Chapter 332: Chapter 332

We encountered new stragglers.

“Damn it……”

But it wasn’t a welcome reunion.

“What the hell is happening……”

All three Academy students we found were already dead.

“Brother Baek!”

Some Righteous Path Association members who’d joined us apparently knew them, and they rushed toward the bodies with ashen faces.

“What the hell happened?! How could this……!”

None of them could even think of administering first aid.

Every body had been torn apart in gruesome fashion.

I approached the corpses to examine their wounds while checking the Red Phoenix Bracelet.

“……”

There was no reaction from the Red Phoenix Bracelet.

‘Should I consider that fortunate?’

Even Seong Mo-ran, who’d earlier put the Righteous Path Association members in their place, wore an expression of concern.

“Who on earth did this……”

“It was probably Demonic Beasts.”

“Demonic Beasts?”

Her expression said she couldn’t believe it.

And understandably so.

Most Murim Academy students were exceptional enough to be a cut above others their age.

After all, they were talents cultivated through the full investment of their respective sects and clans.

Moreover, since entering the Black Forest, our squad hadn’t stopped hunting Demonic Beasts.

Yet they’d been killed by those very Demonic Beasts.

It wasn’t easy to believe.

“I noticed spots on their arms. They were likely hit by poison.”

“Poison……”

It probably wasn’t a particularly strong poison.

A trivial insect venom that anyone with deep inner arts could have easily fought off.

But the harsh conditions had ultimately turned them into lonely ghosts.

“After separating from the main group, they probably wandered until exhaustion, got poisoned, and then were attacked by Demonic Beasts.”

Training in inner arts built the strength to endure extreme situations, but it could also make things worse.

Their faster legs would have made them loop through the same area multiple times, and their greater strength would have made them believe they could power through a situation where they should have been lying low and conserving energy.

In the end, it was excessive confidence in themselves that drove them to their deaths.

This must have been exactly what Yang Ja-pyeong had been wary of ever since entering the Black Forest.

“We’ll need to move faster.”

I didn’t know how many they’d left behind along the way. But if things went wrong, there could be casualties on a massive scale.

Our pace naturally quickened.

“Representative. I think we should go around here.”

Yang Ja-pyeong said, looking at the massive Natural Formation spread before us.

Instead of answering, I looked at the hunter.

“Actually, the gap has already widened to two days’ distance, so the scent is growing faint.”

In other words, we didn’t have the energy to go back.

I looked behind me.

Our numbers had swelled to nearly fifty before I knew it.

I couldn’t guarantee that all of them would make it safely through the Natural Formation.

“Perhaps you should split the group, leave them behind, find the others, and come back……”

I ignored the hunter’s words and stepped forward.

Leave them behind?

In a situation like this, that was technically the right call.

But.

“……”

I had a feeling that by the time I came back for them, none of them would still be alive.

RUMBLE—

A powerful vibration surged within my palm.

Given where we were, I’d wanted to conserve my strength for anything unnecessary. But there was no other choice.

KRAKOOOOM—!

With a tremendous explosion, the Natural Formation blocking our path vanished without a trace.

I turned back and shrugged.

“Let’s go. Carrying bodies back would be a lot harder. Better to take them while they’re still alive, don’t you think?”

“……”

No one could respond to that.

***

The deeper we went into the Demonic Reaches, the wider the Natural Formations became.

But the scent the hunter was following kept cutting straight through them, and as a result.

“Young Master Jin. Stop. You’re going to collapse before anyone else at this rate.”

I downed the cold water Eun Seol-ran offered in one gulp.

The physical exhaustion relative to inner arts consumption was definitely severe.

If I was feeling it this badly, I could only imagine how the others were faring.

“I’m still fine. I’ve been doing Qi Circulation and Breathing whenever we take breaks.”

Of course, the problem was that the drain outpaced the recovery.

“Please, just ask us from now on. If we pool our strength, we should be able to break through the Natural Formations too.”

Namgung Seon-hwa said, having brought several Righteous Path Association members along.

The Righteous Path Association members couldn’t quite meet my eyes, looking sheepish, yet.

“W-well…… if you collapse, we’ll all be lost in this forest too. Ahem, it’s not like we mean anything else by it.”

They mumbled with reddened faces, surprisingly earnest.

I glanced at Namgung Seon-hwa, who’d gotten them to act, and smiled faintly.

She had more backbone than I’d expected.

“Understood.”

I nodded without resistance.

Recklessly burning through my stamina alone was no answer either.

But the farther we pressed on, the more the signs turned from hopeful to grim.

The stragglers we encountered within the hour were found as cold corpses as well.

“……They’re dead. And they weren’t even poisoned.”

“……”

Five more bodies.

The Red Phoenix Bracelet didn’t react, but I noticed something strange about the wounds.

‘Those are clearly blade marks……’

The wounds had been torn open as if by an animal, but there were unmistakable traces of sharp, clean cuts.

“These people weren’t killed by Demonic Beasts.”

“What? What do you mean……”

I pointed to another corpse’s chest and added.

“It’s similar to the claw marks we saw before, but the cross-section of the wound is far too clean.”

“You’re right……”

The Righteous Path Association members who’d been listening quietly from the side erupted in outrage.

“Who dares?! To do this to us……!”

Whether the Righteous Path Association members raged or not, my mind was spinning.

“Eldest Senior Brother.”

Eun-ho, seemingly feeling the same foreboding I did, approached with worry written all over his face.

I asked him.

“What do you think?”

“I’ve had only one question since earlier.”

“Which is?”

“The signal flares.”

“……!”

In case of emergencies in the Black Forest, every Academy student had been issued three signal flares.

Green for getting lost, yellow for injuries, and……

“In a situation like this, shouldn’t red signal flares have gone off?”

“They should have.”

Eun-ho handed over signal flares he appeared to have retrieved from the bodies.

“But not a single one was used.”

“……We should assume they couldn’t use them.”

“Yes.”

If it had been a standoff, if it had been a confrontation.

They surely would have fired one.

No matter how strong the opponent, Academy students were capable of creating at least that much of an opening.

But they hadn’t managed to use a single one.

“We should assume they were ambushed.”

“Since this is a forbidden zone, they wouldn’t have imagined anyone else would be here.”

“Even if someone did appear, they’d have assumed it was a rescue team or fellow Academy students.”

“We should assume their weakened guard was exploited.”

I rose quickly to my feet.

“We need to move fast.”

“Yes. If possible, we should rejoin the main group as soon as we can. The instructors should be there.”

Eun-ho was right.

Not a single Murim Academy student had been prepared for a situation like this.

Nor could any of them have predicted it.

The current situation made that much clear.

The Righteous Path Association members were simply raging at the deaths before their eyes, unable to see what lay beyond.

I stared into the dim, seemingly endless depths of the forest.

“We move again.”

Something was happening in the Black Forest.

***

“Brother Jong. Are we really okay just going like this?”

“……”

“Brother Jong!”

Jong Chu-ak shook off the hand gripping his shoulder.

“Are we really just going to keep following them like this?!”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“We need to collect the bodies and go……”

“Jin So-un said it already. We’ll collect them later!”

The man who’d been pressuring Jong Chu-ak — his expression hardened for some reason.

“You’ll listen to Jin So-un? If our Qingcheng Sect seniors hear about this later, they’ll……”

“Shut your mouth.”

“……!”

Jong Chu-ak, who’d been grinding his teeth, roughly seized the man by the collar.

“Then why don’t you go tell him yourself? Go tell Jin So-un.”

“……”

“What, you can’t?”

Of course he couldn’t. Because the ones leading the way at the front, carving a path and fighting Demonic Beasts, were the Jin So-un crew — the very people they’d always despised.

Jong Chu-ak withdrew the hand that had gripped the man’s collar, expression indifferent.

‘What the hell did they do?’

Whether due to the harsh environment or not, using martial arts had become difficult ever since entering the Black Forest.

On top of that, he’d been separated from the main group, and after being bitten by a venomous insect, his strength wouldn’t return no matter how much he recovered.

He’d always trained harder than anyone in the Qingcheng Sect, yet in the Black Forest, he kept looking as helpless as someone who’d never touched martial arts in his life.

When he raised his head to look at the front, he saw a sturdy back.

‘Jin So-un……’

Unlike him, Jin So-un’s crew was moving as actively as usual — no, even more so than usual.

They hunted Demonic Beasts, checked on the injured, and took charge of both the front and rear of the column — carving the path at the very front while watching over everyone at the very back.

Perhaps because he’d been watching this the whole time, he’d grown convinced that he must not leave this group.

“If you can’t do it, just shut up and follow. There’s nothing we can do right now.”

It was humiliating, but there was no other way.

An inexplicable unease had been creeping over him ever since they’d been separated from the main group.

At least while following behind Jin So-un, he kept feeling somewhat better.

“Tch! To think the great Jong Chu-ak has been reduced to this.”

The jeers from other Righteous Path Association members didn’t even irritate him.

Survival was the most important thing right now.

Just then.

“……Hrk!”

The man who’d been sneering as he walked back to his spot stared into the bushes and froze stiff.

“D-Demonic Beast……”

The Demonic Beasts that had once been nothing more than prey were now predators, aiming for their throats.

“What are you doing?! Run, now……!”

Before Jong Chu-ak’s shout could even echo, the Demonic Beast moved first.

SKREEEE—!

But the large Lesser Dragon that had tried to swallow the man’s head in one bite.

SQUELCH—

Failed to achieve its goal, thanks to the sword that pierced through its skull.

“……This isn’t even a real Demonic Beast. Get a grip! Even weakened as you are, this is something you can handle.”

“……Uh, um……”

The man who’d been cursing Jin So-un just moments ago was too shocked to even get back on his feet.

Jin So-un looked at Jong Chu-ak.

“Horse-Nose. You can handle this one, right?”

Jong Chu-ak barely managed to open his mouth.

“……Why do you go this far?”

“What?”

He looked toward the front of the column.

Despite walking with short strides, it was still a distance of about three jang.

It was clear that Jin So-un, who’d been at the very front, must have expended considerable inner arts to sprint this distance.

That was what puzzled him.

Because if they were struggling this badly, there was no way Jin So-un wasn’t struggling too.

“I’m asking what reason you have to go this far to protect even us.”

He could have just ignored the situation.

Even if someone died, no one would have held Jin So-un responsible.

Yet the man had pushed himself to the limit to come here.

“I’m asking what your purpose is……”

“Didn’t you want to live?”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t that why you followed? Because you wanted to live?”

“……”

Jin So-un sheathed his sword with an indifferent expression and said flatly.

“Then protecting you to the best of my ability is what I think my job is. That’s all.”

“……”

“Does that answer your question? Then take care of this guy.”

After hoisting the fallen man up and draping him over Jong Chu-ak’s shoulder, Jin So-un walked back toward the front.

Jong Chu-ak watched his retreating figure and thought.

‘……Was he always that big?’

A presence greater than Mount Tai stood before his eyes.

***

The sun in the Black Forest set quickly, that was for certain.

And once it set early, darkness swallowed the surroundings in no time.

‘Not even moonlight reaches down here.’

The dense canopy blocked even the moon, making it feel as if we’d plunged into total darkness.

We lit torches, but visibility didn’t extend beyond one jang ahead.

This was exactly why we’d avoided moving at night until now.

But now we had no choice but to keep going.

We gathered the wounded as close to the center as possible and had each person carry two on their back.

Without doing so, we couldn’t protect the group and advance at the same time.

“Representative, perhaps you should rest now? I’ll take the lead.”

Yang Ja-pyeong offered to take point, but that was out of the question.

I couldn’t put him at the front when a Demonic Beast could leap out at any moment.

I still had energy left.

“I’m fine. They say we’re almost there, so don’t worry.”

According to the hunter, the gap with those who’d been two days ahead had narrowed to half a day.

Considering we’d spent about a day on this, it meant the main group hadn’t moved from their position.

Once we met up with the main group and joined the instructors, getting out of the Black Forest would clearly be much easier.

“W-we’re almost there.”

The hunter tracking the scent reported, and everyone — our squad and all who’d joined us — let out a sigh of relief.

Rejoining the main group would at least guarantee a minimum of safety.

Pushing through the brush, we emerged into a small clearing.

And at our appearance, those resting in the clearing sprang to their feet and drew their swords.

SHIIING—

So the main group had been on guard after all?

I called out hurriedly.

“It’s Jin So-un, Murim Academy Representative!”

“Jin……So-un? Did you say Jin So-un?”

“That’s right.”

I brought the torch close to my face and stepped forward.

The dozens sitting in the clearing also rose from their spots, one by one.

I asked them.

“Where are the instructors? You’ve noticed things are going wrong, haven’t you?”

The matter of abandoning the stragglers for the Divine Spirit hunt could be dealt with later.

Right now, the priority was discussing what was happening in this Black Forest and how to prepare for it.

“……”

But no one answered.

“I said, where are the instructors?!”

“They’re gone……”

“Huh? Isn’t this the main group? With these numbers, anyone can tell you’re the main group.”

“That’s true, but……”

What was this uneasy atmosphere?

These weren’t the Righteous Path Association members who normally treated me with hostility.

They were all slumped over, looking drained.

“The instructors already left for the base camp.”

“……”

Had I gotten poisoned on the way here? Because I was hearing nonsense.

“What kind of bullshit is that? The instructors left first……”

“They told us to wait. Said they’d come back with the others……”

That was strange. Then what about the hunter who guided us? We came here because this was where the scent led.

“B-brother!”

The hunter who’d been guiding us by the tracking fragrance spotted a corpse and crawled over to it, bursting into tears.

Beside it lay roughly ten Academy student corpses as well.

“What the f—……”

My vision swam.

A sense of foreboding engulfed my entire body.

Why was I feeling the same sickening sensation from my past life?

Just then.

FWEEEEE—

A sharp sound sliced through the air and echoed across the sky.

BANG!

A flash of red light blazed through the dense foliage.

“Eldest Senior Brother!”

The direction: northeast.

Where the base camp was.

Before I could say a word, the sound of another signal flare being launched rang out.

FWEEEEE—

BANG!

This time, from the southeast.

But it didn’t end there.

FWEEEEE—

BANG!

FWEEEEE—

BANG!

Ominous signal flares continued to stain the Black Forest red.