Chapter 191- Dream of the Demon God (11)

The maze-like caves had transformed into an anthill made of rooms and passages as the prisoners living inside gradually expanded them.

The two headed straight for the ruins.

There was a method to go around avoiding the blocking faction, but it took too much time and Sun-woo didn’t know the way itself, so they moved following the tracks of those who went ahead.

As time passed, the two entered the territory of another prisoner who controlled the area leading to the ruins.

The moment they entered the territory Jijimin told him about, there were those blocking their path.

Barricades made of various bones and cloth scraps instead of wood, and warriors similarly wearing rags.

They pointed bone spears at Jijimin.

“What business do you have? There’s no reason for Lady Miho of the west to visit us, is there?”

The warriors blocking the two looked very sharp.

A warrior was already running inside to deliver news, and other warriors clearly looked tense.

“Did you guys eat something wrong? Why so prickly? Can’t I come see your captain? Can’t you tell from seeing just the two of us here?”

Jijimin who was gentle toward Sun-woo revealed the presence of a mature peak master toward the warriors.

“Ah, the captain is busy right now and cannot meet you. Please come back later.”

Though sweating at her presence, the warriors’ spears didn’t lower.

“Didn’t you say you were friendly and could resolve things with words?”

At the warriors’ firm appearance, Sun-woo sighed, and Jijimin’s face turned red.

On the way here, she had bragged to Sun-woo that this place’s captain had a decent relationship with her so they could pass through easily.

“What, I came and you’re busy! You don’t know my temper!”

Though she got angry to the fullest, the spears had no intention of lowering.

While she threw a tantrum, Sun-woo touched one wall of the cave and soon could understand why they desperately blocked the two.

“They got smashed.”

“What?”

“They clashed with those I’m tracking and got smashed. Quite a few died, and someone who looks like an upper-level peak master got badly hurt too? They probably passed through without killing because they were in a hurry, so it’s definitely hard to meet.”

At Sun-woo’s words, the expressions of the warriors blocking the path hardened stiffly.

After the captain got smashed, everyone hid to avoid further losses, but their strength had decreased by more than half.

They were all tense with mouths shut in case another faction might attack knowing this fact.

But a supreme peak master came as if immediately noticing.

“Ho, was that it?”

Jijimin’s eyes sparkled. Her appearance licking her lips looked like a snake with prey before it.

“Weren’t you trying to get out?”

But Jijimin’s sparkling eyes dimmed after hearing Sun-woo’s words.

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. It’s like a habit. The wider the territory, the better the moss supply and all… Plus, where they are, they trap underground water and even raise fish, so everyone was targeting it.”

These underground caves had almost no light as expected.

Though there were moss or stones emitting dim light in between, it was hard to see properly without circulating internal energy to the eyes.

Even in such a place, they were raising things like moss, fish, and insects.

Of course, it wasn’t that they didn’t recycle the dead, but if they hadn’t built factions to make something like farms, they couldn’t have survived.

Sun-woo threw an item taken from his inventory toward her who looked gloomy.

“Eh! Is this a moon cake? But it’s incredibly soft.”

She who looked at the bread received in her hand with reverent eyes carefully bit into the bread.

“Ah!”

She closed her eyes and savored the taste with an ecstatic expression.

While Jijimin savored the bread’s taste, the warriors who had blocked the two came to savor pain.

Bang!

The wind that burst from Sun-woo’s fist thrust toward the air swept forward.

The palisade made of bones and warriors literally got smashed and tumbled in all directions.

A technique that emitted internal energy through the fist while thrusting it to inflict damage on distant places during the punch, it was palm wind.

But this also had no joke internal energy consumption.

“Full of crude techniques.”

Unless reaching a level like Sun-woo who didn’t worry about the amount of internal energy, shooting palm wind a few times would clearly make internal energy hit bottom.

Either way, the cave got a hole blown through it with one of Sun-woo’s punches.

Sun-woo strode through it.

“Ah! Let’s go together! It’s a taste I’ve never seen in my life. Did new dishes come out in the meantime? What other foods are there besides this?”

Even while passing by prisoners tumbling on the floor groaning, Jijimin paid no attention at all.

It was the taste of food forgotten for 20 years.

Thanks to the surface food tasted once, the affairs inside disappeared from her interest.

But for those in this area, guarding this place seemed most important.

A moment later, dozens of warriors surrounded the two passing through a not-so-large room.

About half looked clearly unwell, as if even injured people all came out.

A man revealed himself between the warriors surrounding the two.

“I thought we had a decent relationship, but was it ultimately meaningless?”

A hairy-faced man with a simple face wearing yellowed cloth wrapped around his chest and arms.

“We weren’t in any relationship! Men and women should be separate, what are you saying!”

At his words, Jijimin shouted sharply.

Everyone who heard her words (even Sun-woo) all looked at her with absurd expressions.

For her, a master of seduction arts, to say men and women should be separate was something heaven and earth would cry out against.

“Aha, caught yourself a sucker?”

But the hairy guy soon looked at Sun-woo and nodded.

“What on earth is going on? What happened outside that masters are breaking into here?”

“Ah, that is…”

Jijimin didn’t know about that either.

She glanced at Sun-woo, and at that sight the hairy guy made an absurd expression again.

“What, you didn’t even ask? Why bother going through stages? Just make him spill with charm arts. The age gap looks big too, so just suck him dry and dump him.”

Being only peak level, he couldn’t properly recognize Sun-woo’s realm.

Normally he should have been alert that he couldn’t properly recognize the opponent, but due to injury it was a situation hard to objectively assess the opponent.

“Shut your filthy mouth!”

Before his words even finished, Miho Jijimin’s whip shot toward the hairy guy.

“Aagh! This crazy bitch! Even though I’m injured, you don’t know I won’t just die nicely!”

Along with his words, his body began to change. Muscles grew rapidly and skin hardened and turned black.

“Damn it! Making me even use life force! Let’s finish it here!”

Unable to properly circulate internal energy due to injury, he had to sacrifice his life force to oppose a same-level opponent.

He used life force, the original human energy, not internal energy.

Having used life force, even if the fight ended his lifespan would be reduced by decades and martial arts would greatly regress for sure.

The living whip wrapped around and struck his body turned black, but his body using even life force withstood the whip.

“You knew the compatibility was bad! Why are you raging? Anyway, the only place I, injured, can rely on is you, friendly girl. I was thinking of getting myself together and visiting, so what are you thinking doing this?”

“Just shut your mouth!”

He tried to somehow persuade her while enduring the whipping, but since the problem was the words coming from his mouth, she had no choice but to increase her attacks.

Sun-woo who was watching the two’s fierce fight sighed looking at those approaching him.

He moved with her to reduce fighting and go easily, but she wasn’t helping at all.

But to abandon her and go, the super-peak master at the ruins was a problem.

“Are you Miho Lady’s new plaything?”

“You’re the one who came from outside, right? No matter how I look you seem fine, how did it happen?”

“Just capture and question him. Even if both lose, we’re finished anyway. Get information and stick with another side.”

“Couldn’t the boss win?”

“He even used life force. Even if he wins, the boss is finished now. If we take this guy, the south or east will accept us.”

Those surrounding Sun-woo whispered and began approaching Sun-woo with completely different intentions than at first.

“This neighborhood is a total mess, every single one.”

Subordinates thinking of betrayal while the captain was fighting hard.

For Sun-woo with a sound(!) way of thinking, he couldn’t just watch.

Sun-woo’s left foot stepped forward.

Thud!

A heavy sound echoed through the not-so-large underground plaza and those around Sun-woo sat down on the floor.

Again the opposite foot moved forward.

Thud!

“Kkeok!”

Those who sat down fell flat.

An appearance as if pressed by dozens of times gravity. Blood poured from their mouths like a waterfall.

“Heavenly Demon’s Commanding Steps?”

The hairy guy who was fighting Jijimin looked with lost soul at that sight.

Sun-woo who had walked the second step tilted his head briefly.

“Could, could it be you are the current cult leader?”

The hairy guy asked Sun-woo with a trembling voice.

Walk one step to make enemies kneel, walk two steps to make all people spit blood, walk three steps to gain the world’s submission!

This was precisely the appearance of the Heavenly Demon’s Commanding Steps, the highest martial art of the Bright Cult leader.

Since the martial art Sun-woo just showed was the same appearance as the Heavenly Demon’s Commanding Steps, the hairy guy who was a Bright Cult member couldn’t not ask.

“No.”

But Sun-woo cleanly denied it.

The martial art just now was merely reproducing the cult leader’s martial art seen in the Bright Cult’s tomb.

“I thought it would work roughly since the realm is the same, but it’s definitely too much. I can’t even gauge how to do the third step.”

Sun-woo was in the middle of martial arts training.

Though it was important to go quickly to rescue Nanseol, it was also important to organize the increased realm since he didn’t know what enemies there might be.

Thanks to that, he was trying out the high-realm martial arts he knew one by one.

And Sun-woo’s words knocked the souls out of the two.

“Don’t tell me… are you transcendent realm?”

“Lies.”

The Heavenly Demon’s Commanding Steps were martial arts that came out occasionally even among succeeding Bright Cult leaders.

That was because of the excessively high realm.

With super-peak one could barely walk one step, and only upon entering the threshold of transcendent realm were two steps possible.

It meant he could imitate the same martial art without even knowing it.

Naturally it meant he had martial arts corresponding to at least transcendent realm.

Pshshshsh.

The hairy guy’s skin that had turned black returned to normal and his body that had doubled in size shrank smaller than original.

And Jijimin who was pretending to be pretty also clearly looked tense.

If super-peak, there were a few in the Orthodox Faction and Bright Cult, and she thought she’d reach it someday so she was gauging.

But if the opponent was someone who reached transcendent realm beyond her wildest dreams, it was unthinkable.

A moment later, Sun-woo moved toward the ruins with two guides.

Jijimin who changed like a private just entering the military, and the hairy warrior with a pale face.

The hairy guy who thought Sun-woo was a Bright Cult super-master volunteered to guide Sun-woo despite injury and life force consumption.

And a few hours later, Sun-woo was able to arrive in front of the ruins they mentioned.

A huge wall positioned on one side of a huge plaza and a large door.

Thunk.

An item popped out from surprised Sun-woo’s pocket at the tremendous sight.

The Demon God’s divine pill.

The divine pill that had been in inventory popped outside.

(To be continued in the next episode)

Chapter 192: Dream of the Demon God (12)

Surprised Sun-woo quickly pulled the divine pill that fell to the floor with aerial grasping technique and held it in his hand.

The divine pill was glowing dimly.

Suddenly popping out from inside inventory, this was the first time for such a thing.

Fortunately, no one noticed.

Sun-woo looked at the faintly glowing Demon God’s divine pill and decided to try using his ability.

Perhaps because it was a divine pill, the past didn’t read easily so he’d given up, but somehow now it seemed possible.

The moment Sun-woo carefully used his ability to trace the divine pill’s past,

Whoosh!

Sun-woo’s consciousness was sucked thousands of years, or even further back.

***

In Sun-woo’s eyes appeared the ruins, no, the huge structure with walls and door of the underground he’d been looking at until just before.

‘A pyramid?’

The ruins occupying one underground wall were one face of a pyramid built in steps like a Mexican pyramid.

The pyramid wasn’t underground but standing in complete form above ground.

‘Before the ruins were buried underground? How far back did I come?’

Moreover, the surroundings had lush forests spread out, completely different from the current appearance of stones and desolate dust flying.

But the surrounding atmosphere was quite bad. The sky was full of dark clouds, and even animals and insects ran away frightened.

Furthermore, even those who made this pyramid temple abandoned the god and left this place.

All because of other immortals and gods hostile to the Demon God.

Sun-woo realized he was seeing the memories of the Demon God, owner of the divine pill.

‘Was the Demon God a god of this martial arts dimension?’

Amid the desolate atmosphere with everyone gone, a voice came from the clouds.

[We have concluded we can no longer tolerate your madness.]

“Keke, you’re just doing this because you can’t handle it.”

Sun-woo was quite surprised at the rough speech coming from his mouth, no, the Demon God’s mouth.

[As expected, you cannot be in the same place as us. We cannot let the path to raise status and ascend to godhood be achieved through such dangerous things.]

“Idiots, rejecting just because it’s a bit different, are you really higher beings?”

The Demon God raised his right hand. Murky energy gathered from his hand and floated in the air.

“The world began from chaos! Rejecting that and pursuing only one side, the world can only perish instead!”

He raised the other hand emitting bright light and clasped both hands together.

The murky light and bright light clumped together and pushed each other, dancing violently before his eyes.

[The power you created is power that kills the world. That power must disappear.]

[Because of your experiments, many immortals and gods have faced extinction or fallen in status. That alone means your existence cannot remain.]

Voices of respective gods came from forest and earth.

“So you drained away all my believers? Thinking to reduce my power?”

Unlike the murky-colored hand side, the other hand’s light was gradually weakening in brightness.

Sun-woo could tell that light would soon disappear.

Though he became a god through both cultivation and believers’ power, the cultivation result had already changed to chaos, so as believers disappeared divine power also scattered.

[We merely turned back mistaken belief. Now you face extinction by our gods’ decision.]

It was as if the entire world was speaking toward him.

Simultaneously trees began withering, flowing water stopped, and lightning and hail poured from the sky.

Kwa-ang!

A volcano erupted in the distance pouring lava, an earthquake occurred and the earth cracked wildly as buildings began sinking.

And the fight between gods, immortals, and the Demon God began.

But unable to withstand all gods’ and all the world’s attacks with even divine power nearly gone.

A moment later, battered by the gods’ attacks, he used the last divine power toward the sky and cried out.

[When I return, I will destroy this world, no, all worlds. Wait, hypocrites!]

A black hole formed under the Demon God’s feet and his form was sucked inside it.

“Huk!”

“Are you alright?”

At that moment, Sun-woo bounced to reality. At Sun-woo’s surprised voice Jijimin asked, but Sun-woo waved his hand.

Fortunately the time passed was very short. It was because he recalled only scenes related to these ruins rather than searching memories themselves.

But the content seen during that short time wasn’t simple content.

‘This is the Demon God’s ruins?’

No, it was the ruins from when he existed as a god before becoming the Demon God.

The wall filling one cave wall was part of the pyramid, and these hard granite walls were definitely the lava that flowed then.

Though there were things to check one by one, now wasn’t the time for that.

Sun-woo who regained his senses immediately approached in front of the large door.

Jijimin and the hairy warrior with a pale face followed behind.

“You must be careful passing this door. There are traps packed full, so even peak masters lose their heads if careless.”

As they approached the door, Jijimin hurriedly spoke.

“The traps were all made by the mad dog hiding inside. If you solve the problems he gives, he disables the traps, but the problems are really ridiculous.”

He, who was one of the prisoners who discovered these ruins early, recovered martial arts using the moss inside and then settled inside and began a sit-in.

But the problem was he was a super-peak master proficient even in formations and half-mad.

He laid traps throughout passages to where moss grew and hid in secret passages, giving problems to each person entering.

If they got it right, he disabled traps and let them eat moss and leave, and if wrong, he made them break through traps.

Of course, at the trap’s end he waited and beat them up happily and kicked them out.

“He must be hundreds of years old but doesn’t die.”

“Keke, it was funniest when you earnestly seduced and got beaten and kicked out.”

The hairy guy who stuck after seeing Sun-woo’s martial arts kept bringing up Jijimin’s old stories with a pale face to tease her.

Fortunately they ended the fight midway, but having already drawn out innate energy, his body was weakening rapidly.

But he seemed not to care at all.

No, rather he seemed to consider following Sun-woo more important.

Moreover for some reason he kept getting in the way of Jijimin trying to gain Sun-woo’s favor.

Jijimin glared at him even emitting killing intent, but he didn’t care at all.

Sun-woo approached in front of the door and opened it with force.

Grrrumble.

Though a heavy door that would require several first-class masters to hang on to open, it opened smoothly in Sun-woo’s hands and a long passage appeared before them.

A long passage that looked like underground stone chambers seen in games or movies.

“Even though it looks this ordinary, traps are hidden everywhere?”

Even without her saying, Sun-woo could know all the hidden traps.

Moreover, several more important facts beyond that.

“If you don’t enter right away and wait, he asks questions.”

[Right! Then let’s start the questions.]

Following Jijimin’s words came a voice transmitted through the passage.

A voice with no way to tell where it came from. A technique one level above sound transmission, a super-peak master’s martial art.

[What is the name of the goddess that Seong-guk worships?]

“Ridiculous problem, right? A goddess in a country never heard or seen in life, who could answer. Fortunately if you wait he gives four examples. You just pick from them.”

[Now number 1 is…]

“The answer is Goddess Frigg.”

At the answer coming before examples even appeared, the voice echoing through the passage stopped cold.

“Huh? Was it a problem you knew? No one could answer? Wasn’t it just given randomly?”

Jijimin and the hairy guy also looked at Sun-woo with surprised eyes.

[Correct. Then next problem.]

“Wasn’t there only one question?”

As he said next problem, Jijimin shouted with an absurd expression.

But the questions continued as if not hearing.

[What is the capital of France?]

“Paris.”

[What is the official name of the Empire?]

[…]

The questions continued, but fortunately within the range Sun-woo knew. Thanks to that, Sun-woo could know who was asking questions.

[Ha. Ha. Ha. How long has it been. Those who didn’t come during all that long time keep entering over several days. But you came too late. I’ve already made up my mind. You got the questions right, but I won’t disable the traps.]

At the voice that came, Sun-woo snorted.

Sun-woo stuck his sword into the wall and then flowed internal energy and sorcery in simultaneously.

Kwa-kwa-kwang!

The walls, floor, and entire passage shook, and the hidden traps activated and burst on their own.

Traps by formations were smashed with internal energy and booby traps were destroyed by shaking the passage.

Sun-woo didn’t end there. Sun-woo who suddenly shot forward punched hard at one part of the passage.

Kwa-ang!

With a tremendous sound the wall burst and a figure popped outside from within.

An old man full of white beard. The super-peak master hiding in the secret passage. He was the so-called mad dog.

He who popped outside moved quickly and distanced himself from Sun-woo.

He bounced around passage walls moving, then looked at Sun-woo with feet stuck upside down on the ceiling.

“What are you? You’re not a summoner?”

He kept tilting his head looking at Sun-woo.

Those who could recognize summoners were only one type.

Precisely contaminated ones.

Murky color kept appearing and disappearing repeatedly on the old man’s body.

The old man was a contaminated summoner.

Sun-woo also looked at the old man questioningly.

It was because the murky color wasn’t continuously wrapping his surface but kept flickering.

His appearance even looked like someone who got contaminated halfway.

“Well, doesn’t matter. Anyway since the traps are destroyed, this time you fight me. And you get beaten by me and kicked out.”

And he seemed really crazy. The words made no sense at all.

Sun-woo didn’t care anyway. He already considered him an enemy.

Just he checked because he was an enemy with a strange feeling.

Sun-woo’s sorcery caught the location of those who took Nanseol.

A sword was immediately sucked into Sun-woo’s hand and the old man made a tense expression at Sun-woo’s aerial grasping.

But the next moment the old man made a bewildered expression.

Sun-woo swung the sword toward the ceiling to make a hole and then shot upward.

For Sun-woo who discovered Nanseol’s location, there was no reason to waste time in such a place.

“Uh. This won’t do?”

The old man seemed very confused at Sun-woo’s appearance escaping by another path.

And the two watching from the entrance felt the same.

“Then I should fight you guys.”

Moreover at the old man’s following words, the two’s faces turned deathly pale.