Episode 422.

The next morning.

Hearing Raon’s summons, the Berserkers entered the training grounds.

“Aren’t we off until tomorrow?”

Beren, the first to enter, stood in front of the dais, rolling his shoulders in frustration.

“That’s what I’m saying, why are you calling us out this morning?”

Marta frowned, her hair unruly and unkempt.

“Hmph….”

Lunan yawned like a hippo, his eyes still closed as if he hadn’t woken up yet.

“What else is going on today, did anyone hear anything?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re such an impulsive human….”

“Why hasn’t Dan Zhu been seen since yesterday?”

The swordsmen had black circles under their eyes from all the fun they had yesterday.

“I don’t feel right….”

“This is weird….”

Dorian and Crane swallowed dryly, looking around as if their sense of crisis had been triggered.

Percussion!

As the entire Berserkers were scratching their heads in disbelief, Raon walked out of the indoor training center.

“Everyone’s here.”

Raon smiled coyly as he stepped up to the podium.

-I see you’re smiling wickedly, so you’re planning to torment me again.

“Of course not.

I have no intention of harassing them. I genuinely wish them all the best. Even if it’s a little over the top….

“I told you to rest until tomorrow, didn’t I?”

Raon crossed his arms and glanced at the tired-looking Berserkers.

“That’s right!”

“Don’t interrupt their rest, and get out of here!”

“I’m scared of what they’ll make us do!”

The Berserkers frowned at the idea of interrupting the break.

“Are you really going to rest?”

Raon took a step toward the dais.

“Uh…?”

“What, what do you mean?”

“Really rest?”

The Berserker blinked rapidly, as if the words didn’t make sense.

“I’ll give you until tomorrow to rest, but are you really going to rest?”

Raon glared at the Berserkers with a cold glint in his eye.

“We haven’t fought a battle on the way here, we’ve only been traveling, and we’re supposed to rest for two days? We still have mountains of swordsmanship, stances, and training to learn? We’re supposed to play? We’re supposed to rest when the world is full of Siegfried’s enemies?”

“Ah….”

“Ugh….”

With each emphasis on the word ‘again’, Berserker shook his shoulders and lowered his head.

“Yeah, yeah. You can play, you can play, you can play, you can eat, you can rest, you can sleep. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with my training afterward. It’ll be a living hell then, a living hell that I can’t get out of.”

The weight of the word hell made the heads of the Cyclone Swordsmen bend until they touched the ground.

“Ha, I’ll do it….”

“You’re training, you can do it!”

“Don’t give me a break, just make me do it from the beginning!”

“This is too much!”

“Don’t give me a bottle, don’t give me a pill!”

The Crazed Swordsmen cursed and shook their heads.

“I’ll ask again.”

Raon held up a hand, pretending not to hear the angry cries of the Berserkers.

“Does anyone want to play today?”

“…….”

Unsurprisingly, no one answered.

“I am impressed that the troupe is willing to participate in training. I look forward to your active participation in the future.”

Raon nodded in satisfaction, speaking like a soldier.

-I wonder if ‘voluntary’ in the human world means something different than in the demon world….

Rath shook his head, digging his fingers into his ears.

“Damn it!”

“That demon. No, the demon!”

“You’re not going to die real nice!”

“What the hell are you doing, you’re not taking him!”

The group cursed and scattered to various parts of the training grounds to begin training.

-Pity….

Rath hung his head like a defeated muji.

-The demon has been vanquished, and the Bone King captured….

* * *

Raon watched the Berserkers train until noon, then headed to the infirmary to see Muston.

Muston hadn’t gotten up yet, and instead of a healer, a sword demon sat beside him.

“Is he feeling better?”

“He’ll need some time to recover, but he’s not in bad shape.”

Gum Gui nodded awkwardly. He looked up and pursed his lips.

“I’m sure there won’t be any after-effects, and it ended just before anything life-threatening.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Did you ever learn how to beat people up? You’ve almost got it down to an art form.”

He blurted out something about how great he was, using words that didn’t match his appearance.

“I apologize, sir. I must have gotten a little carried away with your insults.”

“C’mon, that’s really all I can say, I’m sorry.”

When I felt a little embarrassed and said that it was because of Limer’s insults, the sword spirit narrowed its eyes.

“You’ve failed to train a disciple, and I’ll scold him as soon as he wakes up.”

The swordsman lowered his head as if he deserved to be criticized for that.

“No.”

Raon shook his head and studied the swordsman.

“This isn’t what I’ve heard.

Gum Gui was rumored to be as cold as his piercing eyes, but in person, he was a man of great character.

I don’t know why a man like him would take a scoundrel like that as a disciple.

“When Muston wakes up, feed him this.”

Raon placed the internal wound medicine he had brought on the table.

“He probably has internal injuries, so this should help him heal.”

“Thank you.”

Swordguy took the internal wound medicine without complaint.

“I’ll stop by later then.”

Raon shook his head and turned to leave, but stopped and looked back at the swordsman.

“And now, keep your voice down. You’re my senior, and I’m not comfortable with that.”

Gum Gui hadn’t let go of his horse from the first time they met until now, so he told him to lower his horse first.

“That… I’ll do it later.”

Gum Gui suddenly looked several years older and shook his head.

“…I see.”

Seeing that he had something on his mind, I didn’t ask any more questions and left the hospital room.

“…….”

Gum Gui looked at the door Raon had left through and let out a low breath.

“You’ve grown up.

He smiled faintly as he adjusted the gauntlet of internal medicine that Raon had left behind.

“I can’t wait to meet you.”

* * *

Raon went to Miland’s office after lunch.

His office was as unassuming as ever, except for one thing.

“What was that?”

A drunken red-haired elf was snoring in the right corner.

“I’ve been drinking here and passed out all by myself.”

Miland set down his teacup and sighed.

“I don’t know how that sober Siegfried lightsaber of his turned into such an idiot.”

He shook his head, as if there were no limits to how broken a person could be.

“I understand. Just when you think you’ve seen the last of him, he digs himself a hole.”

Raon clicked his tongue as he watched Limer scratch his stomach and snore in his sleep.

“I’m sure you didn’t come looking for that drunkard, so why are you here?”

Miland looked up, setting aside the papers on his desk.

“There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“Something you want to ask?”

“Yes. Have there been fewer monsters lately? I’ve been seeing very few….”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

He nodded, hitting the desk with his palm.

“Oddly enough, the number of monsters has decreased noticeably since you left. Even the monsters coming from the waves are more than twice as few as before.”

Miland grinned broadly at the obvious reduction in casualties.

“I guess you were our belly button.”

He reached over and took her hand in gratitude.

“Huh? The belly is mine! My money. My fortune. But where did all my money go… Kek!”

Limerick squirmed in his sleep, so I kicked him lightly, knocking him back into the corner.

“Good.”

Raon smiled as he looked into Miland’s excited eyes.

“You kept your promise.

I’d asked Sloth to take care of the monsters, and he seemed to have kept the numbers in check.

“Good thing you’re still here.

There was no way the slothful demon would do such a thing after leaving this place. He must still be at the top of Mount Sterin.

“My lord. Do you mind if I go to Mount Sterin for a while?”

“Mount Sterin? Why there?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been there, and I’d like to see if the monsters have diminished.”

“Then I’ll prepare a scouting party.”

Miland nodded in understanding.

“No, no. I want to go alone. I plan to move at a pace that will be hard for the scouts to keep up with.”

“Well, no one’s been near those mountains more often than you, so it should be fine.”

He waved his hand in disbelief.

“I’ll be right back.”

Raon ducked his head and turned toward the door again.

“Oh, wait.”

Miland snorted and pointed to the sleeping Remer.

“Take that one with you on your way out.”

“…….”

Raon shrugged his shoulders with a fat expression.

“I don’t know him….”

“Hey!”

* * *

Raon packed his things lightly and left Habun Castle.

As he stood on the pure white snow that hadn’t been trodden by anyone else, he felt a chill run through his chest.

“The snow is the best here.

As expected from a place with the whitest snow in the world, it felt good to step on it.

“Let’s go.

Without needing to recall his memories, he set off toward Mount Sterin in the distance.

“It won’t be a bad place to practice.

Since it was a long way to Mount Sterin, it seemed like a good idea to go while practicing, rather than just running.

Raon practiced harmonizing the various martial arts on the Tai Chi board as he made his way toward Mount Sterin.

The level of force was different than before, and even with his training, he was able to reach the entrance to Mount Sterin before nightfall.

Raon looked up at the mountain and narrowed his eyes.

“The population has really dwindled.

Normally, the area around Mount Sterin was filled with powerful monsters, but Miland was right, there weren’t many of them.

“How did they do it?

-What did he do?

Rath looked up at Mount Sterin and frowned.

-I put them to sleep.

“You put them to sleep?

-Sloth has lulled the monsters here to sleep with the energy of sloth.

He muttered something about sleeping monsters to control their populations.

“Put them to sleep?

Snowflake opened her senses to examine the monsters more closely.

True to Rath’s word, the monsters were asleep, breathing low, like bears hibernating.

“Indeed.

Scattering lazy energy around the mountain to put the monsters to sleep was a unique and efficient solution.

“Brilliant.”

Raon smirked, climbing up Mount Sterin.

“Krrrr.”

“Kiaaah!”

But Sloth hadn’t put everyone to bed, and a group of ice trolls appeared, smelling the human scent.

“Krrrr?”

“Crouch….”

They approached, clubs raised as if to pounce, but as soon as they made eye contact, they stopped dead in their tracks.

“Crouch….”

“Chiiiiii….”

There was no buildup of momentum, no auror activation, just eye contact, and the Ice Trolls’ entire bodies twitched with fear, their tails like a million tails.

“Instinct.

Wild instincts warned me, and I stood there, frozen in place like a statue, unable to move.

“You’ve gotten stronger.

When I first came here, I was in a life-and-death fight with those ice trolls, and now, seeing them terrified just by making eye contact, I realized I had grown.

“Stay back, I don’t want to touch them.”

Raon gestured to the cowering monsters and continued up the mountain.

Along the way, monsters stronger than the ice trolls appeared, but they, too, fell silent and froze like honeyed mutes upon eye contact.

As we climbed up the axe-sharp canyon, it was already daylight.

I was about to pick up the pace when I smelled a languid aroma that made me feel like my whole body was relaxing.

“What is this?”

I couldn’t see it, but a hazy black glow was rising from the entire summit, forming a huge semicircle.

“A shield?

Despite encompassing a large area, the aura was so solid that it seemed impossible to break through.

‘This is….’

-Whoops.

Rath flashed a condescending smile as Raon frowned at the wall.

-Now there you are.

Rath nodded vigorously at the blurry black wall.

“Finally? Do you know what this is?

-It’s a covenant.

“The End?

-Yes. The sleeper has placed a barrier so that no other being can enter.

He said it had been a long time since he had seen Sloth make a barrier.

“What is the effect of the binding? Does it put him to sleep if he approaches?

-Not at all. The moment you come near it, you will naturally feel troublesome, and your desire to climb the mountain will disappear. For annoyance is also the power of idleness.

Rath muttered that it worked for humans and monsters alike.

-But for a creature like you, who feels the power of idleness, I don’t create a nuisance, I build a solid wall.

He stuck out his tongue as he tapped the back of his hand against the black wall Sloth had created.

-You weaklings could spend a hundred years pounding on this wall and it wouldn’t crack! You have wasted your time!

‘You knew this, then?

-I am the Lord of Wrath, of course I knew!

Rath chuckled at the trouble he had taken to get here.

-I feigned ignorance just to see your bewildered expression!

‘You asshole….’

-It’s refreshing to see you so pissed off after all these years!

Rath made a throat-cutting gesture with his thumbs, as if he were the enemy of the two slices of pineapple pizza he had left uneaten yesterday.

‘Anyway….’

That carnivorous demon is no help.

Raon shook his head in disbelief. Not the Lord of Rage, but the Lord of Attraction. He didn’t want to deal with him.

“But he does look tough.

He bit his lip hard, watching Sloth’s determination.

I hadn’t felt it until now because it was cloaked, but now that I could see it, I could feel the grandeur of it, and it sent goosebumps up my spine.

As Rath had said, the power of sloth in the crystal was so strong that no amount of swordplay could break it now.

‘I guess I’m still a long way off.

As I had vowed not long ago, I must not settle for Master Superlative. I shouldn’t be satisfied with where I am now, I should go faster.

“So I should wait for Sloth to wake up?”

-Dumbass. Once Sloth falls asleep, he doesn’t wake up for years. He never wakes up unless you go over and beat him up.

Lars scoffs at the futility of trying.

-How does it feel to have a wall in front of you that you can’t break through? It must make you sick to your stomach, and King Vaughn feels it every day!

He didn’t want to miss this opportunity, so he spewed out a barrage of taunts.

-If you manage to break through that wall and get inside today, the Bone King himself will grant you stats and talents!

Rath muttered that he would never do that, and smirked. It was the kind of happy face you only see when you’re eating pizza.

-But if you don’t get through, order five pineapple pizzas as soon as you get back!

“Remember that promise.

No matter what I do, I’ll break it.

Raon cleared his throat and reached for Sloth’s nexus.

Oomph.

It was an act of checking the strength by touching the crystalline system directly, but as if he was putting his arm into water, his body cut through the black energy and plunged into it.

-Eh…?

“Huh?”

Raon opened his mouth and pushed his left arm into the crystallization as well. This time, his arm went in without any obstruction.

“What?”

That was too easy, too.

-Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh!

Rath’s eyes widened like a freshly caught fish.

-What the hell!