The grassroot monster backed away warily, his eyes glimmering. When he looked up, he saw a cluster of light. The light landed exactly on Chi-Woo’s left hand and glowed brilliantly as it took the form of a book.
Shaaaaa…! As soon as it came into complete shape, the book opened, and a page flipped over. Chi-Woo’s eyes shone from behind his wind-swept hair. Simultaneously, he opened his mouth.
“Ilseungmobupyeonhwagyeong bojangbosalyakchangae namuhwajangsaegyaehae.” [1]
The grassroot monster frowned.
“Wangsasongjunggisagul sangjubulmyulseokgajeon.”
“W-What? What are you saying?” The monster had wondered what Chi-Woo would do and was stunned to hear strange phrases that he couldn’t understand.
“Shibangsamsaeilchaebul jeongeonginyeonbangpyundo hangjunilseoungmyobeupryun.”
The rest of the expedition team reacted the same way. Stunned and baffled, they looked at Chi-Woo in bewilderment. But not caring for their gazes, Chi-Woo continued, “Yeobigujungmanichun nujinjajaeahrahan.” While murmuring phrases no one could understand, he stepped into the enemy’s ground.
“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“Damn it, for now…!” Emmanuel fixed his grip over his fleuret again, and Lakshasha was about to give his order as the head of the expedition team when one person stepped forward and stopped them.
“It’s fine, you both.” Ru Amuh looked at Chi-Woo with unwavering eyes. It was a simple line, but each word made clear his deep trust in Chi-Woo.
“Ahyagyojindaegasup Rurubinagupgaya jaegasupsaribul.”
The grassroot monster, who had been sighing in relief that nothing was happening, flinched.
“Daemokgunryun Gajunyeon Anurutagupbina.”
“Huh… Uh? What?” In confusion, the monster wrapped his hands around his head.
“Gyobumpajaeibada Pilreunggaba Bakgura Maha Guchira Nanta.”
“What…what’s happening…!”
As the chanting continued, the monster’s eyes widened, and he looked more stunned.
“Sontarayeoh Buruna Suborijayaaran.”
“Stop…stop…! Please…kieeeeh eeeeh!” Then he suddenly erupted into a shrill screech and fell to the ground.
“Nahuradeung Daebigu Mahasapajaegupna Nafuramo Yasuda.”
It wasn’t only the grassroot monster that was responding this way. The various monsters on stand-by also looked at one another and not long afterward, collapsed and began to scream.
“Kuh! Kieeeh!”
“Eh…! Ah…! Kuaaah!”
Soon, more monsters fell and erupted into screams. There was no exception. They all clutched the temples of their heads, rolled on the ground, and screamed for their lives while looking like they were in excruciating pain.
“Bigunideungichunin.”
Some tried to block both their ears and even pierced their ear holes to not hear Chi-Woo’s words, but it was useless.
“Mahasaljeungpalmanin.”
This was because of Chi-Woo’s class ability: [Choi Chi-Woo’s Original Exorcism Prayer] and [La Bella’s Bible].
The phrases Chi-Woo chanted didn’t just ring in their ears, but inside their heads, and enemies more than a hundred in number all writhed in pain. The mayhem Chi-Woo caused rendered the entire expedition team speechless except for one person. Ru Amuh alone watched in admiration quietly but expectantly.
As time passed, the screams that came from everywhere eventually dwindled. Silence returned, and Chi-Woo’s chanting also stopped. After taking a good breath, he quietly flipped another page of his book. As if to mark the end of his prayer, a scent followed; it was a heavy and refreshing scent that cleared one’s head at a whiff. The expedition team’s nostrils twitched as they smelled it, and they regained their senses. They had been standing and staring dumbfoundedly at what just happened.
“How is it? Isn’t it impressive?” Ru Amuh asked proudly. The expedition team was at a loss for words again when they saw their surroundings. There was nothing for them, especially the Celestial Lights, to say. Unlike them, Chi-Woo managed to wipe out over a hundred monsters with just a couple of words. It wasn’t unexpected, but who knew the gap between them and Chi-Woo would be so large? This wasn’t even the legend they were talking about, but his younger brother! Perhaps this made evident the true level the Choi family was at.
“You humans are not just better than my previous team… It’d be unfair for me to even compare you to them,” Lakshasha shook his head and twirled his tongue. He suddenly recalled what Dalgil told him.
[The swordsman Ru Amuh is good…but make sure you recruit the priest warrior who’s often with him.]
[If you want to conquer Hala Forest, he must be there.]
Lakshasha didn’t know why Dalgil had so ardently insisted on recruiting Chi-Woo before, but he thought he knew now, and he understood why the buhguhbu’s great warrior regarded Chi-Woo more highly than he did Ru Amuh.
“I’m sorry for doubting you. I heard from Dalgil about you, but I couldn’t fully trust him… This display showed me the rumors were true,” Lakshasha sincerely apologized and looked conflicted. He seemed to be seriously contemplating something.
“Why do your expressions and words not seem to match~?” Yeriel asked him suspiciously.
“…I don’t know,” Lakshasha let out a deep sigh. “I know for sure that you guys are strong. You are skilled fighters recognized among the humans. That’s definitely true, but…” Lakshasha hesitated and trailed off again.
“Is the king candidate that strong?” Yeriel tilted her head and asked, and Lakshasha nodded wearily.
“Honestly, I can’t be certain whether or not we will beat him even with a team like this.” The way Lakshasha’s voice trembled seemed to display his fear. Yeriel licked her lips. If Lakshasha was this troubled after meeting the enemy just once…it seemed that they needed to be really prepared.
“We will only know for sure once we battle with the king candidate,” Emmanuel said calmly with Chi-Woo in mind. “I mean, we all saw the skills that were shown just now.” For sure, their hope and enthusiasm for victory flared up after a performance like that.
“Yes…I hope that is the case…” Lakshasha replied weakly and turned around. Yeriel looked curiously at him, but dropped the matter thinking he was simply worried about his comrade. Eventually, the expedition team buried the corpses scattered around them deep underground and recommenced their march toward the center of the Hala Forest, where the king candidate was said to be wandering.
***
Though the expedition team had multiple battles as soon as they entered the forest, not much happened after that. Everything progressed more smoothly than their expectations, and the team advanced through the forest freely. Not a single enemy popped out since they left their last battlefield. But it made sense. Who would dare to approach the team after three prominent monsters and a hundred others were annihilated?
But it would be different once the team went further in. They would soon encounter monsters who had driven the weaklings to the outer areas, and in the center, they would meet stronger monsters—perhaps even the king candidate that they talked so much about. Thus, the whole team raised their guard and alertness to the maximum.
Yet for some reason, their marching continued without stops. Even after quite a lot of time passed since they left the outer areas, they couldn’t spot a single monster. Of course, it was nice that they could go to the center of the forest with all their team members in perfect condition…but something seemed off. There was no way that monsters in their surroundings would be wary of them since they had long departed from the entry point.
But this wasn’t a matter to really complain about, so the team followed Lakshasha’s lead until three diverging paths appeared before them. Lakshasha stopped for a moment to think and soon chose one path—the middle one.
“Hawa?” Evelyn said in a whisper seeing Hawa’s feet slow.
“What is it?” She thought it was strange. Hawa was someone who walked steadfastly, but for some reason, she kept acting strangely in this expedition.
“What’s wrong? Tell me honestly if something is going on,” Evelyn said.
“…I don’t know.” Hawa had said ‘it was nothing’ before, but now, her answer changed. Evelyn narrowed her eyes. She bit her lower lip and glanced at Lakshasha. In the end, she said, “Excuse me.”
The marching stopped. “Could we please rest for about five minutes?” Evelyn asked.
“What is it?” Lakshasha turned around and asked.
“I think I need to treat the injured.”
“The injured?”
“Mr. Ru Amuh.”
Everyone’s eyes snapped to Ru Amuh at this unexpected reply.
“…Sorry?” Even Ru Amuh looked dumbfounded. It was quite obvious that he wasn’t injured; he didn’t even have a scratch on him.
“Hm? Did you get hurt at the beginning of battle?”
“No…well…” Ru Amuh was about to deny his injury to Lakshasha, but stopped himself after meeting Evelyn’s gaze. He didn’t know the exact situation, but Evelyn seemed to have her reasons for doing this. In the end, Lakshasha clicked his tongue as Ru Amuh failed to continue.
“Why did you hide your injury?” Lakshasha asked.
“Ah…um…I didn’t think we would have to care about it much since it’s really light. “
“You can’t do that. No matter how small it is, we have to take care of it. Where is it? How deep are your injuries?” Chi-Woo stepped forward in shock hearing that Ru Amuh was injured.
“It’s as the captain says. It’s not like we don’t have a priest. You can’t take an injury lightly no matter how small it is on an expedition, especially in a place like this,” Lakshasha also added.
Ru Amuh smiled wryly and answered, “…I’m sorry.”
This was now the second lie he had ever told in his life. But perhaps it was because he had lied to Vepar once before, he felt less guilty this time.
And as if she was apologetic for dragging Ru Amuh into all this, Evelyn piped up, “As Mr. Ru Amuh said, I’m sure it’s nothing big. I just asked because his arm was moving slightly differently than usual.”
“That’s impressive. I’m known to have keen eyes, but even I didn’t notice.”
“We’ve gone on several expeditions together, so we know each other’s quirks and habits. Also, it’s only natural that the priest would be observing her teammates’ conditions.” Evelyn responded adeptly to Lakshasha’s amazement.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Lakshasha said, “I’m sure you will heal it instantly since it’s a small injury. While you’re doing that, I will be on watch.”
“It will be over before you know it. Mr. Ru Amuh, why don’t you show me your arm? And Hawa, can you come here and open the bags?” Evelyn succeeded in drawing Hawa toward her and turned around. After watching them curiously, Yeriel seemed to have also sensed what was going on and moved accordingly.
“Hello~?” She sidled up to Lakshasha and asked, “I know you are on watch, but could I use this short interval to discuss some things?”
“About what?”
“The king candidate,” Yeriel continued nonchalantly. “I want to know more about that guy.”
“That’s—”
“I’m sorry that I might be triggering your trauma right now, but we are going to meet him soon anyways.”
“…”
“By the way you talked, it sounds like the king candidate isn’t one to underestimate. Wouldn’t it help us if you give us more information before we come face to face with the enemy?”
“…I’m not sure if it will be helpful.”
Inwardly, Evelyn thanked Yeriel for the help. While she’d created an opportunity to talk to Hawa, she knew that guides had keen ears. But thanks to Yeriel, Lakshasha’s attention was directed somewhere else. As Hawa approached her and sat down, Evelyn’s face turned serious.
“Okay, tell me now. What’s the problem? Why are you having such a hard time focusing?” Rather than blaming Hawa, she seemed to think that Hawa must have her reasons. Ru Amuh loosened his armor as slowly as possible and also looked at Hawa curiously. Knowing that she didn’t have much time, Hawa quickly spoke, “I think there’s something a bit strange with that guide.”
“Tell us what’s specifically strange about him. None of us know what’s going on except for you,” Evelyn whispered while pretending to look at Ru Amuh’s arm. After a momentary hesitation, Hawa replied in a low voice, “I experienced being in this place before.”
“What? Being in the Hala Forest? Where?”
“In an image representation space.”
“Image representation space? Then…?” Though Evelyn had never experienced it before, she roughly knew what it was since she had seen Chi-Woo struggle in the front yard for a period in the name of training.
“But how could you—?”
“I’ll start from the beginning.” Hawa quickly explained and brought up the most important points of her story. Evelyn looked doubtful after hearing Hawa’s whole explanation, but it wasn’t completely unbelievable. From what she heard, an image representation space materialized a place that the creator directly or indirectly experienced. After listening to Ismile’s descriptions of the situation here, the legend could’ve created a similar environment and trained Hawa there. But this was only a hypothesis, and there weren’t any proofs supporting it.
“I see,” it was then Ru Amuh spoke, “That’s why just before…”
‘Just before?’ Evelyn thought curiously and let out a small exclamation. No, there was plausible support for this theory. Evelyn’s face turned more solemn as she asked, “Why didn’t you bring this up earlier?”
“I’m just a porter.” With this one statement, Evelyn realized why Hawa had been so hesitant. It was her against the head of the expedition, who had the most authority after the team’s captain, while she was just a mere luggage carrier. Even if she wanted to say something, she probably had no choice but to keep it to herself.
A similar thing happened in the Zepar expedition where she stepped out of line and Apoline scolded her. It was then Hawa realized the hierarchy of authority in an expedition team, and Hawa wasn’t such a fool that she would repeat the same mistakes. Furthermore, she wasn’t even sure of her suspicion. She could be right, but there was a chance that she was wrong.
“What’s your plan, Ms. Evelyn?” Ru Amuh asked, pulling Evelyn out of her reverie. She judged that she shouldn’t be the one to make the decision.
“Chi-Woo, lend me your ear…” Glancing at Yeriel, she got up and headed toward Chi-Woo, who was guarding the left area. Though she tried to buy as much time as possible, Yeriel ended up reaching her limit. It was mostly because Lakshasha didn’t want to talk.
“Let’s stop this conversation now. I already told you everything I could and don’t want to recall it anymore.” In the end, Lakshasha even shook his head aggressively.
“But still—” Yeriel tried to hold him back somehow, but Lakshasha ignored her and turned around.
“Stop. Is the treatment still ongoing?” Then Lakshasha blinked hard, because he saw that Chi-Woo was talking to Evelyn with a very serious expression.
“What is it? Is the injury that serious?”
Chi-Woo looked at Lakshasha without saying anything, and Lakshasha said, “If his injury is so serious that he can’t resume the expedition, order for his leave. If you are worried about me…it’s fine. Just don’t regret it later.”
Chi-Woo’s face turned more solemn as Lakshasha continued. He didn’t understand what was going on. Then Chi-Woo scratched his head furiously for a while and said with a short sigh, “…Mr. Lakshasha.”
“I think we need to talk for a bit.”’
The look in Lakshasha’s eyes changed slightly after hearing these words.
“Ms. Hawa,” Chi-Woo changed his focus and called another name. “Please come here and explain.”
The silver-haired girl confidently walked forward. She was someone Lakshasha had paid no attention to, thinking she was just a porter. Emmanuel looked surprised, while Apoline looked displeased, yet no one rashly opened their mouths. It was different from before. Hawa didn’t act out due to her ignorance of her place, but because Chi-Woo called on her. In other words, Hawa was speaking at the request of the expedition team’s captain; thereby, Chi-Woo was saying that he would be held responsible for what she would say, and Lakshasha couldn’t help but be slightly nervous as the guide.
Hawa stood in front of Lakshasha and said while meeting his eye straight-on, “There’s something I need to ask you.”
A quick look at .com will leave you more fulfilled.
1. Lines from a song that praises the teachings of the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra is one of the most influential scriptures in East Asian Buddhist schools. ☜