Chapter 18
I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 18.
<Fall of the Magic Tower> Event.
The Magic Tower is not comparable to the Sword Saint’s family, but it is still an organization with a long history.
It accepts talented mages from around the world, providing specialized training and nurturing.
‘That is the Magic Tower.’
Since it grants the privilege of learning rare magic, the training process is extremely harsh and strict. As a result, many drop out along the way.
The problem is, once someone falls behind, it becomes incredibly difficult for them to learn additional magic.
The Magic Tower teaches magic in exchange for demanding loyalty from its members.
Once someone leaves, they must find and learn magic on their own. Even the skill book bought earlier cost 15 billion.
How could an ordinary individual—especially a fallen one—afford such a thing?
“There’s an organization formed by those who fell behind. They’re called ‘Stagglers.’ They operate quite globally.”
“Are they like a criminal organization?”
“Similar, but a little different. They work as mercenaries, taking jobs from all over. But when it comes to magical artifacts, they lose their minds.”
“What do you mean by ‘lose their minds’…?”
“They’re insane enough to commit crimes if things don’t go their way when it comes to magical items.”
Han Seong-ah’s mouth fell open in shock.
These were people who had talent and entered the Magic Tower but still fell behind. Many of them had major psychological flaws.
‘Snow Tiger’s corpse is something those bastards, more precisely, their higher-ups desperately want.’
Skill books are one thing. But if they fail to secure Snow Tiger at the auction, they will resort to extreme measures.
“They’ll try to kill me and take it by force.”
Terrorizing the auction house would be too risky even for the Stagglers. Instead, they would rather track down the winning bidder, kill them, and steal the Snow Tiger.
“…I’d prefer that.”
“Huh? Young master, what do you mean ‘prefer’?”
“Contact the Seoul branch of the Sword Saint’s family.”
This was his plan from the beginning. If it weren’t, he would have accepted the auction house’s offer to provide escorts.
“There are people targeting the family’s successor.”
There is a Staggler hideout nearby, containing quite useful items. He intended to retrieve them.
“Eliminate all those who bare their fangs.”
Yoo Baek-jun rose from his seat.
***
The Bald Man
Javen of the Stagglers was furious.
‘That bastard who looks like a parasitic older brother dares to outbid me?’
He failed to obtain the skill book he had been eyeing and couldn’t even secure the corpse of the spirit beast he needed to bring back.
If he returned empty-handed, his superiors wouldn’t let him off the hook. That couldn’t happen.
‘I’ll kill him. I’ll definitely kill him and take it back.’
Though it wasn’t his to begin with, Javen thought of it as his. He glanced back at his comrades following him.
“That bastard went this way. He’s alone with a woman, no escorts. It’ll be easy to deal with him.”
“He seemed rich. Are you sure about this?”
“We’ll kill him and get out fast.”
The woman looked skilled, but the man was so scrawny he didn’t seem like a hunter.
So, the only real threat was the woman. With over twenty of them, dealing with her would be nothing.
“Prepare your spells in advance. The moment we see them, we attack simultaneously. Understood?”
“That’s better. What about Silence spells?”
“Cast it. We don’t want unnecessary noise drawing attention.”
The plan was to handle this as quietly as possible and leave before anyone realized what happened.
"Javen, I sense something. Feels like someone’s gonna be there if we go further into that alley."
“Good. Everyone, get ready.”
Javen gritted his teeth.
“We hunt our prey. Move in!”
They rushed into the alley together.
The dimly lit alley was perfect for murder—no buildings or people around. There stood a lone woman.
“Found her.”
Their spells were already prepared. All they had to do was unleash them. Countless spells would overwhelm her, and they’d retrieve the items from the remains. A simple task.
“That’s her! Kill her!”
Javen and his comrades unleashed their magic.
Blazing flames, violent gusts, ice spears, crackling lightning—twenty mages unleashed their spells simultaneously, all aimed at the woman.
“…!”
Her eyes widened in shock.
She held a sword, but it was meaningless. Before she could even draw it, the magic would consume her.
The spells exploded, sending up a plume of smoke.
Beyond the smoke, the woman should have been torn apart before she could even react.
“Huh?”
…That’s what should have happened.
Javen felt something was off. The spells had hit her, but there was no sound of explosion. The smoke was thick, but aside from the initial blast, it was eerily quiet.
“What? Didn’t we hit her?”
“How could she dodge it? She must be dead.”
His comrades murmured behind him.
Javen tilted his head, wondering if it was just his imagination, and stepped forward through the smoke.
But at that moment—
Whoosh!
“Ghk!”
The smoke was forcibly swept aside.
What had been hidden was now revealed, the woman, Han Seong-ah, standing unharmed, when she should have been a corpse.
“No way!”
And beside her — Yoo Baek-jun.
His hands moved in a spiraling motion, an icy barrier before him firmly holding back all the spells Javen and his comrades had unleashed.
“Th-the magic… stopped?”
“What the hell is that?!”
They couldn’t help but panic.
Twenty mages had fired their spells at once. Even a decent magical barrier should have been obliterated instantly. Yet, he was holding them back with just his hands.
SHHHH!
But the surprises didn’t end there.
As Yoo Baek-jun exhaled deeply, the magic in his grasp began to dissolve as if melting away—as if it had never existed.
“M-madness!”
“Magic! Keep attacking! Don’t let him get close!”
“He can’t keep blocking forever!”
The mages poured out spell after spell.
This time, the magic pierced through Yoo Baek-jun’s body. But—
“Did we get him…?!”
“A-afterimage?!”
It was a remnant of the Ghost Phantom Step.
The afterimage of Yoo Baek-jun, seemingly struck by magic, faded, revealing the real Yoo Baek-jun standing behind it.
An intense energy radiated from him as he absorbed the magical power. He took a deep breath and…..
BOOM!
He stomped the ground.
Crackle!
The magic power spreading from his feet froze the entire surrounding area—including the legs of the mages trying to flee.
“Frozen…?!”
Yoo Baek-jun exhaled a white mist. Lowering his stance, he dashed forward like a whirlwind.
His rapid charge left a trail of ice in his wake.
“Here…!”
Screech!
As he charged, he twisted his waist sharply, his fist pulling back. A chilling frost gathered in his grip.
“Khhahk!”
CRACK!
His fist shot out in an arc.
The mage at the front became the first victim. The fist crushed his shoulder, shattering his sternum and ribs completely.
“GAAAHH!”
A horrific scream echoed.
Then, the frost magical power gathered in Yoo Baek-jun’s fist exploded outward—right in front of the mages who had been retreating in terror.
Crackle!
A massive chunk of ice, shaped like a dragon’s head, surged forward. As it shattered, ice shards scattered in all directions, engulfing the mages.
“AAAH! My eyes, my eyes!”
"Cough...!"
A single strike.
With just one attack, half of the twenty mages were rendered incapacitated.
The rest weren’t in perfect condition either.
"Wh-what the hell! What kind of monster is this?!"
"Javen! You said we didn’t need to be on guard!"
"I—I didn’t know either...!"
Javen had already slipped behind his companions.
Something was wrong. He had never seen a skill like that before. And the sheer destructive power—how was this possible?
'C-can we even win against this?'
A single strike, and just witnessing two more skills was enough to completely shatter Javen’s will to fight.
With trembling steps, he began backing away.
"I—I’ll go call for reinforcements from the hideout! You guys hold him off!"
"What? Javen, you damn coward—!"
"You could just use comms for that!"
Before anyone could stop him, Javen turned and fled.
His comrades watched in disbelief. Sure, he was always quick to calculate and had a sneaky side, but to this extent?
"Hmph."
Yoo Baek-jun, who had been observing the scene, smirked. Behind him, Han Seong-ah approached.
"Master Han Seong-ah, can I leave the rest to you?"
"Yes, of course. It’ll be easy."
Shing! Han Seong-ah drew her sword.
Yoo Baek-jun immediately stomped the ground.
Thud!
With a heavy sound, his figure vanished.
All that remained were Han Seong-ah and the mages.
"Did—did the guy leave?"
"It’s just one woman now..."
"Maybe we still have a chance?"
Half of the mages had already been swept away by the ice shards, bleeding and crawling on the ground.
Only half remained.
'Incredible power.'
Han Seong-ah marveled at the sight.
Even though it was a skill she had only recently learned, she was wielding it with astonishing proficiency.
And this level of destructive force...
'As expected, the young master is a born genius. It’s just that no one knew. Why didn’t they see it?'
She couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at being the first to recognize his talent.
And then there was his vast knowledge from earlier...
'Staggler. An organization I’ve never heard of before.'
Yet Yoo Baek-jun knew all about it.
She wasn’t sure how he knew, but he had always loved books.
Maybe he learned it from there.
Whoosh!
A spell flew toward Han Seong-ah, snapping her out of her thoughts. A blazing fireball.
She frowned slightly—
SLASH!
—and cleaved it in half.
The bisected fireball flew past her and exploded against the wall behind.
"Sh-she cut it?!"
"How the hell is that possible?!"
"Wait, hold on. That technique...!"
Among the panicking mages, one struggled to recall something.
The man’s earlier actions had been unlike anything he’d ever seen, but this swordsmanship felt familiar.
Yes, that was…
"The Sword Saint’s family! Damn it, Javen, you bastard!"
It was the swordsmanship of the Sword Saint’s lineage.
Only those lunatics obsessed with the sword—the Sword Saint’s family—could pull off such acrobatics.
And they had to pick a fight with them of all people?!
"In this world..."
Han Seong-ah slowly spoke.
"...There are people you should never provoke."
"Wh-what did you say?"
Fwoosh! Her figure vanished in an instant. The mages frantically looked around.
Slash!
One of their heads flew off before they could react.
All they saw was the flash of a blade. Was it a stealth skill? No, it wasn’t anything like that.
'She’s just too fast to see...!'
It was literal monster-like speed.
With every flicker of her sword, arms flew, legs were severed, and lives were extinguished.
Amid the screams and bloodshed, Han Seong-ah let out a sigh.
"I’d rather go back and read a book."
A mutter completely out of place in the situation.
****
―You can accept a new quest.
Yoo Baek-jun pursued Javen.
From the start, Javen was a mage. No matter how hard he ran, his speed had limits.
Catching up wasn’t difficult.
"Haah... haah...!"
After a long chase, Javen, gasping for breath, ducked into a building. An ordinary commercial building.
'So this is the place.'
The Staggler’s hideout was inside.
Their main base wasn’t in Korea but overseas, but since he already knew its location, it didn’t matter.
'These damn hideouts change every time. If I don’t do this, I’d never find them.'
The Staggler’s hideout changed with each game cycle. They had multiple candidate locations and picked one each time—annoying, really.
Still, memorizing the layouts of all possible hideouts made clearing them easy.
"Let’s deal with these first."
Yoo Baek-jun turned around.
A group of people stood there, all clad in the attire of the Sword Saint’s family.
"You called for us, young master."
"Mhm."
Yoo Baek-jun chuckled inwardly.
They had obviously been tailing him the whole time as both guards and watchers.
'Why act like they just got summoned?'
There was no way the heir would roam the streets with just one bodyguard. The Sword Saint’s family branch had assigned escorts in case of emergencies.
Yoo Baek-jun gestured toward the building with his chin.
"Any civilians inside?"
"From what we can sense, no."
"Then kill them all. Except for that guy from earlier, Javen. Keep him alive."
"Understood."
With the sound of cutting wind, the Sword Saint’s escorts disappeared.
[Eradicate the Pests.]
There are vermin coveting the item you obtained at the auction. Locate their hideout and exterminate them thoroughly.
―Reward: 200P.
Seeing the quest, he couldn’t help but whistle.
"Ah, power is good."
It was like scratching an itch without even lifting a finger.