Fortunately, the ‘will’ was restored.
Unlike the innate qi and internal qi that required time for cultivation, ‘will’ would be replenished by the body depending on the physical condition.
Raising the Heavenly’s Authority, I questioned the three men.
“Who are you all?”
But at my question they all looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“Puahahaha!”
“Such a funny one. Who are we?”
“What does one do after being caught in the place? Hahaha.”
Caught?
What they said made me frown, did they think of me as a prisoner?
-You aren’t much different. You were pushed in by force.
Phew. Right. Come to think of it, the situation was indeed similar to being caught.
One of the shabby men pointed his axe at me and uttered, “Hey, newbie. If you want to save your life, put down the sword and take off your clothes.”
-Completely lost it.
Short Sword clicked her tongue but something felt strange.
-What?
Did my appearance change or not?
-Why?
I looked at the back of my hand and with one look it seemed red.
I am sure that this was because of Blood Demon Sword, but the appearance didn’t even change? Somehow, I thought it was strange that they didn’t display any reaction.
-So even that is not working?
This was bad.
Now I was not sure if the entire body was faltering because of the many blood points being sealed. At my words, the voice of Blood Demon Sword justified.
-If you don’t have qi then how would you use my skill?
‘No.’
-Right you smart boy. What can a body deprived of qi achieve, Human?
At the words of Blood Demon Sword my mouth went dry.
Regardless of my appearance nothing would change when fighting.
“Look at this one. He isn’t even answering.”
“We can just take it off.”
“That fancy sword is mine!”
Suddenly they rushed to me and wielded their stone axe while stabbing the stone spears as if they were swinging.
They seemed like people adept in martial arts.
Just looking at the speed of the swing, it did not seem different from demonstrating a technique without internal qi.
‘Tch.’
There was not much I could do over here.
Even Heavenly Authority wasn’t working so how should the fight happen? I hit the stone spear which reached out, with my sword.
Chak!
At that moment, the stone spear split cleanly followed the sword’s path.
“W-what?”
The shabby man who stabbed the spear at me was shocked. I threw myself at him and kicked him in the chest.
Puak!
“Kuak!”
When I hit his chest, he coughed up blood and moved back three more steps. Seeing the scene, the two men were frightened and stopped attacking.
“You?”
“Was the internal qi not sealed?”
-What? Were you able to use Heavenly Authority?
I couldn’t understand it, either. Since there was no change in appearance, it was considered that no form of qi could be used to enhance my body.
But looking at the hit just now, it was clear that he suffered from internal wounds.
‘Should I try it?’
I jumped for the other two who looked shocked.
I moved lightly and reached one of them right away. Considering this, it could be said that the movement of the body was close to a First-rate Warrior.
Papak!
“Ack!
At once, I bent his arms to subdue him and when I hit on the Demon Blood Point, his body stiffened.
“D-damn it!”
-He is running.
When the person next to him tried to run, I caught him and struck him on the back of the neck, knocking him out. I lightly caught him as he was about to drop the light.
“Haha, I think I might live.”
My clothes were all wet and damp so this stick of flame warmed me up. Even after defeating them all, I couldn’t figure my situation.
Obviously, I did manage to use the Heavenly Authority.
‘Why?’
When the ‘will’ of the Blood Demon was brought out, the body and the attacks always felt enhanced to an extreme level. But this was now limited only to the First-rate Warrior level.
Even the change in my appearance didn’t happen. It was difficult to even guess what this was but then Iron Sword added.
-Then maybe it is something like this. Wonhwi.
‘Uh?’
-Didn’t you suffer a burn out from exerting too much more than what you could handle the last time?
‘Yes’
-Then, maybe the Heavenly Authority you are handling now could be something that your current level can handle.
Handled at my current level?
Maybe this makes little sense. Now I had my internal qi and innate qi pathways sealed. In such a state, it would be impossible to even cultivate.
‘Is that why?’
But nothing was definite as everything was plain speculation.
I hurriedly withdrew the authority. Right now, this was the only means to protect my body so I could not go ahead using it so lavishly, I had to save as much as possible.
-I don’t think that is the only problem here, human.
-The torch will not last long.
As they said, the speed at which this torch was burning seemed like it would vanish soon. If that happened, I would be left sightless.
I shook one of the men awake.
“Get up.”
When the shabby man woke up, he looked flustered with his words.
“Y-you, what are you? How can you use your qi?”
I was sure that what I used was no internal qi, but I was under no obligation to answer it.
“You don’t need to know that. Why are you imprisoned here?”
He didn’t answer my question, so I threatened him
“You want to die?”
The man was now in the mood to answer.
“Phew, Wicked Moon Sword had me imprisoned here.”
What? Sima Chak?
-I thought it was strange that he seemed familiar with this.
Right. I asked, pointing to the two fallen people.
“And the rest?”
“That friend arrived a month later than me but I heard he was caught by Wicked Moon Sword. But not him.”
He pointed to the man who suffered injuries to the chest at the first hit.
“I heard that he was thrown here after being imprisoned by someone from the Wind Shadow.”
“Wind Shadow?”
It was one of the four heads of the Dual Martial Forces. The man said as I looked at him cautiously.
“Most of the people here are those who were dropped from the Dual Martial forces. Those caught by the hands of Wicked Moon Sword, like that guy and me, fall once in a while.”
“Wait, so there are others than me?”
The man nodded. Now this was shocking.
I never thought there would be survivors here, within one of the three bans.
Just how many people existed in this prison?
“Are there many?”
“Not too many. Including us, around 44.”
44 wasn’t many?
This was a whole lot more than I thought could survive here. This meant that the place had minimal requirements for survival.
Well, if not, there was no way Sima Chak would drop me.
“Early half of those who fell here lost their lives when they got swept away by the currents.”
The place the man pointed to was the hole where the rapid currents were moving. I almost got sucked in.
“How did you get in? Was it Wicked Moon Sword or?”
“You don’t need to know.”
The man went silent.
He was a man who lived here, a warrior and someone who seemed like he would kill at the right chance too. Thus, I asked him.
“How long have you been here?”
“About 4 or 5 months, and then the friend there who arrived from the Dual Martial Forces has been here for close to a year.”
I was shocked at this. They had been locked up for so long.
It seemed that the reason he told me to hold on just for a month wasn’t to check my luck. He said it because such a thing was possible.
“Huhu. What are you so surprised about? There are older people who have been here for over 20 years too.”
“20 years?”
20 years in such a dark place.
It was the hope of life. Enduring such a prison life was not an easy task.
“Well… That old man will not live long though.”
The guy added with a bitter voice. Seeing him mention an old man, it seemed like he had reached the end of his life.
-Yah. They have been locked for so long. There is no way out.
Short Sword pointed it out. As she said, if someone had been locked in for as long as 20 years the way to escape this place had been searched.
‘To endure despite knowing that death was the only answer.’
But it was fortunate.
Because there were those who came first and looked around and I could learn to survive from them.
“How did you all manage to live here?”
An underground cave. I wondered what they could get to eat here.
Water shouldn’t be a problem since there were flowing currents.
“The cave has unusual trees whose roots dig in.”
Ah, that was why the torches looked unique, they were made by collecting roots.
“And we made fire.”
“What did you eat?”
“The entire cave is full of bugs, rats, snakes and such stuff.”
I frowned at this. Does this mean that I need to eat those for a month too?
-Uh. You will turn into a savage.
I already hated the thought of being here. But snakes looked better.
I had snakes roasted and eaten before. But rats and bugs weren’t things I would even try.
-You will have to if you don’t have a choice.
Right, if I want to survive then I need to feed on them. Pointing the torch I was holding, I asked.
“Can this be eaten?”
“The root of the tree is so bitter that when you eat it, rashes form on the body, so no one eats it.”
I felt bad. So just bugs, rats and snakes then?
I could already feel my stomach dying by the end of a month. I turned around and looked at the surging current.
“There are no things like fish.”
The man said, “They do exist. But, there is only one place where you can catch the fish.”
“Fish.”
This felt pleasant to my ears. I was feeling hungry from the moment I fell in.
“Guide me there.”
With the man leading me, I followed into the cave.
I broke the right foot of the man just in case he tried to run from me, so now he was limping and guiding me.
The cave was much more complex, like a maze. If one didn’t remember the path they took, they would get lost, so I asked Iron Sword and Short Sword to memorize this.
As Blood Demon Sword wouldn’t do anything even if we asked so we gave up on him.
-It will run out of fuel soon.
As Short Sword said, the torch seemed like it was about to burn out completely.
Maybe it would be better to go and get those roots right away.
“We should proceed to the location of the tree roots.”
“But we are all the way here? To get to the roots you need to go all the way over to the corner.”
“We are almost there?”
“Right there.”
What was he talking about? The cave wall had been blocked off and the man pointed down with his finger.
There was a small hole-like narrow place that one had to die down and crawl to move.
I looked at him suspiciously and placed the torch on the cave floor.
‘Ah!’
Like he said, there was a small opening inside with water emerging from below. Seeing this, I told him.
“Go ahead.”
The man hesitated at my words.
“What is it?”
“There are a lot of poisonous insects there. We have seen many suffer after being bitten and those that were bitten died.”
“Stop with the nonsense and lead.”
“Ahem.”
Did he actually think I would enter with my back shown to him?
The guy thought for a while as he crawled to the floor and entered the hole as I followed him.
Entering we moved into a small cavity. We could see things like shadows at the end.
So I ran there.
“Ah!’
Like he said, there was a fish pond that was bigger than the palm of a hand.
A black hole existed at the bottom and the fishes would emerge from this hole.
-Thank god!
-Humans are so troublesome. Can’t eat this, can’t eat that.
Do not grumble now. If I starve to death, who do you think would be the one suffering?
-Huh. The suffering we are going through now is hard enough.
Well, this guy grumbled a lot more than Short Sword.
If I could catch fish and eat them, there wouldn’t be much of a problem with living here for a month. In other words, warm fire, drinking water and food, these problems were solved.
-But he said there are poisonous bugs around, I don’t see them.
Short Sword said, making me look around.
I couldn’t see anything poisonous on the ground. There were broken pieces of something and the closer I looked they seemed like bones.
‘Bone fragments?’
I turned to look at the guy/
“Why do we have bone pieces in here…”
Swish
The torch went off before I could speak and darkness took over.
The remaining embers were all that shone in the darkness but nothing could be figured out in this darkness.
Shit. The biggest downside of the place was this.
Tatatak!
And, I heard the sound.
-Wonhwi, that guy is trying to crawl.
To try and run away in such a situation. I took out Short Sword and threw it at the exit of the cave I remembered.
Kang!
And it bounced off the floor.
-Ah! He went in.
Short Sword informed me. Did he actually take advantage of this situation to run?
Maybe fish could be caught later, he was my priority.
-Go ahead.
At that moment, I heard the sound of water flooding from behind and cold water dripping down.
Chak!
Iron Sword yelled.
-Wonhwi… Use Heavenly Authority. The monster is right behind you.
‘Monster?’
I slowly turned by head and there was the sound of water dripping with four purple shining eyes appearing at the top of the cavity.
All too familiar glare.
‘Damn it’
Human Face Purple Eyed snake. I knew it. The bone fragments and the man being reluctant to move was due to this?
‘This is insane.’
No. Does it make sense for a monster which was hard to see in a man’s lifetime to attack me twice?
As I concentrated and used the authority, a red light shone on the back of my hand as I took out the Blood Demon Sword.
-Wonhwi. It is much bigger than the one we saw before.
I could tell from the size of its eyes. The eyes were more purple than the past one. Within an instant I began to think.
Wouldn’t it be better for me to fly right under it? Or do I have to fight with it till the end?
‘If I didn’t fight with the determination to win, I might die.’
The stone floor here was not smooth, thus there was no possibility of one slipping.
Then the conclusion had been drawn. I managed to kill it once before so why couldn’t I kill it again?
I gripped the sword tightly. However, something unexpected happened in front of my eyes.
Srrr!
The purple eyes which I thought would come to eat me any moment were gradually descending.
As if it was bowing its head toward me.
‘What is this now?’
“This side… Hehehe.”
The man with a limp was guiding someone with a cunning laugh.
Two men followed him from behind. In their hands, they held proper swords and blades, not the ones made of stone.
Even if the clothes were worn out, they looked fine compared to this shabby man.
“Is what you are saying true?”
One of the men with blades asked. And the limping man replied, “Of course. That monstrous snake just had its meal, so it would not appear for a while right!”
At his words the man with the sword smiled.
“It has been a while since I ate fish. Let’s go.”
“Say it. It has been months since I ate a fish because of that monster.”
The man with the limp told them.
“Paeung you said it before. Three bundles of roots that you promised…”
“Uh. Do you think that Paeung will break its promise?”
“Okay. Hehe.”
Eventually, they arrived close to the cave, in front of the hole. The man with the sword told the limping one.
“You go in first.”
“Uh?”
“Go in first”
“T-that…”
“Didn’t you say it? It will be fine since he got eaten first? Go! we will give you the torch, there isn’t a need to be afraid.”
At those words, the limping one cursed them. There was a snake inside which hated light, so they would run away after throwing the torch to see it, but it was dangerous now.
After shedding once every three months, the amount of resistance the snake must have built was scary.
“You didn’t lie to us right?”
“As if…”
Eventually he took the lead and crawled in. When the man went into the cave and shined the torch, he couldn’t see anything odd.
The man touched his chest.
“Everything is fine.”
Hearing his words, the other two entered from outside. They came in cheering and excited. Despite being in water, this place rarely had fish to eat.
“Hurry up and catch it.”
“Heheh. How many fishes will we get?”
They hurried to the pond and the limping person followed them with a bright face.
Tak!
But suddenly, they heard something from behind, making them all turn their heads, someone was standing there with arms crossed.
The limping guy was shocked
“You… you? How?”
It was So Wonhwi.
They thought that he was devoured by the snake but he seemed alive. The man with the sword felt it was ridiculous.
“He is alive.”
“This bastard must be lying to us!”
“N-No! I saw the monster appear…”
It was then.
Chaak!
The water in the pond gushed up displaying something huge. The monster with four huge eyes and sharp fangs.
“Eiik!”
The three of them were terrified at the monster’s appearance when it just opened its mouth and gulped one of the swordsmen in one bite. All within an instant.
“Kuak!”
Crush! Crush!
“EUHHH!”
A terrible sound could be heard and they rushed for So Wonhwi to survive. And to that, he aimed the sword at the two and blocked them.
The man with the blade shouted.
“What are you doing! Do you want to die here!
The limping one begged too.
“T-that wasn’t on purpose. Please move and I will pay my debt off. We will die here.”
Wonhwi smiled at them.
“Why should I move?”
“You bastard!”
The man with the blade swung it at Wonhwi and as expected it was a technique, but due to no internal qi, nothing changed.
But Wonhwi had an upper hand.
Chak!
With his sword he easily cut down the blade and as the blade bounced away from hand, the man couldn’t hide his shock.
“I-Internal qi?”
Sssshh!
And then arrived the crawling sound from behind making them turn their heads at the same time. The snake had blood dripping down its mouth.
As it looked at the men, the limp man looked puzzled.
“Why?”
To which Wonhwi replied.
“This guy did a good job following what I said. Oddly enough. Yah, bow.”
And as soon as he said it, the Human Faced Purple Eyed Snake bowed and the eyes of the two men widened up. It was because this monster was following So Wonhwi’s orders.
‘I-it really is!’
The limping man knelt down for So Wonhwi.
“L-Look! Save me! I will teach you everything I know so spare me!”
So Wonhwi replied in a cold voice.
“There is one more here besides you”
‘…?!’
At those words the limping man turned pale. He was about to plead but Wonhwi didn’t wait.
‘Eat him.’
And within an instant the vision of the man was covered in darkness.
Crush!
