Chapter 138
Chapter 138: Today (3)
To those watching, it seemed like an exquisite move that Dong Bong-soo absolutely couldn't evade. However, his eyes remained indifferent. It was proof that unlike what the spectators saw, he didn't feel it was a crisis.
Whirrrr—
Just before the Dog-Beating Staff touched his back, Dong Bong-soo instantly twisted his body like a pretzel. The timing was so opportune that he could shed most of the Dog-Beating Staff's Force energy toward the front of his chest.
Snap-snap-snap—!
Immediately after, Dong Bong-soo's body returned to its original state and stretched out completely.
Then the Wanderer's Sword turned around to the back and clashed fiercely with the Dog-Beating Staff. It was a form like a great dragon coiling and then uncoiling to strike with its tail.
Precisely Mamorota's Great Dragon Tail Sweep.
Clang-!
"Ghk!"
"Mm."
From the impact, the two flew to opposite ends of the Arena.
Thud.
Dong Bong-soo's insides were shaken weakly, but he seemed to have taken no major damage as he somersaulted and landed lightly on the Arena.
It was the same for Eul Ji-chu.
As he fell toward the floor, he instead drove the Dog-Beating Staff down hard into the ground. A loud sound rang out and all the falling impact was offset.
Not only that, he gained propulsion to fly forward. Like Sun Wukong pressing against Buddha's palm with his Ruyi Staff to fly forward, Eul Ji-chu charged toward Dong Bong-soo.
Swoosh-!
Dong Bong-soo's eyes changed. His eyes glinted coldly as he raised the Wanderer's Sword and activated [Sword Energy]. Immediately, haze-like energy billowed up profusely from the tip of his sword.
[Sword Energy Lv.5 Proficiency: 42.55%]
A technique that overlays energy onto the sword to increase destructive power. It dramatically increases attack power, but maintaining Sword Energy requires significant internal power.
The emission effect of Sword Energy slightly increases range.
Attack Power Bonus: 250%
Range Bonus: 5%
Energy Consumption per Second: 50 JP
It was one of the 'Buff skills' he hadn't even used when fighting Paeng Ho-ryu. That he activated [Sword Energy] meant Eul Ji-chu was no different from being the strongest among the Three Stars.
Buff skills that additionally amplify a player's abilities were techniques these people couldn't even imagine. Moreover, [Sword Energy] was a tremendous skill that increased attack power by 250% and range by 5%.
Thwip.
Dong Bong-soo charged forward to meet Eul Ji-chu flying toward him.
The two collided violently in the center of the Arena.
Dong Bong-soo's Wanderer's Sword billowing with [Sword Energy] and Eul Ji-chu's Dog-Beating Staff swung as if swiftly striking a dog's rear met in midair.
Kra-boom—!
Sword and staff clashed, but an explosive sound burst out like a Thunder Bolt Bomb detonating.
"Ghk-!"
Wrap Character Formula Swift Strike Dog's Rear versus [Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers] enhanced with [Sword Energy].
The victor between the two techniques was clear.
While Dong Bong-soo remained standing at the point of collision, Eul Ji-chu spewed out a handful of blood and flew back six meters, laying his body out long on the ground.
It was Dong Bong-soo's dominant victory.
He judged the match over and turned his body.
Actually, the reason he pulled out even [Sword Energy] was partly because Eul Ji-chu was stronger than expected, but more than that, it was because he wanted to find out as quickly as possible what had happened inside his Inventory. In his room earlier, there hadn't been time to think since it was just before the main tournament started.
In fact, as soon as he turned his body, he immediately opened the Inventory window.
Dong Bong-soo walked toward the stairs descending from the Arena while continuously examining his Inventory. He still couldn't tell what had happened.
Then suddenly, this thought occurred to him.
'What if problems had occurred somewhere other than the Inventory?'
He closed the Inventory window briefly to check. Then only the basic interface window remained.
"......"
He stopped walking as something strange finally caught his eye.
At the upper right corner of the system interface, a time cursor always blinked. It was a cursor that showed how long he'd been connected to the game.
That time, that time... was suspicious.
When he last checked yesterday.
It was 247 hours, 37 minutes, and 29 seconds. Because the play time had all reset to 0 when he repeatedly logged in and out recently, it was only that much. Originally it should far exceed tens of thousands of hours.
But now.
'281 hours, 15 minutes, and 11 seconds!?'
Since roughly 10 hours had passed after he last checked his Inventory yesterday, the connection time should be around 257 hours.
This was...
About 24 hours.
Almost exactly one day's worth of time had increased.
This kind of thing had happened a few times before, but back then he'd just thought it was another system bug. He'd pondered about it, but since it had never actually affected him in any way, he'd buried it in the back of his memory. This time too, he could have just dismissed it as a bug like before and moved on.
However, Dong Bong-soo didn't do that.
Originally, he didn't trust much of anything in the world. That included judgments he himself had made in the past. Just because something was right in the past absolutely didn't mean it was right in the current situation.
Trusting oneself is a good thing, but not trusting oneself is an even better thing.
He pulled up the buried memory. Previously he'd overlooked it because there were no signs or evidence, but now it was different.
Different enough to establish a hypothesis.
[The world where the Inventory exists, that is, the system's time is not the same as this place's time. For some reason, this place's time repeated the same time period for about a day. And during that time, the system experienced its own time. The trace of that is the Inventory in complete disarray, and during that time, I......]
Dong Bong-soo started walking again. His steps gradually quickened.
The pieces of the hypothesis were falling into place.
Waaaaaaa-!
He quickly arrived at the edge of the Arena. Just as he was about to descend from the Arena while receiving the crowd's cheers.
"Big brother—! It's not over yet!"
Hwa Seon-hyang, who had been watching from the waiting area, shouted toward Dong Bong-soo, who was about to step onto the stairs at the Arena's edge.
"...!"
The Super True Energy Field rippled. Spirit Eyes screamed madly.
20, 19, 18... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6...
The numbers decreased as fast as the speed of light!
Moreover,
From behind!
The moment he sensed it, his rapidly turning thoughts stopped and Dong Bong-soo was already kicking off the ground and soaring upward.
Crunch-!
The corner of the Arena caved in. Precisely the location where Dong Bong-soo had been standing just moments ago.
The Cold Iron covering the top surface of the Arena floor was completely dented, and the blue stone that had been supporting it from below became powder entirely.
"...Th-th-that...!"
"That couldn't be... Rigid Energy, could it?"
"Staff Rigidity! It's really Staff Rigidity!"
Most were shocked. There were few exceptions.
More than the fact that Eul Ji-chu still hadn't fallen, what was astonishing was the tip of the Dog-Beating Staff he held. More precisely, the green ray of light shooting up about three meters through that tip.
That was, precisely, Rigid Energy.
Martial artists are people who fundamentally pursue strength. And they diagram that strength to set more concrete goals and yearn to reach them.
Not abstract realms possible only in dreams like Divine Transformation Realm, Transcending Human Realm, or Reaching the Peak, but actually achievable ultimate realms where several people emerge in every era—one such real ultimate realm is precisely the emission of Rigid Energy.
If one could realize it, one could cut through iron like slicing radish, and depending on the circumstances, could even surround one's entire body with it to protect oneself. This was precisely Body Protection Rigid Energy.
For this reason, those who rose to the realm of emitting Rigid Energy inevitably became supreme in both offense and defense. Because martial artists who hadn't reached the realm of emitting Rigid Energy found it nearly impossible to either injure them or block their attacks.
Then how many in the current Martial World could emit Rigid Energy?
It couldn't be known precisely.
However, it was known that not all of the Absolute Ten Venerables and Ten Guests Under Heaven had reached such a realm. That's how rare and difficult to reach the realm of emitting Rigid Energy was.
But now, Eul Ji-chu, who was only in his twenties, was drawing out such Rigid Energy, so how could people not be shocked?
Receiving people's attention, Eul Ji-chu tilted his head back to look up.
He could see Dong Bong-soo's soles of feet gradually becoming smaller.
"Ha-ap-!"
He kicked off the ground and flew up. Though he leaped belatedly, the gap between them closed rapidly. Eul Ji-chu's Movement Technique was as excellent as his staff technique.
Dong Bong-soo looked down below.
Whoom—
The Dog-Beating Staff imbued with Staff Rigidity covered and attacked from all directions where Dong Bong-soo could turn his body to evade.
It was the Rigid Energy version of Bind Character Formula Three Dogs Rampage Eating.
Like three rampaging fierce dogs coming out to eat, the Dog-Beating Staff flew ferociously toward Dong Bong-soo.
If he couldn't fly higher, he would face defeat as is.
Right then!
The energy around Dong Bong-soo began violently undulating.
Simultaneously, the Wanderer's Sword also rotated at ultra-high speed. With that, the Rotation Sword Ring he'd used in the fight with Paeng Ho-ryu rapidly spread out around the Wanderer's Sword.
But the Rotation Sword Ring that had been rapidly expanding its domain suddenly shrank from a certain point and was compressed in an instant to just around the Wanderer's Sword. He had controlled the Super True Energy Field to confine the Rotation Sword Ring only around the Wanderer's Sword.
Then the Sword Ring hoops spinning like a top were overlaid onto [Sword Energy] that had merely shimmered like heat haze. It was like threading hundreds of thin donuts onto the sword.
To the people here, that appearance looked like...
Crimson red Sword Rigidity swirling around the Wanderer's Sword.
Kra-kra-kra-boom—!
The blood-red Rotation Sword Light and three strands of brilliant green Staff Light clashed violently.
Red-green light bright enough to dazzle the watching people's eyes embroidered the air above the Arena and extended in all directions.
"Beautiful... I never knew martial arts could be this beautiful."
"Hya-. How amazing. How can someone reach such a supreme realm at that age?"
"......"
Some exclaimed in admiration, and some others sighed.
However, most remained silent. Because they didn't want to miss even a single moment.
Thud.
Dong Bong-soo descended to one end of the Arena. Eul Ji-chu also landed at the opposite end.
Indifferent eyes and hazy eyes met.
"...Rotating Sword Rigidity... I can't believe it even seeing it..."
It wasn't actually Sword Rigidity, but he didn't step forward to explain. There was no need to.
Dong Bong-soo was merely feeling the taste of battle once again.
Isn't this what the joy of life is?
Fighting, and fighting again—
A life standing on the blade's point embedded atop a hundred-foot pole.
That thrill was indescribable. Even someone with dried-up emotions like Dong Bong-soo was captivated by it.
This is why countless people throughout those long years walked this path even abandoning their lives.
Before he knew it, Dong Bong-soo was becoming a martial artist.
Though his essence probably hadn't changed... there was nothing more suitable for the hobby of death than a martial artist.
Dong Bong-soo raised his sword again and rushed forward.
Even in the midst of this, he recovered his cold rationality once more and started his brain turning again.
In search of the secret of the lost day.