The Unsurpassed Maiden

"Why are the corridors still empty? Not that I'm complaining. It's just it's so quiet that it seems rather suspicious." Mi Young comments as she and Hae Choon start walking back to the place where the stairs are located. Mi Young remembered leaving the piece of metal there so it's probably still waiting for them to get back.

"I think someone very important visited the area." Hae Choon replies.

Mi Young's eyebrows immediately furrowed upon hearing what the other party just said. "What do you mean?"

"I think they have gathered almost all of their soldiers somewhere. When I was running away from those four soldiers earlier, someone announced something to the effect that all soldiers must proceed to the lobby because apparently the First has arrived." Hae Choon explains while they rounded around the corner where the stairs were located.

"But I don't understand. Why would they stop chasing us?" Mi Young asks.

"Why? Do you want them to continue chasing us?" Hae Choon questions back. "There."

Then the other party points at something just right in front of the stairs. When they reached what he was pointing at, the metal instantly went back to floating around, leading them towards where the cells are located.

"I really don't. But don't you think it's too suspicious? It's like they're up to something and we are falling into a trap."

This immediately made Hae Choon stop walking. He looks at Mi Young and asks, "Do you really think they're up to something?"

"I don't know but think about it! Why would they order everyone around to gather at the lobby? I mean, if we really are important people that they need to capture, don't you think suddenly stopping their soldiers from chasing us is really suspicious?" Mi Young questions while she looks at Hae Choon with questioning eyes.

Hae Choon stops walking, making the black haired girl stop as well. "So, what do you think we should do then?"

The young girl bites her lip, trying to think about something that can both help her and Hae Choon succeed from their missions. "I think we should just carry on with our plan."

"You mean we continue following this metal even though we already know we are walking into a trap just like you have suggested?" Hae Choon questions.

The black haired girl rolled her eyes at the other party but she nodded her head nonetheless. "Yes. That's what I plan to do. Hey, if you think it's too dangerous, you can go on with your plan. I'm not forcing you to go with me."

"Well, if it's a suicide mission, count me in." Hae Choon says with a wink. Then he added, "Plus, I'm not letting a small girl like you walk into a trap alone. We're doing this together, right?"

The black haired girl grins at the boy. "That's a deal then."

"Good. Remember, we only engage in a battle if we have to."

Mi Young didn't give him any answer. Instead, she just sticks her tongue out at the other party. And after that, they continued following the piece of metal towards where Kwang Soo and Jang Hoon are imprisoned.

A raven flew across the sky and landed smoothly against an open window. The beautiful lady, who was already anticipating the raven's arrival, went towards the window to fetch the letter the bird was holding.

She gracefully tugs the ribbon that was attached to it and reads the words written inside.

Where are you? Where did you bring the kids?

The Headmasters are already getting suspicious with their sudden disappearance.

They came to my hut just a few hours ago and they thought it was me.

Now, they are starting to look for you.

I don't know if the golem you left at the library is enough to fool them.

Get back here as soon as you can.

And please, bring the children with you.

 

P.S Tell Mi Young that he's awake.

The white haired woman sighs as she reads the letter twice. She thinks for a second before she looks at the raven who was waiting for her next move. When she thought about something, Lady Ning Gwang started to write down her reply on another piece of paper.

When she is done, she rolls the paper and attaches a white ribbon around it. She then gave it to the raven who waited for her to tie the ribbon around its leg before it flew out of the window and back to where it came from.

Lady Ning Gwang bites her lip as she thinks about her two students who are still not back.

Mi Young sneezes for the third time.

"What's up with you? Do you have some kind of allergy? You kept on sneezing the moment we entered this room." Hae Choon says while giving Mi Young a concerned look.

"I don't know. I'm usually not like this." The black haired girl replies as she rubs her itching nose.

The metal lead them inside a huge room with high ceilings that was full of feathers which is super weird, in Mi Young's opinion. There were different kinds of feathers hanging everywhere each with different and unique colors and structures.

"Why do I feel like this is a room for ritual?" The black haired students whisper as they both sneak below the hanging feathers.

"Me too." Hae Choon replies as he eyes the feathers hanging just above them. It felt strangely familiar to him but he can't quite remember where he had seen some of the feathers.

"Why do you think they have these hanging around this room? And the room is super huge like, how come this can exist inside this abandoned house?" Mi Young continues as she scans the room.

The room was like 20 feet high and she could barely see the ceiling. Aside from that, there are weird and different kinds of feathers hanging from the ceiling of the room. And if she looks at the walls, more feathers are attached to it which is making her feel much more alert.

But the strangest thing was that they kept on feeling this weird sensation inside them that made them feel like someone was watching them, ready to attack and was just waiting for the right moment to catch its prey.

"Why do I feel like this room is like an endless maze? We've been sneaking around for almost an hour!" Mi Young exclaims. She checked the metal which was still floating straight ahead to see if it was still there. "Do you think the metal is lost?"

Hae Choon gave her a side glance. "No. Ancient spells like this one are never wrong. I think the room is just being manipulated."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. We've been sneaking inside for almost an hour but we still haven't reached the other side. And look, why do I feel like we're not moving from our location earlier?" Hae Choon comments. He even pointed at a feather that Mi Young kept on seeing earlier.

The black haired girl looks at her surroundings. It made her realize that Chopin was right. It felt like they were not moving from the same spot even though they had been walking for hours! "What's going on?"

Just as the young girl uttered those words, a huge roar echoed all throughout the room. Hae Choon and Mi Young immediately stopped walking as they observed their surroundings.

"I don't like the sound of it." Hae Choon whispers as he starts to move backwards until his and Mi Young's back bump against each other. "Be alert. Whatever it is, it seems huge."

"Oh it's huge alright." The black haired girl sarcastically says as she eyes something in front of her.

Sensing the other party's sudden change in alertness and aura, Hae Choon Decided to follow the other party's gaze. That's when he sees the huge 15 feet beast that was looking at them with red and angry eyes.

"It's mad." Mi Young says while she keeps her gaze locked with the beast.

"You don't have to tell me that. Just by the way it's looking hungrily at us, I know it's more than mad." Hae Choon replies as he gulps a huge lump of his saliva.

"Do we engage in a battle?" Mi Young questions. She eyes the beast who started moving from its spot, looking very aggressive. The black haired girl knows that if they even make a move, big or small, the beast would launch at them with no second thoughts.

"Sh*t I don't know. What do you think?" Hae Choon replies with a softer voice. He can feel the fast beating of his heart as he eyes the huge claws of the beast.

Half of the beast's body was still covered since there were feathers hanging around everywhere that kept them from seeing its whole body. However, its head resembled a giant lion with horns so huge Hae Choon knows that one hit from that and he will be nothing but a dead body.

"Mi Young, it's approaching."

"I know. I'm looking at it right now."

"What do we do?"

Before Mi Young could even reply to the boy's question, the beast roared once more before it leaped towards them, ready to take a bite.

Hae Choon and Mi Young both looked at each other before the young girl shouts 'run!', and the two of them started running in opposite directions.