Chapter 193

Chapter 193: The Reason for Righteousness (3)

As always.

Dong Bongsu stood atop a mountain of corpses.

To be precise, he was surrounded by the dust of corpses.

For everything killed by the [Faith Arrow] had completely turned into fine particles and was scattering in the wind.

[Faith Arrow] Lv.2

[Basic Magic] [Projectile] [Linear]

— When faith takes form, it will become a light that pursues the enemy.

Condenses pure mana and fires it in the form of a shining arrow.

If imbued with the faith of those who believe in the caster, it will also gain the ability to track its target.

Though it is a hero’s most basic magic, it holds limitless potential depending on the level of faith.

Mana Cost: 10 MP

Casting Time: Instant

Cooldown: 0.5 seconds

Range: 60m

Base Damage: 200 (+Faith Bonus)

The Faith Bonus.

He had expected it… but this far surpassed his expectations.

Each time he activated [Faith Arrow], faint streaks of light descended from the sky, adding power to the arrow.

The important point was that the number of light streaks had already surpassed several hundred.

In other words, those who had ‘faith’ in him already numbered in the hundreds.

This was why being a hero was good.

This was why heroes punished evil.

To think he could grow stronger just by doing the menial task of cleaning up insignificant bugs.

【Guild】First Mission:

The Goddess of Fate has led you to guide a group.

That, too, is the destiny of a hero.

Now, the first mission has been assigned to you and your followers.

․ Disband the Bandit Alliance.

├─ Progress: 76.8%

└─ Reward: History +1, Slight increase in trust with Bae Dal-pae

The [Faith Arrow] had become so strong that he thought the ‘treatment’ might end before he even had a chance to test all the skills and strengthened techniques he had acquired over the past three months.

Of course, this world was still filled with bugs, cancers, and incurable diseases.

I am a predator.

And now, I’m even an omnivore.

I can now devour whatever comes my way, be it bugs or cancers.

Just as Dong Bongsu’s emotionless pupils were about to turn back to the bugs called bandits.

Whooosh-.

At first, a sound so similar that he mistook it for a system message enveloped his surroundings.

“……”

But it was not.

Not from Murim Online, nor from What is Hero.

It was simply the noise generated as the warmth and vitality around Colorful Lake, heated by the blood rain, died down coldly.

At the same time.

A sense of unease emanated from the entire mountain.

The mountain, which had been shrouded in fear, instantly became as cold as an ice cave.

Wasn’t it roughly four or five degrees below zero?

That was not the end.

The cold did not stop, but like a horse with its reins cut, it began to race rapidly toward absolute zero.

To the point where icicles began to form on Dong Bongsu’s eyebrows, chin, and fingertips.

“Kekeke.”

Was his jaw trembling from the cold?

Of course not.

It was simply because it was fun.

This world was indeed amusing.

He chuckled as he watched from a distance several bandits who had already become ice statues while standing.

․ Disband the Bandit Alliance.

├─ Progress: 87.8%

└─ Reward: History +1, Slight increase in trust with Bae Dal-pae

The deep, unpleasant cold that encroached upon the entire area was rapidly consuming the lives of the bandits.

He did not care.

On the contrary, the cold that was hunting for him for free could only be a welcome presence.

Auto-hunting, where someone else swats the flies for you, is always welcome.

However, if the owner of the fly swatter was also someone he had to swat, he needed to pay a little attention.

Whoosh-.

The naturally unfurling Super True Qi Field detected an energy from beyond the cold.

A very familiar feeling.

A continuous stream of disgustingly low-level killing intent.

And spreading out from within, as if showing off its presence.

A familiar energy he had felt once before.

‘Here, they called this sort of thing Formation Qi, didn’t they?’

It seems various formations are layered on top of each other.

The aggregate of Formation Qi surrounding the entire mountain was pressing in on him.

It must be the current generated as the owner of the fly swatter also began his hunt.

As always, being the prey as much as being the hunter brought about ambivalent feelings.

It was unsettling and unpleasant, but…

It was also pleasurable.

The collaboration of killing intent and thin ice, like thousands upon thousands of needles of different sizes pricking him, was massaging his entire body.

Yes, this kind of pain was always welcome.

A proper massage should be strong, but the previous one was too mild.

【Guild】First Mission【Linked】:

Unexpected new enemies can appear at any time during a mission, so please be careful.

I hope you do not forget that cowardly people are always aiming for your back.

․ Disband the Bandit Alliance.

├─ Progress: 90.2%

└─ Reward: History +1, Slight increase in trust with Bae Dal-pae

․ Defeat all members of the dispatch team from the Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance hired by the Bandit Alliance.

├─ Progress: 0%

└─ Reward: History +1, A relationship with the Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance will be formed

“The Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance.”

A long time ago, when you bought hardtack, it came with star candy inside.

I was never particularly impressed, but some kids bought the hardtack just to eat the star candy.

Let’s see.

What flavor will this star candy, lured in by the hardtack, have.

And.

As I feel every time, the Goddess Lumina really doesn’t know what a hero truly needs.

A hero always needs cowardly people.

The more cowardly, the better.

It’s even better if they can appear anytime, anywhere.

Because that is the reason for righteous deeds.

Spat-.

His figure shot toward the ice wall that was closing in on all sides, becoming a massive barrier.

● ● ●

The Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance.

Commonly known as the Formation Tower.

The largest gathering of formation masters in the Central Plains, established over 300 years ago.

What set them apart from other Murim sects was that they did not consider themselves people of the Jianghu or members of the Murim.

This was because the organization was not run with an absolute hierarchy, but with all its members bound by a kind of contractual relationship.

Although there was a leader called the Tower Lord, with the title of Yin-Yang Guard, according to the principles of the Formation Tower, all formation masters were, in principle, ‘equal’.

Therefore, the Yin-Yang Guard was also elected once every five years through the All-Under-Heaven Number One Formation Dao Tournament.

In other words, anyone with good skills could rise to the position of Yin-Yang Guard or fall from it.

A group bound by a contractual relationship based entirely on skill.

That was the Formation Tower, the Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance.

In that sense.

All official relationships they formed with outsiders were also made through contracts, and the ‘color’ they publicly professed was between Righteous and Evil.

In other words, strict neutrality.

To use their own expression, they were a Permanent Neutrality Faction.

The sages of the Jianghu commented on the Formation Tower as such.

If one were to rank them in the Murim style, they could rival the Ten Great Sects or the Seven Great Demonic Sects.

Yet, because they were thoroughly in the gray area and did not proclaim themselves to be a Murim sect, they had become one of the Three Powers Beyond the Heavens.

The reason for this was that their pursuits were drastically different from those of martial artists.

— To lose honor is to lose little; to lose courage is to lose much.

But to lose money is to have lost everything.

A contract meant money.

In other words, to them, having money was Righteous, and having no money was Unorthodox and Demonic.

— In the Formation Tower, there is no Righteous, Unorthodox, or Demonic.

Money is the self, and no money is the other.

There were those who criticized such a creed as the thinking of the unorthodox and demonic paths, but they paid them no mind.

After all, formations and the Formation Dao were, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, an omnipotent mercenary force needed by the Jianghu.

Therefore.

This time as well, they had accepted a request from the Bandit Alliance, a group of mere mountain bandits.

And.

The leader of today’s mission was Dongmun Mutoe.

He might have been about twenty-five or twenty-six.

A pale, bloodless face, a slender frame, an impression that he might break in the wind.

But hidden beyond his frailness was a sharpness, a cruelty.

Like a poisoned flower, beautiful but deadly to approach; that was the strong impression he gave.

Especially his eyes.

Black pupils of unknowable depth.

They appeared dreamily hazy, yet within them, the pupils constantly trembled, like a calculating needle that ceaselessly weighed something.

Profit and loss, cost and revenue, the value of letting live, and the value of killing.

Weighing, judging, and deciding everything.

Below those eyes, a handsome face and neck stretched out, making anyone call him a beautiful man.

A large black robe, ill-suited for his thin frame, was draped over him.

On it was embroidered the symbol of the Formation Tower—a tower surrounded by the eight trigrams.

The color of the embroidery was not quite silver…

Dongmun Mutoe and all the team members deployed this time were waiting near the summit of Crimson Emperor Peak, which rose next to Crimson Trace Peak, where the bandits were positioned.

Although the battle was taking place several li away from here, the situation was being grasped as clearly as the lines on one’s palm.

This was because the suspected enemy was only one person.

“Hoh. To think there’s such a specimen in these backwoods.”

At the very peak of the summit.

Dongmun Mutoe stood straight upon it, watching from afar as Dong Bongsu moved freely within the Cold Yin Ice Wind Formation.

The Cold Yin Ice Wind Formation.

A large-scale freezing formation that maximized Yin energy to absorb all heat within a certain range.

The moment it was deployed, a harsh cold formed, making it absolutely impossible for living beings to survive.

The truly terrifying aspect of this formation was not just that it made the area cold, but that it also froze the acupoints of those trapped inside.

The blood pumped from the heart stopped even before the acupoints froze.

That was why those caught in the Cold Yin Ice Wind Formation usually became ice sculptures with expressions of agony, having fallen into Qi Deviation.

It was such an advanced Formation Dao that even a first-rate master, if perfectly caught in this formation, would helplessly become a block of ice.

“Ha, a Bronze Formation Contract? To deal with someone like that? The Formation Tower can’t be trusted anymore.”

Bronze Formation Contract.

One of the Formation Tower’s contract systems.

It referred to the level of request that low-level formation masters, commonly called Formation Disciples, would enter into with the Formation Tower.

In other words, the level of this Bandit Alliance request, as assessed by the Formation Tower, was that of a Bronze Formation Contract.

Dongmun Mutoe clicked his tongue lightly but had no intention of moving.

“The clients are all dying, Squad Leader.”

One of the formation masters deployed for this mission approached and spoke.

His tone subtly revealed his dissatisfaction with Dongmun Mutoe.

This was because, judging by the silver thread embroidered on his robe, he was merely at the level of a Formation Master, and his age seemed to be in his mid-twenties at most.

The thought that such a young pup was ruining the mission made his tone naturally disgruntled.

Nevertheless.

Dongmun Mutoe did not even glance at him, simply watching the massacre taking place on the next peak and replying.

“I know. I activated it so they would.”

Only then did Dongmun Mutoe twist his head down, toward the face of the dissatisfied formation master.

“Didn’t you know?”

His pupils fixed precisely on the low-level formation master he was talking to.

“You see, a quest… becomes the best kind of quest only when the client dies.”

At that moment.

A change, like a crack, appeared on Dongmun Mutoe’s handsome but expressionless face.

His eyes, which had seemed hazy, were now dyed in blood.

As if blood was spreading in a clear lake.

The whites of his eyes became bloodshot as if an earthquake had struck, his pupils engorged.

Akin to that of a demon.

“Preferably, all of them.”