Chapter 55 : Chapter 55
Chapter 055. That Which Is Buried in the Sandy Soil (5)
Monster Repelling Squad Leader's office.
"How was your meeting with the Corps Commander?"
Baek Ri-gwan asked while looking at Dam Jeok-san.
There was faint expectation in the neat face of the former Monster Repelling Squad Leader.
It is because he knows better than anyone that the Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander's ‘trial’ is very severe.
Baek Ri-gwan himself had also suffered quite a humiliating experience during that trial.
Unable to overcome the hallucinations, he collapsed on the floor and staggered...
— Lacking, devote yourself more.
He only came to his senses after the Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander pressed down on his head and stepped on it.
It's not a memory he wants to recall.
Dam Jeok-san probably didn't suffer helplessly like him.
Baek Ri-gwan, having fought him directly, knows best that he is an amazing person.
However, even the two Ultra-Peak masters classified as the Two Strongest among the Squad Leaders of the armed forces under the Northern Wind Sword Corps had been humiliated in front of the ‘trial.’
Dam Jeok-san also wouldn't have passed it just pleasantly.
Embarrassment must have settled even on that handsome face. Baek Ri-gwan opened his mouth with such thoughts, but.
"Yeah, it was a beneficial time."
Dam Jeok-san smiled brightly as if betraying his expectations.
As if the meeting with the Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander was truly enjoyable.
"Uh..."
That can't be? Baek Ri-gwan looked at Dam Jeok-san with an expression where such feelings were clearly revealed.
"Did you think I would have crawled miserably on the floor or something?"
Dam Jeok-san continued speaking without erasing his smile.
"..."
At those words, Baek Ri-gwan's expression crumpled suddenly. Just how on earth did our new Squad Leader hear even such stories?
"There's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not that you were lacking, but that I am too outstanding."
Dam Jeok-san said to Baek Ri-gwan, who was sighing, with an attitude where it was unclear whether he was comforting or teasing him.
However, it wasn't wrong.
The Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander's trial is through the Karma Mirror, a mirror that reflects karma.
Even if one searched the entire North, there would be few who could pass that trial more excellently than Dam Jeok-san.
"Look."
When Dam Jeok-san slightly lifted the hem of his clothes on his chest, a breastplate with a strange jet-black luster was visible.
"Ha, is that Dragon Scale Armor?"
Baek Ri-gwan muttered in a surprised voice.
Dragon Scale Armor.
A kind of reward the Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander bestows upon subordinates who achieve satisfactory results in her ‘trial.’
Whether it is truly made of dragon scales is unknown, but it is a priceless treasure much lighter and sturdier than armor forged from most monster byproducts.
But what's really important is.
The fact that what Dam Jeok-san received is a breastplate covering the entire chest.
‘I heard she bestows at most a small shoulder guard or a dagger.’
Even that, there was almost no news of recently. Only the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable of the past received a shoulder guard.
But what was given to Dam Jeok-san is a breastplate. A size easily five times that of a shoulder guard.
"Hahaha..."
Baek Ri-gwan let out a vain laugh with an expression difficult to describe.
At this point, it's hard to be surprised or jealous.
"I didn't line up behind the wrong person, I was honestly a little worried."
"Worried?"
"Yes, because the Eldest Young Master's reputation is so high."
"I like that you're honest. Our Eldest Senior Brother is indeed a formidable person."
"Yes, because while the Squad Leader lost your dantian, the atmosphere was practically designating him as the successor."
Baek Ri-gwan spoke without hesitation about a matter that could be quite sensitive.
"So, do you regret swearing loyalty to me?"
Dam Jeok-san asked Baek Ri-gwan.
"How could that be? Regret is for those who stuck with the Eldest Young Master."
He answered without a shred of hesitation.
Dam Jeok-san nodded his head as if satisfied with Baek Ri-gwan's answer.
"A good opportunity just arose."
"Are you talking about a good opportunity?"
"Yes, an opportunity to make those who stuck with the Eldest Senior Brother shit themselves."
Dam Jeok-san said while twisting the corners of his mouth smoothly.
"The Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander has issued a convocation order to all subordinate Squad Leaders."
"...!"
At those words, astonishment settled on Baek Ri-gwan's face.
Originally, the Squad Leaders of the armed forces under the Northern Wind Sword Corps have autonomous operational rights.
They move according to their own judgment, monitor the movements of the North, and eliminate monsters judged to be excessively dangerous.
A convocation order being issued happens only when a calamity difficult to handle easily has arrived.
"...If it's a convocation order, there will be a meeting between Squad Leaders."
Baek Ri-gwan opened his mouth with a serious look.
"Right, I need you to resolve the trivial matters for me."
"By trivial matters, are you talking about the subordinates the Squad Leader brought from the main castle?"
"That's right."
Gyeong-won and the Black Panther Spear. Dam Jeok-san nodded while recalling the two people who followed him to the North.
"You don't need to worry about that."
Baek Ri-gwan laughed lightly and said.
"Don't need to worry?"
"Yes, isn't the temperament of respecting the strong stronger in the armed forces of the North than anywhere else?"
At Dam Jeok-san's counter-question, Baek Ri-gwan opened his mouth with a strangely bitter smile.
"...Because only the strong can protect their comrades in actual combat."
"I see, I understand."
In those short words, there was remorse contained that even Dam Jeok-san could not easily guess.
"That is also why I swore loyalty to the Squad Leader. Because with your strength, we can save even one more comrade."
"You can trust me."
Dam Jeok-san answered while grasping his sword.
Saving the most comrades. There is no certainty that he can always make such judgments.
‘But now it is possible.’
Dam Jeok-san thought while recalling the conversation he had with Dark Heaven in the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable's office.
"However, there is one trivial problem."
Dam Jeok-san suddenly looked at Baek Ri-gwan and said.
"How much do you know about the other Squad Leaders?"
"Is it because of the convocation order?"
"Yes, there was an order from the Corps Commander. To defeat all the Squad Leaders gathered there."
"Pardon?"
Blink blink.
Baek Ri-gwan asked back without hiding his flustered look at Dam Jeok-san's nonchalant answer.
"She told you to defeat everyone...? The Corps Commander to the Squad Leader?"
"That is so."
"...As I told you earlier, there are even two Ultra-Peak masters among the Squad Leaders."
Baek Ri-gwan said in a serious voice as if warning him.
The difference in martial power between Peak and Ultra-Peak is distantly vast.
Baek Ri-gwan, who has reached the extremity of the Peak stage and stands at the threshold of Ultra-Peak, was realizing that more desperately than anyone.
‘Before crossing the wall, one can never beat an Ultra-Peak master.’
But is Dam Jeok-san also like that?
Even though he is the same Peak master, he showed overwhelming capability and crushed him.
Furthermore, rumors were spreading quietly that Murong Gang, a Half-Demon known to possess strength corresponding to or being an Ultra-Peak master, was also killed by Dam Jeok-san.
Baek Ri-gwan, having seen Namgung Yeon expressing excessive goodwill toward Dam Jeok-san, guessed that it was true to some extent.
Even if Dam Jeok-san can't truly face an Ultra-Peak master alone, he must at least possess the ability to save the Young Family Head of the Namgung Clan.
"It's fine, so just tell me."
As expected. Dam Jeok-san gestured with his chin with a still calm look.
When the lord says he is confident, what is the use of a subordinate arguing further?
Baek Ri-gwan decided to trust Dam Jeok-san and opened his mouth again.
"The strongest in the Northern Wind Sword Corps is, of course, the Extreme Heaven Squad Leader. However, the Extreme Heaven Squad Leader is currently not in the North."
It's unknown whether it's fortunate or unfortunate. It means one Ultra-Peak master is absent in a situation urgent enough for a convocation order to be issued.
However, it also meant the number of Ultra-Peak masters Dam Jeok-san has to deal with decreased.
"Probably among those who will respond to the convocation order, the Severing Sword Squad Leader will be the trickiest opponent."
Baek Ri-gwan continued his explanation about the Severing Sword Squad Leader.
Severing Sword Squad Leader Lee Myeong-gi, alias Severing Light Sword.
He is over seventy this year, a battle-hardened veteran who has lived as the Severing Sword Squad Leader for nearly 15 years.
"That old man is a stubborn swordsman. A swordsman who believes the sword is the King of All Weapons and that one can split the sky with a single sword."
Although he has aged, his belligerent tendency, especially his personality of rushing in regardless of consequences if he sees a swordsman, is very similar to the Sword Addict of the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
"Severing Light Sword Lee Myeong-gi, huh. So that's the one I have to defeat."
Dam Jeok-san muttered with a strange gleam in his eyes.
The case is different from Murong Gang.
Lee Myeong-gi is a swordsman who reached Ultra-Peak as a pure human. An opponent against whom he can barely gain an advantage even with the ability of Predation.
‘I must defeat him with the sword.’
Only then will the opponent accept it, and Dam Jeok-san will also be able to accept it.
It won't be an easy task. But he cannot retreat either.
— Defeat all the Squad Leaders under the Northern Wind Sword Corps who responded to the convocation order. That is the starting point.
Without proving even that much ability, he has no qualification to join this operation. The Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander said so.
Practical martial power is something different from the ability to pass through the Karma Mirror.
Dam Jeok-san answered that he would prove it with results this time as well.
‘I wanted to check how strong I have become anyway.’
Baek Ri-gwan is an outstanding martial artist, but he was clearly weaker than Dam Jeok-san.
However, Lee Myeong-gi is different. To deal with an old man who devoted his entire life to the sword, Dam Jeok-san will also have to drag out his abilities from the bottom. Even then, the probability of winning won't be very high. Perhaps he might have to risk his life.
It's fine. Did he ever jump into a fight because the odds of winning were clearly visible?
When he regained his dantian, didn't he resolve? That he wouldn't fight while measuring the odds and taking care of his life like before.
In the first place, a martial artist who only stands on battlefields where victory is certain cannot grow.
Only when advancing risking death can one face one's true self.
And only at the moment of overcoming that death can one transcend one's former self.
That is an understanding Dam Jeok-san realized while living a life of about 25 years, and at the same time, a fact confirmed by Seo Woo-joo, who exists in a corner of his memory, after reaching ruin.
Dam Jeok-san closed his eyes while holding his sword. The Predator's instinct was sounding an alarm sharply.
The monster buried in the sandy soil awakens.
And an intuition that a huge war, enough to make the Squad Leader convocation order look like child's play, is approaching.
That brushed past Dam Jeok-san's mind.
To stand at the center of that war, he must become strong. Much more than now.
* * *
"Do you think the martial nephew can pull it off?"
Un Wol-hyang asked while leaning obliquely against the wall.
"Well."
The girl with white hair and blood-red eyes, Dark Heaven shook her head.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"I mean the convocation order. Will that child be able to beat the old geezer Severing Light Sword?"
Severing Light Sword crossed the wall of Peak and reached Ultra-Peak at an age over sixty.
It is a very unusual event.
Because most swordsmen would be senile and their skills declining at that age.
Crossing the wall at that point means his tenacity for the sword transcends imagination.
Actually, that old geezer's tenacity was such that even Un Wol-hyang, called the Sword Venerable, clicked her tongue.
"If he can't even win against that... there was no hope from the beginning."
FLUTTER―
Dark Heaven muttered while lightly fluttering her folding fan.
Un Wol-hyang doesn't know.
What Dark Heaven saw in Dam Jeok-san.
Also what she expects.
She saw a certain possibility in the young man who is so young compared to herself that he looks boyish.
Greed and Predation.
A huge maw as if it could swallow even the world.
That is a possibility that might change the fate of ‘that’ buried in the sandy soil.
Such a Dam Jeok-san.
"There's no way he would be defeated by merely that level."
Dark Heaven smiled brightly and said.
"Lee Myeong-gi is not a swordsman to be disparaged like that."
The Northern Heaven Sword Venerable narrowed her brows and shook her head.
"Well, nothing will change by worrying like he's a babe in arms, why don't you just try trusting him?"
Dark Heaven shrugged her shoulders at the Sword Venerable's words and answered.
"...I should."
At those words, Un Wol-hyang also nodded her head.
"More than that, Dark Heaven, about this operation... you said it would be good to have one more Entering Transformation Realm master moving in secret."
"Yes, because the Sword Addict and the Blood Death Lord will be deployed to the Demonic Realm. And the Yin God Cult will also be keeping the Branch Manager in check."
"The martial nephew pulled off another one. A message came."
From the Sword King of Namgung.
Un Wol-hyang said while lifting the corners of her mouth crookedly.