Chapter 209

However…

Muyoung frowned .

What Ataraxia said meant that he wanted Muyoung to go see Sungmin .

But, that couldn’t be possible .

While Muyoung was away, it was good that Sungmin kept a connection with Ataraxia, but in this situation, Sungmin should have been the one to come see him, not Ataraxia .

“Where is Sungmin?”

“My master is at a very deep place . Please forgive him for not being here, due to unforeseen circumstances . ”

“Due to unforeseen circumstances, you say . ”

However, Muyoung couldn’t feel any sincerity .

Plus, Ataraxia didn’t even tell him Sungmin’s exact location .

As if he was being tested .

That was right, Ataraxia made Muyoung feel like he was being tested .

‘How dare he . ’

Muyoung spread his wings .

And shot thousands of feathers towards Ataraxia .

Swoosh .

Ataraxia avoided his attack .

Normally, thiswas something that could not happen since Muyoung created him and controlled him .

His undead usually accepted whatever Muyoung did to them .

But, right now, he avoided Muyoung’s attack .

This also showed Sungmin’s intentions .

“What a foolish thing to do . ”

Sungmin . He knew Muyoung’s personality .

For him to still conduct this sort of gamble meant he had now totally left Muyoung for one reason or another .

If he had left him, Muyoung couldn’t let Sungmin live .

Sungmin knew too much about Muyoung to let him live . Really, the one who knew Muyoung the best in this world was Sungmin .

At that moment, Ataraxia’s body became faint .

He was cutting through space to move to another area .

He was trying to run away . But, Muyoung wasn’t the type to just let him go .

Swaaak!

Muyoung took out Anguish and wielded it .

Then, the space Ataraxia opened up was sliced .

Muyoung Sword was a swordsmanship that could attack anything . Therefore, you could say teleportation-type mobile skills wouldn’t work in front of Muyoung .

Ataraxia’s body became vivid again .

Craaash!

Muyoung kicked Ataraxia’s body with his foot .

As Ataraxia’s body was shoved to the ground, Muyoung once again raised his wings to shoot out numerous feathers at his body, binding him .

After making him unable to move, Muyoung stretched out his hand .

The soul on top of Ataraxia’s head was still intact .

In this condition, if he was to use Soul Exploitation, Muyoung would be able to fully absorb Ataraxia’s soul .

This would be enough to send a warning to Sungmin .

“I’m sorry . You are really Muyoung . ”

As Muyoung was about to exploit Ataraxia’s soul, another voice emerged from Ataraxia’s mouth .

It was Sungmin’s voice .

A voice that sounded glad and awkward .

Muyoung confirmed that Ataraxia and Sungmin’s souls were in sync .

“Are you testing me?”

“I needed to confirm if you were truly Muyoung . As you had disappeared for the last two years . I had to also consider that you could be controlled by Luciferre . ”

Muyoung crossed his arms .

It didn’t seem like he was lying .

Well, Muyoung did have a lot of problems internally . Although he had spent two years inside Diablo’s flames, if he wasn’t careful he could have lost himself within it .

If that did happen, his body would have been given to Luciferre, or became another being . It wouldn’t be strange for only his body to be his, and the rest be something else .

To that extent, the last two years had been very dangerous for Muyoung .

Sungmin also knew about this a little . As Luciferre was inside Muyoung’s body, and as Sungmin knew that Muyong was very unstable, he had to be cautious .

“I’m not corrupted . ”

Although there had been a possibility, this was not currently the case .

Now, Muyoung would not be shaken .

He spoke as if he was making a pledge .

“Please wait a moment . I will open the ‘gate’ . Ah, could you remove your feathers…”

Muyoung nodded and removed the feathers that restrained Ataraxia’s body . The feathers emitted light and disappeared, as if they had disintegrated .

Then, Ataraxia got up and retrieved a small bottle .

When he opened the bottle and scattered the liquid in the form of a circle on the floor, the circle became black, and became a ‘channel’ connecting to another space .

Ataraxia looked at Muyoung once more .

Swoosh!

Bae Sungmin appeared through the channel .

His appearance had slightly changed .

He wore a black cloak, and held a staff made out of dragon bones . All of his flesh had been stripped, and only his bones were left . However, the the bones had become thicker and were black .

Black bones . But it wasn’t due to an evil sort of energy dying them with darkness .

They had become black by absorbed all light and energy .

He was unable to feel any signs of magic from Sungmin . Like Muyoung, he was absorbing everything within him .

“Amazing . ”

Muyoung admired purely .

Sungmin had raised his ‘level’ on his own .

It was embarrassing to compare him with two years ago .

Muyoung had felt something like this before in the past .

The Lich King!

In the past, the lich that was called the Lich King gave him a similar feeling .

“They say I’m an elder lich . As I completed my work, my appearance has changed . ”

Sungmin’s appearance, that Muyoung hadn’t seen for a while, was truly extraordinary .

Of course, from the beginning, he was far from being a normal lich, but for him to be an elder lich…

Wasn’t it the final form of a lich?

Well, this was probably the reason why he could control Ataraxia’s soul as he wished .

“I have a lot of questions as well . And I would like to show you something . ”

Sungmin looked behind Muyoung .

An endless number of specters and Ellarsigo .

In front of them, it seemed like Sungmin was slightly overwhelmed .

“If you go through here, there is a village I created . Please come in . ”

Sungmin went back into the channel with confidence .

Muyoung pondered for a moment before he spoke to the specters .

“Wait here . ”

“Please let us follow you . ”

The five nine-tailed foxes requested .

It seemed like they still felt that Sungmin, who had suddenly appeared, wasn’t trustworthy .

Muyoung nodded after thinking about it for a bit . The chunglangs and songsongis should be enough to control the group .

“Let’s go . ”

Tacan was already standing beside him . It seemed like he was also curious about Sungmin, and glad to be reunited with him .

After watching Tacan for a short while, he walked into the circle .

***

Although Muyoung didn’t expect much from what Sungmin called a village, what he saw after passing through the circle was amazing .

A few hundreds of houses were spread out in the middle of a mountain range .

And the people gathered here seemed familiar for some reason .

They had a murderous look in their eyes . There were even some whose flesh sagged like a corpse’s . .

However, they were still very familiar to him .

“They are…”

Muyoung couldn’t finish his sentence .

He couldn’t help it .

How could he forget them?

As if Sungmin knew what Muyoung was feeling, he commented:

“It wasn’t easy to find them . They were so spread out . I was only able to find their locations by secretly gathering information from Mulalan City and the Great City . ”

“The assassins of the Forest of Death… you found them?”

“Yes . ”

“How did you know?”

Muyoung had never spoken about them to him .

Although he did react more regarding them, it would beuld hard to make the connection just from that .

Sungmin spoke as he walked into the village .

“Your soul and mine were connected . Especially, for me, it was stronger . Even now, doesn’t it connect from time to time? Thanks to this, although very rarely, I was able to see a few things that were engraved into your soul . I’m sorry . ”

“This is the first time I’m hearing of this . ”

He had never heard of something like this .

Sungmin bowed his head and spoke .

“I also thought it was just something like a dream . Like a dream, I would forget it . But, as time passed, I realized that I wasn’t the person concerned . ”

Sungmin’s memories weren’t exact . There were a lot of blank areas . Even enough for him to forget about Suzy .

But now, he seemed to be stable in many ways .

“Should I have not done this?”

“No . You did well . ”

Muyoung spoke sincerely .

After killing Wung Chunglin, Muyoung had entered Diablo’s Trial right away .

Normally, he would have found all the locations of the Forest of Death and liberated the people .

But, because he was trapped inside, he wasn’t able to do so . Sungmin had done it for him .

How could he not be happy?

Then, Sungmin spoke with a concerned tone .

“Although I have found them, they were already having a lot of problems . ”

“As I’d expect . ”

“Especially in terms of brainwashing, there wasn’t much I could do . I’m able to keep their minds stable by integrating with their soul but…”

If Chunglin’s brainwashing was rooted deep within them, there was nothing Muyoung could do as well . If he were to forcefully remove it, they could lose their self entirely . They could even become braindead .

“How is the village maintaining itself?”

Unlike specters and Ellarsigo, humans were creatures who ‘consumed’ .

To maintain a village on such a scale for a long period, it would be hard without a tremendous amount of resources .

“I’m acting as an information trader . Sometimes, there are people who become free from brainwashing and choose to become my underlings . I’m using them as my informers . ”

Muyoung nodded his head .

Even though it was very unlikely, if they became free from brainwashing, the afteraffects would definitely be there .

If they didn’t serve someone, or weren’t given orders, they would become anxious and commit suicide .

Either way… Muyoung couldn’t take his eyes off of them .

There were also faces he had missed . Although they didn’t remember Muyoung, he remembered them .

Afterwards, Muyoung looked at Sungmin who was walking in front of him .

As for Sungmin, it was a situation where still he needed to be doubtful of him .

If he had shown this village to Luciferre, he would have killed them all .

“Thank you . ”

“…”

Sungmin couldn’t reply right away . It was the first time he had heard Muyoung thank him .

And Sungmin answered a bit late .

“It was something obvious that I needed to do . You don’t need to thank me . ”

***

Muyoung had a long talk with Sungmin .

Although it was mostly Muyoung listening to him, what Sungmin had accomplished in the last two years was quite interesting .

“I have been following Diablo’s footsteps . And, I have confirmed that like the other demon gods, he has been collecting the ‘Fissure Stones[1]’ . ”

“Is there a reason why Diablo is collecting the Fissure Stones?”

“Diablo has summoned numerous armies, and they were all called by using the Fissure Stones . ”

Diablo was collecting Fissure Stones?

A Fissure Stone was a stone that opened and closed fissures . Muyoung had been asked to collect 3 Fissure Stones by Gremory .

“To stop his army, the demon gods have placed a strong evil spirit on the border of the Demon God’s Territory . ”

“Sky Lord . ”

“Yes, it is an artificial evil spirit that was created solely to fight against Diablo . Thanks to this, they say Diablo is unable to enter the Demon God’s Territory . ”

“Artificial evil spirit? You mean someone created it?”

“I’m not sure who created it . But, it is clear that it’s a strong evil creature, strong beyond comprehension . ”

“I also need to enter the Demon God’s Territory . ”

Muyoung needed to go to the Demon God’s Territory to advance to thenext step in his quest . However, if the Sky Lord was blocking the path, it would be problematic .

Sungmin pondered for a moment before he spoke again .

“Devils are able to cross freely . I know a devil . If it is him, he would be able to help us cross . ”

He knews a devil?

And a devil was going to help them?

It was something he had never thought of before .

Sungming continued to talk .

“He is a devil who is obsessed with trades . If we give him something that he wants, he will surely guide us pass the Sky Lord . ”

[1] Fissure Stone – I think it is just another name for the Fragments of the Fissure .