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80. To challenge an A-Rank

The sun had set in Valtadren. By the time the Goblins had slowly finished their work, Marilyn’s surprising story had come to an end.

“… That’s what happened.”

“It’s a hard story to believe.”

“We have never sinned! How can it be a sin to wish for peace on Earth?”

Marilyn shook her fists in anger. She must’ve thought of it as unfair. However, Ko Byeong-gap’s sentiments were a little different. He sympathized with her feelings, but he fully understood the other side’s position since he also…

‘I also pretend to be God…’

The crime of the Sarahons, which the absolute God Madmut pointed out, was the impersonation of God or the showing of the arrogant usage of that word.

Ko Byeong-gap leaned on the backrest and sucked deeply into his cigarette. He then slowly recalled the previous story about the epic history of the race’s decline that began hundreds of years ago, perhaps even a thousand years, that Marilyn told him.

***

Now that their history had completely disappeared, it was impossible to say what happened even a few years ago in detail, but it was still self-evident that all this happened a very long time ago.

In the distant past, there lived a large number of races there on the continent. In particular, the intelligent beings called ‘Ain’ established their own civilizations and achieved prosperity.

Marilyn mentioned the Sarahons, Humans, Beasts, Fairies, Dwarves, and Kanp. Those six Ains were said to have formed the axis of the continent. Of course, the Sarahons were the best among them, but if asked if the continent was at peace, it was absolutely not.

The Six Ains fought with each other on an indefinite day without unity, even though they came from one root. Territory, food, ideological differences, etc. They always had an excuse to point fingers at each other.

Since the first Sarahon Lord established Ashvilam, the conflict was still ongoing until 1,014 years passed by in the Ashvilam calendar, so there was no time for blood to dry up on Earth.

Moreover, in the 1015th year in the Ashvilam calendar, a monarch who was said to be the strongest Lord of all time was born. He was the 8th Lord, King Landreal. He was only 12 years old when he took power, but no one in Ashvilam could beat his swordsmanship.

It wasn’t just in swordsmanship. Landreal was also a master of sorcery and a genius at craftsmanship and medicine. He was very curious, and in his second year in the position, he suddenly went on a trip after delegating full power to his representative for as long as five years.

No one knew where and what he did in those five years. However, these were the first words Landreal brought up after returning from his long trip.

– When I looked around the continent, I saw that there was no reason for all things on Earth to hate each other. Their hatred is fake, and the blood sprayed on this land is nothing but savagery.

– Would you blame a hedgehog for having thorns? Weakness and stupidity aren’t sins. It’s up to the lion to correct order in the grasslands.

– So I, Landreal, declare here. Since the Spirits of heaven are just watching over the state of the Earth, I will become an earthly god and establish order.

Since then, the Sarahon had taken a passive stance in the war between the Ains since they already had the best land on the continent; no other race dared to attack. However, Landreal differed from his predecessors in values. He wanted peace for all things on Earth, not just for his own to eat well and live well.

So, a great war of conquest was waged. It was a large-scale war that lasted as many as 26 years. Sarahon’s army wrote the myth of being undefeated in one hundred battles. The king was the king, but even the generals who supported him were considered the strongest in history. The war was over when Landreal turned 45.

– The war is over. Now that all the races on Earth have entered Sarahon’s arms, there is no war or struggle anymore. We originally came from one root. We must return to one root and achieve peace.

The continent, which was noisy due to the chaos of the war, was quickly stabilized under Landreal’s command. As he said, the Ains didn’t fight anymore. Indeed, peace had come to the continent.

Peace continued for more than 30 years. Marilyn was in the generation who lived in the ‘era of peace.’ Even when he was over seventy, Landreal corrected himself like he did when he was young and thought that the era of peace would last forever.

Until the Holy Warriors and their armies descended upon the Earth, breaking through the sky.

***

‘The Holy Warriors came out of nowhere and grabbed the Sarahon like a mouse, and a big war broke out again. The Sarahon fought desperately, but the men from heaven were too strong. To make matters worse, the Ains who were under them betrayed the Sarahons and joined the Holy Warriors. Isn’t it only natural that Marilyn hates the Ains?’

The back story was as he knew it. The Sarahon were pushed back here in Valtadren and survived, but they were cursed and perished in the end, and it had come to this point.

“So what the hell happened after Ashvilam was destroyed?”

He was still at a loss of what happened after Ashvilam’s fall. Why couldn’t the Ains who lived on the continent not even see his nose? The land that was once fertile became a wasteland for some reason.

What was the true identity of the Gruggles who roamed the Earth? He wanted to find that out quickly, but at the moment, there was no way to do it.

“Whoa.”

After taking the last puff, Ko Byeong-gap rubbed the cigarette butt to put it out.

“Yes, you did a great job talking. Well… I’m sorry about the Sarahon’s misfortune, though a few words may not comfort you. I apologize as a human being.”

“No, Lord said he was not a part of this world. I don’t think Lord should apologize. You can take back what you said.”

“It’s okay. I don’t have to take back what I’ve already said.”

Marilyn was very polite and had been that way ever since she swore allegiance. Frankly speaking, it was a bit burdensome, and he heard she was over 50 years old…

‘How can that face be in her 50s?’

A Sarahon’s life span was said to last about 230 years. He heard that if they lived a long life, they could even live up to 278 years, causing his mouth to stall wide open. After all, that had to be why Landreal was on the front lines even at 70.

“Hey, Lord.”

After he thought about it for a moment, Marilyn suddenly opened her mouth. Even before Ko Byeong-gap could answer, she turned her body then took off the top she had been wearing in the blink of an eye. The map engraved on her body was revealed without a filter.

“… What are you doing?”

“I have sworn to serve you, but that doesn’t mean I’ll take the words of the former Lord lightly. The Lord told me to go to Vervonia.”

She stretched out her arms and tapped her back. As he always felt, she was very flexible. Marilyn let go of the clothes and turned back to his side.

“I don’t think the former Lord would’ve said such a thing in vain. So Lord, please…”

“Oh, that’s enough. I know that.”

Ko Byeong-gap raised his hand and cut off Marilyn’s words.

“Even so, I was going to go. He said to go there to revive Ashvilam, right?”

“Yes, the Lord certainly said so.”

“You don’t know what’s in there?”

Marilyn shook her head slowly.

“I do not know, either.”

“That’s too bad.”

What great thing did he hide that he had to engrave a map on his wife’s body and put her to sleep in a basement? He wouldn’t have made a scene out of it for fun.

‘Maybe a legendary sword or something?’

“Do you know the way to get there?”

“Yes, it remains intact in my memory. Also, I have a map like this on my body, so I don’t think it would be hard to find.”

“I guess so.”

“Well, Lord, when are you planning to go? The girl thinks it’s better to leave tomorrow morning.”

“What?”

“What?”

There was a moment of silence. Soon after, Ko Byeong-gap burst into laughter and waved his hands.

“Hey, hey, what are you talking about? How are we going there tomorrow morning?”

“Huh? Oh, we won’t?”

“Of course. It looks like it’s not even a day or two away. How can we just leave? It’s not like the system here in Valtadren is completely structured. We have to prepare enough and step forward afterward.”

“Oh… I see. Then when are you considering it?”

“Well…”

Ko Byeong-gap scratched his jaw and was lost in thought.

“Well, maybe in about three months. I don’t know.”

“You mean three months…? Isn’t it too late?”

“Did you hide a jar of honey there? Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Oh… no. I just want Asvhilam to be rebuilt as soon as possible…”

“I understand how you feel, but don’t be so impatient. It’s not a good thing to hurry.”

“Yes… I see.”

“Yeah, I think you should go now.”

“Farewell.”

After sending Marilyn back, Ko Byeong-gap also left and headed for the Capitol. In fact, the name alone was grandiose since it was just a large building. It was a place to gather and discuss with key people when something happened.

The attack squad was waiting there.

“Lord, you’re here?”

“We’ve been waiting.”

“Oh, yeah. Everyone, sit down.”

The seven Goblins sat around a round table. Ko Byeong-gap sat at the center and simply asked his regards. The greetings didn’t last long, and they weren’t there to fool around. He got to the point without delay.

“As I said, we’re going to challenge an A-rank crack tomorrow. I’ll give you the code of conduct as it is dangerous, so listen carefully.”

“Yep!”

Yes, Ko Byeong-gap was about to challenge an A-rank crack tomorrow. It was different from what they had done so far, so they needed to be fully prepared.

The first was mental preparations and knowledge of the code of conduct. In fact, the code of conduct was an already repeating story.

“… That’s all there is to know. Have a good night’s sleep tonight.”

“Yes! Alright.”

“Yes, see you tomorrow.”

Ko Byeong-gap escaped Ashvilam and returned home. A dark and cold living room greeted him.

‘Wait, it’s cold?’

Although it was March, the air was still cold. So he had to leave the boiler on all the time, but why was it cold in the house?

“No way.”

Feeling anxious, Ko Byeong-gap pressed the light switch. Sure enough, the lights didn’t turn on.

“That’s crazy! Is there another blackout?”

Power failure, then another blackout. The raid on the power plants began in early March. There had been power outages since it happened. More than three weeks had passed since the initial attack, but the incident was still a mystery.

The assailants were absent for a while, and five days ago, they attacked the Haenam power plant and destroyed it. They cleverly aimed for the gap in their defense.

Maybe it was because they had already broken into four places? Sometimes there would be no electricity for hours. As the damage caused by it accumulated day by day, the entire nation’s interest was now concentrated on it.

For Ko Byeong-gap, the hospital where his mother was confined in caused him the most worry. Fortunately, they had no major damage because emergency generators always operated there.

“I don’t know what kind of crazy people they are, but please, just get caught. I’m going to file a petition for the death penalty.”

He had to take a cold shower that day. His hatred grew even more.

***

The day of the subjugation.

Ko Byeong-gap busily prepared for it since early in the morning. He packed weapons and potions and checked his physical condition. Fortunately, he was fine.

Before departing, he stopped by Ashvilam to check the condition of the attack squad. Again, nothing.

“Okay, let’s go.”

He got in the car and entered his destination on the navigation. That day, he was headed to Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon-do. It was quite far from Seoul.

In fact, there were some A-rank cracks near Seoul. He had filtered out all of them because there was more than a 99 percent chance that large guilds already occupied them.

It was most appropriate to go to one that had just appeared in a sparsely populated area. Ko Byeong-gap drove the car before it was too late. He started from Seoul, passed Wonju and Jecheon, and then stepped on the land of Yeongwol. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, since he departed at dawn.

“Let’s see, let’s see… Where is Deokpo-ri?”

He wasn’t at his destination yet. He had to get out of downtown Yeongwol-gun and into a rural village, so he ran down a deserted country road.

He had been driving down it for 20 minutes. Over the guardrail, armed people appeared. What were they doing there, standing on guard? Ko Byeong-gap lowered his speed and glanced at them. He soon discovered their identities.

From a basin that stretched out beyond the guardrail, a magic stone power plant was located in the distance. They could be the hunters hired to protect the power plant.

“That’s brutal. That is brutal.”

What kind of trouble were they having because of some people’s insanity? Ko Byeong-gap went his way, clicking his tongue.

– You will arrive at your destination shortly.

It took another 15 minutes from the power plant, and finally, he reached his destination. He stood in a deserted country village. There were no people, only abandoned houses and rice fields.

Ko Byeong-gap pulled over a short distance from the crack. If he got too close, the car would die. That was why some hunters quickly changed their cars.

“One crack and one hell of a big one. The ground is already dead.”

A fairly large crack. Even in a B-rank crack, there were at least 300 monsters. It meant that one small mistake could have permanent consequences.

He wasn’t particularly scared; although it was an A-rank crack, he had already experienced it once.

“Come on, let’s give it a try!”

He shouted and threw himself into the crack.