EP.14 Nightmare (1)
nightmare (1)
It’s dark all around.
It’s too strange to say it’s night, and too contradictory to say it’s not. I checked to see if the moon was up.
I can’t see anything.
Clouds and sky are things that should definitely exist.
Not a single one existed.
Where is this place?
All the trees around were on fire, and where the pavilion had once stood, only ashes remained.
My body moves slowly. It wasn’t my will. I try to somehow find ownership of my body, but it doesn’t work.
As I take a step forward, I feel someone grabbing my ankle. When I turn around, I see a man covered in blood.
Plum blossom pattern on white clothes. This is the martial arts uniform of a sect that is very well known in the Central Plains.
Hwasan faction.
Yes, this is a volcano.
The flowers that once bloomed brilliantly have all burned down and lost their original appearance, but this is a famous place that has protected Shaanxi for centuries.
All that history is now gone.
Only then could I realize it.
This is a dream.
That too is a terrible nightmare.
[How could you do this…!]
The man spoke to me. The resentment and resentment in his face were palpable.
He was holding onto my ankle with his remaining left arm, which was missing his arm.
The eyes are red with burst blood vessels, making them look as if they are shedding tears of blood.
[What did we do wrong…!! How can you do this to us!!]
A voice shouting as if her veins were bursting. All around were the corpses of those wearing the same uniforms as men.
Everyone, from children to the elderly, was breathless.
And it was in such a miserable state, as if it had been bitten by a beast.
[Are you really a human? How could you do such a thing while wearing the mask of a human!]
The body that had been silent opened its mouth. This was also not something I could stop with my will.
[The ceaseless sound has stopped.] [What…?] [It means that the Plum Blossom Immortal whom you revered with all your might was killed by the cult leader.] [Nonsense! Jang Moon-in was killed by a mere evil spirit… … !] [The volcano you cherished so much has turned to ashes, and you still don’t know?]
Shut up, please… Shut up, please.
[You can’t do anything, you’re too pathetic to be called a prestigious school.]
Slowly bending her knees, she brought her gaze closer to the man. She could feel the different emotions in the man’s eyes.
Clearly, it was fear.
[Look, the priests you loved so much have fallen by my hand, and the executioners you loved so much have fallen by my hand.]
He stroked the man’s cheek with his bloody hand. It was a hand stained with the blood of his fellow slain men.
Knock knock.
There was a sound of something breaking from the man’s mouth. He clenched his teeth so hard that it felt like they were breaking.
[The volcano burned down, and you became like this, it was all because of your weakness and incompetence. The volcano, you, and the plum blossom.] [Shut up, devil!! The name that will be on the lips of you, who betrayed the sect and stabbed me in the back!]
I grabbed the man’s neck and snapped it, as if there was no more small talk.
The last remaining disciple of the volcano ended his life like this.
Slap.
I sensed a presence among the wide pool of blood. I knelt down toward the presence and saluted it.
Their eyes did not dare to meet.
The illusion of space being distorted by his presence is created.
The volcano, which was like Mount Tai in Shaanxi, hid its presence just by standing there.
Just coming into close contact causes all of our senses to send out warning signals.
Heavenly Demon.
He called himself that.
[Not bad.]
Even though I can hear the sound, I can’t recognize it properly.
Is it a man’s voice or a woman’s voice?
It sounded thick, but also thin like a woman’s voice.
Cheonma suddenly threw something in front of me.
The old man’s neck looked as if it had been torn off.
This was none other than the neck of Maehwaseon, who was known as the absolute master of the volcano.
[It wasn’t enough to please me, but I was able to gain a little bit of pleasure.]
Even though he was not one of the three great masters of the Central Plains, he was considered to be of equal rank, and yet he was killed so easily.
The Cheonma, who looked calm as if the battle had been a lie, looked around and approached me.
[It’s like a beast is on the loose.]
He came right up to my nose.
I felt suffocated. I couldn’t move at all.
[In this situation, I don’t have to worry about what name to give you.]
I want to wake up. I want to escape from this dream as quickly as possible. Why are you showing me this?
[you….]
I heard Cheonma say something, but I couldn’t hear it till the end.
“My lord…!”
[…from now on.]
“master!”
I opened my eyes to Weeseol-ah’s voice.
******************
I was on my way back to Guga after finishing the Guryonghoe.
“Wow!”
As soon as I woke up from my dream, I hurriedly stopped the carriage and ran out.
I couldn’t stand the bubbling. I sat down on the ground and vomited.
I didn’t eat anything today, but it just kept pouring out of my stomach.
‘Fuck… . Fuck!’
My body is shaking. Why did I suddenly have this dream?
It was something I tried hard to forget. I wanted to rip out the memory if I could.
I feel a hand on my back. I turn around and grab it.
I held it with trembling hands and saw that it was Wi Seol-ah’s hand.
Wi Seol-ah was looking at me with startled eyes. The rapid shaking of her eyes overlapped with the fear the man in my dream had shown me.
What does my expression look like right now?
I knew it without even seeing it. It would be a mess.
It’s not easy to control your facial expressions.
First, I slowly released the strength in the hand I was holding. Wi Seol-ah hid her frightened expression and instead calmly patted my back again.
Muyeon, who was escorting the carriage, also came running in a hurry.
“Your Majesty! Are you alright…? Call the doctor immediately…!”
“It’s okay, calm down… How can I save the congressman here?”
It’s still a mountain village that leads back to Sega. There’s no way you’ll find a doctor nearby.
He’s breathing heavily, but he doesn’t calm down easily.
Memories of the day when the Hwasanpa was destroyed by the Demonic Cult.
It was the day when the security checkpoint at Gupaebang was broken down in just one day.
It was something I wanted to forget, but I can’t believe I ended up like this just because I encountered it in a dream.
‘… It never happened, it won’t happen anymore.’
This is something I repeat to myself hundreds of times a day. It is a thought I repeat to myself while walking, while eating, and even while breathing.
“…Fuck.”
It has been said that humans are forgetful animals.
Why is it that sins cannot be forgotten even after death?
As time passed and it did not calm down easily, I ended up forcibly calming myself down by surrounding my body with internal energy.
It was an inefficient move, but it was necessary to get going quickly.
When I turn the Guyeonhwaryun Gong, my body feels warm.
I’m writing this to calm my body, which is shaking from having nightmares, even though I already have zero internal energy.
It was a feeling I couldn’t explain.
“I feel like shit..”
I felt like I had calmed down a little and got up. Wi Seol-ah tried to support me, but I pushed her away, telling her that it was okay.
Why did I have this dream?
Is it because of the anxiety that even if I return to the past, it will end up like that in the end?
‘Don’t worry about it, it’s just a nightmare.’
After throwing up a handful, I felt a bit more alert.
The tangled mess could be unraveled by going through the mind method or by taking a little more rest.
At that moment, I felt something with my five senses that had developed due to the bet. I laughed in vain at the unpleasant sensation that felt like it was stabbing my spine.
‘What bad luck.’
Even my dreams are so bad, what could possibly happen that I have to resort to such misfortune?
He turned around to go up to the carriage and approached Muyeon.
I spoke to Muyeon, who was fidgeting impatiently.
“Smokeless.”
“Yes, your highness! Should we go and see the doctor?”
“Stop talking nonsense and quickly check the status of the magic talisman.”
Moo-yeon felt a chill from my words and quickly took out a talisman from her bosom.
The magic talisman was developed by shamans in the past. If you put a spell on it, it would give a signal when a nearby magic gate appeared.
The amulet taken out of his bosom was in perfect condition and did not show any signs.
Moo-yeon looked at the innocuous talisman and sighed.
“Huh… My lord, I was surprised when you suddenly said such serious words. Fortunately, nothing happened… .”
As Muyeon continued speaking, the talisman began to glow red and then instantly burned away.
There was no hesitation. Mooyeon immediately shouted to the guards surrounding him.
“A magic gate has been created! Everyone prepare for battle!”
As soon as Muyeon shouts, the surrounding guards immediately draw their swords. Tension builds up in the already chaotic atmosphere.
It was a shame that something like this happened on the way back. The fact that the Masanbu was set on fire so quickly meant that the location of the Ma Gyeongmun was very close.
If only it had been a little further away, I could have escaped.
It was my fault for stopping the carriage in the middle.
Mooyeon grabs my shoulder urgently.
“Your Majesty, it is dangerous. First, you must get into the carriage.”
I immediately pushed Wi Seol-ah and the other attendants into the carriage after hearing Muyeon’s words.
Then he closed the door and stood next to Muyeon.
“You too, my lord, must go in quickly. The situation is really dangerous right now… .”
If it were normal, I would have just stayed in the carriage and waited for it to pass, but since it was my fault, I couldn’t do that.
If I had never caused the accident in the first place, I would have known, but I decided to live this life cleaning up my own mess.
That way, the same thing won’t happen again.
“Master…!”
“Muyeon, I’ll listen to your nagging later, so watch from the front first. Here you go.”
As I warned him, Muyeon fixed her gaze forward, and the air distorted as if it had been waiting for me.
The distorted void that had been emitting green light soon opened up into a space.
“green….”
Mooyeon whispers softly.
Green, blue, red, and white. This was the order of colors that represented the stages of the magic scriptures. Fortunately, if it was green, it was the magic scripture with the lowest risk.
-Krrrrrr… .
The low growl of a beast.
What appeared through the magic gate was a giant wild dog. To be exact, it was a monster with the appearance of a wild dog.
It was a strange-looking creature with the appearance of a wild dog and a horn in the center of its forehead.
“It just so happens that he’s a bit of a troublemaker.”
Green horned dog.
A monster with quick feet and fangs that can chew through rocks, he was once a monster that the Murim Alliance attempted to tame.
Of course, the result was a failure.
‘The number is a little over ten.’
If we were to count the number of monsters appearing in the Magic Mirror, it was neither more nor less than the average.
There is no such thing as intelligence in monsters. That means there is no such thing as hesitation.
The deer spotted us and immediately ran towards us.
Muyeon also leaped at the bastards. Muyeon’s sword, avoiding their claws, cut off their horns.
Just one sword.
The dark energy rippling on his smokeless sword proved that he was a first-class warrior.
The deer with its horns cut off falls down. The horns were their weak point.
The other escorts did the same. They started to confront the monsters.
I picked up some dirt from the ground as I stood among those hunting monsters centered around the carriage.
-Krrrrr… .
While Moo-yeon is dealing with another guy, a guy who is after me approaches.
The drooling sounded like it had found prey. It looked younger and weaker than the others.
It was said that the situation was perfect for them to target.
-Kuaang!
The green-horned dog howls and rushes in. It spins the Nine Flame Wheel Gong that was gently spinning around its body faster.
I felt a warm heat rising through my body.
Thanks to that, I was able to turn my body faster than usual and avoid the bastard’s claws by just a hair.
Then he immediately threw the dirt he was holding at the guy who turned around.
-Kuaang!
I could see the guy with the blocked vision threatening the air here and there.
Even though it is a large creature, it is still not a threat even if you cannot see it.
I picked up a rock rolling on the ground and threw it near the guy. The guy reacted with a thud!
He drove the Guyeonhwaryun Gong that had been rotating throughout his body into his arm.
‘If you hesitate, you die.’
Taking advantage of the gap in the creature’s attention on the rock, I made a short leap and thrust my arm into its side.
-Phew!
The weak point of the green-horned dog was its horn, but it had one more weakness common to all monsters.
It is a magic stone that is held inside the body.
For those without a heart, the magic stone was the heart.
Since I wasn’t a swordsman and my current body couldn’t break the horn, I stuck my reinforced arm into the thing’s body and pulled out the magic stone.
Although there was a rough texture, there was no problem with the arm, which was fully equipped with internal energy, digging into the flesh and finding and picking up the magic stone.
-Pfft!
The hand was pulled out and blue blood gushed out, proving that it was a monster.
-Krrrrr…!
The deer antler fell down just as it had its horn cut off earlier.
I turned around with the magic stone in my hand and saw another green antler dog running towards me.
-Kuaaaaang!
“Ah, this is a bit…!”
There was not enough time to quickly return the Guyeonhwaryun Gong that was stuck in his arm back to his entire body.
Just as its sharp teeth were about to sink into me, a flash of light passed by its horns. It was a smokeless sword.
“Your Majesty! Are you okay…?”
Mooyeon shut her mouth when she saw the green antler dog lying in front of her with its side open.
“Thank you, I almost died from being a guest.”
“Yes… that’s good.”
I feel like he’s looking at me with strange eyes. It’s the same gaze I felt the first day I returned.
What kind of look is that…?
The time it took to hunt the monsters was quick.
Since they were the ones who protected the direct lineage, they were not the ones who would have any trouble with the lowest rank magic gate.
Even in the Pyo-guk area, when you go on a tour, you often come across the Ma-gyeong-mun.
In a world where the existence of the Demonic Crusade had become familiar, something like this was nothing more than an unfortunate accident.
After killing all the monsters that appeared, the magic scripture disappeared into thin air, but the corpses of the remaining monsters remained.
“Then all that’s left is to send the Nine Houses’ letter….”
I closed my mouth to speak to Muyeon.
My palms felt tingling.
It was a familiar feeling that I had felt so tiredly in my previous life. There was no way I could have mistaken it.
“Your Majesty, why are you like that?”
I looked at the hand holding the magic stone.
The color of the magic stone, which had been green, gradually faded and became transparent.
At the same time, I feel my internal energy building up little by little.
My lips are trembling. I’ve experienced this phenomenon countless times in my past lives.
A martial art that draws out the power of a magic stone and absorbs it into the body.
“Fuck, what the fuck is this…!”
This was clearly Cheonma’s martial arts.
