novelPreparing for an expedition - 1
| ← Ch.286 | Ch.288 → |
- 1
Of course, it was only Jaehwang's position and L was uncomfortable all along.
The story proceeded in a somewhat different direction from the original schedule. Their original schedule was intended to involve the gods, L and Al. To be exact, L had thought of the story of an ancient warrior who appeared under the protection of the good and evil spirits. That's the only way that the myth will not go beyond that of L and Al.
They tried to make it a sub-mythology of L and Al, but he turned out to be almost their equal because of that story. Goongi was originally a deity that represented the tiger. It's not clear whether it's because the royal family of the Su was cats, but they became very quickly influenced by Goongi.
The Queen of Su, whose tail wobbles with joy every time Goongi glances at her made it pretty obvious that she's into her. The problem was that this was nothing. The myth about Goongi didn't even exist in the first place. The problem was that Al's divinity was seriously damaged. For one reason (from L's point of view) they mistook Jaehwang as the god of the ancient Dracoon, Dragona.
Of course, Jaehwang exterminated the monsters with a mythical dignity, but it would have been possible for L if she didn't let her guard down.
The biggest problem was that she can't complain about it. Her reason would be that fierce female cat putting some pressure on her in the dark.
"I think you're badly hurt, L. Go somewhere and get some rest."
"Hm."
"Hm?"
"Oh, no."
L dropped her eyes when Goongi stared at her after L snorted once for no reason. Yeah, let's be honest, she was afraid of Goongi, and let's say they're fighting. It would be better for her to burn to death or be shot to death by Jaehwang's arrow. She couldn't imagine being eaten alive. Though she didn't tell them, L had a kind of trauma when she watched Al being ripped off. While still being alive, his stomach was torn, gutted, and his Dragonheart was broken. They were living creatures too, this meant that they also fear. That's why she was more afraid of Goongi, who was lurking behind her than Jaehwang.
As L went away, Goongi pulled herself into Jaehwang's arms, seemingly seeking for some praise.
"Phew..." Jaehwang patted Goongi's hair as if he couldn't stop her.
Her mind was connected and her thoughts were clear to him. Though Jaehwang didn't bother to step up, it seems like Goongi didn't plan on taking things too far either. Goongi was the type that takes the advantage when she could.
"Why would you do this if we would block the dimensions anyway?" Jaehwang said.
"Even if you don't pretend to be a God here, it's good to look over them at least for once. Why would you give up on this? You could absorb it step by step, and this is what you would do because it can get in the way."
Jaehwang smiled wryly, she must be talking about the strange identity that was being absorbed by his body. Jaehwang opened the status window. If he had been connected to a SAVE in the past, it would have printed a piece of information about this phenomenon now.
But now, it's a complete departure from the SAVE, so Jaehwang himself should touch it.
"Is there a case of a forgotten divine being getting resurrected?" Jaehwang asked Goongi. Goongi knew more about the story about that other God than Jaehwang. Goongi nodded to Jaehwang's question.
"Of course, a single record won't be erased from me."
"Then, this is not just about Elus but also about Earth?"
"Yes, but you don't have to do that on Earth. You've almost given me the divinity you've established on Earth. You don't have to look for and remind yourself of a forgotten deity, it's just complicated. Of course, absorbing it may raise your divinity, but it is time-consuming."
"That's true." Jaehwang nodded to Goongi's clear answer. He'll just look at it later when he had more time to kill.
"And it's just a gut feeling, but I think that the Dragonar had a formidable size. Maybe it was a lot taller than you are now. So for now, just focus on analyzing it and fixing it. You'll get something eventually, " Goongi continued.
"Okay."
She acted like a mature senior, forgetting herself being childish a moment ago. Jaehwang shook his head then began to analyze it, which was now being absorbed and coming in. What could be analyzed and quantified was quantified and those that cannot be quantified were taken and attached to the things that were similar in nature. He didn't know everything about being divine yet, but he understood the principle roughly.
Thanks to his recent study on computer programming, something worth seeing had been added to the status window.
God: Dragona –
Restoration of the divinity: 6%
Divinity absorption: 1%
The numbers were slowly going up. The amount of absorption that was carried out at the same time, although only 6 percent, was quite satisfactory. He felt like he's on a treasure hunt. He thought that it would get quite interesting once the search was complete.
"I have to stay here for a while." Jaehwang shared his status window with Goongi, who gave him a nod.
"Yeah, maybe a few days."
About two days later, Jaehwang was able to absorb all the forgotten god's divinity. In fact, it was proper to say that it was a remnant of a vanishing god rather than a deity. The subject of the divinity had already died out, so Dragona cannot be revived unless Jaehwang succeeds it.
It would be possible if he took the time, but he gave up because it required a long stay at Elus.
Then, things proceeded at pretty fast speed.
Whether it was Dragona or an ancient warrior, he immediately began to recover Al and soon, the Red Dragon was able to wake up. There was a small episode when Al almost got beaten up by Goongi after he woke up and growled at her.
Anyway, when the four of them got together, Jaehwang shared what he had learned so far with everyone. This was the first time for Al to have a conversation, although L knows it roughly. Al, who heard everything Jaehwang said, nodded and opened his mouth.
"The bottom line is that we need to move fast."
"Yes."
Al had a rather serious personality than he had expected. Roughly speaking of their personalities, when L was involved in an accident or a job, Al was the one that carried it to the end. When it comes to pure combat capability, Al was definitely stronger than L. It would have been quite a struggle if Goongi hadn't made a full-fledged attack in the battle at that time.
"It wasn't right to sit on the bench." When Al looked at L and said that, L's cheeks began to inflate.
"When I went to the Dark Earth with you, there was no one like that. We agreed together and..."
"Back then, yes." Al nodded coolly at L's words.
"Did you go to the Dark Earth, too?"
"Of course. I went to the Earth and the Dark Earth too. My conclusion was that the benefit would be bigger than the loss if the two came together. The Dark Earth seemed a nuisance, but I was confident." Al shrugged.
As the dimensions combine, the level of the dimensions was raised and their sealed ancient magic could be used. The dragons believed it. An example would be the magic of drawing a meteor from the sky and dropping it to the ground or the magic of penetrating the dimension that was powerful enough to affect the causality of the world. However, they promised to cooperate with Jaehwang, who decided to move actively rather than vaguely trusting and passively waiting. Even if it's not, they had to succeed in the plan to nullify the pledge they made with Jaehwang.
When Jaehwang returned to Earth, several things were waiting for him. The biggest thing was what he had left for Baeklin before he went to Elus. Baeklin fulfilled Jaehwang's words quite faithfully and the effect was very good. A week was enough to make Baeklin do the work.
"It's only been a week or two, but you've made the Earth a semi-combat."
"The Mana Stone you gave me was a big influence. I didn't have to do anything useless, so I hit them one by one, and they didn't hesitate anymore."
Although Baeklin said it as if it was nothing, Jaehwang would be quite troubled if Baeklin, with this level of ability, had a bad heart against him. It's a good thing they're on the same side. The UN Emergency General Assembly was convened and an all-out war against the Dark Earth was unanimously resolved by all the countries present at the General Assembly. They only reached a quick conclusion because the heads of the countries were on alert. This began the preparation to respond to everything that would happen to the Earth while Jaehwang was attacking the dungeon in the Dark Earth.
Jaehwang was so concerned about the defense of the Earth that he's trying to preempt the number of odds Ruler could use. An all-out war was one where all hunters could be used to defend the Earth. Also, restrictions on the use of all human weapons were removed. The nuclear weapon, which was still considered the strongest and worst weapon ever even after a hundred years have passed since it was made, could be used as well.
Smaller tactical nuclear weapons could be used while stronger nukes, that were enough to completely grind the Dark Earth because they could shake in dimensions, were not allowed. Of course, they should deal with little-to-no damage to Earth either. A nuclear weapon had to bear some damage, whether it's a shot or a hit. However, there were too many uncertainties in this case.
There was no end to their limit, but their problem was that they cannot measure the limits of Ruler's power and means. Ruler was also a complete absolute being in the Dark Earth. It would not let them go after the dungeon.
Perhaps even the dungeon was a trap, Jaehwang thought that way too. Therefore, the number of odds should include the worst-case scenario; the failure to attack the dungeon. Of course, Jaehwang had also prepared some personal arrangements for him, but there was always an exceptional case and Jaehwang would try his best to stop it.
- 2
"I, Jaehwang Chun, the 78th generation of the Martial Arts House, bring greetings to our ancestors."
Entering the shrine, Jaehwang bowed reverently and carefully on the polished the altar and memorial tablets. Before coming down from the mountain, he had been doing it every day, but when he returned to the shrine after a few years, he met a cloud of dust. He asked the senior Sim to take care of the house, but he did not let anyone in at this shrine. A large-scale welfare complex that embraces Goongi Mountain was built, but its original purpose would be to protect the home.
The incense was placed in a reverent position in the incense burner. Once again, after bowing and coming outside, Goongi was wandering around.
"Can't you just call them to the Martial Arts House?" Goongi, who's been complaining all along about why they bothered coming here, shouted. The Goongi Mountain was a place full of bad memories for her.
Jaehwang shook his head with a sad smile."Every time I call them, they consume my spirituality. They've already used a lot of spirituality when I summoned them the last time, so it's dangerous to call them now."
"Well, if you say so." Goongi nodded at Jaehwang's words. For her, she might think that it was necessary to argue that, but because of Jaehwang's idea, she respects it. Jaehwang pulled her hand as she kicked the ground with her toes.
"Huh... why?"
"I'll go to my parents' graveyard and introduce their daughter-in-law." Goongi's cheeks turned red at Jaehwang's calm answer.
"Hmm... Hmm... That's right."
The red-cheeked Goongi was pulled by Jaehwang's hand and was led to the graveyard behind his home. The graveyard was well cleaned up by the hands of the elderly. Jaehwang, who had pulled out a little bit of grown-up grass, brought out his parents' favorite food from the Infinity Storage.
As he bowed to his parents' graves, he said, "She is going to be my wife." Goongi's red cheeks turned redder. Jaehwang, who bowed down, sat in front of the graveyard and looked blankly at the home building of the Martial Arts House.
Suddenly, it reminded him of the day when he first met Goongi. When he became close to death while fighting against the monster that appeared in the mountain...
When he barely crawled into the shrine and became half-asleep. When he woke up, the shrine was in a mess and his crippled body was restored. And... a beauty that he's never seen before looked down at him with a gracious look on her face. And now that beauty was keeping his side as a lover...
After going back from the Dark Earth, he would live here with this woman. They will protect this home.
"Will it be lonely?" He thought that it would be too empty for two people. Yes, this place was too big.
"Goongi"
"Huh?"
"Let's make lots of kids together."
"Huh? Huh? What... ? What?"
"I want to fill that place with my children."
When Jaehwang spoke as if he were so determined, Goongi's head fell. Goongi felt too shy to look at her lover.
| ← Ch. 286 | Ch. 288 → |