Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 555

KWAANG!!

Fire and water collide, engulfing everything in a thick white mist.

But the dense fog dissipates quickly before the crimson sea of flames, colliding once more with the onrushing waves.

And above the chaos, two warriors stand firm in their armor, spears in hand.

Cheonoe Yang-gun and Jiranwi.

Chaeaeaeng!! Kwang!

Jiranwi, wielding a glaive and clad in blue armor.

In contrast, Cheonoe Yang-gun, in red armor, thrusts his spear.

“Hmph!!”

With each thrust of Cheonoe Yang-gun’s spear, red particles gather. It was an astonishingly intense display of Hwasintong [Fire God Technique, a martial art focused on manipulating fire energy].

They coalesce and flash like lightning.

Kwaaaaa!

In the blink of an eye, a Flame Cannon erupts, tearing through the sea conjured by Jiranwi.

The blue sea splits.

But that’s all.

He tilts his head to dodge, blocks the spear with his glaive, and quickly retaliates.

Simultaneously, seawater gathers around Jiranwi’s glaive.

Kureureu.

The gathered seawater instantly increases the glaive’s size to hundreds of feet.

“Haaaat!!”

Jiranwi’s figure soars high, bringing the gargantuan glaive down.

The glaive, now hundreds of feet in size, descends as if to cleave Cheonoe Yang-gun in two.

“Such a futile attempt!”

Chaeaeng!! Hweeiiing- Kung!!

Deflecting Jiranwi’s glaive, Cheonoe Yang-gun drops to the ground, seemingly swallowed by a sea of red flames.

But in an instant, the sea of flames begins to swirl, and a strange current flows.

“From flames are all things born, so why not I?”

Kwaaaang!!

The sea of flames explodes like a volcano, and a pillar of fire soars skyward.

At the same time, Hwagirins [Fire Kirins, mythical creatures associated with fire] covered in red flames burst forth from all directions.

Not just one.

Hundreds, thousands.

The Hwasintong of Cheonoe Yang-gun, born from the flames.

Each one seemed to possess immeasurable power.

Each emitted a light like the sun and charged towards Jiranwi with unmatched ferocity.

Thousands of Hwagirins born from the sizzling sea of flames.

They snort and paw the ground, ready to leap out at any moment.

It was then.

“Receive this as well!”

Thousands of meteors shot out from the sea of flames. The intensity of the Hwasintong, driven to its extreme by the Taecheonoe Yangsingong [Grand Celestial Flame God Art, presumably a powerful martial art], was blinding.

“Tsk. Trying to compensate for quality with quantity? Do you think that will work?”

Jiranwi throws his glaive to the ground, and the sea cracks open, creating a path. Descending through the gap, Jiranwi steps onto the earth and forms a hand seal. Blue energy surges in all directions, and a giant dragon’s head appears above the water.

“Go!”

Kwaaaa!

Cheok!

Grabbing the glaive, he swings it as if to cut through the air. Starting with that, sea dragons reveal themselves and clash with the Hwagirins.

Kwang! Kwaaaang! Kwang!!

“Such predictable tactics!”

Hundred Hwagirins charge fiercely, focusing solely on Jiranwi.

“Whether it’s predictable or not remains to be seen!”

Cheok!

As Cheonoe Yang-gun clasps his hands together and moves his lips, the charging Hwagirins burn even brighter.

The sight of the Hwagirins, burning so brightly they turn white, rushing like flashes of light, makes Jiranwi frown.

“Tsk, such a nuisance.”

Tsking, Jiranwi commands the sea dragons.

He uses them to detonate the Hwagirins.

Kwaaaang!!

But the Hwagirins explode like bombs, and the aftermath is tremendous.

Hwiiiiiiing!

A storm rages, and sparks scatter everywhere, rapidly diminishing the seawater.

The Hwagirins, repeating hit-and-run tactics like lightning, gather around Jiranwi and surround him.

The moment they rush towards him.

Kwaaaaang!!

The Hwagirins explode, and a dazzling pillar of fire soars.

A smile spreads across Cheonoe Yang-gun’s face.

But it soon stiffens.

“So, you’ve decided to go all out.”

Peoeong!

The pillar of fire that had soared high into the sky falters like a broken string.

And at the same time.

Kwagaaaaa Kwagaang!!

The Hwagirins explode in a chain reaction.

Cheonoe Yang-gun’s eyes narrow.

The dragon’s head that appears from within the extinguished pillar of fire looms.

A majesty that cannot be compared to the sea dragons created by the Susintong [Water God Technique, a martial art focused on manipulating water energy].

Even with just its head revealed, it seems to cover the entire sky.

The true form of Jiranwi.

“Yes, that’s it. That form is our true intention, isn’t it?”

As he reveals his true form, the seawater that had been reduced by the Hwagirins surges.

Higher waves rise, as if to cover everything, as if to engulf the world.

“Don’t think I’ll let you escape quietly!!”

Jjak!

Forming a hand seal and clasping his hands together, the pillar of fire burns even more fiercely. A magic circle made of sparks forms in all directions, blocking Jiranwi.

Jiranwi, who was trying to escape the pillar of fire, becomes enraged and roars.

Kuaaaaaaaa!!

The Hwagirins around him explode powerlessly at Jiranwi’s roar, now in his true form.

Seeing the Hwagirins being torn apart weakly, unlike before, Cheonoe Yang-gun also emits flames and reveals his true form.

A magnificent red scale.

A majestic cloud-like mane and eyes that burn like the sun.

The form of the legendary Hwagirin.

[Why did you betray me?]

Tuk.

With a single stomp of his hoof.

The sea of flames that had thickly covered the surroundings subsides in the shape of ripples on a lake.

It was different from before.

The surrounding fire subsided, but the heat touching the skin was so intense it was almost painful.

[Betrayal. Betrayal, you say…]

Jiranwi smiled as if amused by the word betrayal.

[We were comrades who fought together. Comrades who shared the same land and fought together!! But how could you betray me!!]

Kung!!

[It was out of necessity.]

[Necessity? Humiliating me and insulting my family and bloodline, you say that was out of necessity!!]

Kugugung!!

Thunder and lightning rage.

In an instant, the sky is dyed with darkness.

[Yes, it was out of necessity.]

Even in the face of Cheonoe Yang-gun’s rage, Jiranwi continued steadfastly.

[Back then, the Seonsal War [War of the Immortals] was quite different from what it is now. It wasn’t a childish battlefield. The beings corresponding to Wonseon [Celestial Immortals] were driven mad by Salgeop [Calamity Energy].]

Hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The first Seonsal War was like that.

Unlike the current Seonsal War, where Wonseons tacitly refrain from intervening.

That war was started by Wonseons from the beginning.

[No one knew that the events caused by the madness of Salgeop would become so great. But that was just the beginning. As time passed, other things got involved.]

Those who wanted more power.

Those who needed other lands.

Those who wanted to shake off Geop [Karmic Burden, a concept of accumulated negative karma].

Various desires and interests began to mix, and unending blood flowed.

[To end that war, many sacrifices were made.]

Numerous Wonseons died, and there was no one who wasn’t desperate.

Towards the end of the war.

Both sides were covered in wounds, but the Su-gye’s [Water Faction] forces, which had been attacked first, were weaker.

They were more injured.

Thus, with the promise of ending the war, the Su-gye had no choice but to promise one thing.

At that time, the Su-gye was weak.

They couldn’t refuse.

[In those days, there were more than ten Wonseons in one land under Sangcheon [Upper Heaven]. But after the war, there were only five. The Su-gye had more Wonseons than other places.]

Both those who had formed alliances and those who had fought.

To balance the power, they kept targeting the Su-gye’s Wonseons.

Thus, the Su-gye had no choice but to choose.

To fight them all.

Or to cut them off.

The answer was nothing short of a predetermined course.

[What they wanted was you. The Hwagirin who roamed the battlefield. If we didn’t erase your existence, there was nothing we could do.]

[….]

[Thus, we insulted you and your family and eventually exiled you to the Lower World.]

An unavoidable choice.

Jiranwi said so.

[Cheonoe Yang-gun. By exiling you, we were able to end the war and tend to our wounds. By erasing you from Sangcheon, we were able to sprout many lives. You were our greater good.]

Greater good.

Cheonoe Yang-gun felt as if his blood was rushing backwards at that irresponsible word.

[Greater good? Did you say greater good? Why should I have suffered because of that greater good!! Why did I have to live those long years like that!]

[It was something someone had to do.]

[Shut up!! Even so, the pain I experienced will not be erased.]

[I have only told the truth.]

[Then I wish I hadn’t known that truth. It would have been better not to hear it.]

He does not not know.

How they made such a choice.

In those days, the Su-gye burned helplessly like a wildfire that broke out in early winter.

The flames were not extinguished, always burning and only spreading more and more.

Thus, they must have had to make an unavoidable decision.

‘But then who will save my past?’

Unlike the years that pass and never return.

The wounds remain as pain, as scars, remembering that time in the same place even after a long time.

[It was for the greater good.]

[Shut up.]

Who will compensate for my life that suffered because of that greater good!!

Who will compensate for the humiliating life of clinging to straws and desperately prolonging the spirit and body that had been buried in the mountains for so long!!

‘Who will compensate me….’

With a miserable heart, Cheonoe Yang-gun closed his eyes and raised his head towards the sky, then let out a long breath.

[It was a pointless question.]

It’s all good now.

[To move forward on the path, one must look ahead. Whatever the greater good, I will walk my path.]

There is only one thing standing before him now.

[My former friend. I must kill you to erase my scar.]

At his declaration, Jiranwi said nothing more.

He just silently watches.

[Now that I have the power, and there is someone to wield that power against, why should a man say more?]

[Even if I die here, it will only be because I lost a fight.]

There will be no regrets in death.

Huuuung.

The clouds clear.

Behind Cheonoe Yang-gun, in his true form, the sun turns black.

‘A solar eclipse.’

[Now that there is no sun.]

Hwaaaa!

His true form blazes.

Burning so brightly it turns white, like the sun, making it impossible to even look at.

[The only sun in Sangcheon is me.]

Your enemy is the burning sun.

Whatever you do.

[You will be incinerated.]