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Chapter 100: Subjugating the Mountain Lord

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Lord Choi badgered me until Seon Master Unjeong finished reciting the entire sutra.

"We'll have to explain this to the people from the North too, but let's talk among ourselves first."

Present were Cheonghak's Grand Academician, the Diamond Sect's Seon Master, and the Black Lotus Society's Society Head.

I felt like Gangnam Holy Temple Church had sent me here as some kind of employee, but none of the three seemed to care.

"To explain beforehand, Brother Gari Bodhisattva here is..."

"I know. Mrs. Park awarded him the Black Knot credential. He also subjugated the great demon Kim Gicheol."

"Pastor Park bragged quite a bit. He said Baek-gunja had improved by leaps and bounds despite his young age, and that he was skilled in both pen and sword."

It seemed the leaders of the Five Great Lineages kept in touch often.

The Great Unification Church Leader didn't seem to, though.

Ah, was that because he led a heretical cult?

"Taebaeksan's Mountain Lord is an ancient being. Its legends were already being passed down during the Goryeo Dynasty."

How old did that make it? At least five hundred years, right?

"Back in the day, tiger disasters were common across this peninsula. They said people spent half the year chasing tigers and the other half attending the funerals of those the tigers ate."

The Korean Peninsula had plenty of mountains and forests. Its clean water supported thriving herbivore populations, which in turn meant plenty of predators.

But people also preferred places with good water, so clashes were inevitable.

Europe had competed with wolves for survival. Korea had done the same with tigers.

"Taebaeksan's Mountain Lord is the greatest among great tigers. It ranks above even the Three Great Tiger Disasters."

"The Three Great Tiger Disasters?"

"They're the most infamous tigers on the peninsula. The Tiger Beastkin, Geumgang Tiger of Geumgangsan, and Sapung Black Tiger of Gangwon Province."

"We believe Taebaeksan's Mountain Lord is the ancestor of the Sapung Black Tiger. Its origins go back even further."

There was a legend of a black tiger that ate people in Gangwon Province for ten whole years.

An existence even older than the formidable Sapung Black Tiger. In other words, Taebaeksan's Mountain Lord was a black tiger.

"The Mountain Lord was sealed during the Japanese colonial era. Most great tigers were hunted during the harmful-animal extermination campaign, but the Mountain Lord was different."

"It was a mysterious being with immortality. Its rank was comparable to the Three Great Evil Ghosts of Japan."

I knew one of them well, the Kyoto White-Faced Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox.

A great yokai with immortality that made it impossible to kill.

It seemed the Black Tiger Mountain Lord was the same kind of being.

"Records say it was eventually sealed, but six hundred Imperial Japanese Army soldiers were sacrificed to achieve it."

They couldn't have been ordinary soldiers.

There must have been expert tiger hunters, onmyoji, and ninja among them.

That was roughly the sort of group needed to seal the Kyoto White-Faced Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox in Japan.

"So that seal has been broken now."

"We originally intended to reseal it. We'd prepared for months. Then a problem came up."

"What problem?"

"There were too many Chang-gwi. So many it was sickening."

Lord Choi said Chang-gwi buried alongside the Mountain Lord throughout the mountain had started popping up everywhere.

"That cunning tiger freed the Chang-gwi before breaking its own seal! So they could ambush the sorcerers who came to break the seal!"

"It truly is a cunning tiger."

In the end, Cheonghak and the Diamond Sect had only established a barrier around Taebaeksan to stop the Chang-gwi from coming down the mountain.

Then Bang Seoryeong raised her hand.

"What about the Chang-gwi heading into North Korea?"

"Taebaeksan is rather large. We were in a hurry to form the barrier, and gaps formed."

It seemed those Chang-gwi had traveled farther and farther north, even crossing the 38th parallel.

"The Mountain Lord and the Chang-gwi are currently contained within Taebaeksan. The problem is, if we want to subjugate the Mountain Lord..."

"We'll have to break through the Chang-gwi army to reach it."

Humans killed by tigers became Chang-gwi, slaves to the tiger.

Fortunately, most of the Chang-gwi the Mountain Lord had commanded during the harmful-animal extermination campaign had been successfully banished.

That left the six hundred Japanese soldiers killed by the Mountain Lord during the subjugation.

A ghost army made up of tiger-hunting specialists and yokai-subjugation experts, no less.

* * *

After the meeting, I returned to my assigned hotel room and opened the window.

"Come in!"

Gari floated over at my call.

But Gari couldn't fit through the window.

"Whoa, you're too big to get in, huh?"

Smack!

"Wait a second."

It was a waste of spiritual power, but it couldn't be helped.

I made a short-range leap up to Gari, placed a hand on Gari, then leaped back into the hotel room.

It was a fairly large room, but once Gari came inside, it felt completely packed.

"Ugh, I just can't get used to this space leap."

"It's like when a plane gains altitude."

My ears felt clogged, and the whole thing felt unnatural.

"What about Sister?"

"She's coming up the stairs."

Good. She'd be here soon.

"Gari, spit it out in the bathroom."

Crack!

Gari went to the bathtub, then spat out a blazing snake.

That's right.

It was the fire snake Cha Hyeran had summoned.

"This has gotten complicated."

I hadn't brought the fire snake along for no reason.

After I beat Cha Hyeran, the fire snake kept following me.

It seemed its contract had somehow transferred to me...

"Is demon magic really that powerful? Powerful enough to steal an existing contract?"

What was I supposed to do with this?

It followed me, so I brought it along. Its whole body was a fireball, so I had Gari eat it for now because I was worried it might set something ablaze. But maybe I should give it back.

No, wait. If I returned it, North Korea's forces would only get stronger.

As a patriotic citizen of a democratic society, wasn't it right not to give it back?

Who told her to lose her contract?

Knock, knock!

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Who's there?"

"P-please open the door..."

A North Korean accent?

When I opened the door, Cha Hyeran stood there looking utterly miserable.

"Cha Hyeran?"

"P-please give it back..."

She looked like she was about to cry.

* * *

The next morning, the joint subjugation force of the Diamond Sect, Cheonghak, the Black Lotus Society, and the Paranormal Military Force Management Bureau began its operation.

"We'll set out in sequence from Taebaek City, Bonghwa County, and Yeongwol County. The area is quite wide, so stay alert."

We slowly climbed from the foot of Taebaeksan.

The path up Taebaeksan was quiet.

Only leaves rustling in the cool breeze and the soft crunch of fallen leaves underfoot could be heard.

"It's too quiet."

As the male shamans around Bang Seoryeong silently nodded at her words...

"Huh?"

A foul odor drifted through the air.

It was faint, but unmistakably different.

"Gari!"

Gari stepped forward. At that moment, a gunshot rang out.

Bang!

Thud!

The bullet struck Gari and vanished.

If Gari hadn't blocked it, either Bang Seoryeong or I would have been sniped.

Halfway up the mountain, ghosts in old military uniforms, half-buried in the dirt, aimed their rifles at us.

"Chang-gwi!"

Gunshots rang out one after another.

Those slow to react were hit by sniper fire, but most had been warned in advance and blocked the bullets with talismans and barriers.

I hid behind Gari and panted too.

"I heard they were Japanese soldier ghosts, but how can they even shoot guns?"

"Ghosts often retain objects tied to them at the time of their deaths. Those aren't real bullets either. They're spiritual bullets."

Come to think of it, Judge Kim had carried a gavel.

These were the ghosts of Japanese soldiers killed by the Mountain Lord during the harmful-animal extermination campaign, so it wasn't strange for them to have guns.

"Still, getting hit by a gun looks dangerous."

"They're using the nature of their spirit bodies to hide underground, so they're hard to hit. Please provide suppressing fire before we send out the Dragon Gods."

"You heard that, Sister?"

【Po~】

Eight-Foot Sister took the lead.

The Japanese soldier Chang-gwi focused their gunfire on the massive ghost, but it did little to harm her.

Her weapon, on the other hand, was Magdalene's Chainsaw.

A monstrous autocannon that fired custom 20mm armor-piercing explosive rounds.

Kaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboom!!

A storm of destruction swept across Taebaeksan.

Overwhelming violence.

Holy Temple Church's consecrated rounds, which cost 25,000 won each, poured out at a rate of 4,800 rounds per minute.

【Po!!】

Eight-Foot Sister held down the trigger with pure delight as the barrage rained down.

The battle expenses had already passed one hundred million won, but whatever. I had plenty of money, so I might as well shoot up to four hundred million.

"Kohaku! Get ready to replace the ammunition pack!"

"Yes, my lord!!"

Kohaku transformed into a massive fox yokai and pulled a huge ammunition-pack backpack from Gari's mouth.

The pack, large enough for someone Eight-Foot Sister's size to wear, held around ten thousand rounds.

After Sister's barrage ended, the pack was replaced.

The change took twelve and a half seconds.

It took long enough that return fire should have come during that time, but the other side was completely silent.

Click!

Once the autocannon was connected to the ammunition pack, Kohaku shouted.

"My lord! Replacement complete!"

"Good! Pour it all out!"

【Po! Po Po~!】

Kaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboomkaboom!!

The storm erupted again.

By the time the two-minute downpour ended, Taebaeksan had returned to silence.

"Reloading!"

A third ammunition pack was installed just in case. If she emptied that one too, it would add up to roughly seven hundred million won fired away.

"I think that was enough to establish our advantage."

"Y-yes... It was enough to make my ears ring."

"Was it not enough?"

"No. It's our turn now."

At those words, the Black Lotus Society's male shamans prayed to the Dragon Gods.

Numerous dinosaur ghosts, brought in livestock trucks, strode forward.

"You may eat every ghost in the mountains! Dragon Gods, we beg you!"

Kyaaaaaaah!!

The Dragon Gods roared and began climbing the mountain.

They ascended at speeds that utterly surpassed any human or cavalry charge.

The Japanese soldier Chang-gwi, who had been pressed flat by the savage bombardment, suddenly found dinosaur ghosts rushing toward them.

"Aaaargh!"

"D-dragons! Dragons!"

There was some return fire, but it was scattered.

* * *

On the opposite side of the mountain from the Black Lotus Society and Yohan, North Korean sorcerers climbed Taebaeksan alongside Cheonghak's Confucian scholars.

"Those are incredible gunshots. What did they bring that makes a noise like that?"

"Don't worry about it. We only need to do our job."

Then Cheonghak's Lord Choi shouted in a booming voice.

"Deploy the Rectified Mind Formation!"

At Lord Choi's command, Cheonghak's Confucian scholars lifted their brushes and inscribed characters in the air.

"Illuminate illustrious virtue!"

They revealed the bright virtue founded upon the clear reason bestowed on humanity by Heaven.

"Abide in the highest good!"

Let the people renew themselves and remain in the highest good.

"A gentleman does not speak of strange things, force, chaos, or spirits. The wicked hearts of corrupt souls shall not disturb the gentleman!"

Lord Choi swept his brush through the air and spoke.

"If the mind is not present, one looks but does not see, listens but does not hear, eats but does not know the taste."

Golden ripples burst from the formation, and the incoming spiritual bullets lost their form.

While the Black Lotus Society and Yohan climbed with overwhelming offensive power, Cheonghak steadily advanced behind an unshakable defense.

"...It's an incredible technique. I underestimated it because it was ancient, but it erased so much Juche power in one stroke."

"Comrade, are you admiring the South Korean puppets now?"

At Ri Gicheol's sharp gaze, the North Korean sorcerer who had spoken lowered their head.

"S-sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

"Get a hold of yourself."

"..."

Ri Gicheol's gaze soon turned to Cha Hyeran.

"Comrade Cha Hyeran."

"Y-yes! Comrade Lieutenant Colonel!"

"I trust you've fully realized that yesterday's failure betrayed the trust Comrade Leader placed in you."

"Y-yes!"

Cha Hyeran trembled under Ri Gicheol's cold stare.

"The Republic gave its full support to bring that fire snake under your command, and you let some South Korean brat take it from you. That could be considered treason against the Party. Do you understand?"

"I-I understand."

"There's only one way for you to make up for it. Either recover the fire snake... or bring this operation to a successful conclusion."

That was North Korea's true purpose for dispatching its sorcerers.

If she failed, Cha Hyeran would be branded a reactionary without question.

"I-I'll do my best."

Cha Hyeran shivered, her face consumed by fear.

The night before, she had gone to Yohan to get the fire snake back.

But...

"Me? Why would I?"

That wicked South Korean bastard had refused to return the fire snake in the end.

Footnotes:

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