Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 90
Shrieeeeee—
A sharp cry pierced through the Valley.
The Water Eagle had returned.
It was far beyond what the group had anticipated.
“Damn it!”
The most startled was Jin Geom-hwi, who happened to be closest to the Nest.
The problem wasn’t the distance—it was that he was hanging from the cliff face.
The Water Eagle was smaller than the Dark Eagle, but its speed was remarkably terrifying.
Once it marked prey, nothing alive could escape its pursuit, whether in the air or on the ground.
Shrieeeek—!
The Water Eagle shot straight toward Jin Geom-hwi.
What had looked like a tiny speck rapidly swelled into something massive.
Jin Geom-hwi scrambled up the vines in panic.
The violent wind that swept through the Valley already made the vines sway treacherously, and his hands kept slipping as fear overwhelmed him.
“Damn it, damn it!!”
Meanwhile, Eun-yeong was shouting something as she descended the cliff to help Jin Geom-hwi.
But Eun-yeong lacked the skill to leap across cliffs like Yeon-woo could, and no human, however swift, could match the speed of an eagle.
Shrieeeek—!
“Uh, uaaaah—!”
In the blink of an eye, the Water Eagle was upon him.
Jin Geom-hwi abandoned his climb and let go of the vines.
Falling seemed more likely to save him than climbing.
But the Water Eagle’s speed exceeded his calculations.
Whoooosh—!
“Kraaagh—!”
Like a giant blade sweeping past, the Water Eagle’s razor-sharp talons tore through Jin Geom-hwi in an instant.
He hadn’t even had time to build up speed falling.
Crack—!
The fortunate thing was that the vines tore away at the point where they had been bearing his weight against the cliff face.
Because the vines snapped rather than coiling around him, his life was saved.
Yet he remained trapped in misfortune.
The Water Eagle that had snatched Jin Geom-hwi climbed higher into the sky, holding him fast.
It meant to drop him from a great height and end him.
Whoosh—!
“S, save me…!”
His falling body suddenly shot upward, and the violent shift in direction left him unable to think straight.
Far below, Eun-yeong was descending the cliff, shouting something, her figure blurring past his vision.
He could think of nothing.
‘Damn…’
So this is how it ends?
I told you from the start we should kill these monster beasts outright…! And now this…!
Shrieeeeek—! Shrieeek—!
In that moment, a horrific shriek tore through the Valley.
Both Eun-yeong rushing toward Jin Geom-hwi and Jin Geom-hwi himself, caught in the Water Eagle’s grip, instinctively clapped their hands over their ears at the sheer magnitude of the screech.
‘What—!’
In that instant, his body, which had been rising skyward, plummeted toward the earth.
The moment the shriek erupted from below the Valley, the Water Eagle changed direction and began descending.
Shrieeeek—!
“!!!”
A fall—no, a descent at a speed so tremendous the word hardly contained it.
Jin Geom-hwi, who had trained in the martial arts for years, could not endure the crushing pressure of such a vertical plunge with a human body.
Along with a terrible pain as if his whole frame were collapsing, Jin Geom-hwi lost consciousness.
And at that same moment, the Water Eagle released him.
“Got it!”
Yeon-woo’s shout burst forth as if he had been waiting for this.
Thump—
A nimble figure launched from below the Valley, pushing off the cliff face and leaping upward.
It was Eun-yeong.
Channeling all of her Inner Power into the Agile Body Technique, she had launched herself into the air and caught the limp body of Jin Geom-hwi as he fell.
Then he drew his sword and drove it straight into the cliff face.
Screeeech-!
The blade couldn’t pierce the black stone.
But it slowed the fall of the two figures, bit by bit.
Thud.
“Hah… hah… hah….”
Eun-yeong, cradling Jin Geom-hwi in her arms, managed to set them both down on solid ground.
Eun-yeong’s gaze drifted across the Valley.
Yeon-woo had already engaged both eagles, keeping their attention fixed on himself.
Eun-yeong saw it clearly.
‘He severed the Dark Eagle’s talons in the moment they took Jin Geom-hwi.’
The Dark Eagle had immediately called out to the Water Eagle, and the Water Eagle had wheeled about to attack its companion.
If not for Yeon-woo’s voice transmission ordering her to run—just before he cut at the Dark Eagle’s leg—she might never have caught Jin Geom-hwi at all.
Shriek—shriek shriek—
As Eun-yeong watched Yeon-woo receding into the distance, shaking off both eagles, something rippled across her eyes.
* * *
“Mm….”
Jin Geom-hwi, savoring deep sleep as he shifted about, suddenly gasped and opened his eyes.
“You’re awake?”
Jin Geom-hwi took a moment to gather his bearings.
Dark Eagle, Nest, Water Eagle, and Monster Bird’s Egg.
Jin Geom-hwi felt across his chest.
The solid surface of the egg registered beneath his fingertips.
‘The egg….’
We got it. Really. We succeeded.
“Are you all right? Any injuries troubling you?”
Jin Geom-hwi glanced at Eun-yeong and pushed himself up.
When the Water Eagle had seized him, he’d truly thought it was the end, but fortunately nothing was broken beyond repair.
Still.
“Where’d he go? Yeon-woo, I mean.”
“We got separated.”
“Separated?”
Eun-yeong exhaled a quiet sigh.
Then she explained what had happened in the Valley.
How Yeon-woo had drawn the eagles’ attention, and while he did, she’d rescued Jin Geom-hwi and bought them time to escape by luring the birds in the opposite direction.
“I couldn’t manage carrying you alone. This place isn’t far from the Valley.”
An unconscious person requires the strength of four grown men to move with any ease.
“Rescuing you consumed a great deal of my Energy. Because of that, I couldn’t travel far.”
Following the Valley away from the Nest, she’d found a suitable place to hide, laid Jin Geom-hwi down, and rested.
This was that place.
“If you’re feeling well enough, would you mind standing guard while I recover?”
“Of course.”
Eun-yeong immediately entered Qi Circulation and Rest.
The consumption of Energy had been greater than expected, and recovery was necessary.
A brief Heavenly Circulation complete, Eun-yeong opened her eyes.
Jin Geom-hwi sat on a rock within her line of sight, sword in hand.
Seeing her finish, he approached.
“So what now? Do we go looking for him? That bastard.”
“I’m thinking we circle through the forest and approach the opposite side of the Valley. If we’re fortunate, we might discover the Monster Bird’s Egg along the way.”
“Very well.”
Jin Geom-hwi gave a short nod.
The two of them set out immediately.
* * *
Meanwhile, separated from his companions, Yeon-woo was busy.
Tap-tap-tap-tap—!
He placed thick plant matter on a flat stone and ground it with a jagged one.
Carefully gathering the pulp, he applied it to his left forearm in thick layers.
“Ugh….”
Fresh blood seeped from the wounds torn open by sharp talons.
These were wounds from the Water Eagle’s attack.
She wound a hasty bandage over the wound to staunch the bleeding, but the blood wouldn’t stop easily.
So she searched for medicinal herbs.
Bletilla striata.
A medicinal herb used as an ingredient in wound-healing salves, she’d heard.
The tuber of an orchid called self heal, though it was originally meant to be dried before use.
Crushed and applied directly to the wound, it would stop the bleeding and help the injury heal, or so she’d been told.
‘Grandfather showed me this.’
Over the past five years, Un-hyeon had explained to Yeon-woo, one by one, the grasses she’d plucked without knowing what they were, simply because they smelled pleasant.
Their names, what benefits they held, what medicinal preparations they served, how to tend them.
When she encountered a type she didn’t recognize, she would ask Am-yeong Majun to investigate and bring back the knowledge.
Though she couldn’t teach every medicinal and poisonous herb that existed, Un-hyeon was determined to share with the girl everything within her understanding.
Because of him, Yeon-woo had come to know a considerable number of medicinal and poisonous herbs.
‘I miss Grandfather.’
After binding cloth over the wound, Yeon-woo rose to her feet.
Her gaze turned toward the Valley.
“It’s gotten far away.”
In her flight from the eagles, she’d traveled so far that the Valley now lay quite distant.
Normally they would have pursued her to the end, but she’d exploited their instinct to guard the Nest, and had only just managed to shake them off.
‘It should have gotten away fine.’
Yeon-woo scratched her cheek.
Should I go look for it?
After a moment’s hesitation, Yeon-woo turned without regret, pivoting briskly in another direction.
“I’ll run into it again while wandering around anyway.”
It was a shame she couldn’t search together with the bird, but Yeon-woo didn’t mind.
Wandering alone in the mountains was the thing Yeon-woo knew best.
“Monster Bird, oh Monster Bird, where have you laid your egg?”
Yeon-woo soon drifted through the forest with a light step.
An enormous eagle had been guarding it, so just imagining how delicious the Monster Bird’s Egg must be brought her joy.
‘Since I gave the bird some energy, I suppose I can take it for myself now?’
The bird will find it on its own. Yes.
It was while she hummed with that thought, moving forward, that—
‘Hm?’
Yeon-woo abruptly stopped and fixed her gaze on one direction of the forest.
Then she turned her steps toward that place.
“…?”
Yeon-woo blinked.
Beyond the low Hillock, invisible from afar, lay a narrow, sunken clearing.
There, for some reason, about a dozen monkeys lay scattered across the ground.
They weren’t dead—all of them were simply unconscious.
“…?”
Yeon-woo tilted her head.
Even for her, who had roamed the forest’s various corners and witnessed most of what could happen there, this sight was strange.
Monkeys sprawled out in a group?
And on bare earth at that, not in the trees?
Yeon-woo crouched down and was prodding the fallen monkey’s cheek, tap-tap, when—
“There.”
“…?”
The voice came from above her head.
Yeon-woo looked up.
In the great tree crowning the Hillock, a large net woven loosely from vines.
There were people inside the net.
Two of them, no less.

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