Yeon-woo was bothered by the tribe members’ questions the entire night.
They were all curious because they heard he defeated a semi ranker.
Everytime that happened, he said he was tired, or Edora pushed them away.
“If you can’t with them, then how about me? Don’t you want to try sparring with me?”
Phante was jumping up and down in excitement.
“Phante.”
“What’s up?”
“If you don’t want to be hanging upside down on a tree, shut up.”
“…Geez, such a cold Hyungnim.”
Yeon-woo scowled like he was sick of dealing with him.
He actually felt like he was gonna die every time someone tried to initiate a conversation with him.
He had somewhat recovered with the potion the Martial King gave him, but that didn’t mean all the damage done to his body suddenly went away.
But the injuries weren’t always a bad thing. He needed to keep on inputting magic power to heal his body.
So Yeon-woo circulated his mana without rest.
He was able to feel the most thorough places with his Heaven Wing Mana Control.
As the waste was emitted from his body, new circuits opened, and the circuits that were already there became sturdier.
Yeon-woo healed his body while reviewing his fight with Shannon.
He barely won the battle using Foresight but without it, Yeon-woo would have lost.
He wanted to try to defeat Shannon with his own strength.
Focal point and sixth sense.
He assessed the homework the Martial King had given him.
And he mulled over how to completely master Eight Extreme Fists and Heaven Wing Mana Control.
Phante and Edora knew that Yeon-woo was in deep thought and quietly left the room.
They knew how important this time was to a martialist.
And through this, he would experience growth.
“I’ve heard that I was pretty single-minded growing up, but I can’t even compare to that guy.”
Phante shook his head as he walked down the hall.
He felt that everytime he looked at Yeon-woo, he was able to grow in such a short amount of time because he was so determined.
He even thought it was a bit dangerous, because he kept on trying to overcome his limits.
It was weird that his body was still functioning.
It was like he was being chased by something.
What was his goal?
“Oh yeah. Is today the day Flanc is supposed to come?”
“Yeah. We sent someone this morning. They’re going to join us with more people.”
Edora answered while nodding her head.
Phante lightly clicked his tongue.
“Dang. It’s not like he’s gonna be that welcome here.”
Flanc was the younger brother of the Martial King.
He wasn’t one of the many step-siblings the Martial King had, but they actually had the same mother.
And he was better known by another name, Spear God.
He was one of the Martial Gods who oversaw Cheonghwado.
Also, he was the person who pulled the One-horned tribe into this war.
He sent a message this morning that he would visit.
One-horned tribe was staying in Kuram.
Because of the performance of the Martial King, half of it had disappeared, but the city was so big that the tribe members could easily find places to stay.
And surprising the city was peaceful. The Red Dragon saw no reason to bring the tribe back into the war and make things complicated again.
Also, they wanna to know what the tribe would do next.
If they had only participated in that one battle or if they would continue helping Cheonghwado.
They were going to set up a defense plan based on what the tribe did.
Normally, they wouldn’t have let their enemies live so peacefully, but the tribe got away with what they did.
That was the weight of the One-horned tribe.
Also, it was the weight of the Martial King.
The Spear God, Flanc knew this, and used this to his benefit.
He openly revealed his relationship with the tribe to warn the Red Dragon. It was strictly a political move.
The Martial King openly scoffed at the Spear God for that, but he wasn’t able to deny his request because they were still brothers.
However, Phante and Edora had a good relationship with the Spear God.
“Anyways, you take care of Hyungnim here. It seems like Cheonghwado wanted to see him, too. If he wants to come, you come with him.”
“Ok. But I don’t think he’ll come considering his personality.”
“Or knock him out when you have the chance. I’ll pretend I didn’t know.”
Edora narrowed her eyes.
“Do you wanna die?”
“Hehe. Then I’m off.”
Edora glowered at her brother who went away laughing like it was hilarious.
Sometimes, she could see her Father in him.
Edora let out a sigh, and she looked at Yeon-woo’s door with silent eyes.
Suddenly.
*Kwang*
The door burst open and Yeon-woo ran out. He looked like he was in a hurry.
Before Edora could ask what happened, he jumped out the window in the hall and went over to the opposite side.
Edora thought that something bad had happened. It was probably wise to tell her brother and her father first, but she clenched her teeth and ran after Yeon-woo.
***
Yeon-woo quickly passed by the collapsed city and past the 11th floor’s stage.
He activated Shunpo as much as he could, and his Magic Circuit started to overload again.
His body complained as if asking why he wasn’t resting.
But Yeon-woo couldn’t worry about that. He was only focused on heading South.
‘Just what in the world happened?’
It was something that Yeon-woo couldn’t see, but he could feel connected to several things.
One of them was the egg of the Mythical Beast in the One-horned tribe’s village and the other one was to Chirpy.
Yeon-woo could somewhat read what Chirpy and the egg were thinking.
And he got closer, the connection also tightened.
His connection with the egg became weaker while it became stronger with Chirpy.
He was so busy with the war that he hadn’t been able to contact them.
He was thinking that he would go visit them when he got the time.
But just now through the connection, he felt Chirpy’s sinister thoughts. They were hard to express.
Fear.
Horror.
It was completely different to Chirpy’s usually bright and happy thoughts.
Yeon-woo realized something had happened to the Phoenix.
Just who would hurt Phoenix?
The Legendary Beasts were the strongest existence on the lower floors. Even high rankers couldn’t easily defeat them, so they were left alone.
So he was extremely curious. But he also had a thought.
The 11th floor was being flooded with countless rankers along with the fighting squads.
Kuram was the only quiet place. Other places were teeming with tensions between the two clans.
Also, the Red Dragon moved as a military, making ghost towns where Cheonghwado’s forces were.
So then it wasn’t weird that some rankers would try to attempt challenging the Phoenix. Because although they were dangerous, it was that much worth it to defeat it.
Because the Neidan Legendary Beasts owned were priceless.
‘Why didn’t this occur to me before?’
Yeon-woo blamed himself. If only he had thought a little bit more about the war.
But he had been so preoccupied with clearing the stage and training his Mugong that he completely forgot about Chirpy and the Phoenix.
He could see many different scenes happening below. There were players escaping from war and brigades busily moving in formation.
As he got closer to the South, his connection to Chirpy deepened.
He could feel Chirpy trembling in fear.
‘There’s no sign of the Phoenix.’
Yeon-woo bit his lower lip. Anxiety filled his head.
[You have entered the ‘Territory of the Phoenix.’]
But he couldn’t feel the gaze of the Phoenix or hear her voice that was always in his brain.
The Phoenix’s territory was a complete wasteland.
Trees were knocked down, and corpses of Mythical Beasts were lying everywhere.
His fears were confirmed. Someone had appeared.
And he was very strong. At least a high ranker. It was someone difficult to fight against.
‘He’s on Bahal’s level at the very least.’
He could feel Chirpy’s evil thoughts coming from somewhere above. He didn’t delay a second and threw his body in that direction.
And when he entered, the Phoenix’s nest was completely destroyed.
The entrance was completed covered with fallen rocks, and signs of fire and swords were all over the place. It was clear there had been a brutal fight here.
Yeon-woo pulled Vigrid out from his back.
There was no time to waste. His connection with Chirpy was dying. He needed to be quick.
*crash*
He maximized his magic power and let out powerful winds.
As he slashed Vigrid, the rocks crumbled down, making a path for him to pass through.
Beyond the fallen rocks, he could see a strange space.
A barrier with a shining light was barely blocking the rocks.
The barrier was weak, like it would break at any moment. And within the barrier, he could be a slumped Chirpy completely covered in blood.
Yeon-woo felt a faint heartbeat that could stop at any moment.
TN: Hello, as some of you have pointed out, Cheonghwado literally means Azure Sword Clan in English, but as we have started translating using the name Cheonghwado, for continuity’s sake, it’ll be kept that way. Thank you for pointing it out.
For any errors and issues contact me through discord :-
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