Chapter 26: Special Lesson Part 2

A secret room, as heated as the atmosphere itself, flushed my face with warmth.

I wanted to leave without looking back, but something didn’t feel right.

My legs refused to move.

There had to be a reason someone went through the trouble of hiding this room.

“Azuki, would you mind waiting outside for a moment?”

“While you prepare, I’ll be gathering my resolve!”

“You don’t need to do that. I’m just going to investigate this space.”

“Are you stepping into a new realm?”

Thud!

I quickly sent Azuki out and closed the stone door behind her.

No matter what I said right now, it would only lead to misunderstandings.

Only after sending her away could I finally take my time and observe the surroundings.

‘There are no bloodstains, and all the tools look as clean as new.’

In a sealed space inside a cave near the sea, you’d expect the leather to be moldy and the air to reek.

But the surface of the whip was spotless, and there was no smell at all.

The iron shackles weren’t rusted, nor was there a speck of dust on them.

Even among the glowstones, some flickered from age, but the punishment tools were all in perfect condition.

That said, there weren’t any signs that someone had been maintaining them either.

No fingerprints.

No traces of chemicals used.

It felt as if time had stopped for just these objects.

‘There’s no magic that can manipulate time. And even if there were, no one would use it on items that aren’t even treasures.’

Which meant that the mysterious force surrounding these tools wasn’t magical.

It was something different—something mystical and uncanny.

A form of sorcery one might find in a distant land across the sea in the East.

Considering this cave had been built by Eastern warriors, it wouldn’t be strange to encounter some Eastern magic.

‘But why would someone go to the trouble of enchanting such absurd items?’

Even if I wanted to investigate further, touching them might dispel the enchantment, so I couldn’t carelessly lay a hand on them.

It was the very definition of forbidden fruit.

“I’ll have to come back later.”

Judging there was nothing more I could do at the moment, I opened the stone door and stepped outside.

Azuki was leaning against the wall, reading a book as she waited for me.

Her ears perked up at the sound of the door opening, and she looked up at me.

“Looks like you didn’t find anything useful.”

“It’s not really my area of expertise.”

“So there are things even you don’t know. You always come off like you know everything.”

“I’m not an all-knowing god. I’ve got plenty of blind spots.”

I walked about twenty steps inward from where we stood outside.

I tapped along the wall, listening for hollow sounds that might reveal a hidden chamber beyond.

Eventually, I found what I had originally come here to look for.

“This time, I’ve really found it.”

I opened another concealed door, and beyond it was a shrine.

Stone lanterns and an old wooden building greeted me.

The structures were deeply infused with an Eastern aesthetic.

Azuki followed behind me, and I could tell the sight stirred some nostalgia in her—the way her tail began to sway excitedly gave it away.

“How is it? Does it remind you of home?”

“Yes. The architecture is a little different from the area I lived in, but it’s definitely from the East.”

“The Eastern Continent is just as vast as this one.”

Taking the entirety of the Asian continent into account, it was far larger than the Western lands.

‘If Azuki was of Japanese origin, then the building before us leaned more toward Korean tradition—specifically from the old Joseon era.’

The Hahoetal mask hanging from a beam under the eaves was proof of that.

“Do you really think something related to my curse could be here?”

“Let’s check over there first.”

***

What you imagine from reading and what you experience firsthand are two different things.

The place was far more majestic than what Luke had described in his reports.

Just walking around was a delight.

I wanted to stroll leisurely through the estate, but there was no time to waste.

I climbed the stone steps straight to the shrine’s main hall.

That’s where I would find the object tied to Azuki’s curse.

“Found it!”

Inside were various ancestral tablets, incense sticks, and a beast statue resembling a haetae.

On the altar lay a round medallion made of bronze.

A smiling goblin’s face was carved into the medallion, emanating an eerie, otherworldly energy.

I boldly picked it up.

“As expected, nothing happens when I touch it.”

The goblin medallion had already chosen its rightful owner.

I turned and held it out to Azuki.

She accepted it with a hint of hesitation.

The moment it left my hand and passed into hers—

Azuki flinched, and the fur all over her body stood on end.

She began to grimace and let out a strained groan.

The medallion and the curse within her were resonating with each other.

“Before we left, I told you your curse wasn’t an ordinary one, remember?”

“Ughhh…”

“Your curse came from a yokai. And a really nasty one at that.”

“How could you possibly know—”

“I’ll explain once you wake up. For now, just take a little nap.”

Azuki, who had been holding the Goblin Talisman, eventually collapsed to the ground in a feverish daze.

Her hair, along with all the hair on her body, began to turn golden, and her once single tail split into nine.

With Azuki’s transformation came a deep tremor from beneath the ground.

The entire cave began to shake as if struck by an earthquake.

Not long after, the tremors subsided, and Azuki sprang to her feet.

To be precise, it was not Azuki who had risen—it was the source of the curse dwelling inside her, Yoho, who had awakened.

“A human, not even a yokai, dared inject yoki into this body to awaken me? How amusing!”

“I always knew we’d have to face each other eventually. I just decided to get it over with sooner.”

“Oh? Even though this is our first meeting, you know me well… even know what lies ahead for me?”

Azuki’s all-seeing eyes were originally a unique ability belonging to Yoho.

Having parasitized Azuki’s body, a fragment of her power had been inherited.

But now that Yoho had taken over her body, that partial ability had returned to its full strength.

She must have seen it all—my origin from another world, and the past I carry.

“You possess divine powers rivaling those old beings who frolic above the clouds, yet your flesh remains bound to that of a human…”

“I’m not interested in your monologue. You already know what my goal was in waking you, don’t you?”

“Of course. You aim to defeat me and lend my power to your host—how insolent.”

“As long as you know.”

“Arrogant fool. The future you saw showed talented warriors joining forces to barely subdue me. Yet you dare face me alone?”

“That just means I have that much confidence.”

I drew my field shovel, not the beat-up one I usually carried, but a proper one used for battle.

Though it felt light and balanced in one hand, its blade was sharp as a sword—a formidable weapon.

Knowing this fight wouldn’t be easy, I had come prepared.

“You’re using a tool meant for laborers as your weapon?”

“Don’t underestimate it. This may look like a mere shovel, but it’s a proper weapon in its own right.”

“How amusing. If it’s truly a mighty weapon, then prove it to me here and now!”

Yoho laughed mockingly and snapped her fingers.

In an instant, skeletal soldiers wielding swords, spears, and bows emerged from the ground before her.

Two massive goblins, each holding iron clubs the size of my torso, also sprang out and stood beside them, forming a small army.

“I’ll overlook this offense out of appreciation for the effort you made to wake me—if you walk away now. What will you do?”

“There’s a limit to how much disrespect I’ll take. You don’t know what kind of life I’ve led, do you?”

I dove straight into the enemy ranks.

Swinging my shovel, I crushed skulls, sliced through spines, and in one stroke, felled a dozen soldiers with my weapon’s force.

Before the skeletons could react, I was already moving with lethal precision, decimating their ranks.

“I’ve mastered the art of sending corpses back to the earth!”

“Quite the skill. Then, let’s see how you fare against my bodyguards.”

The twin ogres, one red-skinned and one blue, each bearing clubs with spikes jutting out like thorns, let out a furious roar and charged.

Though their stomps shattered the ground and pulverized the skeletons around them, they didn’t slow down.

As they neared, the red ogre raised his club high, while the blue one pulled his back, ready to swing.

Both ogres struck simultaneously—one bringing his club down, the other swinging sideways.

“If I were struggling with chumps like this, I wouldn’t have dared face you alone.”

I raised my left arm and caught the descending club with one hand.

At the same time, I swung my field shovel and struck aside the other club that came rushing in from the side.

Crack!

Channeling power into my grip, I crushed the iron club in my hand.

My fingers lodged into the twisted metal, anchoring firmly as I yanked my arm backward.

The red ogre, still holding the club, stumbled forward with it—right into my waiting shovel, which cleaved through his neck.

“Grraaauuughhh!”

“Shut up.”

As the red ogre fell, the blue one roared in rage.

I grabbed the fallen club, aimed it at his gaping mouth, and hurled it.

The club plunged into his mouth and pierced through the back of his throat.

Air hissed out from the hole, sounding like a deflating balloon.

Without even a death cry, the blue ogre collapsed.

“You… dare destroy my guardian ogres…!”

“They were nothing but scrubs.”

In the original tale, these twin ogres had given the protagonist’s party a hard time.

But by slaying them so effortlessly, I had proven I was on a different level.

“Let’s wrap this up. I need to reach the finish line before my students do.”

The battlefield, soaked in bone dust and goblin blood was about to become a storm of flying fur.