Making a Sword King By Rote (2)
A week ago, at East Kaltan Fort in Lion Rock, the eastern entrance of the Grand Maze Kaltan.
A total of ten Hunters were being inspected.
The wizard gatekeepers sent from Sinkers nodded, checking each of the party’s Hunter cards.
“You were originally from Tower Mountain.”
“You all have experience with the Grand Maze.”
They were all special hunters above level 80s.
The gatekeepers were showing respect because it was a common level limit for most Hunters.
The team leader, a middle-aged man in his 40s with a beard, shook his head.
“Where we’re going is the middle floor of the Grand Maze. We are going to attack the nearby dungeons.”
“Well, at your level, I wouldn’t call it reckless.”
The gatekeepers opened the magic barrier to the cave.
“May the Goddesses bless you.”
The Hunters went into the cave one after another.
After walking for a long time, the party removed their disguises since it was far enough.
Behind their camouflage were Han-bin’s group and the six Templar Lords.
Looking back, Effir grinned.
“It’s easy to pass. I used to crawl into my backpack to sneak into the dungeon.”
Artis trembled, looking down at his Hunter’s card.
“As expected, a good network is comfortable in many ways.”
The Hunter’s card had the following details.
[Serkaltan Hunter’s Guild: Top Hunter, lv. 81 Mage, Tario Blame]
His name and level were different.
It was a fake Hunter’s card.
If the six famous Templar Lords or the Sword King’s successor entered the Grand Maze with their identity revealed, the Top Three would immediately hear of it.
Hence, they joined hands with the Hunter Guild of Serkaltan and forged their Hunter’s card to hide their identities.
The forgery of Hunter’s card was a felony, but there was no problem.
The guild master of Serkaltan, who should’ve punished them, was one of the Holy Punishers’ collaborators.
They disguised their identities and hid their appearance using spiritual arts.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"}) The gatekeepers’ level was lower than Han-bin’s group, so there was no risk of seeing through their spiritual disguises.
After returning to their original form, they slowly continued down the cave.
Suddenly, Ryu Han-bin sighed, raising a question.
“By the way, do I really have to deal with the monster myself?”
Although they said they would only target the middle floor at the entrance, their actual destination was the lowest floor of the Grand Maze Kaltan.
Leon Hart nodded.
“You can’t improve Aura skills and swordsmanship just by repeatedly practicing it alone.”
Ryu Han-bin had leveled up by repeating his basic skills alone in the Rocky Mountains.
But practicing the same moves without a foe didn’t make him strong.
“You need to have an opponent.”
During his days in the Rocky Mountains, there had been such opponents.
The demon dogs there became stronger at the right level every time.
No matter how many times Ryu Han-bin repeated Stab, Horizontal and Vertical Cuts, he wouldn’t have reached his skills’ current state without them.
“Valtara’s Fighting Spirit is a high-level skill that isn’t comparable to such basic swordsmanship techniques. It’s impossible to learn it by force.”
Leon Hart explained that to make Ryu Han-bin a so-called ‘Sword King by rote,’ he had no choice but to use the unique attributes of Aura.
“It’s essential to have an opponent with Aura massive enough to overwhelm a powerful Valtara’s Fighting Spirit.”
Hence, they came to the Grand Maze Kaltan.
Their objective was to find The Three Gods of Kaltan.
A golden lion, Kruse Murg.
A white silver bull, Uto Ksarik.
A bronze snake, Isch Klapim.
“Kruse Murg was slain by the Sword King. And Isch Klapim uses Mana and Prana.”
On the other hand, Uto Ksarik specialized in Aura.
“You have to fight against it.”
Effir, who was listening to them, raised her concern in bewilderment.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
At that moment, they were there to find a way to kill the Transcendental.
“To get rid of a Level 155 Spiritist, he needs to kill a divine beast that has an estimated level of 170?”
If Han-bin could kill a level 170 monster, any level 155 individual would be easy to handle.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"}) But they were worried because he couldn’t do that.
Leon Hart laughed.
“I didn’t tell Han-bin to kill the divine beast.”
It was true.
How could he get rid of the bull even though he couldn’t stand a chance against the Transcendental alone?
“I told you to ‘face’ the divine beast.”
* * *
Ryu Han-bin kicked the ground, launching himself up.
Jumping nearly five meters in a single breath, he delivered a red offensive.
– Vertical Cut!
Uto Ksarik also directly aimed for the incoming flash.
The silver Aura blade collided with the red crescent beam.
Their Auras mixed and conflicted against each other, causing light to burst.
Paaaaaaa!
Han-bin threw up blood and flew back.
“Argh!”
Despite the terrible pain, he quickly reset his posture and stretched out his right hand.
– Aura Strike!
Red Aura bullets struck Uto Ksarik.
He could only conjure baseball-sized ones in the past, but each bullet had grown as large as a bowling ball at that point.
It was a testament to how much power he had gained.
A huge explosion shook the ground.
Boom!
Well, that still didn’t mean he could scratch his opponent.
‘I don’t care!’
Ryu Han-bin moved away from the storm.
He caused an explosion to escape, not to fight back.
As soon as he landed, he ran again without looking back.
Uto Ksarik aimed at Han-bin’s back.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Zoom!
With a roar, a sphere made of Aura was formed on the tip of its sword.
– Aura Strike!
A huge Aura bullet of more than two meters in diameter split the air.
It seemed to be powerful enough to kill him immediately if he got hit.
And there were more than one or two of those Aura bullets!
Boom!
Explosions filled their surroundings.
The building collapsed, and whirlwinds soared.
Still, Ryu Han-bin managed to run through the explosion.
‘I’m better at avoiding bombardment than normal attacks!’
He continued to zigzag and mislead his opponent by changing his position.
“Oh, my gosh!”
Han-bin crossed the ruined underground city.
It wasn’t long before he saw the big round dome.
His eyes glistened brightly.
‘I-I’ve arrived!’
* * *
A group of people was waiting at the half-destroyed dome.
Artis, Effir, and the six Templar Lords remained on standby in advance.
“There he is!”
“It’s Han-bin!”
“He’s with Uto Ksarik!”
Ryu Han-bin exited the square through the eastern entrance of the dome.
Uto Ksarik followed him in a leisurely manner.
As the silver bull passed through the arch gate, a pattern of light rose from the foot of Uto Ksarik.
It was a pre-installed multi-collective item.
The crystal’s force bound the divine beast’s feet, inhibited its power, and subdued its movement!
“It got caught!”
Leon Hart shouted.
“Everyone, attack!”
Blade Aura, Magic Swordsmanship, and powerful flame-based magic bombarded Uto Ksarik.
A series of colorful flashes burst throughout the underground sky.
Boom!
Uto Ksarik tilted its head amid the noisy offensive that filled its view.
“… Umm?”
It was a strange cry that sounded a little cute.
The ‘rat’ it had chased so far was quite a fascinating one.
On the other hand, what the hell was ‘those mayflies worse than rats’ doing there?
Uto Ksarik thought.
It didn’t know what they were, so it let them pass by.
Just moving to take another step broke the seal with ease.
Squat! Squat! Squash!
The Templar Lords who were on the offensive turned pale.
“Ugh…”
“Has that seal always been that easy to break?”
“That’s a natural result considering its level, but still…”
Uto Ksarik looked up.
Since it had crossed the stone bridge, it was time to clean up the ‘mayflies’ in front of it.
The bull raised its front paw and stamped hard on the ground.
The silver Aura rippled out in all directions.
In a hurry, the six Templar Lords and Effir flew away.
“Argh!”
“G-get away!”
A huge silver wave destroyed everything it hit.
It was too powerful of an attack to avoid.
The Aura wave devoured Effir and the Templar Lords.
At that moment…
“Blink!”
“Blink!”
“Blink!”
Everyone moved tens of meters away from their original positions and appeared again.
It was thanks to the activation of artifacts that they prepared in advance.
They never thought they could avoid its attacks normally from the beginning.
There was a huge level gap, after all.
Hence, they bought a lot of Magic Tools imbued with the Blink spell and practiced with its timing.
Short-range instantaneous movement magic, Blink was oriented according to the observer’s field of view, then randomly moved the user within a certain distance.
It couldn’t be used as an attack because it couldn’t accurately move to the target point, but it was quite useful for creating distance.
Those who barely got out of range shouted despite being out of breath.
“Is everyone safe?”
“Then let’s go again!”
The six Templar Lords, Artis, and Effir mobilized to attack from all sides.
Watching the scene, Uto Ksarik had another thought.
– They are faster than I thought.
It was necessary to increase its evaluation of them.
– Oh, they were flies, not mayflies.
In accordance with that, Uto Ksarik swung its sword a little faster the second time around.
The three-meter-long swords scattered silver Blade Aura in two circles.
– Aura Blast!
The Templar Lords turned pale when they saw the falling radiant attack.
“Ugh…”
“Oh, my God!”
It was truly a devastating force of destruction.
Even Ryu Han-bin would be met with immediate death if he got hit by its attack. Likewise, it wouldn’t only mean death for them. They would be evaporated if they got hit!
They tried to escape with all their might.
They were all powerful people above level 90. They could cover more than 30 meters swiftly.
However, 30 meters was only a few steps for Uto Ksarik, who was over 5 meters tall.
The silver Blade Aura covered them in no time at all.
Everyone gritted their teeth as they activated their artifacts again.
“Blink!”
“Blink!”
Fortunately enough, they narrowly avoided the attack again.
But it cost them a lot.
Due to the powerful energy of the divine beast, their Blink-imbued Magic Tools broke down!
Fliiing!
Looking at the burning Blink ring, Effir freaked out.
“Already? It should’ve had 30 more uses left!”
She quickly threw the broken ring away and put another ring on her finger.
It had the same ability as the last one.
They expected that to happen in the first place.
It was the reason why they had bought ‘lots of’ Blink-imbued Magic Tools.
‘I didn’t know it would be destroyed so quickly.’
It was like they were throwing gold coins on the street every time they evaded the divine beast’s attacks.
‘But it’s better than dying.’
Focusing her mind, Effir attacked Uto Ksarik again.
“Haab!”
* * *
Meanwhile, Ryu Han-bin was holding his breath.
“Whoa…”
He stabilized his breathing, relaxed his body, and returned to his best condition.
It took only a few minutes, but his colleagues had to risk their lives and ruin expensive artifacts during that duration.
He couldn’t waste their efforts!
“Taaaaaaaa!”
In a state of perfect condition, he pulled up all of the Aura he could muster.
And with a huge explosion, that power covered his entire body.
-Valtara’s Fighting Spirit!
