The Beggar Young Master of the Namgung Clan Chapter 155 : The Labyrinth of Sacrifice

'Sacrifice?'

The first word that caught Namgung Il's eye was that, and the next was labyrinth.

Since it wasn't a word with a very good feeling, Namgung Il felt slightly displeased.

"..."

There were other words written on the stone monunt as well.

Although he felt a strong reluctance to read it, Namgung Il read the inscription written below it to himself.

He who chooses the right path can pass through the gate without sacrifice.

He who chooses the wrong path will have to offer soone's blood.

As expected, the words written below were not pleasant either.

Namgung Il read the inscription several tis to himself and interpreted its aning in his own way.

'Sacrifice...? Does it an soone has to die to escape this place?'

It seed certain that this iron door was the path to the exit.

Of course, he couldn't know for sure what was beyond it, but judging from the words on the stone monunt, he could guess that sothing dangerous existed.

"The Labyrinth of Sacrifice?"

Just then, Tang Wol-yeong and Gwangcheon also walked closer to where Namgung Il was.

After confirming the words written on the stone monunt, Tang Wol-yeong also seed to have a similar feeling to Namgung Il, but Gwangcheon didn't seem to have any particular thoughts.

"Can we get out through here?"

"..."

"What are you hesitating for, Captain? Let's get out quickly."

Gwangcheon said and reached for the iron door.

Just then, Namgung Il quickly blocked Gwangcheon with his hand.

Gwangcheon sent a look as if he couldn't understand why he had been stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"...Wait a mont."

Although the possibility that it was the exit seed high, Namgung Il didn't want to open this door rashly.

With such a suspicious phrase written so openly, there was no need to choose that path, was there?

It wouldn't be too late to open the door after first checking if there was another path.

"..."

Namgung Il began to walk along the wall.

He walked around once with the expectation that there might be sothing, but he couldn't find anything of the sort until he returned to his original position.

Swoosh—.

This ti, Namgung Il raised his head and looked at the ceiling.

Thinking simply, if they went back the way they ca, wouldn't they be able to get out of this place?

In other words, if they climbed up this cliff, they would be able to reach the place where the statue of Buddha was.

'...No, that would be impossible.'

Namgung Il imdiately judged that that thod was realistically impossible.

If it were a certain height, it would be a different story. But how could they climb up that place where the end couldn't even be seen?

When he had looked around earlier, he hadn't seen any footholds other than the night-luminescent pearls embedded in the wall, so it was very dangerous to climb to the top in the pitch-black darkness.

"..."

Namgung Il's gaze, which had been looking up, soon turned back to the iron door.

'Is there no choice but to open that door?'

In the first place, if this was a trap soone had made, there would only be one exit.

If not, they might not have even made a way to survive, but Namgung Il thought that possibility was low.

'If they had intended to trap and kill us here, a stone monunt like that wouldn't even exist.'

Although he couldn't fully understand it, that stone monunt seed like a guide that roughly explained what kind of place this was.

They wouldn't show such a guide to soone they had dropped with the intention of killing.

In other words, this place was a space created for a different purpose rather than to trap and kill.

"..."

At that mont, Namgung Il thought that the Blood Spot Grass might really be here.

Although it was a complete coincidence that he had fallen here, a suspicious space like this wouldn't exist within the academy without any aning.

Namgung Il organized his thoughts for a mont and walked closer to the iron door.

"From now on, we will open this door and go inside."

"..."

"No one knows what's ahead. I will do my best to protect you, but I may not be able to protect you completely."

Namgung Il warned the two before opening the door.

It was a warning not just to scare them, but to tell them to really get their act together.

Nod—.

As if they had understood Namgung Il's intention, the two nodded with serious faces.

"...Alright. Let's go."

The Labyrinth of Sacrifice.

The three took their first step into the deep abyss where the end could not be seen.

***

This place was literally a labyrinth.

When they passed through the door and followed the path, a space appeared, and there, a door leading to several forks appeared.

After choosing one of the doors and proceeding twice, Namgung Il even began to doubt whether they were properly approaching the exit.

'...This is not good.'

Although Namgung Il was deliberately not showing it to the two, he thought the current situation was not very good.

A labyrinth was a place made to be difficult to find the exit in the first place.

The more complicated its structure, the longer it would take to reach the exit.

"..."

Conversely, if they knew the correct path, it wouldn't take long to reach the exit.

But the problem was that he didn't know that path.

Namgung Il didn't know how big this labyrinth was, or even if an exit really existed.

'I have to hurry.'

The Blood Spot Grass was no longer the problem.

If they couldn't find the exit and continued to wander the labyrinth, wouldn't they face a very fundantal problem?

Although everyone seed to be holding up for now, if a little more ti passed, they would beco thirsty and hungry.

"..."

Before that, no matter what, they had to get out of this place.

Especially for the two people behind him.

Although the two had followed him on their own, Namgung Il felt a sense of responsibility for getting them involved in this situation.

'Even if I can't help it, these guys are still young.'

He was living his second life with this.

But the two people following him from behind were not, were they?

Since they were youths with much more life to live, there was nothing more unsettling than their lives ending in a place like this.

"..."

Just then, the single path ended and a door appeared in front.

Based on his experience so far, the mont he opened this door, a space leading to another path would appear.

"I'm opening it."

Namgung Il said lightly and reached for the door.

Creak—.

The iron door opened with a heavy sound.

As expected, a wide space appeared.

No, this ti, realizing that it was a little different, Namgung Il's eyes widened slightly.

'What on earth is this?'

Far in front, a door leading to another place was visible.

Up to that point, it didn't seem much different from the previous space, but the problem was that there was no path leading to it.

"..."

After walking a little, there was a cliff right in front.

Fortunately, the distance to the bottom was not very deep, so it seed they could go down and cross to the other side.

'Wait...'

Just then, Namgung Il discovered sothing on the floor below.

Small holes that were densely packed on the floor like breathing holes.

Namgung Il looked at the holes for a mont and then held out his hand to Gwangcheon and said.

"Gwangcheon. You have a wooden fish, right?"

"Of course, I always carry it with ."

"Give it to for a mont."

As Namgung Il said that, Gwangcheon took out the wooden fish from his bosom without any suspicion and handed it to Namgung Il.

"But why do you suddenly want the wooden fish?"

"..."

Instead of answering, Namgung Il threw the wooden fish far away.

A scream escaped Gwangcheon's mouth at that sight.

The wooden fish fell to the floor below with a clear sound.

"Captain! What on earth are you doing!"

"..."

"My wooden fish, which is like my other self..."

It was then.

The mont Gwangcheon was arguing with Namgung Il, a trendous heat suddenly engulfed the three.

"...!"

The identity of that heat was fire.

Flas that were soaring high with a trendous force, not at the level of a simple bonfire.

From the spot where the wooden fish had fallen, fierce flas were shooting up like a volcano.

'As expected...'

Looking at the flas, Namgung Il could see that his intuition was right.

The nurous holes that existed on the floor.

All of them were probably devices from which flas shot up, just like what he was seeing in front of him.

'Is it a device that automatically shoots up flas when an impact is applied?'

In other words, it ant that it was impossible to move down there.

The mont they went down, flas would shoot up from the floor, and they would be burned alive.

Unless one was immune to heat and cold, no one would be able to survive in those flas.

"Captain, this is..."

"It ans we can't go forward."

"..."

"I'm sorry about the wooden fish. I'll get you a good one when we get out."

Gwangcheon's wooden fish had already burned to the point where its shape could not be recognized.

But thanks to that, hadn't he saved soone's life?

As if Gwangcheon also knew that, he no longer made any rebuttal about Namgung Il throwing his wooden fish.

"Young Master, here..."

"...?"

Just then, Tang Wol-yeong called Namgung Il, looking sowhere.

A stone monunt hidden behind the open door.

Just like the one he had seen at the entrance, an inscription was written on it.

'This is...'

In the places they had passed through until now, there was no such inscription.

No, in the first place, there was no such thing as a device that shot up flas.

Did that an that such an inscription only existed in places where there were devices?

Namgung Il suppressed his uneasy feeling and approached the stone monunt.

Walk the path made of soone's blood.

It was still an extrely unpleasant phrase.

To cross a path made of soone's blood... did it have the sa aning as the word 'sacrifice' on the first stone monunt he had found?

Of course, Namgung Il had no intention of sacrificing anyone, nor did he have any intention of following the inscription.

"..."

The thod to pass through this place was also written in detail on the inscription.

As if to tell him to sacrifice others through this thod.

Namgung Il read all the explanations about it, but soon turned his head and said to the two.

"...This is not the way."

"..."

"Let's go back for now."

There was no need to volunteer to take a path that looked dangerous.

Since going back could also be a thod, Namgung Il decided to go back for now and go in a different direction.

Nod—.

As if the two had no complaints about Namgung Il's decision, they nodded their heads instead of answering.

The three, who were going back the way they had co.

Before long, the entrance they had passed through earlier began to be seen over there.

"...?"

At that mont, Namgung Il could sense sothing was wrong.

He was sure they hadn't closed the door when they passed through there... so why did it look as if the door was closed?

When he got closer, Namgung Il could clearly see that it was not his illusion.

'...It's locked.'

Namgung Il belatedly realized that they had already fallen into the trap set by the labyrinth.

(End of Chapter)