Chapter 8 Demon Man (2)

Chapter 8: Demon Man (2)

Just as the monster’s hand was about to pierce Hae Cheong-yeon’s chest,

Something flying in from the side struck the monster’s body with force.

CRASH!

Only after the monster was flung aside did Hae Cheong-yeon realize it was an inn chair.

Seon Woo-jin had swung the sturdy, long inn chair, smashing it into the monster.

“Young lady! Are you alright?!”

Hae Cheong-yeon, finally coming to her senses, replied frantically.

“Ah, I’m fine. It’s just that man…”

The other ronin who had followed Seon Woo-jin discovered the ronin whose chest had been pierced by the monster, killing him instantly, and wailed.

“Yang!”

“Yang-ga!”

Then, as everyone drew their swords with furious expressions, Seon Woo-jin shouted to stop them.

“Get inside the inn first! Quick!”

The ronin protested at his words.

“What are you talking about, young master! That bastard attacked Yang!”

“He’ll follow us anyway! We can’t fight him outside!”

Just then, the strange man who had been knocked back by the chair lunged at Seon Woo-jin again.

“Kyaaaaaaa!”

Having regained some composure, Hae Cheong-yeon swung his sword, blocking the monster in front of Seon Woo-jin.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Meanwhile, Seonwoojin shouted again.

“Quick, get inside the inn! That bastard…!”

Before he could finish his warning, Hae Cheong-yeon found herself in danger again.

He simply couldn’t handle the monster charging at him, seemingly oblivious to the sword strikes.

“Yeeek!”

Even as Hae Cheong-yeon was forced to back away, he suddenly stepped on a rock and lost his balance.

It was hopeless.

“Aaah!”

Just as the monster charged forward, swinging its arm, a strong hand suddenly appeared behind Hae Cheong-yeon. It grabbed her mouth and waist tightly, yanking her sharply to the side.

“Ugh!”

It was Seon Woo-jin.

He had covered her mouth and yanked her waist sharply, saving her from the danger.

But Seon Woo-jin, who had saved her from danger, froze in place and didn’t move any further.

He stood frozen in place, utterly still.

Hae Cheong-yeon’s heart raced.

It felt like the monster would pounce at any moment.

Just as she was about to scream, “What the hell are you doing?” through her blocked mouth, she suddenly realized something.

The monster had stopped moving because they had stopped moving.

The monster she had watched from Sunwoojin’s embrace couldn’t attack them right beside him. Instead, it seemed to be searching for them, just turning its head this way and that from where it stood.

Suddenly, the fact that the monster had been keeping its eyes closed all along flashed through Hae Cheong-yeon’s mind.

And he understood.

That thing’s eyesight…

That was when it happened.

“Young Master Seonwoo! Are you alright?!”

As the vagabonds inside the inn shouted, the strange man whipped his head around and lunged toward them.

***

It was utterly unbelievable.

How the hell did that bastard get past the front lines and make it here?

The moment he saw the way the man charged, using his body to block even sword energy, he instantly realized.

That he was a demon created by the Blood Sect.

Among the various types of demons created by the Blood Sect, he was specifically the one they called the Owl Demon.

An owl demon, a demon specialized in attacking people at night.

Suddenly, I recalled hearing a story from my early days on the front lines about a Hyogui that had crossed the front lines and attacked a civilian village.

That must have been this one.

The more dark the place, the more dangerous it became. As the monster of the swordless night, the Hyogui, flung itself toward the inn, my heart grew anxious.

I hadn’t managed to warn the others not to make a sound.

Hurrying, I set down Miss Qingyan’s body and began running toward the inn.

Though brief, I couldn’t let those I’d shared my heart with die.

I’d even prepared gifts to give them tomorrow when we parted…

“It’s a monster!”

“Gyaaaah!”

“Aaaah!”

Terrifying screams were already echoing from inside the inn.

Rushing frantically inside, the inn was already a complete mess.

The innkeeper and this warrior were already dead.

That warrior who had grumbled constantly, yet always looked after things meticulously behind the scenes…

Even now, the skilled warrior Jang was swinging his sword at Hyogwi, but it looked like he could be killed any second.

“Waaah!”

Screaming, he charged forward and smashed the man with the inn’s long bench.

Thud!

As the man bounced back from the chair, he immediately shouted.

“Quiet, everyone!”

But there was no way it would quiet down immediately.

“Aaargh! Help me!”

The innkeeper was screaming,

“This bastard even hit him in the teeth!”

The ronin shouted in fury.

My heart raced.

I had to quiet them down somehow.

Just then, the man who had gotten up again was lunging toward the source of the noise.

It was Jang Moo-sa’s direction.

“GAAAAAARGH!”

I immediately let out a bloodcurdling scream and overturned the table laden with food where we had been sitting.

Crash!

Clang!

As the food and dishes scattered and shattered in all directions, Hyo-gwi stumbled, disoriented by the noise. I shouted loudly in sync with the clatter.

“Everyone, shut up!”

The room fell silent for a moment.

Hyo-gwi also paused his movements for a moment, pricking up his ears.

It was fortunate.

He had to seize this chance.

I picked up a small chair beside the dining table and hurled it far away.

The chair, which had been airborne, crashed to the ground with a loud clatter.

Clang!

I shouted in time with the sound.

“That bastard!”

I threw another chair.

Crash!

“His eyes!”

Another one.

Crash!

“I can’t see!”

Nothing else nearby seemed worth throwing.

I really wish they’d get the hint by now.

Still, judging by the ronin’s expressions, they seemed to have grasped it somewhat.

But it wasn’t the innkeeper.

He was opening his mouth to speak to me with a look of utter bewilderment.

My heart sank.

No!

That was when it happened.

“Haah!”

With a battle cry, Lady Cheongyeon charged at Hyogwi.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

As dazzling sword light pounded Hyogwi’s body, she shouted at me.

“Tell me now!”

I couldn’t have been more grateful.

I was already deeply grateful she hadn’t fled alone but followed me into the inn, and now she’d done something so clever.

There was no time to waste.

I hurriedly shouted.

“He identifies people only by sound! So don’t make a sound! Not even a breath!”

I saw the innkeeper cover his mouth after hearing my words.

At that moment, Miss Cheongyeon was being pushed further back.

I was about to rush to help her when I suddenly hesitated.

To avoid being detected by the monster, we mustn’t make a sound, but simply staying silent wouldn’t help at all.

Though not as sensitive as ears, the enemy could also smell.

If he couldn’t hear anything, he would use his sense of smell to track people down.

I had to find a way to deal with him before that happened.

Then, something on the counter next to where the innkeeper was trembling and covering his mouth suddenly caught my eye.

POW!

Crash!

After smashing him away with a long chair, I silently signaled to Miss Qingyan to keep quiet with a finger.

She nodded and closed her mouth.

Xiao Gui, who had been pinned against the wall, struggled to his feet, pricking up his ears and craning his head this way and that.

Then he slowly began to walk forward.

The creature was a Miao tribesman with deep brown skin.

A naked Miao man with a stocky build and a prominent, dangling appendage.

In the early days, the Blood Cult often recruited native Miao tribesmen from Yunnan as minions.

And back then, they hadn’t realized.

That they were merely experimental subjects.

That there were indeed demons created from proper martial artists.

And when the demonic warriors made from martial artists appeared…

As the creature slowly approached us, Miss Qingyan looked at me with tense eyes.

It seemed to ask, what do we do now?

I carefully picked up two objects I had placed on the table right beside me and tossed one of them toward the side of the creature.

Whoosh!

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

It was a basket filled with iron coins.

As it fell, the coins bounced out with a clatter.

Moving swiftly to the rhythm of the noise,

I closed the distance to about half a step toward where the enemy stood.

Young Lady Cheongyeon seemed startled to see me like that, but she made no sound.

Then I threw the other one behind him. This time, it was a ceramic bowl filled with beans.

Clang! Thud! Bang! Thud! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the bowl shattered and beans scattered, the moment the bastard turned his body backward, I was able to get right up behind him.

Alright, that’s it.

I couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

If his hand even brushed mine now, my fragile body would be torn apart.

Swallowing hard, I slowly raised my hand.

Then I began to bring it toward the head of the man who was looking around.

That was when it happened.

The innkeeper couldn’t hold it in and sneezed.

“Achoo!”

Startled by the sound, Hyo-gwi whipped his head around, bringing the creature’s face toward mine.

The creature’s face, eyes closed, was so close it seemed about to touch mine.

My heart felt like it would burst.

I saw him about to leap forward, toward me.

Damn it!

Gritting my teeth, I swiftly reached out and grabbed his face.

***

Hae Cheong-yeon watched Seon Woo-jin approach the monster, throwing objects, and felt like her heart would burst.

Somehow, he seemed to know a lot about that monster, but what kind of reckless thing was he doing?

If he so much as made a sound…

Then, when the innkeeper sneezed, she nearly screamed herself.

She was so furious that if he’d been beside her, she might have slashed him with her sword.

She saw the stranger turn and come face-to-face with Seonwoojin.

The shock was so intense her vision went white.

The stranger was lunging toward Seonwoo Jin’s direction.

That was when it happened.

Seonwoojin recklessly reached out his hand toward the monster’s face, and what did he do? He pried open its eyelids.

What the hell?!

Just as she opened her mouth to scream in utter bewilderment and panic, the monster suddenly began to emit a horrifying scream.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

It was a situation beyond comprehension.

He had merely pulled back its eyelids, yet the monster was now covering its own eyes with both hands, writhing in apparent agony.

That monster, who hadn’t even felt pain from the sword’s edge, let alone been wounded…

A sudden hypothesis flashed through Hae Cheong-yeon’s mind.

Could it be because he saw the light?

Just then, Sun Woo-jin, who had somehow moved behind the creature, grabbed its waist and hoisted it up, shouting at Hae Cheong-yeon.

“Young Lady Qingyan! His mouth! Inside his mouth!”

Instantly, her gaze darted toward the monster’s wide-open mouth, screaming in terror.

She thought she understood Seon Woo-jin’s words immediately.

Yes, even if the sword energy couldn’t penetrate his body, if it was inside his mouth…

It was an instinctive action to lunge at the man and thrust her sword.

“Haah!”

Thud!

Finally, it stuck!

Haecheongyeon clenched his other fist.

Because Seonwoojin had lifted the bastard’s body upward, the sword plunged deep into the gaping wound on the roof of his mouth—right where the brain was.

But even with its brain destroyed, the creature did not cease its movements.

Instead, it began thrashing even more violently, screaming.

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Seeing the monster, pierced through the brain yet still alive, thrashing right before her eyes—a naked man dangling that hideous thing—Hae Cheong-yeon now felt fear.

It was the instinctive revulsion any woman would feel.

“Ugh!”

As her face contorted and the strength began to drain from her sword-gripping hand, someone firmly grasped her sword-wielding hand.

It was Seon Woo-jin.

Seonwoojin, who nodded as if to say he was glad they were holding the sword together, began twisting the blade stuck in the creature’s mouth with all his might.

He still held the sword together with her hand.

The monster thrashed about for a while longer before finally dying.

Inside the inn, now a complete mess, people could only stare at the dead monster for a long time, completely stunned.