Chapter 1288: Scorched World

Half an hour had passed since I started approaching Taesan. I approached the mountain, suppressing my presence as much as possible.

‘Let’s see…….’

I narrowed my eyes. The fact that I was attacked the moment I approached meant something was there right from the entrance.

Especially.

‘The closer I get to the mountain, the weirder the atmosphere feels.’

There was something bothering me about the atmosphere of Taesan itself. Recalling that, I activated my Mind’s Eye.

The eye that sees illusions. When I cast it.

‘……Just as I thought.’

I could see something filling the mountain. Just by looking, it was clearly an area of spells or other foreign powers. Especially this……

‘It’s probably right to call this a divine authority.’

Squirm.

Seeing that Tam kept trying to move from my chest area, what was laid upon Taesan seemed to be a specific divine authority. What could be the effect of this authority?

‘My prediction is.’

Perhaps the complete lack of any life signs around here is the power of this authority.

‘If not, it doesn’t make sense.’

Not a single monster on a mountain this vast? That’s ridiculous.

I wondered what the reason was, but it seems this authority is the cause.

In that case.

‘Should I unravel it?’

I considered trying to dispel the authority here with Tam, but…

‘That’s a dangerous idea.’

If an authority of this scale were to disappear because of Tam, they would definitely notice on the other side. And if that happened, it seemed like there would be much more trouble. For now, it was best to hold back.

‘Hmm.’

I lifted my head. Taesan was still far away. But.

‘I’ll manage as I climb.’

Since I couldn’t fly, I gritted my teeth and decided to climb the mountain.

* * *

Hwa-aaaaak-!!

Snow drifts in the wind. It was blizzard-level. Snow was piled high on this Taesan. The difference was.

‘Even the snow is red.’

A world where even the falling snow is red. A place that looked like it could be hell if hell existed.

That was the world inside this Demon Mirror Gate.

As I kept walking, stubbornly ignoring the snow, some time passed, and I saw the cave that served as Taesan’s entrance far in the distance.

The moment I confirmed it.

‘Oh.’

I slightly lowered my head and suppressed my presence. Because I saw someone.

“Someone appeared?”

I heard voices. I perked up my ears.

“No, it wasn’t just someone, a monster appeared.”

“A monster?”

It was an Apostle; I could tell from the horns on its head and its condition.

“With Lady Geomhu’s authority laid out around here, how can a monster appear?”

“That’s why it’s strange. I heard it was a monster in the shape of a small bird.”

“In that case, it might just be a monster that broke through by chance.”

“……Broke through the authority by chance?”

“If not for that, there’s no way a small monster would come this far, is there?”

One of them frowned as they spoke.

“To think we have to search this entire Taesan for just one monster. There’s nothing more annoying than this.”

It seemed they were mobilized because of the monster I sent.

“What if it’s not a monster, but a scheme by those martial artist bastards?”

“Ha.”

The man burst out laughing at that remark.

“Martial artists? What can those losers possibly do?”

Arrogance was visible on his face.

“They’re the ones who refused to become Apostles to protect their pathetic beliefs. What’s the end result of those beliefs they protected? Just lives spent pitifully day by day.”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

“Living each day in fear that an Apostle might attack. And you think they’d escape that and target us? Impossible.”

It’s absolutely impossible. I could clearly see those expressions and thoughts etched onto their faces.

“Even Young Master Mi. Lady Geomhu was wary of that shrew, but… Look at her now.”

My eyebrows twitched slightly at the mention of Mi Hyoran.

“She can’t do anything. It’s only natural. Even Namgung Jin, who tried to protect her, and the so-called great Divine Dragon became Apostles. What can she possibly do alone?”

“She might talk about having abilities, but in reality, she’s someone who can’t do anything without others’ help.”

Kekeke.

The sound brushed past my ears.

“Besides her, Poison Phoenix. Lady Geomhu is paying attention to her too… but it’s pointless.”

Crackle.

I got up. As I stood, I scanned my surroundings for any presence. The distance was just right.

“So. Anyway, those guys…”

“Hey.”

“Yeah……?”

At the interruption, they looked at me.

“……Huh?”

“A martial artist……?”

They widened their eyes as they looked at me. Before I could even gauge their reaction, I moved.

Kwaduduk.

I grabbed one of them by the neck and ripped it off. It was a shame I couldn’t absorb his energy, but I didn’t care.

“Huk…!”

As one Apostle died in an instant, the expression of another contorted. I reached out and clamped my hand over his mouth.

“Kkeuup…… Kkeuk!”

Watching the struggling guy, I chilled my eyes.

“There are always guys like this.”

It’s the same everywhere.

“Fucking guys who don’t know that running their mouths gets them killed.”

“……Kkuhk…….”

Terrified eyes. At the same time, I felt him trying to do something.

Kwaduduk.

“……!”

I thrust Tam into his abdomen. After blocking his attempt to use his authority.

“Die.”

Hoo-oook-!!

“—!!”

Using the Demonic Path Heavenly Absorption technique, I absorbed all of his energy. As his energy vanished, his body withered away. The one whose neck I ripped off was burned away with flames. What remained was the martial attire the guy had been wearing.

“……”

Looking at it, I cooled my head. After acting out of anger, my mind started working quickly.

“Ah.”

Thanks to that, an idea occurred to me.

* * *

Udududuk.

The sound of bones cracking echoed continuously. It was the Body Transformation Technique, used after a long time. I completely reconstructed my body. The one I copied was the Apostle I just killed. I mimicked his body and put on his clothes. At the same time.

Swiiik-!!

I copied the horns on his head and his tail with magic. I was making good use of what I had learned.

“This should be….”

Not bad. For the method I thought of, it looked quite decent. Dragging that body along, I headed for the cave entrance.

Ah.

‘I almost forgot.’

I remembered there was one more guy. For this, I used the authority of Mang. Then, a materialized illusion appeared and walked beside me. Heading straight for the entrance.

“What? You’re back already?”

An Apostle at the entrance spoke, seeing me.

“……There wasn’t much to find.”

As I spoke looking at him, the one who seemed to be the gatekeeper chuckled.

“You probably just wanted to slack off. I thought you were wandering around quite a bit for someone like you.”

It seemed the original personality of this guy was helpful.

“Go on in. The others will be coming in soon anyway.”

I nodded at his words. It seemed I had succeeded in entering the entrance. After putting some distance between myself and the gatekeeper. I descended into the cave, gauging the presence around. I couldn’t sense anything nearby. As soon as I confirmed that, I released Mang’s authority. The illusion that had been following me faded.

‘Let’s see.’

I needed to figure out the interior. I walked slowly, delving deeper into the cave. Before long, the end of the passage came into view. There was an iron gate in front of me. I pulled the gate.

Kiiiiiik.

The gate opened, and the interior came into view.

‘Huh.’

I was surprised the moment I saw it.

‘……It’s spacious?’

The inside was much larger than I expected. Not even comparable to the hideout Moyong Hi-ah built back then.

‘It’s like some kind of ant nest.’

A giant ant nest. That was the perfect description. There was no other way to describe it.

What’s more.

Geureureureung-!!

Geureureureureureureu—!!

Below in the space, immense monsters were visible. Their numbers and types varied, and their sizes and classes were different, yet they were clustered together in one place. Normally, fights should have broken out long ago, but how can they be gathered like this?

‘Gross.’

The densely packed cluster was quite disgusting. How are they gathered like that?

As I stared at the monsters in wonder.

‘……Huh?’

In the center of it all, I saw something else. That is.

‘A tree?’

It was a tree. A tree was standing boldly amidst the monsters, and quite a large one at that.

‘Why is there a tree there?’

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t fit. Why on earth is something like that there? It strangely caught my attention.

“……”

I looked around. There were no gazes looking at me. The presence of so many monsters was concerning, but…

‘If I suppress my presence.’

I might be able to do something. So, I used a considerable amount of energy to suppress my presence. I dropped from the railing towards the tree.

Tuk.

I arrived amidst the monsters. The monsters didn’t recognize me. I lightly leaped towards the tree again. The distance wasn’t too far to fly, so I reached my destination in an instant.

‘……Hmm.’

I looked closely at the tree. Why is something like this here? Could this also be…

‘Something like Mu-a?’

World Tree. The Master’s sacred tree. I wondered if it was such a being and took a quick look. Then, after looking around, I moved forward.

When I checked behind the tree after going halfway around.

“……Huh?”

I couldn’t help but freeze, just like when I found my mother.

“This is……”

It’s the same as that time. This time too, someone was tied to the tree. As expected, it was someone I knew. An old man, eyes closed as if dead, tied to the tree as if bound. Looking at him, I said with a trembling voice.

“……Patriarch Pae?”

Patriarch Pae, Bi-ju. My master, one of the Three Patriarchs, was tied to the tree.