A long time ago, the Red Tiger and the Sad Bear Goddess united, and so the Tiger Clan and the Bear Clan joined forces to fight against foreign enemies.
Although those foreign enemies were blessed by the Heavenly God, they weren’t in the mythical or legendary status.
Still, those foreign enemies were strong and sneaky.
They managed to trick the Tiger Clan and the Son of God, and the Bear Clan.
As a result, the Blue Tiger, who was protected by the Son of God and the Silver Tiger, lost a lot of disciples as she wandered between life and death.
The head of the Bear Clan was also defeated.
While the Bear Clan and Tiger Clan lost their kin, the foreign enemies covered the skies of the Korean Peninsula with darkness, and the voice of the Heavenly God descending through the open sky was cut off.
It was the White Tiger who fought that darkness set upon by the foreign enemies and restored the grace of the heavens on earth.
“Ah… Is that why that student is wearing a white tiger mask?”
“Yep! It was the White Tiger who warded off evil spirits in the Myth of Gaecheon. Wearing a white tiger mask and his white sword is a must whenever the act of ritual is being re-enacted.”
Kim Yuri answered Mok Wooram’s question.
Many of the Year One Class Zero students weren’t familiar with the Myth of Gaecheon, so Kim Yuri kindly gave a brief explanation.
The Myth of Gaecheon that Kim Yuri knows about doesn’t include the relationship between the Red Tiger and the Sad Bear Goddess, but she knew enough to explain the role of the White Tiger.
“It’s starting!”
As soon as Saeum of April spoke, the person wearing a white tiger mask began to do a sword dance.
The kids initially thought that the dance would look awkward without any musical accompaniment, but the sounds produced by the pure white sword and the elegant flow of movements changed their minds.
A white afterglow shows with every stroke of the pure white sword slashing through the air.
The air felt lighter as the sword dance continued.
Those who thought that the air just felt stuffy because of the closed dome sensed that something was changing as if the air was getting lighter.
The small amount of dampness and stuffiness began to disappear with every movement of the sword.
“I think he’s actually performing a ritual…!”
“He must be a high-level ritual skill user!”
“It’s my first time seeing a reproduction of a scene from the Gaecheon myth. Shouldn’t the skill’s level be more than 5 to actually perform this kind of thing?”
The Class Zero students watched in astonishment.
Min Geurin, who has a lot of experience working with cultural references, spoke with great surprise.
“I’ve seen a performance of the ritual from someone with a level 5 skill, and I think this person’s skill level is higher than that…!”
The sword dance cut the seeds planted in Eungwang Stadium one by one.
The sword dance was smooth as the flow of water, and the dance soon reached the climax.
Soon, the scene where the White Tiger rises to the sky to take down the foreign enemy that covered the Korean Peninsula in darkness will be shown.
* * *
A waiting room in Eungwang Stadium.
The fierce confrontation was still ongoing.
There was no property damage thanks to Yellow Tiger’s boundary covering the entire waiting room, but the boundary had to be replenished several times as the incredible force kept breaking it.
In order to bind the purple venom from the priest, a golden energy wave had to consistently be in the Yellow Tiger’s eye.
The Avaritia’s priest was cornered, but his fighting spirit was still there.
‘This isn’t the Yellow Tiger’s full strength… He’s trying to capture me alive.’
It was foolish to kill the poisonous demon in a location filled with hundreds of people.
A special skill was needed to prevent the poison from excreting from a dying demon’s body, but nobody in the stadium had such a skill.
‘No one in the Tiger Clan has that skill. The Son of God had it, but it’s been a long time since he’s left the Tiger Clan…’
The Avaritia’s priest tried to calculate his moves as he exuded more venom.
When he detected that the White Tiger had cut more than half of the seeds he planted, the priest clenched his teeth.
Fwa!
“Geuhk!”
The Yellow Tiger’s dress shoes dug into the priest’s solar plexus, and an intense pain spread throughout his body.
The Yellow Tiger could’ve ended him with his boundary skill, but he decided to use a Taehokwon technique to cause the priest some pain.
As the White Tiger continued to remove the seeds one by one, the demon suddenly thought of an escape plan.
Although his mind was disturbed by the sudden developments, the priest hadn’t forgotten the existence of White Tiger when he had planned this infiltration.
There’s a seed that could evade the power of the White Tiger.
‘There’s still a chance!’
The thunderous realization dawned on the priest.
He opened his mouth and shadows began to emerge.
The shadows headed to the four pillars close to the north, east, south, and west entrances of the stadium.
The pillars were far enough from the White Tiger, and so he planted them there with his poison.
“Didn’t your friend lose his true name and angered the god? It’s impossible for him to dispose of this seed with his power.”
White Tiger was still under the Wrath of God which is only loosened when he’s dealing with the bear clan.
The poisonous seeds planted by the demon threatened everyone in the stadium, yet the Heavenly God still won’t allow the White Tiger to use his full power as it isn’t someone from the Bear Clan he is faced with.
“You seem to be overconfident in White Tiger’s power. Even though I can’t kill the one I truly intended to assassinate, I can kill as many humans as I want to stain your sacred territory.”
White Tiger’s skill was powerful, but the Heavenly God’s debuff was still bringing him down.
Convinced that the White Tiger doesn’t have his full strength, the priest tried to offer a deal once more.
If there was no room for negotiation, he intended to manipulate and kill anyone and tarnish the image of the Guardian.
The priest wanted to see the Yellow Tiger become angry and release his powerful energy wave, but contrary to his expectation, the Yellow Tiger still seemed at ease.
‘…Everything that I said was true. I am not bluffing or lying at all. How can he be so relaxed?!’
The golden energy wave in Yellow Tiger’s hand became heavier.
“I have no intention of responding to a cunning demon’s words.”
“…What are you talking about? Is the Guardian thinking of sacrificing hundreds of lives today?”
Instead of responding, the Yellow Tiger moved his hand.
The golden boundary was strengthened.
“Didn’t I tell you? There’s a man who saw through all of your shallow tricks.”
* * *
The sword dance continued in silence and gradually headed to the climax.
The White Tiger’s will and emotions as he faced the foreign enemies in the Myth of Gaecheon were perfectly expressed.
In the myth, the White Tiger will slash the blanket of darkness placed by the foreign enemies and cut through the sky for the last time.
The White Tiger would see the small gap in the blanket of darkness.
This small fissure was caused by the Moon Palace’s Moon Rabbit who was indebted to the Tiger Clan’s head.
The man wearing the white tiger mask held the white sword with both hands and raised the blade high in the sky as if he were praying to the heavenly god.
‘Oh?’
Park Seunghyun, a student from the Jiikhoe, heard a faint whistle sound as he watched the sword dance.
The whistle sound came from near the person wearing the white tiger mask.
Park Seunghyun thought the whistle sound was somewhat similar to his own light skill “Military Song”.
‘…It’s quite similar to my light skill. What’s going on? Is there a skill similar to mine?’
Although the whistle he heard in the stadium was quite similar to his own, the status seems to be different.
Park Seunghyun was right to be suspicious.
Because in fact, the man wearing the white tiger mask and performing the ritual was the one benefitting Park Seunghyun’s skill.
Jo Euishin used his Player Identity skill to borrow Park Seunghyun’s light skill and to give more strength to the White Tiger.
While the Demon Clan’s Eye was watching the Eungwang stadium, the White Tiger entered disguised as a student.
Just as Jo Euishin instructed, the White Tiger wore a school uniform and stayed in the waiting room where there was no communication signal.
— The Heaven’s Wrath debuff only disappears when fighting against the Bear Clan.
— The power of the ritual might not be enough since it’s the Demon Race we’re going to face, and the debuff will be in full effect.
— I’ll put in effect the strongest buff I can once the sword dance is on its climax.
The White Tiger, wearing a white tiger mask, silently danced the sword dance as he recalled Jo Euishin’s words.
At some point, the whistle became louder and louder, and the White Tiger’s energy wave intensified.
The other audience also began to hear the whistle and they looked around to find its source.
Finally, the sword dance and the whistle reached their climax, and the White Tiger swung his White Fang to the sky with all his might.
Fwaaaa!
A white tiger appeared from the tip of the sword that he swung.
As the huge white tiger ran into the sky, the audience gave very loud cheers.
Woooow–!
As soon as the white tiger climbed to the sky, a white energy wave scattered and covered the entire stadium.
Shortly after the white energy wave enticed the audience, all the lights switched on again.
It was as if the mythical white tiger had broken through the blanket of darkness that the foreign enemies placed and finally restored the grace of the heavenly god under the open skies.
The dome was still closed, but the atmosphere feels like the sky was visible again.
* * *
The aftermath of the White Tiger’s sword dance and the audience’s loud cheers were also witnessed by the Yellow Tiger and the Avaritia’s Priest.
‘Impossible…! How could the White Tiger have such immense power…!?’
All the seeds planted by the priest were destroyed by White Tiger.
When all the seeds were destroyed, the four shadows that occupied the four pillars of the stadium were also extinguished.
The Avaritia’s priest now has no choice but to believe White Tiger’s words.
Just as the arrogant Yellow Tiger said, there is a human that saw through all his plans.
‘Now that it’s like this, there’s no other way.’
He had no desire to die here, but he refuses to fall into the hands of the Tiger Clan.
Since it has come down to this, he wanted to at least do damage to the Yellow Tiger and the humans in the area.
The Yellow Tiger would probably realize what he’s plotting and quickly place a boundary on him.
The boundary skill of the Guardian.
The deadly poison that runs in the blood of Avaritia’s best priest.
It’s uncertain which side would prevail, but the Demon was determined to stain the Tiger Clan’s cherished territory.
But then…
Something unexpected happened.
Fwaaa…
The Yellow Tiger started to deactivate the boundary that covered the waiting room.
The Yellow Tiger was left defending himself with only the energy wave that surrounded his body.
‘Why did he deactivate the boundary? Is he really going to abandon his mission as the Guardian?!’
Suspicion was evident on the face of the Avaritia’s Priest.
Kwang!
As if it was right on cue, the door to the waiting room opened as soon as the boundary was deactivated.
The man that appeared put the priest into great shock.
‘What the…? No, that’s …!’
The man that appeared was someone that the priest knew.
To be exact, the priest didn’t know who the man was, but he was very well familiar with the mask that the man wore.
The man who appeared was wearing a crow mask.
“A crow mask…!”
The human wearing a crow mask symbolizing Sidelentium, the Demon King of Silence.
The Indivius’ Priest, who hated the crow king yet had a particular liking to the human who wore a crow mask, often talks about him.
The man wearing the crow mask was drawing something with his hands raised in the air.
‘N-no, he’s not drawing, he’s writing something!’
The Avaritia’s Priest realized what the masked man was trying to do.
He abandoned his suicide bombing plan and decided to lunge at the man, but it was already too late.
When the masked man finished writing something in the air, the Avaritia’s priest’s movements completely stopped.
‘This is… This level of skill is the same with the Namok Poet—No, it’s much stronger!’
The skill that the masked man used was the Spiritual Word.
It was the ability that was the polar opposite of the Demon Race.
The priest checked multiple times that the Spiritual Word user was not in the stadium, but he was defeated this way in the end.
“How many times do I have to say it? There’s a man who saw through all your tricks.”
Yellow Tiger laughed as the forbidden skill embodied by the Spiritual Word bound the demon.
