novelThe Dragon Lord (1)
| ← Ch.165 | Ch.167 → |
Translation: Tay
Edit: Ren
He got goosebumps.
For the first time Muyoung felt something like an unavoidable 'destiny'.
Perhaps Snow had somehow foreseen this moment from the beginning and called him.
In any case, he was going to Suicide Hill.
Snow... In the past she had been the strongest saintess, but while she had been famous, she wasn't that big of a deal from Muyoung's standpoint.
He just had questions regarding her birth.
She was not a human being and furthermore, she wasn't any other specie, and definitely not an angel; people called her 'Veil' in secret.
'The reason she called for me...'
He was uneasy.
If she had read everything and called Muyoung, then she would indeed be called a great prophetess.
She was so detailed that she couldn't be compared to shamans.
However, that fundamental reason was mysterious and uncomfortable.
And if she read the truth about his returning to the past?
'It's dangerous. '
Yes. Maybe Snow would be more dangerous than anyone else to Muyoung.
Muyoung had become strong. He was getting stronger; faster than anyone.
It was possible because he had survived based on his memories or experience of the past.
If Snow turned hostile, it would also be possible for her to know what Muyoung would do in the future.
If Muyoung now knew about the 'result' as he aimed for Wung Chunglin, the difficulty would be much lower.
He even kept the worst possible situation in mind.
Snow had certainly been helpful to Muyoung, but it was too sweet to interpret that help as mere courtesy.
Yes, sweet.
Muyoung was not foolish enough to just gobble up the sweet food.
There was a reason for everything.
It was correct to believe that Snow wanted something from Muyoung.
Also, he had to think about if what she wanted from him was not accomplished.
He sharpened a sword in his mind. This sword would never be dulled until he perfectly learned Snow's intentions.
"However, because you became the First Knight, moving will be comfortable. I'm not doubting Muyoung-nim's abilities, but because it's in that place... many will be watching."
"I'm planning for that, " Muyoung answered shortly.
Relief then filled Seraphina's eyes.
She had come prepared to gouge out both her eyes, but Muyoung had stopped her.
The method might have been a bit violent, but hadn't Woohee said that?
'Hope loves us. '
However, that expression was extreme.
"What does the next test entail?"
Muyoung's eyes penetrated Seraphina.
Pendragon.
Muyoung didn't know if Pendragon had been Seraphina's First Knight in the past.
However, right now, Muyoung needed that position.
He didn't know if Pendragon had done anything important with this position in the past, but to the best of his knowledge nothing like that had happened.
Above all, more so than the 'First Knight', his title as the Dragon Lord Hansung's student was stronger.
Thus, Muyoung intended to do his best to seize the position, like a lion that put all his strength into catching a rabbit.
Hearing the challenge beforehand was a foul, but what did that matter?
He just wanted to save a little time if it seemed he was winning anyway.
"I will watch your military technique. A First Knight must be able to wield all weapons, " Seraphina explained frankly.
It was not too difficult.
Muyoung used a basic sword, but in reality he had handled everything that could be considered military.
'I remember fighting with a ladle. '
Now, it was all a past affair.
The memory of being caught infiltrating a kitchen while in disguise and fighting with a ladle resurfaced.
He smiled a little.
The fact that he could recall the past and smile was proof that he could afford to.
'I am walking a different road. '
He didn't know what would be at the end of this road.
At least he wouldn't live a life being dragged around, like in the past.
He lifted a bow.
He quickly shot the target.
A total of 20 targets flew around in the air.
It was a fight where the person who quickly shot those 20 targets would win.
Twang. Twang.
Muyoung gently tugged the bowstring to test its elasticity.
'The elasticity is good. '
Sentiment Du Fer Critical. He became one with the sword and it was called 'All Flows Become One'. In the end, it meant that the use of all weapons was similar. If he wanted to, there was no reason he couldn't handle a sword or bow.
"Gael-nim, Pendragon-nim. Well... Please start."
Gael was Muyoung's alias. Gabriel was roughly Gael when abbreviated.
As the saintess signalled, Pendragon pulled the bowstring first.
Twuung!
Thud!
He hit the target perfectly in the centre.
As the target fell, Pendragon shrugged his shoulders, as if that much was nothing.
While doing that, he looked at Muyoung.
Muyoung was his biggest rival.
However, Muyoung merely performed his own tasks silently.
Muyoung loaded the bow with two arrows.
'I'd be no match for the Cursed Bow Team that specialized in archery, but...'
There were many organizations within the Forest of Death.
Each was divided into specialized fields and trained intensively on the associated weapons.
The Cursed Bow Team was a group of assassins that wielded bows.
They fundamentally fired three arrows simultaneously and they never missed a target.
Muyoung's limit was two arrows. Starting from three arrows, his accuracy fell.
Shushuk!
Thu-thud!
Each time, two arrows flew and stuck in the targets.
A momentous event.
Seeing that, Pendragon's expression hardened.
'Who the hell is he? How could that guy be a seed?'
Originally he had thought that becoming the First Knight would not be difficult.
Even if Dragon Lord Hansung's name was removed, Pendragon was certainly powerful.
Not to mention the purity of his divine power; and he spared nothing in becoming stronger. He'd come this far through really bone-cutting training.
However, a strange bum suddenly popped up.
His entire body was covered with armor and a helmet, but he didn't even look old.
He was Pendragon's age at the most, or maybe a little older.
And no matter how slow-witted Pendragon was, he had no choice but to notice at this point.
...The truth that Seraphina regarded Muyoung favorably.
'I can't lose. '
Pendragon's eyes were ablaze.
He had been just a child at the time, but he had seen Seraphina and fallen for her.
Whenever times were hard, he would think of her and spur on his training.
It was only to be her first.
However...
Thud!
He didn't know about others, but he couldn't be beaten by Muyoung.
Eighteen Weapons.
It was about eighteen varieties of weapons and their martial arts.
Generally, weapon types did not deviate from these eighteen varieties.
There were eighteen kinds of tests.
Muyoung dealt with more than 10 weapons, never missing a single one.
As if he was an old expert, he naturally shot and suppressed Pendragon.
Normally it would require 10 years to be able to properly handle a weapon.
There was no one that could handle eighteen weapons like that.
This was what normal people thought universally.
"You're strong."
The Dragon Lord Hansung.
He was carefully observing Muyoung immediately after what had happened yesterday.
He was powerful; to the point of easily ranking as one of the strong.
However, for some reason there was something unsettling about him.
It seemed as if that wouldn't be all.
However, it seemed impossible to draw out Muyoung's sincerity through Pendragon.
"Someone like him existed?"
Hansung had stepped in immediately after humans began being summoned to the Underworld.
The war with the Demon Gods, the eradication of the monsters and the establishment of the city; there was nothing Hansung hadn't been involved in.
Even so, he had never seen anyone like Muyoung before.
If Hansung, who knew most strong men very well, didn't know him, then it meant that no-one knew him.
"Seraphina, where did you find that guy?"
"I was lucky."
Seraphina was stingy with her words.
In the meanwhile, Muyoung ran through a succession of victories and came out.
Pendragon's appearance passed red and gradually became ashen.
Overwhelming skill.
Pendragon was still young and was unable to accept it easily.
"He's like someone who just fell from the sky."
"Maybe."
"Maybe? Oho, Seraphina. Women with many secrets can't receive love."
"That's okay. I'm just the faithful sort."
The faithful sort belonged to the side that gave rather than received.
Seraphina's attention was on Muyoung.
In no time, it was the seventeenth match.
It was a confrontation between a spear and a spear.
Using only a spear to battle ten masters of spearmanship!
"A spear."
Muyoung turned the spear in his grasp and looked at it.
Then he ran towards the masters, as if he had an adequate understanding.
He pierced them like a bolt of lightning and shed their attacks like water as he severed their pulses one by one.
They didn't die, but many of them fell before Muyoung's spear.
Muyoung never did things simply.
"Amazing. It isn't an easy matter to handle all weapons that way, " Hansung marvelled.
No skills had been used.
It was all the more surprising that he showed such an image through pure spearmanship alone.
Eventually, the seventeenth round, the spear match, was also lost by Pendragon.
The last was... the sword.
The sword was a battle between the two.
Muyoung and Pendragon stood face to face.
"It will not be as easy as the sword."
He had already lost.
While handling seventeen weapons, he had already lost, so winning only the sword would not make him a winner.
But Pendragon couldn't easily accept it.
"You're still young."
Dragon Lord Hansung shook his head as he saw the scene.
Like his age, Pendragon was full of youthful vigor. He knew how to run forward. But, he was slow at accepting. When you're young, most can't help but act that way.
Eventually, the sparring began.
Muyoung closed his eyes and raised the sword.
Pendragon ran forward as if he was crazy.
Then, when Pendragon was only a short distance away, Muyoung opened his eyes, and aiming at only one point with the sword, he attacked.
Kwajik!
Sword and sword clashed together.
Soon, cracks began to appear on Pendragon's sword.
Pshhhhhh...
When the cracks became severe, it turned to powder and disappeared onto the ground.
Just one collision.
He had used no magical powers, divine powers, or skills but Pendragon's attacks were still futile.
It seemed Muyoung didn't even have to mix the sword. Muyoung turned around nonchalantly.
"This, this is fraud! This can't happen!" Pendragon shouted desperately.
No wonder.
Excluding Hansung, Muyoung was the first wall he had encountered.
Furthermore, it was a wall that stood strong while blocking his dreams.
How could he not be upset?
Hansung looked at him.
"The level isn't right."
Pendragon was strong.
However his opponent was too powerful.
It was just that different.
But the final thing he saw was unusual even for Hansung.
Swordsmanship that destroyed the sword itself.
"Can I be the target for the next sword match?" Hansung asked the saintess.
Then he took a stance that made the saintess awkward.
"Hansung-nim? But the results are already..."
Hansung nodded his head.
"I know. I'm not trying to change the results. My student lost because he was weak. However, the winner seems disappointed to end it this way."
"What?"
The saintess wondered, but Hansung had only spoken to be courteous.
Hansung approached Muyoung.
Then Muyoung stopped walking.
"While you were completing the test, you kept throwing speculation my way. You probably know who I am... but now I am interested in you as well."
Hansung's reason for this was simple.
He wanted to take off that mask and see.
Moreover, it was also true that Muyoung continued to cause Hansung to speculate about him.
Up until now he had been ignoring him, but not anymore.
Muyoung watched Hansung from inside the helmet.
And he smiled slowly, from the corner of his mouth.
| ← Ch. 165 | Ch. 167 → |