Chapter 131 – Chapter 131 – Origin Wisdom (20)

Wooooo-!

Flames erupted, and yellow light pushed back the darkness.

And what appeared before my eyes was an old man with a cone hat.

He gazed at the flames and murmured in rapture.

“… Beautiful.”

The attitude of the old man who looked at his actions with dark eyes.

It was like a gentleman admiring a work of art.

As if he truly admired it, as if nothing could be more beautiful than this.

In a way, the sight of an old man weeping while looking at the flames in a state of fascination felt noble.

But.

The screams that followed were the problem.

The place where the flames burst out, pushing away the darkness.

Because it was not just a forest, but a large building where someone clearly lived.

“Quaaaaagh!”

Small shapes of flames bursting out of the building with tearing screams.

They certainly took the form of hands and legs.

Whip, Whip.

Those figures that were intense at first, but lost strength as they went further, crawling on the floor.

It was so unreal that I forgot, even for a moment, that this was true.

That’s right, those figures of flame fluttering like paper dolls are all living creatures.

Because he lost his life so easily.

The old man let out an exclamation as his eyes widened at the ghastly sight.

“Ah…! It’s beautiful, this melody… This flow… This shout…!”

He clutched the cane in his hand with tears streaming down his face.

And he began to stir in the air, humming.

It wasn’t using the magic called Sting like before.

The old man was just enjoying the situation, waving his staff as if he were a conductor.

It looks like an elementary school student listening to music and waving his or her hands casually.

The action, which seemed to be the gesture of a noble conductor commanding in moderation, stopped shortly thereafter.

“Stillness has arrived.”

At the same time, a great chill burst out from the building that was engulfed in flames.

Damn it-!

The building, whose flames were extinguished in an instant, was slowly plunged into darkness.

Tack, Tack.

The shape of the building was revealed sparsely in the light burning the corpses that came out of the building.

The frosted building reflected its own glittering figure, spitting out shimmering figures within it.

“Fuck the dog, old man!”

The one who came to the fore was In-young, a man who seemed to be strong at first glance.

As if he knew who did this, numerous figures followed him after he spat out abusive language.

With eyes shining in the dark, he scanned the darkness once and looked this way.

The old man stared straight ahead, not avoiding the murderous gaze facing him.

“The dead firewood slowly burns again.”

The old man grabbed his staff and laughed.

He moved in front of him with infinite grace.

“Go slow, everyone.”

Spot.

A pure white light shone from the tip of the old man’s cane.

Like the round moon floating in the sky, the old man whispered as he swung his cane once.

“I can hear soft applause.”

The old man and the shaman who had been hiding in the forest moved towards the figures of darkness in front of them.

* *

A fight between shamans and human figures entangled on top of the hill.

The fight was fierce and brutal, with blood splattered and cheers and screams erupting.

I was able to see the figure in the dark thanks to the flashing lights that popped out from time to time.

There was one odd thing.

Support position-.

It was because the identities of the figures the shamans were dealing with were not properly visible, as if they were covered in noise.

“….#$!@#”

Sometimes I can even hear the sound cut off.

However, seeing that they used other things, not magic, it seemed that their identity was a yōkai.

It’s caught in the noise, so I don’t know what kind of youkai it is.

One thing was certain.

That this war is the era of the great war that took place 20 years ago.

That one thing was certain.

“Sting”

The old man in the cone hat hummed.

The low, low-pitched voice resonated clearly even in the dark.

And whenever the old man’s voice resounded, white light emitted from the staff he was holding.

As if I were alive, the light that had beveled my body flew to the human figure in front of me.

Whirik-!

And it left a long stroke on In-young’s chest.

Red blood spurted out.

Inyoung let out a maddened roar and charged at the old man.

The old man hummed again, not caring.

“Sting”

As if he didn’t feel any danger at all, the old man hummed in the same voice as before.

A pure white light burst from the tip of the wand again.

Whirik-!

It drew another stroke on the abdomen of another figure who attacked the old man from the side.

“Search…!”

The human figure who had attacked from the front jumped toward the old man.

Holding a red dagger, he fell through the air with the blood flowing from his abdomen floating like a thorn.

The old man put one hand on his cone-shaped hat and rolled it across the floor.

Contrary to the graceful wielding of a cane, it was an ugly figure, but the old man only smiled quietly, as if even this was irrelevant.

“Sting.”

And again, the same incantation as before was repeated.

As if the presence of this old man, who seemed important even at first glance, was the same for the enemy, numerous figures attacked the old man.

Every time that happened, the old man evaded by rolling on the floor, and sometimes even dodges the attack by sacrificing his own flesh.

“Sting.”

Humming voice.

Humming in a voice that now felt like madness, the old man waved his hands.

And he looked up at the sky.

“… Got it…!”

Is it by continuing to dig into enemy lines and moving forward?

Around the old man, there was nowhere to escape.

Even if he escaped from the paper, the paper used in an instant had a limit of distance.

The old man was in a state where he had come deep into the enemy camp.

As if aware of this fact, the figures surrounding the old man let out shouts of victory and jumped at the old man.

Dense blades and witchcraft surrounding the old man.

It seemed like an imminent situation, but the old man was still humming happily.

“Sting.”

Dig-!

A white light emanating from the wand.

Like a sharp blade, the white light, which couldn’t cut deeply and had enough power to make In-young’s body back for a moment, drew only one stroke this time.

But.

Aaaaa-!

By drawing that single stroke, an accident began.

Until then, the strokes on their bodies emitted a bright light.

“… What?”

A common feature of the figures surrounding the elderly.

Each of them had a single stroke on their body.

Horizontally, vertically, diagonally.

The figures drawn were diverse, but strangely, the strokes of their bodies surrounding the old man.

It seemed to have some rules.

And from the mouth of the old man who kept repeating the same words until now, another word came out as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“Sing, everyone.”

As if really amused, the old man hummed and spread his arms wide.

That moment.

The light of the strokes that are separated from each other is connected, and a pattern is perfectly drawn.

Aaaaa-!

A pure white light emitted light, and a mysterious sound was emitted.

In-young, who had come close to the old man, swung her sword, not paying attention to this change.

However, the blade did not touch the old man.

This is because In-young’s head exploded right before the blade touched the old man’s body.

Poo-! Poo-! Poo-! Poo-!

Starting with that, the heads of the figures surrounding the old man exploded sequentially.

Blood dripped and attacked the old man.

The old man waved his cane as if he was enjoying even this.

“It was a good melody.”

The old man standing among the corpses before he knew it bent his back towards the corpses that filled his surroundings.

As if thanking him for listening to him play or following his conducting.

The action, which seemed to have a double meaning, gave me goosebumps.

“Kill that old man!”

Perhaps it was because their own camp had been pierced around the old man, the youkai noticed this change in an instant and rushed at the old man.

The bloody old man raised his staff again and hummed.

“Sting”

A single stroke was made on the corpse on the floor.

Another line was drawn, and a new interlocking pattern appeared.

The old man laughed.

To him, who laid the foundation for his performance, this place was just a performance hall.

In this place where the full moon was shining like that, the old man continued his performance until the sound was no longer heard.

Having witnessed all the devastation that could be called a massacre, I blurted out swear words.

“Fuck.”

The war was so brutal.

Seeing this disgusting scene of blood and blood spattering, I felt a surge of disgust.

A hill full of corpses.

How long do we have to watch this scene where winners and losers are divided?

Suddenly my vision shifted.

“Heh-uh… Heh-uh…”

In-young, who looks like a girl.

A figure with long hair was walking through the forest.

She was running forward, breathing heavily.

“Heo-euk… Heo-eok.”

And glanced back at her.

As if she had guessed that I was there, she looked back and couldn’t see her figure covered in darkness.

I could see clearly only the bright yellow eyes that shone in the darkness and the bloody tears that flowed beneath them.

And the moment I saw it, my vision turned to darkness.

The end of the second ordeal was near.

* *

When I came to my senses, I was lying on the floor of the shrine after the ordeal.

Looking at the fox sisters surrounding me like the last time, I grabbed my pounding head and stood up.

“I saw the cone hat, and I used the spell called Sting… After that, a woman who looked like a girl ran away…”

I lined up unorganized words to Lee Mi-ryeong.

It was so hectic, so it might not have been conveyed accurately.

To some extent, Lee Mi-ryeong must have understood my words, she nodded her head with a firm expression, and then she spoke to me.

“You’ve worked hard, rest for now. I’ll tell you what to say later.”

As if everyone agreed with Lee Mi-ryeong’s words, the three fox sisters supported me and moved me to my room.

I lay down on the pre-placed futon and went to sleep.

Dreamy

And at some point I had my eyes open.

It felt like I opened my eyes right after lying down, but it seemed that a lot of time had passed, and in the room, a scarlet light was shining softly in the darkness.

“Turn it off.”

As I tried to get up, someone next to me raised a voice of concern.

“Are you awake, Han Jun-ah?”

“……”

Miho.

Miho’s bright red eyes were watching me, full of worry.

“Uh… Uh, it’s okay. I’m fine, now.”

I don’t want to worry Miho, and in reality, I have no problems except for being a little tired.

I told Miho not to worry.

Then Miho let out a sigh of relief and looked at me blankly.

“I’m glad… Yes… I’m glad. If Hanjun was sick, I was a little sorry to ask him… But I feel relieved to hear that you’re fine.”

Huh?

It seemed that something had gone wrong.

I immediately tried to pretend to be dizzy, but before that, Miho’s sharp question came in.

“So, Han Jun-ah, shall we talk about what happened this morning in depth?”

Help me.

I sent a request for support to Lee Mi-hee, Lee Mi-na, and Lee Mi-ryeong, who should be somewhere.