Chapter 105 – 105. The First Shrine

Numerous eyes clinging to the woman’s arms were staring at Jo Joon and his companions. As if trying to seduce them. I intended to tangle their minds and show them all kinds of grotesque and terrifying visions so that they would never wake up again.

This ancient yokai with eyeballs growing all over its body preys on people that way. Instead of lacking direct combat ability, it was a monster that engulfed the opponent’s soul by inducing fear and coveting the spirit of a fallen human being.

But now it’s the night of sacrifice.

Perhaps if they looked into Dodomeki’s eyes and collapsed, the forest would swallow them up. Currently, the Forest of the Missing is in a half-awakened state by being sealed in a shrine.

Therefore, all sorts of miscellaneous things belonging to the forest recognized the intruders who entered the forest as living sacrifices, consuming their souls and injecting them into the idol of the god placed in the center of the forest.

“Ugh…”

“Oh.. Brother…”

“Kerhak…”

The spirit power contained in each pupil was quite large. That’s why Lee Eun-ji, Seong Ha-rin, and Kang Hee-seon, who were next to Jo Joon, were seduced by the pupils in an instant without any help.

Strangely, however, nothing happened to Jo-jun Jang. It was as if Dodomeki’s power had been deflected, and there was no abnormality or change in him. This was because Yang Ji-sang, who was tied to his waist, absorbed all the spirit power that was approaching Jo Jun.

Dodomeki, who had not been aware of this fact, shook his head, erased the mocking laughter he had made at the victims, and looked up at Jo Joon with a slightly serious expression. With most of her sanity gone, she felt something was going wrong.

Jo Jun was looking down at Dodomeki with an expression as if asking what the hell. Then he stretched out his hand towards Dodomeki, who gave off an eerie grin. He thinks there is no need to be scared and activates his skill.

– Huh..?

“Pluto.”

The abyssal prey appeared out of nowhere and opened her mouth wide.

Abyssal Maw is a skill that even bites and swallows ghosts. Dodomeki barely escaped the abyssal maw that was about to devour her torso as she screamed. However, she couldn’t completely avoid it.

Her arm full of eyeballs, which she had exposed to kill the group of aimers, was chewed and ripped off by her abyssal maw. In an instant, her spiritual body was damaged. The fact that the spiritual body was injured is surprising, but it did not even regenerate.

The monster who had swallowed the missing people in this forest for hundreds of years suddenly felt fear in an incomprehensible situation.

Up until this point, the Yo-kai, who had grown up feeding on the fear of those who had lost their way in the forest, stepped back, feeling the fear of beings that were more bizarre and sympathetic than themselves.

– Haaaaa!!!!

Dodomeki screamed at the belated pain. Soon, deaf ears rang out throughout the area.

-To-duduk..!

A yellowish, transparent liquid dripped from the cut end of Dodomeki’s arm. It was a substance called ectoplasm. She was able to possess an astral body because she was different from ordinary ghosts or spirits, and her astral body flowed with ectoplasm instead of blood.

After surviving by preying on humans for hundreds of years, the goi raised her own level, so she went beyond a mere goblin or ghost and reached the level of a yōkai.

In any case, the ectoplasm that Dodomeki began to drip gave off a terrible rotten smell and corroded the ground and plants it came into contact with in an instant.

Living humans feel terrible pain and itching the moment they come into contact with unrefined ectoplasm. In addition, the contacted area slowly rots, and the poison gradually spreads as if bitten by a zombie.

Dodomeki knew that. The fact that the liquid flowing from his spiritual body is fatal to living beings. So she spread her ectoplasm all around her to make other people on the floor her companions.

However, at that time, the jet-black wheel had already put all the fallen women behind Jo Joon. The jet-black wheel, which hovered around the party, created an advantageous situation on its own when a battle broke out.

Now, the only thing left in front of Dodomeki’s eyes was a bizarre, bizarre existence wearing a human mask. The being surrounded the shimmering curtain, blocking all the ectoplasm scattered by Dodomeki.

Jang Jo-jun’s skill Distorted Scales was activated.

“What are you?”

Dodomeki couldn’t answer Jo Jun’s question. Not only did he not understand the language because he was of a different nationality, but he couldn’t say a word because he was already overwhelmed with the spirit of aim.

He also accepted the fact that he could not harm his opponent, and now he was able to identify the beings clinging to his back.

Crystals of malice crawling at the bottom of the deep abyss and huge masses of chaos whose identity is difficult to guess were glaring at him.

– Heh… Heh heh…

A howl of a monster who couldn’t even form a proper language. Dodomeki knelt down on his knees and bowed his head, making a heartfelt Dogeza towards Joon.

She got it wrong The problem was that he regarded the other person as just a human being lost in the forest.

Dodomeki, who has swallowed countless people as easily as eating cake. She thought that this time, too, she would be able to taste the warm breath and lively energy of humans without much difficulty.

It was a big mistake. The ghost clinging to the forest fell into peace and did not notice in advance a being more dangerous than itself. She was complacent and indolent. Above all, she said that she would never die to a human being, and she was caught off guard.

It was because she was careless. She didn’t try to figure out her opponent and moved stupidly according to her inertia, so she came up with something she shouldn’t touch.

Today, a monster who is a few hundred years old who was wandering in the forest dies.

Dodomeki’s eyes closed all at once in every corner of his body. Because she gave up on life.

Joon once again tried to use his skill to rip off the monster’s head. At that moment, the sword strapped to his waist hummed and trembled.

[Hey, wait!!]

Yang Ji-sang hurriedly stopped the aim to kill Dodomeki.

“Why. What.”

[Wield me against that demon.]

“Huh? Why?”

[If I cut that thing… I feel like I’ll become stronger… I just feel that way…]

Jo Jun, who was about to offer Dodomeki to the evil spirits, suddenly remembered that the evil spirits said that the spiritual body was bland and tasteless.

‘This is waste that can’t be treated well even if given to it… Then it would be better to feed Yang Ji-sang to strengthen it.’

Aiming nodded at Ji-sang Yang’s request, Joon pulled out his sword and swung it at Dodomeki, who was trying to use a trick to escape with a bewildered expression.

-Kiaaa!!!!!

Dodomeki, who had been cut by the return sword, let out a scream. Ear cries resound. Jo Joon’s body staggered at the sound of the ghost’s screams ringing in his ears.

“This slut is noisy.”

Rather, he swung his sword more violently. Without stopping, he continued cutting until Dodomeki was completely annihilated, until he was absorbed by Yang Ji-sang. Since Dodomeki screamed, all kinds of miscellaneous things in the vicinity will hear the sound and gather. Before that, he had to fight fast.

Joon felt that the more he swung his sword, the more the ghost’s shape became blurry. And finally, Yang Ji-sang, who had firmly grasped Dodomeki, shouted.

[Absorption!!! Aaaaa!!]

Yang Ji-sang shouts with a voice full of ecstasy, like a person reaching the climax.

Jo Jun was so horrified at the moment that he almost lost his sword.

“What, what! It’s crazy?!”

[No! Absorbed!! Haha!!!! Strength! Can’t you feel this power!!]

Joon definitely got the impression that the swamp island where Yang Ji-sang resided was giving off a more magical light.

“Her…”

Only one soul can enter the return road. However, there are two souls dwelling in Guigok Island. This happened thanks to Yang Ji-sang, a wisp warlock whose soul first dwelled in the sword must be able to deal with ghosts and evil spirits.

Yang Ji-sang used the sword as his own body and absorbed Dodomeki. Dodomeki became subordinate to Yang Ji-sang as if it were nested in the island of Gugok.

“Her…”

Jo Joon immediately lifted the sword and checked the condition of Yang Ji-sang.

[Yang Ji-sang]
[Level: None]
[Class: Wisp Warlock]
[No stats]
[Skills: Generating Demons, Possessing Demons, Dismal Specters, Absorbing Monsters (New)]

[Possessed Summons]
-Dodomeki: A heroic spirit absorbed in the forest of the missing. A monster that displays hallucinations to humans.

“You got a new skill?”

[Huhuhu… I think it was created by absorbing this guy.]

In order to use Yang Ji-sang’s skill, Jo Joon had to consume his mana, but that didn’t matter at all to Jo Joon, whose mana level was close to 800.

“Umm… Huh?”

“Brother..”

“Gee… My head hurts…”

When Dodomeki was sealed (?), His party was released from hallucinations. Joon looked at them and said quickly.

“If everyone wakes up, let’s get out of here quickly.”

“Yep…!”

“Sniff… Lord. Here and there… I can smell the beast…”

“Okay, everyone, stand up. Let’s run away Harin continues to scan the surroundings. I’ll hold Eunji’s hand… Come on, stand up quickly.”

“Yes..!”

Jo Jun sent the jet-black wheel to scout over the forest again. Then, trusting Harin’s senses, he ran away from the approaching beasts.

If you want to kill them all, you can kill them all, but now Jo Joon was being robbed of his spirit in real time by the forest of the missing. I was so tired I didn’t know when I would collapse. When he is down, he becomes a burden. He had to quickly get away from his enemies before they became a burden.

“It’s Eunji…”

“Yes?”

“In the bag.. That… Take out the Dawning Seven…”

“Ah! Wait a minute!”

Lee Eun-ji looked at Jo-joon’s pale complexion and tried to calm her worried mind, then took out the Dawn Seven from her bag and handed it to Jo-joon.

With his hands shaking, Jo Joon swallowed the Dawn Seven, a regular item he had bought from a peddler, and a replica of fatigue society with dramatic effects, in one bite.

“Kyaha…! Whoa. A bit better.”

Jo Joon came to his senses again. His body was energized.

– Aaaaa!!!

-Keeeee!!!!

Soon, beasts whose shapes were difficult to recognize flocked to the place where they fought Dodomeki. They pricked their noses to smell the sacrificial offerings that might have been here just a moment ago, but they couldn’t smell anything.

This is because they sprayed deodorant on each other before fleeing. As soon as Harin heard that the beasts were coming, Kang Hee-seon took out a body odor remover from the inventory and sprayed it on everyone. By the end of the effect, their smell is gone. Beast-type monsters will never find them by smell.

With the arrangement of the peddler who became close with Jo Jun, they overcame the crisis once. They ran for a long time until the signs of the beasts completely disappeared.

“Whoa… Damn it. Shit…”

Jo Jun was about to die because his body didn’t listen to him. After drinking Dawn Seven and running for several hours, he had no strength left to stand up.

Rather, Eunji, who had the best stats among them, seemed to be in better condition than Jo Joon.

“S-I need to… Find the shrine…”

“Brother… It’s okay. It hasn’t even been a day since we came here, so you can rest a little…”

Eunji Lee put her hand on the shoulder of Joon, who was gasping for her breath, she said she didn’t have to be in too much of a hurry. Kang Hee-seon, who was by her side, took out the water from her inventory and handed it to Jo-jun.

“Yes, Jun. Let’s rest for a while. We walked too long, we ran too much.”

Joon nodded at Kang Hee-sun and Lee Eun-ji’s words and poured water on his sweaty hair.

“Sniff… I don’t smell anything. I was completely ostracized.”

Harin, who was constantly wary of her surroundings, said while rubbing her dry nose from using too much. The companions nodded. The jet-black wheel was also in a state where no risk factors were found around it. They were able to take a moment to relax.

“Summon the Dark Moth…”

As soon as Joon had a chance to rest, he summoned a moth. Even if he is resting, he can’t just do nothing and play. He intended to roll even if he was a summoned beast while he rested.

A moth that was summoned by dropping scale powder. Joon told the moth to circle around and let me know if anything unusual happened. Yang Ji-sang could sense the location of the shrine, so now he had to find the shrine.

He had to find as many as three shrines in this vast forest in order to find a casting to open the shrine’s doorway.

“Fuck…”

Aim questioned whether he made this to break. If a unique human with a unique class like himself had not entered the forest, there would be a high probability that those who entered the forest would die without finding a clue until the 7th day.

‘Even if you’re looking for a shrine… You have to identify whether it’s a cursed item, whether it’s a fetish or Kotoribaco…’

That part was aiming, hoping Yang Ji-sang would do something else.

‘If that doesn’t work, I’ll get a new slave… And open it…’

With that thought in mind, Jo Jun leaned against the back of a tree and closed his eyes for a moment.

About 4 hours passed like that.

“Huh…”

Joon woke up. He slept without even knowing that he was asleep.

“Oh, Eunji. How long have I slept..?”

“Uh, four hours.”

“This..”

“Brother… It’s okay. Harin is still on guard. Her sister Heesun also closes her eyes and she is in communion with nature. There is nothing dangerous around.”

“Yeah… Ha…”

Fortunately, during those four hours, there were no threats to Jo Joon’s party. The screams of the victims still rang through the forest, but most were far away.

“Let’s all take turns sleeping.”

“Is that so?”

“Great..”

They got some more rest. Since the sun did not rise, it was difficult to determine the time, so Jo Joon continued to check his watch.

It was now 1:00 PM on Monday outside the forest of the missing. It was the time when the sun was rising.

Soon after everyone woke up, Kang Hee-seon took out the food he had put in his inventory.

“Guys. Let’s eat something first.”

Kang Hee-seon prepared meals for her party. Of course, it doesn’t matter if you say it’s a meal. Since it is difficult to light a fire, almost all of them had to be filled with preserved food. They shared the canned tuna, canned corn, and rice flour they had brought with them.

“Eat this, so I can live.”

“Because I had a lot of calories. Come on, eat more of mine.”

“Thanks sister.”

After the party finished their meal, they stood up again. I couldn’t let time go by.

In the meantime, a shadowy moth scouting the area sent a signal that it had found something. It was not as well communicated as the Jet Black Wheel due to its low intelligence, but it was clear that there was a building that seemed to have been built by humans.

“You found something. Let’s go there first. Maybe it’s a shrine.”

Judging from Yang Ji-sang’s lack of reaction, it must not be a shrine building. If so, it must be a shrine or an unidentified structure built in the forest.

The party moved on again.

Soon they found a small building. It was an old building that looked like a warehouse full of old books.

-Kang!

After smashing the latch on the entrance, Aim and the others entered the warehouse.

The inside of the warehouse was much larger than it looked from the outside. And it was full of old books written in an unknown language. It wasn’t Japanese or Chinese. Other than that, nothing special was visible. It was literally a warehouse building where old books were stored.

“I don’t feel anything strange.”

“Iknow, right…”

Inside the building it was quiet. There was only the smell of paper from old books, and I felt no threat. Even Jo-Jun Jang felt that his fatigue was waning a little. It felt like the building was protecting against malicious attacks from the forest. The party felt that this place was like a safe zone.

“Let’s spread out and find them. Call me right away if you find anything strange.”

The party snooped around the warehouse looking for a box that might contain a fetishes.

It looked like an old warehouse to be called a shrine, but since it was a building found in a forest where there were only trees, I thought there must be some clue.

At that time, Harin, who was chasing the smell of something other than books with his nose open, found a small Buddha statue carved out of stone in a corner of the building and a wooden box the size of a fist sealed with red thread in front of it.

“Here! I have something!”

“Huh?”

“Where!”

Jo Joon and his party immediately ran to Seong Harin’s call. Soon they were standing in front of a Buddha statue and a box tied with red thread.

“This is… A box containing fetishes.”

“Or maybe it’s a cursed box.”

“For now, let’s not open it.”

“That’s right… I’ll catch a Chinese slave and have him open it.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Joon patted Eunji’s head, who began to think more and more like him.

“Yeah.. That would be the best way.”

Kang Hee-sun also agreed with them.

“Then we are now looking for Chinese… Uh…? Shh.”

“Why…?”

“Something… Is coming here…”

“Okay..?”

“Yes… A large number of people… I don’t know if they are people or animals…”

“Let’s wait until they come in.”

Seong Ha-rin, who was trying to pretend to be excited at the thought of going out again to find the Chinese, hurriedly lowered her waist and placed her index finger on her lips, making a gesture to be quiet. Jo Joon and the rest of her party quickly followed her and attempted to conceal her by hiding her body behind her ledge to reduce her presence.

Eunji Lee clung to the ceiling and assimilated into the darkness. Looking at the figure that was no different from a ninja, Jo Jun slightly opened his mouth. Soon someone entered the building.

“Huh… Suge… Nanikore.”

“Coco and Itai Tokoda…”

“Soredemo, Anzenda Tomo.”

“Shhh… Nanika Aruyo…”

Four young Japanese men and women entered the building.

Without knowing what is hiding inside the building.

They recklessly stepped in.