Chapter 280   – Triton (5)

Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko (9/12)

‘They combined?’

Yeon-woo was speechless looking at the chains around his left ankle.

It was so sudden. He never would’ve imagined something like this would happen, so he was frozen.

Something similar had happened before too. Zeus and Astrape. He felt hollow seeing the holy artifacts he barely earned being destroyed in front of him, but after learning how to use the Black Bracelet, he realized that it wasn’t an item that fell short of Astrape.

And now, the same thing was happening.

Maybe he could understand it if it was a holy artifact that could absorb the traits of others, but that wasn’t it. It just ate up other holy artifacts.

Zeus and Poseidon were famous brother gods. Then how were they related to the owner of the Black Bracelet?

‘The Black King. Just who is he…..?’

[Grief of the Black King]

Category: Sabaton

Rank: ???

Summary: ???

**This artifact is ‘Unique.’ There is only one that exists in the entire Tower, and it is completely bound to its owner. It cannot be shared or traded with anyone else.

**Currently, you cannot see anything about it. Only after you have certain qualifications can you see it.

He couldn’t see the traits of the artifact. All he could see was the name ‘Grief.’

Yeon-woo felt disbelief while checking the artifact.

It wasn’t just Yeon-woo. The 98th floor was also surprised.

[Athena covers her mouth. She is surprised at the sudden change of events.]

[Hermes has a mysterious smile.]

[Azrael nods with his arms crossed. He bursts out laughing.]

[Azrael sends you a message.]

[The godly society ‘Olympus’ is shocked.]

[The gods of ‘Olympus’ are in a confused state.]

[The gods of ‘Olympus’ look towards Hermes. Hermes treats them indifferently]

[The godly society ‘Asgard’ keeps their silence.]

[The godly society ‘Malak’ observes you.]

[The godly society ‘Chan Sect’ sighs. They begin to read the heavens, saying that something is approaching.]

……

[The demonic society ‘L’Infernal’ is gleeful.]

[The demonic society ‘Jie Sect’ smirks at Olympus.] [TN: Jeolgyo is changed to Jie Sect! We finally figured out what it means.]

[Poseidon screams!]

[Poseidon bursts up from his throne and shouts something. He screams in protest against Hermes and Athena.]

[Hermes ignores him.]

[Athena snorts.]

[Poseidon decides something.]

[Poseidon calls the gods under him, and they discuss something.]

[Poseidon glares at you furiously. He is preparing a response to this.]

Messages continued to fill Yeon-woo’s vision. Amongst those, there was something he hadn’t seen before.

[There are three messages that have been delivered to you. Would you like to read them?]

‘Messages?’

They were messages that Hermes, Azrael, and Agares had sent.

Beings were penalized heavily if they sent messages to players that weren’t apostles.

It could affect the player. To pay for the principle of causality, they had to use a significant amount of holy power and demonic energy.

But still, the reason why they had sent him messages frantically probably meant that this event was shocking to them as well.

The messages popped open.

[Hermes’s Message: It’s nothing, so you don’t have to be concerned about it.]

[Azrael’s Message: So it’s you! You’re that being’s…..!]

[Agares’s Message: Accept me! Me!]

Hermes was cheering him on like always, and Agares was frantic about something, affected by what had just happened.

However, Azrael’s message was a bit strange.

‘That being? Is he talking about the Black King?’

Did Azrael know something? His reaction was a bit suspicious.

Yeon-woo also wanted to send Azrael a message to tell him anything he knew. His curiosity about the Black King was the greatest.

However, with this, he could know something about the secret of the Black King.

The Black King wasn’t an old hero or player. He had at least been a holy being.

‘For example, like the Monkey King.’

The Black King’s Despair and Grief. It wasn’t bad for Yeon-woo. Rather, he was happy.

On the other hand, Benteke’s reaction was completely different.

“What…..!”

He wasn’t affected by most things, but his shock must’ve been so great that his fingers were shaking. He looked up at the sky with bloodshot eyes.

His face was crumpled. He shouted with rage.

“Shut up, sir! How is it my fault that this happened?! You’re a god, and you couldn’t even predict this! Blame your damned foresight! Or go to Apollo since he wasn’t able to warn you about this!”

He must’ve been quite angry because his voice rang out loudly. Who was he shouting at?

The sky trembled for a moment as if angered by what Benteke said, but Benteke just snorted and looked back down.

His fingers twitched and he returned to his normal self. When he stretched out his hand, the river water floated up and became a spear.

“I showed a bad side of myself because of my ill-tempered god. Let’s start again.”

So had he been shouting at Poseidon?

The more Yeon-woo looked at him, the more he felt that Benteke wasn’t normal. An apostle who expressed anger at his god. It was even stranger that Poseidon didn’t take any action against his apostle for doing this.

However, Benteke didn’t seem affected. He looked like he was trying to focus on the fight.

“Alright. Then let’s begin again. It’s a bit annoying because the mood is ruined, but it’ll come back once we cross swords once or twice, hm?”

Benteke smiled holding out the spear he made from the River of Souls.

For a moment, Yeon-woo looked at him strangely.

Benteke tilted his head, as if asking why Yeon-woo was looking at him like that, then smirked, reading Yeon-woo’s eyes.

“Why? Am I a little weird?”

“More than a little.”

“Kahalhalhal! I suppose I’m pretty strange.”

Benteke roared in laughter. Then, he continued speaking.

“Speaking against the god I serve, being calm even after losing a holy artifact. I probably would’ve thought that my opponent was a bit weird in the head too. But…..”

Benteke smirked.

“So what?”

He had a cold smile.

“Just because you have the same attitude as others, does something change? I’m also curious about a lot of things. No, I have so many things I want to ask. What the identity of that necklace is, what that chain that used to be my holy artifact is. However, those things…..I can know those things if I catch you. The most important thing to me right now is the fight between you and me.”

Benteke smiled with his teeth bared. His eyes flashed like a beast’s.

“Isn’t that the same for you?”

“…….”

Yeon-woo looked down at his hand. Vigrid was still trembling. He was also not in the mood for it because of the sudden change of events, but his body was still fired up.

Like what Benteke said, those things weren’t important. Fighting and beating that guy was most important.

He thrust Vigrid forward. The basics of the Eight Extreme Swords were ready. The beast outside of the cage roared.

Kwang—

The two threw themselves at each other again. The waves tossed roughly.

* * *

There was one thing that Yeon-woo thought of when he saw Benteke.

A question mark.

He didn’t know what kind of person Benteke was. He was an enemy who killed his brother’s teacher, but other than that, there was nothing bad about keeping him close.

He knew how to stand against his god, and he seemed to have been quick to make decisions.

However, because he was cruel and brutal, Yeon-woo didn’t want to keep him close. Yeon-woo didn’t really like people like that. They raised chaos when they were on the same team as you.

Still, Yeon-woo liked Benteke. There wasn’t a particular reason.

‘He’s amusing.’

It was because he was showing Yeon-woo the amusement of fighting.

Chichichang—

Yeon-woo and Benteke attacked each other. As the sword and spear clashed against each other, a metallic sound rang out. There was also the occasional sound of metal digging into skin.

Pupupuk!

As the injuries of both people grew, the river water turned red, but neither of them cared.

The spear passed Yeon-woo’s stomach. His body stiffened at the pain of his spine and internal organs being cut, but he pressed himself deeper into it.

Crunch—

[Demonic Magic]

[Regeneration]

Yeon-woo depended on these two skills over everything else.

He used the Demon’s Blessing to create demonic energy inside of his cells and regenerated himself.

[You have received a message from Agares.]

[Message: Instead of weak Blessings like that, I’ll give you mine. How’s that?]

[You have received a message from Agares.]

[Message: You already have mine anyway. Use that. It’ll be good? Hm? Use it. Nothing bad will come from it.]

Yeon-woo wanted to scream at Agares for being annoying.

Nothing bad would come from it? Thinking of the annoying things that came after his brother had made a contract with Agares, he had no intentions of following him.

Fortunately, the message from Agares stopped. It seems to be because the principle of causality limited him.

Thinking it a relief, he dug his blade into Benteke’s neck.

Blood sprouted out as his veins were cut, but the blade couldn’t go in any deeper. It was blocked by something hard.

Benteke turned his body with simmering eyes. More blood spurted out, and the spear flew in a large circle around him.

Vortex. He created holes of wind in Yeon-woo’s body using his signature skill.

No, he tried to.

Yeon-woo stepped on Wind Path and moved through Vortex.

He couldn’t avoid all the Vortexes, so he had holes in his left arm and right leg, but Vigrid moved faster to cut Benteke. Blood splattered, and his bones were revealed. Half of his body was cut.

It was a wonder that his limbs didn’t fall off.

The two just continued to fight without any signs of pain.

Amid that fight, Yeon-woo and Benteke both laughed. It was the laughter of beasts. No, this couldn’t be called laughter. It sounded like growling from the back of their throat or roaring.

As they did, Yeon-woo and Benteke dug their weapons into the vital points of each other at the same time. They both felt the feeling of something cutting through their hearts.

To destroy each other’s hearts, they pushed in their swords and spears as much as possible, using all their strength.

Glup—

Blood poured from both of their mouths. They were close enough to feel each other breathing. They looked at each other in the eye.

Yeon-woo could see Benteke smiling. Even while he was dying, he was smiling with his teeth bared, having the time of his life.

Benteke could also see Yeon-woo. He couldn’t see his face because of the mask, but Benteke believed that Yeon-woo wore the same expression as him. How did he know? Beasts recognized each other.

Just then, Benteke received a familiar feeling from Yeon-woo’s eyes. It was different but similar. There was someone who had the same crinkles in his eyes when they used to spar.

“You…..!”

Just when Benteke was about to say something with wide eyes

Chrr-

Click clack.

The needle of the pocket watch deep inside Yeon-woo’s right chest began to spin.

[Time Foresight] [TN: Foresight changed to Time Foresight.]