Chapter 10: The Fisherman’s Benefit (Taking advantage of a situation).

Thang!

The sound of metal echoed as the long sword was dropped to the floor.

I couldn’t run carrying something so heavy.

I snatched Nan-cheong’s wrist and ran into the stone chamber.

She followed me without a word.

“Stop!”

A shout was heard from behind, but I didn’t pay attention.

The torch was cumbersome, so I threw it forward.

Darkness swallowed us.

“Young Master, I can’t see anything!”

“Don’t worry. I know the way.”

It was a path I had taken hundreds of times in the game.

Even in the dark, my steps didn’t falter.

“Here.”

Nan-cheong bumped into me as I suddenly stopped.

I groped the wall to find a specific spot.

I stuck my finger into a concave part.

Twice clockwise, three times counterclockwise.

“What are you doing…”

The wall moved with a kaduk- sound.

Nan-cheong stopped talking.

“Get in quickly!”

I pushed Nan-cheong into the secret door and followed her in.

As soon as I closed the door, I heard footsteps from behind.

“Where did they go?”

“The torch is here!”

“They must have escaped this way.”

Holding our breath, we waited for their footsteps to fade away.

“Haa… Haa…”

Nan-cheong’s rough breathing reached my ear.

Our rough breaths filled the narrow space.

My heart was pounding as if it would explode.

From outside the stone chamber, the voices of the Bloodhand Clan members could be heard.

“I can’t see anything!”

“Damn it, where did they go?”

“There’s no trace…”

I tried to turn my head to look at Nan-cheong, but even her figure couldn’t be seen in the pitch-black darkness.

Only her rough breathing could be heard next to me.

I couldn’t end it like this.

If what I saw in the game was correct…

“What are you looking for?”

Instead of answering Nan-cheong’s whisper, I started groping the wall.

My palm swept across the cold stone wall.

In the darkness, my groping fingers searched for something.

Somewhere here… definitely…

“Ah!”

A rough sensation was felt at my fingertips.

A rope.

It was exactly in that spot, just like in the game.

I pulled the rope without hesitation.

“Koong!”

Something moved with a heavy sound.

In fact, I didn’t want to use this device.

I vividly remembered the first time I saw this guy in the game.

Countless users fell victim to this trap, and I was also victimized by this guy at first.

What this device summons is a skeleton soldier.

It was a guy with skills ranging from peak second-rate to early first-rate, and considering its characteristics, it might be more dangerous than even an early first-rate.

Its characteristics were simple.

It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t get tired, and it doesn’t know fear.

Of course, poison or internal injuries don’t work either.

The only way to stop it is to completely destroy it physically.

Piercing resistance is a bonus.

It was truly a typical “you’ll get hit if you don’t know” type of enemy.

But now… that guy will be on our side.

“Siaaaaaaaa…”

My laughter echoed in the darkness.

“That laughter sounds a bit like a villain.”

But, right now… I thought that laughter suited me quite well.

**

“Where the hell did they hide?”

The voice of Choo Sam-nyeo, the leader of the Bloodhand Clan’s special operations team, rang out coldly.

The torchlight cast eerie shadows on the stone chamber.

“Team Leader, what do you think about splitting up to search?”

One of the subordinates cautiously suggested.

“We’ve already lost two people. No more.”

On the surface, she seemed like a maternal leader who cared about her subordinates, but the reality was different.

‘If I lose any more team members, my evaluation will be bad.’

Choo Sam-nyeo had already caused quite a bit of loss to the Bloodhand Clan.

‘If I lose more here, I might not get promoted, let alone gain any merit!’

“Bikkeudeodeok.”

Suddenly, something creaking was heard in the darkness.

The three people reflexively took a defensive posture.

“A, a skeleton!”

The voice of the team member holding the torch echoed through the stone chamber.

The torch fell from his hand.

A black, rusted blade glinted in the torchlight.

“Aaaaaaack!”

He screamed at the sensation of his skin being sliced along with his clothes.

“What!”

“Chi-seop!”

Choo Sam-nyeo and the remaining subordinate shouted at the same time.

Something rolled on the floor with a dull sound.

It was an right arm.

The screams echoed all the way to the secret passage inside.

Along with the sound of the skeleton’s rusted sword cutting flesh.

“Damn it!”

Choo Sam-nyeo’s sword accurately pierced the skeleton soldier’s chest.

Bbojik

But other than one of its ribs breaking, nothing changed.

Rather, it seemed as if the blue flames in its empty eye sockets were burning even more intensely.

“What…”

Before Choo Sam-nyeo could finish speaking, the skeleton soldier’s sword cut through the air.

She instinctively pulled her body back.

It was a first-rate expert’s agility.

But it wasn’t perfect.

Swish-

The rusted sword grazed her shoulder.

The fabric tore and her skin was shallowly cut.

“Keuk…”

A groan leaked from her mouth.

Inside the stone chamber, the movements of the three entities were messily intertwined.

Choo Sam-nyeo and the remaining subordinate’s swords cut through the air, but the skeleton soldier’s rusted sword also threatened them.

If you look at the simple numbers, it’s 2 vs 1.

Besides, one side had a first-rate expert.

The skeleton soldier’s strength was objectively somewhere between first-rate and second-rate.

Originally, Choo Sam-nyeo’s group should have won easily.

But the skeleton soldier’s unique body structure nullified their swordsmanship.

Also, being in the dark was a big advantage for the skeleton.

In the underground passage where the torch was the only light, all they could see was the range that the light reached.

Even that made it difficult to distinguish between actual movements and optical illusions as the shadows swayed whenever the torch shook.

On the other hand, the skeleton soldier didn’t have the sensory organ of eyes in the first place, and only sensed the surroundings with energy, so the darkness didn’t matter at all.

Choo Sam-nyeo swung her sword and looked at the torch with anxious eyes.

The subordinate was the same.

They both had the same thought.

‘If that light goes out…’

‘We’re both going to die…’

Their breathing quickened whenever the torch swayed in the wind, and their hands holding the sword were filled with strength.

Choo Sam-nyeo had experienced hundreds of battles, but she had never fought a skeleton.

She had fought zombies a few times, but this was different.

Zombies still had flesh.

But this… was an enemy made purely of bones.

It took time to understand the characteristics of the skeleton.

Piercing was almost ineffective.

Only separating bones with overwhelming force could stop the skeleton.

“Just distract it for a moment. I’ll cut off its neck.”

With the torch running out, I had to gamble.

If I continued like this, everyone could die.

Choo Sam-nyeo’s subordinate swung his sword greatly in front of the skeleton.

As the blade flashed through the air, the skeleton’s empty eye sockets turned towards it.

“Come here, you bonehead!”

The skeleton reacted to the subordinate’s provocation.

It was the moment it rushed in, aiming for his seemingly sloppy posture.

Choo Sam-nyeo instantly raised her internal energy to the maximum.

A pain that felt like her body was burning came, but she only thought that it wouldn’t work if it wasn’t now.

Peoseok!

The skeleton’s neck was neatly cut off.

The head rolled on the floor.

“It’s done, Team Leader!”

The subordinate shouted in a joyful voice.

But the joy was only for a moment.

The headless skeleton staggered and moved, but it didn’t stop completely.

Rather, it approached the careless subordinate with unpredictable movements.

Sharp bone fingers cut through his stomach.

“Euheoheoheok!”

Choo Sam-nyeo cut off the bonehead’s waist right after the subordinate was attacked.

That’s how Choo Sam-nyeo won.

But the price was high.

Her whole body was full of marks cut by the rusted sword.

Each wound was strangely painful.

The bonehead moved even with its waist cut off.

Although it had become much slower, there was a possible threat.

“Hey, just die!”

Only after cutting it in half again did the bonehead stop completely.

“Te, Team Leader… I can live, right? Please…”

The voice of the subordinate, distorted with pain, echoed in the stone chamber.

He was the last remaining subordinate.

The subordinate with his arm cut off had already died of shock.

Choo Sam-nyeo looked at the wound on her abdomen.

Intestines were flowing out.

‘If I go back to the sect and show them to the Harmony Body… maybe…’

But she soon gave up on that idea.

The Harmony Bodies of the Bloodhand Clan were arrogant.

They would never give precious internal energy to a low-ranking disciple who would never escape the second-rate realm.

“I’ll send you away without pain.”

Her words were short.

The sword was also fast.

It was as promised.

“Jo, Team Leader! B*tch…”

Those were the subordinate’s last words.

It was a resentful will, but rather, it made her heart hurt less.

“Damn it, damn it…”

Choo Sam-nyeo gritted her teeth.

Her steps continued slowly as she groped the walls of the stone chamber.

Pressing the blood flowing from her wounds with her hand, she moved her steps.

‘This is really the end.’

She felt the reputation she had built up in the Bloodhand Clan collapsing in an instant.

Stopping her steps and leaning her back against the wall, the cold stone wall pressed against her back.

‘Should I… run away?’

She smiled bitterly at the thought that suddenly came to her mind.

In any case, the Central Plains were vast, and there were many black organizations she could enter.

But that meant she had to give up everything she knew, everything she had built up so far.

‘I don’t want to end it like this…’

She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.

It was then.

Pookjjik!

She couldn’t perfectly avoid the two swords that flew from the darkness.

No, perhaps she could say she avoided it.

It was good that she avoided the blades aimed at her heart and neck.

But blood was flowing profusely from her knees and side.

“Kueuk…”

Her vision began to blur.

The wounds she suffered in the fight with the skeleton, and the new wounds now.

Everything threatened her consciousness.

“Ah, it’s a pity… If I had stabbed a little deeper, I could have killed her.”

The boy’s voice heard from the stone chamber was innocent.

As if regretting a missed butterfly.

“It couldn’t be helped. It was too good of a situation to ambush, so it wouldn’t make sense to let her go.”

The girl’s answer was calm.

‘This… is impossible…’

Choo Sam-nyeo barely turned her head.

Two children were standing in front of her.

A boy who looked about thirteen years old, and a girl who seemed to be a year older than him.

‘By these… these little brats…’

Her head turned white.

She lost five subordinates.

She also suffered not a few injuries.

She realized that it was all because of these children, and anger soared.

‘I can’t… I can’t do this.’

Choo Sam-nyeo’s hand gripped the sword even more tightly.

Although she was bleeding, her eyes were fierce.

‘At least… at least these little brats…’

Choo Sam-nyeo’s gaze, which was glaring at the children with murderous eyes, stopped at the boy.

‘This is…’

Although her whole body was full of wounds, her senses were still sharp.

There was no way she could miss the strange energy rising from the boy’s body.

‘Harmony Body… definitely a Harmony Body.’

Her eyes flashed.

Calculations were made quickly in her head.

She had already lost five subordinates.

She would not be able to avoid censure.

But if she made an even greater contribution…

“Harmony Body… a young Harmony Body…”

A strange smile hung on her lips.

Forgetting the pain from the wounds, she burst into hysterical laughter.

“Euhehehe, only that guy… if I only capture that guy, I can make up for all my mistakes.”