“Your Highness… Your Highness!”
“Huff…!”
“You must get a hold of yourself. The situation has escalated beyond expectation.”
Jin Cheong Lang who had momentarily lost consciousness quickly snapped back to her senses.
In the brief moment her eyes had been averted, three generals had already fallen. And it wasn’t just anyone; it was none other than Vice General Seol Tae Pyeong who had done it.
Judging by the madness flickering in their eyes, it wasn’t hard to tell; they had already been devoured by the Plague Demonic Spirit.
“Vice General… You… You’re losing too much blood…”
“I’m fine. Assess the situation first, then you must flee to the main palace.”
Jin Cheong Lang had managed to suppress Sun Demonic Spirit Pyeong Ryang temporarily by borrowing the power of the Heavenly Dragon, but all she had done was restrict its movements; she had not fully subdued the demonic spirit.
The monstrous Sun Demonic Spirit let out a deafening roar, thrashing against the Heavenly Dragon’s energy that coiled around it like chains, and then it began slaughtering the surrounding soldiers.
“That… That Sun Demonic Spirit…!”
“We must take it down immediately and then eliminate the Plague Demonic Spirit that created these demonic spirits.”
Looking up at the sky, she saw the moon had risen to its peak.
Yet just moments ago, it had still been daytime.
She had seen this Taoist magic once before. It was the ability to twist and break the axis of time. It was the magic of White Demonic Spirit Ah Hyun.
The once sunlit courtyard of Taehwa Pavilion was now bathed in eerie moonlight, and in response to the ominous energy, countless demonic spirits were beginning to rise.
The soldiers of Taehwa Pavilion and the Black Moon Unit, who had been in a standoff just moments ago, were now standing back to back, cutting down the approaching demonic spirits.
Before this overwhelming disaster, human conflicts had become a trivial concern.
For now, everyone fought with all they had. Just to survive.
“…..…”
Seol Tae Pyeong held his breath as he quietly looked down at the panoramic view of Taehwa Pavilion.
It was a scene that seemed as if hell itself had descended upon the mortal world.
Severed limbs and necks were scattered across the battlefield. There was a gruesome mixture of both human and demonic spirit remains.
The screams of agony knew no distinction between man and demonic spirit. If someone weak-willed were to witness this scene, it wouldn’t have been surprising if they fainted on the spot.
Of course, Jin Cheong Lang was someone with little to no immunity to such blood-soaked carnage.
“Ugh…!”
She had seen demonic spirits rampaging before, but this was the first time she had witnessed such an explicit display of human flesh being mercilessly torn apart.
Jin Cheong Lang nearly collapsed on the spot, gagging, but Seol Tae Pyeong quickly moved to support her.
“Steady yourself. If you lose focus, you’ll be killed in an instant.”
“I-I need to… minimize the casualties among Cheongdo’s soldiers first. I will call upon the power of the Heavenly Dragon…”.
“You must save your strength as our final line of defense, Your Highness.”
Even just summoning the form of the Heavenly Dragon into the sky moments ago had left Jin Cheong Lang utterly drained.
She still had some energy left to fight, but expending her power until she was completely depleted would be a grave mistake.
The special and lower demonic spirits that had appeared so far were merely the beginning.
The true enemy they needed to take down was the Plague Demonic Spirit.
…
Seol Tae Pyeong swallowed dryly and once again surveyed the battlefield.
He had already cut down the Plague Demonic Spirit several times as it parasitized the bodies of high-ranking generals, yet there was still no guarantee that the creature was truly dead.
This demonic spirit survived by leaping from host to host, refusing to be vanquished by a simple beheading.
There’s still too much we don’t know…!
If they were to kill the Plague Demonic Spirit for good, they needed to uncover more about its nature.
Though it repeatedly revived by devouring the minds of high officials, it didn’t seem capable of possessing just any human at will.
If it could freely transfer bodies without restriction, then Seol Tae Pyeong would have already been its first victim.
There must have been a specific condition. A condition that required time and preparation for the creature to take full control of a new body.
In other words, the number of hosts the Plague Demonic Spirit could inhabit was not infinite. If they kept cutting them down, eventually, it would run out of vessels.
However, the Plague Demonic Spirit was no fool.
Even if you kept cutting it down again and again until the number of hosts began to dwindle. And when that happened, the creature would surely disappear once more.
That was inevitable.
The only reason it had revealed itself so openly before Seol Tae Pyeong was that it still had plenty of hosts left.
“If we kill the most powerful Plague Demonic Spirit, all our problems will be solved.”
“The… Plague Demonic Spirit…?”
“Yes. However… that creature takes control of human bodies and jumps between them. You remember how the high officials I cut down were acting strangely, don’t you?”
Jin Cheong Lang who was overwhelmed with fear barely managed to nod.
The mere fact that she could hold a conversation in the midst of this blood-soaked battlefield was proof of her resilience.
Considering how young she was, even that alone was worthy of praise.
“You must listen carefully. We still don’t understand what kind of sorcery the Plague Demonic Spirit uses to consume humans. That means… at any moment, someone could lose their mind and turn on us.”
Jin Cheong Lang swallowed dryly as she listened to Seol Tae Pyeong’s words.
Even the high officials, who had been more loyal to Cheongdo than anyone else, had suddenly gone mad and tried to cut them down.
If that was possible, then there was no way to tell who might turn against them next.
For example, if An Rim, the head maid who had served her for years, suddenly succumbed to madness and tried to kill her… could she strike her down without hesitation?
Absolutely not.
That was why Jin Cheong Lang couldn’t stop trembling in fear.
“Th-That’s…”
“Don’t worry too much. At the very least, we know for certain that it can’t just devour anyone at will. If it could, I would have already fallen to madness.”
Seol Tae Pyeong gripped Jin Cheong Lang’s shoulders firmly and tried to reassure her.
“However, we have no way of knowing how this situation will unfold.”
“…Vice General…”
“If I truly succumb to the Plague Demonic Spirit’s madness, there won’t be many who can stop me.”
Seol Tae Pyeong looked Jin Cheong Lang in the eye with a serious expression on his face.
“If that happens, you must not hesitate to kill me. Steel your heart.”
“…I can’t. I’d rather die with you.”
Rather, Jin Cheong Lang tightened her grip on Seol Tae Pyeong’s shoulders and clenched her teeth as she spoke.
“If you don’t want to see me die, then you must never fall to the Plague Demonic Spirit either.”
Even in a state of terror, she still said everything she needed to. It was moments like this that made it clear. Being the Heavenly Maiden was not a role just anyone could take on.
Seol Tae Pyeong gazed at Jin Cheong Lang in silence before finally admitting that he had been thoughtless.
“You’re right, Your Highness. I only said it just in case.”
“Even as a joke, don’t say such things.”
– Kraaaaaah!
A roar echoed as the Sun Demonic Spirit, which Jin Cheong Lang had bound, leaped onto the platform.
Now that he had conveyed everything he needed to, Seol Tae Pyeong rushed forward to stop the creature.
***
Wh-What… what is all this…?
When Vermilion Princess Seol Ran climbed the stairs behind Taehwa Pavilion, her eyes widened in shock.
The soldiers guarding the path to the top of the pavilion lay sprawled on the ground, bleeding.
Some already seemed lifeless, while others, though still breathing, had lost limbs, their injuries so severe that death might have been a mercy.
Night and day had reversed, demonic spirits ran rampant, and soldiers were being slaughtered.
Fortunately, it appeared that the emperor had been escorted to safety by the warriors, but the high officials who were like the pillars of Cheongdo’s foundation were still trapped in the banquet hall.
Each of them held a critical position in the Empire, and if they were all to be wiped out at once, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Cheongdo would plunge into an age of darkness.
The military officers frantically moved about, trying to save as many officials as possible.
Seol Ran swallowed dryly and continued climbing the back stairs of Taehwa Pavilion.
If she wanted to grasp the full situation, she needed to get to higher ground.
There’s no way Tae Pyeong would stand still in the face of all this! I need to find something I can do as well…!
She dragged the hem of her court robe as she reached the top of the pavilion, only to be greeted by a horrifying sight.
Lying in a pool of his own blood was Chief Councilor In Seon Rok.
His chest had been pierced through, and though his breaths were shallow and empty, he clung to the railing, desperately trying to lift himself.
“Ch-Chief Councilor… …!”
Shocked, Seol Ran rushed to support him, only to have her sleeves stained with his blood.
As she struggled to tend to the wounded minister, her gaze finally shifted toward the front courtyard of Taehwa Pavilion.
A hellscape unfolded before her.
People were dying everywhere.
Seol Ran swallowed hard and fixed her gaze on Seol Tae Pyeong, who was charging toward the Sun Demonic Spirit in the distance.
Even from afar, he looked utterly exhausted.
It was no surprise. In this short span of time, he had already cut down three high-ranking generals.
Each of them was a famous warrior in Cheongdo, so it was only natural that the strain on his body had begun to take its toll.
On top of that, he now had to face the Sun Demonic Spirit, who had only been subdued in such a state after being attacked by every subordinate in the Hwalseong District. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he had collapsed on the spot.
S-Sun Demonic Spirit…!
Seol Ran swallowed dryly at the sight of the Sun Demonic Spirit emerging from beyond the platform.
“Ha… Yeon-ah….”
“…….!”
The once-brilliant eyes, always sharp like those of a wild tiger, were now dull and lifeless.
Chief Councilor In Seon Rok, who was leaning against Seol Ran for support, clutched at her collar with a trembling hand and spoke in a fading voice.
“Ha… Yeon-ah… Ha… Yeon-ah….”
Was he seeing his life flash before his eyes?
Perhaps, upon seeing Seol Ran dressed in the robes of the Vermilion Princess, he had mistaken her for his beloved daughter In Ha Yeon whom he had cherished his entire life.
Summoning all his remaining strength, he gripped her collar tightly, enduring the pain as he spoke.
“Run… Ha Yeon… Run away….”
“I… I….”
Seol Ran started to say something but quickly fell silent.
She already knew. Chief Councilor In Seon Rok would not leave Taehwa Pavilion alive.
He was already an old man.
Having suffered such severe blood loss in the freezing winter air and been left unattended for so long, even if she ran to find a physician now, it would be meaningless.
“Chief Councilor… First, we need to stop the bleeding….”
“Ha Yeon… My daughter, Ha Yeon… Are you… Are you there…?”
His mind was already slipping away.
He clung desperately to the last shreds of consciousness, calling out endlessly for his daughter, In Ha Yeon.
“Ha Yeon… The Plague Demonic Spirit… You must flee from the Plague Demonic Spirit….”
He was fully aware that his life hung by a thread.
Was it his only wish for his daughter, In Ha Yeon, to escape the clutches of the Plague Demonic Spirit that had infiltrated Cheongdo?
“Be wary of all high-ranking generals. And officials of the Upper Second Rank and above… I couldn’t confirm them all… but most have already been devoured….”
He knows something more…!
Seol Ran’s pupils trembled. She struggled to stay focused as she concentrated on the Chief Councilor’s desperate words.
“Huff… Huff… Ha Yeon….”
With his fading mind, the Chief Councilor clutched Seol Ran’s hand tightly.
The dignified figure who once stood at the pinnacle of the officials was gone. All that remained was a frail, pitiful old man, moments from death.
“If that thing takes root in Seol Lee Moon’s corpse… everything will be over.”
“…….”
“You must… You must find Seol Lee Moon’s body…. I… have failed….”
And with that, the Chief Councilor’s trembling hand brushed gently against Seol Ran’s cheek.
Like a father reminiscing about the daughter he had loved so dearly all his life, his wrinkled, aged hand caressed her face… until it finally fell limp.
A chilling cold filled the floor of Taehwa Pavilion.
Seol Ran quietly closed her eyes and carefully laid his body down.
The final moments of the Chief Councilor who had once commanded all of Cheongdo.
Who would have expected that his end would come on the cold wooden floor of a pavilion perched on the mid-slopes of the White Immortal Mountain?
There was no one by his side to mourn him.
Only his corpse remained in a corner of Taehwa Pavilion, surrounded by the dying screams of both demonic spirits and humans alike.
Seol Ran, too, had no time to linger.
After placing his body down for a brief moment, she had to push forward.
She had to survive.
“…..…!”
***
“Lady Ha Yeon, what is it? We must hurry to Taehwa Pavilion.”
A sudden chill ran down In Ha Yeon’s spine, and she instinctively halted the blade that had been cutting down demonic spirits.
The warrior commander who had been keeping pace with her urgent steps, quickly turned his head and urged her forward. She shook her head a few times and immediately followed.
No matter what, Seol Tae Pyeong was risking his life to defend Taehwa Pavilion.
There was no time to hesitate. She had to get there as quickly as possible.
In Ha Yeon plunged into the cold winter air.
It was a very cold day.
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