When the window asking if he wanted to save came up, it had one meaning. He could infer the situation from the word “save.”
In other words, the ability to Save was the most helpful part of this system.
Would you like to save? ■96th Heavenly Year. The day when power is realized! □98th Heavenly Year. Last day of 7th month. □98th Heavenly Year. Self Story_Fateful day.
Even so, Seol-Hwi decided to not save in this situation. He was not sure if this was a situation where he succeeded in persuading Sima Ryang or if he had failed.
He did not feel the need to save it, since there was a potential of failure. If he ran into problems, he would rather load the save in the first slot.
<You have chosen to not save.>
He refused and tried to run, but then the window popped up again.
Choose one of the choices below ▶Return to the main path ▷Find the Third Disciple ▷Lead the scouting troops and leave the main sect
What is this now?
The choices which were shown made it seem like the conflict was over. There was the natural option of trying to return to the situation to normal, but there was also an option which just popped out without thought, “Find the Third Disciple.”
What will happen to me if I step further into enemy territory?
In addition to that was the third choice, which was even more absurd. Lead the scouting team to leave the sect? Why? What good would come from that?
Seol-Hwi laughed at the absurd choice which came and got started.
Leading the troops and leaving the sect?
Come to think of it, having an option like that in here felt a lot more meaningful. And if one looked at them, it was the same with trying to find the Third Disciple.
If there was information, anything would work. So he had to think for a while. But the results would not change.
<You have chosen “Return to the main path.”>
In order to obtain information to do either of them, he had to head back and check on the current situation.
-What happened? What was this talk about falling?
-Anyway, thank goodness. Doesn’t seem like he is seriously injured…
-It can be talked about later, he needs to be treated now. Prepare a seat for the Third Disciple.
Upon returning back to the realm of the Earth Demon, the Black Demon Warlord, Ack Bi, and Cho Ah-ran came to welcome him.
Seol-Hwi wanted to respond to their words, but he could not because this was just a cutscene.
A blinding white light obscured his vision and it turned dark again.
-You have quite a few burns on your arms and legs, but fortunately they are just surface wounds. Not a huge deal… do not worry.
A physician was reporting on the treatment to the subordinate and leaving that, it got bright again.
“…”
Seol-Hwi was left alone in the room. His body moved slowly and it felt like his senses were returning, making him sigh.
“Phew.”
He had this complicated feeling. The flow of time was forced forward as the mission was over.
What he had been pushed through, without being able to respond, made him feel uncomfortable.
Things went dark and became bright again, and he was not even sure how many days passed. The flow of time was outside of his control to the point where he could not even use his own hands.
Would it not remind him of the time when he was entirely under the influence of the System?
The same went for the choices in front of his eyes which would suddenly pop up. One never knew when or where they would come. If this was the end, was it not the same as moving according to the system?
“When will I be completely free?”
Seol-Hwi spat out words without realizing, but he knew that such a thing would be unlikely to happen. After all, without the system he would have died long back.
And that was the truth.
“Is there no way out?”
Seol-Hwi recalled the memories of the past. The three lives presented by the Earth Demon.
Among them was when he became the key warrior and went to the Earth Demon with huge merit, and was out of the grasp of the system. In addition to leaving the Demonic Sect and stepping into Kangho, he was able to move freely, avoiding the restrictions of the system.
But that was all that happened.
There were people who came to kill him, and in the end, he could not avoid the path of the system.
“That AI jerk. He is also an insane one.”
The guy who had seen such a life millions of times, even if the reloads were counted for Seol-Hwi, it was just in the double digits now.
This alone was making his head throb. But the AI did it not just hundreds or thousands of times but millions of them.
To put it simply, this was not a life where living a billion times would bring success.
In a way, it was natural for humans to turn emotionless. No, more than that, they would doubt if they really existed.
“A strong person that even such a monster couldn’t take down. Does it even make sense?”
Just the thought of it made him dizzy. A unique person who reached the peak among countless others, he was not quite sure if he would also be able to reach that state.
As he was thinking, a soft voice came.
“I was worried…. But you seem fine?”
“Ah…”
Did he fall asleep a little?
He turned to the side to see the Earth Demon who arrived, and confirming it, his face brightened.
“I have caused you concern, I apologize.”
This time he had been appointed as the commander to the troops, but he himself fainted when chasing down an enemy, and that brought in a loss of life to a lot of members.
“No, the battlefield is a place one cannot predict what will happen. Furthermore, one of the enemy’s plans was to spread disinformation, so anyone else would have suffered even more losses.”
But the Earth Demon did not seem to think that this was Seol-Hwi’s mistake. The process was not smooth, but in the end, the elders of the other side were blown away.
Among the Earth Demon’s subordinates, there was no one who could actually get such results. He did not even want to rebuke it.
“And the situation now?”
Seol-Hwi asked about the current situation and what was happening in the meantime. He was in bed the entire time.
So he wanted to know what it was like on the outside.
“Well… for now the Third Disciple is stuck with the Second Disciple.”
“As expected.”
Seol-Hwi nodded.
Since they have been damaged by the Earth Demon’s surprise attack, there would be no other way.
“But contrary to the expectations, it seemed like quite a few troops had been used. She didn’t lose all her troops… later when dealing with second sahyung, she might be a thorn in our side.”
“That well… what we do about that?”
“Right, and…”
The Earth Demon sighed slightly.
It seemed that he was probably referring to the First Disciple,
“Great sahyung has extended his power. After gathering troops regardless of their affiliation from the elders and halls, it seems like he has reaped considerable results in a short period of time. Also, there seems to be a martial arts sect which contacted them from the central plains. They heard that some people were brought to the sect here…”
“Must be Mount Hua.”
“…!”
The Earth Demon looked quite surprised at Seol-Hwi. Seol-Hwi pretended to think about it and then paused.
“Is it that surprising? On the map which I gave to you, the location where the Supreme Pavilion Lord is believed to have met with the Mount Hua’s men has been shown for a long time. And the one above that person was the First Disciple.”
“Hmm.”
“And in the current structure of the sect’s rapidly changing form, which he thought was due to the End Demon’s personality, he wouldn’t hesitate to join hands with foreign enemies in order to obtain victory.”
“…Well, that is true.”
By any means or methods.
In other words, he would not hesitate to sleep with the enemy to win. Of course, the end would still be unknown until a clear win could be seen.
“Nevertheless, the second sahyung is more…”
The Earth Demon let out a short sigh and continued to speak slowly.
“I wonder how they were able to bring in a large number of warriors who had been in the Silver Demon Hall. There were quite a few whose names I was surprised to hear. Even so, we managed to take two of the five halls which worked for him.”
“Five Halls…”
“Right, it is those who follow the great sahyung.”
“Ha!”
It was shocking.
Was the Five Halls not a place where everyone followed the First Disciple? It was shocking that such a place now had been divided.
“So he roughly gathered the warlords and elders and analyzed the actions of the sahyungs… they are on par with the number of troops and quality until yesterday?”
Until yesterday?
Seol-Hwi intently listened to the words of the Earth Demon. Anticipating that from now, what he wanted would come out.
“According to the information I heard from the Thousand Night Hall, the second sahyung is carrying out odd acts.
“Odd in the sense, you mean?”
“Soulless.”
“…!”
Seol-Hwi immediately understood what it meant. It reminded him of the time when there were troops of Soulless under the Second Disciple.
“Looking at your expression, it seems like you know what is happening.”
“Yes. Unlike the kangshi who move stiffly, they are ones which can move naturally. Some can even think.”
“Right. They say they are forcibly making them. Enough to make one full troop.”
“Ah…”
“Numbers are one thing, but the truly amazing thing is their level. It is said that their skills are creating people on the level of super master level warriors. I asked someone who knew about it, but they wondered how can such a thing even be done?”
A troop of Soulless at the level of super master level—the words sounded like a lie, but they would be more powerful. They would not feel pain and would blindly follow the orders they were given even if it meant death.
The Second Disciple was making up for the numerical inferiority and qualitative changes in this way.
“We cannot leave it like that. right?”
“Right. We cannot leave it like that. The great sahyung does not seem to know right now, but it is only a matter of time before the balance falls down with such things happening.”
In the future, the number of Soulless will increase. Now they are just a few troops, but later they would be enough to fill multiple corps.
It must be that there are those who will bring a change in the situation.
If a large number of warriors are turned into Soulless, then the balance of power would tilt towards the Second Disciple.
“So, while we were looking for ways to deal with it, a strange piece of information came in. As it turns out, there is just one place among sahyungs’s troops which produces the Soulless. There was even talk about a new one with demonic energy.”
“…Then.”
As if he thought of something, Seol-Hwi asked the Earth Demon,
“Is the one who is making the Soulless not a young boy? With the name of Songhwa?”
“…How do you know that?”
The Earth Demon looked at him in surprise. This was because the information he just mentioned was only one which they obtained after a lot of private warriors had been used.
Fate… does it always come around like this?
Seol-Hwi let out a deep sigh. Songhwa was one with whom he shared life and death in the past. Many of the things he said came to mind.
“It is necessary to take down just the one who is making the new soulless… then there will be no need to get a huge number of troops.”
And he realized what the Earth Demon was saying, for Seol-Hwi was the one to take the task.
“I understand. But, does this mission require us to kill a child?”
Seol-Hwi asked which made the Earth Demon respond,
“…Is there some other way?”
“Actually, I have heard a couple more things about them. Maybe we can bring them in?”
At those words the Earth Demon’s eyes trembled for a second.
Songhwa was a young Fangshi.
Since he was in the hands of the enemy, they had to kill him, but if they could get him, then that was of course better.
“Then that would be good but… would that be possible?”
“…”
Honestly he had no coincidence.
The Second Disciple’s troops were Soulless. The facilities he made for their production were amazing with the highest security. Infiltrating the place and getting Songhwa would not be possible.
The system which had been played so many times, might put a restriction on them.
“I will try.”
But Seol-Hwi decided. For now, this was the right way.
If Songhwa chose a method other than this, then Seol-Hwi will kill him.
And at that moment—
<Do you want to participate?>
Seol-Hwi’s brow narrowed.
It was because he felt once again that even this was a fate created by the system.
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