Chapter 144
An unseasonable heavy snowfall blanketed Midgard.
In no time, the snow piled up so high that one’s feet could almost disappear. The severed hand of Bergelmir fell and turned into snowflakes. Mesmerized by this mysterious and extraordinary phenomenon, Lee Suhyuk momentarily emptied his mind and gazed at the snowy sky.
“It took just one strike.”
He glanced sideways and noticed beads of sweat forming on Tyr’s face.
It seemed like he hadn’t swung his sword normally.
But even so, severing such a massive hand with one strike was nothing short of astonishing.
– A sudden snowfall?
– Is that the hand from earlier?
There were many inexplicable occurrences in this trial.
The hand of the progenitor of the frost giants was unsealed, sliced down by a god named Tyr in one blow, and that transformed into snow causing a heavy snowfall…
“Bergelmir was Midgard’s winter.”
At Viola’s words, Suhyuk looked down at her.
She was beaming brightly, as if everything was over, having finished stopping the bleeding.
“Now, perhaps winter will be a bit warmer.”
“Do you say such things even after seeing this snow?”
“Snowfall always heralds warmer days.”
Leaving aside her cryptic words, one thing Suhyuk realized from her statement was clear.
Winter came to Midgard because Bergelmir was sealed here. That was the power of the oldest frost giant.
However, Suhyuk’s interest lay elsewhere, rather than on Bergelmir.
‘That old man…’
It was focused on the identity of Tyr, who had severed Bergelmir’s hand in one swift strike.
‘He must have been an extraordinary god.’
***
Rain of fire fell from the sky.
Black smoke billowed upwards, forming clouds, and the flames spread across the entire mountain region.
Crackle, pop, snap.
Blaze.
The fiery demon consumed the land. Cheon Ryang had to exert himself tirelessly to avoid the flames.
‘They say he reached the pinnacle in both swordsmanship and magic…’
Watching the hellish scenery unfold before him, Cheon Ryang broke into a cold sweat.
‘His reputation is well-deserved.’
Reinhardt’s prowess was as expected. In an instant, he summoned a rain of fire from the sky, turned the mountain to ash, and split a cliff with a single strike.
He not only mastered both sword and magic but also seamlessly integrated both abilities in combat. Seeing this spectacle, it was hard to believe the ridiculous nickname “First Sword” ever suited him.
“Will she be okay?”
Un Hyang and Reinhardt were still in the midst of their battle.
It was pretty even still.
Un Hyang dodged the rain of magic, parried his sword close, and even counterattacked at times, holding her own against Reinhardt.
“Did she train alone all this time?”
The world already acknowledged Un Hyang as a genius. That much was common knowledge.
Her moniker during the prime of her activity was “Genius.”
Even so, Cheon Ryang never imagined she could hold her ground in such a fierce battle with Reinhardt.
Certainly.
No matter how much, what’s impossible is impossible.
She heard a snicker.
Un Hyang’s waist got slashed deeply. At the same time, an icy chill enveloped her, freezing her entire body.
The sound of the ice slicing split the still air as Un Hyang escaped by cutting through it, gaining some distance.
“Is that Air Step? You’ve mastered quite a few interesting skills, haven’t you?”
Un Hyang wiped the blood that had splashed from her waist to her face with the back of her hand. Her pupils started to turn red, little by little, as she saw her own blood.
“I wondered what made you so confident, but now I see. I remember now. The genius of the Murim World who went missing a few years ago is right here, it’s you, right?”
“Is that something you’re that curious about?”
“I have a slight connection with the Lord of the Divine Dragon Group. He seemed to be looking for that genius.”
“A… connection?”
Un Hyang’s face rippled like a lake disturbed by a falling stone. Divine Dragon Group. She never expected to hear that name here.
“Why is it? Why is a player of your caliber acting as a manager? I don’t understand.”
“Mister.”
“…Mister?”
“Let me ask you one thing. That connection you mentioned, is it a good one or a bad one?”
At the sudden question, Reinhardt took a moment to read her intentions.
“Answer me.”
“If I had to choose, it wasn’t a bad one. I created a magic scroll for him as per his request.”
Un Hyang’s lips quivered slightly. She endured a sharp headache triggered by memories she didn’t want to recall as she asked,
“What kind of scroll was it?”
“It was a curse-type magic that amplified pain. He said it would be used for torture.”
Un Hyang bowed her head at Reinhardt’s unbothered face, as if to say, ‘Why does it matter?’
“It… wasn’t for torture.”
“What?”
“It was for training, to endure pain.”
Saying so, Un Hyang tightly squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want to remember. She shouldn’t remember. When she opened her eyes, she saw Reinhardt standing there.
“It was a bad connection from the start, huh.” she muttered to herself.
Beyond her association with Lee Suhyuk. Now, she had one more reason to kill him.
“For you and me.”
Crackle, whoosh…
The flames that covered the forest began to flicker slightly. Like a fierce rainstorm blowing past, the flames rapidly started to lose strength and extinguish one by one.
“…?”
Reinhardt frowned, sensing something amiss in the sudden phenomenon.
‘What was this? This ominous feeling…’
Without any prior indication or the activation of a special skill, the flames he had summoned were dying out. He felt defiant. It felt as though if these flames were to go out, it would mean his defeat.
‘How unpleasant.’
He snapped his fingers lightly. That was more than enough for him to turn the surroundings into a sea of fire once again.
But why?
Sizzle…
The fire did not ignite and died out feebly.
“There must have been some cost. It was a forbidden creation after all.”
Un Hyang’s voice echoed from all directions.
The surrounding flames that had been so abundant vanished without a trace. The blinding, blazing fire extinguished, leaving behind thick darkness.
In that darkness, Reinhardt felt an eerie sense of doom.
It felt as if something within that darkness would appear and tear at his nape like a beast.
The premonition was so chilling, it turned into a tangible reality, becoming visible before his eyes.
Directly through Un Hyang.
“What was the cost? Was it the honor of gilding your proud face? Or points? Which one was it?”
‘That is…’
Reinhardt’s eyes widened as Un Hyang’s essence began to materialize. The aura, black and crimson, started wrapping around her body like armor. It looked as if a demon was possessing a person and controlling them.
‘No way.’
The thought that flashed through his mind quickly made Reinhardt shake his head in denial.
‘No. It couldn’t be.’
If she had a disciple, it wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. It would have caused a massive uproar in this tower, like a huge storm.
Above all, she was a disciple of the Divine Dragon Group.
She had to be.
Gulp-.
If not…
He was as good as dead, here and now.
“Could it be… that…”
“Don’t even think about ‘could it be’.”
Un Hyang cut off Reinhardt’s words sharply.
“Don’t harbor any sense of hope.”
Her voice still echoed, but this time he could determine the direction.
Reinhardt turned his head to the side. Her voice came from right beside his ear.
Drip-.
Before he knew it, a blade was pressed tightly against his throat.
Her sword dug into his throat, right at his Adam’s apple.
“Answer before I rip out your tongue and cut off your limbs. Then you may die a quick death.”
At that moment, Reinhardt was certain.
He understood why Un Cheon-guk, who seemed to have iron in his veins instead of blood, had desperately sought Un Hyang.
And he accepted that he was about to die.
“It costs a lot to learn magic.”
That response was sufficient.
Before his death, Reinhardt voiced his last curiosity.
“How did you… become a Divi…”
Slash-.
But,
Before he could finish his question, let alone receive an answer, his throat lost function.
Thud, his head fell lifelessly.
Once everything was over, the surrounding darkness dissipated. Feeling the strength drain from her body, Un Hyang collapsed to the ground.
It wasn’t from exhaustion. No matter how firmly she prepared herself, she had crossed a line she should never have crossed.
Shiver, shiver-.
Her hands, shoulders, and entire body trembled like an aspen. As she tried to steady her uncontrollable body and crouch down on the floor.
“It’s good you won, but I can’t praise you.”
A voice, causing her body to tremble a little less, rang out. Un Hyang stopped crouching and looked up. There stood Cheon Ryang, attempting to conceal his surprise.
“Are you crazy? You said you wouldn’t use it even if it killed you. And for someone else’s matter, not even your own?”
“It is… my own matter.”
“Then why are you trembling?”
“Wouldn’t you tremble as well?”
There was nothing more to say.
No one knew better how long Un Hyang had been holding back more than Cheon Ryang. The power she had just used to kill Reinhardt was her most forbidden ability, one she should never have unleashed.
In the end, Cheon Ryang could not hide his pity for her and spoke.
“If you start using this, Uncle will never give up on you.”
The darkness that devoured the flames of the forest. This was exactly why the Divine Dragon Group and Un Cheon-guk desired her.
So, to avoid all of this, she chose to seal off what they wanted.
No.
Even if it wasn’t because of that, it would have been the same.
She despised everything she had learned from the Divine Dragon Group.
“And also…”
“Ryang.”
Cheon Ryang stopped talking at the sound of her sweet, melting voice.
Even though he wanted to keep nagging out of frustration, he knew the truth.
“I know everything too.”
She probably knew all of this better than anyone, tenfold, even a hundredfold over.
“But we can’t keep running away forever.”
The Divine Dragon Group found their location.
They were too powerful to face just with Un Hyang’s strength, and he himself was too feeble and insignificant.
Sometimes he would wonder.
Was this power that Un Hyang possessed truly something she learned from the Divine Dragon Group?
He had pondered this countless times, beyond hundreds of times, but he never asked.
Because he knew it was something she hated the most.
“… Is it because of me?”
So this time, he asked something different.
He couldn’t bear not speaking, feeling like everything was entirely his fault.
But then.
“Ryang.”
“What?”
“First, let’s watch the stream.”
At Un Hyang’s abrupt words, Cheon Ryang was stunned into silence.
He opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing how to react, and finally asked.
“Do you want to watch a stream in this situation?”
“Yes.”
“If you want to change the subject, at least do it properly-”
It was then.
He noticed her body trembling slightly.
She was pressing down on her own shoulders desperately to stop the shaking.
“That’s why I want to watch it now.”
“… You always do this.”
In the end, Cheon Ryang reluctantly took out his device and turned on Lee Suhyuk’s stream.
In truth, he had a vague idea.
Why she was so obsessed with a streamer named Lee Suhyuk.
Yes, it made sense.
Now, more than ever, she needed Lee Suhyuk’s stream.
His existence had been her hope for decades.