Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 21

Nangseon’s Romantic Fantasia – Episode 20

[This scent… it’s Mountain Lord’s!]

At that moment, one of the elites shouted in alarm.

Having withdrawn the silver spell Hongyeon had taught him and releasing his energy, they finally realized that the human-shaped figure was Mountain Lord.

Mountain Lord smirked and kicked off the ground.

In an instant, his figure vanished.

Thud!

Squeaaaaal!!

With a sound like a pig being slaughtered, one of the elites spewed blood and collapsed with a thud!

The elite, his neck pierced by the Nine Ringed Broadsword, died instantly.

‘Fast, so fast.’

His physical abilities had also increased nearly threefold.

As Mountain Lord marveled at his physical abilities, a strange thing occurred.

The Nine Ringed Broadsword vibrated faintly, then began to suck blood from the body of the elite he had killed!

‘This is…’

The elite, who had turned into a mummy in an instant, and the Nine Ringed Broadsword, which happily emitted its sword cry, jingled its nine rings and writhed in joy.

Mountain Lord narrowed his eyes and stared at it before sneering.

It seemed to have become a blood-loving treasure due to the Blood Cat Hermit’s inner core.

The more blood it absorbed, the more powerful its divine powers would become, as an even more ominous energy emanated from it than before.

It wasn’t a good look, but it wasn’t bad either.

However, for the elites, there couldn’t have been worse news.

They didn’t know how he was using transformation, which only spirit beasts and higher could do, but there was no doubt that he had become a Cinema Spirit Beast [a type of powerful magical creature].

‘At this rate, we’ll die.’

The other elites seemed to think so too, as they cautiously backed away.

How could they not know?

The ominousness of the greatsword they held was so malevolent that it made their limbs tremble.

They desperately wanted to turn around and run away.

‘But…’

They were far greater in number.

And the thought of obtaining the Daoist Peak Ring [a valuable artifact] if they caught him kept their feet rooted to the ground.

Moreover, even if they ran away from here, Mountain Lord would kill all the elites of Udun Mountain.

After what they had done, there was no way his fiery temper would allow him to stand still.

The deliberation was short, and Umoon immediately scolded the frightened elites.

[Don’t be afraid! Mountain Lord also devoured Cinema before when he was only comparable to a spirit object! There’s no reason why we can’t do it!]

Why couldn’t they do it?

Many of their brothers would die, but that much sacrifice was necessary for the greater good.

[Let’s go! Brothers! Let’s kill that tiger bastard!]

[Kill! Kill!]

As if having made up their minds, they charged forward, vying to throw themselves at him.

The elites instantly increased in size and burrowed into the ground, their momentum fierce.

“That’s right. You have to come at me like that.”

But Mountain Lord smiled contentedly and poured spiritual power into the Nine Ringed Broadsword.

Clang!

With a chilling noise, more than 30% of his spiritual power was drained.

He grabbed the Nine Ringed Broadsword, which trembled as if wanting to escape from his grasp, and thrust it into the ground.

Thud.

Instantly, a dark red mist exploded in all directions.

It soon stretched out to nearly twenty yards, creating a black fog that obscured everything.

[D-Don’t panic!]

As their vision turned black, they forgot their valiant charge and were filled with fear.

Umoon was trying to calm the elites, but he couldn’t do anything in the black cloud where he couldn’t see an inch ahead.

[Cough!]

Then, one of the elites coughed up blood.

Not only that, but some were bleeding from their noses, while others were shedding tears of blood from their eyes.

They were suddenly bleeding from all seven orifices.

[It’s poison! Everyone, hold your breath!]

But then.

[Aaaargh! Let go! Let go!]

From within the black cloud, something black and human-shaped grabbed one of the elite’s hind legs and dragged him away.

The elite was startled and struggled, but the more he did, the more relentlessly the black cloud targeted him as if it were alive.

That wasn’t all.

The black clouds that had been floating aimlessly slowly took shape and transformed into various kinds of ghosts, targeting them.

They were in the form of various beasts, and in the form of humans, and in the form of something that was neither.

[Kkyaaaa!!]

[S-Save me! Save me!!]

They rushed in like ghouls, dragging the elites into the black cloud.

As his brothers were devoured by the ghosts one by one, Umoon was on the verge of madness.

He couldn’t even breathe properly. The black smoke, moving as if it were alive, floated leisurely as if to mock him, and attacked if he let his guard down even for a moment.

With ghostly things appearing from within the black clouds that were spread all around, there was no hell worse than this.

[Aaaaargh!! You bastard, Mountain Lord!!]

The last surviving Umoon shed tears of blood and cried out to Mountain Lord, but Mountain Lord only watched his end with indifferent eyes.

Confirming that the black smoke had subsided at some point, Mountain Lord slowly pulled out the Nine Ringed Broadsword that he had stuck into the ground.

Swoosh.

At the same time as emitting its sword cry, the black smoke that had devoured the elites seeped into the Nine Ringed Broadsword as if being sucked in.

“…….”

Mountain Lord stared at the place where the elites had been, then looked at the Nine Ringed Broadsword with a bitter expression.

He thought it only sucked the blood of spirit beasts, but now that he had fully unleashed the power of the treasure, the ghosts jumped out and devoured the spirit beasts themselves. The Nine Ringed Broadsword was heterogeneous to the core.

Moreover, the eerie aura emanating from the Nine Ringed Broadsword had become even stronger.

“What is this?”

Mountain Lord grumbled in disbelief and put it into the Gongjeong Bracelet [a magical storage item].

Perhaps because it was a treasure close to a divine artifact, its abilities were certainly outstanding.

The ghosts that the Nine Ringed Broadsword had swallowed emerged from the black smoke—no, the Ghost Dance—and devoured the enemies. It was a bit gruesome, but it was a very satisfying divine power.

But.

The Nine Ringed Broadsword did not distinguish between friend and foe.

He could tell just by looking at the blue flames that were clinging to him here and there as if protecting his body.

Absurdly, the ghosts even reached out to devour Mountain Lord.

Startled, he protected his body with blue flames. Thanks to that, he was able to kill the elites without much damage, but the unpleasant feeling did not go away.

“It’s quite an eerie sword.”

Hongyeon also commented simply as she looked at Mountain Lord’s Nine Ringed Broadsword.

Even to her, Mountain Lord’s Nine Ringed Broadsword was a monster that would devour its master someday.

It would be fine when he was normal, but if Mountain Lord took out the Nine Ringed Broadsword when he was weakened, it would be able to devour its own master.

“I think so too.”

What if he hadn’t instantly covered his body with blue flames? His body would have been damaged by the Nine Ringed Broadsword’s poison.

There was no doubt that it was a powerful treasure, but he didn’t like it in many ways because it wasn’t easy to use.

‘Still, I’ve roughly confirmed the power of Cinema.’

Even when using the Nine Ringed Broadsword, which was close to a divine artifact, more than 70% of his spiritual power remained.

If he were a spirit object, his spiritual power would have been completely depleted at the same time as using the Nine Ringed Broadsword’s Ghost Dance.

After becoming Cinema, his spiritual power had increased nearly threefold, making it very easy to handle the blue flames and distribute spiritual power as if he were moving his limbs.

‘I can also control the power.’

In the past, he wouldn’t have even attempted to protect his entire body with blue flames.

How could he have done that when his spiritual power was being drained just by raising blue flames on his forelimbs?

But even that was a thing of the past. Blue flames were a powerful divine power, and Mountain Lord, who had become more free to handle them, was several times more powerful than before.

Mountain Lord smiled contentedly and approached Hongyeon.

“But, how did you take on a human form?”

“It’s more convenient this way.”

It was a simple answer.

There was no need to say that he was originally human, and it was annoying to explain.

“Perhaps, is it because of that Sanbi [a type of magical creature] you saw last time?”

Mountain Lord’s eyes twitched.

To be honest, he was a little concerned, but that wasn’t why he used transformation.

“No.”

Saying that, Mountain Lord took out the Return Seat Plaque [a token for returning to a specific location] from his chest and threw it to Hongyeon.

Thud.

Hongyeon caught it with her hand and looked at him with a strange expression.

“I won’t be using it anyway. There’s no point in having something I don’t need.”

It was true that he had received help from Black Fox and Hongyeon.

If he wanted to repay the kindness they had shown him, this was all he could do.

‘Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever use it.’

What would he gain by trying to force them to move?

He was already trying to be nice and build goodwill, so there was no need to provoke hostility.

“I’m going straight to Udun Mountain.”

It was better to deal with the Udun Mountain bastards as soon as possible. He had been backstabbed by them, so it was only natural that he should repay them.

“Yes, it’s good to settle debts for sure.”

“Will you accompany me?”

“My master is so slow that I don’t know when he’ll come out, so I can’t give you an answer.”

Hongyeon’s appearance of subtly insulting her master brought a smile to his lips.

“But as soon as my master comes out, he’ll challenge you to a duel and set out to find you, Mountain Lord. So take this.”

Hongyeon took out a small silk snake with green scales from her sleeve.

It was a small snake that was coiled in her palm.

When Mountain Lord raised his hand, the silk snake opened its eyes and slowly moved to his hand, coiling around his wrist and turning into a bracelet.

“It’s called the Traces of Love Snake, and it’s a treasure made by refining a pair of spirit beasts that are born as a pair. If you wear one each, you can find each other no matter where you are.”

‘Traces of Love Snake…’

The Traces of Love Snake had also appeared in the novel.

‘It was something that the heroine who liked the protagonist gave him with her feelings of affection…’

It was something that lovers exchanged.

Mountain Lord made a very uncomfortable expression and nodded awkwardly.

“Lastly, would you grant me one request?”

“Let’s hear it.”

“As a Cinema Spirit Beast, you probably haven’t awakened transformation yet. You haven’t undergone the Heavenly Tribulation [a trial of magical power] and succeeded in the tribulation fire, so how did you transform?”

As she said, Cinema cannot use transformation.

It depends on the characteristics, but in general, it is true that they cannot use it.

They have to become Spirit Connection to be able to use it.

Mountain Lord hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was okay to reveal it, but then explained. There was no need to hide it, and it wasn’t bad to buy her favor.

“I see. Return Muscle Pill [a magical pill that restores muscle function]…. Then, could you perhaps give me one?”

“This? It’s something you don’t need?”

Why would she, who can already use transformation, ask for something like this?

Mountain Lord tilted his head in confusion.

“I have my uses for it. If you give me one, I’ll give you this.”

Hongyeon said that and showed a small sachet from her sleeve.

It was wrapped in blue silk.

“It’s a stone pine sachet that erases odors. It’s a precious chip sachet that emits a scent that clears the mind and calms the body and mind.”

“Odor…”

“You have transformed, Mountain Lord, but you still have a strong tiger scent, so if you carry this, you’ll be less likely to have your identity revealed.”

Certainly.

He was going to kill all the Udun Mountain bastards anyway, so it didn’t matter, but thinking about the future, it wouldn’t be bad to have it since he could hide his energy but not his scent.

He had a few Return Muscle Pills left anyway, and he could easily make them if he gathered the ingredients, so it would be beneficial for him to exchange them for the chip sachet.

‘It can’t hurt.’

Mountain Lord happily exchanged a Return Muscle Pill for the sachet and put it in his chest.

The faint scent of stone pine that rose up cleared his head.

“Then, see you next time.”

“Yes, I think you can look forward to it.”

Looking at Mountain Lord’s back disappearing into the forest, Hongyeon raised the corners of her lips.

“I’m looking forward to the next time I see you.”

* * *

At the same time.

At the Thousand Fox Army of Mount Baek, a man in a blue robe was holding a yellow-brown fur and examining it closely.

“Is this really where he lived?”

“Ah, I-I swear! How could the people of Baek Village not know Mountain Lord…”

The man in the blue robe nodded at the old man’s words and put a strand of fur into a tool similar to a compass.

This was the Tracing Compass, a treasure that could find someone’s location if it had their fur, blood, or flesh.

The palm-sized Tracing Compass trembled, and the needle inside spun around before stopping abruptly.

“Hmm, southeast…”

The man scratched his nose for a moment and looked at another man standing next to him.

“We’re just suffering because of that bastard Nokbong.”

“Don’t be too harsh. Nokbong is also receiving a punishment befitting his actions.”

“Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re suffering.”

These two were Daoist Dosa [a Taoist priest], and like Nokbong Dosa, they were in the same line of Wudang Daoists.

Nokbong was being punished for having a Daoist Peak Ring woman stolen from him, so two fellow Daoists had come to find the Mountain Lord of Mount Baek.

“No matter how much you complain, what will change? Apyeong, now that we’ve decided to do it, let’s hurry up and catch that tiger.”

“Geummyeong, your personality is too gentle. That’s why your senior brothers send you on errands.”

“Errands from my senior brothers are only natural as a junior brother. It’s not that difficult.”

“Ugh, forget it. That’s why I don’t even share gossip with you!”

The two men bickered incessantly and descended Mount Baek with several sword immortals.