Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 287

“Are you okay…?”

Lee Shin-woo’s voice was cautious.

With a worried expression, Lee Shin-woo asked Lee Ro-woon.

“……”

Lee Ro-woon was still processing the explosion that Jung Sang-ho had tried to unleash that day, having absorbed all of its energy into his own body.

“Ro-woon.”

“I’m fine.”

At Lee Ro-woon’s reply, Lee Shin-woo nodded slowly, though his worry didn’t lessen.

There was nothing Lee Shin-woo could do.

That day, Lee Shin-woo had been the closest to Lee Ro-woon when he absorbed all the aftereffects of the explosion that Jung Sang-ho had unleashed.

The explosion that would have occurred if they hadn’t stopped Jung Sang-ho then…

‘It was enough to erase a part of the world map.’

That dizzying memory and energy.

Lee Ro-woon had taken it all upon himself.

“Still…”

As Lee Shin-woo cautiously spoke again, Lee Ro-woon leaned against the wall and said,

“The Red Bomb, you remember it.”

“I know.”

The incident in Korea.

Lee Shin-woo had helped Lee Ro-woon back then.

“Sang-ho is the source.”

“What?”

“The Red Bomb is about turning a human into a bomb, especially by splitting a player’s core, or the source of life, and turning that power into an explosion.”

They only knew about the existence of the Red Bomb, but its principle was unknown.

However, Lee Ro-woon had known the secret since he first saw the Red Bomb.

“Then…”

Lee Shin-woo’s face turned pale.

Did that mean that any player, or any human, could become a bomb?

“It’s only possible with a trigger.”

“Ah.”

“A trigger that can split a player’s core or the source of life. For example, negative emotions.”

Negative emotions such as murderous intent and anger.

“A trigger that can connect those to the player’s core and cause it to split.”

“That’s…”

“Sang-ho’s ability.”

Lee Ro-woon had made contact with Jung Sang-ho to absorb the explosion.

And to stop the explosion, he had to look into his inner self and memories.

That’s how he found out.

“It’s a hidden job.”

“……!”

Numerous players exist in the world.

Even at this moment, new players are being born, but among them, there were special individuals.

Those with hidden jobs.

They possessed special abilities that could not be compared to ordinary players, and depending on their job, they boasted powerful abilities from the time of their awakening. They were so few that they were less than a speck of dust compared to the total number of players.

“Sang-ho has a hidden job?”

“It seems to be a second awakening case.”

There were those who did not obtain a hidden job when they awakened as a player, but changed through additional awakenings later on.

It was a very rare case, but such individuals existed.

“In Sang-ho’s case, it’s probably because of the terrible emotions he felt.”

Emotions similar to what he himself had felt.

“Negator.”

“……”

“That’s Sang-ho’s job.”

To negate.

And to convert what he negated into power.

He negates negative emotions such as terrible pain and anger, and escapes.

Originally, it was an ability that should have been used in a different way.

“And Kwon Cheol’s power was imbued in it, twisting it.”

“……A variant.”

Kwon Cheol had the power to mutate.

“Instead of negating, he accumulates negative emotions and explodes them.”

He changed the ability that was originally meant to escape from pain into one that accumulates pain and makes it more painful.

“It’s the source of the Red Bomb.”

Jung Sang-ho was the most important ingredient of the Red Bomb.

“……So, what exactly is your condition?”

At Lee Shin-woo’s question, Lee Ro-woon glanced at Lee Shin-woo and said.

“Do you want to know?”

* * *

Lee Ro-woon’s current state could be described in one word.

It was like putting a huge building into a small box.

It was an impossible task.

But the box that Lee Ro-woon had was wide inside, so he was barely able to cram it in.

However.

-If you let your guard down even for a moment, it will tear the box and burst out.

The box would be torn to shreds, and the things that were inside, along with the things that were ejected, would make a mess of everything.

-Then you’re not okay?

-I’m fine.

Lee Ro-woon said.

-There’s something bigger inside me anyway.

From the beginning, the size of the vessel that Lee Ro-woon had was never small.

It was more enormous than anything else.

However, there was something already in place.

If the explosion that Jung Sang-ho created was like a building, then what was originally inside Lee Ro-woon was…

-Kikik.

It could be said to be a planet.

It was only difficult because that thing had already taken up most of the space.

Originally, he would have been able to digest it easily.

However, the problem was that the moment the box was torn for any reason, the contents would come pouring out.

Both the building and the planet.

“……”

Everything was packed tightly inside Lee Ro-woon right now.

It was so precarious that he needed to relieve some of it.

That’s why Lee Ro-woon was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.

-No one can move easily right now anyway. Rest easy.

Rest?

Such a word could no longer be found in his life.

Every moment was a bloody battle.

Goooh.

Behind Lee Ro-woon, who was sitting cross-legged, a blood-red aura was shining.

-Blood Demon Divine Art [A martial art focused on manipulating internal energy and blood flow].

He observed his inner self with the Blood Demon Divine Art, a divine art that observes and controls the inside.

It was exactly as Lee Ro-woon had said.

Those things that were crammed in, twisted and distorted.

And.

-Kikik.

One gaze that sat arrogantly, overseeing everything.

He was in the midst of trying to expand the inside with the Blood Demon Divine Art.

He thought that even a small gap, a small space, would be enough to relieve some of the pressure…

“Cough.”

Lee Ro-woon coughed slightly and spat out a mouthful of blood.

‘You won’t let me see that?’

It was an obstruction.

The moment he tried to stimulate the inside and expand the vessel, the gaze moved and twisted his energy channels.

It was so dangerous that an ordinary martial artist would have left this world with just the stimulation from before.

But Lee Ro-woon did not give up.

Goooh.

He operated the Blood Demon Divine Art again.

‘It must be cramped for you too?’

It was a cautious movement, as if trying to have a conversation.

However.

-I’m comfortable?

It was as if it was saying that as it glared at Lee Ro-woon again.

In the end, Lee Ro-woon had to back down.

If he had the time, it would have been okay to try a tug-of-war with that thing.

But now, it was difficult to do anything more dangerous because even breathing was difficult.

Whirr!

The blood-red aura that had been rising behind Lee Ro-woon began to burn with white flames.

It was the Heavenly Demon Divine Art [A martial art focused on manipulating the body’s energy and structure].

If he had failed to expand the size of the vessel with the Blood Demon Divine Art, which observes and controls the inside.

-To make the box even stronger.

To make the wrapping even stronger so that it wouldn’t tear.

What made that possible was the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, a divine art that observes the body.

The flames that burned were repeatedly absorbed into Lee Ro-woon’s body.

Tap tap.

A sound like firewood burning was leaking from Lee Ro-woon’s entire body.

This time, that thing didn’t move either.

The only place that thing could exert its power was inside his body, not his physical body.

Saaa.

He strengthened his acupoints and reinforced his muscles and bone tissues.

When he first returned to Earth, he had a fortuitous encounter at the corpse disposal site of the volcano.

The incident where he absorbed the Sea Dragon Augolas.

At that time, Lee Ro-woon’s body instantly transformed into a Dragon Demon Body.

And now.

Gooooooo!

He was about to undergo another transformation.

‘It’s time.’

Metamorphosis, which he had already experienced several times.

It was about breaking the shell and being reborn.

However, Lee Ro-woon had not undergone any further metamorphosis than that.

‘I just didn’t do it. It’s not that I couldn’t.’

He had been suppressing it out of necessity.

But now was the time.

The bodies obtained through each metamorphosis had their own uses and abilities.

For example, the first body that Lee Ro-woon should have originally obtained was.

-Blood Demon Body [A body optimized for the Blood Demon Divine Art].

A body that could maximize the training of the Blood Demon Divine Art.

A body that was familiar with the operation of blood energy and was optimized for accumulating internal energy.

If an ordinary martial artist of Eun took sixty years to accumulate one cycle of internal energy, the secret techniques of the Nine Great Sects, called divine arts, would take less than twenty years to obtain one cycle.

And.

-If someone who has obtained the Blood Demon Body accumulates internal energy through absorption or blood absorption, it will take less than ten years.

Those were his master’s words.

-Also, if someone who has obtained the Blood Demon Body operates the Blood Demon Divine Art to accumulate internal energy…

The time it takes to obtain one cycle of internal energy.

-It will take less than three years.

That absurd efficiency.

For that, Lee Ro-woon’s first goal was the Blood Demon Body.

And once he completed the Blood Demon Divine Art, the next step was to transform into a new body.

-Heavenly Demon Body [A body optimized for the Heavenly Demon Divine Art].

In a similar vein to the Blood Demon Body, it was a body that could maximize the training of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

Originally, metamorphosis was about the body changing based on what a person had, lived through, and trained in.

Therefore, it was absurd for a human to control the change in constitution caused by metamorphosis.

However, Lee Ro-woon had received the teachings of Shin Yeo-wool, who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts.

-In some ways, you are better than me.

He even received such recognition at the last moment.

He was able to freely control the metamorphosis as he wished and even obtain a special body.

However, what Lee Ro-woon had encountered was a fortuitous encounter.

The corpse of a transcendent being called a dragon.

Through that.

-Dragon Demon Body [A body with the power of a dragon and a demon].

There was a metamorphosis that was only possible with special materials.

Like the constitution that one is born with, a body that can be obtained through certain specific conditions was exactly that.

The Dragon Demon Body was one of those.

Originally, it was the Dragon Bone Body, which had a similar strength to the body of a dragon, a mythical beast, and the size of the vessel that a dragon had. However, Lee Ro-woon obtained the Dragon Demon Body through the Dragon Bone Body and another metamorphosis.

-Dragon and Demon.

Blood Demon Divine Art and Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

Following that…

-Ring of the Emperor [A powerful artifact that enhances the user’s abilities].

A special body that even affected the Ring of the Emperor.

With that, Lee Ro-woon significantly reduced the time it took to master the Ring of the Emperor.

And now.

‘I need something new.’

Goooooo!

The blood-red aura and the rising sacred fire.

All of that mixed together and formed a circle.

The circle that was created in that way formed a new layer, one layer, two layers, and wrapped around Lee Ro-woon.

Woo woo woo!

The circle that wrapped around Lee Ro-woon began to rotate.

Finally, even the Ring of the Emperor was moving.

Kooong!

The light that poured out and soared pierced through the tent where Lee Ro-woon was resting and soared into the sky.

-What’s going on!

-What’s happening?

The small commotion outside was being heard by Lee Ro-woon as if it were whispering in his ear.

Numerous people were gathering, and Lee Shin-woo and Kang Han-cheol were blocking them.

The protection was sufficient.

Woo woo woo woo!

The circle, which was rotating even more fiercely, was soon creating an even larger wave.

“Guh.”

Terrible pain.

The feeling of hundreds of millions of spiders gnawing at his blood vessels and fire ants gnawing at his body.

Finally, it had begun.

Another metamorphosis.