Chapter 124 – 124 – Gokju’s Decision
“What happened?”
Rod and the thirty dragons, who arrived at the scene late, landed on the castle wall only when the smell of the fortress had dissipated even a little.
Nidroga’s cousin, whose face was familiar, was fed up. Lord looked into the distance with an embarrassed smile, and Nidrogar was still nagging.
In fact, even ordinary people have bad facial expressions. Since these dragons have five senses developed enough to spot flocks of sheep even from hundreds of meters in the air, it would be difficult to feel refreshed after smelling the stench amplified by alchemy.
Not to mention tigers who stalk their prey from kilometers away. Eshen and a few Tigris on our side were stunned, and Garam was glaring at me with tears running down his eyes.
“You… You’re disgusting.”
“···Sounds like a personal attack. Are you saying the smell is disgusting?”
“Everything! The smell makes me vomit, and the human itself makes me vomit! How could you do something like this to me again!”
Down the walls, no. Companion Tigris, who had retreated to a place about 2km away, also shouted in agreement from afar.
Even though the distance is long enough for them to look like dots, I can hear loud and clear swear words like they will find my family or rip out my limbs. He must have been quite upset.
···If you spend your time as a porter for an extermination party, the prospect of not living up to your name is renewed. Fortunately, I might be on my deathbed before I lose all my energy.
In these dark times, someone warmly wrapped my shoulder. I looked to the side, filled with emotion.
“I think differently. Very well done, Tannhäuser. As expected, a strong one is great.”
“Master…”
“Your actions once again saved us from trouble. I apologize on my behalf for the curse my daughter has been throwing at me a while ago. It is a hundred times better to lose your sense of smell than to die.”
“Will you stay by my side even if hundreds of Tigris try to tear me apart?”
“No. Actually, if that happens, I plan to stay out of the way and enjoy watching you get torn to pieces. Personally, I would like it if those guys would offer a few days of truce in exchange for your life. It would be better to throw you out of the castle walls so that you and my wife’s clan can fight. “It will be easier both physically and mentally than fighting.”
…I’ll kill you talking about how I fucked your daughter.
As I was gritting my teeth and listening to the story, Rod approached me shaking his head.
“No one is thrown over the walls. Bantai, that’s what I said a moment ago.”
“Are you saying that a fragment of the Demon King invaded Hwanhwagok and poisoned Hyanghwagokju, and because of that poisoning, the Hyanghwagokju’s body is becoming demonized, and that’s why the Hyanghwagokju is being manipulated and is acting according to the Demon King’s intentions?”
As I repeat this without making a single mistake, everyone’s faces darken again.
Adamantone warned. The greater the tribulation and death in this world, the greater the power of the devil.
It would make sense to think that this was also the reason why the Tigris were suddenly ordered to conquer the outside world by the Hwangokju. If Hyanghyanggokju is mentally controlled by the devil, it is quite possible.
The Demon King rules over monsters. The demonized Adamantone Sunstorm became the Demon King’s murder weapon. Something similar is probably happening to Hyanghyanggokju.
Rod nodded his head. While holding up the green glass bottle of Adamantone that I handed to you. As sticky mucus appeared on his clean fingers, Rod slightly frowned.
“···I didn’t have time to wipe it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Can you swear that it’s true?”
“Everything I said is Adamantone’s argument.”
Rod, who squinted at the corner of his eyes, immediately opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“And I believe what Adamantone says. I, Tan Bantai, will bet my life on the side that he will be right.”
“Even though he has a deep negative relationship with you?”
“There are three reasons. One, Adamantone Sunstorm does not have the intelligence to deceive anyone with such an elaborate statement. Two, deep down, he desperately wants to return to his family alive. If he lies to me, things will go wrong. If this happens, the possibility of returning to your original self or saving your life is completely gone.”
“It’s not enough. Adamantone’s statement is meaningless if it’s due to the Demon King’s manipulation. What about the third?”
“Three. The enemy is also the understander. I have had six years of experience with Adamantone Sunstorm, and from that experience I can tell when he rarely tells the truth. He is not manipulated, he is a lie. “No, it’s not like I believed the lies the devil made up to be the truth. I told the truth with my whole face trembling with shame at the fact that my actions were wrong and that I was the one listening.”
Like a character from a famous Academy novel I once read. A fat uncle who locks the protagonist in a staircase and refuses to send him to the academy, and is appalled by the fact that the protagonist is an apt wizard. Because the protagonist understands his uncle’s hatred, he also understands the sincerity behind his uncle’s hatred.
In other words, there is something in common even among enemies. I shrugged my shoulders once.
“Now that I think about it, there’s one more thing. I tasted it first. It had a subtle herbal taste. At least it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to poison the companion grain wine while pretending to help.”
Eshen, who had fainted, suddenly raised his head. Then, he came running towards me, grabbed me by the collar, and shook me.
“You’re crazy, spit it out!”
“I’m not crazy. I already spit it out and rinsed my mouth.”
“What are you doing? Why are you doing such a thing!”
“If what he says is true, it’s urgent. You and your mother are in danger. Even if it’s really poisonous, would one porter’s life be more important than the safety of the entire East?”
“Monica, please check this guy! This kid must be crazy!”
“Don’t worry. If what Tan drank was poison, I would be the first to feel the threat of Tan’s life ending. But as someone who is an apt healer and a high priest of a sect, I can only speak for my opinion.”
The sister politely received the bottle from Rod. Then he carefully smelled her scent and his face hardened.
“It is clearly an ingredient used to detoxify a very deep and dangerous curse. A type of curse that is difficult to resolve with a healer’s recovery or purification.”
“Turn into a monster?”
“Maybe.”
“Damn it, even if what happened to my mother is true… No. If it were true, it would be a bigger problem.”
Garam cried out, tearing out his head.
“The Demon King put a curse on my mother to turn her into a monster? Really? How on earth? A person surrounded by a bodyguard more powerful than anyone else in the East? A person who is even stronger than anyone else in the East? Everyone in the martial arts community avoids mentioning it. “A day in the world that everyone outside of the martial arts world whispers about, but no one can dare to deny?”
“That’s right. If that were the case, no one in the East would be safe. That’s an interesting idea.”
Just hearing this gives me goosebumps. I don’t even know whose voice it is, but it’s strange.
In the end, partying is something you risk your life for. Anyone who does this kind of work develops survival instincts, no matter how big or small.
And the moment I heard that high-handed yet smooth voice, I felt a premonition of death more certain than ever before.
“Come down and tell me for yourself. It’s nonsense that the owner of Hwanhwagok is driven to destruction by the ghosts of the past.”
The sky rumbles and the ground shakes. The body turns over and the vision is reversed. It wasn’t until we were up in the sky that I realized what was happening.
The strong, high, and solid walls collapsed and collapsed all at once. The solid granite that not even the Tigris could think of breaking apart crumbles. Right under our feet. I hugged my sister and screamed together.
Fortunately, the Lord, who had already taken the form of a giant dragon, was retreating with all of us wrapped in his palm.
And the fact that he was withdrawing scared me. Rod got stuck in the narrow ravine and struggled for a moment, then he slowly let us down and took on human form again.
Amid the fog of collapsed rubble, the first thing you see beyond it is the flag. Garam shook his shoulders.
“Gokju’s flag announcing the departure…”
“My daughters and clan who are there, listen. It is my order to go out of Hwanhwagok. It is my order, not anyone else’s intention. I will give you one chance. Come back and obey, or die.”
“···Your mother is right.”
The person who destroyed the gate in one blow walked ahead, making his presence known explosively.
The gorgeous silk clothes using only black and red dye seem to depict both the flowers blooming at night and the apron of a slaughterhouse. With every step that lightly flutters like a flower petal, the ground cracks and cracks like glass.
Eshen and Garam probably look more like their mother. It is impossible to be clear as to who the expression that is glaring arrogantly and filled with murder comes from.
And the fact that that glare is directed at me is dizzying. Fortunately, before my heart stopped, Rod came to my aid first.
“It’s been a long time since we last met, Hyanghwagokju. Was that before you got married?”
“Just one word. Get out.”
“You’re as arrogant as ever.”
“Arrogance? Even after leaving your nest and coming here, you still speak of arrogance? Is this a challenge, Dragon King? Would you like to recreate the unfinished battle of the first members of the Collaboration Team long ago?”
“Have you ever seen someone talk to Rod like that?”
“No. And to be honest… I’ve never seen anyone who doesn’t lose momentum.”
Nidroga bit her lip in response to Morgan’s question.
Is living a real concept? I’ve been around all kinds of strong people, but I still don’t know.
In Uncle Mansell’s party, there were people who were strong humans themselves, and there were also famous martial artists who had refined themselves to their limits.
There were even some foul-tempered villains who used their natural aptitude in ugly ways. The contractual relationship didn’t last long because Uncle Mansell wasn’t the type of person to let things happen like that.
However, although I have been involuntarily cringed when a major crisis approaches, I have never seen someone’s aggression materialized into the concept of survival.
To be honest, feeling alive and pulling out a sword, or space being distorted… If you think about it rationally, isn’t it obvious? It’s all just a story made up for fun.
That’s what I thought. I was wrong. The space between them really looks like a haze of spring, and cold sweat flows down my legs. Isilun and Leni even brought their shaking hands to the hilt of the sword without realizing it, and were startled when they realized it too late.
Damn it, who says gang is good? Wouldn’t the religious leader be even more crazy for having a woman like that as his wife?
The Tigris who ran like lightning and followed Gokju’s side stretched out their shoulders as if they were going to rush at any moment. The dragons and Shingyo warriors tensed up and prepared to fight.
However, no one dared to step into the snowball fight between Ragnaroka and Hualien. Rod shook his head towards the compatible Gokju Hwaryeon.
“It would be better to stop there.”
“Stop, what? My walk? Or my beato?”
“Both.”
“Either way, I can’t change my mind once I’ve made up my mind. The era in which the disgusting weak can buy the strong with money is over. Now, enough power has been gathered in Hwanhwagok, and I will fulfill the wish passed down through generations of my ancestors and set the law straight.’ If you want to stop Taiga, there are only two ways: either defeat me with external force… Or challenge me for the position of Gokju from within, usurping my position and collecting the orders for the expedition.”
Next to me, the leader shakes his head and mutters. It would be great if that were possible. Whether they are Protestants or nobles, everyone knows that they will die because no one can defeat Hualien.
Lord clenched his fists.
“Do you really want a war to break out between Dragon’s Nest and Hwanghwagok right here?”
“It may seem like it isn’t, King of the Lizards?”
…Does it look like it’s not?
I don’t know. But something is strange. Something I can’t pinpoint tickles my gut.
I don’t know how strong he is, but is he too brave against the road? No.
I wonder if the Hwaryeon Island road is too much of a burden because they are arguing with each other instead of coming closer? No.
Because of nonsense that sounds like Gunther, about correcting the law? That’s not it either.
A clue as to why I feel that way is about to reach my conclusion.
Someone shouted loudly.
“Dojeeoeon-!”
“···Eshen?”
The Tigris in the compatible song, our side and party members, and even the Lord looked at us in disbelief.
Eshen Taiga strolled out, scratching his ears cheekily, and stood proudly between the Lord and the Gokju.
“Challenge.”
“What?”
“It’s a challenge. Let’s take the seat of the Gokju and let’s go. Are you saying that you can just go back on orders and say it’s enough? I have to say it three times for you to understand, grandma? How long has it been since you’ve lived without seeing your face that you’ve become deaf?”
The bold religious leader next to me clutched his chest and made a loud noise, then fell backwards and hit the back of his head.
Unfortunately, I was so shocked that I couldn’t help him in time. It would be a lie to say that there wasn’t even a little bit of intentionality.
