Manghon Villa (3): The Red Door Awakens
From beyond the door, all I could see was endless darkness, but the interior of the villa was clearer than I had expected.
It wasn't an adaptation phenomenon due to dark adaptation. There was no period of adaptation where my eyes slowly got used to the darkness.
The landscape, which had been hidden by some kind of veil, suddenly revealed itself as if a curtain had been lifted.
The first thing I felt was suffocating monotony. A wooden corridor.
A corridor of a size that only two people could stand side by side, stretching long.
Clang! The moment I took in the view of the corridor, the sound of the door closing behind me came from behind. Now I can't go back.
Hah...
Even a glance showed that the path had no end. The length of the villa I had seen from outside had long since been surpassed.
I steel my heart. Since I had entered the core of the formation, any weird phenomenon would not be strange.
Instead, I should think of it as a good omen. Since no special hallucination or hallucination voice was heard—
Is there anyone there?
...What?
It wasn't words, but thoughts that were the seed. I almost reflexively turned to look back.
The only thing behind me now was the closed door. The rulebook said not to respond to that voice in any way.
Advance forward.
I gathered my internal energy and operated the Anbeop. To not miss any red something leading to the exit, just in case.
Creak.
The first step I took echoed like a whisper. By the time the afterimage of the annoying sound disappeared, something blew into my ear.
A cold breath.
There is someone here...
I had heard such a voice before. Not on Earth, but in this mixed world.
Because the Baekgeomdae is a gathering of vagabond martial artists, they are constantly being sent to the front lines as cannon fodder.
The lives of commoners without strong martial arts or behind the sect are lighter than those of disciples from famous sects.
It was the voice I heard when dispatched as the vanguard of a cave extermination.
Whistling as an arrow hit the lung, exhaling a breath that gradually cools, whispering for help, the dying words of an unknown vagabond.
Then and now, the only path I can choose is one.
I try hard not to turn my head, looking forward.
If I look at the dying person, I might fall beside them.
I must not turn my eyes away from the immediate danger to confirm the reality of fear.
The sobbing voices gradually became more varied.
From a hoarse voice calling for mom after being exhausted, to regretting late that if I knew it would be like this, I should have played wildly in my last life.
The body feels moist with the gloom in the voices.
'It's just that feeling.'
In reality, it's just my sweat. Slowly shaking off the coming distractions, I stopped for a moment.
The wooden corridor branched into three ways. Including the path I came from, four ways, like a crossroad.
Look around again. Until now it was one direction, so advancing forward was it.
But now there are three choices. Go forward, or turn left or right.
Send more internal energy towards the eye's blood vessels.
It appeared.
Red color.
Bloodstains painted under the creaking floor. Faint traces left in the right corridor.
The moment I turned right.
The scenery changed.
I don't think I'm a lucky person.
Always thinking, if I was really lucky, I wouldn't have fallen into this Murim mixed world while playing a game. But the event that happened now shook my confidence in my luck.
...It was there.
Right in front, a red door.
After turning the corner, I arrived at a new room. Glancing back, the corridor I walked until now was gone, just smooth walls.
The spacious room filled with various crafts and gold and silver treasures centered around the red door was truly the pinnacle of luxury.
Compared to the famous floating gold field Bi-go, could it be compared?
Sapphires, amethysts, and other gems were laid on the floor like tiles, and gold pillars were erected in places.
When it reached a statue made by carving a whole person-sized gem, the survival instinct to leave immediately faded.
However, at the same time, the warning from the rulebook came to mind.
Chase the red.
From gold to sapphire, nothing was red. Only the door in the center of the room. Only the door standing alone without sticking to the wall was red.
If I touch anything else, it's a trap.
I was lucky. There was a slight time difference until the hallucination voice came after the villa.
Probably, when I entered the villa, the essence refinement process of the mixed soul was almost complete.
The hallucination I heard was probably the last whisper of the dispersing mixed soul.
Now it's escape.
Just as I reach out to the door handle.
The door moved.
The square frame twisted in various ways and transformed into a human shape with limbs.
'Fake exit?!'
It extended its right arm.
No time to unfold the bow method. I immediately dodged, but it was late. Creak, a fist slammed into my left shoulder.
Reflexively swung my left arm to knock it away, but a sharp pain came immediately after. The heat like a red-hot iron pressed into the spot where it was struck, spreading sharply.
This, I can't move now.
I staggered back and pulled out my sword.
What was imitating the door or the transformed door was a red qi like something shadowy.
Anomaly not written in the rulebook.
Drip. Blood droplets fell along my left arm. Blood scattered between the gold and silver treasures scattered on the floor.
The room should be horizontal. The floor seems tilted, so the blood droplets flowed and reached the shadow's feet.
And disappeared.
A slightly more red light, a faint facial features appeared on the shadow that had become stronger than before.
Of course, those facial features resembled me.
It held a knife sheath that had appeared at its waist with its healthy left arm. The action of drawing the knife with its right arm and aiming was very familiar.
It was the first form of the Murim Alliance's public sword technique that I had practiced.
'Life.'
Is this how it ends?
I dodged the guy's attacks, dodged, and dodged again.
I tried to block a few attacks, but it was insufficient.
The guy's offensive was clearly based on the martial arts I know. I could recognize the start and end of the forms.
But the completion was on a different level.
If my swinging sword's trajectory was crooked and unbalanced, the trajectory drawn by the one swinging that was incomparably clean.
I could use the fact that my left shoulder was broken as an excuse...
I knew the truth. That one uses my martial arts better than me. At least in the precision of the forms, I can't follow.
The shadow that had become a face a bit more similar to mine than before rushed in.
Twisting the waist, moving the shoulders, the process of the force in the upper body transmitting to the fingertips is visible.
Thanks to the Anbeop. I barely raised my right arm to face the blade.
But the situation was bad. Because it moved too quickly, the blade came in at a right angle to the sword face. I couldn't deflect the attack. The concentrated force on the local area exceeded the durability limit of my sword.
The sword split in two.
Half-broken blade and shattered left shoulder. Truly a well-matched combination.
I didn't have time to be dazed. The shadow immediately twisted my wrist, twisting the direction of the blade and slashing upwards.
If I hadn't hastily turned my head, it would have been at an angle to halve my head. Now, the fight couldn't be established.
I used the golden statue and gold and silver treasures as a shield and ran away.
While frantically turning my head left and right to find an exit in this room.
But there was no exit anywhere.
'Damn, is it attached to the ceiling?!'
Just as I was about to stomp on the statue's head and jump up and look up. Suddenly, the surroundings became blurry.
A familiar phenomenon. The vision that couldn't focus properly because I lost the support of my internal energy.
'Did I maintain the Anbeop too long...!'
The situation was urgent, I didn't count the remaining internal energy. A blunder.
In the blurry vision, the shadow's appearance that jumped after me was briefly seen. Throwing the broken sword at the guy who was about to swing the knife.
The shadow reacted. A short, efficient movement of lifting the knife obliquely to block. Aiming at the moment the sword tilted, I slammed the guy's sword face with my foot.
Clang!
Both fell from the air. The shadow guy pushed by my kick and I jumped using the guy as a stepping stone, we were positioned in front of walls in opposite directions.
The shadow picked up the knife again, but didn't swing it, just stared blankly.
Perhaps because it had to bear my weight, it was severely bent. The shadow threw the knife without much hesitation.
Then it took the posture of the Kwon Gak method. This also was a martial art I knew.
The Murim Alliance public martial art, Bokho Kwon.
The extreme posture of bringing the body close to the ground to condense power is characteristic of this martial art, and it boasted powerful power as befitting the name "lying tiger", but too much power and too straightforward thrust.
For this attack, I could easily dodge it.
The upper body moves subtly up and down. To aim more carefully at the enemy.
Coming.
Clang─!
Just as I dodged the guy's rush by throwing my body, the golden statue behind me pierced the guy's right fist.
The upper body of the statue was torn off entirely.
'What...'
Originally, Bokho Kwon was a martial art that couldn't be used in equal-level competitions.
The time to condense power was also time, and the straight thrust provided a pretext for counterattack. A third-class martial art that sacrificed too much for power alone.
However, the Bokho Kwon being unfolded now has gone beyond that level. If the rush path extended even a sword, it would be pushed by the momentum and the arm would break.
Is the thrust too simple and easy to read?
Then, the simple logic that if I can read it, I just need to give a strong enough attack that can't be blocked.
'The shadow...'
No hesitation in unfolding any martial art. Like boasting that if I can fight, I have to fight in some way.
A fighting spirit without a moment's hesitation.
"Damn. Much more martial artist-like than me..."
...Martial artist-like?
The moment the appearance of the guy taking the posture of the Bokho Kwon again and the thought that flashed through my brain overlapped.
A sentence like the rulebook's opening line came to mind.
『Exercise your rights as a martial artist.』
Now I understood what the meaning of that sentence was.
There is a saying "Ji Gwe Wi Mu". The word "Mu" comes from stopping the spear, so it means that the essence of Mu is to block and repel attacks coming towards oneself.
In other words, to protect oneself, you need the courage and guts to stand in front of the spear and shout 'Stop!'.
But would the one holding the spear stop the attack with empty words?
Then.
To realize one's own will, there is no choice but to knock down the opponent holding the spear.
The power to not be bent by spears and swords and to realize one's own will. That is Mu.
Therefore, the rights of the martial artist are to fight.
No matter what obstacle, no matter what adversity.
As long as it is in front of my eyes, I can fight. Fight and win to realize one's own will.
Once again, I look at the shadow. On the limbs of that thing staring at me like a tiger, red qi was blooming.
On the other hand, what about me.
The sword is broken. The meager internal energy is all consumed in the Anbeop, and the left shoulder is gone.
But for a martial artist, there was a weapon that could be used even in such a situation.
'If I use it, the probability of dying is high.'
Anyway, if I lose here, I just die.
I will choose the method to survive even one second longer.