When the Black Moon Rises - Chapter 127
Chapter 127
Sehwa was walking towards the plaza where the rain ritual would be held.
As she walked along the dry path, her head suddenly turned.
Her gaze sharpened as she looked towards the distant sky.
She knew. This direction… if she went this way, she would find the Lake of Blood.
“He’s interfering.”
Baek Giha, following behind her, whispered, looking in the same direction. “I guess our suspicions were correct, judging by how his spiritual power is fluctuating.”
They had been examining the records provided by King Ik-gwon.
While searching for a way to strike at the Ju Clan's Divine Beast, they had come across a question.
A Corrupt Dragon was a dragon that had failed to become a Divine Beast due to some problem during its transformation, or a Divine Beast that had lost its qualifications.
But that didn't mean they had fallen to the level of a Spiritual Beast.
With no new Divine Beasts emerging, Corrupt Dragons possessed absolute power, far surpassing that of Spiritual Beasts.
But why…
Why was this ancient Corrupt Dragon, with its immense power, stalling?
If it needed life force, it could just kill them outright, so why was it taking so long?
Moreover, if it needed to kill the same number of beings, wouldn't it be more efficient to kill mystics?
‘Why is it drying up the Human Realm and consuming human lives?’
From the Corrupt Dragon’s perspective, taking human lives was inefficient, barely providing any sustenance.
Like eating ants after feasting on deer antlers.
But there had to be a reason why it was causing trouble in the Human Realm.
As they pondered this, they found a clue in the records.
They had initially thought that the countless legends created by Divine Beasts in the Human Realm were merely whims, but…
They found records from the time when Divine Beasts were disappearing, indicating that they had tried to replenish their fading divinity with the faith of humans.
‘Absolute faith could influence a Divine Beast's power?’
Then what about other emotions?
Could other equally powerful emotions, even if not faith, have an effect?
For example, absolute despair.
A kind of negative energy gathered from the grief and despair that filled the entire country.
Otherwise, there would have been no need for the Corrupt Dragon to waste six months slowly draining the land of life, regardless of its objective.
So they decided to test it.
Instead of bringing the rain immediately, they had waited a few days to prepare for the rain ritual.
They had distributed grain and medicinal herbs, instructing people to scatter them on the fields.
And they had left a cryptic message, saying they would see the results in two days.
These people were already at their limit.
But they could still cling to hope, wondering if this absurd claim might be true, for just two days.
“I’ll go to the Lake of Blood.”
“There’s no need. Just leave it,” Sehwa said, shaking her head, holding Baek Giha’s arm to stop him. “What I’m about to do will enrage that Corrupt Dragon even more.”
‘And if you use your power…’
She swallowed the words that rose to her throat and smiled gently, closing her eyes.
She awakened every last bit of her spiritual power, reaching deep within herself.
As she drew upon her mixed spiritual power, her long, unbound black hair lifted into the air.
Like the morning sun rising and chasing away the dawn, Sehwa’s body began to glow.
“......”
Baek Giha stared, captivated by her breathtaking beauty.
As if the moon had fallen onto the path, as if the sun had paused momentarily…
She was so beautiful, standing within the radiant light.
Her red lips curved into a smile, a smile that revealed her undeniable affection for him, along with a hint of shyness, nervousness, and confidence, making him want to kneel before her.
“I’ll be back.”
She spoke, and Baek Giha could only nod.
Choi Deokmun knew how important this rain ritual was to their master.
He knew how crucial it was for the Human Realm, where he lived, to overcome this terrible disaster.
But even as everyone went to watch the rain ritual, even as unsettling sounds began to fill the air…
He remained in his son’s room in the quiet residence, staring at the large, sleeping hawk.
Choi Deokmun's gaze darkened.
At this moment, the rain ritual, the drought, none of it mattered to him.
His only son was unconscious, what else could possibly matter?
What if his son had died during the transformation, and she had brought this hawk to deceive him temporarily?
Was this hawk really his son?
If so, would he ever wake up?
All sorts of unsettling thoughts weighed heavily on his mind, his head bowed.
“Jangmyung…”
He just wanted his son to open his eyes.
To reassure him that he wouldn't lose him.
Just as his downcast gaze wavered…
Flash!
“!!”
A bright light erupted from around the sleeping hawk.
Choi Deokmun, startled by the sudden phenomenon, quickly stumbled back.
“Jangmyung!”
He tried to embrace the hawk, but was pushed back by the immense power contained within the light.
Meanwhile, the hawk’s body slowly rose into the air.
Whoosh!
A five-colored aura enveloped the hawk, and powerful energy swirled between its outstretched wings.
And then, the hawk slowly opened its eyes.
“!!”
The moment their gazes met, Choi Deokmun felt his nose burning.
…Oh my god.
‘…It’s really you… It really was you!’
He knew instantly.
It was his son.
It really was his son.
The divine aura surrounding the hawk didn’t feel like his son’s at all.
He couldn't even believe that a hawk, a predator of field mice, was his son.
But the moment their eyes met, he just knew.
The hawk’s gaze softened.
He wanted to go. To that place.
Choi Deokmun, his eyes welling up, his face flushed, nodded, his lips and chin trembling.
“Go.”
As if taking his words as a signal, the giant hawk soared through the open window, which had been left ajar to alleviate the heat.
It flew gracefully through the sky, heading somewhere.
Towards its master.
King Ik-gwon’s cracked voice continued without pause.
“Heavens! Please, break my body and take my life and blood, and grant this land rain!”
The officials chanted in response, “Grant us rain!”
The thunderous drumming filled the plaza. The music played by the musicians also intensified.
The people’s expectations grew.
The King, who hadn’t appeared in public since the drought began, had personally come to perform the ritual.
His desperate plea to the heavens, blaming only himself…
His words about sacrificing his own life for his people sounded sincere…
So they too, their faces haggard and their lips chapped, prayed fervently to the heavens along with the King.
Please, don't abandon us. Please, have mercy on us.
But the cruelly blue sky showed no sign of forming even a single cloud.
The blazing sun also showed no intention of relenting.
The scorching earth quickly created shimmering heat haze everywhere.
Even though the people were too weak to even cry, their anger at this moment was stronger than ever before.
How could this be?
Who was to blame for this inescapable disaster?
It was at that moment.
Someone threw a straw sandal at the bowing King.
“…Gasp!!”
Everyone around them gasped. …How dare they… unless they wanted their entire family executed…
In that instant, the music, the officials’ chanting, and the drumming all stopped.
Yi Hong-cheon, the Captain of the guards, who had been watching the crowd, wary of a potential riot if the rain ritual failed, was the first to react.
“Seize him! Seize that man!”
“Leave him be!”
“Your Majesty!!”
“You said you would even offer your heart for your people…”
King Ik-gwon, still in his bowing position, stopped Yi Hong-cheon.
“Are you telling me to slaughter my people who are angry at my incompetence?!”
“Your Majesty!”
Yi Hong-cheon knelt on one knee behind King Ik-gwon.
“How can this disaster be your fault?! How can you say their anger is directed at you?!”
“That’s what it means to be King.”
King Ik-gwon slowly raised his head and stood up, turning around.
The frightened crowd was watching him.
He hadn’t ventured out in public since the drought worsened, so he had never faced his suffering people like this, up close.
He saw the same despair in every one of their eyes, though its depth varied.
A despair that had once been like resilient weeds, weathering any storm, but was now on the verge of collapsing at the slightest breeze.
A burning sensation rose in his throat, but King Ik-gwon suppressed it.
What right did he have to show such emotion?
He, who couldn't even protect his people from the monsters taking their lives, could only pray for this disaster to end quickly.
His gaze turned to the sky.
“There’s only one way, isn’t there? If they want a drought, bring the rain. And when they want rain, bring the sun.”
She had said that, yet…
Even now, as the blazing sun continued to scorch the earth, she was nowhere to be seen.
‘Was she…’
His tightly clenched fists were bloody.
‘…just a monster…?’
The muscles in his cheeks twitched.
He didn’t know what to do anymore.
Was he truly helpless, forced to watch as those monsters tore his people’s lives apart?
Perhaps sensing that the King had no intention of arresting them, someone shouted in frustration, “Damn it! Take his heart then! Now!”
Gasp.
Those around him gasped at the ominous words.
Comments
Post a Comment