Chapter 177: I Am The Owner
Chapter 176 – I Am The Owner
“What is this!”
“Watch out!”
Boom!
The suddenly flying coffin lids shattered against the weapons swung by the cadets, sending debris scattering in all directions.
At the same time, did the mummies inside the coffins not rush forward while swinging their weapons?
“Aaargh!”
“The m-mummies are moving!”
As the cadets retreated in fright, the Azure Eagle Squad members, who had relatively more Jianghu experience, stepped forward and blocked the attacks.
Clang! Clang! Clatter!
The unorthodox martial artists were no exception.
For dozens of mummies poured out of the coffins and unleashed attacks indiscriminately on anyone living.
“Damn it! What is this…”
“Let’s deal with those guys first!”
Yo Chung shouted and quickly drew his saber, swinging it.
Swish!
However, the mummies were on a different level from the clay soldiers they had encountered earlier.
While the clay soldiers had somewhat awkward movements, the mummies moved as flexibly and powerfully as living Jianghu experts.
Clang!
Yo Chung, who clashed blades with a mummy, shouted angrily.
“The souls used in the Soul-Returning Great Art seem to be extraordinary! Perhaps these guys…”
“It seems they are Demonic Cult elders who could not find rest!”
Heuk Seon-ja’s reply threw the hall into shock.
The cadets, in particular, could not hide their surprise.
“That they couldn’t find rest means…”
“It must mean their souls were sealed in the corpses.”
“Then, are they jiangshi?”
As Paeng Su-hyeok muttered, Yu Hyeon shook his head.
“The damage to the corpses is too severe for that. They probably transferred the souls of the Demonic Cult elders into those mummies.”
“Ha! They would do such a thing to fellow Demonic Cultists?”
“Because they are Demonic Cultists who would sell even their souls for the Heavenly Demon.”
Yu Hyeon muttered in a low, sunken voice.
Just as Yu Hyeon said, the martial arts level of the mummies was practically beyond imagination.
Moreover, the mummies’ bodies, which showed nothing but bones, were as hard as if made of cold iron.
They were on a completely different level from the clay soldiers that the unorthodox martial artists had sliced and stabbed at will.
“Damn it! Every single one of them is an expert! At this rate… Ugh!”
At that moment, a mummy penetrated at high speed, targeting Yo Chung’s vital point.
“Leader!”
In that split second, the only remaining elite subordinate blocked Yo Chung’s way and swung his sword.
Swish!
A metallic sound erupted, and sparks flashed.
At the same time, the elite subordinate’s sword broke.
Clang, stab!
“Guh!”
Yo Chung widened his eyes as he saw the sword tip protruding through his subordinate’s back.
“I will not let your death be in vain!”
He kicked the back of the subordinate, whose heart had been pierced.
Thud!
As the subordinate fell forward and collapsed onto the mummy, Yo Chung quickly threw his body and swung his saber.
Slash!
Splat!
He had cut off his subordinate’s head and the mummy’s head at the same time.
Thud!
The mummy and the subordinate fell simultaneously, making a loud thud.
Nearby, the Red Crone, who was plunging her fingers into a mummy’s ribs, sneered.
“Killing even your own subordinate just to deal with a single mummy. How utterly cold-blooded.”
“Red Crone. Watch your mouth.”
As Yo Chung glanced back with burning eyes, the Red Crone snapped the mummy’s ribs and leaped back.
Slide!
Stopping with a slide, she replied without erasing her sneer.
“Did I say anything wrong? You sacrificed your subordinates even when fighting the clay soldiers.”
“If it weren’t for my subordinates, you wouldn’t even be alive right now…!”
Shouting angrily, Yo Chung quickly bent his waist backward to dodge a flying spear.
He was furious, but now was not the time to argue with the Red Crone.
“Damn it! Just you wait!”
“Try to stay alive until then.”
“Hmph!”
Clang!
The spear thrust at various vital points of Yo Chung with dazzling speed.
Yo Chung spun his body as if performing a sword dance to block it.
Sparks flew and loud sounds rang out like a variation of music playing.
The Red Crone still dealt with the mummies using her specialty, the Ten Fingers Blood Art, while Heuk Seon-ja fought with his sword, and Jade Flute Young Master fought by swinging his fan.
It was the same for Namgung Cheon, the Azure Eagle Squad, and the cadets.
Watching this chaotic scene, Cheol Un swallowed hard and retreated hesitantly.
‘No. At this rate…! They are monsters that cannot die!’
His words were correct.
It was right when Yo Chung grabbed the mummy’s spear with his left hand, tucked it under his arm, and swung his saber with his right hand.
Clang!
Did the mummy not raise its arm to block it just like that?
If it were a normal person, it would not have been strange if the arm was cut off along with the bone, but the mummy’s bone, which looked as if it would break at any moment, remained perfectly fine.
‘Damn it, what on earth did they do to the corpse…!’
At that moment!
Stab!
A gruesome sound of tearing flesh penetrated the eardrums. No, this was not a sound heard with the eardrums. It was a sensation transmitted through the entire body.
“Uh…?”
Yo Chung had a blank expression, and when he lowered his head, a sword tip was protruding through his left chest.
‘Why did this…?’
There surely shouldn’t have been anything behind him?
As he stumbled and lost his balance, the Red Crone’s grating nagging pierced his eardrums.
“You fool! I told you to stay alive until then! You are of no help at all!”
Flying over in an instant, the Red Crone grabbed the shoulder of the mummy that had stabbed Yo Chung’s back and threw it away.
Crash!
Only then did Yo Chung realize that the mummy that had stabbed his back was the headless one.
It was the one whose head he had sent flying along with his subordinate just moments ago.
It had not died even after its head was severed.
No, since it was already dead, was that expression inappropriate?
“Damn it… Cough!”
Even though he wanted to curse, blood kept rising, and he could not open his mouth.
“Tsk… Do you have any last words?”
The Red Crone looked at the fallen Yo Chung with a cold expression.
Yo Chung chuckled and uttered his final words.
“Just survive.”
“You are impudent until the very end.”
Yo Chung replied no further. His eyes had already lost their light.
Clicking her tongue, the Red Crone glanced around.
On one side, the unorthodox martial artists were desperately fighting, and on the other, the cadets and the Azure Eagle Squad were in a chaotic life-and-death struggle.
Somehow, it looked as if a united front had been formed.
However, they were people with different purposes.
‘Hmm. The young ones are extraordinary.’
They were certainly not at a level to be looked down upon just because they were cadets.
They seemed to be at the level of elites from decent minor or medium sects.
Indeed, did they not say they were cadets who reached the quarterfinals of the Joint Conference?
Even so.
If they were fellows with shallow Jianghu experience, they would have been paralyzed with fear and thrown into confusion in such an absurd situation, yet they were holding up well.
This did not happen by chance.
Nor did it happen just because they were skilled.
They needed to be experienced, but if they weren’t, they needed someone to act as a focal point.
And the one acting as the focal point among them was…
“Is it that child?”
Her gaze turned toward Namgung Cheon.
As expected, Namgung Cheon was different.
It was somewhat understandable how he had subdued Heuk Seon-ja all at once.
It was not simply a cowardly act targeting a moment of carelessness.
The kid had the skill to back it up.
Even as a couple of mummies rushed at him simultaneously, he took clever steps and avoided them fluidly.
Watching it, admiration naturally welled up.
Although his internal energy did not seem all that great yet, he moved so efficiently that he did not tire easily.
‘Is that child the winner?’
He probably was.
If her eyes were not mistaken.
‘Above all, that mysterious movement technique is extraordinary.’
It was different from traditional lightfoot techniques.
Should she say it was like a movement technique forged from rolling through actual combat?
Every single step was filled with practical subtleties.
How on earth, at that age?
If one only looked at his movements, did he not look like someone who had spent his entire life fleeing and evading heaven-enveloping nets?
She had never seen anyone display such a dazzling movement technique until now.
No, there was exactly one person.
Jin Cheon-rang, who was the public enemy number one of the Martial World.
The Heavenly Great Killing Star.
Come to think of it, she seemed to have heard that his son was in the Namgung Clan.
Was it that child?
‘Blood does not lie.’
However, now was not the time to just admire him.
The boxes carried on the backs of the Azure Eagle Squad members.
‘The spiritual pills must be in there!’
It was the moment the Red Crone kicked the floor and flew up.
Boom!
Suddenly, the platform exploded, and did a black shadow not pop up?
Thump!
The mummy that landed on the floor with a heavy thud had a completely different appearance from the ones rushing around.
Its skin was far less decayed, and even its relatively clear eyeballs were preserved. Consequently, the gaze of its rolling eyes made it look almost like a living person.
Furthermore, the golden crown on its head!
It was clear that he was the ancient king who was the master of this tomb.
“Aaaaah!”
As the king bent his back and unleashed a Lion’s Roar, the entire king’s chamber vibrated loudly.
“Ugh!”
“Guh!”
The people engaged in the struggle groaned and stumbled.
They quickly channeled internal energy to protect their hearing, but not a few suffered internal injuries and spat out blood.
“W-watch out!”
By the time Heuk Seon-ja shouted loudly, it was already too late.
In the blink of an eye, the king vanished, and did he not already arrive in front of the Red Crone and narrow his eyes?
Gulp!
Even the Red Crone, who seemed to fear nothing in the world, grew tense upon confronting the ghastly-looking mummy king face-to-face.
The sight of the tattered skin, worn down to the bone and moving as if it would fall off at any moment, was bizarre enough to cause goosebumps.
“Tch, where do you think you are looking!”
The Red Crone quickly thrust her red-hot hand forward. A dark red energy burst out from each of her fingers.
Swish, stab!
‘It worked!’
The Red Crone’s five fingers sank into the mummy king’s neck.
However…
The king did not budge.
Instead, twitching his decayed, hollow cheek, he suddenly stretched out his hand and gripped the Red Crone’s jaw tightly as if to crush it.
Grab!
“Guh!”
The mummy slowly lifted the Red Crone while gripping her jaw. Seeing her suspended in the air, the people grew terrified.
‘Subduing the Red Crone so easily…!’
Heuk Seon-ja trembled slightly.
The Red Crone was an old master whom he had no confidence in defeating even if he gave his all.
Yet the mummy king was subduing her with a single hand.
“Could it be that they used the Soul-Returning Great Art on a deceased Vice Cult Leader?”
Jade Flute Young Master smiled bitterly.
‘Damn it, you can smile at a time like this?’
The moment Heuk Seon-ja clicked his tongue with a displeased expression,
Whoosh, crash!
Thrown like a cannonball to a corner, the Red Crone crumpled and collapsed onto the ground.
“Aaaaahrg!”
The mummy king bent his back again and roared.
“Damn it, that noise is too much!”
“Ugh! My eardrums…!”
The unorthodox martial artists, the Azure Eagle Squad, and the cadets all covered their ears and hesitated.
Watching the chaotic scene, Cheol Un slipped away and grabbed a candlestick hanging on one wall.
‘Even now!’
The moment he bent the candlestick downward, the floor suddenly began to shake as if an earthquake had hit.
Rumble…!
Soon, cracks appeared everywhere, and the cavern began to shake as if it would collapse at any moment.
Rumble…!
And right next to where Cheol Un stood, the space that they had thought was a wall slid aside, revealing a staircase.
A look of solemn determination appeared on Cheol Un’s face.
“I will get out alive!”