198. Grand Opening (2)
Challenge, Time Attack!
It was a game made for this opening event, and its setup was similar to the Friday Dungeon.
The idea was to run through various fun obstacles and reach the destination, and there were bells placed here and there along the way.
Its defining feature was that only domestic rankers or higher could participate, and summons were allowed too!
Seriously...
Who even came up with this?
‘I already do this to death every Friday morning, and now I have to do it at an event too?’
And besides.
What is Rachel doing here again?
Why is she standing over there like that?
— Jinwoo! Look over there!
“Huh.”
And it was not just Rachel.
The British national team members, including Olivia.
The Japanese national team members, including Sugoi.
The American national team members, including Xenos.
And all sorts of other famous world rankers had gathered too.
What is this.
A surprise?
As Baek Jinwoo stood there blankly, Xenos approached as their representative.
“What are you so surprised about, Baek Jinwoo?”
He curled one corner of his mouth upward slightly.
“If you are a player, then of course attending a major event hosted by Yoobaek is only natural.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. It is the best group in the industry, is it not? And when Rune Eclat said it would put up such high-level runes for auction exclusively to attendees, how could any player possibly resist coming?”
“Uh……”
Ah.
He remembered.
It seemed Baek Ajin had reported that they were going to do it that way.
“So that is why everyone gathered like this? To buy them?”
“Well, that is part of it.”
Swoosh.
Xenos looked around in all directions.
“Can you not feel the eyes on you?”
Players were glancing this way, whether knowingly or not.
Some gazes were filled with curiosity, and others were filled with respect.
Good grief.
This is burdensome.
“Most of them came because they wanted, at the very least, to make an impression on you. For now, you are the leader of Humanity’s Vanguard.”
“That too.”
Step, step.
Sugoi, who had been hesitating a little, also walked over.
Has he been under a lot of stress? He looks even more gaunt than last time.
— Sugoiii! You jerk!
When Lamba shouted with her eyes wide open,
“……”
Sugoi pressed his palms together in apology.
“I apologize once again for failing to manage my subordinates. Japan never had any intention of tugging on the whiskers of a sleeping lion.”
— Hmph, I will let it slide since you apologized!
“Tha……”
Yoshida Hikaru naturally joined them as well.
Just as Xenos had done, he swept his gaze around.
“A festival was necessary at a time like this.”
He continued.
“No matter how much we have adapted, the truth is that we are standing on the brink of humanity’s end, are we not?”
To be exact, if they failed to clear the 70th floor of the Tower of Trials within nine months, it would be the end.
No matter how much they laughed, chatted, and enjoyed themselves.
That was the heavy reality.
“Rather than shutting ourselves inside and trembling, it is better to come out like this and enjoy ourselves. For the people of the world too.”
Mm.
Is that how it is?
Okay.
Well, the more players there were, the better it was for Baek Jinwoo.
This grand opening would become even more successful, and Yoobaek City would be talked about much more often.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
It was then that cheers suddenly erupted from one side.
“Rachel! Rachel! Rachel!”
“Wow, it is a record! Rachel, 3 minutes 47 seconds!”
3 minutes 47 seconds?
That is the record?
— Jinwoo! Let us do it too! We cannot lose to someone like Rachel!
Lamba’s eyes sparkled.
Her eager gaze clearly said that Baek Jinwoo should hurry up and show the power of her master.
Watching that, Xenos asked,
“Are you going to participate?”
“Mm.”
He really did not understand it.
How did a mere obstacle course like that produce a time of 3 minutes 47 seconds?
Should it not be finished in under a minute?
The corners of Baek Jinwoo’s mouth rose slightly.
“A little later?”
If he set the first-place record already, that would make it less fun.
Still, it was probably an event they had prepared quite ambitiously.
* * *
The festival was enjoyable in its own way.
He wandered around here and there, looking around and shopping too.
— Pretty....
He bought a pretty Western-style dress for Dampir.
— A, a gift like this. Thank you. May God’s blessing be with you, Lord Jinwoo.
And for Aila Lunares, he bought comfortable tracksuit clothes.
For reference, summons wear clothes too.
He did not know what kind of mechanism made it possible, but if he bought them something, they came out wearing it properly on their own every time they were summoned.
— Daddy, me too! Aso wants clothes too.
For her, he got a pink Chinese-style martial robe.
No, for someone who would soon split heaven and earth apart, what is with the pink...... was what he thought, but then again, seeing her running around brightly with Explosive Dragon, smiling all the while, made it seem like it suited her too.
Why is she so cute?
Yeah, this is healing.
“Sure, sure. If you see anything you want while we are walking around, tell me. Seventy percent of everything here is Daddy’s anyway.”
— Waaaaaah!
— As expected, Jinwooo! I want cream buns!
Ah.
There was also a corner where they could sample Fada’s newly launched Lamba Cream Buns.
Lamba was very popular there.
Munch, munch!
Clickclickclickclick!
They were taking pictures of her like crazy.
There was no way they could miss Lamba eating “Lamba Cream Buns”!
After having fun like that, he also participated in <Challenge, Time Attack!>
How many minutes did it take?
Exactly 50 seconds.
Baek Jinwoo’s Celestial Wyvern control was so perfect it could almost be called divine, so he simply rode through the ground obstacles as if dashing across the earth on a wyvern.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“This is insane! It is a monumental record! Does this even make sense? He flew across the ground!”
“Baek Jinwoo! Baek Jinwoo! Baek Jinwoo!”
A video capturing the way he broke through the course was uploaded to YouTube, and it hit the real-time best rankings.
It was perfect for changing the mood.
Using this opening as its momentum, Yoobaek City would surely grow into one of South Korea’s famous landmarks.
It might look modest now, but would it not change a lot in just one year?
Of course, for that to happen. They had to clear the tower.
If they failed, then all of it would amount to nothing.
“Aso.”
— Yeah!
“We are going back in.”
— To split heaven and earth?
“Yeah.”
It sounded a little funny when put like that, but it was true.
Aso really did have to split heaven and earth.
Wherever that might be.
* * *
The next day.
He entered a dungeon again.
It was a D-grade dungeon that had appeared near Hanam, but he had not come in intending to clear it in the first place.
The terrain is desert.
Good luck.
A terrain where heaven and earth could be seen clearly without obstruction.
— I will begin.
Aso raised her wooden sword, and HunGyo crossed his arms and began the training.
To split heaven and earth, one had to slash from top to bottom or from bottom to top.
Only then could both places be split apart in a single strike.
— Today as well, I will recite the oral formula.
— Yeah! I will listen carefully!
— Hold the sword upright, and in a state where your heart does not waver, gaze upon all under heaven. Match your breathing carefully and become a single bolt of thunder. Pour into the sword the will to split heaven and earth......
Mutter, mutter.
He kept reciting what sounded like words left behind by Mugeuk Seonin.
Swoosh.
Aso held the sword and focused, engraving the meaning deeply into her mind.
There was no need to rush.
It was fine even if she could not understand it right away.
She just had to try things one by one, starting with whatever came to mind.
Swaeaeaeak!
Aso swung the wooden sword.
Kwa-gagagagaga!
The strange thing was.
It was not enough to split heaven and earth, but it was enough to gouge the sandy ground a little.
And that was without any sword energy infused into it.
— Hoo.
Aso closed her eyes and slowly took a deep breath.
— The sword and you must become one. Just like with Wind Dance, consciously empty yourself and pour your everything into the sword. To realize your will through the sword. To place no limits on that will. That is the essence of the Mugeuk Supreme Sword Art.
There was no need to rush.
Aso knew well enough that this was not a martial art that could be learned easily.
So she simply—
Kwa-gagagagaga!
kept thrusting the sword sharply.
If her movements became much smoother and more natural than before?
That alone was enough.
How joyful it was to improve with every single sword strike!
— Good, Aso. Keep swinging.
— Yeah!
Drip.
Sweating, Aso continued her training.
And Baek Jinwoo?
“Sseup, hoo.”
Operating the Clear Heaven Heart Technique, he silently watched over their training.
* * *
Time passed again.
When exactly two months remained until the World League.
“We’ll be starting the tower climb soon.”
Hong Ari muttered after gathering the guild members together.
“Originally, the plan was to receive the Guild Master’s summons one month beforehand and just blaze straight through, but...... honestly, we should have some conscience. I think we need to break through at least the 40th floor with our own strength.”
You could tell just by looking at the news.
The people currently preparing for Humanity’s Vanguard.
Every single one of them had cleared the 30th floor.
“We’re SKY, the best in the world. We should be much faster than the others, right?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Within this week, Team 2 will clear up to the 20th floor, and Team 1 will clear up to the 30th floor.”
The 20th-floor boss was Dracula (S-grade), and the 30th-floor boss was Phantom (S-grade).
Strategies for those bosses were already drilled into their heads.
“Organize it further. Keep memorizing it over and over in your heads throughout your training.”
They had memorized an absurd amount.
At this point, they almost wanted to clear it quickly just so they could forget it all.
And not only that.
They had also memorized everything about the 40th-floor boss Cronotaur (S-grade) and the 50th-floor boss Chronos (S-grade) all at once.
“It was all inside the Guild Master’s head. If the Guild Master can do it and we can’t, then we should take off the SKY label.”
Question marks popped up above the guild members’ heads at Hong Ari’s words.
‘The Guild Master can do things we can’t!’
‘That’s what’s normal!’
‘Baek Jinwoo is a genius!’
But?
The one who held the real power in SKY right now was Hong Ari.
Ah, whatever!
If she tells us to do it, we do it!
“Anyone who can’t break through the 40th floor within exactly one month will be reported to the Guild Master. That they’re unqualified.”
She was being strict for good reason.
They were being supported with runes, supported with summons, trained, and even had their latent skills unlocked.
She was doing everything for them, and yet if there were still guild members who wanted to be carried by the bus?
Even if they joined Humanity’s Vanguard, they would only be baggage.
It’s not enough just to be satisfied with joining Humanity’s Vanguard.
Even within that group, they had to show why SKY was SKY, and more than anything, Hong Ari wanted Baek Jinwoo to say with a proud expression, “Ah, I really raised my guild members well!”
In other words.
She did not want to be a parasite living off others.
Since she was being paid, would that make her a money parasite?
Anyway.
Hong Ari did not think she was asking for anything unreasonable.
It was demanding, but still a target they could absolutely achieve!
And it was also the minimum requirement for participating in Humanity’s Vanguard.
* * *
Another month passed.
When exactly one month remained until the World League.
Kururururung!
The inside of the dungeon Baek Jinwoo had entered shook.
— D-Daddy!
Just now.
Aso, who had brought her wooden sword down, cried out in a voice full of emotion.
— It worked! Look again!
Swaeaek!
It was a light swing.
But that movement was anything but light.
As mountains and streams tremble before a tiger’s roar, the air quivered from Aso’s swing, and everything around her fell silent.
Then.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!
An enormous force began exploding outward along the trajectory of the wooden sword.
— …..My lord.
HunGyo looked up at the sky with an emotional expression.
The ceiling had split open and darkness was swirling through it, while a thick line had been carved into the ground.
It was as if the universe itself had been cleaved apart; a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering scene unfolded before their eyes.
— She truly split the sky in half. And the ground...... while it did not fully split apart, it does seem to have cracked.
“This actually works?”
— Even I am astonished, my lord.
Heaven-and-Earth Cleaving Slash.
The moment it shines once, heaven and earth are split apart.
— For reference, this is only 1-star.
1-star.
“.......”
Seriously.
It really is an absurd martial art.
What would happen if she used this on Asmodeus?
Wouldn’t he just be split in one blow?
“What in the world are we even raising?”
— I believe it is, in all likelihood, a monster.
“Right? You think so too, don’t you?”
Whip!
As Aso turned her head—
— .........
“……”
Baek Jinwoo and HunGyo quietly shut their mouths.
Ahem.
Anyway.
[Aso learns three of Mugeuk Seonin’s techniques up to 1-star! (3/3)]
[You have cleared ‘Aso’ (EX-grade)’s sudden quest!]
[‘Aso’ (EX-grade) unlocks her latent abilities.]
[‘Aso’ (EX-grade)’s base stats increase.]
[‘Aso’ (EX-grade) gains a new skill.]
Aso had gained yet another ridiculously overpowered skill.
At the same time—
— My lord.
HunGyo nodded.
The “Instructor” had said it before.
If the latent abilities of three more were unlocked, HunGyo would awaken.
Those three had been Lamba, Gale Slayer, and Aso. And at last, that condition had now been fulfilled.
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