Chapter 641

Sometimes, the mere sight of something sends a chill down your spine and makes your hair stand on end.

Like everything in front of me now.

Fwoosh.

Faint moonlight spilled through the swaying leaves, as mysterious as a scene from a myth. But it wasn’t shining on a peaceful blue lake.

What is this…?

A dark, desolate swamp. Hundreds of large shapes hung there, wrapped in layer upon layer of spiderwebs like silkworm cocoons. Around them were white eggs, smaller but several times more numerous.

What the hell are they?

An ominous question weighed on me, one I felt I shouldn’t learn the answer to.

Even so, I’d instinctively reached out. My hand was already touching the nearest cocoon.

Tap.

An unpleasant sensation ran through my fingertip. At the same moment, a System notification sounded in my ear.

Beep. Ding.

System

• You have been Poisoned by Thousand-Year Spider’s Paralytic Venom!
• If you are not detoxified quickly, you may enter Full-Body Paralysis and Unconsciousness!
• The potential effect of the Myriad-Poison Ring has been activated!
• All status abnormalities related to Poison have been removed!

System

• You have been Poisoned by the Thousand-Year Spider’s Paralysis Poison!
• If you are not detoxified quickly, you may enter Full-Body Paralysis and Unconsciousness!
• The potential effect of the Myriad-Poison Ring has been activated!
• All status abnormalities related to Poison have been removed!

My fingertip went numb for a moment, then felt cool and clear again.

The Myriad-Poison Ring was a divine artifact capable of absorbing even Formless Ultimate Poison. However unusual a venomous beast the Thousand-Year Spider might be, its poison couldn’t harm me.

If this is a Thousand-Year Spider’s web…

A possibility struck me. I tightened my grip and tore the webbing apart.

Crack. Riiiip.

Hundreds of layers of webbing gave way under my grip. When the shape concealed inside was revealed, the Beast Miao King, who had been watching from beside me, muttered like he was groaning.

“A person?”

He was right.

The man’s face was as white as paper, and his body lay perfectly still. The Beast Miao King checked the unknown man’s faint pulse and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. He’s still alive.”

I had expected as much. According to what the System had told me earlier, the Thousand-Year Spider’s webs did not contain poison powerful enough to kill their victims.

The reason was probably…

To keep them fresh. So the spiders can eat whenever they want.

Now I understood why the sight of this place had made my hair stand on end.

A slaughterhouse.

Before it was the Thousand-Year Spiders’ home, this swamp was a slaughterhouse and an enormous food store.

Only then did I detect the heavy smell of blood beneath the stench coming from all around us.

“Spider bastards. They’ve sure been stuffing their faces for a long time.”

Hundreds. No, perhaps thousands.

If the Nanman Beast Palace’s records were right and the Five Poisons Sect had created the Poisonblood Grounds, there was no telling how many people had died here over the years.

Ironically, the spiders’ habit meant we could save many of their captives today.

It did seem strange. More warriors had disappeared than died.

About three hundred elite warriors had been stationed at Ailao Mountain. The five Thousand-Year Spiders had killed roughly a hundred on the spot, eaten their fill, then dragged the rest into the Poisonblood Grounds. Before long, they would have eaten those warriors one by one.

Instead, we’d found them.

“Would you look at these goddamn bastards! They deserve to die!”

The Beast Miao King’s eyes were red with fury. I tried to calm him down.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but you already killed them.”

“Tearing them to pieces wouldn’t be enough!”

“Uh…”

Well, I couldn’t argue with that. But for now, we needed to deal with the situation, not dwell on our anger.

After calming down a little, the Beast Miao King looked around with a devastated expression.

“To think they dared to do something like this.”

“You said there hadn’t been any major losses before now, didn’t you?”

“It’s true. At least during my time as Palace Lord, we’ve had no trouble like this.”

“Strange, then. Five Thousand-Year Spiders suddenly show up and attack your warriors at a time like this.”

He was silent for a moment at my pointed words. Then he said, “Dark Heaven… Do you think this was their doing?”

I nodded without hesitation.

“I don’t know if they were directly involved, but I’d bet they had a hand in it. There’s nothing strange about Thousand-Year Spiders attacking people. The timing, though? Of course I suspect Dark Heaven.”

“But if they are behind this, they could have waited until after you left. Doing it on the final day of the Tribal Grand Council only hurts their cause.”

“Well…”

My voice trailed off. His point was sharper than I’d expected, and I couldn’t easily dismiss it.

He’s right. If I were the Southern Heaven Demon Empress—that bitch—I wouldn’t have bothered.

Even without any interference, it was practically certain that the Nanman Beast Palace’s entry into the Murim Alliance would fall through. Dark Heaven had no reason to stir up Nanman for nothing.

So why?

Nothing about it made sense. Ailao Mountain’s Wraith had appeared out of nowhere and still hadn’t shown itself. Five Thousand-Year Spiders had suddenly begun a massacre. And there was the question of whether they were connected to Dark Heaven.

I was still frowning over it when the Beast Miao King’s voice brought me back.

“Right now, the problem is moving these people. It’s a blessing they’re alive, but getting them out of the Poisonblood Grounds is another matter.”

I set those thoughts aside. “If you ask me, we should leave the others as they are.”

“Leave them? Here?”

“…Do I look insane? Of course we’re taking them back to the Nanman Beast Palace. I told White Tiger to bring people here, so we should wait for them. Assuming he understood me.”

“You mean Muyaho. He’s cleverer than most people. I’m sure he understood.”

“…”

“What’s that look for?”

“Oh. Nothing.”

I nearly burst out laughing.

Muyaho. The more I heard that name, the harder it was to get used to. I managed to straighten my face and went on.

“And we should leave the webs intact.”

“Because of the poison.”

“Yes.”

Getting here had been difficult. Getting back would be far worse. We’d have to take some two hundred patients through the Poison Mist after they woke from several shichen¹ of full-body paralysis and unconsciousness.

I’m not even sure how much the Myriad-Poison Ring can cover.

The Myriad-Poison Ring certainly possessed mysterious power, but I couldn’t put two hundred lives through a fifty-fifty gacha² roll just by trusting in this one item.

They were safer staying wrapped in the webs.

“At least the Poison Mist doesn’t seem to affect them in there. Otherwise, they’d have died on the way here.”

“True. Perhaps the Thousand-Year Spider’s poison in the webs keeps other poisons out.”

In a sense, it was poison countering poison. The webs had been coffins on the journey here. Now they could serve as cryogenic capsules, keeping the warriors safe from the Poison Mist.

Besides, even if I unwrapped and detoxified them one at a time, there was only so much I could do. Our conversations would probably go something like this:

All right, patient. Slowly open your eyes. Can you see the fingers I’m waving in front of you? If you can, tell me how many there are.

“Uhh… One. One.”

Which finger?

“The middle one.”

Right. It means fuck you.

“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden……?”

It was a simple test. Anyway, good. You can see and hear clearly now. Both your sight and hearing have recovered.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Han Chinese sir.”

Ha ha. Don’t mention it. The paralysis should be gone now that you’ve been detoxified. Can you move your fingers?

“Of course. I can move them just fine.”

Good. I have something for you to do with them. First, what’s your name?

“Me? Jang Sam.”

Excellent. Here’s a dagger. Write what I dictate on this wooden tablet.

“Yes, all right.”

Write exactly what I say. Jang Sam.

“Jang. Sam.”

Lies here.

“Lies here. Wait, what?”

I didn’t want to alarm you, but we have to go back the way we came. And we’re out of poison-warding pearls. Oh, I’ll be fine. I have the Myriad-Poison Ring.

“…!”

I’m ‘invincible.’ The Myriad-Poison Ring is a ‘god.’

Hmm.

That would turn into a two-hundred-against-one battle to the death over the Myriad-Poison Ring.

Or two hundred against two. The Beast Miao King had a big, beautiful top-grade poison-warding pearl of his own.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“It’s nothing.”

“Is it Dark Heaven?”

“No. Heaven as in the sky.”

His expression hardened. “Are you actually insane…?”

If my department head had been here, he would have laughed. But it seemed the Palace Lord didn’t get the joke.

The Beast Miao King looked me over with an expression like he was staring at a Thousand-Year Spider walking on two legs, then began gathering the warriors wrapped in webs into one place.

Slice. Slice.

Every time his straightened palm moved, the people hanging in midair were neatly stacked together.

There were two hundred of them—almost exactly the number of warriors who had gone missing from Ailao Mountain.

Wait. What about the ferocious beasts?

As I helped the Beast Miao King move the survivors, I remembered one of the questions I’d had while searching Ailao Mountain: the missing ferocious beasts were nowhere to be seen.

The Beast Miao King soon noticed it as well and wore a puzzled expression.

“That is strange. There is no sign of the ferocious beasts.”

“Are they timid, by any chance? Do they tuck their tails and run when they meet strangers?”

“I’m asking because I’m curious, but do you perhaps not know what ‘ferocious beast’ means?”

Of course I did. Ferocious. Beast.

That was why it was strange. So many of them wouldn’t have abandoned their masters and run away.

And it’s not as if Thousand-Year Spiders are picky eaters.

I knew spiders. Hope Goshiwon, where I’d lived for nearly seven years, had more spiders than hope.³ I’d even grown fond enough of them to share my ramen.

Then where the hell did the beasts go?

We’d have to search more of the Poisonblood Grounds to find out, but I doubted Thousand-Year Spiders were meticulous enough to sort their food by type.

Just as the Beast Miao King and I were looking around in confusion—

Rustle.

A small sound came from more than ten zhang⁴ away. With it, I sensed a faint presence.