The Mountain King and the Hwarang
Lee Shin’s assessment of Guardian Yeo Eun-seo as a national-team caliber commander was no exaggeration.
She instinctively caught the shift in the canyon’s air.
What is this…?
Yeo Eun-seo, whose personal hobby was cooking, approached every blueprint like a recipe.
Prepare the finest ingredients and trim them with care. Season the meat, scale the fish. Decide whether to steam, stir-fry, or roast, select the proper cuts for the chosen method, then gather the right tools. That was the end of the prep work.
If those steps were executed perfectly, Yeo Eun-seo believed ninety percent of the design was already a success.
Quality ingredients, a clear recipe, and the proper tools. From that point on, the outcome rested on the chef’s skill.
And in that domain she yielded to no one. There might be people stronger than her, but she was convinced no one understood this vast canyon better than she did. That was Guardian Yeo Eun-seo.
In that sense, she had poured unusual effort into this particular blueprint.
Because the opponent was the Mountain King. He was the sole existence capable of cracking her powerful self-confidence, so she refused to let her guard down for even a single moment.
The result was that Guardian Yeo Eun-seo had finally drawn first blood against Mir Guild’s brain, the Mountain King.
According to her design, once Mir Guild began to waver, the next phase would fall into place.
Yet…
It clearly succeeded, so why?
…they weren’t wavering?
The wavering she wanted wasn’t some catastrophic blunder that would flip the match. Their opponents were geniuses of the era, the Mountain King’s most potent weapons. They could not be judged by age alone.
Still, even a tiny fissure born from anxiety should have appeared…
Even after the Mountain King’s death, the enemy line remained rock-solid.
Baek Yeon-woo, whom she expected to show at least a flicker of excitement, held his lane with perfect composure. The monster Park Su-bin stood guard over the center like a towering mountain, exactly as always.
What deviated most from her blueprint was the bottom lane—more precisely, Yu Ri-ra in the bottom lane.
Perhaps because she had debuted alongside the Mountain King? She had absorbed a great deal of his style. Even now, with the Mountain King in the jungle, that influence lingered.
Yet Yu Ri-ra remained unshaken and utterly calm.
As if she had known this would happen.
…Wait.
She knew this would happen? As if she had already prepared for it?
Just as Yeo Eun-seo was about to grasp the source of that ominous premonition, a voice crackled in her ear.
“Captain, Hwarang hasn’t rotated to bottom!”
“…Hey! Why are you only telling me now?!”
“Huh?”
Her teammate’s belated warning.
At that exact moment, the Mountain King soared from the top-lane hill and descended from the sky.
The instant the Royal Sword top laner used a back dash to retreat toward his tower under the Mountain King’s gank, the creeping anxiety finally took form.
“How did you—!”
Eyes wide with shock.
Above the escape route leading to the tower, the steel knight Hwarang was crashing down like a meteor.
Kwaaaaaang—!!
Kim Jong-pil has slain Jeong Hyeon-do
Guardian? She acknowledged it. The woman’s brain, her command, were superb.
But the Mountain King knew better than anyone the limits that brains alone could reach.
Because, in the end—
“That’s right.”
The Mountain King and Hwarang exchanged grins, then vanished back into the jungle.
By the time Yeo Eun-seo arrived, she was greeted by a collapsing tower.
“……”
The tower has been destroyed.
“Baek Yeon-woo from the front, the Mountain King from the side, and Hwarang blocking the final escape route. A single perfect gank has allowed Mir Guild to seize the momentum again.”
“They finally brought it down! The tower’s been blown to pieces!”
“Guardian is clearing the top lane, but her expression is dark.”
“This is huge! Who on earth is going to stop Hwarang now?!”
“Royal Sword Guild has handed over the initiative in a single moment. Mir Guild has reclaimed the momentum.”
In the canyon where the flow of battle had reversed, Kim Yu-shin sprinted through the forest for the first time in a while and recalled the drinking party from a few nights earlier.
First option.
The primary weapon and, at the same time, the most stable one.
Lee Shin had entrusted Mir Guild’s first option not to the children he had discovered, but to Hwarang.
Many people were seduced by his romantic gestures, but Lee Shin was the incarnation of cold rationality.
No matter how symbolic the children were to the guild, trusting them without a plan would benefit neither the guild nor the children themselves.
A devoted man who never hesitated to do the dirty work for the sake of victory. Until very recently he had been called the perfect top laner thanks to his side-lane management and insane roaming volume.
Where could you find a more reliable first option?
The strongest supporter on earth.
Now it was time to fulfill his daughter’s dream.
Hwarang’s thigh exploded forward like a cannon as he rammed into Gwanggeom in the mid lane.
Conscious of the Mountain King emerging from the opposite bush, Gwanggeom released Hwarang from the stun only to be bound by the Mountain King’s trees. From the sky, Park Su-bin’s milky-white giant brought down its fist.
Park Su-bin has slain Jong-yu
The three of them quickly cleared the minions and pressured the tower, luring Guardian toward the mid lane. Hwarang then stepped on the stumps the Mountain King had created and leisurely returned to the jungle.
“Vision!”
“Yes!”
While the Mountain King scattered his spirits, Hwarang destroyed the spirit-blocking totems planted throughout the forest.
Having secured vision control in an instant, they naturally turned their eyes toward the bottom lane.
“Uwaaaah! I’m gonna die!”
Yu Ri-ra, who had been pushed all the way to her tower after Hwarang left the lane.
But to them, this was the perfect setup for a gank.
There was no need to ask if they should go in. The Mountain King was the Mountain King, and Hwarang’s judgment was top-tier. Without a word the two burst out of the bush and descended upon the enemy bottom lane.
The Royal Sword bottom duo retreated as if they had anticipated the gank.
But knowing it in your head and facing it in person were two different things.
Stumps flew forward while Hwarang, empowered by spirit energy, surged like a crashing wave.
“…So fast!”
“Just survive!”
The support tried to block Hwarang’s path and salvage the situation, but Hwarang slipped past at terrifying speed and swallowed the enemy carry.
Yu Ri-ra, who had been waiting behind, joined the fight at light speed. The enemies were pincered in an instant.
Kim Yu-shin has slain Choi A-ram
Kim Jong-pil has slain Park Jae-seong
“Uwaaaaah!!”
Yu Ri-ra hopped up and down, flashing a thumbs-up, while the two men simply smiled and disappeared back into the jungle.
It was an unstoppable onslaught.
The Mountain King and Hwarang duo blasted through every lane from top to mid to bottom.
Their continuous roaming together produced destructive power beyond imagination.
They didn’t simply exert influence over the canyon; their relentless crowd control left the enemy unable to even breathe.
There was simply no way to stop them.
Guardian Yeo Eun-seo bit her lip hard. The early momentum she had seized already felt like a distant memory. She could not sit still on the brink of defeat.
But had her thoughts been read? Mir Guild refused to give her the luxury of calmly plotting her next move.
Kuuuung!!
Hwarang slammed into Guardian.
The impact sounded like a bursting shell. Sparks flew where their magic power collided, and between them the two hunters glared at each other.
“Eun-seo. It’s been a while.”
“Hwarang. Long time no see.”
“You’ll have to play with me now.”
“Hah… I got completely outplayed… To think you’d be used like this… I should have brought you to our team.”
“Haha, it was fun coordinating with you on the national team, wasn’t it?”
“Stop laughing.”
“Hahahahahahaha!!”
Hwarang and Guardian traded blows while exchanging light conversation.
Back when Hwarang was still in the Baekgeom Guild, the person Guardian hated most had not been the Sword Master but Hwarang himself.
Intelligent, devoted, and possessing unmatched roaming volume, he was the weapon every commander desired and simultaneously the opponent every commander feared.
Now that such a man was in the Mountain King’s hands, the destructive power he displayed was truly terrifying. As a fellow commander, Guardian could only feel envy.
Clang! Tang! Tang!
The sounds of collision rang out in rapid succession. Sparks of magic power flew.
He deflected the sword with his shield and twisted the trajectory of the incoming spear with a kick.
Guardian attacked fiercely with both sword and spear, yet Hwarang refused to retreat.
It was pressure that had even given the Mountain King trouble, but Hwarang was no slouch in close combat either.
Frustrated, Guardian tried to create distance to loose an arrow, but each time Hwarang charged forward like a train, shield first, and rammed her.
“Get out of the way!”
“Hahahaha!!”
Everything was relative, it seemed. The same Guardian who had tried desperately to close the distance against the Mountain King now found herself wanting nothing more than to keep Hwarang at arm’s length.
And amid that struggle, Hwarang’s speed continued to rise.
His heart thumped like a pump. Output increased. The muscles in his lower body flushed red as if on fire.
He broke past the critical point and began high-speed maneuvers left and right.
Then he charged with his shield raised.
Kwa-kakakakang—!!
Heavy yet explosive steps combined with world-class activity levels. Defense became offense, offense became defense. Hwarang’s unique all-in-one style of combat detonated.
The area turned into a wasteland.
The canyon itself trembled.
“Damn it!”
“This is cheating! A supporter that tanky is just dirty!”
“Indeed… it’s a little… difficult.”
“Difficult my ass! He’s even trickier than before!”
It was no joke. After switching to the supporter position, Hwarang had discarded his weapons and focused solely on his shield.
Perhaps because of that, his shield control and mobility had actually improved compared to his days as a top laner.
When he used that advantage to press forward, even the mighty Guardian was forced to retreat.
Before anyone realized it, the battle had reversed into the exact same shape as when Guardian had pinned down the Mountain King earlier. Yeo Eun-seo suddenly found her own strategy turned against her.
She bit her lip hard.
This would not do. If she stayed pinned down here, there would be no answer.
Even though she knew it was reckless, she called for reinforcements.
A moment later light rippled as a slash struck at Hwarang. The fact that he managed to block it with his shield in that instant was impressive; the sword strike had been that fast.
With the appearance of Gwanggeom, Hwarang was now facing the attacks of two rankers.
“We have to finish this quickly!”
“……”
Guardian mounted her ‘Bengal Tiger’ and thrust her spear while Gwanggeom transformed into pure light and pressed in from every direction.
Even while being pushed back mercilessly, Hwarang calmly retreated step by step.
Just a little more.
His eyes stayed fixed on the barrage of attacks.
He controlled his shield to guide their strikes.
Just a little more.
He raised his senses to the extreme.
He read their positions through the feeling in his toes.
Just a little.
He poured every ounce of strength into each step.
And the moment he reached the desired point—
“…Wait!!”
Guardian sensed something wrong and shouted, but the only reply was—
“You’re too late.”
Hwarang’s smile.
In an instant the surrounding trees began to grow. Waves of forest surged from front, back, left, and right. Rising from the bush behind them was—
The World Tree.
At the same time, white letters blazed into light as a white catastrophe descended.
Kim Jong-pil has slain Jong-yu
Kim Jong-pil has slain Yeo Eun-seo
“Royal Sword’s nexus is collapsing!!”
“There’s no answer. Hwarang and the Mountain King! This match showed just how incredible a supporter who can run with the jungler truly is!!”
“The one who shattered Royal Sword’s solid blueprint was none other than supporter Hwarang.”
⊳ Kill Score: 15 : 3
⊳ Hwarang Kim Yu-shin — 2 Kills, 13 Assists, 2 Deaths
⊳ Kill Participation: 100%