“If you want to talk, then fine.”
Yi Byul disengages her rumbling magic power.
Everything is going according to plan.
I want to maintain a non-hostile atmosphere between us. For me to make a successful attempt on getting to talk to her, Cheok Jungyeong must be out of the picture. I am not sure about Droon, but I prefer him not to be here to hear our conversation. “My appearance is abrupt and full of suspicion, but I beg you to give me the benefit of the doubt.”
I remain lying flat on the ground, my limbs outstretched and my belly fully exposed.
“So what do you want to talk about?” Yi Byul keeps on opening and closing her hand.
I see that she also has habits outside of TNE and TRH. Now, isn’t that infinitely interesting? “You don’t mind me standing up, right? Nah~! I guess I will remain lying on the dirt to show my willingness not to fight.”
“I don’t like wasting time, so tell me. What do you want to talk about?” Yi Byul’s words have a hint of subconscious magic power to them. She is not even Aileen the Human Dragon! I think her words bearing such pressure are due to the influence of her fighting spirit.
I get comfortable with lying on the dirt. I place my other hand just under my temple as support to elevate my eyes a little bit higher. I cross my legs and place my other hand just on my waist.
“I want to talk about a lot of things, but we aren’t in the right place. I say we reschedule this talk for some other time when we have a proper venue, now.” I sense no emotion from Yi Byul, the so-called Boss of Chameleon Troupe.
Even with the combination of and , I am reading nothing. Her Siren’s Necklace must be countering my observation abilities. If Hajin is here, it will be different though.
“Hyon! Cheok Jungyeon is coming at your 8 o’clock!” Yeonha’s voice echoes in my earpiece.
I usher my magic power with a thought. I cast [Not Here] on myself, vanishing into nothingness, and then reappearing at another location. Jungyeon’s fist hits me squarely on the side, but not before [Not Here] engulfs me. However, I don’t feel any damage being inflicted on me despite his enormous fist landing. It must be the result of 1 microsecond of Invulnerability from the extended effects of [Not Here].
“Now, now… Please, I did not come for a fight!” I fiddle on the [Orb of Solomon] just under my robe. I guess this thing is not so invincible that it can neutralize the Seat of Violet’s, Droon’s Gift so perfectly.
Well, the [Orb of Solomon] can only work on Droon because his Gift is information-based. “If it isn’t the reincarnation of the Hero of Goryeo! What an honor!” It doesn’t hurt to feed the big guy’s ego, while I worm in on Yi Byul’s thought process.
Words. They are such powerful tools. Unknowingly, a smirk rises from my lips without my consent. The only reason I can perceive them is that I don’t see any wrongness in my smiling and being excited at all.
Yes! I am excited and thrilled.
“To think that the Chameleon Troupe is this bold! Are we really going to do this? Fight? I’d rather not…” I voice my reluctance to battle as verbally as possible.
I did not forget to take note of the two’s reactions to my mention of Jungyeon’s inheritance as Goryeo’s strongest sword, and my mention of Chameleon Troupe. Cheok Jungyeon’s face warps into its battle hungriness. Yi Byul only has a slight reaction which she splendidly is able to hide, but not from me.
***
Droon is panicking. Despite sending an SOS to Jungyeon, he still feels rattled by what happened seconds ago. His system is being hacked. And no, he is not pertaining to the technology he peruses but his very Gift.
“How is that possible!?” He bites his nails in anxiety, unable to think of how he is neutralized so easily. In the blink of an eye, he is struck with a heavy blow to his self-esteem. “They better be okay, or else, I won’t be able to live through it!”
Meanwhile, Cheok Jungyeong has totally different thoughts. If Droon’s state of mind is in panic, Jungyeong is in total meditative calm. “Lady Boss, I did hit him, right?” He asks just to make sure.
“Yes. It is a solid hit.” Yi Byul affirms her observation. Her perception is about Jungyeon’s range if not better with further augmentation of magic power. “Tell me your analysis.”
Jungyeong doesn’t even need a second more to process a response. “As you can see, I was able to hit him just under his ribs. He did not even use any martial arts. If it is magic, I can say it is not that either. Maybe it is Gift-related. Normally, he should have exploded into a bloody mess when my fist connected.”
Yi Byul offers a counterargument of her own. “We cannot be sure that it is a Gift. There is a lack of movement from his magic power. If there is, then his magic power must also have the attributes of concealment.”
“Wow~! Isn’t that interesting? An undetectable magic power. This guy is like the perfect assassin. Who did you piss off, Lady Boss? Anyways, I am pumped up!” Jungyeong pounds his fist, summoning black gauntlets over his hands. “It looks like we have a fight on our hands.”
“Hey, I just want to talk!”
Cheok Jungyeong ignores the plea of his opponent-to-be. “I am Cheok Jungyeong! The strongest sword! The Seat of Red! Tell me your name, stranger!”
“I… am Savant of Sloth…” Savant introduces himself to Jungyeong.
***
The only thing I can do now is to make the best out of my situation. Cheok Jungyeong is so much of a battle freak it is scaring me. It is a mystery how Hajin is able to rein in Jungyeon in TNE as a coworker.
Jungyeon comes at me with a single leap, his right fist pulsating with red magic power like blood. I stand my ground. If there is one thing I am confident to be superior to others then it is my bluffing ability.
I anticipate Jungyeon’s attack through my . It is a straightforward punch coming from the front. This is very much like his personality. I draw a Shamshir, a weapon in between a short sword and a dagger— basically a saber, from ’s open zipper-like mouth.
With Arachnid Gloves’ ability, I maintain my grip on the weapon with strength. I use my [Parry Art] against Jungyeon’s coming fist. I fluidly redirect him to the side. While at it, I stretched my right foot to intercept his left foot. In colloquial terms— I want to trip him. Tripping such a giant will be naturally an impossibility for me, but I am more than just my stats.
Jungyeon’s stat attributes are so many times superior to mine. His core strength as a martial artist is on insane levels. I cannot easily trip him just by stretching my foot forward.
I cast on the leg that I intercept with my right foot. is slowly becoming my favorite move. I will be using it every time I find the chance if it doesn’t consume so much concentration. The payoff though is freaking awesome.
Jungyeon rolls to the side. He can hardly stop with the mass he has and the force his punch carries, it takes him some time to gather his bearings until finally he is face planted to a tree.
“Oops~!” I taunt Yi Byul, showing her how easily I just humiliated her comrade. “He tripped,” I emphasize.
I continue on my bluff. “If we are to fight. Then it will be to the death! Heh~!” I suppress a pretend cackle to drive home my erratic and eccentric personality. I don’t see myself living another day against both Cheok Junyeong and Yi Byul. They better buy the ‘I am superior bullshit’ shtick and if they don’t, then it comes to worse. I pray that Hajin comes guns blazing to save my ass if the worse does happen.
“You wanted to talk. Tell me when and where.”
“Great,” I clap. “After the Festival of Heroes, let’s meet again! I don’t know about the ‘where’ part yet, so please have patience. We will contact you when the time is right!”
I flamboyantly stretch my arms outside and raise my shoulders. It is a practiced move on my part to express frivolity. At that moment, I see a blur from my peripheral vision. I hastily activate [Not Here].
***
Jungyeon is one who loves battles. However, he isn’t shy about assassination either. It is just another method of killing, another part of martial arts, and another way of fighting. So there is really nothing wrong with sneaking on an opponent.
To be frank, though, it is slightly not to his taste. Just slightly though.
As such, when he is able to erase his presence as much as possible and subdue his killing intent, he cannot imagine how exhilarating it is when his fist finally connects to the strangely strong masked man.
Jungyeon swings his fist perfectly adjacent to Savant’s neck, aiming to decapitate the scrawny little dude with brute strength. His fist like a hammer strikes horizontally. He did not even bother with technique, not daring to waste the smallest microsecond against an imperceptibly dangerous and lithe opponent.
He can feel the bare impact of a living person on his gauntlet-covered fist connecting. He imagines a splatter of red, too aware of the spectacle of weaklings dying on his merciless brutality. Of course, he also looks forward to the reaction of the enemy.
“He is strong. He definitely has a bag of tricks waiting for me. Show me.” His inner thoughts contradict the very sight in front of him. “My fist is about to dig in his neck! He is still not reacting! Is he this weak?”
Unfortunately, his fist does not ultimately connect.
Savant vanishes into thin air.
“Did I get him?” He voices his confusion.
“No,” Yi Byul speaks her thoughts aloud. “You didn’t. He counterattacked at the last moment… and then he disappeared.” She smacks her lips, dissatisfied by the outcome. She cannot glean more about the Gift and the identity of the mysterious individual who calls himself Savant.
Cheok Jungyeon feels light-headed. Blood is pooling just underneath him. There is a lot of red.
A dagger is embedded into his thigh where a lot of blood is pouring. Strangely, Jungyeon doesn’t feel any pain at all as if his whole thigh is under the effects of painkiller.
“If you want to talk, then fine.”
Yi Byul disengages her rumbling magic power.
Everything is going according to plan.
I want to maintain a non-hostile atmosphere between us. For me to make a successful attempt on getting to talk to her, Cheok Jungyeong must be out of the picture. I am not sure about Droon, but I prefer him not to be here to hear our conversation. “My appearance is abrupt and full of suspicion, but I beg you to give me the benefit of the doubt.”
I remain lying flat on the ground, my limbs outstretched and my belly fully exposed.
“So what do you want to talk about?” Yi Byul keeps on opening and closing her hand.
I see that she also has habits outside of TNE and TRH. Now, isn’t that infinitely interesting? “You don’t mind me standing up, right? Nah~! I guess I will remain lying on the dirt to show my willingness not to fight.”
“I don’t like wasting time, so tell me. What do you want to talk about?” Yi Byul’s words have a hint of subconscious magic power to them. She is not even Aileen the Human Dragon! I think her words bearing such pressure are due to the influence of her fighting spirit.
I get comfortable with lying on the dirt. I place my other hand just under my temple as support to elevate my eyes a little bit higher. I cross my legs and place my other hand just on my waist.
“I want to talk about a lot of things, but we aren’t in the right place. I say we reschedule this talk for some other time when we have a proper venue, now.” I sense no emotion from Yi Byul, the so-called Boss of Chameleon Troupe.
Even with the combination of and , I am reading nothing. Her Siren’s Necklace must be countering my observation abilities. If Hajin is here, it will be different though.
“Hyon! Cheok Jungyeon is coming at your 8 o’clock!” Yeonha’s voice echoes in my earpiece.
I usher my magic power with a thought. I cast [Not Here] on myself, vanishing into nothingness, and then reappearing at another location. Jungyeon’s fist hits me squarely on the side, but not before [Not Here] engulfs me. However, I don’t feel any damage being inflicted on me despite his enormous fist landing. It must be the result of 1 microsecond of Invulnerability from the extended effects of [Not Here].
“Now, now… Please, I did not come for a fight!” I fiddle on the [Orb of Solomon] just under my robe. I guess this thing is not so invincible that it can neutralize the Seat of Violet’s, Droon’s Gift so perfectly.
Well, the [Orb of Solomon] can only work on Droon because his Gift is information-based. “If it isn’t the reincarnation of the Hero of Goryeo! What an honor!” It doesn’t hurt to feed the big guy’s ego, while I worm in on Yi Byul’s thought process.
Words. They are such powerful tools. Unknowingly, a smirk rises from my lips without my consent. The only reason I can perceive them is that I don’t see any wrongness in my smiling and being excited at all.
Yes! I am excited and thrilled.
“To think that the Chameleon Troupe is this bold! Are we really going to do this? Fight? I’d rather not…” I voice my reluctance to battle as verbally as possible.
I did not forget to take note of the two’s reactions to my mention of Jungyeon’s inheritance as Goryeo’s strongest sword, and my mention of Chameleon Troupe. Cheok Jungyeon’s face warps into its battle hungriness. Yi Byul only has a slight reaction which she splendidly is able to hide, but not from me.
***
Droon is panicking. Despite sending an SOS to Jungyeon, he still feels rattled by what happened seconds ago. His system is being hacked. And no, he is not pertaining to the technology he peruses but his very Gift.
“How is that possible!?” He bites his nails in anxiety, unable to think of how he is neutralized so easily. In the blink of an eye, he is struck with a heavy blow to his self-esteem. “They better be okay, or else, I won’t be able to live through it!”
Meanwhile, Cheok Jungyeong has totally different thoughts. If Droon’s state of mind is in panic, Jungyeong is in total meditative calm. “Lady Boss, I did hit him, right?” He asks just to make sure.
“Yes. It is a solid hit.” Yi Byul affirms her observation. Her perception is about Jungyeon’s range if not better with further augmentation of magic power. “Tell me your analysis.”
Jungyeong doesn’t even need a second more to process a response. “As you can see, I was able to hit him just under his ribs. He did not even use any martial arts. If it is magic, I can say it is not that either. Maybe it is Gift-related. Normally, he should have exploded into a bloody mess when my fist connected.”
Yi Byul offers a counterargument of her own. “We cannot be sure that it is a Gift. There is a lack of movement from his magic power. If there is, then his magic power must also have the attributes of concealment.”
“Wow~! Isn’t that interesting? An undetectable magic power. This guy is like the perfect assassin. Who did you piss off, Lady Boss? Anyways, I am pumped up!” Jungyeong pounds his fist, summoning black gauntlets over his hands. “It looks like we have a fight on our hands.”
“Hey, I just want to talk!”
Cheok Jungyeong ignores the plea of his opponent-to-be. “I am Cheok Jungyeong! The strongest sword! The Seat of Red! Tell me your name, stranger!”
“I… am Savant of Sloth…” Savant introduces himself to Jungyeong.
***
The only thing I can do now is to make the best out of my situation. Cheok Jungyeong is so much of a battle freak it is scaring me. It is a mystery how Hajin is able to rein in Jungyeon in TNE as a coworker.
Jungyeon comes at me with a single leap, his right fist pulsating with red magic power like blood. I stand my ground. If there is one thing I am confident to be superior to others then it is my bluffing ability.
I anticipate Jungyeon’s attack through my . It is a straightforward punch coming from the front. This is very much like his personality. I draw a Shamshir, a weapon in between a short sword and a dagger— basically a saber, from ’s open zipper-like mouth.
With Arachnid Gloves’ ability, I maintain my grip on the weapon with strength. I use my [Parry Art] against Jungyeon’s coming fist. I fluidly redirect him to the side. While at it, I stretched my right foot to intercept his left foot. In colloquial terms— I want to trip him. Tripping such a giant will be naturally an impossibility for me, but I am more than just my stats.
Jungyeon’s stat attributes are so many times superior to mine. His core strength as a martial artist is on insane levels. I cannot easily trip him just by stretching my foot forward.
I cast on the leg that I intercept with my right foot. is slowly becoming my favorite move. I will be using it every time I find the chance if it doesn’t consume so much concentration. The payoff though is freaking awesome.
Jungyeon rolls to the side. He can hardly stop with the mass he has and the force his punch carries, it takes him some time to gather his bearings until finally he is face planted to a tree.
“Oops~!” I taunt Yi Byul, showing her how easily I just humiliated her comrade. “He tripped,” I emphasize.
I continue on my bluff. “If we are to fight. Then it will be to the death! Heh~!” I suppress a pretend cackle to drive home my erratic and eccentric personality. I don’t see myself living another day against both Cheok Junyeong and Yi Byul. They better buy the ‘I am superior bullshit’ shtick and if they don’t, then it comes to worse. I pray that Hajin comes guns blazing to save my ass if the worse does happen.
“You wanted to talk. Tell me when and where.”
“Great,” I clap. “After the Festival of Heroes, let’s meet again! I don’t know about the ‘where’ part yet, so please have patience. We will contact you when the time is right!”
I flamboyantly stretch my arms outside and raise my shoulders. It is a practiced move on my part to express frivolity. At that moment, I see a blur from my peripheral vision. I hastily activate [Not Here].
***
Jungyeon is one who loves battles. However, he isn’t shy about assassination either. It is just another method of killing, another part of martial arts, and another way of fighting. So there is really nothing wrong with sneaking on an opponent.
To be frank, though, it is slightly not to his taste. Just slightly though.
As such, when he is able to erase his presence as much as possible and subdue his killing intent, he cannot imagine how exhilarating it is when his fist finally connects to the strangely strong masked man.
Jungyeon swings his fist perfectly adjacent to Savant’s neck, aiming to decapitate the scrawny little dude with brute strength. His fist like a hammer strikes horizontally. He did not even bother with technique, not daring to waste the smallest microsecond against an imperceptibly dangerous and lithe opponent.
He can feel the bare impact of a living person on his gauntlet-covered fist connecting. He imagines a splatter of red, too aware of the spectacle of weaklings dying on his merciless brutality. Of course, he also looks forward to the reaction of the enemy.
“He is strong. He definitely has a bag of tricks waiting for me. Show me.” His inner thoughts contradict the very sight in front of him. “My fist is about to dig in his neck! He is still not reacting! Is he this weak?”
Unfortunately, his fist does not ultimately connect.
Savant vanishes into thin air.
“Did I get him?” He voices his confusion.
“No,” Yi Byul speaks her thoughts aloud. “You didn’t. He counterattacked at the last moment… and then he disappeared.” She smacks her lips, dissatisfied by the outcome. She cannot glean more about the Gift and the identity of the mysterious individual who calls himself Savant.
Cheok Jungyeon feels light-headed. Blood is pooling just underneath him. There is a lot of red.
A dagger is embedded into his thigh where a lot of blood is pouring. Strangely, Jungyeon doesn’t feel any pain at all as if his whole thigh is under the effects of painkiller.
