"Well...Well...Well...If it isn't my five favourite elders, now that I've found you, I didn't expect all five of you to be kneeling in front of a human!" The voice rang in Seunghyuk's ears and he found it loudly annoying.
"Kim Yangwon!" The Nighthowler that spoke to Seunghyuk stood up agitatedly and was about to launch a huge claw at the so-called king, but the other elder Nighthowlers held him down, only to hear Kim Yangwon snickered as he said, "I'm sorry, but you're supposed to call me...King."
The five Nighthowlers were pressed to the ground with the pressure pouring out from Kim Yangwon's body aura, which completely dominated the outside of the arena. Seunghyuk stood in front of Jisung in protection as he knew that he would get into another trouble very soon, not only because he wanted to help the Nighthowlers himself, but...
"Misssion IV: The Real King
Objective: Defeat Kim Yangwon and take the King's seat
Destination: Nighthowler's Kingdom— Kyaria
Rewards: Rare Statpack x1
Skill Star Mastery Upgrade x1
Scroll of Secret Arts from Nighthowlers (S-GRADE)"
The atmosphere was increasingly tense, and it was thinning up so quickly that it was palpable, while being sharp enough to be able to slice the air into half. Seunghyuk quickly used his Eye Of Detection to peek at the King's stats:
"Conqueror's Name: Kim Yangwon (Male Half-Nighthowler) (King of Nighthowlers)
Conqueror's Level: 6
Strength: 27
Agility: 30
Defense: 25
MP: 25
Skills: Secret Art Scroll Skill (4 out of 5 stars)
Tornado Claw (3 out of 5 stars)
Aura Pressure (3 out of 5 stars)
Shadow Movements (2 out of 5 stars)
Perfect Mirror (2 out of 5 stars)"
Seunghyuk was completely inferior compared to Kim Yangwon, the King of Nighthowlers, so it was obvious that he would not be able to confront him head on and expect to win a losing battle. Seunghyuk merely continued to stand in front of Jisung but Jisung seemed to have caught on onto something and just started tapping Seunghyuk on his back. Jisung's tapping repeated again and again at a fixed pattern...
Morse code. Jisung was trying to communicate through Morse code by tapping on Seunghyuk's back. One short tap and two longer taps indicated a 'W', then paused for three short tap durations to indicate the gap between letters, and one short tap to indicate a 'E'. Jisung waited for the duration of seven short taps to pass, indicating that a word was completed and he would start with the next word.
We? Seunghyuk thought aloud in his head as he continued to feel out for Jisung's Morse code on his back while splitting his concentration and focus into. half, investing one half for Jisung's code and one for the incoming current King of the Nighthowlers, Kim Yangwon.
"That's interesting...human! You were able to make five Nighthowlers kneel before you! I'm curious as to what you have done!" The King spoke arrogantly like he had all the power in the world, which definitely ticked Seunghyuk off with every word that was said, "What makes it more interesting is that...You did not kneel under my aura pressure...Why is that, I wonder?"
There was something annoying in the King, Kim Yangwon's tone. It was something between the lines of a snobbish royalty and a cunning serpent, hence every word that came out from the current Nighthowler King's mouth sounded infuriating. However, Seunghyuk had exhaled slowly, easing his once tensed eyebrows back to its original straight position, then focused on Jisung's Morse Code while asking the haughty King.
"I'm not a Nighthowler under your rule so I don't see any reason why I should listen to whatever you say? Unless you've been so caught up in your act of a King that you've enjoyed arrogance?" Seunghyuk provoked, but this time, the King of Nighthowlers only started laughing out loudly, and weirdly it made the atmosphere even more unsettling than it was already before while the King decided to reply to Seunghyuk, "What if I tell you...I'm really enjoying my life as a King? What if I tell you I really feel like playing with people like they are my pawns as a King? What if! Just what if! What if I told you that you have to listen to me nonetheless your race?"
Seunghyuk exhaled and forced out a smile which successfully confused the King, Kim Yangwon, for a little while. Seunghyuk had managed to buy enough time for Jisung to complete the Morse code behind him and the plan was in action. Seunghyuk received the code from Jisung saying: We mark his left and right sides then run.
Seunghyuk did exactly that and immediately swung into action with Jisung jumping forward first with initiative, shooting viciously powerful jets of water out at Kim Yangwon with his skill of Aquarius's Water Jug. Jisung's spontaneous and sudden appearance accompanied by a huge jet of water had successfully weakened the Nighthowler King's composure and caught him in a state of surprise and unexpectedness. Seunghyuk did not wait until Kim Yangwon would be able to stand up and run away with the aim of calling other Nighthowlers, so Seunghyuk instantly conjured two balls of flames and launched them up in the air, using the short fraction of time to summon the Snake of Ophiuchus. The snake was immediately controlled by Seunghyuk as he willed the snake to slap the fireballs with its tail, generating so much force that it came into contact with the King and caused a temporary, minor explosion.
"Now! Go!" Jisung shouted, and Seunghyuk nodded, snapping his fingers loudly behind him to get the five elder Nighthowlers' attention, "Come on! We got to go!"
The five elder Nighthowlers, having been released by the King's Aura Pressure, they immediately took off behind Seunghyuk and Jisung. All the seven of us were dashing down the lanes, running away from the arena while leaving a angrily shouting Nighthowler King, Kim Yangwon, alone behind. Seunghyuk dashed forward and put a foot forward forcefully and took a sharp turn which the rest followed, seeing an alleyway with a tall wall at the end, Seunghyuk charged in as quick as his legs could push his body forward.
"Can we all vault this tall wall?" Seunghyuk asked, slightly concerned that Jisung would have problems due to his injuries from before when fighting with the maniacal Conqueror, then Jisung felt the gaze on him and replied, "I think I can jump over, I'm fine."
Then Seunghyuk's gaze fell on the five elder Nighthowlers, and that earned five loud sighs from them, saying," We are known as the Elders, but not because of age, but because of skill and experience, so the wall would not pose as a problem."
Seunghyuk's eyes widened after hearing that, like something clicked in his head, then he immediately shrugged it off as there was an instant need to move on. Wordlessly, Seunghyuk went first and did a demonstration, conjuring a ball of flame and then spreading it out as wide as possible on his palm. In an instant, Seunghyuk shot the widespread flame onto the ground with so much force that the force that was sent back up towards Seunghyuk as a reaction force pushed Seunghyuk upwards. Realising that there was still about a metre or two to reach the top, Seunghyuk immediately summoned his Snake Of Ophiuchus without much thinking as he controlled the snake to push Seunghyuk upwards with the force of its tail. Fire, Force and then finish, Seunghyuk sat at the top of the wall wiping some perspiration of his forehead while motioning for the others to go ahead.
As expected, the five elder Nighthowlers had absolutely no problems. They scaled the wall with their four limbs like the wall was their normal floor, almost seemingly unaffected by gravity. Jisung had some difficulties here and there due to his in, but overall he got up fine.
"Okay...We have gotten over the wall...Now we need to get down safely. Any ideas?" Seunghyuk threw the question out and everyone was in deep thought while sitting above at the top of the wall on the part with mere six centimetres of thickness, then someone spoke up, "We trained Nighthowlers have no huge problems, but both of you..."
Seunghyuk shook his head lightly and made the elders go ahead first. Seunghyuk had to let them go first, so he would have lesser people to think about and take care of when he scaled down the wall in some way. Just when Seunghyuk was deep in thought and Jisung's nervous rubbing of his pants above his thighs was audible, the silence was like a glass door shattered and broken when it came in contact with just the slightest sounds and disturbance.
"You two! Come down here now! Both of you have humiliated I, the king of Nighthowlers, so none of you can live!" Kim Yangwon finally arrived at the alleyway and both Seunghyuk and Jisung looked behind them with shock, but when Seunghyuk looked to his front, the drop was about a full 10 metres, "Both of you should come down and kneel before me! Maybe...Just maybe I would release you alive after taking only your limbs."
Seunghyuk immediately grabbed onto Jisung which made him jump with shock due to the sudden movement, "Jisung, do you trust me now. This is going to be crazy."
Jisung merely nodded his head and Seunghyuk shouted down to the Nighthowlers to get their attention and when Seunghyuk made eye contact with them then shifted his gaze to Jisung, each one of them understood what Seunghyuk was about to do.
"Okay...King, well come down if that's what you want!" Seunghyuk said and the King just surprisingly raised a single eyebrow while haughtily trying to say, "I have known from the start that no one would be able to reject a King like me..."
Just when the King was still mesmerised by himself, Seunghyuk carried out his plan in within a quick five seconds. Seunghyuk tipped himself over the edge of the wall by a little, then allowed his feet to press onto the other side of the wall, sliding downwards with his shoes providing friction to slow down the drop, but it was not enough to go against the increasing force built up by gravity. Seunghyuk immediately threw Jisung outwards just as Seunghyuk had sped downwards to the midpoint from the top of the wall and the ground. Seunghyuk watched as the Nighthowlers successfully catched Jisung and placed him safely on the ground, so Seunghyuk immediately jumped outwards with both his legs as boosters like engines to a spaceship, launching himself outwards which all seemed like suicide. Seunghyuk could hear Jisung's shouting from in front of him as he jumped but Jisung shapeshifted into a Nighthowler, the moon dawned its red-hinted light down at Seunghyuk, then with his fully-transformed Nighthowler's form, he seemingly phased through the pocket of air and landed safely onto the ground. Seunghyuk had used the similar skill of the Nighthowlers to avoid the mega palm in the arena, however this time he realised it was not just warping, it was travelling faster than the speed of light that it seemed like warping.
"You dare humiliate me? I said come down on my side not the other side!" The King started to lose his temper, and his tantrum was audible.
Everyone thought it was nothing much, except for the elders who have seen the King's might and wrath themselves. Just as Seunghyuk's scary thought had warned him, the King was a dangerous existence. Even the elders, being the most skillful Nighthowlers, were easily pressed down by the King's aura pressure. Slowly, unsettlement started to settle in and slowly, that feeling grew into fear.