Chapter 245 – A Turbulent World (2)

[You have earned a large amount of karma from the sudden quest (Field Arrest 1)].

[You made a large contribution in killing Ismenios. Red Dragon has suffered great losses.]

[Final Ranking:

1. Nayu (501,953 Points)

2. ### (105,119 Points)]

……

[You have completed the quest with an overwhelming score.]

[The authority of choosing your reward has been handed to the Bureau. Please wait a moment.]

[You have earned ‘The Fourth Intrenian’ as a reward.]

[You have earned ‘The Fifth Intrenian’ as a reward.]

[You have earned ‘The Last Dragon’s Corpse’ as a reward.]

[You have earned…]

…..

Yeon-woo was looking at the endless messages when something bared its teeth from his hand. It was a soul with an abnormal vestige and size trying to escape—the Summer Queen.

By now, Yeon-woo had created all kinds of enemies who had different motives for hurting his brother, as well as used different means of accomplishing it. Some, like Bahal and Leonte, had stabbed his brother in the heart, and others, like Valdebich, had simply abandoned his brother and disappeared without a trace. The Gluttony Emperor and the Head Bishop of the Devil Army had made an alliance to prevent Arthia from becoming a rival.

On the other hand, the Summer Queen didn’t care much about Arthia. She never looked at the lower floors, and even when Bahal joined Red Dragon, she barely spared Arthia a thought. Only her underlings fought Arthia and Jeong-woo, not her.

In fact, before they became enemies, she and Jeong-woo used to greet each other cordially. She had no reason to avoid Kalatus’ descendant. ‘However, eventually, the Summer Queen grew cold to him and she even tried to kill him.’

The enmity between his brother and the Summer Queen grew. She barely managed to chase Jeong-woo out, but in the process, her Dragon Heart had been broken. Yeon-woo could guess what happened after. The Dragon Heart had continued to decay until it was too late.

「Who…are you?!」 The Summer Queen’s soul growled as she struggled in Yeon-woo’s grip. She forced out her Consciousness, but the Despair of the Black King was an incredible item that not even the soul of a Draconic species could escape. Her vestige was filled with the intent to kill Yeon-woo, the person she held responsible for reducing her into this pitiful state and not even letting her move on. 「You…you!」

Yeon-woo lifted his mask to show his face. “Does this answer your question?”

「H-how?!」 The Summer Queen’s soul became panicked for a moment and trembled, speechless. She had never heard of a dead person coming back to life before. She was also a dragon with Draconic Eyes. If Heaven Wing returned, she would be able to tell, even if he hid behind a mask. What was going on? Her vestige trembled.

Under normal circumstances, she would’ve understood realized the truth quickly, but the shock of dying and having her soul captured still lingered, and Heaven Wing’s curse from when he was still alive had greatly affected her: “If you can’t escape from that way of thinking, you’ll be in the dark forever. You’ll probably fight the loneliness until the end.”

Heaven Wing was alluding to the Summer Queen’s long-held resolve to defeat Allforone and swallow up all the gods and demons on the ninety-eighth floor. She knew that she was unique in the world since she was the last of her species, and she only had a lonely path ahead. However, Heaven Wing had stood in the middle of that path to block her.

He was a weakling who was merely the remains of the dead Kalatus, and yet he’d mocked her entire purpose for being. He didn’t know his place, and the Summer Queen hadn’t been able to restrain herself and fought him. However, even as Heaven Wing’s Sky Wings were shattering and he was falling to the ground, swallowed up by Breath, the pity in his eyes never disappeared. “Poor, pitiful Ismenios. The last dragon.”

「Heaven Wing! Heaven Wing!」 Her nightmares burst out once more, and her entire vestige turned black. The Summer Queen’s soul shuddered as if warning Yeon-woo to let go of her.

‘It’s too dangerous to leave her alone.’ Yeon-woo gripped the squirming Summer Queen even more tightly and frowned. The Black Bracelet’s binds shook, and he only managed to calm it down after using the Third Spirit. ‘It’s going to be hard to digest this.’

A dragon was definitely on another level entirely. Just as Yeon-woo was thinking how difficult it would be to control her, he sensed someone approaching and quickly put the Summer Queen back inside the Soul Collection. Even she wouldn’t be able to do anything there.

“Haha! You look well. I never imagined you would be the person to do such a thing.” Atran and his party appeared, and the Ice King laughed cheerfully. He’d found the Summer Queen’s final battle quite entertaining and memorable, even for someone like him who’d already been on the battlefield for a long time.

Yeon-woo felt a bit wary of the Ice King. He knew that he wasn’t a bad person, but his kindness made him uncomfortable. They had just become acquainted, and they had nothing in common except for the Martial King. It was the feeling of an outsider being uncomfortable by the friendliness of an insider. He was wondering how he ought to reply when the thick smell of blood rose up. It was a scent that couldn’t be erased, no matter how hard one tried.

The Martial King appeared at the head of the One-horned tribe, looking somewhat unhappy and not like his usual relaxed self. He was completely focused on Yeon-woo, and the atmosphere felt violent, as though he might start swinging his fists at any moment.

The Ice King, Twice, and Nocturne moved Atran back to safety just as the Martial King’s fist headed straight for Yeon-woo, a fierce tornado lashing around him powerful enough to blow Yeon-woo’s head off.

However, Yeon-woo didn’t even try to dodge. The Martial King’s fist stopped just a fraction of a centimeter away from Yeon-woo’s forehead. Bang! A canyon behind him blew up. The Summer Queen’s battle with the Martial King had already demolished most of the canyons, and now everything was truly gone. It was a dangerous situation but Yeon-woo didn’t blink at all and simply looked at the Martial King’s fist.

The Martial King frowned in dissatisfaction and flicked Yeon-woo’s forehead. Tak!

“Urk!” Yeon-woo wrapped his hands around his head. His skull felt like it was cracking. Although he hadn’t made a single sound when the buffs were destroying his body, the Martial King’s finger flick was simply too painful.

The Martial King’s head tilted. “‘Urk’? You took everything that your teacher set up, but all you can say is ‘urk’? You’ll only get yourself together after you’ve got one foot in the Styx and are looking at the Summer Queen’s face on the opposite bank, huh?”

Yeon-woo couldn’t bring himself to say that the Summer Queen’s soul was in his collection. He felt like he would be beaten to death if he joked like that. However, he was sure he was suffering from mental illness because he found himself talking back. “I was only trying to help.”

Tak!

“Aack!”

“Why are you answering back?” The Martial King glared at his disciple. Yeon-woo was crouched on the ground with his arms around his head. The Martial King sighed and asked with a serious expression, “Was that old lady one of them?”

Yeon-woo still hadn’t told the Martial King his identity and his motivations, but the Martial King knew that his disciple was climbing the Tower to seek vengeance. He was confirming that the Summer Queen was someone Yeon-woo also held a grudge against.

Yeon-woo nodded silently, and the Martial King shook his head in exasperation. Yeon-woo’s revenge was so outsized. It even involved the destruction of an Outer Space and dragged the Bureau, the unions, and the large clans into it. Even the Blood Land showed up. It couldn’t get any more chaotic.

The Martial King had kicked up a lot of trouble when he was younger, but his third disciple far outstripped him. Although Yeon-woo seemed so serious and scholarly, his actions were truly nasty.

‘Well, that’s why I like him.’ The Martial King chuckled to himself. He had to be strange himself to think this way. “Anyway, since this is your responsibility, you should clean your mess up well and come back.” He patted Yeon-woo’s shoulder and returned to the elders and tribe members.

“Our tribe leader doesn’t know how to show his true feelings.”

“Why didn’t you just tell him that he did well? Is that so hard to say? Or are you just self-conscious?”

“Shut up, you fools! Aside from that, where’s that bastard?”

“Of course he ran away.”

“Let’s go catch him first.”

After speaking with the other tribe members, the Martial King looked at Atran and the mercenaries. The Ice King cheerfully greeted him. “Long time no see.”

“When did you come back out, sir? I didn’t hear anything.”

“It hasn’t been that long. You’re the same as you were back then. That’s your disciple, right? He’s exactly like you.”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?”

“Take it however you like.”

The Martial King grinned and looked the Ice King up and down. “It seems like you’ve still got it. What do you think? Shall we play a game later?”

“Hehehe. Don’t joke like that. Ten years ago, I would have taken your offer up right away, but my joints ache these days. I won’t recover if I’m hurt.”

“You still look good enough to lift a spoon. Anyway, I’ll see you next time.”

As the Martial King and the Ice King said their farewells, the Martial King’s eyes met Nocturne’s. However, the Martial King didn’t say anything and just walked past Nocturne as though there wasn’t even anyone there. Nocturne looked unaffected, even though he’d once called the Martial King his teacher.

The Martial King and the One-horned tribe disappeared as quickly as they came and resumed hunting their target. Yeon-woo fixed his mask and got up. The war was over. Although it had only lasted a few days, he felt like he had been through lots of things.

He had a thought that even though he’d managed to kill Vieira Dune and the Summer Queen, and so many upheavals had occurred, he still had a lot of enemies left, and nothing fundamental in the Tower had really changed.

“Um, Oraboni.” Edora carefully approached him.

“What’s wrong?”

“You have a bump on your head. Are you all right?”

Yeon-woo smiled wryly after touching his forehead. The bump was huge, and he still felt numb.

* * *

“Hahaha!” Jang Wei was on the move again after realizing that the One-horned tribe had resumed their pursuit. He was escaping to the Outer District of the Tower, but even though he enjoyed being chased, he had a smile filled with sadness, hate, and disillusionment on his face.

“So he’s here? Here? Here! I was wondering…!” Jang Wei couldn’t forget the Hoarder’s appearance just as he was aiming for the Martial King. He’d only heard stories about the Hoarder and had never seen him in person. However, when he laid his eyes on the Hoarder, he was overcome with a sense of recognition and something else. ‘He’s dangerous.’

Why did he think that? Although the Hoarder had a martial ability that equaled those of rankers, that wasn’t a threat to Jang Wei, who was a high ranker. Still, his sense of danger was tingling. A mask covered the Hoarder’s face, but something about his attitude and air was familiar.

Jang Wei had chased after Yeon-woo at a safe distance, wanting to figure out why he sensed such a threat from the Hoarder. When he finally saw Yeon-woo’s eyes, Jang Wei realized his identity right away. He would never forget those eyes that seemed impassive and full of fire at the same time. ‘Sister, Chief is inside the Tower. He’s inside the Tower!’