Book 6-6.2
“Is that all you can do?”
That tone had a way of making a person annoyed. Even his normal tone sounded like he was looking down on them, so was there even a need to discuss how it was when he purposefully mocked them?
Tokena still just clenched his teeth and held himself back.
Even though he was speaking this way, Tokena knew that this sunbae [1] warrior paid more attention to them than any other sunbae warriors.
“Even a warrior who just completed his coming-of-age ceremony would be better than you.”
‘Shit. But this mocking words are really hard to endure.’
“If I trained this easily, I may have some fat on my bones. I didn’t have the time to get fat because I was training hard in the past, and now, even though I have the time, I have useless men like you training like this. I can’t get fat because I’m so annoyed at how terrible all of you are.”
Tokena was cursing internally as he tried to hold back his anger, but in the end, this continued mockery was too much and he let loose.
“How can anything be harder than this? We only sleep four hours a day, and get only four hours of free time. The remaining sixteen hours a day is spent training.”
To eyes of the warrior standing in front of Tokena suddenly started to sparkle. The corner of his lips slowly started to rise.
‘Shit.’
Tokena realized his mistake, but it was already too late. The warrior in front of him had an expression that seemed to say that he had been waiting for this.
“Oh yeah? You want to experience what it can be like?”
“Shubeon! What is going on?”
As everyone was holding a weird position known as the horse position, all of their gazes headed toward that side once they heard Tokena’s voice.
“Nothing. These punks were just saying the training was too easy and asked for us to train them like we were trained in the past. I was just asking them if they really meant it.”
As Shubeon explained it to Thrint with a smile on his face, all of their expressions quickly changed.
They then looked toward Tokena and started to grudgingly glare at him.
He had fallen for it again even after knowing that the sunbae warriors were trying their best to annoy(?) them. Just how much did they suffer every time the phrase ‘like the old days’ came up?
“What kind of gazes are those?”
Seeing Shubeon look around and ask, the second generation Red Storm, the young warriors who would make up Red Storm II, subconsciously flinched. They had all made mistakes as well.
“You’re supposed to be able to put your life in each other’s hands, but you start frowning because the intensity of the training is going up? Can you still put your life in each other’s hands like that?”
Shubeon scolded them once before continuing.
“Just pretend that you all died today.”
The faces of the Red Storm II warriors started to turn pale.
“What is going on?”
Haisha was leisurely watching all of this from the back before asking the messenger warrior who quickly approached.
“The Glow has summoned all of you.”
“A sudden summon? Do you know what the cause may be?”
The messenger warrior responded.
“I do not know. I just know that you will be heading out of the tribe.”
All of their gazes quickly turned to the messenger warrior.
“Outside?”
One of the warriors happily responded. They were feeling frustrated being cooped up like this inside the castle. So they were happy to hear they would be heading out.
“Go inform the ones that have the day off and quickly prepare.”
Once Haisha gave the order, the warrior started to quickly disperse.
“Haisha-nim?”
“What is it?”
The moment Haisha was about to head out, the young warrior who was in charge of Red Storm II called out to him.
Haisha turned around to ask what was going on.
“Should we prepare as well?”
“Hmm? All of you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you trying to throw away the fame that your sunbaes built with their blood in one go? The fact that the Glow plans on heading out with just the Red Storm means that we do not know who we will clash against. But you want to go with us?”
The young warrior responded in a confident voice at Haisha’s question.
“We are confident.”
“Even if the enemy is at our level of skill?”
“......”
“The term Red Storm plays an important role in our Pareia. All of you may be stronger than the other warriors, but you must get stronger in order to live up to the name.”
Nobody could say anything in response. Haisha did not say anything as he watched the young warrior bite down on his lips as he headed toward the gathering location as well.
Yulian, the Red Storm, and Violet got on their pirmas and started to run across the desert. Although Violet may not have been good at riding pirmas in the past, she must have worked hard on it, as she could be seen not just riding well, but riding as fast as possible.
“Glow, where are we heading?”
One of the Red Storm warriors peeked at Violet as he asked.
“The Shire.”
As Yulian gave a short answer, the warrior cautiously asked once more.
“Did something happen? Violet-nim does not look well.”
“We are going just in the case the worst happened, so no need to worry.”
Although Yulian was saying that it was not much, he did not have a good feeling the whole ride over. He had seen it with his eyes before. Yulian had seen that brutal battle between the heroes and the endless number of monsters.
He was worried that the battle would happen in the real world as well.
Furthermore, he had already received Mai’s warning about it. The message he received from the Shire a few hours ago made him feel like what Mai mentioned was finally going to happen.
Yulian and the group arrived at the Shire the next night. The reason they were able to travel three days distance in two days was because they ran without resting and because Captain Thriger had researched the flow of the quicksand river.
“You’ve arrived.”
As Shambuna greeted the group, Violet urgently asked before Yulian even had a chance to say anything.
“What is the current situation?”
“It is still the same. To be honest, we debated whether we should ask for the Glow and Violet-nim to come over, but the scent of blood and the thick color of the magic circle convinced us to report to you just in case.”
“You would have regretted it if you did not report it to us.”
Violet answered coldly as she quickly headed out to head for the Hero’s Land. Yulian and the Red Storm followed behind her.
Once they arrived at the Hero’s Land, all shamans of the Shire, both men and women, were surrounding the Hero’s Land and continuous chanting incantations and singing.
“For it to look like this even when everyone has gathered to help … something must have happened.”
Yulian nodded his head at Violet’s statement and replied.
“The ancestors must be in the middle of a brutal battle right now. Is there anything we can do?”
“We need to figure out the reason.”
Violet contemplated for a moment before looking toward the Red Storm and speaking to them.
“I apologize for this, but I have a short song I can teach to the warriors. I hope that they can sing along with the shamans.”
“Not a problem.”
Once Yulian gathered the warriors together, Violet started to speak.
“All of you are amazing warriors. Since your souls are strong, I believe that your assistance will be a big help in this urgent situation. I will teach you a short song with only a few verses, so please sing it with all of your strength, as if you were facing a very strong enemy.”
The Red Storm warriors hesitated because they did not understand what was going on, but they nodded their heads and started to memorize and practice the song Violet taught them as best as they could.
Thankfully, there were not too many verses to her song. They all quickly memorized it and could sing it without issue within the hour.
I am a strong warrior.
A wise sage who knows the enemies outside and the enemies within.
Someone who knows the back of the light and the front of the darkness.
Someone who can fight against the world’s coin.
I will walk the line and head forward.
I am a strong warrior.
It was a song with unique tone and strong vigor.
The warriors’ vigorous voice started to echo across the area. Their voice was so strong that it could overwhelm the incantations and songs of the thousand shamans who were gathered together.
In response, the color of the line on the Hero’s Land started to become a little lighter.
“Let us enter.”
Violet grabbed Yulian’s sleeve and urged him forward. Yulian nodded his head and held Violet’s hand as they headed toward the Hero’s Land.
“The ancestors called Yulian-nim over last time, but this time, they will not be able to help us.”
Yulian asked in response to Violet’s answer.
“Then?”
“Even if it is dangerous, we must enter to find them. There is something to be cautious about.”
“Tell me.”
Violet had a serious expression as she slowly enunciated each word.
“There are many dimensions between this world and the afterlife. It is my first time heading over, so I cannot guarantee your safety. Please do not let go of my hand.”
Yulian clenched Violet’s hand tightly.
“Do not worry. I will never let this hand go.”
“Then let’s go.”
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[1] Korean term for someone older, usually used in school settings. For example, as a freshman, the sophomores and up would all be your sunbaes