Chapter 18 Mural
Where could this be?
I ran and ran from the giant millipede, losing all sense of direction.
In my desperate escape, it seemed to have lost interest and turned back.
But I couldn’t go back.
I became a lost baby lizard.
Cold, hungry, and dark.
My body shivered with cold.
I had never tried to control my temperature before. The most I’d done was make a blanket out of leaves to cover myself.
Even that was enough to get by, but now it was different.
Perhaps due to my injuries, I could tell my movements had noticeably slowed.
Even with rest, my HP continued to decline instead of recovering.
“Ugh…”
I wandered around, making sounds like a sick lizard.
If only I could eat something, I might recover a bit….
Thud.
Something bumped into my foot.
Hoping it was food, I looked closely, but it wasn’t a living creature.
A small sphere, possibly brown or black.
The size was just right for my inner core.
Wait, another inner core?
I looked up and then down again.
An inner core is precious. But to me right now, it was worthless.
Less valuable than a small cricket that could fill my belly.
What’s the use of an inner core?
I didn’t even have the strength to digest it.
But should I still fill my belly with something?
With a glimmer of hope, I focused my eyes.
To precisely identify what lay before me.
However, my wild instincts gave me no information.
So, it’s not an inner core?
If it were an inner core, my wild instincts would have sensed it.
I could even detect fragments of an inner core, let alone a complete sphere.
So, what on earth is this?
Is it edible?
Could it be some other animal’s egg?
No, if it were, I would have recognized it long ago.
I flicked my tongue, sniffing it.
It was peculiar.
A scent I had never encountered before here.
A nutty aroma that made my mouth water.
Yes, it was the smell of grain.
A scent I had forgotten.
And the subtle sweet fragrance among the grains resembled honey.
Grain and honey.
A rational lizard might question why it’s here.
But a hungry lizard had no such luxury.
Chomp.
Gulp.
The crispy texture was immensely satisfying.
It was incomparable to the spider’s special insect cocoon.
The flavor of grain and honey filled my mouth.
In a word, it was like eating a dumpling made of crushed grain.
It didn’t matter what it was.
It was delicious. So delicious that I forgot I was a carnivorous lizard.
I quickly ate up the dumpling and licked my tongue in regret.
Then, the same scent surrounded me from all directions.
This mysterious dumpling wasn’t the only one.
I frantically roamed around, picking up and eating the dumplings.
Chomp.
Gulp.
Chomp.
Crunch.
I was happy.
Some had a delightful nutty flavor of grains, while others were excessively sweet with honey.
The caloric content of these dumplings was so immense that I felt I was gaining weight in real time.
Moreover, my gourmet level significantly increased.
If this isn’t gourmet, then what is?
Chomp.
Eat while I can.
After eating the dumplings for quite some time, I patted my now plump belly.
Finally, I felt my mind clearing.
Indeed, I needed sugar for my brain to work.
I stretched my stiff back and stood on two feet.
It was time to return to being a two-legged lizard, not a quadruped.
Maybe because I ate something sweet, my vision seemed brighter.
Wait, maybe it’s just brighter around me?
Curious, I looked up and saw green crystals embedded in the wall.
The crystals astonishingly emitted light on their own.
It seemed very artificial. The arrangement of the green jade-like crystals was highly suspicious.
They were arranged at regular intervals. As if someone had intentionally placed them.
What is going on?
I widened my field of vision.
I moved my gaze towards the source of the green light.
There was a large rock.
It looked quite different from the rocks I had seen in the cave so far.
It had a slight purple hue. Just from its appearance, I could tell its hardness and toughness were far beyond ordinary rocks.
And there were traces of someone engraved on it.
Was it clawed by a bear-like beast?
No, it was too beautiful for that.
Countless straight and curved lines flowed like water.
It didn’t take long to realize what it was.
Next to those traces, I found a few easy-to-recognize drawings.
There were humans drawn.
Yes. It was a mural.
Not just any mural, but one depicting humans performing martial arts.
I had discovered human traces.
*
“You’re late, Left Guardian.”
No sane person would say such a thing to a hobop of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
A hobop is a direct martial artist of the cult leader and is referred to as the sword of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Even elders or veteran members of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult have no authority to command a hobop.
Mutual respect is the principle, and depending on the situation, a hobop could even punish them.
However, Left Guardian Woo Jinwoon could only bow his head to the woman before him.
“I was delayed by some matters. Shrine Maiden, what brings you here?”
She was the Shrine Maiden of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Baek Seolhwa.
Left Guardian was extremely tense. He knew why she was looking for him.
“I’ll get straight to the point, Left Guardian. Do you know where the cult leader went?”
Woo Jinwoon was troubled.
No matter how much the person before him was the Shrine Maiden of the cult, he couldn’t divulge the whereabouts of the cult leader so easily.
But no one in the cult would question this situation.
The Shrine Maiden shared the same blood as the cult leader.
“You seem to know.”
“Well…”
Left Guardian gulped.
It felt as if the cult leader was standing right before him.
Their faces were so similar that it was hard to tell them apart.
The only differences were that the Shrine Maiden seemed slightly more sluggish and that the position of their tear moles and the shade of their hair color were slightly different.
“Left Guardian. Have I ever let you down?”
Woo Jinwoon was going crazy.
He resented the absent Dahobop and Uhobop.
If he fulfilled his duty as Left Guardian and kept his mouth shut, who knows what this crazy Shrine Maiden might do.
Yet if he told the truth, he’d have to endure the lectures of the strict Dahobop and face the cult leader’s wrath.
After a long internal struggle, Woo Jinwoon lowered his gaze.
“He went to the Silver Dragon Cave….”
“What? Did you say the Silver Dragon Cave?”
The Silver Dragon Cave.
One of the mysterious facilities of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, it was an artificial underground cave created solely for training. It was located in the heart of Mount Samman and had been ordered off-limits by the cult leader for the time being.
“Unbelievable. Why did he go there?”
“He said he had a dream….”
“A dream?”
Baek Seolhwa was taken aback.
The Shrine Maiden’s domain was dreams.
No matter how great the cult leader was, dreams were her territory.
Moreover, sneaking into a place he himself had sealed off? This was not an exemplary story for the cult’s followers.
“Leaving the Shrine Maiden out of this? Does he think he’s some kind of oracle? And what were you doing, Left Guardian?”
Woo Jinwoon felt utterly wronged. Why was the cult leader’s misdeed being blamed on him?
All he could do was say,
“I heard it from Uhobop….”
He thought it wouldn’t hurt to blame the absent Uhobop a bit. It was also a form of revenge for leaving the most difficult task to him.
Sigh.
Baek Seolhwa sighed deeply and crossed her legs.
It was an action unbefitting a Shrine Maiden, but only Left Guardian and the Shrine Maiden were present.
As long as Left Guardian kept silent, there would be no problem.
And Left Guardian wasn’t the type to spread gossip.
“So, what kind of dream did he have?”
Woo Jinwoon hesitated for a moment before answering.
“He dreamt of a dragon.”
“A dragon?”
“Yes. He dreamt of a massive green dragon engulfing the earth.”
Baek Seolhwa shook her head.
“So, he took all the prepared Bijokdan and went to the Silver Dragon Cave?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, dear….”
Seolhwa pressed her temples.
The cult leader’s absence meant she would have to act as the cult leader for a while.
She accepted that as a duty. Given her resemblance to the cult leader, it was her obvious responsibility as the Shrine Maiden.
But why didn’t he inform her?
He wanted to finish everything secretly and return unnoticed.
Fortunately, she noticed. If a guest arrived while she was unaware, it would cause chaos.
“I told him to inform me whenever he went somewhere….”
Baek Seolhwa sighed deeply.
“Left Guardian. You.”
Suddenly, Left Guardian was nowhere to be seen.
He had long since left the building with steps as silent as shadows.
“You…”
She had lost the target of her anger.
Though it wasn’t entirely Left Guardian’s fault, Baek Seolhwa, who had become the Shrine Maiden at a young age, still felt the need to blame someone.
Hold it in.
It’s not Left Guardian’s fault.
The cult leader has done this more than once.
“Hoo.”
Baek Seolhwa
exhaled deeply.
She had to prepare for a possible emergency, which meant getting ready to impersonate the cult leader.
While rummaging through her drawer, Seolhwa spotted a small, beautifully designed box with mother-of-pearl inlay.
The Shrine Maiden momentarily forgot her anger and smiled.
It was a box containing dumplings made with the precious honey of Okbong.
Just the memory of its taste made her smile.
Should I eat just one?
Seolhwa hesitated.
It would be delicious.
No, it would be extremely delicious.
But it was expensive.
Even as the Shrine Maiden of the cult, she couldn’t indulge in luxuries, especially when funds were running low.
However, she felt only the honey of Okbong could quell her current anger.
The cause of this anger was the cult leader.
Therefore, charging it to the cult leader was the solution.
Seolhwa nodded.
It was a logical conclusion.
Problem solved.
Now, the only thing left was a rightful reward to soothe her anger.
She reverently opened the box.
Upon seeing its contents, Seolhwa screamed.
The dumplings that should have filled the box were all gone.
“Y-you…”
Only one person in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult could have done this.
“Baek Yeonyeong!!!”
Seolhwa screamed the name of the cult leader, who was already in the Silver Dragon Cave.
Of course, there was no way she could hear her.
“You, just wait until you come back.”
The Shrine Maiden of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult vowed revenge on her sister, who had stolen her precious snack.
Little did she know, the snack had been devoured by a small, cute lizard, not the cult leader.