There was one thing Seol-Hwi had overlooked: combat power was not the final word in survival. He’d spent all his efforts increasing combat power and had neglected the other two stats. As a result, he was now losing a battle that he could’ve won if he had more health, even though he’d dealt a lot more damage than his opponent.
Only seventy thousand… On top of that, repeatedly using his martial arts had gutted his reserves of internal energy.
“Something seems to be wrong.” Bigun seemed to recognize Seol-Hwi’s condition at a glance. Without further ado, he ran at Seol-Hwi.
Damn it! Seol-Hwi clenched his teeth. His health was low, and his concentration was flagging. He was struggling to see Bigun’s movements even more now.
<Critical hit! Bigun has dealt 10,000 damage to Seol-Hwi.>
“Ugh!”
<Critical hit! Bigun has dealt 10,000 damage to Seol-Hwi.>
“Gah!” Seol-Hwi began to collapse under the continuous hits. His reaction speed was beginning to suffer. Driven into a corner, Seol-Hwi began to gravitate towards a certain idea.
I have to end it… all at once. There was a technique that could reverse this situation all at once; absolute, overwhelming strength, but, at the same time, not martial arts.
Wind God: → N(Neutral) ↓↘, A <4.5x speed>
It was the best skill he had. If it worked, that would be the end of the fight. The problem was, the chances of Seol-Hwi getting it right were far too low.
I have to get this right. A little closer…
<Critical hit! Bigun has dealt 3,000 damage to Seol-Hwi.>
<Critical hit! Bigun has dealt 7,000 damage to Seol-Hwi.>
Despite taking damage, Seol-Hwi remained focused on using the technique. At this point, he decided it would be worth the gamble.
Bang! One hit.
Bang! Another hit.
When the third hit came for him, the conditions were perfect—the conditions he’d created on purpose.
This is my chance! Seol-Hwi threw his sword at Bigun and quickly followed it in. He ducked his head and extended his right fist as he moved.
“…What are you doing?” Bigun stared at him, shocked.
“Haha…”
Seol-Hwi’s smile didn’t last for long. Bigun’s blazing sword slammed into his body.
<Critical hit! Bigun inflicted major damage to Seol-Hwi.>
Seol-Hwi [Vice-Captain of the Hidden Truth Corps]
Health: 3,200(↓128k)/710k
“Kuak!” Seol-Hwi’s body was decked out across the floor. The ice protecting his chest was shattered and he couldn’t stand.
The Wind God’s fist was a failure.
Bigun leisurely strolled up to him.
Damn it! Seol-Hwi regretted chasing after strength. If he’d invested into health and internal energy, this wouldn’t have happened. All he needed was a little more health.
“Pathetic.” Bigun looked down at him and laughed. “The captain of the command unit threw his sword? Aren’t you ashamed? Nevermind, you wouldn’t wear a mask if you did. Tch tch. How pathetic.”
Seol-Hwi didn’t say anything—Bigun wasn’t making him feel any more ashamed than he already was. But every word he said pierced into Seol-Hwi’s ears like a spike.
“Hm?” Bigun’s footsteps stopped. “Oh my. What am I supposed to do with someone who doesn’t understand facts?”
Seol-hwi clenched his fists as he staggered to his feet. He didn’t want to lay down—it felt like he’d regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t take this man down.
“I can’t help it. I’m not going to kill one of the Disciple’s men, but…” Bigun lifted his sword and it thrummed with demonic energy. “…I will have to cripple one of your arms.”
Combat Mode: <AI>
Bigun disappeared—he was using his light footwork again. In an instant, he was right in front of Seol-Hwi.
<AI intervenes in the battle.>
As soon as the AI took over, Seol-Hwi felt the ground shake. Cracks formed in the ground he was standing on, something that normally happened when thunder energy was used.
A great, roaring storm was created, swallowing everything in its path.
“Ah…” Seol-Hwi was astonished.
This was the Wind God, the technique he’d struggled so much to use. The AI had pulled it off flawlessly—one hit, and Bigun was done.
The AI finally spoke:
“What nonsense.”
<How would you like to deal with Bigun?>
To knock him out or kill him. If the AI hadn’t offered, Bigun would be dead.
Bigun regained consciousness and saw Seol-Hwi standing next to him.
“Was I…?” His confusion only grew as he recalled what had happened. A sense of helplessness bore down on him.
“Well, yeah.”
Even if Seol-Hwi had won, he wasn’t enjoying it. He didn’t win by his own abilities, the credit went entirely to the AI.
“The martial arts you used at the end—wasn’t that the Four Peaks Demonic Martial Arts?”
Seol-Hwi nodded. “Something like that.”
“Ah…” Bigun stretched his body. He must have been feeling a lot of things. The fact that someone knew a technique as strong as that. Not knowing how strong his opponent was. And all that from someone on the same level as him.
But Seol-Hwi’s mind was busy as well. What level was he on without the AI? No, how long would he rely on the system to fight? What was the difference between him and the AI?
“…I was lucky,” he mumbled.
“Are you consoling me?”
“Think what you like.”
Seol-Hwi felt fine for some reason. He didn’t even remember the insults they’d traded a while back.
“I want you to tell me about the Supreme Pavilion Lord.”
Bigun went silent. He spoke up just when Seol-Hwi was about to ask again.
“Well, isn’t it something you already know? Many of our men have been dying recently.
…What?! Were they at war with the Supreme Pavilion?
Seol-Hwi listened intently to what Bigun was saying.
“If we go back to when this first started, we were trying to investigate the deaths of our men, but the Earth Demon stopped me. He must have had his own share of problems if he refused to get involved in the deaths of our men. I’m just guessing, though.”
That’s not normal. Perhaps this had something to do with Seol-Hwi—he was the one who told the Earth Demon about the Supreme Pavilion Lord. But why use the Private Guards?
“I’ll tell you,” Bigun said as Seol-hwi was lost in thought. “Actually, I wanted to know what kind of person you were. If you were going to be useless, I wanted to take you down, so I provoked you using that woman—but we didn’t expect our subordinates to act on their desires. I will apologize for that.”
Seol-Hwi wondered if Bigun was genuinely apologizing or trying to figure out if Seol-Hwi was the masked man.
“Well, I didn’t do good things either.”
Bigun’s eyes widened—he hadn’t thought that Seol-Hwi would accept it.
“You could have pretended to not know.”
“Bigun. The enemy isn’t here.” Seol-Hwi took off his mask.
“You…” Bigun was obviously shocked. He didn’t seem to understand why Seol-Hwi was revealing his face.
Seol-Hwi didn’t have a reason to hide it right now. The point was to avoid revealing himself to Seo Ryeong and to prepare for the fight with the Supreme Pavilion Lord.
Hm? A window appeared when he took off the mask.
<Bigun’s affinity has risen.>
Score: 50/100 points (Friendly)↑
Is this good? It was certainly odd, but there was nothing wrong with being friends.
Seol-Hwi decided to ask Bigun something.
“Don’t get me wrong. I want to hear…”
Bigun gave him a questioning look.
“Do you remember when you were leaving? What I said back then. What did it mean—”
“What?! How much do you want to insult me?!”
<Bigun’s affinity has decreased.>
Score: 30/100 points (Slightly Friendly)
Damn it.
“No, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean it.”
“Of course you are. If you meant it, we’d have to fight to the death.”
…Must be terrible. Seol-Hwi resolved to never talk about it again.
Bigun struggled to stand. He looked at Seol-Hwi and tilted his head.
“I get the mask… but next time, change your clothes.”
“I didn’t get any specific clothes, though?”
“Didn’t you have a wardrobe? There should be a spare set inside. Choose what you want.”
Choose what I want? Seol-Hwi couldn’t understand why Bigun was bringing up the wardrobe.
<Congratulations. You can select several items from the wardrobe.>
Seol-Hwi realized that Bigun wasn’t talking about the wardrobe, but something odd.
Wardrobe? What’s in it? He went over to the wardrobe as soon as he parted ways with Bigun, determined to figure out what it was.
Ahh… He’d made the right choice.
<Which apparel will you choose?>
▶ Mask
▷ Clothes
▷ Shoes
This was the first time he’d seen this, which made him even more curious. What did it mean?
He decided to choose a mask.
<Which mask would you like?>
▶ Skeleton
▷ Tiger
▷ Military
Three types of masks, with some weird choices. Seol-Hwi went into the clothes next.
<What clothes would you like?>
▶ Command Unit Captain
▷ Yellow Full-Body Suit
▷ K-Military Look
Full body suit and… K-Military? He stared at that last option. Seol-Hwi didn’t know what it meant, but he was curious.
<Donning clothes.>
His clothing changed.
“Wow, this…” His eyes sparkled at the unfamiliar clothing. It was colored in varying shades of green and had something around the waist—a band? “This…” He turned to the mirror and stared at it for a long time. It was like he was wearing a forest. “…Looks a lot better than I thought?” He chuckled. Seol-Hwi didn’t know why, but the outfit made him feel good.
