Absolute Regression Chapter 747

747 Your Death Sets Us on a New Path

“It’s that smell.”

The smell that Jihan was talking about was the smell of the bamboo man who had told him to apply the wedding incense.

“He is here.”

But soon Jihan frowned.

“There are so many different smells mixed together here that you have to get close to tell them apart.”

It was quite a feat to smell that faint scent in such a crowded place.

Just as Jihan was about to step forward to sniff properly, Geommugeuk grabbed him and shook his head.
Jihan realized he was too excited. If he approached so recklessly, they’d notice him.

The iron-faced man took the lead and climbed to the top.

“Okay, everyone follow me!”

The unmanned crew followed, still half-hearted.
The Geommugeuk group also followed.
The appearance of the iron-faced man was truly a completely unexpected turn of events.

The man with the iron face, having truly interpreted the secret, climbed up to the western peak.
There was a large pond there. It was so large that it could almost be called a lake.

“There is an underwater cave leading to the sword below this pond.”

He knew exactly where the gun’s entrance was.

“You have to hold your breath for a long time to pass. Those who can’t swim or are afraid of water should not enter.”

Then, among the people, the one who was afraid of water asked.

“How long should I hold my breath?”
“Hold it until I count slowly to one hundred.”

Everyone thought they could count to about a hundred.
Then, Geommugeuk warned Taesu and Jihan, who were confident in their swimming skills.

“If you let your guard down just because of that, you’ll die. You’ll have to swim, and even worse, visibility will be poor down there. There might be unexpected obstacles, and someone might choke and grab you. Don’t think of that bag as the bag outside the water.”
“Yes!”

Taesu and Jihan steeled themselves.
Geommu-geuk wasn’t worried about Bloody Heavenly Sword Master and Ilhwa Sword Master. A master of the level of the Demon Lord could easily engage the watermen in a duel.

“You must follow me closely.”

As the iron-faced man leaped into the water without hesitation, the unmanned soldiers jumped in one after another, fearing they might miss him. They judged it safer to follow him closely.

On the other hand, Geommu-geuk was relaxed.
He took out the cloth that would become the material for the veil from Hyuknang and wrapped it around Hyuknang.

“You really carry all sorts of stuff!”

It was a truly revolutionary swordsmanship show that had everything.

“Do you two know how to swim?”

Bloody Heavenly Swordsman scoffed at Geommu-geuk’s question. Ilhwa Swordsman explained his confidence instead.

“It’s a seal.”

The sword dance drama entrusted the Hyuknang, surrounded by a bloody wind, to the Blood Heavenly Demon.

“I would like to ask you to carry this luggage, Seal.”

I’m leaving your luggage with you because I feel like I have to take care of the two young guys. They’ll have to go through a narrow passage.

“Well done, old man.”
“You don’t look so old anymore.”

At that time, Ilhwageomjon extended his hand.

“Give it to me. I’ll take it.”

When I tried to give it to her, Bloodthirsty Demon took the bag first.

Taesu jumped into the water first, followed by Jihan, then Geommugeuk and the two Majons.

Taesu led the way.
Even with his heavy load and sword, Hyeolcheon Doma swam like a seal, and Ilhwa Geomjon dived in with graceful movements.

As I descended, the surroundings grew darker. Fish appeared and then vanished from view.
Then, suddenly, a human corpse appeared. It was someone who had already drowned.

Taesu, panicked, momentarily lost his bearings. His mind was already distracted by the sight of the corpse, and the floor was darker than he’d imagined. As he wandered around for a moment,
he heard the sound of a sword dance.

-It’s on the right.

Indeed, there was a hole between the rocks on the side where Geommu-geuk had pointed out. Originally covered with aquatic plants, those who had entered before had torn them away, exposing the entrance.

As he entered the place, Taesu suddenly had this strange thought.

‘But can sound be transmitted underwater?’

I heard you shouldn’t know. Did you perhaps hear an auditory hallucination?

The cave was large enough for two adults to swim side by side, but it was so dark that I couldn’t see ahead.
It was a cave I would never enter unless I was certain there was a breathing space at the end.

How far did he go in? Taesu panicked again. A drowned body was blocking the passage. He tried to push it aside, but the floating body moved freely.
His mind was in a hurry, so he couldn’t easily move it.
That was when it happened.

Choaaaak.

As the Bloodthirsty Demon following behind reached out, bubbles rose and the corpse was instantly blown forward.

Now, the Bloody Swordfish swam ahead, clearing away the floating corpses. There were more than a few corpses of those who had died along the way.

The passage was longer than I thought. I think I’ve already counted a hundred.

‘If this continues like this… … .’

Taesu, whose martial arts were relatively weak, felt his breath suffocated.
The fear of suffocation gave way to a fear of death. Dying before even reaching the entrance of the sword! No, there was something even more shameful.

The guide drowns and dies?

This was something I would be ashamed of even after death.

‘I can do it! I can do it!’

But against his will, his mind began to cloud over.
It was then that
he heard the sound of a sword dance.

-Close your eyes!

Was it an auditory hallucination again? The moment Taesu’s eyes closed, even though he told them not to,

Choaaaaaaah.

His body instantly cut through the water and surged forward. Jihan, who had been swimming behind him, was also pulled forward by Geommu-geuk’s hand.
They both surged forward, cutting through the current.

“Open your eyes.”

When they opened their eyes, the two men were already poking their heads out of the water. The corpses that Bloodthirsty Demon had brought in earlier were floating there.

After Geommu-geuk threw the two men out of the water, he too emerged.
Taesu bowed his head and expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you so much for saving my life.”

Jihan would have come alone, but Taesu almost died. He was ashamed and embarrassed that he had even worried about what would happen if Geommu-geuk arrived and killed him.

Soon, the last of the Ilhwa Swords emerged from the water.
There was enough space for about a dozen people to stand, and it led back to an underground cave. Those who had come out earlier had all gone back into the cave, leaving no one there.

Ilhwageomjon’s wet clothes clung to her body. Bloody Heavenly Sword Master turned around and gently covered her body with his sword.

Hwaaaaak.

Ilhwageomjon stood up and dried his clothes, causing heat to build up in his body.

“I think this is my first time swimming in an underwater cave like this. What about you, brother?”

Bloody Cheon Do-ma answered while drying his clothes with a hot water heater.

“Would it have been me?”

The sword dance drama didn’t dry the clothes. Two people were enough to appear fluffy and fresh.

As I walked into the cave, I came upon a wide open space, where those who had entered before were already there. Many had jumped into the water, but they had all perished, leaving only about twenty unmanned people.

Their gazes turned to the five people. The number should have decreased by even one, but with five people joining, the gazes naturally became unwelcome.

Then someone shouted.

“Open the door now!”

Behind the iron fence that stood in front of me stood a stone gate.
This was the entrance to the swordsmanship.
The faces of the warriors facing the gate were filled with greed and longing, believing that beyond this gate lay something that would change their fate.

The iron-faced man slowly opened the door.
As it opened, the interior was revealed.
What overwhelmed everyone’s gaze were the hundreds, thousands of swords. Swords were embedded everywhere visible. It was a scene truly worthy of the term “graveyard of swords.”

Upon closer inspection, I realized this wasn’t just a plain.
It was a replica of a grand hall somewhere. Swords were embedded everywhere: on the pillars, on the chairs, on the stone statues lining the walls.

Countless swords, each with its own story.

The warriors began to examine the surrounding swords. Their eyes were ablaze, wondering if there might be a treasured sword hidden among the worn iron swords.

“Just look and never pull it out!”

But when many people gather together, there are bound to be some who ignore these warnings.

The moment someone pulls out a sword from a fancy scabbard!

Whoosh! Phew!

A blade leaped from the ground and pierced his groin. Its speed was lightning fast, making it impossible to dodge.

No one lamented his death.
The iron-faced man looked straight ahead at the Taesa Temple and said:

“You have to go to the back door of the Taesa Temple. And the moment you leave here, the engine will activate.”

The distance from where he stood to the Taesa Temple was an ambiguous one.
It was a distance anyone confident in their lightness would want to attempt at least once.

This ambiguous distance and the desire to pass through alone first combined to make one person jump.

When he was halfway across.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

He died when his head was pierced by a sword that fell from the ceiling, in contrast to the previous death.

At the same time, another person was cutting through the air.

‘The opportunity is right now, the moment the agency is activated!’

He was passing through the place the moment the person in front of him fell to the ground.

Whoosh! Chae-chaeng!

He knocked away the fallen dagger on his head.

‘That’s it!’

Just as he was about to rush towards the door, kicking the air with his fists again!

Shhh!

A blade flew in again, lightning-fast, piercing his heart. It was a diagonal attack from the ceiling, the angle difficult to parry, but the speed was too fast.

Clank!

Just as the floor opened and a corpse fell to the ground,
another master rushed in.

The moment you dispose of the body is your chance!

Contrary to his hopes, the reality was this.

Disposing of the body was a trap!

Three corpses disappeared into the ground in an instant.

A brief silence followed.
Their greed was excessive, but that didn’t mean their skills were lacking.

Then someone shouted.

“Let’s just smash everything and go in!”

Then the iron-faced man spoke firmly.

“That’s not allowed. It was written in the Jangbodo. If you try to force your way into the facility, this place will collapse and flood.”

What was more frightening than death was not being able to take the treasures here.

“Do you now understand why I brought you here?”

Geommu-geuk looked at Taesu. He had previously been confident. He knew the location of the swordsmanship, and that only he could destroy the organ’s equipment.

But Taesu whispered with a flustered face.

“It is completely different from the description of the institution written in the Jangbodo.”

The Geommu-geuk wasn’t surprised at all. There’s no way they’d have meekly revealed the details of this place’s machinery in advance, even after unraveling several pages of Jangbo-do.

The iron-faced man asked everyone.

“Does anyone know how to get through here?”

When no one answered, the iron-faced man pointed to the sword dance.

“There’s a small group carrying luggage.”

Everyone’s eyes were turned to Geommugeuk.

“Is there no other way?”
“Why do you ask me?”
“It’s because of the luggage. To swim all the way here with that much luggage? Surely you must be quite skilled. To have that kind of skill at such a young age must be a brilliant mind. A young and intelligent person could solve this problem.”

The sword dance could sense that he knew his identity. He was testing himself.

‘Is that you?’

But it was too obvious to say that he was behind it, because he appeared in front of me.

Geommugeuk slowly walked forward, looking around at those standing there. As the people died, only the true masters and the cautious remained. The mastermind could be among them.

“Have you found anything strange here?”

Then, people looked around. Soon, their eyes, unable to find the answer, turned back to Geommu-geuk. The same was true for Hyeolcheon Doma and Ilhwa Geomjon.

What the Sword Dance Theater found was something no one had expected.

“I found the swords here the strangest.”

Everyone looked puzzled. The iron-faced man spoke on behalf of everyone.

“What’s wrong with the sword in the Tomb of Swords?”

Rather, everyone looked at the sword dance with a strange expression. The least strange thing about the place were the swords.

The sword dance asked them.

“Was this a gun range from the beginning?”

For a moment, everyone flinched.

“Didn’t this place get its name, Sword Chong, because countless masters came here decades ago and died? It was only after their deaths that it was given the name Sword Chong. Isn’t it strange that this gate, decorated like a Sword Chong, is so?”
“!”

This gate was built after the invention of the sword.
This further increased the likelihood of this being a trap, but no one was willing to return.

Geommugeuk slowly looked around.
His footsteps finally stopped before a stone statue bearing several swords.
A stone statue of a woman holding a lute. Her expression was one of profound sorrow.

Geommu-geuk had been here before, in his life before his return. This statue certainly wasn’t there then. If it had been there, it would have been the kind of statue he would definitely remember.

“Was this woman a musician? Or a master of music?”

The swordsman flicked the sword embedded in her stomach with his finger.

Ting.

The sound of metal clanging echoed clearly.
This time, Geommugeuk flicked the sword embedded in his side with his finger.

Teeing.

This time, the shoulder, then the thigh. Perhaps it was the different metal, or perhaps the depth of the blades embedded in his body, but each sounded different.

At that time, Taesu spoke cautiously to Geommugeuk.

“That sound a little while ago sounded exactly like the lute.”
“Like the lute?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know how to play instruments?”
“I learned a little bit of everything when I was young.”

My father even taught me to play instruments, saying that to become a good thief, you need to know how to play the instrument well.

Geommugeuk looked at the stone statue again.

“perhaps?”

Geommugeuk asked Taesu how to do it, and he thrust the swords into the statue, starting with the ones that produced the lowest notes. The sword that produced the highest notes was the last to be pierced into her heart.

The moment when all the swords are stuck into the stone statue.

Kururururung.

Suddenly, the axis began to shake, and the floor began to shift.
A thud, a thud.
The swords stuck in the floor seemed to be shuffling around. Then,
as if beckoning us to step on them, a line of sword handles of the same color stretched all the way to the door.
Taesu shouted in delight at the sight.

“The institution has been destroyed!”

Everyone stared at the sword dance in amazement. Some were amazed, others skeptical.

It was a simple method once you knew it, but if you didn’t know the answer, it was a method of destruction that you couldn’t figure out even if you stayed here your whole life.

The iron-faced man looked at the sword dance with eyes filled with various emotions.

“You’re truly amazing!”
“I was lucky. The person I brought along happened to be someone who had learned an instrument.”

Of course, Blood Heavenly Sword and Ilhwa Sword Master knew that only the Sword Dance Theater could do it. The two looked at each other, nodded, and then nodded again.

Before leaving, Geommugeuk said his final goodbyes to the stone statue.

“Your death has led us on a new path. Thank you.”

Everyone stepped on the sword’s hilt and passed through. Sure enough, there was no attack.
Having passed the first gate, they opened the second.

There was a sword here, too.
But there was something different. While the previous room had numerous swords, here there was only one.

In the middle of the room sat a skeletal corpse, with a sword leaning against its body.