CH 315

I led the soldiers and all went to the count’s mansion in the northernmost part of the city.

The sky above the big, tall building was covered with dark clouds. Even in broad daylight, shadows fell heavily around the mansion.

‘He even made a plausible directing. It’s awesome?’ The soldiers whispered in frightened voices behind me, who gave me a mild appreciation.

“The, the witch’s curse…!”

“He can even touch the weather…”

“……”

I was also very anxious to take these people with me. It would be great if I kicked them out of a suitable place and went on our own.

“The front door… seems to be locked.”

“I don’t even see the witch’s subordinates attacking.”

Min Ah-rin and Park Geon-ho, who were looking at the mansion, spoke one word at a time. If we got close but didn’t strike back and locked the front door, the intention was obvious.

I asked Kim Woo-jin, who was worried with a serious expression.

“Is there any other door that can enter the mansion other than the front door?”

“No, there’s a back door. The road to it is narrow and the entrance is small.”

As expected. But there was no other way.

“I understand what concerns you’re thinking, but there seems to be no other way. Let’s go.”

We turned right at the front door. A rusty iron gate appeared as Kim Woo-jin said when we went through the lush garden with dry branches behind the mansion.

As Cheon Sa-yeon took the lead and pushed the iron door, it opened easily. A dark hallway was revealed through the open iron door with the noise of clashing metal.

“Let’s go in.”

Kim Woo-jin, who nodded nervously at my words, moved on. Cheon Sa-yeon was the lead, and Kim Woo-jin, Min Ah-rin, Park Geon-ho, and Woo Seo-hyuk entered in order. And that was when the soldiers were about to come in after us.

Kkigigik, clack!

“Uh-agh, what!”

“Gasp!”

The iron bar that I didn’t know existed fell from above and blocked the entrance. As the soldiers stepped backwards in fright, the iron bars embedded in the ground slammed shut.

“There was no such thing.”

“I think it was made by the witch.”

Instead of the embarrassed Kim Woo-jin, I held a rusty iron bar in my hand. It would be difficult for an A-rank person, but it was a bar that could be opened with enough force even with only S-rank Park Geon-ho or Woo Seo-hyuk.

However, there was no reason to drag the soldiers in until the iron bar was wide open. To be honest, it was such good timing. The opportunity to get rid of the soldiers like this was coming.

“There’s nothing we can do. Let’s go in and open the front door. Soldiers, please wait for that.”

When I said with a frown on my forehead as if I was sorry, the soldiers looked at Kim Woo-jin.

“Will you be all right, Shed-nim?”

“Yeah. Finding another door seems to be the best way for now.”

“I understand. Then we will wait at the front door.”

If possible, it would be better if they were farther away from the mansion where the battle would take place, but that would be greedy of me.

Leaving the soldiers behind, I entered the hallway without a single fire. After walking like that for about five minutes, the hallway ended and the mansion’s central hall was revealed.

“Wait a minute.”

Cheon Sa-yeon stopped me, who was right behind me, and stared at the corner of the hall.

“There’s a corpse. To be exact, it’s a broken doll.”

“A doll?”

Cheon Sa-yeon pulled out an S-class sword from his inventory. Then, without hesitation, he cut off his palm.

The blade of the sword soaked in Cheon Sa-yeon’s blood burned brightly. When the corner of the hall was lit up in that state, a truly broken doll appeared. The doll in black clothes and mask had the upper body cut neatly.

“Oh, you’re pretty talented, aren’t you?”

Park Geon-ho, who saw the cut through the black cloth, left a brief review. I also agreed with that opinion. At this point, it was clear that he was quite good at handling the long sword.

“There’s a witch’s minion here too!”

Min Ah-rin found another doll lying down elsewhere. The traces left were the same.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who swung his flaming sword as a torch and checked the number of doll corpses, understood the situation at once.

“I wondered why there were no attacks while we came in here. Apparently most of the dolls in the mansion have already been beaten.”

“Who is…”

Kugugugung!

Before I could finish my words, the ground shook and there was a roar. The place where I heard it was underground.

“Something must be going on underground.”

“Let’s go right away.”

If they were caught and imprisoned by the witch, there was a high probability that it was a dungeon. Kim Woo-jin quickly found the door leading down to the underground and opened it.

“This way.”

The stairs leading down to the underground were also very dark. As we went down to the end of the stairs, we found a wider interior than we had expected and several paths.

“These are all prisons. They’re divided into four areas.”

It was spacious and quite dark, so I thought I would have to search for the person who was imprisoned for a long time. Still, it was safer to move together than to split the number of people.

“Then let’s check the first area one by one.”

It was the moment when I had just started to go from the road to the northwest. A sharp noise, like something pointed dragging the ground, came from beyond the darkness.

“Wait a minute, over there…!”

Min Ah-rin shouted, pointing in front of her.

The dolls wore black clothes and a mask with huge scissors in their hands. The dolls I encountered at Rapunzel were approaching us, dragging scissors to the ground. The number was three.

“They’re coming this way, too.”

Park Geon-ho, who was standing on the other side, also found the doll. Dolls with more than ten numbers flocked in from all directions. Even a doll appeared on the stairs we came down.

We were completely surrounded. I hurriedly sent Min Ah-rin behind my back and pulled the wind up. Like me, everyone was ready for battle against the dolls approaching right in front of us.

‘If the dolls are gathered like this in the underground, it seems that there’s someone really imprisoned here.’

If both Ha Tae-heon and Kwon Jeong-han were here, they should be safe by all means.

The doll at the forefront lifted the scissors with a flash. I tried to pull up the wind to block the attack and cut off the waist at once, but an unidentified sound erupted from the back of the group of dolls.

Kwajik, kwajijik!

It was the sound of something breaking. At the same time, I felt strong energy on my skin.

A group of dolls that had come to kill were cut with swords from behind and collapsed miserably. A very welcoming face was seen among the falling doll shards.

“Ha Tae-heon-ssi!”

Ha Tae-heon, who had cut all the dolls in front of me with a grumpy expression, walked up to me right away.

To meet Ha Tae-heon in this situation! I was so happy that I unknowingly smiled brightly and grabbed Ha Tae-heon’s arm.

“Ha Tae-heon-ssi, have you been here all the time?”

“Yeah.”

Ha Tae-heon, unlike me, had a strange attitude, as if he had already expected us would come here. Even the corpses of the dolls in the central hall must have been Ha Tae-heon’s works.

“I’m sorry, but I also.”

I was going to ask him about this and that, but when I saw the person sticking out his face from behind, I opened my eyes wide.

“Hello, nice to meet you.”

A man who smiled gently and gave a sly greeting. It was none other than Kwon Jeong-han.

“He was imprisoned here, so I kept him from dying.”

“He was very strong. Thanks to him, I lived.”

In Ha Tae-heon’s explanation, Kwon Jeong-han lightly thanked him with a voice that didn’t show any gratitude. Fortunately, Ha Tae-heon didn’t seem to care much about his brazen attitude.

“I am glad that both of you are safe. I was very worried.”

“You must have been very busy, too.”

Ha Tae-heon glanced at the team members who were hard at work against the dolls. Cheon Sa-yeon, who handled the doll, raised the corners of his lips at the short time I, Ha Tae-heon, and Kwon Jeong-han were greeting each other.

“You didn’t appear at this timing on purpose to get attention, are you, Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon?”

“Do you think I’m as childish as you are?”

Park Geon-ho, who pulled out the last doll’s neck, cut into the conversation.

“Our brunette friend has a lot of men. Everyone he meets is a sinful man.”

“……”

Next to Park Geon-ho, who shook his head, Kim Woo-jin looked at me with an upset look. With a cold sweat running down my back, I quickly changed the subject.

“Well… this is not the time! The underground is dangerous, so we have to go back up after we have done with the dolls.”

“Are these the colleagues you were looking for?”

Min Ah-rin asked with a curious expression. But surprisingly, the answer came from Kim Woo-jin.

“I don’t know one person, but not the other. Because that guy was the guy I put in prison myself before the witch appeared.”

As Kim Woo-jin frowned in frustration, Kwon Jeong-han shrugged his shoulders as if he was bored.

“Honestly, I didn’t commit such a serious crime that I was imprisoned in the underground like this. It’s just that Shed-nim ​​put me in stubbornly.”

“What? Stubborn?”

“That’s right. Putting someone in the underground like this for making a mistake… If it wasn’t for this person, I would have died. Haa…”

As Kwon Jeong-han lamented with a lonely expression on his face, Kim Woo-jin grabbed him by his neck.

“You lied more than ten times and said it was a mistake? A mistake? You bastard have no conscience, huh?”

“Isn’t training necessary to deal with crises in advance?”

“You lied so much that the wolf would come, so I locked you to reflect on your own, but damn you…”

Um. After listening to the conversation, it seemed that Kwon Jeong-han was playing the role of a liar boy in a shepherd boy. It suited him wonderfully.

“I feel like I have to tell a lie, what should I do? I have to.”

Kim Woo-jin pounded his chest with a sign of frustration. Regardless of that, Kwon Jeong-han spoke brightly with a smile on his face all the time.

“So are you here to save me, Shed-nim? If you’re going to come, please come sooner. I almost died.”

“Shut up, please!”

“Let’s stop and go up…”

I sighed as I watched Kim Woo-jin and Kwon Jeong-han arguing with each other.

Still, this brought all the team members together. Now, all we needed to do was to find the witch somewhere in the mansion and would be able to figure out a solution to get out of this space.