Chapter 613: Martial King (7)

Whoosh!

"You're here?" An exhausted Galliard watched Yeon-woo land on the ground. His body was covered in injuries from dealing with the attackers, and he was pale at the thought that Sesha had been in danger.

Yeon-woo nodded solemnly. Galliard explained the situation in a voice filled with guilt. "As you can see, things aren't going too well. Thankfully, things have gotten easier now that you're here...but I still don't have the face to look at you."

"No. Thank you for what you've done. Please rest." Yeon-woo patted Galliard's shoulders and looked around. However, his expression was a lot tighter than usual. Although he had experienced many things in the Tower, he had never been as angry as he was now. This was the only place in the Tower that he had fond memories of. Even though most of those memories were of him getting beaten up, it was the place where he had met his gruff but caring teacher and had accepted Sesha and the sick Ananta like family.

It was a place he could call home, since home didn't even exist on Earth anymore. He had never imagined it would end up in this state. When he had first received Doyle's message, he hadn't been too concerned. But when he heard the rest of the news, there was no way he could stay still. "We have sensed movement from the guys that have been quiet all this time. Now, all of them are acting strangely. The Chest of Souls, the Daud Brethren, and even White Dragon—they're all moving in a very discreet manner, so it's hard to tell, but it seems like they have some connections inside the One-horned tribe."

The fact that the One-horned tribe had a traitor wasn't something that could be easily glossed over.

Immediately after Doyle contacted Yeon-woo, another Apostle, Athena, contacted him. "Uncle, Asgard is making strange moves. There are rumors spreading fast that they've cut off all communication in the heavenly world and closed off their society. I'm in the process of confirming it, but please be careful nonetheless."

Both Faceless and Asgard were acting out? Was this a mere coincidence? Although they didn't seem to have any connection to each other, Yeon-woo had a strong intuition that none of this was coincidental. If that gut feeling was right, he couldn't disregard this matter because the plan to assassinate the Martial King was more elaborate and greater in scale than anyone expected.

Doyle said that he would take Laputa to the Outer District. He had everything prepared, so all he needed was Yeon-woo's approval. However, a thought occurred to Yeon-woo, and he stopped Arthia from moving. "No. Arthia should fall back. There's something else you need to do."

A clever Apostle, Doyle instantly understood that Yeon-woo had another plan up his sleeve: stabbing in the back. "What should we do?"

"You can..."

Doyle and Arthia were now likely in the middle of carrying out Yeon-woo's orders, like Athena. She was carefully watching the overall atmosphere of the heavenly world, and Yeon-woo had given his permission to dispatch the soldiers if Asgard behaved strangely. Their allies had already said they would assist if the situation required it.

The heavenly world was heavy with political tension due to Yeon-woo's interference, but it wasn't the time to be concerned about it. As the heavenly world and the lower world both moved according to Yeon-woo's orders, Yeon-woo appeared in the village of the One-horned tribe personally to declare his domain and command the army of death to sweep away the enemies.

This was the army that had already battled against the Crawling Chaos, Mother Earth, and other divine beings. Even though White Dragon was strong according to the standards of the lower world, their strength was nothing compared to those of the transcendent beings.

"Take care of everyone. Don't allow anyone to survive."

The army of death quickly eliminated the players of White Dragon, faithfully carrying out Yeon-woo's orders. They swallowed the souls of White Dragon's players, causing chaos on the battlefield. Yeon-woo realized something strange was going on. 'Why don't I see Brahm?''

He should have appeared after sensing that Sesha and the others were in danger, but it seemed that he wasn't aware of the situation. Even when Yeon-woo tried to connect with him, he could only faintly sense Brahm; it was impossible to send a message asking what he was doing. It was the same thing as before.

'The Sea of Time seemed like it was behaving unusually as well. Is it because of that?' Yeon-woo realized he needed to look into the things that had happened while he was claiming Olympus. However, that would be a task for later. Right now, he needed to deal with his enemies' plans.

『Hyung.』 Suddenly, Cha Jeong-woo's vestige body called for Yeon-woo.

"You...!" Yeon-woo stiffened at the familiar voice and turned to the direction it came from. He was going to ask what Jeong-woo thought he was doing to risk coming out into the real world. From what he knew, his brother wasn't stable enough to reveal himself.

If Jeong-woo pushed himself too hard, it was possible his existence would be destroyed. That meant even if Yeon-woo managed to find Jeong-woo's soul, it would be impossible to restore his old memories. However, Yeon-woo didn't even finish speaking when he saw the person that Cha Jeong-woo's vestige was possessing. Ananta was looking at him, holding Sesha tight in her arms.

『Are you...Jeong-woo?』 Kronos suddenly appeared in front of Cha Jeong-woo, his voice shaky.

Jeong-woo's vestige's eyes grew wide. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. 『Father?』

『Y-you're really Jeong-woo. You...!』

『Why are you...? Wait, why do you look like that?』 Cha Jeong-woo still believed Kronos was an average middle-aged man from Earth, and he was surprised to see Kronos with a spirit body like his. It was even more perplexing that his brother and his father were together.

However, Kronos was too overwhelmed to answer his youngest son's question, and he simply embraced him tightly. Jeong-woo's vestige body was too surprised to move at first, then he quickly returned Kronos' embrace.

Kronos had barely managed to arrive at this point after suffering so many tragedies in hopes of rescuing his son in the Tower. Jeong-woo only wanted to return to the time when their family lived happily together. Even Yeon-woo couldn't help feeling moved as he watched the reunion between father and son since he was the only one who knew and understood the truth behind both their actions. However, they were pressed for time at the moment. "Jeong-woo, let's save the greetings for later. I'll explain it to you as we go."

『OK. Is there anything I can do to help?』 Cha Jeong-woo's vestige left Kronos' arms and turned to Yeon-woo with a solemn expression.

Yeon-woo nodded heavily. "The spring you possess."

『Spring?』 Jeong-woo looked confused, but Ananta understood what Yeon-woo meant. She untied the pocket watch around her neck and held it out to Yeon-woo.

"This is what you need, right, brother-in-law?"

Yeon-woo flinched at his new title, but he nodded casually and took the pocket watch. Tick. Tick. The hands of the watch were still moving normally. If he could take back the spring of time within the watch, Kronos' full resurrection would be possible. And as the successor to his achievements and legends, Yeon-woo would have the entirety of the throne of the king of gods.

"Thank you."

"Please take good care of him." Ananta smiled at Cha Jeong-woo's vestige body, which was now standing next to Yeon-woo and Kronos. In her memories, Cha Jeong-woo had seemed heartbroken till the end, and she felt overjoyed to see him happy now. One couldn't help sharing in the joy of one's lover.

"Dad, Uncle, good luck!"

『Thanks. We'll be back soon. Listen to your mother in the meantime.』 Cha Jeong-woo bent and rubbed Sesha's head, thinking how blessed he was to have such an adorable daughter.

Kronos looked at his youngest son with envy and turned to Sesha with an expectant expression. 『What about your grandfather? Anything for your grandfather?』

"Who are you, old man?" However, since it was Sesha's first time to see Kronos, she felt shy.

Kronos's face filled with despair. Yeon-woo ignored Kronos and spun Vigrid, forcing Kronos to the village with him.

White Dragon wasn't completely defeated yet, but the Summer Queen and Boo/Faust could take care of things.

* * *

『Treated like a stranger by my own granddaughter. "Old man". I'm an old man?!』

Yeon-woo felt his ears ache as he listened to Kronos muttering in despair, but he just ignored it and asked him a question. "Father, so how do we restore the spring?"

It was easy to restore the spring of death inside of Vigrid since Yeon-woo had the domain of death. All he needed to do was connect the two and restore the functions. However, the same couldn't be said for the spring of time.

It was a domain entirely unknown to Yeon-woo. He had no idea where to start, and he couldn't just force the spring of time out of the pocket watch because that would mean Jeong-woo's vestige body would be in danger. He needed to find another way.

『I don't know.』

"What...!"

『It's true. When I came up with this solution, I was too preoccupied to expect something like this. All I saw of the future was you entering the Tower, and that's it.』

Yeon-woo's face tightened and he nodded somberly. If he had enough time, he would look for all the possible ways, but they needed a temporary solution at the moment, considering the situation they were in.

Cha Jeong-woo's vestige body was silent. He had probably returned to the pocket watch to organize his thoughts since he had learned so many shocking secrets. He likely needed some time to understand them all.

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo reached the center of the village, where the duel for the throne was supposed to be.

"Capture all the traitors! Don't forgive them until they reveal how we can remove this barrier!"

"Head Elder, we already told you! We don't know anything about this!"

Yeon-woo was greeted by the chaos between the two factions of the One-horned tribe. The Baekson family and their allies claimed that they were the wronged ones to the tribe members who surrounded them.

However, the Head Elder and most of the tribe members didn't believe them. They even exuded a murderous aura, as though they would attack at any moment. The usual positive and light-hearted atmosphere of the One-horned tribe was nowhere to be seen. There was only heavy tension as if they were all walking on thin ice.

Then, the Baekson faction began to go on the defensive. They didn't want to be mistreated any longer, and the Head Elder naturally thought they were rebelling and cornered them even further.

Yeon-woo wondered if their enemies had been aiming for this as well. His Draconic Divine Eyes saw something.

『And the backup? Where is the backup? You said someone would rescue me and my family! And that we would regain our positions in the future...!』

『Wait. This is more urgent.』

『How long do we have to wait? That damned bastard Cain could be here at any moment!』

『Wait. Hyena.』

『But...!』

『I will disconnect now.』

A faint red line most people wouldn't be able to see connected the Baekson faction to White Dragon. It was a pairing line that didn't belong to the One-horned tribe, since they only trained in martial arts and disregarded magic. This meant someone was delivering news to the outside.

[Player ###'s aura covers the village of the One-horned tribe!]

The Head Elder, the Baekson family head, and the other tribe members stopped growling at each other, surprised by the sudden storm of aura. They turned to see Yeon-woo. However, Yeon-woo paid them no mind as he stretched his hand out. The person who was on the other end of the pairing line floated up. It was the Baekson family's royal successor, Jang.

"Huh? Uhh! G-Grandfather!"

"Jang! What are you...!" The Baekson family head exclaimed in shock when his grandson was pulled towards Yeon-woo, but it was too late; Jang's neck was already in Yeon-woo's hand.

"I caught you, rat." Yeon-woo's eyes flashed dangerously.