Vol 2 Chapter 41

And yet...

"Hahaha..."

Kapros laughed weakly and was only able to stand up again after struggling quite a bit to pick up the wooden sword that had rolled far away.

Yu-wan. The thought that he had been worrying so unnecessarily because of him was not just absurd, but laughable. His head hurt, and he wanted to stop thinking any further. When thinking didn't yield an answer, he could just ask directly.

'Right. I'll ask him directly.'

As he thought this, peace miraculously came to his mind that had been swept up in rough waves.

Kapros limped on his aching foot and hung up his protective gear. He was drenched in cold sweat on his back and forehead, even though he hadn't done anything. After changing his clothes, he grasped the cane leaning against the doorway. Looking around, the dawn-dimmed dojo seemed as if no one had entered.

While his head had hurt when he was worrying, the relief he felt after reaching his own conclusion was indescribable. It seemed like it would be good to come here like this occasionally at dawn for meditation training from now on.

"Kar. What are you doing cooped up here... Huh? Isn't that a sword?"

Kapros quietly frowned as his concentration was broken by Kion-hyung's sudden intrusion.

He had been in the middle of taking a stance with the sword to raise the proficiency of Superior's swordsmanship, Ma-Rakian Swordsmanship Mastery, which was his recent training task.

At first, he had been at a loss as to how to raise the proficiency of this unfamiliar skill. But after realizing by chance that the proficiency increased little by little just by holding the sword and concentrating, he had been spending most of his time like this. It seemed like a rather idle activity, but the results were surprisingly significant. As the skill description said, every time the proficiency increased a little, it seemed to affect his agility, as his movements were clearly becoming lighter. For this slow body, even that was something to be grateful for.

"..."

Without answering, Kapros sheathed the sword back and turned towards Kion-hyung, giving him a look that asked why he had come. But Kion-hyung seemed more interested in Kapros's sword than that.

"Why does a mage have a sword? Don't tell me that's..."

Kapros nodded before Kion-hyung could finish his question.

"It's Superior's swordsmanship training."

"Was that really a thing?"

Kion-hyung's eyes widened, then quickly returned to normal.

"...Well, I'll be. Even when I saw the information while doing the quest, I couldn't believe it, but to think an overpowered skill that can use both magic and sword actually exists."

Kion-hyung looked back and forth between the sword and Kapros, then shook his head and patted Kapros's back.

"I can't even handle one, let alone two. I could never do it, man. It must be because it's you that you can do this while using that headache-inducing magic. I'm curious, so make sure to show me how you use it later."

Kapros closed his mouth in embarrassment.

Kion-hyung always praised others without hesitation. As Kapros scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to respond to such flattering words, Kion-hyung patted his back again and sat down.

"By the way, did I interrupt your training?"

"Well..."

When Kapros didn't deny it, even though a normal person would have said no out of courtesy, Kion-hyung laughed loudly again.

"Sorry, sorry. Actually, tomorrow is a large-scale guild war after a long time, so I have nothing to do today."

As Kapros watched Kion-hyung rolling around saying 'So play with me,' he suddenly asked again about an unfamiliar term that bothered him.

"Guild war?"

"Yeah. It's like a kids' fight to see who's stronger, gathering regularly. Actually, there's not much to gain even if you win. It's not like fighting over a castle or city like in a siege..."

As Kapros listened to Kion-hyung explain that even relatively small guilds often came to fight to gain experience, he was able to get a sense of what guild wars were about.

"Later, when larger guilds emerge and updates continue, it seems like we'll be able to have wars too, but in the end, humans who like fighting are most excited about these multi-guild battles. You don't need to struggle with tactics, and it's light official PK, so there's nothing to hold back."

"Hmm..."

"And among those, this place is where all the thugs from across the country gather..."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Ah, nothing."

When Kapros asked again, thinking he might have misheard the ominous word in the low grumble, Kion-hyung shook his head. But Kapros hadn't asked because he hadn't heard, so he chewed over Kion-hyung's words with a somewhat bewildered feeling.

'...Thugs from across the country?'

"Hahaha, anyway, since even that Pal-deung bastard went out to train, I'm free today."

From what Kapros had heard since coming here, Kion-hyung wasn't actually an official member of Palton's Giant guild. However, because he always accompanied Palton and helped with work, he was said to be treated as something like a vice guild master unofficially.

As Kapros watched Kion-hyung rolling around with a refreshed yet bored face, he decided to ask something he had been curious about for a while.

"Hyung."

"Yeah?"

"The monsters you defeated in the video. How were you able to face 1000 at once? Is the quest skill that strong?"

At Kapros's question, Kion-hyung made an 'Eh?' expression, then suddenly burst into laughter.

"Ah, you mean wiping out those 1000 shadows of darkness or whatever?"

Kion-hyung, who continued laughing for a while as if remembering something, finally calmed down when he saw Kapros's uncomfortable gaze and spoke again.

"I may be super strong, but how could I wipe out 1000 monsters so easily? It was possible because they weren't real monsters."

They weren't monsters? As Kapros frowned at the incomprehensible words, Kion-hyung kindly explained.

"Hmm. Right. So, the words I heard before starting the quest in that video scene were..."

Kion-hyung grinned as he began his explanation.

[You who seek to awaken the sleeping goddess, for this, one final proof is needed.]

Kion had finally grasped a clue to the quest for awakening the sleeping goddess Skaga, after going through all sorts of troubles. However, when he heard that yet another damned proof was needed, he couldn't help but feel his pent-up anger exploding.