Chapter 63 – Desert (2)

When Yeon-hwa stepped forward, people’s actions completely changed.

The people who had looked completely like bandits until then transformed into gentle country village folk.

Moreover, perhaps feeling guilty about pointing weapons at the holy maiden, the heads of those who first pointed swords at the party seemed like they would burrow into the ground.

The party entering the village with their guidance looked around with serious expressions.

Because the village atmosphere was extremely bad, just as they had felt from outside.

Torches were lit everywhere, fully revealing the entire village. They were houses with walls made of mud plaster and roofs of palm leaves, but several houses had collapsed and some showed traces of being burned.

Moreover, the people who came running to the roadside and bowed their heads at the sound of the holy maiden’s arrival were all either children or people who looked extremely old. Several of them appeared quite uncomfortable, as if injured.

But unlike the others, Yeon-hwa walked with a gentle smile while greeting people one by one.

‘So this is what it means to be a holy maiden.’

Sun-woo, who until now had thought of her as just a woman with some kind of four-dimensional mind, had no choice but to revise his thoughts at her current appearance.

When they entered the village, an elderly-looking adult came out and guided the party to the largest house.

Inside was an empty house with carpets on the floor, and the elder seated Yeon-hwa in the innermost seat, the place for superiors.

The rest of the party sat awkwardly beside her, and only then did the old man take his seat in front of her.

Then, through the open door, people could be seen kneeling en masse in front of the house.

They were all people who had pointed weapons at the party.

At their appearance, Yeon-hwa opened her mouth.

“These were things done unknowingly. I forgive everyone. Everyone return and shake off your sins.”

When her words ended, people’s resounding voices came from outside the door.

“We thank the holy maiden for her grace.”

When the words ended, everyone moved away from the front of the house as quietly as possible.

“Thank you, holy maiden.”

“Village chief, what on earth happened?”

Yeon-hwa gazed intently at the old man who bowed his head in gratitude.

The old man, the village’s eldest and chief, let out a small sigh when she looked at him.

“It was about half a year ago. One day suddenly a group of bandits stormed into the village. The young men tried to stop them, but they were no match. Some died that day and some clan members were dragged away by the bandits.”

“It wasn’t even a surprise attack and the village youth were defeated by a bandit gang?”

“They weren’t ordinary bandits. There were martial arts masters among them, so nothing could be done.”

The chief coughed slightly and continued speaking.

“After that, the bandits came frequently to plunder the village. Most of the young people were dragged away and food ran out, so we ended up committing sins against the holy maiden.”

When the chief’s words ended, Yeon-hwa opened her mouth.

“Did you try talking to the branch? What on earth is the branch doing?”

At her words, the chief shook his head.

“We went to the branch but it was no use. The cult members we saw before were nowhere to be seen and we were just turned away at the door. We pleaded with the branch leader, but just got beaten… The person has completely changed.”

“What do you mean?”

Yeon-hwa seemed truly surprised. And for good reason, as the branch leader of this Divine Cult branch was someone Yeon-hwa knew well.

“That’s not like him at all.”

“I don’t know how it happened either. Because of that, even the city where the branch is located had a very bad atmosphere…”

When he had spoken that far, sounds of people came from outside the house. Elderly women were standing outside the door holding something.

It seemed village people had brought food. The story stopped there and the party ended up eating the food people brought out.

But the food they brought was very thin porridge.

“We’re sorry. This is all we have to offer…”

Looking at the extremely thin old man’s appearance, his words were not lies.

Sun-woo made a troubled expression in front of the porridge, but Yeon-hwa drank the porridge without a word, and Nan-seol and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom also drank the porridge following her.

In the end, Sun-woo had no choice but to drink the porridge too. The porridge really had no taste.

After the meal ended, the chief withdrew, leaving the party in the house. It seemed this house was the chief’s house, and he had given up the house for the holy maiden’s party.

Growl~

Right after the chief left, a resounding sound came from Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s stomach.

“Tsk, I tried to endure with internal energy but such thin porridge is definitely too much.”

The others agreed with his words. Especially martial artists who used martial arts had higher metabolism than ordinary people, so their hunger was even greater.

“Let’s solve the hunger with this for now.”

At that sight, Sun-woo took out bread and bottled water from his inventory.

“Oh, you had more?”

“It’s expensive, so please treat me later.”

Though they had also gotten to eat in the pit under the sand during the day, the bread Sun-woo handed over was quite edible.

“Of course. When we get to the city where the branch is, I’ll treat you.”

The party decided to first go to the oasis where the branch was located.

That place was quite a large city due to merchant traffic, and even at the party’s speed it was a distance that would take several days of walking from here.

“But if we go there, will we really be able to get information about the Blood Cult?”

“This is mostly desert. Unless we go to the branch, there’s no way to find it.”

Yeon-hwa answered Nan-seol’s words.

“Ugh, I can’t even gauge how long this mission will take. Looking at how things are, even when we get to where the branch is, I don’t think we’ll see anything good.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom and Nan-seol seemed to have softened considerably from the morning. Especially Nan-seol, who had looked sharp, now seemed to have almost returned to her true appearance.

The party decided to depart in the morning and organized their places. Unlike the other three, Yeon-hwa didn’t eat the bread Sun-woo handed over.

“Um, may I use this bread elsewhere?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

She probably wanted to distribute it to the village people.

That night, Nan-seol and Yeon-hwa lay down inside while Sun-woo and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom lay down toward the door. The party all seemed tired as they fell asleep quickly, but Sun-woo couldn’t fall asleep right away.

After tossing and turning for a while, he took out his phone while lying down.

<Min Sun-woo>

<Spirit of the Earth Level 7> Grade increase: 400p

<Illusion Arts Level 5> Grade increase: 200p

<Revolving Divine Demon Art 4-Star> Grade increase: 700p

<Revolving Sword Technique 4-Star> Grade increase: 300p

<Seven Star Steps 5-Star> Grade increase: 200p

<Body Enhancement 1-Star> Grade increase: 100p

<Remaining Points 480p>

Sun-woo poured 200 points into Body Enhancement and 200 points into Seven Star Steps, making <Seven Star Steps> 6-Star and <Body Enhancement> 3-Star.

These were points he had saved not knowing what mission might come.

After moving in the desert, he needed to strengthen his qinggong. And <Body Enhancement> was unavoidable because of the heat. Though he could block the heat to some degree with internal energy, to properly avoid the heat, nothing was better than <Body Enhancement>.

For some reason, it was a foolish reason but there was no need to suffer when he could spend time comfortably.

After strengthening skills like this, Sun-woo fell asleep immediately as if relieved.

The next morning,

What woke the party was neither morning sunlight nor a rooster’s crow.

Clang clang clang.

The loudly ringing emergency bell sound woke the party.

“Bandits!”

The party that sprang from their places could understand what was happening from people’s shouts. The party looked at each other and immediately rushed outside.

When the party went outside, they could see the village’s chaotic appearance.

Since the sun hadn’t completely risen yet, against a somewhat dark background, village people were running in all directions.

They were frantically busy hiding children and women.

And the chief came running breathlessly toward the party.

“Everyone hide. They’re coming.”

At the chief’s words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom jumped high onto a house. His eyes saw about a dozen riders running this way through the sand dust in the distance.

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom, having confirmed the enemy, jumped back down.

“Fourteen in number, proper horsemanship. They’re running properly even on sand. Looks like I can have a good fight after a long time.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom drew his sword while informing them of the enemy information he confirmed. At his words, Nan-seol also drew her sword, but the chief’s expression darkened instead.

“Let’s hide as the chief said.”

“Huh? We can handle them easily enough.”

At Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words, Yeon-hwa shook her head.

“They won’t be all of them. Right?”

“The first group that came was over fifty people. And according to rumors, the number is much more than that…”

At Yeon-hwa’s question, the chief quickly nodded.

“Even if we defeat all of them here, the next bandits will storm in again. Then the village will be annihilated. If we’re not going to keep protecting the village here continuously, we must hide.”

Yeon-hwa knew well about the bandits in the desert. She had traveled this desert region and witnessed bandit tyranny numerous times.

At her words, Nan-seol immediately sheathed her sword and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom also clicked his tongue and sheathed his blade.

“Tsk, can’t be helped.”

Though Hwangbo Ja-gyeom had the mindset of destroying what blocks, he wasn’t the type to cause harm to ordinary common people.

“Then, I pray we can properly serve you later.”

The chief bowed deeply to Yeon-hwa and ran to the village people. It was a sudden visit. Somehow they had to send them off without damage to the village.

Time passed and the bandit gang entered the oasis village.

The village people were all trembling in fear gathered in one place, and the chief stood in front of them and bowed deeply toward the approaching bandits.

“What brings you here? I understand it’s not yet the date you should come.”

The chief’s words couldn’t have gone unheard, but unlike usual, the bandits didn’t answer his words.

Feeling puzzled, he glanced up at the bandits, but the bandits seemed uninterested in the chief’s words. They looked as if they were waiting for someone.

The chief wondered at their appearance while carefully looking around.

Fortunately, the holy maiden and her party were not visible. It seemed everyone had safely escaped.

The chief breathed a sigh of relief. If at least the holy maiden went to the branch and set things right, or at least properly informed the Cult of this place’s reality, the village could come back to life.

‘Such, impious thoughts…’

The chief clicked his tongue at the thought that rose in his mind. He would just be grateful if only the holy maiden was safe.

While the chief was lost in other thoughts and came to his senses, the sound of hoofbeats was heard again. This time it seemed to be coming from another direction.

Shortly after, three men on horses appeared at the village entrance. The man who appeared was someone the chief knew well.

“Don’t tell me…”

The man who appeared looked around the village, discovered the chief, and smirked.

“Haven’t been long since we met, right? Chief?”

“Sa-hyeok… great hero…”

The middle-aged man who called the chief and stood beside the bandits was Sa-hyeok, the Divine Cult branch leader of this region.

“How are you together with bandits…”

“You don’t need to know that.”

The branch leader showed no interest in the chief’s words and looked around. And he gave instructions to the bandits beside him.

“Pick out just a few useful ones and kill everyone. Clean everything up.”

“Yes!”

At the branch leader’s words, the bandits brought down whips on their horses.

Neigh!

The horses began charging toward the chief and village people, and

Rumble rumble rumble.

Pits began forming wildly in front of the charging horses. The surprised horses began falling into the pits.