CH 267.

Shortly after the first attack was over, another group of monsters appeared.

Without hesitation, Kim Seon-Hyeok started fighting and soon, he got rid of the second group as quickly as he did the first. 

This was just the beginning.

As if all the flying monsters throughout the West had gathered in one place, flying monsters continued to flock towards them. 

An endless stream of demons continuously attacked the pair. 

However, just because it was teeming with monsters didn’t mean they were particularly threatening. At least, that's what Kim Seon-Hyeok thought until he saw Devon acting abnormally. 

Screech. 

Devon looked very tired after enduring extreme steering maneuvers. He was no longer vigorously flapping his wings as he had done when they first entered the West. 

“These bastards. They weren’t targeting me. From the start, they were targeting Devon.”

Seon-Hyeok thought it was pointless for the demonic monsters to continuously charge at them. But in fact, their goal was to exhaust Devon. 

And it seemed like they had, in actuality, almost fulfilled their purpose.

While the oddly heavy Western air had no effect on Kim Seon-Hyeok and Marek, it had an effect on Devon.

That, along with the accumulated fatigue from repeated battles and rapid maneuvers, was making it difficult for him to maintain flight.

Although they tried to hold out as much as possible with Atiya, even that had its limits. 

In the end, Kim Seon-Hyeok had no choice but to have the exhausted Devon land somewhere. And almost as if they had been waiting, the flying monsters that had been chasing after them rushed towards the group.

This was the beginning of the real hardship. 

Trying to keep in mind that the Demon King could appear at any moment while fighting off the endless stream of demons was very tiring. 

“Are you still having fun?”

Marek clicked his tongue as he asked the question. Seon-Hyeok shrugged in response. 

They had to dismount from Devon much sooner than expected. However, from the start, Seon-Hyeok had never thought they would be able to comfortably hop around the West flying on Devon. 

“As I’ve already prepared for this, my thoughts remain the same.”

Perhaps that was why, but the only emotions that crossed his face were annoyance and irritation at the hoard of monsters. There was no sign of trouble on his face. 

The same held true for Marek. Although Marek had weakened quite a bit after passing on his experience to Julian, the next Adjuster, that didn’t mean he would be bothered by nuisances like these monsters in the slightest.

No matter how many monsters there were, it was impossible for them to deal with the two men.

“I can’t see the end.”

Marek spoke up after roughly estimating how many monsters there were.

“Do you want to do it? Or shall I?”

It was a question that made no sense, and yet, Kim Seon-Hyeok answered it matter of factly.

“I’ll do it. After all, I’m younger than you, and it’ll leave no after-effects.”

“That is an undeniable fact.”

Chuckling at Marek’s disapproving remark, Seon-Hyeok thrust the spear made of living wood into the ground. 

Bang!

When the spear was halfway into the ground, an explosion occurred. At first, the explosion spread through his immediate vicinity, then, it spread all over the place. 

Most of the monsters’ limbs were torn apart by the explosion, but as there had been a large gathering of monsters to begin with, a considerable number of them survived even after the explosion was over. 

However, Kim Seon-Hyeok’s attack didn’t end there.

Huge pits quickly formed in the land that had already been devastated by the explosion and swallowed the surviving monsters. 

The monsters’ screams could be heard from all directions, but even that soon stopped.

“So live burial is your specialty.”

Marek shuddered when he saw the dirt mounds everywhere. Seeing how he had once thought he would die from being buried like that, he wasn’t too comfortable seeing the current scene. 

“Because this is the most efficient and cleanest way.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok responded carelessly as he stared off into the distance. His expression seemed too bright to fit the current situation.

“Yup, battle is the best for leveling.”

His level had hit a wall and hadn’t gone up, but now, it started to rise again. 

This was also the reason why he had dared to jump into the Demon King’s trap when he could have avoided it if he wanted to.

“Since they’ll start coming after us like a swarm of bees again, let’s diligently go forward again.”

The monsters had stopped attacking for a while after Kim Seon-Hyeok devastated the surrounding area, but now, they started again. However, Devon hadn’t recovered enough to fly through the air with two people on his back, and so, Seon-Hyeok had no choice but to fight the monsters from the ground. 

“It doesn’t look like the fight will be over today or tomorrow, so I’ll close my eyes for a while.”

With that one sentence, Marek leaned against one of the demon corpses and closed his eyes while Kim Seon-Hyeok continued to fight the demons with his spear.  

It was as if the demons shrieking all around them didn’t even register in Marek’s ears. 

“Are you really going to sleep?”

“You have that monstrous spear, and since you’re young, you can go a couple of days without sleep, but I can’t. If I don’t get some sleep now, I may not be able to when I need it later.”

Marek didn’t even bother opening his eyes as he responded. Soon, he began snoring loudly.

“What a ridiculous old man.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok shook his head as he pointed his spear at the monsters that were swarming towards him again.

When Marek woke up, the terrain around him had completely changed. Dirt mounds and huge pits were all over the place.

It was obvious what was in those mounds and pits.

“Did you fight all night?”

While stretching to wake up, Marek questioned Seon-Hyeok. 

“Then did you think the monsters flocking towards us would have gone away on their own?”

“No, that wasn’t it. Anyway, good work. Thanks to you, I slept very well.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok’s voice seemed to convey that he thought Marek was ludicrous. While Marek had said he was going to sleep, Seon-Hyeok never thought he would really sleep that deeply all night. 

“Seems like while I slept, he was also able to rest.”

When Devon saw Kim Seon-Hyeok tussling with the demons on his own, he had carefully crept closer to Marek and went to sleep. Unlike the relaxed old man, the delicate Devon hadn’t been able to sleep deeply during the night, but he was still able to recover a bit from the previous day’s fatigue. 

“If it wasn’t for Devon, I would have woken you up much sooner.”

“I’m treated worse than a bird.”

“You think you’re funny?”

When Kim Seon-Hyeok frowned at the terrible joke, Marek sat down on Devon’s saddle as if he hadn’t said anything.

“Let’s go.”

Even if he hadn’t said so, Kim Seon-Hyeok would’ve gotten on Devon as well. Another group of demons was approaching from afar. 

“Don’t go around telling your jokes.”

Before Marek could respond, Devon flew into the sky with a ringing cry.

From then on, Kim Seon-Hyeok and his party moved alternately between the sky and the ground. When Devon got tired, they landed so that he could recover his strength for a bit, and then they flew back into the sky.

“I’ll leave it in your hands again.”

Marek slept at least once every two days.

“Don’t worry about it and get a good night’s sleep.”

On the fourth day, Kim Seon-Hyeok left the night to Marek and went to sleep.

No matter how much vitality the earth provided him through the spear made from the Mother Tree, there was no other way to deal with the mental fatigue than to sleep. 

“You complained about me, but you weren’t any better. You even snored.”

“Of course I would, I slept for the first time in four days.”

Seeing how the monsters’ corpses were sliced and cut up, it was clear that, just like him, Marek had fought all night.

“You’ve worked hard. Let’s continue moving.”

Soon, Devon was flying again, and after landing and taking off two more times, Kim Seon-Hyeok and his party finally arrived at their destination.

“It’s here.”

It wasn’t difficult to see that this place was where the Grand Duke of Iberia had said that the Warrior was last seen.

Although it had been a long time since the Warrior and the Demon King had fought, they could still clearly see the traces left behind from the battle everywhere, as well as the scars left on the earth by the clash between the two. 

“So many died.”

Just by looking at the weapons and armors scattered on the ground, it was clear how many allied forces had been sacrificed here.

“Based on the evidence, they were surrounded from all sides. If it’s as you say, then it's impressive that so many of them were able to return from it alive.”

“You can tell just by looking at the footprints?”

“It’s a skill you naturally pick up when you live as an Adjuster.”

Having said that, Marek tapped the corners of his eyes. Without Seon-Hyeok noticing, a bluish glow had appeared around Marek’s eyes.

“The battle between the Warrior and the Demon King happened here.”

Marek had followed the evidence with light streaming from his eyes. He stopped at a miserable field that had been completely trampled by demons and soldiers. 

“Do you see any clues?’

Marek raised a hand in response to Kim Seon-Hyeok’s question. He was gesturing for silence.

“Hm.”

Seeing how Marek looked like he had discovered something, Seon-Hyeok calmly shut his mouth and waited for Marek to explain.

“Strange.”

When Marek finally opened his mouth after a while, his face was full of doubts.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t tell the exact situation of the battle because too much time has passed, but I do know that the Warrior is much stronger than what you said.”

Park Joon-Min had already broken through level 70 when he had decided to go on the expedition, so it wasn’t strange for him to be much stronger than Seon-Hyeok remembered. Perhaps Joon-Min’s level had risen on his way here.

“My class is a cheat, but the Holy Sword that guy has is equally formidable.”

Forget everything else, considering how he was able to avoid even death with his formidable resilience, the Warrior himself was also a cheat. 

“I agree.”

For some reason, Marek’s remark seemed halfhearted. It was as if he was responding thoughtlessly while thinking about something else.

“But, what’s strange?”

Kim Seon-Hyeok frowned at Marek’s uncertain attitude. 

“Like I said, it’ll be ridiculous if you only trust my abilities and believe everything I say as if I’ve seen the battle with my own eyes. 

“Alright, I got it. I’ll sift through it, so just tell me.”

At his pressing, Marek looked back. Marek had an unfathomable look in his eyes.

“If what I saw is correct, the Warrior never retreated a single step since the battle began.”

Marek pointed at a couple of deep gashes in the ground.

“Do you know what that means?”

Instead of answering, Kim Seon-Hyeok quietly waited for Marek to continue explaining.

“The Warrior was overpowering the Demon King.”

Before Seon-Hyeok could understand what he meant, Marek added something else.

“Under normal circumstances, the Warrior would never have lost to the Demon King.”

“What do you…”

“Unless someone betrayed him or stabbed him in the back.”

The first thing that came to Kim Seon-Hyeok’s mind was the greedy and despicable archbishops of the Holy Kingdom.  

“Those motherfuckers…”

Marek nodded heavily as Seon-Hyeok became livid.

“As of now, they seem most likely.”

Furious at Marek’s response, Kim Seon-Hyeok’s fighting spirit rushed forth, and with that, the surrounding demonic energy increased explosively.

The dead came crawling out from the ground. 

“Ah.”

But, the appearance of the dead was familiar. Although it was difficult to recognize them because of the mangled bodies and faces, Kim Seon-Hyeok was still able to recognize one of them.

And once he recognized one of them, he was able to recognize all of the dead around.

Panthea. 

He had once fought at the fortress at the forefront of the Holy Kingdom. The dead were the Templar Knights and the Crusaders.

Not to mention, the soldiers were those who had watched Seon-Hyeok’s activities the closest out of all the figures in the Holy Kingdom. And they were rare people who had been supportive of the Indomitable Duke without any political calculations.  

But now, thousands of kilometers away from Panthea, Kim Seon-Hyeok was meeting those noble Templar Knights and faithful Crusaders who had become foul-smelling corpses who were snapping their teeth at him.

“Ah…”

As soon as he saw the uniforms and familiar faces of the dead, Kim Seon-Hyeok realized that the majority of the dead were from the Panthea base. At the same time, he realized that Marek’s guess was correct.

“Those archfuckingbishop bastards! They’re like beasts in human form!”

The Holy Kingdom hadn’t just offered him to the Demon King as part of the negotiations. They had included the Warrior, whom he considered a brother, and the warriors of the Panthea base, whom he had a deep connection with as well.

“Perhaps it will be best for me to fight alone this time.”

Marek seemed to understand that Kim Seon-Hyeok had a close relationship with the undead. He drew his iron sword and raised it into the air as he stepped forward.

“No, there’s no need for that.”

Even though he was trembling with anger, Seon-Hyeok hadn’t completely lost his reason and his eyes were cold.

“I will do it.”

Having said that, Kim Seon-Hyeok once again drove his Mother Tree’s spear into the ground. Soon after, a pile of dirt rose and swallowed thousands of the undead, forming a huge tomb. 

“Huu.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok observed the scene with bloodshot eyes

Marek sighed at the sight.

It seemed like the traps prepared by the Demon King weren’t only limited to consuming Kim Seon-Hyeok’s stamina. He was also planning to tear Seon-Hyeok’s mind to pieces.

“Is the Demon King nearby?”

“He isn’t too far away.”

“Where is that?”

But there was something the Demon King didn’t know - the Kim Seon-Hyeok he knew, and the current Kim Seon-Hyeok were completely different people.

“Somewhere that way.”

Seon-Hyeok turned his head at Marek’s words and stared into the distance. Then, he muttered.

“Summon Dragon.”

As soon as he finished speaking those words, a golden flash burst out from under the black earth.