When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 81
Chapter 81
Thwack! Thud!
The dull sounds echoed endlessly.
With each impact, pain rained down like a downpour across Ju Kyunghyun's face and body.
"Ugh! Kah!"
When had the Young Lord of the Ju Clan ever experienced such hell?
"..."
At some point, he could no longer even make proper sounds.
His mouth felt completely burst open. He wanted to protect his head, but with both hands twisted behind him, he couldn't block anything.
'I'll kill them... I'll definitely kill them...'
Though Ju Kyunghyun ground his teeth in rage, it wasn't long before even that feeling changed.
Please stop. Please, just stop.
He wanted to prostrate himself and beg like a slave, but knowing others might be watching, he couldn't bring himself to do even that.
Though his father was lenient with his actions, if he learned that his son had begged Baek Giha, he might kill him.
'...Please. How much longer?'
Unable to endure the hellish pain any longer, Ju Kyunghyun finally broke down crying inside the sack.
He didn't even realize he was now sobbing and begging for his life.
"Even after setting the traps, remain on standby to support the Young Lord if any situation arises."
The poison that the five masked men had spread throughout the hunting grounds along with their traps was aimed solely at Sehwa.
They had secretly administered antidotes to the Young Lord and his guards beforehand without their knowledge.
The Mystic Ruler had ordered them to handle things quietly to avoid other problems, saying his son was still too young to keep secrets well.
For this reason, they moved stealthily to avoid being seen even by the Young Lord's party.
Following the Mystic Ruler's orders, they were waiting for the Elder's daughter to fall into their trap.
Because they were observing the surroundings while holding their breath, they were the first to notice the Baek Clan's barrier.
'The Baek Clan? A Baek Clan barrier?'
Their figures sprang forward instantly at this unexpected situation, their gazes wandering in confusion.
The trees rapidly receded behind them as they ran forcefully forward.
However, by the time they arrived, the Baek Clan's barrier had already disappeared.
Only someone covered in a strange black sack lay sprawled across the undergrowth.
"Good heavens!"
"Young Lord!"
The masked men, recognizing his clothing, hurried forward to remove the sack.
"!!"
For a moment, they couldn't speak.
The Young Lord's face revealed inside the removed sack was completely covered in blood.
His face was so swollen from internal and external bleeding that it was barely recognizable, and his face was smeared with tears and sticky mucus from however long he had been rolling around.
Shocked by his unsightly appearance that bore no resemblance to the usual handsome Young Lord, the masked men first used pieces of their own clothes to wipe away the mucus covering his face.
They hurriedly took out medicine they carried for emergencies and generously poured it over the Young Lord's face.
When they checked under his clothes and found large bruises forming on his abdomen, they continuously poured medicine between the unconscious Young Lord's lips as well.
Fortunately, as the medicine began to take effect, the wounds quickly subsided.
The Young Lord's eyelids, which had seemed completely unconscious, began to flutter slightly.
Though his vision didn't seem to focus completely, the masked men were relieved to see him trying to wake up.
It was then that their spiritual sense caught an alien spiritual power rapidly moving away.
'What is this? Is it Ju Sehwa and her maids? But the spiritual power seems too weak?'
'Or is it the culprit who did this to the Young Lord?'
"Young Lord!"
"Where are you, Young Lord!"
At that moment, suppressed voices that couldn't shout loudly approached from all directions.
One of the masked men exchanged glances with his companions and kicked a nearby tree.
At the thudding sound, the guards' presences, which had been unable to determine a direction, quickly drew near.
As soon as the guards were close enough to adequately protect the Young Lord, the masked men shot off in pursuit of that alien spiritual power from earlier.
Shortly after they disappeared into the ground, three guards arrived in succession.
Cheonryeong, who normally served close to the Young Lord, turned pale and rushed forward upon seeing him unconscious.
"Young Lord! Young Lord, please wake up! Young Lord!"
The guards, not realizing he was already being treated, hastily took out their own medicine and poured it into Ju Kyunghyun's mouth.
Ju Kyunghyun's eyelids slowly blinked open as he wandered through a hazy consciousness.
"Ugh..."
A long groan leaked from between his thin lips.
As he slowly propped himself up using his hands on the ground, a guard quickly approached to support his body.
"Young Lord, I am Cheonryeong. What happened to you?"
"You... When did you return? Did you see those who attacked me?"
"You were attacked?! We apologize for leaving your side."
"We have committed a mortal sin. We didn't see the attackers, but we hurried back when we sensed the Baek Clan's barrier being deployed in this area."
"The Baek Clan's barrier?!"
Ju Kyunghyun's gaze flashed.
"The Baek Clan. It was definitely the Baek Clan?! It was them?"
"Yes. It was definitely the Baek Clan's barrier. Though we don't know what happened, we hurried back judging that something was occurring."
"What about those women, what happened to them? Did you catch them?"
When the guards with dark expressions couldn't open their mouths, Ju Kyunghyun burst out in anger.
"And you call yourselves the Mystic Ruler's warriors?! You can't even catch one girl who just underwent exuviation and three maids who only did menial work?!"
"But..."
They too couldn't believe what had just happened.
They seemed to be steadily gaining on those running ahead, getting closer...
But every time they thought they could catch up, their targets' presence would suddenly vanish. As if what they had been chasing was just an illusion.
In that state, when they felt the Baek Clan's spiritual power too, they judged something had happened and ran here.
"Quickly find those women again! That Sehwa must have conspired with the Baek Clan. If we find her, we can find the Baek Clan members who attacked me! Find them! Hurry!"
At the Young Lord's urging, Cheonryeong presented his back.
"You'll need to use spiritual power, so get on my back."
Though it was humiliating, he couldn't risk staying here alone and suffering the same thing again.
Ju Kyunghyun quickly clung to Cheonryeong's back.
Led by Cheonryeong, the guards ran off at high speed to search for Ju Sehwa.
At that time, the masked men pursuing Sehwa's attacker were also bewildered.
It was as if they were being toyed with by a ghost.
They would clearly sense spiritual power in one place, but find nothing when they went to check. Then they would sense it somewhere else, hurry there, and again find no one.
How could this be happening?
No matter how they thought about it, this seemed to be happening because the opponent's skills far surpassed their own.
Eventually, one of the masked men proposed a plan using their hand signals.
They too had been trained to conceal their spiritual power and could almost perfectly eliminate their presence.
However, with this many people together, even small spiritual power fluctuations could occur, so they decided to try eliminating those as well.
[Everyone spread out in different directions and gather where spiritual power is sensed.]
The five masked men spread out in their own directions while holding their breath.
One of the masked men rushed quickly forward, searching for traces of the vanished spiritual power.
He reduced his presence with all his might and sharpened his senses.
But then—
Thwack!
"!!"
An arrow with a metal ball attached flew from somewhere and struck his temple hard as it passed.
The masked man staggered for a moment and grabbed a nearby tree to steady himself.
Just as he was about to signal his companions, three more arrows flew simultaneously, striking his forehead, solar plexus, and vital point precisely.
"...!!!"
Unable to even groan, he collapsed to the ground.
As he crawled along the ground enduring the pain and finally tried to get up—
Literally suddenly, spiritual power manifested behind his back.
It hadn't approached. It really seemed to have suddenly manifested.
There was no time to react.
Crack!!
"!!"
A stone was forcefully shoved into his mouth along with his mask, breaking all his teeth with tremendous force.
The masked man's head snapped back instantly from the incredible pain.
The owner of the spiritual power grabbed the nape of his unconscious neck.
They dragged him away into the undergrowth.
The situation was the same for another masked man who had flown in a different direction.
He let out a groan while searching for the spiritual power presence that had once again completely vanished without a trace.
Though they too had learned to suppress their spiritual power through long training, it wasn't to this degree.
What kind of training did this person undergo? How could presence be erased so completely like this?
'Could Baek Giha himself have snuck in?'
Somehow frightened, he reflexively turned around but there was no one there.
The surroundings were completely silent with nothing at all to be sensed.
...But why was it so quiet that his ears felt deafened?
"...Oh no."
'! It's a barrier!'
The moment he realized this, something leaped into his field of vision.
That thing rushing forward had spiritual power like spreading flames wrapped around its entire body.
By the time he noticed with an "ah," it was already too late.
Bang!!
A powerful impact struck his head.
The masked man collapsed without even making a groan, his eyes rolling back.
Someone stepped on his unconscious body and turned it over with their foot.
They removed the mask to check his face.
"...So it was you."
Sehwa ground out through clenched teeth.
She had thought he must be one of those from the execution ground since all the Mystic Ruler's warriors were there, but—
"You should have just died quietly while we were using poisons and torturing you. Why make things difficult for us with such a tenacious life? Huh?"
"Run! Before we cut off your legs so you can't even watch your family's final moments!"
"You bitch! Are you deaf?!"
Wasn't this the guard who had tortured her with various poisons and when leaving the execution ground, had grabbed her hair and dragged her out like a dog?
"My lady."
At that moment, the three sisters appeared from different directions, calling out to her.
They were each dragging a black-masked man.
Sehwa nodded and searched their bodies, pulling out numerous medicine bottles.
As she opened the bottles and checked their contents, memories of the past crashed over her.
In prison, she had been forced to drink or inhale these things, losing her spiritual power and experiencing hallucinations while enduring painful times.
She selected three of the medicines and tucked the rest into her sleeve.
She mercilessly sprayed the three medicines over the bodies of the five unconscious men.
"Haha. This bitch's state is worth seeing. The hallucinations must be working well. It would be nice to put all their family members in here too and make them kill each other after feeding them the medicine."
"Now then, let's see how well you use your swords? I should watch you all kill each other."
Her gaze and the corners of her mouth grew sharp and thin for a moment with chilling intensity.
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