Murim Login - Chapter 696

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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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Chapter 696
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The buildings shook, and the earth trembled beneath us.
The silence that had enveloped the Southern Beast Palace shattered long ago.
The tribespeople of the Outer Palace, who had barricaded themselves behind locked doors with their young children clutched to their chests, suddenly froze as warriors stationed atop the watchtowers scattered throughout the compound turned their heads in bewilderment.
“What… what is that…?”
Roooaarrr!
A deafening roar that shook the heavens and earth swallowed the dazed voice that had escaped someone’s lips.
One of the warriors, belatedly regaining his senses, cried out in alarm.
“Enemies! We’re under attack!”
Yet most of the warriors did not move. Rather, they could not move.
How could they possibly react?
They could only stand frozen, mouths agape, as they watched a massive horde of beasts charging across the dozen or so great avenues that cut through the Outer Palace.
‘This… this cannot be.’
It was a sight both terrifying and wondrous beyond measure.
Thousands upon thousands of beasts surged forward as a single unified force.
No one present had ever witnessed such a spectacle.
Even the oldest elder of this land, and even his grandfather before him, would have been equally unprepared.
It was nothing short of a calamity. Or perhaps a miracle.
Confronted by the incomprehensible and inexplicable, every ordinary warrior present turned to stone.
Even the commanding officer’s cry, which came first to his senses, scattered like a distant echo through their ears.
“Sound the alarm bell! Sound it now! The Inner Palace must be informed at once!”
“Y-yes…”
“Useless fools!”
The furious commander shoved his dazed subordinate aside and reached for the rope connected to the alarm bell.
It was then that he suddenly realized the sunlight that had been beating down so fiercely until moments before had vanished.
Whoooosh!
Dark clouds?
No. At least, the dark clouds he knew did not move this swiftly, nor did they hang this low.
As the strange sound reached his ears and he finally discerned the identity of the approaching darkness, he found himself uttering a curse filled with dread.
“…Damn it all.”
In that instant.
The dark clouds—no, countless winged beasts that blackened a vast expanse of sky—descended upon him.
Whoooosh!
Thud, thud, thud!
Their kinds and numbers were beyond reckoning. Sharp cries, glinting beaks, and scattered feathers filled the air in all directions.
The winged beasts, transformed into a single colossal monster, swept across five watchtowers like a tempest. No—they demolished them.
Crack, splinter!
“The watchtowers are collapsing!”
“Ahhhhh!”
The flying beasts converging as one were nothing short of living battering rams.
As the world tilted slowly and a floating sensation washed over them, they plummeted to the ground alongside the shattered remains of the Watchtower.
Clang! A deafening crash!
A massive bronze bell, large as a sturdy man, rolled across the ground first, followed by warriors who twisted through the air and landed unsteadily on the earth.
And as they gasped for breath and lifted their heads, an enormous shadow fell upon them.
“Where is Baek Sang?”
“…!”
A low voice that burrowed into their ears. Yet everyone present felt their hearts freeze with a chilling dread.
Was it because of Baek Ho, so colossal that merely seeing him made one’s legs tremble?
Or was it the countless beasts visible behind him?
No. Rather, the sensation emanating from Baek Ho was strangely warm and mysterious, and the eyes of the beasts they faced up close were gentle.
What froze them was the gaze of a single figure perched upon Baek Ho’s back, looking down upon them.
A frame both majestic and perfectly balanced. Hair tousled without care, and exotic features sharp and refined—unlike other Southern Barbarians.
And… a pure white spear held in his hand.
“Jin Tae-kyung!”
With someone’s cry that sounded like a scream, the warriors’ hands instinctively reached for the weapons at their waists. Or rather, they tried to.
At least, until Jin Tae-kyung opened his mouth.
“Draw those, and you won’t like what happens.”
“…!”
“And if you still have eyes in your head, look around. See who else is here besides me.”
Hyung Soo, who had turned the entire Southern Wilderness upside down. Given that Jin Tae-kyung had appeared with an enormous number of beasts, I thought there was nothing left to be shocked by.
But upon seeing another figure’s face, the warriors could only widen their eyes.
A soft footfall.
Another Baek Ho, relatively smaller in size, stepped toward them.
Carrying upon its back a beautiful woman whose beauty could not be concealed even by her exhausted appearance.
“No, surely….”
“Lady Yo-hee, the Great Chieftain?”
Yo-hee. A clear, melodious voice flowed from between her crimson lips.
“Do you recognize me?”
How could they not? Every time the Grand Council convened once a year, the streets overflowed with crowds eager to catch a glimpse of her.
But what confused them most was that she, who rumors had quietly spread was dead following the incident with the Yao Seo Tribe days ago, now stood beside Jin Tae-kyung without fear or restraint.
And at the very front, leading an unfathomable number of beasts.
“L-Lady Chieftain. How could you be with such a fierce beast….”
“A fierce beast.”
Yo-hee murmured softly and turned her head to gaze at Jin Tae-kyung, but his eyes were not upon her.
His gaze was fixed upon the massive iron gate that blocked the Outer Palace from the Inner Palace, at the far end of the avenue where ominousness now crept in.
“There it is, Hyung Soo.”
And in the next moment.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
The iron gate began to open with a heavy grinding sound, accompanied by countless arrowheads appearing atop the towering stone walls of the Inner Palace.
Clang, clang, clang!
Arrowheads caught the sunlight, glinting brilliantly.
With bowstrings drawn taut and breath held in tension, a thousand archers atop the stone walls trained their weapons upon us, and at last, a figure concealed behind the iron gate revealed itself.
Thud.
Footsteps echoing with unusual resonance.
A pristine white robe, unmarred by a single blemish, swept across the ground, and calm eyes met mine across the expanse of space.
“So you’ve come. At last.”
Baek Sang. At the weight of his voice, suffused with formidable martial power, I extended my spear and answered.
“Yes. I’ve come.”
This bastard.
* * *
Baek Sang.
The moment our eyes met, I felt the martial power throughout my entire body roiling like molten lava.
I wanted to charge forward immediately.
I wanted to kick off from Su-ho-ryung’s back and dash forward like the wind, striking down with the fastest and most devastating blow I could muster to end his life.
But…
Tug.
Slender fingers grasped my sleeve, and Yo-hee’s trembling voice reached my ears.
“Not yet. We can’t.”
Yes, I understood.
If I severed Baek Sang’s neck now, it would be like lighting the fuse of a bomb with no words left unspoken.
Baek Sang—he must not die as the Palace Master, but as a traitor and usurper who deceived all the Southern Barbarians and colluded with Dark Heaven.
If the Palace Master fell, a brutal battle would await us, but there would be no warriors willing to fight for a traitor.
This was the only way to minimize even a fraction of meaningless sacrifice, and Yo-hee standing beside me was the decisive move that could expose all truth and prevent the imminent battle.
“Let’s go.”
Su-ho-ryung and Mu Ya-ho, who nodded at my whisper, began to move forward.
A thousand arrowheads tracked our advance—neither hurried nor slow.
Ready to unleash a rain of arrows the moment the command fell.
Yet as the distance narrowed, the glinting arrowheads wavered, and the taut bowstrings grew slack.
Beginning with those who recognized Yo-hee, a tremor of unrest rippled across the stone walls of the Inner Palace.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Baek Sang. Observing his unmoved expression, I opened my mouth.
“Even so, a great chieftain who once shared meals with you has returned alive—surely a simple greeting is in order, wouldn’t you say?”
My voice, infused with martial power, spread in all directions.
Amid the swelling unrest, Baek Sang parted his tightly sealed lips.
“What affection could there be to warrant such pleasantries? All bonds are formed merely by individual purposes.”
“…!”
“…!”
I felt my face harden without thinking. Surely Yo-hee felt the same.
We now shared the same realization.
‘Why?’
The Baek Sang I knew was not this kind of man. He was cunning and treacherous. One of the greatest reasons the Southern Wilderness had fallen into such chaos was not his martial prowess, but his schemes—far more terrifying than any blade.
Yet he had acknowledged it. Yo-hee’s existence. And he had done so before all those who followed him.
Crunch.
My grip tightened on the spear shaft. Gritting my teeth, I glared at Baek Sang with eyes burning like flames.
“What is this… treachery?”
“Did you think I would deny it?”
Baek Sang, who had answered me, suddenly turned to look behind him.
Beyond the massive iron gates thrown wide open, countless Southern Wilderness warriors formed a forest of blades and spears, while archers atop the stone walls stared at him with wide eyes.
“What more need be said? Everything you know, and everything they will soon realize, is nothing but the truth.”
“…!”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Baek Sang turned his gaze from the warriors who followed him toward the sky.
Clear weather without a single cloud. The scorching sunlight descended upon his face.
“I have betrayed everyone.”
A low voice infused with inner power shattered the suffocating silence that had settled. Carried on the air, piercing through the wind, it crossed the great thoroughfare of the Outer Palace and scaled the stone walls of the Inner Palace, reaching all ears.
“I lived a single day as if it were ten years. To achieve one singular purpose, I became a traitor beyond forgiveness, and at last I have arrived here.”
Suddenly, my breath caught. This was not a confession of sins committed, nor a plea for absolution.
No, rather….
‘The relief that appears when everything is finished. And despair.’
An emotion fundamentally different from resignation.
The Baek Sang before me was simply pouring it out. Emotions he had suppressed without fail, day after day, for decades upon decades.
And even as he achieved the purpose he had so desperately sought, he laid bare his own despair without concealment.
‘Surely not.’
In that instant, a thought struck like lightning, and a sensation as if every hair on my body stood on end overwhelmed me.
Immediately after, a cry like a scream burst from my lips.
“Everyone, fall back…!”
And in the next moment.
Boom boom boom! Flash!
Thunder that shook heaven and earth roared forth, and dark clouds descended over everyone’s heads.
In a world where not a single ray of sunlight could be found, a voice pierced through my ears.
“Too bad. It’s already too late.”

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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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