The Lower Chamber of the Trigram Scarlet Sailboat.
Shk.
Thud, crack.
The sound of flesh being sliced and bones being crushed wandered through the darkness.
Each time Dong Bongsu's hand moved, the corpse lost its original form.
There were seven corpses.
Originally, he had planned to carve one letter on each corpse's chest, but he was one person short.
So, he was cutting the corpses into pieces and embedding the bone fragments into the floor of the Lower Chamber to form letters.
The hardness of the salt-cured cedar wood was stronger than he expected.
To embed the bones precisely into the floor of the Lower Chamber, Dong Bongsu had to stomp on them with all his might.
Crunch, crack.
He stomped on a rib bone just separated from a corpse, making a sound.
The bone shattered and was driven deep into the bottom planks made of cedar wood.
With that, one stroke of the letter he intended to create was complete.
Dong Bongsu continued this work.
Thud, crack.
Crunch…
The hair-raising sound of bones crumbling echoed incessantly within the Lower Chamber.
How on earth did Dong Bongsu appear here, and what was he doing?
He stomped on a rib bone just separated from a corpse, making a sound.
The bone shattered and was driven deep into the bottom planks made of cedar wood.
With that, one stroke of the letter he intended to create was complete.
Dong Bongsu continued this work.
Thud, crack, crunch…
The hair-raising sound of bones crumbling echoed incessantly within the Lower Chamber.
How on earth did Dong Bongsu appear here, and what was he doing?
In fact, when Dong Bongsu was being carried by the members of the Heavenly Wind Corps' Second Squad into the Eastern Heaven Guest Hall earlier, he had already perfectly grasped the geography and structure of the surrounding area.
He waited until Tang Oh had visited his room and left, then immediately began his 'work'.
It was night, so all the masters staying at the Heaven Guest Hall were asleep.
The warriors on guard duty were all on the landmass beyond the Cloud Bridge, not on the island where the Eastern Heaven Guest Hall was located.
Of course, this was also something he had confirmed earlier.
In this situation, as long as he didn't exit through the door facing the Cloud Bridge, he wouldn't be caught by the guards or any congratulatory guests who were still awake.
But there was only one door.
How could he escape the room, deceiving the eyes of the guards?
The answer was simple and clear.
The houses in this Anhui Province were all prefabricated buildings.
Soaring Sun City was like that, and the Namgung Family was the same.
The Heaven Guest Hall, a building within the Namgung Family estate, was no exception.
To Dong Bongsu, a prefabricated building was a 'door' in any direction.
This fact had already been proven during the Suicide Plague incident.
He observed the movements of the guards through the crack in the door and, taking advantage of the moment, they moved chaotically towards the Trigram Scarlet Sailboat, he put one of the pillars at the back of his room into his inventory and slipped out through there.
That location was a blind spot that the guards beyond the Cloud Bridge couldn't see, no matter how hard they tried, a place they normally wouldn't need to pay attention to.
Because that place was connected directly to Chao Lake, like a cliff.
For Dong Bongsu, this was actually a relief.
After all, there are few places as good for a person to hide as in the water in the darkness.
He immediately dove into Chao Lake.
Then, he secretly followed behind the guards who were moving towards the Trigram Scarlet Sailboat.
A moment later.
As planned, the seven members of the Heavenly Wind Corps' Third Squad boarded the ship.
Dong Bongsu used that opportunity to move towards the smelly oarlock hole where he had shoved his head during the night outing.
Just as the oarsman had said, the oarlock hole still had no oar and remained an open hole.
The oarlock hole was small, but Dong Bongsu's body was also small.
He wasn't short, but So-sam's physique itself was slender.
His narrow shoulders and hips, and his skinny body, were enough to squeeze into the oarlock hole.
In the process, remnants of feces, the stench of piss, and yellow stains from dried urine stuck to various parts of his body, but he paid it no mind.
He slipped into the ship's Lower Chamber through the oarlock hole.
Soon.
Unaware that the monster named Dong Bongsu was hiding there, the members of the Third Squad who had come to search descended into the Lower Chamber one by one.
And then.
In the darkness, faced with Dong Bongsu's Three Forces Sword Art, they all found themselves trading their lives and experience points.
The reason Dong Bongsu appeared here at night, risking danger, was, of course, to break through the current dilemma with no way forward or back, and the method was very much 'his' way.
The words he was now carving with bones were a kind of 'warning message'.
Crack, crunch~.
Dong Bongsu continued to separate bones from the corpses and carve out his message.
At some point, after about one meal's time had passed.
“Squad Leader. Something feels strange, we should report to the Corps Leader…….”
“Hey, you son of a bitch. What are you going to report to the Corps Leader? That you sent the squad members onto the ship and got scared because they didn't come back down, so you couldn't check? Shouldn't we at least find out what's going on before we make a report? Huh?”
Someone's voice was heard.
It wasn't just one person, but several.
'Who is it?'
He knew without thinking too deeply.
Based on the content of their conversation and deducing who might come looking here, it was obvious.
The visitors were surely the remaining members of the same squad as the owners of the bones now being transformed into strokes and dots of letters.
Judging by the conversation, it was certain that their squad leader had come with them.
'It took too long.'
In trying to make the warning a bit stronger, he had delayed too much.
He still hadn't carved all eight letters he had planned.
He had only completed four letters so far.
Creek, creak.
The upper deck directly above him groaned.
They must have already boarded the ship and were walking on the deck.
Now, let alone the originally planned 'Bone Script', there wasn't even enough time to carve the remaining four letters with his sword.
In truth, even with just four letters, he could deliver half the message.
But the four letters that followed were much more important.
Should he retreat now, or should he write all the remaining four letters and then retreat?
If he chose the latter, he would have to kill all the intruders.
He had already confirmed that the combat power of the guard squad members was significantly lower than his own.
However, the squad leader's ability was still an unknown.
With his Spiritual Eye remaining silent, he could only confirm that the Level difference between himself and the guard squad's leader was not more than ten.
Creek, creak.
“It's too quiet. Squad Leader, something is definitely strange.”
The sound of disordered footsteps was heard again, along with the voice of someone presumed to be a squad member.
It was much closer than before.
They must have come near the central structure.
Since the stairs leading to the Lower Chamber were right below the central structure, they would soon come down.
The moment of decision had arrived.
Dong Bongsu's eyes glinted in the darkness.
He had made his decision in an instant.
The moment he made his resolve, his body was already moving instinctively.
“I can see that, you bastard!”
While the squad leader was showing his irritation at the squad member's pestering, Dong Bongsu was already slipping out through the oarlock hole he had used to sneak onto this ship.
Did he choose the former, to escape?
Just as Dong Bongsu slipped out of the oarlock hole, four shadows descended to the spot where he had been standing moments before.
The light from the tinderboxes they held soon illuminated the interior of the Lower Chamber.
“Gasp!”
“...!”
“Th-this is!”
Their reactions were varied, but the emotion they expressed was the same.
Horror.
The emotion felt when one is startled by an unexpected event.
The Lower Chamber reeked of blood, and human corpses were torn to shreds like rags and scattered about, so who wouldn't be surprised?
And if those corpses belonged to their comrades... There would be no need for words, would there?
“Sh...it.... Everybody out! Get off the ship immediately!”
Squad Leader Gosan Gong shouted, and the squad member at the very back was already climbing up to the deck before his words had even finished.
Clatter, clatter!
What was important to them now was not confirming the enemy's presence.
The scene spread out in the Lower Chamber was just that horrific.
Now, all they had to do was go to the Heavenly Wind Corps Leader and report this incident.
The ship rocked slightly with the loud sound of their footsteps.
Since Gosan Gong had been at the forefront when descending into the Lower Chamber, he was now lagging at the very back.
As he followed his subordinates towards the ship's stairs, he kept a wary eye behind him.
The one who had committed such a horrific act might still be in the Lower Chamber.
However, whether the cruel intruder had already left the ship, he did not show himself despite their loud noises.
Just as Gosan Gong felt a certain degree of relief and turned his body to look towards the ship's stairs!
“Gah! Aaargh!”
The subordinate in the very front stepped on the boarding ladder.
No, to be more precise, he was about to step on the boarding ladder, but instead stepped on empty air and fell straight towards Chao Lake.
“The boarding ladder... it's gone!?”
Because the boarding ladder that should have been there had suddenly disappeared, the Third Squad member at the front missed his step and fell into Chao Lake.
Thwack, crunch.
Following that, the heavy sound of a sword piercing flesh and the dull sound of bone being ground were heard.
That was his end.
The one who killed him was, of course.
Dong Bongsu.
He had not fled.
He had chosen the latter.
He had decided to finish what he started.
He had slipped out of the oarlock hole, immediately hid under the boarding ladder connecting the dock and the ship, and waited for the guards to leave the vessel.
As expected, one of the enemies stepped on the boarding ladder, and he ambushed them by putting the boarding ladder into his inventory.
Since one of the ship's steps that should have been there to be stepped on had vanished, the enemy had no choice but to miss his footing.
Shlck.
He thrust his sword into the mouth of the enemy, who was falling headfirst.
To him, such an act was a very natural 'welcoming service for guests'.
'One.'
A total of four people had come up to the deck.
Having dealt with one, now...
Three remained.
“Wh-what!?”
He heard them shout in alarm.
They couldn't come this way now.
They would be under the illusion that the enemy, or enemies, were waiting for them beyond the dock.
So now, they wouldn't be able to get off the ship easily either.
Even though they had tinderboxes, it was now past midnight.
With an enemy waiting below the dock in this darkness, no fool would try to get off.
The enemies were in complete chaos.
Now, he had to make a decision.
Dong Bongsu quickly climbed along the edge he was hanging from and moved back towards the oarlock hole.
Then, without a moment's delay, he entered the Lower Chamber.
The sharp scent of blood emanating from the half-transformed corpses stimulated his nose.
Soon, that smell of blood would grow even stronger.
Dong Bongsu immediately moved towards the stairs of the central structure.