Chapter 20 – Tomb (4)

Slash!

Blood spurted in the flickering torchlight of the cave, followed by thick snake bodies scattering in all directions.

“What’s with this sudden swarm of snakes!”

As the Demon Cult master angrily swung his sword, dozens of snakes that hadn’t even touched the blade were cut apart and scattered everywhere.

It was truly skilled peak-level sword energy.

Beside him, two other Demon Cult masters were swinging their fists in all directions.

Energy burst from their fists, striking the attacking snakes, and the snakes exploded before they could approach.

“Grand Master! We can’t hold out much longer like this.”

Another Demon Cult master who was unleashing fist winds toward more snakes shouted to the swordsman in front.

Unlike the Grand Master who was a mature peak warrior, those who had just entered the peak level lacked the internal energy to continuously use fist winds.

But they couldn’t let the snakes approach either. Even now, the blood of the cut snakes was melting the cave floor.

“Damn, I thought all the snakes guarding the tomb would have died, but they’ve become even more vigorous instead.”

That alone wouldn’t have been a big problem, but whether it was the snake venom sprayed in the air that was the issue, the flow of internal energy was strange. Controlling the spasmodically moving internal energy made dealing with the snakes more difficult than expected.

The same was true for the righteous sect masters following behind.

Fortunately, the Tang Clan masters, who had expertise in handling poison and snakes, sprayed chemicals to repel snakes and used hidden weapons to block their approach, but warriors who hadn’t reached the peak level were breaking out in cold sweat trying to control their wavering internal energy.

“This doesn’t seem to be snake venom.”

A Tang Clan warrior skilled in poison arts spoke to the Qingcheng elder with a frowning face.

The elder, who had been slaughtering snakes by unleashing sword energy like the Demon Cult master, looked around while breathing heavily.

They had benefited greatly from the Tang Clan’s expertise in formations, traps, and mechanisms to get this far.

Perhaps because they were from the same Demon Cult, they had fallen behind those Demon Cult guys who rushed straight into the formation, but they had still been able to enter this tomb quickly enough.

For that reason, he hadn’t been too worried about the snakes that had started appearing from all directions a while ago.

He had thought the Tang Clan would be sufficient to block mere creatures like snakes before he needed to step in.

But his thinking had to be revised due to the snakes’ poison and blood that could melt even stone, the tremendous speed at which the snakes moved, the overwhelming number of snakes, and finally the wavering internal energy.

“If it’s not because of snake venom, then is there some formation that scatters internal energy?”

But the Tang Clan warriors shook their heads in opposition.

The elder’s expression darkened. He had thought too lightly of this place because it had been designated as forbidden for so long. He should have stopped when he saw the characters “Demon-Defeating Bright Cult.”

That’s when it happened.

Red clothing poured in from the direction they had entered. It was Blood Cult members.

The Qingcheng elder’s expression brightened when the Blood Cult warriors suddenly appeared.

If they had met outside, a big fight might have broken out between them, but now that new prey had appeared, the snakes attacking them would surely be dispersed.

However, the masked Blood Cult members didn’t slow down as if they couldn’t see the swarm of snakes blocking the cave.

“Those crazy bastards!”

Curses flowed from the elder’s mouth involuntarily, but he gaped at the scene that followed.

The Blood Cult group had penetrated straight through the snake swarm. They passed by the righteous sect masters fighting snakes, avoided the Demon Cult masters, and rushed into the dark interior of the cave.

The problem was that when the Blood Cult members passed through, the snakes completely ignored them. There were even snakes that moved aside to let them pass.

“What kind of secret art did they use?”

Seeing the Blood Cult group pass by, the Demon Cult Grand Master gritted his teeth. At this rate, he might not be able to carry out the sect’s orders.

“This won’t do. Hold out until I return!”

“Yes!”

The Demon Cult Grand Master shouted to his two vice-masters and launched himself into the air. At the same time, his sword blazed red and was swung forward.

Boom!

An explosion echoed throughout the cave and a path opened wide in front of the Grand Master. Peak-level lightness skills unfolded between the snakes scattered in all directions.

The Second Grand Master of the main Demon Cult division charged through the snakes.

The created path was immediately covered with snakes again, but the Grand Master had already escaped.

“Damn!”

The Qingcheng elder clicked his tongue seeing what had happened in an instant.

Unfortunately, the elder’s skills were inferior to the Demon Cult Grand Master. Moreover, Qingcheng’s martial arts didn’t have the destructive power like the Demon Cult’s. He didn’t possess martial arts that could create a path all at once.

‘Should we retreat like this?’

That’s when a man among the Tang Clan disciples spoke up. He was a sharp-featured young man, and when he opened his mouth, all the surrounding warriors looked surprised.

“I’ll follow.”

“Second Young Master!”

He was Tang Sa-hae, the second son of the Tang Clan head and renowned as a master of poison arts. Although his martial arts were only first-class level, he was someone even peak masters couldn’t treat carelessly, ranking among the top few young masters.

But the Qingcheng elder’s expression became serious. Since a swarm of snakes was blocking the way, it would be good for a poison arts master to move. But the opponent’s status was the problem.

“Opportunities can’t be seized without taking risks.”

But at Tang Sa-hae’s words, the elder had to end his deliberation.

Anyway, to become the next head of the Tang Clan, Tang Sa-hae needed to create achievements that surpassed his elder brother.

No matter how strong his poison arts were, if his martial arts were only first-class level, everyone would just turn away. This was even more so now when his brother was proudly making the world ring as a peak master.

Eventually, the elder had no choice but to let him go.

“Be careful.”

Tang Sa-hae nodded and stepped forward.

Both hands of Tang Sa-hae as he stepped forward gradually turned black. Peak-level poison arts had revealed themselves.

The surrounding people hurriedly fled from around him, and black smoke poured forward from his extended hands.

Screech!

The snakes writhed and screamed. Tang Sa-hae’s poison had actually poisoned the snakes. Tang Sa-hae ran past such snakes into the interior of the cave.

As Tang Sa-hae also ran inside, the people left behind and the snakes began fierce fighting again.

***

Same time. Sun-woo’s group was fighting snakes like the Demon Cult and righteous sect masters.

Slash!

“How many are there exactly? No matter how many we catch, there’s no end.”

Wang Mun-pung sighed and sat down on the ground.

“Hey, how can you rest just from moving that little bit?”

“You try being this age. Even moving a little makes my bones ache. And you talk as if you’re working really hard?”

“Well, it’s kind of petty to beat snakes with this big blade. There are people working hard instead of me.”

At Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words, Wang Mun-pung looked ahead. There, Nan-seol and Sun-woo were diligently catching snakes struggling to get out through a small hole.

The tremendous number of snakes that had followed Sun-woo’s group fortunately got caught in Sun-woo’s surveillance network.

Wang Mun-pung fortunately remembered that these were snakes that had been guarding this tomb, and the group hurriedly moved to find terrain to block the snakes.

Sun-woo first led the group to an area with a lot of earth, and immediately used sorcery to block the passage they had come through with earth, leaving only a small hole.

If they had blocked it completely, the snakes might have broken through the earth and emerged in unexpected places.

Thanks to this, the group only had to deal with a small number of snakes coming out through the small hole. Some snakes did break through the earth, but Sun-woo could detect them in advance and catch them before they escaped.

“Still, that summoner named Sun-woo is really fighting hard. He looked quite selfish, but now my people-reading skills seem to have gone bad.”

Wang Mun-pung scratched his head while looking at Sun-woo.

Sun-woo was among those with the lowest martial arts in the group, but while monitoring snakes emerging from the earth and using sorcery to prevent the blocked earth wall from collapsing, he was catching snakes more diligently than others.

Nan-seol was also diligently helping beside such Sun-woo, and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom also nodded seeing Sun-woo’s appearance.

Sun-woo was sweating like rain all over his body while striking down the endlessly pouring snakes from the hole with his sword, but had no intention of stopping.

[You have eliminated a Level 1 contaminated creature. Grade experience slightly increased. 1 point awarded.]

[You have eliminated a Level 1 contaminated creature. Grade experience slightly increased. 1 point awarded.]

This was because voices endlessly reached his ears every time he caught a snake.

The experience points and points that he had barely raised while risking his life were now continuously increasing through simple repetitive work, though in small amounts.

He had done such grinding countless times in games. Sun-woo was truly grateful to the snakes for giving him such an opportunity.

As time passed, even the seemingly endless snakes eventually came to an end. Although Sun-woo’s internal energy hit bottom in the middle, thanks to Hwangbo Ja-gyeom and Wang Mun-pung stepping in, the group was able to catch the snakes without particular danger.

“I wonder if the contamination source is also a snake.”

Wang Mun-pung muttered while looking at the piled-up snakes.

“If it controlled this many snakes, it’s probably no ordinary contamination source.”

“Well, it must be something that’s been aged for a long time in the formation. It hasn’t been discovered until now because of the formation. Anyway, those Summoner guys have strangely many weaknesses.”

At Wang Mun-pung’s words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom scratched his head.

“Well, that’s probably why they use us. If they were omnipotent, they wouldn’t need to use us and would handle it themselves.”

“Ho, for once you’re saying something smart.”

“Never mind that, I hope the contamination source is an old spiritual creature-level python. It would be icing on the cake if it had an inner core.”

Wang Mun-pung clicked his tongue at Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s nonsense.

“Are you feeling better now?”

Nan-seol asked Sun-woo, who had been watching the conversation between Hwangbo Ja-gyeom and Wang Mun-pung.

“Yes, I’ve rested enough. Third-rate martial arts are good in this aspect.”

If it were advanced martial arts, he would have to be careful while channeling energy to recover internal energy, but the Three Talents Mind Method, which prioritized stability above all, was famous as a mind method that could recover internal energy in any situation.

“I’m sorry. All the other martial arts I know belong to Mount Hua.”

At Nan-seol’s apology, Sun-woo tilted his head. Until the last mission, she had been quite rigid, but in this mission, her emotional expressions had become freer and her way of speaking had become softer.

There seemed to have been some change as she reached the peak level.

Sun-woo smiled slightly and shook his head. As Nan-seol said, learning Mount Hua’s martial arts was dangerous.

With the high probability of continuing to move together with Nan-seol in the future, there was no reason to unnecessarily create friction with Mount Hua.

Sun-woo planned to wait a bit longer.

‘If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to target Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s martial arts.’

Sun-woo glanced at Hwangbo Ja-gyeom and then stood up.

“Let’s go!”

“Oh!”

At Sun-woo’s words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom shouldered his sword with a happy expression, and Wang Mun-pung tapped his waist and then stepped forward to start leading the group.

“If we go a bit further, we’ll reach the center of the mechanisms. The center of the mechanisms is the center of this tomb, so we don’t have much left.”

Leaving the numerous dead snakes behind, the group disappeared into the interior through the passage.

After a while, the group arrived at a large underground plaza.

In the underground plaza, as Wang Mun-pung had expected, a giant python had taken position, and a Demon Cult master and Tang Clan warrior were engaged in fierce battle against the python.