Chapter 207
Chapter 207
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 207
Chapter Title: The True Master
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'Hmm... something feels off.'
Yoo Seongwon, who had infiltrated the Imperial Citadel, sensed a subtle wrongness.
He had entered as stealthily as possible, but even if the city itself was quiet, it was strange that there was no reaction at all to a total novice like him slipping into the heart of the citadel.
When he had first come here, he had seen a significant number of guards and people coming and going. This place was the vital core of the nation currently run by the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King, so this silence and stillness made no sense, even for nighttime.
'Ah... this is exactly that. "Come at me if you dare," right?'
A fact even Yoo Seongwon could easily notice.
Though it was an infiltration, the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King had already caught on, and his entry into this domain could only be seen as permitted by the constellation himself.
Realizing that the very word "infiltration" had lost all meaning, Yoo Seongwon shed his cautious demeanor and strolled leisurely through the Imperial Citadel toward the Dragon Palace.
'Hmm~ they probably aren't welcoming me... right?'
If they were going to welcome him, they wouldn't have initially branded him a third-rate peasant and chased him off.
That meant this was most likely a trap. Normally, he should flee, but he couldn't.
If he ran... he had a bad feeling that he would never see Yuchun and the other Heavenly Sword Army knights again.
'They're the kind I can't do without anymore...'
Crossing the ornate yet eerily quiet citadel walls and gates like a royal procession, Yoo Seongwon soon stood before a massive door emblazoned with a magnificent dragon emblem.
The door itself, along with the immense palace beyond it and the auras and presences emanating from within, left no doubt that this was the Dragon Palace.
From the start, it was as if the opponent had outright guided him here, leaving no signs of life anywhere else, which made it all the more certain.
"Alright then, shall we? Ugh~ having to open this myself is annoying."
Creaaaak.
Unlike his first visit when someone else had opened it for him, having to do it himself now felt somehow pathetic.
In any case, after personally shoving open the enormous door and stepping inside, the outdoor hall before the palace was just as he had sensed from outside—filled with fully armed elite guards under the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King, standing ready to receive him. On the platform in front of the palace hung a curtain projecting the silhouette of the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King, whom he had seen before.
'Hmm... look, I have zero intention of fighting, but this welcoming committee is kinda scary, you know.'
Yoo Seongwon spoke first, showing his bare hands to emphasize that he wasn't here to fight.
If they would just quietly let him take the knights and leave, that would be enough, but the atmosphere suggested they wouldn't hand them over easily.
In any case, after his greeting, the voice of the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King emanated from within the curtain.
[We're receiving a thief trying to take what doesn't suit his station. Of course we'd be armed and waiting.]
"Thief...? That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
[The world is in chaos precisely because of thieves like you. Those who wield power beyond their station, those who lust and envy and greed without qualification, those who seek profit without effort, those who leech off others without doing anything themselves... they are the true evils disrupting the world. I've simply removed the seed of your evil, so you should be grateful instead.]
'He's lost his mind. Well, that's constellations for you...'
Arguing or debating with a constellation was pointless, so Yoo Seongwon said nothing in particular.
From the start, the gap in intelligence and insight was vast; whatever he said, the constellation would twist it to fit his own twisted justice. Worse, he might even get swayed mid-argument. So Yoo Seongwon decided to just ignore him and take what he could get.
"But I have business to settle with those guys first. Once that's done, you can have them back or send them wherever—I don't care. So hand them over now. I'm sure that's not what they want either, right?"
[Can't do that.]
"Ah, I get it—they're good enough to covet, sure, but throwing a tantrum like this isn't cool."
Already knowing what constellations were like, Yoo Seongwon had anticipated the obstinacy. He cautiously summoned his inventory, preparing to pull out the Titan's Stake.
If words failed, he planned to summon the Heavenly Army Commander-General and the entire commander legion, turn this into a battlefield, find the imprisoned knights, and escape.
The current situation wasn't great, but abandoning them and betraying his knightly honor would be far worse.
'If things look up, I'll call Gaulph and the kids too... Anyway, if that nonsense keeps coming, I'll draw my weapon and charge right away...'
[Because those knights have returned to the side of their 'true master.']
"...What?"
[Allow me to introduce him. My newest apostle, and their 'true master.']
Clank...
With the heavy sound of metal, a figure slowly emerged from behind the curtain.
A tall man. A knight in silver-white armor adorned with gray fur trim and a blue cloak draped over his shoulders, sword at his hip and shield on his back. He stepped forward, removed his helmet, and glared at Yoo Seongwon.
His face showed a young man in his mid-twenties. Handsome with deep black hair, purple eyes, and sharp features, he looked down at Yoo Seongwon with an intense, blazing gaze.
"...Ugh!"
Feeling immense dignity in that stare, Yoo Seongwon barely suppressed the instinct to kneel.
Though his form was that of a small human, it evoked the awe of facing a colossal monster or a force of nature.
Even those incredible knights had felt merely human, but this one was an utterly different existence.
[Look at you trembling. That's right! Have you finally realized your place? You're nothing but a 'third-rate peasant'! Just like that armor, you're only plated with an extra layer on the outside! As a 'Star Guardian,' you've merely swung around power unfit for your station to reach this point. Got it? Do you finally know your place? You're just a borrower! A fool dressed in clothes that don't suit him!]
"This is something I never imagined... Of all things, the Paehwang Knight... Yuchun."
[Didn't expect you to even know his name? Did they tell you? Indeed, this man is the hero of heroes! The sovereign who unified a world by triumphing over countless heroes and warriors, the strongest martial artist! He perfected his Paehwang Heavenly Sword Style, transcending legend into myth, and is the true master of the Heavenly Sword Army. So now~ just obediently...]
Step...
As the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King began his proclamation, the Paehwang Knight Yuchun raised a hand to stop him.
He then stepped forward and descended from the platform. The closer he got, the more Yoo Seongwon felt an intangible pressure bearing down on his entire body.
A pressure that would force him to kneel and bow if he didn't grit his teeth and focus.
Sweating coldly yet steadfastly resisting, Yoo Seongwon faced Yuchun as the knight drew his sword and pointed it at him.
"Draw your weapon."
"What?"
"I don't believe in gods. They call what I accomplished a 'myth,' but to me, it was just what I did. Thus, I'll judge you myself. So draw your weapon. Or turn and run from this place. I'll even let you go."
"...My reason tells me to run, but to not shame 'those guys,' I have no choice."
Boom!
Yoo Seongwon drew the Titan's Stake and aimed it at the Paehwang Knight Yuchun.
The killing intent emanating from the sword was more terrifying and fearsome than anything he had faced before, but he couldn't back down.
He couldn't be the first to betray the knights who had trusted and followed a worthless guy like him.
"Foolish. There are so many things you could do if you stayed alive. I hoped you'd run. I wouldn't have pursued... Tying your life to honor and shame is utterly idiotic. You have to live for there to be a next time."
"Ah... I get that. But no choice, right? If you're human, you repay the favors you've received."
"That's what claims so many lives. State your name first."
"Yoo Seongwon! As for knight... well, since the class name is still blank, let's say I'm still in training."
"...Let's say? What does that mean? I don't know a thing about classes or whatever, but I'll take it at face value. Yuchun, Emperor and Knight! Show me your worth!"
Boom!
The moment his words ended, Yuchun strapped his shield to his arm and charged at Yoo Seongwon.
Reacting in kind, Yoo Seongwon's Golden Guardian Beast Armor automatically clad him as he swung the Titan's Stake.
Baaaang!
Yuchun deflected the Titan's Stake—which tore through the air in a golden arc—with his shield, but not fully, as the clash of metal rang out.
The stone floor shattered beneath their feet, sinking into the ground, and a fierce shockwave blew like wind, fluttering the clothes of the surrounding elite guards and the curtain.
"Hmph!"
But his eyes showed no intimidation or shock. He pressed forward, slashing at Yoo Seongwon's armor and wounding it.
He relentlessly hounded Yoo Seongwon, but fortunately, his Martial Talent skill and stats held firm against the onslaught, allowing him to endure steadfastly.
"You're wearing armor that doesn't match your demeanor at all. Did you trick me? And your skill is decent too."
"That's... all borrowed stuff, you see. The armor's a gift...!"
"I don't get what you're saying... but anyway, this level makes calling you a third-rate peasant sound off."
Yuchun shoved Yoo Seongwon back with his shield and retreated slightly, glancing toward the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King.
The constellation had summoned him, spoken endlessly about how the one commanding his knights in this era and on this alien star was a third-rate far below their station, unfit for the system of his nation.
Yet in reality, though on the defensive under his fierce assault, the opponent was holding up well. It didn't add up.
[That's just! Power 'borrowed from the stars,' pulled from the 'Star Records.' It's not truly his own.]
"Original power and wisdom are learned from others, so nothing is truly one's own?"
[You won't understand even when explained. Then I'll show you directly. The true face of that 'third-rate peasant'...]
Snap!
As the exchange with Yuchun concluded, the silhouette behind the curtain snapped its fingers.
Thinking it might be the same trick Go Cheonsu of the Blue Dragon Guild had pulled earlier, Yoo Seongwon hurriedly tried to stow the Titan's Stake back in his inventory. But suddenly, his body swayed, and he collapsed to the ground despite Yuchun doing nothing.
"...Kuh! What is this?"
"What did you do? Dragon-Phoenix King? Are you interfering in my affairs?"
[Nothing much. I merely switched the order. The order in which his awakener power and talents apply.]
What the Constellation Dragon-Phoenix King had done was simply reverse the sequence in which awakener power applied to Yoo Seongwon's body.
In simple terms, currently, the awakener power overlaid Yoo Seongwon, granting all those skills, abilities, and boosted stats. But he had reversed part of that order.
He had covered the skills and power composed of Yoo Seongwon's acquired and chosen awakener strength with Yoo Seongwon's original 'talent.'
"...Martial Talent...!"
All his SS-rank hunter stats and various skills still functioned, but due to the constellation's meddling, the '(Unique) Myeong's Knight Grandel's Martial Talent'—whose order had been altered—now had the talent of Yoo Seongwon as a mere mortal overlaid on top.
"Damn...!"
As a result, the SS-rank stats and skills became poison in reverse for Yoo Seongwon, impossible to properly control.
Like installing an OS utterly incapable of utilizing a supercomputer's specs.
Gone was the confident fighter from moments ago; now, Yoo Seongwon trembled like a sick chicken, barely able to stand.