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Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Arthur Pellian's Appearance
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Thud thud thud thud! Thud thud thud!
It happened while Geon-woo was glaring at Illyeong, who was absorbing the death energy.
Dirt and pebbles began falling from above.
The infected creatures still up there were undoubtedly digging through the ground in search of the dominant one.
Geon-woo summoned his mana vision again and created a ceiling in the upper passage.
He did it to prevent the infected creatures from dropping down and interfering with the jiangshi's energy absorption.
And soon after, when the infected creatures descended underground at the risk of falling, Geon-woo and the jiangshi had already vanished from sight.
* * *
= My lord, Lord Kolon was furious. Is everything alright?
"I took care of all the second-stage shed infected ones. He'll handle the rest himself."
= But infected creatures are extremely dangerous to the residents of Onbiroad.
"If he's a lord, he'll manage. His soldiers down there are all veterans anyway."
= That's true, but still.
"Enough with the needless worrying. Let's head in already."
Geon-woo had arrived at the Dark Phoenix nest.
He planned to use the gate here to go to Veloca.
Originally, Geon-woo had no intention of going to Veloca.
He had planned to stay in the hunting grounds, hunting until the 400 million simultaneous connections occurred.
But now, with the stone coffin the jiangshi were carrying on their shoulders, he had no choice but to head to Veloca.
Inside the stone coffin was, naturally, the demon assassin in the midst of being refined into a live jiangshi.
And the reason he had to go to Veloca because of that stone coffin?
Naturally, it was because he needed materials available only in Veloca.
"Welcome. If you're heading to Veloca, it's 20 solpi per person."
As Geon-woo approached the gate, a soldier dispatched from Veloca City demanded the usage fee.
= My lord, even using the gate to the hunting grounds costs money? There was no such fee on the way here.
Illyeong looked at Geon-woo in surprise and asked.
'It's free coming in, but you earn solpi on the way out to pay the fee.'
= Ah, so they're encouraging users to hunt?
Illyeong muttered as if he had immediately grasped how the Onbiroad residents used the gates.
Earning solpi meant hunting creatures or demons, after all.
'Exactly.'
Geon-woo replied curtly and handed 200 solpi to the soldier.
Illyeong, in his spirit body state, could travel attached to Geon-woo without paying, but the jiangshi could not.
He had to pay not only for himself and his eight jiangshi, but also for the live jiangshi inside the stone coffin.
"Thank you. We salute your dedication."
When Geon-woo silently handed over the 200 solpi, the soldier saluted crisply and said as much.
It might have been solpi he already had, but solpi was still the result of creature hunting in people's minds.
Moreover, rumors were already rampant about Dark Phoenix's return.
This was the same place where they had made a flashy comeback announcement against Blood Rose.
The soldier knew more about Geon-woo's group's movements than the users did, so it wasn't strange at all for him to look up to them like idols.
'Let's go. If I give him any more time, who knows what fanboy nonsense he'll spout.'
Geon-woo hurried into the gate, reminded of sasaeng fans by the soldier's gaze.
The other jiangshi followed silently behind him.
But the moment Geon-woo passed through the gate and arrived in Veloca.
"Hahaha! Talk about good timing. To run into you right like this."
A familiar voice rang in Geon-woo's ears.
And that voice was clearly directed at him.
Geon-woo's gaze swept through the air briefly, seeking the voice's owner.
At the end, he spotted a familiar figure.
"Arthur Pellian?"
"Haha, how touching. You recognized me just from my voice?"
A knight clad in shining plate armor, with a silver cape adorned with golden tassels draped over his back.
He rode a pure white steed, fetched from who-knows-where—it was so massive that the warhorses flanking it looked like ponies.
"You think hiding your face makes that tacky armor disappear? They call that thing King Arthur's armor, right?"
Geon-woo said this to Arthur Pellian, who was making a fuss about being recognized.
Arthur Pellian's armor was already famous back on Earth.
Even without photos, there were countless illustrations depicting it exactly as it was.
Arthur Pellian, a former SAS member of Britain's special forces, had been a mercenary in the first group of eight explorers alongside Geon-woo.
While Geon-woo was offline for seven years, Arthur had gathered users after the Ark Capsule commercialization and formed the Royal Guild.
From there, he rose steadily and was now a prominent Ark Capsule user representing Europe.
"Well, this armor is pretty famous, I guess. Oh, did you get the horse armor first? You're still wearing that junk from back then?"
Arthur Pellian scanned Geon-woo and the jiangshi up and down with blue eyes peering from his helmet.
Seven years ago, Geon-woo had been the only one with horse armor, making all the other first-wave users envious.
Arthur now seemed eager to boast that his own armor was far superior.
"You've still got an eye for quality, huh? If you're jealous of our horse armor, just say so, Arthur."
"Haha. Talking big over some barely upgraded basic model? Like wearing paper?"
"What's wrong? Wanna test it out, Arthur?"
Geon-woo had already guessed that Arthur Pellian was deliberately picking a fight.
And the current situation was even more complicated than he thought.
Arthur had arrived in Veloca not long ago and heard that Geon-woo's group had appeared at the Dark Phoenix nest.
He had been about to summon his guild members and head there.
Naturally, he wasn't going with good intentions.
But just as he was about to enter the gate, Geon-woo arrived in Veloca City, leading to this face-to-face encounter right in front of it.
This left Arthur quite irritated.
Dealing with Geon-woo in a low-visibility spot was one thing, but starting trouble in a public place like Veloca was another.
Veloca had plenty of users, but also many Onbiroad residents.
Considering the natives' fondness for Dark Phoenix, causing a scene here would be burdensome.
Moreover, making trouble in Veloca was tantamount to challenging the authority of the ruling lord.
For various reasons, he couldn't attack Geon-woo outright.
So Arthur was deliberately provoking him, trying to goad Geon-woo into striking first.
And like scratching an itch, Geon-woo obliged with "Wanna test it out?"
"Got some confidence, eh? Let's see how great that fancy horse armor really is."
There was no reason to hesitate or hold back.
Arthur immediately unleashed his mana toward Geon-woo.
Though known mainly as a sword-using knight class, Arthur's specialty was surprisingly psychic shockwaves.
He possessed an innate ability to fire powerful psychic energy waves that neutralized opponents.
The pattern was a surprise psychic strike followed by a sword finish.
This psychic shockwave was the opening move of that signature attack pattern, launched at Geon-woo.
Ziiiiing!
"Urgh, that tingles."
But against Arthur's attack, Geon-woo merely grimaced slightly, as if he'd just downed a stiff drink.
In that instant, Arthur's eyes trembled faintly within his helmet.
He hadn't expected his attack to be blocked so easily.
"If someone greets you like that, staying still would be rude, right?"
Geon-woo, who had frowned, now glared at Arthur.
At the same time, a faint vibration began in the ground where Arthur and his group stood.
"Kang Geon-woo!"
Clang clang clang!
With Arthur's shout, all the Royal Guild members drew their weapons in unison.
"Hahaha! Just kidding, kidding. Messing around with an old friend after so long."
But at that moment, Geon-woo burst into loud laughter, claiming it was a joke.
Arthur's demeanor shifted instantly as well.
He waved his arms exaggeratedly to calm his guild members' frenzy.
"What are you doing? Weapons down, all of you! Hurry!"
Then he turned to Geon-woo and said,
"Of course. No matter how thoughtless we are, we wouldn't start swinging swords in Veloca, right?"
Geon-woo responded by playfully raising both palms to his shoulders and shrugging.
He simultaneously dispersed the mana vision he had been gathering.
"Hahaha. Exactly. Even outside Veloca, we're not the type to draw blades on each other."
"Yep, yep. We're comrades from the first expedition team who shared hardships, after all. Haha."
At Geon-woo's words, Arthur Pellian quickly donned a mask of beaming smiles.
As Arthur dismounted, the two approached naturally, shaking hands and exchanging a light hug to express their reunion.
= Kang Geon-woo, still as arrogant as ever. No sense of place.
= Why so prickly? Things not going your way? Not what you expected?
= Hm? What's going on? I didn't hear you bought up soulstones on Earth.
= ....
Geon-woo held back, wondering what this was about.
= Being able to send messages like this freely means you've fused at least 10,000 souls. How the hell did you manage that? Not 5,000, but 10,000?
= You idiot, think I'll just answer because you asked?
Sensing he needed to play along for now, whatever this was, Geon-woo responded accordingly.
= How dare you! You yellow monkey bastard!
A brief hug, but in that short moment, a fierce private exchange passed between Geon-woo and Arthur Pellian.
A method of infusing intent into mana for transmission.
It was a technique Geon-woo had only managed to pull off after Illyeong explained telepathy to him.
The moment they hugged, Arthur revealed his true colors via a similar unheard method, so Geon-woo countered with what he'd learned from Illyeong.
But among Arthur's words toward Geon-woo, there was something odd.
The mention of exceeding 10,000 souls.
Geon-woo guessed it referred to the number of souls fused into soulstones and realized there was some secret tied to it.
= Oh, so you really think I've fused 10,000 souls into a soulstone? Huh? That's really how it looks?
Geon-woo subtly stoked Arthur's curiosity.
He had lightly prodded the hint of 10,000 souls.
= Why hide it? But you're busted already. Just you sending messages like this proves it. Only someone with over 10,000 souls can do that.
Once more, 10,000 souls slipped from Arthur's mouth.
It clearly meant 10,000 souls was some kind of benchmark.
Combined with the earlier mention of 5,000 souls, it implied something special happened when fusing 5,000 or 10,000 souls into a soulstone.
This conversation unfolded as they shook hands, hugged, and gripped each other's hands again, staring into one another's eyes.
But they couldn't keep up the awkward act forever.
Geon-woo and Arthur released hands and took a step back each.
"How about it? Long time no see—grab a meal together?"
Arthur proposed dining first.
But they both knew it was empty words.
Geon-woo shook his head.
"Sorry, I'm here on business."
"Turning me down? Well, can't be helped. See you later."
"Weren't you about to head into the gate? Going back now?"
"I came out to greet you after hearing you were coming. Business done, so I'll head back to my land now."
"Your land?"
"Oh, slip of the tongue. Royal Guild territory."
With that, Arthur mounted his horse and led his lined-up guild members away from the gate area.