The Sealed Wind Awakens
Blackout.
Consciousness snuffed out, then flared back to life.
From the darkness that had held him captive for eons came a nauseating sensation, as though someone had forcibly shaken a long-slumbering soul awake. His head rang with a sharp, electric buzz.
Where… am I?
He opened his eyes, yet felt no true sense of having done so.
Of course not.
He was only a soul, after all.
Chu Pung, the old man, ground his teeth.
Fragments of memory flashed through his mind like lightning. The Moon Shadow Sect, crushed by the Tower Lord’s forces. His master, Ha-wol, stripped of her power, and the comrades who had burned themselves to ash defending her. And then…
Even if it costs a fortune in TC, those bastards must be sealed forever inside the Tower of Despair!
The sight of unfamiliar Rankers performing a strange ritual around him. That had been his final memory.
This place…
He could see. The stench of blood filled the air, and screams rang out.
Elves and demons…
It came back to him. This was the battlefield of the Tower’s seventh floor.
Heh heh heh… so the place they trapped me was the seventh floor?
Sealing a Ranker inside the Tower required an astronomical sum of TC. The most absolute prison the System would allow. The only way to break such a seal was for Climbers themselves to unravel its secret.
…And I…
Most of that TC had almost certainly been spent on Ha-wol. Even the Tower Lord had feared her above all others. For Chu Pung they had used the bare minimum, and by the Tower’s own laws he had been sealed into the weapon that suited him best. That weapon, it seemed, had been the elves’ bow on the seventh floor.
It fits, in a way.
The direction of elven archery had always been similar to his own Eagle Claw Divine Archery.
Still…
Chu Pung forced his thoughts into order. If his consciousness had returned this completely, it could mean only one thing.
A Climber had broken his seal.
He looked down. Below him stood a human girl, drawing a bow. There was something extraordinary about her talent. And then, from her body, he felt a familiar pulse of energy.
What… is this?
Chu Pung’s soul reeled in shock. That was unmistakably the energy of his own technique—Soul Chase!
Why is my martial art flowing through this young girl’s body?
Eagle Claw Divine Archery was a technique he had created in his final years. No one else should have known it…
Or did they?
His lord, Ha-wol, had known a little. She had been a genius with an interest in every martial art. He had explained the formulas a few times, nothing more.
Crude as it is, that is definitely my art.
So he asked.
“Who are you? How do you know the martial arts of Chu Pung?”
The girl’s movements faltered for an instant. The taut bowstring loosened of its own accord.
Kang Si-a found it strange.
Eagle Claw Divine Archery is Chu Pung’s technique?
That couldn’t be. This was the art Hyun Si-woon—or more precisely, Ha-wol—had taught her.
“What—what did you just think?!”
Reading the thoughts linked through the soul, Chu Pung’s voice erupted in astonishment.
“Eagle Claw Divine Archery? Did you just say Eagle Claw Divine Archery?”
“……!”
Kang Si-a’s pupils trembled.
He can read my thoughts?
Right. Baek Yeon-ho and Hyun Si-woon had mentioned it. The soul of a Ranker sealed in a weapon could read its Climber’s thoughts.
“Speak at once! How do you know Eagle Claw Divine Archery?!”
Chu Pung’s roar was like thunder. The overwhelming presence pouring from the old man’s spirit body made Kang Si-a instinctively hold her breath. Her mind went blank. She was in the middle of a battlefield, facing enemies, and she needed to concentrate—yet this unknown old man kept tearing through her thoughts, leaving her unable to steady herself.
So she answered.
“Ha-wol…”
“What?”
“Lady Ha-wol taught me. She said it would be useful to learn, even just a little…”
This time Chu Pung’s pupils shook.
Ha-wol!
Ha-wol, of all people!
Unless he had misheard, the young girl had just spoken his lord’s name. Chu Pung’s one and only master.
“…Whom did you just name?”
The old man’s voice trembled faintly. All the thunderous authority of a moment ago had vanished. It was nothing more than the desperate question of an aged soul clutching at a thread of hope.
Kang Si-a was confused, yet she could feel the earnest longing in his voice.
“Lady… Ha-wol.”
“Ha-wol…! My lord…!”
An indescribable wave of emotion burst from Chu Pung’s spirit form. It was overwhelming joy.
I thought everything was finished.
The one the Tower Lord had feared most should have been sealed for eternity in an abyss far deeper and darker than his own. Chu Pung had never doubted that. And yet…
Climbers know of her?
There was only one possible explanation. Some Climber had awakened the sealed Ha-wol!
“There is a Climber who claimed my lord? Who is that person? Where are they now?!”
“…He’s the leader of our climbing party. Right now he’s somewhere else…”
“Ah-ha! Ah-hahahahaha! Ah-hahaha!”
Hearing that, Chu Pung laughed long and loud. There was nothing frightening about the sound; it was pure, triumphant joy.
“She has been freed! She has truly been freed!”
Chu Pung’s eyes burned hot. He looked down at Kang Si-a once more, with an entirely different gaze. This child was no ordinary Climber. She was new hope for the Moon Shadow Sect, walking the same path he once had. The sole hope that could pull his lord free of this damned Tower!
“My lord said it would be useful to learn, even just a little?”
“…Yes.”
“Hah. That is exactly like her.”
A faint smile touched Chu Pung’s lips.
“She likely does not know the deeper principles of archery. She is the god of the sword, after all. But this old man is different. Eagle Claw Divine Archery is the life’s work I perfected over a lifetime. Its true essence is known only to me.”
Chu Pung had to meet his lord. For that, one essential condition had to be met: this girl had to survive.
He now had a clear motive.
“Listen well, successor.”
Power filled Chu Pung’s voice.
“My lord saw your talent in advance and planted the seed. This old man will water it and serve as the fertilizer. I will take that crude Eagle Claw Divine Archery you use and raise it to the true realm of the divine. First, let us begin by clearing away the vermin before your eyes.”
At that moment, Chu Pung could not yet foresee it. The disciple he had accepted was a genius beyond all imagination.
Slash!
Hyun Si-woon severed the last pursuer’s neck and staggered.
“Hah… hah…!”
How long had he been running? His vision blurred; every sense in his body was going dull.
“You fool! Snap out of it! We’re almost there!”
Ha-wol’s urgent cry rang through his mind. He did not hear it. He had lost too much blood. A Tracking Ghoul’s claws had raked his left shoulder and torn away flesh; shards from a Shatter Soldier’s mace were embedded in his right thigh. He had used Healing Light, but its cooldown was long, and under the endless assault the wounds only multiplied. He had plastered himself with potions the entire way.
Thud.
At last his legs gave out.
“Hah… hah… hah!”
Even with rest stops it had been brutal. The final stretch had forced him to run for five straight hours. Running itself was fine, but the traps had been far too numerous. And no matter how high his stats, punching straight through a sixth-tier monster like a Shatter Soldier had clearly been too much.
Give up?
The world spun. Sleeping now would feel so easy. Even if he died he could just start over from the beginning…
No. Absolutely not.
He clenched a blood-smeared hand around the shard buried in his thigh.
“Gaaaaah!”
Agony tore through him as he ripped it free; his mind snapped sharp again. Blood fountained. He tore a strip from his ruined clothes and bound the wound tight.
Do this all over again? After coming this far?
Halfway, maybe. But the destination was right in front of him.
At that exact moment the ground rumbled.
Rumble…
“Behind you, you fool!”
Ha-wol’s scream-like cry. Hyun Si-woon clenched his teeth and turned. The Abyssal Shatter Soldier he had thought he finally shook off had doggedly chased him down.
“GROOOOAAAR!”
The wind from its swinging mace grazed his skin. The shadow of death brushed the nape of his neck.
“Haaah!”
Hyun Si-woon’s eyes blazed like a final ember.
I will not die.
Even if his body gave out from sheer exhaustion, he would not die to that mace.
Moon Shadow Step unfolded once more. His sword twisted cunningly and drove into the Shatter Soldier’s Achilles tendon.
Moon Point!
Thrust!
Once was nowhere near enough. Stab, stab, stab, stab! He danced through footwork, piercing again and again.
“GROOOAAARR!”
The creature howled in pain and smashed its mace down at random, but the pattern was fixed; dodging was not difficult. The only problem was stamina.
“Hah… hah!”
Now!
He leapt onto the descending mace. Using the Shatter Soldier’s own upward swing as a springboard, he launched into the air.
“You—what do you think you’re doing?!”
Ha-wol’s cry of shock reached him. Hyun Si-woon gathered every last scrap of power into the tip of his sword. Every bone in his body screamed; his muscles felt as though they were tearing. For an instant he hung suspended in the sky, then gravity seized him and he plummeted.
Pierce it in one blow.
The sword, accelerated by the fall, drove straight into the Shatter Soldier’s crown.
Crunch!
The sound of helm and skull shattering together was sickening. A true critical hit. The giant body swayed, then toppled forward. Naturally Hyun Si-woon was flung to the ground with it.
“Guh… hah… hah…!”
He coughed blood and rolled across the dirt. His entire body was wrecked.
Arm’s broken, I think…
His left arm would not respond. The landing had gone wrong. The one mercy was that both legs still worked. Hyun Si-woon forced himself upright and dragged his battered body toward the gap.
And at last—
Step.
He reached the destination: the gap.
“This is…”
Ha-wol murmured.
“The Rift of the Demon Realm?”
Correct. A place where the boundary between dimensions had collapsed. All around lay twisted fragments of space, and at the center a colossal black crystal pillar thrust toward the sky. Inside that crystal pillar, sealed densely by an unknown power, four beings could be seen.
The Spirit Kings themselves!
“Haha.”
Hyun Si-woon sank to the ground. From here on it was as good as a safe zone. He no longer held back. Dozens of potions spilled from his inventory onto the floor. He lacked even the strength to uncork them. With his right hand he simply crushed the bottles.
Crack! Crack!
Glass shards and crimson liquid poured out together. He dumped the potions without mercy over his ruined left arm and the still-bleeding thigh.
Sizzle—!
The sound of torn flesh burning rose with searing agony, yet he did not utter a single groan. Still unsatisfied, he tipped the remaining potions down his throat.
Gulp, gulp.
The cold liquid slid down; warm energy spread from within.
It was still not enough. He raised his right hand over the wounds.
Healing Light.
Gentle radiance poured forth and wrapped the torn flesh. Shattered bone found its place again; missing meat slowly filled in.
“Huu… huu…”
Only then could Hyun Si-woon release a breath of relief.
“That was far too close, you brat. I truly thought you would die.”
Even Ha-wol’s voice carried relief.
“By the way… what exactly are those things?”
She pointed at the four Spirit Kings.
“The grade of power sealed there… it surpasses most Rankers. No— it even seems to surpass me at my peak. Why would such things exist on a mere seventh floor of the Tower?”