NSE-Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Ancient Dragon

There’s a saying that words catch in the throat.

When seeing a sight too bewildering, or witnessing something overwhelming.

A person’s mouth sticks shut like glue and can’t easily move.

The little brat Park Si-woo had skills worth being astonished by, but he was certainly no match for the Sword Immortal today.

Divine Spear, Fist King, Poison Demon.

These three knew the Sword Immortal’s skill well.

He was definitely a big brother who wielded a sword astonishingly well.

But today, it was on an entirely different track.

‘Wh-What the?’

Fist King, the youngest of the four, blinked.

A monster pack well over Level 500 blocked the way, and.

By the time he, Divine Spear, and Poison Demon had each dealt with two, more than six corpses were lying in front of the Sword Immortal.

The Sword Immortal was definitely Korea’s best Awakened. But that didn’t mean the gap in skill was this overwhelming.

Because the four’s skills had been only a hair apart.

“……Eldest Brother. Did you, by any chance, sneak a bite of wild ginseng behind our backs?”

“I did not. Instead, I did receive a fine gift.”

“A gift? What is it? Tell us younger brothers here too! Let’s get rejuvenated together!”

The Sword Immortal looked at the three men.

Not only Fist King, who had brought it up, but even Divine Spear and Poison Demon, who were usually the quiet types, showed curious gazes.

“I’ll tell you once this Gate is over.”

“……Fine! Let’s clear it quick!”

Blazing Mana gathered on Fist King’s fist. The tip of Divine Spear’s spear grew sharper. Green vapor billowed up from Poison Demon’s body in great puffs.

When they reached the Boss Room like that.

[The tomb shakes greatly at the mighty enemy it faces for the first time!]

[The tomb’s final guardian, ‘Ancient Dragon,’ appears!]

“……Huh?”

Poison Demon and the other Awakened tilted their heads.

A dragonkin always appeared as the tomb’s boss.

But among them, there was no name like Ancient Dragon.

This was a monster all four were seeing for the first time.

‘A Hidden Piece?’

The Awakened’s eyes gleamed.

They too had once had a time when they’d explored Gates and burned with passion. Though the flame had died down over the years, it hadn’t vanished completely.

“Haha, how fun! Big brothers, I’m going first!”

Hot-tempered Fist King charged at the Ancient Dragon first. Enormous Mana gathered over his fist, and.

[Using Hundred-Pace Divine Fist(S)!]

Bang!

When he thrust with all his might, a giant-shaped fist formed and struck the Ancient Dragon’s body.

Hiss.

Mist rose up.

But, as if it weren’t for nothing that it was the final guardian, the Ancient Dragon’s body wasn’t shaken in the slightest.

Soon, black energy gathered in the guy’s mouth.

At the formidable power, the eyes of Divine Spear and Poison Demon creased.

“Youngest! Watch out!”

Danger.

The moment the judgment came, they kicked off forward. The guy’s dark-crimson breath was flying toward Fist King.

[Using Moonlight Slash(S)!]

[Using Deadly Poison Spray(S)!]

The two hurriedly used Skills. Enormous energy surged toward the breath. Fist King too launched an attack at the breath.

Soon the three were shocked.

‘We are being pushed back?’

The Skills were being crushed by the breath. The enormous energy was slowly approaching Fist King.

That moment.

A chilling energy struck everyone down their spines.

Their gazes turned toward the Sword Immortal on their own.

They saw a sword from which no energy rose at all. Even so, a suffocating pressure was felt.

It felt as if they’d been stripped bare and offered their necks before a blade.

The Ancient Dragon, too, hurriedly turned its head. An immense pressure gripped the dragon’s heart fiercely.

When the breath’s direction began to turn toward the Sword Immortal.

Slash!

With the sound of something being cut, the Ancient Dragon’s body split in two.

“……!”

Everyone’s eyes flew wide enough that they couldn’t open any wider.

The Ancient Dragon’s by-products burst out, but no one paid any attention to such things.

That was how shocking the Sword Immortal’s appearance just now had been.

No one had seen him swing his sword.

And yet the Ancient Dragon was dead.

The Sword Immortal, descending from midair, looked at the messages before his eyes.

[Incomprehensible Achievement attained!]

[You acquire the Title ‘Fanatical Disciple’!]

[You acquire the Title ‘Mind Sword Possessor’!]

[New Title List]

[1. Fanatical Disciple]

[Performed a miracle through fanatical belief.]

[Effect: The chance of gaining enlightenment rises when you are with the teacher in your heart.]

[2. Mind Sword Possessor]

[Crossed the boundary of the material realm and became a Swordsman who knows how to cut through the essence.]

[Effect: Power increases by 30% when using the Mind Sword.]

[You have seen the illusion and its boundary line. The realm of No-Self that lies between them.]

“……Only now.”

The words Kim Min-woo had brought up.

Only now did he feel he understood, a little, what they meant.

The illusion was precisely the material realm.

Beyond that boundary, the Sword Immortal had opened up a new domain called the sword of the heart.

A realm that had been stalled for over 20 years.

If it hadn’t been for those words, that stall could have lasted a lifetime.

‘Only…….’

He was dull.

He still didn’t know what the realm of No-Self was.

But it no longer mattered.

Because he now had a teacher in his heart.

While the Sword Immortal was thus gathering up the new enlightenment he’d gained.

The three old men hurriedly surrounded him and asked.

“……E-Eldest Brother!”

“What on earth was that just now?”

“A Skill? That’s not something you can define with that!”

Perhaps because they were younger brothers with a sharp insight of their own, they seemed to have recognized at least that it wasn’t a Skill.

“It’s the gift I received.”

“Argh! This is driving me crazy, really! I’m asking what that gift is!”

Hot-tempered Fist King thumped his chest.

His curiosity had filled up to the tip of his throat, to the point of spewing out of his mouth.

“I received a very great teaching.”

“A teaching?”

“Eldest Brother did?”

“From whom?”

“Are you asking me to tell you that for nothing?”

“No!”

“That’s cold of you!”

“Eldest Brother! After all the years we’ve spent together! Didn’t we even come here to help!”

“……Ahem.”

The Sword Immortal, clearing his throat, looked at his younger brothers.

Having kept them on tenterhooks, it was time to bring up the main point.

“Fine. I’ll introduce that person to you. However, this may turn out to be a burden on that person’s side. Do you acknowledge that?”

Nod.

“So we should at least bring a gift.”

The Sword Immortal pointed at the dragon’s corpse.

The three old men, understanding his meaning, nodded.

To begin with, the three had joined the clear only because they’d been asked to help, not because of a reward from the Gate.

If they’d coveted such things, they wouldn’t have half-retired in the first place.

To form a bond with such an astonishing extraordinary person for a mere price like that?

They could hand over corpses and by-products by the ten or twenty, all of them.

And so the Sword Immortal put the Ancient Dragon’s corpse and by-products into his Spatial Ring. Soon, along with the Gate clear reward, their figures vanished.

* * *

Kim Min-woo.

He was being surprised several times today.

On the way back after seeing the news at the Auction House.

[You acquire the Title ‘Best Teacher’!]

[New Title List]

[1. Best Teacher]

[A disciple you taught has produced a miracle.]

[Effect: The learning effect increases greatly when you give instruction.]

Once at the Title acquisition message that came out of nowhere.

Once at the Sword Immortal, who, for whatever reason in such a rush, had wrapped up even the interview in haste outside and run over.

And then…….

“You’re saying you’ll give me the corpse and all the by-products? And for free, no less?”

“Yes. It was the boss that appeared for the first time, called the Ancient Dragon. Its Level seemed to be beyond a simple S-rank level, so it will surely be a big help.”

Ancient Dragon.

It was a name Kim Min-woo was hearing for the first time too.

Because no such boss had ever popped out when he’d gone to clear Tomb of the Dragon.

‘Did it appear because of the Sword Immortal?’

He’d said they’d swept everything once inside the Gate. It seemed the Ancient Dragon had appeared because of that.

‘This must be top-tier material…….’

Even if he searched the whole world, it would be hard to find dragon material on a par with the Ancient Dragon.

Because the Awakened capable of catching such a monster were a tiny few.

In terms of price, it seemed it would easily exceed the trillions.

It was a dragonkin whose whole body was expensive to begin with, and on top of that it was stronger than any that had appeared so far. If an asking price were put on it, there was no predicting how high it would soar.

And they were saying they’d give it away for free, no less.

So he couldn’t help being surprised.

“Did the others all agree too?”

“Yes. If you’ll grant one request, we agreed to do so.”

“A request……”

“It’s nothing difficult. It’s only that we’d like you to meet those three.”

“Those gentlemen?”

The Sword Immortal nodded.

“They’ll probably want teaching. Whether you tell them or not is up to you. It isn’t content to be had for a mere dragon corpse.”

Let’s think.

In fact, even if the Sword Immortal spread that content around, it would be an awkward position to say anything about.

To begin with, that teaching was something the Sword Immortal had first given to him, and he didn’t even know well whether those were truly effective words.

‘But he’s sending me a pass like this?’

He could form bonds with three masters through one trivial remark?

And get a dragonkin corpse for free on top of that?

‘Isn’t that a huge win?’

Divine Spear, Poison Demon, Fist King.

All three were people with whom forming a bond could bring no loss.

Kim Min-woo was no fool who couldn’t take even what was handed to him.

“Sure. Gentlemen, are you outside?”

“If you heard, get in here quick!”

With those words, the door opened and the three old men hurriedly came inside.

“Heh heh. I wondered, but it really was this kid.”

“We more or less expected it since Ilseong Group stepped in, didn’t we?”

“True, but…….”

The three old men stared at him.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Min-woo. I’ve long heard of your reputations, gentlemen.”

“Ahem! Is it truly you who gave Eldest Brother enlightenment? I just can’t believe it.”

Divine Spear asked, clearing his throat.

“Enlightenment sounds too grandiose, but…… it seems like something similar.”

At those words, the three old men pressed in close.

“What on earth is that enlightenment?”

“Tell me too! I won’t forget the favor!”

“Can’t you at least give us a hint?”

Even if they said that, all he could do on this side was recite what he’d said last time like a parrot.

He looked at the Sword Immortal.

Conveniently, a super genius who had gained enlightenment and refined it to some extent was right before his eyes.

“Please have the Sword Immortal tell them.”

“……Is that all right? In the end, it was you who told me…….”

“Yes. You must have already reached that realm, so you’ll explain far better than I, who only peeked at it.”

“……So I shall.”

Soon the Sword Immortal began speaking to the three in an explanatory tone.

To roughly sum up the content, it was the story of seeing the world beyond the material realm.

‘What on earth is this about.’

It was definitely Korean, yet it sounded like an alien language.

What was even more astonishing was that the faces of the three old men grew seriously stiff as they listened.

Mmm.

I see.

The old men nodded, throwing in such interjections.

“……Only, regarding the realm of No-Self that Min-woo mentioned here, I still haven’t realized anything at all. I merely think in my heart that there must be something…….”

He saw the Sword Immortal glancing at him.

Thirst for knowledge was, knowingly or not, blazing in his eyes.

The gazes of the three old men converged too.

The mood seemed to call for him to say something at this point.

He quickly rummaged through the Sword Immortal’s sayings.

The words that had been tossed out in passing.

He searched for the most plausible one.

“I don’t know exactly either. Only…….”

“Only?”

“No-Self is forgetting yourself. The more you do, the freer you become, but the limits are clear. We are human. Is forgetting oneself truly possible as a human being?”

“…….”

“That’s why all I know is that you should forget yourself, yet not forget.”

Forget, yet not forget.

It was one of the things the Sword Immortal had said in the past. The surroundings fell so still that not even the sound of a needle would ring out.

The Sword Immortal, who had kept his eyes closed for a long while, nodded.

That moment.

[‘Best Teacher’ effect is activated!]

[‘Fanatical Disciple’ effect is activated!]

[The effects stack!]

A message appeared.

‘What, that’s scary.’

Did he really realize something?

“Forget, yet not forget…… I have learned something great from you again.”

At that sight, the faces of the other three old men grew grave too.

They hadn’t realized anything, but they could feel in their skin at least that these weren’t meaningless words.

“……I thought kids these days were all hopeless, but I was wrong. Korea is going to soar greatly from now on.”

Divine Spear broke the silence, and.

“Kim Min-woo, was it? Here’s my number. If you ever have a favor to ask, contact me anytime.”

“Ahem! Same for me. Take my number too.”

Fist King and Poison Demon handed over their numbers as if competing.

Connections began piling up like mad.

The Ancient Dragon’s corpse rolling in was a bonus.