novelraw Chapter 278 : Southern Invasion (2)
Chapter 278 : Southern Invasion (2)
『The Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise. These four spirit beasts are collectively referred to as the Four Guardian Deities or Divine Beasts.』
In truth, before his Regression, U-jin hadn't planned to focus much on searching for the Four Guardian Deities.
Back then, noting that the royal bloodline of the now-destroyed Beastkin possessed the appearance of a 'White Tiger,' U-jin had wandered the Upper Plane in search of whether the legends of the Four Guardian Deities actually existed, hoping they might become a source of strength.
After using the manpower of his suicide squad to scour information and wandering various places across the continent only to return empty-handed, the conclusion the squad reached was that the Four Guardian Deities did not exist.
Aside from the 'Tigris family,' the royal bloodline of the Beastkin, no traces of any other Divine Beasts could be found.
It wasn't a conclusion reached lightly.
At the time, the suicide squad had searched for traces quite earnestly, and even after confirming the death of 'Valencia Tigris,' they had used considerable manpower to inquire and search for any signs of the Four Guardian Deities.
『The Four Guardian Deities existed? For real?』
『...Existed? They all exist even now, in the present.』
『Even I, standing right in front of you, am clearly a being born with the blood of a Divine Beast.』
『.......』
It was at that moment that U-jin's thoughts shifted.
From thinking it might be impossible this time as well, to the thought that in this life, he might actually be able to employ the significant power of the Four Guardian Deities.
『The Azure Dragon too?』
『That goes without saying. They have existed in every era.』
Among them, there were even descendants of dragons, which were known to have gone extinct long ago.
Of course.
Thinking simply, it wasn't as if there had never been cases where beings known to be extinct actually existed.
Jerry Junior, for instance, was a member of the Vampire Clan, which was thought to have been wiped out.
However.
In the case of the Dragon Race, the scale wasn't something that could be compared so simply.
The Vampire Clan was merely one part of the Beastkin, and it had been less than a hundred years since they were reported extinct.
In terms of scale or duration, it was almost laughable to compare the two.
Well, of course.
Strictly speaking, it might seem funny to describe the Vampire Clan that way, as they had once enjoyed the status of a County within the Demon King's Army as a single race.
‘….’
But a dragon was a dragon.
The Dragon Race was a species with a presence so powerful it was difficult to describe them as just another race.
In the eternal ancient times, where even the exact period is hard to guess because accurate records don't remain, the strongest race known to have ruled both the heavens and the earth of this world was the 'Dragon.'
Even in this Upper Plane, where all sorts of imaginary beings breathe and live, the Dragon Race was treated as an 'imaginary existence.'
With the appearance of primitive Magical Beasts, they completely lost their dominance and went extinct.
As beings of the distant past who boasted overwhelming presence and majesty, the symbolism and presence carried by the name 'Dragon' were too vast and powerful to be compared to the extinction of vampires.
And there was mention that traces of the 'Azure Dragon,' said to have conquered the skies in that ancient era before the appearance of primitive Magical Beasts, still remained.
『...I am also bewildered that the Sword of the Son of Heaven, which hasn't appeared for an eternity, has suddenly surfaced... but it is an undeniable fact. To begin with, that sword is designed to lose its power if the four Divine Beasts do not exist.』
Having received confirmation that they truly existed, he couldn't help but covet that power.
If it was that legendary power that even Kim Satgat and the Floating Territory couldn't find in his previous life, it would surely be of help in U-jin's final task.
"Since you must be busy, I won't bother with a separate introduction."
The Emperor, adorned in the characteristic oriental clothing of the Murim Empire, had an appearance that invited quite a few prejudices.
From his appearance, decorated in brilliant gold, one might expect the arrogant and dogmatic personality typical of an authority figure.
From his strict, serious eyebrows and tightly set lips, one might sense a desire to show off despite having no special abilities other than power.
It felt like he was the very 'epitome' of a negative image of an authority figure.
But U-jin already knew.
The clothing punctuated with gold decorations was actually meant to hide the well-trained muscles beneath, a tyrannical martial power that far surpassed a 5-star Hero.
The strict and serious eyebrows signified a cautious and deliberate personality formed to rule the vast Murim Empire.
And the tightly set lips showed a principled temperament that did not easily waver once a decision was made.
He was no ordinary man.
U-jin knew well that this man had personally broken the neck of one of the three Dukes who brought down Murim during its destruction before the Regression.
Though his outward appearance seemed as authoritarian as the many royals within the Order who had nothing to back it up, this man was the real deal, well-versed in the realities of the field.
To the point where U-jin didn't pay much attention to the Southern Murim even after his Regression, except for the 'Demonic Cult.'
"Do so. I also tend to avoid stories that beat around the bush."
"……."
"Are you not quite a busy person yourself?"
As indicated by his opening greeting, the Emperor already knew of U-jin's existence.
...No, to be precise, he had no choice but to know.
The 'Great Beastkin Migration' that had recently caused a stir throughout the Order was a shocking event, enough to push the Saintess's execution off the front page of the journals.
Following that, with the 'Reconstruction of the Beastkin Nation,' the person responsible for orchestrating it was the guild 'Hunter,' where the Beastkin Nation existed as its territorial residents.
And the head of that guild was U-jin.
As the leader of a hegemonic nation with martial power ranking within the top ten of the Order, Emperor Gongson Chan had no choice but to keep an eye on the macro-movements of the Order Alliance.
In the midst of that, it was impossible for him not to know about the guild 'Hunter.'
It was a guild the Order had granted permission to for the first time in 100 years, and it was the group that had taken the Beastkin Nation—which had once been a leading nation during the neutral zone era—under its wing.
In particular, since the Murim Empire compiled its own historical records separate from the Order's database, the Emperor, who knew the status of the 'Beastkin Nation' all the better, had no choice but to know about U-jin and the guild 'Hunter,' which had risen to stardom and grown into a new axis of power within the Order.
...That wasn't all.
The Order's 'Northern Subjugation War' that followed immediately after.
The fact that the central axis of that large-scale subjugation war, in which a legion-level force had invaded, was none other than U-jin and the guild 'Hunter' was another point that captured his attention.
The Emperor, who was already maintaining three legion-level Anti-Demon Fronts, was one of those who knew better than anyone how difficult it was not just to maintain a front, but to 'subjugate' a legion-level threat.
Therefore, he couldn't help but pay even more attention to the guild 'Hunter' in the 'Northern Subjugation War.'
Of course, given the scale, there were many other elements he noticed in the Northern Subjugation War, but the two biggest things the Emperor focused on regarding their performance were as follows.
One was the fact that the guild 'Hunter' had directly provided troops to participate in the Northern Subjugation War.
Although the Beastkin inherently possessed powerful DNA, the Northern Subjugation War was carried out not long after the declaration of the reconstruction of the Beastkin Nation.
As the Order had been prepared in secret, it was correct to say the preparation period was relatively short.
Based on the timing of the guild 'Hunter's' establishment, it should have been a time when they couldn't even lay a foundation, let alone participate with troops.
Furthermore, if what Gongson Chan knew was correct, most of the Beastkin belonging to the guild 'Hunter' had been treated abnormally as 'slaves' within the Order for a long time.
Even if a Beastkin King had appeared and they had gathered in one place under the axis of 'Valencia' to form a new power, it would take some time to recover from that state.
With the members themselves not being in a whole condition, forming a military force with them was out of the question.
...Yet, whatever magic the guild 'Hunter' had worked, they had produced a significant military force within that short period.
Moreover, that force was not at a small level.
Not just 'not small for a group that had just been formed,' but even by absolute standards, to the extent that ordinary minor kingdoms belonging to the Order Alliance couldn't even keep up.
Even excluding 'Tom Hardist,' who had once again shown the potential of the Beastkin Nation, or those executive-level forces with the strange ability to control Magical Beasts.
It was a force of a hundred Hero-class fighters.
A hundred Hero-class fighters were no small matter.
For most minor kingdoms, even if they scraped together everything, including the King's guard, they might barely reach that number.
Of course, from the perspective of the Murim Empire, dispatching a hundred Hero-class fighters was a level of force that one of the great sects could easily handle, but considering the timeframe, Emperor Gongsun Zan couldn't help but take notice—especially if one considered the exponential growth the guild 'Hunter' would show after the Northern Subjugation War.
‘…….’
The other thing was the performance U-jin himself showed in the Northern Subjugation War.
According to the news, the core and highlight of the Northern Subjugation War—annihilating the 'Mad Baron, Nedkul'—was a feat where the guild master of 'Hunter,' U-jin, had made a distinguished contribution.
Calling it a distinguished contribution was an understatement; Kanna Cartier had praised U-jin's contribution to the point of saying she had done nothing herself, and she stated that no one other than those two had been involved in taking down Nedkul.
As someone in charge of three massive Anti-Demon Fronts, the Emperor had had several opportunities to encounter 'Kanna Cartier' and knew her personality well.
He knew she was not a person who would ever speak empty words.
That meant, without exaggeration, the feat of killing the Mad Baron 'Nedkul' in this Northern Subjugation War was solely U-jin's achievement.
From the Emperor's perspective, knowing how difficult that was, he had no choice but to know U-jin.
The Emperor was interested in U-jin to the point that he had considered visiting him himself if U-jin hadn't come first.
"You must have come because you have something to say. Go ahead and speak."
"……."
At Emperor Gongson Chan's urging, U-jin untied the bundle he had been carrying on his back instead of answering.