Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Broken Ranker

Devours Myths

 

Chapter 101

Tower of Five Elements (1)

 

 

 

The Spiritual Stone Monkey gazed at Lee Hyeon with transparent eyes.

A tyrannical act that would allow no choice other than his own demands.

An oppression demanding that he acknowledge him as his new master.

For one who had lived his entire life as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s right hand, this could be unpleasant,

but on the other hand, it was also a sight he had seen many times before.

‘Yes… It’s exactly the same as when the King first awakened from the rock.’

Another Son Wukong was right before his eyes.

An apostle is a god’s first disciple.

And also an avatar that shares the god’s spirit and flesh.

Such similar behavior

might be proof that Lee Hyeon was closest to being Son Wukong’s apostle.

『…….』

The Spiritual Stone Monkey slightly raised his head to look at the tower’s ceiling.

His gaze reached beyond this place to the celestial sphere that would be beyond, and to the actual Sky that would be beyond the Dungeon.

『The heavenly energy… has changed.』

The Spiritual Stone Monkey lowered his gaze again to look at Lee Hyeon.

『You said to choose you? Good. If sending you here was the King’s will, then that too must have meaning.』

Thud!

The Spiritual Stone Monkey struck the floor hard with his Staff.

『Good. I shall begin the first trial.』

Blue concentric circles spread widely from where the Staff struck.

Lee Hyeon clenched his fists tightly.

Whoosh!

The air in the trial ground subtly changed.

As if to block the heat created by Dueoksini’s fury, cold frost descended.

 

[The first trial begins.]

 

『The trial I will test you with is touch.』

Crrrack!

With a sound like the ground splitting, the ground where the Spiritual Stone Monkey stood rose slightly upward,

and simultaneously,

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Screech! Screech!!

Suddenly, each time his Staff twisted slightly to the side, fierce blade winds came rushing.

『……!』

 

[Combat Sense (S) alerts you to danger!]

 

Lee Hyeon hastily twisted his body to the side.

The blade wind barely grazed past where he had been standing.

An intense impact that carved the floor deep enough for three or four finger joints.

‘Fast!’

The problem was that the speed was too fast, and there wasn’t just one or two blade winds.

Like a torrential downpour, a terrifying amount of sword energy targeted Lee Hyeon.

Swish swish swish swish-

Lee Hyeon had to barely pull his body back based only on Combat Sense and cognitive information.

『From now on, you must dodge the sword energy I scatter and come to where I am.』

『……!』

『It probably won’t be easy. Attacks that could have been easily dodged or countered if all your senses were awake will require careful attention just to barely detect here.』

Whoosh!

Lee Hyeon hastily twisted his body at the blade wind shooting up from the Ground. His hair above was barely cut off.

‘If I had been even half a beat late… my neck would have been cut.’

The Spiritual Stone Monkey seemed to have no intention of going easy on Lee Hyeon.

『But as the system explained, this place is fundamentally based on Five Elements Mountain where the King was imprisoned.』

Rumble!!

『The five elements of Five Elements Mountain are the five senses. Since this is a place where all senses are closed, to escape this place, you must awaken one sense each time you ascend a floor.』

Lee Hyeon drew a lightning bolt and deflected the sword energy that was digging into his nape to the side.

Clang!!

This was the first time he directly blocked it, and the strength was tremendous, matching Snow Soul Arm Strength.

As expected of a demon that operates on a different level from humans.

『And the awakened sense is a completely new sense, different from before. The purpose of building this tower is to broaden new vision. To teach you a new way of seeing the world.』

Whoosh!

This time two sword energies crossed and swept across his upper body. He struck upward at the center.

Part of the shattered sword energy deeply cut his right shoulder as it passed. Blood burst out.

『The vision completed that way will be exactly the same as the vision we, and the King, see this world with.』

Lee Hyeon cauterized the wound with lightning, then attempted Healing with Ruyi Jingu Bang’s Super Recovery while forging his lightning net thicker.

『You must complete exactly that vision. Incidentally, that is also the way demons, different from humans, see this world.』

Lee Hyeon thought.

Each trial surely has an answer key.

『That is also my basis for judging that you will have difficulty passing this trial.』

And that answer key would be deeply connected to the mental power he had awakened using the Golden Headband just moments ago.

‘The way demons see the world……’

Lee Hyeon felt he needed to completely shatter all the common sense he had known.

‘The Spiritual Stone Monkey definitely said this mental power would only be awakened when leaving the tower.’

The lightning net grew thicker.

The thicker it became, the much greater the amount of information Combat Sense could accept.

Originally, it would have been such a large amount of information that his head might have felt like splitting,

Whirrrr!!

The Golden Headband spun fiercely, organizing all that information. It began selecting only what was needed.

‘If I reverse it, it means using this mental power would somehow make breaking through floors easier. If I project mental power… onto touch?’

Lee Hyeon drew a mental map in his head based on the organized information.

He made the map with the thought of carefully observing this floor with new eyes,

but while rough outlines and shapes emerged, it wasn’t easy to detect all the real-time changing environment.

‘I need more information. Touch, touch… How can I read more detailed information through touch?’

But utilizing touch wasn’t easy.

Touch is a sense that can only be felt completely through the skin.

But if he tried to feel sword energy that way, his arms and legs would likely be cut off immediately.

How exactly was he supposed to feel such things?

Can demons sense touch without their skin making contact?

‘Moreover, the direction this sword energy is coming from… somehow feels familiar. Could it be?’

Swish! Swish!

Once again, three blade winds flew toward him.

The sounds that he would have heard through sight and hearing if all his senses were awake could barely be read through vibrations transmitted through the air.

‘Wait, vibrations?’

Lee Hyeon felt his eyes flash with realization.

The resonance of air. Waves.

If he could detect this?

Lee Hyeon pulled his body back and dodged the sword energy again.

And then,

Crackle!

He drew his lightning energy to maximum once more.

『If you’re trying to strike me with lightning, I’d like to tell you it’s useless… Hmm?』

Yeongmyeongseokhu tilted his head.

Suddenly, several strands of lightning flowed down along the floor.

At the same time, the chain fragments that had fallen to the ground floated up with magnetism and connected to each other.

『Reconnecting the chains you just broke?』

The four chains weren’t that long. Doing that would only seal his own movements, wouldn’t it?

Yeongmyeongseokhu tilted his head, then belatedly realized Lee Hyeon’s intention.

This time the sword energy traveled along the wall aiming for his side,

But Lee Hyeon pulled his body forward one beat early and leisurely avoided the attack.

‘He’s using the chains as detection lines!’

It was a brilliant idea.

To think he would use the chains bound to his hands and feet as extensions of his limbs!

Lee Hyeon cheered inwardly.

The temperature differences around him when sword energy grazed by, air vibrations, chain resonance, the feeling of broken ice shards flying, and so on…

 

[You have discovered a hidden piece.]

 

Once he understood how to utilize touch, he could fill in even the detailed parts of his mental map.

 

[You have realized a new way to use touch.]

[You gain strong resistance to sensory paralysis. You can now detect opponents’ movements minutely.]

[Combat Sense (S) has risen to S+ grade.]

 

And…

Whoosh! Whoosh!

‘The sword energy wasn’t random, but all unfolded following a certain pattern.’

Lee Hyeon began moving while cutting across that pattern.

 

[Activating Dueoksini’s Swift Thunder!]

 

Lee Hyeon became a blue-white flash and shot forward.

Swish swish swish!!

The faster he moved, the faster Yeongmyeongseokhu’s sword energy was released,

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

But Lee Hyeon either dodged most of them or destroyed them one by one with his axe.

His movements were so clean it was hard to believe his other senses besides touch were truly blocked.

Lee Hyeon’s movements also began to incorporate some pattern.

He seemed largely unhindered by the restraints and chains.

Whoosh!

Before long, Lee Hyeon had reached right in front of Yeongmyeongseokhu,

Clang!

The axe fell diagonally and the staff fell vertically, colliding.

The first collision created.

Both men staggered back slightly,

Whoosh-

Lee Hyeon and Yeongmyeongseokhu stretched out their empty hands forward as if by agreement.

Bang bang bang!

The longer the exchange continued, the stiffer Yeongmyeongseokhu’s expression became,

Crack!

Before long, Lee Hyeon twisted his body greatly and penetrated deeply.

His left hand touched Yeongmyeongseokhu’s staff.

At that moment,

Bang!!

All the restraints and chains binding Lee Hyeon burst, and the cold air and frost covering the sealed room shattered as well.

 

[Dungeon core discovered.]

[Stage mission has been forcibly terminated.]

 

Lee Hyeon had poured magic power into the staff to paralyze its function.

The staff was the dungeon core of the first floor stage.

『…Ha.』

Yeongmyeongseokhu unconsciously let out a hollow laugh.

『How on earth did you know?』

A question filled with many doubts.

From the usage of touch to the method of breaking through sword energy.

He had grasped the solutions too quickly compared to his initial struggles.

Moreover,

『How did you know the Fighting Arts?』

Lee Hyeon even knew the techniques that Son Wukong had created in his later years.

That was right.

The pattern of sword energy that Yeongmyeongseokhu had wielded was precisely the Fighting Arts.

Though he hadn’t imbued it with divine power to show power comparable to divine authority,

It still perfectly reflected the form of Fighting Arts, making the pattern quite difficult to read.

Fighting Arts consisted mainly of bizarre and unpredictable movements, just like Son Wukong’s personality.

However,

Lee Hyeon had overcome these Fighting Arts with Fighting Arts.

He had used footwork from among the many categories that comprised Fighting Arts.

『I had the opportunity to observe its form once.』

『I know. That you knew the form of Fighting Arts. But you should have only had a rough idea, not enough to implement it this clearly?』

This was exactly what Yeongmyeongseokhu was most curious about.

Looking at Lee Hyeon’s movements, they were clearly strongly influenced by Fighting Arts.

But it was only influence, not something he could be said to have properly mastered.

Fighting Arts was not something a mere mortal could handle in the first place.

Martial theory beyond divine authority.

Truth beyond martial arts.

If one who wasn’t a proper vessel obtained truth, only the vessel would break.

Moreover, Lee Hyeon was human, not a demon.

So it would have been even more difficult to approach the Fighting Arts…….

『You used mental intention.』

『Mental intention……?』

At the unexpected words, Yingming Stone Marquis’s eyes widened slightly,

『Yes. Isn’t mental intention perhaps the most important thing in a demon’s senses? The purpose of the Five Elements Tower is to fully awaken this mental intention.』

『……!』

Lee Hyeon immediately caught him off guard as he continued speaking.

『So I reversed it. If mental intention is the foundation of senses, then wouldn’t the Fighting Arts also ultimately have mental intention as its basic framework?』

『…….』

『So while practicing the footwork, I concentrated mental intention on each feeling of each step, and when I performed the forms, they surprisingly unraveled easily.』

Lee Hyeon smiled faintly.

『I think the ultimate intention of the marquises managing the tower was precisely the learning of Fighting Arts. Isn’t that right?』

『……What makes you think that?』

『Because all of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s karma is the Fighting Arts.』

Lee Hyeon grinned.

Yingming Stone Marquis couldn’t help but smile along in the end.

『You’re right. What you say.』

 

[You have gained the recognition of the First Floor’s gatekeeper, Yingming Stone Marquis.]

[You have passed the first trial.]

[The gateway to the Second Floor opens.]

 

Rumble rumble rumble-

The entire staircase shook as something opened wide from behind.

『The Fighting Arts can be said to be that person himself, which will be forged more and more as the king’s karma is gathered. It’s what that person sought to complete even while giving up the Buddha’s seat.』

『…….』

『So we concluded among ourselves that if one is to be an apostle responsible for that person’s revival, they should naturally master the Fighting Arts properly.』

Lee Hyeon somehow thought Yingming Stone Marquis’s smile was as transparent as glass.

『But we didn’t mention it because we thought it wouldn’t be a proper trial if we announced that from the beginning…… Hehe. To think you’d pinpoint the core so accurately.』

Mental intention.

A demon’s senses and vision.

And…….

Based on these, even the completion of the Fighting Arts.

The Five Elements Tower contained all the requirements that an apostle of Son Wukong must possess.

As one climbed the floors, all of these would open sequentially.

‘I can obtain the Fighting Arts.’

That alone would be a very significant achievement for Lee Hyeon.

『To understand the examiner’s intention so accurately. Now I think I know why the king sent you here.』

Yingming Stone Marquis looked at Lee Hyeon with satisfaction as he tapped the floor with his staff.

『You pass. I think you could become a very good apostle.』

『Thank you. Then.』

Lee Hyeon bowed and passed by Yingming Stone Marquis’s side.

Watching him pass through the First Floor, he glanced toward the ceiling.

『The heavenly energy remains scattered without being organized, yet such a child has come to us…… Could it be related to the paradox of a human awakening to demon senses?』

Yingming Stone Marquis smiled faintly as he muttered.

『I can’t tell whether the heavenly energy is scattered because this child came, or if this child came because the heavenly energy was scattered.』

It was a soliloquy that no one else could understand except him, who had also been Flower Fruit Mountain’s astronomer.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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