Chapter 316
The traps in the cave were simpler than I thought.
Is it because they were made hundreds of years ago? Some of them didn't even work, as if they were broken.
Still, I meticulously broke even those.
Because even the slightest carelessness can take a life, I am being as careful as possible.
It's fine if I don't get the relic, but if I or my senior brothers lose our lives once, it's the end.
I emphasized that to my senior brothers, and emphasized it again.
Of course, there are almost no cases where you know about a trap and get caught, but I told them to prioritize safety no matter what happens.
"Senior Brother Un-jeong! There's a hole above you! Do you see it?"
"I see it! Everyone, don't move and wait."
Senior Brother Un-jeong climbed the wall, drew his short sword, and thrust it into the hole in the ceiling, then twisted the short sword.
Then, as if there was a cracking sound from inside, arrows fell from the hole.
There's no need to know what kind of trap triggers those arrows.
Because even if a trap is triggered by stepping on the wrong place, there will be no arrows to be shot anyway.
"Alright. I don't think there's anything more to come out of this."
"Still, let's check one more time."
"Alright."
Pyu-syung!
As Senior Brother Un-jeong, letting his guard down for a moment, brought his hand to poke the hole with his short sword again, at that moment, a needle much smaller than an arrow was suddenly fired from inside and grazed my senior brother's hand.
If my senior brother had brought his hand a little faster, or if he had come down from the wall thinking that all the traps had been disarmed, he might have been hit by that needle.
I carefully approached the needle. It was an iron needle about the length of a finger, and the tip was blackish.
There must be poison on the tip of the iron needle.
"Wow. This is scary. Scary. Is this telling us to take the relic, or not to take it?"
I, while saying that, looked around and, grabbing the arm of Senior Brother Un-jeong who was coming down the wall, helped my senior brother come down.
"What on earth is in there that they made traps with such effort?"
"I know, right? To think they would just leave a thousand taels of gold in a room so that their descendants could settle down in the Central Plains... anyway, wouldn't there be something unimaginably amazing?"
"I guess so. Unhwi-ya. Is it abnormal for me to not be scared and find this situation fun?"
I chuckled and answered, "No. There's nothing abnormal about it. You're just becoming more and more like me."
"Ah..."
"No, why are you making a pitiful face?"
"Ah, no. What do you mean, I'm making a pitiful face."
I saw it all, but he keeps saying no.
"Ahem. For now, let's keep going forward. It'll be more dangerous when the sun sets and we can't see anything."
"Yes. Let's do that."
Senior Brother Un-jeong, avoiding my eyes, walked forward slowly and matched the pace of the other senior brothers.
Originally, I should have been the one advancing at the very front, but now, I feel somewhat reassured even if I put my senior brothers in front.
Seeing my senior brothers, who had always been behind me until now, standing in front of me, I feel a new kind of emotion.
"Everyone, slowly! When the sun sets, we can just stay here and wait for a day, so don't rush too much!"
Of course, that degree of reassurance is that they have gone from the level of a three-year-old child to the level of a six or seven-year-old child.
***
We continued to go forward, and forward.
In the cave, there were not only traps but also formations, and sometimes, there were traps and formations at the same time.
My senior brothers, as I had said, did not get impatient even if the speed was slow.
This kind of patience is also an ability cultivated through repeated training. My senior brothers, who had come out together after a long time, were showing off the results of the training they had worked so hard on that they wanted to die.
It feels like just yesterday that I couldn't trust them, but now, I feel that if I leave them alone somewhere, they will be able to do their part sufficiently.
"Everyone, stop. It's getting hard to see now, so let's rest here tonight."
"Let's do that."
"Alright."
"Huu... are we resting a little now?"
I don't know how long the cave is, but we couldn't reach the end of the cave until the sun set.
In fact, we might not have gone that deep.
We walked around, searching the surroundings very thoroughly with the single-mindedness of not missing even a small gap.
It seems we might not have even covered the distance we would have covered in a single bound if we had performed a movement technique.
"Wait a minute."
I drew my sword and drew a long line on the floor where my senior brothers were.
"It will get so dark later that it will be hard to tell from front to back. At that time, be careful not to cross this line."
"Yes. Because we came here while disarming all the traps behind this."
And after going back and gathering the wood blocks and wood pieces that came out of the mechanisms we had broken, I had my senior brothers gather in a circle and, placing the gathered wood in the middle, lit it with the Samadhi True Fire.
The wood, thanks to being dried for hundreds of years, burned brightly.
For now, since I had started a fire, before it got completely dark, I moved diligently and gathered enough firewood, and then returned to where my senior brothers were.
"Is everyone okay?"
I looked at my senior brothers' faces, which were reddish because of the bonfire.
But there was no response from my senior brothers.
Surprised, I approached Senior Brother Un-sik, who was closest to me, and, calling my senior brother, placed my hand on his shoulder.
Teol-seok—
Suddenly, Senior Brother Un-sik fell to the side.
"Senior Brother! Senior Brother Un-sik! What's wrong all of a sudden!"
But Senior Brother Un-sik is silent.
I hurriedly put my hand on my senior brother's neck, but his pulse is not beating.
Contrary to my senior brother whose pulse had stopped, my heart began to beat violently.
I can't understand what on earth is going on, or why Senior Brother Un-sik suddenly stopped breathing.
"S-Senior brothers!"
Surprised, I look back at my other senior brothers.
Suddenly, my other senior brothers also begin to fall, teol-seok, teol-seok.
I hurriedly checked Senior Brother Un Cheol, Senior Brother Un-jeong, and Senior Brother Un-mi, but they all have no pulse and are not breathing.
"Poison? Is it poison?!"
I jumped up from my seat, looked around, and shouted.
But of course, there is nothing to be seen around.
I picked up one of the burning bonfires and, swinging it around, looked for a place where poison could have been sprayed.
"There's nothing. When on earth did we get hit?"
For now, I begin to infuse my energy into the body of Senior Brother Un-mi, who is closest.
I tried to make his heart beat artificially by caressing it with my energy.
"N-No way..."
But I can't feel anything from my senior brother's heart.
His body is also already cold.
He just collapsed, this can't be.
For his body to get this cold, he would have to be in a very cold place, or a long time would have to have passed since he died.
I hurriedly approached Senior Brother Un Cheol and felt his body, but Senior Brother Un Cheol is also in the same state.
"N-No...!"
I gathered my senior brothers in one place and began to infuse my energy into their bodies.
But no matter how much I infuse my energy, and infuse it again, it's no use.
It's a natural thing.
My head already understands this situation, but my heart is not accepting it, so I'm just doing meaningless actions.
My senior brothers have all passed away.
Tears I thought I had lost begin to well up, and soon, they begin to flow down my cheeks.
Because of the tears, my vision becomes blurry and I can't see anything.
Although I know this is not the time for me to cry, I can't control my tears.
I feel like my heart is being torn apart. I don't know why a situation like this has happened.
"It's... it's because of me."
That's right. It's because of me. This happened because I brought my senior brothers here, saying I would find the treasure of the Meteor King.
Since I can't control my emotions, I just fell to my knees.
But right at that moment.
Jeo-beok— Jeo-beok— Jeo-beok—
The sound of someone walking from inside the cave is heard.
I hurriedly turned my head that way, but because of the tears that burst out like a spring, I can't see well.
As I hurriedly rub my eyes with the back of my hand, only then do I begin to see a little.
"Uh...?"
And when I saw someone who came out from inside the cave, I, without realizing it, let out a foolish sound.
"H-How are you...?!"
Is it because I received a great mental shock due to the death of my senior brothers? I couldn't even speak properly, and I didn't know how to react, so I just stared blankly... and then, coming to my senses, I let out a growling sound.
"Mok Hwashin...!"
That's right.
The person who appeared from the darkness. That person was Mok Hwashin.
I have never forgotten that bastard's face for a single moment in my life.
The vanguard of the Central Plains invasion. The slaughterer who killed hundreds, thousands of orthodox martial artists.
My enemy who made Un Gwang die and also made me die in the last battle of my life. That Mok Hwashin is standing in front of me.
"How are you here! Did you do this to my senior brothers?!"
"...... This is... where the relic of our Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is."
"Nonsense! Then are you saying that the Meteor King of the past was related to your Demonic Cult?"
"Think as you please. I don't have the bad habit of answering the questions of a corpse."
"What did you say?"
"You will die soon. Is it so unpleasant to be treated as a corpse a little in advance?"
"Shut up. If you say one more word, I'll tear you to pieces and kill you."
"Hahaha! Self-Taught Swordsman Unhwi. So let's have a proper fight. I've always wanted to fight you, who grew up in a good environment with advanced martial arts. So come over here!"
At his provocation, I, without realizing it, drew my sword and was about to perform a movement technique forward, but right at that moment.
"Wait. How did Mok Hwashin recognize me? He shouldn't be able to recognize my face now. And... Self-Taught Swordsman Unhwi?"
I, at the sudden sense of unease, stopped in my tracks.
Although Mok Hwashin is acting as if he would rush at me at any moment, it's all just an act.
He is not coming over to my side.
"Come over quickly. Cross that line and come over here. Let's have a fight. I was the one who killed you in the past. So shouldn't you get your revenge?!"
And there is another strange thing.
His face is the same. The Great War between the Orthodox and Demonic Factions happens more than fifteen years from now.
But his face is the same as the Mok Hwashin I remember.
Although he might have had that face since he was young, and it might seem like he doesn't age, it's still strange.
"Lastly... if you're going to fight, you come. Why do you keep telling me to come and go?"
"Come over! Cross that line and fight me! Don't you want to get revenge on me?"
"His personality is also strangely different. Mok Hwashin doesn't provoke people by being frivolous like you."
"......"
Only then did Mok Hwashin shut his mouth.
The bastard glared at me.
I, regaining my leisurely smile, said to him, "You... you're a fake. The things lying next to me... yes. This is not my senior brother. I must have fallen into some kind of formation. Come to think of it, it's not like I was hit by ice arts, and it's ridiculous that a person gets this cold as soon as they die."
Cheu-cheu-cheu-cheu—
The moment I recognized that the senior brothers lying on the floor were not real, the senior brothers suddenly turned into smoke and disappeared.
"I don't know what kind of formation it is... but it seems to be a formation that is activated based on my memories. If I didn't have such peculiar memories, I would have been completely had."
My past memories and present memories were jumbled up, creating a ridiculous situation.
Thanks to that discrepancy, I was able to easily realize that what I was experiencing now was not real.
One way or another, being reborn is helpful in many ways.
"You... what on earth is your identity?"
At that time, something like an old man's voice came out of Mok Hwashin's mouth.
Mok Hwashin's appearance gradually changed, and soon, he became an old man with white hair and a long beard.
"To break through the Fear Illusion Formation so easily... this is impossible."
I, with a very wary appearance, asked him from a distance, "Who are you, old man?"
The old man, after staring at me for a long time... finally opened his mouth.
"I am Yu Geon-yang. Would it be easier to understand if I said the Meteor King?"
"M-Meteor King?!"
I, surprised and dumbfounded, ended up shouting loudly.
If what he said was true, he had either eaten an elixir of immortality, or he was a ghost.
Because it would be one of the two.
(End of Chapter)