Chapter 98

“Pardon? From here? How?”

Dumbfounded, Vulcan asked back.

What Yur Dong-bin was suggesting was defying common sense. Vulcan thought it was impossible.

Vulcan looked at the Bae Su Jin’s main base again.

He then checked the distance from his current location to the target.

‘… It is really far.’

Vulcan thought there was no way to do it, even for Yur Dong-bin.

Vulcan was well aware that Yur Dong-bin was strong.

He probably possessed astonishing power, enough to defeat any challengers from Act 2.

However, Yur Dong-bin was a master swordsman. Ultimately, he was not a mage.

He was the kind who could demonstrate greater power in close distance, not from a long distance like this.

So, Vulcan thought it would be difficult for Yur Dong-bin to deal significant damage from such a far distance.

‘Is he bluffing?’

Vulcan looked at Yur Dong-bin’s face.

The man’s face was unwavering just like how it was when Vulcan first summoned him.

Vulcan thought Yur Dong-bin would not make a joke or say something he didn’t really thought was possible.

Yur Dong-bin said,

Vulcan just stared at Yur Dong-bin in silence.

Vulcan nodded and stepped back to go stand just behind Yur Dong-bin.

Yur Dong-bin was a swordsman with level 999. Yur Dong-bin was at a far greater height than Vulcan, and he was suggesting that this was the better way. Vulcan did not feel any reason to object to it.

Vulcan just needed to sit back and watch Yur Dong-bin at work while eating a cake.

‘Still… I wish he didn’t spend too much of the Vitality Marbles.’

Vulcan felt a great loss every time the Vitality Marbles were spent because he collected them through blood and sweat.

He earned them so he could spend them. However, he collected them through excruciating process over a very long time, yet the marbles were being spent in matter of days. It was hard for Vulcan to not feel a great sense of loss while watching the marbles being spent so quickly.

Vulcan could not say this out loud, so he said it again inside,

‘Blade God… Please spend your power efficiently.’

Vulcan looked at Yur Dong-bin. He was diligently preparing for something.

Meanwhile, Yur Dong-bin didn’t seem to care if he was being stared at or not. He just closed his eyes and focused his mind.

For a long while, Yur Dong-bn the Blade God was like a tranquil water. He suddenly opened his eyes big and threw his blade to the sky.

In exhilarating speed, his treasured sword crossed the sky without making any sound.

The blade reached the height where it was too far up in the sky for anyone to even notice it, and Yur Dong-bin’s powerful internal energy started to accumulate around the blade.

Woooooong

At the same time, Vitality Marbles were sucked into Kina Kina the beast bird’s mouth in fearsome rate.

Watching this, Vulcan closed his eyes and thought,

‘Let’s just empty my mind.’

* * *

“I don’t like this.”

Rex Ruburo, the Commander of Bae Su Jin, was tapping at the desk. 

He was cringing big time. It was as if he was taking a walk and suddenly had invisible spider web tangled up on his face.

Anyone could tell that he was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

To not fan his anger, the members of Bae Su Jin all tended to their stations and worked hard.

Thanks to that, Bae Su Jin was perfectly prepared for the battle against the enemy who going to arrive soon.

“I don’t like this.”

However, it was not like being prepared was going to be enough to make him feel better.

Rex wondered if he should go grab a random mage and let out his anger. However, he thought it would be a bad idea to worsen the atmosphere to a more violent mood before the big battle, so he folded his idea.

Instead, he talked to Marake, one of bosses of the Bae Su Jin and also his blood brother.

“That bastard… When did you say he will be arriving?”

“He is probably almost here. I heard that he will be here within one hour even if it takes a long time.”

“That’s what the bastards from Oracles said?”

“Yes. They said they are certain.”

“Tsk. Helmout died after trusting those bastards’ words.”

“…”

Rex Ruburo, his big brother, was putting it in such a way. Marake didn’t think he could say anything in response to counter his opinion.

Marake kept his silence.

Like that, a moment passed. In the end, Rex Ruburo was not able to suppress the anger boiling inside. He roared.

“Do your work right you bastards! He is going to be here soon! Didn’t you hear it! Everyone keep on drinking potions and pour in mana into the mana tank! Got it? You guys won’t be of much help during the fight, so at least draw mana!”

His words were very insulting.

However, nobody was able to talk back at him.

All members of Bae Su Jin were grand mages. Each of them was a talent that may or may not be born in an entire dimension. However, now that they ended up in Bae Su Jin, a place that was regarded as the sewer of Act 2, there was no way that these mages would have had any pride left in them.

Instead, to them, the magic knowledge or research results that were occasionally shared by the Commander or bosses were several tens of thousands of times more important.

Of course, the fact that they were afraid of their commander was a significant factor.

“Damn it!”

Kwang!

Rex Ruburo kicked the desk. Unable to stand still, he walked around the area. He then sat down at the chair again and tapped at the desk again.

He was letting his nervousness shown in plain sight.

Watching this, Marake sighed inside.

‘… Was hunting Vulcan a bad move from the start.’

Vulcan the Player.

Marake never thought Vulcan would prove to be such a powerful opponent and stand before them like this. If he knew, then he would have never got involved with the idea of hunting Vulcan.

While thinking about this, Marake soon shook his head and denied the thought.

‘It is not like we knew this was going to happen.’

Nobody could have thought that things would turn out like this.

After all, Vulcan was just some bastard who had been running around the Lava Field, which wasn’t a high-level hunting ground to begin with. However, it turned out the man was an incredibly powerful one who slaughtered Helmout and seven other members of Bae Su Jin in a battle. As if that was not ridiculous enough, now, after 100 years, Vulcan possessed the power that rivaled the most powerful beings in Act 2.

It was such an unbelievable story that Marake thought he would not have believed it even if he traveled back in time to tell himself this.

However, such a ridiculous thing did happen. Now, Bae Su Jin was in danger.

The area near his eyes were shaking due to anxiety. Marake brushed the side around the eyes and thought about the information that came in from Oracle.

‘Vulcan the Player is currently approaching the Bae Su Jin’s main base. His target is the main base. His combat potential is at least on par with the most powerful beings of Act 2. It is also possible that his power is on par with the Blue Dragon of the west island. Advising prompt preparations.’

Marake would have yelled at the source to not feed them with bullshit if this message came from someone other than Oracle.

However, Oracle had been demonstrating 99% or greater accuracy in information. He couldn’t just dismiss their information as garbage now. Instead, the Bae Su Jin base was under emergency red alert.

Rex Ruburo gathered everyone to the base, not just the members who were in the vicinity, but even the other members who were in far away places.

About two hundred mages gathered at the base, and Rex Ruburo ordered them to fill the mana tank.

Using the mana cannon that they created, he was planning on destroying Vulcan in one shot before he entered the base.

‘If he really is at the height of Blue Dragon, then we will definitely face defeat if we fought him head on! Pull your mana out! We have plenty of potions, so keep on drinking and fill the mana tank!’

Rex Ruburo’s eyes were red like a bull. He continued to whip the members with his words.

The members of Bae Su Jin were well aware that running away was pointless. They knew that they would be hunted down individually and killed by Vulcan if they ran. Because of this, they poured in mana to the tank as if their lives depended on it, and Bae Su Jin was able to accumulate mana in incredible pace.

It would have been no exaggeration to say the mages themselves were made into powders and put in the mana tank.

As result of this, they were able to pour in astonishing amount of mana in the tank before Vulcan arrived. They could not be certain about its power, but they felt that the amount gathered was enough to deal damage to even a god.

Of course, Rex Ruburo was not the kind of man who would be satisfied with just this, so he ordered half of the mages to continue injecting the tank with mana while the other half focused on keeping the mana hidden.

Watching all this at work, Marake thought,

‘No matter how strong that bastard is… It won’t be easy for him to withstand this.’

If this was a head-on battle against the Blue Dragon, Bae Su Jin had no way of winning even with 200 mages. Excluding Rex Ruburo and the bosses, the mages’ average levels couldn’t even reach the Lava Field.

The difference in abilities were too great, so it was accurate to say that the number of mages meant nothing.

The battle would have been like a wolf in middle of a herd of lambs.

Actually, Marake thought it would be more like an onslaught by a lion.

‘However… No matter how powerful the opponent is, if 200 mages had enough time to gather mana and prepare…’

He thought that would be a different story.

He assessed that the fire power gathered by Bae Su Jin at the moment, which was willing to go to the extreme in desperation, would be enough to kill even the Blue Dragon if he was hit pre-emptively. 

Of course, this was just his guess.

It was a naïve thought by someone who had never faced anyone as powerful as the Blue Dragon.

Anyway, Marake never doubted the mana cannon’s power. Instead, he started to worry about something else.

He was worried that Vulcan might run off after noticing the large energy signature of mana.

‘We had it disguised pretty well, but… If he notices it somehow and dodges it, then we will be trapped in here!’

Vulcan had reached the height that was on par with even the strongest of Act 2. Marake thought that fighting Vulcan outside was a ridiculous idea.

If things went wrong like he predicted, it would have put Bae Su Jin at a great disadvantage.

So, Marake desperately hoped that Vulcan would approach the base without hesitation.

Marake hoped that Vulcan would be blinded by his own power and let his guard down.

He hoped that Vulcan would die quietly by the power of the pre-emptive strike that contained the mana from 200 mages of Bae Su Jin.

He desperately hoped for this outcome.

However, it turned out that Marake worried for nothing.

“… Fuck.”

Rex Ruburo cursed.

Looking at the stiff look on the man’s face, Marake wondered what happened, so he walked toward Rex Ruburo to ask him a question.

However, after a brief moment, Marake also realized why Rex Ruburo dropped the f-bomb.

Just like Rex Ruburo, with petrified face, Marake also focused his gaze at the surveillance monitor for the sky.

He noticed a dot. It was exuding blindingly bright blue light, and the dot was slowly getting bigger.

Soon, Marake realized that it was not a dot but a blade containing humungous power. He stuttered in panic.

Other members of Bae Su Jin were reacting the same.

They all just vacantly stared at the screen like doomed people who were petrified to see a nuclear warhead coming down from the sky.

Not even one of them could snap out of it.

Of course, except Rex Ruburo, the Commander of Bae Su Jin.

“Switch the mana cannon to mana shield. Hurry! Do you all want to croak?”

The mages got a grip after hearing the man’s frantic shouting. They all tumbled and quickly switched the mana toward the fortress’s defense system.

Owing to the man’s quick thinking, the fortress was able to form a sturdy shield before the blade came down to strike them.

The blade came from a great height, so they had a bit of time to prepare.

However, that didn’t mean the Bae Su Jin was out of danger.

It was more accurate to say that their troubles just started.

The blade of blue light gradually grew in its fierce intensity as it came closer to the fortress.

It seemed energy blade technique was compressed to the blade by several hundred folds. The blade was surrounded by terrifying power.

Absolutely terrifying pressure could be felt just from looking at the blade, and it collided with the Bae Su Jin’s defense system. After that…

CHUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRNG!

Sharp, destructive sound, loud enough to vaporize the ear drums, exploded from the collision.

The shield was cracking as if it was going to break down immediately. Looking at the shield, Rex Ruburo shouted loudly,

“Don’t spare any mana! If we don’t stop this, we are all dead!”

He rolled up the sleeves and started to pour in his own mana into the tank.

Thick sweat drops fell from the man’s face.

His face was shaking. Rex Ruburo thought,

‘This is inconceivable!’

To avoid a disaster like this, he tried his best to avoid bastards who he thought might be too much to handle.

He thought he had been doing well so far by staying below a suitable limit. However, just one erroneous decision lead to this predicament. 

He thought about when he received the information about Vulcan for the very first time.

A mutant Player. The first Player ever to arrive in the Act 2.

A complete newbie who still has the protective blessing. No alliances. A bastard who roams around alone. Rex Ruburo thought about how overjoyed he was to hear about Vulcan.

The risk was close to null, yet the value as a research material was unbelievable. Rex Ruburo could not just let this one pass.

It could be said Rex Ruburo made an obvious decision.

Yet…

‘That small fry… It had only been 150 years. To think that he would grow so much!’

Rex regretted his decision from that day.

He wished he could go back in time and slap the hell out of himself.

However, there was no way to turn all this back.

He threw away useless thoughts and poured in everything he had into the defense system.

His life was at stake.

It was not the right time for him to get his mind all tangled up with thoughts about what happened in the past.

* * *

“…”

Yur Dong-bin the Blade God tossed out the comment casually as if he just returned from taking a stroll around a mountain. Meanwhile, Vulcan was absolutely shocked. It was difficult for him to even open his mouth. He barely managed to open his mouth and said…