The Taming Master

The fight with the Eight Absolutes .

The outline of the quest was quite clear now .

Although Ian’s curiosity raised the difficulty of the quest a little more, it wasn’t a quest that would drag on .

Once the battle with the Eight Absolutes was done, the quest would end .

‘Okay then, the eight battles will all be over by today . I can join the war after I finish this quest . ’

That was all Ian needed to do .

The difficulty of the quest was slightly increased since he asked for information about the users .

Woong-!

[After 10 seconds, the first opponent will appear . ]

[Prepare for battle . ]

[The first Absolute of the Desert Tribe, ‘Kaizek’ of the Magellan Tribe . ]

After seeing the message, Ian took a deep breath and waited for his opponent to appear .

There wasn’t much to prepare for the battle .

The only weapon that he could use was the ‘Judgement of the Spirit King’ and the only skill that he could use was the ‘Selamus Warrior’ .

‘By the way, the name Magellan sounds a bit familiar…’

Ian was able to realize why the name Magellan was so familiar .

Magellan was the desert tribe that the DarkRuna guild was associated with during their first arrival on the Central Continent .

The Magellan was the only desert tribe that remained so far .

‘The Absolute of the Magellan Tribe… its class would likely be a warrior or an assassin . ’

Ian tackled the Magellan tribe countless times, which was why he could make a rough guess about the opponent .

After a while .

A white light appeared, and a typical assassin came out as Ian’s opponent .

[Selamus Warrior, Prove your worth to me!]

Woong –

A voice resonated within the white fog that was spreading into the surrounding .

Ian nervously looked at the movements of his opponent .

‘Assassin . The toughest class right in the beginning . ’

When he was with Kaka, there was no reason to fear the assassin class .

With Kaka’s inherent abilities, even the most powerful of the assassins were useless .

But now, Ian didn’t have Kaka, so there was no way he could relax .

‘My opponent’s level and basic information are all hidden . Should I test the waters a little bit first?’

Whilst Ian was thinking, his opponent, the assassin quickly ran towards Ian .

Thwatt – !

Ian’s spear and Kaizec’s swords clashed .

Their confrontation made Ian smile .

‘What is this? This guy is weaker than I imagined . ’

It was because the power that he felt from Kaizec’s swords when it came in contact with his spear was weaker than he expected .

That increased Ian’s confidence by a lot, making him wield his spear with pride .

Kkang- Phuk-!

Ian’s spear went through his opponent’s sword and was able to hit Kaizec’s shoulder .

Unless there was a difference in skill, there was no way Ian—even after having the range advantage because of his spear—could’ve managed to hit an assassin with two swords .

The moment Kaizec’s shoulder was pierced with Ian’s spear, he disappeared like a mirage .

Phat-!

However, Ian didn’t panic .

Since his opponent was an assassin, he knew the possible tricks his opponent could do .

‘Back…!’

The skills that Kaizec used, was a class that Ian knew well about .

It was one of the hidden skills that many assassins have, space .

It was a skill that allowed one to move to their desired location in a short distance if activated at the moment of receiving damage . It was a technique that was preferred by assassins who prefer a technical battle style .

Since the skill’s cooldown time was short and the consumption value was small, it was possible to use it constantly if the user had great control .

However, there was one flaw to this skill . If the opponent had a good visual acuity, their position could be grasped .

As soon as the skill was activated, the after image of the one who used the skill would shake .

That was the skill’s biggest flaw .

Srrrk-!

When Ian felt the space distort, he turned the spear and pulled it up .

He turned around and strongly swung his spear .

The location where Kaizec moved was right behind Ian, and Ian just pushed his spear by predicting accurately where his opponent would show up .

It was a move that couldn’t be stopped .

Nor could it be avoided .

Kwang-!

[Fatal damage was done to the Desert Absolute Kaizec . ]

[Kaizec’s vitality has been reduced by 275090 . ]

Being struck by the spear, Kaizec bounced onto the floor .

What made that happen was Ian’s precise blow .

Yet he didn’t leave Ian .

Thwatt –

Ian began to move around along with Kaizec .

He thought that if he could keep hitting his opponent then, he could win .

However, Kaizec wasn’t that easy to deal with .

Kaizec, who regained his balance, just as his name—Absolute—implies, quickly responded by lunging at Ian with his swords .

Ian was a little flustered, but he remained calm and held onto his spear .

He used the lower part of his spear to block Kaizec’s attacks .

When Kaizec’s sword met with Ian’s spear, it made a blunt sound .

The distance between them opened up instantly .

Kaizec, who felt that his attacks were unsuccessful, kept moving .

They were getting close to each other .

The two of them gazed at each other and checked the distance between them .

Kaizec suddenly decided to speak .

[Great . A warrior who can challenge the Absolute . ]

Ian looked down and answered him .

“Thank you for your kind words . ”

Kaizec continued .

[By the way, did you know that the Absolute of the Selamus has never appeared after Eos?]

Kaizec’s question made Ian think for a moment .

He remembered what he heard from Eclipse .

“That’s right . I heard that there was only one Absolute in the Selamus Tribe till now . ”

[Then, did you know that there were way too many Absolutes for the other tribes? Even our Magellan Tribe produced around 5 Absolute after me . ]

“Ah, That was something I wasn’t aware of . ”

[Other tribes, except the Selamus had a minimum of two Absolutes so far . Ah, the descendant of Seril came not long ago . ]

Ian started to listen closely to what Kaizec was trying to say .

He didn’t think that his opponent would attack in the middle of a conversation, but he was prepared if that would happen .

[Why do you think is the reason there hasn’t been any Absolute for the Selamus till now?]

“I’m not sure . ”

[The reason is simple . For a long time the summoners have been training to develop their combat capabilities through their pets which get sealed rather than developing their own combat abilities . ]

“Aha…”

[As a result, the arrival of the second Absolute of Selamus was much later than the tribe of Illuosin, a tribe of priests . The gateway of Sky is the only gate through which you must pass through . ]

“In the end, this game is against summoners, isn’t it?”

[Nothing of that sort . A wizard or priest isn’t much different than a summoner . They also get skills sealed in the gate . The warrior and knight classes are advantageous classes, but it would be wrong to say that summoners are the most unfavoured . ]

“Hearing that makes sense . ”

Ian wondered what Kaizec wanted to talk about .

After a moment, Kaizec spoke again .

[But you seem different . ]

“Wha . . what was it?”

[You are better than any summoner who has ever come through the gate . ]

Kaizec held his swords and made a stance .

“…?”

Ian was looking closely, waiting for Kaizec to speak .

[Normally, I don’t do this… but I will do my best . Even if you don’t win, you’ll still be able to win the next three battles with your skills . ]

Hrrr-!

A black thing spread from Kaizec’s entire body .

He picked up his swords hanging on his back instead of his daggers . He put his daggers onto his waist .

Ian spoke while pouting .

“Ah, can’t you just fight normally?”

Kaizec smiled and said .

Not the voice from the air, but the voice from his mouth could be heard .

“I can’t do that . I just met an opponent who managed to bring out the long lost passion inside my heart . But it won’t be the first for you . ”

Chuk- Chuk –

Kaizec’s demeanor changed . He now started approaching Ian and said .

“I don’t think it will, but if you win, I’ll give you a very reasonable reward . ”

Kaizec started to wield his black swords .

* * *

Bae Cheol-Hoon, an ordinary 30-year-old worker, was rushing to work after taking his meds .

Bae Cheol-Hoon was sitting on the subway chair with stooping shoulders while tapping onto his phone .

However, his expression was kind of revitalizing .

“Huh, these are the only ones?”

He was swiping his phone’s screen up and down .

What appeared on his smartphone was ‘Betting Kailan’ .

It was kind of a Sports app in a way for the large scale war that was happening in Kailan .

Bae Cheol-Hoon recently made a lot in Betting Kailan .

The maximum amount of bet was 3000,000 won, and the amount he earned in the last two weeks was around 8 million won .

It was due to the defeat of the high ranked guilds that he succeeded

‘Keu, thanks to Lotus Guild, I’m now a salary picker!’

In fact, he was never earning that much in betting .

Due to his personality, he liked to choose between those whom he liked and even those whom he didn’t .

It was the same for this bets too .

The Lotus Guild’s Guild Wars attracted the attention of many users .

Cheol-Hoon betted on Lotus Guild till their 7th consecutive win .

On their 6th war, he was a bit tiled to support the opponent, but he eventually decided to walk along with Lotus and it was a huge win .

Today was the day for betting on the 8th war that would be held tomorrow .

He didn’t hesitate to bet 300,000 cash on Lotus today as well .

It was around 15 times the dividend, and the users’ opinion didn’t seem so good . However, he still decided to go with Lotus .

‘What the hell? Did anyone guess that Lotus would win the 7th and 6th war?’

On the 5th war, the thought of Lotus winning seemed hard for anyone to accept .

There wasn’t any disdain towards Lotus, it was just that most of their troops were consumed in the war .

Even in the current war, there was a shortage of troops inside the Lotus Guild, so the dividend went up .

‘Yeah, this is what has happened . I’ll place the bets carefully on a tie from 8th to 12th . ’

He stopped momentarily and went to another window .

He placed all his bets on Lotus .

There wasn’t any basis on why he did it .

If he would bet like that, there was going to be a chance that not even a single penny would come back to him, but he would earn a lot if he wins .

“Keu, yeah! This should be enough!”

He put back his smartphone into his pocket .

If he wins, then he would earn a huge amount with his 300,000 won .

There was no ground for it, but for some reason, the god of gambling seemed to be helping him .