Chapter 181 – An Army to Defeat One Man (3)

It was an unexpected choice. Because Fal Garaz would appear to be less effective against a multitude of enemies compared to Cassandra. But this was not true in reality.

Boom!

Fal Garaz made a thunderous impact upon the earth with a god-like force. For a moment, air seemed to be sucked in towards the point of impact, but then rubble and air burst out in all directions with an enormous energy.

The army of golems around Sungchul flailed about in the sudden tremor, and a portion of them lost balance and fell. Then the shockwave that followed disassembled everything nearby. The rumble could even be felt far away where Ga Xi Ong and Dragoman were.

“He can cause an earthquake…? Not relying on magic nor Fae, but purely through his strength?! It’s permissible for a human being to contain that much power?”

The one who was more shocked was Dragoman. He was an individual who is considered to have reached the upper limit of human potential, as he had reached the apex of swordsmanship. But the strength Sungchul just displayed easily crumbled away his concept of human limitation.

‘He’s a real monster!’

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fal Garaz no longer hit the insignificant golems and continued to pound upon the earth. Sungchul was walking towards the Colossi as he continuously caused earthquakes. The golems were completely helpless in the face of an attack that was far beyond common sense. Even before a barrage could be fired, the formations were torn asunder from the tremor of the earth below them, and they were turned into debris without knowing what hit them. The army created to defeat one man was in return being destroyed by a single man. Ga Xi Ong who had been sure of his victory turned blue in the face.

“Kiki! That’s the Destroyer for you. He’s not an easy foe. Then what about this?”

He quickly moved his hands around to reorganize the placement of his army to prepare a barrage against Sungchul. The medium golems which were prepared for anti-air role were instructed to aim at the ground. Spears of ice were launched to make a long distance snipe. Sungchul did not so much as blink when the glistening and deadly weapon came flying his way. Instead, he gave a powerful strike against the earth with a swing of his hammer.

Boom!

The sound of the explosion, caused by Fal Garaz, arrived a beat late accompanied by a mighty gust of wind which destroyed the Ice Spears midair. The shattered spears scattered and landed among the army of golems, causing countless collateral damage. Ga Xi Ong attempted several more attacks but the results were all the same. Meanwhile, the terrifying explosions caused by Sungchul were moving closer and closer.

“I think there was a problem with a plan. Next time, I’ll have three Colossi work together and use a different pattern of attack to…”

Ga Xi Ong mumbled to himself like a mental health patient to console himself, but Ga Xi Ong knew. This fight was already over. His plan was to use a multitude of weak but attrition inducing golems to tire out Sungchul before using the Colossi assisted assault to land a significant blow against him. But since Sungchul came attacking straight forward into the golems like a madman, his plan failed from the start. Sungchul was far stronger than what he had imagined and destroyed his pitiful army with an absurd method. Trying to make a stand now was pointless.

Ga Xi Ong was the weakest of the Seven Heroes, but he was quicker to think than anyone else and was capable of making bold decisions as needed.

‘It hurts to the bone to abandon the Colossi but these have already exhausted most of the materials. Their usefulness was already greatly diminished.’

Ga Xi Ong decided to give up the battle and escape. When he gestured, a collection of curiously shaped golems that were gathered by the feet of the Colossi disappeared into the darkness. These were specially crafted golems Ga Xi Ong had designed to land the final blow. Once he finished sending away the golems that could be said to be his main weapons, Ga Xi Ong discovered that Dragoman was still standing around so he said bluntly,

“You still there? I thought you said you wanted to run away.”

“… I’ll do that later. I’m confident in my ability to run.”

Dragoman seemed to have made up his mind about something. Ga Xi Ong had no time to be thinking of that though. Even now, Destroyer was making his way towards them.

Boom!

The rumble came from somewhere close. Ga Xi Ong hurried to prepare abandoning the Colossi. Dragoman stood in his way and then extended his hand.

“Leave the keys with me.”

Ga Xi Ong was surprised by Dragoman’s unexpected behavior and stared blankly at him as he asked,”

“To do what?”

“To save the Colossi if I can,”

Dragoman answered dryly. Ga Xi Ong judged that Dragoman’s actions weren’t in good faith. He had a strong premonition that he was plotting something. He narrowed his eyes as he replied in a low tone.

“But these Colossi are mine.”

“You mean Daltanius and White Phantom’s Colossi.”

Dragoman replied coldly as he gave a murderous glare at Ga Xi Ong. Ga Xi Ong also furrowed his eyebrows and made a semblance of an attempt to resist, but the result was predetermined. Ga Xi Ong was weaker than Dragoman. And Dragoman was a bad kind of man in several meanings of the word.

‘This guy.’

Unimaginably long ago, not long after the Seven Heroes were first gathered, Ga Xi Ong was once nearly killed by Dragoman. It was simply because he didn’t like him. Dragoman was the kind of man who would turn against his comrade for such petty reasons. Once Ga Xi Ong saw the same uncomfortable gaze that he had seen when Dragoman had tried to kill him in the past, he surrendered the keys to the Colossus to Dragoman.

“I can’t wait to hear what will be said to you when you return empty handed.”

Of course, he didn’t forget to make a sarcastic comment. Dragoman roughly took the keys out of Ga Xi Ong’s hands.

“I’ll report everything to the boss, so prepare yourself.”

Ga Xi Ong who had his keys taken away leapt off of the Colossi and disappeared into the darkness.

Boom! Boom!

The tremors caused by Sungchul were coming closer and closer. Dragoman waited for Sungchul to get closer with his arms crossed. And soon, Sungchul appeared at the feet of the two Colossi. The Colossi had a specially prepared trap made by Ga Xi Ong. Once Sungchul got closer, several thousand Magic Armaments attached to the legs of the Colossi all fired a destructive laser simultaneously. Each of the Magic Armaments installed on the Colossi were destroyed until there were none remaining.

Clap clap clap

A round of applause could be heard from above the Colossus. Sungchul looked up and spotted a man standing on the Colossus.

“Is it the Seven Heroes?”

Sungchul asked. The man on the Colossus nodded.

“The name’s Dragoman.”

“I’ll compliment you on not running away after seeing me.”

“I want nothing more than to run away. But I feel like if I don’t make things clear here and now, I’m just going to end up meeting you somewhere else.”

Dragoman answered with a cool attitude as he stroked his sparse chin hair.

“Fairy Light.”

Sungchul’s magic created one source of light and it was sent towards Dragoman. Dragoman’s face became illuminated under the magic light. He was a tall man with an extremely slim build who had an emaciated face with deadpan eyes. It was difficult to guess what his age was. Sungchul could see that there were over ten swords attached to his back.

“You starting a weapon shop?”

“About to start now.”

Dragoman made an unappealing smile as he gazed down at Sungchul.

“Come down.”

Sungchul said calmly. Dragoman shook his head.

“I don’t want to come down.”

“Then I’m going up.”

Dragoman spoke quickly as Sungchul began to move in preparation to rise up.

“What an impatient man. I have no desire to fight a monster like you. I only want to speak.”

“I have nothing to say to the Calamity.”

Sungchul looked down and had one of the Soul Stone activate Fly. It was when his body began to rise.

“I am not a Calamity.”

Sungchul looked up to gaze at Dragoman. His feet were still hovering in the air.

“I’ll say again. I am not the Calamity you are trying to resolve.”

“I don’t enjoy listening to nonsense.”

Sungchul flew up into the sky. And even while he continued to rise, Dragoman continued to speak.

“To be more precise, I am just a catalyst of the Calamity. In other words, nothing but scrap.”

Not a moment after he had spoken, Sungchul reached Dragoman’s altitude. They were at the same eye level. Dragoman could tell after seeing Sungchul’s eyes. That Sungchul was a man foreign to compromise. But he also could tell that it wasn’t like there was absolutely no room for negotiations either.

‘He has a similar gaze to Desfort back in the days. Looks of a man who walked without wavering in the face of any hardship on the path of his choosing. A good eye.’

Dragoman thought as much as he tossed something at Sungchul. Two twinkling objects drew an arc through the air and landed on Sungchul’s palms. They were two keys.

“What are these?”

“Those are the keys to the Colossi. If you use those, you can stop these Colossi.”

“… Did you really think I’d let you live just because you did something like this?”

Sungchul said as he put the keys away in his pocket. Dragoman made a sly smile as he replied.

“Nothing will happen even if you kill me, Destroyer.”

“…”

Sungchul lifted up Fal Garaz. Dragoman felt an unbearable amount of bloodlust draw closer to him, but he didn’t panic and continued to speak.

“Sajators, Daltanius, and then White Phantom. Did you not notice anything after killing them?”

Sungchul stopped when he heard that. That was something Sungchul had been curious about for a while. Even though people who were directly a part of the Calamity were killed, there was neither any kind of effect nor reward to speak of. It appeared as though Dragoman knew the answer to this.

“The only one designated as the Calamity among the Seven Heroes is only one. Desfort. He has become a champion of the Calamity as a representative of all of us.”

“…”

Sungchul did not reply, but his calm stare urged Dragoman to continue speaking. Dragoman felt nerves and fear shake his body for the first time in a thousand years as he continued to speak.

“So in other words, if you want to end the second Calamity, kill him. Then everything gets resolved and the Calamity will progress to the next stage. So let’s not do anything unnecessary.”

“What is the purpose of telling me this?”

Sungchul said as he landed on the top of the Colossi’s head. He still held Fal Garaz in his hand. Dragoman stepped back as much as Sungchul stepped forward.

“I don’t want to die a dog’s death. I only want to enjoy my share of fortune and happiness in this world. I woke up after a thousand years of slumber. Wouldn’t it be too much of a regret if I were to die at the hands of someone ridiculous like you without getting the chance to enjoy even a brief moment of luxury?”

Sungchul thought, after seeing Dragoman’s expression and attitude, that it didn’t seem like he was lying. But witnessing someone with the title of Seven Heroes acting like some common street thug was honestly not a good feeling either.

“I’ll speak honestly. I won’t go as far as to say become an ally. All I would like from you is to turn a blind eye to me. In return, I could tell you a few things that might help you.”

When Dragoman tried to continue to speak, Sungchul suddenly disappeared from sight. Fal Garaz came flying towards Dragoman. Dragoman furrowed his brows as he unsheathed his sword to block Sungchul’s strike.

Chang!

A fearsome spark flew as the sword met the hammer.

“Ugh…!”

Dragoman’s expressions became twisted.

‘Damn it! He’s so fucking strong. Daltanius doesn’t even compare!’

But Dragoman was one of the more physically powerful of the Seven Heroes. He was not a reckless warrior like Daltanius who relied solely on strength, but an undefeated swordsman with a balance of technical skill and power. In the same moment he blocked Sungchul’s strike, the twelve swords he carried were all brought to bear in a fierce counter strike against Sungchul. The swords, each with their own history and names, gave off cold lights as they spread out in all directions as they were launched towards Sungchul’s openings.

Sungchul realized that the attack was not to be underestimated and took a step back to reduce the angles the swords could strike from. It was a simple maneuver, but its speed and the timely judgement immediately dissected Dragoman’s intentions. Of course, Dragoman knew from the beginning he could not win against Sungchul and had no desire to fight. Once the fighting hit a lull, Dragoman resheathed his swords and said to Sungchul in a different tone of voice.

“I am capable of escaping from you. Think well on this.”

Sungchul could tell from his short fight that Dragoman’s words weren’t empty. He knew that the leather armor he wore was damaged slightly. But the Leather armor had regenerative properties and was repairing the damage.

‘I did well to change my clothes.’

Of course it would be a different story if he were to employ weapons of Calamity like Oom Bruuk. But in the face of having to resort to weapons of Calamity that Bertelgia abhorred, it wouldn’t be bad to at least hear what he has to say.

“Speak, Seven Hero.”

A calm tone of voice rang out from on top of the Colossus’s head.

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