Chapter 750: Cheonsan Martial Hall

“Khuh......!”

A pavilion located at the summit of the mountain.

A great, sharp wind blew from within it.

And while being struck by that wind, a man was letting out a pained groan.

“Are you all right, Senior Brother!”

“I, I am fine...... khp......!”

“Senior Brother......!”

Then.

Another man standing outside looked into the building with worried eyes.

He was guarding the man inside.

Standing there with a gigantic spear in hand.

The martial artist with a pig-like face...... Jeochil looked toward the pavilion and thought.

'This is not good.'

Not long ago.

After a man had come to this martial hall where everyone had been asleep.

The sleeping fellow disciples had opened their eyes.

According to what he later heard from their benefactor.

The order in which they had awakened at the time had supposedly followed the ranking of their martial strength.

Back then.

Jeochil had thought that, with their power, they might be able to conquer the weak of this land and establish a kingdom of their own.

That was why, when he heard that the order of awakening was from the weakest in martial strength upward.

Jeochil had actually considered it fortunate.

And that was only natural.

Because the standard was martial strength, not the person’s overall ability.

No matter how much they were martial artists.

Their abilities were not evaluated only by martial strength.

The most representative example among them was Miho.

She was the head of the Martial Pavilion, the library that stored every martial art of the martial hall...... and the greatest martial scholar in the entire hall.

Separate from the fact that her own martial skill was low.

In knowledge of martial studies, she was someone even the eldest senior brother, Cheonho, had to concede to.

......And there was one more.

'To think Senior Brother Woojin, the head of the Heaven Altar Pavilion, is struggling like that.'

When their master communicated with the immortals of heaven.

He personally built and managed the altar called the Heavenly Altar, the foundation for the ritual of communication...... the Heaven Altar Rite.

And he had also listened from right beside them to the conversations between the immortals and their master.

A Taoist.

That was Woojin.

Rather than only strong martial artists.

Jeochil had thought that having people like Miho or Woojin awaken first would be far more useful for spreading their strength in this world.

Even now that he had given up on that dream, his reverence for the person called Woojin remained the same.

The immortals.

Ordinary people would faint just from looking at them from afar, and even martial artists with strong minds could not endure for long.

But because his innate spirituality was simply that high by nature.

The person who could remain calm even while listening beside such great beings as they conversed was none other than that Woojin.

But now.

“Please.......”

That Woojin’s horsehair topknot whipped in the wind.

Within Cheonsan Martial Hall, and even if one looked across the entire world, he had been among those at the very highest level.

A man who could keep a gentle expression even with the souls of immortals beside him.

“Your enemy is no longer here....... So please...... calm yourself......!”

Soaked through with cold sweat flowing down his whole body.

He clasped both hands together and shouted in a cracked voice.

“Master......!”

***

“Then...... I’ll be going.”

Not long after returning to the Legion from North Korea.

I immediately finished preparing to head somewhere else.

“Though, that said, it isn’t far, so I’ll probably be back soon. Until then, all of you should focus on the preparations I asked for.”

“The preparations you mentioned, Sergeant Shin.......”

At those words.

Several soldiers answered with slightly strange expressions.

“Mm, I am not sure why you ordered us to make those preparations, but.”

“There must be a reason, I’m sure. Understood.”

“Then have a safe trip, Commander. And.”

The soldiers gave light salutes.

“Squad leaders, instructors.”

“Yeah.”

“Please make sure not to neglect your training.”

And so.

My group and I left the Legion’s forward base and began moving.

“......I think this is the first time we’ve traveled together with a group like this.”

Not long after coming outside.

Corporal Lee Minjae spoke with a strange expression.

Just as he said.

Our current composition did have something a little unfamiliar about it.

'Me and the four squad leaders.'

Corporal Lee Minjae, Corporal Jeon Gwangil, Corporal Seo Suhyeok, and Squad Leader Lee Sanga.

And.

“It is the same for us.”

“Leaving aside the squad leaders.......”

Two martial arts instructors.

Miho and Seohwan.

On top of that.

“Senior Brother, Senior Sisters...... to think the day would come when we would travel together like this again.”

The martial hall’s collaborators.

Miyang, Gyeonsul, Shin Jong, Gyeyu, and Sarin.

“Mm, I suppose this too is all thanks to our benefactor’s grace.”

“Hah, haven’t we more or less repaid that grace already? We fought risking our lives like that last time.”

“Sh-Shin Junior Brother...... you should not say things like that when our benefactor is here.......”

The leaders of the Legion and the martial artists of the martial hall.

It was the first time we had moved with a composition like this.

“Myoyangsa...... no.”

And.

The reason for that composition was fairly simple.

“Cheonsan Martial Hall, huh.”

Corporal Lee Minjae muttered quietly.

The first “gate” our guild had ever encountered.

And a fragment of another world that had now been destroyed.

The place we had decided to visit this time was precisely there.

“......I still don’t really understand.”

“Mm? What?”

Corporal Lee Minjae tilted his head and looked at me.

“Is that a place worth taking even me along?”

I quickly understood what standard Minjae was talking about.

“The others have all been training martial arts pretty diligently, sure.”

Martial arts.

Our unit had been learning martial arts from the martial artists dispatched from Cheonsan Martial Hall.

A power that worked separately from skills or traits.

A power that had made our Legion stronger in a direction different from the powers the System gave us.

However.

Martial arts were, in the end, an art mainly used in physical combat.

Corporal Jeon Gwangil was openly a combat class, and Squad Leader Lee Sanga handled blades.

Even Corporal Seo Suhyeok, who handled firearms, had learned martial arts related to shooting or bayonet techniques.

“But I haven’t learned any martial arts.”

“That is true.”

Corporal Lee Minjae was a pure mage.

Unfortunately, the martial arts instructors did not have any martial arts they could teach even to a mage.

No, if they wanted to teach him, they probably could, but should I say the efficiency would come out atrociously low.

It would be overwhelmingly more efficient for him to train his own magic during that time instead.

That was why.

As a pure mage who had not learned martial arts.

Corporal Lee Minjae questioned why even he had been included in this selection.

Well, it was a question I could understand in its own way.

“It’s because this isn’t about martial arts.”

“It isn’t about martial arts? Then why go to the martial hall.......”

“How should I put this.”

I scratched my head as I spoke.

The reason Corporal Lee Minjae was included in this journey was.

“......To meet someone high-ranking?”

“......?”

When going to meet someone high-ranking.

I thought it was right to bring a personnel selection that matched proper courtesy.......

To take all of the Legion’s squad leaders with me.

***

'An existence that transcends our recognition has descended in the far north.'

For now.

Our unit did have specialists for dealing with that.

With their power, I had also barely managed to escape from the north.

-Why would that thing take such a risk.......

However.

Even those guys.

-We do not understand that part either.

There were many parts of this descent they did not understand.

A transcendent being that could likely reign as a god in its own world.

The reason such a being would take on so many risks.

And deliberately descend into the weak body of this world.

Even the demon hunters said they had no guess about that.

'A gap in information is no different from a threat.'

We might be able to respond to that descent through our own method.

But there was no knowing in what way that gap would become a danger to us.

That was why.

After leaving the preparations for that method to the Legion members.

I decided to look for another method.

'This is a problem where no answer will come out no matter how many days I or my unit members think about it.'

In that case.

Ultimately, we needed help from someone other than me or the unit members.......

The truth was.

There was someone who had helped me whenever things like this happened.

An existence that always helped me when I was in a dangerous situation.

And an existence that, for some reason, had not shown even the tip of its nose right now.

'Mirinae.'

Could I trust it completely?

No, it was not like that.

Even Mirinae had told me not to trust it completely.

But right now.

'We need Mirinae’s help more desperately than ever.'

In a situation where something incomprehensible had happened.

The only somewhat trustworthy existence that could fill in information from a realm beyond our recognition...... was that one.

It was not as if I could ask someone like the king of Belsnickel, who was asleep inside Ariella’s shadow.

And.

Ever since Mirinae first dragged me into its domain.

I had been thinking about its identity.

The barrier that had blocked Gangwon Province from the other regions of South Korea.

When that barrier opened and the world’s protection weakened by one layer.

'Mirinae contacted me before anyone else.'

Thanks to that.

My existence was able to pass by without being discovered by the outer beings.

Even now, the protection it placed remains on my soul, and because of that, I can avoid receiving the gaze from outside.

And.

The reason Mirinae could contact me before anyone else was.......

For something that happened between such transcendent beings, the reason was fairly simple.

'It was simply the closest.'

And after that.

When I went to China.

There had been a period when contact with Mirinae was cut off.

Only after returning to Korea.

Mirinae called me back into its domain.

At the time, I had wondered why it had not helped me in the middle of such a dangerous fight.

But what Mirinae answered then was.

-Even if I wanted to help, when you are that far away, what could I possibly do?

Mirinae, who had been able to contact me faster than anyone else because it was close to me.

Could not help me once I went all the way to Chinese soil because I was too far away.

In other words.

'Mirinae is on the Korean Peninsula.'

That meant Mirinae might be somewhere closer than I had thought.

......Actually.

At that point, the candidates had already been narrowed down considerably.

But.

Not long ago.

Something happened that gave me certainty about that thought.

'......They’re staring holes into me.'

Even now, the five over there were glaring at me.

The five martial artists who had agreed to cooperate with the Legion.

And at the same time.

[Miyang - beastkin, sheep human]

[Shin Jong - beastkin, monkey human]

[Sarin - beastkin, snake human]

[Gyeonsul - beastkin, dog human]

[Gyeyu - beastkin, chicken human]

Those who still had not become [awakened].

Although they were clearly cooperating with us on the surface.

They did not hold the desire to “live together” with us.

-Did you hear that just now, Senior Sister Miyang?

-Yes. I hoped it would not be true, but.......

-See? My suspicion was right, wasn’t it?

-Benefactor, no.......

They.

-That man is.......

Had given me certainty.

***

“Ahh...... Commander Benefactor!”

Not long after we began moving.

We were able to arrive at Myoyangsa.

The people who came out to greet us as soon as we arrived at the temple.

[Seungju]

[Paladin of the Arhat Lv.34]

[Martial Art: A- Returning Wind Heavenly Flow Staff Technique Lv.12]

[Beophyeon]

[Intermediate Priest Lv.29]

[Martial Art: C - Demon-Subduing Monk Soldier Martial Art Lv.7]

“And...... even Master Seohwan!”

“It has been a long time.”

“Yes. We did encounter each other on the battlefield last time...... but I did not expect you to visit us again like this.”

Seungju, the leader of this place’s monk soldiers.

And Beophyeon, the abbot of the temple.

'By the way, their levels are pretty......?'

They were no longer a guild called Myohyangsa, but rather a subordinate force of the Legion.

But the monk soldiers, and the level of Seungju, their leader, were quite considerable.

Well, whenever something major happened, they had always fought alongside us as a cooperative organization.

There was no way their growth speed would be slower than the Legion members’.

“I believe we contacted you in advance.”

“Yes, yes. As soon as we received the contact, we had a hard time urgently cleaning around the mountain gate.”

“Abbot...... if you say that.”

“.......”

It seemed that when someone from a higher unit came down, even temples rushed into cleaning just like military units did.

For some reason, the attitude shown by the temple monks felt subtly more stiff than before.

Anyway.

“I am sorry to get straight to the point as soon as we meet again after so long, but I came because I have urgent business.”

“Yes, I know. You intend to go to the [martial hall], do you not?”

“Yes.”

“We have already cleaned the path leading there as well. It was a path that had not been used in a while, so there were many fallen leaves, and it was quite a lot of trouble.......”

“Abbot.......”

Seungju looked flustered, and Beophyeon laughed heartily.

But.

After hearing that conversation, I had no choice but to tilt my head slightly.

“A path that had not been used?”

“Ah, ahh. That is a misunderstanding, Commander. It does not mean we usually do not clean. We do clean well normally, but since you were coming, Commander, we cleaned more thoroughly than usual.......”

“No, not that.”

Perhaps he was troubled that the matter of cleaning had been exposed.

I looked at Seungju, who answered in a panic, and asked.

“Wasn’t the path to the martial hall a cliff?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Seungju go ahh and compose his expression before answering.

“It was like that when you came before, Commander. But going back and forth by climbing a cliff every time would be dangerous no matter how awakened someone is, would it not?”

“Ah, true.”

“We have made one relatively safe path leading to that martial hall.”

However.

If that was the case, I could only find it even more strange.

“Why would you leave a path you went through the trouble of making unused for a while?”

“Th-that is to say. We do clean normally.......”

“No, not that. Weren’t Myoyangsa the ones handling food supply and material deliveries to the martial hall?”

After Seohwan and Miho promised to cooperate with the Legion.

The Legion had been taking responsibility for all food and supplies needed for the martial artists of Cheonsan Martial Hall to live.

Originally, they had been quite powerful.

Without the debuff caused by my cooking, the power of this world that seals strong beings would activate again, and they would have no choice but to fall asleep again at any moment.

That was why I had been steadily making [bad food] that would reduce their ability values and supplying it to the martial hall.

“Myoyangsa was handling that supply, so I don’t think that path would have any reason to go unused.”

“That was indeed the case until not long ago. However.”

Seungju smiled lightly and looked at those behind me.

“It is thanks to Master Seohwan’s fellow disciples being considerate of us.”

“Considerate?”

“They said that it would be burdensome for us, who are already busy protecting the temple, to personally move the supplies. They said they could not commit discourtesy toward monks, and that they would come collect the supplies directly.”

The place that gaze turned toward was.

The five beastkin who had come with me.

“After that, we only stored the supplies coming from the Legion. Those who took them away were the people behind you...... the martial artists who came out from the martial hall. It was truly something to be grateful for.”

“......Is that so?”

“This works out well. We were just supplying the goods that arrived before, so you can take them along with you on the way this time.”

If one listened only up to that point.

It sounded like a nice story between people being considerate of each other.

“Thanks to their consideration, we also had no occasion to go near that martial hall for a while. With this opportunity, we will be going that way again for the first time in a long while.”

“......Hmm.”

After hearing those words.

I glanced sideways at those five and thought.

'......So that’s how it is.'