Chapter 78 – Left Azure Dragon, Right White Tiger

Chapter 78 – Left Azure Dragon, Right White Tiger

Even the doctor’s fighting style in the previous episode was already far removed from the general concept of a ‘healer.’

After all, minor injuries could be healed. So, he chose a fighting style where he wouldn’t spare his own body.

He only avoided fatal, one-hit kill injuries.

Not only could the man always exert his full strength without needing to pace himself.

Even if his muscles were injured and he lost energy from overexertion, he was the only one who would recover.

The man’s results were as follows:

A martial artist who couldn’t display great explosive power but stubbornly led battles with almost infinite stamina.

That was the man’s Doctor from the last round.

But this time, the man was different.

“Will it work if I do it like this?”

Whoosh!

Perhaps because the battle at Baengnokdam Crater Lake left a deep impression on the man, he continued to experiment with methods of wrapping mana around his body to unleash explosive power.

Boom!

The man’s results were astonishing.

In Hanam, a powerful individual who would dominate an era was about to be born—someone already strong in prolonged battles, capable of healing, and sometimes able to unleash explosive destructive power.

‘It seems he learned something from me.’

I smirked, watching the man.

It was a desirable phenomenon.

***

Meanwhile, the Black Mage, a large man commonly known as the ‘Reaper’ for his Fire Manipulation, was utterly astonished upon receiving information from Baphomet, whom he had dispatched to Hanam.

“What in the world is that guy?!”

A man had suddenly appeared and started clearing out the monsters by himself. He quickly sent Baphomet because of the man’s strength, but the results were even more shocking.

Baphomet, who had killed and tormented countless people until now, was killed in a single blow.

“I-It’s insane…”

The Reaper trembled in fear.

But it wasn’t the worst situation.

‘Fortunately, he’s heading towards Hanam.’

For the Reaper, Hanam was simply a territory, a place that didn’t require much consideration. No matter how strong the opponent, it wasn’t an immediate, tangible threat to his own life.

‘I need to eliminate him as quickly as possible.’

Even so, he had no intention of letting him live.

In fact, this might be an opportunity.

Though the man seemed to be alone now, it would be much more troublesome if he later colluded with or cooperated with other forces to attack.

And he was very cautious. He had no intention of sending out minor bosses little by little, like a demon king in some popular media.

He commanded five of the remaining six demons.

And all the monsters in the vicinity.

‘Kill the man.’

It was his principle to do things cleanly.

***

I watched all the nearby monsters and demons moving through the Observation Ship and smirked.

“As expected, they’re moving like this.”

It wasn’t just my former comrades whose patterns I knew.

I also understood the way of thinking of the enemies who had persistently tormented humanity. Predicting their behavior was easy.

I decided to proceed to the next stage of the operation.

‘Now, I’ll provoke them with an appropriate threat.’

If the threat was too strong, they would flee, and if it was too weak, they would only send monsters.

It had to be just the right level of threat; one that was too valuable to waste by sending monsters to deplete them, yet not so threatening that he would handle it himself without any danger.

‘This should be fine.’

I began to move a detached force, composed of a small number of assault cannons and magitech armor, towards Namhansanseong Fortress.

***

Sporadic artillery barrages from the assault cannons.

Bang-

These artillery barrages were hitting Namhansanseong Fortress as planned.

KWAANG!

Thanks to the dense defenses, like an air-raid shelter, there wasn’t much damage, but if it kept getting pounded by Miracle, the damage would clearly continue to grow.

More than anything… this attack felt quite bad.

“Why now of all times…”

They say bad things happen in threes. Reaper, with a sullen expression, looked down at the attack site through the Observer’s linked vision.

‘That’s definitely Lord’s Military.’

At first, The Man’s eyes widened in fear, but then.

He soon tilted his head.

“What, is this all there is?”

The number of troops was much smaller than expected.

He wondered if he was being underestimated, or if they were testing the waters. Reaper tilted his head for a long time before making up his Loyalty mind.

‘At this level, it would be good to fight them myself.’

Even without that, most of the troops were already out defending Hanam.

Only by preserving even the small number of troops he had now could he fully protect himself if something truly serious happened.

“I’ll finish this in an instant.”

The Man, setting out from Namhansanseong Fortress, was like that.

He had the momentum of a great general.

***

Meanwhile, I, who had watched all of The Man’s scenes, burst into laughter.

“Puhahaha.”

It was almost to the point of feeling sorry for him, as he followed my thoughts so perfectly. Hearing my laughter, Choi Yongjin approached as if he had been waiting and spoke.

“Is it going well?”

“According to plan. Shall we depart?”

Choi Yongjin, hearing my words, said something strange.

“He will return before the wine cup cools.”

A wine glass?

There’s something called The Man.

It was Choi Yongjin, laughing heartily as if he was enjoying himself.

And The Man…

A moment later.

I was surprised to see The Man’s battle preparations.

On top of the One-Horned Dragon Special Individual, which I had given authority to The Man…

The Man had climbed on!

The Man, why are you riding that?

Well… just watch.

And Choi Yongjin, operating his Loyalty Mana.

Whoosh!

Seeing The Man’s Mana enveloping even the One-Horned Dragon, I finally understood The Man’s intention. The Man had used his Loyalty Vehicle Enhancement Ability to strengthen the One-Horned Dragon as well.

Wow…

I was amazed.

It was an idea that even The Man of the Previous Life hadn’t thought of. Of course, The Man of the Previous Life, who had lost many Subordinates and eventually even his fiancée, had a much darker character.

Choi Yongjin spurred the One-Horned Dragon, riding on its back.

Boom!

Choi Yongjin took off like that.

In The Man’s hand was the Spear Artifact he had salvaged from the Dungeon last time. Riding a dragon and carrying a spear, he looked like a knight from a fantasy world.

The Man took off in a straight line towards the sky, and then…

Soon disappeared into the clouds.

And silence.

It was a moment later that The Man reappeared.

Crash!

The Man, plummeting to the ground with a tremendous sonic boom, was visible only for a fleeting moment.

“What?”

The moment Reaper looked up at the sky like that.

It was already too late.

Rumble-Boom!

Reaper died without even a death rattle, his entire body utterly shredded by the powerful impact.

* * *

Watching the scene, I thought with a smile.

‘If the opponent doesn’t notice, it’s an ambush anyway…’

It was the optimal method to deal with Reaper, who loved to run away. After that, I didn’t have much to do. It was all about sending the Aerial Mothership to sweep away the remaining stragglers.

First, while rescuing Yoon Sanghoon, who was struggling, surrounded by a massive number of Monsters and gradually consuming his mana.

I also dealt with the Monsters left in Namhansanseong Fortress.

Fortunately, Namhansanseong Fortress, which is also a historical site, did not suffer significant damage. In fact, the Mountain Fortress slugs that had been stationed there and gnawing away had caused much more damage.

As I simultaneously cleared Hanam and the Villain…

The citizens within Gwak Sangyong’s Faction were extremely excited.

“He cleared Hanam by himself!”

“Oh my, oh my!”

“With such a fair face, looking like a bookworm… how could he!”

They were also surprised by Yoon Sanghoon’s abilities…

And on the other hand-

“They say he also caught the demon worshiper in Namhansanseong Fortress.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That Demon Villain Reaper is dead!”

“How on earth? Was it the man who cleared Hanam?”

“No, the Commander of the Volunteer Knights!”

“The man who is rough and tough?”

“And this time, they say he caught it riding some kind of dragon?”

“A dragon? A dragon from fantasy?!”

“That’s what I’m telling you!”

They were also surprised by Choi Yongjin’s new fighting style.

But their admiration didn’t end there.

“But… who exactly is the person who commands both Yoon Sanghoon and Choi Yongjin?”

“Isn’t it the Lord?”

“So… what do they look like?”

“I don’t know that either.”

“But you know what? On one side, there’s the fair-faced Yoon Sanghoon… and on the other, a knight riding a dragon… isn’t this completely Left Azure Dragon Right White Tiger?”

“That’s right! Left Azure Dragon Right White Tiger!”

It was the moment they gained new epithets.

On the other hand, rumors and speculations about me, who commanded them, began to pour out……

Seoyeon had to suffer for a while because of it.

As if it were compensation, Seoyeon would pick out only the most obscure rumors about me every day and show them to me, making jokes.

“Brother… can’t we just leave this?”

“Please delete it immediately.”

But overall, the atmosphere was good.

Gwak Sangyong’s Faction, who had vaguely thought our forces were of similar size by simply comparing the occupied territories, was completely won over by me because of this incident.

And that’s because I, with just a few people, resolved in a single day what they had been struggling with under threat of survival all this time.

Ultimately, their feelings towards My Faction…

More precisely, towards me…

Went beyond the previous [competition]…

And were now almost at the level of [reverence].

The situation was progressing very rapidly. According to Gwak Sangyong, unlike in the past when he actively persuaded executives to join my faction…

Now, it seemed the men were more actively persuading Gwak Sangyong. To join my faction even faster.

Gwak Sangyong seemed to think the same way, as he was pushing for three or four executive meetings a day and processing work at a rapid pace.

The biggest harvest among the men was that they were planning to acquire and operate several factories in Incheon.

Their core industrial plan was to start manufacturing consumable female products like sanitary pads again.

Considering that all the women on the 6th Floor of the Shopping Mall cheered with joy when they first heard the news…

Gwak Sangyong’s executives certainly seemed to know how to make money even in this changed world.

Furthermore, they planned to start a business properly producing modern hygiene products that were slowly running out, such as soap, shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste, and toothbrushes.

‘Then the price of water will also be much cheaper… everything will get better.’

I was quite happy.

Of course…

There was another reason behind that happy feeling.

***

The other reason was, of course-

[Analyzing Essence…]

It was the Mana Stone of the Black Mage Villain I had acquired this time.

[Analysis complete.]

[Restoring Forgotten Knowledge of Magitech Civilization. <2/7>]

“Oh, it’s this again?”

That was the moment I frowned.

[New facilities and machines are unlocked!]

“What?”

This time, unlike last time, two pieces of knowledge had been restored. And from two, new facilities and machines seemed to be unlocked.

‘My goodness…’

I couldn’t help but be amazed. I realized that my abilities could grow even further.

[You can apply Essence anew.]

‘It seems like existing Essences can also be applied differently….’

This was also a pretty good improvement.

He was especially looking forward to new ways of applying something like Shadow Essence, which hadn’t shown much effect before.

But that wasn’t all.

[Assistant AI booting up….]

‘An assistant…?’

[Error: Insufficient knowledge. <2/7>]

[Booting in safe mode.]

[Hello, Successor.]

My ability… spoke to me.