Chapter 169
Chapter 169. Bukgung Ri (2)
"S-stop!"
The Northern Yan army wavered. However, they couldn't retreat. The anti-retreat forces watched from behind.
"Charge! Charge forward!"
A thousand slave soldiers lowered their spears and rushed forward.
Bukgung Ri slowly spread both hands. The second star, Heavenly Line, began to shine.
From his ten fingers, threads as thin as flowing water extended. Nearly invisible to the naked eye, thinner than a strand of hair.
Shhk, snkkt.
Everywhere they passed, the slave soldiers' movements jerked to a halt.
Necks twisted, arms snapped, legs contorted.
"Ah...... Aaaaah......"
They couldn't even scream properly. Their meridians were being manipulated by the threads. It was like watching a puppet show.
Bukgung Ri flicked his finger.
Hundreds of slave soldiers simultaneously stabbed their neighboring comrades with their own spears.
When his finger moved again, this time they slit their own throats.
"C-crazy......"
The Northern Yan army commander was horrified.
A few days ago, when his superior said he'd promote him, he'd gladly accepted......
Only now did he realize why that man had looked at him with such pitying eyes.
"Archers! Arrows, shoot the arrows, shoot!"
Thousands of arrows blackened the sky.
Bukgung Ri didn't move. As the third star, Heavenly Mechanism, shone, the space around him subtly distorted.
The arrows lost speed three meters in front of him. No, more precisely, they lost direction. Like being sucked into an invisible whirlpool, the arrows began circling in spirals.
Then Bukgung Ri flipped his palm.
Shoooo—
The arrows flew in exactly the opposite direction. Their speed had actually increased.
Thwk! Thwk-thwk-thwk!
The archers were pierced by their own arrows. Screams filled the plain.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
Someone shouted, but it was already too late.
The moment the fourth star, Heavenly Circle, shone, the sky grew heavy.
More precisely, the density of the air changed. To the Northern Yan soldiers, it felt like a giant hand was pressing down from above, as if surging from a celestial spring.
Crunch. Cr-cr-crackle.
The sound of breaking bones echoed everywhere. Armor crumpled, knees buckled. Hundreds simultaneously crushed into the ground, vomiting blood.
At the same time, faint blue streams of light burst through their torn and split flesh, surging upward in unison to be absorbed into Bukgung Ri's Dantian.
"Haven't even killed half yet."
Bukgung Ri sighed. His expression showed boredom.
The fifth star, Prison Balance, and the sixth star, Opening Yang, shone simultaneously.
A transparent line was drawn between the two stars. The space through which that line passed seemed to tear. No, it was actually tearing.
A hell-like black rift opened. From that rift, tremendous suction force emerged.
"Gwaaaaak!"
Over a thousand soldiers screamed as they were sucked into the rift. The sounds of crumpling armor and shattering bones were horrific. Only blood remained where they'd disappeared.
Bukgung Ri slowly brought his hands together.
The final star, Shining Light, began to shine.
Seven stars converged into a single point. From that point, tremendous pressure emerged. The surrounding air twisted, and the earth cracked.
And.
Fwoosh—
A flash burst forth.
There was no sound. It was such an enormous explosion that it was instead silent. The remaining thousands of Northern Yan soldiers vanished without a trace in that light.
When the dust settled, only a massive crater remained.
Where an army of over ten thousand had stood, only scorched earth and melted iron fragments remained.
Bukgung Ri sniffled.
"Constantly dealing with such trash, far from forming an Internal Core, it feels like my internal energy is actually getting muddied."
He muttered as he turned around.
"I need something of higher purity. At minimum first-rate martial artists, or at least someone with a special constitution."
The Gangdo residents atop the wall watched the scene in breathless silence.
Of course, Dong Bong-soo and Jeon Ra-hwa witnessed it together as well.
Jeon Ra-hwa calmly explained the situation to Dong Bong-soo, just as before.
"That's the power of the Seven Star Immortal Assembly. On the surface it looks like ordinary martial arts, but...... if you look carefully, you can tell there's something different."
Even without looking carefully, Dong Bong-soo could tell.
That was-.
"Demonic Arts."
"Yes, well. You're right. You know it well."
"......"
"Absorbing Star Demonic Art. That kind of thing is what's protecting Gangdo."
Absorbing Star Demonic Art.
It was interesting. As expected of this place.
If it were the Martial World of the previous world, the moment such martial arts were exposed to the public, they'd become a Public Enemy of the Martial World.
But then again, there was no need to question such things.
No matter how weak the humans were, their numbers had clearly exceeded ten thousand. He'd deleted that number single-handedly.
It wouldn't be easy to raise any objections to such a master.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because it's interesting."
"No, it's the Absorbing Star Demonic Art. Even seeing martial arts that casually turn people into mere fragments of internal energy...... you can smile that... brightly?"
"It's killing two birds with one stone."
"Two birds?"
"It's good to punish evil-."
Dong Bong-soo glanced lightly at Jeon Ra-hwa and finished his sentence.
"And your revenge too."
"......What?"
"You said you were here for 2 years and 167 days?"
"......"
"Is that bastard who carved the character 'money' on your shoulder?"
"......That's not him. The third...... owner."
"Third piece of trash then. Fine. Third or fourth, doesn't matter."
There was justification, it had value, and it seemed it would be fun.
Of course, what came out of Dong Bong-soo's mouth was different.
"Trash deserves to be recycled."
With those words, Dong Bong-soo turned back toward Gangdo's city center.
Jeon Ra-hwa hesitated for a moment before quickly running after Dong Bong-soo.
***
An inn in Gangdo.
Though it was a shabby place located in one corner off the Central Great Road, surprisingly it had quite a few customers.
Because Jeon Ra-hwa's beauty was so outstanding, they received brief attention, but given the city's nature with so many drifters, and the fact that if Jeon Ra-hwa happened to be a master, it would be legal to have your eyes plucked out, interest in the two soon faded.
After finishing a simple dinner in one corner of the first floor, the two each got separate rooms.
Approximately the Hour of the Dog (around 7 PM).
Before entering her room, Jeon Ra-hwa said:
"Really not sleeping together?"
"Men and women should maintain proper distance."
"We slept together all this time though?"
"Hey, anyone hearing that would misunderstand. That was because we were sleeping outdoors."
"Anyone would misunderstand. Sleeping in this kind of room is no different from sleeping outdoors anyway?"
"Never mind. See you in the morning. I don't want to be devoured by you."
"Tch. I don't devour people without any sense of style like you either."
Bang!
Jeon Ra-hwa slammed her door loudly and entered her room.
Clack.
Naturally, he entered his own room alone.
A space with nothing but a completely rotted bed frame that even calling it sparse would be generous.
But that was enough.
The smile that had been faintly settled on Dong Bong-soo's face vanished. It was time to remove the mask and return to his true self.
Soon Dong Bong-soo sat in meditation on the bed.
He quietly sank into his own Mental Image.
'Now then, what should I do in this world, and how?'
First, he reviews Kim Rae-won's memories.
Even on the road to Gangdo, he'd replayed them daily, but the broken parts wouldn't revive. Like a decades-old film worn away here and there, they were cut off. Only fragmented memories surface along with noise.
Nevertheless, he could grasp almost the entire general flow.
A record of 21 years of wandering and failure.
Futile efforts to return home.
Ultimately, death at the Border Realm.
'I must use this as a lesson.'
Dong Bong-soo had no 'place to return to.'
Whether Earth, the previous Murim, this place, or anywhere else.
What mattered was only survival and growth.
In that sense, it was now necessary to better familiarize himself with the 'What is Hero' system.
***
────── Hero Status ──────
Name: Kim Rae-won
Title: [None]
Class: Fallen Hero
▣ Hero Metrics
◆ Hero History: 5
└ Current Rank: ☆ (Nameless)
◆ Fame: 0
◆ Infamy: 0
▣ Ability Stats │ HP │ 100/100 │ MP │ 100/100 │ Stamina │ 100/100 Strength (STR): 5 [+0] Agility (AGI): 7 [+0] Intelligence (INT): 12 [+0] Wisdom (WIS): 8 [+0] Charisma (CHA): 3 [+0] Luck (LUK): 1 [+0]
※Remaining Points: 5
▣ Trust Relationships
◈ Jeon Ra-hwa Trust Level: Slightly Friendly Relationship: Companion Status: [Anxious], [Expectant]
▣ Skill List ≪Possessed Skills≫
• [Faith Arrow Lv.1] ≪Unlockable Skills≫
• Hero's Aura Lv.1
└ Required History: 10 (5/10)
• Light of Faith Lv.1
└ Required History: 10 (5/10)
▣ Active Quests 【Main】 Salvation of Jeon Ra-hwa
▣ Hero Ranks ☆ Nameless (0~9) ← Current ★ Rising Star (10~49) ★★ First-Rate (50~99) ★★★ Hero (100~499) ★★★★ Legend (500~999) ★★★★★ Myth (1000+) ● ● ●
There were more details, but these were the core elements.
If there was the biggest difference from the Murim Online system, What is Hero's system had hardly malfunctioned at all.
More precisely, the system had been 'modified' to fit this world.
If it were Murim Online, even Jeon Ra-hwa's name would have been displayed as ???. Because originally she's someone who doesn't exist in the system.
Though it can't be known precisely, it's the difference between online and package.
Isn't it the difference in their origins?
Of course, it wasn't an important issue.
For him, both were equally excellent survival tools.
In any case, the What is Hero system was clearly completely separated from Murim Online.
You could tell clearly just by seeing that all stat values were set to minimum.
Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, Luck.
The performance and utility of each could be confirmed through Kim Rae-won's memories.
Putting points in Strength increased health and attack power, Agility increased health slightly and speed, and so on.
※Remaining Points: 5
He could spend five points to become slightly stronger, but there was currently no great need. Rather than making changes that wouldn't be meaningful, it was better to save them and plan for the future.
— In the Martial World, one must hide 30% of one's abilities.
Because the maxims of Murim are correct everywhere.
In fact, he thought even that 30% was a lukewarm figure.
Depending on the situation, one must hide even over 99%. That's the shortcut to survival.
In any case, for now, the stats from the Murim Online system alone were sufficiently strong.
There was even the beyond-spec enlightenment called Super True Energy Field.
For now, let's postpone the stat points for later.
Clack.
Dong Bong-soo immediately closed the stat window and clicked on the Quest Window.
【Main】Salvation of Jeon Ra-hwa
【Relationship】 : Please respond to the 'First Faith.' Faith always brings corresponding rewards․ Sever all threads of evil entangled with her. ├─ Progress: 0% └─ Reward: History +100, Trust Level MAX