Chapter 139
Chapter 139
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: The City's New Master
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ju Gonghyeok cut in.
“Someone surpassing the Uma King is about to arrive soon.”
Christina’s group and Skellington were in the middle of raiding the Uma King.
Since Samjang hadn’t created it with the intent to take lives, they couldn’t drag things out forever.
= Hold on, that’s too much even during a conversation.
Mihoo raised her tail straight up and scolded Gonghyeok.
Samjang shook his head as if it were no big deal and looked at Gonghyeok.
= You are her new milestone. It seems it’s time for Mihoo to set off on a journey with her new companions.
“That’s right, old man. Tell her to head out now.”
Hyunjang gave a gentle smile and brought his palms together.
= The one thing I could do for you was to bring you this Ruyi Jingu Bang.
= Hyunjang, don’t worry. The grudge with Bajie and Jeongui, I’ll...
= Don’t get hung up on things like that. Mihoo.
He gazed at her with calm eyes.
It was advice meant purely for her.
= Those are matters from a world that’s already gone. Don’t let revenge or sorrow bind you—go have as much fun as you want. That’s what suits you, Zhu Mihoo.
= Hyunjang...
Mihoo looked at the Ruyi Jingu Bang in Gonghyeok’s hand.
Hyunjang had spent countless ages in this place just to deliver it to her.
He’d let go of his lingering attachments to the lost world, but he’d wanted to do this one thing for her.
Hyunjang vanished from the world with a smile as serene as the Buddha’s.
When Gonghyeok touched the red pillar-like Ruyi Jingu Bang, it shrank down to a size that fit neatly in his hand.
It weighed thirteen thousand five hundred jin, but it felt no heavier than a feather in his grip.
Just like Mihoo’s second ability, it had the power to adjust its mass and volume built right into the weapon itself, along with three special skills embedded within.
Gonghyeok approached Mihoo, who was still stroking the spot where Hyunjang had been, and held out the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
“Wanna touch it?”
= ……Yeah.
[Great Sage Equaling Heaven: Final Ability Unlocked.]
[Rebellious Great Sage – The Great Sage’s defiant spirit, who waged war against the Jade Emperor and crushed countless heavenly guardians and the celestial army, is known to one and all.]
[Attack speed and power increase the stronger the opponent is than you, or the more unfavorable the numbers or situation.]
[Avatar: Great Sage Equaling Heaven (SS) rank rises to SSS.]
[Fourth Ability - ‘Zhu Mihoo’ created.]
[Summons a Great Sage Equaling Heaven with stats identical to the user, Ju Gonghyeok. Duration: 3 hours. Cooldown after use: 72 hours.]
She reached out, thinking she could no longer touch the Ruyi Jingu Bang—and it materialized in her grasp.
Atop her head sat a silver helmet adorned with two long golden feathers, the mark of a peerless general. She wore armor in a striking harmony of red and gold, and a long golden tail trailed behind her.
Craaaack!
Deserthio’s carapace tore open.
The false sky that had deceived tens of thousands rent apart, revealing the true sky beyond.
[Overcoming all trials, Hunter Ju Gonghyeok has become the first to arrive at the Kingdom of Tenjoku.]
[The Desert Dragon Deserthio acknowledges him as its master.]
[Deserthio transforms into ‘Flying Dragon City Deserthio.’]
[The U.SSS-grade item Ruyi Jingu Bang, granted only to the master of Flying Dragon City, now belongs to Ju Gonghyeok.]
The message announcing the city’s new master spread far and wide as Deserthio’s body shifted into the form of a city.
Its carapace split open, and buildings and facilities hidden within its body rose into view.
At that moment, the tens of thousands wandering lost within the illusion of Deserthio’s interior snapped back to reality.
Those they encountered on the streets quickly recognized each other’s affiliations.
Vast as Deserthio’s interior was, it wasn’t so enormous that seventy thousand people could dodge one another indefinitely.
“In the name of Skellington! All Halloween comrades, gather here!”
Skellington called out to the Halloween hunters plunged into chaos amid the refugee throng.
In an instant, nearly thirty thousand Halloween members assembled, while the tens of thousands of refugees fled to the corners, avoiding them.
At a glance, Halloween seemed to hold the advantage—but Skellington saw it differently.
‘What happened to the Death King?’
Everyone had seen the message that Ju Gonghyeok, whom the Death King had been blocking, had become the city’s master.
So where the hell had the Death King gone?
Speak of the tiger and he appears: the protagonist Skellington had been awaiting showed up right in front of him as he pondered.
“Looks like we meet again. Friends.”
Sixty thousand eyes and thirty thousand blade tips turned toward him.
Ju Gonghyeok slipped one hand into his pocket and waved leisurely.
Utterly defenseless—and above all, treating his mortal enemies like a complete joke.
Skellington went on high alert.
“Ju Gonghyeok, where is the Death King?”
“The Death King? He’s busy.”
“Busy with what?”
Ju Gonghyeok played dumb at Skellington’s question.
As time passed, people began gathering around Ju Gonghyeok, one or two at a time.
Roughly four thousand in total.
It was all the surviving forces of the guerrilla unit, relief team, and knight order combined.
They’d originally planned to wage a guerrilla war against the Halloween army using the city’s facilities as cover, but with Ju Gonghyeok’s appearance, they now believed they could win a full-frontal clash.
The man who’d appeared out of nowhere had single-handedly subdued Deserthio and crushed the Death King—a monstrous savior.
His opponent, on the other hand, was a madman they couldn’t even begin to fathom how to counter.
“What do you mean the Death King’s busy!”
As Skellington bellowed in frustration, the hunters around Ju Gonghyeok snickered.
“Isn’t it obvious? He got his ass handed to him by our Company Director here and bolted ages ago.”
“Yeah! Right now, the Death King’s probably too busy paddling his way to the afterlife!”
The spirited retorts deflated the Halloween hunters.
But Ju Gonghyeok scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Nah, it’s not like that. Once you guys vanished, he just up and left mid-fight.”
“Where to?”
“Your city, Halloween. He chucked a rock that punched a hole through it, then parachuted down smoking a cigar—so your city came charging over to smother him.”
“…….”
A chill ran down the necks of everyone present, plunging them into silence.
“Think I’m bullshitting? It’s true. Give ’em a call.”
Skellington took a communication bat from one of his subordinates and activated his skill.
“Hey, you there? Halloween, come in!”
His polite tone had evaporated; he sounded utterly frantic. A response crackled in his ear.
= Ugh—ah!
It wasn’t one of his subordinates who answered, but Skellington’s most beloved Pumpkin Queen.
“Pumpkin Queen, can you hear me? What’s the situation over there...?”
A conversation from the communication bat cut him off.
- We just started round two. Quit your whining.
= B-but just now too, ugh!
- You fainting turned what should’ve been round one into round two. Faint again, and I’ll crank round three’s intensity way up.
= Ah, no, not that...
Skellington’s bony fist clenched at the shrill moans and sobs.
The bat let out a final scream and lost the connection.
“P-Pumpkin Queen—my wife is being tortured!”
Skellington could barely contain his fury at the Death King’s depraved actions.
The thought of his city and his lovely pumpkin-like wife suffering merciless torment in the Death King’s clutches right now made his marrow boil.
That was when the vampire Ingus offered counsel.
“Skellington-nim, you need to stay calm. From the comms, Halloween’s already been taken. At this point, we have to fully seize this city and use its new functions and items to turn the tables on ours.”
“You think that’s easy?!”
Even as Skellington roared like his jaw might unhinge, Ingus persuaded him coolly.
“We have no choice—we must. Otherwise...”
Ingus subtly glanced at Ju Gonghyeok.
“Full war with them would be just as bad for those guys. There’s a way: negotiate with Ju Gonghyeok and borrow his power.”
Gonghyeok, who’d heard every word, nodded gravely as he thought to himself.
‘Not even a little bit inconvenient?’
His only current inconveniences were fine-tuning his strength so the pumpkin witch’s slender waist didn’t snap, and hunting down a third bed after she’d already broken two while he held her.
Skellington clutched his head in anguish.
“Urgh... How much agony she must be in, tortured by that Death King bastard... Pumpkin Queen, I’ll come save you soon!”
As he burned with resolve, Gonghyeok picked his nose and spoke.
“Leave our city right now, and I’ll help you chase down Niflheim.”
It was a proposal that matched Ingus’s word-for-word, and Skellington perked up.
“……For real?”
“Short on words?”
“……For real, sir?”
With Ju Gonghyeok’s help, chasing Niflheim would be a piece of cake.
With Illibatus right nearby, even Niflheim couldn’t put up much resistance.
The Death King, who’d been their hope just moments ago, had become the enemy—and the terrifying foe Ju Gonghyeok was now their savior.
Skellington was glad he had no facial skin.
‘No telling what expression I was making.’
Probably a mix of deference and half-chewed-bug revulsion.
“Er, Ju Gonghyeok-nim. You mean that for real?”
Gonghyeok nodded to the man, who’d abruptly turned obsequious despite his humiliation.
“JK, punk.”
Even without skin, Skellington’s face twisted into a clear bug-chewing grimace.
The hunters burst into laughter, trying to brush it off.
That was when Marcus’s voice came from behind.
“Reconciliation? Can’t do that.”
The snake of Rosario, whom Christina kept, flicked its tongue.
And then the voice that followed.
“Kekeke, Skellington boss. We can’t have any of that.”
It was the voice of someone Ju Gonghyeok didn’t recognize.
Raaaaagh!
The monsters forming one flank of the thirty-thousand-strong Halloween army suddenly charged forward.
The relief team’s ranged hunters, caught loading skills, faltered with an “Eh, wha?” before counterattacking.
Provoked and then hammered by hundreds of ranged strikes, the Halloween army roared and lunged.
The asura field ignited.
Ju Gonghyeok felt a foul mood settle over him.
‘Which damn bastards are pulling tricks behind my back while I’m talking.’
Obvious as day.
The futurians who hadn’t shown themselves yet.
A quick glance back: Marcus was gone.
‘That backstabbing traitor prick at it again.’
How had a futurian assassin infiltrated Illibatus?
Why had the order to attack come from the Halloween side, right behind Ju Gonghyeok and his relief team only?
There was an inside man in the mix.
He cracked his neck once and scanned the surroundings.
A chaotic crush of bodies. Buildings perfect for hiding or sniping.
If they were ambushing, it’d be now.
‘Alright, where you coming from.’
Where you at, assassins? Where you aiming for me from.
Using the Game Master’s ‘Enemy Detection’ skill, he scanned every hunter in the area.
Tens of thousands of red dots swarmed the map, their data analyzed one by one.
And so twenty minutes passed.
He stood dead center of the battlefield, puffing on a cigarette without a care—yet nothing happened.
Except for snapping the spines of a few reckless fools who’d charged in blindly.
‘Guess they’ve got no intention of showing.’
