WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 98: Jade Token (4)
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-Rumble, rumble, rumble, craaash! Rrrrrumble!
"W-What is that? Aah!"
"The ceiling?"
The ceiling of the underground chamber collapsed with a deafening roar.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
Even with Dan Baek-yeon, one of the Six Stars of Heaven and a Master-level master, there was nothing they could do in the face of this disaster.
-Krrrack!
She hurriedly unleashed the Icy White Divine Art and created pillars of ice, but the pressure and weight from the entire building collapsing were beyond imagination.
The ice pillars shattered in an instant.
'No!'
"Get down!"
-Bang!
At that moment, Mumu braced the bedrock ceiling of the chamber with both arms.
-Krrrk!
Mumu's hands dug into the ceiling.
The weight was greater than anything he had ever experienced, even through all his muscle training. The veins across his forehead and exposed skin bulged as if they might burst.
'Contraction and relaxation!'
Mumu continuously contracted and relaxed the muscles throughout his entire body, not just his arms.
It increased his strength far more explosively than doing it in one area alone, but...
-Kwarurururur!
Even then, the ceiling mercilessly continued to sink.
"Grrrgh!"
The pressure was so immense that it was impossible to guess how many geun it weighed.
One look at his legs digging into the floor of the chamber showed that he could not hold out much longer.
"M-Mumu! Hold on a little longer! I'll try to break through from above!"
-Gooooo!
In that suffocating situation, Tang So-so opened the Body of Ten Thousand Poisons and tried to bore through the ceiling with poisonous ki.
She was not the only one with that thought. Dan Baek-yeon also believed that even Mumu could not endure this, and that breaking through the ceiling was their only answer.
"Focus on one spot!"
Mumu shouted to the two women.
"Grrrgh! Master! So So! Turn the adjustment screws on my wrists and ankles to two!"
"What?"
"Adjustment screws?"
"Quickly!"
Though puzzled, the two did as Mumu said and turned the adjustment screws on the Ki-Restraining Bracelets.
They had no idea why he wanted them turned, but this was no time to ask questions.
-Kiriririk!
All the adjustment screws on the Ki-Restraining Bracelets were set to two.
At that instant, the muscles throughout Mumu's body swelled, and his skin gradually turned gray.
Steam rose from his skin.
'W-What in the world is this?'
Dan Baek-yeon and Tang So-so could not hide their shock at the strange sight.
Yet something even more unbelievable happened.
-Kwarururururur!
The chamber ceiling, which looked ready to collapse at any moment, slowly began to rise as Mumu straightened his arms.
'...This is impossible.'
'H-He's lifting it?'
It was hard to believe even as they watched it happen.
They were too overwhelmed to think clearly, but they understood that the building had collapsed. The wreckage of the building had to be crushing down on this underground chamber, yet Mumu was lifting it with sheer strength.
The sight was so absurdly powerful that neither woman could speak.
Then Mumu bent his knees and said,
"I'm going to jump, so get out through the gap."
"Jump? What are you..."
Before she could finish speaking, the clothes around Mumu's thighs tore apart, and his thigh muscles and calves swelled as if they would burst.
The moment Mumu straightened his knees...
-Kwaaaaaang!
The floor sank as though it had caved in. A tremendous blast of wind filled the chamber as its ceiling shot upward.
The two women's eyes widened as if they would pop out.
This was what he meant by jumping?
'...H-He jumped while holding up the building?'
'What am I even looking at?'
It was a sight beyond all common sense.
The absurd idea of supporting the underground bedrock ceiling, lifting the building, and then jumping with it.
Yet it was happening before their eyes.
Sunlight poured in from above, and pieces of the building scattered in every direction as it rose into the air.
From below, the sight was nothing short of spectacular.
But it lasted only a moment.
"Cadet So So!"
"Y-Yes!"
The two women launched themselves away at the same time, escaping the radius of the Old Teaching Hall as it hung in the air.
No sooner had they done so than the building that had shot upward began to fall.
'Then!'
-Bang!
Mumu pushed off with the arms that had been holding it up and used that force to escape the building's falling radius.
At the same time, the building, which had risen nearly five jang into the air, jolted upward once more before crashing down and shaking the entire area with a thunderous roar.
-Kwaaaaaang!
After getting out safely, Mumu beamed at Dan Baek-yeon as if nothing had happened.
"You're not hurt anywhere, right?"
-Thump! Thump!
Seeing Mumu like this, she found it difficult to calm her racing heart.
He had just displayed a miraculous feat that made no sense, yet he was smiling with such innocent sincerity.
'Just what are you...?'
Tang So-so, meanwhile, covered her nose and turned her head away.
* * *
'This is insane.'
The unknown man's face went pale as he watched the scene.
Only moments ago, he had thought those poor fools had been crushed to death after angering that person.
But how could this make any sense?
A mere human had jumped while lifting an entire collapsed building.
And it had risen nearly five jang.
'...That isn't human.'
It was a monster.
Calling it monstrous strength or saying it had great physical power did not begin to describe it.
A master who had reached a certain level would not find it especially difficult to destroy a building of this size.
But lifting one was an entirely different matter.
'I-I need to report this immediately.'
The man hurriedly tried to leave.
That was when it happened.
-Shwick!
A Dagger suddenly flew toward him. He urgently leaped backward with a movement skill and avoided it.
The man looked at the Dagger embedded in the ground, then turned toward where it had come from with startled eyes.
A young man in his early thirties, dressed in a brown martial uniform and holding several Daggers, was running toward him.
'Who is that?'
He recognized the faces of most people in the academy, but he did not know this one.
He had never seen the man among the masters either.
The man hurriedly placed his hand on the Willow-Leaf Saber at his waist and said,
"Who are you?"
"Who are you supposed to be?"
"Can't you tell from my clothes? I'm a security warrior of the academy. Who are you to suddenly throw Daggers at me?"
Just as he claimed, the man wore the uniform of an academy security warrior.
The nearby security warriors had also gathered after the building collapsed, so there was nothing especially suspicious about the situation.
The young man snorted at his words.
"That sounds convincing, but you overlooked one thing."
"Overlooked?"
"Most security warriors rotate through shifts across the entire city, but the area around the Old Teaching Hall is different."
"What do you mean?"
"After the poison leak and those rumors about ghosts appearing, that area has been staffed entirely by volunteers."
The man's eyes narrowed.
Come to think of it, he had not been assigned near the Old Teaching Hall even once since the second half of last year.
But how did this person know that?
-Shing!
The man slowly drew the blade of his Willow-Leaf Saber.
The young man in his thirties did not miss that moment and threw a Dagger.
-Clang!
The man drew his Willow-Leaf Saber and blocked it.
He did not know who this person was, but he had to shake them off first and report what he had seen to that person.
Then...
-Shwick!
He sensed someone behind him.
Turning his head, he saw a man in his early forties blocking his escape route.
Their name was Neung Hyeon-bo.
Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu called them Secret Agent No. 2.
Secret Agent No. 2 spoke to the young man who had thrown the Dagger.
"Well done, No. 8."
The young man in his thirties was none other than Secret Agent No. 8, the youngest of the secret operatives.
How had Secret Agent No. 8 been able to spot this suspicious person here?
It was because of Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu's order.
[From now on, three secret operatives will watch over Mumu.]
[What? With Young Master Mumu's martial prowess, even a trainee like me should be enough...]
[No. Even if we blocked information, by now the ones lurking behind the scenes will have realized how strong that child Mumu is, or decided that he is an obstacle.]
[Then you mean people will come after Young Master Mumu?]
[Yes. Even if they do not, they will try to watch him.]
[I understand.]
Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu's prediction had proven correct.
They had not expected the enemies behind the scenes to move so quickly.
They were extremely bold.
The academy was already on edge as it tried to catch the arsonists, and officials from the Censorate had even arrived early in the morning.
Yet they had openly targeted Mumu.
'They must consider Young Master Mumu that dangerous.'
Secret Agent No. 2 understood the enemy's thinking.
Mumu had wiped out the arsonists, and even Sa Mu-heo, one of the Six Stars of Heaven and the one behind them, had been captured with humiliating ease.
If not for Mumu, they could have driven out Vice-Master Dan Pil-hu and slaughtered the cadets in the dormitory according to their plan, but all of it had failed.
If Secret Agent No. 2 were in their place, they would have believed Mumu had to be dealt with first.
But...
'How could anyone kill that?'
They had wanted to make certain Mumu died, so they had even collapsed a building on him to crush him to death.
Yet Mumu had not been crushed. He had emerged after lifting the entire building.
The more Secret Agent No. 2 watched him, the more Mumu seemed beyond the realm of humanity.
'You can't kill that. That isn't human.'
It was easier to accept things that way.
Secret Agent No. 2 formed a hand seal and addressed the man dressed as a security warrior.
"Surrender immediately. Otherwise, things will get unpleasant."
Secret Agent No. 8 stood before him, and Secret Agent No. 2 stood behind him.
Though they worked in secret, the operatives were far from weak.
The man dressed as a security warrior gave a short laugh, then held his Willow-Leaf Saber in an unusual reverse grip.
"Pathetic fools. You think the two of you can catch me?"
"What?"
"Do not misunderstand. Scum like you..."
-Bang!
He did not get to finish.
A thunderous crash sounded from behind him, followed by wind so fierce that it made his hair fly.
Goosebumps rose across his skin.
'...Damn it.'
The man swallowed dryly and slowly turned his head.
-Shuuuuuu!
A huge, gray-skinned mass of muscle stood directly behind him, steam pouring from its entire body.
At that moment, only one thought entered the man's mind.
'I have to run.'
That thought immediately flowed to his Yongquan point so he could use a movement skill to escape...
-Smack!
Mumu's huge hand grabbed his head.
Then Mumu effortlessly lifted him into the air.
'D-Damn it!'
The man desperately swung his Willow-Leaf Saber at Mumu.
-Snap!
But the Willow-Leaf Saber struck Mumu's left bicep and broke cleanly in two.
'...Huh?'
The man stared blankly at Mumu.
Was this really human?
It felt as though his mind had gone completely empty.
Mumu, still holding the man's head, looked at Secret Agent No. 8 and asked,
"So this security warrior isn't one of the men who works around here, right?"
"T-That's right."
Secret Agent No. 8 had never seen Mumu exuding such an oppressive air before and answered in a trembling voice without meaning to.
Then Secret Agent No. 8 suddenly realized something unbelievable.
'How did he hear that?'
Mumu had emerged from the building on the opposite side.
Had he heard the conversation Secret Agent No. 8 had shared with this man from all the way over there?
While Secret Agent No. 8 was still stunned, Secret Agent No. 2 said to Mumu, who was holding the man by the head,
"Young Master Mumu, you cannot kill him!"
"I won't kill him."
Mumu turned the man's head toward himself and asked,
"Mister, did you bring down the building?"
'Gasp!'
The stunned man immediately came to his senses at Mumu's question.
From the start, he understood that escaping this monster was impossible.
That left only one option.
'I have to kill myself!'
Only death could prevent information from leaking.
The method was simple.
He only needed to snap the special thread tied around his tooth and burst the pouch of Bone-Dissolving Powder inside it.
-Crunch!
The man twisted his molars together and bit down.
Secret Agent No. 2 saw it and shouted urgently.
"He swallowed a poison pellet!"
"Ah-ha!"
Mumu lightly lifted the man higher, then gave his abdomen a very small flick with one finger.
Secret Agent No. 8 frowned.
No matter how strong Mumu was, with a tiny flick like that...
-Thud!
"Urrgh!"
The man vomited and spat something out.
It was a poison pellet wrapped in a special material.
The pouch fell to the ground and burst, releasing acrid smoke with a sizzling sound.
'...He spat it out.'
A finger flick had prevented him from killing himself.
What an absurd situation.
"Urrgh! Cough! Cough!"
But vomiting up the poison pellet was not all. The man began to vomit clumps of blood as well.
It was as if all his internal organs had burst apart.
'S-Senior?'
Secret Agent No. 8 stared in disbelief, while Secret Agent No. 2 nodded lightly with an understanding expression.
Since taking on the surveillance assignment, Secret Agent No. 2 had seen this sort of thing all the time.
Footnotes:
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