Chapter 1513 – 1513. Ascending To The Light
Aaaaooooo!
The tiger’s roar echoed through the mountain valley. Startled birds took flight.
The ronin walking towards the valley stopped in their tracks. The relaxed atmosphere tightened instantly. Without a word, the ronin gripped their weapons, entering a state of alert.
Mireyeong and I stared at the source of the sound.
Too far. It was too far for even my eyesight to identify the monster. Naturally, I couldn’t sense it with my ki either.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes, Husband. The black tiger’s roar is thunderous.”
“Some are overwhelmed by its presence.”
I looked at the ronin in front of me. Some were trembling. Their common trait was that they looked young. The black tiger hadn’t even appeared, and they were already like this. I lowered my expectations for the ronin.
‘Well, they weren’t called to deal with the black tiger. These guys are just the underlings to deal with the black tiger’s underlings.’
They probably knew that themselves.
Dealing with the black tiger was the responsibility of me and Gu Jigeom Jeongcheok, the branch leader of the Ronin Association.
“Can you use sorcery to pinpoint its exact location?”
“Well, I could if I wanted to. The problem is, it’ll take some time to prepare. There’s nothing to use as a foundation. And I doubt they’ll wait.”
The tense ronin were slowly approaching the mountain valley.
I hesitated. Should I step forward, or stay put? They knew nothing about Mireyeong. They just thought of her as a woman I brought along.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t want to step forward. I can use any sorcery for you, Husband, but I have no intention of using sorcery for strangers I don’t even know. And for the sake of the Jongnam Heavenly Sect… it’s better to keep my identity hidden for now.”
Even if she used sorcery, she had to hide at least her level. If the fact that there was a sorcerer who had reached the Three Peaks Realm became known, it would cause an uproar. It was natural that it would draw the attention of the Jongnam Sect.
“Okay. Let’s watch for now.”
There would be casualties, but that wasn’t my concern.
Aaaaooooo!
The tiger’s roar echoed again. It was closer than before. The sound came from directly ahead.
‘Is it planning to attack head-on? If it’s a monster that has reached the Five Qi Realm, its intelligence should be on par with a human.’
A word flashed through my mind.
Trap. I had to abandon the arrogance that only humans could set traps.
The subjugation force cautiously entered the dense forest. Despite it being daytime, the surroundings were dark. The densely packed leaves blocked the sunlight.
“They’re coming.”
“They are.”
Mireyeong and I spoke at the same time.
The bushes all around were shaking. It was too late when the ronin realized something was wrong. Black tigers, who had been crouching low, sprang out. With terrifying red glints in their eyes, they tore into the ronin.
“Aaaah! It’s an ambush!!”
“Don’t fight alone! Gather together! Fight together!”
“Damn it! Maryeom is dead! That damn cat bastard!”
In an instant, it became a scene of chaos.
The ronin reacted in various ways. Some retreated, not wanting to fight, some confidently swung their swords, trusting in their martial arts, and some raged madly, furious at the death of their comrades.
There was no order among the ronin. Jeongcheok, who should have been leading the ronin, gave up on directing them. Instead, he actively stepped forward to fight the black tigers. It was a wise decision. It didn’t seem easy to control the ronin.
I felt a presence behind me. As soon as I sensed it, I drew my sword and swung it. I swung without looking, and that decision was correct. The black tiger that was attacking me was cut in half and died.
I could feel a sinister demonic energy from the dead black tiger.
“It’s a monster about the level of the Fifth Stage of Entry.”
“Just about the level of the ronin.”
If the levels of humans and monsters were similar, who would be more advantageous? It varied each time. Generally, monsters were more advantageous. A monster’s body was superior to a human’s by default. But humans had martial arts and sorcery.
‘Not that monsters can’t learn martial arts and sorcery.’
The stronger one just wins. That was all there was to it.
I killed the black tigers that charged at me. After killing about three, the black tigers dared not attack me and began to target other ronin. Now that I was free, I stood still and watched the situation. I didn’t bother helping the ronin.
Aaaaooooo!
The black tiger’s roar echoed. As if waiting for a signal, the black tigers quickly retreated.
The situation was a mess.
Over 100 ronin were dead, and the corpses of about 30 black tigers were visible.
“Why! Why didn’t you help us?!”
A young ronin, clutching the corpse of his comrade, poured out his resentment at me. Mireyeong and I turned our gaze to him. Perhaps it was because of his desperate voice. The gazes of others also turned to us.
The gazes Mireyeong and I gave him were cold.
“Why should I help you?”
“If you had helped, my friend could have lived! The number of people who died here would have been much less!”
“You seem to be mistaken. Just because I’m part of the subjugation force doesn’t mean I’m your comrade. Your friend died because you and your friend were weak. And.”
I swung my sword. A sword aura flew out. A red line appeared on his neck. He belatedly realized that his neck had been cut.
“You’re dying because you defied me.”
Thud.
He died alongside his friend.
“……”
A chilling silence descended. I glanced around. The ronin quickly avoided my gaze.
“We’ll clean up the corpses later.”
Gu Jigeom Jeongcheok’s stiff voice broke the silence. He continued to speak.
“What’s urgent now is the subjugation of the black tiger. If we hesitate like this, we’ll be the ones who get hurt. Think of avenging the dead ronin first. Advance!”
The ronin gritted their teeth and began to advance.
Jeongcheok, after confirming the enraged ronin, approached me.
“Great Warrior Mujukyujin. I have a request.”
“I refuse if it’s a pointless request.”
“I promise a reward of at least 10 gold taels.”
That was tempting.
The more money, the better. Especially since I had a reason to save money.
‘I need Heavenly Jade to raise the VIP level of the Heavenly Gang System.’
One Heavenly Jade was worth 100 gold taels.
“I’ll listen if it’s not an absurd request.”
“Thank you.”
Jeongcheok took something out of his pocket. It was a rectangular piece of animal hide. I didn’t know what animal it was from, but it wasn’t an ordinary object. I could feel a mystical power. There was a black dot in the center of the hide.
“A magical artifact.”
“It’s called a Blood-Opening Map. If you put the blood of an enemy on it…”
He took out a blood-soaked cloth and dabbed it on the hide. The blood on the hide turned into dots and moved slowly.
‘This is a mini-map?’
The black dot was the location of the hide. The red dots were definitely the black tigers.
“These red dots are the black tigers that attacked us earlier. They’re heading northeast.”
“It’s quite a useful tool. And there are more than just a few black tigers.”
“It senses similar beings. There are about 60 black tigers… What I’m asking of you, Great Warrior, is to attack the black tiger group from behind. The leader will probably be at the rear.”
“You want me to deal with the leader?”
“I’ll give you the leader’s corpse.”
I pondered for a moment. The corpse of the black tiger leader would be worth a considerable amount. The corpse of a powerful monster could be used as material for magical artifacts.
“I accept.”
“Thank you so much, Great Warrior! I’ll lend you this Blood-Opening Map. I swear on my life that I will protect the lady next to you!”
“She’s coming with me.”
Jeongcheok looked back and forth between me and Mireyeong. Mireyeong stood still with a blank expression.
“…I respect your decision, Great Warrior.”
•••
Mireyeong and I separated from the ronin group and began to walk.
“Husband! Can I take a look at that magical artifact for a moment?”
“Are you curious?”
“It’s a magical artifact like a mini-map. Usually, magical artifacts are only weapons, so it’s rare to see support-type magical artifacts like this.”
She stared at the Blood-Opening Map for a long time before using sorcery to do something.
“There’s thread from a Poisonous Spider of the Deep (沁瀆魔蛛) in it.”
“Poisonous Spider of the Deep? What’s that?”
“It’s a spider monster. They mainly live in places with dirty water. They’re usually monsters of the Emerging Will (出志) level, but their sensing ability is very high.”
“If you have the thread of that spider monster, you can make something like this?”
“No. There seem to be other things as well. Even if you have all the materials… I’m not a craftsman, so I can’t make magical artifacts. Unless I have a perfect blueprint.”
I had learned and knew that the craftsmanship of the craftsmen was different from sorcery or martial arts, so I nodded vaguely.
“That seems like a good item… Should we run away with it?”
“Well, from what I see, it’s a low-grade magical artifact. When you actually try to use it, there aren’t many cases where it’s very helpful. First of all, the sensing range is narrow, and there’s the condition that you have to put the blood of the target on it.”
I looked at the Blood-Opening Map. The conditions aside, the sensing range was a concern.
‘Is it about 2km?’
The sensing range was definitely narrow.
“And low-grade magical artifacts like this can be easily fooled with decent stealth sorcery. It’s just that the black tigers are too stupid to do that.”
Mireyeong took the opportunity to start a lecture on stealth sorcery. I walked on, letting it go in one ear and out the other.
“We’ll be encountering the black tiger group soon. I’ll use stealth sorcery. We’ll be able to approach without being detected.”
Mireyeong formed hand seals. As her hands moved dazzlingly, letters of light appeared in the air. The sorcery-specific letters, which I couldn’t understand, seeped into me and Mireyeong.
Our presence disappeared. Our bodies became blurry, and our ki diminished. If I hadn’t known that Mireyeong was in front of me, I wouldn’t have been able to sense her and would have missed her.
‘Is this stealth sorcery? It’s quite good.’
The stealth sorcery restricted my body. It was a restriction that I could release at any time. Since I couldn’t stand the discomfort and might unconsciously release it, I relaxed my body as much as possible.
We trusted in the stealth sorcery and moved.
We caught up to the rear of the black tiger group.
Dozens of black tigers were gathered in one place. Among them, there was a black tiger that exuded a particularly intense presence.
That black tiger, which was at least twice as big as the other black tigers, was sitting cross-legged on a rock, with a long pipe in its mouth. Smoke was rising from the end of the pipe.
Anyone could tell that he was the leader of this black tiger group.
