The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 266

-You two, if you're still alive, turn your eyes this way.

Mio and Rwen's eyes widened at Lee Shin's voice echoing in their minds.

At the same time, they regretted their past selves for not learning telepathy, having focused only on training techniques useful for combat.

Gr-r-rind-

If they had learned telepathy, they would have been able to hurl a string of curses at Lee Shin even in this state.

Whether he knew that Mio and Rwen were glaring at him with eyes overflowing with killing intent or not, Lee Shin continued what he was saying.

-First off, when I threw you, I put a potion in each of your pockets, so drink those while you listen.

They hadn't noticed until a moment ago because of the pain that had them hovering between this life and the next, but after hearing Lee Shin's words and checking, they could certainly feel something foreign in their pockets.

But right now, the two couldn't even move a single hand as they wished.

Therefore, they spread three fingers with all their might, pointed at the potions in their three pockets, and sent a signal to Bodra with their eyes.

"Tsk, so you put me with them to play nanny."

Bodra grumbled but obediently took the potions out of Mio and Rwen's pockets and poured them into their mouths.

After that, she slowly drank her own.

"...What is this?"

As soon as she drank the potion, Bodra felt her withering body rapidly improve and muttered in disbelief.

"...Hey, what are you guys, really?"

Bodra was surprised that they not only carried around three potions that boasted a performance incomparable to the recovery water her sister made, but also shared them with her. Her expression turned wary as she asked.

"Tsk, we don't know the details either, so don't bother asking."

"You might not believe it, but it's only been about a month since we met that person."

After that short conversation, the three's faces naturally turned toward Lee Shin.

As if feeling their gazes, Lee Shin, who was warming up, slightly opened his mouth.

"From now on, keep your wits about you and watch carefully. I don't know how much you, who have just learned how to fly, will be able to see, but it won't hurt to watch."

Pook-

Saying so, Lee Shin plunged the [Yagong] he was holding into the ground.

"And I'm only going to show you once, so don't come whining to me to show you again next time."

After finishing his words, Lee Shin took a stance with his bare hands.

His two hands were lightly clenched into fists and raised to chest height.

His two feet lightly stepped on the ground, ready to freely use kicking and footwork techniques at any time.

"Is that, by any chance..."

"Yeah, I think so."

Seeing Lee Shin's stance, Mio and Rwen's eyes gradually widened.

At the same time, the two understood why Lee Shin had said what he did.

The stance Lee Shin was showing now.

It was a stance created by appropriately combining Mio and Rwen's two preparation stances.

"...What is the meaning of this?"

But contrary to the two who were staring wide-eyed at Lee Shin, the Sword of the Earth's eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure.

Wooooong-

"You do not seem foolish enough to not understand the gap between you and me."

Lee Shin, who had achieved a certain level of accomplishment through his closed-door training, was stepping on the final stage of LV. 6, the peak.

The place Lee Shin was at now was certainly a high realm where it was difficult to find an enemy.

However, the realm of the Sword of the Earth in front of him was the far-surpassing LV. 7, the realm of the transcendent.

Just as there was a significant difference in the gap between LV. 3 and LV. 4, with the wall of the peak in between, there was also a significant difference in the gap between LV. 6 and LV. 7, with the wall of the transcendent in between.

If the wall blocking the realm of the peak was simply a huge wall, then the wall blocking the realm of the transcendent could be said to be a huge mountain whose peak could not be seen, shrouded in clouds.

The Sword of the Earth, not bothering to hide the fact that he was angry, openly revealed his presence toward Lee Shin.

A strong pressure, enough that it would be natural for him to fall to his knees, unable to withstand it despite having reached the edge of the peak, pressed down on Lee Shin.

Grin-

"Well, don't be so angry, let's just enjoy it. This is the first time I'm fighting someone as strong as you, so I'm in a pretty good mood."

However, Lee Shin looked at the Sword of the Earth with a grinning smile, as if he couldn't feel the existence of such pressure at all.

At Lee Shin's reaction, which was beyond his expectations, a slight glint appeared in the Sword of the Earth's eyes, and he slowly softened his presence.

"Are you going to use me as a testbed for your subordinate's growth?"

"Ah, that's not my intention. It's just that if I don't do this, it's obvious the back of my head won't be safe after I fight you."

The Sword of the Earth just wore a look of disbelief, not understanding what Lee Shin was saying.

"Do you think I will play along with your tune?"

"Hmm, I didn't think so, but..."

Grin-

"But is there any reason you can't?"

"..."

At Lee Shin's answer, the Sword of the Earth, for whatever reason, slowly calmed his anger, narrowed his eyes, and stared at Lee Shin.

It was an eye that was sizing up and testing Lee Shin.

And Lee Shin met that gaze head-on and smiled, as if telling him to look all he wanted.

"...Fine. But I'll just say this, if you're doing this just because you believe I'll capture you alive, you'll regret it."

Sreureureung-

The Sword of the Earth said as he gripped and lifted the huge sword slung on his back.

"Thanks to your actions just now, I've decided that I'll have to drag you away in a near-death state."

"That's a relief."

Grin-

"It wouldn't be fun if you didn't come out like that."

Lee Shin said so and quietly relaxed his stance, as if he had never taken one, and slowly walked toward the Sword of the Earth.

The Sword of the Earth watched him without moving.

'Strange.'

The fight had already begun, and Lee Shin was approaching him with a face full of fighting spirit.

And yet, the Sword of the Earth could not feel any presence from Lee Shin who was approaching him.

He couldn't feel any killing intent to kill the enemy, nor could he feel any fighting spirit to fight and win against the enemy.

Therefore, he felt a sense of unease, as if he were dealing with a ghost.

'Is he not planning to fight properly?'

But to think so, Lee Shin's expression looked as if he were genuinely welcoming this fight.

Grip-

"In the end, I'll know once we fight."

Muttering so, the Sword of the Earth moved the hand gripping his sword.

Hwoooong--!

A greatsword of a brutish size, boasting a size similar to a person's torso, cloaked in a steel-like ocher sword ki, cut through the wind and fell toward Lee Shin.

'What is this?'

And at that moment, the eyes of the Sword of the Earth, who was swinging the sword, narrowed.

Lee Shin's body, which had been approaching with a normal walk, suddenly seemed to sway like a heat haze on a field.

'It looks incredibly heavy. And it seems fast too.'

While the Sword of the Earth was raising his guard, Lee Shin was lost in thought, looking at the blow coming toward him.

'Well, those muscles probably aren't just for show, so this much is to be expected, right? But still, for a light probing attack, it's too heavy.'

If Lee Shin were to use the Flame Leaf Circling Steps to dodge this attack, enough power to devastate the entire vicinity was condensed in the sword being swung now.

The usual Lee Shin would have moved as he pleased, as if he didn't care whether the vicinity was destroyed or not.

No, he would have rather welcomed such a chaotic situation.

A chaotic battle in a situation where a lot of sand and dust had been kicked up was one of the fights Lee Shin enjoyed and excelled at.

But unfortunately, the situation was a little different now.

'If sand and dust are kicked up, those two won't be able to watch my fight, so unfortunately, dodging is out of the question. Well, even if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have chosen the option to dodge anyway.'

Right now, Lee Shin had to fight using not his own fighting style, but Mio and Rwen's.

So that he could show them the path they should take.

But if Lee Shin just kept dodging attacks, what would those two think?

They might see him and think to themselves that all he knew how to do was cowardly dodge.

'Honestly, I don't really care what those two think of me, but if that happens, that Irhegue fellow will throw a tantrum again.'

He would pass on that.

Therefore, Lee Shin faced the greatsword being swung at him head-on.

Even for Lee Shin, he couldn't clash head-on with an attack of this scale and brush it off without any impact.

It was obvious that some impact would accumulate in his arm, but for now, that was actually better.

Because from now on, Lee Shin needed to sustain an injury that anyone would call serious.

As if a flame had suddenly bloomed in a field that had accepted the wind, a deep red [Flame] wrapped around Lee Shin's fingertips.

-At the last moment, I saw how you two fought. You've both gotten much better at using your hands and feet.

Just then, a single line of telepathy sent by Irhegue echoed in the two's minds.

Using the self-awareness he had established over time, Irhegue had sent a short telepathic message to the two.

-Now that you seem to have a basic understanding of how to use your bodies, I will now teach you two how to handle [Flame] and [Lightning].

At the same time as Irhegue finished his telepathic message, one of Lee Shin's fingers, cloaked in [Flame], touched the sword swung by the Sword of the Earth.

And then, Lee Shin's remaining fingers tapped the side of the swinging sword in succession, as if playing a piano.

The flame, a physical force called internal energy, riding on Lee Shin's fingertips, created a very, very minute tremor in the sword ki surrounding the Sword of the Earth's sword.

The tremor was superimposed each time it was tapped by a finger, and soon merged.

At that moment, Lee Shin performed a palm technique, pressing down on the source of the tremor, performed a claw technique to grip the greatsword, and used a grappling technique to twist the flow of the sword.

That movement alone was enough to be admired, but Mio and Rwen paid more attention to the movement of the flame that bloomed from Lee Shin's fingertips than to his hand.

The [Flame], matching Lee Shin's hand gestures, dug into the tremor of the sword ki, created a crack there, and flowed along the crack, widening it.

The hand moves on the outside to create a vessel, and the [Flame] flows on the inside to fill it.

What Lee Shin was showing Mio now was how to use her hands, and at the same time, how to use flames.

He gives power to the flow of the flame that always circulates inside, brings it out, and moves it in his hand.

Then, the giant's blow that was being swung at Lee Shin burned up in the flames in mid-air without reaching the ground and crumbled.

Mio stared blankly at the destructive sight, unable to take her eyes off it.

The [Lightning] raced through the debris of the rock that was crumbling and falling like snow.

The speed was fast, but in the end, it was a straight line, its trajectory simple.

Therefore, the Sword of the Earth swung his fist in the direction the lightning was coming from.

It was at that moment.

The straight line began to bend and bounce in all directions, spreading out.

The essence of the movement was clearly a simple straight line.

But as it repeatedly bent and bent again, it became impossible to predict the trajectory of the footwork.

To the footwork that had only contained the outward appearance of [Lightning], the free-spirited nature of lightning that roams the sky and rampages freely was added.

He doesn't just use the straight line of a large lightning bolt, but connects the straight lines of small lightning bolts.

Grip-

Watching him control his speed and adjust his pace, Rwen unconsciously tightened her fist.

Moving slightly to the side to avoid the Sword of the Earth's fist, Lee Shin rotated his waist, adding destructive power to the speed he had built up with his footwork, and swung his foot as it was.

"...It seems you have the skill to fight without your spear after all."

"Well, it's a step down from the spear, but it's not bad."

Lee Shin said so and looked at the Sword of the Earth's huge greatsword, which had been used like a shield to block his attack.

"But it is merely a skill for show, not threatening."

As if to prove those words, the Sword of the Earth's body did not get pushed back at all, even after blocking Lee Shin's attack.

"Isn't it a little early to be judging my skills?"

Lee Shin laughed fiercely, as if it didn't matter.

"I haven't even started yet."

As he said so, a deep smile was etched on Lee Shin's lips, as if to say that he was enjoying the current situation to no end.

(End of Chapter)