Chapter 977 – 977. Ascending To The Light
“I understand that Mother likes that guy. But this one, he seems like a nice guy, will he work with us? Let’s just get rid of him cleanly.”
“You brat!”
The old hag got angry. The middle-aged man’s body flinched. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the old hag. It was a reaction ingrained in his body, like an old habit, as if it was only natural.
“The way that guy looks at me is not ordinary. It was full of love. He’ll be your new father, so show some respect!”
“…Yes, Mother.”
The middle-aged man responded vaguely, as if he couldn’t be bothered to talk, and began to carefully examine the fallen members one by one. He was already holding a bowl filled with bright red blood and marking the members’ faces with Upper, Middle, and Lower grades.
“This one is big and muscular all over… top grade… This one looks decent, but the inner energy he gives off is nothing special, so middle grade… Heh heh. There are a lot of middle grade or higher.”
He was appraising and classifying them like merchandise.
“You know we have a guest coming tonight, right? Pick out a suitable one from the lower grades and prepare to cook.”
“Mother, you should help too. I’m not good at cooking brains, no matter what.”
“Tsk tsk. You brat. Brains are the best delicacy. You need to learn to cook on your own soon. How long will your mother have to help you? Your mother doesn’t have much time left.”
The Black Spot.
A place where they catch and kill passing guests and sell human meat. It was a terrible place.
“Hey. You’re just saying that. You found a new father, so how can you say that?”
“I can tell… I don’t have much time left. At most, maybe three years.”
“Mother. Don’t say things like that. How can you leave me behind and go first?”
“Haa. When are you going to get married?”
“I’m already married. The problem is that ordinary women can’t endure our work. And I’m tired of catching runaway wives…”
“If you look, there will be a woman who suits you. And son, if I die… bury your new father with me too. We didn’t spend much time together in this life, so we should spend a long time together in the afterlife, shouldn’t we?”
“…I will do as you wish, Mother.”
The middle-aged man was doing what he had to do while talking. He then approached me.
“This rude guy has a decent appearance and leads a group of ronin, so he must be skilled, so he’s top grade…”
The guy’s finger was about to touch my face. The thought of that bloody man’s finger touching my body made me want to throw up.
I opened my eyes wide, grabbed the liquor bottle in reverse, and smashed it into the man’s head.
“Kuaaaak!”
The bottle shattered, and the remaining liquor soaked his head. The man’s knees buckled.
“Son!”
The old hag, startled, looked at me with wide eyes.
“H-how? How are you okay even after taking the Soul-Loss Drug!”
“Soul-Loss Drug? That’s a grand name. But it’s worthy of such a name.”
Even I, who had reached the realm of the Five Energies, almost fell asleep after being hit by it. If it weren’t for the Heavenly Heart, the situation would have been the worst, and I would have died once.
“Eek!”
The old hag’s hand moved to her waist. A hidden weapon flew. For an ordinary person, her hand movements were quite skilled. I just tilted my head and dodged the flying hidden weapon. The thin needle flew backward and fell to the floor. The tip of the needle was coated with a sticky poison.
“Oh, Mother! Run away! I’ll take care of this guy!”
The middle-aged man grabbed my leg. It was somewhat absurd. An ordinary person who hadn’t even learned martial arts was trying to stop me.
Pzzzt.
The lightning that sparked from my body electrocuted the middle-aged man. I didn’t kill him, just knocked him out. I was a little curious about them, so I didn’t just kill them.
The old woman was sweating profusely. Instead of running away, she knelt on the spot and begged with both hands.
“P-please, save me. Great Hero. We were wrong…! We’ll give you money!”
“You tried to kill me, and now you’re asking me to save you? Seriously, there’s a limit to how shameless you can be.”
“Great Hero… please…! We had no choice but to do this to make a living…!”
“Yeah, yeah. To make a living, you put sleeping pills in food, kill sleeping people, and sell human meat… You had no choice.”
“Ugh… just save me…”
The old woman trembled as I approached. Honestly, this incident was largely due to my carelessness because the old woman and the middle-aged man hadn’t learned martial arts. Of course, I had no intention of just letting it go.
I ignored the old woman for now and grabbed Sung Ji-gon’s shoulder, who had fallen next to me. He was fast asleep, oblivious to the world.
Slap! Slap!
I put strength into my palm and slapped Sung Ji-gon’s cheeks. Handprints appeared on Sung Ji-gon’s cheeks. Nevertheless, Sung Ji-gon didn’t wake up.
‘Is it impossible to wake him up by hitting him? He probably wouldn’t wake up even if he died.’
I changed my method.
Pzzzt.
I generated lightning energy and sent it into Sung Ji-gon’s body. There was no reaction.
‘Should I give up and wait for Sung Ji-gon to wake up? …Huh?’
I felt something unusual. A sticky, foreign energy. I realized it was the energy of the sleeping drug.
‘This… I can burn it away with lightning energy?’
I immediately took action. If it didn’t work, I could just stop. The lightning energy under my control began to eliminate the drug’s energy in Sung Ji-gon’s body. About three minutes passed. Sung Ji-gon’s eyelids twitched.
“Sung Ji-gon! Wake up!”
“Ugh, ugh… Yoo-jin…?”
Sung Ji-gon woke up. He shook his head and got up. It didn’t take long for his dazed expression to turn to shock.
“R-right. I suddenly felt sleepy… Damn it! I was drugged with sleeping pills! Is this really the Black Spot?!”
“They used sleeping pills, not poison, so it’s definitely the Black Spot. If they used poison, they couldn’t sell the human meat.”
“Aish…. To be caught so easily…. If it weren’t for you, Yoo-jin, I would have been in big trouble.”
“If you know, be careful in the future.”
“I understand. I’ll be careful. I shouldn’t go into inns outside the village so carelessly…”
Sung Ji-gon looked around. The ronin were all lying face down, asleep. The sight of their faces marked with Upper, Middle, and Lower grades in blood made Sung Ji-gon shudder.
“Yoo-jin, is my face marked with that grade too?”
“No.”
“Phew. That’s a relief. But…”
Sung Ji-gon approached the old woman. The old woman looked up at Sung Ji-gon with desperation.
“I, I didn’t intend to harm you. I really respected you… You and I could really become family…! Please save me! I’ll do anything you ask!”
She was begging for her life, tears streaming down her face. It was a pathetic sight. It was so annoying to watch that I wanted to kill her. But there was someone who was swayed by her begging for life. It was Sung Ji-gon. He bit his lip. At the same time, his groin began to swell.
“Ma’am… no, old hag. You tried to kill me and Yoo-jin, and you’re saying that? I can’t forgive you.”
Sung Ji-gon rushed at the old hag.
“Aaaah!”
The old hag screamed loudly, as if her throat would tear, and closed her eyes tightly, bracing for violence. But when the violence didn’t come, she felt something was wrong and opened her eyes.
Sung Ji-gon was smiling eerily. His eyes, gleaming with lust, scanned the old hag’s body.
“I won’t kill you. That’s too easy…”
Sung Ji-gon’s hand, smacking his lips, moved.
“Oh my!”
Tear! He tore the old hag’s clothes, instantly making her naked. The old hag’s sagging breasts and stained skin… I frowned and immediately turned my head away.
“Hey, Sung Ji-gon. Do you have to do it here? You can do it in a room.”
“Sorry, Yoo-jin. I can’t hold back!”
“What if the members wake up?”
“What does it matter if those bastards see?”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.”
I headed towards the kitchen. The sex scene between Sung Ji-gon and the old hag was too much to watch.
“Oh my! Oh my oh my!”
“Old hag! Your pussy is all dried up! The sight of a single drop of sap coming out of a dry old tree…! I like it, old hag!!”
“Oh my…. I’m dying…. I’m dying…!!”
“I treated the old hag like a hero… but the old hag tried to kill me! Die! Old hag!”
“Oh my oh my oh my!”
I could feel the madness from behind. My neck was stiff.
‘I shouldn’t look. If I look once, I might get infected with the madness too. My eyes are precious.’
I entered the kitchen.
Surprisingly, the kitchen was clean.
‘There’s another door inside.’
I opened the door and went in. The smell of blood hit me hard. At the same time, I felt a cool air.
‘A refrigerator? …There’s no way there’s such a thing in this world. Did they use magic to make it like a refrigerator?’
A naked human with a severed head was hanging from the ceiling. Blood was dripping. In the container next to it were head skins and bones. On one side, human intestines were hanging down.
‘It reminds me of a butcher shop. Other than that, there’s nothing special.’
There didn’t seem to be anything helpful.
I went outside and searched other places. I found 5 gold coins in what seemed to be the old hag’s room.
Back in the inn, I forced myself to hold onto my fading consciousness.
“Ugh, old hag, that pussy… it’s amazing…!”
“Ugh, ugh…! I’m gonna die!”
A frenzied sex act was taking place on the table. Sung Ji-gon was crushing the old hag and moving his waist, while the old hag was flapping her arms and moaning.
I shook my head and grabbed the head of the middle-aged man who was passed out. I sent lightning energy to awaken his mind.
“Kuh-heot!”
“Are you awake? I have something to ask you.”
“Kuh-euh… Mother… where’s Mother…?!
“Your mother is over there.”
I turned the man’s body towards where the old hag was. The man’s face turned pale when he saw his mother moaning under Sung Ji-gon.
“M-Mother?! Mother!!!”
“Gu-bo! Gu-bo, heumiiik! Your mother is dying… dying… heumiiik!”
“To violate my mother…! You cruel bastards! Let go of my mother!”
“Shut up. Let’s get hit first.”
My fist struck the man’s face and body. I had become skilled at hitting after hitting so many ronin.
“Kyak! Ack! S-stop! I, I was wrong! Ack!”
When the beating stopped, the man became quiet. He knelt on the floor and showed respect. I brought a chair and sat in front of him.
Thump thump thump thump!
I ignored the sounds of pounding from behind.
“I have something I’m curious about. Who are you trading with? It’s only possible for you to run this Black Spot without any martial arts skills if you have a backer.”
The sleeping pills and Soul-Loss Drug that the guy and the old hag used were by no means ordinary items. If there was a force that could give them such items, there would be a few things I could get out of it.
“Tell me. Who are you trading with?”
“Th, that is…”
His lips trembled.
It was fear.
But it wasn’t fear towards me. I summoned the Fire Lotus Dagger in my hand. The red blade emitted an ominous energy. The tip of the blade gently cut his right wrist. Thud. His mouth widened as he saw his falling hand.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“Next is your left hand. Then your feet. And then… should I do your eyes? If you want to preserve your body, answer my questions honestly. You need your hands and feet to be intact to take care of your mother, right?”
“If, if I answer, will you spare me?”
“I’ll spare you.”
My words could be a lie. The man knew it. But it was enough to be a glimmer of hope.
“We… we belong to the Ink Earth Alliance (墨地聯). Although we’re just at the bottom.”
“And the one you trade with is the Ink Earth Alliance?”
“Yes. We trade every fifteen days.”
“Did you get the sleeping pills from the Ink Earth Alliance too?”
“Yes. We’re just working according to the methods the Ink Earth Alliance told us. We don’t actually want to do this kind of work…. It’s all because the Ink Earth Alliance told us to.”
“Who asked?”
I wasn’t interested in his excuses.
“When is the Ink Earth Alliance coming?”
His eyes wavered.
“Don’t play games with me, just tell me.”
“They were originally supposed to come next week… but I sent a messenger pigeon earlier, so they’ll come tonight.”
“Ah ha. They’re coming because there are over 30 items. Heh heh.”
“N-no, that’s not it!”
“Yes, it is.”
I hit the guy’s head.
