(T/N: Translated from Chinese. One’s step is like a dragon’s skip and a tiger’s walk. A majestic gait.)
If Yong Jegun and Kim Shinrok had switched places and Kim Shinrok had the option of becoming a superior being, how would he have acted?
Kim Shinrok’s thoughts trailed for a while after Hwangryong’s words.
Never in a thousand years had he thought of that.
The thoughts lingered amid the desperate situation where the Bear Clan minions surrounded them.
“You can’t fight against them, but I can. Run away.”
Kim Shinrok turned his head at Hwangryong’s suggestion.
The energy waves that Hwangryong forced out of himself were fainter than a firefly’s light.
If Hwangryong were in good condition, dealing with these minions would be child’s play.
But Hwangryong can’t even stand on his own feet.
He can’t win.
It would be difficult to kill the long-standing dragon, but it was obvious that he’d fall miserably in the hands of the shaman as a hostage.
Kim Shinrok shook his head.
“You’re in no condition to fight right now, sir.”
“I can’t run away either.”
“But I still won’t run away alone. I’ll help.”
“You sound like you want to fight. Even if you do, the number of hostages the shamans will have will only increase.”
Hwangryong didn’t sugarcoat that he’d fight and follow him once it was over.
He was prepared to be captured.
If they had come here with nothing prepared, Kim Shinrok would’ve followed Hwangryong’s words eventually.
As Hwangryong said, staying would only increase the shamans’ hostages, so it makes sense to run away for help.
But Kim Shinrok had something he learned from Jo Euishin.
“Can’t fight alone.”
“There will be no change in how I fight even if you’re not here.”
“I can’t fight on my own. Please help me.”
After briefly explaining to the bewildered Hwangryong, Kim Shinrok didn’t wait for a reaction and instead raised his head.
His gaze was on the Water Mirror.
The shamans seemed to want to show Yong Jegun this situation, but there was no way to confirm if Yong Jegun was watching on the other side of the mirror.
Kim Shinrok thought it was better because he couldn’t concentrate when he saw that dragon and his smug face.
“Yong Jegun!”
Kim Shinrok shouted Yong Jegun’s name loud enough to be transmitted through the Water Mirror.
He knew that Yong Jegun would have crazy ideas by now.
‘He’ll try to do something stupid like last time.’
Yong Jegun once did something to reconcile him and Jeokho.
Kim Shinrok thought that Yong Jegun’s whim was for his amusement.
He lost his mind trying to stop Yong Jegun, knowing that if he continued, the latter would become the Tiger Clan’s enemy and he’d cause Jeokho inconvenience.
When Kim Shinrok tried to cut ties with Yong Jegun, Yong Jegun seriously vowed not to do it again.
After the brief conversation with Hwangryong, he judged that there was a different reason for his behavior.
‘If I were in that dragon’s position, wouldn’t I have done something to reconcile my friend and his family?’
If the roles were switched, Kim Shinrok would’ve done anything to restore the relationship between his friend and his father.
Yong Jegun is a really mean, mischievous, and strange dragon, and most of the craziness he’s done so far is for his whimsical playfulness.
But then, Kim Shinrok began to think that some of Yong Jegun’s actions may have been for himself.
Maybe ascension is the same.
‘If that’s the reason why that dragon wants to ascend…’
Kim Shinrok looked up at the Water Mirror again and addressed Yong Jegun.
“I’m watching you, Yong Jegun.”
Opting not to say “Don’t ascend,” Kim Shinrok raised his energy waves.
He had to empty his head and suppress his hostility toward the enemies because he wouldn’t be able to use his energy waves against the Bear Clan minions.
As Kim Shinrok’s red silk energy waves roared, a bolt of lightning began to flash.
Soon, through his light skill, his energy waves took the form of a tiger.
Fwaaaa!
A tiger with red lightning, Nwiho, appeared in front of Kim Shinrok.
But Nwiho couldn’t move a single step.
If Kim Shinrok tries to use Nwiho to attack the Bear Clan minions, his light skill will be deactivated in an instant.
Nwiho was like a scarecrow made of electricity.
Crack, crack.
One by one, the Bear Clan minions who escaped from the ice stepped on the ground with their bodies still soaked in water.
The ice eventually melted and all of the Bear Clan minions were free.
The minions slowly crept toward Kim Shinrok and Hwangryong.
[Omo, I think he used his light skill. Do we have to fight?]
[He can’t do anything with that tiger. It’s a scarecrow standing tall at best.]
[It’ll be easier to get him if he doesn’t move. What a nuisance.]
He heard the shamans’ voices.
The minions were from the Bear Clan, but seeing the sulfur, green, purple, and jade colors on them, they must’ve been under the shamans’ care.
Crack, growl!
Knowing that Nwiho was not a threat at all, the minions began to circle them, seemingly laughing as they did.
The only thing holding them back was the shamans.
The person who succeeds gets to make a wish, but it seems like moving first is disadvantageous.
Pretending to be relaxed, the shamans spoke to Hwangryong.
[Hwangryong-nim, what did you put on the floor… It’s not even a magic circle, you can’t use magic.]
[Is it his will?]
[We still have a lot of things we want to ask of you. We’re not going to kill you right away.]
Hwangryong was spreading something on the floor.
It was the shape of a bell that they’d never seen before.
Hwangryong didn’t respond to the shamans’ taunt.
When Nok, Byeok, and Ja burst into laughter, Yoohwang suddenly raised her voice.
[Go after Hwangryong first. At once!]
[What? But…]
[Yoohwang-nim, we’re going after the descendant first.]
Thinking that Yoohwang was tricking them, the other shamans did not move.
Yoohwang eventually clicked her tongue and moved the minions, but the motionless shamans were in the way, disrupting her from immediately jumping at Hwangryong.
Hwangryong was still standing on the pattern that he drew on the floor with a face half in doubt.
“Please, Hwangryong-nim.”
Hwangryong nodded at Kim Shinrok’s words.
He still didn’t know what Kim Shinrok was trying to do, but Hwangryong trusted him and decided to follow.
Hwangryong’s energy waves blinked as if they were going to be dispersed at any moment.
The energy waves flowed from the hazy Hwangryong to the pattern on the floor and Kim Shinrok.
Fwaaaa!
Nwiho glowed brilliantly the moment the yellow energy waves touched his red silk ones.
A powerful energy wave, far beyond Kim Shinrok’s maximum output, swung.
The minion that rushed toward Hwangryong was thrown aside by the power’s aftermath, and Hwangryong, standing at the center of that power, was able to stand upright.
‘I can fight now.’
The measure prepared by Jo Euishin — an Energy Wave Link.
Jo Euishin tried to give Kim Shinrok the power to fight against the Bear Clan using the energy wave link phenomenon that the Class 2-0 students discovered.
The training that began with Jo Euishin’s suggestion didn’t merely cover using his light skill.
According to Jo Euishin, his light skill was the only means.
After training Kim Shinrok’s summoning skill, Jo Euishin suggested practicing using the energy wave link.
— Descendants are born with pretty harsh conditions in this world. It’s very unreasonable that they can’t resist anything where they came from.
Descendants usually live as long as the royal lineage cherishes them very much, but they die as soon as they are out of sight.
Kim Shinrok, who knew this better than anyone else, had no choice but to listen with a bitter face.
— The Black Screen is persistent in targeting those descendants. You and Yeom Junyeol sunbaemim were targeted several times last year, Professor Kim Shinrok.
Other than Kim Shinrok, Yeom Junyeol was also present at that meeting.
Yeom Junyeol nodded as he listened to Jo Euishin’s words, but a deep wrath against the Black Screen brewed inside Cheongryong.
Yong Jegun wasn’t there at that time, but he would’ve been angry despite his usual smile.
— I thought there was a reason for that, as to why the Black Screen goes through all that length to get descendants into their hands. I think the reason is the energy wave link.
Jo Euishin explained how Yeom Junyeol successfully used the said link.
That energy wave link works with descendants, royal lineage, and humans, and that a stronger force is invoked once their combined energy waves are used.
Hwangho, who heard about the energy wave link, said,
— I was also interested in it, so I tried using it with Cheongho’s students. It didn’t work out. Two of the four are twins, so they had similar energy waves.
— Grandma Chokryong also tried to join, but it failed at first.
Humans can form energy wave links among themselves, but it’s impossible to have royal lineage-royal lineage and human-royal lineage.
Jo Euishin nodded at Yeom Junyeol’s remark.
— I think it doesn’t work for royal lineage if a descendant is not included.
Jo Euishin added a brief description of the royal lineage and descendants.
People of royal lineage are products of the past, and humans live in the present.
Descendants came from royal lineage, but they are born like humans.
In other words, they connect the past and the present, which is an important clue to the energy wave link.
In the case of descendants who can summon something similar from their source, the energy wave link is triggered more powerfully.
— Descendants with a light skill that can summon their royal lineage of origin have a great symbolism that connects the past and the present. It seems like that’s why the energy wave link is more powerful with them.
As Jo Euishin predicted, Kim Shinrok successfully used the energy wave link.
He successfully used it with Hwangho, Baekho, and Jeokho, but not just the Tiger Clan.
He even succeeded in using it with Cheongryong.
And with the Dragon Clan’s energy waves adding to his, it became possible for him to fight against the Tiger Clan, his source.
As if he predicted that this would happen, Jo Euishin said,
— Professor Kim Shinrok, please make sure to always be with someone else when we get to the Dragon Palace. That way, you and your companion will be safe even if the Bear Clan attacks.
And just as Jo Euishin said, with Hwangryong next to him, he was able to stand up against the Bear Clan.
Kim Shinrok can use Nwiho to attack the bear minions.
Fwiijijik!
The Dragon Palace stained with the shamans’ colors was covered with Nwiho’s lightning.
The wet bodies of the minions became great targets for his lightning.
They struggled to dodge and tried to hide through the shamans’ power, but in the face of the overwhelming lightning, the bear minions couldn’t escape.
With every roar from Nwiho, the minions were repeatedly swallowed by lightning.
When all the minions were turned to ash, Kim Shinrok stared straight at the Water Mirror.
He couldn’t see, but he looked at his close friend through it.
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