The tear open butterflies were spirits. They were terrible evil spirits that tore at the target until they died. It was impossible to soothe or command these evil spirits. The only way to destroy these butterflies was to burn them using divinity.
“......!”
The yangbans had thought that Zik’s apostle would foolishly die trying to stab the butterflies, thus their hearts sank at the sight in front of them. Flames that completely overwhelmed the Red Phoenix’s Breath they had used until recently—Zik’s apostle created huge, sacred flames reminiscent of the descent of the red phoenix or Mir’s power. The thousands of butterflies turned to ashes and disappeared, and the yangbans couldn’t close their open mouths.
Jingle, jingle.
The bells on Chiyou’s necklace and hair tie shook loudly. It was a reaction to his muscles moving when he smiled. “It is worthy of the human who possesses the Red Phoenix’s Ninth Heart.”
“The Ninth Heart!?”
The yangbans doubted their ears. One of the 10 hearts that contained the source of the red phoenix’s power. A human had it when even the Five Seniors couldn’t take it away?
Haejin gritted her teeth. She wanted to erase her past self who had been thrilled to receive the red phoenix’s 9,857th heart from Hanul. She wanted to reproach herself for missing the heart that had disappeared when the red phoenix was resurrected.
‘Dammit! Dammit!!’
Haejin’s face turned red like she would explode. She was ashamed of herself, who was pleased with receiving something inferior to what a human received, and who struggled not to miss something that was received by a human. It was the first time in her life that she felt such a great sense of shame. The feelings of the other yangbans were similar. Those who had lost their hearts because of the red phoenix’s resurrection, or those who still had the hearts, but knew it would soon disappear, glared at Zik’s apostle with bitter eyes.
Grid didn’t respond to their killing intent. To be exact, he couldn’t afford to respond.
‘Did he know that I have the red phoenix’s heart?’
Grid was terrified as he looked at Chiyou standing in the distance with crossed arms. He noticed that he couldn’t have survived unless he revealed himself as the one who resurrected the red phoenix.
‘The trial itself is a trap.’
It was over. He had hoped to gain something from Chiyou’s Test. However, instead of gaining something, it seemed he was going to die.
‘I won’t be able to recover it if I drop an item here.’
The butterflies had already burned, but Grid didn’t get rid of the Storm of the Fire God. It was a choice he made to protect himself. Isolated in the midst of Chiyou and dozens of yangbans, Grid couldn’t glimpse a way out except for relying on Storm of the Fire God.
‘I need to find a way out of here while maintaining Storm of the Fire God.’
This was a space Grid was moved to when Chiyou’s Test began. In other words, the current land he was standing on was completely separated from the existing world. It was the mental world of Chiyou that reflected Chiyou’s will.
‘Has Braham ever told me about the weaknesses of the mental world?’
“I’ve seen your passion well. Then the third trial will begin.”
Jingle.
“......!”
Grid’s nervous expression as he maintained Storm of the Fire God completely collapsed. It was because the moment Chiyou’s bells rang, the Storm of the Fire God disappeared regardless of Grid’s will. Grid realized it—he was already dancing on the palm of Chiyou’s hand. The frustrated Grid’s vision darkened.
* * *
“......”
What was making such a sad and painful sound?
Grid was awakened by the cries of a young beast and felt the texture of soft carpet. He was like a person waking from a long sleep as he looked around blankly and his eyes slowly widened. He could see the scenery of the area lit with soft lighting.
It was a large and colorful space. The light reflected on the red wallpaper and made the expensive furniture and ornaments look even more luxurious. A few flaws were the wine bottles with a peach aroma scattered everywhere, and the huge iron bars that didn’t match the atmosphere of the great hall. The worst thing was the behavior of the young people in blue dopos.
“Hahahat! Look at this young beast crying! It is so pitiful! Poor thing!”
“Isn’t it time to be thirsty? How about feeding it another bottle of alcohol?”
“Why alcohol when there isn’t even enough alcohol for us to drink? It isn’t enough if we don’t urinate.”
The young men removed their dopos and started to pee on the iron bars. It was unknown how much alcohol they drank, but the smell of alcohol was coming from the pee stream that continued like a waterfall.
“......?”
What was this situation? Grid was blank at the unknown situation only to suddenly frown. He spotted the crying cat crouching in the iron cage that the yangbans were peeing on. It was a mysterious blue-furred cat.No, the head and feet were too big for a cat. Seeing the pattern on the forehead, it was a tiger.
“...Ah!” Grid realized the identity of the tiger—it was Blue Tiger. This was the childhood of the blue tiger, hundreds of years ago.
“These damn XX...!”
Grid didn’t know what was going on, but he had come to the past. He roughly grasped the situation and focused on the scene in front of him. In order to help Blue Tiger, he ran to the iron cage and pushed the yangbans away.
“Eh?”
The yangbans were unable to control their drunken bodies and staggered like reeds before falling to the ground. They tangled together and peed on each other. Their eyes widened and they screamed.
“Pagma! You have finally gone crazy!”
‘Pagma?’
Was he called Pagma just now? The flustered Grid found a mirror next to him and looked into it. He was stunned and stepped back. In the mirror, a face that was beautiful even for a woman was staring at himself. It was far younger than the image of Pagma that Randy reproduced, or the Pagma witnessed in Chreshler’s recollection. It was Pagma in the time when he was just reaching his 20s.
‘What?’
Am I possessing Pagma in the past? Why? Chiyou’s voice was heard in the midst of the chaos.
“Then the third trial will start.”
...That’s right. He was currently in the process of going through Chiyou’s Test. Grid finally grasped the situation while a yangban strode closer to Grid.
“This crazy guy!”
Numbness. Tears filled Grid’s eyes as he was hit hard by the yangban. It meant that the yangban was strong, but it was also evidence of the decrease in Grid’s defense. Grid held his hot cheeks and opened his status window.
[Name: Pagma
Level: 256
Species: Yangban
Class: Beginner Swordsman, Beginner Blacksmith
......
......
......]
All of Grid’s stats were corrected to Pagma’s stats from hundreds of years ago. The same was true for his equipment and skills.
‘Isn’t this bullshit?’
No matter how long ago this was, he couldn’t help wondering if these were really yangbans. The man who slapped Grid’s cheeks followed by grabbing his collar.
“This guy, you are even protecting beasts now. I hate the fact that a crazy person like you is the same as me. It is disgusting and my nausea is rising.”
Grid was familiar with these eyes full of disgust and anger. He stared at the man holding him by the collar and shouted with surprise, “G-Garam!”
“Hah! Why? Do you want to say that you don’t know who I am?”
Garam scoffed and pushed Grid away. He spat on the ground and left the great hall with the group.
Garung...