Chapter 62 Gal-jeo (1)

A smile that reached his ears.

Sometimes, someone’s smiling face can lower the other person’s guard.

However, the moment the boy saw that smile in response to his plea for help, he felt a strong malice that went beyond mere repulsion.

– Flinch!

This caused him to falter in his steps.

But the other two boys weren’t like that.

“Huff huff! Hey! Help us! Some monster-like wolf is chasing us.”

They ran towards Mok Gyeong-un, pleading for help.

At this, the boy shouted in alarm:

“W-wait a moment, stop…”

Before he could even finish his words.

The moment the boy who had run over to ask for help reached right in front of him, Mok Gyeong-un naturally grabbed his neck and twisted it.

– Crack!

“Kuk!”

With a final scream, the boy with the broken neck collapsed to the ground.

Startled by this sight, the other boy stumbled backward in shock.

“Hic!”

– Thud!

As Mok Gyeong-un approached the fallen boy,

“Y-you bastard, what are you doing?”

The boy who had stopped due to a bad feeling shouted.

In response, Mok Gyeong-un laughed nonchalantly and lightly leaped, pushing his palm and kicking the head of the fallen boy who was trying to dodge backward.

– Crack!

He kicked so hard that the boy’s head was bent backward.

The way his mouth gaped open, he seemed to have met his end.

Seeing this, the boy was at a loss for words.

‘This… this crazy bastard…’

Even if they were in a competitive relationship, this wasn’t a situation where they were fighting over a flag.

Yet he killed the other party who asked for help as soon as they met.

What kind of madman does that?

It was absurd.

– Oink oink!

From behind, the sound of pig-like squeals could be heard.

Along with it, the bushes rustled.

“shit.”

A rough sound escaped the boy’s mouth.

He was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.

Behind him was a monstrous beast, and in front of him stood a madman indiscriminately slaughtering others.

No, perhaps the saying “a tiger in front and a wolf behind” was more fitting.

‘Do or die.’

The boy, whose face was covered in cold sweat, chose neither the front nor the back but the steep cliff to the right.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

With a shout, the boy launched his body to the right.

– Tap!

Whether it was the front or the back, if he was going to lose his life either way, he had no choice but to take a gamble.

At that moment.

He felt a strange sensation of something pulling the back of his head.

With that, the body of the boy who was about to fall suddenly floated backward and flew back.

Then,

– Puck!

The boy’s head was grasped by Mok Gyeong-un’s hand.

‘!?’

The boy’s eyes widened.

What was this?

It wasn’t directly pulled by hand.

Could it be the so-called “empty space grasping” where a profound inner expert could pull objects or something with their true qi?

‘… That’s impossible.’

It was hard to believe.

How could this guy, who was the same age as him, possess such profound true qi?

Moreover, their meridians were currently sealed by the Geummunsoe.

So how did he do it?

At that moment.

– Oink oink!

Along with the pig-like squeals, a large wolf with a red head and rat-like eyes emerged through the bushes.

Between its bared sharp teeth was a mouthful of bloody flesh.

Seeing this, Mok Gyeong-un raised an eyebrow and muttered:

“And what’s this?”

The boy whose head was grasped spoke hastily in a frightened voice:

“I told you. Some monster-like thing was chasing us.”

“So it was that?”

“This isn’t the time for that, we need to run away!”

Although he said that, it seemed too late already.

The distance between the monstrous beast and them was at most twenty to twenty-five steps.

It was too close to run away from that beast, which was as fast as a horse.

– Oink oink!

The beast walked forward, drooling profusely.

As if it thought it could catch them at any time, it narrowed the distance step by step.

Feeling extreme fear from this, the boy muttered in a dazed voice:

“shit. It’s all because of you…”

– Tap!

Before the boy could finish his words.

Mok Gyeong-un released his hand from the boy’s head and quickly formed hand seals.

– Puck! Puck! Puck!

Soldier! Fight! Rupture! Formation!

They were the hand seals of the Nine Character Vitality Technique.

‘what the .... is he doing?’

As the boy wondered, Mok Gyeong-un made a square with the index and middle fingers of both hands and aimed it at the approaching beast.

Then,

– Swooosh!

Four invisible pillars soared around the approaching beast.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un said softly:

“Four Peaks Linking Technique.”

Then, surfaces were created by the four pillars that had become terrifyingly thick.

The boy couldn’t see it, but it was clearly visible to the beast’s eyes that this had blocked it, so it stopped and rolled its eyes.

Then, as if it had decided to forcibly break through, it launched its body.

– Puck!

– Squeeeal!

The beast that had launched its body like that crashed into something and bounced back.

“Wh-what?”

The boy couldn’t understand this sight.

Nothing was visible, so why was that monster-like beast acting like that?

Could it be that this guy did something?

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un made a gesture of opening his palm towards the trapped beast and then clenching it.

“Contract!”

– Swooosh!

At that instant, the four surfaces trapping the beast rapidly compressed.

As the space narrowed, the beast seemed to panic and began thrashing around.

Seeing the beast like this, Mok Gyeong-un clenched his hand even tighter.

– Oink oink!

– Crack crack crack!

The intervals of the beast’s thrashing narrowed.

At the moment when the intervals had narrowed to the point where it was difficult to move.

The beast bristled the red fur on its head, and then let out a tremendous roar.

– Squeeeeaaaal!

“Ack!”

The sound was so loud that the boy covered his ears.

Mok Gyeong-un endured this and tried to clench his hand to crush the beast to death, but,

– Crack crack crack!

At that moment, cracks appeared on the compressing surfaces.

Then,

– Crash!

The Four Peaks Linking Technique shattered in an instant and the beast leaped out.

‘Damn.’

When a spell imbued with spell power is broken, the backlash is suffered by the caster.

Mok Gyeong-un’s body was pushed back about two steps.

– Swish!

– Oink oink!

The beast that had leaped out excitedly scraped the ground with its feet and let out a fierce roar.

“Hic.”

At this, the boy who had been covering his ears panicked and tried to back away while supporting himself with his hands.

However, the beast that had leaped out, contrary to its fierce roar, stared intently at Mok Gyeong-un, then turned its body and disappeared into the bushes as if fleeing.

“Huff… huff… ha…”

Seeing that sight, the boy who had been frightened let out a sigh of relief.

It was hard to believe even after experiencing it.

To think he had driven away such a monster-like being in a bizarre way.

Then, a voice was heard near his ears.

“Why are you feeling relieved?”

‘!?’

The boy, whose eyes had widened, tried to hastily get up.

But it was already too late.

Mok Gyeong-un twisted the neck of the boy who was trying to get up.

– Crack!

After the boy died, Mok Gyeong-un absorbed the death qi starting from the boy he had killed first using the “tak” ritual.

It was because the longer it took, the more death qi would dissipate.

Only after finishing absorbing the death qi did he open his mouth.

“That red-headed wolf from earlier, what was it?”

– Well. It’s my first time seeing it directly, but judging from its appearance and pig-like squeals, it seems to be a Gal-jeo.

“Gal-jeo?”

– It’s a man-eating fierce beast that inhabits the northern sea near Mount Beihao.

“I know it’s a man-eating beast.”

Its appearance alone was completely different from ordinary beasts.

Moreover, being a man-eating beast, it must have been affected by sorcery.

Rather, seeing how it broke the Four Peaks Linking Technique, it didn’t seem to be a low-grade man-eating beast, so he asked.

“Judging from how it broke the spell, it doesn’t seem to be of a low grade.”

According to Sorcerer Jo Ui-gong, the Four Peaks Linking Technique was originally created to eliminate vengeful spirits, so it could only handle the lowest grade of monstrous beasts.

The grades of man-eating beasts were divided into vicious beasts, monstrous beasts, demonic beasts, devil beasts, spiritual beasts, and supreme beasts.

To Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Cheong-ryeong replied:

– I heard that a mature Gal-jeo is called a monstrous beast. However, based on its size earlier, it’s not fully grown yet.

“It’s not fully grown?”

– Yes. Even so, it will be incomparably stronger than ordinary vicious beasts. It probably possesses strength somewhere between a fierce beast and a monstrous beast.

“As I thought.”

That seemed to be the reason why the Four Peaks Linking Technique was broken.

It exceeded the capacity that the technique could handle.

For a man-eating beast like the Gal-jeo, it was nothing more than a way to buy time, so there was no need to use this technique.

Mok Gyeong-un got up from his spot and said:

“This is troublesome.”

– Why? Are you suddenly scared now that you can’t use your internal energy and the spells you learned don’t work well? If that’s really the case, I will…

“No. That’s not it. I think we need to hurry.”

– Hurry?

“Before that man-eating beast interferes with my meal, I should move more diligently. No, it might be better to deal with it first.”

– ………

Ah.

So that was his perspective.

He was worried that the man-eating beast would kill more boys than him.

Cheong-ryeong clicked her tongue inwardly.

***

Meanwhile, the group led by Yeom Ga from Vermilion Slaughter Valley was moving cautiously.

However, three of them were grunting while jointly carrying the lump of metal at the bottom of the flag, and the rest were sticking close to them in a circle.

One of the boys carrying the lump of metal complained:

“No. If we’re going to find a different type of flag, why do we have to carry this like this? Can’t we just break off the upper part and go?”

In response to the boy’s complaint, Yeom Ga from Vermilion Slaughter Valley urged:

“Stop grumbling and do as you’re told. If my prediction is correct, you guys will have to thank me.”

At these words, the boys shook their heads from side to side.

Did it make sense to them that the monster-like beast avoided them simply because it was scared of the flag?

No matter how much they thought about it, they couldn’t understand.

Rather than inefficiently carrying the flag like this, they thought it would be better to just break the flagpole and move quickly to seize or find another flag.

But then, as they were doing that, a sound was heard from somewhere.

– Oink oink!

Startled by the sound, they stopped in their tracks.

It was definitely that thing.

– Rustle rustle!

The bushes in the northwest direction rustled, and soon the beast revealed itself.

Seeing this, the boys were about to put down the flag they were carrying and prepare to run away, but,

“Stay still.”

Yeom Ga from Vermilion Slaughter Valley dissuaded them.

No, they should either run away or join forces to confront it, but what did he mean by staying still?

As they were thinking that.

The beast looked at the flag they were holding, then raised its ears in alarm, turned its body, and went back into the bushes.

“Huh?”

The beast really ran away after seeing the flag.

At this, Yeom Ga from Vermilion Slaughter Valley spoke in a triumphant voice:

“See?”

He confirmed that his judgment was correct.

But after confirming this, a sudden thought occurred to him.

‘If we do it well, we might be able to use it.’

There were probably few people who knew that the flag served as protection.

The corners of Yeom Ga from Vermilion Slaughter Valley’s mouth curled up bitterly.