191. Gale Slayer (4)
At that moment.
There were others watching the broadcast as well.
“What?”
“What just happened?”
“Oh, remarkable.”
They were none other than the Red Rose guild members in Britain.
The news of Baek Jinwoo appearing on the broadcast spread across the world instantly, and there was no way it would escape the ears of Red Rose, who were already highly sensitive to information.
Led by Rachel, they were immediately summoned for an emergency gathering and watched the broadcast together.
Actually.
The hardest part had been getting an account.
Why was foreign sign-up so complicated?
If one of the guild members had not created an account in advance, they might have missed the live stream.
And then.
“That!”
Thud!
Rachel shot to her feet and shouted.
‘So he completed that again!’
There was no way she could forget.
That unidentified being that had sliced apart the S-grade summon she had during 「Battle of Summoners」 in an instant!
“.....So that really was Gale Slayer after all.”
That thing was a scam.
The moment PVP started, it was already over!
You did not know how you got hit, nor by what mechanism it attacked.
Whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl!
Along with the sound of the scythe spinning.
Slashslashslashslash!
All the summons’ HP drained away in an instant, and the match ended.
Even Rachel, a veteran with ten years of experience, had been hit with crushing disillusionment in that very moment.
She had spent plenty of money, and even so, she had been ranked second....
Yet she had lost to rank one in less than ten seconds, so how could she not feel dumbfounded?
‘It was hopeless to begin with.’
Now it’s even more hopeless, God Ji-nu.
ㄴ Please explain.
ㄴ I don’t know either!
ㄴ He just went swish swish! slash! and everything died. The end!
ㄴ So Gale Slayer is insanely overpowered?
ㄴ Looks like it.
ㄴ Well, he’s one of Baek Jinwoo’s summons, but his presence really was too weak until now.
ㄴ Lamba, HunGyo, and Explosive Dragon were just way too impactful.
ㄴ Still, I’m team Explosive Dragon!
ㄴ Gale Slayer kind of looks cute now too, though?
Swish, swish.
Along with the chat messages scrolling up.
Click!
She turned off the broadcast.
“That settles it.”
Rachel nodded.
As the guild members’ eyes turned to her—
“God Ji-nu is going to bring only that Gale Slayer into the World League this time. If my prediction is correct, even if all of us rushed it together, we still would not be able to beat that one Gale Slayer.”
“That thing is just what the hell.”
It was not merely strong.
It was a bug, a bug.
The guild members only stared blankly at Rachel.
What she was saying sounded unrealistic, but then again, they had seen what they had seen....
Rachel might talk a lot, but she was not the kind of player who spouted nonsense.
That was why they were experiencing cognitive dissonance.
Clap clap clap!
Rachel clapped her hands, breaking the mood.
“Anyway, with Explosive Dragon around, we were never going to win going forward, so everyone just focuses on the 50th floor of the Tower of Trials. Okay?”
“.......”
After a brief silence.
“Y-yes, ma’am!”
Everyone answered together.
* * *
The broadcast ended.
Gale Slayer’s greatness had probably spread across the entire world through those screens.
Even those who had missed the live stream would confirm its majesty through clips.
‘This is even better.’
After the Cold War, the reason America became the hegemonic power of the world too—
Was it not because of its enormous defense spending, enough to earn it the nickname ‘the Heavenly Kingdom’?
Deterrence!
Ambiguous strength invites provocation, but overwhelming strength brings peace.
It had already been that way, but now South Korea....
Especially SKY—there would be no bold fool left who dared touch them.
“Big brother, how did this happen?”
“Right. Gale Slayer doesn’t seem like the Gale Slayer I knew.”
Gi Jaehyuk and Hong Ari asked.
They could not understand it.
There was only one Gale Slayer.
Yet it had clearly looked like its range covered the entire sparring arena.
“This doesn’t feel like a loss because of control.”
“That’s right, big brother! It feels like we just ran into a natural disaster.”
The guild members were curious.
“Want me to show you?”
When Baek Jinwoo smiled—
“Yes!”
Everyone answered.
Even advisor Hwang Juwon jumped to his feet and shouted yes.
Well.
This was a guild privilege.
Since they already knew that Baek Jinwoo’s summons were EX-grade, he intended to reveal everything.
“All right, Gale Slayer.”
—Krurk...?
“Don’t go transparent. Use Phantom Split.”
—Kruruk...!
Nodding, Gale Slayer floated over to the middle of the sparring arena.
At the same time.
Sssst, ssssssht!
One original body, ten phantoms. A total of eleven Gale Slayers split apart.
“Gasp.”
“What?”
“.....Why are there so many Gale Slayers?!”
All the guild members’ jaws dropped open.
And then.
“Spin.”
Whirrwhirrwhirrwhirrwhirr!
The Gale Slayers began dancing as they spun their scythes.
Every single one of those had splash damage!
“Do you know what makes this so broken?”
Baek Jinwoo muttered as he demonstrated.
“Each one receives the rune’s effects, and each one exerts 80% of Gale Slayer’s power. And the even more broken part.”
Snap!
Baek Jinwoo flicked his fingers and called Lamba.
—Ung, Jinwoo!
At the same time.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
She stacked attack speed on Gale Slayer’s main body.
Then.
The speed at which the scythes spun started increasing more and more.
All ten phantoms, including the original body.
“No.”
“...F**k.”
Every guild member was horrified.
Some opened their mouths so wide their jaws seemed ready to fall off, unable to continue speaking.
Others could only laugh helplessly.
“Huhuhuh.... I knew it was broken already, but even if it’s broken, there should be a limit to how broken it can be.... What kind of insane summon is that?”
It felt unfair.
Why had God given Baek Jinwoo talent, and on top of that, such a ridiculous summon as well?
There’s no humanity in that, no humanity at all!
“Following Explosive Dragon, is this the appearance of yet another monster?”
“HunGyo is a monster too....”
“Lamba is broken too.”
“And what about Jaggeo and Dampir? They were basically zombies.”
“...…”
Anyway.
Well, was this a good thing?
A more accurate word would be ‘fortunate’.
That a monster like that just happened to be from our country. That he just happened to be our guild master.
“Then that S-grade summon isn’t for big brother Jaehyuk, right?”
Swish.
Kang Jihoe raised his hand and asked.
“Yeah.”
Baek Jinwoo nodded.
“That’s on hold. I’m going to give it to someone it suits better. Of course, among those who clear the 50th floor.”
“Yes!”
“Sounds great!”
“Yesss!”
At the same time, everyone’s eyes blazed with determination.
The 50th floor of the Tower of Trials?
They absolutely had to clear it!
* * *
There were roughly five months left until the World League.
News kept coming in that rankers from various countries were clearing the Tower of Trials, but SKY remained quiet.
‘We’ll leave one month on the clock and clear it in one shot.’
Until then?
They repeated nothing but control training, dungeon hunting, and rune maintenance.
After all, if they could not clear the 50th floor, nothing else mattered.
Some of the guild members were worried.
What if their clear speed was too slow and they failed to reach the 50th floor before the league?
There was no need to worry about that.
Explosive Dragon, HunGyo, Aso, and Gale Slayer would go in together and adjust things.
Anyway.
The main training hall was blazing with the heat of training.
The rookies’ skills were also steadily rising, and it felt like once this league ended, the rankings would undergo another dramatic reshuffling.
Right.
They were the self-proclaimed best guild in the world, so they could not be weaker than Red Rose!
At the very least, should not each individual guild member be around the level of the former Five Emperors?
“Hwaaaaaaap!”
“Ajajajat!”
Above the main training hall, full of shouts and fighting spirit, there was the rear training hall.
Baek Jinwoo’s eco-friendly private training ground!
Even fellow guild members could not enter this place freely and needed permission.
There was only one exception.
No entry except for Yoo Jia!
The rear training hall was hot as well.
On one side, Aila was sweating as she swung her spear.
At the center, HunGyo had begun Aso’s full-fledged intensive tutoring.
Aso’s skill was doubling with each passing day.
By now, Baek Jinwoo could never possibly catch up to her.
—Aso.
—Yeah!
—Have you practiced Heaven-Breaking Divine Art a lot?
—Yeah, I practiced it to death every time HunGyo wasn’t around.
—Show me once. If it satisfies me, I’ll start moving you forward into Mugeuk Seonin’s martial arts.
—Great! Heaven-Breaking Divine Art is boring. Mugeuk Seonin’s martial arts look way tastier.
Swoosh.
Aso raised her wooden sword.
Heaven-Breaking Divine Art.
It might be weaker than Mugeuk Seonin’s, but it was still incredible.
Unknown date of creation.
A martial art presumed to have been created by a god.
That already said enough, considering even Baek Jinwoo had thrown down his sword in frustration hundreds of times while learning it.
—I’ll show you.
Whirl!
Aso now handled this martial art even better than HunGyo.
—First, World-Annihilation!
Kwa-gagagagaga!
With a single shake of the wooden sword, sword energy spread around Aso’s body like a spiderweb!
—Gwooooh!
Jaggeo, who had been watching, stood up and restrained the spreading sword energy.
Aila also stopped training.
Thunk!
She planted her spear into the ground.
At once, a huge divine shield appeared!
Light wrapped around every direction and protected the training hall from Aso’s attack.
It could not be helped.
The kids were just too strong, so unless they did this, any training hall they used would collapse in no time.
—Good.
HunGyo nodded.
—Already 6-star?
—Yeah!
Impressive.
For reference, HunGyo was still only 3-star.
Daeseong was 9-star.
—I’ll show you the next one!
Aso’s wooden sword moved again.
Thousand Sword Chaos Dance.
It moved as though a thousand swords were dancing at once.
A tremendous chain attack!
—This one is also 6-star. Every link in the sequence flows freely like running water.
Clap clap clap!
HunGyo applauded.
Since HunGyo was stingy with praise, the fact that he reacted like that meant it truly was incredible.
—This time it’s Heavenly Light Slash!
—Heavenly Light Slash!
Skwa!
The training dummy that had been set up was cut down in an instant, at a speed like light.
—This one is already 6-star too? This is insane.
This time, even HunGyo let the word insane slip from his mouth.
Why?
Because he had only taught this one very recently.
For reference, HunGyo was still only 2-star at this himself.
—If Aso learns something, 6-star is the minimum! So hurry up and teach me Mugeuk Seonin’s stuff!
—Do not look down on Mugeuk Seonin, Aso.
—Tch.
—As I keep telling you, if you cannot master the fourth and fifth stages of Heaven-Breaking Divine Art... it would be better not to even attempt it.
—I know! Every martial art needs a strong foundation! Heaven-Breaking Divine Art is the foundation! Right?
—…That’s right.
HunGyo looked a little wronged.
Heaven-Breaking Divine Art was a martial art that some people could spend their entire lives learning and still never master....
But to Aso, that was just the foundation.
Her starting line was simply different.
—Then should I do the next one too?
—...The next one?
Flinch.
HunGyo was startled.
He had never properly taught it to her, only explained the concept, and merely recited the lines of the martial art to her....
And she had learned it?
—Here I go!
Heavenly Energy Sword Control!
Whirrrrr!
The wooden sword left Aso’s hand.
But?
It moved cleanly as if some invisible being were holding it.
Thud!
It stabbed the dummy.
Kwa-ga-gak!
Then it struck the vital points on both sides.
It was slightly awkward, but it had clearly succeeded.
Sword control....
—Heavenly Energy Sword Control at 2-star... just when did you...?
Even Baek Jinwoo, who had been watching, was shocked.
Aso, that girl.
She was just on a completely different level of genius!
HunGyo!
‘You said I was a genius too!’
A genius was someone like that. In front of Aso, Baek Jinwoo was nothing more than an ordinary person.
Swaeaaaaak!
The wooden sword returned perfectly to Aso’s hand.
Then.
Swoosh.
She stretched her left hand forward, pulled back her right hand holding the sword, and took her stance.
—HunGyo.
—Yes.
—I’m going to use the final Heavenly Sword against you! Do your best to block it.
—…...
Shing!
HunGyo drew his sword.
Aso held a wooden sword.
HunGyo held a real blade.
The final stage of Heaven-Breaking Divine Art.
Had Aso truly comprehended that ultimate principle, one that felt similar to Heart Sword?
Gulp.
Baek Jinwoo swallowed.
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