Episode 7: Monster Hail / Chapter 109: New Land, New Era (3)
TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk
Chu Youngjin raised his head.
The entire sky was distorted. Like the gray static on TVs, black, white, and gray dots filled his vision as they flickered and squirmed.
His hair fluttered and his skin felt hot. The planet was extremely polluted, with karma shattering and smashing against each other.
This place stressed people out just by its existence. It was a war zone.
Aliens he had never seen or heard of before were fighting against monsters he had never seen or heard of before. To Chu Youngjin, both sides looked like monsters.
It felt unfamiliar.
Just before charging into battle, Chu Youngjin would unwittingly think of his extremely distant homeland.
"Are they doing well? Those two… Have they become my successors?"
However, his thoughts didn"t drag on for long.
{Newcomer! You x.x.x{1}! Pull yourself together!}
A senior officer of his troop swore buckets at Chu Youngjin, who had momentarily become sentimental. He was an insect-like alien with a mouth split into three parts and long antennae.
Chu Youngjin glanced at him and smiled.
"Don"t worry,"
With that short reply, Chu Youngjin"s eyes reddened.
Rumble!
At the same time as the rumble, Chu Youngjin penetrated into a crowd of maggot-like monsters. Black blood and the sickening flesh of monsters scattered into the air behind him.
This was a war zone where alliance members with no connections and karmalings who were deemed as Consumables were dispatched to. An alien troop that repeatedly fought in the most dangerous and dirtiest of fights.
Chu Youngjin liked this place.
He spent every day here, drunk on fighting. The more he fought, the blanker his mind became.
That was what he liked the most.
In the Barhaloleun Mountains, known as the Berserkers" homeland, a warrior school was erected a little distance away from the city. Ryu Hyunsung was training talented warriors there.
"Now, you see how Overseer Choi Hyuk blocked that attack? Why do you think he blocked it this time when he dodged it before?"
"Unlike before, his right foot was firmly on the ground. It seemed like he judged that he could take the attack with his strength."
"A great answer. However, you"re only half-correct. The reason is rhythm. There needs to be a rhythm when you use karma. Think about it. When comparing someone who fights with 10 Power to someone who alternates between 5 and 13 Power, who do you think is stronger? Of course, it"s the one who alternates between 5 and 13 Power. When you don"t need a lot of strength, use it lightly, but when you need to break your opponent, use it strongly. The secret to attacking effectively while still fighting for long periods of time is rhythm. To find a rhythm and timing that is optimized for you, you need to awaken all your senses."
The students nodded seriously at Ryu Hyunsung"s words. Although they were considered students, their ages ranged greatly, from those in their early teens to older people in their seventies. They had joined the advanced cla.s.s as their fighting talents as regular colonizers, not Berserkers, had been acknowledged.
Ryu Hyunsung, who taught them, had a very bright and energetic expression.
"Now, if we were to proceed as normal, it would be time for actual fighting, but there is a special event today. I"m confident that there will be more to learn from it than from actual fighting. Although fighting is good, there are many cases where continuously fighting causes one to fall into a rut by repeatedly following a familiar pattern, and said pattern becoming a habitual routine. In times like these, it"s of great help to watch fights of those stronger than you and expand your realm of creativity. Now, follow me."
The place Ryu Hyunsung led them to was a Berserkers" training ground not far from the school. Berserkers had already gathered and were being noisy. There were so many Berserkers here that they couldn"t see what was going on beyond them.
Looking at the crowd of Berserkers, who were known to be brutal, the warrior school students were dispirited. However, their teacher, Ryu Hyunsung, didn"t hesitate as he pushed through the crowd.
"Move! Let the students watch!"
When Ryu Hyunsung shouted, the Berserkers turned around, seemingly in a bad mood. However, after confirming Ryu Hyunsung"s face, they moved aside without a word.
"Uh, director. Who are the chicks behind you?"
A few Berserkers showed interest.
"I told you they are students of the warrior school."
Ryu Hyunsung replied lightly. Yet, his path to the front wasn"t entirely smooth.
There were Berserkers who didn"t move. They were indifferent when Ryu Hyunsung directly asked them to move.
"Why should I move? I barely managed to get this spot after coming here early in the morning. On top of that, isn"t this a matter regarding us, Chu Youngjin"s troop? Aren"t you, Director Ryu Hyunsung, a third-party here?"
Some refused in this way.
Then Ryu Hyunsung smiled brightly as he turned to look at his nervous students.
"The Berserkers are a bit like this. There are many who won"t listen to others no matter what. Since a lot of you want to become Berserkers, I"ll show you how to deal with them."
Then he turned his head with a swish and stared at the Berserkers blocking his path. Tension hung in the air. The Berserkers blocking their path slowly got into combat positions.
"Director Ryu Hyunsung, it won"t be easy this time."
"Won"t be easy, my a.s.s."
Punch!
Thud!
Bang!
Ryu Hyunsung had moved before he finished his words. The Berserkers blocking their path groaned as they slumped onto the ground. One was. .h.i.t on the head, another stabbed in the neck, and the last had his chin kicked. They all became incapable of fighting. As he slowly walked pa.s.sed them, Ryu Hyunsung explained,
"They are elites who have reached the peak of the 3-star level, but how were they beaten so easily? It"s precisely because of rhythm. I launched my first attack half a step earlier than they expected. I was half a step later with my second attack than what my target expected, and it was the same for my third and fourth attacks as well. What I mean by creating your own rhythm isn"t creating some standard rhythm. Figuring out your opponent"s rhythm quickly is the most important thing. That is why you have to awaken all your senses."
Ryu Hyunsung continued to teach while pushing the Berserkers slumped on the ground away with his feet. It looked like being a teacher suited him well as he seemed to be enjoying it.
His students were carefully following behind him, tiptoeing in fear of stepping on a collapsed Berserker.
Finally arriving at the very front, Ryu Hyunsung and his students saw an enormous open s.p.a.ce surrounded by Berserkers, with twelve people standing in the middle.
The 12 consisted of the 10 team leaders under Chu Youngjin"s troop and a pair of fraternal twins, Kim Honghyun and Kim Saehyun.
"What"s the current situation?"
A female student, who looked around 17 years old, cautiously asked Ryu Hyunsung.
"Ah, it"s a test to pick the next director of Chu Youngjin"s troop."
"Next director?"
"Yes. You know that Director Chu Youngjin has been exiled, correct? There needs to be someone who will lead his troop in his stead. But Director Chu Youngjin recommended the next director before he was exiled. They are those two over there, Kim Honghyun and Kim Saehyun. The funny thing is they were the ones who had chased down Director Chu Youngjin during the doppelganger incident."
"Pardon? Then they didn"t know each other before?"
"That"s right. After fighting with them then, Director Chu Youngjin left after recommending those two, saying that they were better than the guys under him. I saw them too… And they are quite skilled. However, there was no way the lunatics of Chu Youngjin"s troop would accept this. They insisted and decided amongst themselves that, whoever it may be, their director needed to be able to take down 5 team leaders by themselves. That"s how this deciding match came about. The situation is, if Kim Honghyun and Kim Saehyun want to become joint directors, they need to take down 10 team leaders."
As expected, tension hung in the middle of the empty s.p.a.ce.
While they were glaring at each other, Kim Honghyun stepped forward.
"Aren"t we going to fight? How long are we going to glare at each other?"
While talking craftily, he suddenly rushed into the group of team leaders.
Ruuuumble!
At the same time, rumbles resounded in the air. As they were the subordinates of Chu Youngjin, their usage of karma was similar to his, emitting thunderous roars. The experts of Chu Youngjin"s troop, who were known to possess the greatest destructive power in one-on-one situations among the Berserkers, struck out simultaneously. Their attacks had the intention to kill, not holding back at all.
Even as the air crackled around him, Kim Honghyun didn"t back down.
"Toughness, Fort.i.tude!"
His innate skill and karma trait, both which greatly increased his Endurance, activated at the same time.
"And Reflex!"
Crash, bang!
Kim Honghyun blocked a portion of the downpour of attacks and received the rest with his body. With his monstrous Endurance and ability to avoid strikes to his vital points with his cat-like reflexes, Kim Honghyun stood firmly after receiving all ten people"s attacks.
Ryu Hyunsung admired,
"Wow, did you see that? He twisted his body the moment the team leaders became certain their attacks would hit. On top of that, it looks like his Endurance is unbelievable. That right there is rhythm. He completely took over their rhythm. The team leaders are probably taken aback now since things went differently from what they expected. A weakness."
Ryu Hyunsung explained quickly.
As expected, Kim Honghyun smiled, revealing his teeth.
"That"s all?"
Swish.
With a swift sound of slicing air, Kim Saehyun, who had been standing behind him, attacked, targeting the team leaders" weak points. Victory was already determined with his first move.
Kim Honghyun and Kim Saehyun were much stronger than expected. Since Chu Youngjin had run amok after beating them, they had initially thought they weren"t all that amazing, but they were wrong. After personally experiencing the combat-type innate skills they possessed, they realized they were on a frightening level.
The reason why they were beaten so badly by Chu Youngjin was because Chu Youngjin, at that time, was unbelievably strong. They weren"t a good match either. Chu Youngjin"s lethal one-hit attacks could pierce Kim Honghyun"s Endurance and Kim Saehyun"s sharp attacks couldn"t overcome Chu Youngjin"s monstrous Recovery.
"Uhh… If it"s those two, it might be tough for me too…? Chu Youngjin beat them with strength? And he was able to make a fuss afterwards?"
Nervous, Ryu Hyunsung suddenly muttered to himself, and his words spread through the mouths of the Berserkers. He was later frequently teased by Lee Jinhee for this. "Sniff, sniff? Do I smell the scent of a coward from somewhere?"
"d.a.m.n… Let"s duel, Lee Jinhee."
"Heh? Why don"t you beat the Kim brothers first?" Something along those lines.
At the same time, Choi Hyuk was in Naro"s s.p.a.ceship.
If something was different from normal, it was the s.p.a.ceship"s location. Naro"s s.p.a.ceship, which had always floated above Seoul, was now floating in Dragonic.
It wasn"t through the use of the military gate system, but rather through the result of its own efforts and usage of the s.p.a.ceship"s dimensional travel equipment.
Although it was subtle, Earth"s horizons were expanding.
{Yes, yes, we are steadily progressing with the friendly sparring sessions as you ordered. We went to two places today. I beat the instructor of one but was beat by the one in the other. The spars between their trainees and our Berserkers were close. I think it was a good experience. I am organizing the list of my results.}
Lee Jinhee, who had been dispatched to Dark City of Laniakea, appeared on the screen. She was currently going around warrior training centers in Dark City with a portion of the Berserkers" elites for training.
"Good. But why do you look so glum?"
{It"s because I"m embarra.s.sed, why?! I already feel bad about losing, but I have to tell the instructors who beat me that my leader will challenge them later. This is like me calling my big brother for help.}
"Then become stronger than me."
{d.a.m.n it… I want to too. Ah, one more thing. When I asked around, it seemed that the rate of detecting Kahur Kabkuns in other cl.u.s.ters within the Laniakea Supercl.u.s.ter has gone up these days. It looks like Naro"s prediction that it is a problem of the entire Laniakea Supercl.u.s.ter, and not simply the Virgo Cl.u.s.ter"s, was right.}
"Really? Okay. If you hear any other rumors besides that, let me know through Naro."
{Yes, yes. I"ll do as you order. Then I"m hanging up now. See you for the report tomorrow, leader.}
"Yeah, work hard."
After hanging up, Choi Hyuk was momentarily lost in thought. Her win rate was 40%. Considering that she was an earthling, who had only just debuted, it wasn"t a bad result. However, when considering that Laniakea"s Dark City was at the bottom, it was difficult to call it satisfactory as well. Since the ones who truly knew how to fight were probably out in the battlefields.
"We need to get stronger faster…"
Choi Hyuk was frustrated. The only ones who had reached the middle-ranked warrior level amongst the earthlings were Choi Hyuk and Richard. This was severely lacking by Choi Hyuk"s standards. Both earthlings and himself.
Of course, middle-ranked warriors could be cla.s.sified as elites in the Laniakea Supercl.u.s.ter as, if they went down to the Virgo Cl.u.s.ter, which contained Earth, they could be warrior leaders. They couldn"t be considered weak. "Warriors" acknowledged by the alliance were worth something. It was similar to when Keushisuit bragged that he was a lowest-ranked warrior in the past. Unlike earthlings, who had no choice but to become warriors, of those who were alliance members from the start, a significant portion were non-combatants. There were a considerable amount of combatants whose skills didn"t reach the level of being acknowledged as warriors. Even if they were lowest-ranked warriors, just the fact that they were acknowledged as "warriors" by the alliance was worth bragging about in this backcountry.
However, was Choi Hyuk"s goal directed at a backcountry like this?
Choi Hyuk, who hoped of advancing to the center, couldn"t help but constantly feel lacking as "middle-ranked warriors" were considered normal, ordinary warriors over there.
"Isn"t this the same as a captain being able to strut around as a company commander on the field but being no different from enlistees at the headquarters? Something like that, I guess."
It was like Baek Seoin"s comparison. Choi Hyuk was unsatisfied with earthlings and his current status.
"Anyways, so there"s an increase of Kahur Kabkuns in the entire Laniakea region…"
The majority of the missions he took on recently were destroying Kahur Kabkuns. There were just that many. From what Commander Mack said, there was a clear increase from before. Choi Hyuk was heavily gaining her favor these days as he had been constantly finding and destroying Kahur Kabkuns day after day.
Also, the fact that Kahur Kabkuns were becoming more abundant meant that monster attacks in those concerned regions were becoming more severe.
"An opportunity to make a contribution is coming."
Earth, as well as the Berserkers, had yet to adjust to this great change. However, Choi Hyuk was still pleased by this change as new heroes would be born from the chaos.
Ring~
Behind Choi Hyuk, who was resolving himself once more, Naro played the guitar. Naro"s eyes were gently closed, seemingly in thought, as it played its guitar in the background when it suddenly opened its eyes in surprise.
Ting!
The guitar strings snapped.
Naro quickly got up from its seat and spread its arms wide before shouting,
"Uh… Uhh. I finished scanning the entire Dragonic region just now. Besides the scan I did through the gates in the past, I really did scan the whole region, okay?"
Feeling something was odd, Choi Hyuk asked,
"But?"
"But I perceived Kahur Kabkuns on the opposite side of the planet. Although they look to be of a lower rank than middle-ranked Kahur Kabkuns… There are as many as 10… This… If we don"t prepare properly, we might be swept away."
Was it what Choi Hyuk hoped for? Chaos was indeed approaching.
{1} Was x.x.x in the raws.
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