The tribe members bothered Yeon-woo with questions all night, full of curiosity because he’d defeated a semi-ranker. Each time someone popped up with a question, he said he was too tired to talk or Edora would push them away.

“If you don’t want to spar with them, then what about me? Don’t you want to try?” Phante jumped up and down in excitement.

“Phante.”

“What’s up?”

“If you don’t want to end up hanging upside down from a tree, shut up.”

“Geez, what a cold hyung-nim.”

Yeon-woo scowled, sick of dealing with him. Every time someone tried to initiate a conversation with him, he felt like dying. Although the Martial King’s potion had helped him recover, much of the damage in his body hadn’t magically disappeared. He had to constantly circulate his mana and use his magic power to heal, and one positive effect of the injuries was that he could feel more thoroughly with his Heaven Wing Mana Control. As his body emitted waste, new circuits opened, and the circuits that were already present grew sturdier.

As Yeon-woo healed, he reviewed his fight with Shanon. Even with Precognition, he had barely won, and so he thought over the homework that the Martial King had given him on focal points and sixth sense and mulled over the process of mastering Eight Extreme Fists and Heaven Wing Mana Control.

Realizing that Yeon-woo was in deep thought, Phante and Edora quietly left the room. They knew how important contemplation was to a martial artist in order to experience growth.

“I heard that I was pretty single-minded growing up, but I can’t even compare to that guy.” Phante shook his head as he walked down the hall. He felt that every time he looked at Yeon-woo, he’d managed to grow even more through sheer determination alone. Even Phante thought it was overkill and a bit dangerous to constantly try to push his limits. It was unbelievable that his body was still working and in one piece. It was as though he was being driven by something. What was his goal? “Oh yeah. Isn’t Flanc supposed to come today?”

“Yeah. We sent someone this morning. They’re going to join us with more people.” Edora nodded.

Phante clucked his tongue. “Dang. He’s going to be welcome here.”

Flanc was the younger brother of the Martial King—not just a stepbrother but a full-blooded one. He was better known as the Spear God, one of the Martial Gods who ran the Cheonghwado. He was also the person responsible for pulling the One-horned tribe into this war.

Red Dragon normally wouldn’t let their enemies get away with anything, but the city of Kuram was surprisingly peaceful. At the moment, Red Dragon saw no reason to attack it and complicate things, and they were simply biding their time to see what the tribe would do next rather than waste their resources in pointless skirmishes. Once they had a better idea of the tribe’s plans, then they would draw up their own strategies. That was how considerable the weight of the One-horned tribe and the Martial King was.

The Spear God knew this and used this to his advantage. He openly revealed his relationship to the tribe to warn Red Dragon in a political move. Although the Martial King openly scoffed at the Spear God for these kinds of machinations, he couldn’t deny his brother’s request, and besides, Phante and Edora had a good relationship with the Spear God.

“Anyway, you take care of hyung-nim. It seems like the Cheonghwado wants to see him, too. If he wants to show up, you can take him.”

“OK. But I don’t think he will, considering his personality.”

“You can also knock him out when you have the chance. I’ll pretend I didn’t know.”

Edora narrowed her eyes. “Do you want to die?”

“Hehe. I’m off.”

Edora glowered at her brother, who laughed hysterically as he left. Sometimes, she could see her Father in him. Edora sighed and looked at the door quietly.

Boom! The door suddenly burst open, and Yeon-woo ran out in a hurry. Before Edora could even ask what happened, he jumped out the window in the hall. Edora immediately guessed that something terrible had happened, and although it was probably better that she told her father and brother first, she gritted her teeth and ran after Yeon-woo instead.

***

Yeon-woo quickly passed the ruined city and the eleventh floor stage, activating Shunpo as much as he could, making his Magic Circuit overload again. His body complained as if it were wondering why he wasn’t resting, but Yeon-woo ignored it. He was only focused on heading south. ‘What the hell happened?’

Yeon-woo was connected to several creatures, one of which was the egg of the Mythical Beast in the One-horned tribe’s village and the other Chirpy, which meant that Yeon-woo could sense what they were thinking. The closer he was to them physically, the stronger the connection grew.

Now that he was on the eleventh floor, his connection to Chirpy had grown stronger, but he was so busy with the war that he hadn’t had a chance to contact him or the Phoenix. He’d thought of visiting them when he had spare time, but all of a sudden, he’d felt Chirpy’s panicked thoughts through their connection, full of fear and horror. It was a complete contrast to Chirpy’s usual bright and happy thoughts.

Yeon-woo immediately understood that something had happened to the Phoenix. But who would hurt her? The Legendary Beasts were the strongest entities on the lower floors, and even high rankers couldn’t easily defeat them. But then, the eleventh floor was now flooded with countless rankers and fighting squads. Kuram was the only quiet city, and every other place was teeming with tension between the two clans. Red Dragon moved around the eleventh floor like an army, turning the Cheonghwado’s strongholds into ghost towns. In these circumstances, it made sense for some rankers to try to challenge the Phoenix since the Neidan of the Legendary Beasts were priceless.

‘Why didn’t I think of this before?’ Yeon-woo blamed himself for not thinking the war through. He’d been so preoccupied with clearing the stage and training his Mugong that he had forgotten about Chirpy and the Phoenix.

He could see many different scenes happening below him: players escaping and troops moving in formation. As he got closer to the southern zone, his connection to Chirpy deepened, and he could feel him trembling in fear. ‘There’s no sign of the Phoenix.’ Yeon-woo bit his lower lip, filled with anxiety.

[You have entered the territory of the Phoenix.]

It had turned into a wasteland. Trees had been uprooted, and the corpses of Mythical Beasts lay everywhere. Even worse, he couldn’t feel the Phoenix’s gaze or hear her voice in his mind. His fears were confirmed: someone very strong had shown up. At minimum, it had been a high ranker. ‘He’s on Bahal’s level at the very least.’

He could feel Chirpy’s thoughts coming from somewhere above him, and without delay, he rushed forward to the Phoenix’s nest. It had also been devastated. The entrance was blocked by fallen rocks, and the marks of fire and swords streaked through the entire cave, evidence of a brutal fight.

Yeon-woo pulled Vigrid from his back. There was no time to waste. His connection with Chirpy was dying. Crash! He maximized his magic power and powerful winds lashed out. As he swung Vigrid, the rocks crumbled, opening up a path for him. Beyond the fallen rocks, he saw a strange, glowing barrier that barely kept the rocks at bay. It was so fragile, it seemed like it would break at any moment. Inside, he saw a slumped Chirpy covered in blood. Yeon-woo sensed a faint heartbeat that might stop at any moment.