Chapter 486

Arrows flew from the wall, and spikes jutted from the floor.

And occasionally—

A clattering noise above made Cheong jerk his head up.

The ceiling seemed to be charging at him.

Since Cheong was just standing still, it could only be interpreted as the ceiling collapsing.

Cheong’s fist shot up. Bang!

The steel fist of Supreme Hand-to-Hand Combat, or rather, an iron-fisted blow like an ancient relic, delivered a glorious strike to the audacious rock that dared to stray.

Dust from shattered stone filled the air, followed by broken rocks and debris littering the corridor.

Amidst the swirling dust, Cheong spat out a piece of stone that had lodged in his mouth.

Cheong felt wronged.

“Isn’t this strange? Why is it only targeting me? Is someone just watching, waiting to set off traps specifically for me?”

To this, Cheon Yu-hak chuckled.

“Ha! Who would be watching from where?”

Cheong looked around at his companions.

Everyone seemed to agree that this was a bit excessive.

This was a moment when the truth was being suppressed.

Cheong’s lips pushed out in defiance.

“No, it’s clearly targeting only me!”

There were traps in front if he stood in front, traps behind if he stood in the back.

Even when he positioned himself among his party, they almost got caught in an arrow rain.

Thanks to that, Cheong walked ahead, deliberately distancing himself from the group.

Five times, projectiles flew from the walls.

Three times, the ceiling descended.

Four times, the ground caved in.

“Guess I just have bad luck. Who could be watching from where?”

“But, there were plenty of people passing through before; why did the traps go off only when I walked by?”

Wasn’t this the path already traversed by survivors of the previous cave battle?

Why was it only now that traps were unleashed at him after everything seemed fine?

Does that make any sense?

“Well, it is odd and coincidental. But isn’t it better than saying a hundred-year-old cave has a lingering spirit targeting you? Even if that were the case, why would it focus on you?”

“Hmm.”

“Just think of it as bad luck. Maybe a trap was just set off a beat late while you were passing.”

That made sense, but still, didn’t it seem a bit strange?

As a result, only his companions were in a comfortable position.

“Lady! I feel some malice in the air!”

Cheong, grumbling, sank back into disbelief.

To which his companions reacted, “Oh, another one fell,” again and again.

Cheong falling was becoming old news.

It was terrifying how easily one can grow accustomed to such things.

Why was the Blood Sect Technician continuously triggering traps that didn’t seem effective at all?

It couldn’t just be to rile him up.

This wasn’t some desperate outburst from a technician wronged over twenty years.

There was something larger still in play.

In truth, no matter how creatively a trap technician could design their traps, they generally fell within a limited scope.

Shoot, drop, or cause to fall.

So what mattered most was the placement.

Inflicting unexpected damage in unforeseen situations!

This might be considered the pinnacle of traps.

In this situation, the final, deadly strike.

There were malicious traps deliberately constructed to eliminate this guy, who was obstructing their great undertaking, at any cost.

The Blood Sect Technician was lying in wait on the upper level of the trap-laden corridor.

Peering through multiple reflective windows into the passageway, he promptly triggered the trap upon spotting his prime target standing in the lead.

Boom!

The mighty tension of a crossbowstring echoed with the sound of exploding gunpowder.

At that moment, Cheong leaped forward.

But just before he could touch the ground, clatter!

The ground split open, and he disappeared into a spike trap.

And again, clatter!

The ceiling descended with a heavy stone crashing down to fill the spike trap.

“That’s right! You damn little brat! What’s the deal? You can’t catch even a rat with such pitiful traps? Ha! Don’t underestimate machinery! This is the peak of Mechanical System, you damned brat! Hahaha!”

The Blood Sect Technician burst into laughter.

With their body pinned beneath thousands of pounds of stones on top of steel spikes, no matter how adept a master might be, what could they accomplish!

Beyond the observation window, his pale companions collapsed in exhaustion or flung themselves toward the traps in panic.

Then suddenly,

Everyone rushed to slice through the stone that filled the spike trap, tossing aside the debris.

Why? Why weren’t they feeling more despondent?

The Blood Sect Technician felt a sense of foreboding.

“Even if you clear that away, you’ll only find a corpse riddled with holes…”

Then, suddenly, pieces of shattered stone shot up from the hole below.

A head popped up, holding tightly onto a rope that was thrown wildly.

Two piercing blue eyes ignited.

“Gah!”

Feeling like they locked eyes, the Blood Sect Technician stumbled back, landing squarely on their rear.

“Next, there’s another trap coming…”

The last resort, the ultimate trap.

There existed a drop trap that would plunge them into the natural cave dozens of layers below.

If they can’t kill, they have to at least dispose of it.

The Blood Sect Technician bolted toward the next trap, almost in a panicked escape.

As Cheong continued to suffer from the traps, he had become accustomed to the sound of arrows being triggered.

Bang, as the first arrow sounded, he thought, Oh, another arrow is coming, and immediately leapt ahead.

But the floor below violently shook as a forth-buried spike trap revealed itself.

Oh no. The ground’s opening.

Typically, one would panic upon falling into a drop trap, losing their wits.

However, if one realized it wouldn’t cause significant harm, it merely becomes an annoying obstacle.

Already, Cheong’s white robe was speckled with red spots everywhere, so what else could he do?

Cheong twisted his waist and spun around, neatly bringing his hands together in front of his chest.

His chest was so tightly bound that a sharp jab could turn his patterned robe into nothing but red.

After a dizzying free fall, he let out a loud yelp.

His shoulder and thigh were abruptly pricked!

And there went Cheong, rolling across the spike bed, slipping right between the prongs.

Having laid down a few times, it was far more beneficial to slip through the spikes than to bear his weight on them.

Just as Cheong was poised to rise between the prongs, his vision darkened rapidly.

And then boom! A deafening crash.

At that moment, clarity hit Cheong.

With his body laid out atop the spikes, he could have easily been skewered, turning into a pierced corpse.

His heart slammed down for a moment.

Sister! Kids! What do I do…!

Cheong’s heightened human-like hearing caught his own terrified calls.

He dreaded bringing worry to someone else more than dying himself.

Desperately, Cheong shouted.

“Don’t panic! I’m fine! Just move the rocks!”

Worried they might not hear, he hammered away like a Buddha’s Physical Body at the rocks above him.

Then, feeling someone moving busily around, Cheong finally relaxed.

How much time passed?

While still wedged awkwardly between the spikes, the ceiling above him suddenly ripped open, flooding the area with light.

Cheong turned his head to see concerned eyes glimmering in silhouette.

A chilling aura spread from Cheong’s eyes.

At that moment, rage boiled within him.

I made it, but what if the kids had suffered?

Visions of his friends impaled on spikes briefly flashed through Cheong’s mind.

He gripped the rope tightly.

As soon as he got up, the two kids jumped into his embrace.

They must have been frightened, shivering against him.

Cheong patted their backs, holding them tight.

“It’s okay. I bounced back. I’m fine.”

It was the party member stuck in the trap who offered words of comfort.

But what more could Cheong do in his anger?

All he could do was vent by gnashing his teeth and striking at the traps.

Though he felt bubbling rage, there was nothing to be done right now.

He’d make sure all the trap bastards paid.

So Cheong slammed his fist against the wall where the arrows shot out.

Why do people lash out at walls when they’re angry? Cheong understood it well now after experiencing it himself.

Bang! Bang! Bang! With each punch, holes began to pockmark the wall, resembling a jumbled spiderweb of cracks.

Suddenly, bang! Crash!

Unable to withstand it any longer, the wall collapsed, revealing a hidden small room filled with a dozen crossbows.

“Hmm?”

Well, if there are crossbows, then arrows must’ve been shot.

However, one of the boxes on one side caught Cheong’s eye.

Approaching, he peered inside and found it packed with arrows.

Picking one up and inspecting the surface, Cheong suddenly grinned.

“Teacher, take a look at this. These look like spare arrows, and they don’t have much dust on them, do they?”

Cheon Yu-hak frowned.

If it were a trap that was used once, there would be no reason to keep spare arrows.

The presence of spare arrows meant they had been stored to reload the crossbows.

Of course, they might have been set there when a new tomb was constructed.

But after over a hundred years, wouldn’t the arrows be better covered in dust?

As Cheon Yu-hak cleared away the top arrows, shiny new arrows revealed themselves below.

“I told you. It’s as if someone is watching and then triggers the traps.”

“Hmm.”

Having faced ridicule numerous times already from Cheon Yu-hak, he had no response now and awkwardly changed the subject.

“To load the crossbows, there must be another entrance; it could be that way. They might use a rope ladder to come down.”

Cheon Yu-hak pointed to one side of the ceiling.

It was clearly a manmade hole.

Cheong jumped and squeezed himself through the hole.

Using his arms and legs to grab at the walls, he climbed upward.

How high had he climbed?

When the bottom narrowed to a small square view,

Bam! His head smacked the top, but he braced himself, pushing against both walls with his feet and hoisting his arms high.

With a heavy lift and a screeching sound, the ceiling opened up.

—What’s up there!?

“Hold on!”

As Cheong emerged, he found a relatively vibrant stone chamber.

From the lit lantern casting a warm glow, it was far from normal.

Next to the newly opened hole were several rope ladders stacked high.

The Blood Sect Technician was peering into the observation windows beside the next trap.

But even though it wasn’t far, there was no sign of anything coming.

It seemed that after his hard experience with the traps, he was being extra cautious.

“Hmmm. It’s late for something to happen…”

The technician muttered to himself.

A voice answered him.

“Really? Who’s late for what?”

“That damn—”

The Blood Sect Technician halted abruptly, freezing in place.

Originally, muttering meant that there wouldn’t be a reply, hence why it was muttering in the first place.

“That damn? Who’s that? Do I know them?”

There was an odd chill in the voice.

The technician struggled to turn his head slowly, rusted like his machinery.

What was there, but a woman with a wide smile revealing her pearly whites.

The technician felt his heart sink into his stomach.

Because the woman’s eyes were far from smiling.

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