Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 435 (Part 1)



435 (Part 1)

”'< Chapter 436 > Regret. (2)

“Huh…!”

I snapped back to reality gasping for breath.

After coughing a few times I rolled my eyes around.

Where am I…?

It’s a strange ceiling… but I can’t see the ceiling.

What I see first is the sky.

Is it night or maybe dawn?

A subtle sky that makes it impossible to tell the time catches my eye.

Suddenly.

Seeing that I immediately propped myself up.

I quickly looked around.

‘…Where the hell am I now?’

All I could see around me was a pitch-black scorched dirt floor.

I grabbed a handful of dirt and lifted it to examine it closely.

‘This is….’

The dirt was rotten.

And it was extremely foul.

It seemed to have decayed due to some poison.

Fortunately perhaps because time has passed the poisonous aura seems to have dissipated….

I brushed off the dirt and stood up.

First I needed to figure out where I was.

‘What the hell did they send me to?’

I circulated qi through my body.

The energy flowed through the acupoints and made a full circuit around my body.

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The amount of qi had recovered a little. I didn’t feel any abnormalities in my body.

Soon I recalled the words of the Tang Clan’s envoy.

They said I would be taking a test so could this place itself be the testing ground?

‘For a test this feels way too strange.’

An unknown atmosphere caught my attention. I’m not talking about the pit.

Something cool from outside was poking at my instincts.

I gathered my strength and leaped.

Thud-! I broke through the dirt floor and emerged from the pit.

“Hmm…?”

As soon as I landed on the ground I widened my eyes at the sight outside the pit.

I looked around scanning the area repeatedly.

After a few seconds I couldn’t help but be startled.

And understandably so.

“…What the hell?”

Surprisingly the space where I had just been lying was none other than the Poison Lake.

The water that should have been filled to the brim had completely drained leaving only the pit behind. It seemed I had been lying on top of it.

“…Huh?”

Seeing this I could only let out a breath of despair.

All that water drained in an instant? What the hell is going on? It’s not just that the water is gone.

“Shit….”

In a situation where Poison Lake was treated as a prized possession representing the Tang Clan.

Did the water vanish right after an outsider came to watch?

This wasn’t a situation where I could make excuses.

I really messed up.

How do I explain this?

‘…Damn it.’

I thought I had encountered a miraculous event but it seems this is a total bust.

I tried to ease my throbbing temples and turned my head.

I was looking for Nahy who should be waiting outside.

“…!”

As I slowly surveyed the area I felt another sense of alienation.

First of all the fields that were spread out all around were all withered and dried up.

The same went for the forest I had passed through.

The trees were stained black just like the soil.

It was evidence that they had rotted both outside and inside.

The vibrant forest that the Tang Clan had painstakingly nurtured.

It was all dead.

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Thud.

Seeing that made my heart race wildly.

My body was already moving.

I used the little qi that had risen to rush forward.

Something feels off.

Was there an ambush?

Did an attack happen while I was gone?

My mind wasn’t functioning well.

I just ran.

‘Where are the kids? Are they…!’

I didn’t have the mental capacity to assess the situation.

I had to run for now.

Maybe I exerted myself too suddenly.

Blood vessels burst in my eyes.

Thud-! Thud-!

Kicking up dirt I arrived at my destination.

I hadn’t spotted a single person on the way.

A faint smell of blood and a killing intent mixed in the air lingered around me.

I tore open the door to the place.

“Phew….”

I tried to calm my racing heart but it wasn’t easy.

What if something happened?

That thought filled my mind.

I headed toward the place where Namgung Bia and Wi Seol Ah had been.

Even while walking through the corridor I bit my lip at the blood that stained the walls and floor.

Blood flowed from my lips down to my chin.

Finally when I arrived at the location.

“Haah….”

As expected there were no signs of people.

Only faint traces that someone had been there remained.

I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or not.

I felt weak and sank down.

‘What the hell… what’s going on?’

I felt my fingertips trembling slightly.

What on earth happened here?

I should be thinking rationally but I couldn’t maintain my composure.

My heart was racing faster than usual. My breathing was already erratic.

With my emotions shaking violently heat was rising in my body.

What went wrong?

How long was I in the pit for the situation to turn out like this?

What happened to the kids? Are they okay?

What on earth transpired…?

Gripping my pounding heart I tried to turn my head in any way I could.

Creeeak.

I sensed something in my surroundings.

It was a person.

My head turned back.

“Damn it… what the hell is going on…! Is there no contact from the other units?”

A voice rang out.

“…Senior we need to regroup quickly…! Otherwise the other infiltration team….”

“You idiot what are you going to do over there? Just die together? Do you even know who’s there?”

“But…!”

That was enough to hear of their conversation.

Crack-!

I approached and pounced on the presence that entered the place.

One of them had their leg broken causing them to lose their stance. As they fell I grabbed the neck of the remaining one.

“Gahh!?”

The sudden turn of events startled the intruder and they looked at me in shock.

I confirmed the appearance of the one whose neck I was holding.

Their face was ordinary.

At least they weren’t someone I recognized.

Moreover.

“Murim Alliance?”

The clothes they were wearing were clearly those of the Murim Alliance’s sword division.

“Gah… ugh….”

Right after confirming the outfit I loosened my grip on their neck slightly.

“Who are you? Why is the Murim Alliance here?”

“Cough… Huh… Survivor…?”

The intruder widened their eyes in surprise at the sight of me suddenly appearing.

A survivor?

“W-What do you mean there’s a survivor…! I heard there were definitely no survivors…?”

Their cold words twisted my expression.

This meant that there had been an attack on the Tang Clan.

“What happened here? Tell me.”

“I-I am from the Murim Alliance….”

“Answer me first. Unless you want to die.”

As I spoke with a killing intent the man’s expression turned pale.

Gulp… gulp….

Next to the man whose neck I was holding the one with the broken leg groaned in pain.

He looked at me and shouted.

“W-What are you…! Why is a martial artist doing this to the Murim Alliance!”

“Shut up and just answer. Why is it like this here?”

I was anxious. I didn’t know how the situation had turned out like this.

From the Tang Clan being in disarray to the lifeless atmosphere.”’