Nano Machine 359: Not An Ally (1)

The base of the Imperial Palace Guardian was hidden deep within the enormous Shrine. There were a total of seven underground halls.

The last hall, the 7th cavity, which was said to be located in the deepest underground path, had only been visited a couple of times. Even by the Masters, who were the heads of the Guardians. It was the place where the treasure of the Empire, since its founding, had been kept and protected.

‘Hot… it is getting so hot’

The face of a middle-aged man, who was accompanying the woman called Blood Master, was drenched in sweat. Even though they were cultivating their bodies, the heat seemed to be too high to consider it normal.

The heat around them didn’t seem like a natural phenomenon, it’s as if the underground hall was rejecting them.

“Are you alright?”

“How is it so hot in here?”

He tried to think of a possible reason for it, but it was completely clueless. The woman, Blood Master, wasn’t sweating at all, as if the heat didn’t have much effect on her. She was showing them how different she was when compared to them.

‘… surely she is one of the leading ones of Blade God Six Martial Clan’

Putting aside the useless worries, the middle-aged man decided to protect himself by handling the heat invading his body. Shortly after, they saw the end of the passage.

“I think we reached the location”

The moment they were about to pass into the passage, a white barrier appeared in front of their eyes. It felt strange to finally see the end of the passage. There didn’t seem to be any other entrance after the white wall which blocked them. As they approached the wall, a text was engraved on the wall which seemed to be the entrance side.

[Anyone who wishes for the treasures here will be trapped in here for eternity, and will die miserably. For those who try to escape by using force, they will also die]

The words were vague and contained ominous warnings. The woman called Blood Master, touched the wall as she read it. Seeing from a distance, it looked like a simple pure white wall, but viewing it up close, she noticed how it was made by stacking the bricks.

‘It couldn’t be, right?’

Just thinking of a possibility, she entered the wall.

“Ha!”

An annoyed voice escaped from her lips. The walls were made of bricks, each brick stacked upon another, but they seemed to be connected. The wall had been designed so thoughtfully and beautifully that the entire structure would collapse if anyone broke even one brick in the wall to pass through.

[Ku…ku…ku… Intruders, no matter how much you try, you will never be able to reach the final floor]

It was a warning from the person who called himself the Great Guardian. The people who guarded the underground palace, guarded every hall, and it seemed like this Great Gaurdian was the last guard to protect the treasure.

“You are wasting your time here”

Shaking her head at the warnings, she entered the wall without any hesitation and was soon followed by the middle-aged man. But the moment they stepped inside, they felt a strange vibration on the floor and the wall, as if the ground was rotating.

On the other hand, the 4th underground opening, which was a long way from the 7th level, was a mess. At the bottom of the 4th underground opening, there were traces of fierce battle with numerous lifeless bodies scattered around.

It was just a rough estimate, it seemed like there were around 50 dead people. There was only one person who was still breathing in that place.

With his clothes stained in thick blood, he seemed to be doing something with the dead bodies.

Swish! Cha! Cha!

Unusually, he inflicted new wounds on the already dead bodies. Most of the bodies seemed to be dead for a few days now, and he seemed to be carving something on their bodies with their swords.

“Ugh, it’s such a mess”

It was a complaint for doing it on the body one-by-one. Since only the best of the men entered the base of the Guardian, there was no other choice but to do such tasks.

Cha! Cha! Cha! Cha!

Killing them didn’t take long, but the process of manipulating the sword on their body to carve things, took a long time. Since there were other tasks which had to be done, this man had to remain alone and clean up the mess, like a servant.

‘Even then, it is almost done’

There were another six dead bodies or so for him to get the work done. Perhaps, the Blood Master, that monster, must have already reached the place where the treasure was being hidden.

‘I need to hurry up’

He, too, was curious about the hidden treasure. As he quickly approached the next body, he felt a sudden release of energy from the common entrance, which was on the other side.

‘Is it possible to have reinforcements sent this quickly?’

It was too short of a time for reinforcements to come. With a curious feeling, he turned his head and looked at the entrance. At the entrance of the passage, a young officer clad in gold armor made an appearance.

‘A Guard?’

He thought it would be reinforcements, but only one person was sent? And the Guard was none other than Hu Bong. As Hu Bong looked at the dead bodies, he clicked his tongue.

“Wah… There are more here! This is too much… ugh?”

Hu Bong, who was shocked with the number of the corpses lying around, found a man standing among them. Pointing his finger, he shouted at the man.

“Found him! I came down 4 levels into the basement, only to barely catch you!”

Hu Bong, who was disguised as a Guard, let out a cry as the man raised his eyebrows in confusion. When he felt the energy, he thought an entire squadron of Guardians came, but it was just one person. Moreover, from feeling the energy up close of the Guard, he seemed nothing but a Grand Master level.

Although he was a strong Wulin martial arts wielder, it saddened him to know that he would have to take down the Guard, who was just maturing.

‘Ha! How dare he point a finger at me, someone who is higher than him!’

The man didn’t want to come out as cheeky or over confident. Still, just to be sure, the unknown man asked.

“Are you alone?”

“Ah, yes, I’m still single.”

The man was momentarily stunned by the absurd answer from the Guard.

“Are you trying to mess with me by using such puns?”

“Pun? I just answered your question honestly!”

“How dare you!”

Phat!

The man couldn’t hold back his anger as the Guard continued the joke, so he decided to kill the cheeky Guard. He narrowed the distance between them with five steps in just a single moment and unfolded his sword.

“How dare you talk like that to me? I am going to tear down that damn mouth of yours!”

As he said that, the exquisite sword Qi spread and soon reached Hu Bong’s face.

At that moment…

Creep!

‘Th-this is…’

The sudden release of energy began to warn every cell and neuron in his body. The sudden release of another energy made a chill run down his spine. The man who sensed the increased amount of energy, decided to give up an upfront attack and tried to change his tactic, but it was too late.

Slash! Pop! Pop!

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

In an instant, a sword with black qi spreading around, appeared from behind Hu Bong and stabbed the unknown man right in the chest. Everything happened so fast that the man had no chance to avoid or block the attack.

Thud!

The man, who got stabbed suddenly began to cough up blood as he collapsed on the floor. Looking at that, Hu Bong shouted.

“I believe the person behind me. Hehehe”

The person behind Hu Bong was Chun Yeowun. As Chun Yeowun stayed in the passage, he couldn’t be seen, but he was witnessing everything which happened. However, Chun Yeowun couldn’t fully comprehend the skills of the unknown man.

“Cough… cough!”

The man, who still hadn’t died yet, looked up at Chun Yeowun with shock in his eyes. His face became white and pale, with a grim look in his eyes.

‘Ho, a main seat as myself got overpowered by a young Guard, that too with just one strike?’

It was hard to believe. Moreover, the Guard didn’t even seem that skilled to his eyes.

Within a couple seconds, he started denying this reality. Anyone, with such a monster-like skill and agility, could never be part of the Guards.

“Cough… Cough… you… you… who the hell… are you?”

Looking down at him, Chun Yeowun spoke in a cold voice.

“After using my methods on these bodies, how could you not know?”

“Methods? … What?!”

The man who couldn’t understand the answer at first, soon understood, making him go stiff. There was only one man who would proudly use the word ‘my method’. It was none other than the Lord of the Demonic Cult.

‘Demonic Cult!!! Why are they here?’

The man was supposed to use the Demonic method for their plan to work, but the own Lord of the Demonic Cult made an appearance in front of him!

Chuck!

“Kuuuuakkk!”

As if he was still in thought, Chun Yeowun cut off his right arm. At the sudden severance of the right arm, the man was still unable to comprehend what was happening. While he held onto the severed hand which was bleeding, Chun Yeowun spoke in a calm voice.

“I am busy… every time you don’t give me the right answer, I will cut off one of your limbs. Okay?”

“Uhhh…”

The man was surprised at how Chun Yeowun casually spoke about cutting down the limbs. The man, who was on the ground, started groaning in pain because of his severed arm. At that moment, Chun Yeowun’s sword cut his left thigh.

Slash!

“AHHHH!!”

As he screamed in pain, Chun Yeowun bluntly spoke.

“You still haven’t answered me”

‘This… this crazy bastard!’

The man’s face slowly started turning pale due to his limbs being torn.

The 6th opening, the last line of defence, before entering the final underground cavity, was the battlefield for a fierce battle. Despite having already sent the monster-like woman to the place, the battle turned into a fight for survival.

On the floor, on the side of the entrance, which led to the 7th (Underground) opening, was a middle-aged man with no arms. He was on the three pillars of the Imperial Palace Guardian.

The Great Guardian.

Thump!

The Great Guardian, without arms gritted his teeth in anger.

How did such a situation happen? It was a tragedy which took place while he tried to stop the woman, who was referred to as the Blood Master, trying to cross the hall and heading for the 7th opening entrance, while trying to kill the Guardian warriors who were guarding the 7th opening entrance .

However, in just one attack, such a result was achieved.

‘How can the Great Guardian of the Imperial Palace turn out like this?’

Even after he was considered as the Master of the Guardians, who reached the Superior Master level, he couldn’t stand against the woman.

She truly was an unimaginable monster.

The Great Guardian, who lost both his arms, turned helpless after just one attack, but there was no doubt that the other Guardians couldn’t stop her.

Slash!

“AHHHH!”

The entire opening was swarming with sounds of slashes and screams. The woman called Blood Monster, was indeed a monster, but the two blood-soaked warriors who were standing beside her, were also powerful.

One of them was on the same level as the Great Guardian.

“Cough!”

In the battle, the throats of the court maids were slashed in an instant, not giving them a chance to fight. Although they were women, the Blood Master didn’t go easy on them, and boldly attacked them, making their blood splatter everywhere.

It was too painful to watch such battles happen.

‘You will be the last to die’

As commanded by the Blood Master, the Great Guardian wasn’t touched and the others were being killed, by her companions with spears Right now, including the Great Guardian, there were only eight people alive.

“Kuek… these people!”

Gulp!

Tears flowed from the eyes of the Guardians when he saw his companions being killed in the cruelest way possible, right in front of his eyes.

They were hoping to be killed first to avoid seeing such a scene, but it seemed that did not go as planned.

“Not many are left. They are so terrible!”

“I know…”

Shock!

“Cough!”

It was an overwhelmingly incapacitated battle, yet, not a single warrior of the Guardian stepped back and retreated. Also, it was impossible for the two intruders to stay unscathed in a battle with such skilled Guardian warriors.

They were injured, albeit, to a minor level.

“Uhhh.”

Five people left. With only the five of them remaining, they were all terrified of losing the remaining companions. They were aware of what outcome would come from engaging in a battle with these enemies.

Clang!

The woman held the spear in her hand and raised the other hand as she stepped forward. The hand signals were meant to deal with the people in the best way possible. The man with her nodded.

“Woohoo, you can do whatever you want with these people”

When the women’s order was told loudly, the man smiled as he walked for the remaining surviving warriors of the Guardian.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

‘What?’

At that time, something like mud began to fall on their heads. None of them cared, thinking that the mud-like object was falling as a result of the fierce battle happening underground, but that was when the middle-aged man, accompanying the woman, shouted.

“Blood Master! Avoid it!

Crack!

At that very moment, a crack appeared as the ceiling broke and collapsed. Large pieces of rocks, comparable to huge stones, began to fall to the floor.

“Shit!”

Shocked by the unexpected turn of events, the one with the spear, the man who accompanied Blood Master, moved forward.

Kwak! Kwak! Kwak!

He started hitting the huge rocks that were falling from the ceiling. And thanks to that, dust flew everywhere and obscured everyone’s vision.

‘Th-thank god!’

Although the place was a mess, the man with the spear sighed in relief as he managed to avoid large rocks. He couldn’t hear the voice of the Blood Master, if she was a second late in escaping the rocks, she would have been injured for sure and said something.

As the dust began to set, the man with the spear could see an outline of a figure.

‘Who is that?’

Though he could see a person, he couldn’t feel any energy from that person. It was like an ordinary person who didn’t learn martial arts.

Whing!

At that time, the figure shook his hand lightly in the air, and the dust, which was covering the area, soon subsided. Doing so, the figure’s appearance was visible to everyone there.

“What?”

A young man with white face and long hair was wearing the Guard’s uniform. However, there was something about his face that felt familiar.

“Ah! It can’t be, right?”

The eyes of the one called Blood Master, and the spear man widened. It was none other than their companion, whom the Blood Master had ordered to work on leaving sword marks on the corpses of the upper levels of the underground.