Chapter 729: Must not be sane (5)

Choi Jung Gun's gaze that did not seem to hold any emotions did not move away from Cale and the stone spears that were imprisoning Jung Yi-Rang.

– That punk should recognize this if he has eyes. He might not recognize me, but he should recognize the Super Rock's powers!

Cale could hear the slightly angry voice of the fiery thunderbolt cheapskate.

The Scary Giant Cobblestone. The owner of that power was the one who saved the only survivor of their battle against the ancient White Star, Nelan Barrow aka Choi Jung Gun.

Step, step.

Choi Jung Gun started walking.

– This punk wasn't the type of bastard who used people as bait...!

The angry and disappointed cheapskate's voice continued to echo in Cale's mind.

However, Cale couldn't help but trust the present situation in front of him more than what he was hearing.

Choi Jung Gun stopped walking. He raised one leg.

Pow!

His foot accurately kicked Park So Jin, who was on her knees.

Boom!

"Ugh!"

Park So Jin slammed into the stone spear prison that Cale had made. Her body slid along the side of the spears and onto the ground.

"Huff. Huff."

Park So Jin clenched her bleeding side with both hands as she breathed heavily.

Step, step.

Choi Jung Gun didn't even glance at her and walked toward Cale. To be more specific, he walked toward Jung Yi-Rang.

Cale couldn't help but feel a mysterious sense of déjà vu from his actions.

"Sunbae."

However, Choi Jung Gun did not respond at all to Cale and moved his sword before Cale could say anything else.

Slash.

"Ugggh!"

Jung Yi-Rang's right hand received a deep cut from Choi Jung Gun's sword.

It was already bleeding heavily.

– Ho.

The Super Rock gasped and Cale gulped.

Drip. Drip.

Choi Jung Gun's face was now covered in both Park So Jin and Jung Yi-Rang's blood but he still remained emotionless as he calmly commented.

"Looks like you won't be able to hold a sword ever again."

He then finally looked at Cale.

"I guess you really won't get hurt."

Cale realized it at that moment.

'This guy really is a crazy bastard.'

He was also much colder than Cale had expected.

Cale had used the stone prison to stop Jung Yi-Rang's movements, but Choi Jung Gun thought that it was not enough. He had made the swordsman Jung Yi-Rang's main method of attacking, his hands, useless.

And now that the enemy couldn't attack any longer…

"You better start speaking if you don't want to lose your left hand too."

Choi Jung Gun finally initiated a conversation.

'Very professional.'

His actions made it seem as if it was not his first time doing this.

Choi Jung Gun and Cale made eye contact.

"You're not even anxious."

Choi Jung Gun looked at Cale as if he was observing him before nonchalantly commenting and walking closer to Jung Yi-Rang.

Jung Yi-Rang had pulled in his injured arm that had been outside the prison while trying to stop the blood with his other hand.

He had not shown any signs of pain since the original groan. He simply had a sorrowful smile on his face.

"Where is he?"

Choi Jung Gun asked very short questions.

"Where is your patriarch?"

Cale had learned something from this conversation.

'This Hunters organization has a patriarch too? Is it organized as more of a family than a scattered bunch of little groups?'

Jung Yi-Rang couldn't open his mouth and was rolling his eyes in thought while peeking at Cale and Choi Jung Gun. He heard an inconsistent laugh at that moment.

"Kekekeke, kekeke-"

It was Park So Jin. Her shoulders were moving up and down as she raised her head with difficulty.

"Why?"

She smiled brightly toward Choi Jung Gun with her teeth showing.

"Why are you looking for our patriarch-nim? Do you want to find and kill him?"

She seemed to find this quite laughable. She looked at Choi Jung Gun from head to toe before shouting. Her voice was full of joy as if she had forgotten all about her pain.

"You're just a loser, a bastard who chose to be a wanderer! A bastard like you who couldn't even become a god is going to kill the patriarch-nim? Kekeke! Do you really think that that would be possible?"

"Hey, shut the hell up!"

Jung Yi-Rang urgently scolded Park So Jin and looked toward Cale with sorrow.

"Everything, I promise to tell you everything. Can you please just let me live? Nelan Barrow over there… Umm, Choi Jung Gun sunbae is not someone I can talk things out with. He kills any and all Hunters whenever he can. Please? Can we please just chat first?"

Cale nodded his head.

'I agree with him on that aspect.'

Choi Jung Gun would not be able to calm himself down enough to chat with a Hunter.

There was also no compromise.

"I don't know about that. Sunbae does not seem like the type of person who would let you guys live because I tell him that we should talk with you."

Choi Jung Gun looked toward Cale who had a twisted smile on his face.

"I almost died earlier too."

If he had been regular high school student Kim Rok Soo, he would have been seriously injured, if not killed by that truck crashing into them earlier.

"No, ah… Seriously…"

Jung Yi-Rang looked as if he didn't know what to do as an even more sorrowful look emerged in his eyes. He was continuously checking on Park So Jin's condition at the same time.

"But you see… Jung Yi-Rang."

Cale looked at him and chuckled.

"Why are you clenching your hand like that when the bleeding has already stopped?"

Jung Yi-Rang's gaze instantly changed and Choi Jung Gun flinched. His body turned away from observing Kim Rok Soo toward Jung Yi-Rang.

Crack!

However, Jung Yi-Rang was faster.

Jung Yi-Rang's body easily destroyed the stone spears. Cale saw that his eyes turned purple and a slimy purple liquid covered his injured hand at the same time.

Jung Yi-Rang extended his left hand as soon as he destroyed the stone spears.

It was not directed toward the sword that Cale had taken.

"Ugh!"

Jung Yi-Rang grabbed Park So Jin by the back of the neck and urgently retreated.

Slash-!

Choi Jung Gun's sword slashed at nothing while Cale reached his hand toward Jung Yi-Rang. A fiery thunderbolt instantly crackled in Cale's hand and shot toward Jung Yi-Rang like an arrow.

Jung Yi-Rang waved his right hand in the air.

Chhhhhh-

The purple liquid scattered like paint and Cale's fiery thunderbolt was swallowed by it.

'Oh.'

Cale smirked once again and the Super Rock made a comment that seemed to encapsulate what Cale was thinking.

– It's at this level.

This purple liquid… Cale was figuring out the strength of this power.

"Fuck. I let my guard down-!"

Choi Jung Gun swore before he charged toward Jung Yi-Rang with an even colder expression on his face. Cale could feel the air becoming heavier with each step that Choi Jung Gun took.

The pressure in the air made one feel like herbivores curling up with fear at the arrival of a tiger.

The air around them seemed to be shivering at Choi Jung Gun's actions.

Cale's eyes opened wide at that moment.

"Kill!"

Park So Jin shouted as she smiled.

"Kill me!"

She looked completely deranged and was burning up more than ever before. She glared at Choi Jung Gun who was running toward her and could not stop laughing.

"She's gone crazy."

Choi Jung Gun continued running and raised his sword with that comment.

"Kill! Kill me!"

Park So Jin shouted even louder. Cale's eyes opened wide. He subconsciously tried to activate his shield.

"I'm sorry."

Jung Yi-Rang frowned and a tear dripped out of his now purple eyes.

Puuk.

His right hand stabbed through Park So Jin's heart. He was holding Park So Jin's heart with his right hand that was covered in a red aura.

"Hehehe."

Park So Jin was laughing with joy, but the laughing soon stopped as the light disappeared from her eyes.

Jung Yi-Rang commented without any emotion in his voice.

"Take this offering of karma."

Right at that moment, behind Jung Yi-Rang… The empty area fluctuated. A red dot appeared, turned into a red thread, and then a red wall that fluctuated in the air.

It had all happened in an instant and Choi Jung Gun's emotionless face frowned.

"Fuck!"

Ooooooooong-

The black sword roared and slashed down. It didn't have any aura, but the sword seemed to cut through space and a formless power was launched toward Jung Yi-Rang.

"Next time."

However, Jung Yi-Rang moved into the red wall that was already taller than him. His body leaned back as if he was falling before he was swallowed by that red wall.

Jung Yi-Rang looked at Choi Jung Gun and Cale with Park So Jin still in his hand.

He was looking at them with a stoic expression but a burning gaze.

"See you again next time."

The formless power sliced through where Jung Yi-Rang was located at that moment.

Baaaaaang—!

The red wall exploded without being cut. However, Jung Yi-Rang and the rest of the red wall had already disappeared.

"…Ha."

The sword in Choi Jung Gun's hand was shaking. His whole body was shaking. His gaze turned toward Cale.

"If you used the stone sp-"

However, he did not finish his sentence. Cale's cold gaze that seemed to be observing him made him lower his head.

The Indestructible Shield.

The Scary Giant Cobblestone.

The Fire of Destruction.

There were also traces of others who had been his allies.

Choi Jung Gun was imaging those people he missed so dearly standing behind Cale before his mind started blanking out. However, he saw the blood on his hands as he looked down.

There were no emotions visible on his face again when Choi Jung Gun raised his head.

He heard Cale's nonchalant voice at that moment.

"Not that skilled."

Choi Jung Gun avoided Cale's gaze and walked over to where Jung Yi-Rang and Park So Jin's corpse had disappeared.

– Cale. Good job.

Cale heard the Super Rock's bitter praise at that moment.

He did not feel many emotions about Choi Jung Gun, who had tried to use him as bait, nor Jung Yi-Rang and Park So Jin who were trying to hunt him.

He didn't feel much about the fact that they escaped either.

Why?

'It's all just an illusion anyway.'

Cale was not young enough to be controlled by his emotions in such a situation. He was not actually 17 years old.

'It's completed with Jung Yi-Rang escaping.'

Cale had completed his basic foundation for how to handle the Hunters.

How the Hunters aim for their prey.

How Hunters hide themselves.

How Hunters fight.

How Hunters escape from danger.

He had seen everything so he could set the foundation for fighting against the Hunters and protecting his people in reality.

Cale walked toward Choi Jung Gun, who was walking toward the car that Jung Yi-Rang had been in, and nonchalantly commented.

"Sunbae. Are you not curious regarding anything about me?"

Choi Jung Gun did not show any reaction to Cale.

"Fiery thunderbolt. The glutton priestess."

His shoulder shook after hearing the next part.

"You know the Super Rock, right?"

Choi Jung Gun finally looked at Cale. The feeble Kim Rok Soo with dried blood on his mouth was looking at Choi Jung Gun as if he was looking at prey.

"Alright, go ahead and talk. Tell me everything you know, sunbae. Hmm?"

Crackle. Crack.

Rose gold currents were crackling around Cale. They were calm yet violent, as if they were reflecting the cheapskate's current emotions.

"Why don't we chat peacefully? Hmm?"

Cale smiled as best as he could toward a person who used him as bait and put him in a dangerous situation.

'He is still Choi Han's uncle and Choi Jung Soo's ancestor after all.'

He had another thought at the same time.

'Once this conversation is over…'

He would take a look at team leader Lee Soo Hyuk's face.

And then he would leave.

He needed to get to the end of the temple earlier than the others in order to stab himself in the heart with the dagger and completely get rid of the White Star.

* * *

"Even if we put the piece remaining in yellow aside…"

Cage was looking at Alberu as if she found this hard to understand.

"Why is everybody stopped at purple?"

Crown prince Alberu was biting his lips without being able to say anything. On the orb located on top of the sealed god's temple… Alberu's gaze sunk while looking at the six pieces of the orb.

'Purple was…'

Alberu recalled what purple represented in this illusion test.

'Indignity.'

There were now only five pieces lit up since Toonka had given up. Of them, one piece was stuck in yellow but the other four pieces were all stopped at the purple indignity test.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]