.
“You seem confident.”
“Then, does Mr. Min-jun have the confidence to defeat all of us?”
“I do.”
After being tormented by Hwaryeong for an entire day, Min-jun’s skills had improved to a level incomparable to before. He still found the underlying principles difficult and felt more comfortable simply copying the movements he had always used. However, the him who had begun to dimly grasp those principles was now an entirely different person.
“Come. I will teach you the principles of Mount Hua.”
The sword in Han Min-jun’s hand began to move with newfound clarity.
I arrived at Hakigi by walking through the air. The timekeeper greeted me respectfully.
“Welcome, Sect Leader.”
Ever since he had come to help prepare this test, the timekeeper had begun addressing me as Sect Leader. It seemed he was showing me respect in his own way, though I didn’t understand why. All I had done was interfere constantly with how the Mount Hua test should be conducted and then suppress him once. Still, polite behavior was better than rudeness, so I had let it be. I wondered what change of heart he had undergone.
“Has anyone arrived yet?”
“They are either climbing the cliff or fighting at its base.”
From what I could see, the ones closest to Hakigi were the ones I had personally taught. After Han Min-jun had jumped down to stop the stone-throwing, the others had stopped climbing and were watching him. It wouldn’t be long before they went down to help him as well.
In that case, it would still be quite some time before anyone reached this place.
“Sect Leader, in my opinion, it’s possible that fewer than fifty people will make it here.”
“That is fine as well.”
I had already roughly assessed the applicants’ abilities. If fewer than fifty arrived, I could simply push the ones I had my eye on into the top fifty. That would be enough.
While conversing with the timekeeper, just as expected, the group following Han Min-jun descended to assist him in battle. What a mess. I wondered how many of them would survive and actually climb the cliff.
As I was thinking that, I spotted a woman standing on a mountainside not far from Hakigi. She was the one who had tripped spectacularly after encountering a ghost. How had she gotten all the way over there? Had she arrived by coincidence while fleeing from the spirits?
The woman looked toward Hakigi, took a few steps back, then broke into a full sprint. She stepped onto the cliff face from the mountainside, but she did not fall. Her feet trod upon empty air.
Hoh. Void Walking.
It seemed less like she had properly understood the principle and more like she was forcing it through sheer willpower, but the fact that she could use it at all was impressive.
She ran several steps through the sky before reaching her limit. She abandoned running and instead stretched out her arms and legs desperately, like a long jumper. Whether through calculation or pure luck, her hand caught the edge of the cliff.
For a martial artist, pulling oneself up with one hand was no difficult task. She easily climbed onto the cliff.
“I thought I was going to die… Hw-Hwaryeong-nim…?”
Her dazed eyes met mine. Heh. What a familiar look. This was the second time since I had met the one who handled the letters. Though still faint, what this woman harbored was undoubtedly the seed of fanaticism.