Chapter 118
The moment Eda, sensing danger from the sudden change in atmosphere, reached out to grab Joo Yi-Gyeol—
The man who had brought the tea into the stone chamber suddenly lunged at the two mages. He tackled the male mage who was dragging Joo Yi-Gyeol, wrapping his arms around the mage’s waist and toppling him over. Still on the ground, he grabbed the female mage’s ankles with both hands and yanked.
“Ugh—!”
“Ah!”
The two mages, much smaller in stature than the man, tumbled to the ground disgracefully. As a result, the mana bindings restraining Joo Yi-Gyeol also unraveled.
“You bastard, who are you?!”
Eda shouted, furious. The man smirked. Realizing something was wrong, Eda quickly turned to the two approaching guards and shouted.
“Kill that bastard!”
The two guards, their faces emotionless, drew their sharp swords and charged at the man without hesitation, ready to strike him down. Though the man had a sword at his waist, he only retreated as if he didn’t know how to use it.
The guards' blades were about to strike him—
At that moment, the man pulled something from his chest and hurled it at his feet. Almost simultaneously, a white soul butterfly rose from his body, and a sharp shattering sound rang out.
A small glass bottle smashed against the stone floor, shattering into countless pieces. The transparent liquid inside spilled out.
There was no time to register what had happened. As soon as the bottle shattered, the two guards collapsed helplessly. The two mages, who had just started to rise in shock, also crumpled to the ground, unable to get up.
Eda was no exception.
Everyone with a physical body had fallen asleep in an instant. The only ones left were Joo Yi-Gyeol, floating in the air and a single white butterfly.
-Phew! I thought my heart was going to burst.
The white butterfly spoke in the innocent voice of a young boy, then burst into laughter, fluttering in circles above Eda’s head in a teasing manner.
-Serves you right, you bastard! Ahaha—!
The young boy’s spirit, having successfully put them all to sleep using Yi-Gyeol’s sleeping drug, couldn’t stop laughing.
The young spirit had possessed the man Eda sent a few hours prior.
The man, along with two middle-aged men who had followed him, had come to the cave to capture Joo Yi-Gyeol but did not recklessly enter at once. Leaving the two middle-aged men outside, the man went in alone carrying a small lamp, and the moment he saw Joo Yi-Gyeol there, he collapsed and fell asleep.
Yi-Gyeol had sprinkled a bit of sleeping drug near himself in advance while astral projecting, watching from a hidden corner of the cave. The moment the man collapsed, the young boy’s spirit quickly possessed him. Since the man was already a user of possession drugs, his body remained under the boy’s control when he awoke.
Having inadvertently possessed various bodies while staying by Zair’s side, the young spirit once explained that possession was fundamentally a battle for dominance.
If someone had taken a possession drug, it was possible to possess them even while they were awake, but the reason people did not usually do so was because the soul already settled in the body would also still be awake. Naturally, someone fully conscious would fight mentally not to lose control of their body, and that made controlling the body difficult.
For that reason, possession was usually performed when the target was unconscious. This applied even when one soul tried to possess a body already occupied by another. If the possessed body fell asleep, the possessing spirit would fall asleep along with it. Some skilled mages could force a sleeping soul out using mana, but neither Yi-Gyeol nor the white butterfly had such abilities.
As expected, the man had a glass bottle meant to hold Joo Yi-Gyeol’s soul. Not only that, although dead souls normally could not see Joo Yi-Gyeol while he was astral projecting, the man was wearing a specially enchanted metal necklace so he could clearly see and capture him. Thanks to that, the soul butterfly too was able to see Joo Yi-Gyeol while possessing the man.
By overlaying the man’s body with the white butterfly’s spirit, Yi-Gyeol had deliberately entered the glass bottle, feigning compliance. The man then rejoined his two companions outside, blending in seamlessly. Since he had observed them from afar in his crow form before, he could imitate their behavior naturally.
Arriving at the large cave where Eda had settled, the man entered the deepest stone chamber there together with the two middle-aged men who were practically acting as guides. Eda, distracted by the captured Joo Yi-Gyeol, failed to notice that the man had been overlaid with another soul.
-Now…! Ah!
The white butterfly, playfully chattering above Eda’s head, suddenly let out a short scream. A hand had shot out of nowhere and seized him tightly, threatening to crush him.
“You bastards….”
A low, eerie voice sent a chill through both souls.
Eda, staggering to her feet, glared at the spirit in her grasp. The crumpled white wings sticking out between her fingers and the butterfly’s panicked voice made it clear how dire the situation was.
-H-how did this happen?! The sleeping potion definitely worked!
“How ridiculous.”
Eda sneered as blue light gathered in the hand holding the white butterfly.
“I was the one who helped my master develop that sleeping potion. Do you have any idea how much of it I was exposed to during the research stage, when I even had to test it myself?”
Having already become immune to the potion through repeated development, Eda felt only slight dizziness, while her mind remained perfectly clear.
Having built up an immunity to the drug, Eda felt little more than mild dizziness. This was something neither Yi-Gyeol nor the butterfly had anticipated.
With a murderous glare, Eda focused her mana into her grip. The energy affected even souls, making the white butterfly tremble violently, his voice fading.
Seeing that, Joo Yi-Gyeol flew toward the male guard lying on the floor. He seeped into him, sprang to his feet, and immediately lowered himself and charged at Eda. Slamming into her and grabbing her waist to knock her over, Joo Yi-Gyeol then kicked the hand holding the white butterfly hard with his foot. The butterfly was freed and flew into the air, but as though his strength were spent, he soon dropped to the floor and trembled violently.
“You little—!”
Eda grabbed Yi-Gyeol’s wrist, twisting her face in rage as she reached for his head. Sensing imminent danger, Yi-Gyeol abandoned the guard’s body and jumped into another. Once again, he sprang up, grabbed a sword sheath from the guard’s belt, and swung it fiercely at Eda. Unlike before, this body was stronger, and thanks to brief lessons from Sethian, he managed a clean horizontal strike.
Ducking, Eda avoided the scabbard by half a palm’s width and shoved Joo Yi-Gyeol away with a mana-filled hand. With the impact making his vision reel, Joo Yi-Gyeol was forcibly knocked out of the body. Remembering the magic the male mage had used earlier, he quickly flew behind a chair and hid. Just as he expected, Eda, who had been trying to use magic that could bind souls, could not catch him because it required the soul to be within sight.
"You can struggle all you want, but you’re not escaping."
Eda, well-versed in soul-binding magic, found Yi-Gyeol’s defiance amusing. She assumed Yi-Gyeol planned to possess bodies to fight back, but with her composure restored, Eda knew she could capture him before he even had the chance.
Even if he tried to escape this place, this stone chamber was like a giant glass bottle trapping souls. Any soul that stepped inside would be blocked by the stone walls layered with magic and could not leave as it pleased.
“I really don’t get it.”
Eda said irritably as she approached the chair Joo Yi-Gyeol was hiding behind.
“I said I’d make you a body and give you as much vitality as you wanted. What are you dissatisfied with? Why resist?”
-I know perfectly well you never meant to do that.
At the cold reply, Eda sneered.
“I was serious. It’s just that the way I meant to create a body and supply vitality was quite different from what you know.”
From the start, even if she achieved what she wanted, Joo Yi-Gyeol’s usefulness would not disappear. Eda intended to use him as much as possible and then keep making use of him in various ways with vitality as bait.
Joo Yi-Gyeol, who had seen through that without difficulty, sharpened all his senses as he listened to Eda’s careful footsteps approaching the chair.
-The reason Eda is trying to use you to extract Emperor Sethian’s vitality is clear, whatever the reason behind it. It’s because there’s no way for him to bring that man directly into his own territory. The knight order and his close aides are one thing, but even alone, the Emperor is more than a match for most people. How could he possibly drag someone like that into his territory?
The young boy’s spirit had told Joo Yi-Gyeol why Sethian could be put in danger because of him. If the simple plan of putting Eda and her people to sleep failed, Joo Yi-Gyeol had intended to use that as his backup plan.
Bang—!
“What, what was that?!”
A loud crash outside the chamber made Eda freeze. Moments later, the stone door burst open, and one of Eda’s subordinates was thrown inside, covered in blood.
“Eda!”
The first to speak among those who entered was Roa, Eda’s master. Calling Eda’s name, he took in the situation at a glance as soon as he stepped inside, and his face turned grim as he looked at the grotesque wall marked as though painted in blood and the many Idelo’s Flowers.
But Eda did not spare even the slightest glance for her master.
Her gaze was fixed on Sethian, who had entered, searching for someone with his piercing eyes. Eda’s lips curled into a triumphant grin. The very man she never dreamed of luring into her domain was standing right before her.
And for Yi-Gyeol, hiding behind the chair, this was exactly what he had been waiting for.
*I knew you’d come looking for me, Seth.*
Smirking bitterly, Yi-Gyeol abandoned his hiding spot and flew straight toward Eda.
The man who had brought the tea into the stone chamber suddenly lunged at the two mages. He tackled the male mage who was dragging Joo Yi-Gyeol, wrapping his arms around the mage’s waist and toppling him over. Still on the ground, he grabbed the female mage’s ankles with both hands and yanked.
“Ugh—!”
“Ah!”
The two mages, much smaller in stature than the man, tumbled to the ground disgracefully. As a result, the mana bindings restraining Joo Yi-Gyeol also unraveled.
“You bastard, who are you?!”
Eda shouted, furious. The man smirked. Realizing something was wrong, Eda quickly turned to the two approaching guards and shouted.
“Kill that bastard!”
The two guards, their faces emotionless, drew their sharp swords and charged at the man without hesitation, ready to strike him down. Though the man had a sword at his waist, he only retreated as if he didn’t know how to use it.
The guards' blades were about to strike him—
At that moment, the man pulled something from his chest and hurled it at his feet. Almost simultaneously, a white soul butterfly rose from his body, and a sharp shattering sound rang out.
A small glass bottle smashed against the stone floor, shattering into countless pieces. The transparent liquid inside spilled out.
There was no time to register what had happened. As soon as the bottle shattered, the two guards collapsed helplessly. The two mages, who had just started to rise in shock, also crumpled to the ground, unable to get up.
Eda was no exception.
Everyone with a physical body had fallen asleep in an instant. The only ones left were Joo Yi-Gyeol, floating in the air and a single white butterfly.
-Phew! I thought my heart was going to burst.
The white butterfly spoke in the innocent voice of a young boy, then burst into laughter, fluttering in circles above Eda’s head in a teasing manner.
-Serves you right, you bastard! Ahaha—!
The young boy’s spirit, having successfully put them all to sleep using Yi-Gyeol’s sleeping drug, couldn’t stop laughing.
The young spirit had possessed the man Eda sent a few hours prior.
The man, along with two middle-aged men who had followed him, had come to the cave to capture Joo Yi-Gyeol but did not recklessly enter at once. Leaving the two middle-aged men outside, the man went in alone carrying a small lamp, and the moment he saw Joo Yi-Gyeol there, he collapsed and fell asleep.
Yi-Gyeol had sprinkled a bit of sleeping drug near himself in advance while astral projecting, watching from a hidden corner of the cave. The moment the man collapsed, the young boy’s spirit quickly possessed him. Since the man was already a user of possession drugs, his body remained under the boy’s control when he awoke.
Having inadvertently possessed various bodies while staying by Zair’s side, the young spirit once explained that possession was fundamentally a battle for dominance.
If someone had taken a possession drug, it was possible to possess them even while they were awake, but the reason people did not usually do so was because the soul already settled in the body would also still be awake. Naturally, someone fully conscious would fight mentally not to lose control of their body, and that made controlling the body difficult.
For that reason, possession was usually performed when the target was unconscious. This applied even when one soul tried to possess a body already occupied by another. If the possessed body fell asleep, the possessing spirit would fall asleep along with it. Some skilled mages could force a sleeping soul out using mana, but neither Yi-Gyeol nor the white butterfly had such abilities.
As expected, the man had a glass bottle meant to hold Joo Yi-Gyeol’s soul. Not only that, although dead souls normally could not see Joo Yi-Gyeol while he was astral projecting, the man was wearing a specially enchanted metal necklace so he could clearly see and capture him. Thanks to that, the soul butterfly too was able to see Joo Yi-Gyeol while possessing the man.
By overlaying the man’s body with the white butterfly’s spirit, Yi-Gyeol had deliberately entered the glass bottle, feigning compliance. The man then rejoined his two companions outside, blending in seamlessly. Since he had observed them from afar in his crow form before, he could imitate their behavior naturally.
Arriving at the large cave where Eda had settled, the man entered the deepest stone chamber there together with the two middle-aged men who were practically acting as guides. Eda, distracted by the captured Joo Yi-Gyeol, failed to notice that the man had been overlaid with another soul.
-Now…! Ah!
The white butterfly, playfully chattering above Eda’s head, suddenly let out a short scream. A hand had shot out of nowhere and seized him tightly, threatening to crush him.
“You bastards….”
A low, eerie voice sent a chill through both souls.
Eda, staggering to her feet, glared at the spirit in her grasp. The crumpled white wings sticking out between her fingers and the butterfly’s panicked voice made it clear how dire the situation was.
-H-how did this happen?! The sleeping potion definitely worked!
“How ridiculous.”
Eda sneered as blue light gathered in the hand holding the white butterfly.
“I was the one who helped my master develop that sleeping potion. Do you have any idea how much of it I was exposed to during the research stage, when I even had to test it myself?”
Having already become immune to the potion through repeated development, Eda felt only slight dizziness, while her mind remained perfectly clear.
Having built up an immunity to the drug, Eda felt little more than mild dizziness. This was something neither Yi-Gyeol nor the butterfly had anticipated.
With a murderous glare, Eda focused her mana into her grip. The energy affected even souls, making the white butterfly tremble violently, his voice fading.
Seeing that, Joo Yi-Gyeol flew toward the male guard lying on the floor. He seeped into him, sprang to his feet, and immediately lowered himself and charged at Eda. Slamming into her and grabbing her waist to knock her over, Joo Yi-Gyeol then kicked the hand holding the white butterfly hard with his foot. The butterfly was freed and flew into the air, but as though his strength were spent, he soon dropped to the floor and trembled violently.
“You little—!”
Eda grabbed Yi-Gyeol’s wrist, twisting her face in rage as she reached for his head. Sensing imminent danger, Yi-Gyeol abandoned the guard’s body and jumped into another. Once again, he sprang up, grabbed a sword sheath from the guard’s belt, and swung it fiercely at Eda. Unlike before, this body was stronger, and thanks to brief lessons from Sethian, he managed a clean horizontal strike.
Ducking, Eda avoided the scabbard by half a palm’s width and shoved Joo Yi-Gyeol away with a mana-filled hand. With the impact making his vision reel, Joo Yi-Gyeol was forcibly knocked out of the body. Remembering the magic the male mage had used earlier, he quickly flew behind a chair and hid. Just as he expected, Eda, who had been trying to use magic that could bind souls, could not catch him because it required the soul to be within sight.
"You can struggle all you want, but you’re not escaping."
Eda, well-versed in soul-binding magic, found Yi-Gyeol’s defiance amusing. She assumed Yi-Gyeol planned to possess bodies to fight back, but with her composure restored, Eda knew she could capture him before he even had the chance.
Even if he tried to escape this place, this stone chamber was like a giant glass bottle trapping souls. Any soul that stepped inside would be blocked by the stone walls layered with magic and could not leave as it pleased.
“I really don’t get it.”
Eda said irritably as she approached the chair Joo Yi-Gyeol was hiding behind.
“I said I’d make you a body and give you as much vitality as you wanted. What are you dissatisfied with? Why resist?”
-I know perfectly well you never meant to do that.
At the cold reply, Eda sneered.
“I was serious. It’s just that the way I meant to create a body and supply vitality was quite different from what you know.”
From the start, even if she achieved what she wanted, Joo Yi-Gyeol’s usefulness would not disappear. Eda intended to use him as much as possible and then keep making use of him in various ways with vitality as bait.
Joo Yi-Gyeol, who had seen through that without difficulty, sharpened all his senses as he listened to Eda’s careful footsteps approaching the chair.
-The reason Eda is trying to use you to extract Emperor Sethian’s vitality is clear, whatever the reason behind it. It’s because there’s no way for him to bring that man directly into his own territory. The knight order and his close aides are one thing, but even alone, the Emperor is more than a match for most people. How could he possibly drag someone like that into his territory?
The young boy’s spirit had told Joo Yi-Gyeol why Sethian could be put in danger because of him. If the simple plan of putting Eda and her people to sleep failed, Joo Yi-Gyeol had intended to use that as his backup plan.
Bang—!
“What, what was that?!”
A loud crash outside the chamber made Eda freeze. Moments later, the stone door burst open, and one of Eda’s subordinates was thrown inside, covered in blood.
“Eda!”
The first to speak among those who entered was Roa, Eda’s master. Calling Eda’s name, he took in the situation at a glance as soon as he stepped inside, and his face turned grim as he looked at the grotesque wall marked as though painted in blood and the many Idelo’s Flowers.
But Eda did not spare even the slightest glance for her master.
Her gaze was fixed on Sethian, who had entered, searching for someone with his piercing eyes. Eda’s lips curled into a triumphant grin. The very man she never dreamed of luring into her domain was standing right before her.
And for Yi-Gyeol, hiding behind the chair, this was exactly what he had been waiting for.
*I knew you’d come looking for me, Seth.*
Smirking bitterly, Yi-Gyeol abandoned his hiding spot and flew straight toward Eda.
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