Volcanic Age - Chapter 38

“Ah, I believe someone is disparaging me…”

 

Ju Seo Cheon used his pinky finger to pick out his ear.

 

Great Master Ju! You, in front, in front!

 

Wang Il quickly yelled.

 

“Mm!”

 

Ju Seo Cheon leaned his back and was punched above the head.

 

“You dare!”

 

Ju Seo Cheon whirled around and put his back in its original position before swinging his blade diagonally.

 

The sword split the upper body of the bronze man starting from its waist to its shoulder.

 

“Hiiiik!”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye curled down and screamed.

 

“Hey, why is this kid acting like this?”

 

Cho Ryeon put on an unreasonable expression.

 

“You were having so much fun when you saw those wooden dolls before.”

 

“B, but that is not a mechanism!”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye yelled in a frightened voice.

 

“That’s witchcraft!”

 

Time was turned back to an hour earlier when the group had moved on from the room containing the mountain of silver money.

 

As they progressed, the sophistication of the devices and traps increased, and Zhuge Seung Kye had to spend more time disarming them.

 

And when they finally made it through the tunnels, a brand-new object showed up. Bronze dolls were what they were.

 

They initially believed that the mechanism was the same as that used with the wooden dolls, but that was not the case at all.

 

No, in the first place that wasn’t even a device.

 

When the group entered a certain room, all the entrances closed suddenly and the bronze figures started to move.

 

They weren’t repeating fixed movements. The figures moved freely as if they were actually alive.

 

The first thing that attracted their attention was the archaic words engraved on the bodies of the bronze figures. They were words that emitted a faint light.

 

“It is said that the Three-Eyed Immoral God robbed other places besides the Midlands but to think that he even stole the witchcraft of the southern barbarians…”

 

Ju Seo Cheon mumbled and moved half a step to his left. A spear of a bronze figure passed through that place.

 

There were things in the world that displayed mysterious powers besides martial arts and one of them was witchcraft.

 

The necromancy used by the Second Generation of The Demonic Path also belonged to the witchcraft category.

 

It wasn’t that witchcraft didn’t exist in the Midlands at all, but it was still almost nonexistent and the reason for that was that they had martial arts.

 

Also, the origin of witchcraft began in the south and not the Midlands, and obviously enough the place that used mainly witchcraft was the south.

 

Whatever the case, that witchcraft created weird occurrences at times and what was happening right now was one of those occurrences.

 

There were about fifty bronze figures in the room. All of them were holding weapons and attacked the group.

 

“Keugh!”

 

This time, the warriors also participated in the battle. They fought while protecting Zhuge Seung Kye.

 

The level of the bronze figures was like the second rate.

 

They didn’t use sword techniques or other things like that but their physical abilities were outstanding and had great power.

 

“Please, wooden dolls that move through a mechanical device are fine for you but you are scared of dolls that move through witchcraft? For us, those things are no different at all.”

 

Cho Ryeon spoke as if she was flustered. She then stabbed a bronze figure in its chest and then pushed it away by kicking it.

 

The bronze figure rolled on the floor and collapsed. It seemed like they stopped for a moment but they stood up after a while after staggering for a bit.

 

“Damn it!”

 

Cho Ryeon cursed out.

 

“Why are these things rising again?”

 

“Young master Seung!”

 

Wang il looked at Zhuge Seung Kye like he wanted an answer to Cho Ryeon’s doubt.

 

They now naturally turned to ask any curiosity they had to him because Zhuge Seung Kye had replied to all their doubts until now.

 

The reaction of the other warriors was similar.

 

“I, I don’t know! How could I know? I told you that’s witchcraft!”

 

But the reaction they wanted was different. Contrary to their expectations, only their worries increased.

 

“Grr!”

 

Chaeng!

 

Wang il swung his sword while dropping some drool. He got pushed back in strength by the bronze figure and fell.

 

“Cut off all of their limbs!”

 

Ju Seo Cheon was the one that replied instead. There was a bronze figure in front of him that had all of its limbs separated from its body and had stopped moving.

 

The bronze figure moved just fine even when it got pierced in its stomach but it wasn’t able to move when all of its limbs got cut off.

 

That was as obvious as it could be.

 

“Oh!”

 

Wang il rejoiced and did as Ju Seo Cheon said. As he did so, a bronze figure really stopped moving.

 

“That’s not as easy as you say!”

 

“Captain Ju, I’m sorry but we don’t have the leisure to do that!”

 

There were a lot more bronze figures than them. On top of that, all of the bronze figures were at the level of second rate.

 

And most of all, they had a lot of restrictions on their movements because they had to fight while protecting Zhuge Seung Kye, who was trembling in fear without being able to do anything.

 

“Then just protect Seung!”

Ju Seo Cheon became a storm. 

 

He got rid of the bronze figures the fastest he could with the Plum Blossom Purple Haze Sword.

 

First, he cut down both of their arms so that they weren’t able to attack and then cut off their legs and head.

 

The amount of internal energy accumulated in his dantian was encouraging. But he still circulated his internal energy when they were resting in case something happened.

 

That was a wise decision.

 

Pababat!

 

After cutting down one of them, he continued with the next one. 

 

There was no hesitation at all and he didn’t even think.

 

He just cut down and continued cutting what he saw. It was so fast for the warriors’ eyes that they only saw after images.

 

“We came to be of some help…”

 

The warriors scratched their heads in embarrassment.

 

“Just how high is the level of young master Ju’s martial arts!”

 

They could only get impressed.

 

“That doesn’t seem to be his full power.”

 

“Were peak experts always that strong?”

 

It wasn’t weird to feel awe.

 

Ju Seo Cheon’s physical abilities were at the peak level but his swordsmanship was at the grandmaster level. It was obvious that he looked higher level.

 

“Just what is the identity of Captain Ju?”

 

“He must be a disciple of a hidden expert.”

 

“Have you heard that there is an expert of that age in the Nine Factions or a famous family branch like the Five Segas?”

 

“They are the ones that like to boast so there is no way he won’t be famous.”

 

The number of bronze figures that fell at the hands of Ju Seo Cheon increased over time. The fifty bronze figures decreased to twenty in no time.

 

The warriors got that much more comfortable and could now show some leisure.

 

“Whew, if it’s fine I would like to learn a few moves from captain Ju.”

 

“Wasn’t he quite close with the head merchant when we last saw them?”

 

“If we can keep working for the head merchant, something lucky may happen.”

 

“Engrave the movements of captain Ju in your heads if you have time to be speaking. That’s not something you can see anywhere.”

 

Everyone’s loyalty and respect towards Ju Seo Cheon increased the more time passed.

 

In reality, they were still alive thanks to Ju Seo Cheon. They would have died already if it wasn’t for himi.

 

An hour passed like that.

 

Ju Seo Cheon sheathed his sword and stretched his limbs.

 

All of them seemed to be at a loss for words.

 

Besides feeling shocked at the power Ju Seo Cheon showed, they felt deprived.

 

He hadn’t dropped a single drop of sweat even after showing that high leveled movement. It was proof that he had high internal energy.

 

“Just how much internal energy do you have, Captain Ju?”

 

Cho Ryeon looked at Ju Seo Cheon with exhausted eyes.

 

“I have plenty.”

 

There weren’t many people in Murim that were young, had a lot of internal energy, and could perform top-class sword techniques.

 

He had decided to keep it a secret in case rumors about him spread due to the incident with the Slipping Water Spearman and people started to suspect him.

 

“Okay, shall we go to the next…huh?”

 

Something entered his eyes the moment he tried to leave the room.

 

Something was shining in the remnants of the bronze figures. When he got closer to check what it was, he confirmed that it was a bracelet.

 

“I don’t know exactly what it is but…it would be better taking it than leaving it here.”

 

The material of the bracelet was bronze. It had something like a chain hanging on it and a manufactured ore embedded in it.

 

He could also see the witchcraft language that was making the bronze figures move. Even if he didn’t know what it was used for, he could sell it quite expensively.

 

“You will get cursed if you take that!”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye got disgusted.

 

“Raiding the treasury is already something that would get us cursed.”

 

Ju Seo Cheon smiled as if he was speaking absurd things. He stored the bracelet in his bosom.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

The treasury of the Three-Eyed Immoral God gave them bad taste. They only thought that the more they explored it.

 

If it wasn’t for Zhuge Seung Kye, one life wouldn’t have been enough. They had already gone through all kinds of hardship.

 

They encountered a maze with no exit and a door that would poison them if they couldn’t find the secret door.

 

There were times when they did get 

poisoned but the group was able to stay alive thanks to having consumed detoxification medicine that Lee Ui Chae acquired from the Sichuan family.

 

They hadn’t prepared a day or two to raid the treasury. All kinds of preparations were done. A year’s worth of dried supplies was even prepared.

 

There was no way they would be exploring for a year but still brought this much in case something happened.

 

Detoxification medicine and healing medicines were a must, and they also brought spare swords and sword sharpeners.

 

“I’m saying this again but I don’t know how he managed to build this…”

 

Ju Seo Cheon mumbled while walking.

 

“What can’t you do with the money?”

 

Wang il answered his mumble.

 

“You would certainly need money to build a mechanism or traps like this, but it must have also been hard to keep it a secret…how didn’t a single clue about it appear?”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye asked.

 

“Dead people aren’t able to speak.”

 

Ju Seo Cheon answered.

 

“The Secret Burial Grounds is a place that humans and not even animals get close to. On top of that, the treasury was built underground so there wouldn’t have been many cases for it to get discovered.”

 

“But there must have been things like mobilizing construction materials.”

 

“There’s this idiom from long ago that money can even put a ghost to work. The wealth of the Three-Eyed Immoral God must have been enough to keep any secret.”

 

And when everything got completed and everyone knowing about the treasury died, no one would be able to know about it.

 

“Uhh.. what a nasty guy.”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye embraced his shoulders and trembled as if it gave him goosebumps.

 

“This place may contain so many treasures that it would be able to buy the entire Midlands so that much is obvious you brat.”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye’s head was patted by Cho Ryeon, who smirked. Zhuge Seung Kye’s hair turned into a nest of birds because of her hard hands.

 

Zhuge Seung Kye pulled her hand away as though it were bothersome.

Cho Ryeon, though, chuckled amusingly.

 

The two of them interacted frequently when they entered the treasury. Of course, Cho Ryeon was the one making an unfair mockery of him.

 

She told them later that she did it because he made her think of her kid.

 

“But what kind of stories do you misters have that you came to this dangerous place?”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye.

 

Everyone put on a bitter smile at the naivety of the kid.

 

“Seung, that can be rude.”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye was certainly intelligent but he was still a child that was naive in some parts.

 

It seemed like he wasn’t able to take hints on these matters.

 

“It’s fine captain Ju. Isn’t he a kid?”

 

Wang il continued to smile angrily as he spoke.

 

“I ran away from my home when I was still a child because I didn’t want to inherit the farm.

 

After that, I got lost and fortunately developed into a mediocre warrior. However, everything in my hometown had turned into a wasteland due to a plague when I got back there.”

 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

 

Zhuge Seung Kye realized he had been impolite and truly apologized.

 

Young master Seung said, “It’s good.”

Wang il gently smiled.

 

* * *

Translated by Novel multiverse

Edited by Beetlesme