The Automatic Rooting Range Is Too Wide - Chapter 198

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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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Auto Looting Range Too Wide Episode 198

Episode 198: Heavenly Demon Tomb (3)

The interior of the Heavenly Demon Tomb was magnificent from the very entrance.
Colossal statues evoking the image of ghosts stood in rows on both sides.
And at the end of them stretched a mural painted as if depicting Hell itself.
“That painting… it depicts the symbols of Cheonma and the Eight Dharma Protectors. This is definitely the Heavenly Demon Tomb.”
Moon Yu-baek spoke while examining the mural with his weathered eyes.
He was a man who had served as Wi Ji-yeon’s father’s bodyguard since his youth.
Though he had never reached the pinnacle of martial mastery, he possessed abundant knowledge in many fields.
Mincheol gazed at the passages opening beneath the mural.
There were as many as eight of them.
“That’s far too many.”
I had anticipated that the tomb of such a towering figure as Cheonma would be vast in scale.
But I never expected to be forced to choose between eight options right at the entrance.
“According to legend, the Heavenly Demon Tomb was constructed like a complex labyrinth to guard against grave robbers.”
“Wi Ji-yeon, do you sense anything unusual?”
Mincheol placed his hopes on Wi Ji-yeon.
Just as the entrance of the Heavenly Demon Tomb had reacted to her, I wondered if some peculiar phenomenon might occur.
“…I’m sorry. I don’t sense anything.”
Wi Ji-yeon spoke with a darkened expression.
As if apologizing for being unable to help.
“There’s no helping it.”
Mincheol was not discouraged.
This Hidden Quest had already rewarded me simply for unlocking it.
Given how difficult a Quest this was, it could not possibly proceed smoothly.
“Then we’ll have no choice but to search directly.”
“Normally, when exploring a labyrinth, one should move cautiously while leaving marks to avoid getting lost….”
Moon Yu-baek trailed off.
We could not afford such luxury while being pursued by our hunters.
“Don’t worry about that.”
Mincheol retrieved Bokdol-i from his Inventory.
The moment Bokdol-i suddenly appeared, both men gasped in shock.
“M-Master… what, what is this?”
“A, a puppet? No, I’ve never seen a puppet like this before…?”
Hmm.
How should I explain this?
Mincheol, lost in thought, decided to simply brush it off vaguely.
“A precious artifact bestowed by Cheonma himself.”
“Is that… truly so?”
“Was there ever such a legend…?”
While the two men stood bewildered, I examined Bokdol-i closely.
Scratches from sharp objects marked various parts of his body.
And his left arm had been completely torn away.
“Are you alright?”
-Ah, is it because of the arm? Don’t worry about my performance! As long as the core components are intact, I can repair it again!
Bokdol-i spoke in a cheerful voice.
I shook my head and replied.
“No, I meant whether you’re alright.”
-Me? Why would I be?
“You took such a severe attack that your arm was torn off. Even if it didn’t hurt, didn’t you suffer psychological shock from…”
Bokdol-i tilted his head in confusion.
As if completely unable to comprehend my words.
“What I’m trying to say is… never mind. If you’re fine, that’s what matters.”
I stood before the eight passages alongside Bokdol-i.
Bokdol-i examined the passages from every angle.
-Hmm, Ramakan does have a detection function built in using magical power, but when everything is sealed off like this, it’s useless to even try.
Ramakan was far from omnipotent.
While his combat capabilities were exceptional, he lacked in many other areas.
-Instead, I’ll create a map as we move! At the very least, we won’t get lost!
That alone was tremendously helpful.
I selected the fifth passage and proceeded forward.
After some time, two figures emerged into an empty chamber.
Dang Baek and the Chuhon Squad Leader.
Both men stared at the statues standing at the entrance with shock written across their faces.
“This is…”
“It appears to be the Heavenly Demon Tomb after all.”
Cheonma.
The founder of the Demonic Cult and an absolute ruler who once dominated the world.
Legends of the Heavenly Demon Tomb, where his martial arts lay buried, had been passed down since ancient times.
But since no one had ever discovered it, it was treated as half myth.
The same held true during this incident with Jang Bo-do.
Though it was significant enough to warrant investigation, Dang Baek had not believed the Heavenly Demon Tomb actually existed.
But now, with evidence standing plainly before his eyes, he could not help but believe.
“Finding the Heavenly Demon Tomb means… that thief collected all the Jang Bo-do fragments?”
But how?
The Jang Bo-do had been torn into such small pieces, and the most powerful factions of the Murim guarded them.
How could he possibly have gathered them all?
“Has a successor of the Formless Divine Technique appeared? No, that’s impossible—even the Formless Divine Technique couldn’t make this happen.”
Dang Baek was lost in such deliberations when it occurred.
The Chuhon Squad Leader meticulously examined all eight passages.
“The Thousand-Li Pursuit Incense… has been severed.”
“That’s absurd.”
The Thousand-Li Pursuit Incense manufactured by the Dang Family was potent enough to persist for an entire month once applied.
Moreover, it could not be erased without the special compound formulated by the Dang Family itself.
“Then what of traces? Surely footprints would remain.”
The Heavenly Demon Tomb had remained sealed for so long that dust lay thick upon the ground.
Indeed, numerous footprints were visible right before the entrance.
“Even those… cannot be found.”
“What?”
Dang Baek, unable to believe it, ventured forth himself.
He lowered his body and examined the ground. Yet, as the Chuhon Squad Leader had said, there were no traces whatsoever.
“….”
At the entrance of the Heavenly Demon Tomb, the Thousand-Li Pursuit Incense and footprints remained intact.
But within, the incense had been severed, and no footprints existed.
Which meant…
“A formation array has been deployed.”
A formation array was the arrangement of objects in a particular manner to produce extraordinary effects.
At its simplest, it merely obscured an opponent’s vision.
But in the hands of a master, it could summon thunder and alter terrain.
It was possible to manifest supernatural phenomena.
“Even I, a supreme master, failed to perceive it…”
Such an intricate formation array existed in antiquity?
A faint sense of incongruity stirred within him, but Dang Baek quickly dismissed it.
This was the Heavenly Demon Tomb.
As the burial place of the absolute sovereign of an era, nothing here would be strange.
“It seems I must rely on intuition from here on.”
Dang Baek deliberated briefly before heading toward the first passage.
Not long after the two disappeared.
“What is this place?”
“It’s no ordinary cave.”
Other martial artists had arrived at the Heavenly Demon Tomb.
They too selected passages and ventured inward.

* * *

The interior structure of the Heavenly Demon Tomb was extraordinarily complex.
Rather than simple straight passages, the corridors twisted and wound endlessly.
Moreover, branching paths appeared repeatedly throughout.
It was not uncommon to find oneself back where I had started after walking for a while.
-Master, that’s the place we visited earlier!
-Let’s try the right passage next!
Fortunately, thanks to Bokdol-i, I managed to avoid getting lost.
‘No matter how much they wanted to prevent grave robbers… did they really need to make it this convoluted?’
It was precisely when Mincheol was entertaining such doubts.
“I am concerned, sir.”
Moon Yu-baek spoke up.
“By now, the pursuers must have discovered the Heavenly Demon Tomb… I fear that even if we secure the Heavenly Demon’s legacy, we may not be able to escape safely.”
The Dang Family that Bokdol-i had fought was not the end—there were surely many more martial artists pursuing Mincheol’s group.
Merely imagining them all converging on the Heavenly Demon Tomb and searching for his party gave me an instant headache.
But there was no viable solution at the moment.
“…Let us hurry a bit more.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
The three quickened their pace.
However, Mincheol’s concerns were only half correct.
It was true that a massive number of martial artists had converged on the Heavenly Demon Tomb.
But they had no leisure to search for the thief.
“The entrance alone gives me chills. What is all this?”
“Wait, could this be the Heavenly Demon Tomb?”
“What? The Heavenly Demon Tomb? That means the Heavenly Demon’s martial techniques are sealed within, doesn’t it?”
“Come on, everyone! Let’s become supreme masters ourselves!”
The moment the martial artists realized this was the Heavenly Demon Tomb, they completely forgot about the thief’s existence.
They moved solely to find the Heavenly Demon’s legacy.
Once they understood that the Heavenly Demon’s Compass was pointing to this place, the compass itself held no further significance.
“Who goes there ahead! Reveal yourselves!”
“Wait, isn’t that the Black Night Sect?”
“Those garbage bastards who make their living stealing?”
“So you’re the ones who stole the compass fragment! It was you all along!”
Yet they had not forgotten the resentment of having the fragment stolen.
The martial artists drew their blades immediately upon spotting any sect or warrior suspected of being a thief.
Battles erupted for other reasons as well.
“Hoyeon Sect! You haven’t forgotten what happened ten years ago, have you? Our master suffered a grave wound to his arm at your hands and became crippled! I will repay that debt!”
“You little bastards! How long do you intend to hold a grudge over something that happened during a martial competition!”
The sects of the Martial Arts Realm were entangled in countless grievances both great and small.
Warriors who encountered their enemies could not possibly remain idle.
They fought to settle old grudges.
For various reasons, the Heavenly Demon Tomb had long since become a battlefield.
That’s why no one was pursuing Mincheol’s group.
However, the situation continued to unfold unfavorably for them.
-Huh?
Bokdol-i suddenly stopped.
Mincheol looked at Bokdol-i with a questioning expression.
-Master, the structure of the Heavenly Demon Tomb has changed.
“What do you mean by that?”
-We went around in a circle and returned to our original position. There should be a fork in the road ahead. But….
Mincheol gazed forward.
There was no fork. The passage simply stretched out in a straight line.
Bokdol-i couldn’t be wrong. That meant the structure of the Heavenly Demon Tomb had genuinely changed.
“…Can a cave’s structure actually change?”
-Logically speaking, it’s impossible. But….
Formation arrays.
Using those things called formation arrays and barriers in the Martial Arts Realm made it possible.
“I suppose that’s what makes it the Heavenly Demon Tomb… Damn thorough.”
Mincheol furrowed his brow.
With this, the map I’d been creating so far became useless.
I’d have to search from the beginning again….
Boom—
Suddenly a wall exploded.
Debris cascaded down, and corpses tumbled across the ground.
The condition of the corpses was horrific.
Their entire bodies were mangled beyond recognition.
“I had high expectations since the Baekri Family’s swordsmen are supposedly so sharp. But they’re dull enough that they can’t even cut through leather.”
“Compared to Elder Brother’s blade technique, what wouldn’t seem dull?”
“The stench of blood makes me hungry… When are we eating?”
Four men walked out through the gaping hole.
Their appearances, builds, and heights were all different.
Only one thing was identical—their eyes gleamed with the look of being drenched in blood.
“Huh? There’s more?”
The man carrying a large blade spotted Mincheol’s group.
The other three turned their gazes as well. Four pairs of eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness.
-…Master, they’re the Ganghyeon Three Villains.
Bokdol-i whispered through the communicator.
The moment the wall exploded, Bokdol-i had hidden his body with optical camouflage.
It was in preparation for the arrival of formidable enemies.
-Ganghyeon is quite a prosperous region even in the Martial Arts Realm. They’re heretical practitioners notorious throughout Ganghyeon.
Bustling areas naturally attract martial artists.
As a result, the overall skill level of those martial artists rises naturally.
To gain notoriety in such a place meant these were no ordinary practitioners.
-They’re not at the pinnacle, but they rank among the highest tier. Moreover, these three don’t fight alone.
Three first-rate masters launching a combined assault.
If they’re called the Ganghyeon Three Villains, their coordinated techniques must be exceptionally refined.
“That bastard has quite a decent blade, doesn’t he?”
“Brother, look! A woman! A woman! It’s been so long since I’ve smelled the scent of female flesh!”
“Do you happen to have any food…?”
Their tone was casual, yet all three emanated a murderous aura so palpable it was suffocating.
Avoiding combat was impossible.
It was at that moment Mincheol steeled his resolve.
“Divine One, allow me to assist you,” Moon Yu-baek said, clenching his fists.
Mincheol refused firmly.
“Stay close to Wi Ji-yeon and protect her in case things go wrong.”
“But there are three of them….”
“They’re notorious heretics from Ganghyeon. If cornered, there’s no telling what underhanded tactics they’ll resort to.”
Moon Yu-baek nodded and moved to Wi Ji-yeon’s side.
-Master, shall I lend you my strength?
“No, conserve your mana.”
There was no way to know how many martial artists had entered the Heavenly Demon Tomb.
Bokdol-i was my strongest trump card, and it was wise to preserve it.
Thus, I found myself facing the Ganghyeon Three Villains alone.
“You think you can take all three of us by yourself?”
“Has your head gone rotten?”
“I asked if you had food! Are you ignoring me? Should I chew off your tongue first?”
A sinister killing intent crashed down upon me.
It was a dreadful aura that perfectly justified the name “Three Villains.”
‘Damn, why did I insist on fighting alone?’
I grimaced inwardly.
The three of them appeared far stronger than I had anticipated.
‘Should I call Bokdol-i now? No, I need to conserve mana.’
Strategically speaking, fighting alone was the right call.
And there was one more reason.
‘Something feels… itchy.’
The mana engine.
‘Opening Heaven’ was a peculiar martial technique.
The more I used it, the more natural it became, like breaking in new clothes. And with each use, its efficiency was gradually increasing.
‘I feel like an epiphany is just within reach.’
Something feels like it’s on the verge of dawning on me.
A premonition struck me with overwhelming intensity—if the opportunity presented itself, my level would surely rise.
That’s why I intended to seize this battle as a chance to find that crucial clue.

【Skill ‘Heaven’s Rend’ activates.】
【All stats increase.】
【Consumes 30 mana per second.】
【Consumes a small amount of health per second.】

A vibration erupted from deep within my body.
The unfamiliar sound caused the Ganghyeon Three Villains’ brows to furrow.
“What is that sound?”
“An internal technique? No, what is it?”
“My insides are trembling, so I’m getting hungrier…”
Mana surged violently.
Explosive power spread through my entire body—or rather, it pierced through me. That was the more accurate description.
It felt as though elongated needles of heat were tearing through my muscles.
Crack.
I stamped my front foot against the ground. The earth caved inward, cracks spreading outward.
“…What?”
The eldest of the Ganghyeon Three Villains’ expression turned grave in an instant.
“That bastard… something’s wrong…”
I drove my full body weight into the ground with a devastating stomp.
The earth shattered to pieces. Just as the Ganghyeon Three Villains recoiled in shock at the inconceivable leg strength—
I had already reached directly above the eldest’s head.
“…Huh?”
The eldest, belatedly realizing this fact, attempted to draw his great sword.
But my waist was already rotating.

Raven Flight Smoke Kick.
First Form: Black Kick Projectile.

My right foot, descending from the heavens, struck the eldest’s neck with devastating force.

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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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