Chapter 259

EPISODE 259 – SURPRISE ATTACK (3)

It was late at night when everyone was asleep.

Who was knocking on the door then?

Cordelia who can’t sleep because of her excitement. Cordelia who can’t sleep because she’s anxious that we’ve been separated for a while. Cordelia who just came to see me. Would you like some ramyeon? Cordelia asks me as she opens the door. Landius who came to visit and screw up my happy thoughts.

Jude enumerated the possible situations as his happiness circuit began to work hard, but he already knew the answer.

“Please come in.”

“Okay.”

As he expected, the one who opened the door and appeared was Landius.

“What the-… What’s with that disappointed look?”

“No, it’s just… I was just dreaming in vain.”

Jude smiled while looking soulless, and Landius strode closer and put his big hand on Jude’s forehead.

“You don’t have a fever.”

“Anyway, Master, what’s the matter?”

“I’m here to talk to you. I couldn’t properly talk to you earlier.”

Landius said that and sat down on the floor, so Jude also sat down facing him.

“You and I need very little sleep.”

“Well… that is true.”

After completely opening the sixth door, his sleeping time that was already short had become even shorter.

In fact, sleeping for more than two hours a day was close to a habit, so if he willed himself to not sleep at all, he could stay awake for several days while still being healthy.

And it was the same for Landius.

“Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors is an art that moves away from being a human the more doors one open.”

Landius was currently at the seventh door.

Even if he hadn’t gained the power of ancient giants through Ancestral Regression, his physical abilities had left the realm of humans a long time ago.

“Anyway, I’m here right now because this is the only time we can talk due to our busy schedule.”

Jude nodded at Landius’ words.

Because after today’s battle, Sicilia would launch a full-fledged offensive.

They had a lot of things to do first, such as gathering the power of the south, which includes the 7 southern families.

“First of all, I want to hear the things that happened to you since then.”

From the time they parted ways in the Temple of Life.

At Landius’ request, Jude talked about what had happened so far as concisely as possible.

“So…”

He began with them meeting Princess Darianne and exploring Arkeman’s Dungeon.

He continued to talk about the various events that occurred after they arrived at the royal capital one after another, and then narrated what happened on their way down to the south.

Their encounter with First Sword.

Their battle with the Lord Protector.

Their bloody fight against Gamorr Khan, and the Ultimate Series.

The events surrounding Jabberwock and the elves they met in the Forest of Eternity.

In addition, their battles against the brainwashed Sebastian Leguin, the Kraken, and Madhur.

After hearing everything that Jude had said, Landius stroked his chin and smiled.

“Master?”

“No, it’s just… It’s just amazing.”

Yes, it’s amazing.

Everything’s amazing.

‘What is up with these two?’

Landius himself had been through a lot since he was born, but it seemed like Jude had it worse.

It’s like they always get dragged into trouble.

‘No, it’s not that.’

Rather than getting dragged into trouble, it feels like they’re deliberately pursuing and getting themselves into troublesome events.

‘But it’s been like that since we first met.’

Their fight against the demon followers who tried to kidnap the children of the 12 northern families.

Unlike the present, Jude had overcome that crisis despite having a weak body, and he had been embroiled in all sorts of incidents since then.

‘Their fights against the demon followers in the wild lands.’

The things that could have happened if Jude and Cordelia had not gone to the wild lands.

‘Lena could have been dead.’

She would have probably lost her life after she closed the Hell Gate.

Moreover, that wasn’t the only one.

Perhaps the entire wild lands would have fallen into the hands of the demon followers, causing a huge crisis in the northern region of the Sälen Kingdom.

‘The same goes for the royal capital.’

Without Jude and Cordelia, no one would have been able to stop the Lord Protector.

‘The annihilation of the royal family and the collapse of the barrier. And the chaos it would cause to the entire Sälen Kingdom.’

For the Sälen Kingdom, that in itself was fatal, and if one added the crisis in the northern region, it was possible that the kingdom would collapse.

‘And this time in the south.’

The threat of ancient Black Dragon Malekith.

‘It’s like… they know what’s going to happen in the future and then move to prevent it.’

He clearly thought that it was impossible, but Jude and Cordelia were always involved in huge events concerning the Sälen Kingdom, or even the entire world.

‘Furthermore…’

Landius closed his eyes for a moment and recalled the first time he met Jude.

Jude was much taller now and had muscles in his body, but when they first met, Jude was a completely different person.

He was small enough to be similar to Cordelia, and was as skinny as corn stalks.

Jude’s changes in that short amount of time had seriously amazed him.

But in retrospect, his changes had occurred in just one year – no, it was less than a year.

‘Why? Whis is this guy so strong?’

His growth speed was not normal.

Or rather, it was already not on the level of abnormal. His growth pace was already beyond one’s common sense.

It was clearly not that impossible if one listed down all the things Jude had.

Jude had Cheonmujiche, the incarnation of martial arts from the heavens, and the number of mysterious incidents he had been through was not a joke.

Because he ate those mysterious incidents that other people would only experience once in their lifetime, as if those mysterious incidents were just daily meals.

‘Sixth door.’

The current progress of Jude.

It took him just over half a year to reach the sixth door.

Even Landius himself took more than five years to reach that door.

‘He’s a real monster.’

Landius himself didn’t expect that there would be a day when he would think what others had thought of him.

“Master?”

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking of something for a while.”

Landius gave an evasive answer before looking at Jude again.

And he saw Jude tilting his head with a puzzled face and narrowed brows, as if he had no idea on what Landius was thinking about.

‘Well, it’s a good thing anyway.’

There was nothing wrong if Jude became strong quickly.

Landius himself welcomed Jude overtaking him and rising to a higher door of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

‘A clue to the eighth door.’

As he had already told Jude several times, Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors was clearly made for those with Cheonmujiche.

Therefore, Landius who did not have Cheonmujiche had to risk his life every time he opened a new door.

Just like how an adult crustacean risked its life every time it molted.

It had been more than a few years since he opened the seventh door.

Landius would have normally tried to open the eighth door by force, but he changed his mind after meeting Jude who had opened up to the fifth door.

‘My old methods are too risky.’

Through Jude, he got to know the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors more properly.

And as a result, he realized that what he had been doing until now was recklessness itself.

‘If I had kept going that way, I might have died already.’

There was a clear difference between taking risks and rushing headlong to one’s death.

After all, Landius’ goal wasn’t to become the strongest warrior.

It was to drive away the demon followers out of this world so that something like the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom would never happen again.

“My disciple.”

“Yes, Master.”

“I wish you all the best in the future.”

“Eh? Ah, yes. I wish you the best too.”

Jude tilted his head as he continued to be a bit puzzled, but soon spoke with a smile, and Landius warmly smiled before returning the topic back to Jude.

“Moving on… your life is truly full of ups and downs.”

Jude had already fought more than five strong people on the level of the Ten Great Swordmasters.

Moreover, Jude was much weaker than he was now when he fought against the Lord Protector, so it was a miracle in itself that he survived all those battles.

“I was lucky.”

Jude humbly spoke and looked at Landius in front of him.

Even though they were both sitting, Landius was really huge.

Furthermore, there was the sight he had seen a few hours ago.

The figure of Landius beating a giant Black Dragon with just his bare fists.

‘He’s truly not normal.’

Indeed, he’s humanity’s strongest.

Frankly, Landius seems to be much stronger than Kamael or Lena.

‘His bare fists were already that strong, so what would happen if he opened up to the seventh door and used the Solar Blade?’

Or rather, what would happen if Landius had acquired Sword Origin?

After briefly imagining Landius becoming one with that sword, Jude had a bitter smile. Because he could hear Valencia’s complaints from the depths of his mind.

‘My successor is really mean. You’re making me into a two-timer.’

He could somehow see the sulking Valencia puffing out her cheeks in his mind.

“Disciple?”

“Ah, yes. It’s nothing.”

After quickly erasing the image of Valencia that came to his mind, Jude straightened his posture while Landius tilted his head like Jude had done before, and then said.

“Anyway, my disciple. I have a question for you. When the sixth door opened, the female sage didn’t show up, right?”

“Yes, I don’t know why, but… I haven’t seen her.”

“Hmm… Until now, the female sage would appear when you opened a door, but she didn’t appear this time…”

The female sage also held clues about the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

In fact, Jude learned more from the female sage than from Landius about the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, including how to use the energy of the black dragon.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see for now. Perhaps you’re still lacking in enlightenment.”

“Yes, I shall work hard as ever.”

It was not something he should worry about for now.

Anyway, once their conversation about that was over, Jude took a deep breath and opened his mouth again.

This time, he wanted to discuss about something that he needed a definite answer to.

“Master, I’d like to talk to you about one thing.”

“Well, if you’re worried about getting any bigger, don’t worry. You won’t grow any bigger. Even if you grow taller than now, you won’t reach more than two meters.”

“Eh? Uh… yes. That’s a relief.”

“Hmm, you’re relieved, huh?”

No, he was really relieved.

Because just like Cordelia, Jude himself was worried about growing as big as Landius.

‘That’s a relief.’

I’m really relieved.

Jude sighed in relief and wanted to go to Cordelia under the pretext of quickly relaying to her the good news, but he couldn’t.

He hadn’t been able to talk about what he wanted to say yet.

“Ahem, ahem, Master. What I want to talk about is something else.”

“What is it?”

“It’s regarding the Supreme Sun Divine Art.”

Having said that, Jude straightened his posture and slowly calmed his breathing.

It was to awaken the Black Sun.

What Jude himself had completed through the Supreme Sun Divine Art.

The power of the sun began to show its true value a little after their fight with the Kraken.

“Is this really the Sun?”

Landius sensed the presence of the Black Sun in Jude’s soul so he straightened his posture too and regulated his breathing.

It was to awaken his Sun, just like what Jude did.

‘Golden Sun.’

It was completely different from Jude.

The truly dazzling light was like the light of dawn itself that ended the dark night and welcomed the glorious morning.

Why is there such a difference?

Why is Landius’ sun golden while mine is black?

“Because my disciple’s heart is black.”

“What?”

Excuse me?

Jude asked without realizing it. He couldn’t help it.

Cordelia always called him black-hearted Black Cloak, but he didn’t expect it to be real.

“Well, to be more exact, it’s because my disciple’s soul is black.”

Seven Colors, Seven Attributes.

Souls had seven colors and seven attributes.

“Humans with black colored souls are very rare. I’ve only read about it in records, so this is the first time that I’ve actually seen it.”

At Landius’ words, Jude furrowed his brows unconsciously.

“Is it a bad thing?”

“No, it’s not. There is no significant relationship between the color of the soul and the character of the person.”

It was just that very few humans had a black soul.

“Anyway… you did well. You’ve opened the sixth door, and you’ve already created your own Sun.”

“Is it alright to develop it like this?”

“Yes, there’s no need for me to teach you. Your Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors and Supreme Sun Divine Art have already become one, so you just have to develop the power of the sun just like what you’ve been doing until now.”

Jude breathed in relief at Landius’ words.

Because he was deeply worried the power of the Black Sun he first revealed in his fight against the Kraken was somehow wrong.

‘I’m relieved.’

I was doing it right.

As expected of having Cheonmujiche.

But it was at that moment.

After his sigh of relief, Jude suddenly looked up and turned to Landius.

Because Landius was looking at him and smiling, but the meaning of his smile was somehow different from before.

“Master?”

“Perhaps we won’t have time to relax for a while. We can’t delay it any longer since you’ve already created a Black Sun.”

He wasn’t talking about muscle training.

Landius looked straight at Jude and continued his words.

“Disciple, the reason you had an illness called Gueumjulmaek is because you were born with excessive Yin energy.”

Gueumjulmaek caused his blood vessels and meridians to be blocked and the circulation of his qi energy to be disturbed due to the excessive Yin energy that accumulated in his body, thus affecting his body and soul.

Jude was born with excessive Yin energy.

It meant that he was born with a Yin Body before his Heavenly Martial Body (Cheonmujiche).

“Therefore, you had to develop your Yang energy. But now, your Yang energy had grown so strong that you could use the power of the sun.”

His Yang energy couldn’t even be developed in the first place because of his excessive Yin energy, but he could use it now due to the Sunflower. It also enabled him to use the Supreme Sun Divine Art and the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

“Until now, you’ve been doing your best to suppress the Yin energy. But the situation is different now that you’ve obtained the Sun. You can already use the Yang and Yin energies so… you’ll be able to handle the power of the two energies at the same time.”

Yin-Yang Body.

A person whose body could handle the two opposing energies at the same time, as well as create a harmonious relationship between the two.

“Isn’t that right, Kamael?”

The moment Landius spoke, the door behind his back opened.

Just like Jude, he was a person with a Yin Body.

Ghostblade Kamael appeared.