Kyung-Ah’s widened eyes looked like they would pop out at any moment. The lightning stems split up and regenerated countless times like dividing cells, and sparks filled her view. The power that could rip anything apart was getting out of control. While she was surprised and flustered, streaks of lightning stretched out in all directions.
Zing! Zap zap!
The darkness that couldn’t be illuminated by anything then disappeared, and the whole world became colored blue. It was an amazing sight. Every time the lightning stalks brushed by, the weirdly shaped trees burst apart instead of just burning. Then, the wood fragments turned into a handful of ashes and started to flutter everywhere. Everywhere Kyung-Ah looked was in the same situation. The world was full of ashes and the streaks of lightning that flashed in between. It felt as if Kyung-Ah had fallen into a new world as she had entered the Stage of Advent.
At that time, Kyung-Ah became even more startled because she noticed that Seon-Hu was moving slightly. At first, it looked like he was completely still as his limbs weren’t moving. Then, she realized that his whole body was trembling in the same spot. His tiny tremors overlapped numerous times and made him look like he had dozens of legs, arms and faces.
Kyung-Ah tried with all her strength to manage the power in her hands, and it took her a long time to get used to the overwhelming skill effect. She barely managed to stop the streaks from reaching Seon-Hu, and the ash powder that choked her lay on the ground. Finally, the lightning stalks that had been glowing all over the place only sparked around Kyung-Ah more fiercely.
Nevertheless, there were some streaks of lightning that went out of her control once in a while. Whenever they suddenly turned around and hit the ground, the electric shock spread widely around the strike point.
Kyung-Ah’s heart pounded wildly. Her breathing remained short and heavy as it had been from the very beginning. Her new world with the power from Odin was different from the world she had known so far. She felt that divinity existed here. She gawked at Seon-Hu who was naked, and she felt dizzy. She had never lost her mind before, but she couldn’t organize her thoughts now.
After a few minutes, the power that had entered her body vanished. She had always lived with a full feeling ever since she upgraded her Sense to B-class, but she now felt like her body was empty. An unbelievably strong force had come in out of the blue and disappeared as if it was a dream.
Kyung-Ah lost the strength in her legs and collapsed. Then, she raised her head and saw Odin staring at her indifferently. Until now, she could never forget the fear she had when encountered Kciphos Gundrak, the boss monster in Stage One, and the faceless stone statue, the boss monster in Stage Two. However, she no longer remembered that fear as Seon-Hu’s eyes were overwhelmingly dreadful. His lips were about to open. Since Kyung-Ah couldn’t remember what conversation she was having with Seon-Hu and how she came here due to fear, she thought the only thing Seon-Hu would say was her life or death. Her life depended on what he would say next.
“That is an A-class.”
Kyung-Ah blinked her eyes since she couldn’t understand what that meant. Then, she came to her senses.
Seon-Hu continued, “That is an A-class skill, Odin’s Wrath, that I got from a challenger box, but it is still upgradable by one more class.”
“S…class…” Kyung-Ah’s voice trembled as she couldn’t believe the skill could be more powerful.
“What is your name?” Seon-Hu asked.
“Kyung-Ah… Shin Kyung-Ah…”
“Yes, Shin Kyung-Ah. You must have enjoyed getting stronger and creating a force. However, everything you have now can be taken away if you face someone with greater power. Like me, for example.”
“I…” she stuttered.
“One step at a time. When you are ready, get a skill from a master box. When you are more ready, then try getting the challenger box.”
***
Kyung-Ah was stunned even just before she crossed the boundary. Her eyes opened wide only when the world brightened again after going out of the darkness. She remembered what would have happened in the village while talking to Odin, and the scene that she had expected was actually occurring. Screams and groans filled the air, and skills flew across the sky.
“Argh!”
“Kill them!”
She couldn’t see the situation clearly as her subordinates were blocking the view, but the single-armed man who accompanied Odin was fighting against all five attack squads alone. She could have never been able to do that, so she was astonished by Seong-Il’s ability and bravery.
“Stop!” Kyung-Ah shouted.
She hadn’t repeated her instructions even during the intense attack, but this time was different. The combat teams in the rear stopped moving immediately, but the center of the battle was still fighting.
“Stoooop!”
The fight finally ended when Kyung-Ah yelled at people over and over again. Everything became clear when people moved to the side. There were wounded members on one side, and the ground was coated with blood. Everywhere she looked showed signs of the immense struggle. Kyung-Ah frowned when she saw one of her soldiers sagging as his ankle had been caught in Seong-Il’s grasp. Although he was breathing, he looked like he would die instantly. The guy was the vice-captain of her squad.
“F…fuck… I thought… I thought I would fucking die… Cough.”
Seong-Il sat down after throwing the vice-captain on the ground. Blood kept dripping from the vice-captain’s drooping head. There was no shield around him, and his entire body had been torn apart. At that time, the vice-captain tapped Seong-Il’s leg with a weak touch, and Seong-il shook his hand off weakly and breathed raggedly. From then on, Seong-Il’s only movements were rough inhalation and exhalation.
Fighting against five combat squads for an hour by himself? Is that even possible?
Kyung-Ah was shocked by all of this.
What kind of people… are they?
***
Four days later, Seong-Il had fully recovered from his injuries. In fact, he could move starting on the third day, but he thought sleeping would be better than going out to walk around the devastated and damaged streets. It was the same for Seon-Hu as he enjoyed the quality food inside the building. Of course, he couldn’t always be full because the food was only brought once a day. However, it was still considered a warm reception. Seong-Il was also aware of this fact, so he drank all the ramen soup without leaving a single drop.
When Seong-Il put the pot down, Kyung-Ah walked into the room.
“You are in good health now.”
“Why do you keep talking casually to me?” Seong-Il frowned.
Kyung-Ah laughed coldly and looked at Seon-Hu. Since the younger man didn’t seem to care about her speaking in an informal tone, she continued the conversation without hesitating, “Twenty-eight.”
“What do you mean?” Seong-Il asked.
Kyung-Ah snorted. “Hey, it’s ridiculous how you are talking about age. I conquered all the rooms on the spire. Twenty-eight in total. Do you get it?”
The spire had seven stories, and the higher the floor, the higher the difficulty level. Of course, she had to spend a longer time there.
“Do you think you are the only one who went in there?” Seong-Il snapped at Kyung-Ah.
“It’s because Odin helped you. I spent months and years on each floor. You shouldn’t compare my accomplishments to yours,” Kyung-Ah rebutted.
Seong-Il grumbled, “That sounds very offensive.”
Kyung-Ah shrugged. “Well, I meant it and wanted to let you know how stupid it is to talk about age. An old ugly face? That shouldn’t be something you are proud of. Don’t you think so? Hohoho.”
Seong-Il snapped, “Freak. Can you even trust me? We are on the same side now.”
“I used to be the owner of this place. I’m not a burden, so only you need to handle things right,” Kyung-Ah retorted.
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Kyung-Ah raised an eyebrow. “Why? I’m just saying that I’m not the type of person who is content with what I have. I am much better than those who have given up being stronger and barely manage to stay alive. Don’t you have a lot of them in the Sky Guild?”
“...Yes, but what were we talking about?” Seong-Il asked, scratching his head.
Kyung-Ah sighed. “Never mind. Let’s try to get along since we are on the same team now. Don’t try to lord over me by using your age. I’ll let other things slide but not that. I’ll respect you as Odin’s henchman.”
Seong-Il nodded. “Hmm… Okay.”
Seong-Il then shifted his gaze toward Seon-Hu.
“Are we really putting them in our team?” he asked.
“Yes. Shin Kyung-Ah, Kwon Seong-Il, you guys will be working together. Are you ready?” Seon-Hu asked.
Kyung-Ah replied, “I’m almost ready. I have so much stuff, but Seong-Il will carry them with me, right?”
“You’re calling me by my name now?” Seong-Il said.
Kyung-Ah gave him a look. “Why? Do you want me to call you something else?”
Seong-Il smacked his lips as if he liked Kyung-Ah calling him by name.
“Do you have anything to ride on? If not, I will prepare something for the two of you,” she said.
“Get it ready. Can we leave in about an hour?”
Kyung-Ah had lots of things to hand over to her vice-captain. Since she had put in a lot of effort to create her force, she needed to empower her vice-captain to prevent others from defying and rebelling against him while she was gone. That was what she had been doing for the past four days.
An hour later, Kyung-Ah was prepared to leave after doing everything she could. The atmosphere in the street was distracting. Soon, the vice-captain approached her, limping. He gritted his teeth when he saw Seong-Il but then said towards Kyung-Ah in a worried manner, “Are you leaving?”
“I’ll see you outside. It’s better not to bump into each other before then. Stay alive.”
Their conversation couldn’t go on as a new group the size of Kyung-Ah’s one attack squad had entered from the boundary. Her crews, who had gathered to send off Kyung-Ah, moved in unison. The new entrants had a crest embedded in their breastplates. The three circles were tied to each other and a lightning symbol was in the center. Kyung-Ah’s subordinates knew the crest since they had seen it more frequently these days, and they had just started trading with the group a few weeks ago.
“We are the Joo-Pan Squad in Sky Guild.”
“You don’t need to report to me. From now on, Soo-Cheol is the captain.”
“Then, I’ll proceed as I’ve been doing. Let them in!”
Seong-Il pointed to the front with his jaw as if the situation was interesting. It was clear that one of Joo Pan-Seok’s squads had found the trade route to here. They were operating a carriage by using Kciphos monsters as cart animals. The luggage compartments on the carts were made from the deformed trees that grew in the dark. There were items and food from the outside world that were now rare in this world.
However, none of the Joo-Pan squad combatants recognized Seon-Hu and Seong-Il as their group had been formed with new members at the end of Act One, Stage Two.
Kyung-Ah asked Seon-Hu as she suddenly became curious about something. Came to think of it, she had never asked where they were heading to.
“Where are we going now?”
He replied, “District 11.”
“But that place is…”
Kyung-Ah stopped talking and alternately looked between Seon-Hu and the carriage that was coming in. There was also the Sky Guild’s lightning symbol on the wagon.
Isn’t that the power that Odin temporarily gave me four days ago?
The corners of Kyung-Ah’s lips went up.