Chapter 765: They Say a Soldier’s Greatest Enemy Is an Officer

What had appeared before the disciples was a small trace of energy, too weak to exert even the slightest physical force.

The most it could do was reveal its form and convey its will.

“......Master.”

......But.

That was enough.

“Master showed us what was happening here.”

“.......”

Four martial artists and two martial arts instructors had suddenly appeared before me.

As they knocked away the blades rushing toward me, they spoke.

Only after hearing those words was I able to understand the situation.

‘The Master’s will was mixed into the energy that broke through the seal......!’

The will of the stars had been dominant, which was why I had not noticed.

But the Master of the martial hall had secretly mixed his own will into it as well.

“......I thought you were a fool trying to release Master’s seal.”

“But you weren’t, were you?”

I had deliberately avoided properly explaining the reason behind my actions to them.

It was easier to approach this place if Mirinae misunderstood the meaning behind what I was doing.

They had distrusted me because they did not know that.

However.

“If that is the case!”

CLANG!

They shouted as they knocked the swords away.

“Then there is no reason we cannot fight together.”

With those words, they moved in front of me.

However.

It seemed they had rushed here in quite a hurry.

“Ah...... even so, this really does feel like complete madness.”

“To oppose the evil dragon that was once our Master, huh.”

“Y-Yeah....... I feel a little uneasy about it too.”

They did not seem to have fully processed what kind of being they were about to fight.

Nor did they seem to have properly steeled themselves to fight such a being.

They truly looked as though they had run here on impulse.

However.

“We’ve already been standing still for far too long.”

Miyang had briefly worn a frightened expression.

But she soon gave an awkward smile and spoke.

“If we choose to remain stagnant any longer, Hwan might catch up to us. That would be a little embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”

“......That is true.”

“If so, then I suppose there is only one answer.”

I did not really understand it myself.

But perhaps that conversation had helped them make up their minds.

“We have no choice but to try......!”

Having resolved themselves.

They tightened their grips on their weapons.

PAAAAAAK!

Six swords rushed toward them.

One sword each charged toward the six martial artists.

Seeing that, I shouted in alarm.

“Be careful! Those are not ordinary swords!”

[Sword control], in which martial enlightenment was infused into a sword and used to wield it.

I had just come to understand its power all too painfully.

‘It was an attack that even I could not properly block even once.’

On the other hand.

I had fought the martial artists protecting me now.

The battle against the five of them.

I had been the victor in that battle.

Sarin, the only one who had not fought with all her strength at the time, was not here.

Even all five of them together had been unable to defeat me.

Even if the four of them were joined by Seohwan and Miho.

Blocking the sword control that I had barely managed to withstand even once should have been far too difficult.......

CLANG!

That was what I thought.

“You say they’re not ordinary swords?”

CLANG!

“We probably know that better than you do......!”

Unlike what I had expected.

‘......They’re blocking them?’

The six martial artists.

Were holding their ground against the swords rushing toward them.

***

CLANG, CLANG!

It was an attack that had forced me to let go of my weapon every time I blocked it.

Yet they knocked those attacks away again and again.

‘I see.’

I stared at them with my mouth hanging open.

‘The power contained in those swords is not that great.’

Right.

To begin with.

The speed and force of that sword control were not particularly impressive.

Anyone without knowledge of martial arts would probably think an attack swung by an average low-level awakened was far faster and stronger.

Even so, the reason that sword control was so frightening.

Was the martial enlightenment contained within it.

The outstanding martial art, whose very principles I could not even understand, that simply turned the enemy’s force back against them whenever its own strength was lacking.

‘When it comes to martial arts, they are no slouches either.’

I stared blankly at Seohwan.

[Awakened - Seohwan]

[Martial Arts Level - 70]

My own [Martial Arts] level, despite training quite diligently within the unit, had only just reached the high thirties.

Among the awakened, someone at the very top.

Corporal Jeon Gwangil’s martial arts level had only recently entered the sixties, if I remembered correctly.

‘In reality, martial arts levels probably did not exist in their world.’

Most likely.

That martial arts level was simply a number assigned by the System.

And.

The fact that the System had created and attached a word called ‘level’.

That was quite meaningful.

‘......The System’s purpose is to create a level 100 awakened.’

The former master of this land, who had vanished.

And the people who had lived on this land afterward.

The purpose of the System was to gather all of their wills and, in the end, create a new master of this land...... a transcendent being.

That destination was what people called the maximum level, level 100.

The System was ultimately one method for allowing someone to reach transcendence.

And.

‘Martial arts were the same.’

Mirinae, in the form of that old man, had said that in his world, the only original method of reaching transcendence was the path of the ‘beast’.

However, the old man hated the vicious cycle in which he, the strongest beast, ended up devouring his own descendants.

So he created martial arts.

Martial arts, just like the System.

Were techniques created with the goal of reaching transcendence.

In other words.

‘Martial arts levels and awakened levels are cut from the same cloth.’

Awakened gained power from fragments of an ancient transcendent.

Meanwhile, martial arts sought transcendence through enlightenment alone.

So the two would not necessarily increase in strength at the same rate.

At the same level, the awakened side would probably be far stronger.

But that was not what mattered.

‘In the end, both are techniques that aim for the same destination, reaching 100.’

If my prediction was correct.

The moment that martial arts level reached 100.......

That person would undergo ascension and become an immortal.

Even Seohwan had only thirty levels left before reaching that level 100.

In other words.

When it came to martial arts.

‘They are people who are not far from reaching transcendence!’

Sword control.

The martial arts contained within it were undoubtedly on a level beyond anything I could compare myself to.

‘But the same is true for them.’

If they had any particular weakness.

It would be their physical abilities, which had declined from their prime.

‘But the same applies here.’

The sword control that the sealed Mirinae was forcibly using.

Its speed and force were also absurdly weak compared to what Mirinae had originally been capable of.

‘Their strength has weakened...... but their martial enlightenment has not disappeared.’

Sword control and the six beastkin.

They were fighting under equal conditions.

That was why.

“......As expected of Master!”

Unlike me, who had been forced to suffer because I could not understand the enlightenment contained in the sword control.

“Even after becoming an evil dragon and losing his reason......!”

“To think he would still use such, such profound techniques!”

They at least recognized the principles of martial arts contained within it.

And possessed martial arts strong enough to respond to them.

{You bastards......!}

{How dare you reject your Master’s will!!!}

After the sword control was knocked away several times.

The enraged Mirinaes of the [stars] shouted.

“Ah, I really am starting to think coming here was a mistake......!”

The enormous hostility filled the black space.

However.

“Thousand Mountain Twelve Formations, deploy!”

“......!”

The moment Miyang shouted that.

They all began moving at once.

They found their positions so naturally that it seemed effortless, then took up fixed stances.

‘A formation.’

It was a technique I had heard about from Lee Sanga.

A cooperative technique they had apparently used when infiltrating the Church to rescue me.

According to what Lee Sanga had told me at the time.

That formation had originally been designed for twelve people.

Among the thirteen disciples of Cheonsan Martial Hall, Miho had been a martial scholar, while Woojin had been a shaman.

So it must have been a martial art designed for the remaining eleven disciples.

And the Master of the martial hall.

Twelve people in total.

And because of that.

‘The closer they get to twelve people, the closer they get to its original power.’

In the past.

When they used it beneath the Church, there had been five of them.

Now, there were six.

Someone might think.

What difference could adding only one more person make.......

CLAAAAAAAAANG!!!

‘......!’

But anyone who understood martial arts would give a different answer.

When there had been five of them and when there were six.

Even though the difference in number was only one person.

The difference in power was nearly double.

‘If that is the case......!’

And.

If they were blocking the sword control that effectively.

“You people!”

Then what I had to do was obvious.

“I’m leaving the defense to you!”

“......Right!”

“So you!”

As though they, too, wanted something from me.

They all shouted at once.

“Cook!”

[Soul Cooking]

The mental strength that had been consumed trying to block the sword control.

I poured all of that concentration back into the soul cooking.

***

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM......!

The flames pouring from the various cooking tools grew far more intense.

The cooking process using souls as ingredients accelerated rapidly.

“Legion Commander......!”

The people who continued protecting me.

Shin Jong shouted while glancing toward me as he swung his weapon furiously.

“I know you’re concentrating and all.......”

CLANG!

“But how much longer is that soul cooking going to take?”

At those words.

I answered while pouring my entire mind into the cooking.

“Just a little longer.”

“......Oh, is that so? Then make it as fast as possible!”

At that.

I answered with slight confusion.

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

Right now.

They were protecting me so well that even I found it impressive to watch.

I would not say they had plenty of leeway.

But it looked as though they could hold out for at least a little longer.

However, separate from that situation.

“......Forgive me for rushing you. But we do not have time.”

They.

Were clearly desperate about something.

“These swords of Master’s are not the problem.”

CLANG!

They knocked the swords away and spoke.

“......We were able to come here because of the energy that leaked from Master’s seal. And.”

“Not all of that energy belonged to Master......!”

“We saw where the energy that did not belong to Master went.”

Shadows fell over Miyang, Shin Jong, and Gyeonsul’s faces.

Right.

They had come as reinforcements to help me.

But...... originally.

I had not been the one who sent the request for reinforcements.

“They are coming.”

The silent man.

Gyeyu spoke while swinging his twin swords.

“Eldest Senior Brother is coming.”

Only after hearing that.

Did I understand what they were worried about.

‘So that is what the energy that burst from the seal earlier was aiming for.’

This world was practically Mirinae’s territory.

If Mirinae’s energy leaked from the weakened seal.

Then at least within this world.

It might be capable of moving other powerful beings who should normally have remained sealed.

And.

They would know very well about the other ‘powerful beings who should remain sealed’ inside this Gate.

They were saying the cooking had to be completed before that person arrived.

“......You don’t need to worry about that.”

“......?”

......In truth.

I was not the one who had called them here.

“There are people I can trust over there.”

But I, too.

Had already given an order.

***

[Chef : I am relaying this to all Legion members in the martial hall!]

[Chef : Something strange is going to happen outside the martial hall.]

[Chef : Stop it with everything you have!]

A translucent window floated in the air.

“......Uh, um. So.”

A woman was reading the message displayed in that window.

And she was one of the ‘all Legion members in the martial hall’ mentioned in the message.

“What he means by stop it...... is that he means ‘that’, right?”

Squad Leader Lee Sanga scratched her cheek as she spoke.

“......Hmm.”

“P-Probably......?”

“Rather than probably, I would say there is a very high chance that is exactly what he means.”

At Squad Leader Lee Sanga’s words.

The others answered with awkward smiles.

The Legion [N O V E L I G H T] members who had come to the martial hall together with their Legion Commander.

Even the Legion Commander himself had not known what he would need to do here.

So naturally.

They had not received any advance warning about what might happen here either.

“Well...... it’s not like this is the first or second time something like this has happened.”

That was why.

Even as they gripped their weapons, they could only laugh in disbelief.

After all.

“Youngjun definitely wasn’t like this when he was still a soldier.”

“Maybe it’s because the Legion Commander...... became an officer?”

“They say a soldier’s greatest enemy is an officer.”

At the mountain gate where they stood.

Four men and women were approaching.

From their bodies.

[Combat Power Meter]

“Don’t you think he gives unreasonable orders a little too casually?”

An extremely dense dark-blue mist.

Was ominously surging.