Chapter 134. The Victors (1)
“Haha! It’s useless, Lee Hyeonje!”
Sakuma Hajime, leader of the Tenka Four Heavenly Kings, shouted confidently.
At the moment, Sakuma was completely overwhelming Lee Hyeonje, the leader of the Eight Guardians.
“This Aegis is the shield of Zeus, God of Lightning! Lightning-element attacks won’t work on it!”
Sakuma’s Constellation, the ‘Hero Who Slays Monsters’ Perseus, possessed an extraordinary collection of Constellation Armaments.
Perseus’s greatest achievement was defeating Medusa, the monster with snakes for hair.
The equipment he used to defeat Medusa was his most famous set of gear, so every piece had become a Constellation Armament.
The shield Aegis.
The sandals Talaria.
The helmet Kyneê.
And the blade Harpe.
All of them were divine weapons.
Sakuma wore the entire set as he pressured Lee Hyeonje.
“My blade inflicts wounds that cannot heal! My sandals let me move as though I’m flying! My helmet can conceal my form!”
Sakuma raised his voice.
“You cannot stand against me!”
With that, he swung the sickle-sword Harpe at Lee Hyeonje.
Watching Lee Hyeonje collapse while bleeding, Sakuma Hajime became certain of victory.
“Is this all you have? I heard you were the strongest among the Eight Guardians, but you’re disappointing.”
Sakuma spoke confidently.
“No... I suppose Korean Contractors themselves were simply low-level.”
He snorted and raised Harpe to sever Lee Hyeonje’s neck.
“Die, Lee Hyeonje.”
But at that instant...
Bang!
With an explosive sound, Lee Hyeonje disappeared from where he had been standing.
“What?!”
Sakuma hurriedly turned his head.
Lee Hyeonje had already moved somewhere else in a flash of lightning.
“Where do you think you’re running...?!”
Sakuma used the winged sandals Talaria and chased after him.
But he immediately realized something.
Lee Hyeonje was faster.
This bastard... he isn’t using his lightning to attack at all. He’s putting all of it into movement...?!
At that moment, Lee Hyeonje disappeared again.
Where?!
Sakuma hurriedly looked around while protecting himself with Aegis.
Above!
He quickly raised the shield, trying to block Lee Hyeonje’s attack as the man descended from the air.
Sakuma assumed that if Lee Hyeonje switched back to using lightning offensively, his speed would drop.
There should be plenty of time to block.
But...
BOOM!
A crushing physical impact struck the shield.
The unexpected force broke Sakuma’s stance.
This is... striking power on the level of Lord Keito or Lady Yuuki!
What had Lee Hyeonje done?
Sakuma peered past Aegis.
Only then did he realize that Lee Hyeonje was holding a weapon he hadn’t possessed before.
It was a golden, rod-shaped striking weapon.
A pyeon, a traditional Eastern weapon.
“A Constellation Armament?!”
Lee Hyeonje’s Constellation was the S-rank ‘Grand Preceptor of the Golden Whip.’
Wen Zhong from Investiture of the Gods.
Then that Constellation Armament had to be...
“The Golden Whip... said to have been made after capturing a Flood Dragon...!”
Lee Hyeonje disappeared once again.
Sakuma raised his shield almost entirely on instinct.
He managed to block the strike, but a numbing shock traveled through the arm holding Aegis.
He’s using lightning only to increase his movement speed... and attacking exclusively with the Golden Whip!
Lee Hyeonje moved again.
He began darting around in every direction, striking Sakuma over and over with the Golden Whip.
A-Attacks from every direction...!
It was impossible to block them all with Aegis.
Sakuma tried to use his helmet to turn invisible and escape.
It didn’t work.
Lee Hyeonje kept getting faster.
He attacked from every direction, preventing Sakuma from breaking away.
Too fast! Does using lightning solely for movement make him this fast?!
It felt as though dozens of Lee Hyeonjes surrounded him, beating him at the same time.
Even though Sakuma wore protective gear, the impacts passed through it and left bruises across his entire body.
The pyeon was already a weapon designed to damage enemies even through armor.
And this was the Constellation Armament of an S-rank Constellation.
Its power could not be compared to an ordinary weapon.
“Kugh!”
It wasn’t as though Sakuma never attempted to counterattack.
He swung Harpe and wounded Lee Hyeonje several times.
But Lee Hyeonje’s assault never slowed.
Despite the amount of blood he had lost, Lee Hyeonje kept moving and continued striking Sakuma without pause.
“A-Agh...!”
At last, Aegis fell from Sakuma’s hand.
The Golden Whip immediately came crashing down on Sakuma’s exposed vital points.
“When I fought Yoon Miho and Cheon Sangwoon, my lightning didn’t work on them.”
Lee Hyeonje’s cold voice reached Sakuma’s ears as his battered body slowly collapsed.
“I was completely helpless.”
He swung the Golden Whip again.
“So I trained a little in case something like that ever happened again.”
“D-Damn it...”
Realizing he had underestimated Lee Hyeonje far too much, Sakuma collapsed weakly onto the ground.
Lee Hyeonje breathed heavily.
He had barely won.
Sakuma had been a difficult opponent.
“Hey, Lee Hyeonje.”
A blood-covered Shin Minyu approached.
“You win?”
“Yeah. You?”
“Me too.”
Shin Minyu grinned and raised the vicious spear in his hand.
The harpoon of the S-rank Constellation ‘Warrior of the Fierce Hound,’ Cú Chulainn.
Gáe Bolg.
“I finished him with this.”
“Good.”
Narukami, Shin Minyu’s opponent, had been contracted with the S-rank Constellation ‘Blond Knight Commander,’ Fionn mac Cumhaill.
Like Cú Chulainn, Fionn was one of the greatest heroes of Celtic mythology.
His Constellation Armament was also a spear.
But in the end, Shin Minyu, Contractor of Cú Chulainn, had won.
“Honestly, it was by the thinnest margin.”
Shin Minyu shrugged.
“The difference came down to our Constellation Armaments.”
“The Armaments?”
“Compared to Gáe Bolg, which had overwhelming destructive power even in myth, Fionn mac Cumhaill’s magic spear just didn’t hit as hard.”
“I see...”
“I think his side had better magic resistance or something, but that doesn’t mean much against someone like me who specializes entirely in physical combat.”
Shin Minyu grinned.
“Anyway, we preserved the pride of the Eight Guardians against the Tenka Four Heavenly Kings.”
“Yeah...”
“Now we just need Kang Yujin to defeat Saionji Keito inside...”
As they spoke...
figures appeared in the distance.
“Lee Hyeonje! Over there!”
"...!"
Kang Yujin was slowly walking toward them with several others.
“Kang Yujin!”
Lee Hyeonje urgently ran toward him.
“What happened? How did it go?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
Kang Yujin’s answer was as blunt as ever.
But the moment Lee Hyeonje heard it, tears almost burst from his eyes.
“Kang Yujin!”
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
Lee Hyeonje suddenly embraced him.
Kang Yujin recoiled in horror and twisted his body.
“Seriously, you... you’re incredible!”
“Have you gone insane...?”
“Of course I have! Do you even understand what we just accomplished?!”
Still hugging the dumbfounded Kang Yujin, Lee Hyeonje kept shouting.
“We completely destroyed Pandemonium’s forces in Kaesong! We defeated Saionji Keito, Japan’s representative Contractor, and the Tenka Four Heavenly Kings!”
His voice trembled.
“Who would’ve imagined we could accomplish something like this?! At least a month ago, absolutely nobody would have!”
"..."
“It was possible because you were here! This happened because of you!”
“It’s not like I did it alone...”
Kang Yujin muttered awkwardly.
But he stopped resisting and simply let the tearful Lee Hyeonje hold him.
“It’s Kang Yujin’s victory, but it’s also a victory for all of us.”
Ma Taesu spoke from nearby with a cigarette between his lips.
“There were many sacrifices, including Jegal Geum... but in the end, we won.”
"..."
“Honestly, nobody could’ve predicted things would unfold like this.”
Ma Taesu exhaled cigarette smoke.
“Japan suddenly betrayed us. Even the Constellations probably couldn’t have predicted this outcome.”
Then he smiled.
“But in the end...”
“We won.”
“No one can deny that this is our victory.”
The people around them looked at one another and smiled.
“All right, Lee Hyeonje.”
Ma Taesu pulled Lee Hyeonje away from Kang Yujin.
“It’s about time you said something as the overall commander.”
“Ah. Right.”
Lee Hyeonje wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and cleared his throat.
Then he looked around and spoke as commander of the operation.
“Everyone, you did well.”
His voice carried clearly.
“There were many sacrifices, but in the end... this is our victory.”
Even though everyone was exhausted, smiles appeared on their faces.
“Until now, most of our fighting could still be called internal conflicts within Korea.”
Lee Hyeonje continued.
