Chapter 212   – Philosopher’s Stone (5)

[All restorations are complete.]

[All the locks on the stage have been opened. The trial is restarting.]

After the general message that the restoration of the 23rd floor was finished popped up, all the Guardians left the stage, patting each other’s backs.

And in a barren, empty field, a hand suddenly burst out from the red sand.

“Damn…..”

The Bow God Jang Wei slowly rose from the ground with a grimace. How much time had passed? He hurt all over.

As he stood up, things that looked like flesh dropped to the ground. They were the corpses of the monsters he used to protect himself.

While he had been chasing after Yeon-woo, he ended up on the 23rd floor, where he was suddenly put in a dangerous situation because of Agares and Hermes’s descent.

Even though he was an apostle of Yi Ye, because he hadn’t received a blessing at the moment, he was helplessly swept away from the power of the two supernatural beings. He was like a shrimp swept up in a battle of whales.

So to protect himself, not only did he summon monsters, he fell into a comatose state hiding his body underground.

If he was going to die anyway, he would rather die painlessly. Also, he was relatively used to these kinds of situations compared to the other players.

Thankfully, Yi Ye seemed to have graced him, so Jang Wei was able to escape without any severe injuries. He was weaker, but if he got enough rest, it would be fine.

Jang Wei opened a subspace, grabbing a piece of jerky. He needed to get a grasp on the situation first.

Fortunately, Agares and Hermes’s presences seemed to be gone. However, with everything completely different, it wouldn’t be easy to chase after the Hoarder.

‘Then where should I go?’

Just then, Jang Wei was able to feel a gigantic portal opening somewhere in the distance with his sensitive senses. It was near the start zone.

Was it a team sent to judge the situation after the 23rd floor was opened again? It seemed like the Blood Land and the Elohim were mixed among them. There were also a presence that was similar to Jang Wei.

‘Marquis Caliburn.’

One of the many swords of the Blood Land.

‘Didn’t the Hoarder meet with the Blood Land near De Roy lake, and the Elohim was heading in that direction?’

If he used them, wouldn’t he be able to catch the Hoarder? Jang Wei rubbed his lip with his thumb and slowly headed towards the start zone.

But…..

Jang Wei stopped mid-step.

A horde was quickly leaving the start zone and heading towards his exact direction.

They were all emitting a piercing murderous intent. Because they didn’t have the presence of humans, Jang Wei was immediately able to realize who they were.

“…..The One-horned tribe.”

Did they find out he killed Yanu? But he had cleaned up the corpse. Multiple questions pop up in his head, but he couldn’t stay still, so he raised the Four Cardinal Directions Bow in his hand.

***

[Yanu died.]

The One-horned tribe had been flipped upside down from the words of the Psychic Medium.

“Yanu? Why so suddenly?”

The Martial King’s face hardened. Yanu hadn’t even been participating in a war as a mercenary. He had been on his way to go ask something from Henova, so why did he die?

But the godly powers of the Psychic Medium didn’t lie. Especially since Yanu was once a candidate to succeed the Psychic Medium, she would immediately know if he died.

[I don’t know the details. However, what I can see is…..the smell of burning, blood, iron…..a bow and arrow, and things like monsters. That child died extremely painfully. Horrifyingly.]

The Martial King ground his teeth. A child he cherished had died. This was a challenge to him, and a provocation towards the tribe. It was something that shouldn’t have happened.

A member of the One-horned tribe couldn’t just die on the street. They may die on the battlefield. Getting injured from participating in a war as a mercenary was also something that could happen. That was the pride of the tribe and its tradition.

However, an honorable death that no one recognized wasn’t allowed.

In the scenario that something like that happened, the One-horned tribe would get revenge. And eliminate everything around the killer. That was also a tradition of the tribe.

Then, another thought occurred to him.

If Edora, who cared greatly about Yanu, found out, how would she feel? So he needed to find the murderer as fast as he could.

“Bring that guy. In front of me.”

With the Martial King’s command, an attacking team was quickly assembled. The Psychic Medium judged that the killer was a high ranker, so two Elders were included to thoroughly capture whoever it was.

And the attacking team quickly started to chase after the criminal’s footsteps.

After they investigated the surroundings of Yanu’s death, they were able to find out that the method in which Yanu was killed was similar to that of the Bow God of Cheonghwado.

There were traces left of the guy trying to clean up after himself, but the path of the Arrow of Light wasn’t completely erased.

From then, they started to search for the Bow God, and they were able to confirm that he headed towards the 23rd floor.

They began to worry that he might be targeting Yeon-woo’s party, which was also on the 23rd floor.

But by then, the stage had already been in ruins from Agares and Hermes, so entrance onto the stage was forbidden.

And the moment the stage was reopened, the attacking team immediately entered, and rushed after the location of the Bow God. There was no one who could hide from the eyes of the Psychic Medium and the feet of the tribe.

Kwakwakwang—

The battle began as soon as they collided.

Jang Wei had already known that the attacking team was heading towards him. He knew that words couldn’t stop them, so he decided to attack first.

He had also thought of running away. All that mattered to Jang Wei was winning. Retreating and falling back weren’t bad options for the long run.

But even if he ran away, the chase from the One-horned tribe wouldn’t stop, and it would be easier to run away once he decreased their numbers a bit.

Jang Wei hid between a large Demon Tree and poured out arrows when the attacking team arrived.

<Sojeung.> The moment he exploded the power that Yi Ye had given him, the Arrow of Light split into tens of fragments and covered the heads of the attacking team.

“Spread out!”

But the attacking team had already been expecting Jang Wei, and the 15 members of the team quickly moved according to the orders of the Elder.

“Gather!”

And with the orders of another Elder, they drew a circle around Jang Wei and ran at him.

Pababat!

Jang Wei put 5 Sojeungs on the arrow and shot them at the ground this time.

Kwakwang!

When he did, a cloud of dust floated up in the air and blinded the attacking team. Jang Wei jumped above them and consecutively shot Sojeungs at the dust cloud.

Pubububung!

Hundreds of Arrows of Light pierced through the dust cloud.

<Sojeung – Rabid Showers>

After that, smaller explosions continued to explode and the restored forest began to be destroyed again.

Then, fire shot up in front of Jang Wei. The clothes of the two Elders who had been giving orders to the attacking team were now rags.

But their flaming eyes were focused on Jang Wei.

Kwakwakwa—

The three collided with each other in the air. Despite the combined efforts of the two Elders, Jang Wei easily blocked their attacks. He specialized in long range attacks, but he still had experience with martial arts as well.

Kwang!

They were forced apart from each other because of a large explosion.

Jang Wei lightly moved his body back and landed on the top of the Demon Trees nearby. As he did, he scoffed at the two Elders across from him.

“And they praised the One-horned tribe so much. Is this it? White Horse King and Black Ship Soldier. You’re only staining the tribe’s name.”

The faces of the elders hardened. The short White Horse King and the long-limbed, stick-like Black Ship Soldier were famous for conquering the Tower together.

Each of them were powerful, but combined, they were strong enough to battle Gandam of the Nine Kings.

However, Jang Wei was belittling them, saying those were all lies.

The anger of the two shot up as their honor and reputation were mocked.

And on the other hand, they thought that Jang Wei was a lot stronger than they had thought.

The White Horse King and Black Ship Soldier exchanged glances. Even though they didn’t speak, they were close enough to know what the other was thinking.

‘No, right?’

‘Nothing we can do.’

They had planned on forcing him back to their village, but that seemed to be too difficult. The moment they decided to use their full strength to kill him—

Hwak!

Strong winds suddenly began to blow along the two Elders. The remainder of their clothes started to flutter. Now, they were going to use their full power.

And under the tree, as the dust cloud settled down, the attacking team started to gather one by one.

Two of them were gone. They had died from the explosion, but the remaining members didn’t care. They were only filled with thoughts on how to kill Jang Wei.

Jang Wei raised the corners of his mouth. It was a nervousness that he hadn’t felt in a while. It might be what he had been longing for.

Whether it was the Tower or Earth, his habits didn’t go anywhere.

“Will you be able to make me smile?”

Jang Wei ran at the White Horse King and Black Ship Soldier again. At the same time, along with his summon of monsters, the ground shook, and four monsters attacked the team.

***

“…..Mm, so what you’re saying is that you used the hidden pieces that you were going to give up?”

After Yeon-woo checked his new powers, he went to look for Phante and Edora.

But as soon as Phante saw Yeon-woo, he asked about the hidden pieces. He hadn’t forgotten Yeon-woo’s promise to make him an elixir with purple Devil Flowers and the hearts of the Ceratopsian Dinosaurs.

Yeon-woo flinched. Earlier, he needed the Devil’s Blessing to fight against Agares, and he had used all the hidden pieces.

Phante began to grumble saying that Yeon-woo took all the good things for himself and stormed out.

It was a completely unexpected reaction. Yeon-woo looked at Edora, not knowing what to do, and Edora smirked.

“It’s because he’s shy.”

What was this about?

“Shy?”

“He thinks that you’ll talk about serious things now, so he’s being shy about that.”

Yeon-woo laughed bewilderedly. That guy had that kind of cute side to him? It seemed like he had realized that Yeon-woo was going to talk about the mask.

Edora held Yeon-woo’s hand and stuck her pretty face in front of him.

“Don’t feel too rushed. Today’s not the only day.”

She was saying that Yeon-woo should stay with them. Yeon-woo nodded his head looking at Edora. He was starting to trust the two.

Edora thought that this was the chance. Like she was possessed, she started to lift Yeon-woo’s mask…..

The door burst open, and Phante stuck his face inside.

“Whatever happens, I’m on your side.”

Phante left again after leaving those words behind. Yeon-woo’s eyes widened, and he grinned again. He was sure. Out of the many people he met in the Tower, these were truly special.

On the other hand, Edora ground her teeth after Phante ruined the mood.

***

They left the Tower and headed for the One-horned tribe’s village.

Like Yvlke had said, they couldn’t avoid the attention from the Large Clans. Those who had been after Brahm and Sesha would come after them, so they decided it was dangerous to move to the 24th floor.

But the quiet and calm village was noisy.

“Father, what’s wrong?”

Edora’s face hardened seeing the busy tribe members moving around. The smell of blood filled the air. It meant that someone was sick.

The Martial King nodded his head with a stiff face, which was unlike him.

“Old man Karam died.”

“Sorry?”

“So did Tayna, Srave, and Yan.”

“Please speak more slowly. What are you talking about?”

The Martial King explained Yanu’s death and how they had assembled the attack team to chase after Jang Wei. Six people had died from the initial 15, and the White Horse King and the Elder Karam were included in the 6. The remaining 9 were critically injured.

“Yanu…..”

Yeon-woo supported Edora from collapsing on the ground. She was someone who didn’t normally waver, but she seemed to be greatly shocked.

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened when he heard the Martial King’s response.

‘Bow God? Why is he suddenly after the One-horned tribe?’

No, to be exact, had he been after Henova? It concerned him that the location of the murder was near Henova’s smithy.

“What about that guy then? What are you planning on doing, Father?”

Phante asked with fire in his eyes, grinding his teeth. If Jang Wei was in front of him, he would’ve ran at him to chew him up.

“We have to go after him again. Since he attacked us to this extent, it means that he saw us as fucking dumbasses.”

The Martial King twisted his lips. He bared his teeth.

“I’m going to twist his neck.”

***

If the Martial King moved, it meant that the entire tribe would move.

A new attack team was made with the Martial King at the center, and they immediately chased after Jang Wei. There probably wasn’t anything else Jang Wei could do other than run away.

It could only become even more noisy because the Tower was already bustling with news from the 23rd floor, and Jang Wei had fanned the flames.

Everyone was sensitive at the movement of the Large Clans after the war with the Red Dragon and Cheonghwado, so the public opinion turned sharp again.

Amidst the busy Tower, Yeon-woo went to Henova’s smithy to prepare something else.

“Hm? I thought you would come after focusing on climbing the Tower more. What are you doing here?”

Henova tilted his head in confusion. He hoped that the weapons he made for Yeon-woo hadn’t been broken already.

He seemed oblivious about what was going on outside. And he didn’t seem to be injured either. Yeon-woo inwardly sighed in relief, and got to the point.

“I have something to ask of you.”

“What this time?”

If it was related to Yeon-woo, it would probably be something that was a pain in the ass. Henova frowned.

Yeon-woo asked with a slight smile.

“Do you know about the Philosopher’s Stone?”

Yeon-woo spoke in a tone that implied it was obvious Henova should know. Henova’s frown turned deeper.

“What kind of shit is that? Is this some shit from a constipated bull? Are you selling drugs?”