NSE-Chapter 050

Chapter 50

Human-Faced Spider

“So what do you think that mission will be?”

“Who knows? Still, they’ll give us something we can clear. The Alliance Master will want to raise me up no matter what.”

“……You said you’re aiming for 1st place. After you get Ascension or whatever, what will you do? I heard you absolutely have to offer it to those above.”

“Naturally, I’ll swallow it myself.”

Seo Ye-rim’s face stiffened slightly.

“……Isn’t the Alliance Master strong? On top of that, you said the Martial Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon and those types are aiming for it too. I heard a war breaks out?”

“These days even maidservants know that kind of thing?”

“……That Jang Sam guy blabbed. I did some eavesdropping while waiting.”

Ah, Jang Sam.

A chatterbox like that would spill everything.

He nodded.

“The Alliance Master hits pretty hard. In a head-on fight, you absolutely can’t win. Probably you couldn’t either, Ye-rim. A war will break out, too.”

“……And yet you’re saying you’ll swallow it? At a glance the Gate’s name is going to change. To the Heaven-and-Earth Net or something like that. I wonder if the Gate rank won’t change to A.”

“Oh. You know the Heaven-and-Earth Net too?”

“……Hah. Do you really take me for some ignorant brute who just eats and swings a sword? I’ve read a few martial arts novels.”

“Well…… I can’t say there’s no possibility of that. No, now that I hear it, it sounds quite plausible.”

The Heaven-and-Earth Net.

A net of heaven and earth.

It roughly meant a tremendous encirclement. If he ran off with the clue to Ascension, all 3 organizations would chase him with their eyes rolled back. There was a high chance that an encirclement that big would truly be set up.

“You have nothing to worry about, Ye-rim.”

“How come?”

“Because the clear will most likely pop up the moment the rankings are decided after the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering ends.”

“Then you can just run off with Ascension too. But there’s no way they’d let an item like that be taken out so easily, is there?”

“So it won’t pop up for me. Hmm. To be exact, I think the clear will only pop up for me once I hand the clue to Ascension over to the Alliance Master.”

Since they’d said offering it up was the unwritten rule, offering it itself was likely the clear condition.

And if he didn’t offer it?

The Gate would likely get very angry and upgrade.

And Seo Ye-rim’s side?

The 2nd and 3rd place winners had no particular ritual of offering things to those above.

They just took it and that was that.

So from that point on, there was a high chance she could slip out of the Gate.

“……So you’re telling me to get out first? Slipping away with just the prize?”

“Or would you rather break through the Heaven-and-Earth Net together with me?”

“……Haa. This is driving me crazy, seriously. Mr. Kim Min-woo. Let me ask 1 thing. If the Heaven-and-Earth Net or whatever really appears, are you confident you can break through?”

“I’m not certain either. I might even die.”

“And you’re still doing it?”

“If I had only taken the easy, comfortable road, I’d be the one who got beaten howling by the Fourth Young Lord today.”

“……”

“Now and in the future, I’ll keep on challenging.”

Seo Ye-rim, who had been silent, said.

“I don’t know you well. I don’t, but. From the outside, you seemed to be living a satisfying life, you know?”

“Did I?”

Nod.

Seo Ye-rim, nodding, opened her mouth.

“But why go that far? You’re rich, you’re Awakened, you seem to have nothing to envy. Wouldn’t most people want to live comfortably in that case?”

“Why do you do it, Ye-rim?”

“……Do what?”

“You’re pretty enough, your grandfather is the Sword Immortal, and you’re already a star who copies money. So why do you swing a sword all day long?”

“……I just…….”

After a long hesitation, she said.

“It’s just, that’s the goal of my life. As I kept swinging the sword, I wanted to be acknowledged by Grandfather, so I strove like a hamster wheel. I don’t even know what I’m saying…….”

Hearing that, Kim Min-woo smiled.

“I have a goal like yours too. Clearing. That’s the goal of my life. As I went on it became my calling, so if I don’t do it, my body itches.”

“……You’re a severe case, aren’t you?”

“Am I?”

Seo Ye-rim stared at Kim Min-woo. She didn’t know about anything else.

But there was 1 thing she could feel.

‘He means it.’

His eyes were telling her.

That at least with that 1 goal, clearing, he was truly in earnest.

“……Do you have a plan?”

“I’ve thought of something. I don’t know whether it’ll work or not.”

“Assuming it goes well, what do you think the survival chance is?”

“30%?”

“If it doesn’t?”

“Maybe 1%? I’d nearly die.”

“If I join in?”

“40% if it goes well, about 2% if it falls apart.”

“Fine for when it goes well, but when it fails it only goes up 1%?”

“If it falls apart, it’ll truly plummet endlessly. We have to assume the worst. And sorry to say, but you wouldn’t last 10 minutes against the Alliance Master.”

“And you?”

“12 minutes?”

“……You’re stronger than me?”

“Not stronger so much as I have more to work with on my side.”

In a Gate, nothing was strange no matter what happened. Naturally, he had packed all sorts of things into his dimensional space.

He’d have plenty of uses for them later.

“……Okay. I’ll think about it.”

“You want to join this?”

“I haven’t decided yet?”

“Don’t join. There’s a high chance you’ll really die. I’m not joking.”

However much clearing was his life goal, Seo Ye-rim was a person who had leapt into a death trap to save his life.

He had no intention of making her jump into a death trap together again.

“……Already counting your chickens before they hatch, I see. I told you I haven’t decided yet?”

“So, don’t join…….”

Just then.

Bang!

The front gate flew open.

“You 2, you must come quickly! A notice has been posted! And a very big one!”

It seemed a mission had been assigned.

* * *

[Mission (Special Grade)]

[Hunt the Human-Faced Spider of Sky Mountain]

[Points: 30,000]

[Challengers: Baek So-cheon, Choi Aeng-aeng, Jang Sam]

[Details: Upon bringing back the Human-Faced Spider’s carapace, 15,000 points will be awarded to Baek So-cheon and Choi Aeng-aeng.]

[This mission was resolved by the Council of Elders, with the Alliance Master’s consent.]

[Recipient: Anyone who interferes with this mission will, regardless of rank, be sentenced to dismemberment and the extermination of their 3 families.]

The warriors murmured at the contents of the notices posted all around the Unorthodox Alliance.

“The Human-Faced Spider of Sky Mountain? Don’t tell me they mean that demonic creature?”

“Even peak masters go in there and end up corpses…….”

“Who the hell are Choi Aeng-aeng and Jang Sam?”

“Jang Sam? He’s a servant, that one? And Choi Aeng-aeng is a maidservant?”

“A maidservant and a servant as challengers? Are they telling them to go die? And the Fifth Young Lord, no less…….”

“You’re way behind on the news, aren’t you? Haven’t you heard? The Fifth Young Lord, would you believe it, took down the Fourth Young Lord in 1 blow…….”

Then.

The Fifth Young Lord, the maidservant, and the servant.

3 figures appeared in the distance. The murmuring warriors made way. The 3 looked at the mission. Of the 3, only Jang Sam’s face turned deathly pale.

His hands and feet trembling.

Jang Sam looked at him.

“Um…… I’ve found it strange since earlier, but why is my name posted up there?”

“Sam. You said it yourself earlier. That you’re the Young Lord’s only loyal retainer.”

“No, Big Sister……! That and this are 2 different stories!”

“So you were going to slip out and leave it all to him alone?”

“T-That’s not what I meant…….”

Jang Sam felt like he was going mad.

A servant’s clout always follows his master.

The Fifth Young Lord was hiding his power!

He had endured that hidden-strength era with tears and grievance.

He’d thought he would finally see the light of day after a year.

‘A Human-Faced Spider!’

The Human-Faced Spider of Sky Mountain.

A vicious demonic creature known to gobble up even peak masters in a flash.

And that wasn’t all.

He’d heard that all over Sky Mountain there was poisonous miasma too thick to breathe in, and spiderwebs so sticky that 1 step would peel the skin off your feet.

‘And they want to hunt this?’

With just 3 people, no less?

No, he was non-combat, so just 2.

This was nothing short of suicide!

The Fifth Young Lord might have beaten the Fourth Young Lord, but it was doubtful that even a whole bundle of Fourth Young Lords could so much as touch a hair on the Human-Faced Spider. 30,000 points weren’t 30,000 points for nothing!

‘Ahh, the Alliance Master finally reveals his vicious intentions!’

He had never even treated the Fifth Young Lord as a son, and in the end had bared his cruel fangs.

Matters resolved by the Council of Elders couldn’t be overturned even by the Alliance Master.

Why?

Because in the end it was a structure where the Alliance Master had to consent for it to pass.

There was no way he would commit the crazy act of consenting and then opposing it himself.

“Well, at least nobody will interfere.”

Watching the Fifth Young Lord nod calmly, humming to himself, was infuriating enough to make his chest burst.

“No, Young Lord, aren’t you even worried? They’re telling us to go die!”

“We’ll find out whether we die or live once we go. Let’s go. There’s a lot to prepare.”

Kim Min-woo turned around calmly.

Seo Ye-rim did the same.

“……Ah, wait for me!”

Jang Sam started running, out of breath.

It wasn’t as if he could run away from here either.

Either way, he had no choice but to follow the 2.

* * *

When he returned to the residence, a familiar face was there.

It was the Second Elder.

He handed over a single sword.

[Ghost Sword]

[Grade: Unique]

[Level Restriction: 110]

[Effect 1. Greatly increases the chance of seeing hallucinations when struck by the sword.]

[Effect 2. With each swing, a Wraith has a certain chance to pop out and aid in battle.]

[Effect 3. Magic Power +40]

Looking at the sword, Kim Min-woo whistled.

Swords with Magic Power attached were rare.

Because they usually weren’t made. And for good reason, since what would a class that used Magic Power do with a melee weapon?

No listings, and no demand.

That was the kind of item it was.

‘For me, it’s the best.’

On top of that, the other 2 effects were quite usable too.

The Sword of Judgment.

He had created a Unique sword at the cost of breaking a Rare-grade sword, which was nothing short of a miracle.

“Is it to your liking?”

“It’s usable.”

“It’s the sword the Alliance Master sent over.”

“Isn’t 1 thing missing?”

“Hoho. You’re thrifty. Take it.”

He handed over a Martial Art manual.

[Ghost-Slaying Sword Art]

He skimmed through the book.

‘It’s usable enough.’

A B-grade Martial Art.

The kind of level that the Alliance Master could take out without much burden, yet couldn’t be seen by every Tom, Dick, and Harry.

That was exactly the level this manual was.

What he had asked the Alliance Master for was a sword and a Martial Art manual. With both received, the deal was done.

“Please tell him I received them well.”

“I will.”

Nodding, the Second Elder’s figure blurred.

Seo Ye-rim, who had come up beside him at some point, showed curious eyes.

“Are you going to learn the Martial Art?”

“No. I can’t learn it.”

“……With your talent, I bet you could master it in a day if you set your mind to it?”

Nope.

Martial Art manuals were different from Skill Books.

This was something like a ‘training guidebook’. It was a structure where, if you followed it diligently, a Skill would be created.

Naturally, when it would be created depended on talent.

And with Kim Min-woo’s talent?

He could follow a Martial Art manual until he grew old and died and still never learn the Martial Art.

He didn’t feel regret.

‘Anyway, learning more than 1 kind of Martial Art is usually taboo.’

If you got greedy just because you had some talent, you’d be headed straight for the grave.

Because the moment the lineages tangled, energy deviation would come.

For example.

If you learned a lower-tier Martial Art of the Gongdong Sect, you’d have to learn only the Gongdong Sect’s Martial Arts at the higher tiers from then on.

To avoid getting blocked like that, you’d have to find and learn an S-grade, top-tier Martial Art in 1 shot.

‘That’s tough.’

Finding a stage that started in the martial world was already a problem.

Getting an S-grade Martial Art on that stage would be a problem too.

‘I figured it would be just about B-grade.’

A or S-grade ones were things the Alliance Master couldn’t simply take out even if he wanted to.

The elders would foam at the mouth in opposition.

He’d probably have to hunt something like the Human-Faced Spider and prove himself first, and then it’d be like, hmm…… should I give him one?

‘Obviously they won’t give it.’

After hunting that, he had to depart immediately for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

How could he master such a high-tier Martial Art in those few days? It would end up worse than not learning it at all.

So it was far better in terms of picture to hand it over as a prize when he won 1st and offered the bribe.

So they wouldn’t give it.

Be that as it may.

This wasn’t something Kim Min-woo had obtained to learn himself.

“Sam, you. Come here.”

“You called, sir!”

“Take this.”

“……?”

Jang Sam began to look back and forth between the Martial Art manual and Kim Min-woo’s face.

“You’re giving this to me, you say?”

“Not going to take it?”

“N-No! I’ll take it! Of course I’ll take it!”

Ghost-Slaying Sword Art.

A Martial Art that sounded like something just from the name, at a glance.

And wasn’t it a Martial Art delivered personally by an elder?

It couldn’t possibly be some run-of-the-mill, shoddy one.

All Jang Sam had learned so far were the breathing method and the Three Talents Sword Art he had bought from a street Taoist.

The familiar mind method and sword art even village thugs in mountain hamlets shared!

So it was only natural that his eyes rolled back.

He grabbed the Martial Art manual breathlessly.

“The Ghost-Slaying Mind Method, the Ghost-Slaying Footwork, and so on are written in there too, so memorize them all. We’re about to set out to catch a spider, and starting tomorrow I’ll test you. If you can’t memorize them, you die.”

“Yes! I’ll memorize them!”

Jang Sam shouted boldly.

If he had made 1 mistake.

It was taking the words you die if you can’t memorize them far too lightly.