Chapter 81
Why do I care so much about the Demonic Cult…
At the Haomun Leader’s question, I closed my eyes for a moment.
The reason I cared about the Heavenly Demon Cult is significant.
I read the original work and knew just how evil those bastards were. I knew just how strong they were.
Of course…, there was another reason besides that.
That was…
…
“Ah.”
Recalling an old memory for a moment, I let out a short groan.
Then I opened my eyes and answered the Haomun Leader with a small smile.
“We aren’t close enough for me to tell you that, are we?”
“…”
The Haomun Leader’s reaction to my words was silent.
It would have been understandable for her to be offended…, but she didn’t show any sign of it.
Instead, she merely nodded silently.
“…It seems you are right, Great Hero. We are not yet at a stage where we can openly discuss our secrets with each other.”
She then smiled softly and continued.
“I will try harder.”
Bow.
With those words, she bowed her head slightly and stepped out the door.
* * *
Though she didn’t show it, the Haomun Leader stepped outside feeling a little disappointed.
But she soon resigned herself and accepted it.
‘I was too hasty…’
Everyone in this world lived with an old wound in their heart, whether big or small.
In the Haomun Leader’s case, that old wound was her mother’s death and the inescapable pressure of the Tang Family…
‘If possible, live.’
…Thanks to Muyeon, she was able to mend that wound.
From that day on, the Haomun Leader developed a small selfish desire.
The desire to spend the rest of her life with him, the desire to have him, existed.
And…
Just as he had done for her, she had the desire to mend his wounds as well.
But this was, quite literally, nothing more than her own selfish desire.
Perhaps…, dragging out old wounds could be even more painful for the person involved.
The Haomun Leader was skilled at deducing emotions by looking at other people’s faces.
The emotions she felt from Muyeon’s face when they talked about the Demonic Cult were…
Fear…, anger… And…
‘…Guilt.’
Yes, it was guilt.
Though observed during his long stay at the Mountain Stronghold, Muyeon always acted as if nothing was wrong…, yet at other times, he would suffer alone in places where no one was around.
She neither knew…, nor could she deduce what that pain was, but…
‘I pray that he can be healed.’
…She could only pray that a helping hand would reach him, just as she had been saved.
* * *
“Nngh…”
I had gone to bed early because my mind was troubled, but when I came to my senses, I was standing alone in an empty space.
If this were my first time, I might have been confused, but as someone with experience, I wasn’t.
This was clearly a dream.
Recently, ever since the Imugi appeared, I have been having dreams where a terrifyingly large serpent would tightly coil around my body and swallow me.
The background seemed to have changed a bit, but this was probably the same kind of dream.
“Hey, you snake bastard! Come out already! Let me get eaten quickly so I can go back to sleep!”
I shouted vigorously into the empty air. Not long after, as if answering my call, I felt a presence behind me.
And as I turned around following that presence, I…
“Yeah…, fuck. Just let me sleep comfortably…!”
…froze stiff upon seeing the owner of the presence.
“…”
A girl even skinnier than Yoo Somyung, with an undeniably sickly and decadent impression, was standing there looking at me.
“Ah…, fuck…”
This wasn’t the serpent dream.
This was the nightmare I originally used to have.
It was a shackle I could never escape for the rest of my life.
“Haa…”
When I looked at her face and let out a sigh, she smiled.
And then…
Sss - .
Black Demonic Qi bloomed all over her body, and at the same time, her eyes turned red.
“I’m really sick and tired of this too.”
Even as I said that, I immediately drew my Saber. When I drew my Saber, she drew her Sword in response.
In this nightmare, I would constantly clash my Saber against her Sword.
And the result was…
‘Fuck.’
…I always lost.
I didn’t really care about losing. The bitch in front of me right now wasn’t even human anyway, so even if I lost, I just figured that was how it was.
However…
Tremble.
This trembling arm. These shaking legs.
This happened because they reminded me of my incredibly cowardly past, and because those old memories kept circling in my head.
That was what made it so hard.
Paat - .
But the woman in front of me didn’t wait for that.
Ominous Demonic Qi bloomed from her Sword, and she unleashed a familiar Sword Art.
RUMBLE - !
At that Sword Strike, so sharp it felt like it would cleave even my soul, I raised my Saber high.
And then…, preparing the absolute best attack I could muster, I struck back against it.
…Divine Art Miji Pageom (Unknown Sword-Breaking).
KABOOOM - !!
As the two energies collided, a deafening roar rang out and the heavens and earth shook. Back and forth, my energy pushed against that bitch’s energy, and sometimes got pushed back.
Miji Pageom (Unknown Sword-Breaking) could cut through anything, but the same was true for my opponent’s Sword.
The outcome couldn’t be predicted simply by the level of our Martial Arts. From here on out, it was a battle of who had more focus and perseverance, who was more tenacious.
RUMBLE - !
And as I said before, I…
Paat - !
…could not win this battle.
Staring blankly at my energy that had been countered at some point, I stretched my body toward the Sword Qi flying at me.
Because the only thing left for the loser was death, that was true even in a dream.
Still, once I got torn apart by that painfully sharp Sword Qi, this nightmare would end.
So I quietly closed my eyes and waited for it.
But at that moment…
Paat - !
“…!”
Slither - Before the Sword Qi could reach me, something shot up from the ground and wrapped around my body in a now-familiar way.
When I opened my eyes, it was the serpent, which looked rather cute compared to that terrifying Sword Qi.
The serpent coiled around my body, stared at me for a moment, and then, before the Sword Qi could reach us…
Chomp - .
…swallowed me whole in one bite.
“…Uwaaaagh - !”
I woke up from the dream the moment I entered that damp, hot hole.
And right on top of my body, as I was just about to kick off the blankets and sit up…
“…Are you okay?”
…the Imugi bastard was mounted on me, staring blankly.
* * *
“Heok…, heok…”
…What the! why is this bastard here?
Before I could even express my question, the Imugi reached a hand toward my forehead and continued.
“You…, you were suffering a lot in your sleep. Your body is super hot too. Did you have a bad dream…?”
“…”
A bad dream…
Yeah, what I just had was a bad dream. But the reality that the Imugi had sneaked into my room was more important to me than the nightmare I had every time.
Grab - .
“Ah…”
I grabbed the scruff of the guy’s neck who was nonchalantly worrying about me and got up from my spot.
“Why are you in my room so casually at this late hour?”
“I-It was too cold outside…”
Whoosh - .
The sound of a biting wind blowing outside could be heard, along with the sound of snow piling up.
It might be a spiritual creature, but an Imugi is ultimately a snake. Being cold-blooded, it seems to be very sensitive to the cold.
“That’s none of my business.”
I took a step to throw the Imugi outside just like that.
Sensing the danger, the guy started screaming at the top of his lungs.
“D-Do you not know gratitude?! You were suffering so much that I woke you up, and you’re repaying my kindness with enmity?!”
“…”
At the words, I paused my actions for a moment.
The serpent that had appeared for the first time today in the nightmare I usually only wake up from after dying was observed.
‘Was that because this guy woke me up?’
Thanks to that, I didn’t have to wake up feeling severe pain, unlike usual.
“Haa…”
Since it was true that I had received help, I put the Imugi down right there. Then, it quickly slithered its body toward the warm inner part of the room.
I also returned inside to my bed, looked at the guy for a moment, and asked.
“…Seriously, why do you keep trying to stick around here like gum?”
“How many times do I have to tell you? I have to be here to survive and become a dragon.”
“Are you absolutely sure about that?”
When I asked suspiciously, the Imugi flinched and answered cautiously.
“Well…, it’s not completely certain. I’m still lacking, so the future only looks blurry to me… B-But still…”
“But still?”
“It’s true that my chances of becoming a dragon are highest if I live here! A-And your chances of surviving also go up if I’m here!”
“…Yeah, right.”
The Imugi saying my chances of survival would go up if it were here meant that someday, I would need this guy’s help, but no matter how I thought about it, I wasn’t sure if this half-witted snake bastard would be of any help to me.
Reflecting those thoughts, I continued to look at the guy with a suspicious gaze, prompting the Imugi to answer urgently.
“I-It’s true! And if I’m here, not only will you save your life, but you’ll also be able to achieve your deepest desire!”
“…The deepest desire?”
“Your deepest desire, which is just as desperate as my wish to become a dragon.”
“What is that?”
“I don’t know that either…”
“…”
…Isn’t this guy a total con artist?
No…, that didn’t seem to be the case. Where in the world would you find a con artist who looked this much like a pushover?
More than that, achieving my deepest desire was complicated, as even I didn’t know exactly what my deepest desire or wish was.
“…Huu.”
Was it because of the nightmare I just had, or because of the Imugi yapping in front of me right now?
My mind was so complicated that I felt like I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep.
At this, I let out a sigh and said to the Imugi.
“Hey, you. You can fly right now, right?”
“Hmm?”
The Imugi looked up at me with an expression that seemed to ask why I was suddenly asking that.
* * *
Wooooosh - .
“Wow, this is incredibly refreshing, isn’t it?”
I was soaring across the sky, riding atop the Imugi’s true form.
But this… was much cooler and felt better than I thought.
Since I learned Martial Arts, it has become possible to run at unimaginable speeds and jump tremendous distances, but I still cannot fly in the sky.
However, right now, I am flying high enough that clouds are brushing past my cheeks.
The cold was a flaw, but I could just circulate my Internal Strength to warm my body, and the bumpy scales offered plenty of places to hold onto, so the ride wasn’t as bad as I thought.
When I marveled at this, the Imugi’s proud voice could be heard.
-How is it? It’s the best, right? I can even do things like this.
When he wasn’t in his human form, the guy’s voice echoed directly in my head, almost like a form of Sound Transmission.
When I nodded at his words, the guy urgently continued.
“This is more amazing than I thought.”
-If you accept me here, you can ride on my back like this every day!
For some reason, it seemed like it was trying to curry favor, which made me laugh silently.
“Haa…”
With the wind brushing refreshingly past my body and the magnificent scenery under the moon, my complicated mind cleared up.
Feeling much better, I briefly continued the thought I had earlier.
‘Perhaps the Imugi’s existence itself could be of help to the Green Forest. No matter how you look at it, there are many benefits, so accepting it would be…’
‘Above all, the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and this Hunan Province are thousands of miles apart. They cannot move enough forces here to invade the Green Forest. It’s obvious they would be discovered by the Murim Alliance along the way.’
Right…, no matter how important the Imugi was to the Heavenly Demon Cult bastards, those who had recently caused a huge incident in Qinghai wouldn’t be able to make any more drastic moves.
I should consider it unlikely for the Fiends of the Heavenly Demon Cult to extend their reach here to Hunan.
And…
‘If I’m here, not only will you save your life, but you’ll also be able to achieve your deepest desire!’
…This Imugi claimed it could fulfill my deepest desire, which even I didn’t know I had.
To think it would grant my deepest desire just by taking it in for free! Wasn’t this basically a living divine pearl that didn’t require gathering seven of them?
Having made up my mind, I spoke to the Imugi.
“Alright, you bastard. I’ll take you in.”
-You’ll take me in? Does that mean…
“Live here.”
As soon as I said those words, the Imugi’s massive body wriggled.
-Waaaaaah - !
However…
“Instead…”
-Instead…?
“Since you eat a lot, you should earn your keep, right?”
…I wasn’t just taking the guy in for no reason either.
Recalling the ideas springing up in my head, I asked the guy.
“You said you can fly in the sky like this every day, right?”
-That’s right.
“Can you put heavy things on your back too?”
-No problem!
“Alright, then let’s go back and talk about it in detail.”
From that day on, I ended up recruiting our Green Forest’s Mascot and a flying Dump Truck.