Chapter 308.
Doomstone jumped high, stepping on a tree as he quickly headed to the holy place.
"Father! You’re too fast!" Gallahad did his best to follow Doomstone, but he began to lag behind because he was less agile than the other villagers.
"We’re already late!" Doomstone shouted that Gallahad would have to be left behind if he fell too far behind.
"So mean!" Gallahad exclaimed with a tearful expression.
Gawain sighed, asking, "Hyung, how much do you weigh?"
"Me? About 130 kilograms...?" Gallahad replied. His weight was almost pure muscle.
"You weigh almost twice as much as me. But it’s not to the point where you can’t maintain your speed, right? Get on my back." Gawain moved the extra sword he had from his back to his hip and bowed a little.
"Thank you!" Gallahad hopped on his younger brother’s back without hesitation. Gawain readjusted his center of gravity again after the sudden weight and jumped onto a branch. Gallahad exclaimed, "Ohh! So fast! Hey, do you have any tips so I can run this fast?"
"Lose some muscle. Or build up your lower body muscles to Father’s level,”
"No, even if I trained my lower body up to Father’s level, if it were just the lower body, then wouldn’t my body be unbalanced?"
"If you don’t want to, then don’t. I’m going to speed up. If you don’t want to bite your tongue, close your mouth!” Gawain sped up and closely followed Doomstone.
The three arrived at the entrance to the holy place after running for a long time, stopping at the guard post guarding the entrance. Although it was a guard post, it resembled a sturdy mansion where dozens of people could stay easily.
"Who’s this? Isn’t it Chief-nim?!" The one who came out to the window terrace after feeling the presence of the three was an old man with gray hair.
"It’s been a while, Grand-uncle."[1]
The old man was Doomstone’s grand-uncle, and he was the last keeper of the holy place. He jumped off the terrace and greeted Doomstone with courtesy. "Caron, the 99th holy land keeper, greets the Chief-nim."
"Raise your head, Grand-uncle," Doomstone said, feeling burdened by the determined greeting.
Caron burst into laughter. "Uh-huh-huh-huh. Call me Caron until this old body dies. Even though the former chief abolished the position of holy place keeper, I want to fulfill my mission." Since then, there had been no new holy place keepers.
Doomstone only returned a simple greeting with his eyes in consideration of the will of his grand-uncle. He said, "Yes, all right. Have you been uncomfortable?”
"What’s there to be uncomfortable about? Didn’t you build me this large mansion and constantly send people to help? I always live with gratitude to Chief-nim and Former Chief-nim.”
"I’m glad. My father will be happy to hear it,” Doomstone said.
Caron smiled and nodded. Then he said seriously, "It seems something is about to happen to the holy place. My knees have been hurting for a few days."
"Yes. I think it’s likely. I’m sorry, Grand-uncle, but can you protect the shrine as the holy place keeper?" Doomstone asked.
Caron shook his head. "Uh-huh-huh, asking is pointless. Protecting the holy place is my mission. My body has aged and weakened, but I still have the power to fulfill my mission.” Explosive aura erupted from Caron’s body as he smiled. Gallahad and Gawain swallowed dryly as they felt its strength.
"How is that rascal disciple of mine? Is Weger doing well?" Caron asked.
Doomstone laughed lightly. "Ahahaha, he’s the head of the council of elders now."
"Uh-huh-huh. Is that so? I was worried since he was only proficient in physical skill, but to think he’s the head of the council of elders now,” Caron mused, briefly immersed in memories.
He then asked, "So, are the two children behind you the sons of Chief-nim? They’ve gotten stronger since I’ve last seen them.” Suddenly, his gentle smile gave way to a frown. "My knees are feeling quite sore.”
"I don’t have a good feeling about this. We might be a step late,” Doomstone said.
"Do you have any idea who it is?" Caron asked.
Doomstone replied with a bitter smile, "He calls himself ‘Libra’.”
Caron was able to read and understand the implications of Doomstone’s words. "Uh-huh-huh-huh. Is that so? Well, it doesn’t matter. Anyone who steps into the holy place without my permission will be killed. That’s the rule, isn’t it? Let’s go." He quickly headed toward the holy place.
Doomstone looked at Caron before telling his two sons, "You two should protect the shrine as Grand-uncle’s assistants."
Caron was so strong that he had been qualified to become a holy place keeper in the past, but it was Galak who had become the chief.
It had been well over a hundred years since the tradition of appointing the strongest as the chief had been set. In that period, it wasn’t difficult to guess that the power gap had widened with each generation.
"Yes,” Gallahad and Gawain answered, sounding tense. It wasn’t difficult to understand that Doomstone’s instructions were a warning not to get caught up in the fight between him and Galak.
Doomstone and his two sons followed Caron into the holy place and witnessed a person wearing a white mask coming out of the shrine.
"We meet again." Galak smiled cheerfully and waved.
Karon frowned. "How did you get into the holy place? If you don’t have the identification card of a holy place keeper, you shouldn’t be able to enter".
The holy place of the Crow tribe was an area surrounded by a special force, so it wasn’t a place anyone could access. As it was the center of Olympus Forest, which exuded strange mana, it was close to impossible to enter with brute force.
Galak took off his mask and replied, "How did I get in, you ask? There isn’t just one token to enter the holy place, Younger Brother."
As soon as Galak finished speaking, the Curse of the Giants activated. Gallahad and Gawain, bombarded with the power of terrible hatred and grudges, sank into a squat without being able to resist. Caron also tried to hold out by drawing forth his martial aura, but he struggled.
Just then, Doomstone shouted, emitting his martial aura to its fullest. "Ha!"
At the same time, Gallahad and Gawain, who hadn’t even been able to breathe properly, let out a strained breath of air. Karon’s complexion, which had been deteriorating rapidly, also improved.
Galak was amazed at the sight, remarking, "That’s amazing. Dispelling the curse, not only from yourself, but also from others...”
Of course, even though Doomstone had dispelled the curse partially, Galak continued to worsen their physical condition.
Doomstone unhappily looked at the marble in Galak’s hand, asking, "What’s that?"
Galak smiled playfully, saying, "This? This is the Curse of the Giants, a sad treasure that has been passed down from generation to generation, and a symbol of our tribe’s sins."
Doomstone cared more about the phrase ‘symbol of sins’ than the phrase ‘sad treasure’. "What do you mean by ‘symbol of sins’?"
"Isn’t the Curse of the Giants a curse that makes our dexterity worse?” Gallahad, who had caught his breath thanks to Doomstone, asked Gawain.
Gawain looked at his younger brother pityingly. "That’s just a figure of speech. If it were a real curse, we would have no one who could become swordsmen or carpenters.”
"Oh, is that so?" Gallahad asked.
Galak laughed joyfully at the conversation between the two. "That’s right. That’s just a figure of speech. Our tribe had no dexterity even before the creation of the Curse of the Giants."
Before the creation of the Curse of the Giants, the devastatingly bad dexterity of the Crow tribe had gone by a different name.
Galak began stroking the Curse of the Giants as he explained, "This is a bead containing the grudges of the Giant tribe, who were destroyed by our tribe during the Giant-Holy War 500 years ago. The beads contain pure hatred and desire for the fall of the Crow tribe."
Gawain, the only one there who had studied history, tilted his head. "As far as I know, our tribe hardly participated in the Giant-Holy War 500 years ago.”
"That was the case for the tribe as a whole. However, there was an idiot who ignored the orders of the chief and jumped into the Holy Kingdom, fighting until the end." Galak smiled bitterly and added more mana to the Curse of the Giants.
"Caron Blade, who was designated as the holy place keeper at the time... An old ancestor, known as the Traitorous Knight to the outside world, murdered all the Giants by himself. All the Giants, including babies and the elderly. Therefore, this bead is the product of our tribe’s sin."
"Ugh!"
Gallahad and Gawain’s conditions had worsened from the Curse that clung to them again. Doomstone fought against the curse using his martial aura.
"I don’t care if other tribes were destroyed by my ancestors in the past. What’s important now is that you invaded the holy place without permission,” Doomstone said as he gathered his full strength to confront the Curse of the Giants head-on.
Galak laughed, seemingly pleased by Doomstone’s words. "Ahahaha! That’s right! That’s what’s important now!"
Doomstone and Galak rushed at each other, raising their martial auras to the fullest. Their punches struck with enough force to dig deep furrows into the land and collapse mountain peaks.
"Why did you break into the holy place!?" Doomstone reproached Galak.
Galak shouted as if he had been wrongly accused, "If Zendia hadn’t moved the horns of the Demon King here from the drawer in the study, I wouldn’t have bothered to come here!"
"How could you retire without leaving behind a symbolic item!? Grandfather’s symbol is the subjugation of the Demon King!"
"Someone already took the Demon King’s horn before me!"
"Don’t lie! Who would break in besides Grandfather?!"
"This isn’t fair!"
The battle between Doomstone and Galak lasted for more than three days and moved outside the holy place, destroying parts of Olympus Forest. At last, it ended with Galak running away using an opening created by the Curse of the Giants.
* * *
"I missed Grandfather because I couldn’t completely shake off the Curse of the Giants, and so in my rage, I trained in the Dance of the Fireflies. As a bonus, I took care of the worshippers of the Demon King during my spare time in the Demon’s Territory."
I was speechless hearing my father’s story. "Hey, Father. Are you even human? How can you fight for three days under the Curse of the Giants?”
And was Dance of the Fireflies a skill that could be trained? It was far beyond common sense to train a skill that brought you close to death once used.
"If you have the will to fight, and the stamina to support that will, there’s no reason you can’t fight,” my father said resolutely.
"That’s amazing,” I said admiringly.
My father shrugged and smiled. "Ahahaha! Don’t worry. You’ll be able to do all that when you’re my age."
Honestly, I don’t particularly have any desire to, I thought, but I swallowed the words.
My father, who was smiling happily, got up from his seat when he saw the clock hanging on one side of the barracks. "Oh, it’s already time. I heard you fought with two great madosas, so you must be tired. I’ll be leaving now. You know what’ll happen if you try to run away, right?”
“You’ll hit my butt until it splits?” I answered.
My father laughed cheerfully. "Ahahaha! You know it well. Then get some rest."
"Yes. Be careful not to get caught by the people of the Empire,” I requested.
My father smiled, stroked my head, and left with Hestia noona.
Hearing their footsteps moving away, I stretched out on the bed and called, "Tristan."
"Yeap, did you call me?” Tristan appeared from my pocket space and smiled playfully.
"Open up the pocket space."
When Tristan opened the pocket space, I took out a black horn, saying, "So this was the horn of the Demon King. I was wondering why it was full of black mana."
In the past, when I had gone to the holy place with my father, there was an object that looked good for studying the Demon King summons, so I had taken it. It seemed that the object was the horn of the Demon King.
1. This Korean word for grand-uncle also specifies that the grand-uncle is married.
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