Chapter 98 : Chapter 98

Chapter 98 - Tournament (2)

“Edgar! Edgar! Edgar!”

“Arklight! Arklight! Arklight!”

The thunderous cheers seemed to shake the entire colosseum.

It felt like proof of the popularity of the guy in front of me.

Edgar ‘Starlight’ Richter, hearing the one-sided cheering, swept his hair back in front of me.

It was a flashy gesture, as if he were filming a movie. Had he hidden a camera somewhere?

“Are you listening? This is the gap between you and me.”

“What are you on about, you idiot? We haven't even started fighting yet.”

“...”

Wasn't this a tournament where you came to fight, not a popularity contest?

As if he had no way to refute that statement, Edgar let out a sigh and began to scatter his mana into the surroundings.

“...It seems your mouth is still alive. But I wonder how long you can maintain that attitude in the face of overwhelming power.”

“Ah. I can't maintain it for that long.”

I retorted with a grin. With my hands, I set a watch.

“You're going down in 30 seconds from now.”

“...How absurd.”

And in response to that mana, the surrounding light began to converge on him.

This guy's ability was to grant physical force to ‘light’.

As long as he had mana and there was a light source nearby, it was as if Edgar could simultaneously attack and defend in any space he could perceive.

In the middle of a colosseum like this, where sunlight was pouring down, he was practically invincible. He wasn't just talking big for no reason.

No, no matter how I thought about it, wasn't that just broken?

It was an attribute that made it not at all strange that he earned the title of S-rank Climber at the youngest age.

Of course, there was a reason I could meet a guy with abilities that wouldn't be out of place for a late-game boss at this stage.

“Then... shall we begin? I'll yield the first move. Do try to entertain me.”

Look. This guy's greatest weakness.

His mental age was low.

No, really.

He wanted revenge because he thought I had humiliated him by beating up Aaron in front of him, and so he even resorted to manipulation to meet me early.

And now that we’ve met, he wanted to feel his superiority even more, so he was acting all high and mighty like this.

He certainly had sharp judgment, but he was too overconfident in it. He was pulling this nonsense because he thought he was guaranteed to win.

Well.

So there was no reason for me to go easy on him.

“Alright. Then I won’t refuse.”

I poured out all my qi and mana and shot forward. Just once. All I needed was enough speed to be completely unexpected by Edgar.

I had already calculated that it was possible with the data I had obtained from thoroughly beating up Aaron.

In an instant, I was close enough for our breaths to touch.

All that was needed was a single blow.

The target was his head. Specifically, the back of his head.

I didn't need to land a solid hit. What was needed was to cause ‘confusion’.

“...Kuk!”

Somehow, he managed to react and block it with a barrier of light. But he was a little too late.

And a single blow of martial arts, supported by Cheonryongpo, was more than enough to turn a person’s brain to mush with just that slight gap.

And with that, this fight was decided.

Even if you can lay down something across your entire range of ‘perception’, if the judgment of the entity who can do that slows down, it’s all for naught.

Hey, you punk.

What kind of crazy bastard lets a top-tier veteran have the first move?

“See? I told you 30 seconds.”

I am a man who always keeps his word.

***

A fight and a brawl are two different things.

I remember hearing that somewhere. It was definitely a line from some manga, spoken by a high school student skilled in street fighting right before he spun another high school student skilled in martial arts' jaw with a 720-degree spinning windmill kick.

Yes.

I agree with the statement itself. Just because you're good at martial arts doesn't necessarily mean you're good at fighting. But in my case, it's more familiar to change the sentence slightly.

Martial arts and violence are also different things.

For example, this murderous Bengquan piercing Edgar’s abdomen couldn't possibly be contained within the category of martial arts, could it?

It took the form of martial arts, but this was just violence. A simple beating with no noble meaning whatsoever.

“Geuheuk-!”

Edgar, who had been thoroughly beaten by me until now, let out a heavy groan and was sent flying.

And, I felt no guilt whatsoever in exercising it right now. Because I had declared I would end it quickly earlier.

I gave him no time to think to deploy his light, no time to grasp my position.

Rush, rush, rush.

A ducking motion, sinking my head as I dug in, a short uppercut rising up. Edgar reacted by pulling his light spear back. He intended to take me down with him.

But, a gambit is only possible when the levels are somewhat matched.

I used qi to pull back the arm that was throwing the uppercut in the opposite direction. The rising uppercut was retracted.

I twisted my whole body and slammed my back into Edgar's arm, which was pulling the light spear.

If he could just swing his arm and stab me with the light spear, I would die in one hit too, but if I cut off the joint like this with my whole body, he couldn't exert any physical force at all.

A body blow to his wide-open abdomen. Unlike the Bengquan I had landed earlier, there wasn’t enough space for my fist to advance, but I twisted my entire body to compensate for the lack of kinetic energy.

Another bursting sound.

Edgar bent his body into a 'ㄱ' shape.

A collarbone lock. I drove my knee into his lowered face.

I slammed a chopping straight that felt like hammering a nail into his tilted-back head.

“Gek, kahak...!”

It seemed he managed to avoid being slammed into the ground by concentrating his mana into his leg muscles.

But even so, it seemed he couldn't withstand losing his center of gravity. His balance collapsed.

Come to think of it, I always wanted to try an air combo. You know, the one from fighting games.

A low kick with the top of my foot raised swept away his supporting leg. Edgar’s entire body was lifted and flew into the air. I slammed my fist into his wide-open upper body to lift him up again. A shower of blows rained down on his airborne body.

Each and every blow was at a level that could shatter rocks and crumple steel. Keeping one adult male suspended in the air wasn't that difficult.

“Keok, keok, keoheok, keuheuk...!”

Hmm. Even the sounds of being hit were diverse.

I smirked and landed the finishing blow.

It was merely a light push with my fist, but for a guy who had been beaten to a pulp by me, this was more than enough.

Like a marionette with its strings cut, Edgar’s body collapsed with a flop.

“W-winner... Kim Gyu-sik of Renegade...”

The audience, which would have normally applauded, was now so quiet that you could hear someone breathe a little too loudly.

It seemed like none of them had properly understood what had just happened.

And through that silence, the watch I had set for 30 seconds beeped, letting out an alarm.

I nodded and turned my body.

My eyes met with Edgar, who was barely able to keep his eyes open, gasping for breath.

“The timing was perfect, right?”

“...You, you bastard...”

Edgar seemed to want to say something, but with his body in tatters, he couldn't form a proper sentence and just coughed out sputters.

“In a place like this... I cannot fall to a small fry like you in a place like this... I have a goal I must achieve...!”

“Yeah. I know.”

“...What?”

“You came here to kill the Master of the Magic Tower, right?”

The reason he diligently trained his mana to become an S-rank Climber, founded the Arklight Guild, and even made a deal with a demon to obtain enhancement drugs was all for that.

And the day he chose for its execution was, ta-da, this Guild Grand Unification Event.

“...”

Edgar blinked blankly.

He seemed to be mulling over what words had just come out of my mouth.

Well, it was understandable.

If his grand ambition, which he thought he had hidden well from everyone for years, flowed out of the mouth of a guy he had met less than a week ago like a weather forecast, I would be flustered too.

“...How...? No, what the hell are you talking about...”

Mister.

If you were going to deny it, you should have done it from the start. What's the point of suddenly changing your tune after agreeing at first?

No, well. But.

The Master of the Magic Tower had just too many enemies.

He was the world's strongest mage and a person involved in activities tied to the religious ideology of demon hunting. The scent of sin reeked from his title alone.

Lee Si-yeong was one of them, and Edgar was one of them too.

“Still, hmm. I admit the Master of the Magic Tower is a problematic person. But if he dies here, the latter part of the story gets a bit complicated.”

There was a reason why Conqueror players were encouraged to participate in this event and stomp this guy.

The Master of the Magic Tower, a man of many sins... but if he paid for those sins prematurely, all hell would break loose in the later stages. The original latter half, which was already on hell difficulty, would transform into the deepest pits of inferno.

“...Is that so. You, under the orders of the Magic Tower...! No wonder this strength was unexplainable...!”

“Uh. No, but. It’s fine if you think that.”

In fact, it was more convenient to trigger the next event if he thought that way.

Thinking so, I inwardly rejoiced as I watched Edgar pull a vial filled with a black liquid from his pocket.

Ah, yes. That's right.

The fact that he took that out and drank it meant that things were rolling according to the scenario I had in mind.

Whistling, I also took out the equipment I had prepared.

A bizarre-looking gun made by haphazardly weaving together various parts. In fact, it looked more like a cone than a gun.

It was the one I had acquired while shopping with Seo Ah-in a while ago.

“Here... I cannot be stopped here... I never intended to use it, but...!”

“No. If you’re going to drink it, can't you just drink it quickly?”

“...”

And as if he was thoroughly pissed off by my taunt, Edgar finally chugged the black liquid with all his might.

Immediately, a black aura exploded from his body, and a dark fog began to spread thickly nearby.

Edgar’s eyes also turned red, and dark things appeared all over his blood vessels.

“Kuk...! Power...! I can feel the power...!”

“That’s great.”

I replied nonchalantly and operated my phone.

Ah, why is this person not picking up?

“You bastard...! You mocked me so well just now...! But it's too late! The plan has already begun!”

As he said that, the atmosphere rumbled.

The sky darkened, a mana storm raged, and space tore apart.

It was the precursor to a ‘Gate’ opening. The terms of his contract with the demon probably included opening that to stir up chaos.

Following that, as he let out a roar, the audience, who had been staring blankly wondering what on earth was going on, finally started to grasp the situation and ran away screaming.

“The Master of the Magic Tower will never leave this place alive! Neither will you!”

“Ah, hello. Cornelius?”

Oh. He picked up.

Whatever. I spoke calmly to the person on the other end of the line.

“See? I was right, wasn't I? I told you it would be like this.”

“...”

“Join you? Ah, please wait a moment.”

I looked back at Edgar, who was staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“...I'll clean this up quickly and be on my way.”

“...You bastard... Youuuu-!”

Watching Edgar charge at me in a rage, I let out a smirk.

Well, that guy probably thought something had changed. That’s how all 2nd-phase bosses are.

Then I'm a top-tier veteran in 2nd phase too, you son of a bitch.

“Well... since it's phase 2. I guess I'll show some courtesy.”

I set my watch.

“For 5 minutes.”

Ah, I gave him 10 times longer than phase 1.

I’m so generous.

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