Chapter 542 - Another Successor (7)
Brahm burst into laughter as he looked at Yeon-woo, who sat across from him with an irritated expression.
“What’s wrong? Why is your expression so sour?” Brahm wasn’t asking because he didn’t know but because he rarely ever saw Yeon-woo’s face like this, so he was making the most of this opportunity.
Yeon-woo could read Brahm’s thoughts, and his eyes narrowed. However, he sighed as he decided that nothing good could come from arguing with an old man. He ground his teeth from the rising anger and tears of injustice. “I was seriously considering whether or not I should make the One-horned tribe go extinct.”
“Hmm, really!” Brahm’s smile grew wider. He understood Yeon-woo’s sentiment. After the news spread that Yeon-woo had arrived in the village, the members of the tribe threw everything they were doing down and rushed to find Yeon-woo, crowding around him for a chance to take a shot.
The Martial King had previously hogged all of Yeon-woo’s time in the past, and the rest of the One-horned tribe were determined not to lose their chance to fight Yeon-woo this time. They swarmed and began attacking without any warning.
Unfortunately for Yeon-woo, he wasn’t just facing one or two members but well over a hundred. He’d just come to visit Brahm, and this was like being struck by lightning. He couldn’t just shrug them off since many of the challengers were very talented, and he was forced to beat them up one by one and try to knock them out.
“Whoa! yeah! This is it!” For some reason, the guys were strangely fond of being beaten to a pulp.
“Hit me more, more! More!”
“Whoa! Man! Get even tougher on me! Yes, that’s it!”
The attackers would rush back into the fight after Yeon-woo knocked them around. The more Yeon-woo beat them up, the worse they grew, and they even started drooling like true perverts. Their deranged behavior was so creepy that Yeon-woo began to feel afraid. In the end, he had no choice but to spend an entire day beating up the One-horned tribe members.
“Hmph! We’re also present.”
“Are you not going to hang out with us older folks?”
After the initial wave of tribe members, the retired elders came looking for him. By this time, Yeon-woo had nearly lost his mind.
It was only after this second wave of elders that Yeon-woo managed to escape and find Brahm. At this point, he had dark circles of fatigue under his eyes. Not too long ago, he was a man with a strong mind, strong enough to ridicule even the gods and demons and to swim deep in the abyss. He now realized why he strangely lost his strength whenever he visited the One-horned tribe’s village.
Ah! Yeon-woo let out a deep sigh and wiped his face with his hands. He had been caught off guard and intercepted in an unexpected place, but he shook it off because he had something to ask Brahm.
“You seem like you have a lot of things to say. Go ahead and ask away.”
“It has to do with Ananta.”
Crack! Brahm snapped his fingers and quickly formed a barrier between them and the surrounding area. Even though Brahm had made sure to let Sesha play outside so that they could be completely alone, he made sure that they had complete privacy. Brahm’s face hardened. “Why are you bringing up Ananta all of a sudden?”
“We could talk through Clan Pairing, but I came here because I thought it would be better to ask you directly.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Don’t make me wait, just tell me!” Brahm’s voice was slightly raised.
“Can you tell me who Ananta’s mother was?” Brahm frowned. “What about her?”
“It’s really important.” Yeon-woo explained the situation. He’d entered the depths of the abyss, but Moonchild had stopped him.
“Are you theorizing that Moonchild is Ananta’s mother?”
“I wanted to see if it was possible.”
“It’s true that she and I met after the Dragon Massacre. It’s also true that she and Ismenios were the last surviving dragons.”
Yeon-woo’s eyes widened slightly. Did Brahm mean that the Summer Queen’s twin was his wife?
“It’s also true that, unlike her sister, she hated going outside. She hid her existence for a long time. Unlike Ismenios, who sought domination, Ananta’s mother pursued exploration. It was then that she and I, once I became indifferent to worldly affairs, came to be together.” Brahm’s voice wavered with emotion. “However, she’s dead because of that bastard Allforone’s curse! You’re saying that she might still be alive? Don’t joke around!”
For Brahm, who had lived with lifelong guilt towards Ananta and her mother, it was taboo to bring up anything related to either one of them. To him, Yeon-woo was implying that Ananta’s biological mother was unscrupulous enough to abandon her child, and that he and her mother had neglected not only their child but also their granddaughter.
Although Brahm had initially gotten to know Ananta’s mother out of intellectual enjoyment, he cherished the precious memories he made with her, and he took offense at Yeon-woo’s implication.
However, Yeon-woo maintained his calm. “You didn’t see Ananta’s birth mother die, did you?
“Are you going to keep up this line of questioning...!” Brahm finally got up from his seat and stared at Yeon-woo as if he would kill him. It was only after a long time had passed that Brahm sat back down. Plop. His expression was still dark. “You...you think it’s true.”
“Why don’t we try an experiment? Do you have any artifacts that she left behind?” Yeon-woo was planning to use the Summon of the Dead skill.
Brahm shook his head. “I have none. Ananta may have something, but she probably doesn’t remember where she hid it.”
“Hmm.” As Yeon-woo pondered the next steps, Brahm suddenly remembered something and said, “Ah. I know where she’s buried. She used it as her lair and dungeon when she was still alive.”
“Let’s go there, then.”
“You...all right. Let’s do it.” Now that they were discussing the subject, Brahm thought that he could prove her death to Yeon-woo and demand an apology. Besides, Brahm suddenly felt a desire to use Yeon-woo’s powers to share a moment, no matter how brief, with the woman he’d parted from without a single farewell.
The two took a portal and entered an unknown dungeon.
[This is a hidden stage, ‘unknown dungeon’.]
[Caution! You are entering a place where a transcendent being is buried. Curses and traps may exist in this area.]
“Over here.” They were in a laboratory filled with books and laboratory equipment. It was inside a cave large enough to accommodate thousands of people, and in its center was a small tomb.
“One of the few friends I have in the heavenly world told me of her passing. I don’t think he would have lied.”
Yeon-woo rubbed his chin for a moment and looked around carefully. He pulled out a random book and activated his power.
[‘Summon of the Dead’ has been activated.]
[Who do you want to summon?]
“What was her name?”
“Harmonia.”
Yeon-woo stated aloud in a firm voice, “Harmonia.”
[The being you are attempting to summon cannot be found.]
“What...?” Brahm’s eyes widened. He had a bewildered expression on his face.
However, Yeon-woo nodded as if he’d been expecting this. He pulled out his Magic Bayonet and swung it hard at the tomb. Bang! It blew up with a thunderous sound, revealing that it was empty.
“She isn’t here.”
Brahm was speechless.
“Harmonia is Moonchild...you never knew?”
“How...how is this...?” Brahm stuttered and trembled as he was overwhelmed by a sense of betrayal.
Yeon-woo thought this was a natural reaction. The Sea of Time was filled with members who hid their identities. They were like cuckoos who entered nests and threw out the chicks in order to take over. It was impossible that the head of an organization like this would reveal her true identity even if she encountered Brahm.
“Can you leave it to me to find her?” After a long silence, Brahm asked in a calm voice. However, his eyes were burning with a sense of betrayal.
“Do you have any ideas where to look?”
“That... Let me find her myself and tell you. Please.”
Yeon-woo wanted to find Moonchild too, but he couldn’t bring himself to suggest that they work together as he looked into Brahm’s eyes. Brahm was clearly in tremendous shock. In the end, Yeon-woo had no choice but to nod. “All right.”
“Thank you. Keep this a secret from Sesha.”
“All right, but are you OK?”
“What do you mean?” Brahm responded coldly as he pushed his hair back. “Even though I’m not in my prime, I’ve regained my dignity and powers thanks to you. I will show you how I, Brahm, became one of the three gods who ruled the godly society Devas, and how the countless avatars that prayed to me made so many achievements and found salvation.”
***
Yeon-woo returned to the village alone. Brahm had quickly departed, leaving Yeon-woo wondering if he ought to pursue Brahm quietly. However, Brahm seemed so desperate that Yeon-woo could not muster the will to do it.
Brahma was a being who once ruled the heavens. Although his powers had declined since then, Brahm’s achievements and experience had not disappeared. Even Moonchild would have to take Brahm seriously.
‘Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m just going to wait around and twiddle my thumbs.’ Yeon-woo struggled over how he would break the news of Brahm’s departure to Sesha. “Hmm?” However, when he returned to Brahm’s house, he found all the lights turned off, with Kahn and Phante staring at him in the dark.
Why were the two of them together? Did they suddenly resolve their differences while he was gone? Yeon-woo puzzled over this unexpected sight.
“You bastard!”
“I’ll have to take your position as hyung back!”
Suddenly, Kahn and Phante charged at Yeon-woo as if they had waited their whole lives for this moment. Kahn layered various bian while drawing his Blood Sword, and Phante acted like he was about to eat Yeon-woo whole while generating his Blood Lightning. Yeon-woo wondered what was going on for a brief moment before he thought, ‘Rebellion is an unforgivable crime.’
Yeon-woo raised his fist. Bam! Bam!
***
“Damn it!”
“Such a terrible guy. How did he get so much stronger?”
Kahn and Phante sat next to each other, rubbing their swollen eyes with eggs and voicing their frustrations in disgruntled voices. They looked ridiculous to Yeon-woo. They had rebelled against their clan leader because he’d gotten in the way of their quest.
‘How do I always get tangled up with these sorts of people?’ It never occurred to Yeon-woo that he might be in the wrong and that these situations occurred around him because of his own actions. “Anyway, this works out, too. I had something to request of you two.”
“What? Another request?”
“Didn’t you already tell us to focus on advancing up the floors?”
Yeon-woo raised his fists without saying a word to the disrespectful duo.
“Ahem! A request given by the clan leader himself! Of course, we will listen and obey your every command! What would you like us to do? Just say the word.”
“Aren’t I, Phante, your right-hand man? Say the word. I’ll tear the heads off those bastards and bring them to you. Hahaha!”
Yeon-woo looked in exasperation at the two people who changed their stances so brazenly, but they returned his gaze with innocent expressions. Right. This was their true personality. Yeon-woo could not even muster up a laugh of exasperation at this point. However, Yeon-woo’s request was unexpected. “Rebel.”
“What?”
“What do you mean ‘rebel’? Have you been sleeping wrong?”
They wondered what Yeon-woo was talking about.
“It seems that there are traitors in the clan. I’m planning to push them out into the light.” Yeon-woo explained the plan to uncover the Sea of Time infiltrators within Arthia.
“Oh, this sounds fun. In fact, I feel like we’ve gathered a lot of idiots, so filtering the useless ones out might be necessary.”
“But if we want to rebel, we need a good reason. Is there anything that we can use? Everyone in the world knows our relationship.”
Kahn nodded at Phante’s words. Most in the Tower knew that they’d been friends with Yeon-woo ever since the Tutorial. Of course, Yeon-woo had already anticipated this. “You’ll have to show that you’re dissatisfied with me.”
“Oh.”
“Indeed.”
“And a good reason to be dissatisfied is getting beaten up for no good reason, right?”
“Huh?”
“Well...?”
Kahn and Phante nodded in agreement at first, but cocked their heads after Yeon-woo’s words sank in. Something did not sound right to them. Then, when Yeon-woo smiled wickedly and began cracking his knuckles, Kahn and Phante suddenly shouted urgently.
“Oh, come on! Wait...!”
“Argh! Aren’t you a civilized person? Let’s discuss like civilized people! Why does it have to always be a fist...!”
“My fists, my choice.”
They were only setting up the foundation of the trap, it certainly wasn’t because Yeon-woo was still holding on to a grudge about their attempt to ambush him. It definitely wasn’t that!
Boom!