Chapter 163

The Chen family was a renowned spearmanship family with a long and storied history in China.

The current head of the family, Chen Ziyi, had steadily reinterpreted and developed the old Yang family spear art.

[Your achievements are recognized.]

About thirteen years ago, when the world changed and people across the globe awakened their own Unique Abilities.

[You have acquired the Unique Ability ‘Pear Blossom Spear’.]

The elderly family head couldn’t help but feel a thrill of joy.

‘Ah, an opportunity! An opportunity has come!’

In the modern era, its function had diminished.

Martial arts, treated as nothing more than physical training, had finally been elevated to the ends of the universe.

Dungeons appeared.

The advent of a world where fists took precedence over the law!

The advent of a world where people sought martial arts manuals more than exam prep books!

[Using ‘Pear Blossom Spear’.]

[Skill, ‘□■■□■’ (S-Rank) is upgraded by one level.]

[You have acquired Skill, ‘□■■□■’ (SS-Rank).]

(T/N: Yep, it’s not a mistranslation. That’s really how it was written in the raw.)

[This skill has more room for growth.]

Even after becoming a Hunter, he wielded a spear.

He infused his own spear art into his Unique Ability and developed it even further.

‘I worked very hard.’

The whole world already knew of his efforts.

How could they not?

Spear King.

He had built a reputation so great that the entire world called his family’s spear art the King of Spears.

World Rank 10 was not a place one could climb to without effort.

‘But.’

Because of that, greed arose.

The desire to make his family even greater.

The ambition to elevate the Chen family’s spear art even higher.

The one he found to achieve that was Judgment Spear Zhang Wei.

A genius born of the continent, a young Hunter who possessed a spear-related Unique Ability.

‘I taught him with everything I had.’

The Spear King tried to teach Zhang Wei everything he knew.

He also tried to pass down everything of the family.

‘That is why.’

He was in a foul mood.

Was it because he was the head of a family with a long and storied history?

In truth, Sinocentrism was ingrained deep in his bones from the start.

The idea that Chinese culture was the best, and that China was the center of the world.

Was that why?

‘Hmm.’

When the Spear King saw the man before him, he became unusually agitated, unlike his usual self.

‘Anyone can see he’s a ranker in the top 100, and he’s my disciple’s close friend?’

That meant until he participated in the ordeal, he was nothing more than a ranker candidate, wasn’t he!

‘Nonsense.’

It was impossible.

A ranker candidate could possess such an aura in less than three months?

‘That’s why, when I first saw him, I asked if he was an examiner.’

But the answer he heard from his disciple—

Master. He was truly a formidable man!

My friend also uses a spear. It was quite different from our Pear Blossom Spear, yet it was certainly powerful. There was much to learn!

‘This foolish boy…!’

So ignorant of his master’s feelings.

After learning the Pear Blossom Spear that his master had researched his entire life directly from him, he praised another spear style?

A fire raged in his chest.

So he raised his spear.

He knew full well that his actions were disgraceful, but he couldn’t stand it.

The man before him must have never seen the true Pear Blossom Spear.

‘This is merely me teaching him.’

That there is a sky above the sky.

That the world outside the well is boundlessly vast.

And also, the greatness of the Pear Blossom Spear.

He had only intended to show him for a moment…

“Hahahahaha!”

A madman from the remote peninsula appeared.

“You old skewer! Why, why are you hesitating! Come on! Bring it on! Should I go first?”

A man famous for being a blockhead, one who was much talked about even within China.

Berserker Jang Daewoong.

He was spouting nonsense about a ‘younger brother’ and radiating hostility directly at him.

Also—

“Hey, hey! Hold on! Berserker!”

With a roar, someone dropped down from the sky.

“Calm down. Calm down! Your opponent is the Spear King! World Rank 10!”

The White Boar with a broad build, Yoo Sangdon.

“Berserker! I agree! You just said it yourself! This could become a national dispute! Both the Spear King and the Berserker, please calm your auras for a moment!”

Black Sword Lee Seonah also lowered her sword and stood between them.

“Is something… a dispute?”

“We’re not late, are we?”

Behind them, Ki Soyul and Ki Parang also took their positions.

“Hmph.”

The Spear King narrowed his eyes.

“Are you telling me to tolerate the Berserker’s challenge?”

Rumble!

An aura began to boil hotly from Chen Ziyi’s body.

“Kgh!”

The rankers’ faces contorted under the immense magic power, and they lowered their stances.

“To me, the Spear King? What do I have to lose?”

He was World Rank 10.

He was confident he could crush all of them with force.

“Joo Donghoon is a ranker from our country!”

Lee Seonah stepped forward.

“Did the Spear King not raise his spear against a ranker of our country first! Berserker was merely responding to that! Besides! It won’t do you any good to mess with us either, Spear King! We have the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect!”

“The Heavenly Demon Divine Sect…”

The furrows on Chen Ziyi’s brow deepened.

“You mean that copycat guild from the eastern barbarians of the frontier, who carelessly took what belongs to China?”

“What did you say?”

Lee Seonah’s eyes widened.

“Can you… take responsibility for those words…? Besides, the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect originally has its roots in the Shiwan Dashan on the Vietnamese border, so it is not entirely Chinese!”

“What are you talking about? Vietnam was originally China.”

“Excuse me?”

“Not only that. Are not the roots of you Koreans also China? To be precise, you were barbarians who briefly parasitized Chinese land.”

“What, what kind of madman is this?”

In the end, Lee Seonah couldn’t hold back and charged.

“H-Hey?! Are you really fighting? This?”

Yoo Sangdon was flustered.

“Just let it go! You can just think of it as the ramblings of an old Chinese man!”

“Hahahahaha! See! We were going to fight eventually, so we might as well just fight! No need to hesitate! If the opponent provokes you? So what! Just let yourself be provoked!”

Berserker laughed with satisfaction.

“Furthermore, my younger brother, who challenged his limits and grew beyond expectations, is watching. This Hyung can’t just stand by!”

He took a step forward.

Fwoooosh!

A gust of wind blew behind him.

“When I was rank 500, I fought rankers in the 300s. When I was rank 100, I looked down on double-digit rankers. I’m just doing the same thing now as I did then! Hahahahaha!”

A laugh that felt like it could pierce through one’s chest.

Kraaaash!

His footsteps tore up the ground as he sprinted.

In response, the Spear King slowly raised his spear.

“…Are you moths drawn to a flame, knowing it is fire?”

The Spear King stared ahead with sunken eyes.

In front of him, a master archer was raising her bow, and an assassin was approaching.

“Foolish.”

It was laughable.

Wretches whose hearts would be pierced and brains shattered with a single movement of his spear.

They knew that, and yet they would fight?

‘For that mere boy?’

A glance.

The Spear King glared at the man.

Mutter, mutter.

As if he had seen a ghost, he was staring into empty space and muttering to himself.

The man who was his disciple’s close friend.

Yes, this was for the better.

If he was a genius the continent failed to produce.

If he was a genius who surpassed the continent’s talent.

He could just kill him.

If he did that, wouldn’t his disciple be able to remain the world’s genius?

Whooom!

The Spear King’s spear rotated elegantly.

“Come.”

Thump!

Just as his aura was about to spread like a spiderweb and ensnare the rankers.

“You mustn’t! Master!”

“…!”

Someone blocked the Spear King’s path.

It was his disciple, Judgment Spear Zhang Wei.

“I speak to you as a disciple! My skill judges the thoughts you harbor as evil…! I ask that you please stop!”

“…”

“It is said that one must serve one’s master as one serves one’s parents, with utmost respect and reverence, but I hope the tragedy of a disciple judging his master with his own hands does not occur!”

“…What did you say?”

“Master’s power is immense; you could sweep away everyone here with one hand. It would surely be so! However, if you do, this disciple… will have no choice but to break the Pear Blossom Spear.”

“Insolent boy…! Do you not know… that this is all for your sake?”

‘Because the Pear Blossom Spear I aspire to is a spear of good!’

“Do you truly wish to intimidate the man I have acknowledged as my friend, Master?”

“…”

The Spear King frowned.

What?

Intimidate?

Ah, truly.

Was there not a single person on his side here?

Furthermore, although his disciple was trying to stop him, it was already too late.

“Hahahahaha!”

Because the fist of the madman who knew no retreat was just about to smash into the Spear King’s face.

“…”

Whoosh!

Berserker’s fist covered the Spear King’s face.

The Spear King made an annoyed expression.

“Too slow.”

Swish!

The Spear King’s movement was a fraction faster than Berserker’s fist.

He lightly tilted his head to let the fist slide past, and the shaft of his spear struck Berserker’s abdomen precisely.

KWAAAAAANG!

A deafening roar, loud enough to shake the entire Mystic Island, echoed out, and at the same time—

“Gah!”

Berserker was sent flying and tumbled across the ground.

“Hah-heu-hahaha! This is great! Yes! This is how it should be to be fun!”

But he did not fall.

Even while being thrown back, he maintained his balance and supported his body.

Moreover, he did not lose his smile.

Rather, drool trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes overflowed with thick madness.

It was a mental fortitude that showed why Berserker was World Rank 20.

“Master!”

“Silence!”

The Spear King roared.

“This master is not on a rampage!”

He bit out the words, as if growling.

“I am merely responding to a challenge!”

The spear cut through the wind and pierced the world.

Rrrrrumble!

A long spear aura unfurled from Chen Ziyi’s spear.

Spear Energy Manifestation, where energy gathered to become clearly visible to the naked eye.

It was a state that all the world’s spear masters dreamed of.

Furthermore, the spear aura was filled with killing intent.

The Spear King was clearly, and genuinely, trying to take the lives of the South Korean Hunters.

“…!”

Judgment Spear Zhang Wei squeezed his eyes shut.

The power of World Rank 10 was truly great.

It was a moment where, if he so decided, the heads of the South Korean rankers would fall in an instant.

It was a pity.

If his master truly committed murder here, could he really continue to learn the Pear Blossom Spear?

Why had his master, who had never once harbored killing intent in front of him until now, changed like this…?

But.

No one could stop the Spear King’s current rampage.

World Rank 10 was World Rank 10.

An extreme high-ranker, said to be no different from a god.

But the South Korean Hunters were brave.

They charged without a hint of fear, even in the face of the Spear King’s rampage.

Just as a clash was about to occur.

“What is all this commotion?”

Thump!

It was then that space froze, as if the world had stopped.

“Gasp!”

Judgment Spear Zhang Wei’s breath caught in his throat.

Some immense power was pressing down on his entire body.

“I heard a relic came out from Delilah and couldn’t contain my curiosity, but my goodness. What is this disgraceful display from high-rankers in front of their hubae?”

Along with a brilliant floral scent that filled the entire Mystic Island.

The Spear King’s momentum.

Berserker’s momentum.

And the momentum of all the other rankers began to die down in an instant.

‘Crazy?’

Judgment Spear Zhang Wei was aghast.

Who in the world.

What kind of being could do something like this…!

World Rank 10 and 20.

And to subdue numerous other rankers in a single breath?

Ssst!

At that moment, the air split open, and a Western woman with snow-white skin appeared.

‘That person is…?’

There was no need to think, ‘Who is that?’

Because Olena Zelenska, who had been watching from afar, frozen, opened her mouth and shouted.

“M-Master of the Magic Tower?! How is the Master of the Magic Tower here!”

That’s right.

The name of the being who had subdued the momentum of those powerful rankers in a single breath was none other than Sophia Silverstone.

The World Rank 4 ranker known as Oxford’s Sage.

It was the appearance of the one praised as the final boss of all mages on Earth.