Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Part 27

Did I imagine it? I'm sure there was something...

Step.

Step.

“I wondered what was running toward me. A Dwarf.”

“A... human?!”

As Tulkan continued running...

The shape ahead became clear.

A human was walking toward him.

“Human! Run! A Troll! A Troll is coming! Don't come this way!”

“So that's why you're running.”

Shing.

Han Yugeon drew the Godslayer Sword.

It was the first Troll he had encountered since entering Floor 28.

“I've spent all night slicing snake meat. I was getting bored.”

“What are you doing?! I told you to run!”

Tulkan panicked when Yugeon drew his sword.

He knew the human was not trying to kill him.

If Yugeon had wanted to attack...

Tulkan would have sensed killing intent.

Tulkan slid to a stop in front of him.

“Hey! I said a Regeneration Troll is coming!”

“I heard you.”

“Then why are you drawing your sword?! Run!”

“I have business in that direction.”

“How are you going to kill a Regeneration Troll alone without a Mage?!”

Regeneration Trolls required Mages.

They were not truly immortal.

But their regenerative ability was absurd.

Magic was normally used to suppress that regeneration.

Yet this human had no companions.

“You're a pretty cowardly Dwarf.”

“It's not cowardice! It's rational judgment!”

Tulkan practically jumped in anger.

Dwarves were a race that could sleep beside molten lava.

How dare this human call him a coward?

“Sure, sure. Just rest here. I'll handle the Troll.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

While they spoke...

A gigantic silhouette appeared in the distance.

“ROOOOOOAR!”

“Oh. Finally.”

Yugeon smiled.

He had spent so long killing nearly invisible Cave Vipers that his eyes hurt.

Even with the level indicators...

He needed to concentrate carefully just to see them.

Sometimes he attacked too quickly and only cut off the tip of a snake's tail.

“You don't fight a Regeneration Troll by randomly attacking it.”

Yugeon jumped toward its torso.

STAB.

STAB STAB.

He mixed the principles of Soul-Chasing Flying Butterfly, a hidden-weapon technique, into his sword.

He stabbed the Troll in the solar plexus.

Then the left side.

Then the navel.

Fast.

Precise.

Mixing hidden-weapon techniques into swordsmanship is surprisingly tricky.

“ROOOOAR!”

WHOOOOSH!

The Troll roared and swung its giant wooden club.

“Watch out!”

Tulkan shouted.

Yugeon was still in midair.

“Haa... Did you swallow a train whistle? You're louder than the Troll.”

WHIRL!

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Yugeon spun in the air.

He used Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art.

The enormous club was redirected to the side.

“What...?”

Tulkan's mouth fell open.

He redirected a Troll's attack in midair?

His feet were not even touching the ground.

How could someone generate that much force?

“I'm busy, so die.”

Yugeon stepped against the cave wall.

Then launched himself back into the air.

Plum Blossom Sword Art bloomed.

Slash.

Slash.

Slash.

Slash.

His blade tore repeatedly across the Troll's body.

“ROOOOOAR!”

“Careful! Those wounds will regenerate immediately... Huh?”

Tulkan's eyes widened.

“It's... not regenerating?”

A Regeneration Troll.

A creature famous for healing wounds at horrifying speed.

Yet none of its injuries were healing.

SLASH!

Yugeon cut the tendons in both legs.

The Troll dropped to its knees.

Then...

“Go.”

Yugeon unleashed Emperor Sword Form.

The Troll's head separated from its body.

BOOM.

Roll.

“Haa. I feel refreshed after finally moving properly.”

He could have killed it instantly with Heaven-Annihilating One Sword.

But Yugeon wanted exercise.

“...”

Tulkan could only move his mouth uselessly.

He had never seen a human kill a Regeneration Troll this easily.

“A-Are you a Great Star?”

“No.”

“Don't lie! You're a Great Star, aren't you?!”

“Why ask if you aren't going to believe me...?”

Yugeon looked baffled.

Tulkan had already decided what he wanted to believe.

“How can you kill a Troll that easily if you aren't a Great Star?!”

The Dwarf practically jumped again.

In the past...

Tulkan had met a Level 81 human Awakener.

Even that man had needed more than three minutes to kill a Regeneration Troll.

Because of its healing.

But this human...

Less than a minute.

Actually, barely more than thirty seconds.

“It's impossible unless you're a Great Star!”

“Fine. Great Star, giant leech, whatever. Believe whatever you want.”

Yugeon took only the Troll's Mana Stone and continued walking.

Its other materials were not worth much.

“Hey! Wait! Let's go together!”

“You don't even know where I'm going.”

“Where else? The exit!”

“The exit is on my route, but I'm not leaving yet. I have somewhere else to visit.”

“Where?”

“Stop bothering me. I'm only talking to you this much because I owe the Dwarves.”

“You owe my race? Hmm. Someone as strong as you doesn't look like the type to owe anyone. And none of your equipment is Dwarf-made.”

“There are reasons.”

When the world was destroyed...

Humans were not the only ones who went extinct.

Among the Otherworlders...

The Dwarves were the only race that was completely destroyed.

And their extinction happened because of humans.

When humanity faced disaster... the surviving humans asked the Dwarves for help.

The Dwarves happily crossed into humanity's world.

They called humans friends.

They helped stop the Waves.

Five years later...

The Dwarves asked humanity for help.

They did not even request human fighters.

Only supplies.

Humanity ignored them.

As a result...

The Dwarves received nothing.

Many starved to death.

Others fought monsters with their bare hands.

Eventually...

Their race was destroyed.

I still feel guilty.

At the time...

Yugeon had been operating alone.

Even as extinction approached...

The so-called Human Alliance continued fighting over power and profit.

Disgusted by them...

Yugeon left and acted alone.

If he had known...

He would have helped the Dwarves.

But saying that now means nothing.

They were already extinct in that future.

Saying, If only I'd known, after everything was over...

Was almost insulting.

“You're saying that because you don't know who I am. I'm actually pretty important...”

“Go this way.”

“Huh?”

Tulkan had been rambling as they walked.

At a fork...

Yugeon pointed left.

“Keep going. When you reach the five-way intersection, take the far-left path. That's the exit.”

“How do you know that?”

“You ask too many questions.”

Yugeon smiled.

Then he walked toward the right-hand passage.

Tulkan watched his back and scratched his head.

“Hey! Human! I still don't know your name! Thanks for saving me! My name is Tulkan! I'll definitely repay this debt someday!”

Yugeon did not look back.

He simply lifted one hand and waved.

FLASH FLASH!

“Found it.”

Yugeon smiled at the glowing compass.

He had followed the needle through the cave for quite a while.

Now...

It pointed toward an ordinary wall.

The needle itself was flashing.

“So it's here.”

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

CRASH.

Yugeon used Shaolin's Vajra Fist to break through the wall.

A descending slope appeared.

“Wow. My skin is already tingling.”

The instant the hidden passage appeared...

Something deep below released killing intent.

It was so dense that his skin prickled.

“Let's see what you are.”

Yugeon had only heard about this creature.

He had never seen it personally.

He jumped into the passage.

Whoooosh.

He slid down the slope.

Deeper than I expected.

After several dozen seconds...

He reached the bottom.

A gigantic cavern spread before him.

“So this place existed.”

It was even deeper than the upper cave.

Yet a single ray of light somehow descended from above.

Shallow water covered the center.

And in the middle...

Something enormous sat cross-legged.

As Yugeon approached...

The creature slowly raised its head.

[Lv. 90] Agrils

Huh. A Level 90 creature is just sitting down here.

No wonder its killing intent could be felt from so far above.

“I clearly warned you not to come down... yet here you are. Do you wish to die?”

“Wow. A Troll with intelligence?”

The monster was indeed a Troll.

But it looked different.

Unlike the disgusting Regeneration Trolls above...

Its facial features were defined.

Its skin was much cleaner.

Its face looked almost like a mixture of human and Orc.

“A Troll, you say...”

RUMBLE.

Agrils slowly stood.

He was not four or five meters tall like ordinary Trolls.

Slightly above two meters.

But his body was incredibly dense.

Muscles that looked hard enough to deflect bullets.

“A great deal of time must have passed. My people existed far longer than yours, yet a mere human speaks to me like that.”

“Calling monsters a people? That's funny.”

“Hehehe. Foolish human blinded to reality. The day when your race is bound to this Tower and becomes monsters is not far away.”

“...What?”

Agrils suddenly swung his weapon.

Far too fast to see.

BOOOOOOM!

A huge force shot from the weapon.

Not Aura.

Not Sword Energy.

Something different.

It struck the wall behind Yugeon.