[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 721: The Price of a Beating (3)
There was no way to know exactly which one would come.
The nuance in Eroom’s words had been rather strange.
“Which one…? Are there multiple kinds in the Great Achievement System?”
At that, Eroom Salzeo—lying on the ground with only his upper body left—looked up toward the top of the pillar of light.
—Well, I suppose you know absolutely nothing about the Great Achievement System.
Great achievements.
In the universe, a great achievement literally referred to a monumental accomplishment.
An accomplishment so extraordinary that it transcended one’s existence rank.
From what Yeongwoo had heard so far, becoming a Great One… in other words, a Rank 3 existence, absolutely required the completion of a great achievement.
Hadn’t Chairman Dogo once called Lemu a lowly being and claimed he would remain Rank 4 for life because there was no way he could ever accomplish a great achievement?
And yet, Lemu had ultimately achieved one by observing unpredictability and entered the ranks of the Great Ones.
In other words, no matter how much of a chairman he was, even he couldn’t see through everything in the universe.
“Yeah, how could an insignificant creature like me know anything about great achievements?”
Still standing in the center of the pillar of light, Yeongwoo deeply furrowed his brow as he looked upward.
“So what exactly is coming? Anyway, does this mean I really did achieve a great achievement?”
At that, Eroom nodded with a sorrowful expression.
—Indeed. Even if it is merely a fragment of a great achievement… it is still something close to greatness. And the proof of that is upon you right now.
He was referring to the pillar of light illuminating Planet Ship Master Jeong Yeongwoo.
—One of the Messengers of Great Achievement will soon come here.
“Messenger? You mean like an errand boy?”
—Yes. Though there are many kinds of messengers. Even Great Ones likely have not met every type.
“Well, that makes sense. It’s not like the chairmen accomplish great achievements as casually as eating meals.”
Yeongwoo nodded as though he roughly understood.
In the end, it meant there was no way to know what kind of messenger would appear until he met it himself.
“So when’s it coming? Do I just stand around here waiting?”
As Yeongwoo casually scratched his nose while referring to the Messenger of Great Achievement as “that bastard,” Eroom’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
—You… are you not afraid?
“Afraid? Whether it’s a fragment of a great achievement or whatever, I’m still the one who accomplished something incredible, aren’t I? Why should I be scared?”
The moment Yeongwoo said that, it finally began.
Rrrrrrrr…
The ground started trembling ever so slightly.
It was such a tiny change that only Yeongwoo and Eroom could sense it, and then the white pillar of light illuminating Yeongwoo turned ash-gray.
Fwaaaaaash!
—…An Inspector.
Eroom seemed to recognize it.
Soon after, the space above the trading hall ceiling split open lengthwise, revealing a blue crack.
“Blue…?”
Usually, when something was summoned, the subspace that opened up was filled with darkness like the cosmos itself, or with iridescent light.
But this time, a blue space unlike anything he had ever seen before appeared.
Kwooooooooh…!
An overwhelming presence emerged from within the mysterious blue space, and then an object began pushing its way out of the subspace—something that made Yeongwoo’s eyes widen.
“No way, Chai—!”
Yeongwoo hurriedly clamped a hand over his mouth and cut himself off.
He had belatedly realized that it couldn’t possibly be the Chairman’s Tombstone Ship.
And yet, whether by size or appearance, the object presumed to be carrying the Messenger of Great Achievement was undeniably a Tombstone Ship.
‘W-Wait… it’s completely identical. It’s literally the same thing?’
Just what the hell was going on here?
While Yeongwoo blinked rapidly, the Tombstone Ship, exposing its underside above the spacious trading hall, came to a halt.
If that truly were the Chairman’s ship, then Dogo of the Hundred Thousand Sword Mountains’ signature gigantic steel anchor should soon come crashing down.
But what actually happened was—
Trdrdrdrdk!
With the sound of pulleys unwinding, only the underside of the Tombstone Ship opened up.
Kuuuuung!
Eventually, the inside of the Tombstone Ship—which had lowered a steel plate into the middle of the trading hall—was revealed to be pitch-black.
And then, finally—
“Huh.”
A single point of light entered Yeongwoo’s vision.
More precisely, someone wrapped in light was walking out from inside the dark ship.
Then, around the time he stepped onto the steel plate leading outside the ship, the trading hall’s indirect lighting revealed the appearances of the other two beings as well.
“There were three of them…?”
One wrapped in light, another shrouded in black smoke from head to toe, and a mysterious being dressed in gray robes walked out together.
“Those guys are the Inspectors? But why are there three of them?”
At Yeongwoo’s question, Eroom leaned farther back with both arms and answered.
—They represent the very forms of the universe. They inspect your great achievement from the perspectives of good, evil, and harmony.
“What an unbelievably troublesome way of doing things.”
As he said that, Yeongwoo tore his gaze away from the Inspectors and looked upward instead.
Toward the blue subspace that still remained open to keep the Tombstone Ship floating above the trading hall.
“What’s up there?”
—…What? What do you mean, up there?
“That blue space. Haven’t you ever been curious about what’s inside it?”
—……
Just as Eroom tried turning his eyes toward the space the Messengers of Great Achievement had descended from, Bastard suddenly flew from Yeongwoo’s hand toward the ground.
Piiiiing!
“What.”
At the same time, Aratubank—which had been fixed to Yeongwoo’s left arm—also fell to the floor.
“You sons of bitches?”
Realizing instinctively that the messengers had forcibly disarmed him, golden light leaked from Yeongwoo’s eyes, and the one in gray robes lightly raised a hand to chest level.
≡ Quite full of vigor, aren’t you?
Then, at last, he stepped off the steel plate lowered from the Tombstone Ship and set foot onto the trading hall floor.
Tap.
The moment his foot touched the ground, the point of contact rippled like the surface of water.
“……?”
As Yeongwoo’s eyes twitched slightly, Eroom quietly explained.
—This place now belongs to the messengers’ domain. Unless you are a Great One, you cannot wield weapons here.
“What? Then if I become Great, does that mean I could still swing a weapon in front of those bastards?”
At Yeongwoo’s question, the one wrapped in smoke grinned viciously.
≡ Indeed. If you wish, you may even plunge a sword into us.
Judging by both his appearance and the way he spoke, that one was clearly “evil.”
Meanwhile, the one presumed to be “good” quietly looked around the trading hall interior.
≡ Just how could a flame arise in a place like this? This is… a trading hall within the Black Zone.
At that, the one in gray robes drew a circle in the air with his hand and murmured quietly.
≡ Great achievements can occur anywhere.
It was at that moment that the entire floor of the trading hall turned bluish.
Like Yeongwoo, Eroom’s thirteen guards—now disarmed—could not hide their fear and retreated backward, and soon the figures of Yeongwoo and Eroom materialized atop the blue floor.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
“W-What… what’s going on all of a sudden?”
As Yeongwoo stared wide-eyed at his own blue hologram, Eroom explained once more.
—They are called Inspectors, are they not? They are reviewing the moment the great achievement occurred.
“…Reviewing it? The scene where you got your ass kicked?”
As Yeongwoo’s eyes widened, the gray-robed figure—who had already moved to the center of the trading hall—lightly poked the air with a finger.
Paat!
The holograms that had been frozen in place suddenly began moving.
Yeongwoo spun Bastard around once while saying something, Eroom answered him, and then immediately came charging forward at tremendous speed.
And at that moment, numbers appeared above each of their heads.
[100%]
This was the value attached to Yeongwoo.
And this.
[36%]
This was the value attached to Eroom Salzeo at the start of the duel.
In other words, that was…
‘Their actual combat power. Half-dead Salzeo’s combat power was at 36%.’
Then, as Eroom Salzeo released his pressure and threw a punch, the combat power indicator above Yeongwoo’s head changed.
[80%]
‘My combat power dropped…?’
It was probably reflecting the suppression caused by the opponent’s pressure.
And then came the first clash.
Kuuuuuuung!
Even though it was merely a reenacted battle through holograms, the moment the two duelists crossed fists, blue shockwaves swept through the trading hall.
At that moment, “evil” raised a hand and froze the screen.
≡ Look at this bastard. He’d already won right here, hadn’t he?
Then the gray-robed figure drew a circle with his hand and rewound that very first exchange.
After that, he lightly pressed down on the air with his other hand, and the first clash replayed in extreme slow motion.
So slowly that anyone watching would have no choice but to recognize that Jeong Yeongwoo’s fist had reached Eroom Salzeo first.
At that, “good” pointed a finger toward Eroom.
≡ However, Salzeo was enraged. His younger sibling had been taken hostage, and this duel itself was an unpredictability born from an improper transaction.
There was no need to even mention that Eroom had been at death’s door at the time.
≡ Nonsense! When hunting a dragon, one cuts off the wings first. This is “skill.”
In other words, Jeong Yeongwoo seizing Eroom Salzeo’s younger sibling to provoke emotional instability, then initiating the duel while he was half-dead, was also considered skill.
≡ …However.
“Good,” who had been about to argue back, closed his mouth.
Then he quietly looked toward the gray-robed figure.
At that, the Harmonizer—his entire head concealed beneath a dome-shaped steel covering—looked between the other two Inspectors.
≡ The flame did not arise at this moment. We must observe further.
Then he removed his hand from the air and replayed the past once more.
Kwaaaaaat!
After exchanging punches, the two duelists immediately widened the distance between them slightly.
Then came the scene of Yeongwoo swinging Bastard.
Toward Eroom, who still remained unarmed.
‘Damn.’
Seeing it again, Yeongwoo slightly lowered his head at how disgraceful it looked, but the Harmonizer’s reaction was entirely different.
≡ …Remarkable.
He had seen the crimson-black trajectory violently tearing through the air.
And behind that trajectory was Eroom Salzeo, his face twisted in terror.
Then, in the end, Eroom broke his own rule, drew his sword, and swung it—and by the narrowest margin, Yeongwoo blocked the attack.
Kaaaaang!
Along with the sharp sound of friction, white flames burst forth within the entirely blue reenactment field and were sucked upward into the air.
‘…The flames!’
The flames the messengers had repeatedly mentioned until now were those very things.
≡ An omen of great achievement.
The moment the Harmonizer declared this to be the branching point, the scene unfolded where Eroom—having recognized his opponent’s true worth—stabbed his sword back into the ground.
It was the moment he once again proposed hand-to-hand combat.
At that, “good” spoke in admiration for the first time.
≡ Ahh, so this is where the great achievement truly begins?
Originally, he had expected the Planet Ship Master to achieve a great achievement through an honorable duel.
But what actually happened was—
Ssk.
The Yeongwoo inside the hologram put the whistle to his lips, then spoke with an unbelievably vile expression.
「From this moment on, I’ll show you what a ‘real fight’ actually is.」
The first voice support since the inspection began.
And the moment the Mutants came pouring out through the split sky, the combat power value above Yeongwoo’s head rapidly surged upward.
His combat power, which had recovered to 98% thanks to Eroom stopping the use of pressure, suddenly amplified to 121%.
‘No way, my friends account for that much…?’
While Yeongwoo blinked rapidly at the combat power composition he was seeing for the first time, the Mutants that had fallen from the sky began mercilessly beating the half-dead Eroom Salzeo.
≡ Good heavens.
“Good” stepped back in shock.
Meanwhile, “evil” spoke in an excited voice while pointing toward the Two Hundred Ninety-Second Sword Mountain, which had only just begun falling from the sky.
≡ I have not witnessed a great achievement of this magnitude in thousands of years. The flames are so intense it feels as though my eyeballs might burn away.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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