Chapter 137: 137

A thick dust cloud was kicked up and covered the arena .

Gordon Rohan rubbed the dust from his eyes and muttered, “Looks like it’ll be impossible to fix this place . ”

Even though the arena was reinforced by the Ether stones, limits still existed .

The sword swung by Bak Yun-gyu just now had completely overturned the arena’s floor . It might have been only a single sword strike, but the power behind it was more than enough to slice through a small hill .

The dust soon settled, and the battle’s conclusion revealed itself .

While inwardly thinking, I knew it, Gordon Rohan muttered once more, “It’s over . ”

Thud-

Shu-wuwuwu-

The Heavenly Sword King fell to the ground . Its armor fell apart, and the giant turned into a heat haze once more before scattering completely .

Bak Yun-gyu lay flat on the floor . He spoke while taking deep, heavy breaths . “It’s my loss . ”

“Thank you for the fight . ”

Su-hyeun sheathed his sword after hearing his opponent’s admission of defeat .

Bak Yun-gyu gingerly pushed himself up and asked, “When did you start going easy on me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I noticed it a while ago . From the get-go, it was odd to face the skills that focus one’s destructive power head-on . Especially when you’re so much faster than me in terms of sheer speed . ” Bak Yun-gyu dusted his clothing and continued to speak, “Isn’t that so?”

Su-hyeun just smiled softly .

That alone was enough of an answer .

Bak Yun-gyu extended his hand toward him . “Thank you . I learned a lot today . And, from now on, we’ll be in your care as well . ”

“Yes . Me too . ”

Su-hyeun shook the offered hand .

Meanwhile, the light within Gordon Rohan’s eyes observing the two men sharpened considerably .

Act 3

Su-hyeun and Bak Yun-gyu left the arena together .

Gordon Rohan stood in the middle of the wrecked arena and slowly opened his mouth . “So, what did you think?”

“About?” Johnny Brad, with his hood still deeply covering his face, asked back . He knew the meaning behind the question, yet he chose to act dumb .

Gordon Rohan didn’t beat around the bush and asked, “Who do you think will win?”

“Between you two?”

“That’s right . ”

Johnny Brad pondered for a little while before answering . “Not sure . ”

“Is that so?”

Gordon Rohan smirked meaningfully . That reply alone made it feel like holding this Ranking Wars was worth the trouble—the competition had been threatening to turn into a bore-fest for some time .

“I’m really liking this . You know that?” Gordon Rohan chuckled, then turned around to look at Johnny Brad . “You should get going now . And don’t waste your entire day following people around, either . ”

“I didn’t follow anyone around . ”

“Sure . Sure thing . ”

Gordon Rohan shrugged and walked a bit further into the ruined arena . Meanwhile, Johnny Brad transformed into smoke and vanished on the spot .

After confirming his departure, Gordon Rohan began turning his body around . Then, while staring at specific nooks and crannies of the grandstands, he raised his voice . “Hey, you rat bastards . ”

Flinch . He could sense several presences jolt from the surprise . It wasn’t just one or two, either . Far more than he’d initially suspected were present .

“How long are you planning to hide? There’s only me now . I don’t know what you want, but if you were thinking of attacking me, then do it already . ” Gordon Rohan reached towards the empty air and grabbed the white spear that materialized there . He continued on with a clearly-excited voice . “You see, I’m really warmed up properly right now . ”

Fifteen or so awakeners revealed themselves . Not one of them bothered to conceal their murderous intent .

Just a casual glance alone was enough to know that they were all S-Ranks . A handful of faces looked familiar, though .

“Mm, I don’t really remember your names,” said Gordon Rohan, then he pointed at one of the group . “But I do recognize you . ”

“This will be my first time introducing myself properly . ” The man pointed out by Gordon Rohan stepped forward .

A man with translucent skin and semi-curly hair said, “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance . My name is Adel Castle . ”

“You can save your gentlemanly act, especially when you’re just some cheap bastards doing cowardly things behind people’s backs . ”

“I pray that you’re gracious enough to understand the situation . ”

“Sure thing . I get it . I do . And you can all rest easy . There won’t be any reprisal from me, nor will there be an aftermath for you to contend with . ”

Gordon Rohan’s declaration caused the lights in the eyes of the surrounding awakeners to quake ever so faintly .

Those words weren’t spoken by just anyone, but the one and only Gordon Rohan . He considered his word to be more valuable than white gold, so everything he said must be the truth .

No reprisals .

And no aftermath .

“Now, that’s the most welcome news of them all,” said Adel Castle as he raised his hand .

At the same time, the fourteen other awakeners quickly spread out to all corners of the arena .

“In that case, why don’t we get this started?”

After seeing Bak Yun-gyu on his way, Su-hyeun returned to the Gordon Tower .

The building’s first floor was completely empty, as outsiders were barred from entering the premises . As the venue wasn’t open to the public yet, there was no decorative furniture anywhere .

“So, then . The uninvited guest has left,” said Su-hyeun as he scanned the first floor . “Come out . Now . ”

“… . ”

Silence .

As if they were waiting for a signal .

Su-hyeun shrugged and snapped his fingers .

Rumble-

Boom-!

The moment tongues of flames popped up above his fingertips, a small explosion went off in the corner of the floor . At the same time, two figures leaped up from their hiding place . Not just them, however—several others also revealed themselves in every corner of the room .

There were ten of them, in total .

A few faces seemed familiar . The one overriding similarity between them was that they were all awakeners from European countries .

“Since when did the relationship between European awakeners get so cozy, huh?” Su-hyeun asked .

“Look at you, overflowing with confidence and everything . You’re pretty relaxed, considering your current situation . ”

Step-

One of the ten awakeners stepped forward . He was actually a fairly well-known awakener from Switzerland, and his name was Stjepan .

“Well, there’s only ten of you . ” Su-hyeun nodded his head, then glanced at the elevators while asking another question . “I’m guessing some of you went to Gordon Rohan as well?”

“More people went that way, sure . ”

“I think I figured out what you’re all aiming for, so… . ”

It was clear why these people were targeting both him and Gordon Rohan—they were the most obvious candidates to win the competition . On top of that, every single awakener present happened to be European .

Not only that; they were all affiliated with the European Union in particular .

Awakeners working for that organization had a strong tendency to cooperate with one another .

>

To think that they would scheme up something like this behind people’s backs .

It was infantile and simple-minded . But it also made some sense, in a way . Well, Gordon Rohan’s personality meant that he wouldn’t go around blabbing his mouth about this sort of incident, after all .

>

If more than ten people had cone after Gordon Rohan, then that meant more than twenty awakeners had participated in this scheme, when added to those that were present here .

Fighting more than 20 S-Rank awakeners was quite a feat, even for Gordan Rohan . So, he must’ve entered the finals heavily injured back when he fought in the Ranking Wars .

Smirk-

A smirk slowly spread over Su-hyeun’s lips .

That reaction, which didn’t suit the current situation at all, caused the confidence on Stjepan and his fellow European awakeners to slip .

“What’s so damn funny?”

“I don’t know whether you’re all too stupid, or maybe I looked easier to you lot, but… . ”

“What was that?”

“If you were trying to beat both of us, you shouldn’t have divided your group, but attacked us one at a time . ”

Of course, Su-hyeun could understand their mindset . They probably figured that around ten should be enough . They could’ve thought that, no matter how strong he was, he wouldn’t be able to do much against ten S-Ranks at the same time .

Unfortunately…

“You asked me what’s so funny, right?”

Hiiiss… .

The silhouette of a gigantic snake suddenly rose up behind Su-hyeun . The third eye opening on his forehead scanned the ten awakeners like a predator observing its prey .

“Let’s find out . ”

Gulp-

Stjepan stared at Su-hyeun’s third eye and gulped .

The atmosphere changed in an instant .

The feeling he got was completely different from what he got while watching through the display screens . They all thought this strong of a combat force would be enough, judging from Su-hyeun’s battle against Thomas, but now, it seemed that they have made the wrong decision .

“Everyone, don’t let your guard down,” said Stjepan .

“We know . ”

“Goddammit, was it a mistake to volunteer for this job instead of the other one?”

Stjepan’s head was full of thoughts of picking the ‘wrong address’ .

Step, step-

In the meantime, Su-hyeun began closing in gradually .

Swish, swoosh-

A sharp, deadly blade and an arrow flew in from both sides . Gordon Rohan used his spear to deflect the invisible blade and grabbed the arrow with his bare hand .

Crack-

Ka-boom-!

The moment he gripped the arrow hard and broke it, a large explosion went off from the projectile .

Flap-

Gordon Rohan’s figure stepped outside the thick dust . Other than his dust-covered wings looking ever so slightly scorched, there were no visible injuries on him .

The awakener responsible for firing the arrow cried out in sheer shock . “He got hit but endured it no problem?! Hurry up and trap him!!”

Pahk, pah-bahbahbahbahk-

Giiii-iiiing-

When one of the awakeners extended his hands forward, pure-white rings of light wrapped around and confined Gordon Rohan . The preparations must’ve been made beforehand, because the composition of the magic was quite sturdy .

Gordon Rohan staggered briefly, before grabbing the rings of light confining him with his bare hand . “How annoying…”

Wuduk, wududuk-

Thud-

The rings around his body were instantly shattered . To think that he didn’t even need to use his spear, but just his bare hand was enough to cancel another’s skill .

Such a thing was impossible without possessing an absolute, overwhelming might .

The awakener pouring all of his power to maintain those rings of light spat out cuss words like a scream . “Crazy son of a…!”

He couldn’t believe it . He really did think that he should be able to restrict Gordon Rohan’s movements, at least a little bit .

In the meantime, three other awakeners closed in on Gordon Rohan’s position .

Spin-

At the same time, the spear in his hand began spinning around in circles . The weapon spun hundreds, thousands of times in an instant before abruptly changing direction to point at the incoming trio .

“If you don’t want to die, dodge . ”

“…!”

Flash-!

The moment Gordon Rohan’s spear emitted bright light…

Kwa-kwaa-booooom-!

An incredible amount of magical energy exploded from the tip of the weapon . The awakener running at the front of the pack got swept away in the storm before being torn to bloody bits and pieces .

Splaaash-!

Tumble, drop-

The other two hurriedly jumped out of the way and looked on with incredulous, disbelieving expressions .

The spear strike was strong enough to easily cross the massive arena . He didn’t even use any particular skill, either . No, he just decisively wielded the magical energy gathered in the tip of his weapon, that was all .

“What are you all so surprised for?”

“Wha… . ”

Stab-

The awakener felt a chilling sensation and hurriedly looked back, only for Gordon Rohan’s spear to stab him in the head .

“Urhk-”

“Come on now . You’re making it too easy for me to kill you, looking away like that . ”

Splat-!

The spear was yanked out from his head . Gordon Rohan shook the blood off his white spear and glanced at his own chest . Although very small, a bloodstain was forming there . He also felt a bit of a stinging sensation, so it must’ve been his own .

>

It seemed that he had dodged something sharp without consciously realizing it . He told himself to be more careful next time and scratched his head .

“H-hey, he’s much stronger than we’ve been told!”

“Will all of us be enough?”

Attacks raining down on Gordon Rohan lurched to a temporary halt . The attackers were beginning to think that the first one of them to jump in would certainly die . Two of their number had already been killed rather easily so far .

Adel was thinking the same thing .

>

It was a mistake to split their combat force in two in order to fight against Su-hyeun and Gordon Rohan .

For things like this, they needed help from Stjepan and the other nine awakeners that went to deal with the South Korean .

>

Just as Adel reached into his breast pocket…

Vrrrr, vrrrr, vrrrr-

A small stone resting in there began vibrating first .

Adel’s brows shot up . It was the signal device that both teams shared, but it…

>

That incoming signal—it signified that the other group also needed support, right now .