The lower cabin of the Crimson Sail Ship.
Slice. Thud, Swish.
The sounds of flesh being sliced and bones being crushed wander through the darkness.
Each time Dong Bong-su's hand moved, the corpses lost their original form.
The number of corpses was seven.
Originally, he had intended to carve one 'character' on each corpse's chest, but he was short by one person. So instead, he was chopping the corpses into pieces and embedding bone fragments into the lower cabin floor to create the writing.
The strength of salt-cured cedar wood was stronger than expected. To precisely embed bones into the lower cabin floor, Dong Bong-su had to stomp on them with all his strength with his feet.
Thud, Crack.
He stepped on a rib that had just been separated from a corpse, making a sound. The bone shattered and embedded deeply into the lower planking made of cedar wood. With that, one stroke of the character he intended was completed.
Dong Bong-su continued that work.
Thud, Crack. Thump...
The spine-chilling sound of bones crumbling continuously echoed inside the lower cabin.
Just how did Dong Bong-su appear here and what was he doing?
In fact, when Dong Bong-su was being carried to the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall by the Heavenly Wind Group Second Squad members earlier, he had already completely grasped the surrounding geography and structure.
He waited for Tang O to stop by his room and leave, then immediately began his 'work.'
Since it was night, all the masters staying at the Heavenly Guest Hall were sleeping. All the warriors standing guard were on the mainland side beyond the Cloud Bridge, not on the island with the Eastern Heavenly Guest Hall. Of course, this was also something he had already 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 guard warriors or congratulatory guests who weren't asleep yet.
However, there was only one door.
Where should he exit to deceive the guard warriors' eyes and escape the room?
The answer was simple and clear. The houses in this Anhui region were all prefabricated buildings. Bongyang was like that, and the Namgung Family was the same. The Heavenly Guest Hall, a building inside the Namgung Family, was also the same.
To Dong Bong-su, prefabricated buildings had 'doors' in every direction. That fact had already been proven during the Suicide Epidemic incident.
He perceived the guard soldiers' movements through the door gap, and taking advantage of the confusion as they moved toward the Crimson Sail Ship, he put one pillar from the rear of his room into his Inventory and escaped through it.
That location was a blind spot that the guard soldiers beyond the Cloud Bridge couldn't see no matter how hard they tried, and normally it was a place they didn't need to worry about. Because that place was connected directly to Chaohu Lake, like a cliff.
For Dong Bong-su, that point was rather fortunate. Because places like water in darkness were rare places for a person to hide.
He immediately dove into Chaohu Lake. Then he stealthily moved following behind the guard soldiers moving to the Crimson Sail Ship.
A short while later.
As scheduled, the seven Heavenly Wind Group Third Squad members boarded the ship.
Dong Bong-su took that opportunity to move toward the smelly oar port where he had stuck his head during the night outing. As the boatman had said earlier, the oar port still had no oar, and the hole was open.
The oar port was small, but Dong Bong-su's body was also small. Though he wasn't short, Sosam's physique itself was small. His narrow shoulders and pelvis, his gaunt body were sufficient to squeeze into the oar port.
In that process, remaining fecal residue, urine stench, and yellow grime from accumulated urine stuck to various parts of his body, but he paid it no mind.
He snuck into the ship's lower cabin through the oar port.
Soon.
Not knowing that the monster called Dong Bong-su was hiding there, the Third Squad members who came to search came down to the lower cabin one by one.
Then.
They all became people who exchanged their experience points and lives for Dong Bong-su's Three Talents Sword Technique unfolding in the darkness.
The reason Dong Bong-su appeared here at night risking danger was of course to break through the current situation of being between a rock and a hard place, and that method was extremely 'like him.'
The writing he was now carving with bones was a kind of 'warning message.'
Thud, Crackkk—
Dong Bong-su continued separating the corpses' bones and carving the message.
At some point after 30 minutes had passed like that.
"Squad Leader. Something's strange, so we should report to the Group Leader..."
"Hey, you son of a bitch. What are you going to report to the Deputy? That we sent the squad members up the ship alone and they didn't come down so we were too scared to check? We should find out what's going on first before reporting, shouldn't we? Huh?"
Someone's voice was heard. Not just one person but several people.
'Someone?'
He could tell without thinking deeply. Both from hearing the conversation content and from deducing who might come here, it was obvious.
The ones who came must be the remaining squad members belonging to the same squad as the owners of the bones that were now being transformed into strokes or dots of characters one by one. Judging from the conversation, it was certain their squad leader had also come with them.
'Took too long.'
Trying to make the warning a bit more forceful, he had delayed too much time. He still hadn't finished carving all eight characters he had planned.
The characters completed so far were only four.
Squeak, squeak.
The upper deck right above where he was trembled. They must have already boarded the ship and were walking on deck.
Now there was no time to carve the remaining four characters with a sword, let alone the 'bone writing' he had originally planned.
In fact, just four characters could convey half the message. But the four characters after that were much more important.
Should he withdraw now, or write all the remaining four characters before withdrawing?
If he chose the latter, he had to eliminate all the obstructors. He had already confirmed that the guard squad members' combat ability was significantly inferior to his own.
However, the squad leader's ability was still unknown. From Spirit Eyes being quiet, he could only confirm that he and the guard squad leader didn't differ by more than level 10.
Squeak, squeak.
"It's too quiet. Squad Leader. Something is definitely strange."
Again confused footsteps were heard, and the voice of someone presumed to be a squad member was heard. It was quite a bit closer than before. They must have come near the cabin. There were stairs leading to the lower cabin right below the cabin, so they would come down to the lower cabin soon.
The moment of decision had come.
Dong Bong-su's eyes sparkled in the darkness. He had made a judgment in an instant.
The moment he finished his decision, his body was already moving instinctively.
"I'll know when I see it too, you bastard!"
While the squad leader was irritated at the squad member's nagging, Dong Bong-su was already escaping through the oar port he had used when sneaking onto this ship.
Had he chosen the former option of escape?
The moment Dong Bong-su just escaped through the oar port, four shadows came down to where Dong Bong-su had been standing until just before. The light from the fire strikers they were holding soon brightly illuminated the interior of the lower cabin.
"Huk!"
"...!"
"Th-this is!"
Though the reactions varied, the emotion they expressed was the same.
Horror.
The emotion felt when frightened by an unexpected event.
The interior of the lower cabin reeked of blood, and human corpses were torn like rags and scattered here and there—who wouldn't be shocked?
Also, if those corpses were their comrades... no words would be necessary, would they?
"Shi... t... Everyone out! Leave the ship right now!"
Squad Leader Go San-gong shouted, and the squad member at the very back was already climbing up to the deck before his words even finished.
Crash, crash!
For them now, confirming the enemy's presence wasn't important. The scene unfolded in the lower cabin was that horrific. Now what they had to do was go to the Heavenly Wind Group Leader and report this matter.
Along with the noisy footsteps they made, the ship swayed slightly.
Because Go San-gong had been in the lead when going down to the lower cabin, he was now lagging at the very back.
He continued to guard his rear while following behind his subordinates toward the ship stairs. Because the one who did such a horrific thing might still remain in the lower cabin.
However, that cruel intruder had apparently already left the ship, as he didn't reveal himself despite their noisy sounds.
Just as Go San-gong relaxed somewhat and turned his body to look toward the ship stairs!
"Huk! Euaaa!"
The subordinate at the very front stepped on the ship stairs. No, more precisely, he tried to step on the ship stairs but stepped on empty air and fell straight toward Chaohu Lake.
"The ship stairs... disappeared!?"
Because the ship stairs that should have been there suddenly disappeared, the Third Squad member at the very front misstepped and fell down to Chaohu Lake.
Splash—
Following that, the heavy sound of a sword embedding in flesh and the dull sound of bone being split occurred.
Slice—
That was his last.
The one who killed him was of course.
Dong Bong-su.
He hadn't fled.
He had chosen the latter. He decided to finish what he was doing.
He escaped through the oar port and immediately hid below the ship stairs connecting the mooring and the ship, waiting for the guard warriors to leave the ship.
As expected, one of the enemies stepped on the ship stairs, and he suddenly put the ship stairs into his Inventory. Since one step of the ship that should have been stepped on disappeared, the enemy had no choice but to misstep.
Thud.
He stuck his sword into the mouth of the enemy falling headfirst. Such a thing was too natural a 'guest welcoming service' for him.
'One.'
A total of 4 people came up on deck.
Having eliminated one, now...
Three remained.
"Wh-what!?"
He heard them shout in alarm, startled. They can't come this way now. They must be mistaken that the enemy or enemies are waiting for them outside the mooring. So they can't easily get off the ship now.
Though they had fire strikers, it was now past midnight in the dead of night.
With enemies waiting below the mooring in this darkness, there was no fool who would get off.
Enemies had completely fallen into confusion.
Now he had to finish it.
Dong Bong-su quickly climbed the corner edge he was hanging from and moved back toward the oar port. Then without a moment's delay, he entered the lower cabin. The pungent blood scent emanating from the corpses half-transformed into writing stimulated his nose.
Soon that blood scent would become even stronger.
Dong Bong-su immediately moved toward where the cabin stairs were.