The Second Trial (1)

Philip struggled, but he held his own admirably.

It wasn't a flawless style of combat that rejected every attack outright. Instead, it was an aggressive approach that dodged only lethal blows while pressing the fight forward.

Thanks to that, even as blood poured from wounds all over his body, they were nothing more than shallow cuts. Meanwhile, the monsters were turning into bloody pulp one by one.

"Die!!"

With a face twisted in half-mad frenzy, Philip mercilessly crushed the monsters' skulls. Yet his eyes locked onto his targets with unerring precision.

The beasts' roars, the thud! of the mace's heavy impacts, and Philip's own battle cries filled the tower with chaos. To Jeonghyeon, though, it felt like utter silence, without even the tiniest noise.

And from behind, Jeonghyeon watched intently, Attribute Domination active, dissecting every single one of Philip's movements.

The rhythm of his attacks, which parts he sacrificed for offense—everything was cataloged as data and imprinted into his mind.

After observing Philip's fight for a good while, Jeonghyeon realized one clear fact.

Philip had outstanding instincts.

He lacked the inner power to forge his own unique style of combat, but he was mimicking the attack stances Jeonghyeon had shown him, even if only faintly.

A style of learning through direct observation, internalizing it from eyes to body. The exact opposite of mages poring over theory books to probe mana—it was the pure way of the warrior.

And no teacher ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was better suited to instruct someone like that than Jeonghyeon.

A faint smile tugged at Jeonghyeon's lips as he murmured softly to himself.

"Checkup's over. Time for surgery."

With that, he poured mana into his right eye. The iris flushed red, and his mana flowed into Philip.

"?!"

Feeling the surge of power, Philip glanced back at Jeonghyeon, sensing the change. By then, Jeonghyeon's Blood Dissector had already shifted into the form of a mace.

And without a word of explanation, Philip understood.

'Watch and learn from my fighting.'

Jeonghyeon had joined the battle to teach him directly.

* * *

Jeonghyeon mimicked Philip's imitation of himself. Almost perfectly.

And just a touch beyond, incorporating moves that exceeded Philip's current level.

Targeting stronger foes amid the chaos to shatter enemy morale. Leaving some breathing room instead of finishing kills outright to sap their momentum.

"Die!!"

He even replicated the way Philip bellowed.

Thwack!

Crack!

The heavy mace crashed down on the tougher orcs or dracos, turning living beasts into corpses that thudded to the floor.

Wham-wham-wham!

For weaker, numerous foes like goblins or gnomes with low hit points, he swung wide to strike multiple at once, crippling them simultaneously.

'Weaklings just need to be taken out of the fight. No need to kill every last one.'

He demonstrated it with his body, in real combat, right there in the thick of it.

It was a fight that exploited the mace's nature as a blunt weapon even better than Philip himself—one that shattered skulls on a graze or caved in faces.

Jeonghyeon's time in the fray was far shorter than Philip's, but the pile of corpses around him quickly formed a small mountain.

Monster blood sprayed everywhere, obscuring vision—but Jeonghyeon was the exception.

In just a few swings, he'd cleared the encirclement and was already pushing forward.

Dozens of monsters fell in mere minutes.

Finishing his brief bout, Jeonghyeon didn't bother approaching the now-terrified monsters. He simply stared intently at Philip.

"I see...! Got it!"

Reading the intent, Philip dove back into the fight.

His learning speed was absurd.

Even counting Jeonghyeon's past life, Philip had swung a mace more. With his natural talent, mere observation let him mirror Jeonghyeon flawlessly.

'Damn, he's good.'

Of course, it was thanks to Jeonghyeon tailoring the lesson to his level.

As he admired Philip's progress and terrifying growth rate, pondering the next step—

An unprecedented flood of reward windows poured in.

"Oh ho...?"

He'd only acted a bit more proactively, and this was the payoff.

Attribute Disruption gained 2 levels, Attribute Analysis a whopping 3.

And a special message to boot. It was like a navigation update for the path to the Demon King, time-calculated.

Signaling that the Demon King's power had weakened slightly, and the journey there had shortened a bit.

Knowing you'd closed even a single step versus not? Worlds apart.

Jeonghyeon grinned with his red eye, looking for all the world like the Demon King himself.

"Kukuk...! Kuhuhuhu!! As expected! You are one sick bastard...!"

Would any being prepare such gifts for their killer?

Only an extreme thrill-addicted pervert Demon King could turn it into an opportunity like this.

So thinking, Jeonghyeon decided to leverage it further.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

'Mirror Learning isn't needed right now...! It'll take him a full day to master this anyway.'

What would help more in this moment was that promising new skill: Skill Transfer.

That could show Philip a whole new realm.

"Philip! Listen up!"

Jeonghyeon shouted to Philip, fighting at a distance.

"Yes?!"

"Use Shout!"

"Y-Yes!!"

Now, Philip followed Jeonghyeon's words without a single "why?" He condensed mana immediately.

His loyalty level hadn't risen yet, but Philip's mindset—doing anything Jeonghyeon said, no matter how irrational—had boosted it.

"Hup!"

Gathering mana fully in his dantian, Philip bellowed.

"Kneel!!"

Not just deafening, but Jeonghyeon felt his own internal mana quiver faintly.

Weaker monsters bled from their ears and staggered, overwhelmed by the straightforward, potent Shout that vibrated even bodily mana.

"Skill Transfer."

Jeonghyeon whispered.

A brilliant light burst from his eye, followed by stabbing pain like a hot poker to the socket. Brief, but intense.

"Kgh!"

But Philip, receiving the mana infusion for the transfer, got it far worse.

"Gaaargh!!!"

Clutching his eyes, Philip dropped Soul of the Mountain and collapsed.

"Guhk...! Hk...!"

"Get up! You'll die like that!"

Jeonghyeon barked coldly. No intent to help in the fight.

Just yelling before monsters recovering behind him could stab his back with rusty blades.

"Y-Yes...! Getting... up...!"

Despite the burning agony in his eyes, Philip gritted his teeth, swallowed the pain, and slowly rose.

"Ah! My weapon...!"

Only then noticing he'd dropped it, as he bent down—Jeonghyeon was already there, handing him the mace.

"Use Shout again. No need to yell this time."

"P-Pardon...?"

"Just murmur it, like quietly proclaiming your will. That's it."

The pain gradually familiarizing, Philip slowly opened his eyes.

Vision still blurry like full of water, but he could make out Jeonghyeon before him and the reeling monsters around.

"Kieek! Keeeek!!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

And beyond the corpses—where no blood trails remained on the distant plain—new monsters respawning.

"Shout, you mean?"

'Not at unconditional obedience loyalty yet, huh.'

Hesitating slightly at the fresh foes, Philip double-checked. Jeonghyeon decided not to rush.

"Yeah. Don't fear. Just do exactly like I did."

Jeonghyeon's oddly reassuring words drew a deep breath from Philip.

"Hoo... "

He closed his uselessly blurred eyes and murmured softly.

"Kneel."

* * *

A few seconds? Minutes? Eyes shut, time lost all meaning.

When the pain eased enough for Philip to open his eyes, Jeonghyeon stood there, smiling proudly.

"You cleared all the monsters?"

"No. Look down."

Jeonghyeon pointed to the floor.

"...!!"

Only then did he see the horde of monsters kneeling, heads bowed low at his feet.

"What the...!"

"Told you. This is the real Shout."

The kneeling monsters lay prostrate without a sound, not even breathing hard.

"Now finish them."

"Command self-destruction?"

"No, that guzzles mana. And skills manifest differently by personal trait."

"I see...?"

At this stage, few maxed a single skill, so ignorance was natural. But via Attribute Domination, Jeonghyeon knew.

Philip's Shout wasn't a king's decree—it dominated the battlefield, utterly crushing enemy momentum.

"This time, belt it out. Pour every bit of mana into your voice."

"Loud... Got it!"

Philip gathered strength in his dantian again, mana surging.

Jeonghyeon's eye burned faintly stronger—his mana fueling it too.

"Die!!"

The Shout vibrated his body mana violently. Boosted by transfer to near-max level 30.

Veins bulging on his forehead, Philip roared.

Jeonghyeon's linked body ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠took no real hit—just his clothes fluttered...

"...Holy shit. This is Shout?"

Every surrounding monster's mana and blood vessels burst, innards exploding on the spot.

Now it was plenty useful. Viable for real growth via Philip.

"To clear, we need the summon stone before respawn, right?"

The second floor's trial cleared by destroying the endless-spawning summon stone.

Time to hunt it properly—but.

"Nah, no need anymore. You're pretty damn good, by the way."

Jeonghyeon picked up shattered summon stone fragments from the floor and showed Philip.

"Your Shout smashed it too."