Chapter 101
Hephaestus’s works consisted of many things. 「Hermes’s Treads」 that were currently being worn by YuWon was one of his works, and so was the 「Shield of Medusa」 that Athena had. Even the 「Sun Chariot」 of Ares was made by him.
However, if you asked anyone to pick which one was his masterpiece, they would all say the same thing.
It was Zeus’s 「Lightning Bolt.」
‘Kyneē and the Trident are only similar in materials, but they weren’t made by Ahjussi.’
Hephaestus was Olympus’s, no, the Tower’s greatest blacksmith and the 「Lightning Bolt」 of Zeus that he had created truly displayed enormous might.
With one swing of the 「Lightning Bolt,」 an entire island could be blown away, and it was an item where if you willed it, you could manipulate the weather of the sky. This was the 「Lightning Bolt.」
Cr-Creak—
「Kyneē’s」 eye slowly opened, and YuWon’s palm became numb.
Shwaaaah—
It felt as if his right hand was going to be ripped off from trying to suppress the flood of mana that was flowing out of the eye.
‘The one who made Hades’s Kyneē was a disciple that Hephaestus was raising.’
Creak, crunch—
Even if you searched the entire tower, there were less than ten people who could handle adamantium. And even between those ten people, their skill with adamantium was also different.
Adamantium was a unique material that could conduct the power of the 「Divine Dark Crystal,」 the 「Divine Sea Crystal,」 and the 「Divine Sky Crystal.」
Depending on how proficient one was at working with the material, the difference in the item’s performance would be like heaven and earth.
‘That’s why this Kyneē is…”
Crackle, crunch—
Squeeze—
Clenching 「Kyneē」 after its eye opened wide, YuWon started to walk forward again.
‘…A much better item than what Hades had.’
Step, step—
“Grrrrrrrr—”
“Gyaaaa—”
As YuWon approached, the monsters curled up and flashed their fangs in a threatening manner. But none dared to charge first towards him.
No, rather, it was the opposite.
Shift, shfff—
One after another, the monsters started to part to the sides. They acted like herbivores that were in the presence of an apex predator.
“Kng, kng—”
“Knng—”
Some monsters even flattened their bodies into the ground and leaked painful moans.
YuWon hadn’t done anything. He was only drawing on 「Kyneē’s」 power with all his might.
‘That’s half.’
Step—
YuWon continued moving towards the 「Divine Sea Crystal.」
His heart was impatient, but he couldn’t let that show on the outside because wielders of absolute power must always be relaxed. If those monsters who only acted while believing in numbers were to ever see unrest or an opening, they would charge at YuWon again.That was why he didn’t rush. Slow and steady in every step, he was only walking between the monsters who were dividing themselves left and right.
But then…
Woong—
Flash—!
The 「Divine Sea Crystal」 embedded in the mana heart of the Sea Turtle emitted light.
“…Tsk.”
After clicking his tongue in disapproval, YuWon’s steps grew faster.
Dash—
After kicking up his speed in an instant, YuWon ran directly to the 「Divine Sea Crystal.」 He used 「Hermes’s Treads」 as well to instantly close the distance by half. But in that moment…
“Kuaaaah—!”
The mass of monsters that had parted in two around YuWon all lunged at him again.
“You wouldn’t die if you stayed still…”
Clench—
YuWon put strength into his hand and wielded his sword against the encroaching tide of monsters.
“Seeing you charge in, knowing you’ll die, you’ve all been controlled more firmly than I thought.”
Crunch—
「Kyneē’s」 eye started to produce light, and the mana that was now flowing without restriction flooded out through YuWon’s sword.
In the next instant…
Flash—!
Following the path of YuWon’s sword, 「Kyneē’s」 magic power consumed its surroundings.
Fwaaaaah—!
Cr–ack—
In YuWon’s path, the bodies of the monsters that had charged in from all directions became nothing. The monsters that were annihilated in the sword’s path looked as if they had been consumed by something gargantuan. In an instant, over a hundred monsters disappeared.
However, the path hadn’t fully opened up yet.
‘Not yet.’
Throb—
Krrshk—
YuWon could feel the hand equipped with 「Kyneē」 being ripped apart. It was because of the excess flow of mana that couldn’t be handled by his body.
‘Two more times after this.’
It didn’t feel right to exhibit 「Kyneē’s」 great power that was above his expectations, even more so as his body was creaking from not being able to fully contain the power, like right now.
However, he had to endure it at least two more times.
Shshshshsh—
The power flowing from 「Kyneē」 became empowered once again.
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And then a follow-up hit.
Swoosh—!
Just like drawing a line on a canvas with a brush, another wide gap was created in the path of the sword by YuWon’s swing at the swarm of monsters that was obstructing his advance.
Krrshk—
His palm was ripped apart again. It was as if his hand was going to explode.
‘As I thought, is it still too much?’
The inherent skill of 「Kyneē,」 [Hell.]
No, it was a type of ‘phenomenon’ that couldn’t even be called a skill.
The eye that opened on the back of his hand was like a type of door. Where it was connected to, just what type of place that was, YuWon nor anyone else knew.
However, one thing was certain. An enormous power that not even YuWon could estimate flowed in that space.
‘I can swing it only about one more time.’
Clench—
YuWon tightened the grip of his right hand which was equipped with 「Kyneē」 and his sword again, and it shook.
Only one more time. That was YuWon’s current limit.
Still, fortunately, if he hadn’t increased his Arcane Power to three digits, he wouldn’t have been able to use 「Kyneē」 as he had now.
Woosh—
Wind started to pick up close to the ground under YuWon’s feet. His body became as light as a feather, and it lifted into the air with the wind.
[Activating Sky Step.]
[Movement speed has increased by 100% for 5 seconds.]
[You can step through the sky for 5 seconds.]
The innate skill of 「Hermes’s Treads,」[Sky Step,] which could only be used once per day, was activated.
Thump—
He stepped on empty air and took more and more steps, and his featherlike body flew into the air.
The distance was closed in an instant.
Five seconds.
It wasn’t a long time, but in a situation like this, that time was more precious than any treasure in the world.
Badump—
The mana heart of the Sea Turtle beat more slowly. The 「Divine Sea Crystal」 was embedded in there quite deeply.
‘The mana heart of the Sea Turtle is more sturdy than most metals.’
It was the self-preservation instinct of the Sea Turtle. A monster that curled up inside its shell and struggled to survive as hard as possible.
The mana heart of such a Sea Turtle was as sturdy as the shell that covered its body.
‘There’s no point if I can’t cut it out here.’
The 「Divine Sea Crystal」 was right in front of his eyes. If he was able to extract it, if he was able to obtain it…
‘I’ll cut it in a single strike.’
Crrrunch—
One more time—no. For the last time, 「Kyneē’s」 eye illuminated with black light again. Simultaneously, the color of YuWon’s eyes also changed to red.
[Cinder Eyes reads the path.]
His sight was brightened, and the mana heart that contained the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 was made known. The mana heart was bigger than a house, but the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 was as small as a fingernail.
If he wasn’t able to locate the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 and obtain it in this instant, the monsters behind him would reform into a great wave and lunge towards him again. It would become quite the predicament if that happened.
In this moment, when he had to focus on what was going on outside as well, he couldn’t afford to lose more time and energy to the monsters.
‘Where are you.’
YuWon’s eyes started to scan.
‘Just where are you.’
Badump— Badump— Badump—
The mana heart started to beat faster.
With his sight enhanced by both the effects of [Sensory Field] and [Cinder Eyes,] the blue light that was as broad as a house that was emitted by the heart started to shrink, and soon the light shrank to about the size of a small boulder.
Somewhere in that light was the 「Divine Sea Crystal.」
YuWon was tempted to make a gamble, but in that instant before he swung his sword…
[Another small fragment of Kyneē is reacting.]
He could see a small stone that was lodged deep inside the mana heart.
Skoosh—!
Shwaaa—
Drip, drop, drop—
The blood fell like rain and flowed down. It was the blood that had flowed inside the mana heart.
Drip—
The blood began to wet the ground.
The mana heart wasn’t the only thing that got slashed.
Grrrr—
Shii, shwaaa—
The myriad of monsters that was surrounding the heart to protect it had also disappeared as if they had never existed in the first place.
A circular ring was drawn where the mana heart had been as the center. Everything had been cut.
The monsters had all forgotten their desire to protect the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 at some point and now kept a distance. Their expressions were filled with fear.
“Shiiiiee—”
“Gyaaa—?”
As nothing seemed to happen after a long time, the monsters started to move one by one towards where the mana heart used to be.
Twitch—
Something that had been submerged in the blood moved. There was no way the observant monsters could miss it.
“Grrrrrr—”
Gulp—
A few monsters seemed to be hungry because they were licking their lips.
They only gauged each other for a moment, and the biggest of the group, an Aqua Dragon, moved forward and opened its mouth really wide, as if to eat its food in one bite.
The other monsters didn’t dare to challenge the Aqua Dragon and curled their bodies up behind it.
In that moment…
The prey that had been submerged in the blood moved a little.
Scraaak—
A line was drawn through the center of the Aqua Dragon’s body.
Creak—
The Aqua Dragon’s body was sliced in twain and flopped lifelessly to either side.
The reactions of the monsters that had been intimidated by the size of the Aqua Dragon were also split in two. They either thought of this as an opportunity and stepped forward, or they would get even more scared and step back.
Limp—
YuWon stood up slowly from the pool of blood.
Because his right hand was a mess, he had to wield the sword with his left. Thanks to this, the feeling of his slash wasn’t as smooth as before.
“…That’s awkward.”
As he had become drenched in blood after slashing open the mana heart of the Sea Turtle, YuWon used his hand to wipe the blood off his face. After lightly wiping off the blood on his body, he looked around his surroundings.
“Grrrr—”
“Kyaaaah—”
The monsters were drooling with their mouths open, seemingly having completely forgotten what happened to the Aqua Dragon just then.
To risk their lives for one mere meal… YuWon felt that a monster was still just a monster in the end.
‘I’m tired.’
YuWon opened and closed his right hand and looked down at his palm. Because of 「Kyneē,」 he couldn’t see it, but his right hand had been ripped apart, and the bones had all been misaligned. It was the consequence of using strength above his means.
‘It’s still difficult to perfectly wield Kyneē’s power. Rather than a problem with my competence, was it a problem with my stats?’
The two important stats in the future would be Arcane Power and Constitution. The stat that was necessary to use [Sensory Field] more effectively was the Perception stat.
It was difficult to raise the Arcane Power stat right now, but there were enough methods to raise the other ones.
‘Looks like I’ll need to focus on leveling up for now.’
Feeling his lack of stats, YuWon wondered if he had been focused too much on climbing. It was important to climb the Tower, but it was also important to not neglect leveling up.
‘Whatever. End of self-reflection.’
Yuwon lifted his head. He was wondering why the fishy smell had become worse, but it was just because another Sea Snake had approached.
‘Then…’
YuWon opened his left hand, and inside…
Wooooong—
…Was a beautifully shining blue gem.
