ch7

“I’ve made a spot over there. Follow me.”

Without waiting for a reply, he disappears.

I chuckle and lead Rudolph.

“Let’s go.”

He wears a disgruntled expression, but a quick show of my fist silences him, and he quietly moves in the direction Pallas vanished.

Before long, we arrive at what ‘used to be a forest’ clearing.

“Crazy.”

A clearing in the middle of the forest.

But there are signs of trees being roughly uprooted everywhere, and on one side, the trees that were pulled out are piled up.

With this amount of labor, did he start working right after leaving yesterday?

It’s just a handful when looking at the forest as a whole, but if Demis finds out he made this clearing just to fight me, she’ll give him an earful.

Pallas’s methods are always rough.

“…Are you even an Elf? Demis is going to make an issue out of this.”

“Shut up. If we trim it and use it to build a house, there won’t be a problem, Anat.”

“…It doesn’t look like there’s much that looks good enough to use as material…”

“Ugh, seriously. Shut up.”

He gestures roughly with his chin,

Signaling me to stand in front of him.

Seeing that, I sigh and get off Rudolph’s back.

“Rest over there for a bit.”

I pat his back and push him forward. Rudolph looks at the clearing where all the trees have been uprooted and cleared, the roughly broken and piled logs, and the Elf standing there looking like a delinquent, then looks back at me.

His eyes ask, ‘Are you going to be okay?’ but it’s unnecessary worry.

“It’s okay. It’ll be over soon. Find some new shoots nearby and eat them.”

I leisurely move towards Pallas.

Pallas, who had been watching with his arms crossed and a displeased look, unfolds his arms and speaks as I stand right in front of him.

“It’ll be over soon, you say?”

“Of course, it’s a piece of cake.”

I shrug and retort.

That’s because, since I was born to my mother, I’ve never lost once.

In Fenrir’s case, I survived in the end, so wouldn’t that make me the victor?

But even with this low-quality provocation, he’s surprisingly calm.

Whenever we enter an important phase, Pallas has the emotions of an ideal warrior.

A hot heart, a cold head.

It’s a talent as great as his physical abilities.

It’s why I can trust him as a guardian to protect the Elves, even without me, and leave.

“Then, if I win, promise me one thing.”

“Huh? Um… I don’t mind. What kind of promise?”

“If I win. I’ll go outside instead of you.”

…Seriously.

Is it because they’re men?

My brothers are all so clumsy at expressing themselves.

They could just honestly say they’re worried.

“We don’t know what the world outside the forest is like, and we don’t know what dangers there might be. So, it’s only natural that the strongest person goes out.”

As he says that, he slowly takes a stance.

“That’s right. That’s why I’m going.”

I also take a ready stance.

A stance that looks somewhat clumsy on the surface.

Compared to Pallas’s stance, ready to pounce at any moment, it looks playful.

But both I and Pallas, who is facing me, are filled with vigilance and tension, not anger or complacency.

Deliberate relaxation.

Releasing unnecessary strength, and being ready to tense and relax according to the situation.

Even though I’ve given him the experience of various similar ready stances, though not always the same, Pallas has never landed a truly effective hit on me.

And that standoff was quickly broken.

It was Pallas who charged forward.

There was almost no sound.

The foundation of his martial arts is still rough and crude, but thanks to Pallas’s capabilities, it was a smooth movement as if he had suddenly transcended space and ‘existed’.

‘Excellent.’

Basically, the Elves who pioneered the forest with Pallas and me for 10 years, including myself, were basically Regulators and hunters.

Hunting basically starts by not giving the prey information about sight, hearing, and smell.

The foundation of martial arts that started with me developed according to each Elf’s individual tendencies. The influence of the hunters’ martial arts basically developed to be stealthy, and due to the characteristics of sturdy and large prey, it tended to be a powerful one-hit kill rather than a series of attacks.

And Pallas was at the pinnacle of that.

The foundation built up over only 10 years is still rough and unrefined, but thanks to Pallas’s efforts and skill, it has transformed into a martial art that has reached a certain level.

In the Central Plains, even among mid-level experts, there wouldn’t be many people who could display such smooth and stealthy footwork with this level of perfection.

Pallas’s upper body, which is reaching me, sways.

“Good try!”

The hand extending from behind the swaying upper body is probably a feint.

No matter how fast he is, he wouldn’t use such an obvious and straightforward method against me.

Basically, a ready stance based on deliberate relaxation has a great meaning of reacting preemptively.

A method of seeing properly, choosing the appropriate option, and responding.

Not attacking first. Just responding and suppressing.

That’s why Pallas has the belief that he won’t be attacked first.

And reacting preemptively requires time to react properly.

If it’s in the realm of a master, they can split one second into dozens, but it’s not infinite.

Pallas’s choice is to induce the line of sight with the movement of his upper body, and the moved upper body is not just a trick, but the starting point of a rotational force.

The mystery of the Warrior Realm.

And what opened from that rotating door was a leg technique like a giant cannon.

The flow from the gyeoncheong of the scapula to the geo-geol of the solar plexus is supported by the hwanjo of the buttocks, accelerated from the pungsi of the thigh, and the power explodes from the yongcheon acupoint.

In particular, the well-built thigh created by years of training running through the forest was like a deer’s leg.

With a quiet start and the momentum of a cannon, he dashed towards my solar plexus from the blind spot of my vision at super speed from a distance of less than a hand span.

It would be a great gain if it hit, but the judgment of aiming for the center of the body, which is difficult for the head, which is easy to avoid, to completely avoid, also felt like a great basis.

If I were to take that head-on, I wouldn’t be unscathed.

I expected the movement of his upper body, but as the opponent’s move became clear, my hand also moved.

As my will arises, so does my energy.

Before I knew it, a shroud-like energy made of silk thread was swirling around my hand.

The hand, which was insignificant compared to the opponent’s powerful momentum, approached the sole of his foot.

Contrary to common sense, at the same time as his foot touched my palm as if sticking to it, the energy that arose from my entire forearm and the onyoo acupoint gently intertwined with the power of Pallas’s leg technique.

At the same time as my upper arm and waist twisted backward, the leg technique that had been extending straight towards my solar plexus suddenly soared into the sky.

Even though he was in the air, Pallas’s upper and lower balance was reversed as if he were a person who had slipped and fallen on an ice rink.

Thwack!

The sound of air tearing as the energy with the twisted direction struck the air.

Even after that, the energy that was released from the yongcheon acupoint flew violently for a distance of about 10 Elte and shook a large tree as it collided with it.

A powerful blow that would instantly kill even a large beast.

It’s not impossible to crush it head-on with force, but then there’s nothing to learn.

I wanted to show Pallas various methods if possible.

A technique with strong power and directionality cannot be fully controlled by oneself.

In many cases, it can be easily neutralized by simply touching the direction without having to confront it head-on.

Like the meaning of the Wudang Sect’s “softness overcomes hardness.”

“Hiss!”

But even though he lost control in the air like that, he instead used the rotational force heading upwards that had flipped him over to scratch with his fingers raised from below.

His vision was also reversed, and his improvisation at the point where his first move was not only thwarted but also lost its support was not bad, but most brilliant moves are thwarted at their essence.

I avoided Pallas’s attack without difficulty with a small movement of my upper body, then lightly placed my hand on his body, which was losing balance and falling.

Araya Style

Ripple on the Water’s Surface

Thw-thwack!

“Cough-ack!”

Pallas was thrown back faster than the speed at which he had approached.

He was about to fly all the way to the tree on the outer edge of the clearing at that speed and crash into it.

It was clear that he would be seriously injured if he crashed.

Araya Style

Haze

“Alright.”

I caught Pallas, who was flying through the air, as he was, gently landed at a right angle to the tree, and then stepped on the ground as he was.

“Ugh… ugh…”

He wasn’t fully conscious because of the shock of Ripple on the Water’s Surface.

Basically, it’s a technique that corresponds to hidden force like the added weight method, but how could I use a technique with such murderous intent against my family?

I narrowed the range of the power and concentrated it to destroy him from the inside, but I widened the range of resonance and spread it throughout his body to disperse it.

Still, the power won’t be weak, so his whole body will probably feel like it’s cramping.

However…

“It’s not a very pretty sight.”

On the surface, a handsome young man well over twenty years old was being held in the arms of a ten-year-old girl and trembling like a baby.

Rudolph was also looking at them as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

They stood facing each other, saying they were going to fight, and then less than a second later, a loud noise erupted, and if you saw a man trembling like a baby in the arms of a ten-year-old, it’s understandable.

“Hey, what’s so pretty about it.”

“Krrr…”

I’m just going to dump him on the ground, but it’s a little pitiful to see him trembling.

I sigh and place my hand on the jeonjung acupoint on his solar plexus to circulate the energy inside his body.

If he were a human or a typical martial artist, it would be right to do true qi guidance towards the myeongmun acupoint, but in fact, the acupoints and detailed roles of the Elves are different from humans, and I named them similarly to the past so as not to be confused, and if it’s a realm like mine, there was no need to start true qi guidance with the myeongmun acupoint.

Also, I can’t just flip the guy who can’t even sit up properly onto the ground to do true qi guidance.

After a while, he seemed to be okay, and he quietly opened his mouth while lying down.

“In the end, I couldn’t land a single hit before you left.”

“Well, yeah.”

“…I can’t figure out why there’s such a big difference.”

‘We’re children of the same mother,’ he quietly murmured.

However, I didn’t feel any jealousy or envy there.

“The reason why there’s such a big difference… is also a problem with the training method.”

“Training method?”

He only moves his eyes to look at me while lying down.

“Basically, the Elf warriors, including you, have been fighting beasts and monsters in the forest, right?”

“Some beasts are cunning, but at best, their cunning is only at the level of their actions before the battle, and the fight itself is very simple.”

“And it’s true that their strength and movements are strong, but they’re linear and straightforward. At best, they’re a little sensory?”

“If you want to fight those guys, you don’t really need a lot of tactics or tools in battle. You just need a strong blow that can avoid simple attacks and penetrate thick skin or muscles to cause damage.”

‘Like you did at first,’ I added, and he nodded.

“However, fighting an Elf like me is different. You don’t need excessive attack power. Sufficient effective attack power is enough. Then it’s a battle of tactics, how to avoid the opponent’s numerous attacks and how to overcome the opponent’s evasion and defense and hit them.”

“Because it’s completely different from this basic premise, the martial arts of the hunters are powerful, but they’re not as threatening as you might think in a 1:1 situation, right? I don’t know about in a chaotic melee.”

Pallas, who had been listening to my words and thinking slowly, sat up and shook his head.

“I’m a hunter who protects everyone. I don’t need a technique to fight Elves.”

This is Pallas.

The strongest among the Elves (excluding myself), and though his personality seems rough, he never recklessly wields his strength against his own kind.

In the Central Plains, even those with a meager amount of power harass the common people, those third-rate individuals.

Pallas perfectly embodies the antithesis of that, achieving true humanity.

Or, should I say Elven nature?

However, Pallas needs to learn proper martial arts for dealing with humans, even if it’s just out of necessity.

Originally, there was no need since I was here…

“Well? Maybe that’s not the case.”

I might be away from here for quite a while, so Pallas might need to know, just in case.