Chapter 52: Poison Demon, Jegal-hwi-7
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 52: Poison Demon, Jegal-hwi-7
The Chief Steward gave the enemy no time to prepare.
He lunged forward like a beast, and with every step he took, a thick shroud of poison qi surged several paces ahead of him.
The intruders scrambled to evade the Chief Steward’s reach, but he was the only one among them who truly knew the layout of the Heavenly Demon Palace.
One member, who had been narrowly dodging the Chief Steward, was finally caught.
Before he could even let out a sliver of a scream, his neck was snapped. He died instantly.
As the man’s body slumped, his head lolling at an unnatural angle, purple blotches began to bloom across his skin.
Whether it was mercy or rage that drove the Chief Steward to end the man’s life before the poison could take hold, no one present had the luxury to discern.
The Chief Steward moved with agile precision. He wove between the pillars and occasionally used the walls as springboards to strike at the squad members from impossible angles.
Lee Hang and the four remaining members were pushed to their limits just trying to evade him.
Their cultivation was simply insufficient to repel the poison qi that permeated the air and seeped into their bodies while simultaneously dodging the Chief Steward’s Poison Hand and attempting a meaningful counterattack.
"Block him!"
As Lee Hang shouted, parrying the Chief Steward’s hand with his sword just as it reached his face, the members positioned further back hurled concealed weapons.
Flying daggers and throwing stars whistled through the air.
The Poison Demon twisted his body to evade them. In that brief window, the distance between Lee Hang and the Poison Demon widened.
"You’ve still got some fight in you, Poison Demon!"
A momentary lull. Lee Hang and his men regained their footing and fell into formation.
It was a formation designed to hold its ground even against a master of a higher realm. Though they had been rattled by the sudden assault, Lee Hang was certain they could pin the Poison Demon down now that they were organized.
"A formation? Do you truly think such a thing will work?"
The Poison Demon walked toward them slowly, his eyes scanning their ranks.
"This formation isn't meant to kill you; it’s meant to endure. I know your martial arts are consuming your own body. If we just hold out like this..."
"No, what I meant was... do you really think you can endure my attacks with something so pathetic?"
The very air of the Heavenly Demon Palace seemed to congeal and press down from above, as if the heavens themselves were crushing them.
"W-What is this?!"
A weight so immense they could barely hold their heads up bore down on Lee Hang and his men.
"You thought you could trap me with such a clumsy formation?"
Death began to spread from the Poison Demon’s feet.
An endless wave of purple began to swallow the stone floor. The viscous tide crept toward the intruders, inch by agonizing inch.
"C-Captain!"
"Dammit... where is the Thunder Sword? What is she doing?" Lee Hang muttered as he retreated with the formation.
The Poison Demon did not hurry. He pressured the Blue Dragon Corps slowly and surely.
Like a snake toying with a mouse, the Poison Demon wore a faint, fishy smile as he took one step after another.
"Aaaaaagh!!!"
They say even a cornered rat will bite. One of the squad members, having lost his composure, leveled his spear and broke ranks to charge.
Lee Hang urgently called out to him, but his voice never reached the man.
As the member ran across the swamp of poison qi created by the Poison Demon, he watched in horror as his own body began to vanish with every step.
One step.
Two steps.
His body continued to crumble.
He tried to use his spear as a crutch to steady his collapsing frame, but the rotted shaft snapped with a dull crack.
Falling face-first into the swamp, the man dissolved and vanished instantly.
The fate of the prey that dared to challenge the predator was wretched.
"If you won't come to me, I shall go to you."
With the Poison Demon’s words, the execution began.
Shifting his momentum, the Poison Demon blurred forward like an arrow, thrusting his hand toward Lee Hang’s heart.
Lee Hang raised his weapon to block, but the moment the Poison Demon’s hand touched the blade, the metal hissed and rusted away.
"Kugh!"
A snapped sword and a pierced heart.
Lee Hang stared into the Poison Demon’s face, his eyes wide with shock.
His expression was a chaotic blur of bewilderment, horror, and terror.
The Poison Demon gripped Lee Hang’s heart and ripped it out.
The heart, already turned black, lost its vigorous pulse and became nothing more than a lump of rotten meat.
Thud.
Having lost their captain so hollowly, the remaining Blue Dragon Corps members threw themselves at the Poison Demon in desperation. Their ends were no different from their leader's.
*
Jegal-hwi looked around the ruined Heavenly Demon Palace.
The damage was severe, and the floor was fouled with rotting corpses.
"Cleaning this up... is going to require quite a few people."
Jegal-hwi covered his eyes with his hand as the faces of the servants who would have to clean this mess flashed through his mind.
"......"
Tears escaped from beneath the hand covering his face.
"I am sorry."
Jegal-hwi continued to offer apologies that would never be heard.
With each quiet apology, he recalled the face of a cult member. He mourned the followers he had been forced to kill with his own hands, apologizing over and over again.
And as his mourning drew to a close...
"My... what a filthy place. Does the Heavenly Demon really live in such a barbaric hole?"
Jegal-hwi turned his head at the sound of a cheerful voice that shattered the solemn atmosphere.
—Slice.
An alien sound was followed by a strange sensation in his body.
"!!"
Before he knew it, his left arm had been severed.
—Spurt!
As the realization hit, blood sprayed into the air. Jegal-hwi calmly pressed his acupoints to staunch the bleeding.
"You’re the Poison Demon, right? I’ve fought the Spirit Demon and the Fist Demon plenty of times, but this is my first time seeing you. Nice to meet you. I’m Namgung So-yeon."
Namgung So-yeon looked at him with a bright smile, a man’s arm dangling from her hand.
‘I didn't feel a thing.’
When had she cut off his arm? This wasn't even in the realm of a surprise attack.
It was an overwhelming difference in status.
Jegal-hwi instinctively realized that just as he had toyed with the Blue Dragon Corps, this woman could toy with him.
"I have one thing to ask. If you answer well... well, I might let you live."
"Where is our Young Master Kang?"
A cold, underlying madness seeped through. Just as he was debating how to respond to that voice filled with obsession and tenacity...
She spoke again.
"Actually, never mind. I can just find him myself. I shouldn't have asked such a pointless question. I think I can hear Young Master Kang calling for me desperately from over there."
Namgung So-yeon stuck out her tongue and gave a refreshing, yet deep smile.
"Ah... I'm hungry."