Chapter 365
Tok-tok.
Tok-tok.
A sound echoes from below.
The regular click of high heels.
With every step up the staircase, that sound strikes down.
When that chilling sound draws near, evil spirits will start to lay their hands on them, and if that happens, they’ll be torn apart and killed in an instant.
But there’s no escape.
Even the paths to flee from the evil spirits are haunted by ghosts.
Ghosts that barely imitate the shape of a person.
A ghost silently staring at the emergency exit.
[ …A choice must be made. ]
The warriors must now choose.
Either go down and confront the evil spirit or defeat the ghost blocking the emergency exit and make a run for it.
Or break the ominous-feeling window and leap outside.
Perhaps just give up and meet death.
[ No matter how I think about it, the window seems to be the safest… ]
[ No. That’s definitely a trap. If we go there, we are doomed. ]
A sense of urgency settled in the minds of the two warriors.
Yet instead of being driven by panic, they kept their heads cool and searched for a safe route.
Stay calm.
Act rationally.
They must not be swayed by emotions.
If they lose their wits in this crisis, it would surely lead to death.
[ Below, an oddly bizarre evil spirit that can only be described as a calamity is rising, and the ghost standing at that emergency exit also appears to be no ordinary being. But there’s something that looks safe that’s essentially advertising for them to come here? It’s definitely a trap. ]
[ When I think about it, it’s strange. Everything looks pitch black as if something is being covered, but I don’t quite know what that is… ]
[ Maybe there could be something similar like that outside the window. Something like an evil spirit or ghost blocking the window. ]
[ So, just when we try to break the window and leap out, something might crawl in through the gap and attack us. ]
[ Or it might pounce on us the moment we leap off. Then we’ll be completely defenseless. ]
[ Ha… What a dilemma… ]
The window is a trap.
The two warriors reached that cold conclusion.
[ But we can’t go down either. That’s something we can’t handle. ]
[ Then there’s only one option left… ]
Both warriors’ gazes shifted towards the emergency exit.
The ghost standing still in front of the emergency exit.
That ghost blocking them from escaping through it and climbing up.
[ …Well, it at least resembles a human form. ]
[ At worst, it could be on par with the ones rising from below. But I think that’s unlikely. That twisted evil spirit is not something one would encounter easily. No matter how impressive that shaman Park Jinseong is, handling more than one terrifying ghost with just a newly-acquired saint’s body would be tough. ]
[ …That makes sense. ]
They made a rational judgment with a cool head.
If someone could handle such a ghastly evil spirit, they’d have to be well-versed in necromancy.
They’d probably have exceptional talent, and their necromantic abilities would be a perfect match.
But Park Jinseong hails from Korea—a magic desert—and he’s just reached adulthood.
Moreover, according to the records, he didn’t appear to have anything twisted or transformed in his body like other necromancers, and he seemed mentally clear as well.
In other words, it was only natural for him to fall short compared to the notorious and renowned necromancers.
No matter how great the talent or ability, against such a powerful evil spirit, he could likely handle only one at most.
[ So, the guy at that emergency exit likely… is just there to buy time. ]
[ …Yeah. That makes sense. The speed of that evil spirit is incredibly slow, so they might have set that up to remedy that. To buy time until the evil spirit arrives while dealing with this thing. ]
Thus, they rationally assessed the situation, arriving at a logical conclusion based on common sense.
Before the evil spirit coming from below reached them, they decided to quickly deal with the ghost blocking the emergency exit and escape from the building.
They both drew their swords, channeling energy into them.
Sword Energy.
The energy flowing from within their bodies wrapped around their blades, starting to shine brightly, granting them sharp cutting power. And this energy gradually began to thicken. The blade remained sharp, but the consolidated energy was primed for an explosive release at any moment.
Cut with sharpness, hit with energy.
A single strike fatality.
Their determination to break through in one go was apparent, even at the cost of inefficient energy use.
The two approached the ghost, igniting their energy within their swords, slowly closing the distance.
To reach the point where they could deliver an explosive blow.
As they drew nearer to the ghost, its head gradually began to turn.
Creeeak.
Creeeek.
The ghost, who was quietly watching the emergency exit, slowly lowered its head.
It let out a bizarre sound like a machine that had rusted in its joints from a long period of stillness, creating a screeching sound that chilled the ears as it turned its head ever so slowly.
Creeeek.
Thud-thud.
So, as the ghost lowered its head, it gradually turned around.
The closer the warriors got, the more they felt their vitality, and the closer their breaths reached the ghost.
Little by little, the ghost’s head began to swivel.
It tilted horizontally, and the speed gradually increased.
And finally, the ghost’s head turned fully.
With only a contour left of its features, it gazed at the warriors, then its head began to spin vertically as if it were a giant ball.
Spin.
Spinning, spinning.
Like an object exhibited in an art museum, its head began to whirl, and the speed increased as time passed. Initially slow, it ultimately spun as fast as a motor.
Thud.
Thud.
It began to leap on the spot while spinning its head.
Like someone warming up, pounding their feet lightly before exercise.
But soon, that movement began to shift to something more intense.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
It leapt on one foot.
With fingers attached instead of feet dancing this way and that, sending the body bouncing upward.
Leaping right, then up with the left foot, both feet, and while in midair, the legs whipped through the air as if they were arms. The fingers wiggled, elongating and shortening, repeatedly drawing lines in the air. It should’ve been normal not to see this path in the darkness, but the faintly glowing emergency exit sign illuminated it.
Thud.
Thud.
With every light leap, fingers traced lines, and the head spun.
And in response to the legs, the arms moved about irresponsibly, with the fingers attached to the arms dancing alongside those on the legs. Their movements resembled a shaman maniacally dancing with a bundle of thin ropes, or a dancer waving scraps of torn cloth.
It dances.
It jumps.
Another jump.
With fingers waving and leaping, the elongated fingers swept like an obangsaek cloth. The arms and legs swung as if each was a flag, and the spinning head was treated as a mere prop for the dance.
[ … ]
[ … ]
The two warriors stood dumbfounded at the spectacle.
As if bewitched, they stared at the ghost’s dance.
Their raised swords were prepared to strike down at any moment but now hung limply, their intention to swing forgotten.
Tok-tok.
Tok-tok.
Even with the unmistakable sound of high heels from below, they seemed to lose sense of crisis, their eyes dull as the ghost’s dance continued, their focus wavering more severely by the moment.
And at last, they fully lost their grip on reality, becoming enraptured by the dancing ghost.
Evil Spirit.
A ghost that bewitches people.
Had they been mentally strong, even with low skill, they could have resisted.
Yet unfortunately, these two warriors did not possess particularly strong mental faculties.
They were warriors cherished by an aristocratic clan.
They likely faced little to no hardship typical of other warriors’ lives, and they received high regard without the grueling training of breaking bones and remolding spirit.
For such warriors, resisting an evil spirit would not be easy.
Especially if the spirit was directly created by Jinseong.
Thus, the warriors lost their senses, extinguishing the energy they had enveloped their swords in.
They stood frozen in place, as if petrified, unable to make any resistance even as the dancing evil spirit drew ever closer.
Tok-tok.
Tok-tok.
The dancing evil spirit grasped its spinning head and stopped it, then began to knead its head like clay, reshaping it into a thin form, and with its fingers, opened the warrior’s mouth and pushed its own head inside.
As if trying to invade their body.
Wriggle.
The evil spirit wormed its way into the warrior’s body.
Starting with its long, thin head for easy entry, it twisted its body, sliding in like a snake through a human esophagus.
And so, one warrior fell victim to possession by the evil spirit.
Leaving the remaining warrior….
Tok-tok.
— The Money Bug, a creature belonging to the Arthropoda phylum, known for its numerous legs and a long, slender body that can crawl anywhere, mostly seen in dark places…
And so, it became the evil spirit’s prey.
