Chapter 34

King of Steel 4

He lost.

“I lost...”

The darkness he saw when his head was crushed. Was that the afterworld? Yoon-seok felt his hair stand on end as he lay down on the floor with his legs stretched out. He couldn’t stand straight due to the fatigue that embedded itself in his body. He thought about it over and over.

What was the cause of his defeat?

‘Was I too cocky?’

Even if he’d hate to admit it, it was undeniable that he predicted his victory by looking down on his opponent until the duel began. But his pride couldn’t have been the reason for defeat. No mistakes were made because of that, and Yoon-seok did his best to fight until the very end after acknowledging his opponent’s skills. Then why on earth did he lose?

Yoon-seok laughed dejectedly while trying to find the reason. He felt pathetic trying to look for excuses.

‘Isn’t it already painfully obvious?’

It was a funny question to contemplate. The reason for the defeat was very simple: Kerixis was stronger than him. That was all. As he said in the end, he was a tiny bit lacking.

‘This is a place where I shouldn’t let my guard down. This place..’

But the only comfort was the fact that, unlike with the Heavenly Devil, he didn’t feel a huge wall. Nevertheless, on the other hand, a cold emotion filled his mind. The world was big. But with as many as four of those vast worlds being gathered here, it wasn’t impossible to understand why there were monsters like the Heavenly Devil and Kerixis.

Yoon-seok had fought nine duels here. It was far too small to present accurate statistics, but he knew one thing. Monsters the size of the Heavenly Devil and Kerixis were also extremely rare here.

‘Words have a way of coming true; is it like a jinx?’

His encounter with her could be written off as a coincidence. In addition, he was able to win at that time due to luck and circumstance. However, as soon as he set a clear goal to climb up the Tower and become stronger, he coincidentally faced one hell of a strong man in his next duel. It felt like there was a dark cloud filling the road ahead.

‘Let’s stop thinking and prepare for the next duel.’

Yoon-seok, who had been lying down for a long time, forced himself up. As expected, time was the best medicine, and the lingering feeling of death in his body had somewhat subsided. Yoon-seok smiled as he controlled the tablet. Originally, he would check the reward first when returning to the waiting room, but this time, it felt awkward to check the penalty first.

“Please..”

He saw the words of defeat. However, he was so busy dealing with his first death that he couldn’t properly confirm what skill had disappeared. Yoon-seok hoped that a skill such as War Stomp had disappeared, but he first confirmed that b Predation} hadn’t disappeared instead.

“Haaa..”

Yoon-seok, who confirmed his profile, let out a long sigh.

‘I never got to use it properly, and now it’s gone.’

The power of {Merchant of Death} gained from the duel with Ragna disappeared. If it weren’t for Kerixis, who he’d met in this duel, he would’ve been able to use it in the future. It would be a lie if he said that it wasn’t a shame. Yoon-seok checked the other penalties.

Not only did one coin disappear, but he’d also lost all of the agility he had absorbed from Ragna and Double Axe of the Great Warrior {Rank E} which he had acquired from the minotaur.

‘I’m glad I didn’t lose the armor.’

Yoon-seok decided to remain positive. If he’d lost {Heavenly Body}, not only did it mean his combat skills would drastically decrease, but the invested AP would all go to waste. Suddenly, he realized {Predation} was a double-edged sword.

‘I couldn’t even increase the skill levels I had looted..it’s a pain in the ass.’

Feeling unbearably bitter, Yoon-seok entered the chat room. He asked Ragna if she knew Kerixis, the King of Steel, but she didn’t reply. Maybe she had already gone up to the fifth floor after winning this match. ‘You said you’d wait up there. But what are you doing now?’

On second thought, Kerixis was a strong opponent. He wondered if technique itself was the dominant factor, but other than that, he was in another league in terms of other specifications.

‘Would that person have won?’

Thinking of the Heavenly Devil, Yoon-seok thought she might have. Something tremendous was hidden within her sword style. Realizing his incompetence, he realized that the only answer was constant discipline. Since he didn’t receive any AP as a reward this time, Yoon-seok decided to spend all of his time on training.

While he was about to turn his back from the chat room..

-Sunlight Paradise’s So Young-joo: King of Steel? The mutant is here? I heard he was already dead?

-Long Live the Thief Guild: The Bernille royal family covered the incident, but they said there’s no dead body. I guess that’s true.

-The Great Farmer: That human, he’s strong here, isn’t he? Can I seek revenge?

-Long Live the Thief Guild: If you want to kill yourself, go ahead. Inherent skills are closely related to innate abilities. But since King of Steel is the strongest man on the continent with only one innate ability, it’s probably the same here?

There was no whispering function in the chat room, so others could see the question that Yoon-seok asked Ragna. It caused quite the stir. Well, there was a limited number of Seheranbad-born challengers.historical

‘You must be a very famous person over there..’

Conversations began to flow from there, and discussions arose about whether they were the strongest or not. Suddenly curious about the Heavenly Devil, Yoon-seok threw the topic into the chat room. Then there was an immediate reaction among those from Moorim.

-Namgoongjinjin: Heavenly Devil? That crazy old woman came here?

-Black Horse: Don’t say things like that. Even if she lived in hiding, she was everything to us. Hey, Predator, did you see her in person?

-Shaman Problematic Influence Ja Jeong-woon: People like you are just a great shadow for her. I thought she was dead after not hearing about her for thirty years, turns out there’s a dark cloud over the Moorim Faction again!

-Paeng Do-jin: Moorim Faction, my ass! Long Live January Protestants!

-Namgoongjinjin: Paeng Do-jin! I was wondering where this traitor bastard was hiding. So you’re here!

Perhaps because she was like a teacher to him, Yoon-seok was elated to see her name dignified. The stir that she brought about was on par with the King of Steel. The noisy chat room slowly calmed down because Yoon-seok said nothing after bringing up the topic until someone rekindled the embers.

Grape Jam: So I know they’re both super strong, but who’s going to win if the Heavenly Devil and the King of Steel fight?

A nickname he hadn’t seen for a while finally popped up. She seemed to be still alive after drawing some large-scale attention and being resented by many people. Anyway, a word from Grape Jam caused a battle of pride between Seheranbad and Moorim.

-Sunshine Paradise’s So Young-joo: I know who she is, but it won’t work for the King. He’s already a monster.

-Shaman Problematic Influence Ja Jeong-woon: Hahaha! You may think so because you don’t know what martial arts are. But if she were so easy, the whole Moorim Faction wouldn’t have feared her.

-The Great Farmer: Oh, here we go again. That martial arts pride. Aren’t you sick of it? It’s about uncivilized people who don’t know magic.

-Grape Jam: Lol, the uncivilized are good at fighting. Do they even know what science is?

Grape Jam, responsible for the war between the two worlds, was busy poking at both sides when something came up. Was it fun? Yoon-seok took his eyes off the chaotic chat room and turned his back. He didn’t want such an enthusiastic response. Now that he got the answers he wanted, it was time to do other things.

“..I need to be stronger.”

Yoon-seok’s training was limited to technique. As the Heavenly Devil admitted, it was impossible to grow one’s skills or abilities through training. That was why he hadn’t focused on sharpening his skills because he thought as long as he had b Predation}, it was less likely he’d meet opponents who had lower stats than him.

But, that mindset had changed now. There was a Unique Skill that was powerful enough to make all the techniques he looted with b Predation} meaningless. The battle against Kerixis confirmed it, but the results remained the same. The only way to beat an opponent with better stats was to dig into swordsmanship and see the importance of technique.

“..”

Yoon-seok quietly closed his eyes. Then he swung his sword to his heart’s content in his inner world. Imagination was truly infinite.

If he needed a rival, either the Heavenly Devil or Kerixis could appear and become his opponent.

Then, suddenly, the vigor he felt last time in his lower abdomen reappeared. It was different from when there was no way of controlling the energy roaming around his body.

‘Huh?’

It was moving. As if responding to his will, in the direction he wanted. But not all the energy was in motion, as 30% of the energy was concentrated in his body. Was it just a coincidence that the figure overlapped with the 30% increase in Avatar Quality?

He didn’t know, but Yoon-seok didn’t worry about it for long. He just wondered what the essence of this energy was and what he could achieve with it. He gradually grew accustomed to the energy and focused on only one place with 30% energy. Then, he realized that he could feel a strong force at one point when it spread evenly.

‘My powers didn’t increase. What’s this?’

Yoon-seok placed the energy into his hands and drew it lightly with his sword. He had superhuman abilities, but his durability was only F rank. He should have a cut on his skin because of the sharp blade, but somehow he was alright like Kerixis’s firm skin. The energy of invisible vigor seemed to protect his fists. It was pleasant to think that he’d gained a rare ability. But Yoon-seok was constantly trying to figure out how to utilize this ability efficiently.

‘It would be nice if I could use it on a sword..’

He tried to push the energy into the sword as an experiment, but it didn’t work. This energy only moved around the body. Then, suddenly, he remembered what the Heavenly Devil had said while explaining about martial arts.

One With the Sword. The extent to which the sword and body become one and indistinguishable. If he achieved this state, wouldn’t he be able to push this energy into the sword? Then it’d be a little strange.

Yoon-seok was already comfortable and natural with the sword as if it were an extended part of his body.

‘Is it still not enough..?’

Maybe. Yoon-seok closed his eyes again and recalled all the duels he had experienced. At first, the sword felt so awkward. The fact that he wielded a sharp blade itself was very scary. He thought he might hurt himself with the blade. That fear disappeared as the number of duels gradually increased. Since then, he didn’t need a shield anymore. The sword could also be the shield.

Of course, he had become more professional than before. After the duel with the Heavenly Devil, he advanced rapidly. But a sword was a sword, and Yoon-seok was Yoon-seok. A sword was an object, and he was a living being. So how could these two become one? Amid such contradictions, Yoon-seok recalled his previous duel with the Heavenly Devil in detail. He examined the movement of the sword she was wielding again and again. It felt as if it was alive.

On the other hand, his sword was dead.

“..Was that so?”

The first thing to do was to revive his dead sword. Being one with the sword would be the next. Feeling as if he’d discovered a clue, Yoon-seok grew more eager to find answers.

Some time passed before he opened his eyes. The sword in hand was coated with green energy.

Whoosh!

It was neither {Weapon Enhancement} nor b Flash}. It wasn’t a mixed effect of any of his skills. It was the sword in its truest form. And the power..

「Please prepare. The duel will begin soon.」

Well, he would find out soon.