Chapter 141: Oral Syllable Vein
Creak!
We stepped inside the old Western-style house.
Like the garden outside, the inside of the house was covered in white frost despite it being midsummer.
“Senior Fuma, do you know where the Snow Woman ghost is?”
Hearing my question, Senior Fuma slowly shook her head.
“Her presence is too vast to pinpoint. We’ll have to search every room in the mansion.”
“I see.”
I nodded and took a step toward the first-floor corridor.
Crunch!
The sound of stepping on snow followed, and coldness crept up through my feet.
Despite there being broad daylight outside, the inside of the house was filled with shadows like evening twilight.
When I asked why, Senior Fuma explained that it was due to the dense yin energy inside the house.
It seemed to be a kind of supernatural phenomenon.
We explored the inside of the house, following the creaking wooden corridor.
“It seems like it hasn’t been abandoned for long, has it?”
Items belonging to the original inhabitants remained throughout the house.
Luxurious leather sofas, a grandfather clock, and tables made of solid wood were all present.
A considerable number of visible items were high-end products.
“According to my grandfather, this house was originally a villa belonging to a prominent family. The family’s daughter, who was ill, came to live here for treatment. Sadly, she died without being cured, and the Snow Woman began living here not long after her death.”
“I see.”
While looking around the living room, I suddenly noticed something that looked like a family photo.
A middle-aged man in a suit, a woman in a dress, and a pale-faced girl stood in the center.
She was probably the daughter of the prominent family who had died in this house.
“Kim Yu-seong, come here.”
“Yes?”
I turned around at Senior Fuma’s call.
“There’s blood. And it looks quite old.”
Indeed, as Senior Fuma said, there were dark red bloodstains on the floor.
I crouched next to Senior Fuma and asked,
“Whose blood could this be?”
“Maybe some fool who had wandered in here unknowingly, or it could be the blood of a ninja from our village.”
The bloodstains stretched from the living room to a window in the corridor.
The broken window glass suggested that the injured person had escaped through there.
Anyway, since there was no more information to be gained here, we decided to look elsewhere.
The first floor, apart from the entrance corridor, consisted of a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom.
Excluding the fact that it was built in a Western-style, the structure was similar to a typical Japanese house.
One thing we noticed while surveying the first floor was that all the furnishings appeared clean, as if they had been used until just yesterday.
I wondered if the cold inside the mansion was the reason, but I wasn’t certain.
After a brief inspection of the first floor, it was clear that the Snow Woman wasn’t there.
“Then, we should head up to the second floor.”
“Right.”
Senior Fuma nodded in agreement and led the way back to the first-floor corridor.
The stairs leading to the second floor were covered in frost, so we had to be careful not to slip.
Eventually, Senior Fuma began to ascend the stairs.
I followed behind her.
It was when we had climbed about half of the stairs.
Crackle!
Suddenly, there was a sound like something burning coming from Senior Fuma’s direction.
“There’s nothing here... It’s cold...”
Like a lost child, her sulking alone seemed like that of a vulnerable young girl.
Then...
...the girl’s sobbing abruptly stopped.
And very slowly, she turned her head towards us.
Her skin and hair were as white as if she had albinism, contrasting with her deep blue eyes.
For a moment, I saw an overlay of the Snow Woman before me and the daughter of a prominent family in a photo I saw on the first floor.
The Snow Woman opened her mouth.
“Get out of this house!!”
That command struck my entire body.
It felt as if everything around me was hostile towards me.
Indeed, ice spikes sprouting from the walls and ceiling sharply pierced towards me as if to impale me.
“Gasp!”
I instantly tensed all the muscles in my body.
This was known as invincibility.
By enveloping my body with immense yang energy, ordinary weapons couldn’t penetrate my skin.
Snap!
In reality, the ice spikes that hit me broke off, and taking advantage of that moment, Senior Fuma charged with the raikirimaru in hand.
Her movements were still as swift as lightning.
However, just as Senior Fuma’s blade was about to reach the Snow Woman’s neck, she suddenly stopped as if grabbed by something, and was then struck by an ice hammer that surged from the floor, sending her flying to the back of the room.
“Cough!”
Senior Fuma, having hit her back hard against the wall, coughed dryly as she fell to the ground.
‘Is this some kind of psychic power?’
Naturally, I became defensive, and when I didn’t move, the Snow Woman gestured first.
Crack!
Icy spikes rapidly approached the floor.
Seeing them, I hastily performed True Stance.
This caused the wooden boards to break and spring upwards, and those that collided with the icy spikes instantly froze.
It seemed that close combat was necessary in this situation.
After all, we lacked any means of long-range attack.
I charged towards the Snow Woman, who was sitting on the bed, leading with my large frame.
Then the Snow Woman murmured,
“Stop.”
“Cough!”
At that moment, my body stopped moving according to her will.
It seemed to be the same kind of ability she had used on Senior Fuma just before.
The ice spikes that sprouted from the floor kindly greeted me, as my body momentarily stiffened.
If I fell like this, my neck would be pierced.
Immediately after, I regained control of my body and, facing an unavoidable attack, presented my forehead instead of my vulnerable neck.
It was a battle between my skull and ice spikes, easily more than 50 cm long.
I clenched my teeth.
Bang!!
Crash.
The result of something extremely hard colliding with something quite hard was, fortunately, my skull surviving.
‘...I thought I was going to die.’
Rubbing my reddened forehead, I looked at the Snow Woman, who hadn’t moved an inch from the bed.
How should I approach this?