The Soul-Summoning Bell was an extremely rare and powerful artifact.
Its rank alone was A+, and in reality, its value exceeded even that.
There was no way an organization obsessed with strength above all else, like the Blood Cult, would entrust something like that to just anyone.
It was proof that the old man’s status was anything but ordinary.
And at a glance, he clearly looked like someone exceptionally skilled.
“……”
Ever since revealing himself, his gaze had remained fixed on me.
Since he showed no sign of speaking first, I decided to ask the question myself.
“Are you from the Blood Cult?”
“You ask something obvious while already knowing the answer. This old man is called Ghost Demon.”
The Soul-Summoning Bell was an artifact used to summon and control the souls of the dead.
If he wielded such an item, then the martial art he cultivated was almost certainly deeply connected to that field as well.
Which meant the one creating and controlling the jiangshi was probably this old man too.
I gave a small nod.
“I see. So what brings you here?”
This was a fairly large battlefield, but for someone at the elder level, there should have been more important places to oversee.
Ghost Demon answered,
“The connections with the Iron Jiangshi kept getting severed one after another. Much earlier than intended.”
Well, the Dang Clan martial artists were struggling to varying degrees, whereas we had been crushing every jiangshi force we encountered and continuing forward.
It made sense he’d want to investigate what was happening.
Ghost Demon continued,
“I thought a few guest fighters would not amount to much of a variable, but it seems this old man judged incorrectly.”
As he spoke, his gaze swept across the group one by one.
Jegal So-so, Seo Ye-in, Dang Gyu-young, and even the shadow undead.
His eyes finally settled on the Blood Sword Commander.
“At least in terms of skill, he was acknowledged even within our cult. Though he lacked much in other areas.”
“Especially mental discipline.”
All I really did was throw off-beat palm strikes, repeated grapples, and synchronized upper-and-lower attacks.
Yet he lost his composure, went berserk, and met his end because of it.
Ghost Demon spoke again.
“From the looks of it, the Shadow Commander, Illusion Demon, and several other experts of our cult also fell to you. Though faint, traces of intent still cling to you.”
“You can see that?”
“And who did I say I was?”
“Master Ghost Demon, wasn’t it?”
But judging only from the conversations we’d had so far, he seemed closer to a shaman than a Blood Cult elder.
Since we were already talking, I decided to throw out another question.
“You seem incredibly gifted, sir. Do you also do fortune readings or spiritual divinations?”
“Do you truly think this is the time for such things?”
“It’s only a question or two. If you can’t do it, we can move on.”
“……What is it you wish to know?”
“My financial fortune, please.”
Master, will I obtain the Soul-Summoning Bell in the near future?
At that moment, Dang Gyu-young and Jegal So-so stepped up beside me and shot me meaningful looks.
“Wouldn’t it be better to ask about your romantic fortune instead?”
“I too am extremely curious about your love life.”
“It’s not an opportunity that comes around often.”
I decided to fully embrace the demands of the group.
“I’ll change it to romantic fortune, then.”
“……You truly walk a rather turbulent path.”
“Wow, you really are accurate.”
“And yet you already know this. The one who chose that path was none other than yourself.”
“To be honest, that part is true.”
“And even that is not the end of it. Truly, you are a man of endless greed.”
Then Dang Gyu-young and Jegal So-so took turns chiming in.
“Young Monarch, wouldn’t it be better to let go a little at this point?”
“Exactly, exactly. Just include me and stop there.”
“Hey, every time I forget about it, you start asking to be included again.”
“He literally said it’s not the end.”
Unable to hold back, the two immediately started bickering.
Seo Ye-in also stared at me quietly.
“……Playboy ……playboy.”
“Don’t fall for it, everyone. This is the Blood Cult trying to sow discord.”
Three of them were taken down in an instant. Truly terrifying skill.
Ghost Demon looked utterly dumbfounded by my shameless attitude, but perhaps recalling his original purpose, he shifted the topic.
“In any case, this has become troublesome. It is abundantly clear that you lot will become major obstacles to our cult’s grand undertaking. You must be dealt with here without fail… though I wonder how this old man is supposed to handle so many talented individuals.”
“That doesn’t sound like you intend to give up, though.”
“Of course not. I merely lament that hardship has found me at such an old age.”
Ghost Demon was grumbling expressionlessly when it happened.
Blue lines suddenly streaked through the air from all directions, creating the illusion that they were converging on him.
While we had been talking, the Hye-seong Group marksmen had concealed themselves and launched sniper attacks.
Ghost Demon appeared to notice as well, yet instead of dodging or blocking, he didn’t so much as move a finger.
Instead, figures burst out from somewhere and deflected the magic bullets.
Clang clang—!
As expected, they were jiangshi.
But even at a glance, these were clearly different from ordinary specimens.
The Iron Jiangshi and Poison Jiangshi had relatively uniform appearances, whereas these were all different from one another.
Their movements were less rigid, and most importantly, each carried a weapon.
A longsword, a spear, and a staff.
There was even a faint blue aura surrounding the weapons, meaning they were capable of circulating internal energy.
Seeing that, I made my guess.
“Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi.”
“Your insight is not poor. You recognized them immediately.”
They were beings that represented the culmination of all jiangshi creation techniques.
Not only did they possess the signature durability of jiangshi, they could also wield internal energy and could even reproduce some portion of the martial prowess they had possessed in life.
Ghost Demon pointed toward the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi holding the longsword.
“This one was once known by the title Divine Eagle Sword Hero in life. Now, however, he is merely this old man’s loyal servant.”
At those words, Jegal So-so’s expression turned serious, as though she had heard the name before.
He was probably a highly renowned expert.
As a Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi, his current level was roughly somewhere between the peak of B-rank and A-rank.
The others were likely around the same level.
Ghost Demon continued,
“With these three, you should be able to enjoy a worthy battle.”
“They seem far too lacking if the goal is to capture us.”
“For now, merely tying you down is enough. But do not worry. Your turn will come soon enough.”
He had spoken earlier about us being “obstacles that must be removed” but for now, it seemed he intended to focus on his original objective. That was inflicting as much damage on the Dang Clan as possible.
The longer we were delayed here, the later our support would arrive elsewhere, so he had judged the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi worth expending.
Jingle……
The Soul-Summoning Bell released another eerie chime.
At that, blazing lights ignited within the eyes of the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi, including what used to be the Divine Eagle Sword Hero.
It seemed he had granted them some kind of buff.
Ghost Demon turned his back and left a final remark.
“Then let us meet again later.”
“I think it’ll be much sooner than you expect.”
“Keke……”
With a low chuckle, he disappeared into the darkness.
And the jiangshi charged at us all at once.
Whoooosh—!
They are strong, though.
At their level, it was true that defeating them would take time.
Especially under the condition that we minimize allied casualties.
Of course, that’s only if we fight them head-on.
From our perspective, there was absolutely no reason to fight according to Ghost Demon’s intentions.
And we already had a much faster way to end the battle.
Keeping my eyes fixed on the jiangshi, I spoke to Seo Ye-in.
“Let’s go with the Imprisonment and Trap strategy.”
“Imprisonment and Trap……!”
Seo Ye-in immediately understood, and it practically looked like an exclamation mark popped up over her head.
I took the Immortal Pot from her and held it out forward.
The next moment, a space like the night sky opened up and swallowed two of the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi whole.
It had been isolated inside the [Severed Space].
That left only the Divine Eagle Sword Hero.
At this point, the others also seemed to understand what the Imprisonment and Trap strategy meant.
Dang Gyu-young let out a dry laugh.
“Look at you cheating with the pot again. So the plan is to pick them off one by one?”
“Something like that.”
“Sounds good. Let’s start with that Divine Eagle whatever guy first.”
Even left alone, the Divine Eagle Sword Hero boldly launched the first attack.
The tip of his sword trembled slightly before fierce sword techniques exploded forth.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
However, that first exchange was also the last time he managed to unleash a sword technique.
Once our coordinated assault began in earnest, his blade was repeatedly blocked by the pot, then the club, then Jegal So-so’s longsword.
And whenever an opening appeared, special bullets came flying in to exploit it.
Boom-boom-boom!
The Divine Eagle Sword Hero’s body was engulfed in flames.
True to a jiangshi, he continued swinging his sword like mad even in that state, but the talismans covering him shriveled up one by one, and in the end, he too was reduced to ashes.
I immediately exchanged glances with Seo Ye-in.
“Trap.”
“Trap.”
Seo Ye-in crouched down and began setting up Fickle Traps.
Soon after, Ahn Jeong-mi and the Marskmen from Hye-seong Group also gathered around beside her in a tight cluster.
They had grasped the core of the Imprisonment and Trap strategy.
“We’ll help too.”
“I was just about to ask if you had any traps.”
“Yes, we all have skills or items related to traps.”
As expected, since they were all Marksman-class fighters, it seemed they had at least dipped their toes into the field of traps.
Even for Lucky Charm, there were limits to what she could do alone.
Even though Seo Ye-in’s [Fickle Trap] displayed absurd performance, handling two Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi by itself was pushing it too far.
At most, it would deal some damage and restrict their movements.
But what if the number of traps increased fivefold?
Especially when they were being set by some of the most skilled Marskmen in Hye-seong Group?
We would soon see the results for ourselves.
Before long, a death zone densely packed with over a dozen traps had taken shape in front of us.
While everyone else stepped back little by little, I stepped forward and held out the pot.
“Then I’ll release them.”
A moment later, the night-sky-like space opened up and spat out the two Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi.
And before the creatures could even show hostility toward us, a soft click echoed from beneath their feet.
Booooooooooom—!
Boom-boom-boom—!
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
Multicolored explosions filled our vision.
Red and blue flames erupted, froze over, and exploded again, while torrents of electricity raged wildly through the area.
We ended up watching an unexpected fireworks show.
The one enjoying it the most was, of course, Seo Ye-in.
Her eyes sparkled brightly as she declared,
“Imprisonment and Trap.”
A moment later, as the explosions cleared, the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi came into view.
They were completely battered and torn apart, yet we couldn’t help but let out impressed exclamations instead.
They actually survived that.
After taking that many traps head-on all at once, it wouldn’t have been strange if they had been wiped out entirely.
Their defense was so absurdly high that they had still managed to retain a humanoid shape.
Still, they had clearly lost the ability to function properly, so we finished off the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi.
Slash!
As expected, that didn’t take long.
The Ghost Demon had probably envisioned us being tied down by those monsters for quite a while, while also burning through a significant portion of our strength.
But in reality, we had spent little more time than it took to drink a cup of tea, and our energy expenditure was almost nonexistent.
In the end, he just wasted his precious Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi for nothing.
Maybe that was why.
As we were evacuating the injured, just as we had been doing this whole time—
Jingle…….
A familiar bell chime echoed through the area.
When I turned my head, the Ghost Demon was standing atop the same pavilion as before.
“……!”
Perhaps he was a little shocked, because his eyes widened slightly as he looked at the remains of the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi.
I tossed a remark his way.
“Looks like we really are seeing each other again, just like you said.”
“…….”
“But didn’t you come back a little too quickly? You made such a stylish exit while going ‘Kekeke…….’ and all.”
“…….”
The Ghost Demon’s face twitched.
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