Chapter 360 (2/2)

“You bastard! Suddenly attacking without any…”

Pah-ahk—

Kang Mu-hyeok’s silhouette suddenly turned blurry.

At the same time, he reappeared right next to Su-hyeun and punched him as hard as he could.

Crack!

He felt something on his fist.

It felt quite heavy.

“It landed properly!”

At the very least, the target’s face should have caved in, and the impact could have damaged the brain too.

This was a tragedy brought by one’s carelessness. That’s what Kang Mu-hyeok thought.

But then…

“Since I struck you first, we are now even.”

“What?”

Kaboom!

Su-hyeun’s fist smashed Kang Mu-hyeok’s face one more time.

As he collapsed on his back, Kang Mu-hyeok almost blacked out. He barely managed to grab on to his fading consciousness and prevented the unsightly spectacle of him rolling on the floor like a piece of trash.

“Keuh-euh…”

“Okay, now.” Su-hyeun stood tall on his spot and slowly lowered his fist. “Let’s find out who will pass out first, shall we?”

“What the hell is…”

Kang Mu-hyeok’s eyes widened at what Su-hyeun had said.

It wasn’t that the attack had landed successfully, but the opponent simply let it hit him. Was it?

Since he struck first, they were even?

“He wants to see who will pass out first…”

Kang Mu-hyeok shook the cobwebs off his bludgeoned head and then made a despair-filled face.

“You want me to withstand punches this strong again?”

* * *

Su-hyeun stared at Kang Mu-hyeok as he lay on the floor.

The latter’s body was convulsing intermittently after managing to withstand three of Su-hyeun’s punches.

He felt sorry for this guy.

Well, it was Su-hyeun who had forced his way in and began swinging his fists while demanding the other party to give up the grand duke title.

Of course, Kang Mu-hyeok responded with brute force. He wouldn’t give up his title without a fight.

[You have acquired the token of the grand duke.]

Once Kang Mu-hyeok completely lost his consciousness, a ball of light appeared on Su-hyeun’s chest. It came from a golden badge shaped like a wing.

It seemed that this little thing was the token of the grand duke.

[Token of grand duke]

* This is the token that symbolizes the peerage of grand duke.

* You can command less than 10 counts, viscounts, and barons.

* You can command less than 100 knights.

* You can command less than 5,000 commoners.

* When three tokens are acquired, you can challenge the emperor.

Its most fundamental ability…

Being able to command 5,000 or so people with just one token was indeed a major privilege. It was the same type of privilege the nobles of medieval times might have enjoyed.

“No, wait. I guess this level of authority is greater than that.”

This place was not some simple class-based society.

No, it was a world where a special power was applied, and that power was none other than the powers of the “system.”

And in the context of such a system, “commanding” someone probably was the same thing as calling for a summoned creature.

In other words, absolute obedience…

The higher one’s peerage was, the higher the number of subordinates one could command. That would naturally lead to one enjoying greater, more absolute authority.

“What an insane world this is.”

With this, Su-hyeun had now acquired two tokens.

He could challenge the emperor as soon as he collected three tokens. Meaning, there was one more that needed to be acquired.

But then…

“I see that this side is already taken care of.”

One person was in possession of the remaining token.

It was Luslec.

Su-hyeun asked, “What about your side?”

“I’ve already dealt with the two of them. I heard that only the guy named Kang Mu-hyeok remained. However, Mister Su-hyeuk, it seems you’ve already taken care of things here.”

Luslec stepped inside the wrecked room and stared at the unconscious Kang Mu-hyeok on the floor.

Su-hyeun took a closer look at Luslec’s chest.

Two badges were there.

The news of him defeating one grand duke had made the rounds by now, but the truth was, he had already defeated two.

That was quite fast.

“When did you arrive here?”

“I arrived about half a day earlier than you, Mister Su-hyeun. Before you came, I defeated one and won against the second guy, but well…I heard that a new grand duke has arrived, and as expected, it was you.”

Luslec had finished his third trial and arrived in this world much earlier than Su-hyeun. He was given the peerage of “duke,” and before Su-hyeun arrived, he killed one grand duke and acquired the token.

While Su-hyeun sought out Kang Mu-hyeok and “fought” him, Luslec had defeated the remaining grand duke and took the token.

Wiggle.

It was at that moment that Kang Mu-hyeok’s body writhed.

Although he was still unconscious, his body seemed to be gradually waking up.

Luslec checked out Kang Mu-hyeok’s reactions and remarked, puzzled, “This guy, it seems he isn’t dead yet.”

Luslec raised his hand as he spoke.

His magical energy concentrated on a single point, and the tip of his hand transformed into something razor-sharp. The hand, sharper and tougher than your average famed sword, decidedly headed toward Kang Mu-hyeok’s heart.

“Should I finish him off?”

“Leave him be. I deliberately didn’t kill him.”

“But why not?” This confused Luslec.

“Why should I kill him?”

Luslec thought for a moment at Su-hyeun’s reply and nodded. “Well, I guess you have a point there. I’m sure this guy won’t be a hindrance to us even if he manages to live.”

Then Luslec withdrew the magical energy from his hand and lowered his arm.

It seemed that he was okay with letting Kang Mu-hyeok live.

There was no real reason to kill someone, but from the look of things, Luslec must have believed that an opponent had to be killed without exception.

Su-hyeun didn’t think that it was a wrong philosophy. He just had different beliefs compared to Luslec.

Rather than wrong, it was simply a matter of different perspectives.

Kang Mu-hyeok revealed his intention to kill, clearly planning to kill Su-hyeun from the get-go.

If someone tried to kill another, would there be a reason to spare them in such a case? If Su-hyeun would be asked the same question, he wouldn’t be able to come up with a rational answer.

It was just a difference in perspective. That’s all.

Su-hyeun had always believed that it would be better to spare one’s life, even of an opponent’s. He wouldn’t kill unless it was either him or his enemy.

“In any case, I heard that you can only fight that emperor or whatever if you have three of these tokens…” Luslec shifted his gaze between the two tokens on his chest and the other two on Su-hyeun. Then he continued, “So what are we going to do now?”

A faint trace of desire to fight could be seen in Luslec’s eyes. He knew Su-hyeun was no easy enemy, but he was willing to give it a try. He might get lucky and be able to defeat him.