Chapter 602. A Demonstration (2)
'What is that man trying to do?'
Director Choi quizzically glared at the former knight Wiggins' actions. He could have interpreted them as simple threats, but his gut told him that doing so would be a terrible mistake.
Wiggins was definitely doing something right now, but Director Choi had no idea what that was.
'I should've learned more about the West's martial arts...!'
Obviously, Director Choi had heard various rumors, such as the Western martial artists relying on techniques built on a set of principles that were completely different to the East's. He even heard about what that thing was called, too.
'It's supposed to be called magic, right?'
There was no such thing as a perfect secret in this world. The modern era's tech advancements meant keeping secrets had gotten much easier compared to the past when there was almost no practical method to stop rumors from taking off.
Fact-checking and critical thinking had become far more widespread these days, but blocking groundless rumors still took a great deal of effort to pull off. That was the story in the current era, so the situation in the past must've been so much trickier.
As such, martial artists of the past decided to package rumors about them as 'fantasy'. In the East, it was pursuing dao in wuxia novels, while in the West, warriors of might and magic.
The problem Director Choi faced right now was this: he could roughly guess the framework of Wiggins' techniques but not their destructive power or intended effects.
However, was there a need to worry about such things? Wiggins would teach him soon enough, anyway!
RUUUUUMBLE!
The world rumbled. The whole world seemed to be quaking!
"Euh?!" Director Choi hurriedly lowered his stance. 'Was that an earthquake?'
He wasn't imagining things. His legs were shaking precariously as he struggled to maintain balance. The surrounding area was rumbling ominously in a miniature earthquake!
"Keuk?!" Director Choi gritted his teeth.
There was no way Wiggins could keep this up, no? If he could, though... That would be a huge problem!
The first thing an aspiring martial artist learned was the foot technique. In other words, how to anchor themselves stably on the ground!
Eastern martial techniques were built on the premise of firmly rooting one's body on the ground first. Finding a solid footing and using the resulting stability as the foundation to attack! That was the basic gist of it.
However, doing so was impossible on a ground unsteadily rumbling like this. Director Choi and his cohorts would not be able to bring out their full strength in this situation.
"You and your cheap tricks...!" Director Choi roared in rage.
Wiggins chuckled in satisfaction at Director Choi's agitated reaction. While casually lowering his sword, he addressed his enemies in a cheerful voice. "You should be honored, Director Choi. Even in Europe, it's rare to encounter a 'dual-class' such as myself. You will be treated to a wonderful exhibition tonight, so I must charge you a hefty admission fee later. I hope you don't mind."
"You... You bastard!"
Wiggins smirked deeply as a thought popped up in his head.
'How... liberating.'
How long had it been since he stepped into a combat situation with such a liberated feeling? Was it because his opponents this time were weak? No, that couldn't be it. He felt liberated precisely because all the heavy load weighing down on his shoulders had been dispensed with.
Back when he was still a knight of the Round Table, Wiggins had a tough time bearing the weight of that title. But now...
'My lord will most likely bear that burden from now on.'
Wiggins couldn't help but think that he had turned into a bit of a coward. Other people might think he did something incredibly difficult by leaving everything of his behind to follow Kang Jin-Ho. In reality, though? Wiggins hadn't lost anything.
No, he simply dumped the burden he was supposed to carry on Kang Jin-Ho's shoulders instead. And Kang Jin-Ho gladly took on that burden as if it was his sacred duty.
'Indeed, my lord is an amazing person.'
Kang Jin-Ho was strong. Wiggins didn't mean Kang Jin-Ho's stupendous martial arts, but how he was like as a human being.
Kang Jin-Ho never backed away from shouldering other people's burdens. And he did it all without complaining once. His actions were so admirable that Wiggins had to wonder if this was how a silent but dependable leader should behave.
"In that case, I should repay his kindness, no?"
Obviously, Wiggins was not a shameless, ungrateful person. He didn't dump his burden on Kang Jin-Ho's shoulders because he didn't want any responsibilities or laze around like a bum. No, things somehow worked out that way because he wanted to start a new life here. That was all.
This event would be Wiggins' first repayment for Kang Jin-Ho's kindness. Although this repayment would be inconsequential compared to what Kang Jin-Ho had done for him, Wiggins prescribed to the notion of a journey of a thousand miles beginning with a single step.
Wiggins studied the Yeongnam Branch martial artists ungainly rushing toward him. It seemed the quaking ground was making things quite difficult for them, judging from how they were leaping in the air to close the distance.
"Rather amateurish, isn't it?"
Here was the stark demonstration of the dangers of not knowing one's opponent. If Wiggins had been an Eastern martial artist, such attacks might have been the correct response. However, leaping into the air, which restricted one's movement even further, just to counter Wiggins' techniques was no different from willingly jumping into a lion's mouth!
Wiggins raised his wand and injected his mana into it.
Wuooooong! Bzzzzzz!
The deafening noise of a million bees buzzing in anger resounded in the air as blinding rays of light burst out of the tip of Wiggins' wand. And when that happened...!
Dozens and dozens of light streaks exploded forth from the same tip and zeroed in on the airborne martial artists!
"Heok?!"
"W-what the hell?!"
Panic and fluster quickly dyed the expressions of the martial artists at this never-before-seen attack. They knew they must dodge whatever this was, but how? How could they dodge anything when they were still in the air?
They jumped after confirming that the enemy didn't possess throwing weapons, but that decision quickly came back to bite them on the rear instead!
The only move these martial artists could make now was to defend by crossing their arms to shield their faces, then roll their bodies up into as small a ball as possible. And then... the 'missiles' of light slammed into their figures next.
"Keuk?!"
"Euh-uuuk!"
Chilling noises of bones cracking resounded from everywhere. Despite circulating their qi as much as possible, these martial artists still suffered from an indescribable impact force beyond their body's capability to endure. It felt like an iron fist laden with destructive qi had slipped through their defenses to strike their unguarded abdomen!
Like a bird falling from the sky after a hunter had sniped it down, martial artists began crashing back to earth against their will.
"Keuh-huk!"
After landing hard on the ground, the martial artists hurriedly raised their heads to glare at Wiggins, but...!
'Huh?!'
The former knight of the Round Table was no longer in front of their eyes. In fact, he seemed to have vanished into thin air!
'Where is he?!'
"Where are you looking at?" Wiggins' voice suddenly came from the only obvious place in this situation, right behind the stunned and trembling martial artist. "How complacent..."
Pow!
And then, a powerful impact landed on the back of his martial artist's neck, causing him to black out instantly.
***
'What the hell is going on here?!'
Director Choi's brain failed to comprehend what his eyes could see.
'Yes, fine! I get earthquakes and whatnot, but!'
At least he was willing to 'understand' the techniques to start earthquakes and shoot down airborne people with unexplainable qi blasts. Obviously, he didn't know the principles behind such attacks, but they still had tangible forms for him to look at. However, what happened next was beyond his capacity to comprehend.
Wiggins had definitely vanished from the spot. He was so far away only a second ago but suddenly went, 'Poof!' from there only to reappear right behind the fallen martial artists!
Wiggins had not moved at a breakneck pace. No, he literally... vanished before reappearing!
How could a person fold space and... teleport himself like that?! This was the moment of Director Choi's common sense on what's possible with martial arts crumbling down to pieces. His slack-open jaw didn't want to close at all.
"Tsk, tsk..." Wiggins slowly shook his head as if he was disappointed by all this. "Fighting an unknown enemy means you must deal with unknown techniques, too. You should be extra careful in your approach, but to think you'd charge blindly first..."
Enemies being weak was never a bad thing. However, these martial artists were not entirely Wiggins' enemies. Maybe, they'd turn into allies in the near future where they would have to fight together side-by-side. Considering that possibility, Wiggins' frustration was understandable.
'Indeed, these people need stern education.'
Wiggins had been thinking that the Assembly Master was a chaotic free-for-all organization ever since he joined it. Although it did have a command structure, everyone had their own master, too. So the members tended to listen to their masters' commands more instead of the Assembly's. To make matters even more complicated, many of the members were in a one-master-one-disciple relationship. Such arrangements had the unfortunate side effect of their understanding of group battles being quite terrible, and they often failed to implement even the most basic things in such combat situations.
Although doing things this way had the advantage of nurturing uniqueness in individual martial artists, such a thing should not be celebrated since a useless advantage would only get in other people's way.
Wiggins thought that, even if he wasn't going to teach these folks his martial arts, they should still be properly drilled in the concept of group battles.
"Don't you agree?" Wiggins glanced at the Yeongnam Branch martial artists and casually asked.
"Urhk...!"
"No need to be scared like that, gentlemen. I only hit them with the flat side of my sword. If I had tried to cut them down, they wouldn't have collapsed on the ground like this, right? Their heads would've gone flying instead!"
Wiggins smiled wryly while saying that as people were openly staring at him as if... As if he was an alien from outer space. Then again, the first thing humans would feel when witnessing something beyond their capacity to comprehend was terror, anyway.
Of course, being stared at like some kind of a terrifying monster was never a nice thing, but it was still one hundred times better than being underestimated. At least, that was what Wiggins told himself.
"Anyway... What should I do next?" Wiggins frowned slightly in a mock dilemma while scanning the crowd around him.
Did these martial artists look like they have lost their will to fight? No. They looked flustered more than anything else. Maybe even deeply wary after things they couldn't understand kept happening right before their eyes.
However, those expressions didn't last for too long.
"U-uwaaaaah!"
As if they had finally remembered their enemy was still in front of them, the martial artists stopped whimpering in pain on the ground and hurriedly got up before charging straight at Wiggins once more.
Their aggression certainly seemed worthy of some praise, but... Not even animals would rush blindly toward their enemy without thinking about the clear gap in power.
'They are all too stupid...!'
Wiggins groaned loudly. Even then, his hand still moved lightning fast to counter the incoming enemies.
Bang! Crack! Crunch!
Three impact noises were quickly followed by three brief pained gasps. Three martial artists grabbed their necks while collapsing to the ground after Wiggins' wand accurately struck them in their throats. These poor sobs would not be able to breathe properly for a while after this.
Wiggins tutted again. "Using my wand alone to smack you all down kinda makes me feel like a battle mage from a Hollywood movie, but I don't want you to misunderstand something here, gentlemen. My specialty lies with wielding a longsword."
He was merely not using his sword since suppressing his targets with a wand was much more convenient. That was all.
By now, many of those who fell from the skies had more or less recovered to stand back on their feet. Wiggins studied this scene, then lightly tapped the tip of his wand on the ground a couple of times. That innocuous-looking action started yet another bizarre phenomenon.
"Eh? Uh, uuuuh?!"
"Uwaahk?! What the hell?!"
"I, I'm floating?!"
Martial artists trying to surround Wiggins began levitating slowly in the air. They ungainly flailed about as if they were stuck inside the zero-gravity space.
Slowly, oh-so-slowly... Almost too agonizingly slowly...! These helpless martial artists continued to rise higher into the air. Eventually, they reached the height of over ten meters in the air, and their panicked flailing intensified.
'Just... Just what the f*ck is all this?!'
Director Choi's jaw dropped to the floor again, his stupefied eyes unable to look away from this bizarre spectacle. How could humans float in the air like that? When they didn't even intend it to happen, but someone else was controlling them?!
"Do not panic, you lot!"
A loud roar exploded forth from somewhere behind the still-dazed Director Choi. One of the elders quickly issued commands to calm the situation down. "Execute Thousand-Jin Ballast technique! You're dealing with merely another type of energy, that's all! Which means you can counter it!"
The martial artists seemed to have heard the elder as they brought their hands near their lower dantian to execute the Thousand-Jin Ballast technique, which used internal qi to temporarily increase their weight. Soon, the martial artists stopped rising higher before reversing course to gradually fall toward the ground.
"Hoh-oh~?" Wiggins whistled while his eyes opened wider in amusement.
If these people found his Reverse Gravity spell mystifying, the same story applied to Wiggins as he also found this Thousand-Jin Ballast technique quite wondrous to behold. Both techniques seemed to be built on similar principles, yet different applications had given birth to extreme differences in end results. That was the impression Wiggins got while studying the martial artists.
It sure felt like his horizons were broadening, indeed!
"Yes, now that's quite amazing to behold. Even so..." Wiggins muttered as the corners of his lips curled up suspiciously. "That's not the solution you've been searching for, gentlemen."
Wiggins had been raising his hand slightly until then. But he suddenly yanked that hand down with considerable force. Almost at the same time...!
The martial artists floating in the air fell to the ground at a breakneck pace! The poor sobs cried out in alarm.
"W-what the f*ck?!"
"Oh, sh*t!"
The gravity spell that suddenly changed the direction of effect and the Thousand-Jin Ballast technique that forced the user's body down created a perfect synergy, causing the martial artists to mercilessly slam into the ground like falling meteors.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦