Chapter 104  : Opening Act (2)

HH Editor: thursdays “My strength?”

His brother’s journal didn’t contain anything about the high rankers’ skills.

But Yeon-woo wanted to check it out with his own eyes. Especially the strength of the Martial King, who was at peak of the Nine Kings.

“Geez. Being a teacher really isn’t easy. Hm. What should I show you?”

Rather than thinking Yeon-woo was annoying for asking so many things of him, he thought Yeon-woo was quite confident.

The Martial King decided to show something very fancy and strong while he was at it.

Once upon a time, he was called a ‘Walking Archive’ because he knew many different Mugongs and mastered quite a few of them.

Then the Martial King thought. Since the Mugong he was planning on teaching Yeon-woo was the Eight Extreme Fists, he would show him a part of it.

“I don’t usually show this to other people. Today, I’m doing this just for you, so watch closely. This is a part of the Eight Extreme Fists called Break Heaven.”

The Martial King started to get in position. Suddenly, the atmosphere around the King changed and became heavier.

*Crash*

Yeon-woo’s eyes were fixed on the Martial King to see everything with his Draconic Eyes.

His breathing, mana circulation, muscle movement, and the angles of his actions. A goal that he had for the future was right in front of him.

And during this time, the beast that was lying dormant inside the Martial King started to show itself.

His fighting spirit crashed like a storm.

The presence of the Martial King grew like a giant, and it was as if the Martial King was the only thing to exist in the world.

Edora grew pale and stepped back. She planted her sword in the ground to somehow protect herself.

Even for Yeon-woo, it was hard to stay steady. The Magic Circuit spun in his body like crazy, but he was only barely able to keep his balance.

His gaze was still on the Martial King amidst all this. Everything about the Martial King appeared to him like an illusion.

It was more than what he felt when looking at the Martial King so far.

It was an entirely new world.

All the concepts he had organized in his head exploded like fireworks, and when he tried to rebuild them, they fell like Jenga blocks.

It was a strength that exceeded Mugong. It was a strength of someone who had completed Mugong and trained their magic power to the fullest.

The summit that he had to reach was right there!

The Martial King pulled up the edge of his hands. His hand emitted a bluish light and drew a line in the air, cutting the sun in the sky.

And then.

*Swish*

The sun....split into two.

“.....!”

Yeon-woo widened his eyes at the unbelievable sight. Edora covered her mouth with her hand.

A soundless scream echoed.

The sun that had been split into two split into pieces, and a darkness came down.

The world was drowning in darkness. There wasn’t a single light.

And like a magic trick, the sun returned to its spot and the world was able to have light again.

It was an event that had happened so fast that people wondered if they had imagined it.

But while experiencing these things, Yeon-woo was shocked beyond words.

‘Those things.....are possible?’

He thought that he had created a footstool to become somewhat powerful with the mana control he had made in 4 days.

But there was such a gap in power between him and the Martial King that he didn’t even want to attempt catching up to him.

The gap was so big that even his Draconic Eyes couldn’t keep up.

“Whew! My shoulder hurts a bit from using my strength. You saw, right?”

The Martial King spoke while rotating his shoulder.

“We’re leaving tonight so don’t be late. Edora, you give this kid some food. Everyone’s gonna underestimate him when they see how thin he is. Ok? I’m off now.”

After that baffling event had taken place, the Martial King quietly disappeared.

Yeon-woo gathered his wits long after he left.

‘Someday.’

His fists were so clenched that you see the veins popping out, and a new kind of passion set his heart on fire.

‘Someday I will go beyond that.’

For the first time, a milestone that he had to overcome was created in Yeon-woo’s mind.

***

“Ugh. I almost died.”

In a spot that Yeonwoo and Edora couldn’t see.

When the Martial King thought he was alone, he massaged his right arm.

He had suffered a lot of muscle damage from pulling up his magic power to its fullest.

[My point exactly. Why’d you show off? The elders are almost out of their wits trying to find you. They’re asking if you’re in your right mind, now that all the other clans will be sending complaints to us.]

The Psychic Medium scolded him.

“Nah. But hon, I can’t show a weak side of myself to my kid, can I?”

And he grinned.

“Also, a teacher is supposed to be someone that isn’t able to be overshadowed. He has to be a wall, as well as a goal, for the student to work harder.”

[And what if you completely cut his motivation?]

“Well, then he only amounts to that much.”

He spoke in a cold tone.

[Anyway. So how is it? Are you satisfied? You weren’t gonna go this far originally.]

“I was satisfied from the beginning.”

“Then what?”

“I’m planning on making him work more than I had planned. That Sword God guy took 30 days to finish the test, but he only took four. Don’t you think I have to be that much of a better teacher so it’s fair?”

You could see expectation in the eyes of the smiling Martial King. If the two of his disciples met, that would also be a fun thing to watch.

He couldn’t help but think that a lot of amusing things would occur during this war.

***

Night arrived.

It was the night that the Martial King said would signal the beginning of the war.

Tribe members who said they would participate were already in the center of the village.

A total of 21 clans would participate. Each clan sent ten to a hundred members. So the total number of members came out to be about 500.

Since participating in the war was voluntary, only 500 members came to fight.

But each and every one of those members was a warrior. So despite the small number, the aura they gave off was one of an army of ten thousands.

Yeon-woo was somewhere in that mix. He listened to the Martial King’s speech amongst the other guests.

“You guys are scared cause it’s been a while since we went outside, huh? Don’t wet your pants cause you’re scared, ok? I’ll be checking for those people.”

His speech was full of jokes rather than being serious.

“Ha! You yourself should be careful. If we find you getting beat up, we’re switching our king.”

“Heuheuheuheu. That sounds like fun!”

“Wait. Isn’t that the best scenario? Then we don’t have to look at his face again!”

The warriors were busy joking along with the king as well.

As Yeon-woo saw this spectacle, he had a thought.

Maybe the reason why the One-horned tribe was able to remain as the strongest military force was because of this laxness.

They definitely didn’t think they would lose, and they had immense respect for the Martial King in their eyes.

“Anyways. Don’t die. If you die, I’ll make you embarrassed by following you to hell and drag you back by your ear. Got it?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Alright!”

“Then let’s go. It’s time to play.”

After the Martial King let out a shout, the warriors ripped the ticket that had been given to them in advance.

Yeon-woo also ripped his own ticket with all his might. Under his mask, his eyes flared up like will o’ the wisps.

The Red Dragon and the Cheonghwado.

The opening act of war had begun. ***

[This is the 11th floor, the world inside of dreams.]

Before the message could even disappear, Yeon-woo and the One-horned tribe began to move as one.

From the start zone to the city Kuram. They planned to travel without rest.

It began to get dark because the sun had set.

Only the moonlight shone for them.

“Getting to fight together like this is fate. Why don’t we introduce ourselves? I’m Sylon.”

Suddenly, something approached in front of Yeon-woo. Unexpectedly, the owner of the beautiful voice used a hammer. He raised the hammer high above Yeon-woo’s head. Under the hammer, there was a small halfling a little shorter than Henova.

Sylon.

He was a famous ranker, widely known as the Singing Hammer.

For a while, he had gained fame for being able to exert a great amount of strength compared to his small body.

People like Sylon, who had suddenly disappeared, were living as guests of the One-horned tribe.

‘He really looks like a child.’

Halflings and dwarves had similar physiques, so people told them apart from their faces.

Dwarves’ faces were very muscular, but halflings had a childlike face.

They also had beautiful voices, so they were famous for their songs as well.

Sylon was no exception to this.

On the outside, he had a childlike appearance, but he was actually of vigorous old age who had gone through all kinds of things.

“Cain.”

Yeon-woo glanced at Sylon and looked straight forward again. It meant he didn’t want to continue the conversation.

Sylon looked at Yeon-woo with a baffled expression.

Even when he heard the newest guest of the tribe was the person who had caused all the commotion in the tribe, the Hoarder, he wasn’t that interested.

He didn’t care about the ongoings of the Tower, but when he heard that this person might be a new disciple of the Martial King, that changed.

‘That rude Martial King took a new disciple?’

During the entirety of his stay as a guest, he had only ever seen two of the Martial King’s disciples. One of them was the Sword God, and the other one was equally powerful as well.

To be taught by the Martial King meant that you had potential, but it also meant you had something extremely special about you.

So Sylon was curious about what the Martial King had seen in Cain.

But Yeon-woo had stopped the conversation like he couldn’t be bothered after saying his name.

That rude attitude. One of Sylon’s eyebrow twitched. This guy got on his nerves as much as the Martial King did.

He was similar to the other disciples of the Martial King. Was being rude something common all powerful people had?

Sylon had almost never received this kind of attitude during his time as a ranker. He tried to suppress his anger.

He wondered if it was because this guy was a newbie who had just climbed the Tower so he didn’t know who Sylon was.

So Sylon forced out laughter.

“Hm. You’re really quiet and blunt for your age. Have you met the other guests? Actually, we were gonna throw a party to welcome you, but you stayed in that archive for over three days.”

Sylon wanted to get along with Cain because he thought he would be able to see what the Martial King saw if he stayed by his side longer.

However.

“Cain! Come to the front!”

The Martial King, who had been standing in the front, called for Yeon-woo.

Yeon-woo nodded his head at Sylon and disappeared off to where the Martial King was.

Sylon frowned.

He stopped walking when he thought about how such a young child ignored him like that.

“Are you alright?”

Trivia, who had been quietly following Sylon laughed.

It was hard to tell who he was because his face was covered in a hood, but his wrinkles showed that he was an old person.

Trivia was also a ranker staying as a guest of the tribe. He was famous as ‘the Electrician.’

“Did you just ask me if I’m alright?....Are all the fellas like the Martial King like that?”

“They could be. They’re all people not used to social interaction.”

Trivia rubbed his chin.

“But it’s said that the Martial King will be giving lessons to him during the war. Then won’t we be able to see something?”

“Anyway.”

Sylon’s eyes were squinted in annoyance.

“We’ll see if he can afford to have that kind of attitude or not after seeing his performance.”