The Monarch's Training Ground
The gate that opened in Bundang.
The moment we stepped into the Scorching Sand Hell, a blast of scorching wind swept across our skin.
“Ebebebebe. What about my skin?!”
“There’s no one around to see you anyway. Why worry?”
“Hey! Do you only care about your looks when you’re trying to date someone?!”
“Skin care is just washing your face once every two days. Learn from the resilience of the Chinese people.”
Jiyoung’s eyes widened into perfect circles.
“You… wash once every two days?”
“How about it? Don’t I look cool?”
Ping Lei let out a short, smug chuckle.
“A man with such thorough self-management as myself is among the very best warriors of China.”
“Ugh. Gross. Get away from me.”
“Why?!”
When Ping Lei reached out, a high-pitched scream burst out.
I usually don’t interfere with people’s personal lives, but…
“Ping Lei. From now on, you must wash at least once every single day.”
“Master, what are you saying? If I wash too often, I’ll lose my manly spirit.”
“Aish. Goddamn it. Just do it when I tell you to.”
What I thought was seborrheic scalp inflammation on your shoulder was actually dandruff. Gross.
“Don’t come within two meters of me.”
Starting today, we’re enforcing social distancing.
“Are you already keeping me at bay in preparation for our spar?”
“It’s not that, so please just stop.”
Haa—
A deep, heavy sigh rose from the bottom of my lungs and crawled up my throat.
If this was an attack on my mind, it was an absolutely brilliant strike.
Even Cold Blood couldn’t stop the tremor in my heart.
“Then what exactly is the problem?!”
Ping Lei shook his head violently.
Please.
My life is already at zero.
[Cold Blood] cannot suppress mental agitation.
Just then, Shin Junseok returned and saved me from further mental damage.
“The perimeter has been cleared, Junior.”
“Thank you.”
“No need for thanks. I’m the one who gets to watch a good show.”
“They’re still only Platinum rank. I’m not sure if the guild members will meet your standards.”
“After seeing what happened during the Great Collapse in France, I’d say they’re better than most Diamond-rank players.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know about your standards, though.”
“Come on. My standards aren’t that picky.”
“How high are we talking?”
“Good enough to hold their own against the pointy-eared bastards.”
Senior.
Why are you looking at me like I’m unrecyclable trash?
“Junior, do you have no conscience at all?”
“I pay my taxes on time. How can you say I have no conscience?”
“It’s nice to hear that Platinum-rank friends think they can match elves.”
“Senior, have you fought the pointy-eared ones before?”
“Twice. It was difficult to hold back.”
“So you won, I assume.”
“Thanks to the Guild Master’s advice and my training.”
Shin Junseok had also suffered a bitter defeat in the Diamond promotion match.
After tasting the bitterness of loss, he set aside all his pride and came to me for guidance.
Relentless training and reinterpretation of martial arts.
He modified some forms of the Violent Tiger Divine Fist to suit himself and, using my advice as a foundation, made remarkable progress in his internal energy manipulation.
Thanks to that, just like Ellen, he raised his RP significantly and currently sits in the upper ranks among the Earth players on the 60th floor.
“Anyway, I’m looking forward to this spar.”
“Please take care of any monsters that respawn.”
“Don’t worry.”
After entrusting gate management to Shin Junseok, I stepped forward.
The original members were already in battle stance.
Five pairs of eyes followed my every movement.
“Shall we begin right away?”
“Please give the starting signal, Guild Master.”
“Understood, Youngsoo-hyung.”
That much, I could do anytime.
“Three, two, one……”
The moment I uttered “ding—”,
Five figures burst into motion alongside a thick wave of killing intent.
When exactly did it start?
Ever since then, the Yeokcheon guild members had begun treating Jinho as their imaginary opponent during group training sessions.
There was no special reason.
It was simply because he was overwhelmingly strong and possessed such a wide variety of abilities that thinking about how to fight and defeat him naturally led their minds in that direction.
So the moment they faced Jinho, the thought “It’s finally here” ignited their fighting spirit.
“Let’s do it like we always do.”
Kim Youngsoo spoke in his usual calm tone.
Ping Lei’s lips moved slightly.
Unique Ability – Clone
With a puff of white smoke, a portion of the desert was dyed in his color.
“Yaaah!”
“Kyaaul!”
Thirty versions of Ping Lei burst out with loud battle cries.
Unique Ability – Legion Command
[*Commanding 50+ units]
- Morale increased
- Pain resistance granted
- Selected ability power increased by 10%.
[Centurion’s Command]
- Stun resistance, morale increased.
With five guild members, fifteen puppets, and thirty clones, the total reached fifty units, triggering the full command buff.
「We will form the formation.」
Under Kim Youngsoo’s command, the clones quickly organized themselves into ranks.
Thud! Thud!
Thirty clones advanced in perfect step.
Though there were slight gaps between them, the momentum they emitted left no room for even a needle to slip through.
It was all thanks to the effect of Legion Command.
“Oh. Not bad.”
“Guild Master, it’s still too early to be impressed.”
“Well, I did expect them to build a formation with clones.”
Jinho replied with a grin.
Multi Spell
Solar Explosion
Avalanche
A scarlet orb compressed with extreme yang energy floated up, followed by a contrasting pure white circle rising into the air.
While Ping Lei was forming ranks with his clones, Jinho hadn’t simply been watching.
「Jiyoung.」
Vibration Barrier x 10
Right before the two opposing forces collided, hexagonal barriers appeared between the orbs.
The powerful repulsive force pushed Solar Explosion and Avalanche in opposite directions.
It was a characteristic of magic that its full power only emerged after the condensed mana was allowed to explode.
Of course, because the energy contained within was so enormous, the barriers warped under the strain.
“It’s not over yet!”
Jiyoung caused the warped barriers to collide from within.
Kwaaaaaang!
After releasing the maximum power remaining in the barriers, she instantly deployed new ones into the empty space created by the clash.
The time between release and redeployment was a mere 0.04 seconds.
If she had been even 0.01 seconds slower, she wouldn’t have been able to stop the two orbs from colliding.
Jinho, realizing this, no longer pushed his luck.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
The blue and red orbs released their stored mana. Using the vibration barrier as an axis, the destructive energy spread out like wings on both sides.
「Excellent work, Jiyoung.」
“This is only the beginning.”
Indeed.
The Solar Explosion / Avalanche + Eclipse combo was merely the opening signal for battle.
Jinho’s bottomless well of abilities had no visible floor. They had only uncovered a tiny fraction of it.
「Now let’s close the distance.」
“Understood.”
Member strength and agility increased by 30%.
The clones stretched out in a long U-shape, driving Jinho into the center of the formation.
Target's strength, agility, stamina, and tenacity reduced by 20%
Slow Lv 32
Movement speed reduced by 72%
A murderous debuff effect!
When the many pressured the few, the efficiency of the formation rose dramatically.
The clones that looked like they would charge at any moment simply maintained their ranks and pointed their staffs at him.
“Karla. Now.”
Space Shift
Dimensional Slash
Using a concept different from Shrink, Karla folded space and moved. In a single step, she appeared behind Jinho and swung her greatsword with tremendous force.
The dimensional interference power dwelling in the blade was the natural enemy of all defensive effects!
It was a perfect anti-defense ability that could easily shatter even Jiyoung’s unique skill, Vibration Barrier.
A massive earthen dragon surged from beneath Jinho's feet and swallowed Karla.
She could cut it.
However, just as splitting a wave in half doesn’t make the water disappear, even if she sliced apart the dragon filled with earth-attribute Seon energy, she couldn’t dissipate all the rushing power.
Polar Night
The shadows cast on the ground spread wide, claiming the entire area.
Karla’s unique ability, Space, was not omnipotent.
She could not move into a space already permeated by someone else’s energy.
Instead of leaping through space, she aimed the tip of her blade at the earth dragon’s head.
Space Compression
Release
The distorted landscape snapped back to normal, releasing a powerful rebound force.
While the earth dragon staggered from the impact, Karla used that very force to move diagonally.
Swish! The Polar Night caught in the scythe’s trajectory was torn apart.
“Can’t close the distance any further.”
「That’s enough.」
The intended goal had been achieved.
Polar Night.
Among the many powers Jinho wielded, it was the most irregular and the one that allowed the freest transition between offense and defense.
「Enrique. Are you ready?」
“Of course, old man.”
Enrique poured mana into his magic armor.
Ziiiing!
Blue particles sprayed from the vernier thrusters on his back and the auxiliary emitters on his soles.
He soared dozens of meters into the air, locked his eyes on Jinho, and clapped his palms together.
Mechanic Control
Call Mana Cannon x 50
Synchronization
Magical armaments were summoned in less than a second.
“Sequential linked fire! All cannons, open fire!”
The barrels tilted at a 45-degree angle all fired at once.
Tudadada!
Each individual shot didn’t have much power.
It was barely enough to scratch True Dragon Armor.
However, the situation was different for the Polar Night that had been spread out to dominate the space.
The blue mana bullets, condensed and forged with mana, tore through the darkness that had claimed the area.
Jinho’s Polar Night, which was less refined than its original owner Nyx’s, had been spread thin to restrict Karla’s movement.
With its density diluted, it struggled to respond to the barrage of mana bullets.
「Ping Lei. Press the attack.」
“I’ve been waiting.”
Heavenly Flower Staff Technique – Flexible River Staff
The thirty clones moved in perfect harmony as they thrust their staffs forward.
The tips of the staffs seemed to split apart. Blue lightning flashed in sync with the countless branching movements.
Like lightning whose landing point could not be predicted, they synchronized their staffs with that flow, amplifying it repeatedly before focusing it into a single point.
At first glance it looked chaotic, but in the end all the flows converged into one.
Kwarururung!
The lightning that filled all directions mercilessly shredded the spot where Jinho stood.
Following the downpour of mana bullets came lightning forged through Seon magic.
Sand flew in every direction and thick clouds of dust rose, making it impossible to see with the naked eye.
Kim Youngsoo calmly gave the next order.
「Now, Karla.」
“Order received. Executing.”
Dimension Break
When she stabbed the air with her scythe, cracks appeared in the empty space like a window struck by a massive impact.
The cracks shattered into countless fragments and rained down on Jinho.
Its power was similar to splitting an aura blade into many pieces.
The difference was that attacks with Space or Dimension attributes required separate resistance to defend against them.
‘This is the real one, Guild Master.’
As mentioned from the beginning, the guild members had studied how to fight Jinho.
He possessed an absurdly wide variety of abilities, excelled in close, mid, and long-range combat, could fight on the ground, in the air, and even underwater, and had outstanding defensive capabilities.
How should one fight such a monster?
‘Bind his various utility abilities for even a single moment and land a decisive blow.’
While Ping Lei and Enrique poured on the pressure, Karla would deliver a fatal wound with an attack that ignored defense.
This was the winning formula that every guild member had agreed upon.
‘It worked.’
From the very start of the battle, they had created a single opportunity by overwhelming him.
They had confirmed Karla’s scythe splitting dimensions at point-blank range.
“Did we get him?!”
Ping Lei shouted with desperate hope in his voice.