Chapter 488
Skrk!
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
...
How many True Origin Slashes had he used while standing in place?
Su-ho swung his sword to his heart’s content.
There was no one here to break his concentration.
So it wasn’t boring.
It was refreshing.
It was fun.
If not now, then when else would he ever be able to aim for True Origin Slash’s level to rise?
That was why Su-ho actually hoped the barrier in front of him wouldn’t break until True Origin Slash was promoted.
He kept swinging his sword for a long while.
- Tsk tsk, to think you can’t even break such an easy barrier. Is it because you’re from such a shallow background? You’re hopeless.
Out of nowhere, an unknown voice flowed into Su-ho’s head.
Thanks to that, Su-ho’s movement stopped as well.
'What?'
Did he hear it wrong?
No. Absolutely not.
In this quiet place, the only sound was the sound of my sword swinging. There’s no way I misheard it.
It was then.
- Tsk tsk, now you’re even pretending you didn’t hear? Or don’t tell me... you inherited our power, and you still can’t hear my voice?
Ah.
He hadn’t misheard.
He heard it clearly.
How could he mistake that sneering tone for an auditory hallucination and mishear it?
Of course, he couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from.
So he just lifted his head and answered.
“So what?”
- What?
“If you’ve got something to say, show your face and say it. If you’re going to hide without even showing your face like some coward, what the hell do you think you’re doing right now?”
- What did you say? Hahahahahahaha!
If you want a nice reply, then speak nicely first.
The other side wasn’t being polite—did he really need to be polite back?
There was no right answer.
Maybe that was why. At Su-ho’s prickly reaction, the unknown voice laughed so loud it felt like it would tear the sky apart.
Su-ho didn’t miss that moment.
'Over there.'
He couldn’t see any body.
And yet he could hear the voice.
That meant it was transmitting intent to him from somewhere, using something like a skill or item based on mana. And right now, Mana Detection was active.
So he deliberately provoked it and waited for the faint mana he’d been sensing to swell.
His guess was right.
As the thunderous laughter continued, Su-ho was able to find the point where the mana suddenly surged, and he realized it was none other than beyond the very barrier he’d been pounding the whole time.
Once he had the situation roughly figured out, Su-ho spoke in a cold, mocking tone.
“You laugh because it hits a nerve. From what I can tell, you’re the one who called me. But aren’t you the one stuck in there, unable to come out?”
- What?
“Don’t tell me you’re going to keep refusing to open the door and just squat in there because it’s a ‘test’ or whatever. Looking at my Dragon Blood trait, with the way things are going, I’ve got a feeling you’re a dragon. But if you’re a dragon, are you really going to sit behind a fence and just wag your tongue like a petty brat?”
- .......
The unknown voice went silent.
You little bastard.
Seeing you shut your mouth, I guess you really are a dragon.
It was then.
- Kheheheheh....
“You’re laughing?”
- Fine. Let’s say you’re right. But why would I have anything to gain by hiding from the likes of you? Yes, just as you guessed, I am a dragon. But there’s something you’re mistaken about: what I’m doing isn’t hiding. It’s my one-sided mockery and contempt for you.
“Bullshit. You expect me to believe that?”
- Believe it or don’t, that’s your choice. But you had to come here because you needed to, and I’m only here because of a promise. So you’re the one who has something to lose, not me. If anything, I’d rather you get the hell out already. Watching a bastard who isn’t even of pure blood borrow that damned System’s power to use my kin’s power... it makes me furious.
“.......”
This time, it was Su-ho who fell silent.
Wow, this guy.
I thought if I scratched him a little, he’d show his face on his own, but even so... I guess a dragon is a dragon.
Well, it probably hadn’t lived for just a day or two, so this level of provocation probably didn’t even count as provocation.
'And the way it says it’s because of a promise with that damned System... I can roughly picture the story.'
If he hadn’t seen the Lizard Dragon’s memories, he wouldn’t have understood.
But in this life, maybe because he knew the secret of player ranks as well, along with the Lizard Dragon’s memories, he could roughly picture the story.
Still, he couldn’t be 100% sure.
All of it was just his expectations.
So Su-ho decided not to answer anymore.
Instead, he focused and swung his sword.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!!
There was more force in the strike he swung.
Because he’d been forcing his anger down.
He didn’t use the Enhancement skill.
What he was aiming for was the promotion of the skill’s rank, and the destruction of the barrier in front of him.
He didn’t think he would fail.
At least one of the two would happen.
Because even if the damage itself wasn’t exactly satisfying, he was still steadily striking the barrier in front of him.
But maybe Su-ho’s behavior looked funny. The nameless dragon mocked Su-ho’s silence.
- You’re truly inferior, stupid, and foolish. In the end, once you ran out of things to say, what you do is repeat that pathetic little sword swing? How ridiculous. Truly ridiculous. Instead of that, get the hell out of my territory right now.
Wheeng!
With those words, a portal appeared behind Su-ho.
It was an exit portal connected to the outside.
But Su-ho didn’t even glance at the portal, and kept swinging his sword.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
Su-ho’s expression sank coldly.
His mouth was shut.
His actions repeated like a machine.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
Seeing that, the dragon clicked its tongue.
- Tsk tsk, now you’re even closing your ears? I thought you were foolish, stupid, and inferior, but even your temperament is arrogant, stubborn, and shallow. Fine, do whatever you want. No matter what cheap tricks you have, you’ll never break my barrier.
Mockery and contempt.
But Su-ho stayed silent.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
Instead, he swung his sword.
*
How much time had passed?
- Tsk tsk, what a stupid bastard. You’re digging your own grave, your own grave. They say if you’re too straight, you can’t bend—you snap and ruin everything. You’re exactly that, you know. That low and stubborn pride of yours will make this place your grave.
“.......”
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
A True Origin Slash he didn’t even know how many times he’d swung erupted once again.
Another sword mark was carved into the barrier tangled like a nerve bundle.
He’d closed his ears a long time ago.
If he’d had his way, he would’ve even pierced his eardrums and destroyed his hearing, but the bastard’s voice wasn’t something he heard with his ears—it was something that rang in his head—so he only closed it in his mind.
Still, not paying attention made it much more doable.
Because right now, Su-ho’s head was filled with only one thing: True Origin Slash.
'It feels like it’s about to come... but it also feels like it’s not coming.'
He wasn’t just doing simple repetition.
In True Origin Slash’s case, it was about cutting the Ring of Runes, so he couldn’t even get help from Infinity, the virtual program.
No matter how much it was virtual reality that created everything, it couldn’t implement a transcendental /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ concept like the Ring of Runes, a mass of the world’s laws.
That was why he was grateful for this chance, and constantly agonized and researched.
'In my previous life... how did I pull this off again...?'
Thinking and thinking, he swung his sword again.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
- Tsk tsk, what a foolish, stupid bastard.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
- You’ll never be able to leave here for the rest of your life.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
- Someday, you’ll realize the limits of your kind, scream as you do, and stab your own throat yourself.
Repeat.
Repeat again.
And between them, the poison-laced words sprinkled in.
Time passed like that again.
He wasn’t tired.
He’d closed the ear of his mind long ago, and his eyes and hands were only on the barrier in front of him and the blood sword gripped in his hands.
And it was the same for the dragon.
- Looking at that stubborn, low persistence of yours, I can tell without even seeing it what kind of life you’ve lived. You must’ve lived a life filled with arrogance and self-righteousness. You surely...
At that moment.
Skrk!!
A sword swung as if to cut off its words mid-sentence.
At that moment, the corner of Su-ho’s mouth lifted.
“Got it.”
- What?
“What do you mean ‘what.’ Watch closely. What I’m about to do.”
Su-ho’s eyes changed.
Cold. Sneering.
The sword in his hand was drawn back to his waist.
Like a quick-draw stance.
Then Su-ho stopped his breathing. After a brief preparatory posture, he fired the sword out like a trigger being pulled.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Chwaaaaak!!
A long, drawn arc.
Big.
So big it couldn’t even be compared to anything he’d done so far.
Maybe that was why.
- ......!!
The dragon’s eyes widened.
Even the dragon, which had done nothing but spit venom the whole time, could feel it.
That Su-ho’s sword swing had changed.
At the dragon’s reaction, suddenly struck dumb, Su-ho’s mouth twisted up again.
And once more, the sword was drawn back to his waist, and after a separating motion, it carved a huge arc again like it was being fired.
[ True Origin Slash activates. ]
Chwaaaaak!!
It was right after a long, long sword mark was carved into the barrier.
[ Your understanding of your 'Void Flow' is higher than anyone else’s. ]
A system notification.
Seeing it, a deep, long satisfaction finally fell over Su-ho’s expression.
Because the reaction he wanted had finally appeared.
System notifications kept coming.
[ The System has also decided to fully acknowledge your skill and effort in the Void Flow you have mastered. ]
[ As a result, your 'Void Flow' has more than sufficiently gained the qualifications to move on to a higher realm. ]
[ ■■ nods at your growth and blesses you. ]
[ ■■’s will settles into the Void Flow. ]
[ Some information about the Void Flow changes. ]
[ You have mastered 'Void Flow Form 8 - True Stance: Soul Slash (S+)'. ]
[ Your understanding of your sword energy rises another level. ]
[ Your sword energy grows stronger by another level. ]
System notifications poured down.
And Su-ho was finally able to obtain it.
The 8th form of the Void Flow, the one called the True Stance: Soul Slash.
At the same time, the dragon’s eyes widened.
The dragon couldn’t see the system notifications that appeared to Su-ho, but as the owner of this space and a dragon, it could feel it clearly.
That Su-ho, who had been doing nothing but the same sword swing this whole time, had suddenly gotten stronger.
- You...!
“Looks like you felt it?”
The corner of Su-ho’s mouth twisted up.
There was no value in answering anymore.
Now all that was left was to show it directly.
Su-ho took his stance again.
The sword was drawn back like a bowstring.
At the same time, the world was dyed in black and white, and in the black-and-white inverted world, he was able to find one ring among the countless Rings of Runes surging like nerve bundles—one ring that shone in gold.
In the mass of tightly fused Rings of Runes, it was the single most crucial ring that supported the entire convergence.
Su-ho found the barrier’s reverse scale, and without the slightest hesitation, swung his sword.
[ Soul Slash activates. ]
Skrk!
A clean cutting sound burst.
And at the same time—
[ ???’s barrier is lifted. ]
At last, the barrier collapsed.