Murim Login - Chapter 457

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

Chapter 457
“Dongting Lake! A ship has sunk at Dongting Lake!”
“P-please help! People have fallen into the water!”
Clang, clang-!
Along with the distant screams and cries, the sharp sound of an alarm bell pierced through the darkness.
But there was a sound that reached my ears even before that.
Ding.
‘This is….’
A familiar notification. An icy premonition crawled down my spine. I gazed at the translucent system window that materialized before my eyes.
– Sudden Quest,
[The Tragedy of Dongting Lake]
has been generated!
– You cannot refuse this Quest!
Quest
[The Tragedy of Dongting Lake]
Dongting Lake is counted among the most renowned scenic wonders under heaven.
Poets and scholars ascend the Ikyang Pavilion to admire its beautiful vistas and compose verses, while the powerful and wealthy set forth grand and ornate pleasure boats to indulge themselves for days and nights.
Yet today, this clear and azure lake is filled with the wreckage of shattered vessels and corpses.
If no one steps forward, those still clinging to life will meet the same fate!
Rank
: Peak
Restriction
: Jin Tae-kyung
Objective
: Life Rescue (Incomplete)
Reward
: ???
Failure
: Death of the people
* Considerable time has already passed. You must rescue the people before it’s too late!
As I finished reading the final line of the Quest window, a small holographic display materialized in the empty air.
Time Limit : 45 minutes 36 seconds
Damn it. Not even an hour.
‘If I delay even slightly…everyone dies.’
There was no time to ponder how such a catastrophe had unfolded. With each passing minute—perhaps each passing second—someone’s life hung in the balance.
Drawing the maximum power from my dantian, I opened my mouth.
“From this moment on, run with all your might to Dongting Lake. We save the people first.”
Whoosh!
There was no response. Only their rigid faces and our accelerating pace.
Using the distant cries and alarm bells as our compass, we ran and ran without ceasing.
And when the first digit of the time limit changed from 4 to 2, we finally saw it.
A roaring inferno, the flames screaming across the water!
Dozens of large and small vessels engulfed in demonic fire blazing across the broad river, and countless cries echoing from all directions.
“Bring boats! Even a simple ferry will do, hurry!”
“We don’t have enough boatmen!”
“More! Call more people! With things in this state, where are the military vessels and what are they doing!”
“Ahhh, ahhhhh!”
With each step closer, the scene before my eyes became crystal clear.
On the banks of Dongting Lake, roughly a hundred people rushed about ceaselessly, while only a few small ferries moved sluggishly forward.
‘That won’t be enough.’
For them, it was a desperate effort, but compared to the number of lives that needed saving, it was woefully insufficient.
Even I, who possessed martial prowess worthy of being called a superhuman, felt my breath catch the moment I witnessed the scene firsthand.
‘How can we save them?’
I had heard that Dongting Lake was vast, but seeing it with my own eyes, its expanse far exceeded my expectations.
There was no way vessels could be packed so densely on a river this wide. Judging by the distances between them, each vessel was clearly separated by at least several hundred paces.
With only this much visible to the eye, how many more boats and people must be submerged in the places I couldn’t see?
‘Damn it.’
I clenched my lips tight and increased my speed even further.
The murmurs of the people who spotted us rushing forward like the wind grew louder.
Among them, a Military Official who appeared to belong to the government shouted urgently.
“A, are you from the Murim? Please, I beg you, help us….”
“No time for long explanations. We’ll borrow some boats.”
“Pardon?”
I left the bewildered Military Official behind and shouted like a thunderbolt.
“Gung Ki-bang, Hyuk Moo-jin. Destroy the ferries!”
A sharp, piercing crack!
There was no hesitation or doubt in the movements of the two men.
As Gung Ki-bang and Hyuk Moo-jin rushed past either side of me, they unleashed their spears and swords with powerful battle cries.
A splintering crash, an explosive boom!
In an instant, the two ferries that people had been urgently moving were transformed into hundreds of wooden fragments.
The Military Official, momentarily stunned by the sudden turn of events, cried out as if in agony.
“Wh, what are you doing!”
Cries of shock erupted from all around in succession.
“The, the ferries…!”
“Those villains caused this disaster! They’re preventing us from rescuing people!”
Shock and anger spread rapidly. Curses and murderous glares poured from all directions. But I paid them no mind.
Rather, I had no time to pay them any mind.
Time Remaining: 28 minutes 52 seconds
Now only about 30 minutes remained.
Explaining my reasons for these actions now would only increase the number of victims.
And by great fortune, there were three martial artists present who could understand my intent and act upon it.
“Chung Poong, Gung Ki-bang!”
“Understood!”
“Yes, benefactor!”
Gung Ki-bang and Chung Poong, grasping the meaning of my cry, seized fragments of the ferry and hurled them forcefully toward the darkness-shrouded Dongting Lake.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, crash!
Dozens of wooden shards flew through the darkness, scattering across the surface of Dongting Lake.
“What, what is this!”
“Could it be….”
Only now did a few onlookers grasp my intention, their eyes widening, but this quantity would not suffice.
The fragments might sink before our feet could even reach them.
Then….
‘I have no choice but to forge a path as I go.’
With swift judgment, I stomped the ground with tremendous force.
Boom!
Sand and dust accumulated along the riverbank erupted in a torrent, causing those unprepared to cough violently.
The moment their vision was obscured, I seized my chance and reached out.
With the damp, solid texture of timber against my palm, I uttered the command only I could use.
‘Inventory storage.’
Ding. Ding. Ding.
–
[Ferry Fragment]
has been stored in your inventory!
–
[Ferry Fragment]
has been stored in your….
Accompanied by notifications piercing my ears, wooden fragments dissolved into nothingness as if melting into the void.
Having left behind only a modest amount to evade suspicion, I cried out with authority.
“Chung Poong and Gung Ki-bang come with me—Hyuk Moo-jin, you stay and gather the boat and people!”
“Yes, I obey!”
Just as Hyuk Moo-jin, whose breath had been caught in his throat until now, squeezed out his response, my form, along with Chung Poong and Gung Ki-bang, was already hurtling toward the dark expanse of Dongting Lake.
Whoooosh!
Scorching heat surging from my lower abdomen descended toward my legs.
My body, possessing perfect musculature and elasticity that could be mistaken for the Celestial Martial Physique, was infused with formidable inner force.
‘Now is the moment!’
Crack!
A colossal shockwave erupted from my feet, pressing down upon the earth and pushing back the churning river waters. Sand and gravel scattered into powder, and a cool wind swept across my entire body.
It felt as though I could reach out and pluck the stars scattered across the night sky.
But such a moment was fleeting.
For every leap, there must come a descent.
Whoooosh!
The turbulent black river waters rushed toward me with terrifying speed.
My predatory instincts—sharp as those of a wild beast—had no difficulty spotting the half-submerged wooden debris.
Thud. Thwump!
The first landing was light; the second leap that followed was heavy.
Chung Poong, Gung Ki-bang, and I launched ourselves forward once more.
Using the fragments of the ferry I’d scattered beforehand as stepping stones—once, twice, three times….
After repeating such movements countless times, the vessel that had seemed so distant finally drew close enough to distinguish clearly with the naked eye.
Yet as the distance narrowed, the ominous dread in my heart only grew stronger.
‘There’s no life force… I can’t sense any.’
I detected neither the screams nor the movements of survivors that should have been present if anyone lived.
It didn’t take long for my premonition to become reality.
Tap.
Upon the vessel, its hull already mostly submerged.
Gung Ki-bang and Chung Poong, having landed on the bow, murmured like those in pain.
“This is…”
“…benefactor.”
Their voices sounded distant, as if heard from hundreds of paces away.
In that suffocating silence, I stood dazed, surveying my surroundings.
Wherever my gaze fell, countless corpses floating upon the river and wreckage of the shattered vessel came into view.
Dead. All of them dead.
A portly merchant draped in ornate silk. A gaunt, shabby boatman. Even musicians and courtesans who had been brought aboard for entertainment.
By rough count, the visible numbers alone exceeded hundreds.
Upon these black waters, there was no festive music, no laughter of people.
Only destruction and death remained. And terror etched clearly upon the faces of the departed.
‘How could this have happened.’
In that moment, my mind went blank.
As if possessed, I traversed the river surface, stepping upon debris. I spared no effort using [Qi Sense] to find even a single survivor.
But….
Beep beep.
–
[Qi Sense]
has failed.
– No target’s vital aura detected within range.
The system was colder than ever.
The translucent holographic window and its grating failure notification informed me that there were absolutely no survivors in the vicinity.
“…What in the world is this.”
As I stood there in despair, a thought suddenly struck me like lightning.
‘Wait, the system?’
I hurriedly raised my head, gazing into the empty air.
My eyes caught on a semi-transparent hologram window that still hadn’t vanished.
Time Limit: 9 minutes 43 seconds
“…!”
It felt as though something had struck the back of my head with tremendous force.
If there truly were no survivors, the Quest should have been cancelled or a failure notification should have appeared. The system was faster and more intuitive than anything else.
Yet the Quest remained ongoing, and the system window displaying the time limit had not disappeared.
This could mean only one thing.
As I suddenly went rigid, Gung Ki-bang spoke to me in a cautious voice.
“It’s unfortunate, but searching for survivors any further seems pointless….”
“There is. A survivor.”
“What?”
“They’re just not visible. There’s definitely a survivor somewhere far beyond this place.”
Gung Ki-bang, who had been about to say something, stiffened at the certainty in my expression. Chung Poong also opened his mouth, his voice unusually grave.
“If what you say is true, benefactor….”
“Then we find them and save them. By any means necessary.”
Gung Ki-bang, who had been staring at me intently, nodded.
“We should scatter. If we dismantle the sunken ships around here and use them, we might be able to go another half hour or so.”
“We have a quarter hour ahead. Both of you search as far as you can within that time, and if you don’t find a survivor, return.”
What the time limit meant was the time remaining for the survivor. Any search beyond that would be meaningless.
The two of them showed bewilderment at my unusually resolute tone, but soon acquiesced without further protest.
“So it shall be.”
“A quarter hour. I’ll remember, benefactor.”
“Then we scatter in our respective directions now. We’ll meet again shortly.”
Thump, splash!
With my words finished, I kicked off from the bow and leaped.
Watching the time limit dwindle with each passing moment, I drew every ounce of my martial power and senses to their peak, racing across Dongting Lake as though it were an endless expanse of sea, again and again.
Time Limit: 1 minute 12 seconds
‘Have I come too late.’
And in that moment when I was about to abandon all hope.
“P, please save me….”
A faint, barely audible voice reached my ears.

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