I Became the Successor of the Martial God Chapter 113

I Became the Successor of the Martial God

Chapter 113.

There is a guild called Juggernaut.

A villainous organization—more specifically, one widely known as hitmen.

They never fail to kill their targets.

They were confident enough in their skills to boast about them, and their track record was solid.

Swoosh.

Given the nature of such an organization, hiring them isn’t easy. They screen their clients, so unless someone introduces you, making contact is difficult.

“Honestly, how does our young master even know about these guys and manage to hire them?”

Yoo Tae-rang had commissioned such an organization.

Kim Mok-jun clicked his tongue as he trudged through the snowy fields with them. He never imagined they’d recruit these utterly vicious bastards.

“We’re entering the forest.”

All the members of the Juggernaut guild wore sinister-looking helmets, as if to conceal their identities.

Among them, one with a deep voice spoke. He was known as Ban-yo among them.

“Kim Mok-jun, where does that path lead?”

“How should I know? Seoraksan Mountain’s terrain changes every time, so even the Sword Saint’s family doesn’t know.”

“Is it because of the gates?”

“Yeah. There are abandoned gates that overlay the terrain.”

That’s why mapping Seoraksan Mountain is tricky. Places you’ve been to before might have completely changed the next time you visit.

But since they couldn’t just leave it unattended, the Sword Saint’s family made an effort to create maps.

“The forest… not bad.”

A petite guild member who had been quiet—a woman called Puppet—spoke up.

“Hmm. Guide, should we deal with him right now?”

“Can you?”

“Well, I’d like to see how he fights with my own eyes before making a move.”

Ban-yo stepped into the forest as he spoke, leaving footprints in the snow.

Then came the rustling of leaves.

“Puppet, send out the summons.”

As Puppet activated her unique ability. A massive gate appeared right behind her, creaking open with a loud noise.

“Huh, swarming with them.”

Monsters poured out from within.

Kim Mok-jun, watching, clicked his tongue.

“There are plenty of rumors about you. Let’s test your skills.”

Ban-yo followed after them.

The forest fell silent again.

“…….”

From the thick darkness, Min Yi-jae emerged like a wraith. He sent a signal using a magical tool, then vanished again.

The forest grew quiet.

* * *

Yoo Baek-jun and Peng So-young were walking through the forest. After a while, Yoo Baek-jun glanced back.

‘They must’ve started moving by now.’

Yoo Baek-jun knew exactly why Yoo Tae-rang was looking for a villainous organization at this time.

Juggernaut and Kim Mok-jun.

That’s why Yoo Baek-jun called Min Yi-jae.

‘By now, they’ve probably released summons to test me.’

He had no intention of playing along.

Yoo Baek-jun planned to use Min Yi-jae to handle the summons and throw them into chaos.

‘This gate won’t take long to clear anyway. I’ll be back in time.’

Yoo Baek-jun moved while erasing his traces. This way, Min Yi-jae could leave false trails to mislead the enemies.

‘I’ll deal with them after returning from the gate.’

Yoo Baek-jun quickened his pace and soon reached the edge of the forest.

There stood a tall wall.

“A wall?”

“This is the base of the cliff.”

Yoo Baek-jun ran his hands over the wall.

Eventually, he found a faint crack. He clenched his fist and struck the wall.

Crack!

The wall split apart.

Stones crumbled, revealing what had been hidden within the crevice.

A gate.

“A gate in a place like this…?!”

“It’s an Entry-type gate. Beyond this, we’ll find a way to cure your severed diantans.”

“Here?”

Peng So-young looked utterly bewildered.

‘Did he check the gate’s rewards? But how did he even know about this gate?’

She examined the gate’s reward information.

[Madman’s Cave]

A cave with nothing but the corpses of beasts and a madman.

―Difficulty: C-rank

―Entry limit: 2 people

―Objective: Eliminate the madman

―Reward: Madman’s Unnamed Garment

A C-rank gate.

The reward was as meager as was the difficulty, and the objective was straightforward.

‘This… is a worthless gate.’

Yet Yoo Baek-jun was certain that this gate held the key to curing her severed diantans.

How?

‘No way.’

As she pondered, she recalled a rumor circulating among families and guilds lately.

That Yoo Baek-jun possessed special eyes.

‘Was that rumor true?’

Peng So-young was stunned but followed Yoo Baek-jun. Having come this far, there was no reason to hesitate.

If she couldn’t cure her severed diantans, her life would only grow more miserable.

“Alright.”

Yoo Baek-jun stood before the gate.

His destination was Murim.

Around this time, there was a gate leading there. Passing through it would take them to a cave in Murim.

‘Madman’s Cave.’

Yoo Baek-jun smirked as he read the gate’s information. 

The objective and reward weren’t lies.

But there was a hidden route.

Finding it would change everything.

“Ready to cure your severed diantans? Once we’re inside, you must follow my lead no matter what.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Let’s go.”

The two stepped into the gate.

* * *

At a nearby cliff. 

The bottomless abyss below would leave no bones intact for those who fell.

Yet there was a cave there.

“Ughhh…”

A man wandered the dark cave.

Disheveled hair, tattered clothes, countless scars visible beneath. His eyes were filled with madness.

“Grrrr…”

Bestial groans escaped his lips. 

The man staggered as if he might collapse at any moment, pacing the cave.

“Grrrr…”

He acted purely on instinct.

He ate when hungry, slept when tired. Sometimes he erupted in rage, other times he wept while eating.

“Huff!”

Even in his frenzy, moments of clarity brought despair.

He threw aside the fish he was eating.

“Heh… even in this beastly state… clinging to life so pathetically…”

The man let out a hollow laugh.

Death would be easier, but lingering attachments held him back.

“Even if I wanted to leave, I can’t.”

In this cave, cut off from the world, there was no way to gauge time.

He could only guess that years had passed.

“No, even if I did leave… heh.”

The man looked down at his body.

His diantan was destroyed, his meridians severed. He was a cripple, unable to wield internal energy.

“I found a way… a way to fix this.”

Trapped here for so long, he had devised a method to restore his body.

But what good was it?

He lacked the means to execute it.

“Hah… hahaha…”

Despair dawned on him, madness creeping back into his eyes.

The man slammed his fists into the ground.

Thud! 

Crack!

He struck so hard his bones cracked, flesh splitting as blood splattered.

“Revenge! To be reduced to this—waiting for death, powerless!”

But he paid no mind. He simply screamed his despair.

“Has Heaven truly abandoned me?!”

He roared at the ceiling.

Only the familiar ceiling stared back. Nothing changed. He would die like this.

Losing hope again, the man staggered to his feet.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a rift tore open in the air.

The man’s eyes widened. 

What—?

Then.

“Aaaah!”

“Whoa!”

Two figures tumbled out of the rift.

Yoo Baek-jun and Peng So-young.

“Ow ow… my butt…”

“Hey, you’re—I can’t see!”

Peng So-young rubbed her sore behind, while Yoo Baek-jun removed Seol-yeong clinging to his face.

Their eyes met the madman’s.

“Uh…”

“Uh?”

“Waaah!”

The madman screamed and fled. 

Peng So-young stared in shock.

“Wh-what was that?”

“What do you think?”

Yoo Baek-jun watched where the madman had gone.

“That’s the man who’ll cure your blocked Diantan.”

“Huh… what?”

The answer made no sense. Peng So-young’s head tilted in confusion.

“Hmm, the stench here is awful.”

Yoo Baek-jun glanced around.

This was a cave beneath a cliff, inhabited by one man.

The madman who had just fled.

Of course, he had a real name.

‘Sword Dragon, Ma Un-yeop.’

Once a renowned master in Murim, he had disappeared one day.

Officially, rumors said he died fighting the Demon Cult or something.

But the truth was simple.

‘Betrayal.’

His closest friend and lover, whom he had shared hardships with, betrayed him.

They used poison to severe his meridians, rendering him a cripple. They even blocked his dantian.

After crippling him, they threw him off the cliff…

‘Yet he survived, somehow.’

Ma Un-yeop managed to crawl into this cave.

Normally, this would be where he’d recover and seek revenge.

But,

‘This cave is just a cave. Ma Un-yeop dies here.’

Unless the gate’s hidden event is triggered, he dies when the gate closes.

Saving him unlocks another event, but… well. Yoo Baek-jun wasn’t interested.

‘There are plenty of Murim events…’

Crossing into Murim would lead to many events, big and small.

But,

‘Ah, that’s…’

It would take too long.

Just the immediate events—[The Fall of the Martial art Alliance], [The Great righteous War], [The Demon Lord’s Return]—would take…

Way too long.

‘I don’t have the time now, and I’m not sure I’ll have the energy later.’

The Yoo Baek-jun route is tight, making it hard to tackle events from other worlds.

Events from other worlds required long stays, but Yoo Baek-jun’s status makes it hard to be absent for long.

‘If I must, I’d start with the Demon Lord’s Return… no, the North Sea Ice Palace event first.’

Lost in thought, Yoo Baek-jun was shaken gently by Peng So-young.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing.”

“Hey, that man earlier… he’s the madman from the gate info, right? The one we’re supposed to kill.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Then we have to kill him to leave, don’t we? Is there another way?”

A normal player would think that and try to kill the madman.

But that was the trap.

“Yeah, there is.”

Some gates have hidden objectives beyond the stated ones.

A hidden route, so to speak. Taking it changes the gate’s objective and reward.

And the difficulty.

“Let’s catch that madman first.”

Preferably without injuring him.