Chapter 178. Karnak (2)

Evan’s conceived method of activating the Karnak temple.

It was to be acknowledged by the temple, by showcasing martial arts worthy of being praised as the best of the era.

‘Originally, I was going to show my own spearmanship, but since that guy showed up…….’

There was just one thing that bothered him.

It was the fact that he was not a person of the Solaid Kingdom.

He had intended to move the temple himself due to the urgent situation, but a sense of uneasiness remained in a corner of his mind.

Karnak was the ultimate weapon that protected the kingdom.

Was it alright for him, a foreigner, to move such a thing?

Did Kailam really anticipate such a situation and permit it?

‘No. The Kailam I know would have sincerely wished for his descendants to surpass him.’

That was why Kailam ultimately did not pass down his most powerful martial art.

He believed that the moment one became bound by that martial art, they would instead hit a limit to their growth.

And now, the one trying to overcome that very limit had appeared before him.

“The temple belongs to our Solaid Kingdom!”

A prince of the Solaid Kingdom and a born martial artist.

Harashin Akarun, who grew up causing all sorts of trouble since childhood, but showed a natural talent for fighting.

He admired Kailam Juan, who was praised as a legend, and realized at a young age that even his own natural talent was nothing before Kailam.

‘There will be no falsehood in the path you have walked. The title of Seven Extreme Stars is not one that can be filled just because there is a vacancy.’

Harashin believed he could not surpass Kailam, but that was merely his personal opinion.

To the entire continent, he was clearly one of the seven powerhouses of the current era.

That was why Evan could not afford to be careless for a single moment in his fight with him.

‘I, too, must be serious. If I don’t want to die.’

So Evan intended to unleash not an imitation like before, but a spearmanship that was entirely his own, a spearmanship to awaken Karnak.

‘I never even thought of a name for it, but I didn’t expect to use it in a real fight first. And with my life on the line, at that.’

Evan quietly gripped the spear shaft and slowly rotated it.

‘The spear is a weapon of extremes. A long reach and powerful killing force concentrated on a single point. But its weaknesses are also clear.’

The spear was a weapon favored by the soldiers of the Empire and many kingdoms.

It was partly because it was easy to make, but also because it was powerful regardless of proficiency.

However, to masters who had surpassed a certain level, the spear was an easily conquerable weapon.

Once the first strike was dodged, one could easily attack the openings by avoiding the long spear tip.

‘That's why Bryden, the former Seven Extreme Stars of the Manoa Kingdom, researched the fastest spear that could never be dodged, and most others went down a similar path.’

But Evan was now trying to walk a completely different path.

‘My opponent is at the pinnacle of martial arts. Judging by his physical abilities, dodging a spear with speed alone would be a piece of cake for him. I can’t take such a risky gamble.’

Not a single, fast, and strong attack, but a dazzling display of numerous spear strikes in a single moment.

To block all possible attack routes the enemy in front could take.

In other words, it was a spearmanship that was extremely focused on defense, not offense.

A paradoxical concept of the spear taking on the role of a shield.

However, the martial artist named Evan that Harashin faced was a being who turned that impossibility into reality.

‘That spearman, he has no openings. I’m trying to jump in with the resolve to give up an arm…… but it’s like he’s standing there with a shield. Still, I can’t stop!’

On the other hand, Harashin was by no means an easy opponent either.

The martial art he devised was different from Sertuan, which clashed qi; it was a method of layering another qi on top of flowing qi to overlap it.

This method, too, was a dangerously difficult way of manipulating qi, where a single mistake could cause one's body to explode.

But as great as the risk was, its power was doubled and explosively amplified, and Harashin was using his physical abilities to their limit to execute that dangerous method in a real fight.

—Tat!

The one who moved first was the impatient Harashin.

In response, Evan also increased the distance and quickly rotated his spear.

“Move aside, foreigner!”

Harashin's fists rained down fiercely toward Evan’s torso.

Each time, Evan precisely extended his spear and narrowly parried his fists with the spear tip.

—Tuhoong!

The powerful wind pressure erupting from the fists sharply struck Evan’s ears.

Evan precariously blocked the attacks, any one of which would have been fatal if it had landed properly, as if he were walking a tightrope.

‘Damn it…… at this rate, I’ll die before I even fight the Empire.’

If there was one positive point, it was the fact that on both walls of the temple, the murals behind the bare-fisted statue and the spear-wielding statue were slowly being redrawn.

That meant that Karnak was satisfied with the battle unfolding between the two.

—Tuhoong! Tung!

In such a fierce battle, neither Jack nor Jaina, who were watching from inside the temple, could find a single gap to dare intervene.

“Wow…… how is a battle of that level even possible?”

“To think Evan would be sweating so much……. Is that man the Seven Extreme Stars Evan mentioned?”

As much as Evan was tense and sweating, and as much as the watching party was astonished, Harashin was in just as much of a predicament.

‘Who is this person? I am also attacking with the resolve to die, so how is he enduring? Does a powerhouse like this exist in the world besides the Seven Extreme Stars?’

To Harashin, who believed no one in the entire continent besides the Seven Extreme Stars could defeat him, Evan was an unknown enemy he was facing for the first time in his life.

‘No. That can’t be. As long as Master Kailam doesn’t come back to life, no one can defeat me in a close-quarters battle like this!’

He, who had stood at the pinnacle, had hit a wall for the second time since Kailam.

And to overcome this wall, he had to surpass his own limits.

‘If we lose Karnak, there is no future for the kingdom anyway. I will not think about what comes after.’

Harashin had only one thought: to stop the opponent before him, even if his body exploded.

Thus, he once again accelerated and layered the qi flowing within his body.

‘He’s going to layer his qi again here? That crazy bastard!’

Evan, too, wanting to face Harashin’s attack head-on, quickly retreated to unleash the ultimate technique of the spearmanship he had devised.

He firmly gripped the rotating spear, fixing it in place, and aimed it at his opponent.

At that moment, the airflow that was rapidly rotating and enveloping the spear tip began to vibrate the spear itself, and Evan suppressed it and waited for the right moment.

“Haap!”

“Hat!”

A fist and a spear tip extended at the same time.

In that instant, Evan's gaze turned to the temple wall.

Seeing something, he hurriedly changed the trajectory of the spear.

—Tuhoong!!

As their two strikes clashed, a huge shockwave erupted, and Evan and Harashin were thrown in opposite directions.

Harashin immediately got up and shouted at Evan, who was groggily rising to his feet.

“Why did you turn the spear at the end?”

“What about you? If you had extended your fist properly, it would have reached me.”

“Raise your spear. The match is not over yet!”

“I wonder……. Is your purpose for coming here to settle things with me? Because mine isn't.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Evan pointed to the temple wall with his fingertip.

“I have already achieved my goal.”

At Evan's words, Harashin looked at the temple wall he was pointing at.

On the wall, a mural was being clearly drawn.

The mural of spearmanship had only the last part remaining, but the bare-handed mural was already complete and shining brilliantly.

“Th-that is!”

At that moment, the altar placed in the center of the temple also began to emit light and vibrate.

“It kept bothering me. Whether it was really the right thing for me to move this temple. But I’m glad you came.”

“……You’re saying I was chosen by Karnak?”

“Yes. You have surpassed Harashin, and that is why you have been chosen by this temple.”

Harashin looked at Evan as if he couldn't believe it.

But Evan spoke nonchalantly, as if it were a matter of course.

“It's a martial art you unleashed by risking your life without looking back, so how could it not be acknowledged? To be honest, even I thought I might die. Kailam probably would have thought the same.”

Then, he quietly opened the path to the altar and said.

“Go. If your purpose for coming here was ultimately for the sake of the kingdom. As for hitting my comrades earlier, we’ll call it even for our trespassing first.”

“……Who in the world are you? Why does the defense commander vouch for you, and how do you know Master Kailam's martial arts so perfectly?”

Harashin still did not understand.

About this being named Evan who had suddenly appeared.

But Evan felt that it was not important right now.

“Just think of me as someone who upholds the will of Kailam Juan. If not, there's no way I would know Sertuan.”

“You mean that’s the truth……”

Harashin did not ask any further.

“Yes. No matter how many lies you tell, there are no lies in Master Kailam's martial arts. So I must believe you as well.”

Whoever the opponent was, such things were no longer of any importance.

The only thing that mattered was the future of this kingdom.

—Step, step.

Harashin walked past Evan and slowly approached the altar.

As he stood before the altar, the altar vibrated, and its center split open, and a stone monument rose from within.

Along with mysterious, unknown characters, a handprint was deeply engraved on the monument.

It was as if it was telling him to place his hand here.

When Harashin placed his hand on it without hesitation, the characters shone brightly, illuminating the entire temple.

“Keuk……!”

Harashin flinched at the power of the temple that surged through his entire body, but he soon accepted the power and opened his eyes.

At the same time, the temple began to vibrate even more violently.

—Kukukung!

Soon, he felt as if the temple was lifting off the ground, and he quickly realized that it was not just a feeling, but that the temple was actually rising into the sky.

“By the way, you… you do know how to move this thing, right?”

Evan sent an anxious glance.

At this, Harashin bit his lip and spoke quietly.

“I don't. But the temple is telling me.”

“This feels rather unsettling……”

—Kwakwakwang!

The temple, which had been underground, broke through the ground and soared towards the surface.

The village was instantly overturned, and the magnificent, giant temple slowly rose into the sky.

The elder, who had fallen to the ground and witnessed the scene, shed tears of overwhelming emotion.

“Karnak……! The flying fortress Karnak has finally awakened!”

Karnak, which had finally begun to move, rose majestically and proceeded toward the Ramacht Plains, and the elder, watching its distant figure, quietly wiped away his flowing tears and then looked up at the sky.

“But…… is it originally that slow?”

Even after wiping away all his tears and looking up at the sky again, Karnak had not yet left the outskirts of the village.

Its speed was about the same as an ordinary adult man running, so it was not that slow, but because the temple was so large, it looked incredibly slow to others.