༺ The Man Who Directs the Wave, Korin Lork (2) ༻
Dagda, the King of Gods, had a lot of treasures but three of them were considered the most powerful out of the bunch.
The first of these items was the Magic Cauldron, Undry. It was the great treasure proving his status as the King of Gods and proof of his divinity of the earth.
Second was the Magic Club that crushed the skull of the great giant warrior, Cirb. It was the weapon that had the highest attack power out of all the equipable weapons of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱.
Lastly, the third one was the Magic Harp, Uaithne, made with an oak tree and the liver of the King of Cats.
As one would probably tell from the fact that it was a harp, the power of Uaithne only shined when performing the harp, and the result depended on the genre of the music.
Of course, there was the condition that the quality of the performance had to be above a certain threshold, but after borrowing the harp from Estelle-Noona in the previous iteration, I was able to perfect two types of performances.
Metal and rock.
That was the residue of the sweaty youth I spent performing in a band during university.
“AYYYEEEEEE…!”
I changed the song. This time, to a more exciting one! Let’s go London Calling!
“London calling~! To the faraway towns—”
War has been declared, and the fight has begun!
The sky, the ocean, and the River Thames are all with me!
Uaithne.
Genre – Rock Music.
It brought about a natural disaster. The exhilarating repetition of powerful chords made the entire world dance to my music!
Thunderstorms fell from the sky, while the oceans let out a sonorous chant with their storms and waves!
“Uaaahk! T, that was a shark! I saw a shark inside the tornado just then!”
“Shark-nadooooo!! Fucking asylumm!”
“What is that fucker saying!?”
“I don’t care if the river floods! And I live by the river!”
“Uaahkkk! Stop! Please stoppp!”
“This inhumane music is killing me!!”
“Shuddap! Cherry boy! The engine has stopped already! But we will live without fear!”
Do you see this? The cheers and chants of the audience?
Do you see the crowd cheering and screaming to my music?
“…Noisy.”
Tch.
Why does no one appreciate the greatness of this genre? And London Calling isn’t even that noisy of a song, alright?
To be fair, this world was a little bit behind in terms of dance culture so that was understandable. I remember how people at the royal banquet didn’t understand the beauty of my breakdance. But they did cheer at the moonwalk.
Ahh, I miss you, the one who treads the moon. The one who urged his conviction to the heavens.
Wait a second?
Heavenly Mic Hael Jackson.
I was his only successor in this world. The only one that could inherit his will and re-enact the Heavenly Sovereign Strides that could allow you to do reverse steps on the Moon.
In other words,
I.
I am the Heavenly Mic.
Even if metal, rock n roll, and breakdancing were not accepted in this world, my music still has the power to force the heavens and tremble the oceans.
So how could this me not be the Heavenly King himself?
Heavenly—
“I am the Heavenly Mic Kim Korin!”
— Sovereign Strides.
『One who treads the Moon, MOONWALK』
“H, huh?”
“L, look!”
“He’s walking backwards?”
“Korin is playing his harp and walking backwardssss?!”
-Kwaaaaa!
-Kwarurung! Kwaruru!
The skies were turning while the earth beneath trembled in shock. The oceans were in fear while the wind stayed turbulent.
-H, help meeee!!
-O, our ship!! Nooo!
Fufu, fear not, mercenaries.
My heavenly moonwalk isn’t here to harm the humans.
Those who hear the sound of the Heavenly Uaithne; none of them shall be hurt.
***
“Damn those bastards from the Tower! They were hiding such a card up their sleeve!”
At the command center of the military, Command Bernette slammed down on the map upon hearing about the failed attempt of the vanguards.
Fifty ships had been used for the plan. Although they weren’t going all out for their first attack, they still weren’t expecting to be forced back powerlessly without even being able to approach the shores.
“…”
“…”
Similarly, the guardians, mercenaries, and captains who were all summoned to the command center were looking distressed.
Most of the people here were masters of Guardians Guilds and mercenary leaders, and I was also a part of the group as the master of Korin Guardians.
“What are the casualties looking like?!”
“Yes sir. 13 fleets have been capsized, and 21 have been heavily damaged. Their main bodies have been damaged to the point that we cannot repair them anytime soon.”
“Damn it… There must have been a lot of casualties from the mercenaries.”
“Actually…”
“What is it?”
“There are a few that caught a cold or those with small wounds due to being scraped by the broken shards of the boats but… none of them died.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?!”
Half of the ships were gone and yet none of them were dead. But that was natural.
Music and art did not exist to kill people and were instead there to save them. Killing people with music? This Heavenly Mic Kim Korin would not allow such a thing to happen.
“Apparently, shocking music, the likes of which they had never heard of before, surrounded them and saved their lives…”
“???”
The frown on the face of Commander Bernette deepened as he heard more about what happened. He was about to say something in response but was interfered by the beautiful and charming voice of a lady.
“Well~. That’s not the important part here, is it?”
“…Chairman Danua.”
Everyone gathered their eyes on Master Erin, who was invited to the subjugation army thanks to the strong recommendations of every branch of the Guardian Alliance.
“There is no way that such waves were made naturally. It is safe to say that the Tower has means of controlling the skies and the oceans.”
“But we can’t give up just because of that.”
“Of course, I’m not saying we should. There is a better plan.”
“A better plan?”
“A grand spell that allows them to control waves and thunderstorms means there must be an appropriate magic circle hidden in their base. All we need to do is destroy that. Right, Clara?”
Master Erin said naturally while turning around to Lady Josephine standing behind her. With an uncomfortable look on her face, Lady Josephine replied after a nod.
“R, right. I remember, seeing something similar, in the past… during the Witch Revolution.”
“Mhmm… If you say so, Dimensional Witch.”
“So that was why.”
On the outside, Master was just a new chairman and her words did not hold as much power as Lady Josephine, who was a legendary historical figure who led the Revolution of Witches alongside Valtazar, assisted with the foundation of the New Faith, and crushed the Tower of Mages’ monopoly over magic.
Of course… Everything was a lie.
There was a reason why I had to interfere with the advancement of the vanguards by doing something like this.
It was to reduce the casualties that would have been made by the retaliation of the Tower of Mages.
Both in the original storyline of the game and in the last iteration, this landing operation resulted in massive casualties before coming to an eventual success.
Conquering the small islands of the archipelago and landing on the main island was already difficult but that wasn’t the end.
Due to their previous experience of being half-annihilated by Lady Josephine and Tates Valtazar 80 years ago, the Tower of Mages spent the last 80 years doing everything they could to fortify the Steel Archipelago.
Casting chimera monsters and evil spirits everywhere, they made it into an impregnable fortress of hell.
Besides, the kidnap of Estelle meant it was time for the giants to show up. There would be way too many casualties and I knew that based on my experience from the last iteration.
There was probably no risk to Estelle’s life for the time being so my priority was to save those that didn’t have to be killed.
“I have an idea.”
“Hmm… What is it, Chairman Danua?”
“The destruction of the magic circle by a small group of elites.”
“Would that… be possible?”
“Definitely. As long as we get the help of the talents that Clara and I are going to recommend.”
After saying that, Master Erin started mentioning names.
“Marie Dunareff, Hua Ran, Korin Lork, Josephine Clara and me, Erin Danua. The five of us will be enough.”
But the looks on the faces of the ones listening turned worse as she pronounced more and more names.
“Only… five? And three of them are just students!”
“It’s not ‘only five’.”
“We have Sword Captain Lunia Arden from the Arden family as well as several other powerful experts. How could you possibly recommend students whose experience and skills are both yet to be proven?”
“I agree with Chairman Danua’s opinion.”
“Captain Lunia?”
Within the crowd was also Lunia, who had come here not as a member of Korin Guardians, but as a Sword Captain officially dispatched by the household with 50 knights and 300 disciples.
She showed her whole-hearted agreement to Erin’s idea.
“I can guarantee the capabilities of the students mentioned. And most importantly, I can assure you that anyone better suited for the task than them will be a hard find.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Student Marie is undoubtedly at the level of a Unique-Grade vampire, although still unofficial and the same goes for Student Hua Ran. Do you know of the special characteristics of Unique-Grade demons and demi-humans?”
Hearing that, Commander Bernette groaned in understanding. Though there were few in number, every Unique-Grade demi-human and demon had the same passive ability.
“Demonic Aura. Simply put, it has the same power as Dragon Fear. Both demonic beasts and spirits will run away in fright when they come across a Unique-Grade demon.’
This meant that they could bypass most of the evil spirits and chimera monsters that the Tower had in store.
“Being strong and whatnot has nothing to do with this. Chairman Danua’s opinion is very much valid.”
We couldn’t do this in the game or the last iteration. Although the player did become a hero of the nation after the ‘Annihilation of Demi-human villages’, they could never reach the level of being influential enough to meddle with large-scale military strategies.
But now, it was different. The chairman of the Guardian Academy, Master Erin, and a sword captain and successor candidate of the Arden family, Lunia, represented my thoughts for me.
The two of them had more than enough fame and influence, which would therefore allow this iteration to flow as I wanted it to unlike before.
“In that case… Let’s give it a shot following Chairman Danua’s proposal.”
On the way back after the strategy meeting, my eyes met with Master Erin, who was still discussing details next to Chairman Bernette.
‘Korin! Korin! My dearest disciple! Look here! Here!’
The solemn dignity she showed during the conference was long gone and she quietly whispered with her lips while looking at me with a wide smile.
‘That was okay, right?’
Was it… always this easy to see through her expression?
***
“Student Korin.”
We were preparing for the operation when the most important figure of this operation, Lady Josephine, spoke to me.
“Yes? What is it?”
“I am preparing for the dimensional jump as you said but… You are aware of the biggest drawback of this plan, yes?”
“Of course.”
Senior professor of Merkarva Academy. Hidden behind that title was her identity as a war veteran who had been in the lead during the war and revolution 80 years ago. Even for this current strategy, I throw out ideas but it was mainly Master Erin and Lady Josephine that added in the details.
“We will be moving straight to the Steel Archipelago with teleportation. There is a big hole in the plan already. Because over the past 80 years, the Tower has been setting up all sorts of barriers that interfere with dimensional spells to prepare themselves against me.”
Right, that was already a problem. Lady Josephine’s teleportation spell was most likely going to fail.
80 years ago, because she had relied on her infinite teleportation to drop off Valtazar and Master Erin wherever they pleased to bring the Steel Archipelago to ruins, there was no way that the Tower hadn’t created counter-measures for her.
The existence of one superhuman mage made the war unwinnable for them, and that was why the Tower of Mages was horrified by her teleportations.
“The interference to the teleportation will surely drop people to random places throughout the archipelago, and waiting in those places would be…”
“The evil spirits and chimeras.”
“I’m not particularly concerned about everyone else, but I am worried about you.”
I was probably the weakest out of all the participants in this strategy. In fact, the strategy plan written by Josephine had a question mark written next to the name, Korin Lork.
I, without the support of my 3rd Precept, was remarkably weaker than the others in terms of physical stats so that was no surprise.
“It’s alright. It will work out one way or another.”
“You say that but…”
I continued while drawing squiggles on top of the question mark that Josephine wrote on the paper.
“We will be all dropped onto different parts of the archipelago, but that would lead to a detrimental result for them because we have with us the ‘cursed potatoes’ that Senior Marie made.
“Mhmm… The curse of Macha was given by the Danann Oengus. As you said, it will have astonishing results if it works but…”
‘Curse of Macha’.
It was a frightening curse that made the men of the land invaded by the curse feel the pain of childbirth for 9 days. For this to work, we had to plant crops on the land and wait for them to bud.
For a potato seed to bud, it would take around 15 to 20 days.
“We will plant the seeds across the archipelago, go through the secret passageways of the Tower of Mages by ourselves, save the Saintess, and teleport back with your teleportation marker.”
“It’s not impossible considering our abilities and skills but…”
Lady Josephine’s teleportation could only be interfered with when teleporting to the Archipelago. Her teleporting out of the islands through a ‘marker’ couldn’t be interrupted due to her having clear coordinates.
“Haah~. But do you understand? If someone can’t come back properly in this final moment of escape, then…”
“The leftover ones need to do their very best to survive by themselves. I know, but it’s a plan worth taking the risk.”
The biggest question of this plan was this. When teleporting out using Josephine’s markers after saving Estelle, would everyone be able to gather there in time?
“I don’t think there will be particularly any problems with Hua Ran and Student Marie. And of course, the same goes for Erin. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The biggest drawback and questionable member of this plan was certainly me and only me. However, there was only one thing I could tell her in response.
“I have no plans of sitting back and doing nothing after pushing my colleagues into the pit of hell.”
“Haa… I knew it. That’s just the type of person you are.”
We finished the preparation shortly after that and the next day, we gathered together for the teleportation.
………
……
…
Marie Dunareff.
Hua Ran.
Erin Danua.
Josephine Clara.
Korin Lork.
Five people.
Destroying the magic circle was our goal on the outside, but our real goal was to save the Saintess and spread the cursed seeds.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, Korin.”
“Are you… really bringing that?”
She said while looking at the luggage behind my back. Right now, I was wearing not only the supplies and munitions but also the Silver Spear of Shadow Paradise and the Red Spear, Gae Derg, as well as the enormous harp, Uaithne.
“It’s a bit heavy but don’t worry. This thing will come to me no matter where I call it from, so I will just toss it somewhere nearby.”
“…”
There was a strange look on her face, as if that was beside the point but…
“Wait, did you want to listen to my music or something? The music of I, the Heavenly Mic Korin Kim?”
“I would never want to listen to that noise.”
“So mean.”
“…”
Josephine started engraving a magic circle on the ground for the teleportation. In a bit, we would be sent off to different parts of the Steel Archipelago.
“30 seconds left.”
With less than 30 seconds left of the teleportation, Hua Ran said after holding onto my sleeves.
“Don’t get hurt.”
“Huh?”
“If you’re hurt… my, my…”
“My?”
“10 seconds left to the teleportation! Everyone, get ready!”
A crack started to appear all around us starting from the ground. That was proof that we were about to leap through an enormous distance.
“M, my…”
But still, Hua Ran showed no signs of opening her mouth.
“Korin! I will see you at the Tower!”
“Sure, Senior Marie. You and Doggo be careful as well.”
“Okay!”
8, 7…
“Korin.”
“Hnn?”
After seemingly making up her mind, Hua Ran opened her mouth.
“If you’re hurt—”
3, 2…
“I think I’ll be sad. So please—”
“We will see each other again in one piece so don’t worry! Thanks for worrying about me!”
“…!”
Her face started to turn red. She was about to say something, but before she could, the dimension around us cracked its mouth wide open as we fell into the deep dimension of nothingness.
……….
……
…
A forest.
The trees were thick, and a whole ecosystem was breathing together. Like a large greenhouse, there was still warmth in this land.
Being next to the Northern Kingdom, the land cursed to be cold and snowy for an eternity, the Steel Archipelago was similarly a land of extreme chilliness that did not allow normal crops to grow.
The fact that there was such a thick forest near me despite that…
“Bingo.”
I was anticipating that things would somehow work out wherever I ended up, but I really wasn’t expecting to be sent here out of all the places.
❰Prohibited Forest❱
An artificially created enormous ‘greenhouse’ where the mages of the Tower grew magic organisms and crops for experimental purposes. This was the Prohibited Forest that was being maintained by the Green Cult.
Although there were all sorts of hidden pieces and magical crops of incredible effects hidden in this place, this was one of the places that required the most time for players to clear.
It was because there were thousands if not tens of thousands, of evil spirits and artificially engineered spirits created from the experiments of the Green Cult.
Because of the hideous difficulty of this region, it was considered one of the most difficult side quests of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, on par with the end-game main quest line.
A horrible part of the map that even maxed-out player parties could not conquer with ease.
But that did not matter to me in the slightest.
2nd Precept: Restriction 〚I do not perceive spirits.〛
