Arena Chapter 153:
Chapter 153 – Audience (Part 1)
Heising’s fists rained down while the female examinee had her hands on his shoulder and was sustaining their flight with her magic .
Their teamwork was better than mine and Cha Ji-hye’s .
Heising, who specialized in close combat, plus magic support? There couldn’t be a better suited combination .
On the other hand, we were at a disadvantage .
There was no way Cha Ji-hye, with her duel scimitars and whose specialty was close combat, could face off against Heising, an aura master .
Because of that, I was using my guns and fighting head to head with Heising while she supported me by attacking when she found an opening .
So in terms of synergy, we were of course at a disadvantage .
‘Continuing to fight this way is only disadvantageous to us . ’
I didn’t see a way to get an easy victory and on top of that a lot of spirit summons was used getting rid of the zombies .
In addition to that, the opponents were undead, their stamina was likely to be infinite as well .
And if I wanted to seal the deal on this victory…
‘Then the person I should be targeting is that **** under the sea . ’
One of the 6 high priests, Allan .
If I can kill that man, Heising and the female examinee will stop moving too .
I came to that conclusion and I said to Cha Ji-hye .
“Stay away from me . ”
Without any hesitation, Cha Ji-hye rode atop number one and backed away from me .
Naturally, Heising and the female examinee focused their attacks on me .
Kwaaaaang!
The whirlwind around my body splintered away after being hit with Heising’s aura fist .
Through a crack in the broken whirlwind, a flurry of Heising’s fists came through .
With both feet, I put all my might into kicking Heising in the chest .
Two strong gusts of wind came from my feet and pushed me and Heising apart .
After creating distance between us, I fired away with double guns .
Ta ta ta ta tang!
Heising protected himself using his aura and the female examinee used defense magic .
The bullets ripped through his aura shield but the female examinee kept stacking defense magic to keep them protected .
In that time, Heising came at me again and attempted to counterattack .
But I stepped back and drew the two people towards me . Lower and lower .
While fighting the two of them I got closer and closer to the surface of the ocean .
Then……
‘Now!’
I moved until Allan was right under my feet .
I had sensed Allan’s location with the guider skill .
“Sylph!”
-Meow!
Even without speaking, Sylph reacted and carried out my order .
Hwiiiiing!
With a strong wind, Sylph created an airtight box around my body .
Surrounded by this box, I headed into the water .
Dunk!
I raced towards the ocean floor while splitting the ocean apart .
Going through the deep dark of the ocean, I could make out the silhouette of a person not too far off, Allan .
I raced towards Allan .
Flustered, Allan tried to move out of the way but I was faster .
‘I’m coming for you!’
I rammed into Allan, forcing him into the box with me .
Then……
“You said it’s been a long time since you forgot the feeling of pain? I guess you won’t feel much if you burn to death?”
“……!”
I raised a flame and filled the box with it .
Allan protected himself by wrapping himself in his black cloak but I fired away with my double guns and broke through his defense .
And through the cracks of the broken cloak, I forced in the flames .
Hwa lu lu lu lu luk!
“Kuaaaaahhhk!”
Allan screamed as he lit on fire .
At that moment, above Allan’s head, a black space reappeared .
And from within that space, all kinds of monsters sprung forth . They, too, seemed to be undead .
Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta tang!
Using my double guns to shatter to the skeletal monsters trying to come out, I continued to set Allan ablaze .
Hwa lu lu lu lu luk!
How much time passed this way .
Slowly, because of the fire, the oxygen within the wind box began to run out .
Pat!
And the black space Allan had opened, closed .
Allan was burnt to a crisp and I couldn’t make out his figure .
‘Is it done now?’
I decided to check Allan’s location using the guider skill .
I couldn’t sense him .
It could only mean that Allan no longer exists in this world .
Then that meant success .
That strange invincible bastard, I succeeded in killing him .
‘It’s starting to get hard to breathe, I should head back up . ’
I came out of the ocean .
When I left the ocean, Cha Ji-hye flew to me on number one .
“What happened to Heising?”
“He left . ”
“He left?”
He didn’t die?
“Yes, it looked like he didn’t know what to do and then the two of them left to somewhere . ”
I got a foreboding feeling about that .
Wouldn’t it be normal that if Allan dies, the undead he created also die?
“It seems the undead with fake souls blown into them stay alive even when their creator has died . ”
What Cha Ji-hye said was valid .
They looked like they didn’t know what to do and then left . I guess that could be interpreted as their creator died and they were free from his control .
And then .
Pat!
The exam door appeared .
“Summon board . ”
-Name: Kim Hyun-ho
-Class: 40
-Karma: +600
-Mission: annihilate pirate army (achieved)
-Time limit: 129 days 17 hours
Cleared the exam .
I’m sure the real goal of this exam was the high priest Allan .
I did still have a nagging feeling because Heising and the female examinee have disappeared and this wasn’t completely finished but it didn’t seem to have that much of an effect on this exam .
We didn’t’ go through the exam door right away but rather returned to the uninhabited island instead .
We took off our synthetic muscle suits and put them in the virtual space . The rake eagles too were put in there .
“Shall we go now?”
At my question, Cha Ji-hye suddenly voiced a different opinion .
“We still have 129 days left . ”
“Yes . ”
“Then during that time can’t we do something else?”
“I’m sure that’s possible . ”
As long as there was time limit remaining, whether you return right away or stay a while longer was completely up to the examinee .
“Then I wonder if with the time left we can train the rake eagles some more to let them grow . ”
“Ah!”
I was in awe .
Why didn’t I think of that?
The rake eagles still had a lot of growing left to do .
Through the growth acceleration skill I mastered, they can grow up to three times their normal size .
Then in preparation for the next exam, it would be beneficial to let them grow while we have some extra time .
On top of that, there was no one on this island!
This vacation spot belongs to Cha Ji-hye and I alone .
“Sounds good . Let’s do that . ”
And that’s how our relaxing vacation started .
We had plenty to play with . A laptop and smartphone with solar batteries .
In case of a situation like this, I had downloaded a bunch of games on the laptop .
At times I played games like crazy and at other times, Cha Ji-hye and I rode the rake eagles and enjoyed a date flying in the sky .
How much time passed I wonder .
Approximately a months’ time had passed .
“Beeeek!”
Number three, who was much larger than before, screeched .
I thought someone else had appeared so I sent Sylph to scout and it was none other than the Deport harbor’s battleships .
‘Regiment Commander Ajen sent them!’
The battleships’ course was to the pirate archipelago .
Regiment Commander Ajen was probably worried about our safety and sent them to scout .
“What is it?”
Asked Cha Ji-hye .
“It seems that the navy from the Deport Harbor has been dispatched to see if we’re safe . ”
“We should go by once . ”
“Let’s . ”
First, we left the rake eagles to stay on the uninhabited island and we used Sylph to cross the sea .
We could see the battleships heading for the pirate archipelago .
“That battleship in the center is probably the flagship . ”
“Wow, you can recognize that? You really were a soldier . ”
At my compliment, Cha Ji-hye replied flatly .
“I just used the guider skill to find which one Regiment Commander Ajen is on . ”
“……”
Anyway we landed on that battleship .
As the two of us suddenly came down from the sky, the soldiers on the battleship were taken by surprise .
“Who, who are you!”
“Don’t move!”
They surrounded us with their weapons at the ready .
But some of the soldiers recognized us .
“Ah, our hero!”
“It is the hero, baronet Kim!”
“They are the heroes who got rid of the pirates . Put down your weapons you idiots!”
Just like that, the tension dissipated and after the uproar, Regiment Commander Ajen appeared .
“So you were safe!”
“Yes, same for you guys as well?”
“Nothing other than a letter that a new consul has been appointed . But what in the world happened?”
I told him the results of the last fight .
He may discover the remains of the zombies so I told him the truth about fighting the dark magician too .
“It’s not enough that you completely mopped up the pirate archipelago, but you fought a great black magician and won at that!”
Regiment Commander Ajen’s face was filled it awe and admiration .
Anyway, at my words that the pirate island was cleaned up, Regiment Commander Ajen let out an order to the fleet to withdraw .
I refused Regiment Commander Ajen’s offer of a grand banquet and we returned to the uninhabited island .
And then a month passed and I got a call on the transponder .
It was Odin’s number .
“Odin?”
-Hyun-ho!
It was Marie, loud and welcome with a lively voice .
Odin must have quickly stole it back because I soon heard his voice .
-Have you been well?
“Yes, we’ve cleared the mission and are resting up before we return . ”
-I see .
“Ah, and we got rid of one of the 6 high priests, Allan . ”
-The great magician I heard you guys dealt with was one of the high priests?
“Huh? You’ve heard news of us?”
-Don’t even say that . Your name is being mentioned all over Arena right now . The political world is on fire trying to figure out who this Baron Kim is .
“Really?”
-You drove back the pirates that the Aman Kingdom couldn’t lay a hand on and even got rid of that Heising who had an evil reputation . And not long ago you alone annihilated the pirate archipelago?
“Yes but I didn’t know the rumors had spread already . ”
-Thanks to the radios . A Nordic exam group member who was in the Aman kingdom heard the news and spread the word far and wide . Thanks to that, I heard about you and wanted to give you a call too .
A foreigner from a different world . I felt amazed that I was known wide and far here in the Arena,
I wonder if I could get some high position somewhere like Odin because of this .
-Anyway, if you killed a high priest, then you, Kim Hyun-ho, are probably closer to the exams’ ultimate goal more than anyone else . But that means you are that much more a target so please be especially careful .
“Of course, don’t worry . ”
-Ha ha, actually the real reason I called wasn’t about this and I ended up saying a bunch of nonsense . If you have the time, could you come by this way?
“Why?”
I didn’t want to .
I wanted to play here longer with Cha Ji-hye .
Odin’s request that would cut my vacation here didn’t sound too pleasing .
But at Odin’s next words, I couldn’t help but be surprised .
-The Arend royal family wishes to see you . A while ago, I had an audience with the royal family and talked about many things and you came up as well . I think they want to give you a title of nobility and land .
“Really?”
-Someone as strong as you, you will be able to get at least to the title of Count or Earl . As for land, taking into account your relationship with the elves of Brown Mountain, it will probably be an area close to that .