Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Hwa-eun and Sister Seol dashed toward me with their light footwork, but soon their figures grew smaller and smaller until they became mere dots.

“So-ryong!”

“Ryong!”

“So-ryong!”

Only the voices calling my name lingered over the vast plains, fading into the wind, leaving behind nothing but the sound of my back scraping against the grass and the rhythmic thudding of the camel spider’s strides.

• Zwaaaaah!

• Zwaaaah!

In the midst of the chaos, when my mind momentarily went blank, a sharp voice echoed in my head.

• Tsrrr! 「Dad, just wait a little! Hyang will cut it!」

Barely managing to lift my head, I looked down toward my leg.

Hyang was desperately clinging to it, struggling to sever Yoha’s silk thread.

Antennae flailing wildly, her tiny legs gripped the thread tightly.

She was gnawing at Yoha’s silk, trying to free me with her small body, just so her dad could live.

• 「Gyaaaah! My daughter!」

Such overwhelming cuteness—my heart melted into liquid.

But Yoha’s silk was only weak to fire. It was tougher than tempered steel.

Hyang’s small, dull venomous fangs and a centipede’s jaws wouldn’t be enough.

Even a Ten-Poison Body expert or a Twenty-Four Venom Master couldn’t easily cut it.

Hyang had yet to learn information sharing, so she had no way of knowing.

• Zwaaaaah!

The speed was incredible, much faster than when I used to slide down fertilizer sacks in the fields as a kid.

The wind carried me forward like I was weightless.

The sheer speed made it difficult to breathe properly, but I knew I had to act fast.

Right now, I was being dragged across a grassland, so it wasn’t too bad.

But the region of Qinghai was a mix of grasslands, barren lands, and desert.

The grass here was knee-high, and if I were dragged across the desert sands, I might survive.

But if I hit the solid, rocky ground of the barren lands at this speed, my clothes, skin—everything would be shredded.

• 「I’ll turn into an eraser at this rate...」

And more importantly, this spider belonged to the Five Venoms Sect.

Even if I survived, getting dragged straight into their territory meant one thing—

A direct confrontation with those lunatics.

Which meant I could fall right into that crazy woman Oh Cheong-yu’s hands.

Just thinking about her eerie gaze made me swallow hard.

• 「I need to do something, fast.」

I forced myself to focus, straightening my body and reaching for my leg.

I needed to grab onto Yoha’s silk and climb onto the spider’s back.

• 「Hyang, come up to my chest! Hold on tight!」

Hyang, who was still clinging to my leg, trying to bite through the thread, scurried up to my chest.

Once I made sure she was securely in my embrace, I tucked my knees in tightly.

Fighting against the speed took insane strength, but I poured all my inner energy into resisting.

Then, I bent my knees inward.

I curled up like a ball, grabbing at the silk wrapped around my legs.

“Khhhaaaah!”

With a loud battle cry, I gritted my teeth and slowly pulled my knees to my chest.

• Zwaaaak!

Just as I was about to grab the silk—

Thud!

Something hard was hidden in the grass. A rock?

My body suddenly caught on it and launched into the air.

‘Damn it!’

If I hit the ground like this, I’d be no different from a frog that burst open after a high fall.

Quickly, I recalled the martial arts technique gifted to me by the Murim Lord.

Iron Fist Art.

If I hardened my body in an instant, I might be able to survive the impact.

Focusing all my inner energy throughout my body—

The moment my airborne body crashed into the ground, a dull explosion-like sound rang out.

• Thud! Zwaaaaaah!

“Khrrrgh....”

A massive shockwave ran through my entire body.

Even though I used all my inner energy to execute Iron Fist Art,

it still hurt like hell.

Or maybe my Iron Fist Art just wasn’t strong enough yet.

Something surged up my throat.

Grandfather Mandok Shingun had once told me—

This feeling meant I had suffered internal injuries.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

My curled-up body had unraveled completely.

If another rock showed up, I’d be screwed.

I needed to get on the spider’s back before that happened.

If this happened one more time, I wouldn’t be able to stay conscious.

If I were alone, it might have been fine.

But Hyang was with me.

If I got dragged off like this, sure, I’d suffer.

But Hyang—she could be drowned in alcohol and turned into a medicine.

The Five Venoms Sect would definitely do it.

They were the kind of people who would.

I gathered all my remaining strength, took a deep breath, and let ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ out another shout.

“Khhhaaaaah!”

• Tsrrr! 「Dad!」

Hyang screamed in terror.

‘Don’t worry, Hyang. Dad’s fine.’

I reassured her in my heart and pulled my legs up again, finally managing to grab the silk.

Slowly, inch by inch, I pulled myself forward, winding the silk around my arms.

Blood flow to my arms and hands was nearly cut off, but I had to endure.

If I got dragged all the way like this, I’d be swallowed whole.

I grabbed the silk tighter and started pulling myself forward.

Bit by bit.

Switching hands.

Crawling toward the spider.

Halfway there.

My hands were numb, my energy was running low.

Could I even make it?

Twenty meters left.

Would I really be dragged all the way?

Just then—

Hyang suddenly crawled out from my embrace, climbed up to my head, and scurried down to my fingertips.

She grabbed onto the silk.

And then—

• Tsrr! 「I’ll go and bite it!」

Hyang, determined, declared her intentions.

• 「What?! No, Hyang! It’s too dangerous!」

She was planning to climb all the way to the camel spider’s head and bite it?

If she made a wrong move and got caught, she could die instantly.

I wanted to stop her, but my hands were tied.

• Zwaaaaah!

The barren land.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

A landscape reminiscent of the Grand Canyon in America.

A mix of dirt and jagged rocks.

I could feel my stomach scraping against the ground.

My clothes wouldn’t last much longer.

Hyang must have realized the danger.

She didn’t look back.

She just held onto the silk and climbed forward.

‘Stop, Hyang! Don’t go! Stay small with Dad forever! It was my fault for wanting you to evolve!’

She clung onto the silk, her tiny antennae twitching wildly.

Climbing.

To save her dad.

How could a father not love his daughter when she was like this?

My heart had already melted.

Now, even my soul was dissolving from the warmth of my little Hyang.

• Tadatak.

The flying debris struck me, making me slip, and the swirling dust covered me as I was dragged forward, forward.

Hyang finally reached her destination—clinging onto the camel spider’s body.

And with all the fury she could muster, she sank her fangs into the joint where its hind leg connected to its body.

At first, nothing changed, despite her teeth being embedded deep.

For a moment, I feared that the creature was too large for Hyang’s venom to take effect.

But soon, one of its hind legs began to slow down—then suddenly went limp.

One of its right hind legs was paralyzed.

The leg in front of it also started to move unnaturally.

Because of the difference in circulation, the venom was taking longer to spread.

But it was working.

The spider’s speed slowed down, its once-straight path curving to the right.

Its speed was now half of what it had been before.

After some time, as it entered the desert, the camel spider finally came to a stop.

My inner energy was nearly depleted.

***

As soon as it stopped, I quickly gathered my wits and unwrapped Yo-hwa’s silk from my arms.

But when I tried to untangle it from my legs—

My leg jerked.

With a sudden pull, I was yanked forward and thrown onto the sand.

• Thud!

“Khuhk....”

I curled my body to absorb the impact as much as possible and immediately looked toward the camel spider.

In the moonlight, I could see its front legs digging into the sand.

Then, as it swung its forelegs, something shot into the air along with the sand—

Hyang.

Her tiny body was flung high into the night sky.

• “Hyang!”

Forcing out the last remnants of my energy, I used my light footwork to catch her.

I immediately asked, “Hyang, are you okay?!”

• Tsrrrt!

She chirped back, unshaken.

She hadn’t been hit directly.

Relieved, I turned my gaze to the camel spider.

It was already charging at us.

• “Zwaaaaaah!”

Despite its two crippled legs, its speed was terrifying.

Originally, camel spiders weren’t suited for long-distance chases.

So how did this one have both speed and endurance?

Impressive—

But that wasn’t my concern right now.

I pressed my body close to the ground.

• “Iron Defense! Iron Defense!”

The spider’s massive pincers swiped just inches from my side.

Camel spiders’ jaws moved in a scissor-like motion, resembling interlocking crab claws.

I remembered reading somewhere that if a creature like this grew to two meters in size, its bite force would reach sixty tons.

‘Shit.’

A hippopotamus, one of the strongest biters among mammals, had a bite force of about one ton.

That meant this thing’s was sixty times stronger.

If it bit me, I was dead.

I kept my focus sharp as it lunged again.

• “Zwaaaaak!”

• “Kuhh...!”

I dodged again and again.

But I couldn’t escape completely.

Yo-hwa’s silk was still wrapped around both my legs and the spider’s joints.

I was trapped.

I called out to Hyang in my mind.

• “Hyang, do you have any venom left?”

• “Tsrrrt!”

Not much—just enough for one more bite.

This battle wouldn’t end unless one of us died.

‘Consider this karma for all the people you’ve harmed.’

I held Hyang in my arms and whispered to her in my thoughts.

• “Hyang, don’t be scared. When I tell you to bite, you bite. Got it?”

• “Tsrrt!”

I waited for the perfect moment.

Bathed in moonlight, the camel spider charged once more.

• “Zwaaaaaah!”

This time, instead of dodging sideways, I slid underneath it.

• “Iron Kick! Iron Kick!”

Its pincers swiped wildly, but I maneuvered under its belly.

The moment I saw its underside—

I grabbed its jaw with one hand and threw my other fist forward.

• “Thud!”

A deep impact.

My attack landed squarely on one of its breathing orifices.

Three breathing orifices ran along its body, and my fist struck the central one.

Immediately, I shouted,

• “Hyang! Bite!”

• Tsrrrt!

For the first time in a while, Hyang let out an excited cry.

She sank her fangs deep.

The spider flailed violently, its body convulsing—

Then, it collapsed, limbs twitching in the sand.

Camel spiders had an open circulatory system.

Unlike creatures with veins, their bodily fluids freely flowed around their organs.

Earlier, when Hyang bit its leg, the venom had spread slowly because of the limited circulation.

But now—she had injected venom directly into its breathing system.

The poison spread instantly.

The massive creature lay on its back, shuddering.

I stepped closer, staring at its form one last time.

Its immense body.

Its signature, horrifying pincers.

And—

A silver needle embedded in its forehead.

This wasn’t a natural creature like my venomous companions.

This thing had been engineered.

And worse—it had been sent to hunt humans.

• “I’m sorry, beast. May you be reborn as a better creature next time.”

If I removed the silver needles, it would find peace, just like the queen of the army spiders.

I pulled out the three embedded needles.

The creature’s twitching stopped.

And then—

Something round rolled out of its mouth.

• “Roll...”

• “Huh? What’s this?”

I had never seen anything like it before.

Even with the army spiders, nothing like this had happened.

I picked it up.

From my shoulder, Hyang’s voice sharpened.

• Tsrrrt!

• “A bad feeling?”

The closest thing I could compare it to was a Neidan—a martial core.

But this thing was artificial.

• “Is it possible to manufacture a Neidan?”

Hyang and I blinked at each other, puzzled.

And then—

• Clap. Clap. Clap.

A slow, deliberate applause echoed from the darkness.

A woman’s voice followed.

”As expected of you, So-ryong. Taking down a Wind Cavity so easily.”

I turned my head toward the voice.

Standing in the moonlight, smiling at me—was Oh Cheong-yu.

And, of course, the Five Venoms Sect was with her.