The King of the Battlefield

However, Swell didn’t scold Tacan but spoke of Muyoung’s identity.

As if there was something that was bugging him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you Asura’s champion?”

At the same time, Swell looked at Muyoung with piercing eyes.

He still had a serious face.

Muyoung could only be more serious.

Oom and Asura’s champion were completely different positions. But, he connected the two and was almost certain.

‘Someone had informed him.’

It was appropriate to think this.

If it wasn’t true, how could he connect Oom and Asura’s champion?

Even if he was to deny it, Swell was already half certain. Muyoung was able to know it.

“You’re right.”

So, he coolly acknowledged.

If he was to deny it, it might lead to more suspicion.

Of course, it might be different if Swell was a champion of another Deva Guardian,  but Asura said ‘he would know if he sees him’.

Muyoung wasn’t able to feel any hint of the Eight Deva Guardians of Buddhism.

“Long ago, a bitch known as the Garura’s champion visited. She said that when the Oom appeared, he would be the Asura’s champion.”

“That… when was it?”

Muyoung’s voice got heavier.

Garura’s champion?!

Garura made a name for himself as a bird that consumed a dragon.

Like Asura, he was one of the Eight Deva Guardians of Buddhism and if she’s his champion, of course, Muyoung was like an arch rival.

Up until now, he hadn’t found one person, but in an unexpected place, he found a clue.

Even more, she was also aware that Oom was going to visit him, like a foresight of the future. It was an extraordinary event.

“To be exact, 15 years and 38 days ago.”

As if it was nothing, Swell spoke of her as he looked through his stuff.

“And that bitch told me to give this to Asura’s champion if he appeared. Because I lost the bet, I was waiting for you for 15 years. Since she was also the same bitch who give me my first defeat.”

And he gave Muyoung a small talisman.

‘Seek life, instant death.’

Those who seek life shall die.

On the talisman, that was written.

Muyoung knitted his brows.

Seek death, instant life. Seek life, instant death.

Muyoung also remembered the words left by Yi Sunshin[1], “those who seek death shall live and those who seek life shall die”.

However, the first part was missing and it was written that he was just going to die.

As if she was predicting what was going to happen in the future.

“Do you know exactly who she was?”

Bitch. It felt like it was implied that the champion of Garura was a woman.

And it didn’t seem like Swell was fond of her much.

However, he couldn’t help but ask and Swell spoke as he ground his teeth.

“A very white bitch. Whiter than snow. Even I wasn’t sure what kind of species she was. Just, she had wings of both, an angel and a devil.”

At the same time, Muyoung’s whole body was filled with faint quivers.

‘Snow…!’

It was impossible for some woman to have the wings of an angel and a devil besides her.

In the future, she was active as a saint, and as a woman who destroyed a Demon King’s Army, every human knew of her achievement.

However, there wasn’t much known about Snow.

Where she came from, what type of species she was, and what she was thinking.

Just, she suddenly appeared one day and helped humans.

Even when humans gave her the title of saint, she acted the same.

In the end, she died because of another Demon King but Snow was one of the few people who might have been able to change the battle.

‘Snow is Garura’s champion.’

Muyoung couldn’t help but grin.

Muyoung was able to face one of those truths about Snow that were hidden.

Seek life, instant death.

It was even written in Chinese characters that could only be recognized by humans.

He gained greater curiosity.

“After the bet, where did the Garura’s champion go?”

“She said she was going to the ‘altar’. She said that the Asura’s champion would understand. Whew!”

Swell let out a sigh.

He had a face that showed he was finally able to finish the 15 years of waiting.

The altar.

There was an image that instantly popped in Muyoung’s head.

‘Diablos’ altar.’

You were able to earn the Diablos once you collected all three rings and conducted a ceremony.

And to do this, there was an altar that clearly existed.

“I never that you would come visit me. You did seem to have some insight but even that bitch didn’t have the expression of complete certainty. At most, it was a fifty-fifty chance.”

“Were you able to read her expression?”

Muyoung was quite surprised.

In the past, it wasn’t like Muyoung had never seen Snow.

When she died, Muyoung was nearby.

But, he wasn’t able to read any emotion in Snow’s expression.

Even the mighty Muyoung had no clue what she was thinking.

It was hard to say she wasn’t a truly colourless and odorless woman but Swell said he could read her emotions.

“She had the expression as though she was about to cry. So that was why I was more angry with her. She won the bet but acted so na?ve!”

For a moment, he thought it might not be Snow but in the end shook his head.

There was no way another being would have the wings of an angel and a devil.

“Either way, I don’t want to mention any more about her. Since you have also won the bet, take the item as I have promised. However.”

“However?”

“Oris’s Enlightenment isn’t here. It is written on the world tree.”

“Then I need to find the world tree.”

Even though Muyoung knew already, he still asked.

If Swell was to know that he came after knowing everything, there was a possibility that he might feel antipathy.

“There is no need to find it. I’m the gatekeeper for the world tree.”

“Amazing.”

“Are you surprised? Huehuehue! It seems like you haven’t heard this from other elves.”

Swell was happy as if he had finally landed a blow.

It was the effect of moderately pleasing Swell.

Swell continued to talk.

“Everything that says the world tree is a tree, is wrong. The world tree is no greater than a pathway to cross. Everything is inside it and also not. Finding the enlightenment that Oris left behind is purely your role.”

Tap!

Beads of blood fell down.

Swell slashed his own forefinger and the blood fell and wetted the floor.

Then, at the same time, the surroundings shook and a ‘line’ was created.

The line was made up of light and like an aurora, it moved like a curtain and expressed unrecognizable magical powers.

“In reality, it will only be for a moment of time, but you will be stuck there for a long time. Still, if you are okay with it, cross the line.”

Muyoung stood there as he looked at the line.

And moved without delay.

‘This is…’

He looked around.

Once he crossed the line, the world changed.

The place was a path with numerous information.

Everything around it fell into pieces and only the line was enlarged and made an endless path.

However, as there was an extensive amount of information, Muyoung’s sense was pressed down as it is.

‘Information, on the other hand, the storage of memory.’

And Muyoung was able to realize.

The true appearance of the being called the world tree.

The world tree wasn’t a tree but a storage where the world’s information and memories were stored.

That it was formed by using great existences as its soil.

He was also able to understand why these things were needed.

‘The Underworld is a world like a sand castle.’

It seemed like these systems were built in order to sustain the sand castle-like Underworld.

So even if they said ‘it supports the world’, the meaning wasn’t greatly different.

There were six like this.

Just one among them, Muyoung only had a small taste of it but already he felt confused.

However, he also realized a way to find what he wanted.

‘Oris. I will find his enlightenment.’

It was like the ‘Eye of the Sky’ skill. He thought of the thing he wanted and followed the exact path.

This place was a huge information gathering place that was a few hundred times bigger than the Sky Library.

However, Muyoung didn’t wander around and went straight forward.

Shortly, a wall appeared and he found the sword trace written on it.

The sword trace. The trace of a sword.

The thing that was truly written by Oris was written very shortly on the wall.

The trace looked like it was just scribbled with a sword but that one short sword trace left Oris’s enlightenment just as it was.

However, just as a high-level artwork could be seen as a scribble to an observer, depending on who looked at Oris’s sword trace, they might receive it completely differently.

Huu! Huuuu!

Muyoung breathed heavily.

From the trace, he was able to feel something overpowering.

It felt like the weight would press down on him.

He approached with difficulty and stretched his hands out and touched the sword trace.

He felt like he could feel Oris’s joys and sorrows.

‘It’s not about thinking with his head.’

This sword, this trace, Oris had compressed his life and placed it here.

How could he think with his head and engrave such a thing?

Muyoung took a step back.

Swoosh!

He took out Anguish.

Afterwards, he closed his eyes and followed the sword trace by swinging Anguish.

However, he wasn’t able to leave a trace like him.

Just… he followed the way the sword moved.

He had never done this before.

Swords were tools. Tools that were supposed to move depending on the user’s consciousness.

He thought the same when he earned the Immortal King’s Breastplate.

However, even those tools stored their user’s memory.

They stored their user’s movements.

They stored everything about the user.

Muyoung didn’t know this.

He just looked at them as tools that were merely swung and broke.

He had never thought of the things that were stored inside.

Now, he thought he could understand a bit.

Even why this was called Anguish.

Ziiing.

The sword fell. To him, the sound seemed like a mournful woman’s cry.

‘Gremory.’

This sword contained Gremory’s memory. It was called Anguish since it contained her anguish.

Do Demon God’s also cry?

Did Demon God’s also have sad emotions?

He felt he would burst. Anguish shook Muyoung.

If Gremory was in front of him, he wanted to rub her back and tell her to stop crying.

That she was doing well, and he wanted to compliment her.

These emotions were new to him, something he had never felt before.

If it was the usual Muyoung, he wouldn’t even have those thoughts.

‘Did you hear the sound of the sword?’

‘That’s not all of his traces.’

‘Now, listen to the sound of the world.’

He was able to hear a different voice.

He knew who it was right away.

The black shadow.

The existence in his dreams whispered to him.

He was even able to realize what his identity was.

A Master of Darkness!

One among the eleven beings, he was King Slayer.

King Slayer was scolding him that he shouldn’t be just listening to the sound of the sword through Oris’s trace.

He was mocking him as if Muyoung shouldn’t be satisfied with just that much.

Muyoung stopped the sword. He looked at the trace once more.

‘Ah…!’

If the black shadow didn’t speak to him, he would have just passed by it.

He wouldn’t have realized that a more important meaning was in the sword trace.

However, when he looked at it again, Muyoung’s whole body couldn’t be help but quiver.

It was because he realized that the identity of the huge oppressive feeling was the world.

The world tree.

The place where a world’s memories are stored.

And those traces of the world were left by Oris.

Everything merged and forced Muyoung into shock.

It was completely different from the time he heard the sound of Anguish.

‘Do not forget the memories of this place. Think once more about the sound of the world. If you do, I will….’

Like a voice in his dreams, it tickled his ears faintly.

Nothing could enter his head anymore.

His mind became weaker and all his rationality had died.

The sound of the world was that massive.

Muyoung hardened like a statue and just looked at the sword trace.

However, the volume was too big and it was impossible to store everything.

The struggle to store even one more!

You could truly call it a struggle.

[1] Yi Sunshin – Admiral Yi Sunshin is very famous in Korea for his victories during the Imjin war against Japanese navy. His quotes such as the one in the novel are well-known in Korea.