Chapter 86: Monster (2)
Harang is a monster.
He wasn't a monster from the beginning, but he was completed as a monster as he grew.
At an age when he should have been crying in his parents' arms, the village administrators were by his side.
At an age when he should have been roaming the alleys with friends, 999 competitors with imasurable talent were by his side.
He killed every day.
He faced the threat of death every day.
Harang gradually hardened by overcoming nurous crises and hardships, but his competitors were the sa.
Looking around, there was no one left around him who wasn't a monster.
Perhaps because he had experienced such things?
Harang, after coming to the outside world, looked at everything with a positive attitude for a while.
He couldn't help it.
Even the filth that made people frown was clean compared to the village, and even the strongn who made everyone tremble in fear were lacking compared to the village.
Of course, he knew in his head.
That the world was wide.
Harang knew better than anyone that if he left Marzen, left the Nadan Kingdom, and headed for a wider world, if he t more people, this arrogance would soon be shattered.
However…….
‘I just didn’t think it would be today.’
Harang, standing in front of the door, clenched and unclenched his right hand.
A moderate tension enveloped his whole body.
In a stance ready to draw his sword or throw a dagger at any mont, he asked a question.
“Who are you? You.”
“……I’m the one who’s curious.”
The answer ca back imdiately.
However, it wasn't the answer he wanted.
The man who had been conversing with a smile until Harang appeared was not like that now.
Standing up from his seat with a stiff expression, he placed his hand on his scabbard and added another word.
“Who are you, young man?”
“……I am Harang.”
“I know that. I know it, I definitely thought I knew it…… Hmm.”
The middle-aged man trailed off, lost in his own thoughts.
Harang observed him carefully.
There were no openings.
Even when utilizing ‘Sensory Awakening,’ one of the ‘6 Aura Concepts,’ to its limit, no vulnerable point could be seen.
This was the first ti since he ca to the outside world.
Raising his tension a little more, he began to control his breathing.
It was around then.
The middle-aged man’s mouth opened again.
“I’ve fought a lot since my youth. No, the expression ‘childhood’ would be more accurate. There was a ti when I broke my leg acting rashly, trying to subjugate a Goblin village when I knew nothing, and there was also a ti when I got involved in a territorial war and cried my eyes and nose out. It was the sa even after becoming a veteran. Fighting Orcs in the north, getting entangled with assassins, crossing swords with knights…… My life was truly no different from a battlefield. And…….”
“…….”
“Among the monsters I’ve t in the midst of such hell, you are one of the top.”
“…….”
“I’ll ask again. You…… who on earth are you?”
Fwoooosh-!
The middle-aged man’s presence intensified.
To the extent that Guild Leader Jeten, who was sitting awkwardly beside him, stiffened his expression, and the low-ranking guild mber standing next to Harang hastily retreated.
However, Harang did not back down.
He did not change his words either.
There was only one thing he had to say.
“I am Harang.”
“…….”
“Is this not an answer?”
……Woooooong!
Harang’s presence, which had begun to bloom around the ti he started his answer, had fully ripened by the ti he finished speaking.
At this, Jeten’s ugly face contorted even more wretchedly.
Caught between their presences, he gasped for breath and retreated to a corner of the room.
Nevertheless, their confrontation did not end, and a brief silence followed.
“…….”
“…….”
Stillness.
Silence.
In reality, it was 1 minute, but enough ti passed for Jeten to feel like it was 30 minutes.
During that ti, their presences grew even stronger, to the point where the liquor bottles displayed in the corner of the reception room rattled.
Jeten’s bulging eyes darted back and forth.
If he could, he wanted to end their confrontation even by screaming.
It was then.
The middle-aged man who had first manifested his presence broke the long silence.
“Shall we go out?”
“……Go out, you say?”
“Yes. It seems this space is not suitable for to get the answer I want. Isn’t it the sa for you? To find out what we’re curious about, words are not necessary. Rather, the sword can tell us much more.”
“That sounds right.”
“Good. Then let’s end this useless presence battle here. Look at Mr. Jeten’s expression here. He’s fidgeting, worried his precious liquors might get damaged.”
“Ah, I see!”
Harang, hearing the middle-aged man’s words, was startled and reduced his presence.
It was a surprisingly innocent appearance for soone who had been staring at the middle-aged man with sharp eyes until just before, and his expression was full of worry.
He looked at Jeten and apologized.
“I’m sorry, Sir Jeten. It wasn’t intentional.”
“……You, what are you?”
“Yes?”
The middle-aged man asked, and Harang asked back.
It was because he hadn't grasped the intent of the question, and the middle-aged man, frowning, asked again.
“I asked why you are so aggressive towards , yet so kind and gentle only to Mr. Jeten.”
“That’s because…… Mr. Jeten is a good person, isn’t he?”
“What?”
“I said Mr. Jeten is a good person. There are those who don’t think so…… but at least, that’s how I feel. Anyway, since I almost damaged the liquors cherished by such a person, isn’t it natural to apologize?”
“……?”
“…….”
The middle-aged man’s expression turned bizarre.
He looked at Jeten with eyes as if asking if he had heard correctly.
However, Jeten was just as dumbfounded.
Glaring at Harang, he thought.
‘Don’t tell , he’s managing his image here too, just because there’s a stranger present?
This sly fox of a fellow……!’
It was absurd.
Jeten had no intention of getting involved with Harang after today in the first place, but thanks to this, that thought intensified.
He had never t such a two-faced person in his life, and he absolutely did not want to get further entangled.
While he was thinking that, the middle-aged man also wore an expression as if he were organizing his thoughts in his own way.
However, it seed impossible.
Shaking his head vigorously, he looked directly at Harang and spoke.
“I’m a bit confused.”
“About what?”
“About you. I only thought you were an uncontrollable monster, but now I’m starting to think that might not be the case.”
“I am not a monster. Rather…….”
“Are you saying I’m the monster?”
“…….”
“That could be true.”
“Does that an, it might not be true?”
“Well, I think it would be good to find that out from now on…… What do you think?”
The middle-aged man tapped the scabbard at his left hip with his hand.
Harang nodded.
No matter how unobservant he was, he wasn't so dull as to not grasp that aning.
“Alright.”
“Good. Mr. Jeten, please guide us.”
“……I shall.”
Whose words would he refuse?
Guild Leader Jeten, silently cursing inwardly, personally guided the two to the training ground.
Thump, thump, the low-ranking guild mber, watching the three giants recede further and further, belatedly slumped into his seat.
It was because all the strength had drained from his legs.
He muttered.
“What on earth…… is that fellow?”
Recalling Harang, who hadn't yielded an inch to the middle-aged man’s presence, the low-ranking guild mber shivered.
* * *
“This is it. This is the grand training ground that the Jeten Guild boasts of…… I’ve already told the underlings. No one will co near for the next three hours.”
“Good.”
“Understood.”
The middle-aged man and Harang answered simultaneously.
Guild Leader Jeten, who stood at their center, distanced himself far away and thought inwardly.
‘Foolish fellow.’
It clearly contained a tone of ridicule towards Harang.
Of course, he knew the fellow was a formidable swordsman.
He had felt it during the duel, but this ti he realized it even more clearly.
From the beginning, the fellow was not soone he could deal with.
However, even so, this ti it was impossible.
Jeten, confirming that the middle-aged man had drawn his sword and taken a stance, let out a despicable laugh.
‘I hope he becos crippled sowhere, if possible.
That person isn’t exactly good-natured either…….’
It was when he was having such evil thoughts.
Following the middle-aged man, Harang also drew his sword and took a stance, but just as when he dueled Guild Leader Jeten, his Aura was not manifested.
The middle-aged man, watching him, spoke briefly.
“As expected.”
“What do you an?”
“I heard you usually refrain from using Aura Sword when sparring with others. Even though you clearly have Graduate-level skills. Why is that? I’ve racked my brain, but I don’t quite get it. It’s absurd to think you can’t use it, so does that an you manifest Aura like a flicker only at the mont the swords collide…… It’s an amazing technique, indeed.”
“…….”
“But I wonder if there’s a need to go that far. To eliminate wasted power? Your life could be forfeit because of that slight saving? No matter how I think about it, it doesn't make sense. There must be so other reason, at least that’s what I think.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to have a conversation with swords, not words?”
“That’s right. You’re correct. The conversation ends here. Concentrate from now on.”
The middle-aged man, finishing his words, took a deep breath, ssssup.
His chest, inflated like that of a bird, felt bizarre, and a strong danger signal blared in Harang’s head.
His expression hardened unknowingly, and he tightened his grip on the sword.
It was right after.
“Haaaaaaaap!”
The middle-aged man, letting out a shout as if to expel all the breath he had inhaled, fiercely stomped on the ground.
Kwwaaaaaaang!
An enormous roar echoed through the grand training ground.
The stone floor, made by a craftsman for a large sum of money, was shattered into pieces, and its repulsive force fully propelled the middle-aged man’s body forward.
It was a terrifyingly fast and heavy charge.
Kyuuuuuuuung-!
In the sa charging stance, the middle-aged man fully extended his right arm.
Terrifying mass and speed, with completed Aura added to it.
It felt much sharper and harder than that of Jeten, a fellow Graduate-level swordsman.
It contained an overwhelming power that couldn't possibly be shaken off with a brief clash, and Harang was not one to fail to grasp that.
Grrrind.
Harang, clenching his teeth, swung his sword.
It was different from usual.
He poured in the maximum limit of Aura he could draw out, concentrated, enhanced, and hardened it.
The Aura Sword manifested thereby boasted a beauty that perfectly suited the expression ‘completed,’ and crucially, it did not fall short of the middle-aged man’s.
Soon, their swords clashed.
And.
Kwwaaaaaaaaaaaaang-!
“……!”
A trendous shockwave, powerful enough to make Guild Leader Jeten’s jaw drop, swept through the grand training ground.
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