Chapter 121: A Clash Between a King-Kong and a Hybrid Species (9)

Mystic referred to an ‘unknown power’ that could be found in the continent. Some said that it was a blessing from the Devil, while some said that it was the blessing given by the gods or fairies. However, according to the hypothesis of the famous sage, Merlin…

-Mystic is a blessing from nature. It is simply a part of the infinite energy created by the cycle of nature that seeps into us.

And that theory was shared by the world’s academics of the current era.

Besides, the theory wasn’t so far-fetched either. One only needed to look at the dormant volcano, Vulcan, whose mystic power was well-known, or the eternal snow of the northern region. Those two were enough proof that mystics were created by Mother Nature herself.

Hence why people believed that the hypothesis of the great sage was an established theory.

However, the great sage also said…

-Mystic is not a power that is given for free. Rather, it is a power that demands a price to a cruel degree.

Once again, that theory was easily proven. One only needed to look at the mystical races.

Barbarians who had innate brute strength and talent as warriors, but were lacking in intelligence. Beastmen who had innate bravery and the ability to grow quickly, but were lacking in the ability to work together. Dwarves who had innate dexterity and long lifespan, but they’d lose their hairs in their teens.

Whether someone was born with mystic or had acquired it, all mystics came with a price.

Just like all power, nothing came without a price.

Of course…

“Keukkkk!”

Mystic to manipulate the Mother Worm—a gigantic monster—also came with a price. Said price was so high that a mere human wouldn’t normally dare to pay it.

Gush-!

Blood gushed out from Number 4’s mouth and eyes. His current appearance made him look like a ghost with a grudge. He was no different from a bloody man who had given up on life.

But what could he do?

Death! Death to our enemies…!

There was no logic left in Number 4’s thoughts. All he had left was the will to kill his enemies.

Twelve fucking years! I spent that long in this dirty tunnel, trying to please that disgusting priest…! And yet, they are ruining everything…!

For a full 12 years, he had lived in this damned place, all because of his devotion to the organization—no, to the Black Moon. His only purpose was to fulfill their ‘long-awaited desire’.

It’s not a desire that a mere knight has the right to ruin—!

Number 4 gritted his teeth.

-Fourth Apostle. You need to fix that hot-tempered personality of yours. If only you could fix that, you’d be worthy of targeting the position of Second Apostle a long time ago.

That was what Number 4, no—the guy who was named as the Fourth Apostle often heard from the First Apostle, the leader of the Black Moon, and the closest person to the [Great Apostle].

First Apostle’s advice was something that even him, a fellow apostle, couldn’t easily ignore.

-I will try.

-It isn’t something that you can do with effort alone. You’re a hot-tempered person to begin with, and since you have an ogre’s tendon grafted onto you, your personality is also influenced by that monster without you knowing.  It’s probably impossible to change your personality.

-…Are you picking a fight with me right now?

-I’m not. I just want you to face the truth, and at the same time, give you this advice.

-Advice?

-Yes. If, one day, you encounter someone who is clearly far superior to you, run away. Due to your personality, chances are you’ll still rush towards them even though you know they’re stronger than you, just like a moth drawn to flames.

-R-Run away? There are things you can and can’t say—

-Remember. We have a long-awaited desire that we must achieve. Even if it means that we have to bend our pride.

-!!

-The Black Moon’s status in the Blood Cross is extremely low right now, probably because we had messed up in the past. There are many people who are unhappy with us using the name ‘Apostle’. Hence, Fourth Apostle… No, Drak…

-…

-In order to achieve our long-awaited desire, we need as many Apostles as possible. That’s why, whenever you encounter a dangerous enemy, run away, and save as many of our subordinates as possible. We are still in need of manpower.

-…Understood.

Drak nodded his head, expressing his understanding after hearing the First Apostle using his real name—something he would not do if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.

He’d need to save as much manpower as possible, and he needed to save his life.

But now…

First Apostle! I’m sorry, I can’t fulfill my promise!

Drak gritted his teeth, realizing that the First Apostle had seen through his true nature very well. Indeed, he really was a hot-blooded person, the kind of person who couldn’t calm down unless he released all the anger in his heart.

Kill! I’m going to kill you no matter what!

Because of one guy, the base that he had been working on for 12 years was ruined, and the soldiers that he trained were dying. Some were already buried in tunnels and died.

If he didn’t get angry after all that, he would be a true gentleman. But unfortunately, Drak was not a gentleman.

Because of that…

[[Keeeeee!!!]]

He let go of the reins of the monster.

Drak had stuck a needle on the top of Mother Worm’s head. It was a huge needle—about the same length as a human’s height, and this needle was the organization’s secret weapon that allowed them to control Mother Worm, the ‘Mystic to control monsters’.

A Mystic that took the user’s life as a ‘price’.

At the same time, the monster that was infused by the Mystic grew bigger and stronger the more they ate the ‘sacrifice’. No one could even imagine just how much trial and error they had to go through to get to this point.

Originally, their plan was to double the size of the Mother Worm, make the tunnel collapse and invade the kingdom. If they sent the prisoners armed with weapons on top of the Mother Worm, it would surely deal a huge blow to the kingdom.

This was a plan that he had been brewing for over 12 years, but half of the plan had already been ruined because of a single rat.

That was why…

I will definitely kill the knight who had ruined our long-awaited desire!!!

Drak, who was fully determined to kill the knight even if it meant he had to give up his entire life, was practically running towards his own death with the Mother Worm. It was as if he didn’t care whether the tunnel collapsed or not.

Whoosh-!

He was definitely betting his all to do so, but…

Baaannnnggg-!

[[!!!?]]

“??”

Somehow, even though the monster racer had been enveloped so deeply in his rage, the sight in front of him made him forget that very rage as he could only stand there dazed.

The Mother Worm’s neck was pierced.

“What kind of technique is that?”

“It’s called Sun Piercing Spear.”

“Wow, I wanna try taking on that technique.”

“Sure, try to take it then.”

“Haha, I won’t refuse.”

The spear kicked by the hateful knight pierced Mother Worm’s neck, prompting its whole body to stop moving as its head was missing.

Drak couldn’t keep up with the series of events, but he understood he couldn’t just sit there blankly.

Whoosh-!

“As long as you don’t die, everything will be okay.”

“!!!?”

At some point, a giant man approached him. He grabbed Drak’s shoulder so he swung his sword to push the man away, but…

Bang-!

“You aren’t bad, but you trusted your talent too much and neglected your training. What a shame.”

Just a light hand movement from the giant, Maximus, was enough to make his sword shatter like glass. Not only that, his shoulder was also crushed because of it.

“Kwaaaaak!!”

When it came to physical abilities, Drak always believed that he was second to none. But, his opponent this time was on a whole different level entirely.

“This is how you use your strength.”

Baaaaannggg-!

He had the power to shake even mountains.

-Overwhelming Might.

Maximus was literally powerful enough to overturn mountains, and it wasn’t something that a mere chimera of a barbarian and ogre who lived off the mountain could handle.

Crackle-!

Maximus’ blow turned Drak’s limbs into dust, making him faint.

It was a very vain ending for a person who bore the name of ‘Apostle’.

“Well, the troublemaker is gone. Let’s continue our fight.”

“…If you had run away with that guy, I wouldn’t even be able to chase you.”

“Haha, is there a knight that does such a cowardly thing in this world?”

“Probably?”

Even though they had just defeated a gigantic monster and a skilled warrior, neither Lee Han nor Maximus was impressed by it. They were both calm, as if what they had done was just catching a mosquito that had been buzzing near their ears.

Now they could fight without any interference.

Looking at those two…

“I-I don’t think there’s a reason for you two to fight anymore… R-Right?”

Derrick asked the obvious question, but he couldn’t bring himself to express his opinion to them. He didn’t have the guts to get in their way and get himself into serious trouble.

The guy with the thief-class had made a wise choice.

Was it a coincidence?

Or fate?

As if it was a revelation from the sky, an alarm that signaled the end of his Skill’s cooldown rang in Derrick’s head, so he quickly used his most cherished skill.

Ding.

T-This…!

Derrick was completely taken aback.

He already knew that this man was a Lv. 8 Hero-class through his detection skill, but the moment he saw the traits he possessed, he was struck speechless. The fact that the race section displayed question marks again was strange, but that part didn’t bother him for now.

What are these flashy, crazy, cheat-like traits?!

G-Great Warrior of the North? That’s a trait that only the strongest champion of the North can have! The probability of obtaining it is only 0.000003%… !

It wasn’t just a [Great Warrior] trait that was there, it also had [North] as the modifier—it meant that he was a champion that could represent a country. In other words, it was a top-level trait that only those who had fought with their lives at stake could obtain.

And yet that trait had been raised to lv. 8.

However, that wasn’t even the most surprising thing, it was the Overwhelming Might and the Heavenly Martial Body.

I’ve never even seen those traits before…!

The conditions for obtaining the Overwhelming Might were hard enough, so it was shocking that someone could even achieve it. However, the benefits gained from it were just another level entirely.

He already received permanent overall ability correction through his Heavenly Martial Body trait, and yet he also received additional ones on top of it.

Not only that, he had more than one trait linked to physical abilities. Five out of six traits he had were all related to physical abilities!

…Just who is he? The reincarnation of Xiang Yu¹ or Heracles²?!

I’ve seen those traits for the very first time, but I know that they are all top-tier traits…!

Muscular Strength correction? Isn’t that like putting a jet engine on a truck?

The ability amplification value isn’t displayed properly, but the average amplification that a top-tier provides is 45%… If the Great Warrior of the North has a 50% boost, count on the remaining two except the Descendants of the Black King giving 35% boost each…

It means the total amplification is 210%…!

That’s literally a jet engine-level of specs for a human body…!

…Oh, my head…

Just where did all these monsters come from?!

He’s like an irregular character! If he’s put as a boss character, that means the dev just doesn’t want the players to kill him! It’s like he’s a bugged character born from a system error!

Feeling dizzy, Derrick looked at Lee Han with a worried gaze.

No matter how strong the instructor is, if he fights against such a ‘bugged monster’, there’s no way he would be safe—

Baaaaaanngg-!

“…”

The surroundings suddenly turned into a vacuum. The moment the two knights clashed, a huge concentric circle covered a radius of several tens of meters, distorted the atmosphere.

Unable to stand the shockwave, Derrick was thrown straight into the wall.

“…Keheuk.”

Drip-!

His nose started bleeding from the shock, but he didn’t even think about wiping the blood away. Instead, he made a dumbfounded expression before turning to Lee Han.

“…Status.”

Then, he activated his Skill once again.

And what he saw…

…Made him wonder whether it was the Status Window of a person or a monster.

“…”

Derrick was so surprised that he almost fainted. He knew that Lee Han almost died because of the whole thing with the Ghost King’s Elixir—the same incident that got him to Lv.8—so he had expected that he’d gain an additional trait. But from what he just read…

C-Crazy! Indomitable?! That’s the trait that comes out when [One Who Persevere], [Madman], and [One Who Enjoys Pain] are combined into one, isn’t it…!?’

He originally expected that Lee Han would only get a single trait because he was lucky to survive the pain from the elixir.

But this revelation meant that all three traits that he gained appeared on the day he took the elixir.

This alone was shocking, but then he checked the [Super Sense] and [Extreme Poison Resistance] traits. All of those traits were actually comparable to the Great Warrior of the North.

It made Derrick shiver in fear.

As he checked the effect of Lee Han’s Lv. 8 traits, Derrick realized how foolish his worries were.

Wow… He’s just a Ghost King in a human’s clothing now…

At the same time, he came to a sudden realization. The reason why Lee Han’s and Maximus’ races were marked with question marks probably meant that they could no longer be classified as humans.

And so…

…I-I’m not going to be killed by accident, right?

Derrick, who felt like a shrimp who got involved between the fight of the whales, quickly tried to find a place to escape.

He felt like if he got stuck between those guys—the guys who were comparable to King-Kong or Godzilla—even his bones would be grinded to paste.