Chapter 68 – Praying For Rain (6)

When the bell announcing the start of the spar rang, they couldn’t think about anything else.

Both sides drew their swords. At the same time, they raised their spiritual energy.

Seol Young’s sword shone in blue.

Meanwhile, Seo Geom’s sword began to shine white.

There was no way to tell who was killing which demonic being. They just had to kill them quickly.

‘I need to hurry up.’

Seol Young started right away.

The demonic beings lurking in this place began to appear. He immediately used his talismans to kill them.

At the same time, a flute’s melody could be heard.

“…?”

When he turned around, Seo Geom was playing the flute.

It was the Divine Dragon Flute.

It was the divine object that only the leader of the Blue Dragon Troops could use. The flute was known to ward off the evil that was nearby by playing the ritual tune for the patriotic dragon.

Seol Young was quite familiar with it.

During the fight in the past, he heard Seo Geom’s uncle play that flute several times.

But…

It was his first time hearing the tune he was playing. The melody had a force to it, as if each note being played seemed to come alive.

And as if in response to this strange flute’s tune, screams came out from the temple.

Wooo…

And soon, black shadows appeared in twos and threes.

These were the demonic beings hiding in this place, but their behavior was odd.

When the melody of the flute went up, their bodies stretched up, and when the melody went down, their bodies shrank. It was like their bodies were moving as if they were dancing.

Seeing this bizarre sight, he thought of something.

Like Seol Young, Zaha couldn’t understand what was happening, so he asked,

“Seo Geom-rang! What is that?”

Seo Geom took his lips off the flute and said,

“A song that has been restored.”

A song to subjugate a tiger.

When they heard that name, a thought came to mind.

A long time ago, a poor woodcutter climbed a tree after being chased by a group of tigers, and as his last resort, he took out a flute and blew into it, and all the tigers danced to the sound of the flute, and they all fell down and died.

The woodcutter made a fortune by controlling the tigers with the flute and selling their skin.

‘It must have something to do with that legend.’

And Seol Young’s guess was right.

This Tiger Song was made by the old ancestors of the Blue Dragon Troops based on the legend.

“But isn’t this more like a quick-paced song?”

At Zaha’s words, Seo Geom answered,

“Yes. And it isn’t forbidden…”

“Yes.”

He nodded his head. The songs that could be played by that flute were divided into the Divine Songs and the Second Songs.

The Divine Songs were the ones that called the wind or the clouds and attacked the demonic beings around. These were the sacred ones.

The songs that weren’t on the list of the Divine Songs were just the Second Songs, in the sense that anyone could learn them or not.

But after losing seven years ago, feelings of resentment built up inside of him, and Seo Geom began to study the Second Songs little by little.

‘It wouldn’t be a huge deal if the songs that I play are the ones that aren’t used much, right?’

With such thoughts, he began to learn and understand the Second Songs, reaching a certain level he had not expected to reach.

Wooong…

The demonic beings hiding in this place began to dance to the flute. Even those that Seol Young was aiming for were dancing to the melody.

Soon, the entire place was full of demonic beings, and Seo Geom changed the tune.

Wind Song.

The sound of the flute infused with spiritual energy struck the demonic beings, making their bodies explode.

“Ack!”

Their screams resounded. Seeing the horrific scene unfolding before them, the demonic beings that regained their senses tried to run.

“Where are you going?”

Seo Geom moved his sword before they could respond. A black mist rose as he swept away the demonic beings.

It was truly shocking, as if a divine dragon had cut down the demonic beings.

Seo Geom slaughtered dozens of them in an instant.

“Wonderful! As expected, you are good at everything other than the Divine Songs.”

Zaha praised him.

Seol Young watched this from the side while killing his own share of demonic beings.

Tiger Song.

It was something Seol Young didn’t like. Seol Young belonged to the White Tiger Spirit Troops, which meant Seo Geom learned it for obvious reasons.

‘I never thought there would be such a weapon.’

He was a bit shocked at this, but he had to be alert at such times.

Because he couldn’t just lose like this. No matter how unfavorable the situation was, if he was still conscious, he needed to find a way to live, and opportunities would surely arise.

Seol Young believed in it.

‘I’ll go there for now.’

Since Seo Geom was killing the demonic beings in this area, Seol Young decided to go to another side.

However, the temple was not that wide. In addition, since the areas for the demonic beings to hide were limited, he ran into Seo Geom again.

Puak!

His sword cut into the demonic being that was in front of him.

Seol Young was almost stabbed, making him swing his sword to block it.

The moment the two swords collided, sparks flew. Once again, the difference in their power was clear.

“I apologize.”

Contrary to his words, Seo Geom’s eyes showed he attacked him on purpose.

Seol Young almost attacked him back, but he couldn’t because he didn’t get the chance as Seo Geom continued to strike his sword.

Metallic sounds rang, and Seo Geom’s sword cut off a part of Seol Young’s robe.

Ah.

The Hwarangs flinched. It was exciting at first, but they could see their leader’s sword had killing intent.

They wanted to do something.

Everyone turned to Zaha.

“Shouldn’t we calm down the Great-rang a little?”

“Well…”

Zaha frowned.

“I cannot say anything about that right now. And isn’t Seo Geom-rang cutting down the demonic beings? Rules are rules.”

Seol Young heard it too.

‘Rules are rules.’

Right. Use it.

‘Even if I cannot win, I will not lose.’

There was just one way to bridge the gap in their skills.

He had to use what he could.

While defending himself from the sword, Seol Young slowly began to think.

Was there anything he could use?

And he found something.

A thing he didn’t notice at first. But when he looked at it with spiritual energy in his eyes, he saw it.

‘Good.’

He saw a way to change the situation.

In the midst of being attacked and with no air to breathe, Seol Young barely found time to move his left hand.

With a sharp whoosh, the Wind Spirit was summoned.

“…?”

Because it was something unexpected, Seo Geom’s movement was slightly disturbed.

He was barely able to avoid it, and Seo Geom had an annoyed expression.

‘This is why I hate those who use such tricks.’

That expression was clear on his face.

And he turned around.

Raising the aura on his sword as much as he could, he struck the floor under the incense burner that was in the middle of this place.

“Kiiik!”

A scream rang.

Between the flagstones on the ground, the large legs of an arthropod came out.

Some flagstones were overturned, and its round body sprang out between them.

It was a giant spider.

Everyone was surprised to see it.

“Something like that was here.”

In an instant, Seol Young was trapped between its legs.

The talismans he prepared began to explode in succession. Then a light shone.

However, it was blocked by its armor-like outer shell and had no effect.

And its scythe-like sharp legs flew at Seol Young’s head. The wind whistled brutally.

‘Here!’

Seol Young managed to find a thin gap in the iron armor.

He put his sword right into the gap and used his talisman right there.

Meanwhile….

“Eiik! Kuaak!”

The other side didn’t stop screaming. A number of demonic beings fell to Seo Geom.

Knowing that time was running out, he was doing his best, and then the bell rang.

“Stop!”

Zaha’s voice made them lower their swords.

On one side, the blue aura was raging, and on the other side, demonic beings were affected by the white aura.

The Hwarangs were confused.

“The number of demonic beings that the Great-rang took down is one hundred thirty-six, and the demonic beings Seol Youn-rang killed is sixty-seven…”

They looked at the spider spirit.

“Sixty-eight.”

At that moment, everyone thought the same thing.

‘He wasted so much time killing one huge thing, but isn’t it just one?’

But…

One hundred thirty-six to sixty-eight.

Was a huge difference.

And Zaha said,

“Seo Geom-rang won?”

Seol Young stepped forward.

“Wait.”

The outer skin, which was like iron armor before, was now normal skin and was split open.

Something spilled out between it. They were demonic beings. All of them had a blue aura, which meant that they died at Seol Young’s hands.

“…?”

Everyone’s expression changed.

They could now see that the spider was just a shell. The little things inside were the ones controlling the spider.

Seol Young spoke with an expressionless face,

“And don’t say that I did some cowardly thing. Even Chu Nam, the fortune teller, says that one should count the things hidden in the stomach too.”

Chu Nam was a fortune teller in Goguryeo. The queen put a mouse in a box and asked him to guess how many were in there.

He answered eight and was executed. But later on, when the rat’s stomach was opened up, seven pups were found inside.

According to one theory, the fortune teller held a grudge against the family and vowed to destroy them by reincarnating in Silla.

It was a story that the Hwarangs knew.

“…”

So they were at a loss for words.

Zaha told them,

“Count.”

“Yes.”

And they began to count the demonic beings one after another.

After a while, the results came out.

“Seventy-two…”

“What? Seventy-two?”

Zaha frowned.

“There was so many inside? Then I will have to do the math. Even though they are small, they are individual demonic beings…”

And they glanced at the spider with its stomach open.

“If we take away the one from the sixty-eight and then add the seventy-two. It will be?”

“One hundred thirty-nine.”

“What? Did you calculate it correctly?”

“It is one hundred thirty-nine.”

“Then Seol Young-rang won. With a difference of three.”

“…”

Seo Geom was shocked at this.

‘What is this?’

His gaze wandered for a moment.

Seol Young was there with a blank face as usual, and next to him, Zaha was looking at Seo Geom as if saying, ‘What! Weren’t you supposed to win?’

‘Right. I lost.’

Seo Geom thought.

‘According to the rules, it is true, but…’

His eyes wandered.

In the meantime, all the things that had happened with Seol Young passed through his mind.

‘Did I get defeated again?’