Chapter 18 Spider Ghost (Jugu) – 3

Chapter 18: Spider Ghost (Jugu) – 3

Crack!

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The creature and I were moving at nearly the same speed.

Perhaps thinking it couldn’t catch me, it suddenly stopped pursuing and turned around.

He probably intended to return to Bae Jong-gwan.

“Damn it!”

My neck muscles tensed.

For a beast, its situational awareness was damn sharp!

In the end, I had no choice but to turn back.

If I ran away completely, Bae Jong-gwan would die.

Bae Jong-gwan was currently flailing his entire body, flinging away and trampling the hordes of goblins.

Just looking at him now, it was like watching a giant bear knocking down a pack of wolves.

The ghouls’ teeth and claws couldn’t pierce Bae Jong-gwan’s solid frame, and their brute strength couldn’t match his power.

But it was impossible to know how long he could keep this up.

After all, Bae Jong-gwan couldn’t kill the Gan-gwis, and he would gradually tire as time passed.

Therefore, he couldn’t allow the main demon to reach Bae Jong-gwan either.

I leaped toward the main demon and shouted.

“Over here, you spider bastard!”

Then the bastard lunged at me as if he’d been waiting for it.

He really had been waiting for this moment.

Shuuuwaaah!

“Ugh?!”

Its sharp claws slashed toward my chest.

There was absolutely no time to dodge.

Thud!

The claws pierced my chest.

No, at least that’s what it looked like.

But what it pierced was my afterimage.

In that final moment, I instinctively dodged its claws. Cold sweat pouring down my back, I accelerated and fled once more.

It was thanks to the Heavenly Wind Step of the Flying Sword Sect.

The Heavenly Wind Step, embodied and deployed unconsciously, had saved my life.

Though I couldn’t say it was completely saved yet.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

With a face twisted in utter fury, the demon began chasing me again.

Even in the midst of this urgency, I silently conveyed my gratitude to Bi Sa-yeong.

‘Sae-yeong! I’m alive thanks to you! If you bring back the squad leader before I die, I’ll call you big brother!’

Screaming inwardly, I began the chase once more.

It was a bizarre chase, circling around Bae Jong-gwan who was fighting with Gan-gwi.

“Kiiiiiiii!”

A little time passed.

Bae Jong-gwan kept playing monster among the ghosts, and I kept circling around him.

The ghost that had nearly caught me several times, only to graze my collar each time, now wore an expression as if its head had spun from rage.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Now, I could probably interpret the meaning behind the monstrous screams it was letting out while chasing me.

‘If I catch you, I’ll kill you.’ Yeah, that must be it.

So, judging by the situation so far, things weren’t that bad.

I hadn’t killed the Jugeui or the Gangeui, but at least I was holding my ground.

But inside, I was anything but fine.

The pressure to make some kind of change now weighed heavily on me.

First off, Bae Jong-gwan’s movements, which I’d been watching, were gradually slowing down.

It meant he was growing weary.

And honestly, I was the same.

I thought I was confident in sustaining my new technique for long periods, but moving like this, risking my life and giving it my all, was a different level of physical drain.

At this rate, even if Biseaeng arrived at the thirteenth generation and immediately met the squad leader to bring him here, I doubted I could hold out until then.

I needed another plan.

‘What should I do? What can I do? What advantage do I have over that bastard?’

He coldly compared himself to the enemy.

Only his overwhelming abilities came to mind.

Physical prowess surpassing even peak masters.

Skin so hard swords barely penetrated.

Sure, a sword might pierce his eyes or mouth, but a guy who could rival a peak master wouldn’t just stand there and take it.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even get a chance to swing my sword.

Because the moment he caught up, I’d be dead.

If I had to find any superior points, it would be that I could use my head and that he hadn’t fully adapted to the Hwan Sword yet.

But I wasn’t confident I could use the sword more than twice.

I felt like if I used it just one more time, he’d adapt to it.

I cursed inwardly.

‘Damn it! I’d rather face a night demon than a daytime demon!’

Then, suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.

‘Wait, night ghosts, day ghosts?’

He immediately pictured the surrounding terrain.

There was definitely something around here…

Maybe there was a way.

It was a gamble, but…

Yeah, but at least there was something I could try.

Even in the midst of urgency, I flashed a sly smile and glanced at Jugeui, who was following behind me with a beastly expression.

‘Alright, to do that, first.’

I changed direction slightly.

Thud!

That was where the liver spirit Bae Jong-gwan had just tossed was rolling on the ground.

When I suddenly charged at the creature, the Gan-gwi instinctively swung its arm at me.

Whoosh!

I lowered my body to the floor, dodged it, and succeeded in slipping past like air toward the side of his torso.

Long live the Heavenly Wind Technique!

Glancing back, I saw the spirit following right behind me was about to collide with the spirit.

Good!

I clenched my fist tightly, but it was pointless.

Puhwaak!

The ghost pierced through the liver spirit’s torso, tearing it apart in an instant, and immediately came after me.

Startled, I immediately picked up my pace again.

“Waaah!”

Shushak!

I felt its arm brush past the back of my hair.

My skin crawled.

Damn it!

I thought I could create some distance, but apparently one ghost isn’t enough?

Gritting my teeth, I searched for the next target.

Here we go again!

This time, I dove into a spot where three Gan-gwi were clustered together.

As I charged straight at them, three arms aimed at me whipped through the air.

“Kraaaang!”

My mind, intensely focused, sharpened like a blade.

As if time had slowed, the trajectories of the arms became crystal clear to my eyes.

Let’s see what you’ve got!

I leaned sideways, parrying the arm striking diagonally down toward my left.

Whoosh!

Next came the horizontally slashing claws.

Whoosh!

I ducked deep to avoid it, then immediately sprang upward like a dolphin.

Thud!

Then, the third demon’s claw swept past his toes.

Shwaaak!

‘I did it!’

He cheered inwardly.

He had slipped through the attacks of three Gan-gwi by the narrowest of margins.

This was something he had never even attempted in his previous life as a top-tier master.

At the very least, his divine technique had undoubtedly advanced beyond what it had been in his previous life.

And just as I expected, the main demon couldn’t easily pass through the three minor demons.

Puhwaak!

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

“Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Thud!

He easily sliced through the first two with his claws, but colliding with the last one slowed him down.

It was his chance.

Using the slight opening, he slashed at its hand again with his sword, then splattered its face with blood.

Swoosh!

“GAAAAAAH!”

The creature, its face completely smeared with my blood, now followed me like a beast utterly bereft of reason.

I grinned and lunged forward.

Good! Come on!

I kept running deeper into the forest.

The enraged creature, now unable to even think of returning to Bae Jong-kwan, kept pursuing me.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

His shrieking felt close enough to touch the back of my head.

Just a little further, just a little more!

A moment later, a rocky mountain came into view.

It was the place I’d aimed for.

I dragged the bastard behind me and flew up to the middle of the rock mountain. Then, without hesitation, I threw myself into the cave nestled there.

“Advance!”

I shouted loudly and continued deeper into the cave.

I already knew it, but it was a pretty deep cave.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The creature’s shrieks, following me inside, echoed throughout the entire cavern.

The sound echoed everywhere, drowning out my own voice, and I was only grateful.

As I kept going deeper, not a single ray of light remained inside the cave.

Complete darkness.

I took a deep breath, then slashed my palm again, spraying the flowing blood wildly toward the cave wall.

I kept moving deeper inside.

Night spirits are active at night, but day spirits are active during the day.

Therefore, naturally, the Jugeui’s primary sense was sight, not hearing.

But in a place like this, where light vanished, only its sense of smell remained.

Just like right now.

BANG! CRASH!

The sound of the Jugeui smashing the cave wall echoed. It seemed to have charged straight into the cave wall where I had splattered blood.

A sneer escaped my lips.

I had succeeded in disrupting its senses.

Now it couldn’t see me.

Well, of course, the problem was that I couldn’t see him either.

I stopped moving, closed my eyes, and stood still.

Then I tried my hardest to calm my mind.

In a past life, I had trained my senses like Seolpung Jo-jang, walking around with my eyes closed.

I wanted to become like that squad leader, who could perceive his surroundings as clearly as the palm of his hand, day or night.

Of course, I failed in that past life.

His senses had become much sharper, but he still couldn’t quite match the Captain’s level.

And in this life, I hadn’t even begun training yet.

There were simply too many other things to practice besides that.

Standing still, he slowly extended his bleeding palm forward.

Then he tried to sense the creature’s movements.

To stake his life on something he’d never succeeded at once before was undoubtedly reckless.

If I failed again this time, I’d probably die.

‘But there’s really no other way, is there?’

He smiled as he thought this.

BANG! CRASH! CRASH!

The sound of the creature smashing the cave wall was getting closer and closer. His saliva gurgled down his throat.

Seon Woo-jin.

Stay calm. Don’t rush.

If you rush, you’ll fail for sure.

I tried to sense the creature, breathing very slowly.

Its location, its movements, and its form.

But all that remained in my mind’s eye was still only darkness.

Pitch black, a darkness where I could sense nothing.

Moreover, it seemed to have stopped charging toward the scent of blood; the closer it got to me, the less it broke through walls.

So now, I couldn’t even tell its location by sound.

Where? Where could it be?

Had it now become certain of my location?

Various thoughts swirled chaotically in my mind.

I exhaled slowly.

I tried to wash away all my impatience and distracting thoughts through my breath.

And just as Sergeant Seolpung had told me in my past life, I focused only on becoming one with the things around me.

Quietly, very comfortably.

Like air, and like rock.

It was at that moment.

I felt something approaching my palm.

The creature was trying to dig its claws into my outstretched palm.

I flinched.

I immediately pulled my palm back and thrust the sword I held in my right hand forward with all my strength.

Thud!

The sensation of something sinking deep.

The next moment, a horrifying scream erupted.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

It was Jugeui’s scream.

Success!

Overwhelming joy flooded my mind.

The one and only spot where I could drive my sword into his body.

I had succeeded in driving the sword into his very eye.

I did it, I did it!

Given that he possessed the physical prowess and reflexes of a peak master, it was actually an impossible feat for someone of my skill to stab a sword into his eye.

At least in broad daylight.

He dragged me into the darkness where he couldn’t see me and succeeded.

I was so overjoyed I felt like I might go mad.

But I held back the cheers threatening to burst out, dropped the sword, and immediately pulled my body back. The bastard was going berserk.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Then, carefully avoiding the raving creature, I dashed back out of the cave.

I could clearly sense the creature wasn’t chasing me at all, but was instead writhing in agony on the cave floor.

The cave that had felt so distant when I entered was now just a short distance back to the entrance.

The sunlight streaming into the entrance from outside the cave couldn’t have been more moving.

I rushed straight to Bae Jong-gwan once I was out.

The guy, who seemed to be almost out of breath, gasping for air, broke into a bright smile the moment he saw me.

It was a smile as bright and pure as the sunlight.

I shouted at him with all my might.

“Jong-gwan! Time to go back!”

Then, I launched a powerful body slam at the goblins charging toward him.

“Haah! Iron God Meteor!”

Thud!

This time, I hadn’t left him behind. The fact that we could finally return together made me feel like I might cry.

Truly… it was a relief.

***

Bae Jong-gwan and I left the ghosts behind and raced back to the Thirteenth Division.

There was no way those ghosts could possibly catch up to us as we fled in earnest.

And on the way back to the main camp, we encountered Biseoyoung, who was desperately running alongside Sergeant Seolpung.

The guy, running with tears streaming down his face, his features contorted in agony, saw us unharmed and froze for a moment, his expression blank. Then his face twisted into a grimace as he spat out curses.

“You bastards! You little shits! Really… really…!”

Then, bowing his head low, he sobbed and said.

“…Thank you. Thank you, you little bastards.”

Bae Jong-gwan and I smiled warmly and embraced him.

Having survived countless times in my past life thanks to my friends’ sacrifices, I felt I could fully understand his heart.

After Biseaengyung composed himself a bit, we returned to the Gangeui.

This time, we could watch Squad Leader Seolpung’s massacre with a clear conscience.

It was pitiful to see the Gan-gwis’ heads explode with each swing of the squad leader’s curved blade.

The spirit we’d left in the cave seemed to still be rolling around on the cave floor.

The squad leader went in alone to finish it off. When he emerged, the only thing he brought back was my sword, now stuck in its eye.

I decided to keep my fight with the main demon a secret.

People probably wouldn’t believe that someone still only second-rate like me had fought the main demon, and above all, I disliked drawing excessive attention while my skills were still lacking.

In the end, I gained neither merit nor fame from this incident.

But even so, I was perfectly satisfied.

Because the next day, I could still practice external cultivation with my friends Bae Jong-gwan and Bi Sa-yeong, just like always.

This ordinary daily life felt incredibly precious.