Chapter 436: Regret (2)

“Hugh…!”

I woke up and breathed heavily.

I coughed a few times and started to look around immediately.

Where am I…?

It was an unfamiliar ceili- …Wait, there was no ceiling.

The first thing I saw was the sky.

Was it nighttime? Or was it midnight?

A dark colored sky entered my sight, and I had no idea what time it was.

Swish.

I immediately lifted my body up.

I looked around my surroundings.

…Where the hell am I?

The only thing I saw around me was a dark dirt floor.

When I grabbed some of the dirt in my hand and observed it carefully,

This is…

The dirt was rotten.

It was in a very nasty state at that.

It seemed like it was rotten due to some poisonous effect.

Thankfully, it seemed to have lost all of its poison due to time…

I tapped the dirt off my hands and got up to my feet.

I first had to figure out where I was currently at.

Where the hell did she send me?

I started to flow Qi inside my body.

It made a lap around my body while traveling through my blood vessels.

My Qi had very slightly recovered, and I didn’t notice any problem with my body.

I immediately thought about what Tang Jaemoon said before.

She said I would be given a test, so was this where I was going to be taking it?

But it feels too strange to say that.

I had a mysterious feeling. I wasn’t referring to the pit.

I felt something cold from outside, and it was poking my instincts.

I focused my strength on my feet and leaped.

Swoosh-!

I jumped high and was able to escape the pit.

“Hmm…?”

I opened my eyes widely as soon as I landed because of the sight in front of me.

I started to look around.

It only took a few seconds. I couldn’t help but be shocked.

It was understandable.

“…What’s going on?”

The pit I was lying down in up until now was none other than the Lake of Poison.

All the water disappeared from it, and only the pit remained. I had been lying in there.

“…Huh?”

I was only able to react in a dumb tone.

All those waters disappeared in an instant? What was going on? That wasn’t the only problem either.

“I’m fucked…”

I was a guest who was permitted to take a look at the treasure of the Tang Clan.

But all the water from the lake disappeared right after that?

This wasn’t something I could give an excuse for.

I’m seriously fucked.

How can I even explain this situation?

…Fuck me.

And here I thought I actually landed a jackpot for once. I was wrong once again.

I tried my best to ignore my headache and turned my head.

It was to look for Nahee, who should have been waiting outside.

“…!”

But as I slowly looked around, I felt another strange sensation.

First of all, the surrounding fields were all dried up.

The same applied to the forest we walked through.

The trees were all blackened just like the dirt.

It was proof of it completely rotting from the inside.

The forest full of life that was maintained by the Tang Clan was completely dead now.

Thud.

My heart sank completely at the sight.

My body was already on the move.

I used the remaining Qi, which I barely had left, and moved.

Something was strange.

Was there an ambush?

Perhaps there was an ambush while I was away?

My brain wasn’t working properly.

I just ran.

What about the girls? The girls…!

I had no time to observe the situation.

I just had to run for now.

Was it because I suddenly used too much strength?

My eyes became bloodshot.

Thud-!

Slide-!

I landed harshly, forming dust everywhere, but I arrived at the guest house.

I didn’t run into a single person on the way.

However, I did notice the faint scent of blood and killing intent lingering in the surroundings.

I opened the door harshly, almost as if I was ripping it apart.

“Whew…”

I tried my best to calm my heart down, but it wasn’t easy.

What if something happened?

All kinds of thoughts were filling my mind.

I headed to where Namgung Bi-ah and Wi Seol-Ah were.

I bit down hard on my lips as the hallway was drenched with blood puddles.

Blood leaked from my lips, and it dripped down to my chin.

When I arrived…

“Hah…”

As I expected, there weren’t any traces of people.

Only faint traces of someone remained.

I wasn’t sure if I should feel relieved or not at the sight.

I fell to the ground as if I had run out of strength.

What’s… going on?

I felt the tip of my fingers shake.

What was currently going on right now?

I had to think rationally, but I couldn’t keep my cool.

My heart was beating faster than usual, and my breathing was unstable.

Heat started to come out from my body as I couldn’t control my emotions.

What went wrong?

How long was I in the secret vault for this to happen?

What happened to the girls? Are they okay?

Just what happened for this to…

I tried to work my brain as I tried to calm down,

Creak.

But I noticed a presence.

It was a person.

I turned my head towards it.

“Damn it… What’s going on…! Any word from the other units?”

I started to hear a voice.

“Senior… we must go there and join forces…! If we don’t, then they’ll- “

“You bastard, and what will we do when we go there? Die a pointless death along with them? Do you not know who’s there right now?”

“But…!”

I no longer needed to hear their conversation any further.

Craaack-!

I went towards the presence that entered the building and threw myself at him.

I broke one bastard’s leg, and I grabbed the other bastard’s neck.

“Ughhh!?”

The intruder looked at me in shock due to the sudden situation.

I looked at the person who suddenly appeared.

He had an ordinary face, and it wasn’t someone I knew.

Moreover…

“Murim Alliance?”

The bastard’s outfit definitely belonged to the Swordsmen of the Murim Alliance.

“Urgh… gh…”

After checking the bastard’s outfit, I slightly loosened my grasp.

“What are you. Why is someone from the Murim Alliance here?”

“Cough… Huff… S-Survivor…?”

I opened my eyes widely, just like the bastard after hearing him.

Did he call me a survivor?

“W-Why is a survivor…! I swear I heard that there weren’t any remaining survivors here…?”

My expression worsened after hearing his chilling words.

He spoke as if the Tang Clan had been ambushed.

“What happened here? Answer now.”

“A-Are you a member of the Tang Clan? I am Murim Alliance’s- “

“Answer my question first, if you don’t want to die.”

When I spoke with killing intent, the man’s face turned pale.

Hrgh… Hgh…

The bastard who had his leg broken groaned in pain.

Then, he shouted at me.

“W-Who are you…! Why is a martial artist attacking the Murim Alliance?!”

“Shut your mouth and answer my question. Why did this place become a mess like this?”

I was in a hurry. I didn’t know what happened here.

The Tang Clan became a mess, and I felt no life energy remaining.

I also didn’t know how long it had been.

There was no way that I could calm down when I didn’t know what happened to the others.

I was trying my best to hold back my anger. After noticing my emotion, the man started to speak.

“P-Please calm down first…! If we get caught by the other Demonic Humans at this rate…!”

“What?”

His response was problematic.

“Did you just say Demonic Humans?”

“T-That’s right… Do you not know who is currently- “

Crack…!

I felt something inside my stomach when I heard the man’s words.

“…How… How are you aware of Demonic Humans?”

“What nonsense are you talking about right now…! We shouldn’t be- …Hgfh!?”

I filled my heart with Demonic Qi.

Ominous Qi took over my body, and Demonic Qi filled my eyes.

After checking my face, the man started to shake in fear.

“D-Demonic Human…!?”

That’s what the man clearly shouted.

They shouldn’t know this term in the current period of time.

…What’s going on…

But then, what about the reaction he just showed?

How come they knew what Demonic Humans were?

I started to get goosebumps all over my body because of the chilling situation.

I turned my head and looked around again.

I thought about all the places I passed by up until now.

The Lake of Poison, which only had a pit remaining.

A lifeless forest that was fully rotten.

The Tang Clan that was filled with blood puddles.

And the Murim Alliance, which was aware of Demonic Humans.

I combined all of those things, and I started to realize the problem.

“Urgh…”

I couldn’t endure the sickness, and started to vomit.

“Cough…”

It felt like everything that was inside left my body.

As time passed by, the haunting emotion I felt was definitely fear.

“…Don’t… Don’t joke with me.”

I had to pray.

The test that Tang Jaemoon spoke of.

I had to pray that this wasn’t the regret she was referring to.

As I continued to vomit in fear, I started to feel a killing intent from behind me.

I swung my hand at the sensation.

Flames exploded outwards.

“Aghhhh!”

Black flames shot towards the person who tried attacking me, and it fully consumed him in an instant.

It didn’t take long for the man to die.

The other man covered his mouth in fear after seeing the sight.

“B-Black Flame… the Black Flame Demon…?”

Crack.

I twisted the bastard’s neck before he could say anything.

Crack, Crackle-

Flame continued to burn using human bodies as firewood.

I wiped the blood traces off my hand as I watched the fire.

I then clenched my fist and struck the wall.

“…Fuuuuuck!”

Slam-!

My fist dug through the wall.

Craaack-!

The wall formed cracks that looked like a spider web.

I thought to myself as dust and crumbs fell to the ground.

It all felt real.

The sickness I felt earlier.

The sensation I felt when I killed a person.

The contact I felt when my fist dug through the wall.

It all felt real.

Was this really all an illusion?

What if… it isn’t? Then what happens?

“…This really isn’t it. This… is too cruel.”

I brushed my face with my shaky hand.

It was obvious what happened if I took a look at the surroundings.

I thought about the current situation and the location I was in.

I combined all of the things that happened, and I was only able to come up with one conclusion.

It wasn’t like something happened while I was in the secret vault.

It didn’t mean that time flowed abnormally, or anything of the sort.

It’s not like that at all…

Instead, this was…

Zaaap-

“…!”

I turned my head towards a sensation that passed by my body.

This sensation I just felt, it came from very far away.

I focused my sight.

I also widened my senses towards where the energy came from.

I was able to see it then.

In the distance, I saw a red sky, and I also saw a dark black cloud.

At the same time,

Perhaps…

I felt a way too familiar Lightning Qi from that direction.

I immediately leaped in that direction.

I ran faster than before.

Moreover, unlike before, I felt a different emotion other than anxiety and nervousness.

How should I describe this emotion I was feeling?

I didn’t know.

I just had to run for now.

I ran by the rotten buildings and trees for a very long time.

My Dantian started to scream in pain as I was running out of Qi, but I didn’t care.

I ran endlessly.

I got closer and closer.

The sharp smell of blood poked my nose as I got closer.

It was enough to make even me cringe at the stench.

But I ignored it and arrived at my destination.

I was horrified at the sight in front of me when I arrived.

How could I not be?

Rumble…

Rumble!

The sky didn’t have a single normal cloud.

However, there was one dark cloud filled with Lightning Qi.

Underneath that, was a pile of corpses and a giant puddle of blood that leaked from those bodies.

All of these bodies belonged to the Murim Alliance’s martial artists, judging from their outfits.

Splash.

I walked forward.

It was a horrifying sight, but that’s not what entered my eyes.

From the very beginning, my sight was only on one person.

The nasty smell of blood.

The pile of corpses on the ground.

None of those things mattered to me.

There was only one thing that I found important.

In the center of the blood puddle, I saw a figure standing alone.

Splash.

She must’ve noticed my presence due to the splashing sound, but she looked as if she didn’t care.

I went a little closer.

One step.

And another step.

I ignored the fact that my feet were shaking, and I went closer.

Once I got to a certain point, her gaze finally aimed towards me.

Her cold blue pupils made contact with mine.

She looked the same as I remembered.

She had moonlit white hair, and her pale white skin was eye-catching.

She was fully covered in blood, but I knew that those blood didn’t belong to her.

It was the blood of all the people she killed.

“Hah…”

I let out an exhausted breathing sound after seeing the sight.

She tilted her head after seeing my reaction.

Even that reaction of hers was the same as I remembered.

“…”

I thought about back then as I stared at her.

…In my past life that felt like hell, there was a lady that I never was able to read.

Why she chased after the moon.

What goal she had in mind for her to endlessly train her sword.

I knew nothing about her.

I never put my concern on anyone else besides me because of how hard my life was.

That was the same when she sacrificed her life for me without hesitation.

With the same emotionless expression from back then, she pointed her sword against me and asked.

“Who…?”

Her voice faintly had killing intent around it.

It was definitely her.

The Demonic Sword that I remembered.