Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Heart of Thunder
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That day onward, Soo-hyuk kept seeking out Thor.
Kaboom!
Every time he clashed with him, an urge to cover his ears overwhelmed him.
Before his arms went numb or his body burned from the lightning, his ears felt like they would go deaf first.
Crackle.
He broke free from the blue lightning and pushed off again with his feet.
Cranking up his output, he charged back at him. As he swung his sword, Mjolnir came flying.
Clang!
Kaboom!
The earth-shaking impact made his sword hand feel like it would shatter his entire body.
But there was no choice. He had to max out his output just to exchange blows with him.
Like that, for a moment.
"...Ugh."
After fighting Thor like a madman for a while, Soo-hyuk finally opened his eyes once time had flown by.
'How many times has it been this time?'
Lost in the frenzy of battle, he couldn't even count how many rounds they'd gone.
Six? Seven?
Each fight, Soo-hyuk blacked out. Whether from overusing lightning and thunder until he short-circuited or from getting smashed by Thor's Mjolnir, he couldn't remember.
"Ended up like this again, huh."
Odin appeared before Soo-hyuk's eyes right then.
"You came."
"Eighth time. You think of me as some stamina potion dispenser?"
"Eighth? I thought it was seven."
"Head took a hit too, looks like. Can't even count."
Whirr.
'Always amazing.'
How could wounds and stamina recover this fast?
Soo-hyuk felt bad for Odin, but yeah, he pretty much treated him like a stamina potion.
The greatest archmage's healing magic was incomparable.
Thanks to that, Soo-hyuk could clash with Thor multiple times in such a short period.
"Still, you've improved quite a bit."
"Improved?"
"Yeah. At first, you couldn't last ten seconds. Just now, you went over a minute."
Thor was truly strong.
A master of thunder, he probably ranked among Asgard's top fighters.
Facing such a Thor was invaluable experience for Soo-hyuk.
"But why the hell are you doing this?"
Soo-hyuk had suddenly started picking fights with Thor.
His goal was always Mjolnir at first, but midway, even that seemed forgotten.
Like they were testing who was stronger, they kept fighting, and it always ended with Thor's victory.
No complaints.
He survived each time, after all.
'If not for this, I'd have died countless times...'
Thump.
Right now.
Soo-hyuk could keenly feel how fiercely the Lightning Heart pounded.
'Anyway, I haven't died once.'
The Lightning Heart granted top-tier resistance to lightning damage.
Thanks to it, even after blacking out several times against Thor, Soo-hyuk kept his life.
"When else would I fight an opponent like that?"
He hadn't had many chances to truly unleash lightning so far.
Once the inter-clan war started, he'd face countless rankers.
This was training for that. Thor was more than enough—overflowing, even—to gauge how far he'd come.
"That all?"
"No way."
Soo-hyuk flexed his recovered body, eyes gleaming.
"Not certain, but... I think I know what that guy wants."
Odin understood he wasn't talking about Thor.
So he didn't press further. He was the current Master of Thunder now, and only another Master of Thunder could save Thor.
"Then I'll be off."
Several times a day. Fight, lose, repeat.
Thor no longer avoided Soo-hyuk. Soo-hyuk didn't hesitate to clash with Thor.
He'd nearly died a few times, but he'd pulled through each crisis.
Days passed like that.
Flash!
The thunder Soo-hyuk unleashed swallowed Thor.
Kaboom!
The blue thunder was far denser and more powerful than at first. His hand trembled faintly after unleashing such high-output thunder in an instant.
'I feel it.'
And sure enough.
Thor, who always counterattacked immediately before, froze in place for the first time.
Looking closely, cracks on Mjolnir had grown. His attacks were landing, bit by bit.
In that moment his gaze lingered on Mjolnir, Thor's foot moved.
Crack.
"...!"
Just a twitch of his toe closed the distance in a blink. Not his first time, but the surprise never faded.
Whoosh.
Mjolnir flew at his torso, slicing empty air.
His ears rang from the air-ripping sound, then Thor's hand seized his collar.
Grip.
Instead of yielding his neck, Soo-hyuk thrust out his hand.
Kaboom!
Lightning burst from both simultaneously, thunder exploding. Amid the searing hand pain, Thor pursued the recoiling Soo-hyuk.
Bang, kaboom!
Rumble.
Thunder erupted everywhere. His body numbed from the overwhelming high-output blasts.
Clashing with his whole body, Soo-hyuk attuned to the thunder's roar.
'So that's how it's done.'
The thunder, borrowing Thor's body, spoke.
That this was how to wield it.
No words needed; he felt it through his body.
Fear not.
The moment he feared, this power would no longer be his.
'I've grown, definitely.'
Until now, Soo-hyuk had brute-forced lightning by burning stamina.
He thought that the only way, focusing on raising stamina to wield it.
Not wrong.
Thunder and lightning burdened the body, after all.
But through clashes with Thor—no, with thunder—Soo-hyuk learned one thing.
Depending on how you used it, thunder and lightning could reduce body strain and boost power.
'Thought too crudely.'
Taking thunder head-on, Soo-hyuk gazed at Thor.
Thunder had shown, through his body, how to wield itself.
He'd learned plenty. In fact, Soo-hyuk now handled thunder far more smoothly than before.
This was enough.
Now.
Time to wake Thor.
"Isn't it about time you snapped out of it?"
The past few days' fights.
Not just his practice. This battle was against thunder, waged by him and Thor together.
"Just for a moment. So trust me—"
Soo-hyuk's gaze flicked to Mjolnir in Thor's hand.
"—let go."
Flicker.
Color briefly returned to Thor's eyes.
Focus sharpened in those thunder-blue pupils. Crackle. Thunder from Mjolnir flickered unstably.
In that split second.
Slip.
Mjolnir fell from Thor's hand.
Before it hit the ground, Soo-hyuk snatched it. The moment he gripped the scarred, cracked Mjolnir, thunder struck from the sky.
Kaboom!
His vision flashed white, nearly blacking him out.
All sounds vanished. Like plunging into a colorless, silent white void.
Black out, and it's over.
Soo-hyuk listened to Mjolnir in his hand, to the thunder's call.
He barely made out the messages.
Not clear what it said or why the curiosity, but.
For some reason, he could hear its voice.
Thunder cried foul. Cheating. Where's the rule about borrowing Thor's help?
But who cared?
Right now, thunder was in his grasp.
Crack.
Cracks spread rapidly across Mjolnir.
"Isn't that enough torment?"
Crackle!
Mjolnir thrashed in denial.
He got it.
Forced to split in two—how furious must it be? Thunder's curse wouldn't break this easily.
So he had a plan.
"I promise."
Another way to soothe thunder's rage.
"I'll make that guy who messed you up like this pay—lure Thor and all."
If this didn't work, no choice.
Grind until he could control thunder himself.
Sizzle.
Luckily, thunder's fury subsided.
Clatter. Mjolnir's fragments rained down. In Soo-hyuk's hand, it crumbled to dust, revealing a small, gleaming blue gem.
Soo-hyuk examined the gem.
The second thunder fragment.
Got it faster than expected, but not entirely pleasant.
'What the hell are you?'
Facts from this trial muddled his mind.
Thunder and lightning. The human who wielded them, why he fought gods.
And why thunder taught him to wield it.
Blur.
His vision hazed over. His body grew heavy, like a sponge soaked in water.
The aimed-for hidden stage was done.
Now, time to focus back there.
The inter-clan war was two days away.
At the lodging, Unhyang trembled in anxiety. Despite time passing, Soo-hyuk still hadn't returned.
"He won't skip the inter-clan war too, right?"
Cheongryang, sitting opposite, gave her an exasperated look.
"Why no stream? Something happen to him? If he never comes back..."
"Enough already."
Zap. Unhyang glared, but Cheongryang ignored it.
"If something went wrong in the trial, he'd log out and return. Him not being back means it's going well, right?"
Comfort she'd heard countless times. And true.
But Unhyang's anxiety lingered.
"Yeah, but..."
"No stream? He's got reasons. Or it's a trial he doesn't want broadcast."
"Really?"
"Haven't we had this chat over ten times?"
"...Have we?"
"He'll be back soon. Don't worry so much."
Sighing in frustration, Cheongryang leaned back in her chair with her coffee.
'I'm worried too, but...'
Soo-hyuk's resolve for the inter-clan war was firm. Unlike before, it felt deeper than just content.
No way he'd vanish before it without reason.
Something must've happened.
"Huh?"
Then.
Unhyang's eyes widened as she shot up.
"He's really back?"