Almighty God of War - Chapter 129

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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129

 

A considerable amount of time had passed.

 

Guyang Cheongang and the boy silently gathered the corpses scattered throughout the village and buried them together.

 

By the time they covered the last grave with soil, the sun was already setting beyond the Western Mountain.

 

The boy, who had set down his shovel in front of the grave, stood with the red sunset at his back and spoke.

 

“I know the way to Nine Mountain Stronghold. Follow me.”

 

With those words, the boy began walking into the deep forest.

 

Guyang Cheongang frowned and said.

 

“I never said I’d go with you.”

 

The boy stopped walking and responded in an emotionless, indifferent tone.

 

“Then I won’t tell you the way.”

 

Guyang Cheongang’s gaze grew heavy.

 

“It’s a dangerous place.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Even so, you want to go with me?”

 

The boy held up his shovel and said.

 

“I’m going to kill at least one of them with my own hands.”

 

Cold flames blazed in the boy’s empty eyes, and a chilling killing intent pressed down on all directions.

 

He gripped the shovel handle so tightly that blood began to seep out as he spoke.

 

Guyang Cheongang’s gaze deepened as he asked.

 

“Are you trying to commit suicide?”

 

“What thirteen-year-old would want to die?”

 

“Then why do you want to come with me?”

 

“Either way, it would be difficult for me to get revenge alone no matter what I do. There probably isn’t anyone who would teach martial arts to someone like me either. But if I go with you, mister, couldn’t I at least kill one of them? Then when I die, I’d have something to say to Father, Mother, and Sol-i, wouldn’t I?”

 

Guyang Cheongang closed his mouth and looked down at the boy.

 

It was a cold and calculating judgment that was hard to believe had come from the mouth of a thirteen-year-old child.

 

‘It seems like his parents weren’t ordinary people…’

 

The boy’s speech and behavior were too refined for someone who had grown up in a slash-and-burn village.

 

There might be some hidden background.

 

Guyang Cheongang’s mind became complicated, but without revealing his thoughts, he asked.

 

“You’ll see a lot of blood.”

 

The boy pointed to the stone graves and asked back.

 

“It’s not like I’ve seen little of it now.”

 

The coldness in his voice left Guyang Cheongang momentarily speechless.

 

He silently looked down at the boy for a moment before asking.

 

“How long does it take to get to Nine Mountain Stronghold?”

 

“About two days.”

 

Guyang Cheongang silently blocked the boy’s path, crouched down, and showed his back.

 

After hesitating for a moment, the boy climbed onto his back and he kicked off the ground.

 

Whoooooosh-!

 

The surrounding scenery blurred into a single color and rushed backward like mad.

 

The expressionless boy unconsciously let out an “ugh” sound and tightly hugged Guyang Cheongang’s back.

 

It was the first time in his life experiencing speed beyond human limits.

 

For the first time since the tragedy, the emotion of awe appeared in the boy’s empty eyes.

 

Though he possessed an extraordinary temperament, he was still just a child.

 

Cutting through the fierce wind that struck his ears, Guyang Cheongang’s clear voice reached the boy’s ears.

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“…Baek Muok.”

 

“Why did the bandits do that to your village?”

 

Baek Muok’s voice turned coldly subdued.

 

“When bandits kill people, do they need a special reason?”

 

At that cynical answer unbefitting his age, Guyang Cheongang paused his words for a moment.

 

He could guess how deep a wound had been carved into the child’s soul.

 

“…I meant it wasn’t a typical case.”

 

He shook his head and continued speaking.

 

“Bandits with mountain strongholds treat nearby villages like inexhaustible sources. Even they know it’s profitable to plunder repeatedly over time, and that killing everyone is foolish.”

 

Guyang Cheongang’s eyes sharpened like blades.

 

“But if they still did such a thing, it means there was something more important than plunder. Either the villagers saw ‘something’ they shouldn’t have seen, or there was an ‘object’ in that village that they absolutely had to obtain. Either way, this wasn’t simple robbery and murder.”

 

The small shoulders of the boy, who had been lost in thought for a moment, trembled slightly.

 

Baek Muok opened his mouth with difficulty, as if forcibly dragging up some painful memory.

 

“…A few days ago, Uncle Gong, who’s a hunter… said he went near Nine Mountain Stronghold while chasing a deer.”

 

Guyang Cheongang silently waited for the child’s next words.

 

“There he saw a man and woman entering an abandoned temple… but when they came out, the woman’s face was the same, but the man’s face had completely changed to a different person…”

 

Guyang Cheongang’s eyes turned coldly subdued.

 

“Did this man named Uncle Gong tell that story to the villagers?”

 

“Yes. He went around telling everyone in the neighborhood, saying it was a strange occurrence.”

 

‘…So that was what led the entire village to death…’

 

Guyang Cheongang unconsciously frowned.

 

“Besides your villagers, were there any outsiders who heard that story?”

 

“A merchant who came to buy medicinal herbs two or three days ago seems to have heard that story.”

 

‘A merchant… there’s a possibility the rumor leaked outside. So that’s why they hurried to silence everyone.’

 

Guyang Cheongang said nothing more.

 

Abandoned temple… Human Skin Face Mask or an even more advanced transformation technique.

 

Though he could roughly picture the situation, it was difficult to reach a definitive conclusion because the boy’s information was insufficient.

 

Any further information could be confirmed by going directly to the mountain stronghold.

 

His speed as he raced through the silence became even faster than before.

 

Nine Mountain Stronghold was about a hundred li away from the slash-and-burn village.

 

Guyang Cheongang, carrying Baek Muok on his back, arrived half a hour after leaving the village.

 

The sun had already disappeared beyond the Western Mountain, and the surroundings were engulfed in pitch-black darkness.

 

A wooden palisade reaching a height of one jang surrounded the mountain stronghold, and inside it, dozens of crude wooden houses were scattered in disarray.

 

In the middle of the wide courtyard, several large bonfires soared up as if licking the sky, and the red flames were dyeing the hundred or so men sitting around them like blood demons.

 

The drinking feast using several whole pigs as side dishes was truly pandemonium.

 

What drifted on the wind was the smell of roasted meat and cheap alcohol, and the low sobbing of women.

 

Near the drinking area, dozens of pairs of men and women were entangled together, but it was too one-sided and violent to be called affection between men and women.

 

Everywhere, drunken men could be seen roughly dragging the women serving them and disappearing into the darkness.

 

The women were dragged away with expressions mixing fear and resignation, unable to even attempt resistance.

 

Hope had already vanished from their eyes.

 

Guyang Cheongang looked down at that scene from the middle of a peak about seventy jang away, together with Baek Muok.

 

In the boy’s eyes, resentment, hatred, and terrible killing intent were blazing.

 

Crack…

 

His small fists trembled violently, and the sound of grinding teeth cut through the night air.

 

The will to rush out immediately and cut off those bastards’ necks was radiating from his entire body.

 

Guyang Cheongang placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder to try to calm him, but at that moment he felt a chill.

 

The killing intent emanating from Baek Muok’s body was cold and sharp as if it had substance.

 

It was not an aura that could come from the body of a thirteen-year-old boy.

 

Guyang Cheongang’s gaze grew heavy.

 

‘This child… if things go wrong, he might awaken as a Heaven Killer right now.’

 

It was said that the awakening of those born with the Heaven Killer nature always occurred when extreme anger and despair reached a critical point.

 

Baek Muok was in exactly that state right now.

 

Akasha’s worried voice could be heard.

 

[Doctor, the boy’s vital signs are changing rapidly. His heart rate has exceeded 150 beats per minute, and his body temperature has risen about 2 degrees above average.]

 

“Baek Muok.”

 

Guyang Cheongang called the boy’s name in a low, calm voice.

 

But Baek Muok did not answer.

 

A red light began to seep into his previously empty eyes, and invisible killing intent was rising from his entire body like a heat haze.

 

“Those bastards… those bastards…”

 

The muttering that leaked from Baek Muok’s mouth contained a cold energy not of this world.

 

Guyang Cheongang gripped the boy’s shoulder tightly.

 

Baek Muok’s reddened eyes turned toward him.

 

In the boy’s eyes was the madness of one losing their reason.

 

“Let me go… I have to… I have to kill all those bastards…”

 

Lightning-like divine light blazed in Guyang Cheongang’s eyes, and an ice-cold shout rang like thunder in Baek Muok’s ears.

 

[Get a grip!]

 

The boy’s body swayed as if about to collapse, shocked by the sound transmission filled with internal energy.

 

Baek Muok’s gaze was gradually regaining its reason.

 

Guyang Cheongang spoke.

 

“I didn’t come with you to watch you die.”

 

At his words, Baek Muok flinched and lowered his head.

 

“I’m… sorry.”

 

His reddened eyes were gradually returning to their original color.

 

Guyang Cheongang let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

 

He had managed to delay the awakening of the Heaven Killing Star for now.

 

But that was only a temporary measure at best.

 

Baek Muok’s awakening was an unavoidable fate, and no one knew when it would occur.

 

Guyang Cheongang’s gaze deepened.

 

‘I’d rather it awakened in a situation I could control…’

 

He looked straight at the boy and spoke.

 

“You must follow my words absolutely. Revenge is done with a hot heart and a cold head. Can you do that?”

 

Baek Muok hesitated for a moment before nodding.

 

“Yes.”

 

Guyang Cheongang’s gaze turned back toward the mountain stronghold.

 

The drinking party at Nine Mountain Stronghold was reaching its peak.

 

Around a massive bonfire, over a hundred bandits were tangled together in revelry, with those completely drunk and collapsed scattered everywhere.

 

The scene of women’s moans mixed with men’s rough laughter was so disgusting that he wanted to clean it up immediately.

 

There was absolutely no reason to delay the attack.

 

But Guyang Cheongang didn’t move.

 

Because he heard Akasha’s voice.

 

[Doctor, an urgent situation has occurred in the central building.]

 

‘The central building? While they’re making such a ruckus in the courtyard?’

 

Guyang Cheongang’s gaze sharpened.

 

[Three people are ganging up on one person. It seems to be quite an intense fight.]

 

The distance from where he was to the central building was about a hundred zhang.

 

For Akasha, whose abilities had dramatically improved after the bloody battle with the Necromantic Demon Lord, it was well within surveillance detection range.

 

‘Show me on screen.’

 

[Transmitting.]

 

A clear still image was generated before Guyang Cheongang’s eyes.

 

It was a deadly scene unfolding in a room shrouded in darkness.

 

Two men and one woman, three people total, were surrounding a man who appeared to be around thirty.

 

The one being ganged up on was desperately resisting with a sword in one hand and a short blade in the other, but the situation was hopeless.

 

‘While they’re having a drinking party in the courtyard, something like this is happening inside…’

 

Guyang Cheongang’s gaze suddenly intensified as he examined the screen.

 

The face of the man being ganged up on and one of the attackers were perfectly identical down to every hair.

 

‘Could it be…’

 

The words of the Slash-and-burn Village Hunter that Baek Muok had mentioned flashed through his mind.

 

The scene witnessed at the abandoned temple near Nine Mountain Stronghold.

 

That strange story about how the person’s face had changed to someone completely different between when they entered and when they came out.

 

‘Human Skin Face Mask… no, perhaps an even more sophisticated Transformation Technique.’

 

A cold smile appeared on Guyang Cheongang’s lips.

 

The massacre of the Slash-and-Burn Village, the unidentified ritual at the Abandoned Temple, and now this bizarre scene unfolding before his eyes.

 

Nothing was clear, but he could tell well enough that this was not a normal situation.

 

‘Things are taking a very interesting turn.’

 

A cold light seeped into Guyang Cheongang’s eyes.

 

‘Akasha, I need to save that man first. I’ll have to ask him directly why they’re doing such things.’

 

[I agree, Doctor. But….]

 

‘What is it?’

 

[The man being ganged up on will be in danger soon. His bleeding is getting worse.]

 

Deep furrows formed between Guyang Cheongang’s brows.

 

There was no time to hesitate.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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