North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 5

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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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5. The Viper’s Fang

Crack!
A pale hand slammed down upon the desk.
A fissure split through the ebony wood. The chill air of the sealed chamber shuddered.
“Alive. She was alive.”
The Bing Palace mistress Mukara’s voice trembled.
Deep within the Bing Palace, in a secret space unmarked on any map.
Alone in the sealed chamber, dimly lit by no luminous pearls, she sat in darkness.
‘Thirty years… she survived in the Extreme Yin Ground?’
It was impossible. In a place where even stone froze and shattered, a human enduring thirty years? Even with the Airak Clan’s unique constitution, one could scarcely last a day there.
The uttermost edge of the North Sea—a Forbidden Zone where life itself could not exist.
Yet she had returned alive.
Unchanged by age. Exactly as she had been thirty years before.
Mukara’s hand rose unbidden to her throat, gripping it. The glint in Airak’s eyes as he had passed before the Bing Heart Hall that afternoon came flooding back.
Gray irises.
Empty. Nothing but a hollow void, and beneath it, something like living blood writhing in the depths.
Fear—and something larger than fear, a jealousy—gnawed at her heart.
‘Even if I cannot claim Airak, I can reclaim this throne.’
Mukara’s lips twisted.

‘The Bing Palace was always mine. Lending it for thirty years is more than enough. It is time to take it back.’
Airak.
He was the betrothed of the dead Karani.
Thirty years ago, the two brightest stars of the North Sea.
An Airak Clan warrior and the most beautiful woman of the Fukku Clan. But fate was cruel. The previous Palace Master had named Karani of the Fukku Clan as successor, and the Bing Palace’s law—the Chastity Vow—had torn them apart.
She remembered that moment.
Karani wept. Grasping Airak’s hand, she shed tears for the first time.
And Airak… without a word, he turned away. He vanished into the Snow Plain, where those who entered were said never to emerge alive.
A cruel and utter devotion.
And now that man had returned. The instant Karani died, as if he had been waiting.
‘What if he… discovers the truth?’
A memory from forty days before surfaced.

* * *

The night she had met the man from the Central Plains in this sealed chamber.
“Can you truly do it?”
A tall man stood before her. Broad, powerful shoulders. An aura of unmistakable prowess emanated from the sword at his waist. He was clearly among the elite martial masters of the Central Plains.
“Following this map, I can reach the Palace Master’s private chamber. Guard rotations, patrol routes, trap locations—all marked.”
Mukara handed him the parchment.
“But there is a condition.”
“Name it.”
“Kill the Palace Master.”
Silence fell.
The man’s eyes sharpened.
“I thought I only needed to take the Snow Lotus Fruit.”
“The Snow Lotus Fruit lies deep within the Palace Master’s chamber. You will inevitably encounter her.”
“So this was your true aim from the beginning.”
“…….”
“What grievance do you bear against the Palace Master?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“None of my concern. That’s true enough. We need the Snow Lotus Fruit above all. We will slaughter everyone in the Bing Palace if we must—everyone save the one who possesses it. But the Palace Master? If you wish her dead, place her before us. Whoever obstructs us… will die.”
The man laughed coldly.
“As I said, to claim the Snow Lotus Fruit, I must pass through the Palace Master’s chamber. We will cross paths.”
“Good. Then you will kill the Palace Master. There will be no witnesses left to question, after all.”
“One condition: dispose of the body so no one recognizes Geom-cho. If any trace remains, we’re done.”
“Don’t worry. I’m no greenhorn. But if this is a setup… my blade will find you.”
The man accepted the map.
The shadow vanished from the chamber.

* * *

Present day.
‘Before Airak leaves the North Sea… I need to finish this.’
Mukara clapped her hands, pulling herself from the memory.
Clap.
The wall of the chamber opened soundlessly. A man who had been waiting in the shadows like a phantom entered and knelt.

“You called, my lady?”
“Summon the Bing Blood Unit.”
The man’s shoulders stiffened.
“The Bing Blood Unit, you said?”
“Are your ears clogged?”
“Then… who is the target?”
“The Mutou Warrior.”
“……!”
The man’s breath caught.
“The Mutou Warrior—do you mean the one who breached the Bing Heart Hall this afternoon?”
“That’s right.”
“He was truly… the Mutou Warrior?”
“Garkan proved it. The Blizzard Claws of the North Sea knelt and called him ‘clan lord.'”
The man swallowed hard.
“According to legend, the Mutou Warrior is said to be nearly immortal. Even the Bing Blood Unit….”
“Immortal?”
Mukara let out a cold laugh.
“There is no immortal in this world. He is human. He eats, he breathes, he sleeps.”
“But…….”
“Even the fiercest beast has a weakness. There is no wolf that does not sleep.”
She rose from her seat. The hem of her black robe swept across the floor.
“When he drops his guard, all it takes is a bite to the throat.”
“Understood. I’ll contact the unit leader.”
“Bring him here directly.”
“Pardon?”
“Bring Han-ah here yourself.”
A moment later.
The chamber door opened again.
A man stepped inside.
He was short—no taller than a child.
Yet the aura radiating from that stunted frame was no longer human.
In the darkness, his eyes gleamed.
Three eyes.
Two were human, but the third carved into his forehead—it was no tattoo. Between the faintly parted lids, a blood-red pupil writhed.
“Hm.”
He sniffed the air.
“The scent of blood. Fresh blood, not yet dried. Who wept in the Bing Heart Hall?”
Mukara felt ice crawl down her spine.
Han-ah, leader of the Bing Blood Unit.
The most brutal killer in the North Sea. The rumor that over a hundred had died by his hand was no exaggeration.

“It has been long, employer.”
Han-ah smiled, his teeth coming into view. Pointed as the fangs of a beast.
“What do you want dead this time?”
“The Mutou Warrior.”
His smile faded.
All three of Han-ah’s eyes fixed on Mukara at once.
“…What?”
“Airak. You ever heard that name?”
Silence.
Han-ah slowly traced his tongue across his lips.
“North Sea Ice Heart Divine Art. Thirty years in the Extreme Yin Ground. A monster with a frozen heart.”
“You knew.”
“How could I not? Anyone from the North Sea knows of him.”
Han-ah stepped closer.
“But why do you want him dead? Did that monster touch you?”
“My business is none of yours.”
“Tsk tsk. Cold, aren’t you?”
Han-ah chuckled.
“Fine. I don’t care about reasons anyway.”
His eyes gleamed strangely. The third eye on his forehead writhed like it was opening a slit.
“But there’s one thing I want to confirm.”
“What?”
“The heart of a War Warrior. Is it really frozen?”
Mukara’s eyebrow twitched.
“…What?”
“A heart that’s been pumping through extreme cold for thirty years. I wonder if it’s hard as ice, or maybe surprisingly hot.”
Han-ah opened and closed his palm.
“It’d probably crunch if you bit it. Just imagining it makes my mouth water.”
Mukara’s face went pale.
“…You’d bite into a heart?”
“The hearts of the strong taste good.”
Han-ah bared his fangs.
“I’ve killed over a hundred. The stronger they are, the tougher the heart. You can chew for longer. The taste is richer too.”
This creature was no ordinary assassin—a monster that savored murder itself.
“What’s the payment?”
Mukara steadied her voice.
“Your share is one thousand silver pieces.”
“One thousand, you say.”
Han-ah tilted his head—neither refusal nor acceptance, just ambiguous.
A thousand pieces was substantial wealth. Enough to live idle forever. But the target was a War Warrior.
“Cheap for a life.”
“There’s more.”
Mukara opened a drawer. The Black Seal lay exposed.
“I’m posting a bounty across the entire North Sea. Ten thousand pieces on Airak’s head.”
Han-ah’s mouth fell open.
“…Ten thousand?”
“Yes.”
“Ten thousand in gold?”
“I’ll turn every blade in the North Sea against him.”
Han-ah whistled low.
“Insane. That much would buy a castle and have coins left over. You’re planning to bankrupt Bing Palace?”
“I don’t care if it does.”
Mukara rose from her seat.
“If he doesn’t die, I won’t sleep soundly. He’ll come for my throat one day.”
Han-ah’s eyes sharpened.
“Must you become Bing Palace’s ruler?”
“I’ve waited thirty years.”
Mukara’s voice dropped low.
“Thirty years as the second-in-command. Bowing my head, supporting from behind, following like a shadow. No one knows the weight of those years.”
…….
“Now the seat is finally vacant. And that monster appears.”
Mukara’s nails dug into her palm.
Han-ah watched her in silence for a long while.
Her face, obscured by shadow. Yet the determination radiating from within it was unmistakable.
Thirty years.
A woman who had endured all those years.
“Krrrk….”
Han-ah let out a low laugh.
“I like it.”
“So you’ll cooperate?”
“Of course.”
Han-ah walked toward the door. Just before grasping the handle, he turned back.
“But let me ask you something.”
“What is it.”
“The real reason you want to kill that monster.”
Mukara did not answer.
Han-ah bared his fangs in a smile.
“You killed Karani, didn’t you?”
Mukara’s breath caught.
“…What are you talking about?”
“Blood doesn’t lie. The scent I caught in the Bing Heart Hall. And the scent coming from your hands now.”
Han-ah sniffed the air.
“Not identical. But connected. You were involved in that death.”
Silence filled the chamber.
Mukara’s face hardened in the darkness.
“…And?”
“What?”
“What will you do about it?”
Mukara laughed coldly.
“Will you report me to Bing Palace? Without proof?”
“No.”
Han-ah shrugged.
“I was just curious. How ruthless you really are.”
“…….”
“I like it. I really do.”
Han-ah opened the door.
“Thirty years of patience. That kind of venom—I can trust that.”
“…….”
“The Shadowless Warrior’s heart is mine. That’s all I ask.”
“Do as you please.”
Han-ah vanished.
The door closed.
Alone in the chamber once more.
Mukara stood in the darkness.
Her hands trembled slightly.
‘He knows.’
But she felt no fear.
Han-ah would not report her. A monster like that had no morality.
If anything, it was better this way. Co-conspirators who knew each other’s secrets. Less chance of betrayal.
“…I must kill him.”
The low whisper seeped into the darkness.
“Before Airak learns the truth.”
Mukara laughed in the darkness.
A cold, sharp laugh.
‘I have waited thirty years. Thirty years as the second. No one knows the weight of those years.’

Her fingernails dug into her palms.

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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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