Chapter 168: Forest of Death (1)

Translation: Nadu

Edit: Lesurous

After Hansung left, Pendragon made a devastating expression.  

"I know that he normally gets restless but I never thought he would leave without a word…"

The Dragon Lord Hansung wasn't the type of person who stayed at one place for very long.  

He roamed all around the Underworld to be called someone with wanderl.u.s.t.  

Since he had earned about three secret cla.s.ses, one could get an idea on how many adventures he's been on with knowing that alone.  

Pendragon turned his head and looked at Seraphina.  

"Master wanted me to experience the world. Will you allow me to accompany you for a while?"

However, it seemed like he wasn't discouraged.  

Instead, he looked at it as another opportunity and made another plan.  

Seraphina laughed awkwardly.  

It was already decided for Muyoung to become the First Knight.  

The only position that could influence cult judges.  

However, Pendragon didn't care about that anymore.  

'Although he didn't earn the position, he was going to earn true love.'

Pendragon was young. He was high-spirited. He also had a big dream.  

He was also not the type of man to be discouraged by one defeat.  

If he was that sort of person, he wouldn't have been able to become Hansung's disciple.  

Although Muyoung got the First Knight position, he was all fired up to gain Seraphina's, true love.  

Muyoung shrugged his shoulders.  

Hansung's disciple. There was definitely something to gain from him too.  

'This is good.'

Muyoung fought with Hansung 10 days and nights.  

Using only pure technique.  

Hansung's swordsmans.h.i.+p wasn't structured but it was completely strong.  

A master that forgot the formulas because he fought so much!  

To be honest, Muyoung's swordsmans.h.i.+p was no more than a copy of Sword One and King Slayer's.  

Mixing the skills he learned while at the Forest of Death, his attacks were very aggressive but there were some parts that were lacking.  

He found out about his limits in his one-sided attacks with Hansung.  

'I want to make my own swordsmans.h.i.+p.'

Simply earning skills and raising stats wasn't everything.  

The basics. The pillars must be strong and high for the building to be built higher.  

Following Sword One and King Slayer, Muyoung wanted Hansung's swordsmans.h.i.+p.  

And Pendragon was the one who was most influenced by Hansung's swordsmans.h.i.+p.  

Since copying was the mother of imitations, Muyoung was planning to create his own swordsmans.h.i.+p by a.n.a.lyzing Hansung and Pendragon's swordsmans.h.i.+p.  

'I never thought that a swordsmans.h.i.+p under my name would appear.'

Muyoung grinned at the thought of what happened a few days ago.  

After fighting with Hansung, he wielded his sword a few times under the moonlight to get a little enlightenment.  

Perhaps you could say Muyoung was relaxed by the moon.  

And suddenly, for the first time, a skill related to swordsmans.h.i.+p had appeared.   

Skill Name: Muyoung's Swordsmans.h.i.+p (???) - Muyoung's unique swordsmans.h.i.+p that he has started to make on his own. It is currently incomplete, and when it's completed, it's rank will be decided depending on the result.  

There wasn't much explanation.  

But, the fact that it was incomplete was important.  

Muyoung was slowly completing a swordsmans.h.i.+p in his name.  

Through the fight with Hansung, Muyoung gained a lot of inspiration.  

The sage's potion he exchanged for it was definitely worth it.  

Since Muyoung had gained a piece of King Slayer's sword.  

Muyoung who was looking at the sword piece changed his gaze.  

Hansung left. Pendragon was the only one left.  

"Pendragon-nim, Muyoung is already decided as the First Knight."

"I know. I am not planning to compete against him. I'm just another houseguest is here."

"…I need the approval of the First Knight."

Then, Pendragon's expression wrinkled for a moment.  

He was willing to compete against Muyoung.  

But, he needed Muyoung's approval to follow them.  

It was painful to hear the words without being drunk.  

"I have a condition. You need to duel me at the same time every day."

Muyoung coolly spoke.  

The difference between the two was already completely opposite.

But, the reason why he still wanted to fight against him was because there was still something to be gained from it.  

Just because someone was weak, it didn't mean nothing could be learned from them.  

Muyoung was planning to do everything to complete his own swordsmans.h.i.+p.  

It was a challenge to bring out his own uniqueness that didn't exist in the past and was unique in this world.  

Something that only Muyoung could do and should do.  

How could his heart not race?  

But, Muyoung's meaning was simply distorted.  

In Pendragon's standpoint, it seemed as though Muyoung was using his powers against him.  

Although he said it was a duel, it would be nothing more than one sided violence.  

Pendragon had already acknowledged the skill difference between him and Muyoung.  

For now, it was like a wall he couldn't climb over.  

Although it was a pure fight, he had never seen a person who tried to fight Hansung equally and succeed.  

'He's trying to show Seraphina how he wins over me every day?'

All kinds of thought came to his head.   

However, Pendragon was far from a pessimist.  

'He's a man who my master acknowledged. There must be something I could learn from him as well.'

These days his skills were stagnant.  

The breakthrough could be Muyoung.  

On top…

'They say women are attracted to men who work hard.'

It was Hansung's theory.  

Regardless of victory or defeat, women liked men who tried their best.  

If he was to fall down, he just needed to get back up. Pendragon's eyes were ablaze.  

Then, he vowed to himself that he will learn everything he could from Muyoung.  

"I understand."

Their exchange was ended with slight nods.  

In the same duel, different motives were exchanged.  

There was no way Muyoung didn't read Pendragon's sudden change in att.i.tude.  

'It's no different than two people with the same destination but different routes.'

However, they needed to see who would reach their destination and who wouldn't be able to.  

There was something that changed when he became the First Knight.  

First, it was the gaze of the surrounding priests and paladins.  

"I never thought he would really become the First Knight…"

"They say he also became close with the Dragon Lord as well."

"I thought there would never be a First Knight for Seraphina."

Because they were people too, it couldn't be helped for them to feel a bit of jealousy and envy with their surprise.  

However, Seraphina's iron wall-like defense was well known even in Mulalan.  

"How many were there before him?"

"Maybe more 50?"

As many as 50 people competed to become Seraphina's First Knight.  

They all met the conditions to become a First Knight.  

If anyone could compete, more than 500 people would have jumped to compete for the position.

And, among the 50 people, there were city owners and their children, even dominant figures of guilds and clans, and also Mulalan's high priests and paladins.  

But, they all failed. It was because the standard of Seraphina was too high.  

But this test was questionable, and so people talked.  

"They say the contestants only completed the basic test, right?"

"Not the '10 Trials'?"

"If those who competed hear about this, there will be a storm of protest."

'Seraphina's 10 Trials' were famous.  

Because so many people wanted to compete, Seraphina personally made the trials hard.  

But, this time, she only made her contestants complete the basic test. Of course, Muyoung pa.s.sed without any difficulty.  

In fact, it was enough for all 50 challengers to pa.s.s the test.  

In other words, the 50 past challengers were just played for fools.

Seraphina had also heard of people talking but she dismissed it at once.  

"He is a person who is qualified to have a sword duel with Dragon Lord Hansung."

What happened within the palace was only known by a few saintesses who were at the place.  

Of course, priests and paladins didn't know that Muyoung fought with Hansung.  

Those who heard of Seraphina's story made a more surprised look.  

The qualification to have a sword duel with the Dragon Lord!

Although her words were a bit ambiguous, it really depended on how you interpreted it.  

He had strength similar to the Dragon Lord, he was a man acknowledged by the Dragon Lord, he was a man weaker than the Dragon Lord but he had the potential to become stronger, many ways to view her words. It was also said he had extremely n.o.ble blood…

As a result, the malice towards Muyoung disappeared and only the mystery about him remained.  

The power of words.  

Of course, he had no interest in what people talked about.  

It was because from the beginning, after Hansung left, Muyoung continued to stay within his room, only leaving to duel with Pendragon.  

'My own swordsmans.h.i.+p.'

His commitment to be free from imitations and to create an original swordsmans.h.i.+p of his own!  

There was nothing more different than this from his past as a tool.  

There was no day and night for Muyoung.  

Although Hansung said he forgot about the structure, his swordsmans.h.i.+p was naturally melted into his sword.  

That was how important the type of swordsmans.h.i.+p was.  

'I want to encompa.s.s everything.'

The Sun and the moon, the sea and the sky, the softness and the firmness, the swiftness and the slowness… everything.  

He was almost becoming a crock because he was so focused and thinking about just that.  

Within just a week, his cheeks were slimmer and dark circles drooped under his eyes.  

It was because Muyoung concentrated that much into creating his swordsmans.h.i.+p.  

As if he never concentrated on anything this much before, he continued to focus on it.  

If it wasn't for Seraphina, he would have turned into a skeleton.  

And when one week had pa.s.sed, Muyoung came out of his room.  

'I can't make it here anymore.'

He needed to experience everything to create something that encompa.s.sed everything.  

Of course, 'revenge' was also part of this.  

In the past, when Muyoung eradicated the Forest of Death, it wasn't a revenge in the truest sense.  

It was just a struggle.  

How could it be considered a true revenge when he killed everyone and even killed himself at the end?

A true revenge was taking everything from his opponent.  

And making everything he took his own.  

Seraphina's eyes greatly widened after seeing Muyoung come out from his room.  

"Are… you done?"

Muyoung shook his head.  

Instead, he gave her a short reply.  

"Let's go to Suicide Hill."

Let's go see Wung Chunglin.  

The Diablos' Altar was originally at Suicide Hill.  

Of course, there were also priests of Diablo.

Enemies recognized as a 'cult' by Mulalan.  

Even by their size, since Diablos' priests were no match against Mulalan's, they couldn't help but to have to live in hiding.  

There was no room for them in the Underworld where Mulalan lead.  

"Oh vestal, the dirty seeds of Mulalan are dirtying our mountains."  

"Please give us an answer."

"Please pour endless despair and curses upon them!"

Inside a dark cave.  

Within a huge void, hundreds of priests in black robes kneeled and bowed their head.  

They wished for an answer as they called out their vestal.  

To them, Mulalan was also their enemy.  

Although right now, Mulalan was stronger, they were an enemy that needed to be destroyed.  

But, the paladins of Mulalan were climbing the mountain without any hesitation.  

As if they already knew that the priests of Diablos were already at this place.  

If they were to stay put, they wouldn't be able to survive.  

Then, a woman who was on the altar raised her face.  

"They will never be able to dirty our mountains."

Thump!  

She smacked her cane down.  

At the same time the entire mountain shook once.  

A huge crystal Talisman was on the cane.  

Talismans were the strength of the archangel that allowed wishes to come true.  

When the woman's power was added to it, there was an overwhelming presence.  

Also, the woman's voice was alluring. It was that much deep as well.  

Although her face wasn't visible because she used a cloth to cover her face, she still stole everyone's gaze.  

The woman also had another characteristic.  

The wings that were stretched beautifully!  

A woman with both a black and white wing.  

She was the vestal of Diablos' Altar.