Chapter 65 - Episode 10. The Rebirth War (3)
Chapter 65: Episode 10. The Rebirth War (3)
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Sirwen let out a deep sigh at the Geumcheon Hall Master, who was still moving his lips as if he could not believe it. Then she pulled out a copy of 《Chaos This Month》 from inside her clothes and waved it.
Special Report: Jade-Faced Lord Bang Cheonil Dead.
"Th-that can't be."
Geumcheon Hall Master Im Jinhong muttered in a voice full of disbelief. Jade-Faced Lord Bang Cheonil was not among the strongest Lieutenant Generals, but within 《Chaos》, he had been an overwhelmingly powerful figure with no equal.
Sirwen nodded as if she understood.
"I thought I heard wrong at first too. I thought 《Chaos》 had finally gone mad. To dare lay a hand on the Lords..."
Im Jinhong snatched 《Chaos This Month》 from her hand. It appeared to be an article published that morning. His expression grew complicated as he turned the pages.
A Lord had been killed... by that South Sea Hall Master?
He knew South Sea Hall Master Cayman well.
"Impossible. South Sea Hall Master's Combat Power should never have been enough to face the Jade-Faced Lord."
Even if Cayman had hidden that much power, there was no way he would kill a Lord. More than anyone, the Hall Masters understood what it meant to provoke a Lord above Lieutenant General rank.
Yet the South Sea Hall Master had killed one.
Im Jinhong could not even guess what they were planning.
"Putting that aside, what are you going to do about them?"
The eyes of Geumcheon Hall Master Im Jinhong, which had been wandering in the distance for a moment, returned to focus.
Jaehwan and Cheongheo had already crossed the Outer Fortress. They were ruthlessly sweeping aside the Nether Ghost Envoys as they approached the Inner Fortress.
He had unleashed the Deputy Hall Master and the highest-ranking Nether Ghost Envoys, but he was no longer sure they could stop them.
Was it because he had just heard that Jade-Faced Lord Bang Cheonil was dead?
Cracks were beginning to show in Im Jinhong's usually confident expression.
"Does the Lord of Darkness know?"
"I haven't reported it yet."
Im Jinhong bit his lip. If the Lord of Darkness learned that they had allowed the Product they were searching for to become the Fortress Lord, the Lord would not stay still.
"You can't keep leaving them alone. At this rate, it is only a matter of time before the Nether Ghost Envoys are wiped out."
She was right. He might have to step in himself.
The news of the Jade-Faced Lord's defeat troubled him, but the Geumcheon Hall Master was also a ninth-stage Adapter who had recently attained the "rank of a Lord." If he and thousands of Nether Ghost Envoys joined forces, even the Fortress Lord of Gorgon would not be able to withstand them.
The problem was that he could not estimate how severe the losses among the Nether Ghost Envoys would be before the situation settled down. Even if they stopped them, if the Nether Ghost Envoys were wiped out, every plan he had built would fall apart.
He could not report it to the Lord of Darkness, nor could he stop them without losses. At a complete impasse, the Geumcheon Hall Master looked toward his last hope.
"Sirwen."
"What?"
Sirwen read Im Jinhong's gaze. Looking displeased, she waved him off.
"What? Stop bothering me already. I've done everything you asked. I finished the Soulstone research, made the Black Cloud, and created the Nether Ghost Envoys, didn't I?"
Im Jinhong's gaze did not change.
Sirwen let out a small sigh and closed her eyes. When she slowly opened them again, she spoke.
"Then make a deal with me."
Her voice escaped like an excited breath. As if the opportunity had finally come, her narrow eyes gleamed more seductively than ever before.
"If you turn a blind eye, I'll stop them for you."
* * *
Nether Ghost Envoys.
Created under the Geumcheon Hall Master's orders, these weapons were monsters whose Spiritual Pressure had risen by at least one stage, sometimes two, beyond what they possessed in life due to Mutation.
Unlike ordinary Deadmans, who lost their reason when they became Deadmans, they retained some of their minds and could freely wield the powers of the Deadmans.
And yet, those invincible Nether Ghost Envoys...
"Arghhh!"
"Kuaaagh!"
Were being blown apart.
Kwoooom!
An enormous burst of wind pressure erupted from Dokbul. Five or six Nether Ghost Envoys before Jaehwan vanished at once into silver dust.
The power was terrifying.
"You've gotten stronger, brat."
The technique Jaehwan had just used was equivalent to his usual Normal Stab. Yet that Normal Stab had erased Nether Ghost Envoys equivalent to sixth-stage Adapters in a single strike.
Even if Cheongheo searched all of the Great Realm, he would never find anyone better at Stab than this kid.
Cheongheo considered himself as hardworking as anyone, but before Jaehwan, he could not help feeling insignificant.
"Conserve your strength, brat. Don't forget that 《Manticore》 is only the gate."
"I know."
Awakened Ones who had obtained a Unique World were free from the rules of this world and the System's restrictions. That was why they could draw on unlimited spiritual power without storing it within their spirits.
Still, having no limit on the spiritual power they could use did not mean they could release it endlessly.
Awakened Ones did not consume spiritual power itself, but each attack drained a certain amount of mental energy.
It was the price of breaking the world's rules.
That was why Jaehwan and Cheongheo needed to minimize their mental fatigue until they reached the 《Palace of Rebirth》.
"This won't be easy."
A group was flying toward them. At a glance, they were far stronger than the Nether Ghost Envoys Jaehwan and Cheongheo had defeated so far. They were at least seventh-stage Adapters. Some even possessed power that reached the eighth stage.
Cheongheo's expression hardened as he looked at the center of the group.
"Be careful. One of them is nearly on the level of the Ten Hall Masters, perhaps even stronger."
The two figures standing at the center of the twenty Nether Ghost Envoys radiated an overwhelming presence even among them. Powerful Deadman energy poured from their bodies.
Jaehwan instinctively knew that the figures before him were eighth-stage Adapters, almost at the ninth stage.
One was a hard-faced man carrying a massive spear on his back. The other was a lean man with two blades at his waist.
The man carrying the massive spear spoke first.
"Are you the so-called Pathfinder who has been making a name for himself lately?"
The man spoke while looking directly into Jaehwan's eyes.
Pathfinder.
After the Path of the Wave incident, a few gossipmongers in 《Chaos》 had given Jaehwan that nickname.
"So the Divine Doctor has come as well."
"Who are you?"
The hard-faced man let out a low laugh.
"There was a time when I hunted Horned Beasts with you. We gathered horns for the medical center and transported patients. It was all a long time ago."
Cheongheo's eyes sharpened. He looked as if he were searching through an old memory.
"You... aren't you Heintz, the Justice Seeker?"
"You still remember me, Divine Doctor."
"Why is someone who used to be part of Gorgon's guard force in Geumcheon Hall?"
Heintz smiled without answering.
Cheongheo spoke as if scolding him.
"You don't belong in Geumcheon Hall. Why would you come to a place like this..."
"Can you still say that after knowing what I went through in Gorgon?"
Cheongheo immediately fell silent.
True to his epithet, Justice Seeker, Heintz had once been one of the most righteous men in 《Chaos》.
He fought for the weak and could not endure injustice.
"I don't want to cling pathetically to life even after I die."
Cheongheo still remembered those words Heintz had said.
The last time Cheongheo saw him was a hundred years ago. At the time, Gorgon had been at war with one of the Ten Halls, the now-defunct Red Mist Gang.
The massacre at the southern checkpoint where Heintz worked had happened in an instant.
While Cheongheo was briefly away, high-stage Adapters from the Red Mist Gang stormed in and caused the soul extinction of more than fifty guards, including the commander of the southern checkpoint.
Heintz had been the sole survivor.
Throughout his recovery, Heintz followed Cheongheo around like someone who had lost his soul.
"Divine Doctor! Please make me stronger! You came from the martial world, so there must be a way!"
At the time, Cheongheo turned away from Heintz's plea.
The sorrow of the weak. The despair borne by powerless justice. Yet after living for around a thousand years, seeing one or two patients like that became commonplace. Understanding them did not mean he could grant every request they made.
Heintz gave a dark laugh, as if he remembered those days.
"I remember what you said to me then."
"...?"
"Make an effort. That's what you told me."
Had he really said that?
Cheongheo could not remember clearly.
"Divine Doctor, there is something you should know. Effort is a luxury only possible for people who are in a position to make that effort. Most humans in 《Chaos》 are not in a situation where they can make that kind of 'effort.'"
"So you threw yourself into Geumcheon Hall?"
"Divine Doctor, I did make an effort."
Heintz let out a low chuckle.
"Perhaps it was not the sort of effort you meant, but I made an effort. I worked to sell the justice I had upheld. I worked to abandon my convictions. That is why I am here now."
"..."
"That was already a hundred years ago."
Had it really been a hundred years already?
Cheongheo still could not remember clearly.
He looked at Heintz before him anew.
"I am no longer the Justice Seeker. The weak second-stage Adapter known as the Justice Seeker died a hundred years ago."
One hundred years. More than enough time for powerless justice to rot into cowardly evil.
"I am Heintz, Deputy Hall Master of Geumcheon Hall."
Heintz drew the massive spear from his back. It was a red spear that gave off a dazzling radiance.
The sinister spiritual power of a Deadman gathered around its sharp spearhead.
"Fortress Lord of Gorgon. I heard you only use Stab. Let's see what you've got."
Fortress Lord of Gorgon.
The legend of the Path of the Wave.
The Pathfinder of an impossible road.
Over the last month, the descriptions used for Jaehwan had changed countless times. It had happened just over a month after he came to 《Chaos》.
Heintz did not like Jaehwan's nicknames. He too had lived in 《Chaos》 for over two hundred years, yet the only epithet he received was Justice Seeker, a name that mocked his weakness and meddling. A guest who had no strength but loved sticking his nose into other people's business.
"Even I, after two hundred years here, am still a guest. Yet a man who has only been here for a month becomes a Fortress Lord. You never know how the world will turn out."
Ominous spiritual power flowed sharply from the spearhead.
In sheer force, the attack did not fall behind even the strongest skills of the Ten Hall Masters.
Eight spear blades shot toward Jaehwan's body.
Advanced Skill, 「Vulcan's Eight Fangs」.
Many advanced and highest-grade skills had names like that, such as 「Akaram's Seven Sword Forms」 and 「Vulcan's Eight Fangs」.
Most were skills that Dream Demons who had reached the level of Apprentice or Master Craftsman had created for amusement.
Kwoooom!
Their power was no joke, though.
Rough smoke rose wherever the spear blades struck. The deeply sunken ground resembled lunar craters.
It was power an ordinary advanced skill could never produce. Yet Heintz, having obtained the power of a Deadman, could make even an ordinary advanced skill surpass a highest-grade skill.
"...!"
Even so, his spear blades did not so much as brush Jaehwan's clothes. The craters had been carved out pathetically, leaving only the ground Jaehwan stood on untouched.
Heintz could not hide his shock. Even a Ten Hall Master would not have escaped that strike unharmed.
"Not bad. But you still have a long way to go."
Eight spear blades formed from spiritual power rose over Heintz's shoulders. Heintz explosively increased his Spiritual Pressure and poured strength into each spear blade.
Vulcan's Eight Fangs.
Secret Technique, Carotid Ripper.
The eight spear blades surged forward like wolf fangs hunting prey. The surrounding ground they grazed was overturned, causing a light tremor.
The spiritual power contained in each fang approached the strength of a ninth-stage Adapter. Hundreds, thousands of stabs. There was nowhere to dodge.
But.
"Why? How could this possibly..."
Not a single one of his stabs reached Jaehwan.
Footnotes:
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