Chapter 26

"How is it? Heh heh heh, it’s been a while since I made a weapon, but natural talent doesn’t just go away, does it?"

Ibrahmut said, puffing himself up with obvious pride.

Yoon Sang-hyuk took the item Ibrahmut had handed him and examined it closely.

"Looks like a pretty ordinary sword to me."

"As if. Nothing Ibrahmut makes is ordinary."

With a hunch, Yoon Sang-hyuk used his appraisal skill, then let out a short laugh.

I can see it.

"Pretty impressive. But a chain sword?"

"Heh, it was quite the ordeal. You grip the sword and send it your will. Say, 'Extend!' like that."

Yoon Sang-hyuk took Ibrahmut's Chain Sword in hand and flicked it through the air a few times. The feel of it settling into his grip was excellent; the old saying about a master craftsman not being empty praise clearly had merit.

With a sharp flick, he thrust the blade forward and sent his intent into it: Extend. At once, the blade split into hundreds of segments and shot straight out ahead of him.

"Whoa!"

But the length it stretched to far exceeded his expectations. It extended well over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thirty meters. It was hard to imagine how many pieces the blade had to be broken into for it to reach that far.

With the chain sword still extended, Yoon Sang-hyuk used appraisal again. Sure enough, several details had changed. The Strength requirement had dropped, while Agility had increased instead.

The special skills had changed as well.

Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at Ibrahmut with renewed interest. Aside from dwarves, this was the first time he had seen a craftsman capable of whipping up a legendary weapon so casually.

Perhaps pleased by the look in Yoon Sang-hyuk's eyes, Ibrahmut grinned so wide his gums showed.

"The process is a bit tricky. You have to split the blade into tiny pieces, and each piece needs to be balanced properly and painstakingly worked one by one. And the chain connecting those blade fragments isn't exactly easy to process either. For the record, that chain has vicious cutting power of its own. Any fools who try to recklessly take it apart will suffer something terrible. And the most important part is when it returns to its original form!"

Yoon Sang-hyuk pulled back his arm, and the extended chain sword returned to its original shape. Ibrahmut ran a finger along the blade surface.

"In this state, it doesn't look like a chain sword at all. That's the point. You can hide it away and use it as a trump card. Of course, that would mean killing everyone who saw it to keep their mouths shut."

"You really are something. This is incredible."

"I was incredible from the start. It's just that Hyung-nim and Valender Hyung-nim are a little more incredible."

"You maybe..."

Yoon Sang-hyuk trailed off, some thought taking shape in his mind. Ibrahmut watched him as if to say, go on, tell me.

"Aren't you curious about another world? Or another dimension, rather?"

"Why make it sound so difficult? Of course I'm curious. I've never left the Demon Realm since the day I was born. If there's another world out there, I'd like to go see it at least once."

"So that's a yes?"

Yoon Sang-hyuk smiled in a way that meant something only he understood.

If they ever returned to Earth, and if he brought Ibrahmut with him, then he would have gained an excellent worker. It might even spark a revolution among Earth players. Legendary-grade weapons were valuable enough for that. Even within the Masked Mercenary Group, the elite guild that could be called the finest player force around, only a handful of members were fully outfitted with legendary items.

And even that had only been possible because Yoon Sang-hyuk had provided them.

But with Ibrahmut, the story changed.

Yoon Sang-hyuk clapped a hand on his shoulder and smiled broadly.

"Right. Let's definitely go together. And let's stay together for a long, long time."

"Yes! Hyung-nim. Of course."

Unaware of Yoon Sang-hyuk's thoughts, Ibrahmut wore an innocent smile.

* * *

The expedition that had been halted by Yoon Sang-hyuk's revelation still did not resume, even after a long time had passed.

That was because each of them still needed time.

Yoon Sang-hyuk needed time to organize his new understanding. Zeronia, Zephyr, and Ibrahmut needed to fully make the power they had gained their own.

Arin had her own work to do. She was developing her ability to predict the near future, not some distant prophecy far off on the horizon.

The others were also striving in their own ways to grow stronger.

In particular, Valender von Graus possessed a level of dedication no one else could hope to match.

Swish. Swish. Swish. Swish.

It was the sound of a massive black sword cleaving vertically through the air. For hours now, Valender von Graus had done nothing but vertical slashes. Before that, he had been doing horizontal ones.

Yesterday, and the day before that as well, he had repeated only the motions of cutting and thrusting, over and over and over.

Curious, Yoon Sang-hyuk had asked Valender von Graus whether such training was really helpful. His answer had been this:

"Advancing one's realm through enlightenment requires the touch of fate. Beyond that, I am hardly at the level to learn something new and expect my skill to improve. So I return to the basics. Sometimes, there are things so natural that one forgets them without noticing. I begin again from the beginning to confirm whether anything I missed remains. I have practiced such foundational training since I was in the Abyss of the Ancients."

After watching Valender von Graus train for quite some time, Yoon Sang-hyuk let out a long yawn. It was training of absolute seriousness, but to an observer it was no different from a lullaby that invited sleep.

He turned his head and looked toward where Zeronia and Zephyr were training. The two of them were sparring. To call it sparring was almost misleading; blood was flying, flesh was splitting, and the urgency in the air made it no different from a life-and-death struggle.

Compared with the state of their minds, their physical growth had surged far ahead. In other words, they now possessed strength they should not normally have had. As Ibrahmut had said, they had taken in an enormous force that a small vessel might not be able to bear without shattering.

Enlightenment could not be forced. That was why the two of them were enlarging the vessel itself through combat that was little different from the real thing. From the way things looked, Zeronia, who had contracted with Ibrahmut and inherited several of his arts, was overwhelming Zephyr.

Zephyr, in turn, was keeping the balance from tipping too far with sheer battlefield experience that far surpassed Zeronia's, maintaining that precarious line by a razor-thin margin.

As befitted members of the dark elf race, both were superb at agile movement and blending into their surroundings. They vanished, reappeared, traded attacks, and vanished again. They were so fast that anyone else would only have caught flashes of black shadows darting back and forth.

Zeronia was not using the fire whip Ibrahmut had given her. Zephyr likewise was not using the fallen divinity Yoon Sang-hyuk had handed him, the one that had once belonged to Ibrahmut.

The two were sparring with the twin daggers that had originally been their own weapons, blades shaped like the fangs of a monstrous beast.

"Indeed..."

This was more interesting than Valender von Graus's training.

A deep slash opened across Zephyr's forearm. Blood burst forth, but Zephyr ignored it and still managed to carve a hole in Zeronia's side.

The longer the sparring went on, the more both of them became covered in wounds. Yet neither thought to tend to their injuries, and neither had any intention of stopping. Only after another hour of ferocious combat did the two finally break apart and stand at a distance.

They exhaled breaths hot enough to reach their throats and glared at each other.

"You've improved a lot."

"What can I say? I'm still the elder sibling."

As if by agreement, they withdrew the looks they had been giving each other and sat down on the spot. With their eyes closed, they began muttering words no one else could understand.

Then, after a while, astonishingly, the wounds across their bodies began to close. They were drawing on the dark elf race's innate regenerative ability and adding vast currents of dark energy to it, healing every wound in an instant.

This was precisely why they could spar with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠such suffocating intensity without fear of injury.

Of course, even if they did sustain wounds beyond their ability to heal, as long as Yoon Sang-hyuk was nearby there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was no need to worry about death. In his subspace rested a whole stockpile of top-class potions, the masterpiece of the Basement Family.

The Basement Family's potions contained not a single ingredient tied to holy power, so even Zephyr and his sister suffered no adverse effect from them.

"You've gotten a lot better."

"Thank you."

"Thank you."

At Yoon Sang-hyuk's praise, Zephyr and Zeronia bowed their heads together. It was not some empty formality offered to someone stronger than themselves.

They knew very well why they had become this strong in such a short time.

It was because of Yoon Sang-hyuk.

If they had not met him, they never would have met Ibrahmut, and Zephyr would never have received the items he had won in a wager with him.

In the Demon Realm, strength was the highest value of all. The one who made you stronger commanded more respect than even your parents. In that sense, Yoon Sang-hyuk was for them someone greater than a parent, someone who could almost be called a god in his own right.

Both of them had set Yoon Sang-hyuk as the pinnacle of their own ambitions. Among everyone they had seen, he was the strongest. Baal, the ruler of the Demon Realm, existed too, but with their status they had no opportunity to meet him in person.

The true strong one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was Yoon Sang-hyuk, the man who treated the first Balrog, Ibrahmut, the lord of Scorched Earth, like a child at play and had even fought the Demon King Baal to a draw.

Yoon Sang-hyuk called Arin, who sat a little way off, gazing at a cluster of insects trapped in a box no larger than two finger joints, her golden eyes fixed on them.

At his call, Arin trotted over.

"Doesn't it get boring, just watching bugs by yourself?"

"No. It's fun."

"Want me to tell you something even more fun?"

"What is it?"

Arin asked, her voice bright with anticipation.

Yoon Sang-hyuk glanced at Zephyr and Zeronia and said,

"From tomorrow's sparring onward, Arin will join in too."

"What do you mean? You want Arin to spar?"

Zephyr looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk as if the idea were absurd.

"Who said anything about Arin sparring?"

"Then..."

"If the two of you spar, Arin will side with one of you."

Realizing what Yoon Sang-hyuk meant, the expressions of the two siblings warped.

Arin could predict the near future. If she took one side or the other, then the spar would end one-sidedly.

Looking at the pair, now both wearing serious faces, Yoon Sang-hyuk gave a small laugh.

"Well? That should make the sparring more interesting, right?"