Chapter 397: Martial God (2)

While the rescue party's mages were preparing the teleport spell, Gong Ju-Ha stood quietly and kept glancing over at Seo Jun-Sik. She was like a teenage girl who was at a meetup with her favorite idol.

'They look the exact same.'

Well, he was a clone. That was a given. If she had to say, the only difference between the two was their hairstyles. Unlike Seo Jun-Ho, the owner of the body, Seo Jun-Sik's hair was slicked back.

"Originaaaal." Seo Jun-Sik crouched down into a squat. His face scrunched into a pout.

"What?"

"It hurts. I've been finding it hard to breathe for a while now."

"How many times have you said that already? Just hold on for a little more. You'll be fine once we make it into the city.

Seo Jun-Ho patted Seo Jun-Sik's shoulder while he was sulking.

His eyes met Ju-Ha's. "Captain Gong, is there something you'd like to say?"

"N-No! Not at all." She shook her head vigorously. Her voice dropped to a mutter. "It's just kind of fascinating. I can't believe there are two Specters..."

"Hmph. We look the same, but I'm different from this guy," Seo Jun-Sik said, groaning as if he were a patient.

"How so?" she asked.

"First of all, unlike this guy, I'm authentic."

"Don't believe him. It's just all nonsense," Seo Jun-Ho said, quickly cutting in to correct him. "That's what he said to me, too, so I believed him at first. But now that I've been with him for a while, I realized that not only is he not authentic, but he's also shameless, tactless, and lacks common sense."[1]

"Wow. That's so harsh."

"It's true, and you know it."

"It's really not. The only thing I got from you is authenticity. I'm totally authentic."

Gong Ju-Ha nodded as she watched the two of them bicker.

'I guess he wouldn't get bored even when he's by himself.'

She had been using a handheld fan to cool off, but she suddenly felt like cold air was blanketing her body.

She blinked and muttered, "Ah, that feels good...Where's it coming from, though?"

It wasn't coming from the fan. Gong Ju-Ha looked around, trying to find its source, and her eyes settled on a girl. 'She's definitely Mr. Jun-Ho's Spirit.'

The young, foreign-looking girl was sitting apart from the rest of the party on a dirty rock, but there was an elegant, regal arrogant air about her that Gong Ju-Ha couldn't put into words.

When she met Seo Jun-Ho's spirit a few minutes ago, her first thought was 'Phew, I'm taller'.

She started liking her because she assumed Spirits couldn't grow taller.

"Why are you smiling at me like a fool?" the Frost Queen asked, sounding taciturn. Her arms were crossed, her legs were crossed, and even her chin was jutting out slightly.

Her body language clearly indicated that she didn't want anyone approaching her at all.

'Aw.' Gong Ju-Ha had wanted to get closer to her by taking care of her like an unnie, but for some reason, she felt like the Frost Queen didn't like her.

She wavered, unable to find anything to say. Finally, she said something, "W-Would you like to eat a snack with me?"

"...A snack, you say?"

Oh my God.

Even Gong Ju-Ha herself felt self-conscious when she said that. This was their first time meeting. Share a snack? She probably wouldn't even be able to get close to kindergarteners with that.

"P-Please pretend you didn't hear that..."

"Hmph. I already heard you, so could I pretend I did not?"

Surprisingly, it was effective.

The Frost Queen hadn't had a single snack ever since coming up to the 5th floor. She thought for a second and decided to pretend like she was giving in as she turned her head and said, "Show me. This...snack."

"Oh, okay!" Gong Ju-Ha scurried forward and sat next to her.

Seo Jun-Ho and Seo Jun-Sik were still fighting while the two of them shared a snack.

"Come on, just take it back. I'm telling you, I do have shame, common sense, and tact."

"No, you don't."

It seemed like their bickering would never come to an end.

Suddenly, Seo Jun-Sik's eyes lit up when he remembered something. "Oh, right! The free sushi coupon!"

"The what coupon?" Seo Jun-Ho asked, frowning. He had only humored Seo Jun-Sik up until now out of obligation. He had heard about the cake coupon countless times, but what the hell was this sushi coupon?

"Give me a sushi coupon like the cake coupon you give Frost."

"You're a fully grown man. Sushi coupon, my ass!"

"Come ooonnn! I want one, tooo! Give it to meeeee!"

Seo Jun-Sik started throwing a tantrum like a child, and the members of the rescue team quietly turned around. They couldn't laugh at him to his face, so they turned around to hold their laughter in.

'Goddammit.' Seo Jun-Ho couldn't believe Seo Jun-Sik was acting like this in his face. His cheeks burned as he covered his clone's mouth.

"Hey, hey, I'll give it to you, so be quiet."

"Puwah! Really? You'll really give it to me?"

"Yeah. In fact, I'll give you enough to make your stomach literally explode," Seo Jun-Ho said spitefully.

Seo Jun-Sik nodded in agreement. "Okay! I'll keep my mouth shut then."

Their lively break didn't last long. The mages were finally done with the teleport spell.

"It's done!"

"It won't take us all the way to the city entrance, but it'll take us somewhere close by!"

Crackle!

A giant teleport gate appeared, and Seo Jun-Ho rose from his seat.

"Let's go."

***

Slam!

Rahmadat was thrown to the grown with a booming sound.

"Ugh, ptoo!" He spat out the concrete dust in his mouth.

When he stood up, three robots ran over to him.

"God, these annoying little..."

"Explosion!"

Bang!

There was a giant explosion that covered the entire street, sending the robots flying.

Skaya walked up from behind him. "Oh, my. Should I not have stepped in?"

"...No. Thanks." Rahmadat rolled his aching shoulders a few times and squinted through the smoke left by the explosion before muttering, "These bastards are a headache."

"That's what I'm saying."

After Namgung Jincheon disappeared, an army of armored robots appeared. Unlike the cyborg martial artists, whose bodies were still part human, these robots were a hundred percent machines. Their exteriors were strong enough to endure sword ki.

"On top of that, they're using those weird martial arts. That means they're intelligent," Skaya finished.

"That's not the problem here..."

Creak. Creak.

Three robots slowly stepped out from the smoke. The robots had lost their limbs from the explosion.

"Yeah, that's what the real problem is..."

Machine parts popped out of the many manholes dotting the street and attached themselves to the robots.

Whenever they were damaged, their parts would be replaced with new ones, allowing them to re-enter the battle immediately.

That was what made the Immortal Army so terrifying...

"In some ways, they're even more disgusting than the cockroaches on the 4th floor."

"Yeah, those guys would die if we just broke their bodies."

However, it was very difficult to kill these robots. The only way to stop them from reviving was to break through their heads, which was the toughest part of their bodies, and destroy the chip inside.

"It's like fighting thousands of you," Skaya mused.

"Hm. That's a pretty nasty picture," Rahmadat muttered.

He suddenly punched through a building next to them. When his hand came out, it was holding a robot by the neck as if he had just plucked a carrot from the ground.

"Wow, how'd you know it was there? We can't even sense magic energy from them," Skaya said.

"I heard the footsteps."

"You're like an animal."

The Immortal Army's unbreakable bodies and regenerative abilities were terrifying, but the scariest part was that the Players couldn't sense magic from them.

"Hey, Rahmadat, doesn't something feel off?" Skaya asked.

"..." Rahmadat nodded. He had been sensing the same thing since earlier. "Yeah. I don't think these guys are trying to kill me."

"You noticed it too, right? I keep getting the feeling that they're trying to capture me."

Just what in the world were they going to do with the Players after capturing them?"

Rahmadat scratched his head. "Ugh, thinking about it gives me a headache. I don't know. I'm sure it'll end at some point if I just keep destroying them."

"You're a beast."

They both lifted their hands.

"Good luck."

"Yuppers."

With that, they started moving to save the Players who had fallen into danger.

***

"So this is what it looks like outside the city."

"Is this your first time seeing it?"

"Yes. Have you seen it before, Director?"

"...If I am honest, I have only seen it a few times, too," muttered Hyun-Baek, a director of the Murim Alliance as well as the Sect Leader of the Kongtong Sect.

The city was covered in all sorts of neon signs and lights, so much so that it was hard to see the stars. However, beyond all the light pollution, the night sky was filled with countless shining stars.

"It's beautiful," the director said.

"Yes, it is, though there's a horrible toxic gas around."

"But since we have filters, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to come out once in a while to look at the stars."

"Hoho. That would be nice." Director Hyun-Baek chuckled as he looked up at the twinkling stars.

However, his eyes were filled with concern, unlike his smiling face.

'Young Hero Seo was not an enemy of the Alliance.' Hyun-Baek had already noticed that something was off when Seo Jun-Ho was suddenly declared an enemy of the alliance.

It was all because the Seo Jun-Ho he had met didn't seem like the type of person to do such things.

'That means that someone created a rumor about him from the inside.'

There was an idiom that went 'cutting the grass and pulling out the roots'. It referred to the act of destroying the very source of the problem.

'Considering that the Alliance was so shaken by him, there is no doubt that the mastermind is a high-ranking personnel of the Alliance.'

However, if someone could make a fool out of the Alliance, it meant the individual in question could shake their foundation as well. The Murim Alliance was meant to be a free-roaming police force that protected innocent civilians and punished wicked criminals.

'I must go to the Alliance Leader as soon as we return.'

He closed his eyes and started sorting his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"D-Director Hyun-Baek."

However, the martial artists were suddenly thrown into a commotion, and it spread like waves until everyone started muttering to themselves.

"What is it?" he asked the martial artist next to him, opening his eyes.

"T-There! Look at the sky!"

There were countless stars sitting in the night sky like jewels. And among them, there was a figure that was coming down toward them.

"That's...!"

Of course, he knew what it was. It was the custom-made frame the Aeon Empire had created solely for the Emperor. It was a frame created for the Emperor, and it belonged solely to the Emperor.

"I thought he was on his sickbed because he was ill!"

"It's His Majesty the Emperor!"

"His Majesty himself has come to rescue us!"

"Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

The martial artists rejoiced with tears streaming down their faces.

"..."

The 'Emperor' watched them quietly. Afterward, he went down to them while emanating a golden light.

"Y-Your Majesty..."

Director Hyun-Baek's voice trembled. Neo City was a very futuristic city, but its political system was extremely outdated. They were an autocracy, and the Emperor held all the power. As such, Director Hyun-Baek couldn't help but get emotional to see how the Emperor himself was coming down to save his people.

"..."

The Emperor benevolently lifted his hand without a word. Director Hyun-Baek gathered the final vestiges of his energy and managed to raise his remaining right arm.

'Oh, Your Majesty!'

However, he never managed to reach the Emperor. The Emperor's hand brushed passed his and settled on his abdomen.

"Your Majesty...?" Director Hyun-Baek said uneasily. Suddenly, his eyes went wide.

"K-Keok...?!"

In an instant, his neigong disappeared, and many warning messages appeared before his eyes.

[Warning! You do not have enough neigong. The filter has been deactivated.]

[Warning! Toxins have entered your body. Please put on a filter as soon as possible.]

He couldn't breathe.

Just now, he could breathe like it was nothing, thanks to the filter. But now, his face was rapidly turning blue.

He was sure that he had read about this accursed forbidden art at the library. It allowed one to snatch all the neigong from someone else's body.

"This is—guh! This is the Great Law of the Absorbing Star!"

"T-The Great Law?"

"Wait, why is His Majesty using a forbidden technique...?"

"Your Majesty! What is this?!"

The martial artists lost themselves and started shouting one by one. They couldn't understand what was going on.

"Do not despair, Director Hyun-Baek," the Emperor whispered in a gentle voice. "You are simply returning something you borrowed."

"...!" Director Hyun-Baek's face twisted, and veins popped on his face.

The unique manner of speech belonged to the man who he'd served for decades.

"Y-You bastard... Namgung...!"

Before he could even finish his sentence, his face wrinkled like a mummy, and the machine parts of his body started rusting.

"Hm."

The Emperor—no, Namgung Jincheon smiled contently upon seeing tens of thousands of martial arts laying there like bugs.

"With this, I should be able to replenish a portion of my power."

1. These adjectives all sound similar, so it's kind of a pun. ☜