Episode 4: The Great Colonizing Age / Chapter 51: Investigation (2)
TL: emptycube
Editor: Obelisk
When Choi Hyuk opened a fate and trait shop on Barhaloleun Hill, everyone was happily deciding what they would choose. There were three fates that could be chosen from, ‘Undying One’, ‘Battle Addict’, and ‘Raging One’. Also, karma traits were much more diverse than the fates. Whatever they chose, they would become stronger. However, there was a combination that would let them become even stronger than that. What should they choose? Once a trait or fate was chosen, it would (depending on the situation) cost a lot to change it, so they had to choose wisely.
However, as everything was new, no one could tell what was good or bad. This eventually led to the popularization of Choi Hyuk’s chosen fate and trait, ‘Battle Addict’ and ‘Mind’s Eye’.
Yet, Chu Youngjin chose a different trait and fate from his leader, Choi Hyuk, and created his own extraordinary style. So the fighting style of the Berserkers separated into two main styles.
Choi Hyuk’s style and Chu Youngjin’s style.
Rumble, rumble!
As if starting a large machine, the rumbling sounds emitting from Chu Youngjin’s body became a level deeper. He had activated the karma trait, ‘Explosive Blood’.
Explosive Blood would, with the exception of Control, sharply increase Power, Speed, Endurance, Stamina, and Recovery when activated. It was number one in terms of power. Only, it had a side effect that made it a trait unusable by some.
Rumble!
The karma that was packed in his body stirred and started to boil. The karma that was protecting his body reversed and started attacking it. A pain that felt as though each cell was being sliced apart overcame his body.
Yet, Chu Youngjin didn’t even bat an eye. What was more, he even activated his innate skill ‘Berserker’ along with it. His karma became even more ferocious as his Power, Speed, and Recovery increased even further. Then, his muscles started to shrink and his joints became frayed proportional to the aggressive karma. As if his whole body had become an engine, it continued to boil and emit heat and pain. Chu Youngjin’s body was repeatedly becoming damaged due to his karma and simultaneously healing. The pain was enough to make any normal person insane. Even the Berserkers, who had gone through all sorts of hardships, found it difficult to fight whilst enduring this pain.
Because of this, Explosive Blood had become a trait that not anyone could choose because it was powerful.
Nonetheless, it seemed as though Chu Youngjin didn’t feel anything. Only his reddening eyes burned.
{Due to intensive rage, free karma point increased by 1.}
Although Chu Youngjin didn’t feel the pain, it didn’t mean that he didn’t feel anything. Only, because his insides were constantly filled with incomparable loss and pain, did this pain not feel like much.
‘Raging One’ was the most suitable fate for him. His apt.i.tude was a whopping 96%!
“…What? Chu Youngjin? Don’t tell me… The Sword Demon?”
The slavers froze when they heard that name. Their faces turned deathly pale. However, it was too late. Rumble! On the next sound of thunder, the slaver in front was crushed and blown away like a tomato.
“f.u.c.k!”
It was surprising, but they were still experienced battle veterans. They immediately prepared for battle and targeted Chu Youngjin. One stabbed with a spear while the other two threw throwing knives.
Whoosh!
The bladed weapons flew, with a bluish tinge, making a refreshing sound. Karma trait ‘Resilience’. One’s karma would become resilient, making it better to shoot with, and when it is attached to a weapon, it increases its penetrating force. As it was useful and had a decent performance, it was a trait chosen by many awakenees with no particular talent.
Instantly, a spear was aimed at Chu Youngjin’s chest, while throwing knives flew to his forehead.
Rumble!
However, another thunderclap erupted and the spear and throwing knives aimed at Chu Youngjin bounced off.
Chu Youngjin’s Karma Barrier wasn’t continuous like Choi Hyuk’s. Rather, it had a much more explosive power to it. When used at a necessary moment, karma would explode with Chu Youngjin at the center and push back everything in his vicinity.
The enemy spear bent significantly before wobbling in different directions.
“What b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”
As a commotion arose from one area, the whole market became noisy. Slave traders from different places started to gather.
Ryu Hyunsung acted this time.
“Hey… I’m disappointed. You’re all only targeting Chu Youngjin. Am I not surprising? I’m Ryu Hyunsung. Berserker Ryu Hyunsung.”
“The Knight Captain Ryu Hyunsung?”
“Yeah, that’s what they call me too!”
Swish!
Ryu Hyunsung revealed a satisfied smile. A 30cm karma blade extended out from his sword. As there was no need to make it longer when facing humans, this was enough.
Ryu Hyunsung was the best expert among the Berserkers, after Choi Hyuk, who practiced Choi Hyuk’s style. His fate was ‘Battle Addict’ while his trait was ‘Mind’s Eye’. The same as Choi Hyuk’s.
“Use throwing weapons first to drain their strength!”
As expected, in a slave market where many interested parties gathered, the power here was significant. The pressure from 5 awakenees simultaneously throwing knives and spears was powerful. However, the trajectories of all the attacks were clearly visible in Ryu Hyunsung’s eyes.
The karma trait ‘Mind’s Eye’ made controlling karma much easier and made it into a sensitive organ that could gather information on one’s surroundings. Although it didn’t raise one’s offensive strength directly like ‘Explosive Blood’ or ‘Resilience’, there was no better weapon for someone with extraordinary senses.
Ryu Hyunsung’s saber elegantly flew in the air. The quickly approaching throwing weapons seemed to be caught by his senses and moved in slow motion. Looking at their trajectories, he chose the best path. He stretched his saber and lightly pushed the closest spear away. Afterwards, he turned his wrists and flipped his saber to deflect two throwing knives at the same time. He then rotated his saber once more and hit the head of the next oncoming spear.
Clink, clink, clink!
The last spear, which was. .h.i.t on its head, rotated and bounced away the throwing knife behind it. After cleanly clearing the five weapons, the enemies were now within Ryu Hyunsung’s range.
“Gahk!”
“Ahh!”
There was no enemy that met his sword. Ryu Hyunsung, the national saber athlete at Korea National Sport University. With his world-cla.s.s sword skills and the addition of a weapon known as ‘Mind’s Eye’, nothing could obstruct his path.
The saber that was about to split someone’s head suddenly turned and cut someone’s wrist. The saber that was about to block an oncoming enemy sword, pushed the sword down and charged towards the enemy’s undefended neck.
The severed arms and necks of the slave traders rolled on the ground. Even when tens of people rushed at him, the result was the same. Either they were ripped apart by Chu Youngjin or cut into pieces by Ryu Hyunsung.
“Boring. I can’t raise my karma fighting like this.”
The fate of ‘Battle Addicts’ would increase one’s karma the more intensely one fought. So Ryu Hyunsung preferred to have more intense fights.
Both Chu Youngjin and Ryu Hyunsung didn’t try to conceal their ident.i.ties, but neither did they let any of their enemies live.
There were other spectators around them, but once they annihilated those directly involved, it would take a longer time to understand the truth of what happened. As it was impossible to communicate electronically in ‘Dragonic’, it would take quite a bit of time for this to be reported to the center, for the center to dispatch an investigative party, and for the investigative party to investigate and report back.
It was better to reveal their ident.i.ties. However, as they needed to create time for them to escape, they didn’t want their ident.i.ties to be exposed too quickly. These were the actions taken after taking these factors into account.
“Why… Why would the Berserkers…”
The last remaining slave trader asked whilst leaning against a cage and breathing heavily. Ryu Hyunsung crouched down in front of him.
“You guys ignored our warnings several times. You even killed two Berserkers who were on a mission last week.”
“That wasn’t us…”
“The f.u.c.k that wasn’t.”
Thud.
As Ryu Hyunsung gestured with his fingers, Chu Youngjin, who was next to him, unhesitantly sliced the slave trader’s neck. A b.l.o.o.d.y stench. An unpleasant sight. This sight would become a clear warning to the groups who figured out what actually occurred later. Why ‘Berserkers’ were called berserkers. What would happen if you got on their nerves.
Ryu Hyunsung raised his head and looked at the sky. A milky sky. The weather was fine. Perhaps it was because it was a hot springs city, but he felt a pleasant humidity and could see pretty little buildings beyond the cages.
“Now, should we cause even more of a mess?”
Bang! Clank!
Chu Youngjin and Ryu Hyunsung smashed apart the cages that had locked up the immigrants. There were occasionally “What do I do now?” questions, but every time the two would reply, “Whatever you want.” In fact, the two immediately left after smashing the cages apart. They didn’t care if the immigrants fled or stayed there.
Once they left the city ‘Pyungryu’, Chu Youngjin stretched and then said in a happy tone.
“We’re almost done with our mission. We can return once we’re done examining the topography, right?”
“You want to return quickly?”
“Yes. Home is good.”
“Kay. Let’s finish quickly and go back.”
They had finished with their first warning. However, if they stopped there, they wouldn’t be known as the ‘Berserkers’. And this sort of warning wasn’t enough to bring the Sovereign of Dark Secrets Lao Ban to his senses.
Ryu Hyunsung and Chu Youngjin began their topography examination for their next move.
A few berserkers, including Choi Hyuk, were slowly walking around their camp with their eyes closed. It was to utilize their ‘Mind’s Eye’ the best they could and look for the native’s underground abode.
Choi Hyuk and Baek Seoin were the best at using ‘Mind’s Eye’ so it wouldn’t be a stretch to call them executives.
Lee Jinhee who had chosen ‘Explosive Blood’ over ‘Mind’s Eye’ stood next to them bored.
“I wonder if Ryu hyung and Youngjin are doing well.”
With nothing to do, she walked next to Baek Seoin, who was hard at work, and constantly asked him questions.
“We got their report on a mission they did together 2 days ago. Everything went smoothly.”
Even though he was bothered, Baek Seoin still replied.
“It’s already been 2 days since then. How do you know nothing happened during those 2 days?”
“Just wait a little. They are expected to return 3 days from now.”
“Baek hyung, aren’t you worried? After sending them to the enemy camp?”
“Worried? About who? It’s not like we sent only Chu Youngjin or only Ryu Hyunsung, we sent them together so who am I worried about?”
“Still, it’s the enemy camp…”
“Don’t worry. We’ve decided to only cause commotions on the outskirts. In a world where people kill each other near the portal, they can’t help but be slow when dealing with events that occur on the outskirts. Unless they dispatch an expedition like us.”
At his reply, Lee Jinhee stopped her protest and silently followed next to him. She was more bored than worried about them in the first place.
Baek Seoin’s forehead wrinkled. It seemed he was using ‘Mind’s Eye’ the best he could, but the results weren’t good.
Looking at his figure, Lee Jinhee grinned.
“You always bragged about not losing to the leader in terms of using ‘Mind’s Eye’, but why are you so bad at it? What happened to the innate skill that was optimized for ‘Mind’s Eye’?”
At her teasing words, Baek Seoin let out a groan.
In reality, Baek Seoin was as confident in using ‘Mind’s Eye’ for perception as Choi Hyuk was. As he really had a natural talent in that regard.
A karma trait meant that you were granting specific properties onto your neutral karma.
However, before artificially granting them, there were some people whose karma naturally possessed certain properties. They were the awakenees who had awakened a special power known as ‘innate skills’.
Also, when a person who possessed an ‘innate skill’ used a karma trait that was compatible with their innate skill, it would sharply increase its effectiveness. It was to the point where there was even a hypothesis that the concept of karma traits was created with ‘innate skills’ as a reference.
Chu Youngjin’s ‘Berserker’ and ‘Explosive Blood’ fitted together like a set.
Innate skills like Choi Hyuk’s ‘Eyes of Distinction’ and Baek Seoin’s ‘Intuition’ were very compatible with ‘Mind’s Eye’, which possessed a sensing ability. That was why Baek Seoin, who had better ‘senses’ than anyone else, was confident that he wouldn’t lose to Choi Hyuk in terms of perception ability.
Even still… there was no result.
“It’s really weird… We checked around where the reaction from the native came from, but for us to still not be able to find it…”
They started this exploration thinking it would only take a day. Yet for there to be no results after half a day… as the one who suggested exploring, Baek Seoin was concerned.
As she stared at Baek Seoin, Lee Jinhee suddenly asked.
“Maybe it’s like that?”
“What?”
“Magic. There’s stuff like that in fantasy novels. An illusionary magic that covers the entrance.”
“Ehh… That’s only in novels…”
Baek Seoin, who was about to reject her idea, suddenly stopped.
It was definitely impossible for humans to use their karma in such diverse methods like magic from fantasy novels. However, because it was impossible for humans, did it mean that it was impossible for the natives here?
“Huh?”
If this hypothesis was correct, then their searching method was wrong. What they had to find was not an underground tunnel but an awkward karma that was hiding the tunnel.
“Wait. It is really like that?”
“Right? I’m right, right?”
“Be quiet for a moment.”
Baek Seoin told her to be quiet as he concentrated to his limit. He extended tentacles of karma out in every direction. The world was filled with faint karma. Among them, he tried to distinguish between natural and awkward parts. It was difficult at first as he had no prior experience in what was natural karma and what wasn’t. Nonetheless, he soon found a spot.
“… Eureka…”
A trembling voice came out from Baek Seoin’s mouth.