Chapter 84. Akuma (3)

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Boom! Boom!

Shockwaves from the Akuma’s and Hansoo’s clash resonated in all directions.

To the point where that force went past where they were standing and even shook the Pillars of the World Tree very minutely.

‘…’

Sofía looked at Miyamoto and asked carefully while observing this scene.

“Aren’t you going to help?”

Though the others might see the Seven Departed Souls to be at the same level as each other and though this was true, their leader Miyamoto was different.

There was a clear difference between the other six and Miyamoto.

And a much larger difference than people thought.

Miyamoto gave a short reply at Sofía’s words.

“Wait. That guy said he’ll do it alone.”

“…Yes.”

Miyamoto looked at the battle between Hansoo and the Akuma and squinted his eyes after silencing Sofía.

‘He could probably kill the Akuma with that much. How does this make sense. That’s a newcomer?’

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand how that guy had gotten so strong so fast.

Though people thought that one needed time to get strong in the Otherworld, this was only half correct.

Time is needed in order to get strong in the Otherworld.

This was obvious.

Since you needed time in order to collect strong Artifacts, runes and skills and at the same time raise the mastery of those skills and nail down battle experience onto your body.

And as long as somebody didn’t provide these things to you, it would take an extreme amount of time for one to slowly raise their power step by step and get stronger.

But on the other hand this meant that getting strong would just take a moment once that person acquires all of this.

Strong Artifacts could be handed down.

Skill Runes were the same.

Higher level skills showed more might than mastered lower level skills even if their mastery was low.

For his mindset there’s no need to polish it if they had already gone through the tutorial.

Once one obtains the above things then it wouldn’t take long to get runes.

They can receive that too.

But battle experience was different.

‘What the hell was he in real life.’

Like being able to see the difference in games despite the players using the same character, there is a huge difference in battle power with the same runes, skills and artifacts.

Turning the above things into diamonds or leaving them as ores were all upon the user’s experience and talent.

And this wasn’t something that could be gained in just a few days unlike the other things.

But that guy over there was fighting much more proficiently than him who had been living in the Red Zone for 20 years.

As if he was squeezing out everything he had.

‘…If I hadn’t stayed still and went up then I would’ve already reached heights that he wouldn’t even be able to fathom.’

A reproach which came from greed, jealousy and himself who had denied progression.

He didn’t have such thoughts until now since there wasn’t anybody stronger than him.

Since he was the king of the Red Zone.

If you excluded the Calamities then the 6 pillars and even the other six Departed souls could not ignore his orders.

Though he had been stationary for 20 years, he never had thoughts of himself being stationary.

Since everyone else was below him.

But seeing the newcomer in front of him fighting made him feel like his 20 years had been wasted.

‘Damnit. This is annoying.’

Miyamoto clenched his teeth but he stabilized his breath and then started to figure out the current situation.

He needed to hide his emotions for the moment.

He had to decide the next set of events from now on.

Miyamoto, who had glanced at Hansoo who was pushing the Akuma back, started to calculated quickly within his head.

He needed to set up a goal first.

The utmost important rule that he had followed until now.

Calmness of the mind and safety of the body.

Hansoo’s goal seemed simple.

Kill the Akuma and then kill the Ouroboros with their help.

The problem was that this set of events was going against his goal.

‘…Should I say I won’t do it?’

Though there were parasites below, it would be extremely easy to get out once the Akuma was gone.

But would that guy leave him alone?

That guy was the guy who had charged in in order to kill the Calamity Fish as soon as he came in.

Though Miyamoto didn’t know Hansoo’s goals, killing the Ouroboros would be a must.

And that guy had appealed very strongly.

That he needed their help.

He will try to use whatever methods he has in order to take them to kill the Ouroboros.

‘Damnit. I feel more anxious since I don’t know what his trait is.’

The worst situation is him maybe, just maybe having a Lord trait.

The Lord’s symbol from weaker ones could not control them but if that guy had the Lord trait then the story changes.

Though he had heard that one of his traits were similar to that of Sofía’s but there was always a possibility of hidden cards.

Since he also had two traits.

If that guy charged at them, beat them down and then forced the Lord’s symbols onto them then they would have to go fight with the Calamities on the outside without being able to do anything.

‘Do I really need to strike him in the back.’

Everything will become peaceful once that guy disappeared.

Though it seemed like him leaving his sanctuary, the Red Zone, was inevitable, it was still much better than going and fighting the Ouroboros.

But Miyamoto shook his head.

It would be great if he was able to strike him in the back and kill him while he was fighting the Akuma.

But what if he fails at killing him?

And that guy were to successfully retreat?

Then they would have to deal with the Akuma over there.

‘I must think of a method.’

At that moment Miyamoto felt the strange mana flow that was searching nearby.

There was no way for Miyamoto, who had experienced everything, to not know this feeling.

‘Long distance sight skill.’

It meant that somebody was looking around here.

‘Who is it.’

Miyamoto squinted his eyes and then started to trace the skill.

***

“….So you’re telling me that the one who’s creating all that noise over there is the newcomer? And the things spinning around his body is the reason for the mana wave?”

Jukma, who had checked the scene of the center of the mana with Amil Stadan’s skill fell into silence but then sighed.

‘Hooh. I feel like I’ll go crazy. What is he and what is the thing he’s fighting with?’

He thought he had seen it wrong at the start but it was reality.

Two existences who were clashing and creating shockwaves that shook the trunk of the World Tree.

He finally figured out.

As to who had shoved the Ouroboros tail onto the lake.

He had to now throw out the label of newcomer and only believe in the things he could see.

He didn’t know how but that guy had gotten unbelievably strong.

“…Can one become like that once they take the things which drop from the Four Great Calamities? If I knew it was something like that then I would’ve actually challenged it.”

Jukma laughed and spoke towards Amil as if he was trying to brighten up the mood.

He would’ve never gone in even if he knew about it.

But it was true that seeing the scene seen from the skill made him jealous.

“…Cancel the entry for now.”

Those people could only watch from the insides since there were the Seven Departed Souls.

If they were to get caught in that then they’ll become dust.

And there was something that reassured him.

‘So the one who had the sword wasn’t Michael.’

As long as that guy wasn’t the one with the sword then there was no obligation for him to steal the source of the mana wave.

Since he couldn’t steal it anyway and a guy that strong wouldn’t threaten them with the mana wave.

Which meant that it was time for him to focus on the next problem.

‘His objective is… Clear. Killing the Ouroboros.’

Shoving the Parasites onto them was probably a preparation for that also.

So he could focus on the Ouroboros with all his power.

‘The best scenario is… Just getting out.’

But that seemed a bit hard.

Though it didn’t seem like casualties would increase while going against the parasites but keeping the formation and charging into the center of the Lake in 2 days were two entirely different problems.

Which meant that there were 2 results.

Whether that guy will fail at killing the Ouroboros.

Or succeed.

Nothing will change if he succeeds.

But they’ll get massacred if he fails.

‘Damn this situation. It’s extremely unfavorable.’

Jukma grinded his teeth.

There was no way that the fact of his life being in the hands of one person could feel good.

Even more so if the thing that guy wanted to do was extremely dangerous with a high failure rate.

The best path has been decided already.

Going through the lake while that guy blocked the parasites.

‘Find his weakness.’

As long as he was human then there will be an open spot somewhere.

He wouldn’t be invincible even if he was strong.

And it wasn’t that their request was hard also.

For example, he wouldn’t agree if they were to take a hostage and ask him to die for them.

But taking a hostage and asking him to buy some time while they go through the Mirror wouldn’t be that hard for Hansoo.

‘Then he will probably give up and go through the Mirror too.’

According to his thoughts, Hansoo didn’t have any ideas of staying in this world and throwing his life away.

Once he decides that killing the Ouroboros is hard after they leave then he will probably go into the Orange Zone through the Mirror.

Though the dangers of becoming enemies with him is created, he just needed to figure out a way to solve it then.

Since this was better than sitting by idly and keeping their fate in that guy’s hands.

‘It seems like it’ll be hard with just our strength…’

There was a need for somebody to distract Hansoo while they planned things out.

‘Damnit. Who would…’

While Jukma was making a frustrated expression, a carrier pigeon flew towards Jukma..

‘This is…’

Red Carrier Pigeon.

A skill that was a level above the blue carrier pigeon.

Jukma slightly frowned at the familiar mana wave.

‘Miyamoto. It’s that senile old man.’

Why did he try to get treated like a king from time to time when he just created the clan.

Of course he treated him so because it wasn’t hard but the fact that there was somebody above him in a clan where he should be at the top wasn’t that pleasant to him.

Since it felt like his blood was flowing the other way around every time his clansmen were caught between choosing between his and Miyamoto’s orders.

But Jukma decided to suppress his emotions because of the message within it.

Since it seemed like they would be able to get on the same boat this time.

— Find the weakness of that Kang Hansoo guy, at least a precious companion he has.

‘Let’s have a look.’

Even without the present situation, that was something he needed to do.

He needed to find that guy’s weakness as soon as possible and figure out his open spots.

If not that guy himself, then the people around him.

‘Even if it’s you, you should at least have someone you hold dear.’

Boom!

Jukma started to send messages towards his clansmen after seeing the black devil whose body was getting smashed apart while fighting with Hansoo.

***

“Hook. Hoook.”

‘It seems like… I should be able to reach there within a day.’

Sangjin mumbled while looking at the World Tree Trunk he could see in the distance.

Sangjin, who had separated from Hansoo, was traveling with Mihee and the people she was leading.

Since it was faster to improve in a group than working alone.

But during that time an emergency situation occurred in all of the World Tree Mountain Range and thanks to that they were being carried upwards with the guidance of the people from the Six Pillars.

“Huuaaaap!”

Sangjin clenched his teeth after slashing his sword to cut apart a Makun charging at him.

‘What is that guy thinking of?’

Sangjin thought of the time when he separated from Hansoo.

— The things i’ll be fighting from now won’t be humans. so i won’t need your help for a while. if something happens… and we aren’t able to meet before leaving the tutorial then still keep increasing your strength. i will contact you. if you have thoughts of being with me while roaming around the red zone then you just need to give me a reply.

He wasn’t worried about Hansoo.

And his thoughts of wanting to be with Hansoo didn’t change.

Actually the thing he was worried about was something else.

‘…Will that guy be at a level where he’ll still need me?’

He didn’t know why Hansoo asked him to follow him rather than the others.

2 months since he had seen Hansoo’s face.

He had also grown quite quickly.

Since it seemed like he had quite a talent in this.

But he heard rumors.

That somebody had killed a Calamity that no one could.

And the fact that the person was a newcomer.

It was obvious who it was.

At least in Sangjin’s perspective, there wasn’t anyone else but Hansoo who would do such a thing.

Though he thought that he had grown quite quickly, the difference between him and Hansoo could not be described with just words.

‘Is there a way that I won’t be a nuisance to you? Will the people who you find annoying be at the level where I can take care of them? Or do you have different thoughts?’

People who could annoy Hansoo would be like hurricanes to him.

Could he face those people?

No answer appeared in Sangjin’s mind.

So Sangjin clenched his teeth even harder.

***

“Hooo….”

Miyamoto quietly mumbled as he saw the Akuma who was now a corpse.

Seeing the corpse affirmed that it didn’t have a human’s form.

It was the same form as the skeletons spread around in the distance.

‘Was it an original inhabitant of this place? Anyways, he really killed it. Does that mean the Calamities who have been chopped up by this guy’s hands number three now? He’s a real talent huh.’

And he had to now go against someone like him.

‘Calm down.’

Miyamoto gulped at the anxiousness that he could feel all over his body in a very long time.

It was better to be close if he wanted to look for an opportunity.

Miyamoto, who had joined with the other six in order to kill the Akuma together, looked at Hansoo and spoke.

“We will help you. Since killing the Ouroboros is the way to save the most amount of people. Even though it’s a bit dangerous… There’s nothing we can do about that. Since the things we have done so far were also dangerous.”

‘Use my image to the fullest.’

Miyamoto mumbled inwardly.

His image wasn’t bad.

No, it was actually very good.

Since the friends who had erected the Pillars with him had agreed.

Hansoo laughed inwardly while looking at that Miyamoto.

Since he could think of the words of Eres.

— Mr. Miyamoto is, though i feel a little guilty for saying this but… a person who would do anything for their safety. ah! don’t misunderstand. since that not a bad thing. it’s just that he leans towards that direction in crucial moments. though it seemed like he was trying to keep his image in check.

Hansoo laughed as he spoke.

“You chose well. Let’s have a go at it together.”

‘How do I entangle him to make him work hard? It seems like I’ll be busy.’

Hansoo ended his words as he thought of the Ouroboros that should have its body tied around the Trunk at the moment.