Nano Machine 361: Incarnation of Qilin (1)
The hall of the last level of the Guardian base was divided into three paths. Unlike Chun Yeowun who went straight down, Hu Bong came through a different path.
Turning right at every fork, one could find the prison cell of the Imperial Palace’s Guardian. In that place, there were two bodies wearing only underwear and their bodies were so bruised that their families won’t even recognize them.
“d.a.m.n it”
Hu Bong couldn’t help but curse out loud after witnessing such a sight. These bodies, which only had their underwear on, weren’t just tortured. All of their fingernails and toenails were plucked out, and he could see that they suffered from beating from an iron rod.
“Imperial Palace?! Buls.h.i.+t!”
Hu Bong couldn’t stop swearing as he kept looking at the bodies. They were none other than the members of the Demonic Cult. The moment they got caught by the Court maids, it seemed like they were tortured severely and died from it.
“Sigh. I should stop swearing”, Said a wounded man, who was collecting sticks to burn the corpses.
He was the only surviving member of the captured Demonic Cult infiltrators. From the moment he got tortured, he could be called one-h.e.l.l-of-a-lucky guy.
Hu Bong, who held a torch in his hand, hesitated.
“We can’t even take them back to our place…”
To burn the dead bodies to get rid of their existence, hurt Hu Bong. Seeing him sad, the other man asked him to hand over the torch.
“Alright, I’ll do it”
The man’s face was a mess. It was full of bruises and dried blood, his eyes were swollen, yet full of determination. As Hu Bong handed him the torch without hesitation, the bruised man lit pieces of cloth and the broken branches around the corpses.
Crackle!
The oil from the lamp poured and instantly caught fire. Watching the flames soar high, the only surviving members spoke.
“I was prepared to make sacrifices for our Cult because I was given the role of a spy. During an a.s.signment, never show any signs of mourning for any brothers”
“Wh-who is mourning here? Huh…”
Hu Bong didn’t say anything. These masters, who were tasked with the duties of spies as the Demonic Cult, didn’t have family or close relatives as they mainly tasked themselves as spies, a.s.sa.s.sins, and intelligence gatherers.
They were like shadows, living only for the Demonic Cult, and yet, they picked up the current mission. They knew they were going to work with the Lord of the Demonic Cult, who personally changed the plan to rescue the captured spies, and in a way, their death wasn’t in vain.
‘It has been a while since I saw the Lord get angry’
Chun Yeowun wasn’t the kind of person who showed anger, and ever since he became the Lord of Demonic Cult, he did his best to hold back his anger.
However, after discovering the bodies of his men were tortured in the prison cells, his eyes immediately hungered for killing.
‘He went in alone, but I’m not sure if he would be fine’
Watching the bodies burn, Hu Bong was worried for his Lord. Chun Yeowun left Hu Bong and the Master of spies to take care of the corpses and headed down to the underground.
Hu Bong believed that his master was invincible, but he wasn’t sure of how the enemy and world would treat him.
‘I need to hurry up and head over to Lord…’
Bang! Grrrrr!
It was at that moment vibrations appeared as if the underground was experiencing an earthquake.
It wasn’t strong enough to collapse, but the trembling of the walls could be made out by the naked eyes.
‘What the h.e.l.l!’
It wasn’t just vibration. It was some kind of energy. An extraordinary energy soared all through the place.
Hu Bong, who was worried, said to the Master of spies.
“Please take care of this, I will head over to where the Lord is”
“I understand! Please go ahead!”
Hu Bong quickly began to run out of the prison cells.
The last, 7th level with hidden treasure.
To enter that place, one would have to pa.s.s through the maze which was equipped with energy engines.
The option of bursting through the ceiling wouldn’t work as the maze was designed to self-destruct if anyone tried to intrude forcibly. Numerous traps were waiting for the intruders, but for the Blood Master, it was a simple waste of time.
“You must be kidding me!”
Spask!
The spearheads popping from the floor below were easily blocked by her attack, and the arrows, coming in from the sidewalls, were too slow compared to her movements.
There was no need for the Blood Master to work because the man, who a.s.sisted her by destroying all the traps in the maze, did all the job. And as a result, they reached the end of the maze in not much time.
‘The exit!’
As they moved, there was a barrier placed in the way, and an exit right underneath it.
But at the exit, a bright light, like a torch flickered.
As they pa.s.sed through the exit, a s.p.a.ce about half the size of the 6th level hall appeared in front of their eyes.
“Ah!”
The man a.s.sisting her exclaimed at the scene.
Hiss!
As soon as they crossed through the exit sign, they were greeted by a heatwave. The end of the hall had a large pond, which occupied one-third of the hall.
What was really interesting is that a rock was protruding like a small island in the middle of the pond, and this rock had a huge flame burning on it.
Crackle! Crackle!
Due to the enormous flame, steam was rising around, like a hot spring in the pond. And thanks to that, the hall’s temperature was hot, while the air was humid and white because of vapour.
‘What a truly a mysterious place’
Despite being deep in the underground, it made them feel like they were in a land of lava. In the middle of the pond, the strange fire which was distracting them, further divided their concentration when a voice was resounded.
“Who dared to set their dirty foot in here?”
The voice could be heard, yet it was hard to grasp where the voice was coming from. The unknown energy from the huge flames in the middle of the pond suddenly started increasing, making the hall’s temperature rise up.
Unlike the man, who was looking for the voice, the Blood Master’s eyes were directed toward the huge flame.
“Are you the last watchman?”
“Who are you?”
The man was puzzled at the Blood Master’s words. He couldn’t tell if the opponent was a man or woman because their voice was strong. Then, the voice resounded again.
“You cheeky b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Your confidence has swelled enough that you are aiming for the treasure of the Imperial palace”
The voice is sharper than before. It was a voice that was being sarcastic towards the intruders. Without backing down, Blood Master suddenly opened her mouth and screamed.
“How long are you planning on hiding there and talking? Show yourself! I am not afraid of you. Huh! Did you hide because you are ugly to look at?”
She was deliberately provoking the other person. Was it a fight of Qi between them?
‘Would this provocation work? What…?’
When the man was trying to think of what was going on, he saw a black figure of a human move behind the flames.
He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like the watchman of the treasure really fell into the provocation.
Hiss!
How did that person even get into the fire which seemed like it could burn everything?
Just then, the black human being, behind the enormous flame began to slowly cross over and walk forward.
“NO WAY!”
As shocking as it was, the black figure also had flames around. As if not affected by the heat, the figure crossed it and walked forward.
Whooos.h.!.+
The body, which was covered by the flames, was none other than the incarnation of the flames itself. Among the Guardian warriors who were guarding the shrine, the two intruders had witnessed guards who could handle flames, but they were incomparable to the figure in front of them.
‘It isn’t that the body is burning….but the body itself is made of flames’
It was an unbelievable sight for humans to accept. The a.s.sistant of Blood Monster went stiff. As they kept crossing the maze, he began to turn wary about the absence of the Guardians, but now they were facing someone who was made of flames.
‘Is it even giving out human energy?’
The energy from the flame body was violent and aggressive. Unlike him, who was nervous and scared, the eyes of Blood Monster were ready for battle.
Until then, she had no interest in battling it out, but now she was making such an interesting expression.
“Huhuhu, I knew that there would be a person protecting this place, so that was you, huh?”
As she asked, the one in flames didn’t bother answering back. Rather, the flames surrounding the body gradually subsided, revealing the appearance.
Shhhh!
They a.s.sumed that the entire body would be black and scorched because of the flame, but a monster with red scales appeared.
‘Huh?’
The entire body seemed to be covered with scales, yet she was naked without a single piece of cloth. She was the owner of a perfect body with a swelling chest and narrow waist.
As the woman in scales extended her right hand, something like a piece of cloth from a corner in the hall came over and wrapped her body.
Shhh!
The red scales covering the whole body disappeared as the cloth began to cover her from the chest to thighs. She was, no doubt, an alluring and beautiful woman with flames running around her waist.
Just looking at her face would seduce any living man.
‘Sh-she is so seductive’
Since it was just a small piece of cloth, most of her body was exposed. Thanks to that, the man was embarra.s.sed to directly look at her. The seductive woman caught him glancing at her and looked at Blood Master with a glare as she spoke.
“I thought that you were so special, but there’s nothing special about you”
The lady in flames, who seemed to be conscious of being called ugly spoke back to Blood Master. If evaluated objectively, the woman in flames could be counted as the best in the Empire. On the contrary, Blood Master raised her eyebrows, as if she didn’t like hearing those words.
“Ha. You are cheeky as the keeper of a tomb”
“Keeper of the tomb? I, a woman, have been guarding the Imperial treasure for a long time because of the agreement we made with the first Emperor of the Empire. A thief like you has no right making fun of me”
‘First Emperor?’
The man’s eyes widened when he heard of the agreement with the First Emperor. He knew that something was unusual by looking at her, but listening to the woman’s words, it meant that she lived for over 2 hundred years. The eyes of Blood Master, who was displeased till a moment back, were now sparkling.
“Did you take in the blood of Qilin to get immortality?”
“Immortality?”
There was a limit to the life of a person who even reached the highest level of martial arts. But, not a single person was alive for such a long time. However, the fact that this woman in flames lived for nearly two hundred years in her young form had to mean that she had achieved Immortality.
“Your eyes are full of greed. You are only fools”
The woman in flames caught the Blood Master’s eyes which were s.h.i.+ning in greed. Those who came in for the treasure had to be killed.
“Guardian Ran-yeong. According to the agreement, I will aim for the thieves who have infiltrated the treasure”
Wooong!
Sparks began to rise from her arms, the woman who identified herself as 2nd Guardian Ran-yeong. It was as if she wanted to burn down all the enemies in front of her.
‘What a tremendous amount of energy!’
The flames were so intense that even a few skilled Masters wouldn’t be able to stand the energy she was revealing. Blood Master spoke to the man who was shocked.
“Stay back. I will deal with her”
“Ah, ye…”
Swoos.h.!.+
Even before he could finish his words, something like a hazy afterimage shook before him.
“Uh?”
The one who appeared with the air swaying around them like a mirage was none other than Ran-yeong. She was so fast that even the man didn’t realize that she was standing right beside him.
“What stand back? I’ll deal with the both of you”
Hweeing!
Sparks shone brightly from her hands. The man, who was terrified of the flames which were soaring her hand, pulled out his sword.
Swoos.h.!.+
The sword made of steel, created a form of a dense mesh, trying to block the fire. The man urgently took a defensive position, thinking that he would be able to stop the attack from reaching him. But,
Hweeeing!
“Wh-what is this?”
The flame engulfed him in an instant, and the strong raging heat invaded his hand which was holding the sword. He only wanted to protect himself, but the heat was so terrifying that it felt like his hand was gone.
Chiik!
“Kuak!”
The man retrieved the sword and tried to retreat a couple of steps, but the flames moved in the gap and struck him.
Hweeing!
‘d.a.m.n it!’
He let go of the sword he was holding because of the fire which struck him, but the flames already entwined his body. In an instant, the flames, which touched him, began to burn the body.
“AGHHHHHH!”
Starting from his arms, the fire continued to his upper body and the man rolled on the floor while groaning in pain. Blood Master on the other hand, who was attacked at the same time had a different expression.
Was the best defense known to be the best attack?
When the flames were about to cover Blood master, she didn’t back down, but went ahead and stepped ahead to cut the throat of Ran-Yeong.
Thud!
‘She’s fast!’
Ran-yeong, who tried to avoid it by leaning behind, had to stop the attack and jump back to avoid getting hit.
‘Would that cause damage?’
The eyes of Blood Master caught something. Certainly, she wanted to kill Ran-yeong in just one strike, but she avoided it. She saw how accurately Ran-yeong deflected the attack.
“You…You aren’t so normal”, Blood Master said to Ran-yeong, who had been taken ten steps away.
Ran-yeong replied casually,
“Oh! You stopped my attack? You need to learn more to take me down”
Ran-yeong too made the decision to kill them by burning them but she never expected that one of the intruders would escape her attack.
‘It has been so long since I met this kind of person’
Ran-yeong was called the true hidden power of the Imperial Palace. As long as she lived, no one would be able to break into the Guardian hall. The eyes of Ran-yeong were devoted to the battle and started s.h.i.+ning in excitement.
‘I was almost disappointed because of the Great Guardian and the others in the Imperial Palace, but this is fun’
Gooooo!
The two women were feeling excited about their confrontation with each other. The man, who was a.s.sisting Blood Master, barely managed to extinguish the flames which were burning his body.
Kiiik!
Hot vapour flowed from his body. He was hoping to retreat to avoid getting in between the confrontation of the two crazy women.
‘These two are really monsters’
He would always wonder if there was another woman who could fight on the same level as Blood Master, but for her to be in the Imperial Palace!
The monster’s opponent was another monster.
It was obvious that he would die if he intervened, so he decided to search for the treasure while the women were fighting.
‘Hoo… I’ll go to the side where the flames were struck and… huh?’
Grrrrr!
Something strange was sounding from the side of the ceiling. It was when the a.s.sistant started concentrating on the sound…
Crack! Crack!
The ceiling started cracking and the rocks began to fall. It was as if a thunderbolt struck the ceiling.
“Uh! Ahhhhhh!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
If he had no luck on his side, he would have definitely died a terrible death. Even with the rocks crumbling, he wasn’t severely hurt, but his leg got caught between a rock.
The two women, who were confronting each other, turned their gaze towards the abruptly collapsed ceiling.
“a.s.sistant!”
The scream was from Blood Master, who wanted to know if her aide was alive. However, due to his leg under a rock and the pain he was experiencing, he fainted. And one could see an outline of someone standing over the fallen rocks.
“Who is he?”
“A Guard?”
Both the women looked at him. The one who came down from the broken ceiling was a young man with a white face and gold robe. That’s right, it was…
Chun Yeowun
Just like how he pa.s.sed the other levels, he broke through the hall and descended the last level. Looking at the two women who were glaring at him, Chun Yeowun opened his mouth and said.
“Thank G.o.d I wasn’t too late”