Escaping the Mystery Hotel - Chapter 368

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 367: Room 205, Curse Room - ‘Absolute Master’ (16)

──────

News of the Harmonious Gate Lord's sudden death threw the area around the Wall into chaos.

The Emperor was only a boy in his early teens, so it was no different from the Empire's true ruler dying.

Still, some people couldn't care less about the chaos outside.

The Phantom Demon, having taken over Sang-hyeon's body, had a gleam in his eyes.

“Wow! Ja-seong, you've gotten really old.”

“...”

“Won-hong is still full of life even though he's over two hundred, so why have you gotten so old already?”

“You haven't changed at all.”

“Hey, I'm the greatest master under heaven, so I'm different from you...”

“You got beaten like a dog, locked in an underground tomb, and slept there for thirty years, yet your mouth still seems buoyant enough to float on water. That's why I say it.”

For the first time, the Phantom Demon's expression hardened.

Being defeated by the combined assault of the “bugs” he had looked down on and sealed in Mount Cheonjang for thirty years was a humiliation even he found unbearable.

A faint chime rang from the Phantom Demon's spear, and five bluish phantoms appeared.

A spiraling dance of spears filled the air and surged in from every direction, like several masters launching a joint attack in a single breath.

The moment Yi Ja-seong's eyes pierced through the phantoms, the instinct of an Absolute Master told him that every spear was both an illusion and real.

‘Then I'll cut them all down at once!’

A streak of lightning rose from Yi Ja-seong's sword and tore through the air, snapping every spear the Phantom Demon had created.

The Phantom Demon looked genuinely delighted as he twisted his right hand into a strange shape.

The air trembled oddly, then a hand filled with indescribable dread appeared in midair and descended upon Yi Ja-seong.

“Haah!”

At that moment, Yi Ja-seong's sword moved in a way that defied all explanation.

It wasn't as fast as light, as hard as steel, or as strong as a bull.

Yet nothing hindered its path. The sword of Unhindered advanced with ease and tore apart the ominous hand.

The Phantom Demon admired the sight.

“Amazing! Is that something you learned recently?”

“...”

Instead of answering, Yi Ja-seong's expression tightened. Having fought a life-or-death battle to imprison the Phantom Demon, he knew that playful attitude only appeared when the Phantom Demon had room to spare.

“Ah, this won't do. Fighting you with just one spear really is difficult.”

Yi Ja-seong could tell that his opponent possessed skill enough to rank among the ten greatest masters under heaven with either a blade or spear.

It was simply that Yi Ja-seong himself was the best in the world at that kind of fight.

There wasn't a trace of defeat on the Phantom Demon's face as he admitted he had trouble dealing with Yi Ja-seong.

Martial arts involving swords and sabers were everything to Yi Ja-seong, but to the Phantom Demon, they were merely one of many talents.

Then, as the Phantom Demon's eyes gleamed as if to say the game was over...

Yi Ja-seong split his mind.

...

“How fascinating.”

When Yi Ja-seong barely regained his senses, his opponent looked sincerely surprised, unlike before, when he had seemed to be playing around.

“Did you build a wall within your mind? What kind of technique is this?”

“... Divided Mind, One Suchness.”

“You divided your mind, yet it remains one? Is this a method to counter my Soul-Shifting Demon Art?”

“...”

“This is truly remarkable. Much more impressive than that unusual swordsmanship from before. But doesn't it seem like you've added something unnecessary?”

The Phantom Demon still didn't seem serious about this fight.

His attitude alone made that clear.

Could anyone chatter on about this and that in the middle of a life-or-death battle?

It looked like an absolute being teaching a lesser fighter from high above.

That was why Yi Ja-seong charged without hesitation.

“Splitting the mind is fine, but why use One Suchness to gather it back into one...”

--- Slash!

In an instant, the Phantom Demon's head rose into the air while the body below it collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

“There is no reason to gather it back into one.”

Sang-hyeon's head rolled across the floor and continued speaking.

“...”

Yi Ja-seong wasn't surprised.

He had known for a long time that this monster wouldn't die even if its head was cut off and its body burned.

Instead, the old man took a mysterious Five-Colored Orb from his bosom and shattered it.

--- Whoosh!

Mysterious flames instantly spread in every direction, beginning to burn the entire room.

At this rate, both the old man and the head rolling across the ground would be reduced to a handful of ash, yet neither showed any fear.

“No, what the hell is this now?”

“Do you think Jo Won-hong was idle while I was creating Divided Mind, One Suchness?”

“Ah! Is this some method that idiot from the Fire Cult came up with? He turned it into an item and gave it to you?”

“Within these flames of purification, you will no longer be able to take other people's bodies.”

“Wow! Ja-seong and Won-hong have both been living very diligently, haven't they?”

“...”

“So am I finished now?”

“Probably.”

“Fine. Let's finish what we were discussing earlier. You attained the great realization of splitting your mind, so why did you gather it back together through One Suchness?”

“...”

“It's obvious. You were afraid your mind would break apart, weren't you? So you gathered it back together. You made ten hands, then tied them together with strings to make two clumps again. What a pointless fucking...”

--- Slash!

The sword of Unhindered split the Phantom Demon's head rolling on the floor.

In the silent room, amid the blue flames, Yi Ja-seong muttered with an uncertain expression.

“I... wasn't wrong. The self comes from singularity. How could it be divided? Never...”

At that moment, a cold voice came from outside.

“That's why you fall short. You could have reached heaven by taking just one more step, yet you couldn't cross it and ended up like this again.”

The burning wall crumbled like a sheet of paper.

Feeling dizzy, Yi Ja-seong turned his head and found dozens of soldiers surrounding him.

The moment he saw the soldiers' eyes, Yi Ja-seong finally understood the source of the Phantom Demon's composure.

From the very beginning.

Before Yi Ja-seong shattered the orb and created the purifying flames.

The Phantom Demon had already taken over multiple human bodies at once.

Kim Sang-hyeon was only one of the Phantom Demon's ten fingers.

“Ja-seong, this is true ‘Divided Mind.’ There's no need to add anything unnecessary to it.”

“You couldn't have been able to do this before!”

“Do you still have something left? Go on. Show me everything you've got.”

Only when Yi Ja-seong saw the demon's smiling face did he realize the outcome had been decided from the start.

The demon simply had no intention of killing him easily.

The Phantom Demon wanted to see Yi Ja-seong use every method he had prepared, lose anyway, and fall into despair.

“Oh, right. I found the finest weapon outside. I've never seen a body better than this under heaven. The Big Dipper Grand General, was it?”

* * *

- Elena

“Quickly! Get ready!”

“A-Apostle, please wait just a little longer.”

I tried to calm my wildly pounding heart as I urged the soldiers around me onward.

When I looked at Seung-yeop beside me, his face was pale as he trembled in fear.

After returning from the Wall, exhausted, I took a brief nap and woke to find almost all my companions dead!

What the hell happened?

I woke up to hear that Eun-sol had been murdered horribly.

I was so startled that I called the others through the Chat Window, but nobody except Seung-yeop answered.

Of course, the Chat Window had a distance limit, so if they were too far away, they wouldn't be able to answer...

Bullshit!

Was I an idiot?

I wasn't stupid enough to hope someone was still alive in a situation like this!

At the hotel, ominous predictions always came true.

Everyone except Seung-yeop and me was definitely dead.

At this point, I gave up on the idea of fighting back.

What if I used Justice?

I meant I'd given up on even thinking like that.

I'd pushed Ominous Imagination to its limit not long ago, so it would be difficult to use it again for a while. I also didn't know whether our opponent was human or monster, so it was hard to rely on Justice.

So I dragged Seung-yeop, who had been sleeping obliviously, out here and began our escape plan.

We had to run!

Like in the first run, we had to flee west first!

Thankfully, the escape preparations went quickly.

I was right there urging everyone on, and the people of the Avestan Church must have seen that something was terribly wrong at the Wall as well.

The moment the carriage was ready, Seung-yeop and I climbed aboard. Before even a minute had passed, the horses set off.

“S-sis...”

“...”

“Can we survive?”

“We have to hope so.”

As time passed in tense silence, a loud commotion suddenly broke out outside, and the carriage stopped.

I left the carriage, leaving Seung-yeop behind with a suffocated expression.

“What is it?”

“It's nothing! Please get back in the carriage!”

As the knight said, it wasn't a serious matter.

A sentry who didn't understand the situation had blocked the carriage, but a martial artist dispatched by the Avestan Church killed the sentry without hesitation and resolved the matter.

An unknown being was trying to harm the Emperor.

No one here cared about the life of some sentry.

Then Seung-yeop looked flustered beside me.

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“Heavenly Luck suddenly...”

...

[Clear Mirror, Still Water activates.]

When I suddenly came to my senses...

I was speechless.

What happened?

I lost consciousness because of an unknown power, then Clear Mirror, Still Water activated and brought me back.

Clear Mirror, Still Water was a power my Sponsor bestowed to prevent the aftereffects of Ominous Imagination, so when something went wrong with my mind, it activated after a short time.

That meant...

“Aaaah!”

The time that elapsed between some means knocking me unconscious and Clear Mirror, Still Water restoring me could only have been a few minutes.

“...”

Everyone was dead.

In that brief time, everyone from the martial artist driving the carriage to the servants had been killed. Corpses filled the area.

D-don't tell me Seung-yeop was among these bodies?

Did I kill Seung-yeop with my own hands?

How could something so horrible...

Then a familiar voice stopped my destructive thoughts.

“First Apostle!”

“... S-Seung-yeop?”

Half out of my mind, I blankly raised my head.

Seung-yeop approached me, covered in blood and trembling on the verge of tears.

Thank goodness.

At least the two of us were alive, so somehow...

...

‘First Apostle?’

There were only the two of us here, yet Seung-yeop called me...

First Apostle.

--- Stab!

A sharp sword pierced straight through my heart.

What came into view was the face of a boy smiling like a mischievous child.

Through the pain of scorching flames searing my whole body, I clenched my teeth and called on the power of Justice.

Golden scales spiraled through the air, lifted Seung-yeop's body in an instant, and...

I couldn't throw him down.

First, Seung-yeop was a victim whose body had been taken over by an unknown demon, so he wasn't a Judgment Target of Justice.

Second, my death was already unavoidable. If Seung-yeop died too, everything would truly be over.

“...”

“Ahahaha! Even with a different host, the power of the Fire Cult's First Apostle is about the same as before. You can't casually harm a child? Or you can't harm someone who's a victim because I took their body?”

“...”

“You can't defeat me because you cling to such trivial notions. Got it?”

My body was falling apart.

Justice had no power to restore the body in the first place, so I couldn't keep fighting with my heart pierced.

Even if I could keep fighting...

My Justice had no way to judge the Phantom Demon while slaughtering innocent victims.

It was the worst possible matchup.

... I needed a different Justice.

To judge the demon, a Justice that could burn even a million humans like feathers.

* * *

- Mi-ro

I was scared.

I was so, so scared.

Just imagining what the demon I set free with my own hands might have done terrified me.

A fear so great it felt like my breath would stop devoured my soul.

Ironically, it was fear itself that made me move.

I was so terrified that everyone but me might be dead, and that my death would mean the end of everything...

I gritted my teeth, stood up, and summoned Cha Jin-cheol.

Using the power of the Star Fragment, he collapsed the terrain and got me out of Mount Cheonjang.

I ran.

Getting from Mount Cheonjang to the capital in a short time on foot was impossible in the body of a teenage girl.

No matter how desperately I tried, it was physically impossible.

But with the power of the Protective Suit, which let even a teenage girl smash trees with one punch and kick off the ground hard enough to launch herself, it was possible.

...

By the time I finally reached the Wall, I knew I was too late.

A hell beyond human words.

A world filled with screams.

Thousands of spikes rose across the plain.

People hung from their tips.

It was coming.

From afar, out of the darkness.

A being that seemed to embody fear walked slowly toward me.

He recognized me.

“Wow! You're the little kid who set me free, right?”

I slipped my trembling hand into my clothes.