Chapter 111 – Stealth (2)

Seol-Hwi had a question that kept bothering him.

If Ma Taryong was taken prisoner by Mount Hua’s people, then how did the First Disciple, the End Demon, not know about this?

Maybe the news hadn’t reached the End Demon’s ears yet?

That can’t be the only explanation…

Seol-Hwi was confused by the situation. He could only guess what was actually going on.

He was given the power of Simulation, but he couldn’t be sure until he saw with his own eyes that Ma Taryong was being held captive.

“The assumptions we’ve made might be wrong, Captain.”

It was late at night. Seol-Hwi revealed his thoughts about something else happening, to which Seo Ryeong immediately replied.

“What do you mean?”

“These people here aren’t dealing with anyone at all, and we might have traitors.”

“Traitors?”

Seol-Hwi’s eyes widened at those words. What Seo Ryeong said was rather unexpected. And if it was true, then that meant the End Demon knew about this incident and let it happen.

“It’s said that the Nine Great Sects value their pride more than their lives.”

Imugi, who was standing next to Seo Ryeong, also spoke up.

Seol-Hwi agreed with him. Even crawling on the ground to survive was considered insulting by someone from the Nine Great Sects. It was because of the pride they held in their existences.

Yorim had another thought.

“That’s why it’s a problem. Excessive pride can be poisonous. Mount Hua isn’t even the best sect when you consider their abilities. But they’re compared to the Wudang and Shaolin Sects.”

Yong Jin wondered something as well.

“Then isn’t it reckless to assume that they joined hands with our Demonic Sect, which is considered evil, rather than another sect?”

“It could still be the case. Even if the values pursued are different, there are stories about sects which overcame them for the sake of their own sect’s growth. Besides, this might not be accepted, but the Nine Great Sects and our Demonic Sect have been known to have a hostile, symbiotic relationship.”

Hm…

The conversation between his subordinates stimulated Seol-Hwi’s interest. And some of these assumptions were true, to a certain extent.

According to the Earth Demon, the End Demon receives money and equipment from Mount Hua, while Mount Hua’s disciples get ‘practical experience’.

However, this kind of relationship is something which could be betrayed at any time. If Seol-Hwi’s subordinates were right, there might be bigger things going on that they weren’t aware of.

There could be negligence from either side. Hadn’t he experienced it himself today?

Before fighting Gu Yeom, the AI had mentioned something about the old man using demonic techniques.

This meant that even martial arts were being exchanged between Mount Hua and the Demonic Sect.

What is the First Disciple even thinking?

Seol-Hwi decided to put this thought in the back of his mind, as they reached the place where Ma Taryong was being held.

The team infiltrated through the building’s roof.

Everyone was prepared, as Seol-Hwi gave the signal. Yorim pulled out his sword from his waist, and with his other hand, began running his fingers over the roof.

This was in order to understand the structure of the building.

Then, after nodding, Yorim infused internal energy into his sword and stabbed downwards.

Ching!

He cleanly cut off a section of the roof, with which one person at a time could enter through.

Yorim jumped in, followed by Seol-Hwi and the others. As they observed from their position atop the rafters, five people who seemed to be disciples of Mount Hua entered their sight.

Is this really the place…? Seol-Hwi thought, while looking at the Mount Hua disciples.

At a glance, there seemed to be no higher leveled masters. If this was the place they were hiding Ma Taryong, he wondered why there weren’t stronger people around.

Of course, if there was an Elder, he wouldn’t have dared to infiltrate like this.

They need to be suppressed at once so that no one knows we were here.

Seol-Hwi nodded his head. It was a shame, but he had to use it.

<Combat Method, Turn-Based >
Their stats began to appear in front of him. Their combat power was just one million, and all of them were only second class disciples.

These were the ones that even his subordinates could subdue.

Meanwhile, the person Seol-Hwi would have to take care of was…

<Myung Ryong [First class disciple of Mount Hua Sect] >
Super master
Health: 2.01 million
Internal energy: 1.88 million
Combat power: 4.43 million
Seol-Hwi pointed to the four second class disciples, and his subordinates nodded as they got ready to attack.

-Me too?

Imugi pointed to himself awkwardly, but no one bothered to pay attention to him.

-Go.

When Seol-Hwi gave the command, the members all rushed in. Yet Seol-Hwi alone didn’t move from his spot.

<A great opportunity! You found a gap in Myung Ryong! How will you respond? >
While his men were approaching the enemies, the window that Seol-Hwi had been waiting for appeared.

▶ Get close to the opponent
As soon as he made his decision, in the blink of an eye, he was behind Myung Ryong.

“…!”

Myung Rong reacted too late, and he was hit in the head by the Wind God Fist from Seol-Hwi.

Puah! Puah! Puah!

Meanwhile, the other disciples of Mount Hua had also fallen. There was more than three times the difference in combat power between them and Seol-Hwi’s subordinates, so this was bound to happen.

After taking a deep breath, Seol-Hwi raised his head.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Yong Jin asked, while looking at Imugi. He was mumbling something, and pressing his ear against the wall.

“He’s probably looking for something like a hidden passage.”

“A hidden passage?”

“I don’t know, that’s my guess.”

At Yong Jin’s question, Yorim could only shrug.

“It was somewhere…”

Not caring what they were talking about, Imugi kept moving close to the wall. Then, suddenly, he shouted out triumphantly.

“Over here!”

That moment.

Kikikik!

One side of the wall retreated into the ground, and at the same time, stairs rose from below and continued downwards.

“A mechanical formation!”

The members who saw this were amazed.

It was a rarely seen structure. A hidden passage operated with simple hand gestures, moved by engineering rather than any internal energy.

“Did you see that? I’m awesome, aren’t I!”

Imugi puffed out his chest, and smiled.

“My former master had a skill for these things, so I learned a couple tricks.”

“Who is your former master?”

“Everyone, be quiet.”

Seol-Hwi gave them a warning to stop talking. They shouldn’t be acting relaxed, not here.

“I’ll go down with Imugi, and you all should stay on alert. If anyone comes, subdue them.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Seol-Hwi’s subordinates, who remembered the seriousness of the situation, responded with determined expressions.

After nodding his head, Seol-Hwi looked at Imugi and said,

“Imugi, help me make a mechanical formation later.”

“Huh? But Captain… even if you say that, it’s probably not something you can make on your first try…?”

“Don’t worry. I can learn right away just by looking at it.”

Seol-Hwi smiled and gestured towards the hidden passage. Given the present circumstances, it would be better to end their conversation here.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Seol-Hwi and Imugi walked down the stairs, and stopped in front of another wall. Seol-Hwi wondered if a mechanical formation was here too, but Imugi shook his head.

“This… is probably the protection circle.”

“Protection circle?”

Seol-Hwi was a bit taken aback. What appeared to be a simple wall was actually a protection circle?

“There are many kinds of techniques for protection circles. Distorting space, showing the wrong path, even supernatural phenomena that create illusions. This looks like a maze – the path appears blocked, but it’s actually open.”

“Is that so?”

After Seol-Hwi heard the explanation, he understood.

Even if an intruder manages to find their way in, they wouldn’t be able to understand all this. Seol-Hwi himself didn’t know if this protection circle could be destroyed. He had been confident before, but now he wasn’t sure.

“Step back for now.”

“Huh?”

“Hurry.”

At Seol-Hwi’s words, Imugi quickly got out of his way. Seol-Hwi looked at the huge wall in front of him.

Can it be done again?

This wasn’t a mechanical formation, but a technique created with internal energy. There was a possibility that the Simulation could fail.

Let’s trust it. I don’t see any other way out of this.

Seol-Hwi changed the combat method to Simulation. And soon,

<Combat Method, Simulation Lv2>
<Analyzing Seol-Hwi’s martial arts>
<…>
<Analysis complete.>
Then it asked him,

<What Simulation would you like?>
“Tell me how to destroy this protection circle.”

Seol-Hwi told the system, doubtful. If this didn’t work, then the next step for them was unclear.

They had already killed the disciples of Mount Hua when they entered, so things couldn’t be allowed to get messier. As he waited,

<Analyzing…>
<Found it!>
Wow! Amazing!

Seol-Hwi yet again admired the capabilities of the system. It really could be quite versatile.

<Put your hand on the positions shown. Infuse the right amount of internal energy into the places calculated by the sequence.>
Huh? Sequence?

Seol-Hwi didn’t understand what this meant at first. But then spots of color appeared one by one, indicating to him where he had to place his hand.

<Infuse 150 internal energy here.>
<Infuse 5,000 internal energy here.>
<Infuse 12,000 internal energy here.>
He followed the directions of the system, doing this around ten more times.

<The Wooden Illusion Maze Circle has been cancelled.>
After this phrase notifying Seol-Hwi of his success, the wall disappeared.

A man with his wrists and ankles bound in chains, and a body covered in blood, appeared in front of Seol-Hwi and Imugi’s eyes.

Seol-Hwi knew…this had to be Ma Taryong.

“Is he still alive…?”

As Seol-Hwi approached to check for the man’s pulse, Imugi asked him. It was because Ma Taryong already looked dead.

Suddenly, the pair of them were startled by a voice.

“Captain!”

Papapat-!

Someone was rushing down the stairs. It was Yorim.

“What is it?”

Seol-Hwi almost had a heart attack, so Imugi questioned Yorim instead.

And Yorim replied,

“Somehow, an alarm bell was rung! Signals are going off in all directions, and everyone’s moving out in formations! A large number of Mount Hua’s people we haven’t been able to identify yet are starting to surround the building.”

“That’s…!”

Imugi was shocked. Did the release of the protection circle trigger an alarm?

“Captain, we need to get out of here!”

“Captain! Hurry!”

Imugi and Yorim urged him, but despite this, Seol-Hwi didn’t respond.

“Captain!”

He was repeatedly being called by his frantic subordinates.

But his eyes weren’t looking at them. Instead,

▶ Take Ma Taryong with you
▷ Leave him
The first choice in the main story. Seol-Hwi was struggling on how to choose between the two options.

He couldn’t help thinking about the ripple effects this choice would have. What was the better option?

Seol-Hwi couldn’t figure it out.

<What decision will you make for your future?>
Because the question asked him about his ‘future’.