novelbin Chapter 149 : Chapter 149
Chapter 149 : Chapter 149
Chapter 149. Walled City (2)
Riman lay collapsed for quite a long time.
Consecutive battles, exhaustion piled upon exhaustion, it was only natural.
'Where did I put the potion?'
Still, if only he had a potion, he could slightly speed up his recovery.
So he rummaged around to find a fatigue recovery potion, but.......
'Ah, I don't have potions on me.'
Riman usually didn't drink potions often, but even the ones he had were all put into the subspace inside Saya's stomach.
And right now, Saya wasn't by Riman's side.
Right before being blown into the Walled City.
Because Riman had ordered Saya to run away.
Entering the extinction zone inside the Walled City causes some bad influence on the mind.
Fortunately, thanks to the previous test, he confirmed that this 'bad influence' does not occur limited to Riman.
But Saya didn't do the test at that time.
In other words, it was a situation where he didn't know what would happen to Saya's mind if she entered here.
So he told Saya to stay away right before entering here.
To get away from him and hide somewhere.
'Anyway, the link with this girl Saya... as expected, it's cut.'
And naturally, entering here severed the connection with Saya too.
Senses weren't shared with Saya, and communication wasn't possible either.
It was complete isolation, truly after a long time.
"Phew......."
Still, fortunately, the body's fatigue recovered quite quickly.
Because the power of Physiquesio stored inside his body leaked out little by little, recovering and strengthening his body.
"Hmm......."
Riman finally raised his body and looked around.
This was the inside of Kowloon Walled City, wrapped in mystery.
A place turned into a maze due to spatial flux.
The scenery of that place entered Riman's field of vision.
"...Wow."
A sight beyond imagination unfolded before his eyes.
Everything was twisted in jumbles, scattered, unfolded, and overlapping.
Some buildings intersected like crosses, and some buildings were unfolded like blueprints.
The road surface passed overhead, and telephone pole wires stretched wildly from top to bottom, left to right.
And Riman was sitting on a window in such a place.
The building Riman was sitting on was rotated 90 degrees sideways.
"Driving me crazy, really."
If one were to project the word chaos directly onto space, would it feel like this?
However, he couldn't just stay still.
Riman began to ponder where and how to move.
Just then.
"Ughhh... Uhhh... Kughhh......."
Someone's groaning sound came from somewhere.
Riman turned his gaze there.
Not far away, there was a man.
He was sitting collapsed, tearing at his hair.
While leaking bizarre groans from his mouth.
"Kughhh... Please... I hate it... I'm sorry... Stop it... Please......."
More than half his hair was already pulled out, and tears were flowing down from his eyes like leakage.
His eyes were out of focus.
The man was not in a normal state at all.
"What is that...?"
Can I approach him?
Can I talk to him?
Why is he doing that?
Several questions passed quickly through Riman's mind.
But eventually, he couldn't conclude the answers to these questions he threw at himself.
Because the man was swallowed.
CHOMP.
A giant mouth appearing from somewhere swallowed the man.
The man, who had completely lost his mind, was swallowed helplessly without even being able to resist.
Having swallowed the man like that, it leaped lightly and disappeared somewhere.
He saw it for a very brief moment, but its appearance was clearly engraved in Riman's mind.
A giant mouth that looked like a pelican's beak enlarged hundreds of times.
That mouth belonged to some giant beast.
It was a beast with a bizarre and gruesome appearance.
Its body was huge like an elephant, its mouth looked like a pelican's beak, and its ears, which looked like human ears enlarged hundreds of times, were flapping.
Its six legs were the same shape as human arms, and internal organs looking like cochlea were stuck messily on its skin surface.
A bizarre existence impossible to compare to any creature existing in the world.
Therefore, Riman naturally knew the name of that thing.
Because it was a visual impossible to forget even if seen once in the game.
"...Iseopgwi (Ear-Snatching Ghost)."
Why is that bastard here?
Those words came up to the tip of his throat.
Of course, that wasn't the main body but a fission body.
But the fact that a fission body was roaming meant the main body was also somewhere.
Just that alone was a dangerous situation.
Because Iseopgwi was one of the Yukra.
Yukra.
Six atrocious evil spirits born from the wrong asceticism and twisted desires of monks.
Riman had fought one of the Yukra before.
Simryugwi (Heart-Flowing Ghost) harbored by the Mugan escapee Kim Eun-tae.
An opponent who was powerfully disgusting.
An evil spirit almost equivalent to that was roaming inside the Walled City.
'Don't tell me the cause of the abnormal phenomenon in the Walled City is because of that Iseopgwi?'
But Riman shook his head immediately.
'No. Iseopgwi doesn't have the ability to interfere with space. The ability to interfere with space is something only Jokeomgwi (Foot-Covering Ghost) has.......'
Wait a minute.
'Don't tell me, are other Yukra bastards besides Iseopgwi also inside here?'
If this prediction is correct, it's the worst situation.
But at the same time, it was also something with almost no probability of being so.
Because all Yukra were in a state of being sealed in cursed objects.
Therefore, it was nearly impossible for them to gather in one place on their own.
But, if by a one in a million chance they all gathered inside this Walled City.......
'That can only mean someone artificially gathered the Yukra into this Walled City.'
If that's really so, why on earth?
No, before that, how on earth?
The cursed objects sealing the Yukra are scattered all over China.
Of course, among them, Simryugwi somehow flowed into Korea and possessed Kim Eun-tae, so now five cursed objects remained.
Anyway, finding five cursed objects scattered across the vast land of China was an incredibly difficult task.
Yet gathering them all in one place?
He couldn't even grasp what kind of thing was done to make such a thing possible.
'No, let's not think too far for now. What's confirmed right now is just Iseopgwi alone. There's no guarantee that the rest of the Yukra are all here too.'
Just then, when Riman's mind was twisting in full swing.
SLITHER.......
Something huge approached behind Riman very silently.
Extreme silence unbecoming of its size.
Iseopgwi approached behind Riman.
And-
OPEN.......
The bastard opened that giant mouth behind Riman.
And the very next moment.
[Incision]
SLICE.
Iseopgwi's head was cut off.
* * *
About 30 meters away from where Riman was.
Behind a window of some building, two men were looking down at Riman.
They saw.
From Riman struggling to get up from his spot, to one Iseopgwi approaching behind Riman.
One of the two men spoke.
"Should we just catch and kill him?"
"Well. It seems he'll be eaten soon anyway."
"Indeed. He looked somewhat fine so I thought it would be a bit different this time."
OPEN.
Iseopgwi, having approached Riman, opened its mouth wide.
The men clicked their tongues imagining the next scene.
Because it was clear he would be swallowed just like that.
However, what happened the next moment was far beyond their expectations.
SLICE.
Cut.
Iseopgwi's head was cut off and fell.
"Huh?"
"Huh?!"
He didn't draw a sword.
Nor did he swing anything else.
He didn't even move.
Yet the head of Iseopgwi that attacked Riman fell off with a thud.
"What is that?"
"Without even moving... he launched a slash?"
A strong one.
Watching Riman, they intuitively sensed that.
But they also knew.
That just that much wouldn't be enough to kill Iseopgwi.
And naturally, Riman knew that too.
SLASH!
Another [Incision] sliced through Iseopgwi's body.
And once more, and once more, more, more, more.
Every time Riman gestured once, a dozen Incisions struck Iseopgwi's body.
Like that, a total of dozens of [Incisions] tore through and sliced Iseopgwi's body.
It was instant for a beast the size of an elephant to be divided into dozens of pieces of meat.
Of course, Iseopgwi wouldn't die from this much.
What Riman killed just now was one of Iseopgwi's numerous fission bodies.
Unless the main body was killed, killing fission bodies, no matter how many, couldn't kill Iseopgwi.
Anyway.
"......."
"......."
The moment they saw that scene, the two men intuitively sensed.
That guy.......
"Is dangerous."
"I agree."
And, therefore-
"...We must draw him to our side."
"I agree with that too."
Because to escape from this hellish Walled City, they had to recruit a strong person somehow first.
But there was a problem.
"How do we recruit that person?"
"That's the thing. If we approach wrongly and a fight breaks out with us, it becomes quite troublesome......."
Just then.
"Hey, over there, who are you?"
The men doubted their ears.
Because Riman called them.
"Wh-What?"
"Wait a minute. From that position, here can't be seen......."
At that moment, Riman cut off his words.
"Yes, you two over there, come out."
"......."
The two men exchanged bewildered glances once and spoke.
"...Let's try talking first."
"That would be right."
The two men came out of the building and walked toward Riman.
* * *
Riman looked at the two men approaching him.
One thin and tall man, one chubby but simultaneously muscular man.
Riman's eyes looking at the two narrowed instantly.
'Why are those bastards here?!'
Riman had no choice but to show such a reaction.
Because those two men were things Riman had to catch and kill right away.
Because they were escapees from Mugan.
However.......
'...I cannot fight with those things right now.'
He didn't know well what kind of place this was, he had just fought a huge battle with Cheonjan, and it was a disadvantageous 2 vs 1 composition.
Because it was a situation where fighting would do no good at all.
So Riman thought.
'...Let's use them for now.'
Looking at the situation, it was clear they were also trapped here.
Then the goal of 'leaving this place' was a situation they could share.
So Riman decided to use them without fighting for now.
So as kindly as possible, he spoke toward them.
"What were you doing hiding?"
"Look here, you should speak properly. We were hiding and you were suddenly thrown in."
"That makes sense."
Riman accepted it quickly.
The thinner man continued speaking.
"We'll ask one thing too. Are your ears okay?"
"Pardon?"
"I'm asking if you don't hear any strange sounds."
"Uh......."
Riman focused quietly on his hearing.
There was a very low humming sound.
Noise at a level not particularly bothersome.
Riman said exactly what he heard.
"Just a simple humming... It's slightly different from us, but anyway, the result is similar."
"How about you two?"
"We don't hear even a humming."
"Then why did you ask me if I don't hear anything?"
"You saw the person bitten and taken away by that monster earlier, right?"
The man who was sitting collapsed tearing at his hair and taken away by Iseopgwi.
Naturally, Riman remembered.
"Yes, I saw."
"Why do you think that person was sitting collapsed and tearing at his hair?"
"...Why?"
"The common point of such people is that they heard a certain 'sound'. Even if asked what kind of sound it is, they don't give a proper answer... but it's certain at least that it's a sound that completely incapacitates the listener."
"And you two don't hear such a sound?"
"Yes."
Inside this Walled City, a certain 'sound' that incapacitates listeners is ringing.
Iseopgwi is easily hunting humans incapacitated like that.
However, a very small number of people do not hear that 'sound' or are not affected.
That very small number corresponds to the three people in this spot.
This means, in other words.......
"...Perhaps only we are the humans who can move freely inside this Walled City. And that means......."
"It would also mean that only the three of us have the power to escape the Walled City or resolve this strange phenomenon."
At Riman's words, the thin man nodded and said.
"If so. Shouldn't we three... join forces first?"
"......."
A valid and rational proposal.
But the problem was that the guys saying that were the worst heinous criminals in human history.
So when Riman hesitated, the chubby man stepped forward and said.
"Hey, is this a problem to worry about so......."
"Let's do it."
"What?"
"Let's do it, alliance."
Riman accepted.
Accompanying evil.