Chapter 485
[ The System and the owner of Heavy Strike Style have also acknowledged your outstanding thrusting skill and have decided to fully recognize your ‘One Strike.’ ]
[ As a result, your ‘thrusting’ has sufficiently earned the qualification to advance to a higher realm. ]
[ ■■ nods at your growth and blesses you. ]
[ ■■’s will dwells within Heavy Strike Style. ]
[ Some information in Heavy Strike Style changes. ]
[ You have mastered ‘Heavy Strike Style Form 2 - Ten Strikes (S+).’ ]
[ Your understanding of sword energy rises to a higher level. ]
[ Your sword energy grows stronger. ]
It worked.
He finally got it.
At last, he obtained it.
Ten Strikes—the next realm after One Strike.
'One Strike is one powerful thrust, and Ten Strikes is said to be ten thrusts condensed into a single blow.'
The next one, and the one after that, would be the same.
That was why Heavy Strike Style’s thrusting skill was also the kind of skill that could activate automatically as long as your will was sufficient, even without deliberately activating the skill.
'Hang Yu said Heavy Strike Style has only one technique, but that’s exactly why it’s more convenient and stronger.'
“Simple is best” wasn’t a phrase that existed for no reason.
Of course, it was a little disappointing that even after mastering Form 2 he didn’t get any bonus stats, but he was still satisfied, because now he knew exactly what direction he needed to train in.
'Still... that master of spear techniques—coolly acknowledging it and even blessing me even though I thrust with a sword instead of a spear.'
Maybe that guy was better than Su-ho had thought.
No—there was a very high chance that in reality, he really was kinder and more manly.
At least he didn’t drag things out while measuring and weighing everything like Shiva did.
'More than anything, he didn’t even properly tell me the results of the reward.'
Seriously, he was a guy Su-ho didn’t like in a lot of ways.
Of course, that didn’t mean Su-ho was going to say it out loud.
If he didn’t even properly tell him the reward results, then he was obviously the kind of petty, narrow-minded little bastard who’d get sulky over Su-ho grumbling, and what if he dragged out recognizing the next realm too?
Just imagining that already made him sick of it.
“Still....”
That was that, and this was this.
Right after earning Heavy Strike Style’s recognition with the Blood Sword, something came to mind that Su-ho wanted to check.
Snap!
When he flicked his finger, a boulder appeared before his eyes.
Su-ho walked up to it.
Then he tossed the Blood Sword aside and took a martial arts stance.
“Suup.”
He drew in a breath.
And then.
Kwaaaang!!
Su-ho quickly drove out a punch.
His fist shot forward like a bullet and sank into the boulder, immediately carving a massive crack into it.
At the same time, a system notification popped up.
[ Ten Strikes activates. ]
Grin—
Su-ho smiled as he looked at the system notification.
Because what he’d thought might happen had happened, just as expected.
'In the end, all streams return to one source.'
All flows ultimately return to one origin.
He learned Heavy Strike Style from a master of spear techniques, but the step that raised his realm wasn’t a spear—it was a sword.
He’d chosen a sword on purpose, because instead of being bound to the medium of a spear, he wanted to focus more purely on the root of Heavy Strike Style—thrusting itself.
That small realization made Su-ho’s thrusting one step stronger, and with that success as the basis, Su-ho, with a “maybe” in his heart, tried thrusting with a straight punch.
And Ten Strikes activated even with his bare fist.
'Which means, by returning to one origin like this, everything I think of as “thrusting” all falls under Heavy Strike Style.'
His expectation hit the mark, and Su-ho was able to confirm that he could now use Heavy Strike Style far more broadly.
Su-ho picked up the Blood Sword again and said,
“Alright. Then should we throw ourselves back into training now?”
Snap!
When he flicked his finger, the boulder turned black.
Now that One Strike had become Ten Strikes, he strengthened the boulder to match.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Su-ho’s blade tip pounded the black boulder without end.
*
“Tsura! At last, we did it!!”
“Tsuraaaaat!”
“Tsuraaaaat!”
“Tsuraaaaat!”
“Tsuraaaaat!”
The monsters’ roar.
More precisely, it was the roar of the lizardman legion—Suho-land’s regular army—and the Madagascar monsters that had been absorbed late.
They had finally completed the conquest of Madagascar.
They even finished the conquest far faster than expected.
Duke Grand General Il-yong roared out victory with dignity before the sight of tens of thousands of monsters, and the monsters under his command, lifted by morale, also screamed like mad as they followed Il-yong.
That was when it happened.
Shuuuuuk!
A tremendous concentration of mana.
A gigantic presence cast its shadow over Duke Grand General Il-yong.
The figure that revealed itself a moment later was none other than Su-ho.
“It’s the Great King!!”
“Tsuraaaaat!!”
“Tsuraaaaat!!”
“Great King!! Great King!!”
Su-ho’s appearance.
It wasn’t a coincidence.
He always checked the legion’s situation through Duke Grand General Il-yong.
So he appeared now, right on time.
Su-ho, making a stylish entrance, poured mana into his voice and shouted thunderously,
“Have you all won!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
“Yes!! We won!! We won!!”
“Great King, we did it!!”
“We did it!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
The question Su-ho hurled out the moment he appeared carried an impact so powerful it couldn’t even be compared to Il-yong’s shout.
That was the difference between a Great King and a Grand General.
But there was no need to decide who was better or greater.
The Grand General had done the Grand General’s job well, and the Great King had come to do the Great King’s job.
Su-ho’s oration continued.
“You all worked hard! Now that the long war is over, get sufficient rest! The conquest of Africa comes next!”
“Tsuraaaaat!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
“Great King! Great King! Great King! Great King!”
Watching the soldiers shout, Su-ho smiled with satisfaction.
They really were convenient soldiers.
Born from gates, they didn’t really need to eat, and as long as they had mana, not only could they “eat,” even their wounds naturally healed.
And that wasn’t all.
If there was powerful mana nearby, they were influenced by it and even grew stronger on their own.
'That’s why, paradoxically, there’s nothing more annoying than field monsters that have been left alone for a long time.'
But now those annoying bastards had become not just allies, but obedient servants who followed orders well.
Their loyalty was so powerful that now, even if Su-ho wasn’t in Red King form, they recognized him just from the aura and presence he radiated and bowed on their own.
Su-ho stretched out a hand and shouted again.
“I will grant rewards to you who worked hard.”
[ Grant elite soldier status to all lizardmen. ]
[ Bestow the King’s recognition upon all lizardmen. ]
[ All lizardmen’s information has changed. ]
[ All lizardmen have grown stronger. ]
Shuaaaaaa!!
Merit-based rewards must always be carried out correctly, quickly, and fairly.
As the first act, he promoted the countless lizardman soldiers who had worked hard since the Yalu River from ordinary soldiers to elite soldiers.
'I want to build a detailed command structure, but it would take too much work to do all ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) that.'
Stuff like that could just be left to the generals.
Great bosses usually appoint good talent and delegate a lot of authority to that talent.
Of course, if he went by his heart, he wanted to give every single one of them names like he did for the generals. But he didn’t have nearly enough mana for that.
'Ghk!'
A headache stabbed at him.
He’d only granted the single status of elite soldier, but because there were tens of thousands, even that alone ripped out a brutally large amount of mana.
But Su-ho only frowned slightly and didn’t show anything else.
Because countless soldiers were watching him.
'Good thing my mana upgraded from silver to true mana.'
Otherwise he would’ve passed out long ago.
Because his mana was already showing the bottom.
Su-ho continued to shout.
“My soldiers! You worked hard, and then worked hard again! Thanks to you, my Suho-land has grown bigger, richer, and greater!”
“Tsuraaaaat!!”
“Guaaaaaaah!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
Tens of thousands of lizardmen who had received a share of Su-ho’s power roared with boiling voices.
The grandeur was beyond description.
Because in human history, there had never been a time when this many monsters shouted in unison at once and released this much energy.
Carried by that morale, Su-ho finally carried out what he’d been planning to do.
“And accordingly, I hereby declare this Madagascar, officially, as Suho-land’s territory!”
“Tsuraaaaat!!”
“Guaaaaaaah!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
[ You have declared territory. ]
[ Madagascar Island is designated as Suho-land’s territory. ]
[ You gain the right to intervene in all matters that occur within Madagascar Island. ]
[ You have acquired territory for the first time. ]
[ You have achieved a great accomplishment, and the System gifts you 10 bonus stats. ]
That was the territory declaration.
The Yalu River wasn’t an official territory, and since it was wedged between China and Korea, it was ambiguous in a lot of ways, so he left it alone.
But this place was an uninhabited zone with not a single person, and even if people came in, it would be designated as a jointly managed area for humanity.
So he figured declaring territory here would be fine.
'Once the Hyper Camp is built, it’s a place someone has to manage steadily anyway. It’s not like I’m going to personally profit here, so it’s better to keep it as an area under my command.'
He wasn’t worried about other people finding out.
He’d already asked the assistant system and fact-checked those things.
So he promptly declared territory.
The 10 bonus stats he got in the process were just extra.
But the system notifications didn’t end there.
[ A gate has been observed within the territory. ]
[ A real-time minimap that can observe Suho-land is activated. ]
'Oh?'
Su-ho’s lips rounded as he read the notification.
It was exactly as it said.
The minimap, a new system that activated in one corner of his vision, showed everywhere within the territory depending on how Su-ho manipulated it.
It felt like becoming a god.
Like an omniscient author’s perspective, you could say.
Still, he only dealt with the field monsters, and the territory was packed full of gates that hadn’t been removed.
'This should be handed off to the Sabers.'
He’d personally handle a few truly difficult ones, but it seemed fine to pass the rest off to the Sabers.
There was no need for him to handle even the small fry gates just because of some pointless sense of responsibility.
'It really is a dazzling achievement.'
It was gratifying and splendid.
At this speed and this level of work quality, he felt confident that even if it took time, it wouldn’t be long before they could conquer all of humanity’s uninhabited zones.
'Then shall we start the Hyper Camp project now.'
Su-ho immediately pulled out his phone and called Charlie.
“Yes, Director. It’s me.”
After that, he called the Grand Hunter Association and Jo Jin-hwi, and even Union’s representative Ion, announcing the beginning of full-scale, large projects.
It was the moment the first “true stabilization period” of the great upheaval began.