Chapter 391 (1/2)
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“It hurts…”
Su-hyeun started hearing that voice after the third mission commenced, and the World Tree began writhing around.
At first, he thought he was simply hearing things. Not only was the sound faint but the feeling it gave off was also far closer to “words” rather than an actual “sound.”
But the next set of voice that came to him sounded far more vivid than before.
“It hurts! It hurts so much! Aaaaaahk!”
It was a scream so loud and tragic that the one making it must’ve damaged its vocal cords.
The screaming continued, and rather obviously, it was coming from somewhere.
However, it wasn’t just that sound either.
“I can sense it, too,” he thought.
He didn’t even need to close his eyes, yet he could still sense this “energy” simply by focusing.
This energy felt quite similar to what Su-hyeun possessed, and it wasn’t the newly acquired and therefore unfamiliar type of energy but something all creatures that managed to survive from their birth possessed.
“Miru, to your side!” Su-hyeun cried out as he rode on Miru’s back.
Flying rapidly, Miru instantly twisted its body. At the same time, Sun Wukong leaped and retrieved the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
Poof, poof poof poof—!
Ten clones quickly materialized, and they assumed the exact same stance and pointed their own Ruyi Jingu Bangs. Then, they spoke in unison along with Sun Wukong, “Get bigger—!”
Ka-boom—!
“Ruyi!”
Creeeak, ka-gagagagak—!
Ten Ruyi Jingu Bangs blocked the branch of the World Tree that was closing in on them. The sizes of those polearms were the largest Su-hyeun had ever seen up to this point.
“Wow.”
Whoosh, tap…
Soon afterward, Sun Wukong, having successfully blocked the branch, rode on his cloud to get back on Miru’s back.
Su-hyeun looked at him and raised his thumb, “That was great.”
Thanks to his efforts, they managed to overcome one hurdle.
They were traveling on Miru’s back since their destination was somewhere very high, but the thing was, the red dragon’s defensive ability wasn’t strong enough to defend against the incoming branches of the World Tree.
Even if they were still ably dodging the branches, the fact remained that every single attack was potentially fatal. A single branch was the size of a large city, so even if it was Miru, just one solid strike would result in every bone in the dragon’s body breaking.
“It’s coming again! This time, on both sides!”
“Please take care of the other side.”
Tap—!
Su-hyeun leaped toward the branch that was flying in from their left side. At the same time, Luslec groaned grandly and jumped in the opposite direction.
Half of Su-hyeun’s body transformed into purplish flames, while a black aura flooded out from Luslec’s body to coalesce into a lump in his hands.
[Flame – Transformation]
[Wave Fist – Explosion Style]
[Palm Leaf]
The “Wave” skill that amplified one’s magical energy was added to his fist that had transformed into a purplish flame. At the same time, Palm Leaf answered Su-hyeun’s will and powerfully swirled around his arm to morph into something similar to a skill.
Rumbleeeee—
Ka-boooom—!
Su-hyeun punched with all of his might. Along with a ginormous explosion, the tornado of flames shoved the World Tree’s branch away and burned it.
Sizzle, crumble…
The branch caught on fire and slammed into the floor. The scream of the World Tree echoing in Su-hyeun’s ear became even sharper.
“What the heck?!”
Stunned, Su-hyeun hurriedly looked at his own transformed fist and then looked down at the spot below his chest, silently touching it.
“The energy down here moved on its own.”
It was prana, the energy that all humans possessed, which was the same thing as one’s life force—one’s life span—but was different from magical energy.
Su-hyeun still had no clue on how to utilize it. As such, he was planning to not use it until he completely cleared all the missions and acquired the elixir.
He was thinking of gradually discovering its secrets, but then, prana activated all on its own.
The moment Su-hyeun willed it and tried to use his own powers, the energy automatically blended in with the rest of his power and produced a much greater end result.
“Controlling my strength just got harder.”
Still, this wasn’t a bad result at all. He could now use up less energy yet still get to exhibit far greater power, after all.
And also…
“I’m not sure why, but it feels like controlling this energy won’t be that difficult overall.”
The amount of prana he used up just now was quickly refilled.
It was as Sun Wukong said earlier—those who became a demigod could sense prana, and they could even recover it at will.
The changes to him—being able to hear the World Tree’s voice and also getting to sense his own prana—all occurred after he became a demigod.
Su-hyeun turned his head and glanced at the direction Luslec flew off to.
Over there, Luslec created a gigantic black skull made out of his black energy and then fired it at the other World Tree’s branch flying in from that side.
The huge branch was shoved back, and at the same time, its surface began rotting away in a blackish hue.
The World Tree’s scream could be heard once more, making Su-hyeun think that they should hurry up some more.
Tap—
Su-hyeun landed back on Miru’s back and lowered himself to pat the red dragon.
Maybe, this might work…
“Hey, Miru?”
Shu-wuwu…
Grrrr—
Miru’s growling became even more energetic, and at the same time…
Flap—
Even the dragon’s wings flapped with even greater vigor. Miru’s flight speed going up became so much faster.
Fwhooooooosh—!
Meanwhile, Luslec urgently landed back on the dragon, and just like what Sun Wukong was doing, held onto Miru for his dear life, trying not to fall off.
“Wow! What is going on here?!” Luslec asked with widened eyes, genuinely amazed.
“You can even do something like this with prana?” Meanwhile, Sun Wukong, having knowledge on the matters of prana already, quickly figured out what Su-hyeun had done.
As for Su-hyeun, he only gave it a shot because he felt that it might be doable. He replied in a somewhat stupefied voice, “Yes, it’s possible, as it turns out.”
Fwhooooooosh—!
Miru’s speed increased by at least another level, and they rapidly climbed up the thick pillar-like trunk of the World Tree.
Su-hyeun climbed up to Miru’s head to see the direction of their flight, and then, he closed his eyes for a brief moment. He still heard the World Tree’s voice, and it seemed that the destination where its prana could be sensed wasn’t too far from here.
“It hurts…Hurts so bad…Please…”