TRPM 318

chapter 318

The reason the Night Eagle Guild requested support from the Ironblood Guild was obvious.

It must have been because of the task that the Night Eagle Guild had been forced to take on this time.

“Because of Cheonma?”
“It’s not written explicitly, but I’d say so.”

Cheonma—the strongest warrior from China who was supposed to come to Korea this time. With the Night Eagle Guild’s capabilities, it would be difficult even to monitor him.

At least it was somewhat reassuring that Cheonma had accepted all the conditions set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meaning he would be wearing a restraint suit while moving around. But even so, the problem was dealing with the cultists accompanying him.

Or rather, dealing with the cultists would be a bigger issue than Cheonma himself.

“Cheonma seems reasonable enough to negotiate with, but fanatical cultists are different,” said Sophia.
“Have the cultists accompanying Cheonma been decided?”
“For now. Not all of them are confirmed, but the ones definitely coming are…”

Sophia trailed off, rifling through some documents. She then found the one she was looking for and spoke while reading it.

“According to confirmed information, two elite warriors from Myung-gyo, the heads of Baekryeon-gyo and Ilwolshin-gyo, and a minor leader from Cheonma Blood Sect are expected to follow.”

“…Weren’t Myung-gyo, Baekryeon-gyo, and Ilwolshin-gyo part of the same religion?”
“They used to be, but they split into factions a few years ago.”

Like any organization, the cult had internal politics. In fact, the internal strife was even worse than other groups. Cheonma accepted everyone as subordinates—those genuinely loyal to him, spies from other factions, and even those who considered him an enemy. Because their goals differed, they could never form a unified front.

“Well… can you tell me about them individually?”
“It’s not in this document. I don’t know much about them personally either, but…”

There wasn’t a complete lack of information.

“Myung-gyo and Cheonma Blood Sect mainly consist of cold-weapon users, Baekryeon-gyo reportedly follows Cheonma in practicing martial arts, and Ilwolshin-gyo is said to have mages, psychics, and summoners mixed in, though that’s not certain.”
“Hmmm… I see.”

Yeo Mirae, sitting in her chair, paused to think. Could she defeat these cultists herself?

‘If it’s Cheonma… honestly, I’m not confident.’

She had already seen a fight between Cheonma and her master, Han Geon-woo, so she could assess Cheonma’s skill objectively.

‘Skill-wise, Cheonma and I are similar… my magic energy is stronger than his aura, but his physical abilities, experience, and the sheer amount of aura are overwhelmingly superior.’

She judged that stalling Cheonma might be possible, but victory was unrealistic. And the cultists, much weaker than Cheonma…

“It’s tricky…”

Even though they were weaker than Cheonma, it didn’t mean they were weak. These were elite warriors, sect leaders, and minor leaders—the strongest of their kind within the cult, second only to Cheonma.

‘Alone, I could probably defeat them one by one, but if they attack together…’

Even Yeo Mirae couldn’t guarantee victory. How could Shin Chae-gun, the much weaker guildmaster of Night Eagle, manage it? He probably wanted to throw in the towel and run.

‘I understand why he requested support.’

But she had no intention of responding to that request.

“…Come to think of it, Cheonma is an Oracle collaborator, right?”
“Yes. That’s what my master said.”
“Then could Cheonma coming to Korea this time be under the Oracle’s orders?”
“Hmm…”

Sophia said this, but Yeo Mirae doubted it. The relationship between the Oracle and Cheonma wasn’t clear, but it was hard to imagine Cheonma acting under the Oracle.

“Cheonma wouldn’t take orders from anyone. He might agree if the Oracle asked politely, but…”

It was also doubtful that he accepted all the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ conditions just to cooperate with the Oracle. After all, this was Cheonma.

“In other words, it’s likely Cheonma is acting independently.”

Cheonma was that kind of person. His desire to come to Korea might simply be because he wanted to—without any other reason. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have accepted the Ministry’s conditions so easily.

“If so, the Oracle might feel a bit uneasy.”
“Probably.”

“…Why is he acting like this?”
“Heh… I don’t know either.”

As Yeo Mirae predicted, the Oracle sighed upon hearing that Cheonma would go to Korea. They had never thought they could control him, but still… planning to go to a country full of artists on his own…

“At least one thing is clear,” said the Grand Mage.
“What?”
“Cheonma is currently dissatisfied with you, Oracle.”
“Dissatisfied?”
“Yes.”

Of course…

“When you interfered while he was having fun fighting the artist’s Jiangshi last time, it spoiled things a bit.”
“…You mean he’s still sulking over that? He’s not a child!”
“Heh… Cheonma is like that.”

The Oracle sighed. He neither understood nor wanted to understand the Grand Mage’s words.

“He’s dissatisfied, so he announced his intention to go to Korea without any warning.”
“…I wish I at least knew the reason he’s going there…”
“That’s obvious.”

The Grand Mage looked at the Oracle. The reason was obvious?

“Cheonma met the artist right before meeting you, Oracle, and they fought once, though it wasn’t resolved.”
“…Wait a minute.”
“And previously, the fight with the artist’s Jiangshi was interrupted.”

The Oracle hesitated, then asked:

“…Surely he’s not going to Korea just to finish that previous fight?”
“Heh… unfortunately, yes, that’s exactly why he’s going.”

The Oracle despaired. That fool Cheonma, really…!

“The artist probably knows our relationship with Cheonma… if the artist interprets this as a declaration of war…!”
“What can you do? We and the artist have always been adversaries.”
“Even so, we shared the goal of saving humanity. There could have been cooperation in some areas!”

So the Oracle even considered luring the artist if necessary…

“Heh… there’s a saying in the East: Life’s affairs are like the horse of Sai Weng (人生之事 塞翁之馬).”
“Are you teasing me?!”

The Oracle shouted. But it didn’t change the fact that Cheonma was going to Korea.

“…Huff…”
“Maybe you should try looking at the future, Mirae? Now that you’re familiar with space-time abilities, you can see the future whenever you want, right?”

The Oracle shook their head at the Grand Mage’s words.

“Yes, I can now see the future at will. But any future involving the artist is blurred. The artist also has space-time abilities like me…”

Wait.

“Come to think of it, the artist…”

The Oracle recalled a conversation with the recently conscious Jiangshi—Han Geon-woo before his regression.

[Ah, that’s the regressed artist.]
[…? What?]
[(…Surprised he regressed? Any space-time user could imagine that. Or maybe that Jiangshi had no plan to regress at the time? Or…)]
[(…The artist wasn’t actually a space-time user?)]

Sensing the Oracle’s thoughts, the Grand Mage spoke:

“Heh… looks like you’ve been thinking a lot.”
“Yes. The artist definitely wasn’t a space-time user.”

There wasn’t enough information for certainty, but that Jiangshi didn’t seem to understand his regression. Thus, the likelihood of him being a space-time user was extremely low.

“That’s a huge problem.”

A question that had arisen before but had never been answered:

[(If the artist wasn’t a space-time user, how did he regress?)]

Han Geon-woo’s method of regression. And…

[(I still can’t figure out how he avoided my foresight.)]

Previously, it was assumed that Han Geon-woo had space-time abilities, so there was no contradiction. But if he didn’t… the story changed drastically.

“Heh… that’s not strange, right?”
“Excuse me?”

The Oracle was confused, but the Grand Mage seemed unbothered.

“The artist originally used aura and presumably psychokinetic abilities. After acquiring new skills, he also used magic. Considering he used Jiangshi-style magic and immediately understood the state of the soul in the photo, he’s proficient in spells too.”

Above all…

“Do you remember what the artist did last when summoned via the photo?”

Recalling the memory, the Oracle grimaced.

“He filled the cube endowed with A-space with cursed energy and gave it to me.”

Heh… right.

“The cube suddenly popped out as the space opened.”
“…Huh?”

Recalling that moment changed the Oracle’s expression. The magic energy attack Han Geon-woo carried out was terrifying. They had focused so much on that attack that they couldn’t recall prior events.

“…The artist manipulated space…?”

So the artist really did have space-time abilities? But then why did Jiangshi react the way he did…

“Heh… it seems there are conditions, but as long as they’re met, the artist can use every technique in the world.”

At that time, the artist Jiangshi hadn’t satisfied the conditions to use space-time abilities, according to the Grand Mage.

“…Using every technique in existence? What kind of monster is that! It’s unfair!”
“Heh… facing such an opponent as our enemy is horrifying.”

At that moment, a soft buzzing sound.

As they were talking, the door to the room opened, and a beautiful woman in soft silk entered.

“Cheonma has summoned you two,” she said. Her robe bore the emblem of a white lotus.