Reaper of the Drifting Moon

Thud!

Pyo-wol and Yul Ayeon landed on the deck of the massive ship simultaneously.

Yul Ayeon immediately hid behind a large crate upon landing.

The impact of the landing caused her ankle to twinge.

Even though she was an extremely skilled martial artist, jumping down from a height of nearly twenty feet without any injury was nearly impossible. Nevertheless, she managed to catch some wind to minimize the impact. If it were anyone else, their ankle would have already been broken.

“Everyone, stay on high alert and be cautious of any suspicious activity!”

“If anything seems off, report it immediately, as there might be pursuers.”

Shortly after Yul Ayeon concealed herself, a group of martial artists poured out onto the deck.

They took up positions on the deck and masts, their eyes meticulously scanning their surroundings.

‘If I were even a little bit late, I would have been in big trouble.’

Yul Ayeon breathed a sigh of relief, but then suddenly realized that she couldn’t see Pyo-wol anywhere.

They had both jumped off the ship almost simultaneously, yet she couldn’t see him. And now, that she thought about it, the only sound she heard upon landing was the sound of her own footsteps.

She didn’t hear the sound of Pyo-wol’s footsteps landing at all.

‘Did he infiltrate in first?’

A chill ran down her spine.

No matter how exceptional Pyo-wol’s martial arts and stealth skills were, they still had jumped together, and yet she hadn’t noticed a single movement of his beside her.

If he had changed his mind and hesitated during the jump, then it’s possible that he wouldn’t have survived.

‘What the hell?’

She regretted not paying more attention to Pyo-wol, treating him merely as a passing connection.

As soon as she was done with this, Yul Ayeon promised herself that she would have to find out more about Pyo-wol.

It was already too late to search for him.

Deciding to move alone, Yul Ayeon infiltrated the corridors of the ship. Fortunately, apart from the deck, there were no other guards roaming around.

The crew members on the ship didn’t think that someone had already sneaked into the ship. After all, it was unimaginable for an outsider to freely roam around an isolated ship in the middle of the sea.

Yul Ayeon swiftly moved through the cabins.

Unlike Pyo-wol, she hadn’t mastered the art of infiltration.

Her martial arts might be strong, but she was terrible at sneaking around like this.

She only had one option left.

That was to find the Demonic Soul Blade as quickly as possible and escape to the small boat where Tae Musang was waiting.

Crea–ak!

At that moment, she heard the sound of a door opening from deep within the corridor.

Almost instinctively, Yul Ayeon pressed herself against the wall.

She completely held her breath, trying to suppress her presence.

Eventually, the door opened, and a white-haired man stepped out.

He was Jin Yoo-gun.

He immediately walked straight to the spot where Yul Ayeon was.

Yul Ayeon’s heart pounded violently against her chest, threatening to burst at any moment.

‘What should I do?’

The darkness was covering her now, but if he got any closer, she would undoubtedly be discovered.

In an instant, countless thoughts raced through Yul Ayeon’s mind.

It was then.

Jin Yoo-gun, who was heading straight for Yul Ayeon, suddenly turned to the left.

She thought that place was a dead end, but there was a staircase leading downward.

Yul Ayeon remembered what Pyo-wol had told her, that a white-haired man was in possession of the blade.

‘I should follow him.’

She followed Jin Yoo-gun down the staircase.

The stairs leading downward were even darker, and there was a nauseating stench permeating in the air, making her head throb.

The smell seemed like a mixture of rotten fish and feces.

Just breathing the air made her want to vomit.

Yul Ayeon forced herself to suppress the urge to retch and cautiously descended the stairs.

The moment Yul Ayeon arrived in the unknown space below the stairs, her eyes widened involuntarily.

‘Oh my god!’

The underground space was filled with cells surrounded by iron bars. Each cell had numerous people trapped inside.

The people trapped inside looked like animals. They were naked, wounded, as they were crammed into narrow cages. Their appearances and races were diverse as if they had been captured from various places.

While these people had their eyes closed, despair was evident in their figures. It was as if they had lost all hope.

‘This can’t be happening!’

Yul Ayeon’s shoulders trembled.

She had never witnessed such a horrific sight before.

The shock she felt was even greater because it was her first time seeing humans treating fellow humans like animals.

It didn’t take long for Yul Ayeon to find herself having a strong sense of hatred for Jin Yoo-gun and his crew for having committed such an inhumane act.

She clenched her teeth and stepped further inside.

The deeper she went, the worse the stench became, and the condition of the trapped people grew more wretched.

Many of them were huddled, wandering in their distress, and the floor was covered in their own excrement.

Under normal circumstances, Yul Ayeon would never have come to a place like this. But, she was so consumed with anger right now that she didn’t even notice that her clothes were getting dirty.

“HNG!”

At that moment, a loud groan came from the front.

Yul Ayeon immediately hid behind a nearby cage and peeked to see where the sound was coming from.

Her gaze soon landed upon Jin Yoo-gun, who stood with his crew members.

All of their clothes were stained with red blood.

Yul Ayeon quickly realized why.

It was because a man had turned into a human beast in front of them.

He was the man who had stolen the dagger and escaped. Upon being captured, he was brought here and subjected to brutal torture.

“K…kill… me…!”

The man pleaded, barely lifting his head.

Jin Yoo-gun squatted down and locked eyes with the man.

In his hand, there was a small dagger.

Swoosh!

Jin Yoo-gun slashed the man’s arm with a dagger.

“Ugh!”

“Who said that you can escape? With the Demonic Soul Blade, too.”

“That’s–”

“Oh, I understand! You seized the opportunity to escape and wanted to take something with you, right? Even so, you shouldn’t have done that. Do you know why?”

“I… I don’t…”

Thud!

At that moment, Jin Yoo-gun forcefully plunged the dagger deep into the man’s arm. Already battered from torture, the man couldn’t even scream. He could only tremble uncontrollably.

“Do you know that over ten people have died because of you? More than ten. They climbed up onto the ship without any preparation just to capture scum like you, and they died. All because of a pathetic human like you…”

“Ugh! I, I’m… s-sorry…!”

“Don’t apologize. I don’t want to hear your apologies. Do you think hearing your apology will make me feel better?”

Jin Yoo-gun’s eyes had now turned red and bloodshot.

The men he had lost in Haimen were all his loyal subordinates.

They had fought on countless battlefields together, so they were bound to have forged deep bonds.

If the man in front of him hadn’t escaped, there would have been no need for them to enter Haimen, and Jin Yoo-gun wouldn’t have had to suffer such tremendous losses.

Everything was a mess because of the man right in front of him.

If he wanted to escape, he should have done it alone. But he had caused this chaos by escaping with the Demonic Soul Blade.

Jin Yoo-gun said to his men,

“Open the door.”

“Yes!”

His subordinates replied as they opened the side door on the wall of the hull. And there, the vast sea appeared.

Seeing the black sea of unknown depths, the man’s fear intensified. He realized that there were predatory sharks with enormous jaws swimming in those waters.

“N, No! Please!”

The man’s face lit up with fear.

Jin Yoo-gun sneered at the sight.

“Why not? You wanted me to kill you, didn’t you? Now, I will kill you.”

“But not like this!”

“Why does it matter? Whether you die from being stabbed by a sword or get devoured by sharks, you will die all the same.”

Jin Yoo-gun laughed hysterically.

“Aaah!”

The man struggled to resist being dragged away, but it was all in vain. Jin Yoo-gun’s subordinates easily pulled him along.

“Ah, no, please! Just kill me quickly!”

The man pleaded with tears streaming down his face.

But there was no changing Jin Yoo-gun’s mind.

Just as Jin Yoo-gun’s subordinates were about to thrust the man’s limbs into the deep sea,

“Who is this bitch?!”

A voice suddenly resounded from the opposite side. It was the voice of one of Jin Yoo-gun’s men.

Jin Yoo-gun frowned and looked in the direction of the voice.

“What is it?”

“Some bitch sneaked in!”

Yul Ayeon soon slowly walked out from behind a cell. Behind her was one of Jin Yoo-gun’s subordinates pointing a sword at her back.

A look of defeat was evident on her face.

She had been so focused on Jin Yoo-gun that she hadn’t noticed a person approaching from her behind.

“Who the hell are you?”

Yul Ayeon didn’t answer Jin Yoo-gun’s question. Instead, she looked at the man who was about to be thrown into the sea.

Though his face was disfigured from torture, Yul Ayeon still managed to recognize his true identity.

“Are you the Third Elder?”

“Hik!”

The man couldn’t bring himself to respond, so he just tightly shut his eyes.

His actions confirmed Yul Ayeon’s suspicions.

A tragic light dawned on Yul Ayeon’s face.

In the Mara Sect, the Third Elder was below the sect leader. Nonetheless, he was like a pillar that supported the great furnace known as the Mara Sect.

If Tarha, Yul Ayeon’s maternal grandfather, was a symbol of power, then the Third Elder acts as the sect’s spiritual support.

But, when turmoil recently erupted in the Western Region, the Third Elder mysteriously disappeared. Many believed that he got swept up in the uprising and lost his life.

But now, to think that he would be here on the faraway island of the Central Plains, and to top it all off, on a ship of the Phantom Fleet.

“Are you the one responsible for the disappearance of the Demonic Soul Blade?”

“Hik!”

The man, the Third Elder, couldn’t give out a proper answer.

But, that alone was a sufficient answer for Yu Ayeon.

“Why would someone as dignified as you commit such an act?”

At this point, Jin Yoo-gun stepped forward and said,

“Appearances can be deceiving when it comes to dignity.”

“So he really wasn’t–”

“If he were such a person, he wouldn’t have accepted our proposal and stolen the Demonic Soul Blade.”

“Why would you ask him to do such a thing? Just why?”

“Because the Demonic Soul Blade has enough value.”

Jin Yoo-gun smiled coldly.

“Do you really think that by using the Demonic Soul Blade, you can control the Mara Sect?! The Demonic Soul Blade is a treasure with symbolic meaning, not an authoritative emblem!”

“Still, depending on how it is used, it can shake the foundations of the organization. That should be enough.”

“What do you mean? Why would you want to shake the Mara Sect?”

“To maintain the chaos in the Western Region for as long as possible.”

“What?”

Yul Ayeon looked confused.

She didn’t understand what Jin Yoo-gun was saying.

“Why create chaos in the Western Region? Why would you do such a thing…?”

Her thoughts became tangled, and her words fell short.

She had always been calm and composed, but at this moment, she was so confused that she couldn’t maintain her composure.

That was what Jin Yoo-gun wanted.

He intentionally engaged with her in conversation, killing time until all of his subordinates had filled the cabin.

Each of his subordinates was carrying harpoons for catching fish, straightedges for slicing fish, and so on.

Their attire was worn-out, resembling sailors or fishermen at first glance. However, the energy emanating from their entire bodies was incredibly calm.

The fact that they didn’t falter in the face of such a situation showed how trained and elite they were.

‘Who exactly are these people?’

Yul Ayeon couldn’t conceal her perplexed expression.

At that moment, the Third Elder of the Mara Sect shouted loudly,

“What they want is to prolong the turmoil in the Western Region so that it can remain divided for a long time! That way, they can take advantage of the chaos and gain as much benefit as possible! I, too, regret my betrayal, realizing this fact too late, Lady Yul!”

Tears streaked down the Third Elder’s mangled face.

He sincerely regretted his actions.

He cursed his own foolishness for being blinded by momentary greed and stealing the Demonic Soul Blade.

He might be paying the price for his actions now, but that didn’t mean his guilt disappeared.

“Lady Yul! I pray that you will bring back the Demonic Soul Blade!”

With a loud cry, the Third Elder of the Mara Sect voluntarily threw himself into the sea.

As soon as he fell into the cold depths of the sea, a group of sharks rushed towards him, as if they had been waiting.

“Kaaaak!”

His desperate screams echoed over the sea.

His body was torn to shreds by the shark’s large teeth and soon got devoured.

The Third Elder’s horrifying screams made Yul Ayeon close her eyes for a moment.

Just then, Jin Yoo-gun’s sneering voice reached her ears.

“You will end up like that too, you bitch!”

“No, it will be you who will pay the price.”

Yul Ayeon opened her eyes.

Her blue eyes shimmered brightly in the darkness.

Jin Yoo-gun shouted,

“Subdue that woman!”