Chapter 90: Oblivion (3)

Not even a quarter of an hour had passed since the test began when red smoke started rising into the sky.

This wasn't because someone had already been injured or stranded. The sticks distributed to the disciples produced yellow smoke, after all.

Though it hadn't been explained to the disciples beforehand, the red smoke came from traps.

"Hmph. Unbelievable."

Chu Il-hwan let out a hollow laugh at the sight of the red smoke and said to those waiting with him, "There's still time left, but I'll go check it out first."

"Then we'll depart at the scheduled time."

After finishing his conversation with the other instructors and assistants, Chu Il-hwan used his lightness skill and headed toward the rising red smoke.

Before long, he soon arrived at the location; a trap had revealed itself. It was a pit with blunt wooden stakes embedded in its floor.

Chu Il-hwan lightly descended into the pit and shattered the stick emitting the red smoke with a strike from his Black Thunder Demonic Palm.

These sticks were installed in every trap as a sort of safety measure.

Though the traps had been designed with reduced lethality, people occasionally fell into them and sustained serious injuries.

And those who suffered serious injuries usually couldn't use their signal sticks or whistles.

That's why this safety measure had been put in place so instructors or assistants could come check if there were any injured people at triggered traps.

Fortunately, it seemed no fool had been caught in the trap this time.

Just after Instructor Chu Il-hwan destroyed the stick to prevent other instructors or assistants from needlessly searching the area and leapt out of the pit with a nimble movement—

Far away, red smoke began rising again.

And Chu Il-hwan was beginning to have a pretty good idea which foolish disciple was setting off traps one after another from the start.

"Looks like someone's just charging ahead in a straight line like a maniac."

***

As Chu Il-hwan predicted, the one who had triggered two traps already was none other than Dokgo Pae.

With a powerful battle cry, he sprinted ahead in a direct line.

If a massive tree blocked his path—

"Haaaaap!!"

With a fierce shout, he unleashed his Dokgo’s Nine Swords technique, cutting down the giant tree with his sword wrapped in Sword Qi.

Boom!!

The felled tree crashed down with a deafening boom.

The impact splintered smaller trees nearby, triggering a trap that sent a cloud of red smoke billowing into the air.

"Hahaha!"

But acting as if such things didn't concern him in the slightest, he simply used his lightness skill again and continued charging forward.

***

Hearing the successive explosions nearby, Bang Mi-hwa sneered.

"Sounds like that wild boar from the Dokgo Family is rampaging again."

"If he keeps going like that, what you said might actually happen, Mi-hwa."

"Of course. Hohoho."

Bang Mi-hwa laughed haughtily with her nose in the air.

Unlike Dokgo Pae, the two were advancing calmly.

Not only were they checking for traps along their path, but they were also carefully using their lightness skill to leave as few traces as possible.

Instructor Chu Il-hwan had told them that, just like the previous test, the instructors and assistants would begin pursuit after one hour.

Moreover, unlike the last test, it wouldn't be just Instructor Chu Il-hwan pursuing them.

The testing grounds were much larger than in the previous test, and since it was an individual competition, the disciples were all scattered.

Additionally, they only needed to reach the destination to complete the task, giving them a significant advantage.

'If we don't leave any traces, that is.'

"Now that I look at it, that red smoke probably comes from the traps. Triggering a trap will leave traces even if you don't get caught in it. We need to be even more careful from now on."

"Wow! As expected of Mi-hwa! How did you notice that already?"

"Ohohoho. Isn't it obvious? That wild boar keeps leaving traces everywhere, so it's just a matter of time before he gets caught by an instructor or assistant. I really don't understand how he became the second-ranked disciple with that brain of his."

The two advanced while chatting pleasantly.

All the while, they each kept watch to their left and right, trying their best not to trigger any traps.

Furthermore, they meticulously checked their maps to make sure they didn't deviate from their course, maneuvering around trees and rocks to avoid leaving traces.

And contrary to Bang Mi-hwa's arrogant attitude, this wasn't a strategy she alone had devised.

With two tests under their belt, the disciples had somewhat become accustomed to the Demonic Way’s method and were able to adapt to the challenges.

Some, like Bang Mi-hwa and Ha Young, moved together, while others, like Dokgo Pae, went solo, but all were moving cautiously to avoid leaving traces.

Il-mok was no different, except for one key difference.

'Since Dokgo Pae is drawing all the attention, now is my chance.'

Il-mok had also realized that the one causing a ruckus up ahead was Dokgo Pae.

So he slightly altered his route, moving away from Dokgo Pae's path and heading down a side path.

The instructors and assistants would surely chase Dokgo Pae first, so following the same route could put him in the line of fire.

After successfully veering off to the side path, Il-mok turned back toward the destination and drew more internal energy from his dantian to increase his speed.

'As long as I don't trigger any traps, it doesn't matter if I leave some minor footprints.'

While everyone's attention was focused on Dokgo Pae, he intended to break through quickly from the side.

***

An hour passed.

The instructors and teaching assistants set out to pursue the disciples.

This included Chu Il-hwan, who had started ahead due to the traps Dokgo Pae had triggered right from the beginning.

He had checked a few more traps just in case, but once he was certain Dokgo Pae was the one rampaging, he stopped.

This was for the sake of fairness in the test.

And now that an hour had passed...

"He's really making a mess of this test."

With a murderous smile, Chu Il-hwan was charging straight after Dokgo Pae.

Of course, since it was a test tailored to the disciples' level, the instructors and assistants weren't pursuing ‘all traces'.

The instructors could track them even if the disciples put their hearts into erasing their tracks, but the policy for this test was to overlook traces that weren't too blatant.

In that sense, blatantly chasing only Dokgo Pae like this might seem to deviate from the purpose of the test.

'But this is just too blatant!'

He was practically begging to be killed by leaving such obvious traces, so how could he not oblige?

Beyond that, there was another reason for Chu Il-hwan's anger.

This test had been designed with several practical scenarios in mind.

Scenarios like securing classified information or special items and transporting them safely back to the Divine Cult, or infiltrating deep into enemy territory during mountain warfare.

And that reckless charge was the worst possible approach for all the scenarios they had considered.

To make matters worse, because that madman kept triggering traps nonstop, they might not have enough manpower to chase the other disciples.

'If this were a group assessment, I could at least try to spin this as a feint to strike the east while attacking in the west, but this is an individual test, you boarish bastard!!'

With veins popping on his smiling face, Chu Il-hwan charged straight ahead, swinging his palms to release bursts of black thunder each time he passed a trap triggered by Dokgo Pae.

The black thunder from his hands knocked down the sticks that were busily emitting smoke, extinguishing the red smoke.

This was to prevent other instructors or assistants who had just begun their pursuit from unnecessarily wasting their time on these traps.

He spent quite a while cleaning up the mess Dokgo Pae had left behind.

In just over an hour after the test began, Chu Il-hwan finally succeeded in catching up to Dokgo Pae.

Whoosh!

Chu Il-hwan launched himself into the air with his lightness skill, then bounded across branches of giant trees to sprint through the air.

Overtaking Dokgo Pae, he landed on the ground and blocked Dokgo Pae's path.

"Huff. Before we start, let me ask just one thing, Disciple Dokgo. What were you thinking, pulling such a brainless stunt?"

"It's the fastest way to reach the destination, Instructor."

"Even though this will attract pursuers?"

"If there are pursuers, I just need to defeat them!"

"...Sigh."

To calm his murderous urge, Chu Il-hwan let out a deep sigh before saying with a sweet smile, "First, let's start with a beating."

***

After running for quite some time while observing the red smoke that kept appearing in the distance, Il-mok suddenly noticed the red smoke had disappeared and slowed his pace.

"Hmm?"

“Looks like he finally got caught."

Il-mok realized that Dokgo Pae, who had been drawing all the attention, had been subdued.

"Still, thanks to him, I managed to get almost halfway without much trouble."

After checking the map and roughly gauging his current position, Il-mok began moving more carefully to avoid leaving traces.

He continued at this pace for about an hour.

Barely an hour had passed since the test began, and he had moved approximately halfway to his destination.

"!!!"

The faint sound of a bell jingling reached him from a distance.

Realizing that an instructor or teaching assistant was wandering nearby, Il-mok hid his presence as much as possible and carefully moved away from the direction of the bell sound.

Once he had put some distance between them, the small bell sound disappeared, and Il-mok corrected his course and continued toward the destination.

But before long, the bell sound was heard again, and Il-mok once more concealed his presence and changed direction.

This pattern repeated several times.

"Hoo. Did they finally leave?"

When the sound of the bell had completely disappeared, Il-mok let out a sigh of relief.

"Tsk. Wasted time for nothing."

Clicking his tongue lightly, Il-mok checked his map and increased his speed again.

Whoosh!

After pushing through the underbrush for a while—

Il-mok felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

‘I should be near the location soon.’

According to the map, he should be at a distance where he can see the destination soon.

After all, he had already passed one mountain peak shown on the map and was now climbing the next peak where the destination was supposed to be.

Worse—

"This stream wasn't marked on the map either..."

Before his eyes was a fairly large stream.

Of course, the map distributed by the assistants wasn't that detailed. It wasn't the kind of map that showed every tree and rock.

But at the very least, all distinctive places were marked. Places like cliffs, or wide-open spaces where trees didn't seem to grow for some reason, and such locations.

But why wasn't this large stream marked?

As Il-mok pondered this question—

"Who are you?"

A voice suddenly came from behind.

'A master!'

Startled by the approach he hadn't even sensed, Il-mok turned around to find an old man with a cane looking at him with a gentle face.

'An old man?'

While his confusion grew, Il-mok made a respectful salute. Since the other party was a master, he decided to show courtesy first.

"I am Il-mok, a disciple of the Hall of the Demonic Way."

"Hohoho. Hall of the Demonic Way. What a nostalgic name."

It seemed the old man had also graduated from the Hall of the Demonic Way in his youth.

After the old man finished reminiscing about his past for a moment—

He tilted his head once, then asked Il-mok again.

“Who are you to dare set foot on the sacred grounds of the Divine Cult?!”

"!?"

"Aha! You must be an assassin sent by the Murim Alliance!"

"!?"

Il-mok was momentarily taken aback by the old man's string of nonsense before he finally realized where he was.

'Fuck. How did I end up at Oblivion Ridge of all places(忘我嶺)?!'