Chapter 97.2: One-horned tribe (7)

Chapter 97.One-horned tribe (7)

Leonte felt like he was on the verge of losing his mind. He was clueless as to what to do in his current situation.

"And this idiot is a Martial God just like us. That's pretty amazing, don't you guys think?"

A man with purple eyes, a vertical horn like that of a goat, and a pair of sharp canine teeth jutting out from lips—Flann, who was once a member of the One-horned tribe but was now the Spear God of Cheonghwado said with tongue in cheek.

The two other players sitting to the left and right of him, the Saber God and the Bow God, gave silent nods.

Leonte's face became more and more distorted.

It had already been a month since he took the seat of Cheonghwado's Fist God which had remained vacant for a long time. However, the other Martial Gods did not acknowledge him as a part of the Martial Gods for several reasons.

One thing they usually picked on was his past. Leonte had a record of betraying his former clan, Arthia, in order to join the current Cheonghwado. But the players of Cheonghwado followed the warrior's code, so in their eyes, Leonte was nothing more than a traitor.

Another of the reasons was his skills. Though his rank was high when compared to most of the rankers in The Tower, he still lacked the necessary skills to be called a high-ranker. Not only this, but they also weren't fond of his skillset, which was not based on a specific weapon—the standard for judging one's power in Cheonghwado—but rather, revolved around a variety of skills, or in their words, 'trickeries'.

Despite all these flaws, the reason why they assigned him the Fist God's position was because he was currently the player closest to their level.

But the problem was that, as soon as Leonte established himself as the Fist God, he got into massive trouble.

Bahal's ambush and Leonte's defeat. In the span of that single event, he had greatly damaged Cheonghwado's reputation.

Knowing this fact, Leonte could only bite his lower lip and endure their criticisms.

'The stone... if only I had my hands on the stone...!'

In his mind, Leonte felt the yearning for the stone he had lost in the tutorial growing bigger and bigger with every passing second.

"We even wasted the Mystic Dragon's Neidan to help a piece of trash like him recover...."

Having been opposed to Leonte's recruitment from the very beginning, the Spear God kept putting blame on him on every opportunity he got.

However, the Spear God couldn't continue rebuking him anymore...

『Spear. That's enough.』

A voice suddenly echoed across the room. A voice filled with a heavy and irresistible power.

It came from somewhere away from the table where the four Martial Gods were seating.

Deep inside a room concealed behind bamboo curtains, the silhouette of a man could be seen sitting on the ground.

The Sword God, the player known as one of the 'Nine Kings' in The Tower, as well as the founder of Cheonghwado. His words held unquestionable authority.

The Spear God, though with a displeased look, took a step back, but his two purple eyes were still fixed on Leonte, giving him a vicious glare.

『Whether you agree or not, Leonte is already part of our clan. And he is now the Fist God who will be leading Cheonghwado together with us. I need you to stop arguing about this.』

The Spear God turned his head aside with an audible 'hmph', the Saber God silently nodded and the Bow God closed his eyes as if completely uninterested.

They wouldn't be able to argue about Leonte's qualifications from now on, however, Leonte found this rather humiliating. Beneath the table, veins were sticking out of his two clenched fists.

『What's compelling for us right now is how we will fight the war against Red Dragon. As you know, our forces are inferior to them.』

The rest of the Martial Gods shut their mouths tight. An uneasy silence hung over the room for a while.

Though they didn't want to admit it, what the Sword God said was true. Red Dragon was the strongest clan in The Tower in both name and reality.

Even though Cheonghwado also belonged to the Eight Clans, if they were to fight head-on, they would only be able to inflict minimal damage to them before being wiped out.

『But we have the 'sword', which they failed to take, in our possession. And I believe it's not impossible to cut the throat of that arrogant 'Summer Queen'.』

The Martial God's eyes changed at the mention of the 'sword'.

『Before we embark on war, we need someone to perform a clean-up task.』

"For what do we need a clean-up task?"

The Spear God asked looking at the Sword God's silhouette.

『The four Legendary Beasts.』

The Spear God then nodded understandingly.

If Red Dragon were to capture or win over the four Legendary Beasts, which was highly likely to happen, it would become a big threat.

"But who is gonna take up on that job? It's not easy to kill the Legendary Beasts. They're too strong for boss monsters of lower floors. Even I don't want to deal with those beasts."

The reason why the rankers had not bothered to kill the Legendary Beasts was simply because of the lack of rewards.

Every one of the Legendary Beasts was as strong as a high-ranker, but in contrast, the items they dropped were small and worthless.

This was because they were only considered as a boss monster of the 11th floor

In addition, the Legendary Beasts had abilities such as 'recovery' and 'resurrection'. Because of this, there had been a case where even when some players had managed to kill one of them, the beast came back to life and came to take revenge on said players.

For these reasons, players regarded killing the Legendary Beasts as a taboo.

『It has to be done. Saber God.』

The Saber God answered with a nod.

『I'll allow you to unleash 'Six' and 'Seven'. Get rid of them all. I will let you take the Neidans.』

A hint of greed flashed across the Saber God's eyes.

"Consider it done."

The Saber God silently smiled with anticipation.

The Spear God smacked his lips, while the Bow God's eyes remained closed.

『We received a message from the One-horned tribe not long ago. They will be making their move very soon. So, Saber God, you can coordinate with them. And the rest of you, until then, I need you to carry out your given tasks to the fullest.』

The Sword God's voice began to fade away.

『Now, we will bring this meeting to a close.』

With that last sentence, the Sword God's existence vanished from the room.

The remaining four Martial Gods rose from their seats at the same time.

Just then, the Spear God suddenly called the Saber God to a stop by the exit.

"Saber God."

"What is it?"

"Which beast are you gonna kill first?"

The Saber God stared at the Spear God with an irritated look.

"Why?"

"I need to know your destination so I can tell my brothers to avoid you."

The Spear God answered with a shrug.

The Saber God turned back towards the exit and said with an indifferent, uncaring tone,

"The Phoenix of the south."