“My subordinates! What on earth is happening to our people trapped inside?!”
“Kim Seobang, your n are being devoured by Dueoksini in there right now.”
“What? What did you say!?”
“I don’t know what deal you made, but it’s obvious enough.”
“Oh, Kim Seobang. Is that clear?”
“You’ve been deceived by the Gourt Expedition Corps, Madam. You saw your n turn into monsters, didn’t you? Your subordinates have been gradually replaced by monsters. And why did you gather all your n in that club?”
“T-the Gourt Expedition Corps bastards suddenly called us for a gathering—said it was a company dinner. H-just a couple of hours ago. I was rushing to the club myself.”
“Ah, then thanks to you’ve kept your life, Madam. Those inside that club are now rrily becoming dinner for that gathering.”
Yeom Geumja owed her life to . But her subordinates trapped inside were in dire straits.
“A-com-pany dinner...! They’re really being eaten!?”
Yeom Geumja went pale.
As soon as I confird that most of the Bongilcheon faction were inside a club outside business hours, I expected this turn of events.
My sparring with Yeom Geumja was only to uncover the cult behind her.
Having understood this much, there’s no reason to stall further.
“What do you intend to do, Kim Seobang?”
“That’s for to ask Captain Cheonggeum.”
“For ?”
“What are you going to do? If you want to bail, now’s the perfect ti.”
“Bail?”
Seocheonseul frowned.
“Save my people! You said you’d restore everything earlier, damn it!”
Yeom Geumja raged as if foaming at the mouth, but I ignored her and spoke to Seocheonseul.
“I’m sure you’re already within Captain Cheonggeum’s detection range. See that swirling mana over there? If we hang around here much longer, the immigration office will storm in.”
“Oh, that many-eyed Kim Seobang you an?”
“Right. My plan is to pawn this off on them and make our escape.”
“Huh—pawn it off?”
“Yeah. Those inside the club will be dealt with by our friends.”
The Dueoksini we faced now were not wild beasts rampaging in the city.
They were like a band of rogues operating with a clear purpose and plan.
“The Dueoksini were gathering up all that blood and transporting it, rember?”
Yet none of that blood is here.
“That ans there’s a separate location where they’re storing it. There’s nothing left for us here.”
“Smart point.”
“The fact that a large-scale killing ritual began the mont we arrived can’t be a coincidence. They must have accelerated their plan as soon as they detected Captain Cheonggeum’s movent. So we need to move fast.”
They’d scrapped their plan to wield the Bongilcheon faction as pawns and turned them all into living sacrifices.
And what they intended to do with that blood is obvious now.
When their backers were unclear, I wondered what they could do with so much blood; but the Predator of the Mountains’ purpose is predictable.
“If we don’t hurry to the site where they’re collecting blood, we’ll have to fight sothing even more troubleso than Dueoksini.”
“So—that’s your strategy, Kim Seobang? I don’t like it.”
Seocheonseul looked displeased.
“This is the most rational plan.”
“Rational?”
“Quibbling over words? I’ll say again: we don’t have much ti. And just as Captain Cheonggeum struggles to distinguish from other humans, the immigration office won’t be able to tell Captain Cheonggeum and Dueoksini apart.”
By the immigration office’s flimsy criteria for foreigners, Seocheonseul would just be an unregistered alien without residency.
It’s laughable—like arguing with a thousand-year-old sacred tree over lack of an ID card.
“Still! I don’t like it!”
Kwang!
Seocheonseul slamd her Geumgang Staff into the ground and crossed her arms.
‘Isn’t that the move I saw in the ga?’
She ant she wouldn’t move until a plan she liked erged.
“You want to run off and abandon the Kim Seobangs being eaten by Dueoksini? Can’t you propose a plan more to my liking?”
“Oh, I knew you’d say that.”
Seocheonseul is like this. I anticipated this turn.
“Then how about this: we ignore whether the immigration office arrives or not, charge into that building, finish it as fast as possible, and bolt.”
“Ohho.”
She looked excited.
“And then move as quickly as we can to smash their operation before they complete the next phase.”
“Good. I like that plan.”
I stretched my shoulders and continued.
“But once we’re inside, follow my command. If we’re not in sync, it’ll be a real ss.”
I then outlined the simple plan. Nothing complicated.
“Sounds doable.”
“Alright. Let’s begin.”
I cast my mana into the hard cent encasing the five-story gray rock—no, the King Castle Club.
[Forced Transmutation]
Gugugugugu!
The hardened cent simultaneously absorbed moisture and reverted to a clay state.
“Doldol, eat.”
Kungwang! Kungwang! Kungwang!
Doldol bounded up excitedly at the command.
Gruurrruk!
As soon as the massive lid of the Stone Box opened, hundreds of bags’ worth of clay were sucked into Doldol’s interior pocket dinsion.
In an instant, the King Castle Club regained its original form. Well, except for the parts Doldol ate. Ignoring that, I said to Yeom Geumja,
“There. Everything’s restored, right?”
“Ha, ha, ha—”
Perhaps too shocking a sight?
Yeom Geumja simply laughed in a trance.
Far off, the immigration office was approaching....
[Gate Creation]
A small hole appeared at about knee height.
“Achilles!”
Kkiriririk—
Achilles popped out of the hole.
He’d need a lot of mana to act alone. I bent down and kissed Achilles’s snout, sharing a surge of mana.
“Sorry to keep giving you only these tasks, but I need you to disrupt the immigration office.”
Kkiriririk—
[S-rank magic tool “Staff of Beacon” unique function, “Binding Fla Servants” activates.
// Binding Fla Servants: grants the wielder the ability to summon and command “Living Flas” as servants.]
A massive burst of fireballs ford around Achilles’s body.
“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”
“Yhaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Good. Thank you.”
Kkiriririk—
Achilles sent the fireballs skyward, then leapt onto a nearby rooftop and vanished.
“And Red, too!”
“Kkii?”
“Yes. You fly off and help Achilles.”
“Kkii!”
Pooddeudeuk!
Red took off into the air.
They weren’t fighting—just sowing chaos to buy ti. If the two cooperated well, they could stall adequately.
“Kim Seobang, are you ready now?”
“Yeah.”
“Then take this.”
Seocheonseul tossed the net.
“But Kim Seobang, do you know how to use it?”
“I do.”
I infused the net with mana and looked at Yeom Geumja.
“Madam Yeom Geumja?”
“What?”
Without hesitation, Yeom Geumja answered my call—and swish—
She was sucked straight into the net.
“Heh, handling a brand-new tool so well.”
Well, I’d used it in the ga before.
This net is a brokenly powerful artifact.
By simply calling soone’s na, you can imprison them within it.
“But be careful—if the nad person doesn’t respond, it won’t work.”
“And rember, it won’t work on those with magic resistance. Nothing more to say?”
It only works on ordinary people without special abilities.
“Bahaha—yeah. Nothing more to add.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
We opened the club door as is.
“It’s dark.”
The interior was dark. From the shadows, soone scread. And the sll of blood drifted in—
“Bahahaha! Don’t lag behind, Kim Seobang!”
Seocheonseul charged forward, spinning her Geumgang Staff in a dance.
“Eolssoo!”
I’d never adventured with her in the ga, so I didn’t know it would utterly shatter any horror atmosphere prepared here.
“Hey! Stop! You said you’d follow my command!”
“Oh, really?”
Seocheonseul halted mid-charge in an awkward pose.
I positioned her behind and advanced slowly.
Passing two bends in a long corridor, we ca to the dance hall entrance.
At the threshold, I cast a spell.
[Enchanting Voice]
“Ah, aah—”
Yeom Geumja’s voice emitted from my throat.
“Sssip—”
I inhaled and layered another spell.
[Sound Shockwave]
“Gang Ji-yoon! Lee Jun-min! Seo Ji-an! Ahn Kyung-hoon! Choi Ki-beom! Kim Ji-seop! Kim Sang-jin! Choi Hee-seo! Lee Se-hyun! Han Hee-jeong! Eom Tae-goo! Cheon Ho-yeon! Park Hyeong-jin! Lee Young-chan! Choi Ah-ra! Kim Dan-bi!”
Kuarrrrung—
The nas reverberated throughout the building.
Because I modified the sound shockwave’s formula, no concussive blast occurred.
“Impressive that you rember all those Kim Seobang mbers’ nas.”
I heard Seocheonseul mutter as she leaned against the wall and watched.
My Intelligence stat endlessly fetched the Bongilcheon faction’s roster and personal details from my mory.
Honestly, I’d barely registered their nas, let alone their importance.
But an Intelligence stat of thirty diligently recited the nas of every faction mber I’d glimpsed in-ga.
“Lee Woo-bin! Lee Gil-tae! Kwak Pil-hyung! Lee Chae-min! Lee Myung-jun! Choi Seon-a! Lee Da-won! Kim Se-won!”
And more, and more. Nearly a hundred nas in all, since I couldn’t be sure who was inside the club’s eighty-eight occupants.
“Hah—hah—ah, this is exhausting.”
Swishrrrrr—
In an instant, the net drew in a trendous number of people.
They weren’t just mimicking voices.
Because it was an Enchanting Voice spell, hearing familiar nas left them no choice but to answer without resistance.
“Captain Cheonggeum! Now you’re free to run riot! And there’s no blood inside either. Just smash everything in sight!”
“That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear! Eolssoo!”
Captain Cheonggeum brandished her Geumgang Staff and charged into the dance hall.
Kwaaaang!
“Behold! Captain Cheonggeum has arrived!”
She shouted with joy.
“Graaah! Captain Cheonggeum is here!”
“Was this the one who absconded with the living sacrifices!?”
“Seize them! No, kill them! Turn that dokkaebi into a sacrifice for our master!”
From the darkness of the dance hall rang the grotesque cries of Dueoksini.
[In the pitch-black dance hall, hideous Dueoksini erge. Their skin blends with the darkness, jet-black, and their lurid yellow eyes glow with terrifying malevolence.]
The ssage window seed eager to emphasize how terrifying, horrifying, and dangerous the scene was—but here was the least fitting ally for a horror genre.
“It’s so dark—dark! Is there no one to light a fire? Illuminate this place!”
Captain Cheonggeum commanded.
Pajijijik—
As if obeying her command, every club lighting snapped on at once.
‘Of all places, a club.’
Not ordinary incandescent bulbs, but the club’s gaudy lights.
Red, blue, purple, magenta, green flashing from every angle—even dazzling laser beams.
In the center of the dance floor, a golden vortex danced among the riot of colors.
“Behold! The golden light in dreams shines unforgettable brilliance!”
Kwaaaang!
“Eheeeeh—eeh—ohooo!”
Captain Cheonggeum danced and sang as she rampaged.
I thought I heard drums, gongs, and janggu—the horror soundtrack was completely obliterated.
“Graaah!”
Fake Dueoksini and blood-drained zombies, now mindless, charged Captain Cheonggeum with fanatical zeal.
Like moths to the fla of death, they surged forward. Captain Cheonggeum, laughing, sang even more rrily.
“Oho—oho—yes, gather more! Let’s see your talents! Dance! Are you a graceful crane or a talkative parrot? Show more tricks! Hey—hoo—huh!”
Kwaaaang!
Each golden flare of her staff sent the fake Dueoksini flying with explosive force.
From the second-floor terrace, I watched her in the dance hall and thought,
‘But there really is no blood.’
Thanks to that, Captain Cheonggeum could rampage freely—but sothing was off.
There were heaps of blood-drained corpses, yet no blood-soaked Dueoksini.
Did they flee? No, they couldn’t have escaped yet.
‘They’re hiding sowhere. What are they preparing?’
I slowly expanded my detection range.
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