Chapter 178: Shadow Dojo (3)
“Then, is there nothing you know about that?”
“Y, Yeah! So please…..!”
The Bow God, Jang Wei, clicked his tongue as he looked at the bloody person at his feet. He took the wrong step again.
How many times had he made a mistake now? It had already been half a year since he received a new job from the Summer Queen.
During that time, Jang Wei had investigated Bahal and his surroundings. He thought that there might be something about who was related to this.
And Bahal wasn’t well liked by the people around him, so there were a bunch of people Jang Wei had to look into.
Whie he was doing that, he caught 3 of the 81 Eyes, though they didn’t matter. The Summer Queen had been furious and said to cut their heads off.
But Jang Wei still wasn’t able to find any secret.
A player named ‘Cain’ that Bahal has cherished stood out.
Things like how a rookie was that strong, or how he contributed in finding the Saber God’s son.
However.
‘It’s impossible for such a nobody to be related to this. And he entered the Foreign Legion after the war began. He’s too clean. If he was related to this, he would’ve been connected before that.’
The Summer Queen was thinking that Red Dragon and Cheonghwado were a part of this.
Then, thorough preparation would’ve been required. Jang Wei thought that the other Eight Clans were related to this. It was ‘logical.’
In that way, he couldn’t find anything to point the Hoarder, Cain, out.
It hadn’t been that long since he came over from the Tutorial, and he didn’t have time to become involved with someone. His accomplishments on the different floors were so clear.
And the Summer Queen didn’t seem to want to be involved with the One-horned tribe.
Everyone knew that Cain was sworn brothers with the siblings and that he was a disciple of the Martial King.
The Summer Queen didn’t even take any reports about Cain anymore. Jang Wei also thought it was useless and pushed his doubt about Cain aside.
There were a lot of people he suspected anyway, and they were all doubtful. He actually found their ties to other clans.
But after he examined everything, even down to the tiniest detail, he wasn’t able to find anything.
Did they clearly cut off their tail and run away? Now, he thought that it was actually possible there was someone behind all this, like the Summer Queen said.
All the people planted in Red Dragon and Bahal’s line were completely clean now.
But only the 81 Eyes were satisfied with this. The Summer Queen and Jang Wei weren’t content with just this.
However.
Jang Wei trusted the Summer Queen’s ‘intuition.’
The Draconic species were a species famed for their eyes, which could see the truth. The words of a descendant of the Draconic species would probably be right.
‘Although it seems like that intuition has been smothered now as well.’
Just where was he supposed to start?
Jang Wei ended the life of the player pleading below him and sat down in a chair near him, deep in thought.
He thought that the ‘mastermind’ behind all this had somehow aimed for some item and became involved with Bahal from there.
But did he think wrong?
If it wasn’t that it was for some item, but because of a personal grudge against Bahal, and they had gotten information about the item in that process…..
He thought it was unlikely, but he didn’t have any better theories.
And there were a lot of people who had grudges against Bahal. Among them, the most famous ones were…..
‘Arthia.’
Team Arthia was still impactful in Jang Wei’s memory. When he was acting as Bow God, he almost lost his life while battling against them.
Their members were few in number compared to the other large clans, but each person was strong enough to remain in his memory.
‘Although they were all blinded by greed and stabbed each other in the back.’
He knew that in that process, the members had become enemies.
Would it be related to this?
He didn’t have any evidence, but it thought it was worth trying. There wasn’t anyone who knew Bahal better than them, and they were all in influential positions in other clans.
But there was too much stuff he had to investigate. He would have to choose one person and go from there.
Jang Wei looked through the information window the Summer Queen gave to him, and he found something that stood out.
Teacher: Dwarf Henova
‘The Anvil of Fire Henova, one of the Five Artisans?’
He was one of the top artisans, but everyone turned their backs to him because of his relation with Arthia.
Jang Wei thought it would be best to start from there.
He started to look for information about their relationship.
***
Five hellhounds that were each about 2 meters tall came running at him.
They were extremely fierce and rough. Their hellfire was enough to turn the walls of the room black.
Most players would have suffered neurosis because of this but…..
‘They don’t get along with me.’
Yeon-woo ran holding his Carshina’s dagger, condensed with Aura, and caused an explosion with Holy Fire. A bit of black energy was mixed within it.
Feeling like all his attention was moving along with his blade, the different abilities he had combined as one. It was a power that focused energies like Aura and black energy into every single stroke. This was how he justified Bian.
And the condensed power created a powerful explosion. 3 of the hellhounds neatly broke, and the other 2 were crushed or severely injured.
The instant dungeon has shook up and down.
[You have successfully understood the 3rd Bian, ‘Swe.’]
[Currently learned Bian: Jul, Hon, Swe.
Yeon-woo was now clearing the 2nd door out of the 5.
During that time, Yeon-woo didn’t just focus on defeating the shadows. He put more attention on training the Bian.
‘It would be stupid to not use all these sparring partners.’
Yeon-woo was able to understand the 3rd Bian with all the training.
Hon supported him to learn the Bian, and Swe helped him to explode condensed energy to reduce his environment to nothing.
However, he didn’t get the efficiency he had had in the Monkey King’s Palace. Was it because he wasn’t as tense back then, or because he wasn’t influenced by the limits of the 20th floor?
But anyhow, Yeon-woo was able to understand two of them, and he was practicing them so they could be perfectly learned.
The first Bian, Jul, wasn’t completely familiar to him yet either, so he had to focus when he used it.
Swish!
Three monster birds that had been coming at him from above were ripped to shreds when he lifted his sword.
Yeon-woo stepped forward past the bodies of all the dead summoned creatures.
Then the person that had been confidently fighting stepped back in hesitation. He was only a shadow, but he was still quite taken aback.
The summoner, Hanabi.
He was well-known by the name ‘King of Demonic Creatures’ in the Tower. He was the last descendant of the organization that served the Devil King, and he was infamous for raising dead creatures.
In a way, he was similar to Boo. His personality, skills, etc.
‘Boo, take note. It’s someone that you’ll have to walk the steps of.’
[Yes. Sir.]
Yeon-woo ran at him again as he heard Boo’s voice. He activated the Draconic Eyes and Extrasensory Perception.
Training wasn’t the only benefit of the 21st floor. You could sneak a look at the skills of other players.
***
[The 2nd door has been completed.]
[Time Spent: 02:31:25_66]
‘It took quite a bit of time this time.’
Yeon-woo swept his hair back leaving the 2nd door.
The 5th door took 10 minutes, the 4th door, 30 minutes, and the 3rd door about an hour. The time it took doubled from the 3rd door, so it took a lot of time.
That was only expected.
He became more tired, but the shadows that appeared were always powerful. Also, he incorporated his Bian training, and sometimes dragged the time out so he could memorize how the shadows fought.
Thanks to that, his body was drenched in sweat. He could taste iron in his mouth.
He had fought over 100 skilled players without rest.
His Dragon Body helped to recuperate faster physically, but his mental tiredness didn’t get any benefits.
‘Cure. Cure.’
He continued to activate the rune magic that was engraved on his left arm.
Healing magic was good at healing, and Cure helped to lessen the tiredness.
He stood still for about 30 minutes.
When he felt his mind became clearer, he headed towards the last door.
He felt people’s gazes following him, but he just ignored it. It was clear that after this floor was cleared, it would become noisy again.
He didn’t want to become famous, but if he couldn’t avoid it anyway, it was probably better to be as loud as possible.
[You have chosen the 1st door.]
[Players who rank from 33rd to 1st on the 21st floor’s hall of fame will appear. You will be able to move on to the next section after defeating a shadow.]
[You have already gained the qualification to clear this trial, so the accomplishments of the remaining battles will be counted as Karma.]
Light flashed in front of his eyes, and the instant dungeon appeared.
It was different from the other doors.
The 5th door up to the 2nd door had closed rooms, but Yeon-woo now stood in a wide field.
He was surrounded by mountains, but the field was so wide that he didn’t feel enclosed.
It was a space where he could run away and rest.
But it was also a location where people could fight without being limited by space.
Players would be able to use all the skills they had.
That meant that the difficulty of this door was incomparable to the others.
‘The shadows here are on a different level than the other doors.’
Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes.
Until the 2nd door, you would be acknowledged if you just endured it until the time limit. You could leave halfway to rest and train some more.
But the first door was different.
Once you entered a section, you couldn’t quit. There were only two ways to leave. Survive, or die.
He wouldn’t have time to study the shadows like before. This was a system of the Tower respecting the skilled players of the 1st floor.
A challenger couldn’t enter the 1st floor for fun.
Only those who wanted to become stronger or prove their power could enter.
Yeon-woo knew this well. That was why he had taken some time to rest before he entered.
The shadows he would meet now were really monsters.
He was planning on using his everything. Even his Dragon Blood.
Also, one of the shadows here was someone Yeon-woo had to study.
It was the next guy he was planning on taking down after Bahal and Leonte.
[The fight with 33rd place Valdebich is beginning. Prepare to fight in the remaining time.]
[00:15:00]
[00:14:59_99]
…..
Then, a gigantic shadow appeared from far away. A man at least 5 meters tall.
His hair was cut short, and his sharp eyes were memorable.
Boom!
He lifted his giant bastard sword that was longer than him, at 6 meters.
The ground sunk.
[Whew! The crazy dog was a crazy dog even back then.]
[He’s 33rd? That’s gonna be a bother.]
Shanon and Hanryeong tsked seeing the guy. They knew too well who it was.
‘Valebich.’
He was born between a human and a giant, and he had caused huge commotion in the Tower when he entered along with his brother.
And he was also one of the 3 founding members of Team Arthia.