Lee Jun-Kyeong rushed forward recklessly like a madman. However, with every step, an orc was cut down.
“Chw…ik…”
“Chw…”
Amidst the burning Heaven Lake Village, Lee Jun-Kyeong stood, wielding a spear of flame. For the monsters, he resembled the devil.
“...”
On the other hand, he was something entirely different for the residents.
“Heavenly Army…”
To the person who had just muttered something, Lee Jun-Kyeong was akin to a warrior god who had descended from the heavens wielding fire and slaying demons like a member of the Heavenly Army.
Within a flash, the residents were united against the monsters and had already come to terms with their impending deaths. They surprisingly found themselves still alive and breathing.
Before they knew it, the monsters that lay rampant in front of them were being culled little by little.
"Are you okay?"
Furthermore, another man had also appeared, different from the man who had accompanied Lee Jun-Kyeong previously. This man was urgently moving around and treating the wounded. With a single touch from his hands, each resident recovered noticeably.
In addition, the man threw out silver needles from time to time, either restricting the monsters’ movements or killing them instantly.
"Thank you…"
The residents cried out in thanks, and Lee Jun-Kyeong soon responded in return.
“Sangun! And Ungnyeo! Where are they?”
After clearing out the monster infestation to this degree, the residents should have been able to handle the rest as long as he left behind Won-Hwa. Therefore, all he had left to do was to find Sangun and Ungnyeo.
It was obvious that something big had happened to the two.
‘They aren’t here.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong searched for their auras while waiting for the residents to answer. However, he couldn’t feel even a trace of them anywhere in Heaven Lake Village.
Could they have abandoned the residents and disappeared?
No, that couldn’t be it.
Sangun was bound to Mt. Baekdu, and Ungnyeo wouldn’t abandon these people.
Therefore…
“Where are they?!” Lee Jun-Kyeong shouted again, urging the residents to respond.
A resident pointed over at Heaven Lake with trembling hands.
“...”
Fenrir turned his head.
“The village chief…”
The faces of the residents were dark, and then they spoke, exhausted.
“She went to Heaven Lake in order to seal Sangun…”
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong’s expression froze, and then, he once again called out for Fenrir.
“Fenrir!”
He then shouted out while rushing toward the lake, "Won-Hwa, please stay here!"
The physician responded, "Just leave it to me!"
***
A woman stood within the depth of the ominously fluctuating gap between heaven and earth.
“Sangun…”
Her long straight black hair flowed down her back, forming a mysterious picture alongside the bronze sword and bell held within her hands.
Her beauty couldn’t be marred by the blood clinging to her body or her torn clothes.
However.
“GRAHHHH!”
The difference between her and the appearance of the being in front of her was like heaven and earth.
It was huge.
Ferocious.
A tiger as vast as a mountain.
Its blue fur had lost its luster and was blackened and burned, while its eyes were tinged in red.
“...Sangun…” Ungnyeo called out to the altered Sangun again.
Boom!
However, the only thing that she got in return was an attack. As Sangun, the massive tiger who had absorbed the natural energy of the mountain, slammed down with his massive front paw, everything around them exploded.
Boom boom boom boom!
Within the midst of the explosion, the woman was unharmed as she swung her bronze sword and sliced into the front foot of the massive tiger.
“Sangun!” she shouted again.
Ring.
She tried to ring the bronze bell to break through the beast curse that wracked Sangun. However, the tiger roared again. All her actions did was to agitate him.
Grit.
The woman, Ungnyeo, bit her lips.
So far, she had made several attempts to purify Sangun, but nothing she did had any effect.
'Even at this moment...’
The residents would be suffering greatly. Although she knew that she had to defeat Sangun and save them, in order to do that…
“Roar!!”
‘I have to kill…’
She would have no other choice but to kill him.
She had already tried to seal the tiger in dozens of different ways, but, thanks to the stronger power she had given him, she was unable to place a seal on Sangun.
Rather, Sangun was actually consuming the power she was using.
Drip.
A drop of tear fell from the corner of Ungnyeo’s eyes.
“I can’t let this go on any longer.”
As she tightened her grip on the bronze sword and rang the bronze bell, in front of her, a bronze mirror appeared.
Ungnyeo smiled—a distorted grimace.
While the corners of her mouth were raised, her eyes grew ever darker as the seething aura of Mt. Baekdu cascaded into her body.
She was reaping the energy she had lent out.
Tremble.
Before anyone knew it, the divide of heaven and earth, Mt. Baekdu, shook with every breath she took.
A tremendous force sprang up from her body.
"Sangun,” she said, looking over at the massive tiger, an indelible smile on her lips.
However, looking up at her eyes, tears were beginning to form.
"Please die."
She was crying.
***
Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly headed to Heaven Lake.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.
As he arrived, he saw the surface of the lake boiling as if it was about to burst.
He could feel a vast flow of mana stemming from beyond the lake within the divide of heaven and earth.
“They're in here…”
Ungnyeo and Sangun were here, within the site of Fenrir’s seal.
In other words, it meant that Heaven Lake was in the midst of hiding the incredible flow of their energy.
"Let's go,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Fenrir.
However, the wolf didn’t move.
“It’s…dan…gerous…”
For the first time, Fenrir spoke in the human tongue while in his wolf form.
"I know,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said while he patted Fenrir’s head.
It was difficult for them to muster the courage to throw themselves into the lake, which was boiling violently. The incredible mana that leaked through the seal would rage toward them as if it wanted to consume them.
He stated firmly, “Still, we have to go.”
In the end, Fenrir replied. “I…know…”
As he spoke, the wolf jumped into the lake.
Lee Jun-Kyeong and Fenrir headed back into the seal.
As the wolf had warned, the mana that overflowed within the divide of heaven and earth rushed toward Lee Jun-Kyeong.
[Your mana is being charged too quickly!]
It was as if there was a huge flood within a narrow waterway, and there was no way that any Hunter would have been in a normal mental state after encounter the rush of mana.
“Ugh…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong felt as if his entire body was tearing apart.
Still.
[The weak dragon heart is being charged quickly!]
There was something that Lee Jun-Kyeong had believed in.
He had predicted that the dragon heart would have been able to absorb the vast flow of mana from the divide of heaven and earth as the heart had an incredible ability to absorb mana.
However, his prediction had only been half right.
Although the dragon heart was able to charge itself with half of the incoming mana using the mana stream, the other half of the flow of mana was rampaging through his body.
–I…will…help…you.
After Fenrir spoke, the pain died down a little.
–I…will help as well…
Hyeon-Mu’s voice, which seemed to be in pain, also accompanied the wolf.
Lee Jun-Kyeong heard a notification again as his pain was relieved little by little.
[You have entered the Instant Gate, Seal.]
***
"I..."
The person who had spoken was both smiling and crying at the same time.
“While there shouldn’t have been a reason I should have had to kill you…”
Ungnyeo looked down at Sangun, her arms wrapped around herself. The tiger was steeped entirely in Madness. Although she had tried countless times to get him back, there were only two paths left to her at this point.
Seal him.
Or.
Kill him.
However, because of Sangun’s incredible strength, sealing the tiger was an impossible task.
Therefore, she had made up her mind to slay him.
However, she couldn’t do it.
She said quietly, “I’d rather you kill me…”
Ungnyeo had let go of all of her burdens. Sangun had been like a father to her. Whether she was sick, or having a hard time. Whether she was sad or happy. For Ungnyeo, who had been an orphan with no parents, Sangun had been a father.
“I cannot become a child who has no morals.”
She couldn’t do it; she couldn’t kill her father.
She had had dozens of opportunities. Even now, if she had tried her hardest, she would have been able to slay Sangun.
Despite all that, she couldn’t do it.
Sangun had always given his all to protect her.
“It’s too cruel…”
It was too cruel that she would have to be the one to take that away.
That was why she had let it all go.
All of a sudden, the bronze mirror that was floating around Ungnyeo and the bronze sword that she had held in her hand had both fallen to the floor.
She was only holding onto one object.
Ring.
It was the bronze bell.
She couldn’t let go of the bronze bell, which had the ability to release the aura of the beast curse and restore clarity.
Ring.
She wasn’t able to let go of the possibility that Sangun would come back to his senses.
Ring.
But still, eventually, she placed the bell down.
As she stood, completely disarmed, she spread her arms wide and faced the tiger.
“Kill me, Sangun.”
Tears fell down Ungnyeo’s cheeks.
“Let’s end it here… I’m so tired…”
‘Why…’
She wondered why she had suddenly thought of him at this moment, of the man who had said he would come back for her.
He had asked her to leave this place with him and become his companion.
“Why did I think about him right now?”
Ungnyeo closed her eyes.
“Roar!!”
Sangun’s huge roar reverberated through the seal.
It was near the end.
Soon, she would be torn apart by Sangun’s front paws, and the tiger would disappear alongside the energy of the destabilizing Mt. Baekdu.
She thought of the residents of Heaven Lake Village.
"I'm sorry."
She wasn’t able to save them.
Even if she had slain Sangun, she wouldn’t have been able to save them.
If she killed Sangun, then she would also lose a lot of strength, and it would have been difficult for her to escape the seal and save the residents from the monsters.
That was the reason why she had given up.
Therefore.
“Quickly,” she muttered.
Swish!
She heard the sound of the wind being cleaved and thought that she felt Sangun’s front paw dropping down above her.
However, instead of the feeling that she had been expecting, all she felt was a warm atmosphere.
“Are you okay?”
Ungnyeo opened her eyes carefully.
“...”
In front of her was the man who had suddenly come to her mind.
***
"Are you okay?" Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he held Ungnyeo in his arms.
In front of them was a battle.
Crash!
Just like before, when Fenrir had been at Mt. Baekdu, the wolf was confronting Sangun again.
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong stared down at Ungnyeo who lay in his arms flabbergasted.
Thud.
He placed her down as she continued to be shocked.
Having been put down in a hurry, she fell down on her backside momentarily.
“...”
They stared at each other, the hopeless Ungyneo and Lee Jun-Kyeong.
Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered.
‘Is this what she looked like before…?’
He had briefly lost his mind when he first saw Ungnyeo’s true appearance. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
It was an absurd thing to think about, considering the amount of pain he had endured up to this moment, and he was ashamed of himself for even thinking the thought for a moment.
On the other hand, Ungnyeo also felt similar emotions, her cheeks turning bright red.
“...”
Then, soon, once she came to her senses, she shouted, “No!”
This wasn’t the first time she had seen this happen before.
“You can’t kill Sangun…” she wailed.
Sangun was fighting against Fenrir.
Sangun’s stamina had already been consumed considerably during the battle against herself. It was clear to Ungnyeo that Sangun would die if the tiger fought against Fenrir in his current state.
"What happened…?” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he drew Muspel’s Spear.
Boom!
Sangun was gasping for air as he dodged far away from Fenrir’s claws.
Fenrir returned to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s side, bleeding as if he had already taken a blow from Sangun within that time.
“The man in black…”
“The man in black?”
“Yes… Mt. Baekdu became like this after he met with Sangun.”
To think it was because of a man in black.
Lee Jun-Kyeong frowned because this was the first time he had heard of this.
“And the man?” he asked,
She shook her head as she picked herself up. “He’s gone. It’s been a few days. Sangun didn’t become like this when the man came to find him, but a few days after…”
‘The man in black.’
It lingered in his mind like the taste of a bitter ginseng candy.
A man who was dressed in black had appeared and then left.
“For now.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong shook off his thoughts and looked forward. He spoke, his voice ringing through the seal firmly.
“Let’s subdue Sangun.”
1. In Eastern Mythos, the Emperor of Heaven, Hwaneul for Korea and the Jade Emperor for China, has a standing army of deities that are often called the Heavenly Army or the Heavenly Host.
2. ?? is a spell or formation that specifically affects monsters and beasts, and is both used to describe the curse itself and also the method to purify it.
Lee Jun-Kyeong rushed forward recklessly like a madman. However, with every step, an orc was cut down.
“Chw…ik…”
“Chw…”
Amidst the burning Heaven Lake Village, Lee Jun-Kyeong stood, wielding a spear of flame. For the monsters, he resembled the devil.
“...”
On the other hand, he was something entirely different for the residents.
“Heavenly Army…”
To the person who had just muttered something, Lee Jun-Kyeong was akin to a warrior god who had descended from the heavens wielding fire and slaying demons like a member of the Heavenly Army.
Within a flash, the residents were united against the monsters and had already come to terms with their impending deaths. They surprisingly found themselves still alive and breathing.
Before they knew it, the monsters that lay rampant in front of them were being culled little by little.
"Are you okay?"
Furthermore, another man had also appeared, different from the man who had accompanied Lee Jun-Kyeong previously. This man was urgently moving around and treating the wounded. With a single touch from his hands, each resident recovered noticeably.
In addition, the man threw out silver needles from time to time, either restricting the monsters’ movements or killing them instantly.
"Thank you…"
The residents cried out in thanks, and Lee Jun-Kyeong soon responded in return.
“Sangun! And Ungnyeo! Where are they?”
After clearing out the monster infestation to this degree, the residents should have been able to handle the rest as long as he left behind Won-Hwa. Therefore, all he had left to do was to find Sangun and Ungnyeo.
It was obvious that something big had happened to the two.
‘They aren’t here.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong searched for their auras while waiting for the residents to answer. However, he couldn’t feel even a trace of them anywhere in Heaven Lake Village.
Could they have abandoned the residents and disappeared?
No, that couldn’t be it.
Sangun was bound to Mt. Baekdu, and Ungnyeo wouldn’t abandon these people.
Therefore…
“Where are they?!” Lee Jun-Kyeong shouted again, urging the residents to respond.
A resident pointed over at Heaven Lake with trembling hands.
“...”
Fenrir turned his head.
“The village chief…”
The faces of the residents were dark, and then they spoke, exhausted.
“She went to Heaven Lake in order to seal Sangun…”
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong’s expression froze, and then, he once again called out for Fenrir.
“Fenrir!”
He then shouted out while rushing toward the lake, "Won-Hwa, please stay here!"
The physician responded, "Just leave it to me!"
***
A woman stood within the depth of the ominously fluctuating gap between heaven and earth.
“Sangun…”
Her long straight black hair flowed down her back, forming a mysterious picture alongside the bronze sword and bell held within her hands.
Her beauty couldn’t be marred by the blood clinging to her body or her torn clothes.
However.
“GRAHHHH!”
The difference between her and the appearance of the being in front of her was like heaven and earth.
It was huge.
Ferocious.
A tiger as vast as a mountain.
Its blue fur had lost its luster and was blackened and burned, while its eyes were tinged in red.
“...Sangun…” Ungnyeo called out to the altered Sangun again.
Boom!
However, the only thing that she got in return was an attack. As Sangun, the massive tiger who had absorbed the natural energy of the mountain, slammed down with his massive front paw, everything around them exploded.
Boom boom boom boom!
Within the midst of the explosion, the woman was unharmed as she swung her bronze sword and sliced into the front foot of the massive tiger.
“Sangun!” she shouted again.
Ring.
She tried to ring the bronze bell to break through the beast curse that wracked Sangun. However, the tiger roared again. All her actions did was to agitate him.
Grit.
The woman, Ungnyeo, bit her lips.
So far, she had made several attempts to purify Sangun, but nothing she did had any effect.
'Even at this moment...’
The residents would be suffering greatly. Although she knew that she had to defeat Sangun and save them, in order to do that…
“Roar!!”
‘I have to kill…’
She would have no other choice but to kill him.
She had already tried to seal the tiger in dozens of different ways, but, thanks to the stronger power she had given him, she was unable to place a seal on Sangun.
Rather, Sangun was actually consuming the power she was using.
Drip.
A drop of tear fell from the corner of Ungnyeo’s eyes.
“I can’t let this go on any longer.”
As she tightened her grip on the bronze sword and rang the bronze bell, in front of her, a bronze mirror appeared.
Ungnyeo smiled—a distorted grimace.
While the corners of her mouth were raised, her eyes grew ever darker as the seething aura of Mt. Baekdu cascaded into her body.
She was reaping the energy she had lent out.
Tremble.
Before anyone knew it, the divide of heaven and earth, Mt. Baekdu, shook with every breath she took.
A tremendous force sprang up from her body.
"Sangun,” she said, looking over at the massive tiger, an indelible smile on her lips.
However, looking up at her eyes, tears were beginning to form.
"Please die."
She was crying.
***
Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly headed to Heaven Lake.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.
As he arrived, he saw the surface of the lake boiling as if it was about to burst.
He could feel a vast flow of mana stemming from beyond the lake within the divide of heaven and earth.
“They're in here…”
Ungnyeo and Sangun were here, within the site of Fenrir’s seal.
In other words, it meant that Heaven Lake was in the midst of hiding the incredible flow of their energy.
"Let's go,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said to Fenrir.
However, the wolf didn’t move.
“It’s…dan…gerous…”
For the first time, Fenrir spoke in the human tongue while in his wolf form.
"I know,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said while he patted Fenrir’s head.
It was difficult for them to muster the courage to throw themselves into the lake, which was boiling violently. The incredible mana that leaked through the seal would rage toward them as if it wanted to consume them.
He stated firmly, “Still, we have to go.”
In the end, Fenrir replied. “I…know…”
As he spoke, the wolf jumped into the lake.
Lee Jun-Kyeong and Fenrir headed back into the seal.
As the wolf had warned, the mana that overflowed within the divide of heaven and earth rushed toward Lee Jun-Kyeong.
[Your mana is being charged too quickly!]
It was as if there was a huge flood within a narrow waterway, and there was no way that any Hunter would have been in a normal mental state after encounter the rush of mana.
“Ugh…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong felt as if his entire body was tearing apart.
Still.
[The weak dragon heart is being charged quickly!]
There was something that Lee Jun-Kyeong had believed in.
He had predicted that the dragon heart would have been able to absorb the vast flow of mana from the divide of heaven and earth as the heart had an incredible ability to absorb mana.
However, his prediction had only been half right.
Although the dragon heart was able to charge itself with half of the incoming mana using the mana stream, the other half of the flow of mana was rampaging through his body.
–I…will…help…you.
After Fenrir spoke, the pain died down a little.
–I…will help as well…
Hyeon-Mu’s voice, which seemed to be in pain, also accompanied the wolf.
Lee Jun-Kyeong heard a notification again as his pain was relieved little by little.
[You have entered the Instant Gate, Seal.]
***
"I..."
The person who had spoken was both smiling and crying at the same time.
“While there shouldn’t have been a reason I should have had to kill you…”
Ungnyeo looked down at Sangun, her arms wrapped around herself. The tiger was steeped entirely in Madness. Although she had tried countless times to get him back, there were only two paths left to her at this point.
Seal him.
Or.
Kill him.
However, because of Sangun’s incredible strength, sealing the tiger was an impossible task.
Therefore, she had made up her mind to slay him.
However, she couldn’t do it.
She said quietly, “I’d rather you kill me…”
Ungnyeo had let go of all of her burdens. Sangun had been like a father to her. Whether she was sick, or having a hard time. Whether she was sad or happy. For Ungnyeo, who had been an orphan with no parents, Sangun had been a father.
“I cannot become a child who has no morals.”
She couldn’t do it; she couldn’t kill her father.
She had had dozens of opportunities. Even now, if she had tried her hardest, she would have been able to slay Sangun.
Despite all that, she couldn’t do it.
Sangun had always given his all to protect her.
“It’s too cruel…”
It was too cruel that she would have to be the one to take that away.
That was why she had let it all go.
All of a sudden, the bronze mirror that was floating around Ungnyeo and the bronze sword that she had held in her hand had both fallen to the floor.
She was only holding onto one object.
Ring.
It was the bronze bell.
She couldn’t let go of the bronze bell, which had the ability to release the aura of the beast curse and restore clarity.
Ring.
She wasn’t able to let go of the possibility that Sangun would come back to his senses.
Ring.
But still, eventually, she placed the bell down.
As she stood, completely disarmed, she spread her arms wide and faced the tiger.
“Kill me, Sangun.”
Tears fell down Ungnyeo’s cheeks.
“Let’s end it here… I’m so tired…”
‘Why…’
She wondered why she had suddenly thought of him at this moment, of the man who had said he would come back for her.
He had asked her to leave this place with him and become his companion.
“Why did I think about him right now?”
Ungnyeo closed her eyes.
“Roar!!”
Sangun’s huge roar reverberated through the seal.
It was near the end.
Soon, she would be torn apart by Sangun’s front paws, and the tiger would disappear alongside the energy of the destabilizing Mt. Baekdu.
She thought of the residents of Heaven Lake Village.
"I'm sorry."
She wasn’t able to save them.
Even if she had slain Sangun, she wouldn’t have been able to save them.
If she killed Sangun, then she would also lose a lot of strength, and it would have been difficult for her to escape the seal and save the residents from the monsters.
That was the reason why she had given up.
Therefore.
“Quickly,” she muttered.
Swish!
She heard the sound of the wind being cleaved and thought that she felt Sangun’s front paw dropping down above her.
However, instead of the feeling that she had been expecting, all she felt was a warm atmosphere.
“Are you okay?”
Ungnyeo opened her eyes carefully.
“...”
In front of her was the man who had suddenly come to her mind.
***
"Are you okay?" Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he held Ungnyeo in his arms.
In front of them was a battle.
Crash!
Just like before, when Fenrir had been at Mt. Baekdu, the wolf was confronting Sangun again.
“...”
Lee Jun-Kyeong stared down at Ungnyeo who lay in his arms flabbergasted.
Thud.
He placed her down as she continued to be shocked.
Having been put down in a hurry, she fell down on her backside momentarily.
“...”
They stared at each other, the hopeless Ungyneo and Lee Jun-Kyeong.
Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered.
‘Is this what she looked like before…?’
He had briefly lost his mind when he first saw Ungnyeo’s true appearance. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
It was an absurd thing to think about, considering the amount of pain he had endured up to this moment, and he was ashamed of himself for even thinking the thought for a moment.
On the other hand, Ungnyeo also felt similar emotions, her cheeks turning bright red.
“...”
Then, soon, once she came to her senses, she shouted, “No!”
This wasn’t the first time she had seen this happen before.
“You can’t kill Sangun…” she wailed.
Sangun was fighting against Fenrir.
Sangun’s stamina had already been consumed considerably during the battle against herself. It was clear to Ungnyeo that Sangun would die if the tiger fought against Fenrir in his current state.
"What happened…?” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he drew Muspel’s Spear.
Boom!
Sangun was gasping for air as he dodged far away from Fenrir’s claws.
Fenrir returned to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s side, bleeding as if he had already taken a blow from Sangun within that time.
“The man in black…”
“The man in black?”
“Yes… Mt. Baekdu became like this after he met with Sangun.”
To think it was because of a man in black.
Lee Jun-Kyeong frowned because this was the first time he had heard of this.
“And the man?” he asked,
She shook her head as she picked herself up. “He’s gone. It’s been a few days. Sangun didn’t become like this when the man came to find him, but a few days after…”
‘The man in black.’
It lingered in his mind like the taste of a bitter ginseng candy.
A man who was dressed in black had appeared and then left.
“For now.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong shook off his thoughts and looked forward. He spoke, his voice ringing through the seal firmly.
“Let’s subdue Sangun.”
1. In Eastern Mythos, the Emperor of Heaven, Hwaneul for Korea and the Jade Emperor for China, has a standing army of deities that are often called the Heavenly Army or the Heavenly Host.
2. ?? is a spell or formation that specifically affects monsters and beasts, and is both used to describe the curse itself and also the method to purify it.
