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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Mountain Fist's Awakening
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Watching Karuna's body blaze with moonlight, Kang Seol clenched his fist tight.
'How… we made it all the way here.'
There were many ways to take down the five brothers. Among them, the method Kang Seol had chosen was the most convoluted.
The strategy of sowing discord among the five brothers to make them fight each other.
The big picture was clear, but the conditions were quite tricky.
1. Sow chaos within the tribe using an exile or some other ploy.
2. Tamper with the tribe's sacred relic, the Rock Fist, to plant seeds of doubt in the brothers' minds.
3. Confirm that the strongest among the leaders takes the Rock Fist.
4. When the blame falls on the eldest, who is the chieftain, kill one of the brothers. (Consider the curse that will follow and set the target accordingly. Exclude the second brother.)
5. Now stay put, and the second brother will convince the others to rebel against the eldest (the rivalry between the first and second brothers is fixed, excluding personalities. Thus, this is a fixed event. However, if the eldest doesn't have the Rock Fist at this point, he will lose.)
6. Watch the eldest win. (It must be the eldest, not the other three, because when he wins, he absorbs all their 'resentment' curses, making him easier to handle.)
7. Take down the eldest once he's burdened with the curses.
All of this had been set in motion by Kang Seol since midnight.
'No hardship like this hardship….'
An unexpected party wipe.
But it was an adventure offering the highest rewards, so he'd pushed this far.
Soon, that ordeal would end.
His five-brothers strategy consisted of exactly seven steps. And now, they were in the midst of the seventh.
'Still, there's one last mountain to climb.'
Defeating Jamad.
The key here was that the eldest, holding the Rock Fist, was insanely strong—forcing party hunts.
Moreover, Mael had warned about just how powerful Jamad was.
The five brothers' personalities changed every time in this early basic adventure, and the difficulty of this strategy hinged on the eldest's strength.
Jamad would probably show otherworldly power.
Unknowingly, Kang Seol gripped his hand tighter.
'But let's see how that mixes with the curse. Anyway, it has to go according to plan.'
That was the end of Kang Seol's thoughts.
Now it was time to focus on the battle.
Jamad and Karuna had just clashed.
Kwaaaaaang!
"Kraaaah!"
"...."
In his half-moon state, Karuna met Jamad's attack head-on.
Kwaaaaaang!
Chiiiik…
Karuna was pushed back a few steps, but showed no further damage.
'This level….'
It was proof that Karuna could handle Jamad sufficiently. So, he could leave Jamad to him.
Kwagagagak!
The noise from Karuna and Jamad's clashes echoed across the area, yet the tribesmen, caught in their madness, couldn't even reach the grand meeting hall.
'They didn't approach even when the brothers fought each other, so we can fight without worry.'
That was why Kang Seol had timed it for right after Jamad killed his other brothers in the grand meeting hall, not some other moment.
Jamad was now isolated at the top level with Kang Seol.
"You dare target the Rock Fangs! I'll feed your corpse to the wild dogs!"
Kagagak!
Jamad favored primal, straightforward attacks.
He was drained from the resentment sorcery and clearly buying time to recover his sorcery power, but even that put him on equal footing with Karuna.
Kaaang!
Kang!
'Damn it… the Shadow Summon penalty hurts bad.'
Karuna wasn't weaker than Jamad.
Without the Rock Fist, a penalty-free Karuna would probably match him evenly.
The problem was the low-grade Shadow Summon restricting Karuna's abilities to 20%, so even the resentment-exhausted Jamad was a tough opponent.
'It's not like there's no way, but… the timing….'
Thinking he'd gauged Karuna's power, Jamad went even more berserk.
[Jamad shifts to Earthquake Stance.]
Drdrdrdr!
Fortunately, the sorcery succeeded, and immense energy poured from Jamad's body.
"With this pathetic power, you thought to conquer the mountain?!"
Jamad's Earthquake Stance.
A ability that steadily consumed sorcery power to generate vibrations.
It was what Jamad unleashed when his health dropped below a certain threshold.
Whoosh-!
Kagagagagak!
Karuna barely blocked Jamad's fist.
Jamad attacked fiercely, as if trying to shatter the Moonlight Sword.
Kaaang!
Drdrdrdr!
Kaaang!
Drdrdr!
Karuna struggled against the vibrations spreading from each clash point.
"Jamad is the mountain! I am he who places all beneath his feet!"
Kwagagagak!
Trying to protect Kang Seol, Karuna was pushed back again.
In half-moon state, he couldn't defeat Jamad.
'This is weird. By now, the Rock Fist's backlash should have turned him into a rag….'
He'd confirmed this multiple times in solo plays.
Karuna being continuously pushed back in half-moon state didn't add up with his calculations and experience.
'Did something go wrong? Did I miss something….'
Kang Seol quickly reviewed the entire process, but nothing seemed amiss.
That meant the issue wasn't in the past—it was happening now.
Whoooong!
There was only one difference between before and now.
Jamad himself.
Kang Seol had faced many eldest brothers before, but this was his first time against Jamad.
Jamad's Rock Fist let out a roar.
Immediately after, his fist slammed into the ground.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
"Urk… Karuna!"
Kaaang!
Kang!
Karuna deflected every rock fragment hurtling toward Kang Seol. The Moonlight Sword screamed with each block, revealing the immense force packed into every shard.
'Wait, that Rock Fist….'
Kang Seol noticed something off about the Rock Fist.
By now, it should have exhausted all power and entered recharge mode.
Yet, inexplicably, it kept emitting sorcery power.
"Power! Power surges through my entire body!"
That must be it.
The Rock Fist wasn't tormenting Jamad with backlash—instead, it kept empowering him.
'Damn… how did this happen….'
Everything had its probabilities.
Especially in the Eternal World, where probabilities played out with extreme sensitivity.
Like how he'd never gotten the Moon Seed in 17 years of play, but obtained it when actually living in the Eternal World.
Probability, that cruel twist of fate, tripped up players.
'The Rock Fist… has evolved into the Mountain Fist.'
A brief note from the lorebook.
- Overview: Mountain Fist
「When the Rock Fist fills with the earth's energy, it blooms into the Mountain Fist. No precise records of this item remain.」
An Easter egg where the Rock Fist absorbs earth's energy for greater power.
Of course, in 17 years, it had never happened. Not once, damn it, from Kang Seol's perspective.
"That's why the capable succeed and the incapable fail…."
"Be crushed! Invader!"
Kwaaang!
Kwaaaaaang!
That was the Rock Fist evolved—the Mountain Fist.
By the time Kang Seol sensed something wrong, the situation had already unfolded.
'Run? No, do I even have any options left?'
Kang Seol's greatest weapon: experience.
Right now, that experience was useless.
Kwagagak!
Kwagak!
"I'll smash you! Crush you!"
Ignoring the resentment curse and the backlash from forcibly drawing on the relic's power, Jamad relentlessly drove Kang Seol toward death.
Faced with the terror of death, Kang Seol muttered with empty pupils.
"Karuna! Danger…."
Kwagagagagagak!
Kwaaaaang!
Jamad's attack sent Kang Seol and Karuna flying far away.
"Keheok...."
Kang Seol blacked out momentarily from the intense impact of slamming into the wall.
* * *
Five players watched the game board, Kang Seol among them.
Peering into the game board, the situation looked grim.
"Snowman, let's run."
"Yeah… at least we can escape. This is unbeatable. Just toss some pieces and let the salvageable ones live."
"...."
Kang Seol remembered this moment.
He couldn't recall the exact age, but he was very young.
A memory from before Snowman's legend had fully ripened.
His party members had fallen into danger due to their mistakes, and as leader, he had to decide what to do.
'What was I thinking then? Ah! I remember….'
The horses are pitiful.
Too pitiful to die like this.
They'd tried so hard all along.
That fragile child probably thought something like that.
"Snowman…."
"I'm not running."
"Why? We can't win this? It's just a few horses dying, no big…."
"No, it's not just a few horses. We all worked hard to get here…."
"We're fine…."
"That's not it. I'm not talking about players."
"…Then?"
"The horses. How did they get this far, only to die so meaninglessly?"
"…Haa. Over mere horses?"
"…Reckless."
Snowman was reckless.
But every player who'd played with him even once wanted to team up again. His judgments were always spot-on, and he never treated the horses' lives lightly.
He played as if he truly lived in that world.
"…Can you do it?"
"There's still a way."
Snowman had an unofficial rule.
Crises come to everyone, anytime, anywhere, without reason.
In such crises, which horse dies first?
'The ones that don't fight. The ones that run….'
Not fighting means no victory; running means no chance.
That was why Snowman's horses always wrought miracles—by facing crises head-on.
"Damn it, fine! Please save us?"
"Snowman, we're counting on you!"
"Shit… I'll fight too, Snowman!"
The woman in spear-and-shield mask said to Snowman.
"Then choose, Snowman."
"Number 3. Swing the sword at Giant Jure's ankle."
"As expected… Can Snowman's strike save his comrades? The odds are very low…."
Roll roll roll.
The die rolls.
As always, cloaked in probability, delivering fate.
"The die rolls. May a miracle happen for you."
Before checking the die's result, he snapped out of the flashback.
* * *
Kaaaaang!
"Kuuh…. Ka, Karuna…."
"...."
Karuna had splendidly protected the unconscious Kang Seol.
But holes had formed in Karuna's shadow here and there. He'd faced multiple crises.
"Now, I'll end this…."
Jamad's momentum was growing even stronger.
What he'd thought was the final stretch was turning dire.
Drdrdrdr!
[Jamad prepares Landslide.]
'Landslide!'
A technique Jamad scraped together every ounce of sorcery power for.
Getting caught in it meant certain death.
Kang Seol halted his fleeing body by force.
Then, he calmly focused his mind.
'Earthquake Stance Landslide's total damage… Karuna's been fighting in half-moon state for roughly… 5 minutes….'
Stop thinking, and you die.
'Damn, how long was I out? I need to know the time….'
Then, as if waiting for him, welcome news arrived.
Chijijijik!
Hwaaaaaang!
[Karuna enters Moonlight Ascension Stage 3: Full Moon.]
Karuna's armor shone with radiant moonlight. Just like in the Forgotten Moon Ruins.
"Perfect!"
Kwagagagak!
Jamad's Landslide was nearly complete.
Pointy Rock Mountain shook violently.
"Behold! This is the mountain!"
[Jamad's Landslide activates.]
"Karuna!"
Karuna raised his sword to the sky, drawing in moonlight.
His armor blazed fierce blue.
'Still not enough—he'll get swept by the Landslide!'
He had to make up the difference.
Jamad mocked his efforts.
"Keheheheheha! Be crushed by Tankred-nim's power!"
Kang Seol swiftly pulled out the skill he'd been saving for an unforeseen crisis.
"…We haven't lost yet!"
Whoooong-!
A chilling aura began emanating from Kang Seol's body.
[Using volatile skill Moon Stage.]
[The curtain rises on Moon Stage.]
[The protagonist is selected.]
Sooooook…
Vast moonlight poured from the sky, as if to scorch Pointy Rock Mountain's highest peak.
And shining brightest in that light was none other than Karuna.
Paat!
[The protagonist is Moonlight Knight Karuna.]
[During the moonlight, Karuna's all stats increase by 50%.]
[Non-protagonists are removed from the stage.]
[During the moonlight, all others' stats except Karuna's decrease by 20%.]
A trickle of power drained from Kang Seol, the supporting actor.
Jamad, another supporting actor, was shocked by the power rapidly fleeing his body but hurried to complete his sorcery.
"What?!"
'This'll surpass the Landslide!'
Kang Seol bared his teeth in relieved laughter.
"Don't lose, Karuna!"
[Karuna uses Full Moon Slash.]
[Stats sufficient. Full Moon Slash enhances to perfect Moonlight Slash.]
Karuna quietly intoned as he swung his sword down.
"The moon has filled… Be humble…."
Immense light poured from his Moonlight Sword.
Karuna's low voice echoed across the peak with the roar.
"Now, I shall fulfill my will."
Hwaaaaaang!
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Countless rock fragments clashed with light so intense it was visible anywhere on Pointy Rock Mountain.
Kagagagak!
Kagagak!
What if his calculations were wrong?
Landslide, Earthquake Stance, Mountain Fist.
Were all the calculations precise?
But he'd chosen, and the die was cast.
'Please… please….'
"Kuaaaaaaaaah!"
Kagagak!
Kwajik!
A tremendous clash.
Karuna's momentum was incredible, but Jamad matching it was monstrous.
The entire mountain trembled.
The ground beneath Kang Seol rocked accordingly.
The roar and dust lasted nearly 30 seconds.
Aftershocks from the Landslide's added effect.
Kwagagak!
What was the outcome?
Kang Seol waited for the dust to settle.
Soooo.
Soon, the battlefield emerged before his eyes as the dust cleared.