“Ha… haha…”
Won-Hwa laughed in disbelief.
“To think only two…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong interjected, “We also have Fenrir, the one who caused the giants to suffer greatly, and two others as well. The first… may not be a human, but… well, if you want to specify it like that, then we also have a skull.”
“So you have companions…”
Won-Hwa smiled bitterly.
"Is that enough to say that it would change anything?"
"…"
“Let’s say that what you said about coming all the way here was true, Mr. Lee. However, rescuing us means that you would have to take us all out of here. Would that be possible?” Won-Hwa asked.
"No."
Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head.
“Then what are you trying to do here…"
Won-Hwa’s voice was filled with anger, as though he thought that Lee Jun-Kyeong was playing with people's lives.
“I can’t do it on my own. It’s not possible.”
“Then…”
“You’ll have to explain some more things first,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he looked at the physician.
“Tell me more about the humans who sided with the Nar.”
What Lee Jun-Kyeong said wasn’t a lie. He wouldn’t be able to bring back this many people alone. He wasn’t even sure if it would be possible even using Yeo Seong-Gu’s Bifrost.
It would be difficult for them to make a passage into the gateization-undergoing China using Bifrost as they hadn’t even been able to use it when they had entered.
Therefore, the humans would have to come together.
"I will get their help."
***
‘That is an absurd statement. What do you even know about them that you would…’
‘Even still, please let me know.’
Faced with Lee Jun-Kyeong’s determination, Won-Hwa shared the story eventually.
He spoke of Nars, the frost giants who had betrayed Utgard, and alongside them, were those who had abandoned the humans residing in Utgard.
‘The Hunters.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong had noticed that there had been very few Hunters among the humans that resided in Utgard.
To think that there was this sort of reason behind it.
No matter how many were said to have died during the gateization, it hadn’t made sense that there were this few Hunters among the survivors in Utgard.
‘What was the reason behind it?’
Since the Hunters had sided with the Nar, naturally, Lee Jun-Kyeong had asked why.
'I do not know.'
'You don’t know?'
'I really don't know. At that time, I had left to find medicinal herbs, and when I had returned, the civil war with the Nars had already ended. And…'
Hua Tuo had said that there was a Hunter among the group who had been the one to gather up the other Chinese Hunters. It was the same Hunter who had brought the others to betray Utgard and stand on the side of the Nars.
‘At least up to that point, it wasn’t until after the betrayal that the giants mistreated the humans.’
After the Hunters had taken the side of the Nars, the supplies that were given to the humans had dropped drastically. It was basically as if they were getting no supplies now.
That was why Won-Hwa would always go out to help the giants and collect medicinal herbs.
‘A Hunter who would be able to rally all the Chinese Hunters…’
There wasn’t anyone that came to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mind. Even in the future, the Heroes who emerged from China were few, as there were only a few people who had survived and escaped from China in the first place.
Either way, Lee Jun-Kyeong would have to get help from them.
Only then would he be able to escape with the rest of the humans as he had promised Won-Hwa.
In order to do so, Lee Jun-Kyeong added another request.
‘The mana stream—’
There was something that Won-Hwa could do for him.
‘No, I would like to learn the internal qigong.’
Therefore, at this current moment, Lee Jun-Kyeong was helping out the physician because he had some leeway in entering and exiting as a mercenary warrior for Utgard.
“Let’s go search for some medicinal herbs first. People here are dying day after day. Over a thousand people died in this past month alone.”
"All right."
Lee Jun-Kyeong aided the physician in gathering herbs even though he had many potions. After all, he wasn’t able to save the people with them.
In the short-term, the potions would be effective. Unfortunately, as gateization progressed, the effects would taper on those who were several mana sick. Basically, it could only serve as a temporary measure.
That was why Won-Hwa had devised a concoction through intense trial and error that could slow the degradation of the body from the mana.
That was why he and Won-Hwa were searching around the barren wasteland currently.
“Grr.”
Fenrir looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong and snorted.
“I’m sorry. Do you want to go hunt nearby in the meantime? I’m going to have to help with this for a little while.”
Fenrir immediately shifted his appearance and ran across the icy ground with a resounding thud.
"How did you tame that monster?"
Lee Jun-Kyeong replied with a smile at Won-Hwa’s sudden question, “He was given to me by my Sponsor.”
It was only half true that the wolf had been given to him by his Sponsor. He had been given the opportunity and the chance to connect with Fenrir by the Sponsor, but he was still the one who had actually subdued Fenrir.
"I envy you. I wish I had one too,” said Won-Hwa wistfully, speaking just for the sake of speaking.
“Why do the giants call the humans invaders?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked Won-Hwa. They were now friends, so he felt comfortable asking.
"The giants…" The physician stopped searching for medicinal herbs and said, “It’s said that they had suddenly landed here.”
"…”
“I’m not sure about the specifics. The giants are reluctant to speak about that matter. However, I’ve heard that they had also undergone a sudden change, just like the humans.”
Won-Hwa continued to explain the situation, “And… many of them had died, and the giants that had arrived here were only a part of them. Moreover, a lot of them had also died from the plague, but…”
“Then why did the Nar betray them?”
“That too…”
Won-Hwa knew much less than Lee Jun-Kyeong had expected.
No, that made sense.
‘The giants of Utgard are hiding information.’
The physician clearly knew nothing, but Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered.
‘Could the secrets that the Hunters learned be why they had gone to stand on the side of the Nar? The Nar definitely wouldn’t have hidden anything.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that must have been the case.
"It's done,” Won-Hwa looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was still thinking about the information he had just uncovered.
Lee Jun-Kyeong had an expression of suspicion as he didn’t know the reason for the sudden pause, but it was rather Won-Hwa who was more flustered.
"Didn't you say that you wanted to learn internal qigong?"
"Yes… I did."
“I set up a formation around here, so no one will be able to tell what we are cultivating.”
Won-Hwa explained what he had been doing kindly, but Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t figure out what the physician had meant.
Won-Hwa explained again, “As we searched for medicinal herbs, I also set up a formation. The flow of qi won’t be able to escape the formation, so we will be able to practice internal qigong.”
“Are you saying we need these types of formations in order to practice internal qigong?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked, bewildered.
Won-Hwa became even more bewildered.
“Isn’t that obvious? Internal qigong is a method to absorb the surrounding qi, use it to strengthen one’s abilities, and store the qi inside one’s body. The changes that occur in the process to the qi can be quite severe, so the giants, who are sensitive to qi, can easily notice it,” Won-Hwa explained.
“...”
“Furthermore, because qi is something so difficult to collect, it’s only really feasible to practice internal qigong by blocking the flow of qi using a formation in this way.”
“...”
“Why… are you looking at me like that?”
Suddenly, an expression of hope crossed Won-Hwa's face.
“Your qigong, Mr. Lee… no, your mana stream. Are you saying it doesn’t need this sort of process?”
As he spoke, Won-Hwa couldn’t hide his expression of surprise.
"Oh, my god."
Now that he knew that Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t require such a cumbersome process to train, Won-Hwa couldn’t close his jaw that had dropped to the floor.
“Just who the hell is your teacher? What sort of internal qigong did you learn that… that doesn’t make any sense…”
"Is this really so great?" Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.
“You have a considerable amount of qi, as much as the amount of mana you have as a Hunter, Mr. Lee. I had thought that it had been because of your incredible mental cultivation, but…”
Won-Hwa shook his head.
“To think it was different from the first place. Your method, Mr. Lee…”
When Lee Jun-Kyeong heard Won-hwa's words, he realized it again.
‘The Demon King…’
The mana stream he had created.
Of course, other heroes, including Yeo Seong-Gu, had helped, but from the basic principles to its completion, it was little different than if the Demon King had accomplished it alone.
‘How great is he? He…’
At that point, Lee Jun-Kyeong felt the wall once again.
The unassailable wall between him, who had returned to the past, and the Demon King, whose whereabouts were still unknown.
There was still the possibility that the Demon King’s existence had disappeared due to his return.
‘It could have been better if the Demon King was around.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong was worried that history would be turned upside down because of his own existence, and that it would flow into a worse direction.
The Demon King had been more of a genius than he had thought, and he was even stronger than he had imagined.
To think that there were enemies who could take down that sort of a Demon King.
‘Will I be able to take people like them down?’
As Lee Jun-Kyeong fell into despair, Won-Hwa interjected, “Looks like a heart demon.”
.
“A heart demon?”
“It’s most likely the zhuo qi that is continuing to bring this negativity to you, Mr. Lee. Your mental cultivation is incredible, and it’s impossible to gauge how strong it is, but there are definitely areas of issue for you. No…”
Won-Hwa looked directly at Lee Jun-Kyeong.
“It feels as though you’ve never had proper instruction from a teacher.”
“...!”
“There’s no way that such a basic issue could arise with that level of mental cultivation, so you either obtained that level of training by cheating, or…”
“Please stop there.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled bitterly and finally said, “What you said is right, Mr. Won-Hwa. However, it’s a little difficult to understand what you’re saying, Mr. Won-Hwa. So…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong was asking him to begin the training.
“How fortunate,” Won-Hwa laughed at Lee Jun-Kyeong's reaction. "I mean, how fortunate that I can be of some help to you.”
Just like that in the middle of the frozen wasteland, Won-Hwa and Lee Jun-Kyeong began their cultivation in the middle of a formation.
Whistle.
The mana within the formation began to swirl.
“Grr.”
Fenrir was biting into an ice drake, but he looked over in the direction of Lee Jun-Kyeong for a moment.
"Grrr."
As if in a good mood, the wolf had a smile on his face.
***
"So…"
A black fortress.
It didn’t have the grandeur of Utgard, as it hadn’t been that long since it had begun construction. Instead, it gave off a rather gloomy and terrifying feeling.
It was a fortress carved out of stone and ice, built seemingly to suit the icy wasteland around it.
In that fortress lay someone who was speaking.
“You’re saying that you saw someone who you’ve never seen before, and it was an incredibly skilled Hunter.”
It was a person who was receiving a report.
“That’s correct, Hyungnim.”
The man giving the report was someone who had recently left the fortress on a mission to attack the Utgardian warriors. He was the one who had clashed with Jeong In-Chang.
“But how…”
The man receiving the report had a confused expression.
"Could someone have finally sent a rescue mission?”
As he struggled to understand with an expression of confusion, the man who had given the report stood quietly waiting.
“That doesn’t seem to be it, Hyungnim,” said another man to the man receiving the report.
“If there was a rescue party, then there would have been no way that the Nar wouldn’t have seen it. Most likely, at best, there wouldn’t be more than ten of them.”
Even if new people had come to Utgard, there most likely wouldn’t be many of them, because the Nar were always monitoring the area around them and Utgard.
If they had avoided them, it meant that there couldn’t be many of them at all.
“Everything must come around eventually.”
“Hyungnim.”
“Hyungnim.”
The two younger men, feeling the man’s concern at the report, hardened their expressions.
“I have betrayed humanity for the sake of a cause, but… the situation seems to go toward an unknown road again,” the man who had received the report said as he rose from his seat.
"How is the growth rate of the Hunters?"
"It’s great. The support they are receiving is quite large as they hunt diligently.”
"What about you?"
"We are the same as well."
The Hunters who stood on the side of the Nar spared no effort to grow.
They had to grow stronger.
And then they had to grow even stronger still.
“For the cause.”
At the words of the man they called Hyungnim, the two younger men followed.
“For the cause.”
“For the cause.”
The cause.
For that, they had abandoned the humans of Utgard. It was the reason why they had no other choice but to stand up to the giants who had abandoned their own people and turned away.
The cause.
“I heard that Thrymr is going to attack again in a few days,” the man said.
“I’ll also set out at that time. I feel as though I should introduce myself to the new people who have come,” he continued.
“According to your will, Hyungnim!”
One man spoke with a loud voice.
“According to your will, Hyungnim.”
Another with a calm voice.
Hyungnim, the man, turned around, his large ears fluttering.
“Ha… haha…”
Won-Hwa laughed in disbelief.
“To think only two…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong interjected, “We also have Fenrir, the one who caused the giants to suffer greatly, and two others as well. The first… may not be a human, but… well, if you want to specify it like that, then we also have a skull.”
“So you have companions…”
Won-Hwa smiled bitterly.
"Is that enough to say that it would change anything?"
"…"
“Let’s say that what you said about coming all the way here was true, Mr. Lee. However, rescuing us means that you would have to take us all out of here. Would that be possible?” Won-Hwa asked.
"No."
Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head.
“Then what are you trying to do here…"
Won-Hwa’s voice was filled with anger, as though he thought that Lee Jun-Kyeong was playing with people's lives.
“I can’t do it on my own. It’s not possible.”
“Then…”
“You’ll have to explain some more things first,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he looked at the physician.
“Tell me more about the humans who sided with the Nar.”
What Lee Jun-Kyeong said wasn’t a lie. He wouldn’t be able to bring back this many people alone. He wasn’t even sure if it would be possible even using Yeo Seong-Gu’s Bifrost.
It would be difficult for them to make a passage into the gateization-undergoing China using Bifrost as they hadn’t even been able to use it when they had entered.
Therefore, the humans would have to come together.
"I will get their help."
***
‘That is an absurd statement. What do you even know about them that you would…’
‘Even still, please let me know.’
Faced with Lee Jun-Kyeong’s determination, Won-Hwa shared the story eventually.
He spoke of Nars, the frost giants who had betrayed Utgard, and alongside them, were those who had abandoned the humans residing in Utgard.
‘The Hunters.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong had noticed that there had been very few Hunters among the humans that resided in Utgard.
To think that there was this sort of reason behind it.
No matter how many were said to have died during the gateization, it hadn’t made sense that there were this few Hunters among the survivors in Utgard.
‘What was the reason behind it?’
Since the Hunters had sided with the Nar, naturally, Lee Jun-Kyeong had asked why.
'I do not know.'
'You don’t know?'
'I really don't know. At that time, I had left to find medicinal herbs, and when I had returned, the civil war with the Nars had already ended. And…'
Hua Tuo had said that there was a Hunter among the group who had been the one to gather up the other Chinese Hunters. It was the same Hunter who had brought the others to betray Utgard and stand on the side of the Nars.
‘At least up to that point, it wasn’t until after the betrayal that the giants mistreated the humans.’
After the Hunters had taken the side of the Nars, the supplies that were given to the humans had dropped drastically. It was basically as if they were getting no supplies now.
That was why Won-Hwa would always go out to help the giants and collect medicinal herbs.
‘A Hunter who would be able to rally all the Chinese Hunters…’
There wasn’t anyone that came to Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mind. Even in the future, the Heroes who emerged from China were few, as there were only a few people who had survived and escaped from China in the first place.
Either way, Lee Jun-Kyeong would have to get help from them.
Only then would he be able to escape with the rest of the humans as he had promised Won-Hwa.
In order to do so, Lee Jun-Kyeong added another request.
‘The mana stream—’
There was something that Won-Hwa could do for him.
‘No, I would like to learn the internal qigong.’
Therefore, at this current moment, Lee Jun-Kyeong was helping out the physician because he had some leeway in entering and exiting as a mercenary warrior for Utgard.
“Let’s go search for some medicinal herbs first. People here are dying day after day. Over a thousand people died in this past month alone.”
"All right."
Lee Jun-Kyeong aided the physician in gathering herbs even though he had many potions. After all, he wasn’t able to save the people with them.
In the short-term, the potions would be effective. Unfortunately, as gateization progressed, the effects would taper on those who were several mana sick. Basically, it could only serve as a temporary measure.
That was why Won-Hwa had devised a concoction through intense trial and error that could slow the degradation of the body from the mana.
That was why he and Won-Hwa were searching around the barren wasteland currently.
“Grr.”
Fenrir looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong and snorted.
“I’m sorry. Do you want to go hunt nearby in the meantime? I’m going to have to help with this for a little while.”
Fenrir immediately shifted his appearance and ran across the icy ground with a resounding thud.
"How did you tame that monster?"
Lee Jun-Kyeong replied with a smile at Won-Hwa’s sudden question, “He was given to me by my Sponsor.”
It was only half true that the wolf had been given to him by his Sponsor. He had been given the opportunity and the chance to connect with Fenrir by the Sponsor, but he was still the one who had actually subdued Fenrir.
"I envy you. I wish I had one too,” said Won-Hwa wistfully, speaking just for the sake of speaking.
“Why do the giants call the humans invaders?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked Won-Hwa. They were now friends, so he felt comfortable asking.
"The giants…" The physician stopped searching for medicinal herbs and said, “It’s said that they had suddenly landed here.”
"…”
“I’m not sure about the specifics. The giants are reluctant to speak about that matter. However, I’ve heard that they had also undergone a sudden change, just like the humans.”
Won-Hwa continued to explain the situation, “And… many of them had died, and the giants that had arrived here were only a part of them. Moreover, a lot of them had also died from the plague, but…”
“Then why did the Nar betray them?”
“That too…”
Won-Hwa knew much less than Lee Jun-Kyeong had expected.
No, that made sense.
‘The giants of Utgard are hiding information.’
The physician clearly knew nothing, but Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered.
‘Could the secrets that the Hunters learned be why they had gone to stand on the side of the Nar? The Nar definitely wouldn’t have hidden anything.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that must have been the case.
"It's done,” Won-Hwa looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was still thinking about the information he had just uncovered.
Lee Jun-Kyeong had an expression of suspicion as he didn’t know the reason for the sudden pause, but it was rather Won-Hwa who was more flustered.
"Didn't you say that you wanted to learn internal qigong?"
"Yes… I did."
“I set up a formation around here, so no one will be able to tell what we are cultivating.”
Won-Hwa explained what he had been doing kindly, but Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t figure out what the physician had meant.
Won-Hwa explained again, “As we searched for medicinal herbs, I also set up a formation. The flow of qi won’t be able to escape the formation, so we will be able to practice internal qigong.”
“Are you saying we need these types of formations in order to practice internal qigong?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked, bewildered.
Won-Hwa became even more bewildered.
“Isn’t that obvious? Internal qigong is a method to absorb the surrounding qi, use it to strengthen one’s abilities, and store the qi inside one’s body. The changes that occur in the process to the qi can be quite severe, so the giants, who are sensitive to qi, can easily notice it,” Won-Hwa explained.
“...”
“Furthermore, because qi is something so difficult to collect, it’s only really feasible to practice internal qigong by blocking the flow of qi using a formation in this way.”
“...”
“Why… are you looking at me like that?”
Suddenly, an expression of hope crossed Won-Hwa's face.
“Your qigong, Mr. Lee… no, your mana stream. Are you saying it doesn’t need this sort of process?”
As he spoke, Won-Hwa couldn’t hide his expression of surprise.
"Oh, my god."
Now that he knew that Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t require such a cumbersome process to train, Won-Hwa couldn’t close his jaw that had dropped to the floor.
“Just who the hell is your teacher? What sort of internal qigong did you learn that… that doesn’t make any sense…”
"Is this really so great?" Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.
“You have a considerable amount of qi, as much as the amount of mana you have as a Hunter, Mr. Lee. I had thought that it had been because of your incredible mental cultivation, but…”
Won-Hwa shook his head.
“To think it was different from the first place. Your method, Mr. Lee…”
When Lee Jun-Kyeong heard Won-hwa's words, he realized it again.
‘The Demon King…’
The mana stream he had created.
Of course, other heroes, including Yeo Seong-Gu, had helped, but from the basic principles to its completion, it was little different than if the Demon King had accomplished it alone.
‘How great is he? He…’
At that point, Lee Jun-Kyeong felt the wall once again.
The unassailable wall between him, who had returned to the past, and the Demon King, whose whereabouts were still unknown.
There was still the possibility that the Demon King’s existence had disappeared due to his return.
‘It could have been better if the Demon King was around.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong was worried that history would be turned upside down because of his own existence, and that it would flow into a worse direction.
The Demon King had been more of a genius than he had thought, and he was even stronger than he had imagined.
To think that there were enemies who could take down that sort of a Demon King.
‘Will I be able to take people like them down?’
As Lee Jun-Kyeong fell into despair, Won-Hwa interjected, “Looks like a heart demon.”
.
“A heart demon?”
“It’s most likely the zhuo qi that is continuing to bring this negativity to you, Mr. Lee. Your mental cultivation is incredible, and it’s impossible to gauge how strong it is, but there are definitely areas of issue for you. No…”
Won-Hwa looked directly at Lee Jun-Kyeong.
“It feels as though you’ve never had proper instruction from a teacher.”
“...!”
“There’s no way that such a basic issue could arise with that level of mental cultivation, so you either obtained that level of training by cheating, or…”
“Please stop there.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled bitterly and finally said, “What you said is right, Mr. Won-Hwa. However, it’s a little difficult to understand what you’re saying, Mr. Won-Hwa. So…”
Lee Jun-Kyeong was asking him to begin the training.
“How fortunate,” Won-Hwa laughed at Lee Jun-Kyeong's reaction. "I mean, how fortunate that I can be of some help to you.”
Just like that in the middle of the frozen wasteland, Won-Hwa and Lee Jun-Kyeong began their cultivation in the middle of a formation.
Whistle.
The mana within the formation began to swirl.
“Grr.”
Fenrir was biting into an ice drake, but he looked over in the direction of Lee Jun-Kyeong for a moment.
"Grrr."
As if in a good mood, the wolf had a smile on his face.
***
"So…"
A black fortress.
It didn’t have the grandeur of Utgard, as it hadn’t been that long since it had begun construction. Instead, it gave off a rather gloomy and terrifying feeling.
It was a fortress carved out of stone and ice, built seemingly to suit the icy wasteland around it.
In that fortress lay someone who was speaking.
“You’re saying that you saw someone who you’ve never seen before, and it was an incredibly skilled Hunter.”
It was a person who was receiving a report.
“That’s correct, Hyungnim.”
The man giving the report was someone who had recently left the fortress on a mission to attack the Utgardian warriors. He was the one who had clashed with Jeong In-Chang.
“But how…”
The man receiving the report had a confused expression.
"Could someone have finally sent a rescue mission?”
As he struggled to understand with an expression of confusion, the man who had given the report stood quietly waiting.
“That doesn’t seem to be it, Hyungnim,” said another man to the man receiving the report.
“If there was a rescue party, then there would have been no way that the Nar wouldn’t have seen it. Most likely, at best, there wouldn’t be more than ten of them.”
Even if new people had come to Utgard, there most likely wouldn’t be many of them, because the Nar were always monitoring the area around them and Utgard.
If they had avoided them, it meant that there couldn’t be many of them at all.
“Everything must come around eventually.”
“Hyungnim.”
“Hyungnim.”
The two younger men, feeling the man’s concern at the report, hardened their expressions.
“I have betrayed humanity for the sake of a cause, but… the situation seems to go toward an unknown road again,” the man who had received the report said as he rose from his seat.
"How is the growth rate of the Hunters?"
"It’s great. The support they are receiving is quite large as they hunt diligently.”
"What about you?"
"We are the same as well."
The Hunters who stood on the side of the Nar spared no effort to grow.
They had to grow stronger.
And then they had to grow even stronger still.
“For the cause.”
At the words of the man they called Hyungnim, the two younger men followed.
“For the cause.”
“For the cause.”
The cause.
For that, they had abandoned the humans of Utgard. It was the reason why they had no other choice but to stand up to the giants who had abandoned their own people and turned away.
The cause.
“I heard that Thrymr is going to attack again in a few days,” the man said.
“I’ll also set out at that time. I feel as though I should introduce myself to the new people who have come,” he continued.
“According to your will, Hyungnim!”
One man spoke with a loud voice.
“According to your will, Hyungnim.”
Another with a calm voice.
Hyungnim, the man, turned around, his large ears fluttering.
