Chapter 34: Ice Sword 2

“There it is.”

Isaac nodded upon hearing Woohyuk speak.

“We should search it first though.”

Since it was a cave that was hidden away, it was normal to think that there might be a monster.

Woohyuk however walked in without bothering to unsheathe Grandia.

‘There’s nothing inside.’

That is except for the one treasure chest located at the very back. It contained a Teleport Scroll, which was actually a decent item.

“Have you discovered anything?”

“No”

Woohyuk quickly responded as he headed straight for the treasure chest.

Just as he managed to snatch the Scroll from the chest, Isaac’s party appeared behind him with their weapons raised.

“You took the item!”

“Wasn’t I the one to find it though?”

“Sure, but it’s still quite rude of you.”

“If you have any complaints, try and take it from me”

An open provocation.

The men standing next to Isaac stared at Woohyuk, visibly angry.

“You must be very confident in yourself.”

“Why, do you think you can beat me with just this number of loyal dogs?”

He didn’t come here to beat around the bush.

As Woohyuk spoke, Isaac couldn’t help but smirk.

“So you already knew that I was aiming for you.”

Ranghilt’s ego had taken over.

It was the case where both parties thought themselves to be the hunter.

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“Either way, you will be judged for your transgressions against God!”

“Transgressions against God? What a farce! Isn’t it the case that your Sea God rebelled against the Creator?”

Isaac’s followers were confused regarding their conversation, but Isaac himself didn’t seem to care at all, as he raised Ranghilt.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but it seems your arrogance knows no bounds. You even want to keep such a treasure to yourself.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, but it matters not. Come, I’ll cut down however many people you throw my way.”

The truth was that Isaac had only brought five of his loyal subordinates with him.

He only had to be wary of Ranghilt, the others were a piece of cake.

He curled his finger provocatively, and everyone rushed towards him.

Chaeng! Chaeng!

Woohyuk simply defended, enduring an attack from each of them. Of course the reason was that he wanted them to be marked as sinners.

As soon as they had attacked first, his fierce counterattack followed.

Huiaaaaang

Grandia swept through them without any resistance, he might as well have been harvesting wheat.

After bringing the battle to a close, Woohyuk looked towards Isaac who was just standing there.

“Why are you just watching?”

“I was merely interested in how you’d do.”

This Magic Sword had its own ego, and as such could make its own decisions.

It was an item created by the Sea God and therefore bound to follow its will, but if the Sea God was no more, perhaps it wouldn’t need to follow its orders any longer.

At that time, it could find itself a better host instead. In Ranghilt’s eyes, Woohyuk was a much better host to occupy compared to Isaac.

“Interested?”

“Tell me more about this Sea God. What happened to him, did he die at the hands of the Creator?”

Ranghilt had only recently awoken from its long slumber, so it was natural to ask such a question.

Woohyuk though for a moment, then responded.

“If you can defeat me, I’ll tell you.”

“Okay, as you wish.”

Isaac sighed as he stabbed Rangilt unto the ground.

A cold air was emitted, as the cave quickly began to freeze over.

‘It’s trying to establish a favorable environment.’

In order for the sword to express its full potential, an environment that matched its Ice element was important.

Buffeted by these bursts of cold air, Woohyuk raised Grandia.

‘I won’t be using the Undead.’

They weren’t yet at a high enough level that they could be impactful in a fight of this calibre. As Woohyuk closed the distance between them, Isaac used Ranghilt to send a whirlwind of chilling glacial winds his way.

TaAng!

The cave walls began to crack as they were coated in ice.

As Isaac prepared his next strike, Woohyuk ran across the slippery surface, quickly narrowing the gap between them.

Wooddk

Icicles began to drop from the ceiling, blocking his way. As he dodged to the side in a bid to continue pressing forward, Ice spikes appeared from the ground this time.

The cave’s environment was currently entirely under Ranghilt’s control, and it was very difficult to predict where the next attack would come from.

Still, Woohyuk had an impressive Agility and a combat sense far above the norm. So much so that even being disadvantaged to such a degree, didn’t make too much of a difference to him.

‘It’ll be best to end this quickly.’

Due to Ranghilt’s magic, ice continued to accumulate within the cave.

If this battle went on for much longer, it wouldn’t just be limited to a couple icicles or spike being sent his way.

As Woohyuk had finally arrived rather close, a giant Ice Wall was erected before him.

No doubt it was cast in self defense, finally feeling some measure of danger.

Dangung

A horizontal slash from Grandia split the Ice wall in half, but cold winds were waiting for him on the other side.

[Frost Wind]

It was less powerful than its counterpart, Ice Storm, but was still annoying to deal with because of its wide AoE.

Relying on the Ghost Queen Star Serpent to defend against the magic spell, Woohyuk quickly struck towards Isaac’s neck.

Clang!

The clashing of metal rang across the cave. With their swords raised, they stared into each other's eyes.

Whiric!

Woohyuk took a step back as he threw his Vampiric dagger.

It wasn’t the most accurate shot, and Isaac was able to dodge by instinctively leaning to the side.

“Unlike your swordplay, it seems you didn’t put much practice into your throwing skill.”

“Is that so?”

“... Huh?”

Isaac felt something was wrong and turned around just in time to see the dagger headed straight for his head.

The ability to recover the dagger was a result of a certain combination of engraved runes. However, no one ever said that such an ability could only be used to recover the weapon, and not in battle.

Despite his best attempts to dodge, the Vampiric dagger still managed to cut through his neck.

Jurrrk

It left a sizable cut behind, as blood began to flow.

‘Success.’

He had applied the Basilisk’s poison on the dagger’s edge. It would only be a matter of time before Isaac would be dead now.

Even if he would be able to drag it out a bit longer by relying on Ranghilt’s magic, his movement would still be affected, and eventually he wouldn’t be able to withstand the poison which stacked with his buffs from his full Basilisk’s Armor Set.

“Ugh..”

Isaac groaned as he was brought down to his knees.

historical

As the poison spread throughout his body, paralysis began to set in.

Woohyuk raised Grandia, and finished him with one quick stroke.

Puuk!

Stabbing straight into his heart.

Just then, his ice cold eyes stared straight into Woohyuk.

[Take me]

It was Ranghilt’s magic trying to tempt him.

Of course Woohyuk didn’t fall for its guile.

“Pick it up.”

Triton who had just been summoned to this glacial cave, nodded back.

As he grasped Ranghilt, it instantly ceased to emit any blue mana.

“Am I able to control it as well?”

“It’s possible if you were protected by a certain set of runes.”

With the right combination of runes engraved upon his armor, he might be able to resist the sword’s influence despite his Spirit Stat being too low.

The biggest problem would be finding a blacksmith on the Eeth continent with such a mastery of runes.

Of course, Woohyuk himself wasn’t at all worried because he already knew where to find the very best blacksmith.

“It’s easier than I expected.”

[Runesmith Dexter]

If he had been able to survive until the very end, it would be difficult to say if Woohyuk would still have been able to keep his position as the strongest human, and that is after considering that he didn’t even have a Combat Class.

While thinking about him, he gathered the loot in the cave.

* * *

Isaac's death certainly led to a collapse in his group. Colton, who had been his second in command, tried to keep his forces united, but struggled because his Crown tier wasn’t high enough.

Within their camp, it was only Colton that was aware that Woohyuk was behind his leader’s death. This was because the fact that they had set out to kill Woohyuk was a tightly held secret that couldn’t be easily spread.

No one else could even suspect Woohyuk of any wrongdoings since he returned to the Fortress within a day’s time. The absence of any red marker was the biggest proof that he didn’t have anything to do with it.

Naturally everyone just concluded that Isaac and his subordinates had been unlucky and fallen to a pack of Griffons.

As the situation began to stabilize, Woohyuk sent Lee Jaesung to the left path. On his way back he had gone and activated the Guard Tower near the Bronze Rock Mountain, so now the only one remaining was the last one on the left path.

There were a few voices here and there that said that the center path wasn’t secure, but they were the minority. Currently Woohyuk was the one with the most clout in their faction, as rumors spread that despite having a small team, he was a Silver Crown leader with considerable skill.

That, combined with Hong Yuri’s full support and the fact that he was basically unopposed, he became the faction’s Commander in Chief.

“Is the food good?”

Woohyuk asked Leifina who seemed to be engrossed in her roasted Lizardman.

They had been together for two days now, and just finished their raid on the Banshee’s Temple. Now only the Naga Temple was left.

“Yes! It’s better than I had expected.”

“That’s good.”

“But Master, can I try cooking next time? I seem to struggle every time...”

“No, that’s impossible.”

Hearing Woohyuk’s harsh rejection, Leifina couldn’t help but be a bit confused.

Didn’t he really claim that she couldn’t ever cook?

As the situation became increasingly awkward, Woohyuk clarified.

“Cooking can also be considered a form of battle. A single mistake and the food won’t turn our well, which can negatively affect your allies.”

“That’s true, but..”

“Trust me, you are good with a sword and have a beautiful appearance, but God is fair and you simply don’t have any housewife skills.”

Leifina instantly blushed hearing the praise.

As she turned silent, Woohyuk continued to eat, enjoying the savory meat with chewy texture.

If it had been done by Leifina, it would never have turned out this way.

As he imagined what her burnt Lizard meat might look like, he heard the sound of someone approaching.

Based on their stride, height and footsteps, it was likely a player and not another Naga.

It seemed that they were a rather large party, and had decided to attack the temple as one.

Keeping an eye on them, Woohyuk handed Leifina the Banshee’s Cloak.

“Put this on for now, we have some visitors.”

A Hidden Piece that could turn the wearer invisible so long as you had enough Mana to supply it.

In order to obtain it, Woohyuk had to endure endless shrieks the other night. A situation where the average person would have long been driven mad.

If a group of adventurers were to encounter such shrieks, it was likely to result in a similar situation to what happened back at the Vampire bat cave.

However they were now at the Naga temple. A place infested with Nagas, a serpent-like creature with four arms.

“Oh, so it was Chun Woohyuk. Were you hunting here all by yourself?”

Colton said with a friendly smile.

A tier 1 Bronze Crown leader, but the number in his group far exceeded the maximum capacity of his party.

He currently had about 30 people with him, and if you accounted for those that had been left behind as lookouts at the guard towers, he had about 60 followers at the moment.

A situation where he had absorbed most of Isaac’s forces.

“One of my party members returned to the Fortress just now to take care of some stuff, but I have no qualms being alone here.”

Those manning the Guard Tower had seen him arrive with Leifina, so it wasn’t like he could deny her existence.

Colton, feeling something was off, looked at the surroundings in amazement.

“Did you handle all these monsters?”

“No way...”

Although Nagas looked similar to the Lizardmen, they were considerably taller with hard scales.

Not to mention that it was difficult to deal any damage to them in the first place because they could wield ancient magic spells like Shrink and Blink

Breaking out of his stupor, Colton continued.

“Would you like to join us? After all, we don’t know what’s behind there.”

At the end of the passage stood a large bronze door, with unique patterns on it.

Pretty much anyone that had survived this far could guess that a Boss monster resided behind them.

“It’s fine as long as you don’t get in my way.”

He didn’t know what his intentions were, but he knew that he was up to no good.

If he let him escape with a Return Stone, he might be back with reinforcements.

Woohyuk opened the bronze door, giving Colton’s group a friendly smile.

* * *

“Geuh..”

Colton spat out a mouthful of blood as he collapsed to the ground. Around there were countless corpses that had suffered the same fate.

A one-sided massacre.

Despite having attacked Woohyuk sneakily while he was supposed to be focused on the Naga Boss.

“Shit..”

He thought that he would be able to kill Woohyuk

Although he was busy because he needed a higher tier in order to properly unite the group that had begun to drift ever since their leader’s death.

Of course he still had to take revenge for his Master’s death.

At first he pretended to be weak, letting them attack him, but suddenly he seemed like a completely different person as he had burst out with his full strength.

‘I shouldn’t have tried going after him.’

At first he had thought that it was only due to being tricked in some way that Isaac had fallen to Woohyuk. There was no way that he wouldn’t be able to kill him despite their advantage in numbers.

‘Unbelievable.’

It was only as he drew his last breath that he realized the depths of Woohyuk’s strength.

A truly terrifying being, one that Isaac couldn’t even hold a candle to.

“How do you feel, being cut down by the one you used to follow?”

Woohyuk asked in a flat voice. Before him stood the pale undead Isaac, wielding a Bastard sword.

Class: Dark Knight Commander (Humanoid)

Abilities: Leadership (200), Death Templar (Can raise his victims as Dark Knights), Darkness Slash (Sends out a black wave of up to 100m), Aura of Death ( +10 to all stats of allied Undead within a 35m radius) Enchanted Darkness ( weapon gains the Darkness attribute).

Stats:

Strength: 116

Vitality: 98

Dexterity: 103

Intelligence: 58

Spirit: 72

The reason he summoned him was to test the Death Templar ability. It was quite the unusual skill and he wondered what the difference would be between that and his own Rise ability.

Puuk!

The Bastard Sword pierced right through Colton’s plate armor, stabbing into his heart. The sword sharpness had been greatly improved due to the Dark energy surrounding it.

Woohyuk watched the situation unfold, curious as to what might happen.

It didn’t take long for Colton to rise, a Dark energy likewise being emitted from his sabre.

‘There is an extra ability.’

His undead summons however didn’t gain that darkness attribute, and their Stats were also a bit lower.

As Woohyuk stood there with a satisfied expression, Leifina appeared from behind him.

“Master, allow me to fight next time. It is shameful for a knight to stand by and watch as their Lord is in danger.”

“This was nothing, we still have a long road ahead of us.”

Woohyuk said as he placed his hand on Leifina’s shoulder.

“Become strong enough to always stand by my side. Until that time comes, I’ll protect you instead.”

As their eyes ment, Leifina couldn’t help but shyly avert her gaze

“...Okay.”

For but a moment, a delicate atmosphere hung in the air.