Chapter Content
Chapter 003. Predation (2)
[Will you predate?]
Dam Jeok-san shook his head looking at the text floating before his eyes.
Considering the disgrace and hardship he had suffered since his dantian was crushed, he wanted to chew up that sword right now.
He wanted to ravenously absorb the demonic energy harbored within the sword.
If the demonic energy dwelt in his dantian, he would surely become stronger than he was now.
How ecstatic would he feel at that moment?
That was a desire for improvement, and at the same time, an instinctive craving for predation.
The ‘appetite’ he felt when he met his senior brother.
‘But now is not the time.’
Dam Jeok-san suppressed the urge thinking so.
This was Grand Martial Hall. Because the Black Panther Spear was behind him.
Of course, the desire for predation was almost at the level of a physiological urge, so holding it back was not easy.
However, even when everyone left him after he lost his dantian, Dam Jeok-san did not show a hint of it and quietly built up his strength while grinding his teeth.
Therefore, he was confident that his patience would not lag behind anyone in the world.
Dam Jeok-san slowly turned his body while holding the sword.
"I will take this one. Would that be alright?"
He said to the Black Panther Spear while twirling the sword in his hand.
"……."
But the Black Panther Spear only looked at Dam Jeok-san with eyes swirling with complex emotions and could not answer easily.
Like that, silence lingered between the two for a while.
"Young Master."
That too was brief.
The Black Panther Spear broke the silence and spoke as if he had made a decision.
"Yes, Head of Grand Martial Hall."
Dam Jeok-san received his words with a faint smile on his lips.
The eyes of the two men collided in the air.
An atmosphere that fluctuated suffocatingly.
One was the betrayer, and the other was the betrayed. It was natural if one could call it natural.
"Your expression looks worse than when you left me. Just what are you trying to say?"
Dam Jeok-san threw a joke with a hidden meaning without erasing his smile.
"……Haa, that was how it was."
Then the Black Panther Spear sighed while roughly sweeping his face with his large hand.
"However, my mind has changed."
The Black Panther Spear said, looking straight at Dam Jeok-san.
Hesitation could no longer be seen in his voice.
"I told you on that day, Young Master. That I did not have the confidence to die with you. That I did not want to meet such a meaningless death."
"You did."
Dam Jeok-san's expression reflected in the Black Panther Spear's eyes was calm as always, so his inner thoughts could not be fathomed.
"That was not meaningless!"
The Black Panther Spear knelt on one knee in the middle of Grand Martial Hall with a voice full of determination.
"It was not a meaningless thing, you say. What do you mean?"
Dam Jeok-san answered while gazing down at such a Black Panther Spear.
"Because you never stopped your steps forward, Young Master. Even if the end is the pits of hell, without caring."
"……."
"If I join you on that path, burning this trivial life would not be in vain, but a blessing."
That he realized it too late.
The Black Panther Spear spoke with his head bowed deeply.
"Please allow this foolish guy to go with you. To that Northern land."
Dam Jeok-san looked at such a Black Panther Spear and slowly shook his head.
"No. I cannot do that."
"……Is it because I am a traitor?"
"Wrong. It is because the Head of Grand Martial Hall is currently talking about dying together with me."
Dam Jeok-san had no intention of dying.
What remains if one dies a heroic death?
At best, it would be the sense of fulfillment met at the moment of death.
‘I have no intention of being satisfied with just that.’
Dam Jeok-san thought so and slowly lowered his head to meet the Black Panther Spear's eye level.
"Head of Grand Martial Hall, I will survive. And I will return to reclaim what is mine. So if you have such petty thoughts, do not follow me."
"……."
"At the end of the path I walk, there will be the mountain's peak, not a thousand-yard cliff. If it is a seething active volcano, I will pierce my sword into the crater and suppress it."
Dam Jeok-san shouted with an excited voice before he knew it.
Crimson ghost fire danced in his eyes.
The predator's aura naturally released and meshed naturally with Dam Jeok-san's words filled with conviction.
"Young Master……!"
Longing and remorse rippled in the Black Panther Spear's eyes looking at Dam Jeok-san.
What was the reason he once trusted and followed him? The answer lay in the grand spirit Dam Jeok-san was showing now.
"If you wish to follow, be prepared to survive. The resolve to survive tenaciously no matter what hardship and disgrace you face. If you cannot do so, I also do not need you."
Of course, the Black Panther Spear is an outstanding martial artist.
A step above even his escort warrior, Gyeong-won. Because he is a spearman of mature peak realm.
But what Dam Jeok-san needs is not a moth that burns its life like dry grass, but a comrade who will grasp glory from the mud.
He does not need those who wish to die.
"I…… understand."
The Black Panther Spear answered, bowing his head deeper.
"I will hear your answer later. Since you were prepared to die just moments ago, wouldn't it be difficult to harbor a different mind easily?"
Dam Jeok-san spoke again in a calm voice.
"Ah, and may I take this sword?"
As he spoke with a much lighter tone, the Black Panther Spear slowly nodded.
"Of course."
"Thank you, Head of Grand Martial Hall. I will visit this place once more within five days."
It would be good if I could call you like before then.
Dam Jeok-san said so while looking at the Black Panther Spear, and left Grand Martial Hall without an inch of hesitation.
And Gyeong-won followed behind such a Dam Jeok-san without a word.
"Ah……."
The Black Panther Spear watched Dam Jeok-san leaving while still kneeling on one knee.
He did not stand up even when his retreating figure became smaller and smaller until it became a dot and disappeared.
Only when the dusky twilight cast over the entire Grand Martial Hall did he slowly raise his body.
"Not the resolve to die, but the resolve to survive."
What filled the Black Panther Spear's mind were the words left by Dam Jeok-san.
Why was he able to resolve to die so easily?
‘That is because when I betrayed the Young Master and was relegated to Grand Martial Hall, I was no different from being already dead.’
He spent each day like a living corpse.
He had no desire to grow as a martial artist. Nor did he have any thought of solidifying a political position in the Martial Sovereign Castle.
He just lived as if dead, breathing in acrid dust among the old weapons of Grand Martial Hall.
But after having a conversation with Dam Jeok-san who visited again, he felt as if his heart was beating once more.
"Although there is still time until the Young Master returns……."
The result seemed already decided.
He picked up the pitch-black ink-iron spear that gave him the alias Black Panther Spear and swung it towards the empty air.
SWISH!
A violent sound of piercing air rang along the spear's trajectory.
The Black Panther Spear swung his spear once again without delay.
Because he couldn't waste even a fleeting moment to regain his former sharpness before Dam Jeok-san returned.
* * *
"Young Master, he is someone who betrayed once. Will it be alright?"
When Dam Jeok-san returned to his quarters.
Gyeong-won spoke to him in a low voice.
Of course, Gyeong-won did not doubt his liege's judgment.
Rather, because of that, he could candidly express the doubts he harbored to Dam Jeok-san.
He believed that if it was Dam Jeok-san, he would always make the right judgment without being swayed by his doubts.
"Yes, you are right, he is someone who already left me once. But everything comes with a risk."
That is not limited only to gaining people.
The ability Dam Jeok-san obtained, Predation, was the same.
Even just looking back at Seo Woo-joo's memories, it is so.
He gained immense power through the authority of Predation, but very arduous effort was needed to control that power.
‘Seo Woo-joo eventually managed to do it.’
Then Dam Jeok-san himself would be able to do it too.
"Gyeong-won, as I already told him once, I am confident."
Whether it is becoming stronger through Predation.
Or accepting those who betrayed again.
Or reaching the pinnacle of this damn Martial Sovereign Castle.
Dam Jeok-san spoke with quietly sunken eyes.
"I understand."
Gyeong-won lowered his head as if he accepted it.
"Right, you should go out too. I want to be alone for a while."
"……."
"I don't mind if you guard outside."
Only after hearing those words did Gyeong-won quietly withdraw.
Dam Jeok-san put down the sword he was cherishing in his arms only after seeing Gyeong-won withdraw.
It is the very sword harboring demonic energy obtained from Grand Martial Hall.
"……."
Dam Jeok-san looked at that sword with slightly trembling eyes.
Although he went around blabbering as if he was overflowing with confidence here and there, he couldn't help but be nervous since he was also human.
The moment he touched the blade emitting faint demonic energy.
[Will you predate?]
The phrase appeared again.
Dam Jeok-san gulped and nodded.
The moment he made up his mind, an abnormality occurred immediately.
VROOOOM!!
An ominous swaying cluster of unprecedented light from Dam Jeok-san's fingertips.
That cluster of light transformed into the shape of countless hands in an instant.
Hands numbering easily in the thousands wriggled like hungry ghosts fresh from hell and tangled onto the sword blade.
Dam Jeok-san frowned for a moment at the terrible sight that was hard to describe.
However, that was only the beginning.
Countless teeth sprouted from the hands and began to chew and swallow the sword blade as it was.
CRUNCH CRUNCH―
A scene more bizarre than a monster chewing and swallowing a human.
It felt like goosebumps were rising all over his body.
‘No, there is no need to be shaken.’
However, Dam Jeok-san quickly regained his composure.
Furthermore, he focused all his mind on the sensation transmitted to his fingertips.
Then he felt the demonic energy riding his hand and slowly being absorbed into his body.
Demonic energy is one of the most dangerous energies in the entire Murim world.
Although extremely rarely, spiritual pills are made by refining it through alchemy.
Most demonic energy causes one to slowly lose reason the moment it is absorbed and eventually transform into an existence like a monster.
Even though such demonic energy was pouring into his body without even going through filtration, Dam Jeok-san did not have a seizure or go crazy.
But it was too early to be relieved.
According to Seo Woo-joo's memories, the full-scale Predation, and the trials following that Predation, were just beginning.
[Predation begins.]
[Memories related to the essence are played randomly. Please be careful as the ego may be diluted by the memories.]
[All thoughts bound to the essence have worn away.]
[……Searching]
[Human thoughts deeply associated with the essence to an inseparable degree are played.]
Phrases brushing past his eyes one after another.
Soon, with a heavy shock as if someone struck his head with an iron club, intense memories began to spring up in Dam Jeok-san's mind.
Scenes rising randomly to the point where before and after could not be distinguished.
And the messy memories contained within.
His mind went distant for a moment, but Dam Jeok-san calmed his heart and recited the chant of the Prajna Heart Technique.
As he regained composure and coolness, the fragmented memories slowly took structure.
It was the memory of a certain warrior of the Martial Sovereign Castle.
He was a person who lost everything to monsters.
Family, friends, lover, master.
Everything.
He threw himself into the Martial Sovereign Castle with everything lost, and burned his life constantly killing monsters in the North.
He ground the bones of killed monsters to make swords, and tore off their hides to use as armor.
He fought endlessly even in situations where he couldn't distinguish between himself and the monsters.
At first, he fought for revenge.
Next, he fought to protect the comrades he newly bonded with after coming to the Martial Sovereign Castle.
But his comrades also laid their bodies on the cold ground one by one.
The warrior who lost everything once again like that, fought to protect everything behind him.
The vast land of the Central Plains.
People living there whose names and faces he didn't know.
For them.
So in other words, for humans.
And died.
"Noble……."
Dam Jeok-san muttered lowly, ruminating on that memory.
Although his martial prowess could not be called high, his integrity as a human and a man had to be acknowledged.
It was even more so because Dam Jeok-san was also a martial artist who lost his parents to monsters and belonged to the Martial Sovereign Castle.
That common memory was truly a great help for Dam Jeok-san to understand and accept the thoughts.
At the same time as the memory of the warrior whose name he didn't even know permeated deeply, phrases announcing the progress of Predation appeared.
[Predation in progress.]
[Amount of essence is very scarce.]
[Deeply empathizing with the thoughts dwelling in the essence.
Efficiency of Predation increases significantly.]
.
.
[Predation complete.]
[Karma is accumulated through the first Predation.]
[Karma has accumulated sufficiently for the ability to grow.]
[Predation 1-star → 2-star]
[A reward for the first growth is given.]
[……Searching for appropriate reward.]
[Search complete.]
[Recovering severe damage inflicted on the body as a reward.]