Chapter 251: Turn the Table (3)

The Viper slowly opened his eyes, now empty of venom and blazing fire. He was waking up from aura deviation, that much was obvious.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“Are you telling me to do seclusion training?”

“Yes, right here, on this very stage. You’ll seclude yourself in this world, so it can’t get much more luxurious and extravagant than that.”

I smiled.

“What did you think my reaction would be if you said you were jealous of me? ‘

Ah

, I have grown so strong without even realizing it. I should have paid more attention to how the people around me felt, but I couldn’t do that... I’m very weak and still lacking in many areas...’ Did you think I would say something like that while staring at you with wide puppy eyes? I feel awesome right now!”

I laughed boisterously, loud enough for Sylvia’s flower petals to get on my lips, and Estelle’s rain to enter my mouth. Nevertheless, I continued laughing.

“Sect Master, having others be jealous of me feels really good. I feel like I was born to make everyone jealous. That’s how awesome I feel.”

“You—”

“I’m serious.”

A spear flew out from the pile of corpses across from me. I lightly waved my hand to disrupt the spear’s trajectory, causing it to fly in a completely random direction.

Thud!

The Viper possessed another Skian and leaped out of the pile of corpses, rushing at me. Although this Skian was small, he was holding a greatsword. Was he the Viper’s trump card? I could feel the strong desire to stab me at least once even if it meant burying himself in that pile of corpses until the right moment came.

“Sect Master—no, Mr. Viper.” I took a step forward. Sand grains rustled under my feet since my surroundings had become part of Kim Yul’s desert. “I’m telling you this won’t work on me.”

I struck the ground with my sword.

Swooooosh.

A hole formed underneath the feet of the small Skian. He took a step back, but it was too late. Another hole was waiting for him there. Before he could escape from the hole, it swallowed his feet, calves, thighs, torso, and finally his head.

“Do you understand?”

I placed my hand on Kim Yul’s shoulder and looked at the Viper.

“Bring the Twelve Skian Elites or thirty-six thousand of them. Actually, you won’t be able to defeat me even if you bring the entire Skian species. Do you want to keep fighting like this? Abandon all honor and fight until the species is exterminated?

“‘Regardless of everything, we tried our best, but it didn’t work and we lost. Still, we didn’t lose our pride, so it’s okay.’ Everyone will console each other this way at the funerals. Is that what you want to see, Sect Master?”

I grabbed him by the collar.

“That’s not true, is it? You don’t want a brutal defeat.”

Silence followed. Eventually, the Viper opened his mouth to speak.

“I...”

“Yes.”

“Even just once is fine...”

“Just once?”

“I want to be ahead of you.”

I nodded.

“I want to be the protagonist!” the Viper shouted.

Yes, he was showing his innermost self. If I were to make it sound like a wish, it would be a very messy one.

—I also want to be like you.

What a valid desire this was.

“

Hahaha.

”

That lump of desire, however, looked beautiful in my eyes because the Viper was a man of action. He was different from someone who typed on the keyboard in jealousy and spent his daily life in vain, waiting for good luck that wasn’t guaranteed to enter his life.

The Viper was different from me. Even though he was jealous of me, he tried to figure out a way to catch up to me and acted on it. He was a strong man who turned his jealousy into his own growth, so how could I not laugh?

“As you said, Murim Alliance Leader Namgung Woon is the Grand Patriarch of the OJP Sect,” I said.

A question appeared in the Viper’s eyes. Regardless, I went on. “I heard that he normally spends his time training the OJP Sect members, but even if they are members of a popular guild in the Tower, the alliance leader was revered as one of the best martial artists in his world, so there is no way they would reach his standards. That is probably why you’re agonizing.”

The Viper’s face distorted in pain. Though he didn’t answer, his reaction showed that what I said was true.

I slowly said, “But, Sect Master, remember the last Great War of Good and Evil. On both sides of the vast snow field, a thousand demonic cult followers lined up, wrapped in black robes from head to toe as if they were living shadows. They numbered about a thousand. As the snow ate away at their world, they came from all over to exalt the Heavenly Demon’s glory. The Heavenly Demon Cult truly gave everything they had. ”

As I continued my speech, my clan members moved until they stood in perfect formation on the wide sandy plain. Even the moonlight faded as it got closer to them, so when viewed from a distance, they looked like one huge mass, like a single black dragon.

The Viper swallowed. Even if they didn’t have physical bodies in this world, around one thousand demonic cult elites spread out on the sand plain were worth seeing. Just because they were in their spirit forms, that didn’t mean that their strength couldn’t be recognized.

“But, Mr. Viper, they aren’t the only ones.

Monster Legion Reincarnation.

”

Then, new shadows appeared on the field opposite of where the cultists were lined up, peeking out from the dark bushes. At first, it looked as if weasels were sticking their heads out through the bushes, then it looked as if deer were running through a reed forest.

They wore white furry clothes and seemed to light up the world just by existing. Eventually, when the summoning was complete, they gleamed in one mass, standing like a lone snow-white tiger.

“Those guys...”

The Viper recognized them. I nodded. They were the soldiers of the legion I had never summoned until now. I had the ability to summon them, but I didn’t have the right to do so. Therefore, I had left them in their eternal peace.

“They’re the elites of the Murim Alliance. You are Alliance Leader Namgung Woon’s disciple. Just like I became the Young Heaven of the Heavenly Demon Cult as my teacher’s disciple, I would say that you are also qualified to lead them.”

The Viper looked blankly at around one thousand young elites of the Righteous Faction across the field.

“But they won’t swear their loyalty to you right now.”

“Yes, because you were the one who prepared the war.”

“It won’t be easy to win their loyalty.”

“Is that what you’re telling me to do?”

“No, I’m just saying that you can do that if you want to.”

The Viper pulled out the spear lodged in his chest and stood up straight, his face contorted in pain and humiliation. “The Righteous Path warriors will disappear as soon as you leave the stage.”

“Yes, they exist because of my Skill.”

“In that case, the only time I will be recognized by them will be once my seclusion training is over.”

“I guess so.”

The Viper spat blood and glared daggers at me. “Just you wait, Death King. Yes, I lost this stage, and my Skian children were defeated, but next time will be different. I promise! Just you wait!”

“How would a loser carry out seclusion training here?” I asked.

The Viper didn’t seem to understand me, but my vassals did. In particular, Estelle, the advisor of the Death King Clan who had asked for ten thousand species points to descend in this world for five minutes, knew my thoughts better than anyone else.

“Princess! I’ll give up this stage!” I yelled.

None of the vassals were shaken by my declaration. However, the Viper was.

“What? No, wait, why in the world would you do that—”

I raised my hand to stop the Viper. “Look behind me, Sect Master.”

The heat cleared from the Viper’s eyes again, finally seeing what was going on beyond my shoulders. Thousands of Terra warriors were standing there with folded arms. All the weapons they had held and pointed at the enemies were laid down at their feet. Now, they were glaring at my clan vassals and Uburka, the white giant.

The Terras remained silent, but it was impossible not to understand what they meant. They couldn’t accept a victory like this.

“

Ah.

No matter how absurd the battle was, it seems I have crossed the line.” I spread my arms with a wry smile. “Taking care of children is really difficult. Doing what you think is best for them can end up ignoring their free will and getting in their way.”

Now that the Viper’s eyes were clearer, he regained his calm. The Skians who survived from the Playhouse on Fire were staring inexplicably at the Viper, who had been raising their kin’s corpses.

“But there is one significant difference. Do you know what that is, Sect Master?”

The Terras were protesting, and the Skians were afraid of the Viper. I stood between them and announced, “The winner has the right to refuse a victory they don’t value.”

The Viper’s eyes widened. “You!”

I nodded. “On the other hand, the loser has no right to deny the victory that ended up becoming theirs.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” the Viper roared. “Do you... Do you really think I’ll take this kind of—”

The reason the Viper’s words died down wasn’t that he understood that the loser had no right to refuse victory. The surviving Skians wouldn’t have welcomed the victory if my clan hadn’t stepped in and the Viper himself had ended up annihilating the Terras by using the corpses of Skians.

The Viper finally realized this. It made me very happy, even though the Terras were criticizing me. The Viper would become stronger over time.

Therefore, I had no grievance or felt anxious about stepping down from here. The Terras would do well. The Black Witch, the Paladin, the Sword Star, and the Viper would complete the remaining levels all the way to the fortieth floor and, ultimately, the fiftieth floor.

“Sect Master, good luck. See you later,” I said.

I was about to turn around when the Viper shouted, “Rao Fan!”

“What?”

The Viper was glaring at me. “My name is Rao Fan! It’s not my nickname or title. My real name is Rao Fan! Do you get it? Rao Fan! Next time I will call you by your name, you will call me by my name too! Don’t forget that!”

Wooosh!

Pure white light wrapped around me and my clan.

[You have given up clearing the thirty-sixth floor.]

The white light made it almost impossible to see anything. Not only I, but all my clan members—Sylvia Evanail, Kim Yul, Estelle, the Four Demon Kings, and the Heavenly Demon Cult followers— were slowly disappearing in a cloud of white light. Everyone except Uburka.

“You freaking wacko!”

A Skian raised his middle finger toward me. His horn was broken, and he was a mess. However, his two eyes didn’t waver as he stared at me, so I quietly raised my finger in response.

“They say only wackos can call others wackos.”

The Viper frowned. “What? You little fucker, just you wait and see! When I meet you again—”

[Teleporting you to a temporary space!]

My clan members and I blacked out.