"Sunhwa, what condition did you fulfill?"
Sunhwa answered, beaming. "Apparently, I have high wind affinity."
"Did you know that?"
"Nope!"
Sunhwa answered so cheerily that even Hyukjin was nearly at a loss for words. The girl asked back, "Why? Is it bad?"
"No, not at all."
It was actually good. Whatever the case, there were definitely times when having a lot of affinity to a certain element came in handy.
"This sort of thing is just pretty rare, that's all."
Sunhwa tilted her head. "But Oppa, your fire affinity seemed better than Sung-gu's to me…"
"..."
"It's not a common thing?"
Hyukjin was speechless for a moment. When she put it like that, she was right. He gathered his thoughts with a cough.
"My fire affinity's not better than his."
"But it's similar to Sung-gu's even though you're a sovereign. Doesn't that mean you have more talent, Oppa? Since you're on a similar level even without the class advantage!"
Sunghyun smiled at that, clearly pleased. "He kept bragging his head off about being an arson master, but I guess that doesn't amount to much."
In any case, Hyukjin, Sunhwa, Sunghyun, and Junghwa ended up entering the Wind Temple, which looked similar to the 'Hill of Blowing Wind' they'd cleared in the past.
"We're on a hill." At the top was a building. "It was ruins before, but now there's a temple there."
Right on cue, the wind kicked up just like it had on the Hill of Blowing Wind.
[ ]
The wind direction was indicated with arrows, and it happened to be blowing towards the temple.
"Let's go up," said Hyukjin.
They began to climb the hill, the wind at their backs.
They didn't see any terribly dangerous monsters on the windy hill upon which the Wind Temple was situated. Only Wraiths around level 20, at most.
"You've seen these before, right, Sunghyun?"
"Yes, Hyung."
Wraiths were the floating ghost monsters that took the form of large seagulls. They were unique in that they were invulnerable to physical attacks.
"Physical attacks don't work on them, if I remember correctly. I'll take them down."
The party had experience hunting these monsters in the flash gate 'Hill of Blowing Wind', and Sunghyun made quick work of them all with simple wind magic. What struck Sunghyun was the remarkable ease with which he dispatched them.
'They were dangerous foes at first, but now…'
Now, they were all too easy to hunt. With a nearly 20 level difference, Wraiths were no match for Sunghyun.
The wind blew fiercely.
Sunghyun asked, "Should we get down?"
"No."
Before, they had to get down to avoid getting thrown into the air. It was different now.
"Miss Junghwa. How is it? There's no hindrance to your movements, is there?"
"No, not at all."
The wind was blowing hard, but they could move forward without difficulty. There was no need to bother with the hassle of getting down and getting back up.
They arrived at the temple, where Sunghyun discovered a certain fact.
"There are eighteen pillars."
The temple was built upon eighteen pillars.
"You're right, it just so happens to have eighteen."
There had been the same amount on the Hill of Blowing Wind back then, too. The more pillars they smashed, the lower the central pillar became, at the cost of increased field difficulty.
Hyukjin thought back to that time. The pillars back then were named 'Pillar of the Ruined Temple'.
There were two angel statues in front of the temple.
'If there's one thing that's changed, it's that there are two angel statues in front of the entrance now.'
The statues were normally not clickable, but he was able to gain information about them through observation.
[Dewinged Angel Statue 1]
[Dewinged Angel Statue 2]
Both were called 'Dewinged Angel Statues'. Hyukjin instantly halted.
"What's wrong, Oppa?"
"I think there's something about those angel statues."
The reason the Italian information merchant Pietro was recruiting archers was to clear the 'Dewinged Angel Statue Gate'. Hyukjin didn't know whether Pietro would accept his warning and give up on conquering the gate or push ahead anyway.
'The Pietro I know lost over half of his archers and retreated.'
But this was also a possibility: Could it be that it wasn't that the raid lacked skill, but ended up so horribly because the Players failed to fulfill a 'requisite condition'?
'If that gate and these Dewinged Angel Statues are related…'
Then might it be possible to gain something from those angel statues, and use that to clear the real 'Dewinged Angel Statue Gate'? And it was possible that Hyun Junghwa cleared the Wind Temple in the past without getting that thing, whatever it was.
"Wind Arrow."
Sunghyun hunted another Wraith. Afterwards, a monster made of black smoke, a Ghost, appeared. It was fine for dungeons and fields to have nearly the same structure, but there was definitely something weird about this field being so identical in context and structure to the Hill of Blowing Wind.
"Hyung. As I'm sure you just saw, a Ghost showed up."
Now, even a Ghost's paralyzation toxin wasn't all that threatening. The level indicator that had previously shown up as a question mark was now 28.
After killing another Ghost, Sunghyun asked, "What should we do?"
Junghwa felt amazed upon seeing that.
'I found Playing with Sunghyun pretty comfortable.'
There wasn't much conversation between them, but in Junghwa's opinion, the two were extremely compatible. Sunghyun was always quick to assess the situation and bold in taking action. His leadership was generally on point. But that natural leader was now looking to Kim Hyukjin for direction.
'Complete and total trust.'
Jo Sunghyun himself was an outstanding Player, but he was directing such complete trust to someone else. By this point, Junghwa's interest in Kim Hyukjin, the guildmaster of Giantgod, was greater than ever. She was also curious as to why such a monster of a Player was so obscure.
Hyukjin hummed. "Hard to say. I get the feeling there's something about these angel statues."
"Sunhwa and I will cover you."
"I'll cover you too," added Junghwa. "Though it doesn't look like you really need any covering."
A little time passed. Hyukjin wasn't able to find anything particularly special from the Dewinged Angel Statues. The one thing he noted was that there was a disparity between their 'name' and 'form'.
'The name is Dewinged Angel Statue, but…'
Both stone angels had a pair of wings on them.
"The two angel statues are called Dewinged Angel Statues. But both of them have wings."
Sunhwa said with another innocent smile, "Then do we have to break them?"
"Hm."
Hyukjin thought of the past, staring at Hyun Junghwa.
'Did the past Hyun Junghwa figure out what these angel statues mean?'
The names couldn't be seen without using Observer's Eye. It was highly likely she had just thought of them as decor. No, she definitely had.
"What?" the archer asked, conscious of his gaze.
"It might not have anything to do with clearing this place."
The past Junghwa probably cleared the gate with her own unique method without doing anything about these angel statues. That was how she got the Complete Sylphid's Wing, and why Pietro failed to clear the Dewinged Angel Statue Gate.
'Then it's inefficient and unnecessary to investigate and continue with the Dewinged Angel Statues here.'
But just ignoring them felt less than satisfactory, too. It could either be a giant waste of time or a huge boon.
'What should I do?'
Hyukjin thought hard for a moment.
[The 'Nameless Observer' is observing.]
[The 'Courageous Lion King' is bored.]
[The 'Lady of the Scales' praises your cautious attitude.]
[The 'True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain' feels stifled.]
The Guardians sent messages according to their personalities in response to the delay caused by Hyukjin's pondering.
One more Guardian reacted.
[The 'Night of Shooting Stars' watches with interest.]
The dine-and-dashing 'Stage 2 nouveau riche Guardian' was once again making an appearance.
'Oh?'
He was back. Hyukjin hadn't completely cleared the 'Qualifications of an Outstanding Bowman' quest yet. To be precise, he hadn't yet gotten the reward, the Tome of the Divine Archer Physique.
'He chose to reappear here?'
Hyukjin thought back.
The guildmaster of Black Butterfly, Pietro and the archers he gathered. The Dewinged Angel Statue Gate. The Wind Temple. Sylphid's Wing. The Night of Shooting Stars.
'They're all… related to wind or bows.'
There was no way a Stage 2 Guardian, who Players called a lottery, would dine-and-dash. Which could mean that this Guardian had waited until this moment.
'For this moment.'
Archer. Dewinged Angel Statue. Sylphid's Wing. The Night of Shooting Stars.
Hyukjin came to a conclusion. It could be that he would finally acquire the Tome of the Divine Archer Physique today. If that tome was on the table, then a slight gamble would be required.
"We'll cut off the wings."
For now, he decided not to do it himself, since he didn't know how his Observer penalty would kick in.
"Sunghyun. You do it."
"Yes, Hyung."
Jo Sunghyun uttered the magic incantation.
"Wind Cutter."
The wings of the Dewinged Angel Statues were cut off. Hyukjin's observation was right on the money.
[The 'Dewinged Angel Statues' are awakening.]
That moment, Hyukjin's alarm bells went off.
"Everyone, get down!"
Crash!
The entire field quaked.
The two stone statues slowly descended from their platforms. Encrusted in their foreheads was one red gem each.
Red light flashed from the gems, firing two rays of red light through the air that everyone avoided because they had immediately dropped to the ground. Cold sweat ran down Hyukjin's back.
'What was that just now?'
He felt it immediately—the savage power imbued in those red beams. Even slightly grazing those beams would turn one's entire body into a pile of ash.
They all heard a voice.
[Who deprived me of my wings?]
[Who deprived me of my wings?]
The Dewinged Angel Statues' eyes gleamed with red light. Their eyes were red, and so were the gems on their foreheads. Hyukjin felt puny before them.
'What an insane aura.'
It appeared, by all accounts, that they had poked a sleeping giant.
Dewinged Angel Statue LVL ?
The level wasn't shown. He could just feel it. It was a similar feeling to when he went up against the Fire Giants. The stifling feeling of being tiny before a far stronger foe, like facing a tsunami, struck Hyukjin head-on.
Just then, the wind blew.
[ ]
It was then that Hyukjin knew. Everything that happened on the Hill of Blowing Wind in the past was a foundation for today. That flash gate was a kindness gifted to them by the System, a 'dress rehearsal', so to speak.
[Eye of Perception detects 'savage bloodthirst'.]
The bloodthirst he felt on the Hill of Blowing Wind was just regular bloodthirst. Back then, a Ghost was aiming for Hyukjin's head, but this time, it was a Dewinged Angel Statue.
'The strategy is the same as before.'
He checked the wind, which was changing by the second.
[ ]
And he predicted the trajectory of the red beam, which changed with the wind. Not only that, he had to understand how exactly his body was being affected by the wind.
A red beam came shooting towards him.
'I've done this before.'
He'd gone through these paces before, so the process was more familiar. He could do it, and he could do it well. The red beam drew an odd arc in the air.
'It's essentially the same as before.'
When dodging the Ghost's long-ranged marbles, he had done his best to make the smallest, most efficient movement. That part was the same now.
'The difference is that it was the Ghost's paralyzing poison then and the Dewinged Angel Statue's beam now.'
Only that.
[Observer's Eye investigates the flow of the true nature of things.]
The attacker might be different, but Hyukjin, the dodger, had grown a great deal as well.
'I can… see the trajectory.'
It was the same as back then.
'Half a step to the right.'
The Dewinged Angel Statue's red beam shot past Hyukjin, just barely missing. His heart thumped.
'If I get hit by that, I'm dead.'
He had to destroy them somehow. But how?
'There has to be a way.'
He racked his brain.
'This… might just work.'
He decided to try.
____