Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: The Newcomers and the Nameless Spirit
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The house of the Ghost Soul Annihilators, back after bringing Kang Jin-mo and Kim Gu from Amusement World.
"So that's how it was."
Myung-su smiled at the words of Kang Jin-mo, who had joined the Demon Dragon Squad, and Kim Gu, who had decided to become a Ghost Soul of the Ghost Soul Annihilators.
"Yes, those folks didn't even ride a single amusement ride. They just waited for us. They even took on demons to save people. They absolutely didn't slack off."
Myung-su stroked the heads of the Poison Witch and the Dancer at Jin-mo's words.
"Good job."
"No, no. How could we dare disobey the Supreme One's orders?"
"Yes, we'd rather spend that time training."
Myung-su gave a gentle smile at the words of the Dancer and the Poison Witch.
Then he turned to look at the Sword Tiger.
"Ahem... Ahem..."
Having learned the truth of everything, the Sword Tiger could only clear his throat awkwardly and avert his gaze.
"Squad Leader? Don't you have anything else to say?"
"Squad Leader! Look at my face!"
Jong-hyun and Jeong-won, their eyes bloodshot and lips busted with a trickle of blood.
At the words from the emboldened pair, the Sword Tiger shot up from his seat and pointed at the Dancer's head.
"You idiots! If you were in my shoes, could you hold back your fist just looking at that?"
Instead of backing down, the Sword Tiger pointed defiantly, drawing everyone's eyes.
"Me?"
The Dancer pointed at herself with wide eyes.
"No! Not you, the thing on top of your head!"
"Oh~"
The Dancer smiled and removed the cat hairband she had forgotten about.
"You mean this?"
The Dancer flashed an innocent smile, as if it were no big deal.
Jong-hyun and Jeong-won could only let out deep sighs and say nothing more.
"Anyway, we brought them. But what about you, Squad Leader? And why are the First Ghost Souls empty-handed?"
At Jong-hyun's words, the Sword Tiger and Myung-su exchanged glances and cleared their throats.
"Ahem..."
"Hm..."
Then Myung-su approached the Sword Tiger and whispered.
'So check it out and tell me what it is. What the hell is this?'
'How would I know? And how do you control your fist when you see those guys?'
Myung-su felt awkward, as if the sparks were flying his way because of the Sword Tiger.
However, unlike the Demon Dragon Squad, the Poison Witch and Dancer—Ghost Souls of the Ghost Soul Annihilators—responded differently to Myung-su.
"It happens. But we're just glad we could bring them."
"Exactly. Just lead the way for us First Ghost Souls, and we'll handle all the dirty work."
"Thanks."
Myung-su, feeling embarrassed, managed an awkward smile.
The harmonious atmosphere of the Ghost Soul Annihilators, who were tight-knit and didn't nitpick faults, sparked another fire that fell on the Demon Dragon Squad.
The embarrassment of the squad leader failing to bring in new members didn't last long.
"S-Squad Leader, why's your face like that again..."
The Sword Tiger's expression started twisting in fury.
Having trained together every day for a year with the Demon Dragon Squad.
Now, Jong-hyun and Jeong-won could tell exactly what he was thinking just from his face, so they backed away.
'That expression...'
They knew it was the face right before a beating.
"It's your fault, Squad Leader!"
"I know! It's my fault! But can't you feel anything looking at those guys?!"
Jeong-won flailed desperately, but the sparks from the Ghost Soul Annihilators were no light matter.
"Jong-hyun hyung! Why are you..."
"You think I saw this coming? They got mad because we got hit... Damn it, anyway, let's bolt."
"Argh!"
The chase began anew.
"Get over here! Come here, you bastards!"
The atmosphere, which had quieted down, erupted once more.
Jong-hyun and Jeong-won fleeing at top speed, and the Sword Tiger pursuing them even faster.
Once again, in the house of the Ghost Soul Annihilators, the only one left who wasn't a Ghost Soul was alone.
"This... is the right place to join, right?"
Kang Jin-mo, who had become a new Demon Dragon Squad member and was left alone despite new recruits usually having their mentors glued to them 24/7.
He ended up feeling like an awkward intruder in the harmonious house of the Ghost Soul Annihilators.
The start was weird, but as time passed, Jin-mo and Kim Gu gradually blended into the Demon Dragon Squad and the Ghost Soul Annihilators.
Having newly found their dream as hunters, they were deployed once or twice in the gate extermination operations ordered by the Supreme One, solidifying their resolve.
That the Demon Dragon Squad and Ghost Soul Annihilators—risking life and limb together in danger—were their true comrades, unlike the meaningless Amusement World.
Thus, at the moment when the three weeks Yong-un had mentioned shrank to two.
Yong-un visited the house of the Ghost Soul Annihilators.
"The Sixth Ghost Soul is absent."
At Yong-un's words, Myung-su bowed his head and replied.
"He insisted on receiving the divine descent, so I sent him. He should arrive soon."
No sooner had Myung-su finished speaking than Yong-un's gaze turned backward.
Seong-min then walked into the house of the Ghost Soul Annihilators.
"The world is full of things I don't know."
Seong-min looked no different from usual.
Yet Yong-un made a curious expression, as if seeing something in Seong-min's appearance.
"Do you... see something?"
"You can't see it? The ghostly aura around that child's body?"
"I'm sorry. My training must be insufficient."
Yong-un nodded at Myung-su's words.
Auras like ghostly energy couldn't be seen with ordinary realms.
It wasn't something you could acquire just by wanting it, as it didn't exist among the many energies dissolved in the air.
It was the kind you had to be born with or gain through special fortune.
Yong-un nodded slightly at the deep, thick ghostly aura spreading widely around Seong-min's body.
"It's like looking at a Death Summoner."
There had been a peculiar master within the Blood Ghost Alliance, known among the evil sects of the martial world.
The Spirit Lord, who displayed strange arts called death rites rather than martial skills.
That was the master known as the Death Summoner.
Even within the Blood Ghost Alliance, the Death Summoner's position was said to be right below the alliance leader, the Blood Ghost.
His abilities were that exceptional—summoning invisible spirits and even malevolent ghosts that could harm transcendent humans, making his power a major force in the Blood Ghost Alliance.
The chilling ghostly aura he felt when first seeing such a Death Summoner.
It was emanating from Seong-min, now the Sixth Ghost Soul.
'Was it there before?'
Moreover, after receiving the divine descent, Seong-min's state was markedly different from before.
If it had just been flickering before, now Seong-min had something massive attached to his back, clearly visible even to Yong-un's eyes.
Along with the strong ghostly aura now plainly visible around Seong-min.
"Sorry I'm late, Supreme One."
That unknowable presence glared at Yong-un from behind Seong-min, who knelt on one knee and bowed his head.
Yong-un, locking eyes with that peculiar being, asked Seong-min.
"What is the thing behind you?"
"Is there something behind me?"
Seong-min looked up at Yong-un with a startled expression.
Seong-min was superior to Yong-un when it came to ghosts.
Yet a ghost invisible even to Seong-min was visible to Yong-un?
"What's your name?"
He stared straight at the being behind Seong-min, not Seong-min himself, and asked.
"Pardon?"
It was then that Seong-min realized Yong-un was speaking to someone else, his surprise uncontrollable.
[......]
The ghost, opening and closing its mouth as if to speak, soon stopped and began seeping into Seong-min's body.
Accordingly, Yong-un's gaze slowly shifted from above Seong-min's head down to him.
"Haa..."
Seong-min's body, still kneeling on one knee, swayed greatly back and forth.
He exhaled deeply and, amid everyone kneeling before Yong-un, rose to his feet.
"Sixth Ghost Soul!"
"Seong-min!"
Standing without the Supreme One's command was defying his will.
The Sword Tiger and Myung-su scowled fiercely at Seong-min.
"Hold."
But Yong-un stopped them and looked at Seong-min.
"Who are you?"
Seong-min, having stood up.
As he raised his lowered head, Seong-min's unchanged eyes fixed on Yong-un.
Crackle.
At that moment, tiny snowflakes began scattering around Seong-min's body.
"I have no name, but the other children made one to call me by."
"I see."
"Would you prefer to be called Sword Demon...?"
At the words of the unknowable being borrowing Seong-min's body, Yong-un's eyes widened.
No one but family knew that name.
The energy flow was unchanged too, so it wasn't soul possession arts or demonic eyes.
Then how in the world...
"You're wondering how I know."
A faint killing intent gathered in Yong-un's eyes.
"Did you learn mind reading?"
He had heard that among the southern barbarians beyond the martial world, there were special totem tribes that could use mind reading.
Unless using such death rites, no one could read his mind without any energy movement.
However, even such special totem tribes couldn't steal memories without any qi movement.
"The Heavenly Demon Cult is a place filled with strife, extinction, and destruction."
"What are you doing right now?"
He realized it wasn't mind reading from the continuing words of the unknowable being.
A phenomenon beyond any common sense Yong-un knew.
"You'll soon head to a place like the Heavenly Demon Cult."
"Are you talking about Demonus?"
"If you call a place brimming with blood, slaughter, strife, and destruction by that name, then yes."
Seong-min's eyes turned to the sky.
"A world where everything you knew is overturned. You'll face the worst darkness you've never encountered. And that worst darkness will take everything you have."
Yong-un's brow twitched, his face frowning.
Whoosh.
Seong-min's upward gaze snapped back to Yong-un.
"There, you'll lose everything you ever desired."
Tinkle.
The snowflakes scattering around Seong-min's body doubled in number.
Placing one snowflake on his palm, Seong-min extended it toward Yong-un and said.
"As the Sword Demon, abandon the one thing you most desired. Then, with that one, everything will be restored."
The snowflake on Seong-min's palm rode the wind toward Yong-un.
One snowflake approached Yong-un's eye, growing larger.
And when that snowflake filled Yong-un's entire vision.
Seong-min's voice echoed.
"I am merely a signpost. Understanding and following it is entirely up to you."
Whoosh.
Yong-un unleashed demonic energy, brushing away the snowflake covering his vision.
Then, the snowflakes enveloping Seong-min's body vanished as if they had never existed.
Sway.
"Ahh..."
Seong-min's body lurched violently, collapsing toward Yong-un.
Grabbing Seong-min's shoulder, Yong-un glared at him.
"S-Su-Supreme One!? S-Sorry!"
"Has it already left?"
Seong-min paled in shock and quickly dropped to both knees before Yong-un.
Yong-un withdrew his gaze from Seong-min and looked up at the sky.
'What are you trying to tell me?'
He couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but the doubt in Yong-un's eyes toward the subject faded as he gazed at the heavens.
As if he had somewhat grasped what kind of existence it was.
'Abandon the one thing you most desired...'
But unable to fathom the meaning of those words, Yong-un quietly closed his eyes.