Level 0 Master

Chapter 67: Vol. 3 - Episode 10

A courtier bowed down and advised the king:

"Four priests of Rupellion went to the battle and the Holy Pope Pedrian went into a fast prayer to complete the holy war, so he is not able to move at all. The best warriors of both nations are tied up at the moment. If we attack, we will be able to expand our territory effortlessly."

It was an obvious logical conclusion; missing this opportunity would be foolish.

"No, leave it." The Golden Wise King thought differently.

"This is a situation where two opponents are fighting each other and, at the same time, cutting each other's throat. On the surface, it appears to be the fight of a ruthless and mad god, but they are both behaving rationally according to their beliefs."

Neither would step down. Sungjin wouldn't give up the poor girl, and Rupellion wouldn't change their unwavering faith.

"Ah…!"

"If we make a move, they may have the opportunity to stop and rest. We need to attack them from the back where they have no chance to retreat. That way they will have no choice but to go on the defense." He was looking at the big picture.

His vision was beyond normal. The courtier was impressed and bowed down again.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Until then, just wait."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Chapter 5

In a mock battlefield, Ereka, Eustasia, Jenna, and Rachel were fighting against a huge wolf, the wolf of twilight.

The legend said it was born from the blood of the transcendent monster, Fenrir, who killed gods in an effort to destroy the world at the Pantheon of Asgard. The power of the wolf was strong enough to make three level sevens and a level six struggle to fight against it.

Unlike other neutral monsters, it had a tendency to attack first, making it difficult to approach. This also meant it was a good practice monster.

Moreover, it was in the middle of the battlefield, so if anyone could hunt it down without getting damage, it would give enough buff and crystal to buy at least two complete items. It was clear hunting it down would also mean victory.

"Arf!"

With a threatening sound, the wolf attacked Ereka with its front paw.

"Ocean, bless me and my friends with your power."

A blue layer appeared with Rachel's prayer and covered Ereka. It augmented Ereka's already-powerful defense. But the wolf shredded the defense layer and her armor, injuring her. Such a dreadful power of destruction from a legendary monster.

But the four continued helping each other fight.

"The Sword of Heaven's Will—Durandal!" Eustasia's shiny sword fell toward it.

"Mjolnir!"

Thor's hammer reigned down upon the monster from the sky, but it was not enough to finish the wolf of twilight. It roared and attacked back.

"Ahhhh!"

The wolf jumped over Ereka and attacked Rachel. With Rachel's scream, the formation lost its shape; Sungjin's team was defeated.

"We've failed."

With Eustasia's statement, Rachel apologized.

"Sorry, I keep missing the timing…"

But Ereka cheered her up.

"It's okay, Rachel. For someone that has never been to the battlefield, you're doing well."

"But…soon bad guys will arrive."

"We still have time. With each practice, you're getting better, so don't worry."

"You think so?"

"Above all, we have Sungjin. He'll compensate for our mistakes with strategic planning."

"Sungjin Oppa would do that?!"

"Yes, we still need to do our best so as not to burden Sungjin but don't worry."

"Okay! I'll try my best!"

Looking at the tremendous teamwork, Sungjin was satisfied.

Their camaraderie is quite good.

The weakness was Rachel who had no battle experience. She has a high level and strong skills, but when the actual fight happens, she gets into a panic and ends up missing the command. This was why the four failed to hunt and kill the monster.

We should work on strengthening that weak point with the remaining time.

To win, he had to train them properly.

* * *

The four priests were also getting ready for battle.

All of them were level seven. They knew Sungjin had fewer level sevens and that Rachel was inexperienced. Despite this, they knew they couldn't risk letting their guard down.

The young warrior, Sungjin, had a special strength: his intelligence. They also had to win this war before the Holy Pope finished his prayer. Putting their lives at risk to win, they knew they could perform no less than their best.

"We must win this fight. You should maximize your sense."

"Okay."

The four priests walked into the mock battlefield to fight against the wolf of twilight. It was not a coincidence that they picked the same monster; they were aiming to hunt this strong creature to win.

Admittedly, it was a difficult beast to kill but doing so would them give enough crystal to be victorious.

The wolf of twilight was staring intensely at anyone trying to approach it. It didn't hesitate to attack as soon as someone came past the distance of safety. It had massive power and physical strength. Sungjin's team was covered with wounds and had failed to kill it, so it was not clear if the four priests would be able to catch it.

Time passed, but nothing happened.

At last, something scratched the side of the monster. The monster was confused; it hadn't seen anything coming. But suddenly, there was a human at its side wearing a black robe with black wings. The tiny dagger produced a tiny scratch on its gigantic body; the monster attempted to tear the human up but couldn't.

Suddenly, the soul left the monster's body, and it stopped breathing.

The great black priest, Pangnilin, silently looked at the dead wolf of twilight. He had killed it singlehandedly.

"You've still got it." The three other priests came over to praise him.

"It was nothing, just a puny trick compared to His Holiness."

"Haha! Everything is a puny trick compared to him."

"You're right. But I think that was enough to make the young one fear us."

The great red priest praised Pangnilin, saying he was the only person who could kill the wolf of twilight without help. The Holy Pope could have, but it was impossible to compare him with anyone.

No other level seven heroes or assassins could have done it.

"We don't know that for sure." Pangnilin didn't agree with the great red priest.

"He overcame the difference in force to conquer the four kingdoms. On this battle…while it's clear we're stronger, we must still try our best to win."

"Yes, we must recover our offering to God."

They had to defeat Sungjin and take back the land and the offering to God before the Holy Pope finished his fast prayer. They had no plans to take it easy on their opponent.

* * *

After Rachel's training, Sungjin and his team gathered for a meeting to discuss the inevitable attack from Rupellion.

"How are you going to use the geography this time?" Eustasia didn't hide her excitement.

"Sungjin will find the best way," said Ereka with a smile on her face, knowing that she could count on him.

"But will we be able to carry out his plan?"

"Hmm. You're right but…there was that time he had to trick us to trick the enemies," said Ereka again with a smile on her face, thinking if there was something Sungjin should have told us, he would have already.

Rittier agreed with her.

"I trust him anyway. I'm sure he's already prepared a few plans for the battle."

Listening to their conversation, Sungjin smiled and answered.

"I'm not going to use any plan to annihilate them using geography this time."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Then, what is your plan?"

Everyone was expecting Sungjin's victory. He said he would win even if he had to fight against all four priests. But he was telling them that he had no plan?

"But this time we have almost equal force, don't we?"

"Equal… is a bit of a stretch; we're weaker," Rittier corrected.

It was a four-on-four fight, and the enemies were four strong level seven priests who had fought in numerous battles. Sungin's team had only three level sevens, and Eustasia was the only one able to harness her power effectively; Ereka and Rachel were not currently so capable.

"Compared to other battles, I think this is the fairest fight, so far," said Ereka agreeing with Rittier.

"So I don't need a brilliant plan this time," said Sungjin laughing, like in the days when he used to be a gamer.

Since coming to Valhalla, he had never had a chance to fight a fair fight with equal force. He always relied on turning the tables with some brilliant plan. This was the first time both sides were on somewhat equal footing.

"But we are still quite weaker than…"

"I know, but with this much difference…" Sungjin clenched his fist.

"I don't even need to use a plan. I will defeat them with pure force…" He didn't want to waste plans on an enemy like this.

This fight was a bit like when he was playing games back in his world. The landscape was given, and he had to win by managing skills of heroes without planning.

"I disagree. Although they're not notably stronger from a superficial standpoint, they are much more experienced and have better artifacts. It would be arrogant not to do our best against this enemy."

When Eustasia disgreed, Sungjin shook his head.

"No. There are two reasons why I've decided to go into this without a plan."

"What are they?"

"First off, to help us be prepared for the next battle. What if they are defeated by a plan? Do you think they would relax after the first fight?"

"No. When we fought against the Blood Ruler, people thought she looked down on Sungjin because of his level, but it's different now. People know Sungjin is the conqueror of the four kingdoms; they would never let their guard down, even if we were the ones to attack in the next battle."

"Correct. We can't let them drop their guard. Maybe the Holy Pope and the Golden Wise King would since they have ruled for over 100 years. We have only one way to make them feel inferior."

"So it's better to defeat them quickly, right?" Ereka asked for Sungjin's confirmation on what she understood.

"Yes, don't forget. The Holy Nation is not our only enemy; there's Eldorado as well." They couldn't simply concentrate on fighting the enemy in front of them.

"And…" Sungjin decided not to finish his sentence.

The escape of Rachel was not only the help of the goddess, but also the doing of Eldorado.

There was no evidence, but it was a possibility, a possibility he had to keep in mind.

But Rachel doesn't have to know that.

Even if Eldorado had nothing to do with her escape, they didn't want to miss this chance.

"They've been quiet not because they don't want to intervene but because they're waiting for it to become a bigger fight."

"What we need is a high speed march afterwards, correct?" Eustasia understood it had to be a dominant and fast victory so as not to let Eldorado intervene, just like when Sungjin unified the ally of the four kingdoms. Although in this case, the opponent was much more powerful.

"Yes, so we should win swiftly." Sungjin declared this was the only way to stop the four priests' movements.