Raided The God’S Warehouse [EN]: Chapter 161

165

All my equipment was stripped away, replaced by thin cloth that barely covered my body.

It wasn’t even enough to ward off the cold, and I felt the chilling air of the Ice Castle directly on my skin.

If it weren’t for the cold resistance granted by the ‘Yeti’s Hide,’ I might have been shivering from the cold by now.

Since my combat style relied more on evading attacks than tanking them, losing the armor wasn’t a big deal, but I still felt somewhat exposed.

More than anything, it was a little disappointing not to have Durandal, which I had been using since the tutorial, in my hands.

‘If he’s the lord… he’ll probably be at the top of the castle.’

Like climbing the tower, this trial seemed to be about ascending the castle and meeting the lord at the top.

Even if it’s called an audience, he won’t just sit still, so I need to think about the battle as well.

After checking the trial and the surrounding environment, the enemy came into view.

Though they appeared ghostly and translucent, they were fully armed with heavy armor.

They wore thick full-body armor and wielded an ice-cold longsword, with a blue aura flowing from the gaps in their helmet.

It was a stark contrast to Seun, who had all his equipment taken away upon entering the castle.

Was he showing consideration for Seun? He didn’t show any action except for the first word.

“Finished assessing the situation?”

“I just need to defeat you, right?”

“You’re quick to judge. Yes, that’s right. If you need a weapon…”

“I don’t need one.”

Thud!

Judging that there was no more information to be gained, Seun immediately pushed off from the floor.

He could guess what the other person was going to say.

He had seen various weapons, seemingly made of ice, scattered all over the floor while observing the surroundings. Even those didn’t look to be in very good condition.

However, if the opponent was wearing heavy armor, there was a better way to deal with them.

Whoosh!

As Seun moved, the opponent’s sword fell vertically.

It was a straightforward strike, reading Seun’s speed and predicting the arrival time and attack timing.

Simple, but a superb attack faithful to the basics, honed over a long period.

– The movement of the Knee Strike is further accelerated through internal energy.

Seun had already evaded countless monster attacks through Knee Strike.

He hadn’t allowed attacks even when surrounded by dozens of monsters, so there was no way he would be hit by such a simple attack.

As soon as his attack failed, the opponent prepared for the next attack.

To attack Seun, who had closed the distance, he gripped the sword briefly with an iron gauntlet and swung it horizontally. It was an attack launched in the belief of the solid heavy armor that protected his entire body.

It seemed he had chosen to attack instead of defend, conscious of the fact that Seun was empty-handed.

It would have been an excellent response against another enemy, but Seun knew how to deal with such tough opponents.

– The third stance of the Eight Trigram Palm [Baguazhang], Embracing Moon Palm, is enhanced through internal energy.

Clang!

Seun greatly rotated his arm to smoothly deflect the opponent’s attack, and then extended his hand.

Seun’s palm landed squarely in the center of the opponent’s armor.

The attack landed accurately, but the opponent’s body didn’t budge at all.

Instead…

“Cough.”

The opponent’s chest, protected by the armor, was a mess.

Palm techniques like the Eight Trigram Palm don’t attack the point of impact itself, but rather use the force of the impact to shake the opponent’s insides.

No matter how thick the armor, it couldn’t be blocked if one didn’t understand the Eight Trigram Palm.

With that one blow, the opponent became combat-incapacitated and knelt on one knee on the floor.

The opponent, instead of blood, spat out a translucent liquid from his mouth, gripped his sword, and straightened his upper body.

“I expected a fierce battle… I guess my skills have rusted along with the castle over the eons.”

Seun lightly shook his wrist and released his stance.

It wasn’t that the opponent was weak at all. His skills were by no means inferior compared to the players on the 19th floor that Seun remembered.

It was just that Seun was abnormally strong right now.

“I wanted to at least exchange names…”

The opponent’s body turned into frost and scattered. The thick full-body armor also cracked, turning into small ice particles and piling up on the floor.

Watching him, Seun, who was about to move on to the next floor, opened his mouth slightly.

“…Seun.”

“Ah…”

“Jeong Seun.”

As soon as he mentioned his name, Seun turned his back.

His body, scattered as frost, swirled in the middle of the room, creating a spiral staircase.

That was the passage leading to the second floor.

It seemed to be structured with one opponent per floor, and with this method, there would be more floors than he had seen from the outside.

“I’m Gale Gerard… It was short, but even in death, I will remember the battle with you as an honor.”

Seun took his first step onto the spiral staircase created by the complete scattering of his opponent, Gale Gerard’s, body.

* * *

As expected on the first floor, various enemies awaited Seun on each subsequent floor.

An assassin who hid behind a pillar and attempted a surprise attack as soon as he climbed the stairs. A giant brute swinging a huge iron mace, creating a sonic boom. Twin siblings wearing claws on their left and right hands, unleashing a series of attacks.

Each enemy with outstanding personality was holding a completely new weapon.

The level of the enemies increased as he climbed the floors, to the point where he doubted whether this was a floor made for players on the 19th floor to conquer.

However, separately from that, Seun was greatly satisfied with this trial.

– The second stance of the Striking Staff Technique, Head-on Blow, is enhanced through internal energy.

– The third stance of the Supreme Eighteen Swordsmanship, Mount Tai Triple Strike, is enhanced through internal energy.

– Camille-style Dual Swordsmanship is enhanced through internal energy.

– Grad Empire-style Floating Spear Technique is enhanced through internal energy.

…

He was able to freely use various techniques that he hadn’t been able to utilize properly in actual combat since he had used them before.

Although he couldn’t bring any equipment, there were various weapons made of ice scattered on each floor, so he could choose them as he pleased.

Using various weapons, facing various enemies with various stances.

It was on a different level from reviewing martial arts alone in the Diablo Clan’s residence recently.

The 19th floor’s trial, ‘The Ice Castle of Trials.’

This place was no longer a trial or a place of testing for Seun.

A training ground. Nothing more, nothing less.

– The power of martial arts is enhanced according to the mysteries of the Shattering Extremes Divine Art.

– Heat is added to martial arts according to the mysteries of the Violet Mist Divine Art.

– Coldness is added to martial arts according to the mysteries of the Ice Jade Divine Art.

What Seun was confirming was not simply the usage of martial arts.

He tried applying the internal energy of different energies accumulated in his dantian [energy center] to martial arts in various ways.

He mixed two or more mysteries at once, and he infused different internal energies into each part of his body.

It was a dangerous act that could easily lead to Qi Deviation [energy imbalance], but thanks to the Three Talents Art, which balanced the energies according to the myriad phenomena of the universe, he was able to avoid the crisis.

Each time, the weapon couldn’t withstand the internal energy and broke, but it didn’t matter. He had been accustomed to using weapons as disposable items since the tutorial.

If the weapon broke, he would pick up a new weapon, and if he used a new martial art, that was it.

Right now.

– The Vault of Greed has been opened.

[ Black Sky Flying Claw ]

– A martial art that uses the Twin Flying Claws to subdue enemies, which is said to be used by only a select few even in the Sichuan Tang Clan, which specializes in hidden weapons and poison.

“Oh ho? A unique one has come in? I’ve only seen the ill-mannered twins on the lower floors handle those weapons.”

Clang, clang!

Seun quickly swung the Twin Flying Claws, which he had picked up from the floor, between his fingers.

The Twin Flying Claws are hook-shaped weapons, also known as Claws in the West because they resemble the claws of a beast.

They are weapons used more for subduing or grabbing opponents than for taking their lives.

It might seem easy to use because they can be swung like claws, but it is a weapon that requires a high level of proficiency among weapons because it is difficult to put strength into it.

“Excellent! You’re skilled enough to have climbed all the way up here!”

This opponent was a swordsman wielding a thin rapier, and he was perfectly blocking Seun’s attacks with excellent footwork and swordsmanship.

He blocked the rapier with one claw and tried to strike out with the other hand, but the opponent cleverly twisted the sword, avoiding Seun’s attack and creating distance.

He had accurately grasped the weakness of the claw, which was its short reach.

Yet, Seun didn’t give up.

Clang, ka-clang!

He lunged into the enemy’s arms as much as possible so that the reach was meaningless, and swung the claws.

He didn’t inflict fatal blows, but the more he swung the claws, the more minor wounds appeared on the opponent’s body.

“Haha! No matter how many of those shallow wounds you inflict, they’re meaningless!”

The opponent was right.

Perhaps because of the translucent ghostly form, or for some other reason, not a single drop of blood flowed from his body, even with the increasing number of shallow wounds.

They were truly meaningless wounds.

The longer the battle dragged on, the more Seun’s stamina would be depleted.

As the battle continued for quite some time.

Crack!

The claw, which had collided with the rapier over hundreds of times, finally broke.

In the first place, the durability of the claw made of ice was too severely low. On the other hand, the opponent’s weapon was made of a different material altogether.

It was a match that was not favorable from the start.

But why was that?

Seun turned his back as if the battle was over.

The opponent, perhaps dumbfounded by the sight, lowered his rapier and spoke.

“What? Are you giving up right away just because you lost your weapon? How boring. Pick up any sword over there and try again!”

Even at his shout, Seun showed no interest at all.

He roughly threw the broken claw on the floor and gathered his internal energy.

The moment the opponent scratched his head, as if there was nothing he could do.

Shudder!

“Uh, uh? What!”

The opponent’s body began to stiffen.

Even though Seun hadn’t used any magic, the stiffening of his body didn’t stop.

While the staircase leading to the next floor was being created, Seun told the opponent the answer without even turning his head.

“From the start, my goal was to inflict shallow wounds.”

“What?”

The martial art Seun used was the Black Sky Flying Claw.

This was not just a simple martial art.

As a martial art created by the Sichuan Tang Clan, which specializes in poison and hidden weapons, the key was to apply poison to the end of the claw to inflict wounds and poison the enemy.

Having had all his items taken away, there was no way Seun would have poison, but there was plenty of power to replace the poison.

– Coldness is added to martial arts according to the mysteries of the Ice Jade Divine Art.

The cold energy of the Ice Skill drawn up with the Ice Jade Divine Art. That energy did not freeze the weapon as usual, but became a cold Ice Poison that seeped into the enemy’s wounds.

To Seun, the Ice Skill was a reliable ally, but the Ice Skill that seeped into the enemy’s wounds was a vicious demon itself.

Starting from the blood vessels, it froze the opponent’s muscles, fat, and skin.

With countless wounds already on his body and a large amount of Ice Skill seeping into them, the only ending left for him was a cold death.

“This damn…”

Crack-

Rustle.

The moment the opponent’s body froze up to his head, the Ice Skill, having fulfilled its role, scattered along with the opponent’s body.

The staircase was completed, and Seun checked his remaining internal energy and slowly climbed it.

And finally…

– You have reached the top floor of the Ice Castle.

– The Lord of the Ice Castle welcomes you.

The 19th floor’s trial, the Ice Castle of Trials.